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184 Conn. 520 (1981)
STATE OF CONNECTICUT
v.
FRANK NERKOWSKI, JR.
Supreme Court of Connecticut.
Argued May 4, 1981.
Decision released June 30, 1981.
BOGDANSKI, C. J., PETERS, HEALEY, ARMENTANO and SHEA, JS.
*521 Vito A. Castignoli, for the appellant (defendant).
Ernest J. Diette, Jr., assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, was Edward Caldwell, assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
ARTHUR H. HEALEY, J.
The defendant was convicted after a trial to a jury of assault in the second degree, in violation of General Statutes § 53a-60 (a) (2).[1] Upon denial of his motions for judgment of acquittal,[2] the defendant has appealed,[3] claiming: (1) that the court erred in its charge to the jury, and (2) that there was insufficient evidence presented to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
From the evidence presented at trial, the jury could have reasonably found the following facts: On the night of July 21, 1978, Keith Kopeck entered a bar known as Partners II in Bridgeport. The barroom was dark and there were approximately fifteen to twenty people present. After ordering a beer and talking with several friends, Kopeck entered the dining room adjacent to the barroom. He saw the defendant, whom he had seen in the same bar once or twice previously, enter the bar with about four of his own friends.
*522 A short time had passed when the defendant approached Kopeck and asked him if he had been present the night when someone had tried to run the defendant down with a car. In response to Kopeck's negative answer, the defendant replied, "Well, I think you were.... I will be back."
The defendant left Kopeck's company, but a few minutes later the defendant returned, tapped Kopeck on the shoulder and, as Kopeck was turning towards the defendant, punched Kopeck in the face. The force of the blow knocked Kopeck over a table. Once he got up, the defendant hit him on the back with a chair, causing Kopeck to fall again.
As Kopeck lay on the floor, the defendant struck him in the head with the leg of a chair. Other patrons of the bar then joined the fracas, and the victim received more blows, not all of which were delivered by the defendant. The whole incident ended quickly and caused much confusion. The defendant's blow to Kopeck's head with the chair leg caused two lacerations on Kopeck's scalp which required sixteen stitches to close.
The defendant makes two major claims of error. First, he contends that the court erred in its charge to the jury in three respects. Specifically, he argues: (1) that the court failed to instruct the jury, as the defendant had requested, concerning the possible fallibility of the victim's eyewitness identification; (2) that the court's reinstruction of the jury, in correction of an earlier charge, was unfair and prejudicial; and (3) that, in the court's description of a "dangerous instrument" under General Statutes § 53a-60, the comparison of a "chair leg" to a "baseball bat" was unfair and effectively preempted the issue from jury consideration.
*523 Although the defendant has claimed error in the trial court's charge, the defendant has not included in his brief his requested charge, the relevant portions of the charge as given to which he excepted, or the relevant exceptions to the charge as given. Practice Book § 3060F (c) (1) provides: "In a jury case when error is claimed in the trial court's refusal to charge as requested, the party claiming such error shall request the clerk of the trial court to include, in the certified file, copies of the relevant written request to charge contained in the trial court's file and shall print in his brief a verbatim statement of the relevant portions of the charge as requested and as given by the court and any relevant exceptions to the charge as given and shall print in narrative form any evidence which he claims would entitle him to the charge as requested, with appropriate references to the page or pages of the transcript."
Section 3060F (c) (2) states: "When error is claimed in the charge to the jury, the brief shall include a verbatim statement of all relevant portions of the charge and all relevant exceptions to the charge. Evidence relevant to the claimed error shall be printed in narrative form with appropriate references to the page or pages of the transcript." Because of the defendant's failure to follow even the bare requirements of this rule, we are unable to review his claims directed to the court's charge. See Conte v. Dwan Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., 172 Conn. 112, 119, 374 A.2d 144 (1976).[4]
*524 The defendant also claims that the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal in that the state failed to meet the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the crime charged. Specifically, the defendant claims that a reasonable doubt exists as to whether the victim could have identified the defendant as his assailant in light of the confusion which existed once the brawl became a "free-for-all."
We have recently, once again, stated the appropriate test to determine whether the evidence presented is sufficient to sustain a verdict. "`"[T]he issue is whether the jury could have reasonably concluded, upon the facts established and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, that the cumulative effect of the evidence was sufficient to justify the verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt *525...."' State v. Gaynor, 182 Conn. 501, 503, 438 A.2d 479(1980), quoting State v. Festo, 181 Conn. 254, 259, 435 A.2d 38 (1980); State v. Nemeth, 182 Conn. 403, 410, 438 A.2d 120 (1980); State v. Saracino, 178 Conn. 416, 419, 423 A.2d 102 (1979); State v. Jackson, 176 Conn. 257, 262, 407 A.2d 948 (1978). `In ruling on such a motion, the evidence presented at the trial must be given a construction most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict.' State v. Jackson, supra, 262; see State v. Nemeth, supra; State v. Chetcuti, 173 Conn. 165, 172, 377 A.2d 263 (1977). Each essential element of the crime charged must be established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt, `"and although it is within the province of the jury to draw reasonable, logical inferences from the facts proven, they may not resort to speculation and conjecture."` State v. Gaynor, supra, 503; State v. Festo, supra, 259." State v. Stankowski, 184 Conn. 121, 126, 439 A.2d 918 (1981).
The state's only witness was the victim himself.[5] He testified that he had observed the defendant in that same bar once or twice before. The victim spoke briefly with the defendant that night and later was punched in the face by the defendant. Kopeck also testified that while he was lying on the floor, there was "no question" that it was the defendant who struck him with a chair leg. From *526 this evidence, it was not unreasonable for the jury to conclude that the defendant committed the assault in question.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
NOTES
[1] General Statutes § 53a-60 (a) (2) provides: "A person is guilty of assault in the second degree when: ... (2) with intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument."
[2] The defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal at the end of the state's case, at the end of the defendant's case, and after the jury verdict.
[3] Pursuant to Section 1068 of the Practice Book, this matter was transferred to this court from the Appellate Session of the Superior Court.
[4] In Conte v. Dwan Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., 172 Conn. 112, 119, 374 A.2d 144 (1976), the appellant claimed error in the court's instructions to the jury, but he did not comply with the Practice Book provision requiring that, when such error is claimed, the brief of the appellant "shall include not only a verbatim statement of all relevant portions of the charge but also all relevant exceptions to the charge. Practice Book § 631A (c) (2) [now § 3060F (c) (2)]." In Conte, we pointed out that "[u]nder the circumstances, we assume that the instructions were correct." Conte v. Dwan Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., supra, 119, citing State v. Grayton, 163 Conn. 104, 114, 302 A.2d 246, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1045, 93 S. Ct. 542, 34 L. Ed. 2d 495 (1972).
Four days after oral argument before us, the defendant filed his requested charge with this court. His briefs, however, still lack "a verbatim statement of the relevant portions of the charge ... as given by the court and any relevant exceptions to the charge as given." Practice Book § 3060F (c) (1). The only portion of the charge as actually given by the court which appears before us in the record is in the state's brief. To the extent that we can review the defendant's claim, we find no error. We also note that with respect to the defendant's other two claims of error regarding the jury charge, the fact that the judge, upon a question from the jury, properly reinstructed them, and the mere fact that the judge compared the leg of a chair to a baseball bat, without more, hardly seems to provide us with a basis for finding reversible error. From what is properly before us, the judge's "baseball bat" comment left the jury free to decide the factual issues and was not improper under the circumstances. See State v. Williams, 169 Conn. 322, 336, 363 A.2d 72 (1975).
[5] The defendant has attempted to attach some significance to the fact that the victim was the only witness for the state. It is of no consequence that the victim was the only witness to identify the defendant as his assailant. "It is not uncommon for an accused to be found guilty upon identification by only the complaining witness, and `it is not the law that corroboration is essential to the proof of guilt.' State v. Chuchelow, 131 Conn. 82, 83, 37 A.2d 689 [1944]. The issue is not to be determined `solely by counting the witnesses on one side or the other'...." State v. Hodge, 153 Conn. 564, 573, 219 A.2d 367 (1966).
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Introduction
============
A major unmet need in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type one (HIV-1) infection rests in long-term adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). If brought into clinical practice, long-acting ART regimens would substantively improve drug adherence, reduce secondary toxicities and prevent new infections. These could ultimately facilitate the realization of an AIDS-free world [@B1]-[@B8]. In efforts to complete this task, we improved the hydrophobicity of existing antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), leading to the formation of cell- and tissue-penetrant nanocrystals protected inside biodegradable polymers. These were made to establish drug depots within monocyte-macrophages [@B9]-[@B14]. A critical component for formulation development rests, in measure, on nanoparticle decoration with macrophage-targeting moieties in order to best facilitate drug reservoir targeting. Such advances, if realized, will speed the development of eradication measures or, at the least, make therapeutics more accessible to larger patient populations. However, a significant obstacle remains in the ability to rapidly screen drug formulation tissue biodistribution and pharmacokinetics (PKs) in order to realize substantive pharmacodynamic (PD) improvements. This is of particular importance as, while the half-lives of each of the few existing long-acting drugs measure in weeks or even months, drug tissue distribution is limited [@B8], [@B15]-[@B19]. To overcome these technical and biologic challenges, multimodal decorated nanoparticles were produced where hydrophobic ARVs and bioimaging agents were encased in a single nanoformulation. All were placed into one "multimodal imaging theranostic nanoparticle" using core-shell construction methods [@B20]. This allowed real-time assessment of ARV biodistribution and activity [@B21]. The surface of the particle was coated with lipids decorated with targeting moieties, while the drug and image contrast agents were incorporated into a polymeric core. The formed particles were rapidly taken up by macrophages. Tissue distribution was within the reticuloendothelial system, reflecting the target tissues of HIV-1. Specifically, europium (Eu^3+^)- doped cobalt ferrite (CF, EuCF) crystals and hydrophobic drug dolutegravir (DTG) were packaged in a polycaprolactone (PCL) core. A lipid layer coated the particle\'s "shell". L-α-phosphatidylcholine (PC), 1,2-distearoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine-methyl-polyethyleneglycol conjugate-2000 (DSPE-PEG~2000~) and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE) lipids enhanced particle biocompatibility and lipophilicity, facilitating macrophage targeting [@B22]. The fabrication of theranostic ARV nanoparticles allowed real-time tracking of both drug biodistribution and PKs [@B21].
Several unique chemical and biological features of the particles are worthy of mention. *First*, macrophage receptors sped entry of the ligand-coated drug particles. The folic acid (FA) receptor on macrophages enhanced particle cell entry [@B23]-[@B29]. *Second*, nanoparticles were produced with consistent size and stability, reflected in long-acting slow effective drug release (LASER) ART profiles [@B12], [@B13]. This enabled depot formation for viral reservoir targeting [@B13]. *Third,* synthesized nanoparticles were deployed for sensitive MRI tests. Such testing facilitated PK analyses and monitoring of drug-loaded nanoparticle distribution into tissue reservoirs of viral infection. *Fourth*, the core-shell structure was engineered to carry ARVs that include DTG (EuCF-DTG), while demonstrating excellent relaxivity profiles of r~2~ = 564 mM^-1^s^-1^ and r~2~ = 546 mM^-1^s^-1^ (targeted nanoparticles) in saline and r~2~ = 876 mM^-1^s^-1^ and r~2~ = 850 mM^-1^s^-1^ (targeted nanoparticles) in cells.*Fifth*, the Eu^3+^ component enabled fluorescence imaging for histological validation of cell localizations of drug-loaded nanoparticles [@B21]. *Sixth*, DTG release from EuCF-DTG nanoparticles provided real-time validation of drug biodistribution, as EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are rapidly endocytosed and retain potent antiretroviral activity. *Seventh*, confocal microscopy with Eu^3+^ fluorescence showed nanoparticles in cytoplasmic Rab compartments that affect vesicle trafficking and ARV depot formation [@B4], [@B12], [@B30], [@B31]. *Eighth*, following synthesis and particle characterization, bioimaging tests reflected drug biodistribution after parenteral injection in rats and rhesus macaques. No secondary metabolic or histopathological alterations were observed. Overall, the newly generated theranostic nanoparticles provided a platform for effective nanoformulated ARV development.
Results
=======
Structural and physicochemical nanomaterial characterization
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We synthesized multimodal EuCF-DTG lipid-PCL "core-shell" nanoparticles for multimodal fluorescence, MRI and ARV therapy. Lipid-PCL "core-shell" nano-constructs are effective theranostic vehicles [@B32]-[@B36]. The characterization of FA-decorated EuCF-DTG (FA-EuCF-DTG) nanoparticles is outlined in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}A. The synthesized nanoparticles were composed of PCL:DTG:EuCF (1:0.075:0.05 w/w/w) cores surrounded by a lipid shell of PC:DSPE-PEG:DOPE (1:0.5:0.5 w/w/w). For FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles, a lipid ratio of PC:DSPE-PEG~2000~-FA:DOPE (1:0.5:0.5 w/w/w) was used. The EuCF-DTG nanoparticles exhibited fluorescence and emission wavelengths at 410 nm and 660 nm, respectively. Nanoparticle internal morphology was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM images (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}B) show that the nanoparticles possess a spherical shape with a "core-shell" structure composed of PCL cores surrounded by multiple surface lipid layers. TEM images of the nanoparticles without EuCF are shown in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}B (i-ii). Nanoparticles with EuCF embedded completely in the PCL core matrix are illustrated in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}B (iii-iv) (low-power images can be seen in Figure [S3](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the surface topography of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles and suggested that the lipid layers covered the spherical nanoparticles with smooth and uniform surfaces, as illustrated by the topographic image shown in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}C. Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}D shows the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of EuCF and EuCF-DTG nanoparticles. Comparison of X-ray diffractograms of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles to those of native EuCF confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the synthesized particles. XRD patterns of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles showed peaks that correspond to organic (PCL and DTG data not shown here) and inorganic EuCF phases, demonstrating incorporation of all relevant components into the final nanoparticle. The observed decrement in the EuCF intensity of some diffraction peaks was due to the masking effect of PCL and lipids [@B37]. Broad diffraction peaks present in the X-ray diffractogram of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were attributed to the presence of nanosized EuCF crystals [@B37]. EuCF diffraction peaks corresponded to spinel ferrite structures matching (JCPDS) those previously reported by other studies [@B21] (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}D). The superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) analysis in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}E shows a saturation magnetization value of 7.5 emu/g and sigmoid curve for the EuCF-PCL nanoparticles, an indication that the nanoparticles were superparamagnetic at 300 K[@B21]. Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}F shows the hydrodynamic size of monodispersed nanoparticles as determined by dynamic light scattering (Figure [S1](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The average nanoparticle size was 253 nm in diameter with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.14 and \~6.2% w/w DTG drug loading. Evaluation of DTG release from EuCF-DTG nanoparticles was found to be cumulative with \~30% of drug released in 5 days and 36% at day 10 (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}G). When the cumulative percentages of DTG release from experimental formulations were plotted versus time, it was found that \~40% DTG was released in 12 days from EuCF-DTG. Thus, drug release from EuCF-DTG nanoparticles parallels the slow release pattern of "LASER ART" nanocrystals. To better understand the mechanism of DTG release from EuCF-DTG nanoparticles, the experimental *in vitro* release data set (initial 6 days) was fitted by the Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas, parabolic diffusion, Elovich equation, Bhaskar-Equation, and Modified-Freundlich kinetic models [@B38], [@B39]. Out of the six kinetic models, parabolic diffusion and Bhaskar equations exhibited a theoretical DTG release pattern that was very close to the experimental profile (*r^2^* = 0.98918 and 0.98842; Figure [S5](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"} and Table [S1](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Therefore, the kinetics of DTG release are governed by diffusion-controlled release phenomena. FA receptor-targeted nanoparticles were prepared by incorporating FA-PEG-DSPE onto the surface of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles. Successful synthesis and chemical structure of FA-PEG-DSPE were confirmed by ^1^H-NMR (Figure [S2](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}A). Functionalization of the lipids was further confirmed by FTIR (Figure [S2](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}B). Specifically, chemical shifts at 3.3-3.6 ppm in the ^1^H-NMR spectrum correspond to repeating ethylene oxide (CH~2~CH~2~O) hydrogens of the PEG component of the lipid, while the aromatic protons from FA are at 7.7 and 8.3 ppm. Chemical shifts corresponding to DSPE are seen at 0.9 ppm (-CH~3~), 1.1 ppm (-CH~2~) and 2.1 ppm (-CH~2~CO) [@B40] (Figure [S2](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}A). The EuCF nanoparticles contain characteristic absorption bands of octahedral metal-oxygen (M-O) bonds of the ferrite lattice [@B21] (Figure [S2](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}B). DTG showed characteristic absorption bands at 1272 (-C-N), 1588 and 1650 (-C=O), 2983 (-C-H) and 3082 cm^-1^ (-C-H aromatic rings). The IR spectrum of PC demonstrates a characteristic C=O stretching band at 1740 cm^-1^ and PO^-2^ asymmetric double bond stretching bands at 1250 cm^-1^. The spectra of both PEG-DSPE and PC demonstrate a carbonyl ketone band at 1740 cm^-1^ and a CH alkyl-stretching band at 2891 cm^-1^. EuCF-DTG nanoparticles showed characteristic absorption bands belonging to EuCF, DTG, PCL and lipids, along with bands at 2951 cm^-1^ (asymmetric), 2873 cm^-1^ (symmetric) due to (-CH~2~), and 1725 cm^-1^ for the carbonyl (-C=O) stretching of PCL [@B20]. The FTIR results indicate that DTG and EuCF interact strongly with PCL and lipids.
Macrophage uptake and subcellular nanoparticle distribution
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To determine cell uptake of the nanoparticles, human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) were treated with FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (based on 5 μg/mL iron) for up to 12 h. Cells were then washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and collected into nitric acid (69.0%) at 2, 4, 8 and 12 h. Cobalt and DTG concentrations were determined by ICP-MS and UPLC-MS/MS, respectively. Uptake of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles was significantly greater than EuCF-DTG nanoparticles at both 8 h and 12 h, as determined by iron content (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}A). At 12 h, the cell iron concentration was \~1.1 μg/10^6^ cells for FA-EuCF-DTG, which was 4.5-fold greater than that of EuCF-DTG (\~0.25 μg/10^6^ cells; TEM and backscattered electron study of nanoparticles is shown in Figure [S4](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Corresponding cell DTG levels are shown in Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}B, with FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles providing higher levels of DTG compared to EuCF-DTG. Cell nanoparticle uptake and subcellular localization were visualized by confocal microscopy using the inherent fluorescence properties of Eu^3+^ (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}C). Subcellular distribution of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles was determined at 8 h by immunostaining with Rab7 (late endosomal sorting), Rab11, Rab14 (recycling endosomal compartments), and LAMP-1 (lysosomal-associated membrane protein-1) antibodies. Primary antibodies were detected using a red Alexa Fluor 594 secondary antibody. Co-localization of nanoparticles (green) and endolysosomal proteins (red) is illustrated by a yellow color [@B41] (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}D). The images show that EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were distributed mainly in recycling endosomal compartments throughout the cytoplasm (Rab11) and in the perinuclear region (Rab14). Nanoparticle distribution in lysosomes (LAMP-1) and early endosomal compartments (Rab7) was less than that seen in recycling endosomes. These results clearly demonstrate that EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are taken into macrophages through endolysosomal pathways and held within recycling endosomal compartments [@B41]-[@B43].
Subcellular distribution of nanoparticles in MDM was also investigated by TEM (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}F-H). TEM of a control cell is shown in Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}E and illustrates typical macrophage morphology. A greater number of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}H) were internalized compared to EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}G). The presence of the nanoparticles did not alter macrophage morphology (see Figure [S6](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}, for cytotoxicity assays, Figure [S7](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"} for time-dependent uptake of nanoparticles and Figure [S8](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"} for subcellular nanoparticle distributions).
Antiretroviral activities of EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles
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The antiretroviral activities of EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were assessed in MDM infected with HIV-1~ADA,~ a prototype macrophage-tropic strain [@B44]. MDM were treated with nanoparticles at various DTG concentrations, while native drug served as a control. At 1 day after treatment, MDM were infected at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.1 infectious viral particles per cell. At 10 days after infection, progeny HIV virion production was determined by reverse transcriptase (RT) activity in the cell culture fluids. Intracellular HIV-1 p24 antigen expression was also measured in the cells. As illustrated in Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}A, RT activity was suppressed by 6.25, 12.5 and 25 µM DTG (native and nanoparticles). These results were paralleled with HIV-1 p24 staining (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}B). In cells infected at day 1 after treatment, fewer HIV-1 p24 positive cells were detected with EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles than in cells treated with native DTG. However, we noted EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG responses were similar at day 5 (data not shown).
MRI assessment of EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles biodistribution
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The relaxivities (r~2~) of EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were first measured. Nanoparticle relaxation rates (R~2~) in both PBS and MDM increased linearly with increasing iron concentrations (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}C). The linear regression coefficients of determination (r^2^) for relaxation rate (R~2~) vs. iron content for EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were 0.979 and 0.973 in PBS, respectively (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}C left), and 0.985 for both EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in cells (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}C right). The relaxivities of the EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were r~2~ = 564 mM^-1^s^-1^ and r~2~ = 546 mM^-1^s^-1^ in PBS, and r~2~ = 876 mM^-1^s^-1^ and r~2~ = 850 mM^-1^s^-1^ in cells, respectively. FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles showed a log order-of-magnitude increase in both sensitivity and specificity compared to superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles at replicate iron concentrations [@B21]. Signal intensities of T~2~\*-weighted images of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in PBS phantoms substantially decreased with increasing iron concentrations (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}D). These data confirmed the magnetic sensitivity of the nanoparticles.
Biodistribution of EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in Sprague Dawley rats was determined following intravenous (IV) or intramuscular (IM) injection (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}, S9, S10). The experimental time-line for EuCF-DTG nanoparticle injection and MRI scanning is shown in Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}A. Representative MR images from pre-injection and days 2, 5, and 10 post-injection are shown in Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}B (biodistribution of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in rats are shown in Figure [S9](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"} and Figure [S10](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The images show a decrease in T~2~\*-weighted signal intensity within liver (red highlight) and spleen (green highlight) at all post-injection time-points. These data reflect the presence of iron in these tissues. TEM images of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in reticuloendothelial tissues after IV injection in rats (Figure [S11](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) and of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles after 10 days showed nanoparticle deposition in the muscle tissue after IM injection (Figure [S12](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Histopathology showed no significant changes in hepatic, renal, and pancreatic functions in the observed animals (Figure [S13](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were administered to rhesus macaques infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) as a proof-of-concept to determine nanoparticle biodistribution in a large animal during viral infection. Tested animals showed plasma viral RNA loads ranging from 10^6^-10^7^ copies/mL (Figure [S14](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}A-C). Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}C shows a schematic of the uptake of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles by macrophages and the establishment of a reticuloendothelial system drug depot. Comparison of macaque MR images before injection and 5 days post-injection with EuCF-DTG nanoparticles revealed 1) a significant decrease in T~2~-weighted signal intensity within the liver and spleen (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}D) and 2) signal image intensity decreased by \~20% following injection (Figure [S14](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}D). The change in T~2~ signal intensity was higher in liver than in spleen, indicative of an increased amount of uptake of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in hepatic tissue. Shortening of T~2~ seen in macaque MR images are comparable to that which was seen in EuCF-DTG-treated rats (Figure [S14](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}D), suggesting that biodistribution of EuCF-DTG is similar in the two species.
DTG, iron and cobalt validation tests in rats and rhesus macaque
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Rat tissue concentrations of iron (estimated by MRI), DTG (by ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)) and cobalt (by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)) are illustrated in Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A-C and Figure [S10](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}A-C. Iron concentrations in the liver and spleen were quantified by MRI T~2~ mapping and compared with respect to time and route of administration (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A). Iron concentrations were two-fold higher in animals given IV injections compared to animals given IM injections (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A). Iron levels in liver and spleen in IV-injected animals decreased over time, while corresponding levels in IM-injected animals were lower but sustained over the 10-day experimental time course. Tissue iron and cobalt levels showed a similar trend to drug levels (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A-B). Liver and spleen DTG concentrations at days 2 and 5 are shown in Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}C. Cobalt and DTG plasma concentrations are illustrated in Figures S10D-E. Drug levels in liver and spleen were approximately 2-fold higher at day 2 post-treatment compared to day 5 post-treatment. The DTG levels in liver at day 2 and day 5 were 112±42 ng/g (IV) and 91.2±32 (IM) ng/g versus 47.3±44 ng/g (IV) and 27.12±15 ng/g (IM), respectively; whereas, DTG levels in the spleen at day 2 and day 5 were 39.3±21 ng/g (IV) and 82.4±41 ng/g (IM) versus 54.8±23.3 ng/g (IV) and 15.12±5.4 ng/g (IM), respectively. Overall, DTG and cobalt levels following either IV or IM injection of nanoparticles showed coordinate tissue and plasma drug and cobalt levels. However, nanoparticle uptake by liver macrophages was 2.5-fold higher than by splenic macrophages (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A-C). To validate the use of MRI to track drug-loaded nanoparticles, the correlation of iron levels obtained by MRI, cobalt levels by ICP-MS and drug levels by UPLC-MS/MS was determined in liver and spleen in animals given nanoparticles by IV or IM injection. Pearson correlation plots between *in vivo* MRI iron levels and both tissue DTG and cobalt concentrations are shown in Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}D. In Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}D, day 5 iron levels (by MRI) are plotted versus cobalt levels for individual animals given IV or IM injections. Averaged data sets of day 5 iron levels were plotted against DTG levels. These data show a strong correlation between iron, cobalt and DTG concentrations within liver and spleen, with Pearson\'s correlation coefficients of r = 0.8949 (liver), 0.9396 (spleen) and 0.6505 (combined liver and spleen; Figure [S10](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}F) for iron versus cobalt and 0.789 for iron versus drug (combined liver and spleen). Of importance, the iron and DTG levels in the liver and spleen were directly related to cobalt concentrations measured by ICP-MS (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}D). This suggests that the amount of drug that accumulates in reticuloendothelial tissues can be estimated by MRI using the known *in vivo* MRI signal-to-drug ratio for the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type="fig"}). Such methods will allow personal drug dosage to be determined in individuals for future treatments.
To determine whether these observations in rats would be translatable to species more closely related to humans, we determined biodistribution of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles by MRI in rhesus macaques. DTG and cobalt concentrations in plasma and tissues were also determined. The highest concentrations of DTG and cobalt were observed in the liver and kidneys with detectable levels observed in the spleen and lymph nodes (Figure [S14](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}E-H). Little drug or cobalt was detected in lungs. These results suggest that EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are taken up by macrophages in reticuloendothelial tissues in rhesus macaques.
Intracellular macrophage nanoparticle trafficking in rat tissues
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To confirm that the nanoparticles were localized within liver and splenic macrophages of rats, we examined these tissues using immunohistology and TEM. Representative tissue sections of liver and spleen from animals sacrificed 5 days post-EuCF-DTG injection (IM and IV) are shown in Figure [7](#F7){ref-type="fig"}A. Tissues were probed with Iba-1 antibody to identify activated macrophages. Arrows within the merged images highlight the yellow/orange color indicative of co-localization of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (green) within the activated macrophages (red). Corresponding TEM images of 5-day post-injection liver and spleen are shown in Figure [7](#F7){ref-type="fig"}B. Cellular localization of nanoparticles within macrophages and immune cells in the liver and spleen can be clearly seen as black dots in the TEM images in both IV- and IM-injected animals. These results are in agreement with the *in vitro* results, suggesting that macrophages within the liver and spleen took up the nanoparticles and retained them for at least 5 days after nanoparticle administration. Immunohistochemistry results in rhesus macaque tissues following EuCF-DTG administration paralleled what was seen in rat tissues (Figure [S15](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Histological evaluation of rhesus macaque tissues 5 days after IM injection of EuCF-DTG was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology; and no anomalies were found other than those typical of chronic SIV infection (Figure [S16](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). There were no biochemical or hematological effects of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in rhesus macaques (Table [S2](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Discussion
==========
A paradigm shift in the treatment of HIV/AIDS has emerged in the past half-decade through the realization that LASER ART is a viable alternative to conventional ARV therapy [@B3], [@B4], [@B12], [@B45], [@B46]. LASER ART can affect regimen changes, improve patient ARV adherence, reduce systemic toxicities, ease pill burdens and limit new viral infections [@B2], [@B46]-[@B48]. Nonetheless, hurdles remain in the conversion from commonly used pills into long-acting drug formulations. Our laboratories have taken a singular approach in converting hydrophilic or partially hydrophobic drugs into lipophilic prodrugs and in using decorated polymers to target reservoirs of viral infection. This strategy seeks to optimize drug delivery, biodistribution and PK profiling [@B3], [@B4], [@B6], [@B41], [@B43]. However, the best strategy to screen newly synthesized and decorated nanoparticles remains unrealized. As therapeutic success of formulations is linked to nanoparticle size, shape, decoration, encapsulation and drug half-life, screening is cumbersome. Moreover, how best to assess drug penetrance into "putative" viral reservoirs remains a major obstacle in translational research efforts. We now posit that one means to assess the therapeutic potential of LASER ART is through theranostic probes [@B21]. Thus, stable ultra-sensitive EuCF nanoparticles encapsulating ARV and surrounded by lipids [@B20] were made. This "multi-modal nanoprobe platform" proved successful for MRI tests of ARV biodistribution. Such theranostic screens used to assess cell-based drug delivery holds potential for approaches to develop eradication strategies to cure HIV/AIDS.
EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were prepared via an emulsification solvent evaporation method using dichloromethane (DCM) as the organic phase. The mechanism of formation of multicomponent nanosystems is described as a combination of inorganic nanoparticles (EuCF) and organic, hydrophobic, biodegradable PCL forming the core of the particles with amphipathic lipids (DOPE, mPEG2000-DSPE and PC) constituting the shell of the multicomponent nanosystems. Importantly, PCL has a good solubility in DCM, which by diffusing towards the oil phases enhances the hydrophobic drug (DTG) retention in the core of EuCF-PCL, significantly improving encapsulation efficiency. Additionally, when the EuCF-PCL and drug solution (in DCM) is dispersed into the aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) surfactant, the agitation of the interface spontaneously produces a bigger interfacial area, which leads to nano-sized quasi-emulsion droplets of EuCF and DTG encapsulated in PCL. Simultaneously, combinations of amphipathic lipids serve as secondary surfactants on the surface of nanoparticles. Meanwhile, methanol specially diffuses from droplets due to its lower affinity for EuCF, DTG and PCL, and higher affinity for PVA. Continuous diffusion of methanol out of the droplets and the coacervation of PVA led to formation of nanoparticles with the lipids mixture acting as secondary surfactants. Conclusively, the evaporation of residual solvent and subsequent solidification of EuCF-DTG core-shell nanoparticles, together with stirring in PVA solution, caused greater reduction in surface tension, leading to formation of the resultant particles in the nanometer range and with spherical morphologies.
DTG was released slowly over a time period of 12 days. The prolonged release profile could be attributed to physicochemical properties of the EuCF-DTG core-shell. Drug release occurred by diffusion through the lipid barriers followed by erosion of the core polymer by hydrolytic degradation. These hypotheses were cross validated by kinetic parabolic diffusion and Bhaskara equation models indicative of the low permeability of water in the particle\'s interior PCL core-shell. Due to the hydrophobic nature of DTG, it is probable that the drug was incorporated at the core of the particles during the solvent evaporation process. It is expected that nanoparticles prepared by solvent evaporation slowly release the drug due to the hydrophobic nature of the core materials.
The nanoparticles contain individual functional components that improve their diagnostic and therapeutic potential. *First*, the CF component enhances MRI signal sensitivity and specificity measures [@B21]. The images show excellent T~2~ relaxivity. As such, they can be readily used for ARV biodistribution studies. High relaxivity results in enhanced sensitivity for ferrite quantification. *Second*, the nanoparticle\'s unique spinel structure permits the incorporation, in a formed lattice, of rare earth elements. This includes, but is not limited to, neodymium, Eu^3+^ and gadolinium [@B21], [@B49]. *Third*, Eu^3+^ provides magnetic and fluorescence capabilities. *Fourth*, the translational potential is realized through the nanoparticle\'s biocompatibility [@B21]. This is facilitated through the outer "soft" lipid layer of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles [@B22], [@B50]. *Fifth*, Eu^3+^ doped CF can be surface-modified by FA for functionalization [@B21]. *Sixth*, the formed FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are highly stable and as such can be made for systemic use. *Seventh*, the FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are hydrophilic with a narrow size distribution. Each contains a "hard" inner matrix of an organic-inorganic hybrid of EuCF and PCL, which enables the nanoparticles to be loaded with hydrophobic ARVs and have limited to no toxicities [@B22]. *Eighth*, the nanoparticles unique physicochemical properties facilitate entry into cells. Indeed, the core is made up of EuCF, PCL and DTG, while the outer lipid layers are formed with PC, DSPE-PEG~2000~ and DOPE. The lipid surrounding the EuCF-DTG core serves to facilitate rapid uptake by macrophages and as such effectively distribute drug into tissue viral reservoirs. *Ninth,* the lipid layer shell over the nanoparticle\'s core provides inherent stability and appropriately sized nanoparticles can be readily made in order to optimize cell and tissue delivery. Indeed, the EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are homogeneous with relatively narrow nanoparticle size distribution and retention of drug loading capacities and antiretroviral activity. *Tenth*, the nanoparticle\'s size and shape are comparable to that of LASER ART being developed for clinical use [@B12], [@B43]. The nanoparticles are remarkably consistent in morphology. Electron microscopic images indicate that all synthesized nanoparticles display lipid layers outside the EuCF-DTG or FA-EuCF-DTG core matrix. The latter appears smooth with uniform topography that is particularly important in reducing systemic adverse events. *Eleventh*, the uptake of nanoparticles by macrophages is optimized, as endocytosis is facilitated by spherical or semi-rod-shaped nanoparticles [@B13], [@B51]-[@B53].
Macrophage uptake and subcellular nanoparticle distribution enables drug delivery to HIV infection sites [@B54]-[@B56]. Uptake of the lipid nanoparticles is greater than that of silica platforms [@B21]. The fluorescence modality of the EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles proved useful in identifying nanoparticle subcellular distribution. We assayed macrophage nanoparticle uptake by measurements of both iron and DTG. We then examined nanoparticle subcellular localization using antibodies specific to subcellular compartment proteins and showed that the nanoparticles were distributed preferentially within recycling endosomes. Previously, we and others have demonstrated preferential localization of nanoformulated rod-shaped nanoparticles containing ARV drugs in similar compartments [@B41], [@B57]. HIV persists in recycling endosomes [@B12], [@B41], [@B57] supporting the importance of subcellular ART depots.
Prior reports demonstrated that the FA receptor beta (FR-β), highly expressed on macrophages, could facilitate nanoparticle cell entry [@B26]-[@B29]. We have previously demonstrated significantly higher macrophage uptake of FA-decorated nanoformulations compared to replicate nanoformulations without decoration [@B13], [@B58]. In particular, ARV nanoparticles that were decorated with FA showed higher atazanavir levels in lymphoid organs such as the spleen and lymph nodes compared to non-decorated particles. Notably, drug levels paralleled FR-β staining in both macrophage-rich parafollicular areas of spleen and lymph nodes. FA targeting of abacavir nanoparticles improved drug and pharmacokinetics and antiretroviral activity [@B41]. Moreover, demonstration of human serum albumin nanocapsules that were surface modified with FA led to macrophage internalization [@B25]. Formulation uptake was three-fold higher in FR-β-positive macrophages than in macrophages not expressing FR-β. Similarly, FR-β-specific targeting of methotrexate nanoparticles suppressed inflammation associated with type II collagen-induced arthritis models [@B24]. Furthermore, macrophage targeting of FA-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticles were described [@B23] and reflect our own results. In the current report, we showed higher uptake of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in reticuloendothelial tissues (Figure [S9](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}-10). Moreover, we confirmed that FA-decorated nanoparticles showed higher macrophage uptake (Figure [S11](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) [@B13], [@B58], [@B59]. Therefore, the macrophage-targeting strategy presented in our study for FA-mediated uptake of nanoparticles will enable targeting of nanoformulated drug particles.
Nanoparticle migratory behavior was investigated in rodents and non-human primates. MR images showed decreased signal intensity within the liver and spleen. Corresponding MRI T~2~ values revealed that iron levels matched the drug PK and biodistribution profiles. Validations were made by analysis of cobalt and drug content. No significant differences in deviation from linearity for either drug or cobalt levels were found over time. Co-localization of nanoparticles within macrophages was seen using confocal and electron microscopy in both cell culture and histopathological tissue analyses, highlighting the importance of Eu^3+^ as a fluorescent tag. Assay of cobalt and iron along with drug content provided MRI confirmation results. Our finding of preferential macrophage uptake of nanoparticles paralleled the observed PK and biodistribution results [@B53], [@B60]-[@B62]. With the successful development of the multi-modal nanoprobes in rhesus macaques, we posit that macrophage-targeted theranostics can be useful as a testing platform to assess drug biodistribution in humans. Macrophages loaded with theranostic nanoparticles can move throughout the body and target tissue sites of residual latent virus [@B10], [@B63], [@B64]. Notably, the nanoparticles maintain their integrity and ARV efficacy. Most importantly, nanoparticle distribution can be monitored and tracked in real-time [@B10], [@B21]. Overall, our newly-developed platform provides a means to accurately and effectively optimize the delivery of antiretroviral drug-loaded nanoparticles into macrophages.
In conclusion, EuCF-DTG "multimodal imaging theranostic nanoprobes" were made to facilitate the development of targeted LASER ART. The lipid-encapsulated EuCF nanoparticles can fulfill this role by providing a flexible platform for the design of diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The efficacy and structural integrity of the nanoprobe platform was confirmed in rats and SIV-infected rhesus macaques by MRI. FA-functionalized EuCF-DTG nanoparticles showed enhanced nanoparticle uptake and antiretroviral activity. EuCF-DTG was localized to recycling macrophage endosomal compartments without evidence for cytotoxicity.
Materials and Methods
=====================
Reagents
--------
Iron(III) acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)~3~), cobalt(II) acetylacetonate (Co(acac)~2~), europium(III) nitrate hydrate (Eu(NO~3~)~3~·5H~2~O), folic acid (FA), oleic acid, oleylamine, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), poly(vinyl alcohol) (MW 30,000-70,000, 87-90% hydrolyzed), L-α-phosphatidylcholine (PC) (from egg yolk), 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide, N-hydroxysuccinimide, low gelling temperature agarose, coumarin-6, iron and cobalt standards for ICP-MS (TraceCERT^®^) and nitric acid (TraceSELECT^®^) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA. Polycaprolactone (PCL) (MW 43,000-50,000) was obtained from Polysciences, Inc. Warrington, PA, USA. 1,2-Distearoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine-methyl-polyethyleneglycol conjugate-2000 (DSPE-PEG~2000~) and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE) were obtained from Corden Pharma International, Plankstadt, Germany. DTG was obtained from BOC Sciences, Shirley, NY, USA. 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-\[amino(polyethyleneglycol)-2000\] (DSPE-PEG~2000~-NH~2~) was obtained from Laysan Bio Inc. Arab, AL, USA.
Synthesis of DSPE-PEG~2000~-FA Conjugates
-----------------------------------------
FA-modified DSPE-PEG~2000~ was synthesized by a multi-step process. FA was activated by conversion to a N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (NHS-FA) [@B65]. FA (237 mg; 0.536 mmol, 1 equiv.) was dissolved in 10 mL of anhydrous dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, 10 mL) and triethylamine (80 µL, 0.569 mmol, 1.1 equiv.) and allowed to stir at room temperature for 18 h under argon and protection from light [@B40]. Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (111 mg; 0.533 mmol, 1 equiv.) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (123 mg; 1.0 mmol, 2 equiv.) were added to the FA solution then stirred for an additional 16 h. The resulting NHS-FA solution was separated from insoluble dicylohexylurea by filtration then reacted with DSPE-PEG~2000~-NH~2~ (500 mg; 0.179 mmol, 0.3 equiv.). The mixture was stirred for 3 days at room temperature under argon and light protection. The DSPE-PEG~2000~-FA conjugate was precipitated from ether (\~150 mL) and collected by centrifugation at 215 × g for 15 min. The pellet was dried under vacuum, dissolved in methanol (\~25 mL) and purified on a sephadex LH-20 column using a coumarin-6 dye as an indicator. The purified product (\~200 mL volume) was precipitated from ether and collected by centrifugation at 1950 × g for 10 min. The resulting pellet was lyophilized (Labconco Freezone 2.5, Kansas City, MO, USA) for two days and yielded a light yellow powder. Covalent linkage of FA to DSPE-PEG~2000~-NH~2~ was confirmed by ^1^H-NMR (Bruker Avance III HD, 500 MHz in deuterated DMSO). The final DSPE-PEG~2000~-FA conjugate was stored at 4 °C.
Production of EuCF-DTG "core-shell" nanoparticles
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EuCF nanoparticles of 7.2 nm size were fabricated using solvothermal techniques [@B21] and characterized for hydrodynamic size, size distribution, shape, structural configurations, morphology, chemical composition and superparamagnetic properties. EuCF-DTG "core-shell" nanoparticles were synthesized using a modified solvent evaporation process [@B20], [@B66]. Specifically, PCL (400 mg), DTG (30 mg) and EuCF (20 mg) were dissolved in DCM, methanol and chloroform (oil phase), respectively. Fresh lipid mixtures were prepared by dissolution of PC (50 mg), mPEG~2000~-DSPE (25 mg) and DOPE (25 mg) in 5 mL of chloroform by bath sonication. A EuCF-DTG primary emulsion was prepared by mixing EuCF, PCL and DTG solutions with stirring for 6-8 h at 140 × g at room temperature. The secondary emulsion and shell layers for core nanoparticles were prepared by making a thin film of lipids (PC, PEG~2000~-DSPE and DOPE) in a round bottom flask through rotary evaporation (Büchi Rotavapor R-II, New Castle, DE, USA) of chloroform followed by overnight vacuum-drying. The primary emulsion of EuCF-DTG was then transferred into 30 mL of freshly prepared 1% (w/v) PVA and mixed by probe sonication (Cole-Parmer, Vernon Hills, IL, USA) at 20% amplitude for 10 min in an ice bath. The PVA served as a surfactant in this emulsification step. The core nanoparticles were then transferred into the flask containing the lipid film. The flask was steadily rotated with the core nanoparticles in a bath sonicator followed by probe sonication at 20% amplitude for 10 min in an ice bath. Evaporation of DCM was carried out under pressure at 35°C followed by overnight stirring. The nanoparticles were purified by centrifugation of the suspension at 55 × g for 10 min, followed by centrifugation of the supernatant at 35,1315 × g for 30 min at 10°C (Sorvall, Lynx-4000 super speed centrifuge, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). The pellet was washed twice with PBS, resuspended in PBS and stored at 4°C. For preparation of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles, 25 mg of DSPE-PEG~2000~-FA was used and the remainder of the synthesis followed the preparation of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles. For drug quantification from nanoparticles, \~30 mg of lyophilized nanoparticles was dissolved in 10 mL of DCM: methanol (1:1 v/v) mixture. The mixture was then bath sonicated for 30 min followed by centrifugation at 35,1315× g for 30 min. The supernatant was collected and DCM was evaporated at room temperature. The drug in methanol was quantified by HPLC.
*In vitro* drug release study
-----------------------------
*In vitro* release study of DTG was performed using a USP dissolution testing system (Sotax-AT7smart USP, SOTAX Corp. Westborough, MA, USA) with dialysis bag technique[@B39] (Dialysis bag, MWCO 25 kD, Spectrum Laboratories, Inc., CA,USA). The DTG release experiments were carried out in Dulbecco\'s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) with 2% (v/v) Tween-80. Five mg of DTG in EuCF nanoparticles were placed in dialysis bags containing 3 mL of the release medium. The bags were placed in stainless steel baskets and immersed in a container containing 1000 mL of release medium at a temperature of 37±0.5 °C. One mL of each sample was withdrawn at regular time intervals and the same volume was replaced with fresh release medium. Samples were further diluted and analyzed for DTG content by HPLC. These studies were performed in triplicate for each sample, and the average values were used in the data analyses. Furthermore, the release profiles of DTG from nanoparticles were each fitted with Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas, Elovich equation, parabolic diffusion, Bhaskar-equation, and Modified-Freundlich mathematical models [@B38].
Nanoparticle characterization
-----------------------------
Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was carried out in the 2θ range of 2-70° using a PANalytical Empyrean diffractometer (PANalytical, Inc., Westborough, MA, USA) with Cu-Kα radiation (1.5418 Å) at 40 kV and 45 mA. A mask of 20 mm and divergence slit of 1/32° were used on the incident beam path. A thin layer of the powdered nanoparticle was placed on a zero-background silicon plate and continuously spun at a rate of 22.5°/s. The solid state PIXcel3D detector (PANalytical, Inc.) was scanned at a rate of 0.053°/s. The PIXcel3D was equipped with a beam monochromator to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Magnetic characterization was performed using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer (Quantum Design, MPMS-XL, Quantum Design International (QDI), San Diego, CA, USA) at 300 K. Stability of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticle suspension was assessed over three weeks by measuring hydrodynamic diameter and nanoparticle size distribution in saline on a Malvern Zetasizer Nano-Series instrument (Malvern Instruments Ltd., Malvern, UK) at 4 °C. FTIR were recorded on a Perkin-Elmer-spectrum attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR equipped with a UATR-accessary (Perkin-Elmer, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA). Atomic-force microscopy (AFM) was conducted using a Bruker Dimension Icon^®^ Atomic Force Microscope (Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA) equipped with peak-force tapping and scan-assist with Al reflection coating (spring constant is 0.4 N/m and tip radius is \~2 nm, width 25 μm, thickness 0.65 μm, and length 115 μm). Multilayers of nanoparticles were prepared by drop-casting diluted aliquots of aqueous nanosuspensions on clean glass slides followed by slow evaporation of the solvent at room temperature. The images were flattened using Nano-Scope Analysis software (Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA). Nanoparticle morphology and structure were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nanoparticle suspensions were dried on a copper grid at room temperature and bright field images were taken with exposure times of 2 s using the Tecnai G2 Spirit TWIN electron microscope (FEI, Houston, TX, USA) operating at 80 kV. Images were acquired with an AMT digital imaging system. Fluorescence spectroscopy was performed by SpectraMax^®^ M3 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader (Molecular Devices, LLC, Sunnyvale, CA, USA).
Isolation and culture of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM)
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Human peripheral blood monocytes were obtained by leukapheresis from hepatitis B and HIV-1/2 seronegative donors, and were purified by counter-current centrifugal elutriation [@B21]. Cells were cultured in Dulbecco\'s modified Eagle\'s medium (DMEM; Invitrogen, Grand Island, NY, USA) with 10% heat-inactivated pooled human serum (Innovative Biologics, Herndon, MA, USA), 1000 U/mL macrophage colony stimulating factor, 1% glutamine, 50 μg/mL gentamicin, and 10 μg/mL ciprofloxacin for 7 days to promote monocyte-macrophage differentiation [@B44]. Cellular uptake of the EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles was determined in MDM cultured in 12-well plates at a density of 1.5 × 10^6^ cells/well. Cells were treated with nanoparticles in medium at a concentration of 5 μg iron/mL for 12 h. Nanoparticle uptake was assessed by measurement of cell drug and iron concentrations without medium changes. Adherent MDM were scraped into PBS at 2, 4, 8 and 12 h post treatment. Cells were pelleted by centrifugation at 1950 × g for 10 min at 4 °C and briefly sonicated in 100 μL of a mixture of methanol:acetonitrile (1:1 v/v) then centrifuged again at 10,844 × g for 10 min at 4 °C. Supernatant was used for DTG quantification by reversed phase HPLC. Parallel sets of cells were collected into nitric acid (69%) for ICP-MS analysis of iron and cobalt content.
Immunocytochemistry and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
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Macrophage nanoparticle uptake and subcellular distribution were studied by confocal microscopy and TEM [@B10], [@B21], [@B61]. To determine subcellular localization of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles, MDM were treated with nanoparticles at a concentration of 5 μg iron/mL for 8 h. For immunofluorescence staining, cells were washed three times with 1 mL of PBS (10 min each step) and fixed with ice cold 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) at room temperature for 30 min. The cells were then washed with PBS (1 mL, 3X) for 10 min at each step and treated with a permeabilizing reagent (0.5% v/v Triton-X-100) for 15 min at room temperature. Cells were again washed with PBS (1 mL, 3X) for 10 min at each step. Cells were treated with a blocking solution (5% w/v BSA in PBS and 0.1% v/v Triton-X-100) for 1 h at room temperature and quenched with 50 mM NH~4~Cl for 15 min. The cells were washed once with 0.1% Triton-X-100 in PBS and incubated with primary antibody (Rab7 (SC-10767) for late endosomes, Rab11 (SC-6565) and Rab14 (SC-98610; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX, USA) for recycling endosomes and LAMP-1 (NB120-19294; Novus Biologicals, Littleton, CO, USA) for lysosomes) diluted in blocking solution (5% BSA and 0.1% Triton-X in PBS; antibody: blocking solution 1:25) overnight with shaking at 4 °C. Cells were then incubated with secondary antibody (AlexaFluor-594; Thermo-Fischer Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) and diluted in blocking solution (1:50) for 2 h at room temperature. Slides were covered with ProLong Gold AntiFade reagent with DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; Thermo-Fischer Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) and imaged using a 63X oil objective on an LSM 710 confocal microscope (Carl Zeiss Microimaging, Inc., Dublin, CA, USA). Zeiss LSM 710 Image browser AIM software version 4.2 was used to determine the number of pixels and the mean intensity of each channel. For TEM analysis, MDM (1.5 × 10^6^ cells/mL) were incubated in 12-well plates for 8 h with nanoparticles (5 μg/mL of iron concentration). After treatment, cells were centrifuged at 1950 × g for 10 min at 4 °C. Cell pellets were suspended in a solution of 2% glutaraldehyde and 2% PFA in 0.1 M Sorenson\'s phosphate buffer (pH 6.2) for a minimum of 24 h at 4 °C. The cell fixation and block preparation methods are available in the [Supplementary Material](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}. MDM internal morphology was analyzed by cutting thin sections of control and nanoparticle-loaded MDM using a Leica UC6 ultramicrotome (Leica Microsystems, Inc., Buffalo Grove, IL, USA) then placed on 200 mesh copper grids. MDM and nanoparticle samples were examined using the Tecnai G2 Spirit TWIN electron microscope (FEI, Houston, TX, USA) operating at 80 kV. Images were acquired with an AMT digital imaging system.
Antiretroviral activity
-----------------------
Antiretroviral efficacies of the EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in HIV-1 infected MDM were evaluated as described [@B41], [@B43]. In brief, MDM were treated with 6.25 µM, 12.5 µM, or 25 µM (DTG content) of native DTG, EuCF-DTG or FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles for 8 h. Cells were then cultured in fresh medium without nanoparticles. At days 1 and 5 post-treatment, MDM were then treated with HIV-1~ADA~ for 16 h at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.1 infectious virions per cell. Cells were maintained for 10 days post infection with a full media exchange occurring 2 days prior to analysis. The culture supernatants were assessed for progeny virion formation by measuring reverse transcriptase (RT) activity [@B67]. At this time, cells were washed with PBS and fixed in 4% PFA for 15 min. Fixed cells were blocked using 10% BSA containing 1% Triton-X 100 in PBS for 30 min at room temperature. Following blocking, cells were incubated with monoclonal mouse anti-HIV p24 antibody (1:50; Dako, Carpinteria, CA, USA) overnight at 4 °C, followed by a 1 h incubation at room temperature. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled polymer anti-mouse secondary antibody (Dako EnVision^®^ System; Dako) was added (one drop per well), and cells were counterstained with hematoxylin (500 μL/well). Images were captured using a Nikon TE300 microscope with a 20X magnification objective.
MRI relaxometry measurements
----------------------------
EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticle suspensions with an iron concentration ranging from 0.2 to 2 μg/mL were prepared in DPBS. A 1.5% w/v agar gel was prepared by adding 150 mg of low melting agar in 10 mL of PBS at 70°C for 30 min. Phantom gels containing nanoparticles were prepared by mixing 100 μL of a 1.5% (w/v) agar solution that was preheated to 60°C to prevent gelation with 100 μL of the nanoparticle suspension. Experiments were performed in triplicate at each concentration. In order to make sure that no air bubbles were present, the nanoparticle suspensions and agar gels were vortexed thoroughly while warm in 250 μL eppendorf tubes and then rapidly cooled in an ice bath. MRI tests were performed using eppendorf tubes containing the fixed nanoparticles in agar gels. MRI data were acquired on a 7T/16 cm Bruker PharmaScan MRI system (Bruker; Ettlingen, Germany). T~2~-relaxtion maps were generated using a CPMG (Carr Purcell Meiboom Gill sequence) phase-cycled multi-echo sequence. Single slice (0.5 mm slice thickness) data were acquired with 3000 ms repetition time, 50 echoes (echo times TE~n~ = n x 10 ms; n = 1), 256 x 128 acquisition matrix, 50 x 50 mm field of view (FOV), 2 averages, for a total scan time of 13 min. For T~2~ relaxation time measurements in MDM, as described in our previous study [@B21], monocytes were seeded onto 100 mm culture plates at a concentration of 10^6^ cells/mL and differentiated into macrophages in the presence of MCSF for seven days. Following this, MDM were treated with nanoparticles (5 µg iron/mL) for 8 h and then the treatment medium was removed and cells washed three times with DPBS. Cells were scraped into DPBS, collected by centrifugation (1950 × g for 10 min at 4 °C) and suspended at various cell concentrations containing 1.5% w/v agar in 250 μL eppendorf tubes. For T~2~ map measurements, CPMG phase-cycled 3-dimensional multi-echo sequence data was acquired with 250 ms repetition time, 48 echoes (echo times TE~n~ = n X 2.618; n = 1,...,48), 128 × 128 × 64 acquisition matrix, 70 × 64.76 × 42.38 mm FOV, one average, for a total scan time of 34 min.
EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticle biodistribution in rats
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*In vivo* biodistribution of nanoparticles was determined in male Sprague Dawley rats (160-170 g) obtained from Charles River Laboratories (Wilmington, MA, USA). Animals were housed in the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) laboratory animal facility according to Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care guidance. All protocols related to animal experiments were approved by the UNMC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and met the requirements of the UNMC ethical guidelines set forth by the National Institutes of Health. Rats were divided into multiple groups dependent on their route of injection and planned sacrifice time point of 2, 5, or 10 days post-injection. Twenty-four hours prior to nanoparticle treatment, rats were given 5 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) by intraperitoneal injection to engage the innate immune system and affect macrophage activation in analogous manners as would be seen following HIV-1 infection. Rats were MRI scanned prior to injection of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (2 mg iron/kg iron content) and at 2, 5 and 10 days post-injection to determine nanoparticle biodistribution and integrity. Assessment of the effects of FA targeting was performed by administration of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in rats by either IM or IV injection. MRI scanning was performed pre-injection and 5 days after injection for comparison tests of EuCF-DTG administered animals.
MRI was performed using the same 7T/16 cm Bruker PharmaScan that was used for phantom data acquisition. Both T~2~^∗^-weighted high-resolution imaging and T~2~ mapping were used to determine the biodistribution of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles. T~2~^∗^-weighted MRI was performed using a 3D spoiled gradient recalled echo sequence with 10 ms repetition time, 2.7 ms echo time, 15° pulse angle, 256 × 196 × 128 acquisition matrix, 75 × 57.5 × 37.5 mm FOV, six averages, for a total scan time of 25 min. For T~2~ mapping, CPMG phase-cycled 3-dimensional multi-echo sequence data was acquired with 24 echoes (echo times TE~n~ = n × 2.718 ms; n = 1, 2, ...,24), 400 ms repetition time, 128 × 128 × 64 acquisition matrix, 70 × 64.76 × 42.38 mm FOV, one average, for a total acquisition time of 34 min. T~2~ relaxation times were computed at each pixel and generated maps using custom computer programs written in Interactive Data Language (IDL; Exelis Visual Information Solutions; McLean, VA, USA). These maps were constructed at pre-injection and 24 h post-injection of nanoparticles using the even-echo images from the CPMG phase cycled imaging data. Estimation of T~2~ relaxation times from even echoes only minimizes the measurement errors due to the imperfection of high-power pulses [@B68]. The region of interest (ROI) analysis was performed using Image-J software (<http://imagej.nih.gov/lj>). The concentrations of nanoparticles were determined from the change in relaxivity rate (ΔR~2~ = 1/T~2postinjection~ - 1/T~2preinjection~) and the nanoparticle relaxivity (r~2~) per mmol was determined as the slope of iron concentration versus R~2~ measured *ex vivo.*
SIV-infected rhesus macaques
----------------------------
Three female rhesus monkeys were obtained from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The monkeys were infected with SIVmav239 by an intravenous injection route 350 days prior to drug administration. The monkeys had also been infected with Zika virus *subcutaneously* 175 days prior to this study. All animals had cleared Zika virus but were productively chronically infected with SIV. EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were prepared under GLP conditions as above and given to animals by intramuscular injection at a dose of 2 mg/kg based on iron on day 0. Animal health was monitored daily and injection sites were examined closely under anesthesia on days 3 and 7; no reaction was noted. Blood was collected in K-EDTA tubes and plasma prepared on day -5, day 0, day 3 and day 7; CSF was collected without additives in tubes on day 0 and day 7. On day -2 pre- and day 5 post- EuCF-DTG nanoparticle administration, MRI was performed on the three animals.
MRI tests for EuCF-DTG nanoparticle biodistribution in rhesus macaques
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Biodistribution of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in rhesus macaques was determined using a Philips Achieva (Briarcliff Manor, NY, USA) 3.0T MRI scanner. T~2~-weighted high-resolution imaging and T~2~ mappings were obtained. High resolution T~2~-weighted images were acquired using a turbo spin echo (TSE) sequence with 1428.6 ms repetition time, 90 ms echo time, 90° flip angle, 116 echo train length, 22 slices (3.5 mm slice thickness; 4.5 mm spacing between slices), 360 × 360 acquisition matrix, 360 × 360 mm FOV, 6 averages, for a total scan time of 31.42 min. A multi-echo TSE sequence was used for T~2~ relaxation time mapping. Images were acquired with 2000 ms repetition time, 16 echoes (echo times TE~n~ = n x 6 ms; n = 1, ...,16), 288 x 288 acquisition matrix, 360 × 360 mm FOV. This sequence was repeated to cover multiple coronal slices (12 slices for pre-injection and 16 slices for post-injection, 3.5 mm slice thickness, 4.5 mm spacing between slices). T~2~ relaxation time maps were created using custom-developed computer programs using IDL programming language. ROI analysis was performed using ImageJ software.
Tissue analyses from treated rhesus macaques
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After imaging on day 5, bone marrow and lymph node biopsies were performed on two of the animals. The third animal was sacrificed on day 7, and fluids and tissues were collected for study. At necropsy, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy were present (consistent with chronic SIV infection), and EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were present in the gall bladder, confirmed by ICP-MS (cobalt = 0.476±0.037 μg/g). Complete blood counts and metabolic panels were performed by the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology / Nebraska Medicine Clinical Laboratory Services. All animal experimentation was performed under approval by the UNMC IACUC in AAALAC-certified facilities following NIH guidelines.
Immunohistochemistry
--------------------
To determine cellular distribution of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles in tissues, following the MRI scan (five days after administration of EuCF-DTG nanoparticles) animals were euthanized for collection of tissues. Tissues were fixed in 4% PFA overnight and embedded in paraffin. Tissue sections (5 µm) were cut and mounted on glass slides. For rats, tissues sections were probed with rabbit anti-rat polyclonal antibody to ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule-1 (Iba-1) (1:500; Wako Chemicals, Richmond, VA, USA) to detect macrophages. Primary antibody was detected with anti-rabbit secondary antibody conjugated to Alexa Fluor 594 (Thermo-Fischer Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Immunohistochemical tests performed on rhesus macaque tissues are available in [Supplementary Materials](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.
Toxicological assessments
-------------------------
*In vivo* toxicity of the EuCF-DTG nanoparticles was determined by serum chemistry and histological examination. For histological examination, 5 μm sections of paraffin-embedded tissues were affixed to glass slides and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Images were captured with a 20X objective using a Nuance EX multispectral imaging system affixed to a Nikon Eclipse E800 microscope (Nikon Instruments, Melville, NY, USA). Histopathological assessment was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology. For serum chemistry analysis, rat blood samples were collected before and five days after EuCF-DTG nanoparticles administration. Albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin (TBIL), phosphate (PHOS), total protein (TP) and amylase (AMY) were quantitated using a VetScan comprehensive diagnostic profile disc and a VetScan VS-2 instrument (Abaxis Veterinary Diagnostics, Union City, CA, USA).
Supplementary Material {#SM0}
======================
######
Supplemental figures S1-S16 and Tables S1-S2.
######
Click here for additional data file.
The authors would like to thank Tom Bargar and Nicholas Conoan of the Electron Microscopy Core Facility at the UNMC for technical assistance. The EMCF is supported by state funds from the Nebraska Research Initiative and the University of Nebraska Foundation, and institutionally by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. We thank Janice A. Taylor and James R. Talaska of the Advanced Microscopy Core Facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for providing assistance with (confocal or super resolution) microscopy. Support given to the UNMC Advanced Microscopy Core Facility was provided through the Nebraska Research Initiative, the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA036727), and an Institutional Development Award from NIGMS (P30GM106397). The LSM710 Zeiss Confocal Microscope used in this research was supported by the NIH grant S10RR027301. The authors thank the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience and Redox Biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for ICP-MS, XRD, SQUID and AFM analyses. The authors appreciate the excellent technical assistance made by Melissa Mellon, Lirong Xu, and Celina M. Prince in support of the MRI tests. This work was supported, in part, by NIH Grants AG043540, DA028555, NS036126, NS034239, MH064570, NS043985, MH062261, AG043540, AI113883 and DOD Grant 421-20-09A, the Carol Swarts Emerging Neuroscience Fund and the Nebraska Research Initiative.
This publication is dedicated to the life and legacy of Professor Michael D. Boska who was killed before his time in a plane crash and during the manuscript preparation. His friendship, intellect and scientific vision are very much part of these text pages and he is missed beyond simple words.
Author contributions
====================
BDK, MDB and HEG conceived the project. BDK, BMO, TK, RD synthesized and characterized the nanoformulations and performed the laboratory and rodent experiments. YL, CW and BRS performed the magnetic resonance imaging tests and analyzed and interpreted the bioimaging results. PD, HSF, SNB, SEC and BM performed and analyzed experiments and interpreted data obtained from the rhesus macaque experiments. BDK and HEG wrote the manuscript and interpreted the data. BDK designed and fabricated the nanoformulations. JMM and BE assisted in the data interpretation, provided experimental oversight and edited the manuscript.
AFM
: atomic force microscopy
ALB
: Albumin
ALT
: alanine aminotransferase
AMY
: amylase
ART
: antiretroviral therapy
ARV
: antiretroviral drug
ATR
: attenuated total reflectance
CF
: Cobalt Ferrite
CPMG
: Carr Purcell Meiboom Gill
DCM
: dicholoromethane
DMSO
: dimethyl sulfoxide
DSPE-PEG2000
: 1,2-distearoyl-phosphatidylethanlamine-methyl-polyethyleneglycol conjugate-2000
DOPE
: 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine
DTG
: dolutegravir
Eu3+
: europium
EuCF-DTG
: europium doped cobalt ferrite dolutegravir loaded nanoparticles
EuCF
: europium doped cobalt ferrite
FA-EuCF-DTG
: Folic acid decorated europium doped cobalt ferrite dolutegravir loaded nanoparticles
FA
: folic acid
FOV
: field of view
FR-β
: folic acid receptor beta
FTIR
: Fourier transformed infrared spectra
HIV-1
: human immunodeficiency virus type 1
ICP-MS
: Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
IDL
: Interactive Data Language
IM
: Intramuscular
IV
: Intravenous
LASER ART
: long acting slow effective release antiretroviral therapy
LPS
: lipopolysaccharide
MDM
: monocyte-derived macrophages
MOI
: multiplicity of infection
MRI
: magnetic resonance imaging
NHS
: N-hydroxysuccinimide ester
NP
: nanoparticles
PBS
: phosphate-buffered saline
PC
: phosphatidylcholine
PCL
: polycaprolactone
PD
: pharmacodynamics
PDI
: polydispersity index
PFA
: paraformaldehyde
PHOS
: phosphate
PK
: pharmacokinetics
QDI
: Quantum Design International
ROI
: region of interest
HPLC
: high performance liquid chromatography
RT
: reverse transcriptase
SIV
: simian immunodeficiency virus
SQUID
: superconducting quantum interference device
TBIL
: total bilirubin
TEM
: transmission electron microscopy
TP
: total protein
TSE
: turbo spin echo
UPLC-MS/MS
: ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
ICP-MS
: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
XRD
: X-ray diffraction.
{ref-type="supplementary-material"} and ^1^H-NMR and FTIR available in Figure [S2](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).](thnov08p0256g001){#F1}
{ref-type="supplementary-material"}). (A) Iron concentrations in MDM following nanoparticle uptake over 12 h and (B) corresponding DTG levels; data represent mean ± SEM (n = 3). Statistical differences were determined using one-way ANOVA among groups followed by Student\'s t-test for differences between groups at each time-point, \*\*\*\*p \< 0.0001. (C) Intracellular nanoparticles were detected by confocal microscopy at an excitation wavelength of 488 nm and emission wavelength of 510/520 nm (see Figure [S7](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"} for time-dependent uptake of nanoparticles). (D) For subcellular distribution analysis, MDM were treated with EuCF-DTG nanoparticles (5 μg/mL based on iron; green) for 8 h and then immunostained with Rab7, Rab11, Rab14 and LAMP-1 antibodies and Alexa Fluor 594-labeled secondary antibody (red) to visualize nanoparticle and organelle co-registration. The yellow (merged) shows overlap of nanoparticles and Rab compartments. DAPI (blue) stain indicates cell nuclei. Images were captured with 63X objective on a Zeiss LSM 710 confocal microscope. Scale bars = 20 µm (low-power images are available in Figure [S8](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). (E-H) TEM ultrastructural evaluation of macrophage nanoparticle uptake and subcellular distribution. Nanoparticles were added to MDM cultures for 8 h. Cells were fixed and processed for TEM. (E) Typical internal morphology of control macrophages is shown. Detailed evaluation of membrane-bound intracellular structures at areas of interest is presented in magnified panel ii and iii. (F-H) Intracellular uptake of (F) PCL-DTG (without EuCF), (G) EuCF-DTG and (H) FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles. Areas of interest bordered with dotted red lines are presented in corresponding high-resolution images (ii-iii) and illustrate nanoparticles within membrane-bound intracellular structures. All nanoparticle types were internalized and entrapped in endosomal vesicles in the macrophages. Images of macrophages treated with FA-functionalized nanoparticles reveal a higher number of nanoparticles internalized in vesicles compared to non-decorated particles. EuCF-DTG and FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles are seen as black punctate structures encapsulated in white polymeric nanoparticles within membrane-bound endosomes (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}G-H and Figure [S4](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"} show surface morphology by SEM of cells after nanoparticle treatment).](thnov08p0256g002){#F2}
{#F3}
{ref-type="supplementary-material"}-10).](thnov08p0256g004){#F4}
{ref-type="supplementary-material"}A-C). (A) Quantitation of iron in liver and spleen by MRI tests. (B) Cobalt concentrations. (C) Tissue DTG concentrations. (D) Pearson\'s correlation of iron (determined MRI), cobalt (determined ICP-MS) and DTG (determined UPLC-MS/MS) concentrations in liver and spleen tissues five days after IV/IM administration of nanoparticles (details in Figure [S10](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Statistical differences were determined using two-way ANOVA among groups; \*\*\*p \< 0.001; \*\*\*\*p \< 0.0001. Comparative analysis of FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticle biodistribution in rats is shown in Figure [S9](#SM0){ref-type="supplementary-material"}-S10.](thnov08p0256g005){#F5}
![**Prediction correlations of cobalt and DTG levels in tissues (DTG data sets were obtained from an independent publication [@B12]).** Cobalt and DTG levels in the tissues were analyzed by ICP-MS and UPLC-MS/MS. No significant differences in deviation from linearity for either function (p = 0.6667 and p = 1.0000) were observed. In addition, no significant differences were observed in the rate of change, by slope measures, in either DTG or cobalt concentrations (p = 0.476). Noted differences in line elevation (p = 0.0011) were linked to the relative concentrations of each component (cobalt and DTG) administered.](thnov08p0256g006){#F6}
{ref-type="supplementary-material"}. FA-EuCF-DTG nanoparticles were seen localization in reticuloendothelial tissues by TEM tests.](thnov08p0256g007){#F7}
[^1]: \* The first two authors contributed equally
[^2]: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.
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I heart shoes.
The perfect shoes? Oh, where do I begin? For one thing, it should be stylish yet comfortable. I think the right shoes should enhance how you look on the outside as well as how you feel within. Be it sexy or sweet, classic or modern, casual or formal..To me, the perfect pair of shoes can complement any outfit in your closet!
Who wouldn’t love to have an opportunity to design Jeffrey Campbell’s next killer shoes? I am a big fan of his line! I would like have a chance to share my creative vision and the endless ideas in designing the perfect pair of shoes! |
Measles is a highly infectious disease which can only be controlled by vaccination.
In 2017 the World Health Organization declared that the UK had eliminated measles. However, that elimination status has not been maintained. In this blog, we take a look at the reasons for the change in the UK’s status, and ongoing efforts to protect the population from measles.
Why have we lost elimination status?
WHO defines measles elimination as the absence of circulating measles, in the presence of high vaccine coverage, along with good systems to identify cases of the disease. In countries that have eliminated measles, measles can still occur, but these will be isolated cases that only have limited spread within the community.
The UK initially achieved WHO measles elimination status in 2017, based on data from 2014-2016.
However, in 2018, there was a marked increase in the number of confirmed measles cases, with 991 confirmed cases in England and Wales, compared with 284 cases in 2017. Furthermore, the same strain of measles virus (called B3 Dublin) was detected for more than 12 months across 2017 and 2018. Based on this, WHO determined that the UK could no longer be consider as ‘eliminated’ and that transmission of measles had been re-established.
Why have we seen an increase in measles cases?
Measles remains endemic in many countries around the world and there are currently several large outbreaks in countries across Europe where MMR vaccine uptake has been low. Until measles elimination is achieved globally we will continue to see importations of the measles virus to the UK and in order to limit spread within the UK, it is important to maintain high coverage of two doses of the MMR vaccine in the population.
Cases of measles occur in communities where vaccine uptake is sub-optimal.
Young, unvaccinated adults who have missed out on childhood MMR vaccination are also susceptible.
While coverage of the first dose in the UK has reached the WHO target of 95% for children aged five, coverage of the second dose is at 87.4%. As measles is highly infectious, even small declines in uptake can have an impact, and anyone who has not received 2 doses of MMR vaccine is at risk, particularly those travelling to countries affected by the ongoing, large outbreaks. To ensure more people are protected, it’s important that we focus efforts to increase uptake of the MMR vaccine of the routine childhood immunisation programme as well as catching up older children and young adults who missed out previously.
Herd immunity also plays an important role in protection. When a high percentage of the population is protected against a disease through vaccination, it becomes harder for the disease to pass between people who have not been vaccinated. This is particularly important as not everyone can get vaccinated, but those who can are able to help protect those who can’t. 95% of the population need to be protected to achieve herd immunity.
Measurements of public confidence in the UK vaccine programme are at an all-time high.
What is being done to combat outbreaks of measles?
While there has been an increase in measles over the past three years, it’s important to remember that measles remains uncommon in the UK because of the effective MMR vaccination programme. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, hundreds of thousands of cases occurred each year.
There is a lot of positive work happening across the health system on combating measles outbreaks and increasing MMR vaccine uptake.
As part of this, the NHS Long Term Plan includes a range of measures to maintain and increase uptake of both MMR doses. These include a fundamental review of the GP contract for vaccination and immunisation, and improved local co-ordination to support improving immunisation coverage in each area which can help target those groups who have low uptake. A check of MMR status for 10 and 11-year olds has recently been added to the GP contract.
The recent Government Green Paper on prevention proposed a vaccine strategy in addition to the implementation of the existing Measles and Rubella Elimination Strategy. The Department of Health and Social Care, working with PHE and NHS England, will deliver this comprehensive strategy in the Autumn.
PHE continues to call for those who missed out on their vaccine at the scheduled time to make an appointment now and we are running a public-facing campaign called Value of Vaccines to help share messages and information on vaccination, including MMR.
Elimination can only be sustained by maintaining and improving coverage of the MMR vaccine. Losing the elimination status is a stark reminder of how important it is that every eligible person gets vaccinated. It provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the potential risks posed by measles, the importance of vaccination and timely reporting of suspected cases to limit further spread. |
Autoreactive T lymphocytes (ATL) are critical regulatory and effector cells for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. Eradication of these ATL may ameliorate or cure such diseases. Therapies capable of selectively targeting ATL are not available clinically. This proposal describes the development of a novel therapy that uses genetically modified cytolytic T lymphocytes (GM-CTL) to selectively eliminate ATL. The GM- CTL will be transfected with a chimeric receptor capable of both recognizing ATL and activating the GM-CTL. This receptor will consist of: a class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alpha and beta chains, b. covalently linked antigenic peptide, and c. the activation domain of the T cell receptor zeta chain. The ALT T-cell receptor will specifically interact with the NHC- peptide complex of the chimeric receptor. This interaction will activate the GM-cTL, which in turn will kill the ATL. By using GM-CTL to selectively eliminate ATL it should be possible to modulate or abrogate ongoing autoimmune disease. This will be tested using a well characterized murine model for multiple sclerosis and post-vaccination encephalomyelitis, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Chimeric construct design will be optimized using in vitro assays of GM-CTL activity. GM-CTL will then be adoptively transferred into mice prior to, concurrent with, or following the induction of EAE. Pathologic and clinical measures of outcome will be assessed. These experiments will thus provide the initial studies assessing the usefulness of GM- CTL in treating autoimmune neurologic disease. It will establish a precedent for the analogous use of GM-CTL as a therapy for human autoimmune disease. |
I was in my backyard in my g-string (my fave) and topless taking the sun. I knew I wouldn’t be bothered since I would be alone all day long. Lilly was shopping and she takes forever so I wanted to get a good tan. When I hear hey sexy what are doing all alone. I get up to see who said that and it was Lilly. Wow letting the girls get some sun. yeah I said. Why don’t you take some sun. No I have a better idea. Why don’t we add to our last experience??? We could do that we have all day to ourselves. You know I love your body. I told her come over here. I took her to the area next to the pool under the shade. In the outside cabana. This is one of my favorite places from the house. I started to kiss her and take her shirt off. She said let he help you with that and she took her bra off exposing her gorgeous boobs. She started rubbing her boobs against me. While I undid her zipper from her skirt. The skirt was now off we were both in g-strings. She looked so hot I started to suck her breasts. She got my legs one to the right and the other to the left. While I was sucking her breast she was massaging my ass. She gave me a light spank. I liked it. She put my back to the bed and she put her pussy in my face and started to rock her hips and said suck my pussy slut. So I kept sucking her clit. I could hear her moan and grabbing her breast. We heard a noise coming from near by. It was my neighbor Jessica. We looked at each other and Lilly said Jess you can’t tell anyone. No I’m not going to tell anything to anyone. I was just wondering if you two had space for one more ??? I’ve been watching you and wanted to know if I could join in. I was surprised Jessica was a beautiful girl. Petite with a great ass I have to admit. Jess tells me she wants me to kiss me. So we started to make out. She was quick to grab my breast. I always wondered if they were real or fake but, now I know they are real. Yeah I get that a lot. Lilly was taking Jessica’s jeans off. She stood up to take off her jeans completely. Jessica got on her knees and dove right into my pussy. You are very wet. Lilly was sucking on my breasts. I was I heaven. Having two girls with me wow I couldn’t believe it. Alexa can I put my fingers in you. Yeah you can finger me but only my clit but not penetrate cuz I’ve never done that. Sure I understand. Jessica took out a dildo from her purse and told Lilly to put it in her. For me this was new watching my friends naked and hearing the moans from pleasure. Jessica wanted Lilly to finish her off quick cuz she wanted too see us go at it she said. So she laid on her back and said while she fucks me with the dildo I want you to suck my tits. If you want you can bite them lightly. Jessica was in heaven from the look and sound of it. Lilly fuck mee ohhhhh stick it all in me. You like this right you naughty little slut. Oh yeah harder harder Lilly and faster. You could hear the her moans. I’m gonna cum faster. And then you hear her let out a load ahhhhh that was good. Keep it in there. Jessica gets the dildo out of her pussy that looked so tasty with her cum all over it. Alexa come over here she stuck her dildo in my mouth taste good right ??? She was right it tasted good. Now I want you to put two fingers in my pussy get them alll wet and have Lilly taste your fingers. I did and Lilly sucked my fingers. She told me she wanted my pussy in her face. So I did and I started to move mi hips back and forth. Oh my god Lilly this is so good. I don’t want you to stop do me all day long. Jessica said oh you two look sexy as fucking together. Oh god having Jessica watch us made me even more excited. So we moved to 69 me on top of Lilly and Jessica slapping my ass. Lilly started to suck my clit more and more ohhhh god it felt good Lilly turns me to so that she’s on top of me and she kisses my mouth and oh she starts paying close attention to my breast. I hear Jessica moaning in the back what a view she was right behind me. Lilly is working herself to my pussy she opens my lips and exposes my clit she moves my hood down and sucks away. Oh she puts two fingers in my ass and it felt great with her other hand she’s rubbing my clit and as she does this Jessica stars to suck my breast I loooove it when anyone sucks my breast it’s suck a turn on. Oh I’m cuuuming oh oh Lilly keeps rubbing me I feel that I’m was very sensitive but it felt so good. She gets her fingers and puts them to Jessica’s mouth. Watching Jessica suck Lilly fingers was a turn on for me. So I lay there looking Jessica and Lilly go at it. Jessica put’s the dildo into Lilly’s pussy oh the moans that she was giving out was arousing me once again. Jessica was giving it to her and Lilly wanted me to play with her tits. Oh yeah Jess right there oh oh right there that’s the spot ooo. We continue for a bit longer and Lilly screams oh yes oh yeah oh oh I want you to suck the dildo and then kiss Jess. So we did. Then I was like I need to go and shower. Why don’t we go together all 3 of us said Lilly. Jess was like why not round 2 in the shower. So we left to clean each other in the shower.
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Q:
Equivalent to rss.itunes generator for Google Play
I know that it's not a pure programming question,
So I asked it on android.stackexchange.com, but unfortunately no one sees that.
I want to get statistics about apps on Google Play (not my app)
I noticed this API by Apple:
https://rss.itunes.apple.com/
This API gives statistics about apple app store
Is there an alternative RSS/API for Android Play?
A:
I don't believe there is such a thing available for Android Market.
If you really need it, I suppose you could use pages like the following and parse the content:
https://market.android.com/details?id=apps_topselling_paid
some 3rd parties do seem to have a feed available though Follow the Android Market with an RSS reader (for beginners)
3rd party site http://www.appbrain.com/
Note: This answer copy & paste from this SO Question1 & SO Question2.
A:
I found two git repositories that do it for Android:
Ruby Android Market Scraper (Google Play)
Node.js Google play scraper
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Q:
Cassandra Compacted partition maximum byte size is higher than total space used for the table
I am working on Cassandra version 2.1.13.1218 and cqlsh version 5.0.1.
For a given table, when I run cfstats command, Compacted partition maximum bytes is greater than Space used (total). For example:
Compacted partition maximum bytes: 4.64 MB
and
Space used (total): 2.28 MB.
Total space used by a table should always be higher since all large/small partition sizes are part of the total space of the given table. How can compacted partition maximum byte size be higher than total space used for the table?
Command is: ./cqlsh cfstats keyspace.columnfamilyname -H
Can someone help me understand this and what is the different between Space used (live) and Space used (total)?
A:
The Space used indicates how much space is used by the table on disk. This depends on the OS and the compression ratio.
Whereas the Compacted partition max bytes is just max encountered partition size (after compaction). This is based on the data modeling/schema and logical record size used. For instance, 100kb record size times 40 records (each going into the same partition) will give you a 4MB partition.
This when it sits on the disk may be compressed further and you may get 2MB on disk. Can you share the rest of the stats too (compression info for ex, min and avg size, number of keys)?
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Pages
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Language of Confusion: Prepositions, Part I
There are a lot of prepositions and prepositional phrases, so I’m only going over the ones that I don’t think I’ll go over in another post. And there’s still a lot to go over, so this is going to be a two parter. Now let’s go!
A/an
A…the article and the preposition, not the letter, showed up in the mid twelfth century, coming from the Old Englishan. And yes, that’s where an comes from, although it used to have a long vowel sound, making it more like ain, I guess. Anyway, an actually meant one in Old English (also, where we got one from, although that’s a story for another day) and it can be traced to the Proto Germanicainaz and Proto Indo Europeanoi-no, one. As for why people dropped the N before consonants…who knows why they do anything?
At
At comes from the Old English æt, which, of course, comes from the Proto Germanic at. Sometimes, language, I don’t know why you even bother. Anyway, before that it’s from the Proto Indo European ad, which is where we get the prefix ad- from. Except by way of classical Latin, not Proto Germanic, because of course.
By
By comes from the Old English be/bi, roughly meaning what we know it as. Before that, it was the Proto Germanic bi, around or about, and even further back, the Proto Indo European umbi, which just happens to be where the prefix ambi- comes from, although again, by way of Latin. I guess we get our prepositions from Germanic and our prefixes from Latin.
Than
Often confused word than comes from the Old English Þan—Þ is thorn, a forgotten letter. It’s pronounced like the th in math, making this word just than. Apparently the reason it looks so much like then is because it Þan comes from Þanne, which is then in Old English. Þanne can be traced further back to the Proto Germanic thana, a descendant of the Proto Indo European to. |
Ora Mendelsohn Rosen
Ora Mendelsohn Rosen (October 26, 1935 – May 30, 1990) was an American medical researcher who investigated the influence of hormones, particularly insulin, on the control of cell growth. She was a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Early life
Rosen was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Isaac Mendelsohn, her father, was a professor of Semitic languages at Columbia University and her mother, Fanny Soier, was a remedial reading teacher; both were Zionists. Her brother was Ezra Mendelsohn, a professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Rosen studied biology at Barnard College, graduating in 1956, the same year that she married the physician Samuel Rosen; they had two sons. She went on to complete a medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1960.
Career
After receiving her medical degree, Rosen conducted research on biochemistry and cell biology at New York University. In 1966, she was hired as an assistant professor of medicine by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She was promoted to an associate professor a year later and made a full professor in 1975. She became chair of the college's molecular pharmacology department in 1976 and director of the endocrinology division in 1977. In 1984, Rosen left the Albert Einstein College to join the faculty of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. There, she led the laboratory of developmental and membrane biology as Abby Rockefeller Mauze Chair of Experimental Therapeutics. After the death of her husband in the early 1980s, Rosen married Jerard Hurwitz, a fellow American Cancer Society member and researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Rosen's research investigated the influence of hormones, particularly insulin, on the control of cell growth and development. In 1985, she and a group of other scientists from Memorial Sloan Kettering and Genentech cloned the human insulin receptor (INSR) gene—a breakthrough in cell biology. This in turn allowed Rosen and her colleagues to study the insulin receptor's transmission of signals from outside of the cell to the inside. In recognition of her research, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989; she also received an award from the American Medical Women's Association.
Death
Rosen died of breast cancer in Manhattan on May 30, 1990, at the age of 54.
References
Category:1935 births
Category:1990 deaths
Category:American medical researchers
Category:Deaths from breast cancer
Category:Barnard College alumni
Category:Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni
Category:American women scientists
Category:Jewish women scientists
Category:Scientists from New York City
Category:People from the Upper West Side
Category:Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty
Category:Jewish American scientists
Category:Women medical researchers |
There has been a rapid growth in the market for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) particularly resin made under mild operating conditions, typically at pressures of 100 to 300 psi and reaction temperatures of less than 100.degree. C. This low pressure process provides a broad range of LLDPE products for film, injection molding, extrusion coating, rotational molding, blow molding, pipe, tubing, and wire and cable applications. LLDPE has essentially a linear backbone with only short chain branches, about 2 to 6 carbon atoms in length. In LLDPE, the length and frequency of branching, and, consequently, the density, is controlled by the type and amount of comonomer used in the polymerization. Although the majority of the LLDPE resins on the market today have a narrow molecular weight distribution, LLDPE resins with a broad molecular weight distribution are available for a number of applications.
LLDPE resins designed for commodity type applications typically incorporate 1-butene as the comonomer. The use of a higher molecular weight alpha-olefin comonomer produces resins with significant strength advantages relative to 1-butene copolymers. The predominant higher alpha-olefins in commercial use are 1-hexene, 1-octene, and 4-methyl-1-pentene. The bulk of the LLDPE is used in film products where the excellent physical properties and drawdown characteristics of LLDPE film makes this film well suited for a broad spectrum of applications. Fabrication of LLDPE film is generally effected by the blown film and slot casting processes. The resulting film is characterized by excellent tensile strength, high ultimate elongation, good impact strength, and excellent puncture resistance.
These properties together with toughness are enhanced when the polyethylene is of high molecular weight. However, as the molecular weight of the polymer increases, the processability of the resin usually decreases. By providing a blend of polymers, the properties characteristic of high molecular weight resins can be retained and processability, particularly extrudability, can be improved.
Three major strategies have been proposed for the production of resins of this nature. One is post reactor or melt blending, which suffers from the disadvantages brought on by the requirement of complete homogenization and attendant high cost. A second is the direct production of resins having these characteristics via a single catalyst or catalyst mixture in a single reactor. Such a process would provide the component resin portions simultaneously in situ, the resin particles being ultimately mixed on the subparticle level. In theory, this process should be the most rewarding, but, in practice, it is difficult to achieve the correct combination of catalyst and process parameters necessary to obtain the wide diversity of molecular weights required. The third strategy makes use of multistage reactors, the advantage being that a quite diverse average molecular weight can be produced in each stage, and yet the homogeneity of the single reactor process can be preserved. Furthermore, two or more reactors running under their own set of reaction conditions permit the flexibility of staging different variables. To this end, many versions of multistage reactor processes have been offered, but optimization has been elusive. |
The present invention is generally related to a printhead for an inkjet printer and more particularly related to a printhead employing a particle tolerant ink feed filter of small dimensions to reduce particle blockages while maintaining a high rate of ink filling.
Inkjet printers operate by expelling a small volume of ink through a plurality of small orifices in a surface held in proximity to a medium upon which marks or printing is to be placed. These orifices are arranged in a fashion in the surface such that the expulsion of a drop of ink from a selected number of orifices relative to a particular position of the medium results in the production of a portion of a desired character or image. Controlled repositioning of the orifice-bearing surface or the medium followed by another expulsion of ink drops results in the creation of more segments of the desired character or image. Furthermore, inks of various colors may be coupled to individual arrangements of orifices so that selected firing of the orifices can produce a multicolored image by the inkjet printer.
Several mechanisms have been employed to create the force necessary to expel an ink drop from a printhead, among which are thermal, piezoelectric, and electrostatic mechanisms. While the following explanation is made with reference to the thermal ink expulsion mechanism, the present invention has application for the other ink expulsion mechanisms as well.
Expulsion of the ink drop in a conventional thermal inkjet printer is a result of rapid thermal heating of the ink to a temperature which exceeds the boiling point of the ink solvent to create a vapor phase bubble of ink. Rapid heating of the ink is generally achieved by passing a pulse of electric current through an ink ejector which is an individually addressable heater resistor, typically for 1 to 3 microseconds, and the heat generated thereby is coupled to a small volume of ink held in an enclosed area which is generally referred to as a firing chamber. One of the enclosing walls of the firing chamber is formed by the surface which is penetrated by the plurality of orifices. One of the orifices in this orifice plate is arranged in relation to the heater resistor in a manner which enables ink to be expelled from the orifice. As the ink vapor bubble nucleates at the heater resistor and expands, it displaces a volume of ink which forces an equivalent volume of ink out of the orifice for deposition on the medium. The bubble then collapses and the displaced volume of ink is replenished from a larger ink reservoir by way of an ink feed channel in one of the walls of the firing chamber.
It is desirable to have the ink refill the chamber as quickly as possible, thereby enabling very rapid firing of the orifices of the printhead. Rapid firing of the orifices results in the ability to achieve high-speed printing in an inkjet printer. Before the next firing of the heater resistor, the ink must have sufficient time to refill the chamber so that an undesirable variation in the size of the ink drop will not occur. Thus, one limitation on the speed at which printing may occur is related to the speed at which the firing chamber is refilled.
A problem that occasionally manifests itself in inkjet printheads is that of blockage occurring in an ink feed channel or in the orifice of the printhead. Microscopic particles can become lodged in the channel leading to the ink firing chamber thereby causing premature failure of the heater resistor, misdirection of ink drops, or diminished ink supply to the firing chamber resulting in greatly diminished ink drop size. A single orifice which does not fire an ink drop when it is commanded to do so leaves a missing portion from a printed character or creates a band of missing drops from a printed image. The end result is perceived as a poorer quality of printed matter, a highly undesirable characteristic for an inkjet printer. To resolve this undesirable result, others have suggested using spare or redundant orifices to eject ink in place of defective ink ejectors (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,963,882 and 5,640,183) or multiple inlets to the ink firing chamber.
Ink for inkjet printing is conventionally stored in a reservoir associated with the printhead mechanism. The apparatus for storing ink, such as a porous foam material or a sealed container, is known to shed particles, which can plug ink feed channels or ejection orifices. It has been observed that many of the particles are elongate, fibrous particles which are undesired products of the manufacturing process. The fibrous particles occasionally disengage from the ink containment apparatus and are carried by the ink to the printhead despite special cleaning processes and ink filtering which occurs prior to the ink entering the printhead (such as that described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,295 and 5,025,271). The filtering of elongate particles has been addressed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/500,796, "Particle Tolerant Inkjet Printhead Architecture", filed on behalf of Timothy Weber et al. on Jul. 11, 1995, in which a plurality of outer barrier islands prevent elongate particles from reaching the ink feed channels or the ink firing chamber. Ink filtering has also been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,413 in which a plurality of pillars is arranged between the ink reservoir and the firing chamber, each pillar associated with the entrance to a firing chamber. The pillars are spaced apart by a distance less than or equal to the smallest dimension of the system, and are placed as close as possible to a common ink source to prevent particles from entering the firing chamber. The smallest dimension of the system is likely to be either the orifice bore diameter or the width of the passageway connecting the source of ink to the firing chamber.
As the dimensions of the orifices, firing chambers, and ink feed channels are reduced in order to provide improved printing characteristics, the size of the particles which, because of their small size, have passed through the ink feed channels and have been expelled from the orifices of previous designs, can now clog the printhead. In a design which employs orifices or ink feed channels having dimensions smaller than 20 .mu.m, particles and contaminants such as skin cells become candidates for lodging in the ink feed channel or orifice. Furthermore, particles such as skin and other biological cells are not rigid and therefore can deform and pass through a filter having a pore size equal to the smallest dimension in the printhead. Previous attempts to control and filter particles, while well suited for larger particles, do not solve the problem of clogging of the smaller passageways by the smaller particles. |
Q:
How do I change the value of a text box from another class file?
I have a windows form up. In my Form1 class, I can set txtBox.Text="text" and it would change and update it.
I have another class, let's call it foo.
How would I in the foo class be able to change txtBox.Text from the foo class?
For example:
Class Form1: Form
{
txtBox.Text="0230104";
}
//In a different class file
Class foo
{
txtBox.Text="0";
}
How would I be able to change the text box with text from another class other than Form1?
A:
Add a property to Form1:
public string TxtBoxText {
get { return txtBox.Text; }
set { txtBox.Text = value;}
}
|
Q:
HTML: Mis-Typing Good Or Bad?
I happened to write this:
<input type="hdnStatus" name="hidden" value="1" />
Instead of:
<input type="hidden" name="hdnStatus" value="1" />
I was surprised that the first line generated a text box with no correct type
specified.
If first line generates text box, then is the below line of any use:
<input type="text" name="tbox" value="" />
It definitely is. What I mean is that rendering engines should be smart enough to
reject any incorrect input. Such things always create confusion and problems.
How did that happen?
Is this browser's fault or something else?
Or it is something wrongly correct?
A:
From the HTML 4.01 spec:
Attribute definitions
type = text|password|checkbox|radio|submit|reset|file|hidden|image|button [CI]
This attribute specifies the type of control to create. The default value for this attribute is "text".
So it appears that your browser falls back to the default value for type if it is invalid. This seems like sensible behaviour to me.
|
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before...
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before... is a compilation of Rough Trade's artists covering classics from the label's back-catalogue. It was released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the legendary indie label, in late 2003. A limited edition 7" split single featuring "Ride It On" by Delays and "Lions After Slumber" by The Veils was released to promote the album.
Track listing
"Fa Ce La" - 2:22 (Eastern Lane, originally by The Feelies)
"Eating Noddemix" - 2:08 (Adam Green, originally by Young Marble Giants)
"We Could Send Letters" - 5:25 (Mystic Chords of Memory, originally by Aztec Camera)
"Jazz is the Teacher, Funk is the Preacher" - 3:39 (Oneida, originally by James Blood Ulmer)
"At Last I am Free" - 4:24 (Elizabeth Fraser, originally by Chic, covered on Rough Trade by Robert Wyatt in 1980)
"Dunes" - 3:38 (The Hidden Cameras, originally by The Clean)
"Tell Me" - 5:08 (The Tyde, originally by Galaxie 500)
"Is This It" - 3:01 (Royal City, originally by The Strokes)
"I Had a Little Boat" - 3:09 (Alasdair Roberts, originally by Ivor Cutler)
"Ride It On" - 3:28 (Delays, originally by Mazzy Star)
"Lions After Slumber" - 3:30 (The Veils, originally by Scritti Politti)
"Part-Time Punks" - 2:35 (Jeffrey Lewis, originally by The Television Personalities)
"Tugboat" - 6:48 (British Sea Power, originally by Galaxie 500)
"Last Nite" - 2:35 (The Detroit Cobras, originally by The Strokes)
"Winter" - 3:37 (The Fiery Furnaces, originally by The Fall)
"Final Day" - 2:18 (Belle & Sebastian, originally by Young Marble Giants)
Category:2003 compilation albums
Category:Indie rock compilation albums
Category:Alternative rock compilation albums
Category:Record label compilation albums
Category:Covers albums
Category:Rough Trade Records compilation albums |
US Custom House sold again, this time to Boston-area firm
US Custom House (image courtesy Wikipedia Commons)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Portland and Boston have had numerous connections over the years. The original coinflip that gave Portland its name (after the city in Maine) could alternatively have seen it named Boston. One of Portland's largest corporate headquarters is Adidas, which owns Boston area-based Reebok. Boston may be to New York what Portland is to Seattle: the smaller but sometimes scrappier of two regional cultural capitols. After the Portland Trail Blazers' greatest star, Bill Walton, parted with the franchise a couple years after winning the team won the 1977 NBA championship and he the 1978 MVP, he eventually made his way to the Boston Celtics, winning a second title there and a sixth-man-of-the-year award.
Enter Woburn, Massachusetts' Eastern Real Estate a privately held commercial real estate firm founded in 2000, with a development portfolio totaling over $1 billion. Eastern announced today that it will acquire the United States Custom House for on NW Broadway for $4.74 million from the Government Services Administration.
In our last installment of this ongoing saga, in 2011, local developer PREM Group was unable to finalize its purchase from the government after agreeing to a $2.75 million sale in 2010; PREM had initially beat out other interested parties such as local developer Joe Weston. The dissolution of the sale may have had something to do with the amount of maintenance the building may need. As Wendy Coverwell reported in the Portland Business Journal last November, back in 1997, Sera Architects estimated the building needed $18 million to $24.3 million in repairs, in 2009 dollars.
The 78,838-square foot, four-story building encompasses a full block in the Pearl District, bounded by NW Broadway, Everett and Davis Streets, and NW Eighth Avenue. Originally built in 1901, it was designed by James Knox Taylor, who - ironically now given the current sale - had studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and designed many government buildings. Construction was supervised by local architect Edgar Lazarus, who also designed local/regional landmarks like Vista House at Crown Point in the Columbia River Gorge and one of the major buildings for the Lewis & Clark Exposition of 1905. The latter is particularly notable, because this world's fair marked one of the most important turning points in Portland's history: when the muddy streets, plank roads and Victorian houses of a large frontier town gave way to a major American city. The Custom House, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, expresses that growing ambition, with an Italian Renaissance Revival style: grafting the lines of quintessential historic city-states like Venice onto the DNA of a metropolis still in its infancy.
As its name indicates, for the building's first 67 years the US Custom Service was located there, before the agency moved next door to the post office in 1968 - itself a building now destined to be either reimagined or torn down with the letter carriers set to move out. For several years the Army Corps of Engineers had its offices in the Custom House, and then the Portland International School became one of a handful of potential candidates to nearly move in. It almost became home to the University of Oregon's Portland campus, which instead renovated the cast-iron White Stag Block along the waterfront at Naito Parkway and NW Couch Street. A major boutique hotel chain also had at one point joined the potential suitors.
In its press release, the developers seem to say the right things. “We are thrilled and honored to be the new stewards of this important piece of Portland history,” co-founder Brian Kelly of Eastern Real Estate is quoted as saying. “It is an absolute gem of the Pearl District and the city, and we look forward to the building’s active use on the North Park Blocks.” The key words there, of course, are stewards and active. But as we know, press releases and statements of intent only mean so much. And Eastern does have an interesting track record. Although their portfolio seems heavy on shopping and retail, which could easily mean a lot of ubiquitous chain stores, the company is widely known for converting the 1.2 million square foot former Wang Laboratories corporate headquarters in Lowell, Massachusetts into a multi-tenant office tower called Cross Point. On the website, the fact that the building was purchased for a mere $525,000 and sold four years later for over $100 million. So regardless of whether Eastern is successful, they not stay the owners forever.
Program-wise, the company has not yet indicated whether the Custom House will have a variety of tenants, just one, or a few. But the new owner seems to recognize that the building's value lies not in the structure itself, which needs repairs, but in its long-term value as a historic property of a large scale with the ability, like the Brewery Blocks, to attract hoardes of people. According to an Oregonian report by Elliot Njus published today, the company says tenants have not yet been determined.
The Custom House is also ideally situated on NW Broadway, the border between the tony Pearl District and the rougher but burgeoning Old Town, with downtown just a few blocks to the south. It's also just a few blocks from the trains of Union Station as well as the MAX line. It also looks out on the North Park Blocks, just across the street from a cluster of art galleries and the Museum of Contemporary Craft; 511 Broadway, itself being converted into a home for the Pacific Northwest College of Art, is also just a couple blocks down Broadway. Powell's Books and the Brewery Blocks are also an easy stroll, as are any number of cultural offerings, shops and public spaces.
GBD Architects, which has a now extensive history of green renovations in the Pearl District, such as the five-building Brewery Blocks mixed use development, the Portland Armory (now home to the Gerding Theater), and an in-progress renovation of the Meier & Frank warehouse into a headquarters for Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas. KPFF Consulting Engineers is also on the team.
This is a magnificent piece of historic architecture. I know the structural issues will be a huge challenge. It appears that the prospective new owners have signed up a good local team of professionals. That's good news, as well. |
"True" posterior communicating artery aneurysm.
A "true" posterior communicating artery aneurysm was noted in our series of 490 intracranial aneurysms among 419 patients. The possible surgical significance of this type of aneurysm is discussed. |
In light of the recent sale for the Google Pixelbook (that ends today, so make sure to grab one while you can), I thought it might be helpful to roundup some of the better Android games that are compatible with Chrome OS and work well with the keyboard. I for one hate getting fingerprints all over my screen, plus I also find a keyboard and mouse to be the optimal way to play a lot of games. Luckily Android has quite a few PC ports that have retained their keyboard functionality, and there are also more than a few high profile mobile releases that have added in keyboard support thanks to the rising popularity of Chrome OS.
Now, I would like to point out that almost all of these games do not make it clear what the exact controls are for their keyboard support. Rest assured that I have tested every single game on this list and they all work. So with that out of the way, here are the best keyboard compatible Android games available on the Play Store for Chrome OS.
Lode Runner 1
If you have ever played through the original Lode Runner, then you will know that it's a great classic puzzle platformer with simple controls and genre-defining gameplay. Oddly enough Nexon is the company that created this new interpretation of the classic for Android, and it's totally free to play. Oh, and despite the Play Store clearly listing advertisements in the game, there are actually none to be found. Of course, Lode Runner would not be included in this list if it didn't have keyboard controls. You will still have to use the touchpad to navigate the menus, but once you are in a stage you can navigate with the left and right arrow buttons, and use Z and X to shoot your beam in corresponding directions.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
--
Lode Runner Reborn. Simple, mobile-optimized controls. A fun and fast-paced experience for players of all skill levels. Join a worldwide community of gamers who share a love for the arcade classic. Run, climb, and blast your way through over 300 new stages. Build and share your own stages with the Stage Editor. Challenge players from around the world in Championship mode.
SuperTuxKart
SuperTuxKart is a free and open-source kart racing video game themed after a few icons in the open-source community. Think Mario Kart, but with Linux, BSD, and Mozilla characters. It's been around for years, but only just recently was it ported to Android. Of course, since this was initially a desktop game, the keyboard controls have remained intact. They will even be explained to you as you are playing, which is very helpful for those that are new to the game.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
--
Karts. Nitro. Action. SuperTuxKart is a 3D open-source arcade racer with a variety characters, tracks, and modes to play. Our aim is to create a game that is more fun than realistic, and provide an enjoyable experience for all ages.
Mars: Mars
Android Police coverage: Mars: Mars is a delightful low-poly platformer mixed with an endless runner
Mars: Mars offers a solid casual arcade lander gaming experience, plus it looks fantastic, and the controls couldn't be any simpler. All you need to use are the left and right arrow keys to fire each booster individually. You will sometimes have to use these boosters in tandem so that you can align yourself with the pads you are required to land on. But be careful, because if you come in too hot, you'll splatter all over the ground.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
--
MarsCorp is ready to take the first group of volunteers on an exciting mission to Mars. Fly around Mars in one of our brand new jetpacks and discover what’s out there. As part of the “Put A Human On Mars No Matter What” program, we are proud to announce that MarsCorp is the first company cutting enough corners to make human flights to Mars finally viable.
Rusted Warfare - RTS Strategy
It saddens me that the real-time strategy genre has been co-opted on mobile by a neverending assault of casual Clash of Clans clones. Those of us more familiar with the real-time strategy games of old pine for the days when Warcraft II reigned supreme. Well, it may surprise you to find out that there are actually a few options out there on Android, and one of them is called Rusted Warfare. Now, like most traditional RTS games you will still spend the majority of your time using your mouse, but keyboard controls are most definitely included. Think of them as complementary to the mouse controls. Things like moving the map with your arrow keys, or using enter to close a dialog box work just as you would expect.
Monetization: $1.99 / contains ads / no IAPs
--
Rusted Warfare is an fully featured RTS inspired by classic real-time strategy games such as Total Annihilation and Command and Conquer.
A pure RTS with no microtransactions and no DRM
Online and offline multiplayer over wifi and mobile networks
Campaign, skirmish, survival, and challenge missions, with full AI
Over 40+ unique land, air, and sea units for balanced gameplay
Experimental units and nuclear missiles for the big endgame battles
Fast interface: Issue commands through the minimap, multi-touch support, unit groups, rally points
Strategic zoom: Zoom out to view and issue commands across the whole battlefield
Save and load games including multiplayer games for that quick lunch time battle
Reconnect disconnected multiplayer games and avoid any disappointment
Create and load your own custom levels (see forums for details)
Fully scales from phones to large screen tablets
USB keyboard and mouse support
Delver
Delver is probably the oldest game in this list, but it's still one of my favorites, and it works very well with keyboard and touchpad controls. Like most first-person titles, you will have to deal with the touchpad for camera movement. So sure, it may take a few minutes to get used to using the touchpad in combination with the keyboard, but once you get the hang of it, it's very serviceable.
Monetization: $1.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
Delver is a first person action roguelike dungeon crawl with crunchy pixels. Take the role of an adventurer that tries their fate in the dark dungeons (and probably dies horribly). Fight monsters, grab loot, horde potions, and level up. Quest for the Yithidian orb at the darkest depths of the dungeon and attempt to bring it back to the surface.
Slayaway Camp
Slayaway Camp is a voxel-based sliding puzzler that is filled to the brim with '80s slasher film gore. Like any quality puzzler, the gameplay is easy to grasp, though it's difficult to master. What's nice is that the entire game can be played with the keyboard. You don't even need to use your mouse for the menus. Everything just works. Sadly the developer's spiritual successor to Slayaway Camp does not retain the keyboard controls. So if you want to enjoy some '80s slasher fun on your Chromebook while using the keyboard, you'll have to do so in this specific release.
Monetization: $2.99 / no ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $1.99
--
A diabolical puzzle game that also happens to be a bloody tribute to the VHS era of videotape horror. No one is safe… no law enforcement enforces the law enough… and no animals or children are harmed… in the summer horror hit of 1984.
Riptide GP: Renegade
The Riptide watercraft racing series has had a lot of success on mobile, so it isn't a surprise to see that the developer has included keyboard controls for Chrome OS. The latest release in the series is called Riptide GP: Renegade, and you can use your keyboard arrow buttons to control your craft of choice, as well as use your boost when needed. There is no need for the touchpad unless you are navigating the menu. Oh, and if you'd like to play an earlier game in the series, those work with keyboard controls just as well as this one does.
Monetization: $2.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
Experience the future of illicit hydrojet racing, where armored riders kick out death-defying stunts over massive waterfalls, dodge cops through public waterways, and boost at breakneck speeds across surging waves. Play through the single player career to unlock new vehicles, playable characters, and customization features as you take down bosses and build your crew.
Space Grunts
Android Police coverage: OrangePixel's Space Grunts Is A Roguelike Turn-Based Shooter, And It's 50% Off For The Launch
Space Grunts is a turn-based shooter that has more in common with XCOM or Final Fantasy Tactics than many other OrangePixel games, but naturally, it keeps the old-school visuals Orange Pixel fans are fond of. Space Grunts is also available on the Chrome Web Store, but if you already own it on Android, why spend more money on the same game? The keyboard controls work just as great in the Android app as they do in the Chrome Web Store app, and since the entire game is turn-based, this means you can take your time learning how to use them.
Monetization: $3.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
Space Grunts combines fast paced arcade action with turn-based gameplay. The year 2476, Earth's space-federation has been building moon-bases across the galaxy. One of those moon-bases has been sending a distress signal. Space Grunts are a group of intergalactic "problem" solvers, sent to investigate.
Project Highrise
Android Police coverage: Kalypso Media's skyscraper construction sim 'Project Highrise' is out on Android
Project Highrise is another PC port that was originally designed around mouse controls, but that doesn't mean keyboard controls aren't included for things like moving the camera or selecting your tools. I find that the Android version works just as well on a Chromebook as the PC game on my personal computer. Sure, the UI has a slight touch-based look to it, but that just means you can also play with the touchscreen if you feel like it. It's a versatile release for sure, and the tower-building simulation gameplay is definitely fantastic.
Monetization: $3.99 / no ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $3.49
--
Unleash your inner architect as the mega-hit PC skyscraper sim arrives on tablet. Playing as both architect and developer, your job is to build world-famous skyscrapers that will be the envy of the entire city. Manage every aspect of your building from construction through to keeping your tenants happy. Success is entirely in your hands.
Animal Super Squad
Android Police coverage: Animal Super Squad is out on Android, and it shouldn't be missed
If you've yet to play Animal Super Squad, stop what you are doing and get this game installed posthaste. It plays like a mashup of some of the best side-scrolling platformers out there, with a dash of Trials and the kart sections of Donkey Kong Country. The entire premise is totally outlandish as you will spend a lot of your time driving a toilet kart, but if potty humor isn't your thing, assuredly the solid gameplay, full keyboard controls, and a premium price point are. This is another one that can be played without ever touching your touchpad.
Monetization: $4.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
Animal Super Squad is a physics-based adventure game with community driven content and endless replayability. Speed through a world full of dangers and bananas, find all the hats, or forget all that nonsense and just play other people’s stuff. Animal Super Squad is a new and creative game where a big part of the gameplay is created and shared by the community.
Sproggiwood
The majority of Sproggiwood can be navigated with the keyboard, though there will be a few buttons that you will have to use your touchpad to click on, but these are mainly used outside of the dungeons. Performance is pretty good, the framerate felt smooth the entire time, if a little on the lower side when compared to the PC release. All in all it offers an acceptable roguelike experience that works well with keyboard controls.
Monetization: $4.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
Bring civilization to Sproggiwood, a story-driven, turn-based roguelike set in a humorous world inspired by Finnish mythology. Grow your civilization and plunder procedural dungeons with six unique classes. Outsmart mischievous monsters who work together in unexpected ways. No two dungeon dives are alike.
Beholder
Beholder is another fantastic PC port for Android that works great on Chrome OS. It's mainly designed around mouse controls, though you can use your keyboard to select menu items, move the camera, and few other things. You get to play the part of a landlord in a totalitarian State who spies on his tenants in order to report on anyone plotting against said State. While that is your goal, you do have a bit of choice on how any given scenario plays out. You always have the option of blackmail, or just straight up treating people with kindness, but in a totalitarian state, these choices may very well backfire.
Monetization: $4.99 / no ads / IAPs $1.99 a piece
--
A totalitarian State controls every aspect of private and public life. Laws are oppressive. Surveillance is total. Privacy is dead. You are the State-installed manager of an apartment building. Your daily routine involves making the building a sweet spot for tenants, who will come and go. However, that is simply a facade that hides your real mission.
Doom & Destiny Advanced
Doom & Destiny Advanced exists in a weird spot as a sequel, prequel, and a reboot. It takes place before the events of the first game in the series, but it was released after, plus some things have been changed in order to clean up prior story elements and design choices. It still plays great as a turn-based RPG, and yes the story is still as goofy as ever. Keyboard controls work wonderfully since you can easily move your characters and select their attacks, all without the need for the touchpad.
Monetization: $4.99 / no ads / IAPs $1.99 a piece
--
Venture with the most nerdy anti-heroes of all times, face a crazy adventure, defeat a mad business man and save the universe, one fetch quest at a time. Embody 15 different heroic spirits, equip gear, master skills and character combinations to fight in turn based combat 300+ different enemies and, while you progress into an over 30 hours main quest, feel free to explore 500+ locations looking for more than 100 hidden secrets.
Death Road to Canada
Android Police coverage: Death Road to Canada just made a pit stop on the Play Store on its way to the Great White North
Death Road to Canada may be considered a little pricey, but trust me when I say it is worth it. Each playthrough is randomly generated, which keeps things fresh no matter how many times you play. The goofy story will have you traveling to Canada to escape a zombie outbreak, and a few companions will be joining you. Keyboard controls work perfectly, and there is no need to use the mouse. Heck, you can even plug in a physical controller to play this if you like, which is an excellent option for when you are tired of slaying zombies with your keyboard.
Monetization: $9.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
Death Road to Canada is a Randomly Generated Road Trip Action-RPG. You manage a group of jerks as they explore cities, find weird people, and face up to 500 zombies at once. Everything's randomized: locations, events, survivor personalities and skills. There's a different story every time you play. Travel the Death Road from Florida to Canada, the last nation on Earth.
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
Beamdog offers quite a few CRPGs on Android including the Baldur's Gate series. Due to the price of all of their games, I have only been able to test a few, but it would seem they all work with keyboard controls. My favorite out of all of its releases is Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, which is why that is the game I chose to list here, but please feel free to ignore my pick and go with one of your favorites. As with any of Beamdog's games, you can expect hours and hours of classic RPG action all wrapped up in a detailed and intriguing story.
Monetization: $9.99 / no ads / no IAPs
--
In the northernmost reaches of the Forgotten Realms lies the region of icy tundra known as Icewind Dale. Journey deep into the Spine of the World mountains, a harsh and unforgiving territory settled by only the hardiest folk. Encounter fearsome beasts that have learned the cunning and ferocity needed to survive among the snow-shrouded peaks.
Sonic the Hedgehog™ Classic
Sega recently removed all of its paid upfront classic games to re-release them as free-to-play versions filled with ads. This hasn't worked out too well for it, but it does give us all the opportunity to try out a few of its better games for free, such as Sonic 1. If you've ever played Sonic before, then you should know the controls are dead simple. All you need to use are the directional keys to move along with the J key for your jump. Oh, and the other classic Sonic games work with the keyboard too, such as Sonic 2 and Sonic CD.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs $1.99 a piece
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The Sonic game that started it all is now free-to-play and optimized for mobile devices. Race at lightning speeds across seven classic zones as Sonic the Hedgehog. Run and spin through loop-de-loops as you collect rings and defeat enemies on your mission to save the world from the evil Dr. Eggman.
PinOut
Android Police coverage: PinOut is a modern and retro, vibrant and dark, take on Pinball from the makers of Smash Hit
The best way to describe PinOut would be as a pinball endless runner. Now, you may be thinking, "how exactly does that work?" Well, it's very simple actually. Each table is connected to the next, and you have a time limit to get your ball to the next one, or else it is game over. What's nice is that your shift keys work the flippers on each side of each table, and really that's all you need to control this game.
Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs $2.99 a piece
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Pinball reinvented by the award-winning developers of Smash Hit and Does not Commute. Race against time in a continuous journey through this mysterious canyon of pulsating lights and throbbing retro wave beats. The classic pinball mechanic remodeled into a breathtaking arcade experience. PinOut is playable at no cost and free from ads.
PAC-MAN 256 - Endless Maze
Android Police coverage: Pac-Man 256 Is Live In The Play Store With Tons Of Power Ups, Controller Support, And A Not-Terrible IAP Scheme
Usually, I am not a fan of free-to-play arcade games, but I make an exception for PAC-MAN 256. Despite how annoying its ads are, or how difficult it is to get into another round after you die, I can't stop playing what is essentially a Pac-Man endless runner. Now, I used to think I was a pretty good player on my phone, but the second I booted this up on my Pixelbook the noticeable difference in how precise the movement is when using the directional keys on my keyboard was night and day when compared to a touchscreen. On my first playthrough on my Pixelbook I blew past my high score with ease.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $4.99
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From the creators of Crossy Road… Cherries are red Ghosts are blue Munch a power pellet Get Lasers too. PAC-MAN 256 is the maze that never ends. But the Glitch is coming for you…
PAC-MAN perfectly reinvented for your mobile phone or tablet
Outsmart ghosts with over 15 ridiculous power ups: Laser, Tornado, Giant and much more
Stay ahead of the super-villain lurking in PAC-MAN since the beginning: The Glitch
Take on a new gang of revived retro-ghosts including Sue, Funky, and Spunky
Waka waka on PAC-DOTS and string a 256 combo for a super special surprise
Controller support
Play it on NVIDIA SHIELD
Asphalt 8: Airborne
Android Police review: Asphalt 8 Airborne Review: You'll Believe A Car Can Fly
It's pretty safe to assume that everyone here is familiar with Asphalt 8: Airborne. As one of the most high-profile games released on mobile, it's nice to see that Chrome OS is supported with keyboard controls. Personally, I found the controls work very well, though it may take some time to get used to them. But obviously, the time spent to do so is worth it when you can enjoy some fast-paced car racing action on your Chromebook of choice.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $99.99
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In Asphalt 8, you’ll race in some of the hottest, most high-performance dream machines ever created, from cars to bikes, taking them on a global tour of speed. From the blazing Nevada Desert to the tight turns of Tokyo, you’ll find a world of challenge, excitement & arcade fun on your road to the top.
ROBLOX
Last but not least is ROBLOX. Now, before I started on this list I had never heard of this game, but apparently, it is a huge hit with kids, and there is even a promotion going on right now for new Pixelbook owners that can score you a rare set of wings for your character. The gameplay varies wildly depending on what type of game you choose to play, and let me tell you, there are hundreds to choose from. Think Minecraft, but worse looking and with more tools to build unique game modes. Luckily the keyboard controls do not require the touchpad to move the camera, unlike the Android version of Minecraft.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $0.49 - $199.99
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Welcome to the world’s largest social platform for play. Every month, over 64 million active players come to Roblox to imagine, create, and play together within immersive 3D worlds built by gamers just like you. Already have an account? Log in with your existing Roblox account and play now.
And that is the end of the list. Obviously, these aren't the only Android games that work with the Chrome OS keyboard, these just happen to be some of my personal favorites sprinkled in with the more notable releases I could find. So if you happen to know of any other games that work great with the keyboard, please feel free to mention them in the comments below. |
In the next episode of "Backstory," Don Van Natta Jr. digs into two baseball players "banned for life," and in exploring "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, finds a drama that is still playing out a century after it began. (1:00)
"Baseball is the heart of America. As a patriot, I would never do anything to degrade ..."
"Besmirch. It's better."
"... to besmirch our national pastime."
--Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), rehearsing his testimony with his attorney before the grand jury convened to determine whether the 1919 World Series was fixed, "Boardwalk Empire," Season 1, Episode 8 ("Hold Me in Paradise")
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One hundred years might seem like a long enough time to wait. But what we are talking about here is the Black Sox scandal, baseball's darkest hour and an oft-told tale that has captured the imagination of historians, novelists, filmmakers and those fans who feel the betrayal in their bones. The gamblers and crooked ballplayers who conspired to fix the outcome of the 1919 World Series robbed people not only of their money but also of their faith in baseball.
That's why baseball became puritanical about gambling, why Rule 21d, the prohibition of betting, has been posted in clubhouses since 1927, why the all-time hit king, Pete Rose, was banished from baseball. For years, MLB argued in courts to prevent states other than Nevada from legalizing sports gambling. But then Major League Baseball and MGM Resorts announced last November that they had entered into an agreement to promote legalized gambling just in time for the 2019 season, and ever since, the gnats of irony have been buzzing about. A group of Chicago White Sox players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson (top row, far right), was accused of accepting bribes and throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Bettman/Getty Images
They just happened to choose the centennial anniversary of the 1919 World Series and the 30th anniversary of commissioner Bart Giamatti ejecting Pete Rose to roll out this new policy. The same Pete Rose who often signs autographs at MGM Resorts' Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas. The same MGM Resorts that owns the Borgata, a rose-colored high-rise paradise north of the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. The same Borgata where disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy liked to try his luck.
Oh, and how's this for irony? Borgata is lingo in Italian for mafia. Among the protégés of Arnold Rothstein, the man behind the fix, were such mob legends as Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano.
All of which brings me to the Borgata on this beautiful late-summer day. As a baseball romantic and a gambling agnostic, I am curious to see if MLB is selling its soul to the devil or just keeping up with the Joneses -- all the other major team sports have embraced wagering as a way of increasing both revenue and "fan engagement."
The real Arnold Rothstein, as portrayed in David Pietrusza's excellent biography, "Rothstein," would certainly like it here. "The Brain," as he was known, loved poker so much that he literally died for it, and there's a world-class tournament going on. He was a billiards aficionado, helping to bankroll New York Giants manager John McGraw's pool hall near New York's Herald Square, and there's a billiards table in the men's spa at the Borgata. There are restaurants and shops and slot machines and games of chance and patrons galore.
Deep in the heart of the casino floor is a sportsbook and restaurant called Moneyline, where a litter of puppy TV screens surrounds one big 40-inch LED mama. Turned to various sports events, they shed their ambient light over gamblers nursing drinks and burgers while studying their crib sheets before tapping their phones or heading to one of the six betting windows. Today, the action is mostly about baseball: 15 games on the schedule, starting with the Washington Nationals at the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:15 p.m., and ending with some West Coast evening tilts. Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were temporarily suspended from the game for working as greeters at Atlantic City casinos. In June, the Borgata casino unveiled a new sports betting lounge -- where fans can wager on MLB games -- just north of the Boardwalk. WAYNE PARRY/AP PHOTO
The bettors know far more about the matchups than I do, but I suspect I know something they don't. On this date, Sept. 18, 100 years ago, the scheme to fix the Series was formally hatched. It too happened in a hotel, the Buckminster in Boston. According to "Eight Men Out," Eliot Asinof's classic account, that's where the first-place Chicago White Sox were staying as they played out the regular season and where first baseman Chick Gandil invited an old acquaintance, gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, up to his room to discuss a proposition. Chick and seven of his teammates could make it so that the underdog Cincinnati Redlegs would win the upcoming Series. All they wanted was $80,000, 10 grand apiece. Chick and friends had won the World Series two years before; this time they preferred filthy lucre to a shiny trophy.
The details of the scandal are still being debated. How much did Rothstein really have to do with the fix? (He was officially exonerated, but he did bankroll Sullivan.) Was 29-game winner Eddie Cicotte ripe for the pickings because he didn't get an expected chance at a 30th victory and a bonus? How much did outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson really have to do with losing the Series if he hit .375 in the eight games, 149 points higher than teammate and eventual Hall of Famer Eddie Collins?
There is another, more personal reason for my quest. Gambling might be in my blood. I recently heard of a dormant family rumor that we on my father's side of the tree are somehow related to Arnold Rothstein. Curiosity led me to a search of the internet that revealed this fascinating tidbit from the engagement announcements in the New-York Tribune of Oct. 14, 1919:
"WULF-ROTHSTEIN -- Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rothstein announce the engagement of their daughter, Lillian, to Mr. William Wulf."
My great-grandfather Charles Rothstein and Arnold's father, Abraham Rothstein, were both in the garment industry. I have yet to find a direct connection, but were there so many clothes-making Rothsteins in New York at the turn of the century that they weren't related? Maybe Arnold went to the wedding after he didn't fix the World Series. I do see a facial resemblance between my grandmother and Arnold. And I know that before the Series, he met with gamblers in New York's Hotel Astor ... which is also where my father had his bar mitzvah. The author's grandmother, Lillian -- here with his sister, Karen -- married William Wulf not long after the 1919 World Series ... and might have been related to kingpin Arnold Rothstein. Courtesy Steve Wulf
Anyway, I settle in for my afternoon at the Moneyline and open a menu called the Playbook. On the right-hand pages are various unhealthy choices, while on the left-hand sides are quotes from famous sports figures such as Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron and Vince Lombardi. One of the quotes that catches my eye is from one of my old acquaintances, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda:
"In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen. Those who watch it happen. And those who wonder what the hell happened."
Count me among that third group. I never thought I'd see this day.
"Fixed the World Series?"
The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it all, I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people -- and with the singlemindedness of a burglar blowing a safe." --Nick Carraway, the narrator of "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald
There is a gambler in "The Great Gatsby," Meyer Wolfsheim, whom Fitzgerald patterned after Rothstein. But for baseball fans, the most evocative line in the novel might be the last: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." 2019 MLB Playoffs From the wild-card game through the World Series, we've got it all covered. Complete coverage
So we bet on, recalling a time a century ago when baseball was so caught up in the current of gambling that the powers-that-be brushed aside rumors of games fixed by the likes of Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Hal Chase. You weren't supposed to wager in baseball, kinda like you weren't supposed to drink during Prohibition. Prop bets, called freak wagers then, were particularly prevalent. ESPN's David Purdum recently uncovered this item from the Sept. 23, 1919, issue of the Chicago Tribune:
"Betting on the great baseball classic picked up in Indianapolis today and quite a few freak wagers were offered. ... [The] board at the Dennison had lots of Chicago money offered at 90 to 100 that the White Sox would cop the first game in Cincinnati. Even money was offered that the Pale Hose would steal more bases during the series than the Reds."
The more things change... After the MLB-MGM deal was announced last November, Jim Murren, the MGM Resorts chairman, talked about why the pace of baseball was an asset for micro-betting. "Baseball is perfectly suited for this," he said. "It will increase social networks. People will be talking about the next pitch, the next out, the next inning ... regardless of the outcome or the score in that given period."
As for the so-called forbidden fruit of gambling, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred put this spin on the partnership: "It's more than just making a business deal. It's having in place a set of policies for the industry that gives us comfort on what is always our most important issue -- that is integrity." "Apparently, MLB could put a price on its so-called 'integrity' after all," says "Jeopardy!" champion -- and professional gambler -- James Holzhauer of the league's $80 million agreement with MGM to promote legalized gambling. GDP Photos/MediaPunch/IPX/AP PHOTO
If Arnold Rothstein was the most renowned gambler of his day, that distinction today probably belongs to James Holzhauer, whose run on "Jeopardy!" earlier this year (32 wins, $2,464,216) captivated the nation. Holzhauer, who became a professional gambler because he couldn't get a job in Major League Baseball, was kind enough to answer a few email questions. When asked what his reaction was when MLB and MGM announced their deal, he wrote: "I had two reactions. 1) It's long overdue for leagues to recognize the legitimacy of sports gambling. 2) Apparently, MLB could put a price on its so-called 'integrity,' after all."
It would be naive to think that baseball shouldn't reap some of the benefits of a billion-dollar industry. But it certainly wasn't shy about trumpeting its new four-year, $80 million relationship with MGM. At the Japan Series between the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners on March 20 and 21, A's players wore MGM Resorts Japan patches sewed on the right sleeves of their uniforms.
With integrity concerns in mind, major league managers now have to provide their lineup cards to the league office 15 minutes before they're released to the public to reduce the possibility that sharp bettors could benefit from inside information. A Swiss company called Sportradar is now the official distributor of major league baseball data. On July 25, the fantasy sports site DraftKings announced a multiyear agreement with MLB to become the "Authorized Gaming Operator." Peeking into the future, Matt Rybaltowski of SportsHandle.com wrote, "Imagine a scenario if Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is facing New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge in Game 7 of the World Series. The bet types could allow fans to wager on whether Kershaw's next pitch would be a ball or a strike." While the eight "Black Sox" players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series, seen here in court in 1920, were eventually cleared by a grand jury, new baseball commissioner Kenesaw Landis banned them from professional baseball for life. BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES
This embrace of gambling is a little unsettling for those of us who grew up thinking that the ghost of Kenesaw Mountain Landis -- the commissioner who cleansed the game in the 1920s -- was still in charge. The quirks of betting laws also lead to some creative workarounds. If you drive across the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, for instance, you will see pedestrians and bicyclists stopped a little more than halfway toward the New Jersey side, placing bets on their apps because New Jersey allows mobile sports betting and New York does not, even though the state does permit sports betting at its upstate casinos.
But even upstate New York -- namely, Cooperstown -- is having a problem with the new policy. In August, esteemed Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan wrote a scathing column that took baseball to task for barring Rose from the Hall of Fame. "Keeping him out because of gambling when you are now officially in partnership with gambling interests is hypocrisy of the highest order," Ryan wrote. "Pete Rose didn't come back to baseball. Baseball came back to him. Give the Hit King his plaque."
Ryan doesn't think the character clause is cause to keep Rose out. "Pete Rose is no angel, but neither are a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame," he says. "We're keeping a player with 4,256 hits, 17 All-Star appearances and three world championships out of Cooperstown because he did something that baseball now says it's okay to do." It's so, Joe: White Sox outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson hit .375 with six RBIs, the only home run and no fielding errors in the 1919 World Series. APA/Getty Images
Another interested party in baseball's changing views on gambling is Allison Jackson, a 24-year-old fitness instructor from Greenville, South Carolina. She also happens to be the great-great-grandniece of Shoeless Joe, who was banned from baseball because of his alleged involvement in the Black Sox scandal. "He had the highest batting average and the only home run in the 1919 World Series," she says. "He has the third-highest batting average in history and he was proven innocent in a court of law. And you're gonna tell me that betting's not so bad now?"
But legalized gambling comes with a larger concern than injustice -- namely, treachery.
Holzhauer, for one, isn't worried. "I can see why any discussion of gambling makes people think of the Black Sox," he says. "But that scandal has nothing to do with the current state of sports betting. If a team tried to throw the 2019 World Series, the extreme imbalance of betting action in today's regulated market would get them caught immediately."
Kevin Braig, an attorney from Columbus, Ohio, is uniquely suited to talk about the subject because he is an expert on gaming, a die-hard sports fan (he grew up in Cincinnati watching Rose) and a baseball historian with a particular interest in the 1919 Black Sox. Braig agrees with Holzhauer that gambling is too well-regulated now to allow a repeat of 1919: "By moving into the gambling space, MLB is strengthening the integrity of the game. There was no commissioner then and a weak National Commission that did not want to engage with gambling at all. There is another reason we should trust the outcomes. The most valuable asset in sports is rivalry -- Ohio State vs. Michigan, Yankees vs. Red Sox. Nobody has a greater interest in making sure that the games are contested to maximize authentic, genuine rivalry than an organization like MLB.
"I have zero, zip, zilch concern about MLB and gambling. None." Two years before he became the ringleader of the Black Sox scandal, first baseman Chick Gandil helped lead Chicago to a World Series championship. In 1916 a Cleveland newspaper described Gandil as "a most likeable player, and one of excellent habits." BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES
Eddie Dominguez begs to differ. He's a former Boston police officer who was the security agent for the Red Sox from 1999 to 2007 before moving over to MLB's Department of Investigations in the aftermath of the Mitchell report on use of steroids and other PEDs in the game. With co-authors Christian Red and Teri Thompson, Dominguez wrote the 2018 book "Baseball Cop," subtitled "The Dark Side of America's National Pastime."
"The vast majority of players and coaches are honest, decent people," Dominguez says. "But I can also envision all sorts of scenarios in which someone with inside information who doesn't make a lot of money will tip off friends who gamble as to what a pitcher will throw on a certain count. Baseball can't control everybody around the game."
Dominguez should know. In one chapter of his book, he relates a story about former Red Sox star David Ortiz. In the summer of 2005, Dominguez says he became suspicious about a member of Ortiz's clubhouse entourage known as "Monga." Dominguez says that an informant close to Monga, Ortiz's "top aide-de-camp," witnessed Monga placing a bet on a game in Chicago between the Red Sox and White Sox. Dominguez had Monga and some other members of the group banned from the clubhouse. Ortiz was not happy.
Dominguez takes it from there: "The All-Star Game was at PNC Park in Pittsburgh in 2006, and I was sitting at home watching the Home Run Derby when I saw Monga on the field -- along with several [others] I had identified to MLB as shady characters -- toweling off Ortiz and other Dominican players. For god's sake, they were practically getting at-bats.
"I called Dan Mullin, who was second-in-command to Kevin Hallinan in the security department at the time and was at the game. He told me they tried to keep them out, but Ortiz had said, 'If they don't come with me on the field, I don't participate.' [Commissioner Bud] Selig and [Executive VP Rob] Manfred had given in and said, 'Let them on.'" MLB issued this statement in response: "Major League Baseball actively cooperated with a law enforcement investigation into the illegal gambling operation that took these alleged bets. Ed Dominguez reported to his superiors at MLB that that investigation, which led to multiple arrests in 2008, did not implicate any players."
(Flash backward: When American League president Ban Johnson recognizes Black Sox fixer "Sport" Sullivan sitting in the stands in Yankee Stadium during the 1926 World Series between the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, he orders the police to throw Sullivan out of the ballpark.) It was here, at Boston's Hotel Buckminster, that Chicago White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil met with a gambler bidding to fix the 1919 World Series and allegedly promised him, "I think we can put it in the bag." Bizuayehu Tesfaye/AP PHOTO
"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball." --Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) in "Field of Dreams," the 1989 movie based on the novel "Shoeless Joe"
Just before a Sept. 14 game at Citizens Bank Park, Phillies president Andy MacPhail agrees to share his unique perspective on baseball's changing attitude on gambling. Besides being a 1976 graduate of Dickinson College with a degree in American studies, he is a third-generation baseball executive. His grandfather, Larry MacPhail, introduced night games to Major League Baseball in 1935 as general manager of the Reds, won the 1941 National League pennant as president of the Dodgers and nearly traded Joe DiMaggio to the Red Sox when he owned the Yankees. His son and Andy's father, Lee MacPhail, was the general manager of the Orioles (1958-65) and the Yankees (1967-73) before becoming the highly respected American League president for nine years.
Andy has had his own distinguished career, first as the GM of the Twins, who won the World Series in '87 and '91 under his guidance, then as the president of the Cubs, who won their first postseason series in 95 years under him in 2003, the Orioles and -- after a three-year sabbatical -- the Phillies. And now there's a fourth generation: His own sons, Drew and Reed, work in baseball.
"My grandfather and father would have had very different views on legalized gambling for baseball," Andy says. "Larry would have thought, 'This is great. It'll create fan interest.' He lived through the Black Sox Scandal, but he was also all about bringing people to the ballpark.
"My father would have been much more cautious. He would want to make sure we checked all the boxes on integrity and public perception before we went ahead. No, he might not have thought it was a good idea to introduce legalized gambling exactly 100 years after the Black Sox.
"As for me, all I can say is that it's a whole new world. I was looking at a betting app the other day and watching the odds change, and I realized that times are changing too."
The crowd has started to file into the park on this beautiful evening to see the Red Sox and Phillies cling to faint wild-card hopes. The official money line on the game is Boston -110/Philadelphia +120, i.e. the Red Sox are slight favorites, and the over/under on runs scored is 8.5, but the important thing to Phillies fans is that their team hasn't been to the postseason in eight years.
They do have a real appreciation of history in Philadelphia, so all the new Harper jerseys are interspersed with Schmidt and Utley and Rollins and Carlton and, yes, even a vintage Rose from 1980.
The game itself is a battle between Eduardo Rodriguez of the Red Sox and Aaron Nola of the Phillies, neither of whom allows a run for the first six innings. The teams trade runs in the seventh inning, and for a moment in the bottom of the eighth, when Rhys Hoskins hits a fly ball deep to right, it looks as if the Phillies might win. But the ball dies on the warning track, the Red Sox push across a run in the ninth, and the Phils lose 2-1.
Despite the loss, the fans can find comfort in the crisp, good old-fashioned pitching duel in this age of rabbit balls and tortoise tempo. It's a really good game, and a really good product, even without betting apps. Arnold Rothstein wasn't indicted in the Black Sox scandal, but White Sox pitcher Bill Burns, who had turned state's evidence, testified that the gangster helped bankroll it. It was Rothstein's most famous play. Jack Benton/Getty Images
"Flip a coin. When it's in the air, you'll know which side you're hoping for."
--the actual Arnold Rothstein
Now that the day I never saw coming has arrived, 60 miles east of Philadelphia, I pretend I'm prepared. I have 15 games on my hands at the Moneyline and some sort of crabcake slider. I had done some perfunctory homework, studying the recent performances of the starting pitchers and their records against their opponents while factoring in things like home/away and importance and past 10 games. What I really wish I had done a little more research on, though, is the menu.
Baseball betting is an acquired taste. As James Holzhauer points out, "Baseball is not an appealing game for the casual gambler -- it's a lot easier to make sense of a 6-point spread in an NFL game than a +160/-170 baseball money line." Being even less than casual, I had just picked the games regardless of money line, and picked them all, even ones I was unsure of. They were small bets, so I basically flipped a coin. A Black Sox curse? The trial dominated headlines in 1920. The White Sox would not win another American League championship until 1959 (a then-record 40-year gap) nor another World Series until 2005. New York Times/Getty Images
Sitting across from me, studying his crib notes, is James, a supermarket manager from Long Island. "I've been to a couple of places in Atlantic City," he says, "but this is clearly the best." We're watching the Nationals at the Cardinals, Max Scherzer vs. Adam Wainwright -- he has the Cards, I have the Nats.
James, who was a pitcher in high school, clearly knows baseball and betting: "I've got the Cardinals in a parlay with the A's and the Yankees. I'm a Yankees fan, so that's the one that worries me. The one rule I have is, 'Bet with your head, not your heart,' and I'm not sure if I'm convinced the Yankees are going to beat the Angels or I've convinced myself that they're going to win."
When the fifth inning ends with the Cardinals up 2-0, James gives a little fist jab. "I had them winning the first five." You can do that? "Oh, yeah, there's a lot of ways to make the games more interesting." By the time St. Louis has handed Washington a 5-1 official loss, three other afternoon games have started: Mets at Rockies, Royals at A's, Marlins at Diamondbacks. At first it's fun to go on a busman's holiday and meet players I only know from my fantasy league, but after a while, I have to get out of there. I drive to the actual Boardwalk to breathe in some sea air, then return to see how I'm doing. All three of the late-afternoon games go down to the wire, and the place comes alive when the Mets pull out a 7-4 win with four runs in the ninth. I win all three.
Maybe it is in my blood.
But now comes the madness, 11 games with first pitches ranging from 6:35 to 8:05 p.m. Because there is no actual audio, the sportsbook becomes a kaleidoscope that yields an occasional surprise -- oh, two 39-year-olds, Albert Pujols and C.C. Sabathia, are facing each other. Say this for legalized betting too: It actually makes you care about a Blue Jays-Orioles game. (The Jays explode for 6 in the ninth to win 11-10 and produce a windfall for a hypothetical bettor who took them with three outs to go.)
When Cody Bellinger homers in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers a 6-4 lead over the Rays, I give a little clap because an L.A. victory will mean I make a little money on the night. But just before last call at midnight, Kenley Jansen gives up two runs in the ninth. The Rays win 8-7 in 11.
Once again, I wonder what the hell happened.
Now that gaming and the game, head and heart, are married, I wish them luck. I just hope they know what they're doing -- four teams winning at least 100 games and four losing as many as 100 is not conducive to action.
As for me, well, I don't think I'm related to Arnold Rothstein after all. |
Correction of wave-front errors caused by the slight tilt of a reference beam in phase-shifting interferometry.
In standard phase-shifting interferometry the reference beam is supposed to be a plane wave exactly normal to the recording plane. A slight tilt of the reference beam, however, may occur in practice, and it will introduce phase distortion for the reconstructed object wave front. The effects of reference wave tilt on the wave reconstruction are analyzed, and a novel method is proposed to correct the errors caused by this tilt. This method is simple and convenient without the need of any additional optical devices and measurements, and it can be used for both the smooth and the diffuse object surfaces. The effectiveness of this method is verified by a series of computer simulations. |
Medical Marijuana Patient Could Be Headed To Jail After Testing Positive For Pot
A disabled Iraq war veteran says he’s now fighting to stay out of jail. He’s been accused of violating the terms of his probation, but he maintains he did not break the law.Shawn Maxfield is not allowed to leave his home in Hartland. He’s under house arrest until next week, when he’s scheduled to begin serving three months in jail for violating his probation after testing positive for marijuana. But Maxfield believes he’s done nothing wrong. Last month, a doctor approved his use of medical marijuana to treat acute seizures brought on by epilepsy. Maxfield had already filled out the necessary paperwork with the Department of Health and Human Services and was awaiting his medical marijuana identification card to arrive in the mail when he tested positive. “I definitely feel screwed by the system,” Maxfield said. “I did what I can. I’m battling my own stuff and trying to do things right. They’re just sending me back.” Maxfield is a disabled Iraq war veteran who returned home from combat with a serious opiate addiction. He says that addiction led to some legal trouble. “I had some run-ins with the law and I got put on probation. I put myself into treatment and I’ve been doing that for six or seven months.”Maxfield was sentenced to two years probation after a burglary conviction. That probation was set to expire at the end of this month. That was until the positive test. He says he has contacted a lawyer. “He definitely thinks I got a great case,” Maxfield says, “I just gotta pay for it.”If Maxfield loses his case and goes to jail, he stands to lose his military benefits. “Over the holidays, who can afford it? If I’m over 60 days, I lose my check, it drops my VA comp check. I mean I can’t afford it.” Shawn Maxfield’s case has generated interest from the folks at the Medical Marijuana Caregivers Association of Maine. They say some in law enforcement have been reluctant to acknowledge Maine’s medical marijuana law approved by voters back in 2009. “We’ve continually had issues with some law enforcement such as the Two Bridges Regional County Jail where they’re destroying patients state legal medical marijuana, claiming they’re enforcing federal law. So we’ve encountered some resistance,” says Paul McCarrier, a member of the Medical Marijuana Caregivers Association of Maine. “But mostly it’s been from the corrections system such as probation.”The group is planning rallies and fundraisers to help Maxfield with legal expenses. “Right now Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine will meet as a board to discuss the issue,” McCarrier says. “But there is definitely veterans and individuals out there in the medical marijuana community who feel like this person should be supported.” But time is running out. Maxfield is scheduled to go to jail the end of next week.TV5 News has tried to contact Shawn Maxfield’s probation officer but he hasn’t returned our phone calls. Maxfield is asking a judge to postpone the date he’s scheduled to turn himself in so he can raise the money to pay for an attorney. If that motion is denied Maxfield must surrender himself to the Somerset County Jail on December 16th. |
Jaworowo, Gniezno County
Jaworowo () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Witkowo, within Gniezno County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland.
References
Jaworowo |
Q:
When to turn off hard drive relative to sleep time in Windows 7 power settings
I've noticed that when I change the sleep time for my laptop running Windows 7 both for battery and plugged in, the timer on turning off the hard drives is not updated.
Why wouldn't the hard drives be turned off at the same time the laptop goes to sleep?
Should I update this manually and make sure the hard drive is turned off as the computer goes to sleep?
A:
Why wouldn't the hard drives be turned off at the same time the laptop
goes to sleep?
They are, you're correct. What you're getting hung up on, though, is that the hard drives can be turned off BEFORE the computer goes to sleep. They don't have to be constantly spinning for the machine to operate. That's the reason for a separate timer; if you want them to spin down but still have the machine running. (These days, there aren't a lot of scenarios where you can go for extended periods of time without accessing a drive at all, but they do exist.)
My personal recommendation is to set your drives to never spin down unless the machine is asleep (so change that setting to 0 minutes, which registers as 'Never'), but then my personal recommendation is also to never sleep your machine so I may perhaps be biased. Modern computers don't really consume that much less power at sleep than idle - as long as the MONITOR(s) is(are) sleeping you're probably fine. (Obviously if you run a laptop on battery a lot, you may want to ignore this advice for battery operation.)
EDIT: Read the comments for a bit more discussion on this, it seems I could have worded this better.
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Luttinen
Luttinen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Arttu Luttinen (born 1983), Finnish professional ice hockey forward
Mika Luttinen, Finnish-born vocalist and lyricist |
#: E211
spam (1)
#: E211 E211
dict ['key'] = list [index]
#: E211
dict['key'] ['subkey'] = list[index]
#: Okay
spam(1)
dict['key'] = list[index]
# This is not prohibited by PEP8, but avoid it.
class Foo (Bar, Baz):
pass
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The size and thickness of portable wireless communication apparatuses, such as mobile phones, have been rapidly reduced. Portable wireless communication apparatuses have been transformed from apparatuses to be used only as conventional telephones, to data terminals for transmitting and receiving electronic mails and for browsing web pages of WWW (World Wide Web), etc. Further, since the amount of information to be handled has increased from that of conventional audio and text information to that of pictures and videos, a further improvement in communication quality is required. In addition, portable wireless communication apparatuses are required to handle various applications, including telephone call for voices, data communication for browsing web pages, watching of television broadcasts, etc. In such circumstances, an antenna apparatus operable over a wide frequency range is required for wireless communications of the respective applications.
As conventional antenna apparatuses capable of adjusting a resonant frequency while covering a wide frequency band, there are, e.g., an antenna apparatus of Patent Literature 1, in which an antenna element portion is provided with a slit to adjust a resonant frequency, and a notch antenna of Patent Literature 2, in which a slit is provided with a trap circuit.
The antenna apparatus of Patent Literature 1 is configured including a planar radiating element (radiating plate), and a ground plate facing the planar radiating element in parallel, and further including a feeding portion located at about the center of an edge of the radiating plate for supplying high-frequency signals, a short-circuiting portion for short-circuiting the radiating plate and the ground plate near the feeding portion, and two resonators formed by providing a slit in the edge of the radiating plate substantially opposed to the feeding portion. The degree of coupling between the two resonators is optimized by adjusting the shape or dimensions of the slit, or by loading a reactance element or conductor plate on the slit. Thus, a small and low-profile antenna can be obtained with suitable characteristics.
The notch antenna of Patent Literature 2 can open the slit at the position of the trap circuit for radio frequency signals when requiring resonance in a low frequency band for communication, and on the other hand, can close the slit at the position of the trap circuit for radio frequency signals when requiring resonance in a high frequency band for communication. Thus, the resonant length of the notch antenna can be appropriately changed according to the frequency band to resonate for communication. |
Happyface Entertainment has shared an update their legal action regarding rumors surrounding DreamCatcher’s Siyeon.
On February 7, the agency announced that they would be taking legal action against an individual spreading rumors claiming that Siyeon was involved in incidents of school violence. In their official statement, they emphasized that Siyeon was not involved in the matters spoken about in the rumors, and that they would be taking legal action against defamation and malicious spreading of false rumors.
Happyface released a follow-up statement on February 11 to provide fans with an update on the face. Read the full statement below:
Hello. This is Happyface Entertainment. We would like to share our official statement on the situation regarding the spreading of rumors about our artist. Happyface Entertainment recently filed a complaint with the Gangnam Police Station’s cyber crime investigation team against an individual who spread untrue claims online to slander and defame our artist. Happyface Entertainment will take firm action against all those who maliciously slander and insult our artists by spreading false information and defaming their characters. Also, we will actively monitor the spreading of false information on portal sites, online communities and social media in order to ensure that additional harm does not occur. We wish to express our gratitude to fans who have shown their concerns. Happyface Entertainment promises to do our best to protect our artists’ rights and active work to ensure such incidents do not happen again. Thank you.
Source (1) |
Effect of high-fat diet on mice intestinal brush border membrane composition.
Effect of feeding high-fat (26% fat) diet to mice for 21 days on intestinal brush border membrane composition was evaluated by comparing with controls fed 10% fat diet. 125I-labelled lectin binding and chemical analysis of fucose, sialic acid, hexoses and hexosamines revealed essentially similar results in control and test groups. Membrane phospholipids, expressed on dry membrane basis, were significantly reduced while total cholesterol was enhanced in experimental group compared to controls. Triglyceride content was not altered under these conditions. [14C]-acetate incorporation studies showed that decrease in phospholipid content was due to reduced synthesis of phospholipid constituents, in particular, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, as a result of feeding high fat diet. The results suggest that high amount of fat in the diet of adult mice does not alter sugar content in brush border membrane but affects membrane lipid composition. |
Pitfalls in blood pressure measurement in daily practice.
Accurate blood pressure (BP) readings and correctly interpreting the obtained values are of great importance. However, there is considerable variation in the different BP measuring methods suggested in guidelines and used in hypertension trials. To compare the different methods used to measure BP; measuring once, the method used for a large study such as the UKPDS, and the methods recommended by various BP guidelines. In 223 patients with type 2 diabetes from five family practices BP was measured according to a protocol to obtain the following data: A = first reading, B = mean of two initial readings, C = at least four readings and the mean of the last three readings with less than 15% coefficient of variation difference, D = mean of the first two consecutive readings with a maximum of 5 mm Hg difference. Mean outcomes measure is the mean difference between different BP measuring methods in mm Hg. Significant differences in systolic/diastolic BP were found between A and B [mean difference (MD) systolic BP 1.6 mm Hg, P < 0.001], B and C (MD 5.7/2.8 mm Hg, P < 0.001), B and D (MD 6.2/2.8 mm Hg, P < 0.001), A and C (MD 7.3/3.3 mm Hg), and A and D (MD 7.9/3.0 mm Hg, P < 0.001). Different methods to assess BP during one visit in the same patient lead to significantly different BP readings and can lead to overestimation of the mean BP. These differences are clinically relevant and show a gap between different methods in trials, guidelines and daily practice. |
Archive for March, 2010
So, some thoughts on how and why we do certain things. You know, our ‘parenting approach.’ I’m going to stay away from wider labels, as I don’t know how helpful they are in the day-to-day of our lives. My choices are not picking on your choices, should they not happen to match. I know there are gazillions of ways to parent, and only on a selective few topics do I really believe that the way we do things is a way other people should try. Most of the stuff is down to each of us as individuals, and I’m not about to shit on your parenting parade.
Circumcision – This is a huge NO for us. We would not consider circumcising Snort; luckily we live in a country where it’s the norm to leave baby boys and their pee-pees alone, but we would have taken this decision regardless. I view circumcision as a violation of another person’s body. He might be a baby, but he does have his own personhood and I’m not about to make irreversible choices that are largely cosmestic.
This seems linked with my idea about babies who are born intersexed – that is, with both male and female genitals. I have known several adults who had their parents make a choice for them when they were days or hours old, and I have never known an adult who was pleased their parents did this.
Sleeping arrangements – Our bed is not big enough for cosleeping, and I don’t know how open we would have been to it in the first place. That being said, when the babies were little that IS what we did – albeit falling asleep while feeding twins in the middle of the night probably isn’t to be encouraged, but we woke up plenty of times with snug little babies in bed. Mainly, though, the babies coslept with each other.
Snort and Coconut shared a crib until they were six months old. This crib was in our room, pulled up next to our bed. The side facing us was lowered, with only about 8 inches of bars above the mattress. By the time they were four and five months old, it took some creative arranging to keep them sharing. By six months, it was a problem. Our room does not have space for two cribs, so they moved into the second bedroom then.
It wasn’t really that bad of a transition, though I think Snort had a couple of wee problems at the beginning. (Coconut sleeps like a brick shithouse.) The past couple of weeks Snort and sleeping have gotten all jacked up, and it is getting to be a ritual to let him in our bed at about 5 am, and occasionally Coconut instead or as well. It’s nice.
Getting babies to sleep – We are not fans of crying it out. I do know many parents do this for valid reasons, but the ones who do it because they want their six week old to go to sleep on their own so they can have a life of their own? Uh, no. I do judge.
Our babies go to sleep between 7-8 every night, sometimes a wee bit later. They fall asleep with us in the lounge – in their bouncy chairs, on our laps, or while being worn in a sling. Once they are asleep, we pop them into their cribs and that is that.Should they wake up in the night – though this is rare – we go to them and cuddle them.
Routine – Apparently I’m a fucked up twin mom, because we do not do routine. I know around 6 weeks I felt desperate and like I should try some routine and began reading lots of scary books. Plus, every book on twin parenting was all about slamming them onto a schedule as quickly as possible.
That’s not how I roll.
As the babies have gotten older, their body rhythms have set a certain natural schedule that doesn’t change much day to day. Wake up, play, milk feed, nap. Wake up, solid feed, play, usually nap, milk feed. Play, nap, maybe another solid feed. Milk feed, play, then down for the night. Their fourth milk feed happens around 10 or 11, Coconut sleeps through this, Snort wakes up but barely.
Vaccinations – We vaccinate. For us, it makes sense. That being said, we started them a bit late and have had them quite spread out. In our country, you cannot be selective about what jabs you want or not – they are often all mixed in one vial. Our solution to make us feel better is to have two month gaps between each set, which is why they fairly recently finished the course that ‘should’ be finished at four months.
Babywearing – Obviously, we babywear. Not to the point of obsession, but when it is useful. When they were little, ‘useful’ meant the early evening when they went apeshit for no apparent reason. Now, ‘useful’ means out in public rather than a stroller (my body permitting), in the house for naps sometimes, when they are sick and want cuddles, etc.
Feeding (solids) – We do Baby Led Weaning and I have NO hesitations about recommending this as a great option for anyone with a baby six months plus. Though I encourage education – it’s not just about skipping purees, it’s about your babies having choices that are respected. Gill Rapley’s book is excellent.
We chose this as we want our children to know about the real tastes and textures of food from the start. The side benefit is increased development of fine motor skills and problem solving skills. We also want them to develop healthy relationships with food and trust themselves.
We have never given a puree or spoonfed, with the exception of the babies spoonfeeding themselves yogurt or oatmeal. (And indeed, I think me spoonfeeding two babies would be a fucking nightmare.)
TMD and I are vegetarians and have no problem with either/both babies eating meat if they want, but thus far they’ve had a vegetarian (and largely vegan) diet. This is because touching meat would make TMD throw up, and because while I probably could cook it without gagging too much, I would also likely poison the babies as I do not know how to cook meat.
Milk feeds – Our milk is powdered and comes in a can, served up in a bottle. I have written about my struggles to breastfeed in this blog, but probably nothing near the truth of what it was like. I loved breastfeeding; I never had a sore nipple or anything but pleasure. That being said, it did not work. If you want to know more about why, please read this. I was tempted to cross post it here and still may do, but in the meantime click the link.
That being said, we bottlefeed in a way that mimics breastfeeding. I usually only feed one baby at a time. I always hold them. I have never prop fed. I allow them to feed on demand, and in some ways they are living a singleton type life in terms of not being pounded into tandem feeds of proscribed amounts of milk. They drink as much or as little as they choose, when they choose. This is roughly every four hours, but as they eat more, this stretches out.
Rather than dropping milk feeds (which we don’t want them to do at this young age!!) they simply spread them out. Smart. See, you can trust babies to sort themselves out in terms of food…
(though when they were newborn and there were big problems with weight and dehydration due to the aforementioned breastfeeding issues, we were on a strict schedule of needing them to eat every three hours maximum)
Education – I am fascinated by unschooling, but for TMD it is an absolute no. This is fine by me. When it is time, our kids will attend a local school – preferably one with no ties to any religion. Not that we are so attached to Buddhism that our kids can’t experience other sorts, but more than Christian values (please, I do not mean to offend) can be intolerant, and we don’t want that for our children. You know, and their two mums.
Natural parenting – we do it. I’m not saying I am 100% clear on what that means, but for us it means trying to have a more holistic approach to things. We don’t really give medicine (though would, of course, if it were needed), and would prefer to try other stuff than dosing them up. For example: teething necklaces made from baltic amber. Say what you will, but when our kids wore them every day (there is a cumulative effect, apparently, it’s not a as-and-when type thing) they were happy. Coco’s is now missing and presumably covered in rotting yogurt, and since not using them we have red cheeks, red bottoms, more crying.
I am really a total fucking skeptic, but a total fucking skeptic who wants to believe, you know? And I would rather try to avoid seeing ignoring your baby in an outward facing stroller, spoonfeeding nightmares, and giving them baby aspirin for every little thing as the norm.
Diapers – we use disposables. There was every plan to use cloth nappies if we were only having one baby, but along came two. We live in a climate where you can’t hang things out to dry, where it is rare to own a dryer anyway, and where we had limited floor space to air dry in the house. When they were newborn, we did three loads of laundry a day to keep up with things – cloth nappies would have been a giant, horrid nightmare. Now that diapering is changing, I am starting to consider making the switch. We’ll see. That being said, I feel little guilt (please don’t stone me) about using disposables because we are actually very very super green in all other aspects of our life.
How I am with them, in general – they make me laugh. I have never gotten angry with either of them. I am quite silly and, uh, unrestrained in my fucking weirdness – but much like people in the real world, it seems to make the babies like me more. I talk to them a lot, I make up inappropriate rap songs, etc etc. I kiss them roughly twenty million times a day, each.
I am also a worrier. I have nightmares of them stopping breathing. I try to be super relaxed about health issues, because really they are super duper healthy, but sometimes reading the blogs of less fortunate babies (and parents) terrifies me to my core.
Twin things – We started a chart in hospital to help with breastfeeding. This is a piece of paper on a clipboard, with a watch on it. We are still keeping track of every poop, every feed, and solid foods – along with notes of reactions they may have. This chart also keeps track of their meds. With two babies, it can be difficult to remember who did what when, and sometimes that is important to know.
People say I am super organized when they come over, even before they see the chart, but really – as a parent of twins, you just have to have these little extra ways to help sort things out. It’s not that I am organized or anal, it is that I have two babies.
Sticky hands – Sticky hands have always made me feel ill. I hate when my hands are el grosso. That being said, 20 minutes ago I thought nothing of sliding my thumbs along the very oozy and goopy passionfruit halves to help loosen the stuff along the bottom for the babies. BLW is making me enjoy and appreciate mess, and that is just about miraculous.
I love you enough to pick snot out of your nose, to persist in wiping hummous off your face even though you scream and wiggle, to bury my nose deep in your butt and sniff to see what’s going on.
I love you when you look around for me, again and again, before yelling ‘MAMA!’
I love you when you whisper, ‘Dad’ to me.
I love you both so much I almost exploded today with it all. Good exploded, not crazy people exploded. The joy you get from seeing my face, the joy I get from performing mad hand clapping, leg slapping dances to distract you from your hunger.
Mealtimes are such a joy. We’ve never had a struggle because you are in charge – the only tears have been when we’re not giving Coconut the food fast enough!
And probably about 60 other things. You try everything. You like everything because you are feeding yourself. Even if you don’t like it, you’ll try it again and again and thus far, have not rejected any foods.
You can both feed yourself with spoons now. You can drink out of your cups.
How are you this old?? (A bit more than 7.5 months!)
Neither of you can ‘properly’ sit yet, like sitting and being left alone to do so for any real period of time (though you both bring yourself to sitting positions on your bouncy chairs – yikes, and Coco is constantly doing Pilates type crunches on the floor!). I don’t think you see any point in sitting, because you are always moving and exploring. Snort does it by rolling, Coconut does rolling and also backwards arching scooting. You are both trying to crawl.
You can stand up for long periods of time if I hold you under your arms.
You love kisses and hugs and books and toys. You can each play alone for startling periods of time (we’re talking like an hour!!), though you often roll over to each other to pat cheeks or steal toys. If you’ve been playing on your own and I come over and wiggle my fingers, saying ‘tickle tickle!’ you will wiggle in delight and reach up to me. And laugh. You laugh so much.
This morning you talked back and forth for ages, the love you have for each other just shining and obvious.
I love you enough to want you to keep growing, even though mixed in with all the awe and joy is sadness. You have gone from two teeny tiny babies into, well, grown up babies. Snort has a full head of blonde chickenfluff hair, Coconut is – uh – getting there. She’s got light brown and blonde curly hair, from what we can guess.
Blue eyes, brown eyes, delightful baby thighs, big laughs.
Oh, my heart aches I love you so deeply. I will always love you and love you and love you.
Been thinking about writing on a certain topic for months – since biscuit-on-a-plate lady, actually. But for now, I’m going to copy a post from my other blog (written last Thursday) here:
The only other babywearing mama in my town (aside from my wife, of course!) came over today with her lovely baby girl. She brought along some slings for me to try – an Ocah, a Girasol shortie, and a DELICIOUS petrol fishie from Didymos. Unfortunately I was a bit sore so didn’t do too much babywearing at all, though did have Coconut up on my back while I toted her into the kitchen and then nursery.
Let’s just say I hope said mama gets sick of the fishie because I lust for it. (Yes, Sarah, I am talking to you. Are you reading? Ha.)
I really do like being around other mamas who are into slinging their babies – and everything that may or may not come with it.
What about you? I’m curious about all the people who find their way to this blog. What’s your opinion on amber teething necklaces? On how to wean your baby? What sort of diapers/nappies do you use?
What boxes do YOU tick?
I ask because people always surprise me. Someone I went to school with responded to my facebook status today, in which I mentioned that we were inadvertently becoming cosleepers (albeit not all in the same bed – we don’t fit) as the babies were going through a weird waking in the night sort of thing. She came out of the cosleeping closet and said she’d been doing it three years!
So many of our choices as parents feel right to us, yet can be frowned upon by other people. I wonder why that is. For me, my priorities aren’t to have my babies walking or talking before anyone else. I’m not really into the whole competition scene that so many people get dragged into – though I won’t lie. I sometimes wonder, ‘Why aren’t they sitting yet? When will they get teeth? Oh my god, is Coconut saying “mama” on purpose?!?!’
I care more about raising my twins to be imaginative, secure, and emotionally intelligent kids. I care more about nurturing their self-esteem than my own – which is why I love them exactly as they are, whether they walk at ten, twelve, or fifteen months. I don’t need to show off their mad rolling skillz, because honestly? Who cares??
Other mothers don’t want to hear me talk about how I am clearly raising two super geniuses, and does it do anyone any good? I want Snort & Coconut to always, always feel loved – at their very cores, not just because of things they accomplish.
So tell me. What are your priorities? What sort of parent are you? What choices are you making for yourself, your children, your family?
Last night TMD was eating with the babies. Snort pointed at his sippy cup which was just out of reach and demanded, ‘Water, Dad!!’
I shit you not.
I’m starting to think some of the words we’re getting might be on purpose. I don’t want to be one of those crazy people who thinks their child’s simple babbling is really them giving monologues on physics or something, but. Hmm.
Coconut will often say ‘hihihihihi’ when you pick her up. Last night when she was said she reached out her arms and said, ‘Mum. Mum. Mum.’ until I picked her up.
Snort has said the odd ‘hello’ – which I do think is probably a happy accident – and that ‘water’ last night was clear as a fucking bell. And let’s not forget what is babbling – ‘dadadadada.’ And ‘dad.’ Though he seems to shout ‘dad’ when we are encouraging ‘mama’ and then laughs like a maniac, so maybe he is just a smart ass.
I was talking to my mom and admitting we’re probably crazy, and then she said, ‘Well, maybe not. You started talking very young.’
I shall type quickly, with no absolute purpose in mind. I’m awake, the babies are awake, no one has eaten yet, I need to poop. This leaves me with a minimum opportunity to write blog entries, people. I am sacrificing the health of my bowel to write these words.
Lately I’ve been reading blogs of people pregnant with twins, or parenting newborn twins. Can I say ‘nostalgic’? I cannot fucking believe I have the opportunity to be nostalgic about this. I have two healthy, happy 7 month old babies. My friend round the corner is getting bigger and bigger and more pissed off looking with every day. I look at her and think, ‘That was me last year! That lady has 2 babies in her belly!’ I veer between disbelief that the human body can support and nurture multiple pregnancies, to wondering when I can do it all again.
I love being a twin mama. When they were younger, I had two or three breakdowns. You know, sobbing while they were sobbing, losing my mind, hunching over the kitchen sink wondering WHEN THE SCREAMING WOULD STOP.
I don’t have those moments anymore. (Please, baby Jesus, let me not have jinxed myself!) Yes, I am tired most of the time – and every day at 3:30 I lose the will to keep moving. Yes, I am in a lot of pain and sometimes that makes me cry. But the babies? A constant, never ceasing delight.
One scootching around on her back, following me and saying, ‘Mamamamamama.’ The other on my lap, twisting to look up at my face and give me a heartwrenching smile. How could I get tired of this?
Granted, our days are starting to be action packed. Fitting in solid feeds, among everything else, is a teensy bit of a bitch. But we have such fun once we’re actually eating. Snort and Coconut are very very chatty babies, and when Coco is really enjoying her food she sort of hum/talks while she eats. Snort, on the other hand, keeps looking at her and smiling. Wiggling his wrists in little circles that we refer to as his ‘wrist exercises.’
A few times I’ve gone to the bathroom and heard baby giggles. I rush in, pants around my ankles, to catch the action. Cue two babies, facing each other on their sides, holding hands and roaring with laughter. Cue Coconut putting her fingers in Snort’s mouth, cue them playing with each other’s toes, cue toy stealing, cue wrestling, cue more love. Sometimes the babies look to each other to sort of doublecheck things out – before they look at me or TMD.
Twins are magic, magical, magiclicious. If you are pregnant with them, you have something heading your way that – trust me on this – you could not have imagined beforehand.
I think the reason I’m not cracking up, or why the first year isn’t the living hell I read it is on other people’s blogs, is how fucking calm I am. It really does take a lot to get me feeling anxious or sad. I have never gotten angry with them. Even in the earlier days when their tears happened more, I would force my body to relax, so that my body language and muscle tension said, ‘Happy, relaxed mommy. You be relaxed too, ok?’ And it worked.
Now I don’t have to pretend. I am relaxed about 99% of the time, and the other 1% is usually about trying to cope with meeting the daily demands of life while being physically under the weather. (I just want to walk again. I do. I miss walking, putting one foot in front of the other, going places.)
At first I was afraid to be home alone with the babies. I didn’t know what I would do with them. It was pure terror. Then Mil came and I wanted to be on my own, and I did it. It wasn’t so bad. Then I was afraid of going out alone with them. Dude, I am SO over that now. If I was able to walk, I would be outta here a few times a week. I don’t care if one or both wanted feeding out, I don’t care if they cried because they were tired, I am not afraid of other parents looking at me and thinking, ‘Why are those babies crying?’ Because I think what they would really be thinking is, ‘How does she do it with TWO babies?’
In other news, Coconut has stopped with the ‘dadas’ and is saying a lot of ‘mamas’ and ‘mummies.’ Don’t think it’s on purpose, if you see what I mean, but at least we’re getting to the right idea.
She also was CALLING the cat today, by saying what I imagine she thinks the word for ‘cat’ is, while smacking her leg repeatedly, which is how I get the cat to come over. She also tried to eat kitty’s tail.
As I type this: DADADADADA. *raspberry* DAD.
In other other news, the two of them were just lying on their sides facing each other holding hands, chatting back and forth and laughing uncontrollably. Of course, the camera has been missing all day.
(Also, look at the pictures in the last two entries. GODDAMN are they cute, hey?)
This post brought to you by the YOU HAVE TWO MOMS SO YOU’D BETTER LEARN TO SAY MAMA REAL SOON foundation.
So, the other day I was talking with a friend about sexual abuse. We won’t go into details, because I know some readers have faced this and I don’t want to trigger anything for anyone. (If I write about this more in future, will put a ‘sensitive’ warning at start of post.)
That night, I had a dream that was like remembering things. Not very dreamlike at all, if you get me, more like my brain opening up doors and me saying, ‘Oh, yes, that’s how it was.’ I tried to tell myself it was because of this conversation with a friend – and it probably was – but kept thinking about it.
Then a certain post went up on Violence Unsilenced (a great, great site!) and I found myself having difficulty breathing. Literally felt like all the air was out of my lungs, I felt nervy and panic ridden. It didn’t help that I’m quite friendly with the author of the post, and was completely blindsided by how a ‘normal’ person (like me, of course, like me) can have this whole malignant past and be brave enough to tell people about it.
All of that aside, we went out today and when we got back in I was so sore I needed to go have a rest. I ended up falling into a very deep sleep, and who was there? Kleinette (my old therapist, for those of you who are newish to the blog). Kleinette was there with me in the area where I grew up, driving a car while I was in the backseat. (And had quadruplets in this dream, that TMD handily left for me and Kleinette to drive around- despite having no car seats. Way to be unsafe, TMD’s dreamself!)
We sort of went around different places, had some good, challenging talks, etc.
I woke up feeling like I’d just had a very intense therapy session. It was good, but also bizarre. And can I say, I haven’t had a dream about Kleinette in, what? Years?
The dream had come to a natural conclusion, and then I was properly woken up by two manically screaming babies. I decided to take pity on TMD and hobbled out of the bedroom to help feed. So I’ve lost some of the clarity of our dream discussion, but a few salient points remain. And the emotional feeling of having probed wounds, but knowing I am strong enough to deal with that now, certainly has stuck with me.
Just wanted to get this stuff down in case it was important. And there I go, downplaying it. It is important. And it was nice to see Kleinette! Yes, I know she was a figment of my mind, but she has connotations of safety for me – and it is always nice to see the face of someone you care about, in reality or dreams. Perhaps she has ‘come back’ to help me think deal with things, sort of like Dumbo and his magic feather.
The one thought I had upon waking was, ‘Of course I’ve got a fucking pelvic problem.’ This was the result of thinking about finally writing Kleinette back (ah, you don’t know about her baby gift drama – I sent her a birth announcement, she sent me a fab card and awesome baby slippers, I didn’t write back because I didn’t want her to think I was stalkery, she ended up texting at New Year’s to see if I got the stuff, I felt like a heel for not thanking her, etc) and mentioning the SPD. Then I remembered that it was mentioned on more than one occasion about my – holy shit, I forgot the acronym.
PMDD. Yes, PMDD.
And then I thought (because apparently you can take me out of a paying job as a counsellor and put me on maternity leave, but you cannot take the counsellor out of me), isn’t it innnnnteresting that all my major problems are in that one region of my body. I also thought about how the last time I lost shedloads of weight, I was in therapy – not to talk about weight at all, but the weight seemed to fly off during therapy/training as a counsellor, and I don’t think that was an accident.
If this is a bunch of wobbling, rambling mess, forgive me. It’s late at night, and I’ve already been asleep for like four hours. Just feel like I needed to write something real, and also, well, you know. Comfort blogging. It’s better than your favourite comfort movie, or at least it is to me.
Night, all. Hope you’ve had a good Saturday and will have an even better Sunday. |
My Eurorack adventure, then and now
It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve only had a modular synth since Nov 2015. Here is what I brought home that day:
The Pittsburgh Modular System 10.1+ and the Make Noise Echophon
I was in a prettty anxious state the day I brought this home. I originally went to the synth shop, Robotspeak, to buy a Moog Mother 32 which would have been $600. Dashing my hopes, the Mother 32s were sold out. But in my head, I had already broken down the wall of resistance to spending money and walking out with a modular synth. Even though I left the synth shop empty handed, my heart was so set on getting into modular. The adult part of myself, the side that pays the rent on time, and keeps food in the fridge was at war with the side that wants to Explore New Things Now. I went back to the shop after about 10 minutes of pacing the neighborhood and anxiously contemplating my next move.
I knew about Pittsburgh Modular, and knew there were well regarded. This system was roughly equivalent to the M32, with some significant differences. One difference was the price. The PGH system was $800, (although that included a case that had room to expand into). I was blowing my budget anyway, right? So I decided right there to buy another module to add to the case, I got the Make Noise Echophon, a delay module.
The rest of that day was spent in the peculiar hyper-real state of anxiety that comes from feeling like I’ve spent way too much money. I didn’t really understand what I had bought. The modular synth concept was vague in my head, I just knew I wanted to be a part of it.
And for weeks I would often wake up in the middle of the night fearful that I was in over my head. That what I had gotten was too simple to really get much use out of. That, should I continue down this path, I would need to invest much much more money to get a system with enough versatility to get complex sounds out of. Yes, all of those fears would haunt me at night for many nights. I even talked to my synth friend about returning the PGH and going back to a life that promoted better sleep. Luckily he talked me out of it.
So, lets fast forward a bit. Through many more moments of buyers remorse but also into moments of the thrill of discovery. Many more tutorials watched and experiments tried. Patching up things that started to sound interesting, and of course, the obsession over the next module. All of these things churned in my mind. Lo and behold my fears were realized, I was in fact spending every free dollar on new modules and excitedly taking them home like precious jewels, hooking them into the case and seeing what starnge places they could take my sounds. Rinse and repeat and here is where I arrived at in April 2017:
A portrait of my Eurorack system as of April 2017.
Buried in there are the same modules that are in the first pic. I still use them all, even though they have been rearranged and split apart.
Needless to say I got over the severe anxiety. Now I just live with the idea that, to practice the art that brings me joy, a certain monetary outlay is part of the deal. And I also try to remind myself as often as I think of it, that I am lucky and privileged to be able to afford these wonderful tools. |
Google Wants To Operate .Search As A “Dotless” Domain - seminatore
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/10/google-wants-to-operate-search-as-a-dotless-domain/
======
swinglock
A .cloud TLD for "projects hosted in cloud platforms" sounds like an
incredibly pointless and stupid idea. We never had .nix, .win32, .php, .asp,
.intel or .amd TLDs to signify server properties no user should have to know
about in the olden days of not worshipping the cloud. Why do we need that now?
~~~
derefr
On the other hand, we _did_ have .us, .ca, .uk, .nz...
It's always felt to me like we need a public-registration equivalent to ".int"
-- a TLD meaning "this domain represents an internationally-distributed
project, not associated with any particular company or organization, nor local
to any particular country." (The Webkit project is a good example. Right now
it's a .org, but there is no "Webkit Organization." Most .io domains are also
really in substitute of a good TLD for organization/country-neutral OSS
projects.)
.cloud _sort_ of seems like a good candidate for that. There might be a better
one, though.
~~~
mynameisvlad
.com has basically become a catch-all which represents that.
~~~
derefr
.com _was_ the catch-all, but I imagine the whole point of opening up TLD-
space is to undo that.
~~~
mynameisvlad
So why can't it continue to be the catch-all, when anything else doesn't work?
Opening up the TLD-space and .com being the catch-all aren't mutually
exclusive, after all.
~~~
nitrogen
Because the US government claims jurisdiction over ".com".
~~~
mynameisvlad
... So? This still doesn't explain why it can't be a catch all. Just because
it's managed by Verisign and falls under US jurisdiction doesn't mean it can't
be a catch-all. Someone is going to have to manage a "domain [representing] an
internationally-distributed project, not associated with any particular
company or organization, nor local to any particular country.", and it more
than likely will be a US company.
Just because the US ultimately has jurisdiction over .com doesn't mean that
all .com domains are associated with a US company. That's what .us is
technically for. That's why there's a ccTLD for the US. .com is meant to be a
catch-all, and there's absolutely no reason it can't do that. It's doing its
job quite well, and has been for years.
The request for .int is someone being pedantic. Even if it's granted, it
probably won't catch on and be anywhere near the popularity of .com anyway.
~~~
nitrogen
.int is _already_ in existence: <http://www.un.int/>. US jurisdiction over
.com is problematic because the US government routinely seizes .com domain
names of websites that are legal in other countries. This doesn't affect me
much as a law abiding US citizen, but it's a huge problem for 100% locally
legal sites outside the US that want to have an international name.
~~~
mynameisvlad
I meant his request specifically. To make it public, or have a public
alternative.
\---
So? All governments routinely seize domain names belonging to their respective
ccTLDs. ThePirateBay just got .gl seized, and I believe .se will be seized
soon too.
In any case, there will be _someone_ having jurisdiction over the domain name.
The TLD will fall under, most likely, the US' jurisdiction, so they'd still
have seizing power. If it doesn't, then whatever organization, and, through
that, country it's based in, will have their own laws, and their own seizure
policies. And the laws will most likely conflict with _some_ other country's
laws.
This is completely beside the original point that was made, though. Nowhere in
the original comment I replied to did the author mention jurisdiction or
seizures.
~~~
nitrogen
I assumed that the original request for an international TLD was implicitly
referencing the seizures and other downsides to country-specific TLDs, since
they are frequently discussed on HN. Perhaps I misinterpreted the intention of
the request.
Also, I don't think it's necessarily true that one country will always have
jurisdiction over specific Internet names. The Internet isn't "done"; both the
net and the concept of "jurisdiction" can change over time.
------
kbenson
So, Google operates the search TLD as a redirect to the search engine of
choice, but then they get all the info on what the search was for as they
redirect. That's a huge advantage for Google.
~~~
ultimoo
All major search engines support https, which will become the norm eventually
and not empower Google (or another redirector) to sniff packets.
~~~
belorn
https won't prevent the whole redirect request to be logged and stored in an
decrypted format. Google will take a comeplete search string
(search/#search=things+I+want+to+buy), and redirect that . the search
parameters are perfectly visible for the redirect server.
~~~
portmanteaufu
This defies my understanding of HTTPS. I thought that in an https request, an
encrypted connection would be made to the host first and the request itself
(including the query string) would be transmitted as an encrypted stream.
Could someone please enlighten me?
~~~
kbenson
In this case, Google would operate the endpoint a <http://search>. They may
redirect or proxy to your registered preference for a search engine, but they
have still answered the original request. So if you used an automatic search
tool (like the search box built into your browser) that used that address,
Google would see <http://search?q=question> as the request and THEN have to
decide what actions to take (redirect, proxy, etc). Users that just went to
<http://search> and THEN entered their question would not show Google their
queries, if redirected to their engine of choice, but if Google just proxied
their search engine choice, they would still see everything.
------
nathantotten
This seems like it is going to cause issues with corporate networks. We use
<http://search> for our internal search portal. My guess is many other
companies do the same. Obviously, the local urls will resolve first, but what
happens when browsers and other software expect <http://search> to conform to
a particular api/url pattern?
~~~
TobbenTM
Current browsers search whenever you type anything into the address bar. I
don't see any reason to change that and add a cumbersome '<http://search>. The
<http://> should indicate you are not using the browsers search shortcut.
~~~
mh-
the comment you're replying to is talking about DNS, not a browser keyword.
------
belorn
Google apparently want to destroy the current very well used concept of local
domain name, and which mean they either need to change how computers resolve
names or introduce inconsistency and large delays in what developer get when
their programs do name resolving. Beyond that, inconsistency in users
experience means all from confusion to security issues.
Maybe they should first try this with their own browser experience? Make
chrome eat up local domain names and see how good that goes. At worst, they
just send users and business users to a other browser such as Firefox, and if
its such a good idea, they can show graphs of people that flocked to use
chrome because of this idea.
------
rehashed
This is exactly one of the concerns I mentioned:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5353171>. It is already exhibited by
other controllers of TLDs: <http://ydal.de/a-records-on-top-level-domains/>
I havent received a reply yet to my request to reopen the public discussion on
the new gTLDs: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5351335>. I'll be chasing
up on it today - I would appeal to the rest of you to do the same and help
stop these gTLDs ever seeing the light of day.
~~~
rehashed
<http://AI/> has address 209.59.119.34
<http://BO/> has address 166.114.1.28
<http://CM/> has address 195.24.205.60
<http://DK/> has address 193.163.102.24
<http://GG/> has address 87.117.196.80
<http://JE/> has address 87.117.196.80
<http://KH/> has address 203.223.32.21
<http://PN/> has address 80.68.93.100
<http://TK/> has address 217.119.57.22
<http://TO/> has address 216.74.32.107
<http://UZ/> has address 91.212.89.8
<http://VI/> has address 193.0.0.198
<http://WS/> has address 64.70.19.33
------
haldujai
This seems like 'innovation' for the sake of 'innovation'.
What's wrong with good old .com. It's not like anybody really cares about the
other gTLDs (which few exceptions).
~~~
kyrias
Because all the good domains are running out.
------
SquareWheel
Would it be crazy to scrap the TLD system altogether and build something
better in its place? I'd love to allow for wildcard TLDs, or even remove the
dot requirement altogether. Built in unicode support, but with a layer of
security to prevent against similar-looking character abuse.
I know that very idealistic and probably naive, but the current system just
feels very archaic to me. Can't we do better?
------
mparlane
301 days ago when the bidding started I posted this:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4109767>
I guess I told you so?
~~~
ethomson
This is no different than if you made google.com.mytld.com, is it? You can, of
course, still bypass default suffixes by using a trailing dot.
That is to say, <http://search./> or <http://apple./> in your example, or
<http://google.com./> in mine.
~~~
mparlane
It's obvious that your google example is bad, as google redirects you to the
host without the dot as soon as it can. So if you really were running a local
.com domain named google.com, it wouldn't exactly be easy to get to the real
google.
------
lucb1e
Can't say we didn't see that one coming. I've always wondered why people only
talked about subdomains for bought TLDs.
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
I assumed this was the idea. Why _wouldn't_ Google want <http://google./> to
work?
------
jacquesm
.search should be run independently of any current search engine operator,
including google.
------
ck2
I think dotless is a security risk as far as social engineering.
~~~
mh-
hmm. what about it makes it more risk than arbitrary domains?
I'm assuming we're talking about things like:
http://search/
http://weather/
~~~
tellarin
Well, <http://search/> would be different from <http://search.com> or
<http://sear.ch/> for example.
I can imagine a lot of scenarios where people could easily be tricked into
accessing the wrong URI if these dotless domains become common place.
The same applies to companies whose intranets already use some common words as
internal services.
------
drucken
So why has this not been banned and that contractually enforced by ICANN
already?
The potential for both technical and social confusion here is enormous and
without a standard, the browser wars and other totally random momentum on the
issue will just increase!
------
gcb0
So Google expects everyone will hit http/search while logged in so they can
get the users preference and redirect him?
Can't open the full letter here but that's what i got from the article.
Seems silly and naively evil.
------
CornishPasty
All domains _have to_ have a dot, no? As in, they have to end in a dot, like
<http://www.google.com./> or <http://search./>
~~~
havardk
Yes, and no.
Technically, in DNS all domains are stored with a dot at the end, that is
correct. Since you don't see this last dot in most places, including in URLs
it is usually ignored.
Example of a dotless domain that is in use today: <http://dk/>
|
Should Quincy Public Schools Hold Random Drug Tests?
Today marks the first day of school for the Quincy Public School District, and with it will come decisions to be made by the School Board on a variety of issues. One such issue is random drug testing of students. The Board will meet at Ellington School at 7 p.m. tonight to discuss the drug testing issue.
Right now the Board is considering just testing students who are involved in extra- curricular activities and not the whole student body. The issue was presented to the agenda by school Superintendent Steve Cobb. According to an article in the Quincy Herald Whig, Cobb is not advocating random drug testing but he would like to get board members thoughts on the idea and eventually those of the public. The random drug testing issue came before the board a few years ago and was voted down.
Cobb also indicated in the article that he has not actually seen evidence that drug use is on the rise in the schools but he wants to bring awareness to the fact that the Quincy school district has no tolerance for drug use although the Board currently has no policy on the issue either.
So what is the School Board to do? I feel if you are going to hold random testing, it ought to be for all students, not just those involved in extracurricular activities. No parent wants to hear that their child is taking drugs, but it just might be better to find that out early than wait until they become totally addicted. What are your thoughts? |
Estimation of toothpaste fluoride intake in preschool children.
The objective of this study was to estimate the intake of toothpaste fluoride used by children aged 2 to 6 years (n=87) treated at a hospital of a medium-sized city (Campina Grande, PB) in the Northeastern region of Brazil. Data regarding sociodemographic characteristics of families and children's toothbrushing were collected from questionnaire-based interviews with parents/guardians, and the amount of fluoride used during toothbrushing was estimated using a precision scale for assessment of the risk of dental fluorosis, considering a cutoff value of 0.07 mgF/kg body weight/day. Fluoride content in the toothpastes was analyzed using a specific fluoride electrode. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests (α=0.05). Considering the use of the derice, the risk of fluorosis in the children was 19.5%. There was significant association (p<0.05) between the risk of fluorosis, brushing frequency, type of derice and who performed the child's oral hygiene. It was concluded that a high percentage of children in the studied sample used toothpaste inappropriately and were at risk of developing dental fluorosis. |
Q:
Versions table size getting out of control
Rails 3.2
I am using the PaperTrails gem to track activities in several models. The problem I'm having, is that the size of the versions table is getting out of control, and it's affecting performance.
Anyone else run into this situation, and if so, do you have any advice?
A:
.. the size of the versions table is getting out of control, and it's affecting performance.
Do you need to keep all versions for all time, or is it OK to keep only most recent N versions per record?
I need all versions
Keeping fewer versions is the best solution, but even if you must keep all versions, you have a few options.
PT 10 (unreleased) will give you the ability to drop the object column in your versions table. This will save you 50% disk space, but you will not be able to reify. Also, support for rails 3 was dropped in PT 6, so you'd have to upgrade rails (you really should, anyway. rails 3 is dead).
If you can't drop your object column, you can split your versions table into multiple tables using Custom Version Classes. However, this technique is not supported by PT-AT yet.
Fine tuning: See docs section: What is Versioned and When
|
Grayson, of course, responded:
In response to Palin's attack on Rep Grayson, Grayson actually complimented Palin. Grayson praised Palin for having a hand large enough to fit Grayson's entire name on it. He thanked Palin for alleviating the growing shortage of platitudes in Central Florida.
Grayson added that Palin deserved credit for getting through the entire hour-long program without quitting. Grayson also said that Palin really had mastered Palin's imitation of Tina Fey imitating Palin. Grayson observed that Palin is the most-intelligent leader that the Republican Party has produced since George W. Bush.
When asked to comment about what effect Palin's criticism might have, Grayson pointed out, "As the Knave's horse says in Alice in Wonderland, 'dogs will believe anything.'" |
Data are available from figshare: <https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4880693.v3>.
Introduction {#sec001}
============
An estimated 300,000 Lyme disease cases occur annually in the United States, making it the country's most common vector-borne disease \[[@pone.0187675.ref001]\]. Without treatment, Lyme disease can cause severe joint, heart, and neurological symptoms. The blacklegged tick *Ixodes scapularis* transmits the bacterium *Borrelia burgdorferi*, which causes Lyme disease. *I*. *scapularis* also transmits the bacterium that causes anaplasmosis, the protozoan that causes babesiosis, and Powassan virus. The geographic range of Lyme disease is expanding in North America \[[@pone.0187675.ref002]\]. Health officials and the public seek solutions to reduce the incidence of tick-borne diseases (TBD) cost-effectively and safely.
Diverse strategies have been employed to reduce TBD, including approaches focused on people, wildlife, and ticks \[[@pone.0187675.ref003]\]. A human vaccine against *B*. *burgdorferi* was available in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but was withdrawn from the market following low demand and concerns about efficacy and potential side effects \[[@pone.0187675.ref004]\]. The few randomized, controlled studies of educational interventions indicated people's capacity to adopt tick prevention behaviors, yet these interventions did not reduce TBD \[[@pone.0187675.ref005]\].
Wildlife-focused approaches include removing, vaccinating, and protecting hosts against ticks. Evidence from experimental studies does not support reducing or removing deer, the primary hosts for adult ticks, as a strategy, except in isolated areas \[[@pone.0187675.ref006],[@pone.0187675.ref007]\]. Vaccination of white-footed mice *Peromyscus leucopus* against *B*. *burgdorferi* via oral baits reduced infection prevalence in ticks within 3 years; however, this vaccine is not available commercially \[[@pone.0187675.ref008]\]. Topical application of acaricides on deer, via bait stations, reduced the density of infected ticks \[[@pone.0187675.ref009]\]; however, this reduction was less than 10% when bait stations were deployed at a lower density feasible for land managers \[[@pone.0187675.ref010]\]. Application of acaricides on small mammals via bait boxes also reduced the density of infected ticks in residential yards \[[@pone.0187675.ref009]\].
Tick control efforts have focused on residential yards, where most tick encounters are thought to occur in the eastern and central United States \[[@pone.0187675.ref011]--[@pone.0187675.ref013]\]. Tick density has been reduced by yard treatments with chemicals \[[@pone.0187675.ref014]\]. However, a randomized, controlled trial with bifenthrin found that reduction in yard ticks was not accompanied by reduction in TBD diagnoses in residents \[[@pone.0187675.ref015]\]. One possible explanation for this result is that participants in the study may have encountered ticks outside their yards, or in parts of their yards for which bifenthrin is contraindicated and therefore were unsprayed (e.g., vegetable gardens) \[[@pone.0187675.ref015]\]. Bifenthrin poses risks to non-target arthropods \[[@pone.0187675.ref016]\]. For example, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Collembola were several times less abundant in forest plots, one week following treatment with bifenthrin for blacklegged tick control, compared to their abundances in reference plots \[[@pone.0187675.ref017]\]. Other chemical acaricides, such as chlorpyrifos, pose human health risks \[[@pone.0187675.ref018]\]. Only 47% of Connecticut survey respondents were willing to spray chemicals for tick control, safety being the most frequently cited reason for those unwilling to use chemicals \[[@pone.0187675.ref019]\]. Among Swiss and Canadian survey respondents, use of chemical acaricides was acceptable for fewer than 30%, whereas biocontrol was acceptable to over 75% \[[@pone.0187675.ref020]\].
Given public concerns about chemicals, and continued increases in Lyme and other TBD, researchers have investigated the tick control potential of natural products and biocontrol agents. Nootkatone, extracted from Alaska yellow cedar *Chamaecyparis nootkatensis*, controlled ticks in field trials; however, nootkatone must be developed to be cost-effective and have longer-term efficacy \[[@pone.0187675.ref021]\]. Certain nematodes kill ticks but cannot complete their life cycle in them, leading to short-lived effects \[[@pone.0187675.ref022]\]. The parasitic wasp *Ixodiphagus hookeri*, native to Europe and introduced in the United States, has been evaluated for biocontrol, but it persists only at extremely high tick densities \[[@pone.0187675.ref023]\].
Among tick biocontrol agents, entomopathogenic fungi appear to have the greatest potential \[[@pone.0187675.ref024]\]. *Metarhizium brunneum* F52, previously classified as *M*. *anisopliae* \[[@pone.0187675.ref025]\], has been incorporated into a commercial product, Met52 (Novozymes Biological, Franklinton, NC, USA). The F52 strain was first cultivated from the codling moth *Cydia pomonella* in Austria \[[@pone.0187675.ref026]\]. Field tests with Met52 resulted in reductions in *I*. *scapularis* comparable to those achieved with bifenthrin \[[@pone.0187675.ref021]\].
The Tick Project ([www.tickproject.org](http://www.tickproject.org)) is a 5-year study (2016--2020) to determine whether controlling ticks at the neighborhood scale reduces TBD. The Tick Project is evaluating two methods of tick control, applied separately or together in yards: 1) Met52 and 2) bait boxes that apply the acaricide fipronil to small mammals. These two methods were selected based on their commercial availability, efficacy, and safety.
In assessing Met52, it is important to evaluate not only its efficacy in reducing TBD but also its non-target impacts. Previous studies on the non-target impacts of Met52 have been in the lab or in agriculture. For terrestrial vertebrates, Met52 has been found safe, based on tests with rats and bobwhite quail *Colinus virginianus* \[[@pone.0187675.ref027]\]. The Environmental Protection Agency further concluded that terrestrial uses of Met52 do not adversely affect aquatic animals based on tests with rainbow trout *Oncorhynchus mykiss* and *Daphnia major*. Among terrestrial arthropods, no effect of F52 was detected in lab tests with parasitic wasps *Nasonia vitripennis*, honeybees *Apis melifera*, lady beetles *Hippodamia convergens*, lacewings *Chrysoperla carnea*, or earthworms *Eisenia fetida* \[[@pone.0187675.ref027]\]. Exposure to *M*. *brunneum* BIPESCO 5 (= F52) resulted in increased mortality in the collembolan *Folsomia fimetari* \[[@pone.0187675.ref028]\] and the predatory bug *Orius majusculus* (\[[@pone.0187675.ref029]\]. In a greenhouse, Met52 caused mortality in beneficial predators: rove beetles *Dalotia coriaria* and mites *Stratiolaelaps scimitus* and *Gaeolaelaps gillespiei* \[[@pone.0187675.ref030]\].
In Hungarian maize fields, application of BIPESCO 5 (= F52) resulted in no significant effect on non-target species composition \[[@pone.0187675.ref031]\]. Following F52 treatment, infection with F52 was observed in non-target Coleoptera in Danish lucerne fields \[[@pone.0187675.ref032]\], and in Coleoptera and Hemiptera, but not Pscocoptera, in a Danish fir plantation \[[@pone.0187675.ref033]\]. The non-target effects of other *Metarhizium* strains have also been field-tested. In a Spanish olive orchard, ant abundance was higher in the *Metarhizium* plot than the control plot \[[@pone.0187675.ref034]\]. No effects of *Metarhizium* were found on arthropod presence in savanna woodland in Niger \[[@pone.0187675.ref035]\], ant diversity in Kenyan savanna \[[@pone.0187675.ref036]\], soil arthropod abundance in a German vineyard \[[@pone.0187675.ref037]\], or arthropod predator abundance in Chinese grasslands \[[@pone.0187675.ref038]\]. The potential for Met52 to have non-target effects is suggested by its virulence against diverse targets: Coleoptera \[[@pone.0187675.ref039]\], Diptera \[[@pone.0187675.ref040]\], Hemiptera \[[@pone.0187675.ref041]\], Hymenoptera \[[@pone.0187675.ref042]\], Orthoptera \[[@pone.0187675.ref038]\], and Thysanoptera \[[@pone.0187675.ref043]\].
The non-target effects of Met52, as applied against ticks in a suburban landscape, have not been previously studied in the field. Using a Before-After-Control Impact (BACI) design, we compared the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods in treatment and control plots, before and after spray with Met52 on the treatment plots or water on the control plots.
Materials and methods {#sec002}
=====================
Experiment location and study design {#sec003}
------------------------------------
Experimental locations were on the grounds of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies (CIES) (Millbrook, NY, U.S.A). Each of the 13 locations comprised a pair of adjacent 8m x 8m plots. Based on a coin flip, we designated one plot in each pair for spray with Met52 and one plot for spray with an equal volume of water. Lawn and forest were both included in each experimental location because these are two of the main habitat types in residential yards within the Lyme disease endemic zone. Each 8m x 8m plot comprised a 4m x 8m area of regularly mown lawn, next to a 4m x 8m area of forest. To minimize drift of Met52 into control plots, Met52 and control plots were separated by 3 meters. Each location was at least 20 meters from other locations.
Pairs of plots at thirteen locations were sprayed once over the period 29 June 2016 to 15 July 2016. We sprayed each plot with a hydraulic sprayer at a pressure of 200 pounds-per-square-inch (1,379 Kilopascals). We applied Met52 at the dosage recommended to control ticks \[[@pone.0187675.ref044]\]. The product label indicates to apply Met52 EC^®^ against ticks at a rate of 2 to 3 ounces of concentrate, diluted in a minimum of 4 gallons water, per 1000 square feet (93 square meters) \[[@pone.0187675.ref044]\]. We applied 3 oz of Met52, in 11.5 gallons of water, per 1000 square feet. A greater volume of water was used, compared to the minimum required, to ensure sufficient volume to cover the surfaces of vegetation to a height of 90 cm. To minimize cross-contamination, the sprayer was triple-rinsed with water in between use with Met52 and with water.
Non-target arthropod sampling {#sec004}
-----------------------------
Bulk and pitfall sampling were used to collect ground-dwelling arthropods, which were expected to have greatest Met52 exposure.
### Bulk samples {#sec005}
Peak Met52 impacts occur within days to weeks, depending on target taxa and environmental conditions \[[@pone.0187675.ref044]\]. Given this range of potential peak times, we sampled at two post-treatment intervals. We collected bulk soil, litter, and lawn samples within 1 week prior to treatment, at 1 week post-treatment, and 3 weeks post-treatment.
For each sampling occasion, two samples were taken in the lawn half of each plot. Each lawn sample included both grass and underlying soil to a depth of 5 cm, with diameter 10 cm. The litter and soil portion of each lawn sample was extracted and processed together, as it was not practical to separate the two. To account for potential edge effects, we stratified sampling by distance to the lawn-forest border. One lawn sample was taken from the center of one of eight 1m x 2m quadrats along the lawn-forest edge, while the other sample was taken from one of eight 1m x 2m quadrats away from the forest edge. We chose quadrats randomly, sampling each quadrat no more than once.
For each sampling occasion, we also selected two sample locations in the forest half of each plot, using the same protocol as for lawn. At each sample location, we took a litter sample 10 cm in diameter, and a sample of soil (underneath the litter) 10 cm in diameter and 5 cm in depth. Lawn and forest soil samples were taken using a turf cutter (Miltona Turf Tools, Lino Lakes, MN, USA). Litter samples were taken using a bread knife to cut around the band of a springform pan. To minimize cross-contamination, we used separate sampling equipment for Met52 and control plots and wore disposable booties when entering Met52 plots post-spray. We processed the litter and soil separately from each forest sampling location.
Samples were stored at 4°C for no more than 72 hours prior to being placed under a 15 Watt bulb for 48 hours in a Berlese funnel over a jar holding 70% ethanol. The bulb was installed in a clamp light, placed on an 8-quart funnel (Behrens, Winona, MN, USA), held up with a bucket. We wrapped each sample loosely in coarse (grade 10) cheesecloth and then placed it on top of window screening and 0.5 inch wire mesh in the funnel. The cheesecloth and window screening served to reduce dirt falling down the funnel into the ethanol. The circular piece of window screen material was placed on the center of the wire mesh and extended to two inches from the walls of the funnel, facilitating macroinvertebrates moving through the wire mesh and down the funnel to the collection jar.
Prior to sorting, we distributed the contents of each samples evenly onto a 90 mm circle of 41 micron nylon mesh (Elko Filtering, Miami, FL USA) by pouring the sample through a 90mm vacuum filter (Fisher, Pittsburgh, PA, USA). The filtration process retained on the filter any organisms greater than 41 microns in size. After sieving, we placed the filter on a petri dish. Due to high numbers of Acari and Collembola, 15% of each sample was counted for these orders. Subsampling was performed using a gridded sticker adhered to the bottom of the petri dish. Grid cells were randomly selected, equal to 15% of the filtered area of the mesh. Acari and Collembola were counted in the same set of grid cells in each sample. The total numbers of Acari and Collembola in each sample were estimated by extrapolation: estimated total = (100 / 15) X (count of subsample). Within Acari, separate tallies were kept for mites and for *I*. *scapularis*, the target taxa for Met52. Only one *I*. *scapularis* was found, and analyses for Acari included mites only. We identified to order and counted all other specimens \[[@pone.0187675.ref045],[@pone.0187675.ref046]\]. For all orders, we counted larvae together with adults. Sorters did not know the treatment of each sample.
### Pitfall samples {#sec006}
We used pitfalls to sample macroarthropods at seven of the 13 locations, before and 1 week after spraying. We conducted pitfall sampling at a subset of sites due to time constraints. At 3 locations, an additional sample was taken 5 weeks post-spray. Pitfalls were 16-oz deli containers (10 cm diameter, 5 cm depth), buried to be flush with the soil surface, and covered by a 30 cm square wooden coverboard suspended 2 cm over the ground by lawn pegs. At each sampling occasion, pitfalls were filled with 60 ml of 70% ethanol and left open for 24--48 hours (times varied due to logistical constraints). We deployed pitfalls in fixed locations. Each habitat (lawn, forest) had two pitfall locations, with locations stratified by distance to the lawn-forest border as with the bulk samples. We placed pitfall traps in different quadrats from those used for bulk sampling. Prior to sorting, we sieved samples with a 500 micron mesh. We then sorted samples to order, counting every individual.
Fieldwork was conducted with permission of the CIES. No protected species were sampled.
Data analysis {#sec007}
-------------
### Data pooling {#sec008}
We pooled abundance data for each order within each plot, sampling occasion, habitat, and sample type (bulk versus pitfall). Bulk samples included 467 samples (156 lawn, 156 forest soil, and 155 forest litter samples, 1 litter sample being lost). We pooled these into 156 pooled samples (3 sampling occasions at 13 locations, each location containing 2 plots, each plot with 1 pooled lawn and 1 pooled forest sample). The pitfall samples included 129 samples (62 forest and 67 lawn, 7 samples being too dirty to sort). Pitfall samples were pooled into 68 samples.
### Modeling abundance of arthropod taxa {#sec009}
We analyzed the data using multivariate generalized linear models (GLMs), with function "manyglm" in R package "mvabund" \[[@pone.0187675.ref047],[@pone.0187675.ref048]\]. We used R version R 3.4.0. Manyglm jointly predicts abundance across multiple taxa. Variance in abundance was greater than the mean for most orders. Therefore, abundance of order *j* in sample *i* was modeled as negative binomial: *Y*~*ij*~ \~ *NB*(*μ*~*j*~, *Φj*).
The effect of treatment was tested by comparing the fit of a model that included treatment as a predictor, versus a null model that did not include treatment. The null model for abundance of order *j* in period *p* (before vs. after the spray), and habitat *h* (forest vs. lawn) was modeled as a log-linear function: $$\log\left( \mu_{jphl} \right){= {intercept}}_{j}{+ {period}}_{p}{+ {habitat}}_{h} + {location}_{l}$$
The alternative model adds treatment: $${\log\left( \mu_{jphl} \right){= {intercept}}_{j}{+ {period}}_{p}{+ {habitat}}_{h}} + {location}_{l} + {treatment}_{t}$$
We used Akaike Information Criterion values to compare the fit of the two models. If the model that included treatment had a lower AIC value, then we concluded that treatment significantly affected abundance \[[@pone.0187675.ref049]\]. Analysis of deviance (anova.manyglm in mvabund) was used to determine the significance of each term in the best-fitting model.
The arthropod communities represented by the bulk samples versus pitfall samples may respond differently to Met52, due to differences in interactions among taxa, mobility, and seasonality. Therefore, we analyzed bulk and pitfall data separately. Within each sample type, two sets of analyses were performed considering the two post-spray samples, because immediate post-spray arthropod responses may have differed from responses several weeks later. The first set of analyses included data from samples taken pre-spray and 1 week post-spray. The second set of analyses included pre-spray samples and the second set of post-spray samples.
The number of observations was not much larger than the number of predictors, preventing estimation of the the correlation matrix across taxa. Therefore, we assumed taxa responded independently. In mvabund, the significance of the test statistic (the likelihood ratio) is evaluated via resampling rows of data, preserving the correlation structure across orders within locations, habitats, and sampling occasions. Therefore, inferences made in mvabund are valid even when taxa exhibit correlated responses \[[@pone.0187675.ref050]\].
### Before-After-Control-Impact effects {#sec010}
The observed data were used to calculate the means and standard errors for each period-treatment category. The Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) effect for each order was calculated as the difference in average abundance, *μ*~*j*~, between Met52 and H~2~O plots, for samples after the spray, minus the difference before the spray: (*μ*~*jhl*,*p\ =\ after*,\ *t\ =\ Met52*~ - *μ*~*jhl*,*p\ =\ after*,\ *t\ =\ H2O*~)---(*μ*~*jhl*,*p\ =\ before*,\ *t\ =\ Met52*~ - *μ*~*jhl*,*p\ =\ before*,\ *t\ =\ H2O*~) \[[@pone.0187675.ref051]\]. BACI standard errors were computed from the set of BACI effect values for each location and habitat.
### Power analyses {#sec011}
We used bootstrapping to conduct both retrospective and prospective power analyses \[[@pone.0187675.ref052],[@pone.0187675.ref053]\] (R code available: [S1 Code](#pone.0187675.s001){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The objective of the retrospective power analysis was to determine the percent reduction in abundance that was detectable with 80% power, given the data that we collected. The analysis addressed changes in abundance in the bulk samples and pitfall samples taken pre-treatment and in the two post-treatment sampling occasions. For each randomization run, counts were generated for each observation by sampling with replacement from the set of observed pooled samples. By randomizing at the scale of samples, rather than taxa, this randomization procedure preserved potential correlations in abundance across taxa present in the original dataset. Following these random draws, the values in the Met52 samples, post-treatment, were multiplied by one of a range of reduction factors, from 0.1 to 0.9 in increments of 0.05, representing a range of reductions in abundance. As with analyses previously described for the observed data, two alternative multivariate GLMs were fitted to the randomly generated dataset: a full model with period, habitat, and treatment as predictors ([Eq 2](#pone.0187675.e002){ref-type="disp-formula"}), and a nested null model without treatment ([Eq 1](#pone.0187675.e001){ref-type="disp-formula"}). If the model including treatment had the lower AIC value, then the effect of Met52 was considered to have been detected for that randomization run and level of reduction in abundance. The randomization and testing procedure was repeated 10,000 times for each reduction level, generating a distribution of AIC values for the two alternative GLMs for each reduction level. If the full model including treatment was the better fit in at least 80% of randomization runs, then the study design was estimated to have 80% power to detect the specified reduction in abundance. We identified the smallest reduction in abundance for which there was at least 80% power to detect this change.
The objective of the prospective power analysis was to determine the sample size that would be needed in a future study to have 80% power to detect either a 25% or a 50% reduction in arthropod abundance due to Met52 treatment, considering the first post-treatment sample. In the context of biocontrol, fifty percent reduction in abundance of a non-target population is a level that has been considered feasible for detection and ecologically meaningful \[[@pone.0187675.ref054]--[@pone.0187675.ref056]\]. We simulated larger sample sizes by drawing with replacement from the observed data. For bulk samples, we simulated multiplying sample size by a range of factors from one (no change in sample size) to twenty. Given the smaller observed set of pitfall samples, we simulated a range of pitfall samples from 10 to 100 times the observed sample size, in increments of ten. We simulated each scenario of reduction in arthropod abundance and increase in sample size 1,000 times. As with the retrospective bootstrap power analysis, for each randomization run we determined whether there was a significant effect of Met52 based on comparison of AIC values from two alternative GLMs. R Code is available via figshare \[[@pone.0187675.ref057]\].
Results {#sec012}
=======
Bulk samples {#sec013}
------------
The 156 pooled samples contained an estimated 124,983 arthropods, including 89,280 Acari and 25,938 Collembola (extrapolated from subsamples), and 7,008 individuals across 18 other orders. The null model had a better fit to the data (AIC = 6416) than the model including treatment (AIC = 6431, delta AIC = 15), considering samples taken pre-spray and 1 week post-spray ([Table 1](#pone.0187675.t001){ref-type="table"}). Analysis of deviance of the best fitting model indicated significant effects of habitat (likelihood ratio \[LR\] = 153.8, P = 0.001) and plot location (LR = 332.9, P = 0.003), with no effect detected for period (LR = 23.1, P = 0.35) ([S1 Table](#pone.0187675.s002){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
10.1371/journal.pone.0187675.t001
###### Comparison of alternative models for abundance of arthropods in bulk samples taken pre-treatment and 1 week post-treatment.
The best fitting model included as predictors period, habitat, and location, but not treatment.
{#pone.0187675.t001g}
Model Res.Df Likelihood ratio P(\>LR) AIC.value delta.AIC
------------------------------------------------------ -------- ------------------ --------- ----------- -----------
abundance \~ period + habitat +location 89 NA NA 6416 0
abundance \~ period + habitat + location + treatment 88 26.5 0.23 6431 15
Considering bulk samples taken pre-spray and 3 weeks post-spray, the null model again had a better fit to the data (AIC = 6795) compared to the model including treatment (AIC = 6826, delta AIC = 31) ([Table 2](#pone.0187675.t002){ref-type="table"}). The best fitting model had significant effects of period (LR = 51.0, P = 0.03), habitat (LR = 187.1, P = 0.001), and plot location (LR = 382.5, P = 0.001) ([S2 Table](#pone.0187675.s003){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
10.1371/journal.pone.0187675.t002
###### Comparison of alternative models for abundance of arthropods in bulk samples taken pre-treatment and 3 weeks post-treatment.
AIC values indicated the best fitting model included effects of period, habitat, and location, but not treatment.
{#pone.0187675.t002g}
Model Res.Df Likelihood ratio P(\>LR) AIC.value delta.AIC
------------------------------------------------------ -------- ------------------ --------- ----------- -----------
abundance \~ period + habitat + location 89 NA NA 6795 0
abundance \~ period + habitat + location + treatment 88 11.0 0.92 6826 31
Retrospective power analysis indicated that the study had at least 80% power to detect a reduction in arthropod abundance of 50% or greater, considering samples taken 1 week after the spray, and a reduction of 60% or greater, considering samples taken 3 weeks post-treatment. To have at least 80% power to detect a 50% reduction in abundance 1 week post-treatment, three times the current sample size would be needed, while eight times the current sample size would be needed to achieve at least 80% power to detect a 25% reduction in abundance.
The estimated BACI effects for each order in the bulk samples, for the two before-after comparisons, were generally low, with standard errors almost always encompassing 0 ([Fig 1A](#pone.0187675.g001){ref-type="fig"}; [S3 Table](#pone.0187675.s004){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Within each order, standard errors for abundance in Met52 and water plots almost always overlapped at each sampling occasion ([S1 Fig](#pone.0187675.s008){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
{#pone.0187675.g001}
Pitfall samples {#sec014}
---------------
The 68 pooled samples contained 4,276 individuals in 22 orders, the three most abundant orders being Collembola (1,424 specimens), Hymenoptera (634), and Acari (566). The null model provided the best fit to the data (AIC = 2713), compared to the model including treatment as a predictor (AIC = 2717, delta AIC = 4), considering samples collected pre-treatment and 1 week post-treatment ([Table 3](#pone.0187675.t003){ref-type="table"}). For the best-fitting model, there was a significant effect of location (LR = 264.9, P = 0.001), period (LR = 46.2, P = 0.013), but not of habitat (LR = 26.7, P = 0.18) ([S4 Table](#pone.0187675.s005){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
10.1371/journal.pone.0187675.t003
###### Comparison of alternative models for abundance of arthropods in pitfall samples taken pre-treatment and 1 week post-treatment.
AIC values indicated the best-fitting model included effects of period, habitat, and location, but not treatment.
{#pone.0187675.t003g}
Model Res.Df Likelihood ratio P(\>LR) AIC.value delta.AIC
------------------------------------------------------ -------- ------------------ --------- ----------- -----------
abundance \~ period + habitat +location 47 NA NA 2713 0
abundance \~ period + habitat + location + treatment 46 31.2 0.098 2717 4
For pitfall samples taken pre-spray and five weeks post-spray, the null model was again better supported (AIC = 1841) than the model that included treatment (AIC = 1849, delta AIC = 8) ([Table 4](#pone.0187675.t004){ref-type="table"}). In the best fitting model, there were significant effects of period (LR = 38.9, P = 0.03), habitat (LR = 62.4, P = 0.001), and location (LR = 209.8, P = 0.001), ([S5 Table](#pone.0187675.s006){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
10.1371/journal.pone.0187675.t004
###### Comparison of alternative models for abundance of arthropods in pitfall samples taken pre-treatment and 5 weeks post-treatment.
AIC values indicated the best-fitting model included effects of period, habitat, and location, but not treatment.
{#pone.0187675.t004g}
Model Res.Df Wald test statistic P(\>Wald) AIC.value delta.AIC
------------------------------------------- -------- --------------------- ----------- ----------- -----------
abundance \~ period + habitat 31 NA NA 1841 0
abundance \~ period + habitat + treatment 30 27.2 0.19 1849 8
For the pitfall samples taken before and 1 week post-treatment, most of the BACI effects are low, with standard errors that include 0 ([Fig 1B](#pone.0187675.g001){ref-type="fig"}, top panel; Supporting Information: [S6 Table](#pone.0187675.s007){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). For samples taken 5 weeks post-treatment, BACI effects remain low, with about half the orders having positive effects and standard error ranges above 0 ([Fig 1B](#pone.0187675.g001){ref-type="fig"}, bottom panel; [S6 Table](#pone.0187675.s007){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Order-level abundances followed similar paths over time in the Met52 and control plots ([S2 Fig](#pone.0187675.s009){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Retrospective power analysis indicated 8% power to detect a 90% reduction in abundance for pitfall samples taken 1 week post-spray, and 10% power for samples 5 weeks post-spray. Prospective power analysis indicated that increasing sampling by up to a factor of one hundred would yield a maximum of 7% power to detect 25% reduction in abundance, or maximum 6% power to detect 50% reduction in abundance, considering samples taken 1 week post-treatment.
Data are available from figshare \[[@pone.0187675.ref057]\].
Discussion {#sec015}
==========
Met52 is one of a range of biocontrol agents developed for use against vectors for human disease. Exposure to the ticks that transmit tick-borne pathogens in the eastern and central United States is thought to occur peridomestically \[[@pone.0187675.ref011]--[@pone.0187675.ref013]\], resulting in widespread interest in developing effective, safe methods for controlling ticks in yards \[[@pone.0187675.ref024]\]. Containing the fungus *Metarhizium brunneum* strain F52, Met52 has shown the potential to control ticks in yards to a comparable degree to that achieved with chemical pesticides \[[@pone.0187675.ref021],[@pone.0187675.ref058]\]. It is important to assess whether Met52 has unintended consequences for non-target arthropods that share the ticks' environment. In the lab, Met52 has had no effect on some non-target taxa, yet increased mortality in others \[[@pone.0187675.ref059]\]. In the field, the non-target effects of Met52, and other *M*. *brunneum* strains, have been primarily assessed in agricultural settings \[[@pone.0187675.ref034]\].
The Tick Project ([www.tickproject.org](http://www.tickproject.org)) is an ongoing study testing whether TBD can be reduced through neighborhood-scale yard treatment with Met52, by itself or together with bait boxes that apply the acaricide fipronil to small mammals. The Tick Project is the first neighborhood-scale use of Met52. Given the efficacy of Met52 against diverse target taxa, it is plausible that it would negatively impact non-target arthropods. If Met52 caused declines in non-target arthropods, or disruptions in ecosystem functions performed by non-target arthropods, these costs would need to be weighed against the potential tick control benefits of Met52.
This study reports the first field test of the non-target effects of Met52 as applied for tick control in lawn and forest habitats typical of residential yards. Non-target arthropods were sampled, via bulk samples of soil and litter and via pitfalls, before and after spraying plots with Met52 or water (control plots). Multivariate generalized linear models \[[@pone.0187675.ref047]\] were used to jointly predict the abundances of arthropod orders. Across sample types (bulk, pitfall) and two post-spray sampling occasions, the better fitting models included as predictors location, period, and habitat, but not treatment. Power analysis indicated the study design had at least 80% power to detect reductions in abundance of 50% or greater, considering arthropods in bulk samples taken 1 week post-spray. It is possible that Met52 caused lesser changes in arthropod abundance, which this study was less likely to detect. Considering non-target arthropod communities as a whole, however, the experimental results indicated that use of Met52 in yards is unlikely to have major negative impacts on arthropod populations or communities.
Based on the expected Type I error rate, interpreting the results of unadjusted univariate tests to \~20 taxa is expected to result in 1 taxon exhibiting a significant effect of treatment at the P\<0.05 level by chance, even if there is no real treatment effect. On the other hand, with 20 taxa, making adjustments for multiple comparisons reduces the likelihood of detecting changes in abundance that may be ecologically significant but not meet a P\<0.05 cutoff. Therefore, possible patterns in the BACI effects are identified but without drawing conclusions about statistical significance.
For Acari and Collembola, the two most abundant taxa in the bulk samples, the BACI effects were negative ([Fig 1A](#pone.0187675.g001){ref-type="fig"}), with large standard errors. Negative effects for Acari would be consistent with the effects of Met52 on ticks \[[@pone.0187675.ref060]\], spider mites \[[@pone.0187675.ref061]\], and predatory mites \[[@pone.0187675.ref030]\]. Negative effects for Collembola would be consistent with a study that found increased mortality following exposure to BIPESCO 5 (= F52) \[[@pone.0187675.ref028]\]. Among less abundant taxa, some appeared to have positive BACI effects (e.g., Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera), with others being negative (Chilopoda, Diplopoda). We do not know whether these possible patterns are ecologically significant.
Considering the pitfall data ([Fig 1B](#pone.0187675.g001){ref-type="fig"}), the BACI effect is positive for Acari and Collembola for the samples taken 5 weeks post-treatment. Pitfall samples captured more mobile arthropods, which may have been able to recolonize more rapidly, compared to arthropods in bulk samples. In the lab, BIPESCO 5 attracted collembolans, and one species exhibited no increase in mortality after consuming BIPESCO 5 \[[@pone.0187675.ref028]\]. It is possible that some collembolans were attracted to, and even benefited from, Met52. Hymenoptera, second-most abundant in the pitfall samples, exhibited positive BACI effects. A positive effect on Hymenoptera would be consistent with a study at found increased abundance of ants in BIPESCO 5 plots \[[@pone.0187675.ref034]\]. Ants exhibit a range of behavioral and immune defenses against *M*. *brunneum* \[[@pone.0187675.ref062]\].
Bulk sampling was clearly the more useful sampling method. Power analysis for the pitfall data indicated that the power to detect even a 90% reduction in abundance was approximately equal to the expected Type I error rate. Tripling the current sample size would result in 80% power to detect a 50% change in arthropods in the bulk samples, whereas even increasing sample size 100-fold would not increase power with arthropods sampled by pitfall.
The total area of the 13 treated plots, 832 square meters, was about 0.01% of the 8 square kilometers of the CIES campus. If Met52 caused reductions in abundance of non-target taxa, there was a large surrounding area from which affected taxa could recolonize. Even major reductions in abundance would be unlikely to significantly affect population or community ecology or ecosystem function in the landscape. In The Tick Project, 23--43% of about 100 properties in a contiguous area receive treatment with Met52 (or control) twice each year for four years, beginning in 2017. At this greater scale of Met52 treatment, it is possible that non-target impacts may emerge that were not found in the present study.
Supporting information {#sec016}
======================
###### R code for retrospective and prospective bootstrap power analysis.
(ZIP)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Analysis of deviance for the best-fitting model of arthropod abundance in bulk samples, considering data taken pre-treatment and 1 week post-treatment.
There was a significant effect of habitat.
(CSV)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Analysis of deviance for the best-fitting model of arthropod abundance in bulk samples, considering data taken pre-treatment and 3 weeks post-treatment.
There were significant effects of period, habitat, and location.
(CSV)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Bulk sample means and BACI effects.
Order-level means (standard errors) and Before-After-Control-Impact effects (SEs) for bulk samples.
(CSV)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Analysis of deviance for the best-fitting model of arthropod abundance in pitfall samples, considering data taken pre-treatment and 1 week post-treatment.
There was a significant effect of period.
(CSV)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Analysis of deviance for the best-fitting model of arthropod abundance in pitfall samples, considering data taken pre-treatment and 5 weeks post-treatment.
There was a significant effect of period and habitat.
(CSV)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Pitfall sample means and BACI effects.
Order-level means (standard errors) and Before-After-Control-Impact effects (SEs) for pitfall samples.
(CSV)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Arthropod abundance over time in bulk samples.
Mean and standard error abundance for each order and sampling occasion for Met52 and control (H~2~O) plots for bulk sample data.
(PNG)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Arthropod abundance over time in pitfall samples.
Mean and standard error abundance for each order and sampling occasion for Met52 and control (H~2~O) plots for pitfall sample data.
(PNG)
######
Click here for additional data file.
We acknowledge major support for The Tick Project from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. We thank Mike Fargione for guidance in use of pesticides, and Heather Malcolm for guidance in arthropod sorting. We thank Sophia Raithel for collecting and sorting the pitfall samples, and Alexandra Clarke for sorting bulk samples. We also thank the many other Project Assistants for their hard work gathering and sorting samples. James Burtis and two anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on previous drafts. We thank Alison Hinckley, Lars Eisen, and Ben Beard for advice. This is a contribution to the program of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
[^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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Q:
Python lifelines - ConvergenceWarning: Newton-Raphson failed to converge sufficiently in Cox prop hazard
When calling CoxPHFitter() on my full dataset I'm getting the following error:
Users/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/lifelines/fitters/coxph_fitter.py:557: ConvergenceWarning: Newton-Rhapson failed to converge sufficiently in 50 steps.
warnings.warn("Newton-Rhapson failed to converge sufficiently in %d steps." % max_steps, ConvergenceWarning)
But I couldn't find how to increase number of steps.
I've also tried to play with the values of the params: step_size, enalizer and alpha - with no success.
This is the function that I'm running and the params:
def cox_proportional_hazard_model(data, survival_duration, survival_status, strata=None):
cph = CoxPHFitter(alpha=0.05, tie_method='Efron', penalizer=0.1, strata=None)
cph.fit(df=data,
duration_col=survival_duration, event_col=survival_status,
strata=strata, show_progress=True, step_size=0.1)
cph.print_summary()
return cph
and here is the output and the deltas:
Iteration 1: norm_delta = 22.95175, step_size = 0.1000, ll = -383.78983, newton_decrement = 224.62787, seconds_since_start = 0.0
Iteration 2: norm_delta = 8.59969, step_size = 0.0250, ll = -344.73687, newton_decrement = 100.90631, seconds_since_start = 0.1
Iteration 3: norm_delta = 8.00526, step_size = 0.0225, ll = -339.71541, newton_decrement = 95.05309, seconds_since_start = 0.1
Iteration 4: norm_delta = 7.61510, step_size = 0.0243, ll = -335.44970, newton_decrement = 90.63796, seconds_since_start = 0.1
Iteration 5: norm_delta = 7.29316, step_size = 0.0262, ll = -331.05741, newton_decrement = 86.53240, seconds_since_start = 0.2
Iteration 6: norm_delta = 7.02757, step_size = 0.0283, ll = -326.52929, newton_decrement = 82.69935, seconds_since_start = 0.2
Iteration 7: norm_delta = 6.80949, step_size = 0.0306, ll = -321.85618, newton_decrement = 79.10759, seconds_since_start = 0.2
Iteration 8: norm_delta = 6.63229, step_size = 0.0331, ll = -317.02892, newton_decrement = 75.73047, seconds_since_start = 0.3
Iteration 9: norm_delta = 6.49106, step_size = 0.0357, ll = -312.03837, newton_decrement = 72.54478, seconds_since_start = 0.3
Iteration 10: norm_delta = 6.38213, step_size = 0.0386, ll = -306.87533, newton_decrement = 69.52988, seconds_since_start = 0.3
Iteration 11: norm_delta = 6.30276, step_size = 0.0416, ll = -301.53059, newton_decrement = 66.66703, seconds_since_start = 0.3
Iteration 12: norm_delta = 6.25096, step_size = 0.0450, ll = -295.99496, newton_decrement = 63.93876, seconds_since_start = 0.4
Iteration 13: norm_delta = 6.22523, step_size = 0.0486, ll = -290.25932, newton_decrement = 61.32840, seconds_since_start = 0.4
Iteration 14: norm_delta = 6.22451, step_size = 0.0525, ll = -284.31480, newton_decrement = 58.81965, seconds_since_start = 0.4
Iteration 15: norm_delta = 6.24798, step_size = 0.0567, ll = -278.15291, newton_decrement = 56.39613, seconds_since_start = 0.5
Iteration 16: norm_delta = 6.29497, step_size = 0.0500, ll = -271.76578, newton_decrement = 54.04106, seconds_since_start = 0.5
Iteration 17: norm_delta = 6.35101, step_size = 0.0441, ll = -266.33229, newton_decrement = 52.14109, seconds_since_start = 0.5
Iteration 18: norm_delta = 6.40935, step_size = 0.0389, ll = -261.68076, newton_decrement = 50.57648, seconds_since_start = 0.6
Iteration 19: norm_delta = 6.46639, step_size = 0.0343, ll = -257.67951, newton_decrement = 49.26847, seconds_since_start = 0.6
Iteration 20: norm_delta = 6.52023, step_size = 0.0302, ll = -254.22460, newton_decrement = 48.16262, seconds_since_start = 0.6
Iteration 21: norm_delta = 6.57000, step_size = 0.0267, ll = -251.23237, newton_decrement = 47.21966, seconds_since_start = 0.7
Iteration 22: norm_delta = 6.61537, step_size = 0.0235, ll = -248.63436, newton_decrement = 46.41034, seconds_since_start = 0.7
Iteration 23: norm_delta = 6.65633, step_size = 0.0207, ll = -246.37393, newton_decrement = 45.71217, seconds_since_start = 0.7
Iteration 24: norm_delta = 6.69308, step_size = 0.0183, ll = -244.40374, newton_decrement = 45.10750, seconds_since_start = 0.8
Iteration 25: norm_delta = 6.72589, step_size = 0.0161, ll = -242.68394, newton_decrement = 44.58214, seconds_since_start = 0.8
Iteration 26: norm_delta = 6.75508, step_size = 0.0142, ll = -241.18077, newton_decrement = 44.12455, seconds_since_start = 0.8
Iteration 27: norm_delta = 6.78100, step_size = 0.0126, ll = -239.86547, newton_decrement = 43.72517, seconds_since_start = 0.9
Iteration 28: norm_delta = 6.80396, step_size = 0.0111, ll = -238.71344, newton_decrement = 43.37602, seconds_since_start = 0.9
Iteration 29: norm_delta = 6.82427, step_size = 0.0098, ll = -237.70355, newton_decrement = 43.07037, seconds_since_start = 0.9
Iteration 30: norm_delta = 6.84223, step_size = 0.0086, ll = -236.81763, newton_decrement = 42.80250, seconds_since_start = 1.0
Iteration 31: norm_delta = 6.85809, step_size = 0.0076, ll = -236.03994, newton_decrement = 42.56752, seconds_since_start = 1.0
Iteration 32: norm_delta = 6.87209, step_size = 0.0067, ll = -235.35688, newton_decrement = 42.36124, seconds_since_start = 1.0
Iteration 33: norm_delta = 6.88445, step_size = 0.0059, ll = -234.75663, newton_decrement = 42.18003, seconds_since_start = 1.1
Iteration 34: norm_delta = 6.89535, step_size = 0.0052, ll = -234.22893, newton_decrement = 42.02075, seconds_since_start = 1.1
Iteration 35: norm_delta = 6.90497, step_size = 0.0046, ll = -233.76482, newton_decrement = 41.88069, seconds_since_start = 1.1
Iteration 36: norm_delta = 6.91345, step_size = 0.0041, ll = -233.35650, newton_decrement = 41.75748, seconds_since_start = 1.2
Iteration 37: norm_delta = 6.92093, step_size = 0.0036, ll = -232.99717, newton_decrement = 41.64906, seconds_since_start = 1.2
Iteration 38: norm_delta = 6.92753, step_size = 0.0032, ll = -232.68085, newton_decrement = 41.55361, seconds_since_start = 1.2
Iteration 39: norm_delta = 6.93335, step_size = 0.0028, ll = -232.40235, newton_decrement = 41.46957, seconds_since_start = 1.3
Iteration 40: norm_delta = 6.93847, step_size = 0.0025, ll = -232.15707, newton_decrement = 41.39556, seconds_since_start = 1.3
Iteration 41: norm_delta = 6.94300, step_size = 0.0022, ll = -231.94104, newton_decrement = 41.33037, seconds_since_start = 1.3
Iteration 42: norm_delta = 6.94698, step_size = 0.0019, ll = -231.75071, newton_decrement = 41.27294, seconds_since_start = 1.4
Iteration 43: norm_delta = 6.95050, step_size = 0.0017, ll = -231.58303, newton_decrement = 41.22233, seconds_since_start = 1.4
Iteration 44: norm_delta = 6.95360, step_size = 0.0015, ll = -231.43526, newton_decrement = 41.17774, seconds_since_start = 1.4
Iteration 45: norm_delta = 6.95634, step_size = 0.0013, ll = -231.30504, newton_decrement = 41.13844, seconds_since_start = 1.5
Iteration 46: norm_delta = 6.95875, step_size = 0.0012, ll = -231.19026, newton_decrement = 41.10379, seconds_since_start = 1.5
Iteration 47: norm_delta = 6.96087, step_size = 0.0010, ll = -231.08909, newton_decrement = 41.07326, seconds_since_start = 1.5
Iteration 48: norm_delta = 6.96275, step_size = 0.0009, ll = -230.99991, newton_decrement = 41.04634, seconds_since_start = 1.6
Iteration 49: norm_delta = 6.96440, step_size = 0.0008, ll = -230.92129, newton_decrement = 41.02261, seconds_since_start = 1.6
Iteration 50: norm_delta = 6.96586, step_size = 0.0007, ll = -230.85198, newton_decrement = 41.00169, seconds_since_start = 1.7
Convergence failed. See any warning messages.
Concordance index of the model 0.9980554205153136
<lifelines.CoxPHFitter: fitted with 115 observations, 19 censored>
duration col = 'Survival from onset'
event col = 'survival status'
penalizer = 0.1
number of subjects = 115
number of events = 96
log-likelihood = -230.85
time fit was run = 2019-07-29 18:06:24 UTC
---
coef exp(coef) se(coef) z p -log2(p) lower 0.95 upper 0.95
hsa-miR-1-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.10 0.92 0.12 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-101-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.35 0.73 0.45 -0.00 0.01
hsa-miR-103a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.78 0.44 1.19 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-103b -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.35 0.73 0.46 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-106b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.10 0.92 0.12 -0.02 0.01
hsa-miR-107 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.11 0.91 0.13 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-10a-5p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.20 0.84 0.25 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-10b-5p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.34 0.73 0.45 -0.04 0.02
hsa-miR-122-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.05 0.96 0.06 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-125a-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.22 0.83 0.27 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-125b-2-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.17 0.86 0.21 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-125b-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.29 0.77 0.38 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-126-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.09 0.93 0.11 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-126-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.29 0.77 0.38 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-1268b 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.41 0.68 0.56 -0.04 0.06
hsa-miR-127-3p 0.01 1.01 0.03 0.46 0.64 0.64 -0.04 0.07
hsa-miR-128-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.12 0.91 0.14 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-1287-5p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.02 0.98 0.03 -0.04 0.04
hsa-miR-1301-3p 0.00 1.00 0.03 0.03 0.98 0.03 -0.05 0.05
hsa-miR-1306-5p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.33 0.74 0.44 -0.05 0.04
hsa-miR-1307-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.21 0.83 0.27 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-1307-5p 0.00 1.00 0.03 0.04 0.96 0.05 -0.06 0.06
hsa-miR-130a-3p 0.01 1.01 0.03 0.22 0.82 0.28 -0.05 0.06
hsa-miR-133a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.08 0.94 0.09 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-133b -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.17 0.87 0.21 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-134-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.26 0.80 0.33 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-139-3p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.06 0.95 0.08 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-140-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.20 0.84 0.25 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-140-5p 0.02 1.02 0.05 0.33 0.74 0.43 -0.09 0.12
hsa-miR-142-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-142-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.01 0.99 0.01 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-143-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.09 0.93 0.10 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-144-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.21 0.83 0.26 -0.03 0.02
hsa-miR-144-5p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.09 0.93 0.11 -0.07 0.06
hsa-miR-145-5p 0.01 1.01 0.04 0.26 0.80 0.33 -0.07 0.09
hsa-miR-146a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.01 0.99 0.01 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-146b-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.04 0.97 0.05 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-148a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.54 0.59 0.76 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-148b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.50 0.62 0.69 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-150-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.25 0.81 0.31 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-151a-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.09 0.93 0.10 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-151b/151a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.22 0.82 0.28 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-152-3p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.20 0.84 0.25 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-155-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.58 0.56 0.83 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-15a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.15 0.88 0.19 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-15b-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.11 0.91 0.13 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-16-2-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.26 0.80 0.33 -0.02 0.01
hsa-miR-16-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.15 0.88 0.18 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-17-5p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.32 0.75 0.41 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-181a-2-3p -0.01 0.99 0.07 -0.08 0.94 0.09 -0.14 0.13
hsa-miR-181a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.13 0.90 0.16 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-181b-5p 0.02 1.02 0.03 0.67 0.51 0.98 -0.04 0.07
hsa-miR-182-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.02 0.98 0.03 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-183-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.22 0.83 0.27 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-185-3p 0.00 1.00 0.05 0.09 0.93 0.10 -0.09 0.10
hsa-miR-185-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.14 0.89 0.17 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-186-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-18a-5p 0.02 1.02 0.06 0.32 0.75 0.42 -0.09 0.13
hsa-miR-1908-5p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.14 0.89 0.16 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-190a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.04 0.13 0.90 0.15 -0.07 0.08
hsa-miR-191-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.47 0.64 0.65 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-192-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.10 0.92 0.12 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-193a-5p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.11 0.91 0.14 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-194-5p -0.00 1.00 0.04 -0.09 0.93 0.11 -0.08 0.07
hsa-miR-195-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.28 0.78 0.36 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-196b-5p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.63 0.53 0.92 -0.06 0.03
hsa-miR-197-3p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.14 0.89 0.18 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-199a-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.54 0.59 0.76 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-199a-5p 0.02 1.02 0.04 0.42 0.68 0.56 -0.06 0.09
hsa-miR-199b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.41 0.68 0.55 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-19a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.04 0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.08 0.09
hsa-miR-19b-3p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.35 0.73 0.46 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-200a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.04 0.04 0.97 0.05 -0.07 0.07
hsa-miR-200b-3p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.48 0.63 0.66 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-200c-3p 0.00 1.00 0.04 0.02 0.98 0.02 -0.08 0.08
hsa-miR-203a-3p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.24 0.81 0.30 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-205-5p -0.01 0.99 0.03 -0.18 0.86 0.22 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-206 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.13 0.90 0.16 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-20a-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.14 0.89 0.17 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-20b-5p -0.02 0.98 0.04 -0.45 0.65 0.61 -0.09 0.05
hsa-miR-21-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.02 0.98 0.03 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-2110 -0.02 0.98 0.05 -0.39 0.70 0.52 -0.12 0.08
hsa-miR-22-3p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.49 0.62 0.69 -0.01 0.02
hsa-miR-221-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.07 0.95 0.08 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-222-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.13 0.90 0.16 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-223-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.46 0.64 0.64 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-223-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.12 0.91 0.14 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-23a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.03 0.98 0.03 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-23b-3p 0.01 1.01 0.01 0.40 0.69 0.53 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-24-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-25-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.01 1.00 0.01 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-26a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.05 0.96 0.06 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-26b-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.17 0.87 0.20 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-27a-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.27 0.78 0.35 -0.03 0.02
hsa-miR-27b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.21 0.83 0.26 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-28-3p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.05 0.96 0.06 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-29a-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.58 0.56 0.82 -0.01 0.00
hsa-miR-29b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.15 0.88 0.19 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-29c-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.18 0.86 0.22 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-29c-5p -0.00 1.00 0.05 -0.02 0.98 0.02 -0.09 0.09
hsa-miR-30a-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.10 0.92 0.12 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-30b-5p -0.01 0.99 0.04 -0.12 0.90 0.15 -0.09 0.08
hsa-miR-30c-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.15 0.88 0.19 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-30d-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.19 0.85 0.24 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-30e-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.14 0.89 0.18 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-30e-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.55 0.59 0.77 -0.01 0.00
hsa-miR-3135b 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.14 0.89 0.17 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-3168 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.30 0.76 0.39 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-320a -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.04 0.97 0.04 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-320b -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.23 0.82 0.29 -0.03 0.02
hsa-miR-320c -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.14 0.89 0.17 -0.05 0.04
hsa-miR-323b-3p 0.04 1.04 0.05 0.72 0.47 1.09 -0.06 0.13
hsa-miR-324-5p -0.01 0.99 0.04 -0.16 0.88 0.19 -0.07 0.06
hsa-miR-326 -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.12 0.90 0.15 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-328-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.06 0.95 0.07 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-335-5p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.50 0.62 0.69 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-339-3p -0.00 1.00 0.04 -0.05 0.96 0.05 -0.07 0.07
hsa-miR-339-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.42 0.67 0.57 -0.01 0.02
hsa-miR-340-5p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.34 0.73 0.45 -0.04 0.05
hsa-miR-342-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.05 0.96 0.06 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-345-5p 0.00 1.00 0.05 0.02 0.98 0.03 -0.09 0.10
hsa-miR-34a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.03 0.16 0.87 0.20 -0.05 0.06
hsa-miR-361-3p 0.01 1.01 0.03 0.44 0.66 0.61 -0.04 0.06
hsa-miR-361-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.38 0.70 0.50 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-3613-3p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.32 0.75 0.41 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-3615 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.24 0.81 0.30 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-363-3p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.44 0.66 0.60 -0.03 0.05
hsa-miR-3687 0.02 1.02 0.04 0.62 0.54 0.90 -0.05 0.10
hsa-miR-370-3p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.11 0.91 0.14 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-374a-5p -0.01 0.99 0.04 -0.37 0.71 0.49 -0.09 0.06
hsa-miR-374b-5p -0.02 0.98 0.08 -0.29 0.77 0.38 -0.17 0.13
hsa-miR-375 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.07 0.94 0.09 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-378a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.11 0.92 0.13 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-378c 0.02 1.02 0.04 0.40 0.69 0.53 -0.06 0.10
hsa-miR-379-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.21 0.83 0.26 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-381-3p 0.00 1.00 0.04 0.12 0.90 0.15 -0.07 0.08
hsa-miR-382-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.19 0.85 0.24 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-3940-3p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.26 0.79 0.33 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-3974 -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.21 0.83 0.26 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-409-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.48 0.63 0.67 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-423-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.72 0.47 1.08 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-423-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.15 0.88 0.19 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-425-3p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.08 0.94 0.09 -0.04 0.05
hsa-miR-425-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.21 0.84 0.26 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-4254 -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.30 0.77 0.38 -0.03 0.02
hsa-miR-4286 0.03 1.03 0.06 0.56 0.57 0.80 -0.08 0.14
hsa-miR-431-5p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.15 0.88 0.18 -0.04 0.03
hsa-miR-432-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.28 0.78 0.35 -0.00 0.01
hsa-miR-4433a-3p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.01 0.99 0.01 -0.06 0.06
hsa-miR-4433b-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.20 0.84 0.25 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-4446-3p 0.01 1.01 0.04 0.24 0.81 0.30 -0.07 0.09
hsa-miR-4451 -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.04 0.04
hsa-miR-4454 -0.01 0.99 0.03 -0.28 0.78 0.36 -0.08 0.06
hsa-miR-451a 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.23 0.82 0.29 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-454-3p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.12 0.91 0.14 -0.05 0.04
hsa-miR-4655-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.05 0.96 0.06 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-4732-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.02 0.98 0.03 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-483-5p 0.01 1.01 0.01 0.50 0.62 0.70 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-484 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.11 0.91 0.13 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-485-3p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.11 0.91 0.14 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-485-5p 0.01 1.01 0.05 0.16 0.87 0.19 -0.10 0.12
hsa-miR-486-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.13 0.89 0.16 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-486-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.09 0.93 0.11 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-487b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.05 -0.04 0.97 0.05 -0.10 0.09
hsa-miR-501-3p 0.02 1.02 0.04 0.42 0.68 0.57 -0.07 0.10
hsa-miR-532-5p -0.01 0.99 0.04 -0.34 0.73 0.45 -0.08 0.06
hsa-miR-548ad-3p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.17 0.87 0.21 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-548ap-5p/548j-5p -0.00 1.00 0.04 -0.10 0.92 0.12 -0.09 0.08
hsa-miR-574-3p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.25 0.80 0.32 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-584-5p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.53 0.60 0.74 -0.00 0.01
hsa-miR-625-3p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-625-5p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.29 0.77 0.37 -0.03 0.04
hsa-miR-628-3p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.07 0.07
hsa-miR-629-5p -0.00 1.00 0.02 -0.21 0.83 0.26 -0.03 0.03
hsa-miR-652-3p 0.00 1.00 0.04 0.11 0.92 0.13 -0.08 0.09
hsa-miR-654-3p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.26 0.80 0.33 -0.05 0.04
hsa-miR-660-5p -0.01 0.99 0.02 -0.76 0.45 1.16 -0.05 0.02
hsa-miR-664a-5p -0.01 0.99 0.03 -0.26 0.79 0.34 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-671-3p -0.01 0.99 0.06 -0.17 0.87 0.21 -0.13 0.11
hsa-miR-671-5p 0.02 1.02 0.05 0.29 0.77 0.38 -0.09 0.12
hsa-miR-6728-5p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.13 0.89 0.16 -0.03 0.02
hsa-miR-6749-5p -0.01 0.99 0.01 -0.50 0.62 0.70 -0.04 0.02
hsa-miR-6787-5p -0.00 1.00 0.03 -0.19 0.85 0.24 -0.06 0.05
hsa-miR-6852-5p -0.01 0.99 0.06 -0.15 0.88 0.19 -0.12 0.10
hsa-miR-6890-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.10 0.92 0.12 -0.04 0.05
hsa-miR-7-5p 0.01 1.01 0.02 0.38 0.70 0.51 -0.03 0.05
hsa-miR-744-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.07 0.95 0.08 -0.01 0.01
hsa-miR-760 0.03 1.03 0.05 0.49 0.62 0.69 -0.08 0.13
hsa-miR-769-5p 0.00 1.00 0.06 0.02 0.99 0.02 -0.11 0.11
hsa-miR-92a-3p 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.17 0.87 0.20 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-92b-3p -0.00 1.00 0.01 -0.08 0.94 0.09 -0.02 0.02
hsa-miR-93-5p -0.00 1.00 0.00 -0.30 0.76 0.39 -0.00 0.00
hsa-miR-941 -0.03 0.97 0.04 -0.65 0.51 0.96 -0.12 0.06
hsa-miR-98-5p 0.01 1.01 0.01 0.51 0.61 0.71 -0.02 0.03
hsa-miR-99a-5p 0.00 1.00 0.02 0.23 0.82 0.28 -0.04 0.05
hsa-miR-99b-5p 0.00 1.00 0.01 0.13 0.90 0.15 -0.01 0.01
---
Concordance = 1.00
Log-likelihood ratio test = 305.88 on 196 df, -log2(p)=20.20
/Users/nancy/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/lifelines/fitters/coxph_fitter.py:557: ConvergenceWarning: Newton-Rhapson failed to converge sufficiently in 50 steps.
warnings.warn("Newton-Rhapson failed to converge sufficiently in %d steps." % max_steps, ConvergenceWarning)
<lifelines.CoxPHFitter: fitted with 115 observations, 19 censored>
A:
The package comes with an excellent tutorial on the assumptions of the CPH algorithm and even provide a function for Testing-the-proportional-hazard-assumptions.
I've first had a convergence problem as stated above, but once resolving that I got a message that one of the variables is violating the assumptions:
The ``p_value_threshold`` is set at 0.05. Even under the null hypothesis of no violations, some
covariates will be below the threshold by chance. This is compounded when there are many covariates.
Similarly, when there are lots of observations, even minor deviances from the proportional hazard
assumption will be flagged.
With that in mind, it's best to use a combination of statistical tests and visual tests to determine
the most serious violations. Produce visual plots using ``check_assumptions(..., show_plots=True)``
and looking for non-constant lines. See link [A] below for a full example.
1. Variable 'hsa-miR-181a-5p' failed the non-proportional test: p-value is 0.0331.
Advice 1: the functional form of the variable 'hsa-miR-181a-5p' might be incorrect. That is,there may be non-linear terms missing. The proportional hazard test used is very sensitive to
incorrect functional forms. See documentation in link [D] below on how to specify a functional form.
Advice 2: try binning the variable 'hsa-miR-181a-5p' using pd.cut, and then specify it in
`strata=['hsa-miR-181a-5p', ...]` in the call in `.fit`. See documentation in link [B] below.
Advice 3: try adding an interaction term with your time variable. See documentation in link [C]
below.
---
[A] https://lifelines.readthedocs.io/en/latest/jupyter_notebooks/Proportional%20hazard%20assumption.html
[B] https://lifelines.readthedocs.io/en/latest/jupyter_notebooks/Proportional%20hazard%20assumption.html#Bin-variable-and-stratify-on-it
[C] https://lifelines.readthedocs.io/en/latest/jupyter_notebooks/Proportional%20hazard%20assumption.html#Introduce-time-varying-covariates
[D] https://lifelines.readthedocs.io/en/latest/jupyter_notebooks/Proportional%20hazard%20assumption.html#Modify-the-functional-form
[E] https://lifelines.readthedocs.io/en/latest/jupyter_notebooks/Proportional%20hazard%20assumption.html#Stratification
Here are the steps that I took resolve the problem:
Although the full error message states that I have a time-varying variables, I 100% don't have any time-varying variables. Particularly, that variable (which the error message claims it is violating the assumption) is a fixed number for every t.
After some deep reading, this could happen!
One alternative is to correct that variable/s directly; I've engineered the specific variable that is violating the hazard assumption to be non-linear (quadratic). In addition, I've scaled all variables to the same range.
I've moved one of variables (age) to be "strata" - w/o that the
problem is not fully resolved. Note that I binned "age" to decades, so
it's now a categorical variable with cardinality of $9$ (which is
relatively low) . Also, we know that age has an impact on the
"event" (time of death), since age is negatively correlated with
survival time.
I indeed had serious overfitting, since $n<p$ in my data. I've removed correlated variables and also added a regularization term ($L2$ penalty) - did the work.
|
Find out what's next in games at IGNITION West, Business Insider's conference on the future of mobile, taking place March 21 in San Francisco. Mobile gurus from Zynga, Disney and Rovio will be speaking at the event. Early-bird tickets are still available.
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Decrem and his team created some of the originally addictive games on iOS, such as Tap Tap Revenge, that took advantage of the iPhone's novel form factor: touch screen and orientation detection. He brokered deals with major music bands early in the app era, and after getting bought by Disney in 2010, he's now the force behind the Mouse's mobile strategy.
Peter Vesterbacka, CMO, Rovio
Angry Birds has clocked in at more than 1 billion downloads, and is driven by aggressive expansion strategy that even includes ripping off Chinese rip-off artists. (Wow.) Find out how Vesterbacka is netting the next billion downloads, and whether the commerce empire Rovio has spawned is repeatable, at IGNITION West. |
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The first instance decision in this case was reported in Weekly
Update 17/17. The SFO sought disclosure of documents generated
during investigations undertaken by the defendant's solicitors
and accountants in relation to a SFO investigation. It was held
that neither litigation nor legal advice privilege could be claimed
in respect of most of those documents and the defendant appealed.
The Court of Appeal has now upheld that appeal. It held as
follows:
(1) Litigation Privilege: The Court of Appeal held that it was
largely a factual issue whether criminal or civil proceedings are
reasonably in contemplation. Here, the judge had erred in finding
that proceedings were not reasonably in prospect. Whilst not every
expression of concern by the SFO could be regarded as adversarial
litigation, here the SFO had made clear the prospect of its
criminal prosecution, and legal advisers were engaged to deal with
that situation. (The judge had commented on the position in the
insurance-related case of Westminster v Dornoch (see
Weekly Update 34/09), in the context of whether litigation can be
in prospect even if investigations are not yet complete, but the
Court of Appeal did not review that case in any detail).
At first instance, the judge had also held that litigation
privilege covers litigation tactics (including settlement) but does
not cover advice on how best to avoid contemplated litigation. That
was held by the Court of Appeal to be wrong. It was said that
"In both the civil and the criminal context, legal advice
given so as to head off, avoid or even settle reasonably
contemplated proceedings is as much protected by litigation
privilege as advice given for the purpose of resisting or defending
such contemplated proceedings".
There was also a consideration of the situation where there are
potentially 2 separate purposes in creating a document: In
Waugh v British Railways Board [1980], it was held that a
report was produced for 2 separate purposes (rail safety and
litigation) and that litigation privilege could attach only if
dealing with anticipated litigation is the dominant purpose. That
decision was followed in the later cases of Re Highgrade
[1984] and Bilta v RBS (see Weekly Update 5/18), where it
was held on the facts that such dominant purpose existed (and in
fact it was said in this case to be hard to see what any
alternative purpose might have been in those two cases). The
dominant purpose test was satisfied in this case as well: although
the defendant had wanted to deal with governance issues too, it was
clear that the investigation was primarily intended to deal with
future litigation.
(2) Legal Advice Privilege: Given the finding that the relevant
documents were protected by litigation privilege, it was not
necessary for the Court of Appeal to determine whether legal advice
privilege applied as well. The Court of Appeal also recognised that
it would be "highly undesirable for us to enter into an
unseemly disagreement" with the judgment of the Court of
Appeal in the Three Rivers (No.5) [2002] case, and that
"If the ambit of Three Rivers (No. 5) is to be
authoritatively decided differently from the weight of existing
opinion, that decision will, in our judgment, have to be made by
the Supreme Court rather than this court".
The decision in Three Rivers (No.5) has been the focus
of several recent High Court judgments, some of which have
criticised its finding that not all officers and employees (and
ex-employees) within a company should be treated as the
"client" for the purposes of legal advice privilege, and
that only those employees within the organisation who are dealing
with the matter on which the lawyer is giving advice will be the
"client".
At first instance in this case, the judge affirmed the Three
Rivers (No.5) decision but in this case, the Court of Appeal
said that "If ... it had been open to us to depart from
Three Rivers (No. 5), we would have been in favour of
doing so". That was because it recognised that, whilst the
Three Rivers' approach presents no problems for
individuals and many small businesses, it does not cater for legal
advice sought by large national and multinational corporations:
"If a multi-national corporation cannot ask its lawyers to
obtain the information it needs to advise that corporation from the
corporation's employees with relevant first-hand knowledge
under the protection of legal advice privilege, that corporation
will be in a less advantageous position than a smaller entity
seeking such advice. In our view, at least, whatever the rule is,
it should be equally applicable to all clients, whatever their size
or reach. Moreover, it is not always an answer to say that the
relevant subsidiary can seek the necessary legal advice and,
therefore, ask its own lawyers to secure the necessary information
with the protection of legal advice privilege. In a case such as
the present, there may be issues between group companies that make
it desirable for the parent company to be able to procure the
information necessary to obtain its own legal advice".
It was further recognised that the current English law approach
is out of step with the international common law on this issue.
Nevertheless, for now, it remains correct.
The Court of Appeal declined to resolve a further argument that
all working papers produced by a lawyer should be privileged,
provided that they are confidential documents created for the
purpose of giving legal advice (and there should be no additional
requirement that the documents would betray the tenor of legal
advice given by the lawyer). That issue too, it decided, would be
better decided by the Supreme Court. It remains to be seen if this
case will be appealed further to the Supreme Court.
Hodgson v National House Building Council: Judge
considers whether insured is required to reinstate property
The claimant's bungalow was constructed by a builder and the
property had the benefit of an NHBC Buildmark policy which,
broadly, provided that NHBC would pay, in certain circumstances,
the cost of remedial works. By the time of the claim against the
NHBC in this case, the claimant had sold the property without
carrying out any remedial works.
One of the defences advanced by the NHBC in defence of the claim
was that the claimant had suffered no recoverable loss because he
will never now incur the costs of remedial works. It was argued
that the NHBC policy was a contract of indemnity, covering loss
suffered by the claimant, but diminution in the property's
value was said to be expressly excluded.
Reference was made to the case of Great Lakes Reinsurance v
Western Trading (see Weekly Update 36/16), in which the
insured sought the cost of reinstatement from property insurers in
circumstances where the insured had no intention of reinstating and
the value of the property had increased as a result of the fire.
Clarke LJ had said, obiter, that "I doubt whether a
claimant who has no intention of using the insurance money to
reinstate, and whose property has increased in value on account of
the fire, is entitled to claim the cost of reinstatement as the
measure of indemnity unless the policy so provides".
That view contrasted, though, with the view in Colinvaux's
Law of Insurance that "subject to the terms of the policy, the
insurer will be liable on the cost of reinstatement basis even
where actual reinstatement is no longer possible, as for instance
where the damaged premises have been sold... in which case the cost
is assessed on a notional reinstatement basis".
The judge in this case held that "There is no decided
authority that where the claim is in respects of defects in or
damage to property, such loss cannot include the cost of remedial
works if the remedial works will not be carried out. The views
expressed in the Great Lakes case are obiter and at odds
with the views expressed in a leading textbook". In any event,
the policy in this case did not provide for the NHBC to indemnify
against loss – it instead required the NHBC to pay the
"Cost", as defined in the policy (and so could be
distinguished from Great Lakes on that basis). She further
found that there was no general exclusion of liability for
diminution in value in the policy.
Vik v Deutsche Bank: Court of Appeal considers
committal order issues where defendant is out of the
jurisdiction
The earlier decisions in this case were reported in Weekly
Updates 46/16 and 10/17. The defendant, a judgment debtor who is
domiciled in Monaco, breached an order pursuant to CPR r71 to
provide information. The claimant applied for a committal order and
Teare J held that a party who alleges breach of an order made under
CPR r.71 does not have to proceed under CPR r71.8, but can instead
elect to proceed with a committal application under CPR r81 (which
has extra-territorial effect). When Teare J found that the
applicant could not bring itself within one of the jurisdictional
gateways of PD 6B, it sought to argue that permission to serve out
was not required and Teare J accepted that argument. The defendant
then appealed to the Court of Appeal which has now held as
follows:
(1) Teare J was correct to find that the CPR r71 procedure does
not supplant that available under CPR r81.
(2) Teare J was also correct to find that permission to serve
out was not required because the English court already had
substantive jurisdiction over the defendant because he had been
personally served with the CPR r71 order and the order for
committal was incidental to that CPR r71 order.
Those conclusions were sufficient to dispose of the appeal.
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal also considered the judge's
view that the claimant also did not need permission to serve out
because of Art. 24(5) of the Recast Regulation, which provides
that, regardless of the domicile of the parties, "in
proceedings concerned with the enforcement of judgments, the courts
of the Member State in which the judgment has been or is to be
enforced" shall have exclusive jurisdiction. The Court of
Appeal said that its provisional view was that the judge had been
correct on this point too.
The Court of Appeal also felt that the Rules Committee should
consider introducing a new gateway allowing service on an officer
of a company "where the fact he is out of the jurisdiction is
no bar to the making of a committal application".
Dreymoor Fertilisers v Eurochem: Judge rules documents
and evidence given by US citizen in the US can be used in London
arbitrations
The defendant in this case had applied to a US court under
section 1782 of the United States Code for an order requiring a US
citizen resident in the US to disclose documents and give evidence
by way of deposition. That order was granted ("the 1782
Order") and was stated to be for the purpose of providing
evidence in proceedings taking place in the British Virgin Islands
and Cyprus. However, under US law, the defendant is free to use the
documents and evidence provided pursuant to the 1782 Order for any
purpose. The defendant intended to use them in London arbitrations.
The claimant obtained an injunction restraining the defendant from
enforcing the 1782 Order, but Males J has now declined to continue
that injunction.
Prior caselaw has established that, in some circumstances, use
by a party of the procedure under section 1782 can constitute (as a
matter of English law) unconscionable conduct, interfering with the
fair disposal of English court or arbitration proceedings (which
the English court will restrain by injunction). However, the judge
held that there was no such unconscionable conduct in this case. A
key factor was that the 1782 Order had been sought in respect of
third countries (the BVI and Cyprus) and whilst the English court
has a legitimate interest in protecting the fairness of English
litigation or arbitration proceedings "It has, however, no
legitimate interest in policing a party's attempt to obtain
documents or evidence for use in foreign proceedings, let alone in
reviewing the decision of the United States court as to whether its
procedures should be utilised for that purpose". Furthermore,
in this case, the US court had reached a reasoned decision that the
documents and evidence were needed for use in the proceedings in
the third countries and that the defendant had or would suffer
prejudice if it did not have that material. It also could not be
said in this case that the London arbitrations were the "lead
proceedings" in which the liability disputes between the
parties would be resolved.
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Q:
How to detect which field has been updated in afterUpdate|beforeUpdate GORM methods
i use afterUpdate method reflected by GORM API in grails project.
class Transaction{
Person receiver;
Person sender;
}
i want to know which field modified to make afterUpdate behaves accordingly :
class Transaction{
//...............
def afterUpdate(){
if(/*Receiver is changed*/){
new TransactionHistory(proKey:'receiver',propName:this.receiver).save();
}
else
{
new TransactionHistory(proKey:'sender',propName:this.sender).save();
}
}
}
I can use beforeUpdate: and catch up the object before updating in global variable (previous as Transaction), then in afterUpdate, compare previous with the current object.
Could be?
A:
Typically this would be done by using the isDirty method on your domain instance. For example:
// returns true if the instance value of firstName
// does not match the persisted value int he database.
person.isDirty('firstName')
However, in your case if you are using afterUpdate() the value has already been persisted to the database and isDirty won't ever return true.
You will have to implement your own checks using beforeUpdate. This could be setting a transient value that you later read. For example:
class Person {
String firstName
boolean firstNameChanged = false
static transients = ['firstNameChanged']
..
def beforeUpdate() {
firstNameChanged = this.isDirty('firstName')
}
..
def afterUpdate() {
if (firstNameChanged)
...
}
...
}
|
Q:
manipulation on a file - vb.net plus some regex
The below is the content of my file(which is already sorted). Whichever is there between square brackets, relate to one transaction. The transactions can be groupa, groupb,groupc etc.
Jan 2012 02:10:12 [5678](groupa):Part 1:data1
Jan 2012 02:10:12 [5678](groupa):Part 2:data2
Jan 2012 02:10:12 [5678](groupa):Part 3:data3
Jan 2012 02:10:12 [5678](groupa):Part 4:data4
Jan 2012 02:13:14 [12308](groupa):Part 1:data1
Jan 2012 02:13:14 [12308](groupa):Part 2:data2
Jan 2012 02:13:24 [34517](groupb):Part 1:data1
Jan 2012 02:13:24 [34517](groupb):Part 2:data2
I want to output the below data to another file using vb.net. It should contain the transaction group, followed by the time(the time should be taken from the first row of the contents grouped by transaction, then grouped by the number inside the square bracket, in the contents). Next line should concatenate the data(after Part [1-9]:), corresponding to the particular transaction grouped by the number inside the square bracket. For the above contents,
groupa at Jan 2012 02:10:12
data1data2data3data4
groupa at Jan 2012 02:13:14
data1data2
groupb at Jan 2012 02:13:24
data1data2
A:
So first let's create a class to represent that data. It will make it easier to work it. Here is what mine looks like:
Public Class LogEntry
Public Property DateTime As DateTime
Public Property Id As Integer
Public Property Group As String
Public Property Part As String
Public Property Data As String
End Class
Now that we have that, let's parse each line with a regular expression. They aren't my strength, but in this case it works:
Dim text = File.ReadAllLines("log.log")
Dim rx As New Regex("^(?<date>.+)\s\[(?<id>\d+)\]\((?<group>.+)\):(?<part>.+):(?<data>.+)$")
Dim logEntries As New List(Of LogEntry)
For Each line In text
Dim match = rx.Match(line)
Dim entry As New LogEntry With _
{
.DateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(match.Groups("date").Value, "MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture),
.Id = Int32.Parse(match.Groups("id").Value),
.Group = match.Groups("group").Value.Trim(),
.Part = match.Groups("part").Value.Trim(),
.Data = match.Groups("data").Value.Trim()
}
logEntries.Add(entry)
Next
Here we are loading the text from a file. It doens't matter how it gets the text. After that we iterate over each line and gather the information with a regular expression. Once we parse it, we create a LogEntry and add it to a list. As a list this will make it easier to work. We can use LINQ to group, then print it out:
Dim grouped = logEntries _
.GroupBy(Function(x) New With {Key .Id = x.Id, Key .Group = x.Group, Key .DateTime = x.DateTime}) _
.OrderBy(Function(x) x.Key.DateTime)
For Each group In grouped
Console.WriteLine("{0} at {1:MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss}", group.Key.Group, group.Key.DateTime)
Console.WriteLine(String.Join("", group.Select(Function(x) x.Data)))
Next
|
*> \brief \b DLAGTF computes an LU factorization of a matrix T-λI, where T is a general tridiagonal matrix, and λ a scalar, using partial pivoting with row interchanges.
*
* =========== DOCUMENTATION ===========
*
* Online html documentation available at
* http://www.netlib.org/lapack/explore-html/
*
*> \htmlonly
*> Download DLAGTF + dependencies
*> <a href="http://www.netlib.org/cgi-bin/netlibfiles.tgz?format=tgz&filename=/lapack/lapack_routine/dlagtf.f">
*> [TGZ]</a>
*> <a href="http://www.netlib.org/cgi-bin/netlibfiles.zip?format=zip&filename=/lapack/lapack_routine/dlagtf.f">
*> [ZIP]</a>
*> <a href="http://www.netlib.org/cgi-bin/netlibfiles.txt?format=txt&filename=/lapack/lapack_routine/dlagtf.f">
*> [TXT]</a>
*> \endhtmlonly
*
* Definition:
* ===========
*
* SUBROUTINE DLAGTF( N, A, LAMBDA, B, C, TOL, D, IN, INFO )
*
* .. Scalar Arguments ..
* INTEGER INFO, N
* DOUBLE PRECISION LAMBDA, TOL
* ..
* .. Array Arguments ..
* INTEGER IN( * )
* DOUBLE PRECISION A( * ), B( * ), C( * ), D( * )
* ..
*
*
*> \par Purpose:
* =============
*>
*> \verbatim
*>
*> DLAGTF factorizes the matrix (T - lambda*I), where T is an n by n
*> tridiagonal matrix and lambda is a scalar, as
*>
*> T - lambda*I = PLU,
*>
*> where P is a permutation matrix, L is a unit lower tridiagonal matrix
*> with at most one non-zero sub-diagonal elements per column and U is
*> an upper triangular matrix with at most two non-zero super-diagonal
*> elements per column.
*>
*> The factorization is obtained by Gaussian elimination with partial
*> pivoting and implicit row scaling.
*>
*> The parameter LAMBDA is included in the routine so that DLAGTF may
*> be used, in conjunction with DLAGTS, to obtain eigenvectors of T by
*> inverse iteration.
*> \endverbatim
*
* Arguments:
* ==========
*
*> \param[in] N
*> \verbatim
*> N is INTEGER
*> The order of the matrix T.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[in,out] A
*> \verbatim
*> A is DOUBLE PRECISION array, dimension (N)
*> On entry, A must contain the diagonal elements of T.
*>
*> On exit, A is overwritten by the n diagonal elements of the
*> upper triangular matrix U of the factorization of T.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[in] LAMBDA
*> \verbatim
*> LAMBDA is DOUBLE PRECISION
*> On entry, the scalar lambda.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[in,out] B
*> \verbatim
*> B is DOUBLE PRECISION array, dimension (N-1)
*> On entry, B must contain the (n-1) super-diagonal elements of
*> T.
*>
*> On exit, B is overwritten by the (n-1) super-diagonal
*> elements of the matrix U of the factorization of T.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[in,out] C
*> \verbatim
*> C is DOUBLE PRECISION array, dimension (N-1)
*> On entry, C must contain the (n-1) sub-diagonal elements of
*> T.
*>
*> On exit, C is overwritten by the (n-1) sub-diagonal elements
*> of the matrix L of the factorization of T.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[in] TOL
*> \verbatim
*> TOL is DOUBLE PRECISION
*> On entry, a relative tolerance used to indicate whether or
*> not the matrix (T - lambda*I) is nearly singular. TOL should
*> normally be chose as approximately the largest relative error
*> in the elements of T. For example, if the elements of T are
*> correct to about 4 significant figures, then TOL should be
*> set to about 5*10**(-4). If TOL is supplied as less than eps,
*> where eps is the relative machine precision, then the value
*> eps is used in place of TOL.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[out] D
*> \verbatim
*> D is DOUBLE PRECISION array, dimension (N-2)
*> On exit, D is overwritten by the (n-2) second super-diagonal
*> elements of the matrix U of the factorization of T.
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[out] IN
*> \verbatim
*> IN is INTEGER array, dimension (N)
*> On exit, IN contains details of the permutation matrix P. If
*> an interchange occurred at the kth step of the elimination,
*> then IN(k) = 1, otherwise IN(k) = 0. The element IN(n)
*> returns the smallest positive integer j such that
*>
*> abs( u(j,j) ) <= norm( (T - lambda*I)(j) )*TOL,
*>
*> where norm( A(j) ) denotes the sum of the absolute values of
*> the jth row of the matrix A. If no such j exists then IN(n)
*> is returned as zero. If IN(n) is returned as positive, then a
*> diagonal element of U is small, indicating that
*> (T - lambda*I) is singular or nearly singular,
*> \endverbatim
*>
*> \param[out] INFO
*> \verbatim
*> INFO is INTEGER
*> = 0: successful exit
*> < 0: if INFO = -k, the kth argument had an illegal value
*> \endverbatim
*
* Authors:
* ========
*
*> \author Univ. of Tennessee
*> \author Univ. of California Berkeley
*> \author Univ. of Colorado Denver
*> \author NAG Ltd.
*
*> \date December 2016
*
*> \ingroup auxOTHERcomputational
*
* =====================================================================
SUBROUTINE DLAGTF( N, A, LAMBDA, B, C, TOL, D, IN, INFO )
*
* -- LAPACK computational routine (version 3.7.0) --
* -- LAPACK is a software package provided by Univ. of Tennessee, --
* -- Univ. of California Berkeley, Univ. of Colorado Denver and NAG Ltd..--
* December 2016
*
* .. Scalar Arguments ..
INTEGER INFO, N
DOUBLE PRECISION LAMBDA, TOL
* ..
* .. Array Arguments ..
INTEGER IN( * )
DOUBLE PRECISION A( * ), B( * ), C( * ), D( * )
* ..
*
* =====================================================================
*
* .. Parameters ..
DOUBLE PRECISION ZERO
PARAMETER ( ZERO = 0.0D+0 )
* ..
* .. Local Scalars ..
INTEGER K
DOUBLE PRECISION EPS, MULT, PIV1, PIV2, SCALE1, SCALE2, TEMP, TL
* ..
* .. Intrinsic Functions ..
INTRINSIC ABS, MAX
* ..
* .. External Functions ..
DOUBLE PRECISION DLAMCH
EXTERNAL DLAMCH
* ..
* .. External Subroutines ..
EXTERNAL XERBLA
* ..
* .. Executable Statements ..
*
INFO = 0
IF( N.LT.0 ) THEN
INFO = -1
CALL XERBLA( 'DLAGTF', -INFO )
RETURN
END IF
*
IF( N.EQ.0 )
$ RETURN
*
A( 1 ) = A( 1 ) - LAMBDA
IN( N ) = 0
IF( N.EQ.1 ) THEN
IF( A( 1 ).EQ.ZERO )
$ IN( 1 ) = 1
RETURN
END IF
*
EPS = DLAMCH( 'Epsilon' )
*
TL = MAX( TOL, EPS )
SCALE1 = ABS( A( 1 ) ) + ABS( B( 1 ) )
DO 10 K = 1, N - 1
A( K+1 ) = A( K+1 ) - LAMBDA
SCALE2 = ABS( C( K ) ) + ABS( A( K+1 ) )
IF( K.LT.( N-1 ) )
$ SCALE2 = SCALE2 + ABS( B( K+1 ) )
IF( A( K ).EQ.ZERO ) THEN
PIV1 = ZERO
ELSE
PIV1 = ABS( A( K ) ) / SCALE1
END IF
IF( C( K ).EQ.ZERO ) THEN
IN( K ) = 0
PIV2 = ZERO
SCALE1 = SCALE2
IF( K.LT.( N-1 ) )
$ D( K ) = ZERO
ELSE
PIV2 = ABS( C( K ) ) / SCALE2
IF( PIV2.LE.PIV1 ) THEN
IN( K ) = 0
SCALE1 = SCALE2
C( K ) = C( K ) / A( K )
A( K+1 ) = A( K+1 ) - C( K )*B( K )
IF( K.LT.( N-1 ) )
$ D( K ) = ZERO
ELSE
IN( K ) = 1
MULT = A( K ) / C( K )
A( K ) = C( K )
TEMP = A( K+1 )
A( K+1 ) = B( K ) - MULT*TEMP
IF( K.LT.( N-1 ) ) THEN
D( K ) = B( K+1 )
B( K+1 ) = -MULT*D( K )
END IF
B( K ) = TEMP
C( K ) = MULT
END IF
END IF
IF( ( MAX( PIV1, PIV2 ).LE.TL ) .AND. ( IN( N ).EQ.0 ) )
$ IN( N ) = K
10 CONTINUE
IF( ( ABS( A( N ) ).LE.SCALE1*TL ) .AND. ( IN( N ).EQ.0 ) )
$ IN( N ) = N
*
RETURN
*
* End of DLAGTF
*
END
|
Q:
What is the number of direct sum decompositions of an n-dimensional vector space into k subspaces?
The answer to the above question is given in Sloane's OEIS A270880.
I am trying to read the journal article given below. The first formula in section 1.4 on page 4 is supposed to give these numbers. I think the formula is wrong. Does anyone agree/disagree?
Kent E. Morrison, Integer Sequences and Matrices Over Finite Fields, Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 9 (2006), Article 06.2.1.
A:
One way to check if the formula is correct is to evaluate $\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1} {n \brace k}_{q}$ and check if it is equal to $\displaystyle {n \brace k}.$
Using the formulae given in the paper you linked to, this is true as seen from the computation below: (the summation is over all $k-$compositions of $n,$ that is over all $k-$tuples $(n_1, \ldots , n_k)$ such that $n_1 + \ldots n_k = n$ and $n_i \geq 1$ for $i=1, \ldots ,k$)
$\begin{aligned}
\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1} {n \brace k}_{q}&=\dfrac{1}{k!}\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1}\sum_{n_1 +\ldots n_k = n}\dfrac{\gamma_n}{\gamma_{n_{1}}\ldots\gamma_{n_{k}}}\\&=\dfrac{1}{k!}\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1}\sum_{n_1 +\ldots n_k = n}\dfrac{(q-1)^{n}q^{\binom{n}{2}}[n]_{q}!}{(q-1)^{n_1}q^{\binom{n_1}{2}}[n_1]_{q}!\ldots(q-1)^{n_k}q^{\binom{n_k}{2}}[n_{k}]_{q}!}\\&=\dfrac{1}{k!}\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1}\sum_{n_1 +\ldots n_k = n}\dfrac{(q-1)^{n}q^{\binom{n}{2}}[n]_{q}!}{(q-1)^{n_1 + \ldots + n_k}(q)^{\binom{n_1}{2}+\ldots\binom{n_k}{2}}[n_1]_{q}!\ldots[n_k]_{q}!}\\&=\dfrac{1}{k!}\sum_{n_1 +\ldots n_k = n}\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1}\dfrac{q^{\binom{n}{2}}[n]_{q}!}{(q)^{\binom{n_1}{2}+\ldots\binom{n_k}{2}}[n_1]_{q}!\ldots[n_k]_{q}!}\\&=\dfrac{1}{k!}\sum_{n_1 +\ldots n_k = n}\displaystyle \dfrac{n!}{n_1!\ldots n_k!}\\&={n\brace k}\end{aligned}
$
In the first step, I used the first formula mentioned for $\displaystyle{n \brace k}_{q}.$
In the second step I used the second formula for $\gamma_{n}$
In the fourth step, I brought the limit inside. In the fifth step I used the fact that $\displaystyle \lim_{q \to 1}[n]_{q}! = n!$ and in the final step I used an equivalent expression of $\displaystyle{n \brace k}$ which can be obtained by by double-counting the number of surjective functions from an $n-$set of distinct objects to a $k-$set of distinct objects using multinomial coefficients via one way and the Stirling number of the second kind via the other way.
Hence the formula is correct.
|
Post navigation
11 thoughts on “Thought for the day.”
It seems to me that this would allow the healer to watch the field of play and actually enjoy what’s going on while healing.
It keeps healing challenging because the healer has to watch the field of battle, but also allows them to watch the fight and use their peripheral vision to monitor group mates in their field of view, which combined with the fact that players might run out of line of sight, thus encourages good group communication and coordination.
I don’t imagine you could do this in WoW raids as they stand, but LotRO raids might be feasible, and a new game could develop their combat system with the idea in mind, using systems such as non-targeted cone and PBAoE healing, as in AoC, to make healing an experience where the player is engaged in the game world as much as other classes, rather than standing still and playing health bar whack-a-mole before shifting to a different standing spot when the pool of fire/green goo/ice/dark matter appears near them.
And if nothing else it will lead to a whole new area of MMO slang:
“I’m down to my bum in health!”
“I’ve got a foot’s worth of health left!”
“Oh stop complaining, I don’t need to heal you, you haven’t lost more than your head so far.”
I’d imagine that you could have the ‘empty’ colour be configurable, as I’m sure colour blind people manage to deal with health bars doing the same sort of thing. Either that or have characters turn translucent as the colour drains out of them.
I fear that with twinkling we’d be accused of attempting to Twilightify MMOs. Or is that sparkling? No, no, that was ponies wasn’t it? |
Rockhouse Subdivision
The Rockhouse Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The line runs from Hazard, Kentucky, to Deane, Kentucky, for a total of . At its west end the line continues east from the EK Subdivision and at its east end the line continues east as the E&BV Subdivision
See also
List of CSX Transportation lines
References
Category:CSX Transportation lines
Category:Transportation in Letcher County, Kentucky
Category:Transportation in Perry County, Kentucky |
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We will speak by voting. If we do this the legal way, we can send them all back home. I am Independent. I'm educated. I have worked since I was 15 years old, and I pay a lot of taxes. My family was poor and my dad was a coal miner from Eastern KY. I didn't have any hand outs. I'm not a terrorist nor a right wing conservative. Because there are some violent right wingers out there, and because the media chooses to lean to the liberal left, does not mean the American people are extremists. We just want to be able to work and make a living, stop supporting those who won't work and make a living, and get goverment spending to an affordable level. |
KUWAIT CITY - Iraq's interim Governing Council requested the closure Saturday of the Iraq-Iran border to prevent an influx of mourners at the funeral of slain Iraqi Shiite leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, a British military spokesman said.
"The interim Governing Council has requested that the border with Iran be closed today for the funeral of Hakim. It is a decision by the Iraqi body, we will carry out their request," Captain Hisham Halawi told a press conference here.
Halawi, spokesman for the British forces occupying southern Iraq, said the border would be closed only on Saturday.
Hakim will be buried on Tuesday in Najaf, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad, the holy city where he was assassinated Friday in a car bomb blast outside the Tomb of Ali mosque, his nephew told AFP in Najaf.
Ammar Abdel Aziz al-Hakim also said plans were underway to hold a funeral procession in Baghdad's Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah on Sunday at 7:00 am (0300 GMT).
On Monday, his body will be transported to the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad, before it is returned to Najaf for burial, the nephew said.
The British spokesman also denied reports that the border had recently been closed.
"There is no substance to that, there was no closure of the (Iran) border with Iraq a few days ago," he said.
Asked whether Hakim's assassination would adversely affect relations between British coalition forces in southern Iraq and the mainly Shiite Muslim population in the area, Halawi said, if anything, the attack, which killed 82 others and wounded 175, would bring the two sides closer to track down the culprits.
"I can't see it having a negative effect on our efforts because Hakim had made it clear that he was willing to cooperate and he wanted to work with the coalition in order to bring about a prosperous Iraq.
"And this act of terrorism, it's a blow but we're working together with the Iraqi authorities, with the Governing Council, to bring these perpetrators to justice" and continue striving for a better Iraq, Halawi said.
A police source told AFP Saturday that four non-Iraqi Arabs detained by Iraqi police had confessed to the Najaf attack.
"They confessed to the attack," the source said, although he would not say if they revealed on whose behalf they carried it out.
TEHRAN - The European Union warned the Islamic Republic on Saturday that it may faces international sanctions if it does not sign the additional protocols to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"The soonest you sign the protocols and open all of your nuclear programs to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, the better for you and for us", Mr. Xavier Solana, the European Unions "super" Minister for security and foreign affairs said in Tehran.
Speaking at a joint conference with the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi in Tehran, Mr. Solana said bluntly: "If you don't sign the protocol it will be a bad news for you, for, this is not a bargain, expecting a reward from doing it", he explained.
The 15-25 members European Union has warned Iran that without credible guarantees concerning its atomic projects, it would review a Trade and Cooperation Agreement Tehran is keen to sign, for it would give Iran would greater access to the huge European market.
The IAEA has given Iran until 8 September to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow IAEA inspectors to descend on its nuclear sites without warning to ensure that Tehran is not secretly developing atomic weapons.
The United States and Israel accuses the Islamic Republic for having secret plans aimed at producing atomic bomb out of facilities destined for civilian use, like the nuclear powered electrical plant it is constructing in the Persian Gulf port of Booshehr with the help of Russia.
But Tehran insists that it is not building up a nuclear-based military arsenal and all its atomic projects are for civilian purposes.
So far, Iran has adamantly refused to bow to the international pressures, demanding that in return for signing the additional protocols, the IAEA provide it with advanced nuclear technologies.
Meeting the EU Minister, President Mohammad Khatami reiterated that Islam prohibited atomic weapons. "Atomic weapons have no place in Iran's defense policy", Khatami said, adding however that Iran had an "absolute right to peaceful nuclear technology".
Solana met high-ranking Iranian officials one day after IAEA Director Moahammad el-Bradei told the BBC that Iran had shopped for nuclear components on the international black market and called on Tehran to be more "proactive" and "transparent".
In the interview aired on Friday, he also said Iran's nuclear program had been going on "far longer than the agency had realised".
IAEA inspectors in their last survey of Iranian atomic-related installations found substantial amount of radioactivity in areas near Natanz, in central Iran and site of the countrys secret installations for enriching uranium.
Mr. Kharrazi explained that the equipments had been radio activated before their import to Iran, but he refused to say from which country Iran had purchased the equipments.
Mr. El-Bradei said although he was not certain of the countries that made the equipment Iran had acquired on the black market, but he had a "pretty good idea" which ones they were.
Media reports have named Pakistan, a nuclear weapons state that has refused to sign the nuclear 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as one of countries whose nuclear technology Iran is believed to be using.
But both Tehran and Islamabad have denied the reports.
"If that process of enrichment has taken place, this has nothing do with a program for peaceful use of nuclear fuel," Solana told reporters.
Stopping short of accusing the Islamic Republic of lying to him about its atomic projects for military purposes, the IAEA Chief said Iran had failed to give the IAEA a complete picture of its nuclear programs.
"They have not really been fully transparent in telling us in advance what was going on", Mr. El-Baradei told the BBC, according to a Reuters dispatch from Vienna, where IAEA is based.
Asked if he believed Iran was running a secret weapons program, ElBaradei said: "It might be, it might not be."
"I need to really get the Iranians to tell me the full, complete story," he said. "And I would like Iran to be more proactive, more transparent."
Analysts say the Iranian ruling conservative clerics are afraid to see the snap inspections by the IAEA experts reaches its secret atomic projects and conservatives-controlled newspapers have called on the authroties to get out of the NPT
Asked what Iran would get in return for signing, Solana said: "The only thing you have to expect is we continue working as friends."
The IAEA said in a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday that Iran had improved cooperation, but there were still questions about weapons-grade uranium found at a site in Iran.
In July, the EU issued its strongest warning so far to Iran about its nuclear program, its appalling human rights records as well as its support for international terrorism and Palestinian and Arab groups opposed to peace with Israel.
Iran is the first stop on Solana's regional tour that will also take him to Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where he will focus on the battered Middle East peace "road map".
TEHRAN, Aug. 30 Javier Solana, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, today pressed Iran to sign a protocol that would allow more aggressive inspections of its nuclear sites.
"We will have bad news for Iran if it refuses to sign the additional protocol," said Mr. Solana, who came to Iran to meet with officials here, during a news conference with the Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi.
"Let me say this openly: no one should expect a reward for signing it," he added. "The issue is not for bargaining; it is a matter of a friend advising another friend, and Iranian authorities are politically mature to hear a friend's advice."
Iran has come under mounting pressure to sign the protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The United States has repeatedly accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. The European Union warned last month that it would review its economic ties with Iran if it refused to sign the protocol.
Iran took a step toward signing the protocol this week after a report disclosed that the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors had found traces of highly enriched uranium in environmental samples taken at the country's Natanz facility. Iran announced its willingness in a letter to the agency to begin negotiations on the issue.
Mr. Kharazi said today that Iran's good will was evident in its willingness to let the agency's inspectors take samples from its nuclear facilities and in its talks on the protocol.
Iran, which has always maintained that its nuclear power program is for peaceful purposes, has so far refused to sign the protocol, and demands technical cooperation in nuclear science from other signing nations in return. It also wants a guarantee that inspectors will not be given complete freedom to move inside the country to gain access to and expose military secrets.
In response to the report about enriched uranium, Iran said the equipment had been imported and had arrived with the traces of the substance.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will meet on Sept. 8 to review the protocol issue and could send the case to the United Nations Security Council if the agency concludes that Iran's nuclear activities pose a threat.
TEHRAN - The international community has stepped up the pressure on Iran to accept unconditional and snap International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear sites, but just days ahead of a crucial IAEA meeting, uncertainty reigns as to Tehran's intentions.
An IAEA report on Iran will be presented to the IAEA's board of governors in Vienna at a September 8-11 meeting, and were Iran to be found in breach of its commitments the matter could be referred to the UN Security Council.
On a visit to Tehran on Saturday, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it would be "bad news" if Iran did not sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and warned Tehran against bargaining.
"We want it to be signed: the sooner the better," Solana said. "It brings trust and confidence to the officials in Vienna and the members of the international community."
Brussels last month warned that if Iran did not sign the protocol, it would review its economic ties with Iran following the IAEA meeting.
The European Union, which is negotiating a trade pact with Tehran, seemed to be moving closer to the position taken by Washington, which has accused Iran of secretly seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
According to diplomats here, there are no indications that Iran will sign the protocol before September 8.
"Iran could be tempted to gain time. The decision to open negotiations on signing the protocol could be part of this tactic," said one, referring to Tehran's announcement on Tuesday that it was seeking clarifications but had a "positive approach" to the protocol.
In a surprise announcement Friday, Moscow said it would delay until the end of the year the signing of an accord under which Iran would return all spent nuclear fuel from its Bushehr nuclear reactor that is being built in southern Iran with Russian help.
The announcement appeared to be a direct concession to Washington's concerns that Iran could re-process the used fuel to create low-grade nuclear weapons. Washington had been pressing Russia to suspend the project with Tehran until it agreed to more stringent checks.
This, in addition to the findings of the IAEA report, will strengthen the case put forward by the United States and France who suspect Iran is secretly trying to develop weapons and raise the burden on Tehran to take swift action.
Within Iran, the issue of signing the protocol has raised a debate, with some media voices arguing Tehran should refuse to sign the protocol because it would give Western inspectors unimpeded access to military sites.
On Tuesday, the Iranian government reiterated these concerns, saying it wanted total guarantees that IAEA inspectors would not be given complete freedom of movement.
Diplomats and nuclear experts said in Vienna this week that IAEA experts had found in Iran two forms of highly enriched uranium molecules not needed in civilian energy programs, something presented in the report.
This in itself did not mean Iran was developing nuclear weapons, but one expert said the question was why Tehran conducted these enrichment activities covertly.
The report also says Iran had admitted to working with heavy water, which some nuclear states use to produce plutonium, in the 1980s.
Tehran also conceded for the first time that it had imported nuclear equipment, the sources said, adding that the IAEA was investigating which countries had helped Iran in this.
"These admissions came under duress, Iran changed its story because IAEA inspectors have found evidence that made it impossible for it to do otherwise," one official said.
However, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Thursday that the particles had been brought into Iran on imported equipment that had been contaminated.
London -- British Ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, has cut short his holiday to return to Tehran amid the controversy over the continuing detention of former Iranian Ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Soleimanpour, in the UK, IRNA reported.
Dalton flew back to Tehran on Friday as an application to release Soleimanpour was refused for a second time, despite being held only on a provisional extradition request from Argentina, pending a formal application with full evidence.
Argentina has to present supporting documents by September 19, when the former Iranian ambassador is next due to appear in court. It is at that stage that Home Secretary David Blunkett has to sign an Authority to Proceed for a committal hearing to go ahead.
Despite Blunkett's role, the British Foreign Office has insisted that it is powerless to intervene in the case that is seen as having strong political dimensions following the election of a new president in Argentina earlier this year.
The accusations go back to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires and come after relatives of the 85 victims filed a civil suit charging Argentinean authorities in February with failing to adequately investigate the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in 1992.
London's Jewish Chronicle earlier this month suggested that right-wing elements in Argentina's own police or security forces could be involved in the terror bombings and that the extradition suit filed against Soleimanpour and other Iranian diplomats could be cover.
The Times newspaper connected Dalton's early return to Tehran with British fears that Iran may retaliate over the treatment of Soleimanpour and suggested that the expulsion of the British ambassador could come as early as Saturday.
Persia and Israel shared years of friendship and strategic cooperation until the Shah's regime was overthrown in 1979. Early good relations resulted from the fact that Persian nationalism did not contradict close relations with Israel. The Shah's never conducted a Shi'ite foreign policy, and Arab countries chiefly Iraq were the Shah's implacable enemies.
However, under the current Islamic Republic foreign policy is driven not only by Iranian interests but also by Islamicism. With regard to Israel, the Islamic element is dominant and unshakeable.
By adopting a vitriolic anti-Israel policy the Islamic regime hoped to win over Arab and Muslim public opinion. Let's admit it: They have largely succeeded.
By placing itself in the forefront of the struggle against Israel, the regime seeks to highlight the conflict in the Middle East as not just Israeli-Palestinian or Israel-Arab, but as one with a major religious dimension something that was previously in the background. For tactical reasons the religious angle was blurred by the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world.
It is no coincidence that Islamic terrorism aimed at Israel as well as the US has flourished since the establishment of the Islamic regime.
THE IRAN of the Ayatollahs means business. Its leaders want to destroy Israel, and they say so without any qualms. But many in Israel and in the West can't bring themselves to grasp the depth of Iran's hatred. Legions of pundits and politicians would have us believe that the Iranians do not mean what they say.
The inability to accept that there are political systems motivated by philosophies utterly opposed to ours and which really do intend to realize themselves at our expense is hard for Westerners to acknowledge the shock of 9/11 notwithstanding.
The Bush administration defines Iran as part of the axis of evil, suggesting growing awareness of the dangers it poses. But that is as far as it goes.
In Israel there was a behind-the-scenes debate about the extent to which Iran actually poses a challenge. Israel's security and intelligence community is now unified behind the assessment that the Iranian situation is serious. Even so-called moderates, including former president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, are in the forefront of the anti-Israel chorus.
But our problem isn't the rhetoric. Iran is relentlessly pursuing a nuclear program which could pose a mortal danger to Israel. Whether they are two or four years from the completion of this program is unknown, but there is no doubt that we are approaching the twelfth hour.
The bulk of the intelligence gathered by various countries attests to this reality, and the fact that there may have been some exaggeration about Iraq's WMD programs should not undermine our faith in the depth and accuracy of the information about Iran.
Ideally, the US should have led an uncompromising campaign against Iran's programs, preferably achieving the cooperation of Russia and other states which support Iran's buildup.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Israel is more or less alone in sounding the alarm. Publicity is the first element in a strategy designed to arouse world attention. But more needs to be done.
For instance, America's presence in Iraq could act as the main leverage of pressure on Iran. Overt and covert activities could be initiated by the US that would weaken Iran's self-confidence and boost the motivation of its internal opposition.
With the clock ticking, Israel may have to take a crucial decision regarding Iran and in the not too distant future.
The choice confronting our leadership is between relying on American-led action, which has not yet materialized, or going it alone and dealing militarily with the Iranian nuclear buildup. Let us not delude ourselves: This is not going to be like the Iraqi operation. We are facing an entirely different and much more difficult situation, though not an impossible one.
Even at this late stage Israel's supreme national interest lies in cooperation with the US. Any US action would have less hazardous regional repercussions than unilateral Israeli moves. The question therefore is whether the Bush administration still possesses enough energy to go beyond the Iraqi arena to deal with Iran.
For Israeli leaders, the question is: Will they be ready, in due course, to follow Menachem Begin's courageous 1981 example left no other choice? Nothing less than the very existence of Israel is at stake.
TEHERAN - Iran is to sell electricity from Mehran and Dehloran, two border cities in its western Ilam province to the eastern Iraqi provinces of Wasset and Meysan, state media reported here on Sunday.
Based on discussions between officials from the two countries, the electricity network of Mehran and Dehloran will be connected to that of the two neighboring Iraqi provinces Wasset and Meysan, the Mehran city governor, Morteza Lotfi was quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA. No further details were given.
On August 27, Muwaffak al-Rubai, a member of Iraqs interim Governing Council, said Iraq was negotiating the purchase of electricity from Iran, Syria and Turkey in an effort to stem growing power shortages since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Rubai said talks Turkey were in an advanced stage, those with Syria were moving ahead and that Iran would supply power to Iraqs predominately Shiite Muslim southern provinces. The US-led coalition imposed in late July a power rationing program which supplies electricity every three hours followed by a similar period of cuts.
Iraqs current power production capacity is 3,200 megawatts compared with 4,000 megawatts before the start of the war in March, according to one coalition official.
Russia has pressed ahead with plans to build a nuclear plant at the southern port of Bushehr in Iran despite criticism from Washington, which accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program.
"The agreement will be signed very soon, perhaps by the end of September. It has been a year since Russian officials began to announce that they are about to sign this agreement. Last week, the Russian government instructed our ministry to sign the protocol in the nearest future," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
As soon as the protocol is signed, Russia will ship fuel to Iran for the Bushehr reactor, which will then process it to generate power and send all spent nuclear materialwhich can be converted to weapons grade materialback to Russia. The official said the document would be signed during a regular visit by a ministry delegation to the Islamic Republic in coming weeks, but the precise date of the signing was yet to be decided.
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, a key U.S. arms official, is in Moscow for what is seen as an attempt to persuade Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran and bring the issue of Tehran's nuclear ambitions before the U.N. Security Council.
Iran, which says it is ready to sign the agreement with Russia, has dismissed the U.S. charges, saying it wants to develop nuclear power to satisfy a booming demand for electricity and save its oil and gas reserves for export.
The paper trail left by what are known as neo-con analysts about their preferred political map of the Middle East is well known. It is built on the twin assumptions that post Cold War geopolitics will remain unipolar for a long time and that the worlds sole hyper power, the US, has the right to recraft the structures of geopolitics to make the world more benign, from its perspective.
Globalization has increased the potential for terrorism. Unipolarity, in turn, justifies preemption by the hyper power to contain and eliminate the forces that sponsor it. These new international conditions also justify the policy of regime change and the political engineering of new democratic institutions, whose advent is allegedly accompanied by greater stability and peace. On the potential US target list, beyond Iraq, are Iran, Syria and even, perhaps, Saudi Arabia all of which are critical to world oil.
Many around the world, especially in the Middle East, have suspected that oil was a key motivating factor in the US invasion of Iraq and every once in a while evidence is brought to bear that it is. Recently Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, for example, in response to a question about why the US tackled Iraq rather than North Korea, responded that one difference was that Iraq was swimming in oil. While oil clearly played a role in the targeting of Iraq, it has been less obvious what kind of oil map the American neo-cons want to draw.
What do we know of the neo-con view of oil? Its impossible to understand the attitudes of the neo-cons about petroleum today without a glimpse back to the heady days of the Cold War and of efforts by officials in the Pentagon and elsewhere, including Richard Perle, once a senior official at the Pentagon, but now a senior advisor to Secretary Rumsfeld and a professional at the American Enterprise Institute, to wage economic warfare on the former Soviet Union. In this context five critical elements appear to underlie the neo-con approach to oil.
First, the neo-cons have a clear orientation to prices: the lower the better! High prices have resulted in the transfer of much more than $1 trillion, and possibly as much as $3 trillion to governments in the oil producing world since 1973, many of which have used the revenues not just for unproductive purposes, but worse, they have financed terrorist acts against the interests of the US and some of its allies.
Second, the neo-cons want to undermine, if not destroy OPEC.
Third, as is the case in the broader neo conservative approach to geopolitics, the approach to oil is anything but conservative. It is radical and revisionist and is oriented far more toward what is possible and desirable to accomplish through the dismantlement of outmoded institutions and the engineering of change than it is mindful of the consequences of meddling with inherited political structures.
Fourth, it takes great exception to the view prevailing broadly in the rules and regulations of international trade for the past 60 years that politics and trade ought to be kept on their separate tracks. Indeed, it turns on its head the central rule against using trade instruments for foreign policy purposes, a rule that would obstruct the wielding of the oil weapon by oil producing states and outlaw secondary boycotts, punishing those that trade with the primary targets of embargoes. Rather, it justifies use of the oil weapon by oil importing countries to punish oil exporters supporting terrorism by depriving them of income, and it actively promotes secondary boycotts, based on the view that whatever damage might result from promoting secondary boycotts is far outweighed by the benefits of depriving supporters of terrorism of revenue. It scorns the notion that oil producers can take revenge against those boycotting their exports. Rather it takes the view that oil sellers are far more in need of a market than buyers are of supply selling oil to us in short, is no favor to us; rather our buying their oil is a favor to them.
Fifth, and wholly supportive of the fourth factor, neo-cons believe that petroleum resources ought to be owned and regulated by the private sector rather than by governments, because the private sector, left to its own, will maximize output and efficiency and bring prices down. It will also provide a means for assuring that citizens have a stake in the petroleum resources of their country.
These five features of the neo-con view of oil were born in the 1980s and were embodied in the effort to destroy the Soviet Union and declare victory over the USSR to end the Cold War. They have been carried forward and adapted to the conditions of the post Cold War unipolar, globalized world and the war on terrorism.
Let us examine these five factors, in both their Cold War and their current contexts.
It is natural that low oil prices lie at the core of the neo-con view of oil. Transparent markets create the conditions for low commodity prices and for sustained economic growth. But they also play a key role in the access to and the use of funds generated by oil exports by oil exporting countries.
In todays world, the financing of terrorists is deemed to depend unduly on revenues generated by oil, whether directly in the case of Iranian aid to Hizbollah, or indirectly, in the case of Saudi official and private sector channeling of funds to charities, which, in their turn, have financed al-Qa 'ida. In the 1980s, the primary target of low prices was the primary enemy of the United States, the Soviet Union. Since hydrocarbon exports were the single most important source of revenue for the USSR, one of the best ways to sap the strength of the USSR was to deprive it of revenues needed to buy the technology required to maintain Soviet military power and needed to finance Soviet objectives abroad.
The second feature of the neo-con view of oil is the obsession of a number of neo-conservative writers on ways to undermine OPEC. This view was obscured in the Cold War context, since key OPEC members were allied to the US in the effort to block the advance of the Soviet Unions influence in the Middle East. But it has come to the fore today. OPEC is viewed as far from a benign institution that aims at stabilizing prices. It is viewed as an organization whose underlying structures have facilitated the accumulation of capital for dangerous ends, and it has helped create failed states rather than channeled capital into productive investments that buttress successful societies. It also embodies values and premises that are counter to those of market societies and that underpin democratic institutions. The proceedings of conferences of neo-conservative groups have been marked by efforts to unmask the so-called linkages and causalities between OPEC, oil income, terrorism, and failed states, and between citizens sharing in oil revenues and successful countries. No wonder the view has been taken that oil was a critical element in the removal of Saddam Husain. Iraq, for many neo-cons is the key to the anti-OPEC strategy.
The third element the neo-cons radical, proactive orientation to change also has its roots in the Cold War. It stems from the approach taken toward the Soviet Union: Finding a way to bring about the collapse of the regime and help replace that regime with one based on democratic institutions, an idea deemed far-fetched in the early to mid-1980s. There were several elements to this approach. There is now clear evidence, for example, that there were discussions between senior US officials, including CIA Director William Casey, and senior Saudi officials, including King Fahd, in the mid-1980s to reduce radically the price of oil in order to reduce access to foreign exchange by Moscow, Tehran and Tripoli. No one disputes that other factors also motivated Riyadh, not the least being the need to regain lost market share. Yet, the lesson learned in neo-conservative circles was that there was direct causality in the agreement to bring down oil prices radically in 1985-86, and the collapse of the USSR five years later.
To be sure oil prices were not the only element of the proactive approach taken by Washington to win the Cold War. It was combined with other elements of economic warfare, including an arms race designed to induce Moscow to expand military expenditures to the point of bankrupting the country, tight restrictions on export credits and on sales of high technology goods, and with placing obstacles on the USSRs efforts to expand hydrocarbon exports through natural gas sales to Western Europe.
Justifiable economic warfare thus constitutes the fourth element of the neo-con approach to oil. Without condoning either the wielding of the oil weapon by oil producing states or the use of secondary boycotts against firms doing business with Israel, the neo-cons have wholeheartedly embraced the use of the oil weapon to deprive oil producers the wherewithal to finance terrorism and other political objectives abroad. Hence there is little accident that the very same people who were central to the waging of economic warfare against the USSR have also been central to the adoption of policies aimed at isolating Libya and Iran by depriving them of revenues via limitations on exports and on investments that could boost production capacity and, therefore, future income. They did so in the 1980s, a decade before the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, and they were wholly supportive of that legislation.
Finally, there is the issue of privatization. This issue has been central to recent discussions about post-Saddam Iraq, notwithstanding the consistent rhetorical position of Washington that it will be up to a future Iraqi government to decide this matter. Underpinning the neo-con approach is that fostering private ownership of oil resources is a legitimate objective of US policy vis-à-vis the oil producing countries.
Two rationales are offered. The first has to do with the likely consequences: more efficient maximization of oil production, lower prices and lower revenue to be channeled directly into government coffers and available for purposes unfriendly to the US. The second has to do with creating linkages between citizens and a sharing in the exploitation of oil resources. The neo-cons have been obsessed with ways to assure that oil-producing countries can be re-engineered to achieve this end. Their discussions of Iraq have focused, for example, on royalty systems, like those in place in Alaska, or the revenue sharing mechanism of the Osage nation in Osage County (Oklahoma) in which citizens share directly in each barrel of oil produced. Their discussions have also involved other ways to assure that all Iraqis would be able to participate in ownership of oil in the country through schemes that do not repeat the mistakes of privatization in Russia, mistakes that led to the transfer of a state monopoly to a handful of oligarchs rather than to the workers in the industries meant to be provided ownership.
This neo-conservative approach is often tied to views concerning Israels role in the Middle East. When reference is made to the neo-conservative approach to redrawing the energy map of the region, it is often linked as well to oil and gas supplies from the region being made indiscriminately available to Israel. It is even tied to the reconstruction of the oil pipeline linking Kirkuk to Haifa. Thats because of the prominence among neo-cons of avid supporters of Israel. But one need not bring Israel into the discussion to understand the profound changes that could occur if the neo-con view prevails.
What have been left out of our discussion are two critical issues. First, do the neo-cons represent US policy? The answer of course is both yes and no. Yes, there are neo-cons in the US government, especially in the Pentagon, but also in key positions in the State Department, the office of the Vice President and the White House. But, no, it is only one strand of influence in the bureaucratic pulling and hauling that go into Presidential policy-making and there is absolutely no evidence that President Bush has adopted their position wholly either in the political or petroleum arenas. Indeed, the policies pursued by Energy Secretary Abraham have been directly supportive of Saudi Arabia and OPEC, and US officials have gone out of their way publicly to indicate their support of oil priced in the mid-$20s, despite a tradition of never indicating a preference for one price or another. These are hardly neo-con approaches to oil.
Second, there is the issue of whether the neo-conservative view is much more than an optical illusion. The collapse of the USSR, after all, occurred for reasons that go well beyond the waging of economic warfare by Washington and relate to the decay of domestic political institutions. In the oil sector, there are phenomenal and powerful obstacles to fundamental changes taking place, including those designed on the charting table of the neo-cons in Washington. Changing the cartography of petroleum and re-engineering the international petroleum sector will take much more than the toppling of Saddam Husain.
MEES VOL. XLVI No 33, 18-August-2003
Edward L Morse is Executive Adviser at Hess Energy Trading Company and was US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Energy Policy in 1979-81. Its views are not necessarily those of Petroleumworld.
Editor's Note:This article appeared in the latest edition of the quarterly Oxford Energy Forum and reprinted with permission by Middle East Economic Revew, on 18-August-2003.Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers.
Iran's pursuit of a nuclear capability is a "nightmare scenario" which demands immediate international action, Israeli Foreign Minsiter Silvan Shalom said Sunday.
"Iran is fast apporaching the point of no return in its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons capability," Shalom said here after talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana who was fresh from a visit to Tehran.
"It's urgent that the international community act to ensure that this nightmare scenario is prevented."
Solana said he had urged the Islamic republic to agree to snap inspections by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi on Saturday.
"We have asked the Iranian government to sign the additional protocol as soon as poosible and to give a clear and urgent anser to the question before the publication on September 8 of the report of the IAEA in Vienna," said Solana.
The European Union has joined the wider international community in pressing Iran to sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow IAEA inspectors to descend on its nuclear sites without warning to ensure that Tehran was not secretly developing atomic weapons.
Brussels last month warned that, without credible guarantees over the protocol, it would review its economic ties with the country after an IAEA report on Iran is presented in Vienna between September 8 and 11.
Israel has come to regard Iran as its chief military threat since the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
It warned last month said that a new ballistic missile that was officially inaugurated by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei represented a threat to the whole of the Middle East.
Even during the depths of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union often worked together to halt the spread of nuclear weapons to new countries. Now, both countries are dealing with the realization that Iran's nuclear program is more advanced than previously thought and may be aimed directly at acquiring nuclear weapons in the next few years.
Unfortunately, the approaches being pursued by both countries will do nothing to slow Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons, and a new approach and better coordination is desperately needed before it is too late.
For the better part of a decade, U.S. officials pressured Russia to stop its support for the Bushehr nuclear reactor project in Iran. The United States argued that the power plant was a front for Iran to acquire weapons-related technology, a charge that Russian rejected. It now appears that both sides may have been wrong.
Counter to U.S. projections, Iran appears to have used Pakistan and other third parties to develop a uranium enrichment technology based on centrifuges, instead of relying on covert acquisitions of Russian technology. This does not mean, however, that Russian experts or companies have not been involved in this program without the Kremlin's knowledge or permission -- only that Russia appears not to be the primary source of Iran's newfound capabilities. Yet Russia also ignored clear signs that Iran was interested in much more than a peaceful nuclear power program. Its willingness to engage in nuclear commerce with Iran, while financially beneficial, is now coming back to negatively effect Russia's security.
To remedy the situation, the two countries have adopted similarly flawed approaches. Russian officials are working with Iran to ensure that any fuel used in the reactor at Bushehr -- fuel that when reprocessed could produce hundreds of nuclear weapons worth of plutonium -- is returned to Russia. For its part, with Russian support, the United States is pushing Iran to join the IAEA's enhanced inspection agreement, which will give the agency broader inspection and monitoring rights in Iran.
While both of these initiatives are helpful, they will do absolutely nothing to head off the main challenge posed by Iran's growing nuclear program -- Tehran's construction of advanced centrifuge enrichment facilities that could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for 20 weapons per year by the end of the decade. Iran has stated that it is developing the means to produce its own enriched uranium fuel for the Bushehr reactors out of concern that the United States will convince Russia to cut off its fuel supply.
Under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a party, states are entitled to engage in all manner of peaceful nuclear development as long as they accept international inspections. This provision, however, allows states to use the cover of the treaty to acquire the very means to produce a formidable nuclear arsenal, and then later withdraw from the pact and use the material for nuclear weapons. At the heart of international concerns is the risk that Iran will follow just this scenario to the detriment of regional and even global security.
To head off this eventuality, the United States and Russia should reach quick agreement on a new strategy that would not only head off Iran's nuclear weapons potential, but address the underlying flaw in the NPT system. At a minimum, Russia should offer to guarantee -- with explicit U.S. endorsement -- Iran's supply of fuel for the Bushehr reactor as long as Iran abandons its indigenous uranium enrichment and plutonium production programs. This offer would give Iran a clear choice -- a reliable foreign source of nuclear energy or an internal nuclear program with weapons potential. The choice that Iran makes would help show the international community Iran's true intentions.
To many, it is already clear that at a minimum, Iran is seeking the option of producing nuclear weapons through its own independent nuclear program. Given its history of conflict with Iraq -- a state by no means guaranteed of a peaceful and stable future -- as well as the perceived threats from Israel's and America's nuclear arsenals, Iran's position is understandable in some circles. But this nuclear option would only serve to increase the desire of other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and even a future independent Iraq, to acquire their own nuclear options, to say nothing of the steps Israel might take before Iran's became a reality.
Thus, in addition to the offer to guarantee Iran's supply of low enriched uranium fuel for its nuclear reactor, the United States and Russia should revisit the idea of establishing a clear policy that nuclear weapons will not be used to threaten states that do not have nuclear weapons or an active nuclear program. Amazingly, since the end of the Cold War, both the United States and Russia have increased the circumstances under which they would be willing to use or threaten use of nuclear weapons. It is time the two countries recognize that such a policy has negative implications that could drive states to acquire nuclear weapons.
Russia and America have an important legacy of preventing proliferation of which they should be proud. It is a legacy that should be revived and focused on the core proliferation threats in Iran and elsewhere before the nuclear confrontation of the Cold War is replaced by a broader nuclear competition the two states will not find as easy to control.
Jon B. Wolfsthal, deputy director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.
TEHRAN -- Iran has again banned imports of foreign-made cars despite lifting a prohibition just weeks ago, the local press reported a minister as saying yesterday.
Until we become confident that the domestic conditions for car imports are ready, we will not allow foreign car imports, Iranian Commerce Minister Ali Shariatmadari was quoted as saying. There are more than 15,000 workshops and factories engaged in car-part manufacturing. Their preservation is the governments duty, so we will not jeopardize their existence by importing foreign-made cars, he added.
We wanted to import foreign-made cars in order to rid the streets of polluting cars, but not at the expense of destroying our domestic car manufacturing industry, Shariatmadari said.
As early as three days ago, a senior official in the Commerce Ministry named five brands of foreign cars ready to export to Iran. Mitsubishi, Toyota, BMW, Hyundai and Lada were given the green light to ship 35 different models to Iran, of which 33 were sedans and the rest minibuses, Hossein Faraji, trade chief at the Ministry of Commerce told newspapers.
It would have been the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Iran sanctioned car imports, albeit under hefty duty, in order to ease pressure on outdated domestic producers. Currently, all Iranian cars are made under license from foreign companies. |
// Copyright (C) 2020 Intel Corporation
//
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
import React from 'react';
import { Row, Col } from 'antd/lib/grid';
import Tag from 'antd/lib/tag';
import Icon from 'antd/lib/icon';
import Modal from 'antd/lib/modal';
import Button from 'antd/lib/button';
import notification from 'antd/lib/notification';
import Text from 'antd/lib/typography/Text';
import Title from 'antd/lib/typography/Title';
import moment from 'moment';
import getCore from 'cvat-core-wrapper';
import patterns from 'utils/validation-patterns';
import { getReposData, syncRepos } from 'utils/git-utils';
import { ActiveInference } from 'reducers/interfaces';
import AutomaticAnnotationProgress from 'components/tasks-page/automatic-annotation-progress';
import UserSelector from './user-selector';
import LabelsEditorComponent from '../labels-editor/labels-editor';
const core = getCore();
interface Props {
previewImage: string;
taskInstance: any;
installedGit: boolean; // change to git repos url
registeredUsers: any[];
activeInference: ActiveInference | null;
cancelAutoAnnotation(): void;
onTaskUpdate: (taskInstance: any) => void;
}
interface State {
name: string;
bugTracker: string;
bugTrackerEditing: boolean;
repository: string;
repositoryStatus: string;
}
export default class DetailsComponent extends React.PureComponent<Props, State> {
private mounted: boolean;
private previewImageElement: HTMLImageElement;
private previewWrapperRef: React.RefObject<HTMLDivElement>;
constructor(props: Props) {
super(props);
const { taskInstance } = props;
this.mounted = false;
this.previewImageElement = new Image();
this.previewWrapperRef = React.createRef<HTMLDivElement>();
this.state = {
name: taskInstance.name,
bugTracker: taskInstance.bugTracker,
bugTrackerEditing: false,
repository: '',
repositoryStatus: '',
};
}
public componentDidMount(): void {
const { taskInstance, previewImage } = this.props;
const { previewImageElement, previewWrapperRef } = this;
this.mounted = true;
previewImageElement.onload = () => {
const { height, width } = previewImageElement;
if (width > height) {
previewImageElement.style.width = '100%';
} else {
previewImageElement.style.height = '100%';
}
};
previewImageElement.src = previewImage;
previewImageElement.alt = 'Preview';
if (previewWrapperRef.current) {
previewWrapperRef.current.appendChild(previewImageElement);
}
getReposData(taskInstance.id)
.then((data): void => {
if (data !== null && this.mounted) {
if (data.status.error) {
notification.error({
message: 'Could not receive repository status',
description: data.status.error,
});
} else {
this.setState({
repositoryStatus: data.status.value,
});
}
this.setState({
repository: data.url,
});
}
}).catch((error): void => {
if (this.mounted) {
notification.error({
message: 'Could not receive repository status',
description: error.toString(),
});
}
});
}
public componentDidUpdate(prevProps: Props): void {
const { taskInstance } = this.props;
if (prevProps !== this.props) {
this.setState({
name: taskInstance.name,
bugTracker: taskInstance.bugTracker,
});
}
}
public componentWillUnmount(): void {
this.mounted = false;
}
private renderTaskName(): JSX.Element {
const { name } = this.state;
const { taskInstance, onTaskUpdate } = this.props;
return (
<Title
level={4}
editable={{
onChange: (value: string): void => {
this.setState({
name: value,
});
taskInstance.name = value;
onTaskUpdate(taskInstance);
},
}}
className='cvat-text-color'
>
{name}
</Title>
);
}
private renderPreview(): JSX.Element {
const { previewWrapperRef } = this;
// Add image on mount after get its width and height to fit it into wrapper
return (
<div ref={previewWrapperRef} className='cvat-task-preview-wrapper' />
);
}
private renderParameters(): JSX.Element {
const { taskInstance } = this.props;
const { overlap, segmentSize, imageQuality } = taskInstance;
const zOrder = taskInstance.zOrder.toString();
return (
<>
<Row type='flex' justify='start' align='middle'>
<Col span={12}>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Overlap size</Text>
<br />
<Text className='cvat-text-color'>{overlap}</Text>
</Col>
<Col span={12}>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Segment size</Text>
<br />
<Text className='cvat-text-color'>{segmentSize}</Text>
</Col>
</Row>
<Row type='flex' justify='space-between' align='middle'>
<Col span={12}>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Image quality</Text>
<br />
<Text className='cvat-text-color'>{imageQuality}</Text>
</Col>
<Col span={12}>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Z-order</Text>
<br />
<Text className='cvat-text-color'>{zOrder}</Text>
</Col>
</Row>
</>
);
}
private renderUsers(): JSX.Element {
const { taskInstance, registeredUsers, onTaskUpdate } = this.props;
const owner = taskInstance.owner ? taskInstance.owner.username : null;
const assignee = taskInstance.assignee ? taskInstance.assignee.username : null;
const created = moment(taskInstance.createdDate).format('MMMM Do YYYY');
const assigneeSelect = (
<UserSelector
users={registeredUsers}
value={assignee}
onChange={
(value: string): void => {
let [userInstance] = registeredUsers
.filter((user: any) => user.username === value);
if (userInstance === undefined) {
userInstance = null;
}
taskInstance.assignee = userInstance;
onTaskUpdate(taskInstance);
}
}
/>
);
return (
<Row type='flex' justify='space-between' align='middle'>
<Col span={12}>
{ owner && (
<Text type='secondary'>
{`Created by ${owner} on ${created}`}
</Text>
)}
</Col>
<Col span={10}>
<Text type='secondary'>
Assigned to
{ assigneeSelect }
</Text>
</Col>
</Row>
);
}
private renderDatasetRepository(): JSX.Element | boolean {
const { taskInstance } = this.props;
const { repository, repositoryStatus } = this.state;
return (
!!repository
&& (
<Row>
<Col className='cvat-dataset-repository-url'>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Dataset Repository</Text>
<br />
<a href={repository} rel='noopener noreferrer' target='_blank'>{repository}</a>
{repositoryStatus === 'sync'
&& (
<Tag color='blue'>
<Icon type='check-circle' />
Synchronized
</Tag>
)}
{repositoryStatus === 'merged'
&& (
<Tag color='green'>
<Icon type='check-circle' />
Merged
</Tag>
)}
{repositoryStatus === 'syncing'
&& (
<Tag color='purple'>
<Icon type='loading' />
Syncing
</Tag>
)}
{repositoryStatus === '!sync'
&& (
<Tag
color='red'
onClick={(): void => {
this.setState({
repositoryStatus: 'syncing',
});
syncRepos(taskInstance.id).then((): void => {
if (this.mounted) {
this.setState({
repositoryStatus: 'sync',
});
}
}).catch((error): void => {
if (this.mounted) {
Modal.error({
width: 800,
title: 'Could not synchronize the repository',
content: error.toString(),
});
this.setState({
repositoryStatus: '!sync',
});
}
});
}}
>
<Icon type='warning' />
Synchronize
</Tag>
)}
</Col>
</Row>
)
);
}
private renderBugTracker(): JSX.Element {
const { taskInstance, onTaskUpdate } = this.props;
const { bugTracker, bugTrackerEditing } = this.state;
let shown = false;
const onStart = (): void => {
this.setState({
bugTrackerEditing: true,
});
};
const onChangeValue = (value: string): void => {
if (value && !patterns.validateURL.pattern.test(value)) {
if (!shown) {
Modal.error({
title: `Could not update the task ${taskInstance.id}`,
content: 'Issue tracker is expected to be URL',
onOk: (() => {
shown = false;
}),
});
shown = true;
}
} else {
this.setState({
bugTracker: value,
bugTrackerEditing: false,
});
taskInstance.bugTracker = value;
onTaskUpdate(taskInstance);
}
};
if (bugTracker) {
return (
<Row>
<Col>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Issue Tracker</Text>
<br />
<Text editable={{ onChange: onChangeValue }}>{bugTracker}</Text>
<Button
type='ghost'
size='small'
onClick={(): void => {
// false positive
// eslint-disable-next-line
window.open(bugTracker, '_blank');
}}
className='cvat-open-bug-tracker-button'
>
Open the issue
</Button>
</Col>
</Row>
);
}
return (
<Row>
<Col>
<Text strong className='cvat-text-color'>Issue Tracker</Text>
<br />
<Text
editable={{
editing: bugTrackerEditing,
onStart,
onChange: onChangeValue,
}}
>
{bugTrackerEditing ? '' : 'Not specified'}
</Text>
</Col>
</Row>
);
}
private renderLabelsEditor(): JSX.Element {
const { taskInstance, onTaskUpdate } = this.props;
return (
<Row>
<Col>
<LabelsEditorComponent
labels={taskInstance.labels.map(
(label: any): string => label.toJSON(),
)}
onSubmit={(labels: any[]): void => {
taskInstance.labels = labels
.map((labelData): any => new core.classes.Label(labelData));
onTaskUpdate(taskInstance);
}}
/>
</Col>
</Row>
);
}
public render(): JSX.Element {
const { activeInference, cancelAutoAnnotation } = this.props;
return (
<div className='cvat-task-details'>
<Row type='flex' justify='start' align='middle'>
<Col>
{ this.renderTaskName() }
</Col>
</Row>
<Row type='flex' justify='space-between' align='top'>
<Col md={8} lg={7} xl={7} xxl={6}>
<Row type='flex' justify='start' align='middle'>
<Col span={24}>
{ this.renderPreview() }
</Col>
</Row>
<Row>
<Col>
{ this.renderParameters() }
</Col>
</Row>
</Col>
<Col md={16} lg={17} xl={17} xxl={18}>
{ this.renderUsers() }
<Row type='flex' justify='space-between' align='middle'>
<Col span={12}>
{ this.renderBugTracker() }
</Col>
<Col span={10}>
<AutomaticAnnotationProgress
activeInference={activeInference}
cancelAutoAnnotation={cancelAutoAnnotation}
/>
</Col>
</Row>
{ this.renderDatasetRepository() }
{ this.renderLabelsEditor() }
</Col>
</Row>
</div>
);
}
}
|
Functional molecular infection epidemiology
Functional Molecular Infection Epidemiology (FMIE) is an emerging area of medicine that entails the study of pathogen genes and genomes in the context of their functional association with the host niches (adhesion, invasion, adaptation) and the complex interactions they trigger within the host immune system (cell signaling, apoptosis) to culminate in varied outcomes of the infection. This can also be defined as the correlation of genetic variations in a pathogen or its respective host with a unique function that is important for disease severity, disease progression, or host susceptibility to a particular pathogen. Functional epidemiology implies not only descriptive host-pathogen genomic associations, but rather the interplay between pathogen and host genomic variations to functionally demonstrate the role of the genetic variations during infection.
Functional Molecular Infection Epidemiology differs from classical Molecular Infection Epidemiology mainly in that the latter deals with the tagging and tracking of the infectious agent without much concern for the functional/phenotypic characteristics of the agent being tracked. Functional molecular epidemiology, on the other hand, lays more emphasis on genotypic and phenotypic correlates of host-pathogen interaction, adaptation or homeostasis. Furthermore, classical molecular epidemiology largely uses “neutral” markers, such as insertion sequences and intergenic elements, while functional molecular epidemiology harnesses functionally relevant markers such as SNPs and genome co-ordinates with putative roles in infection biology – both on the pathogen and the host side. Many studies have been conducted which fit the theme of FMIE - for example, acquisition and transmission of the Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and its role in the development of Type-1 diabetes mellitus when human gene SLC11A1 undergoes particular mutations in a susceptible host.
The concept of FMIE has become potentially relevant in the aftermath of multiple genome sequencing and resequencing of important bacterial pathogens from many different host/patient populations.
A consortium of scientists in India and Germany is (Project BRIDGE) already formed under the aegis of the Freie University in Berlin and the University of Hyderabad to explore and investigate the application of FMIE in public health and Veterinary arena.
References
Category:Epidemiology
Category:Molecular genetics |
A man is being treated in hospital after he knocked on a door in a Toronto apartment building Wednesday night and was attacked by a dog, Toronto police say.
"The person who lived there set the dog on him," Const. David Hopkinson told CBC News.
Hopkinson said police received a call from the victim at about 8:40 p.m. The incident occurred near Gower Street in the Dawes Road and Victoria Park Avenue area.
Police said the man was going door-to-door for a lawful reason, a resident answered when he knocked, and the resident released the dog. The dog was described as large, but there's no word on the breed.
Hopkinson said no one has been arrested but police are investigating.
He said the first priority of police is to ensure the victim is treated for his injuries. He declined to say how many times the victim was bitten. |
(110)*-1*-3)*-1)/(sqrt(10) + sqrt(120)/(sqrt(12)*-1) + (sqrt(10) - (sqrt(40) + sqrt(40)*-1)/sqrt(4))).
-4*sqrt(11)
Simplify -1*4*(-5*(sqrt(80) + 0 + sqrt(80) - sqrt(80))**2 + -4).
1616
Simplify -3*((-2*sqrt(38) - sqrt(38))/sqrt(2) + sqrt(152)/sqrt(8) + -3).
9 + 6*sqrt(19)
Simplify (0 + (sqrt(12)/sqrt(4))**2 + (sqrt(48)*2)**2 + -2 + 2)*-3*4.
-2340
Simplify ((sqrt(315)*-4*-1)/sqrt(7))/(2*sqrt(1089)*-2).
-sqrt(5)/11
Simplify (-4 + 5 + (sqrt(35)/(sqrt(5)*2) - (sqrt(448) + -1)) + 1 + 3)**2.
-90*sqrt(7) + 1719/4
Simplify -5*((sqrt(637) + (sqrt(637) - (-1 + sqrt(637) + -3)) - sqrt(637))**2 - (sqrt(637) + (4 + 1*sqrt(637) + sqrt(637) - sqrt(637)))).
-60 + 70*sqrt(13)
Simplify -5 + (sqrt(26) + sqrt(416)*-2)/(sqrt(20)/(sqrt(10) + sqrt(10)*-1 + sqrt(10))).
-7*sqrt(13) - 5
Simplify (1*(sqrt(1836)*-1 - sqrt(1836)))/(-6*(sqrt(3) + 3*sqrt(6)/sqrt(2))).
sqrt(17)/2
Simplify 3 + ((4*-3*sqrt(36))/(sqrt(588) + sqrt(588)*-2))**2.
579/49
Simplify ((-2*sqrt(216) - sqrt(216))*-2)/(-1*sqrt(1728)*2).
-3*sqrt(2)/4
Simplify (sqrt(120)/(sqrt(294) + (sqrt(294) - (-1*sqrt(294) + sqrt(294))) + sqrt(294)))/((sqrt(120)*-1)/sqrt(12) - sqrt(10) - (-4*2*sqrt(10) + sqrt(10))).
sqrt(2)/105
Simplify (4 + (-3 + sqrt(175) + sqrt(175)*1)*-3)**2*-6 + -1.
-38815 + 4680*sqrt(7)
Simplify (sqrt(135) + -6*(sqrt(135) - sqrt(135)*3 - sqrt(135) - sqrt(135)))/(sqrt(5) - 3*sqrt(125)).
-75*sqrt(3)/14
Simplify (((1 + sqrt(891) + sqrt(891) + -1 + sqrt(891) - (sqrt(891) + 1 + -3)) + 4)*-1)**2.
216*sqrt(11) + 3600
Simplify (sqrt(22)/(sqrt(2) + 3*sqrt(2) + sqrt(2)) - (1 + sqrt(539)))*2.
-68*sqrt(11)/5 - 2
Simplify -4 + sqrt(30)/(-2*sqrt(864)) - (-5*(2*sqrt(125) + 4))**2.
-12904 - 48001*sqrt(5)/24
Simplify ((sqrt(60) + 1*sqrt(60))/sqrt(5)*-3)/(5*(sqrt(6) - 1*sqrt(96))).
2*sqrt(2)/5
Simplify sqrt(208) + -1 + 2 + 2 + sqrt(4212)/sqrt(4).
3 + 13*sqrt(13)
Simplify 0 + 3*(sqrt(2736) + 1)*-5.
-180*sqrt(19) - 15
Simplify (sqrt(7)*-2)**2*-5*-6 + (sqrt(756)*-1)/sqrt(3).
-6*sqrt(7) + 840
Simplify ((sqrt(84)/sqrt(48) - sqrt(63)/(sqrt(36)/sqrt(4))) + (3 + (sqrt(1008) + -2 - sqrt(1008)) - sqrt(1008)))**2.
-25*sqrt(7) + 4379/4
Simplify (sqrt(304)*-3 + 4)**2 + (sqrt(304) - -1*sqrt(304)*-4).
-108*sqrt(19) + 2752
Simplify (-6*(3 + sqrt(325)) + 0 + sqrt(325) + 6*(2*sqrt(325) + sqrt(325)) + -4 + -1 + sqrt(325))**2.
-3220*sqrt(13) + 64229
Simplify (((sqrt(35)/sqrt(5) + -3)*-4)**2 + 0)*6.
-576*sqrt(7) + 1536
Simplify -4*((-2 + sqrt(7))**2 + 1 + (-3*(sqrt(112) + sqrt(7)))**2 + (sqrt(343) + 2*sqrt(343) - (2 + sqrt(28))**2)).
-6220 - 36*sqrt(7)
Simplify (-2*(sqrt(65)*4 + sqrt(65)))/(-4*sqrt(50)/sqrt(10)).
5*sqrt(13)/2
Simplify (3*((-1 + sqrt(1216))*4)**2 + 1)*6.
-4608*sqrt(19) + 350502
Simplify (-1*sqrt(144)*5)/(-2*sqrt(16)/sqrt(2) - (sqrt(512) + sqrt(512) + sqrt(512)*-1)).
3*sqrt(2)/2
Simplify 5*(6*(sqrt(539) + (sqrt(539) + 0 - sqrt(539)) + -5) + -5)**2.
-14700*sqrt(11) + 103145
Simplify -4 + (sqrt(10)/sqrt(5)*2 - sqrt(4)/(sqrt(4)/sqrt(2))) + -1.
-5 + sqrt(2)
Simplify (sqrt(30)*5*2)/sqrt(10) - ((sqrt(30) + sqrt(90)/sqrt(147))/sqrt(10))**2.
-192/49 + 10*sqrt(3)
Simplify ((sqrt(192) + 0)*-4 + sqrt(192)*5*-4)**2.
110592
Simplify (-2*sqrt(91)*-2*3)/((sqrt(525)*1)/sqrt(3)).
12*sqrt(13)/5
Simplify 5 + ((sqrt(144)*2*5)/sqrt(12))/(sqrt(72)/(1*sqrt(972))).
5 + 90*sqrt(2)
Simplify sqrt(704)*4 + 0 + 4*sqrt(704)*-2.
-32*sqrt(11)
Simplify -2*(sqrt(2880) + 2)**2 + 4.
-5764 - 192*sqrt(5)
Simplify 3 + (-1 + sqrt(1053) + (-1 + (sqrt(1053) + 0 - sqrt(1053)) - sqrt(1053)) + sqrt(1053))**2 + -5.
-36*sqrt(13) + 1055
Simplify 1 + (6*sqrt(320)*2)/(sqrt(10) - sqrt(160)*1).
-16*sqrt(2) + 1
Simplify (sqrt(102) + sqrt(102) + 6*(3*sqrt(102) - sqrt(102) - sqrt(102)))/(sqrt(12)/sqrt(2)*2 - sqrt(6)).
8*sqrt(17)
Simplify (-4 + sqrt(48)/(sqrt(18)/sqrt(3)) + sqrt(72) + sqrt(72) + 0 + sqrt(8))**2*5 + -3.
-640*sqrt(2) + 2637
Simplify (((sqrt(168) + sqrt(168)*1)/sqrt(12) - (sqrt(896) - (sqrt(896)*1 - sqrt(896))))/(-2*(sqrt(2) + sqrt(6)/sqrt(3)*6)))**2.
9/7
Simplify (sqrt(12)*-4)/sqrt(6)*-2 + sqrt(6)/(sqrt(3) + sqrt(3)*-4)*-1.
25*sqrt(2)/3
Simplify (sqrt(275) + -2 - sqrt(11)) + -5*(sqrt(11) - sqrt(275)) - (3 + sqrt(176) + 5)**2.
-242 - 40*sqrt(11)
Simplify (4*sqrt(1215))/(sqrt(24)/sqrt(72)).
108*sqrt(5)
Simplify -3*(1 + -3*(-3 + 2*sqrt(128) + 0))**2.
-14124 + 2880*sqrt(2)
Simplify -1*(-6*(sqrt(10) + -2*sqrt(10)))/((sqrt(18)*-2 + sqrt(18))/sqrt(9)) + -3.
-3 + 6*sqrt(5)
Simplify -1 + 3 + 6*(2 + (sqrt(304)*1)**2).
1838
Simplify (-6*(sqrt(1900) + 1 + sqrt(1900) + -3))**2 - (-2 + sqrt(931) + (sqrt(114)/sqrt(6) + sqrt(19) + sqrt(19))**2 + 2).
-2887*sqrt(19) + 273573
Simplify 0 + sqrt(252) + -1 + (4 + sqrt(252) + -1 - sqrt(252)) + -3 + (sqrt(21)/sqrt(3) + 2 - (1 + sqrt(7))*-6).
7 + 13*sqrt(7)
Simplify (sqrt(160) + -1*(sqrt(160) + (sqrt(160)*-1 - sqrt(160)) + sqrt(160)) + sqrt(160))/((sqrt(2) + (sqrt(2) - sqrt(32)))*4*3).
-sqrt(5)/3
Simplify ((sqrt(24)/(sqrt(84)/sqrt(7)) - (-1 + sqrt(2)*2))*2)**2.
-8*sqrt(2) + 12
Simplify -2 + sqrt(44) + 3 + ((1 + sqrt(275))**2*-5 - sqrt(275)).
-1379 - 53*sqrt(11)
Simplify -2 + (sqrt(228)/(sqrt(12)*1 + sqrt(12))*-4 - ((2*sqrt(2299) - sqrt(2299))*-2 + sqrt(2299)))**2 + 0.
1537
Simplify (-6*(-3*sqrt(85)/sqrt(5) + (sqrt(1377) - -3*sqrt(1377))))**2 + -4.
666464
Simplify ((sqrt(3000) - (1*-1*sqrt(3000) + sqrt(3000) - sqrt(3000)))/(-3*sqrt(160)*4))**2.
25/48
Simplify 1*-5*((1*sqrt(98))/sqrt(2))/sqrt(7).
-5*sqrt(7)
Simplify 2*((1 + sqrt(8))**2 + 5 + (sqrt(22)/(2*sqrt(1584)))**2).
8*sqrt(2) + 4033/144
Simplify 5*3*((-5 + sqrt(42)/sqrt(6) - sqrt(7)) + (sqrt(77) - -2*sqrt(77))/sqrt(11)).
-75 + 45*sqrt(7)
Simplify (((-3 + sqrt(171) + sqrt(171) + 2 - sqrt(171))*5 + -1)*3)**2.
-1620*sqrt(19) + 38799
Simplify (4 + 6*sqrt(2000) + sqrt(2000) + 4)**2.
2240*sqrt(5) + 98064
Simplify 4 + (5*(sqrt(539) + 0 + 4))**2 + -4 + 5.
1400*sqrt(11) + 13880
Simplify 5 + 1 + ((sqrt(153) + 3*sqrt(153) - sqrt(153) - sqrt(153) - sqrt(153))/sqrt(9) - (3 + sqrt(68)/sqrt(4))).
3
Simplify ((sqrt(91) + (-3*sqrt(91) - sqrt(91)))*5 + sqrt(91) - sqrt(91))/(sqrt(21)/sqrt(147)).
-105*sqrt(13)
Simplify 3 + (sqrt(1539) - (sqrt(1539)*-1*-2)**2) + -5.
-6158 + 9*sqrt(19)
Simplify -1*((1 + -1*sqrt(13))**2 + 5 + 1 + sqrt(13) + ((sqrt(13) - -1*sqrt(13)) + 5 - (sqrt(52)*-1)/sqrt(4))**2).
-162 - 29*sqrt(13)
Simplify (((6*sqrt(325)*-1 - sqrt(325)) + 1 + sqrt(325) + 1 + sqrt(325) + sqrt(325))*5 + 5)**2.
-3000*sqrt(13) + 130225
Simplify 0 + (-5 + -5*(sqrt(2) + sqrt(2) + sqrt(8))**2 + sqrt(128))*-5.
-40*sqrt(2) + 825
Simplify 4 + (sqrt(152)/(sqrt(4) + sqrt(28)/(sqrt(28) + sqrt(7))))/(-2*(-6*(sqrt(2) + sqrt(32)) + sqrt(2))).
3*sqrt(19)/232 + 4
Simplify ((sqrt(200) - ((sqrt(200) - -2*sqrt(200)) + 1))*2)**2*6.
960*sqrt(2) + 19224
Simplify ((sqrt(20)*-2 + -2*(sqrt(125) + sqrt(5)))*-5)**2 + 5.
32005
Simplify ((sqrt(114)*1 + sqrt(114))*5 + sqrt(114))/(sqrt(270)/sqrt(5)).
11*sqrt(19)/3
Simplify -2*((sqrt(325) + -2)*-2 + sqrt(325) + (sqrt(325) - (sqrt(325) + -1 + 4 + sqrt(325))))**2*-3.
-120*sqrt(13) + 7806
Simplify 2*(4*sqrt(68)*-6*1)**2.
78336
Simplify (sqrt(84)/(sqrt(12) - sqrt(192))*-6*5)**2 - ((sqrt(847)*1)**2 + sqrt(847) + -3 + sqrt(847))*4.
-2676 - 88*sqrt(7)
Simplify 4 + 4 + -3 + (sqrt(272)*-3)**2.
2453
Simplify (5 + (sqrt(187) - -2*sqrt(187)*4)/sqrt(11) + -1)*-4.
-36*sqrt(17) - 16
Simplify (sqrt(1584)*3*3)**2 + sqrt(1584) + sqrt(1584) + (-1*sqrt(1331))**2 + -2.
24*sqrt(11) + 129633
Simplify (5*((sqrt(153)*2 - sqrt(153))*4 - sqrt(153)))/(((sqrt(108) + sqrt(108) + (sqrt(108) - sqrt(108)*-1)*3 - sqrt(108)) + sqrt(108))/sqrt(12)).
15*sqrt(17)/8
Simplify ((-1 + (sqrt(1700) - sqrt(1700)*-3) + 1)*-2)**2*-5.
-544000
Simplify (sqrt(1584) + 1 + sqrt(1584) + 5)**2 - sqrt(66)/(sqrt(54)*-1).
865*sqrt(11)/3 + 6372
Simplify (sqrt(2904)*1*-1)/(6*5*-1*sqrt(8)).
11*sqrt(3)/30
Simplify 6*(sqrt(21)/(sqrt(27)/sqrt(9)) - (sqrt(175) + 5 - sqrt(175))).
-30 + 6*sqrt(7)
Simplify (4*sqrt(44)/sqrt(4) - ((sqrt(176) - sqrt(11))*5)**2) + (sqrt(550)/(-1*sqrt(10)))/(sqrt(500) + -1*sqrt(500) + sqrt(5)).
-2475 + 3*sqrt(11)
Simplify -4*(6*(-1*sqrt(325)*-4 + (sqrt(325) + -2 + sqrt(325) + sqrt(325))*-4))**2.
-3004416 + 92160*sqrt(13)
Simplify (2*(sqrt(13) + -1 + 5) + -1)*-1*5 + -4.
-39 - 10*sqrt(13)
Simplify 4*((sqrt(52) - (sqrt(52) + sqrt(208)))*6 + sqrt(156)/(-1*(sqrt(12) - sqrt(12)*-1))) + 3.
-98*sqrt(13) + 3
Simplify sqrt(11 |
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Localization;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Weapsy.Cqrs;
using Weapsy.Domain.Pages;
using Weapsy.Mvc.Context;
using Weapsy.Mvc.Controllers;
using Weapsy.Reporting.Pages;
using Weapsy.Reporting.Pages.Queries;
using Weapsy.Services.Security;
namespace Weapsy.Web.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : BaseController
{
private readonly IDispatcher _dispatcher;
private readonly ISecurityService _securityService;
public HomeController(IDispatcher dispatcher,
ISecurityService securityService,
IContextService contextService)
: base(contextService)
{
_dispatcher = dispatcher;
_securityService = securityService;
}
public async Task<IActionResult> Index(Guid pageId, Guid languageId)
{
if (pageId == Guid.Empty)
return NotFound();
var pageInfo = await _dispatcher.GetResultAsync<GetPageInfo, PageInfo>(new GetPageInfo
{
SiteId = SiteId,
PageId = pageId,
LanguageId = languageId
});
if (pageInfo == null || !_securityService.IsUserAuthorized(User, pageInfo.Page.Roles[PermissionType.View]))
return NotFound();
ViewBag.Title = pageInfo.Page.Title;
ViewBag.MetaDescription = pageInfo.Page.MetaDescription;
ViewBag.MetaKeywords = pageInfo.Page.MetaKeywords;
return View(pageInfo);
}
public IActionResult SetLanguage(string culture, string returnUrl)
{
Response.Cookies.Append(
CookieRequestCultureProvider.DefaultCookieName,
CookieRequestCultureProvider.MakeCookieValue(new RequestCulture(culture)),
new CookieOptions { Expires = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddYears(1) }
);
return LocalRedirect(!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(returnUrl) ? returnUrl : "/");
}
[Route("error/500")]
public IActionResult Error()
{
return View();
}
[Route("error/404")]
public IActionResult PageNotFound()
{
return View();
}
[Route("error/403")]
public IActionResult AccessDenied()
{
return View();
}
}
}
|
‘Modric is in many ways the one that got away for the Premier League, and who has always been a little too lightly mourned.’
Illustration: David Humphries for the Guardian
Then there were two. On Tuesday night inside the giant shiny-plated Armadillo that is the Juventus Stadium, as the lights dazzled and thrillingly loud American brat-rock split a hole in the sky, 10,000 Italians held up 10,000 plastic cards to spell the word “Cardiff” in vast shimmery letters. This is, in all likelihood, the first time this has ever happened, and probably the last too.
A day later in Madrid as thunderstorms cleared the streets after midnight people in the city centre bars could be heard yelling and chanting and, in one side street off the Calle de Toledo, singing with a thick, beery Spanish inflection about Cardiff.
Real Madrid and Juventus collide in Champions League final – Football Weekly Extra
Read more
And so on to Cardiff it is then. Another high-grade, pizzazz-ridden, gas-wangling Champions League campaign has boiled down to its final pairing. No real surprises here. The team that always reaches the final will play the team that sometimes reaches the final. Although, looking at Real Madrid and in particular Juventus one thing does stand out. These are the most seasoned, weathered and manly of Champions League finalists: balding, grizzled and masters of a more stately game compared to the wild collisions of the Premier League.
The big question in Cardiff is can the 32-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo find space between Leonardo Bonucci (30), Giorgio Chiellini (32) and Andrea Barzagli (36) to put one past the 39-year-old Gianluigi Buffon, who made his debut for Italy when Tony Adams and Gazza were still trying to win the World Cup and who still has something unbound and compelling about him, glowering on his goal-line like a wild-eyed evangelical priest in foam gloves and lime green nylon jumper.
It was wonderful to watch that Juventus defence in Turin, men for whom to defend is a kind of muscular physical art, strung together across the pitch like a Renaissance frieze of a particularly heroic battlefield massacre. Chiellini in particular, with his noble, beaky profile, resembles a huge, sad medieval ivory chess piece come to life and crammed into a black and white striped shirt. They really are going to look good holding up that trophy three weeks from now.
Which is what plenty of people seem to think will happen in Cardiff. The theory, wishful thinking or not, is that Juventus will get a grip of Madrid, reining in the fancy boys, placing a pair of fleshy hands on the lapels of that precision attack.
A player so skilled and diligent, he makes every other component in that superstar collective function a little better
It is an exciting idea that overlooks one thing. Atlético Madrid tried the same tactics and indeed succeeded for 20 minutes on Wednesday night. That they didn’t succeed in squeezing Real into submission was down to the efforts, above all, of another 30-something, a slight, ferrety, gliding presence who is surely, and without undue fanfare, the best all-round midfielder in the world these days. All hail, once again, the wonderful Luka Modric.
What a performance Modric produced at the Vicente Calderón. At the start he had to snap and snipe and wrestle as Atlético swarmed through the holes in this occasionally misshapen Real team. By the hour mark Modric was running the game in more elegant ways, reeling out the full range of his wonderfully complete set of skills, the instant control, the ability to hold the ball in any space, to jink and pass and set the rhythms of the game around him. Over 90 minutes he had 103 touches, more than anyone else on the pitch. He had the most dribbles. He made the most interceptions. His final heat map looks like a massive fungal omelette spread across an entire griddle pan.
Indeed watching him in the flesh in a match of such high stakes and such fury it was hard not to feel the slight oddity, the pure solipsism of suggestions that the worthy but far more limited N’Golo Kanté could be the best central midfielder in the world. Ronaldo and Gareth Bale get the all-star highlights-reel sheen. But Modric is in many ways the one that got away for the Premier League, and who has always been a little too lightly mourned.
Not that he hasn’t always been a delightfully alluring presence, an elite footballer who even now in close-up still resembles a small boy dressed up as a witch. Albeit his startlingly deep gravelly voice adds a weird dimension to this in post-match interviews, as though a pale, wispy woodland elf has turned up at the front door and proceeded to barge his way in, start ripping out the skirting boards and replastering the hall – “Cheers mate, seven sugars, don’t mind the radio on do you?”
End of an era for Atlético Madrid as curtain falls on Vicente Calderón
Read more
But then Modric has often had to defy expectations. Overlooked by Hajduk Split because of his size, he came through at Dinamo Zagreb and first made his name in the badlands of the Bosnian League on loan at Zrinjski. Harry Redknapp took at least a season to trust him as a central midfielder at Spurs. Even renowned bruiser Arsène Wenger is said to have dismissed him as “a lightweight”. At Madrid he was famously named the worst big-money signing of the year by Marca after his opening season, hampered by positional confusion over his role, the assumption that this wispy little technician, floating along with the ball glued to his toe, must naturally be a playmaker or an inside forward or a No10
And yet it was Modric who wrestled Real back into that semi-final, just as the prospect of a more bruising battle with Juve won’t faze a player whose opponents often remark on what an unexpectedly gnarly, spiky little all-rounder he is. Above all Modric is just a beautifully mature footballer these days. And like that Juve defence, it suits him.
It can be hard to love this hurled-together Real team, seen by some as a clumsy kind of construct, pre-cooked superstars whose mistakes can go unpunished, whose incoherencies are dragged through by pure, bolt-on champions’ talent.
Even with a third Champions League title in four years in the offing it can be hard to get a clear sight of them, to judge exactly how good they’re meant to be, how much we’re supposed to love our white-shirted overlords. They do, though, have Modric, a player so skilled and diligent, he makes every other component in that superstar collective function a little better, and who is, best of all, impossible not to love just a little bit. |
Meta
An admission from a “Palestinian”
“Islam is intolerant to everything non-Muslim”
By Ayman Hassan (who just joined the Walid Shoebat Foundation in support of Israel)
Shalom. As an Arab Muslim I once asked myself: Why do I hate Israel? I really thought about this question. After little deliberation the answer was clear, because I am a Muslim and Islam is extremely intolerant. It’s the intolerance to everything non Muslim, that is the problem and I say this as a Muslim, but today I have rejected the teachings of Islam for this very reason. I have left Islam. As an Arab “Palestinian”, living in Lebanon, coming from a Muslim family, I was brought up with the hatred of Jews, Christians, and all non Muslims. Now I’m 24, I have matured enough to view the world through a different perspective; I reviewed real history and studied the sequence of events before and after the restoration of the State of Israel. I decided to step outside the mindset of a typical Muslim. It didn’t take long to realize that I was on the wrong track and I moved quickly to the other side. In order to be at peace with myself I have come to reject the hatred of Israel and now love my former enemy. I have not embraced another religion but I am pursuing a new spiritual path.
It’s not a struggle of so called “Palestinians” to establish a country and retain some land,which was never theirs, I know because I studied the real history. The real problem is racism and the intolerance of Muslims, the blind hatred and jealousy to see a flourishing, strong and modern country where people from other faiths can live peacefully. Why are the Jews forbidden to have a country? These people have contributed much to the world’s culture and offered the best scientists, artists, doctors and have been victims of intolerance throughout history? Why are they forbidden to live in their national Zionist dream and return to their homeland, which was some desert which they cultivated and transformed in to one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth? Why do the Arabs and the Muslim world have to take everything, and claim every land they step on to be theirs. “Palestine” never existed[as a nation or state – GdB], and should never, and that is coming from me an Arab who is classified as a “Palestinian.”The creation of a Palestinian state would be the biggest threat to the existence of Israel and would not bring one day of peace to Israel; I know how my people think! It should never be allowed. In fact supporting a Palestinian State is the equivalent of supporting Nazi Germany and the persecution of Jews.
2 Responses to “An admission from a “Palestinian””
skellybonessaid
Wow, that’s a really interesting post…if only people did more research into the ‘real history’ of Israel, instead of blindly hating a race of people. People always seem to accept what they are told as fact, which in my opinion creates so many unnecessary problems. I don’t really know how to finish that point…so I’ll end by saying…nice blog! 🙂
One of the reasons I started this blog was to point out the legitimacy of Israel, and her true history. The hate is unnecessary, and the propaganda – the great myth of the Palestinian people – is false and hurtful. |
I’ve wanted to write about this new religion for a while now. Mostly because it was inspired by one of the greatest movie franchises in the history of cinema, but also because I keep company with various geeks, freaks, and assorted fanboys/girls who I thought would appreciate this post. That being said, let’s chat about Jediism.
Now before you start snickering, I’d like to point out that on January 12th, 2009 the Canadian government officially recognized Jediism as a religion. This past March, the United States followed suit and recognized Jediism as a nonprofit religious organization. This may have been the result of a grassroots movement in 2001 to encourage people to write down Jedi as their religious affiliation on national censuses. The movement was so successful that 21,000 Canadians indicated their religion as Jedi. In other countries, the numbers were much more impressive. For instance, in 2001 New Zealand had the highest per capita population of reported Jedi followers, even eclipsing those who identified with two major world religions – Buddhism and Hinduism.
Certainly, the movement has had its critics – particularly those from the irreligious persuasion who believe that their own numbers are being under-recorded due to non-religious folks indicating Jedi as a joke or novel answer to the question. Make no mistake – practitioners of this religion are serious about their faith.
Jediism, like many other religions, has different variations between groups. Most groups draw inspiration from the Lucas films, such as the belief in the Force and possibility of interaction with the Force. The manifestation of this belief appears to take on different contexts. Perhaps most interesting about this NRM is the drawing from a wide variety of religious beliefs.
If you’re interested in learning more about Jediism, there are several sites you can visit.
The Temple of The Jedi Order purports to be the first international church of Jediism. Quoting from their website, “We are real Jedi. We believe in Peace, Justice, Love, Learning and using our abilities for Good. We are not fictional Jedi, nor are we role playing. We live our lives according to the principles of Jediism and work together as a community to both cultivate and celebrate.”
The Order of the Jedi, is a Canadian-based organization; however it considers itself a worldwide Order. A description of a Jedi taken from their Web site, “[…] is someone who believes in an energy that surrounds, binds, penetrates, and encompasses all living things. A Jedi believes in the greater good, and always tries to follow the light or positive energy. Jedi do not discriminate, all are welcome.”
As I stated previously, Jediism isn’t without its critics. Members have also been subject to some highly publicized religious discrimination. In the video posted below, a news station provides coverage of a Jedi follower who was asked to remove his hood at a job center. He was subsequently escorted from the premises when he refused to comply. Self-proclaimed Jediism founder, Daniel Jones is also interviewed in this segment.
May the Force be with you…
M. xo
Jedi follower discriminated against & Jediism Founder interviewed:
Image Source: Temple of the Jedi Order |
English:
Glow in the dark Beautiful
[MUSIC]
DUDE PERECT
Wassup guys we're Dude Perfect and we got a couple buddies with us today
I'm Craig Robinson
and I'm Adam Scott.
and I'm Adam Scott.
And it's time for Glow in the DarkTrick Shots.
And it's time for Glow in the DarkTrick Shots.
And it's time for Glow in the DarkTrick Shots.
Pretty sure I shouldn't drink that, but I can flip it, here we go
Pretty sure I shouldn't drink that, but I can flip it, here we go
Pretty sure I shouldn't drink that, but I can flip it, here we go
Pretty sure I shouldn't drink that, but I can flip it, here we go
Yaaa!
It flipped
Beautiful
Got it (woooh!)
Nice
Yea!
This is the Glowy Chipper
looks good feels good
Vietnamese:
Bản phụ đề tiếng việt
Người dịch:Yutozaki Shimura
Chào mọi người! Chúng tôi là Dude Perrfect. Và chúng ta có 1 đôi bạn tham gia hôm nay.
Tôi là Craig Robinson
Và tôi là Adam Scott
Đây là Glowy Chipper
Trông tốt, cảm thấy tốt
German:
Dude Perfect
Was geht Leute, wir sind Dude Perfect und wir haben heute ein paar Kumpels mit dabei.
Ich bin Craig Robinson
Ich bin Adam Scott
Es ist Zeit für Glow in the Dark trick Shots.
Los geht`s
Ich bin ziemlich sicher, dass ich das nicht trinken sollte, aber ich kann es flippen, also los geht`s
Jaaaa!
Es ist geflippt,
Wunderschön!
Hab´s woooooh!
Schön
Yea!
Das ist der glühende Chipper
sieht gut aus, fühlt sich gut an
Dutch:
[MUZIEK]
DUDE Perect
Wassup jongens wij zijn Dude Perfect en we hebben een paar vrienden met ons vandaag
Ik ben Craig Robinson
en ik ben Adam Scott.
en ik ben Adam Scott.
En het is tijd voor Glow in the DarkTrick Shots.
En het is tijd voor Glow in the DarkTrick Shots.
En het is tijd voor Glow in the DarkTrick Shots.
Vrij zeker dat je dat niet mag drinken, maar ik kan het draaien, here we go
Vrij zeker dat je dat niet mag drinken, maar ik kan het flippen, daar gaan we
Vrij zeker dat je dat niet mag drinken, maar ik kan het flippen, daar gaan we
Vrij zeker dat je dat niet mag drinken, maar ik kan het flippen, daar gaan we
Jaaa!
Hij is geflipt!
Mooi
Ik heb 'm (woooh!)
Geweldig
Ja!
Dit is de Glowy Chipper
ziet er goed uit, voelt goed
Indonesian:
[MUSIK]
DUDE PERECT
Apa kabar guys kami Dude Perfect dan kami bersama beberapa orang saat ini
Aku Craig Robinson
dan aku Adam Scott.
dan aku Adam Scott.
Dan inilah saatnya melakukan Trik Tembakan Bersinar dalam Gelap.
Dan inilah saatnya melakukan Trik Tembakan cahaya dalam Gelap.
Dan inilah saatnya melakukan Trik Tembakan Bersinar dalam Gelap.
Cukup yakin aku tidak boleh meminumnya, tapi aku bisa membalikkannya, inilah saatnya
Cukup yakin aku tidak boleh meminumnya, tapi aku bisa membalikkannya, inilah saatnya
Cukup yakin aku tidak boleh meminumnya, tapi aku bisa membalikkannya, inilah saatnya
Cukup yakin aku tidak boleh meminumnya, tapi aku bisa membalikkannya, inilah saatnya
Yaaa!
Botol itu terbalik
Indah
Kena (woooh!)
Bagus
Yeeaah!
Ini adalah serpihan Cahaya
terlihat bagus dan meyakinkan
French:
[MUSIQUE]
DUDE PERFECT
Salut à tous nous sommes Dude Perfect et aujourd'hui on est pas tout seul.
Je suis Craig Robinson
et je suis Adam Scott.
Et c'est l'heure des Trickshots dans le noir.
[Musique]
Je pense que ça ne se boit pas, mais je peux la lancer et la retourner
Yaaa!
Ca s'est retourné comme prévu
Magnifique
Dans le mille (Woooh!)
Superbe
Yeah!
Et voici le Glowy Chipper
(club de golf lumineux)
ça part bien,
Arabic:
"دود بيرفكت "
كيف الحال شباب ؟ نحن "دود بيرفكت" واليوم معنا البعض من الاصدقاء
أَنا كريج روبرسون
وانا ادم سكات
متأكد انني لايمكني شرب هذا , ولاكنني استطيع قلبه, هيا نبدأ
انقلبت ! رائع !
"وهذا مرح التوهج"
"يبدو جيد وشعور جيد"
"يبدو جيدا و التوهج جيد"
Russian:
Чё как ребят, мы Dude Perfect и с нами пара ребят.
Я Крэйг Робинсон.
А я Адам Скотт.
И пришло время опупительных трюков.
Хотелось бы это выпить, но время Water Flip Challenge.
Она перевернулась!
Замечательно.
Красава
Е-е-е!
Это Неоновый гольф.
Не плохо, хорошо.
Идет хорошо...
Portuguese:
-E aí, pessoal! Nós somos Dude Perfect e temos dois amigos conosco hoje!
-Eu sou Craig Robinson!
-E eu sou Adam Scott!
E é hora das jogadas habilidosas brilhando no escuro!
Lá vamos nós!
Com certeza não devo beber isto, mas posso girar. Aqui vamos nós.
Yaaa!
Girou!
Lindo!
Peguei! (woooh!)
Boa!
Yeah!
Este é o Glowy Chipper.
Parece bom, isso é bom!
Polish:
(Muzyka)
(Muzyka)
(Muzyka)
(Muzyka)
(Muzyka)
(Muzyka)
(Muzyka)
Co tam chłopaki? My jesteśmy Dude Perfect i mamy dzisiaj ze sobą kilka osób.
Ja jestem Craig Robinson.
Ja jestem Adam Scott
I jest czas na świecące w ciemności trick shoty!
Dawaj Alex!
Jestem pewien, że nie powinienem tego pić, ale mogę zrobić sztuczkę. Lecimy z tym koksem.
Yaa!
Obróciło się!
Pięknie!
Rozumiem (woooh!)
Nieźle!
Taaak!
To jest "Glowy Chipper" (Radosny Glowy)
Wygląda dobrze, czuje dobrze,
Spanish:
DUDE PERFECT
Qué tal chicos, somos Dude Perfect y hoy tenemos un par de amigos con nosotros hoy.
Me llamo Craig Robinson
Me llamo Adam Scott
Y es hora para trickshots que brillan en la oscuridad
Estoy seguro de que no debo beber esto, pero puedo hacer que gire.
Allá vamos.
Un flip.
Precioso.
Este es el Glowy Chipper
Va bien, se siente bien.
Parece ir bien.
Turkish:
KARANLIKTAKİ PARILTI HÜNER ATIŞI
DUDE PERFECT
Selam Millet,Biz "Dude Perfect"iz ve bugün beraberimizde bir kaç arkadaşımız var.
Ben Craig Robinson
Ve Ben Adam Scott
Ve Şimdi Glow in the Dark Trick Shot Zamanı
Ve Şimdi Glow in the Dark Trick Shot Zamanı
Ve Şimdi Glow in the Dark Trick Shot Zamanı
Bunu içmemem gerektiğine kesin olarak eminim, ama takla attıra bilirim. Başlıyoruz!
Bunu içmemem gerektiğine kesin olarak eminim, ama takla attıra bilirim. Başlıyoruz!
Bunu içmemem gerektiğine kesin olarak eminim, ama takla attıra bilirim. Başlıyoruz!
Bunu içmemem gerektiğine kesin olarak eminim, ama takla attıra bilirim. Başlıyoruz!
yeeaaaaaaa
Takla attı
Mükemmel
İşte başardım.(sevinç)
Güzeel
Adamı Böyle Sikerler
İşte bu da parıltılı parçalayıcı
Güzel görünüyor, güzel hissettiriyor
Danish:
Glow i mørket Smuk
[MUSIK]
DUDE perect
Hva' så gutter vi er Dude Perfect, og vi har fået et par venner med os i dag
Jeg er Craig Robinson
og jeg er Adam Scott.
og jeg er Adam Scott.
Og det er tid til Glow i DarkTrick Shots.
Og det er tid til Glow i DarkTrick Shots.
Og det er tid til Glow i DarkTrick Shots.
Er ret sikker på at jeg bør ikke drikke dette, men jeg kan flippe det, kom så
Er ret sikker på at jeg bør ikke drikke dette, men jeg kan flippe det, kom så
Er ret sikker på at jeg bør ikke drikke dette, men jeg kan flippe det, kom så
Er ret sikker på at jeg bør ikke drikke dette, men jeg kan flippe det, kom så
Yaaa!
Jeg gjorde det
Smukt
Fik den (woooh!)
Nice
Ja!
Dette er den lysende Chipper
Det ser godt ud, det føles godt
Spanish:
Y está en el agujero
Te aprecio, quien quiera que seas
Vamos!!!!
Aah, ahora sé quien es.
Este es el Corn Glow
Adam, genial tío.
Mi traje se acaba de estropear chicos
Usé tanta energía que mis luces se apagaron, tal que así
Este es el Bow and Arrow Trust Shot.
Claro que sí, ¡vamos a ello!
Turkish:
Güzel görünüyor, güzel ışıldıyor, ahandaaa, delikte!
Her kimsen seni tebrik ediyorum
(hadi gidelim)oh artık kim olduğunu biliyorum.
İşte mısır Parıltısı
Hızlı fırlatma İlk deneme
"Adam" doğru yolda
Benim giysim şimdiden gitti millet!!
O kadar çok enerji kullandım ki, böyle sönüp kaldım beyler
İşte Ok ve yay güven atışı, evet bu o. Hadi gidelim
German:
glüht gut, eingelocht!
ich schätze Dich, wer immer Du bist
(los geht's) Oh, jetzt weiß ich wer das ist
Das ist Mais-glühen
flip flash erster Versuch
Adam, weiter so!
Mein Anzug ist einfach ausgegangen, Jungs!
I habe gerade so viel Energie gebraucht, dass mein Licht ausging, Mann, einfach so.
Das ist der Pfeil und Bogen Vertrauensschuss. Ja das ist er. Auf geht's.
Dutch:
, gloeit goed, het ... is in de hole!
ik waardeer het wie je ook bent
(kom op!) oh ik weet wie het is nu
dit is corn glow
flip flash eerste keer
Adam, goed gedaan!
mijn pak ging gewoon uit jongens
ik gebruikte zoveel energie dat mijn lichten uit gingen, net zoals dit
dit is de bow and arrow trust shot
ja dat is het, kom op!
Portuguese:
Parece bom, brilha bem, está... no buraco!
Eu aprecio-te, sejas quem fores!
-Vamos lá!
-Oh, eu sei quem é agora!
Esse é o Corn Glow.
Girou instantaneamente na primeira tentativa!
Adam, vai em frente!
A minha roupa desligou, caras!
Eu usei tanta energia que desliguei as luzes, cara... Tipo assim.
-Esse é o Tiro de Arco e Flecha de Confiança.
-Sim, é isso aí, vamos lá!
Vietnamese:
Tôi đánh giá cao dù bạn là ai
(Đi nào...o...o) Ồ, tôi biết đây là ai rồi
Đây là bắp ngô phát sáng
Đường của Adam để đi
Trang phục của tôi hết pin rồi các chàng trai
Tôi đã dùng quá nhiều năng lượng đến mức đèn của tôi hết pin. Trông như thế này
Đây là cú bắn của cây cung và mũi tên tin tưởng
Polish:
wygląda dobrze, świeci dobrze, to... Jest w dziurze!
Szanuje cię, kimkolwiek jesteś.
(Chodźmyy) O! Już wiem, kto to jest.
To jest "Corn Glow" (Żarząca kukurydza)
Za pierwszym razem!
Dobrze ci idzie Adam!
Mój kostium się rozładował, chłopaki.
Zużyłem tyle energii, że zgasiłem światła, chłopaki. Tak jak teraz.
To jest strzał zaufania z łukiem i strzałą.
Tak, dokładnie, lecimy!
Danish:
Ser godt ud, lyser godt, den ... er i!
Jeg sætter pris på det, hvem du nu er
(sådan!) Åh jeg ved, hvem det er nu
dette er majs lys
flip flash første forsøg!
Adam sådan skal det gøres
min dragt gik ud, drenge
Jeg har lige brugt så meget energi, at lysene gik ud
dette er bue og pil tillids skuddet. Lad os gøre det
English:
looks good, glows good, it... is in the hole!
i appreciate you who ever you are
(lets goo) oh i know who it is now
this is corn glow
flip flash first try
Adam way to go
my suit just went out boys
i just used so much energy that i went lights out boy just like this
this the bow and arrow trust shot. Yes it is lets go
Russian:
И он в лунке
И он в лунке!!!
Благодарю тебя, кто бы ты ни был
Погнали!
О! Я теперь понял, кто ты!
Это неоновый сокс.
Он это сделал!!!
Метко
Чуваки, кажись я его сломал
Я использую много энергии, что погасил свет.
Вот так.
Это выстрел на доверие.
Да чувак это он.
Arabic:
"انه... في الحفرة!!"
"انا اقدرك اي شخص كنت"
"هيا نذهب"
"اوه، اعرف من هو الان"
"هذه ذرة متوهجة"
"ادم جاهز للانطلاق"
"بدلتي خرجت يا اولاد"
"لقد استخدمت الكثير من الطاقة لدرجة ان التوهج انطفأ"
"هكذا"
"هذه خدعة السهم و القوس"
"نعم انها هي ، لنذهب!!"
Indonesian:
terlihat bagus, sinarnya bagus, itu ... masuk kedalam lubang!
Aku menghargai kamu siapapun kamu
(Ayo berangkat) oh aku tahu siapa itu sekarang
ini adalah jagung bercahaya
percobaan pertama flip flash
Adam, cara untuk pergi
pakaianku mati boys
Aku terbiasa memakai banyak energi/daya listrik jadi lampunya mati seperti ini boys.
ini tembakan kepercayaan busur panah dan anak panah. Ya itulah ayo kita coba
French:
ça brille bien,et bim dans le trou!
Merci à toi qui que tu soies
Oh, je sais qui c'est maintenant
Et voici le jeté de sac lumineux
Du premier coup !
Bravo Adam mais il en reste encore
Je perds mon costume les mecs
Je consomme tellement d'énergie que je peux m'éteindre en un instant
-Et voilà le coup de l'arc et de la flèche
-En effet, c'est parti !
Dutch:
Nee dat was mijn .. dat was mijn tweede keer dat ik schoot eigenlijk
Wow wat dacht ik wel niet
eerste keer was twintig jaar geleden
is er iets dat een slagingspercentage van 100% heeft ?
een 60 centimeter putter
laten we het doen
oke!
dit is een zestig centimeter putter Cody zegt dat er 100% slagingspercentage is
Snel hij heeft niks gezien!
dit is een zestig centimeter putter
kerel dit is het hoogtepunt van zijn carrière
What's up guys, Tay hier
We kregen een glow in the dark hoelahoep , ik ga hem in de lucht gooien
Gary gaat er doorheen trappen en de lat raken
Polish:
Nie, to był mój... To był mój drugi raz, kiedy strzelałem.
Nie wierzę! Co ja sobie myślałem?
Pierwszy raz był 20 lat temu.
Czy jest coś, co ma stuprocentowy wskaźnik sukcesu?
Dwu-stopowe pchnięcie
Zróbmy to.
Tak, zróbmy to!
To jest dwu-stopowe pchnięcie, o którym Cody mówił, że ma stuprocentowe szanse na sukces.
Szybko, pośpiesz się, nic nie widział.
To jest dwu-stopowe pchnięcie.
Stary, to największy sukces w jego karierze.
Co tam, chłopaki? Tay przybył.
Mamy świecące w ciemności hula hop. Będziemy je podrzucać.
Gary spróbuje przez nie strzelić i uderzyć w poprzeczkę.
English:
no that was my.. that was my second time I actually shot
no way what was i thinking
first time was twenty years ago
is there something that has a success rate of 100%??ay hay aw
a two foot put
lets do it
lets do it alright
this is two foot put that Cody says 100% success rate
hurry quick he didn't see anything
this is two foot put
dude this is the highlight is his career
What's up guys, Tay here
We got a glow in the dark hula hoop gona toss it up
gary is gona kick through it and hit the cross bar
Indonesian:
bukan itu adalah tembakanku... itu adalah kedua kalinya aku benar-benar menembak
tidak mungkin. itu seperti yang ku pikirkan
pertama kalinya dua puluh tahun yang lalu
apakah ada tembakan yang tingkat keberhasilannya 100%? ay hay aw
sebuah tembakan dua kaki
Ayo kita lakukan
mari kita lakukan langsung
ini tembakan dua kaki yang kata Cody tingkat keberhasilannya 100%
Cepat dia tidak melihat apapun
ini adalah tembakan dua kaki
Bro inilah puncak karirnya
Apa kabar guys, disini Tay
Kami punya sebuah hula hoop bersinar dalam gelap yang akan dilempar
gary akan menembak bola melalui hula hoop dan mengenai gawang
French:
C'est la deuxième fois de ma vie que je tire à l'arc
Non mais pourquoi je t'ai laissé faire
La première fois c'était il y a 20 ans
Et ce qu'il y a un truc où je peux réussir à tous les coups ?
Un put à 50 cm du trou
Bon bah c'est parti !
Allez c'est parti!
Il dit que ce put à un taux de réussite de 100%
[RIRES]
Vite, tu me vois pas
Et voilà le put
Ce mec est le point culminant est sa carrière
Quoi de neuf gars, Tay ici
Nous avons eu un hula hoop lumineux et on va le lancer
Gary va frapper un ballon qui va passer dedans et toucher la barre transversale
Portuguese:
Essa foi... Na verdade, essa foi a segunda vez que eu atirei.
Não pode ser, no que eu estava pensando?!
Minha primeira vez foi há vinte anos atrás.
Tem alguma coisa que tem uma chance de sucesso de 100%?
Tudo bem! Ah... O Two Foot Put.
Vamos fazer isso!
Vamos fazer isso, beleza!
Esse é Two Foot Put, que o Cody disse que tem 100% de chance de sucesso.
Depressa, eles não viram nada!
Este é o Two foot put.
Amigo, este é o ápice da carreira dele!
E aí galera, sou o Tay
Nós temos um arco escuro e vamos jogá-lo para cima
O Gary vai chutar por dentro dele e acertar na balisa
Arabic:
"لا هذه كانت ..بصراحة هذه كانت المحاولة الثانية"
"لا يمكن ماذا كنت افكر"
"المرة الاولى كانت قبل عشرين سنة"
"هل هناك شيء معدل نجاحه ١٠٠%"
"اثنان من ضربات الغولف الرقيقة"
"لنفعلها"
"حسنا هيا لنفعلها
"هذه ضربة الغولف الرقيقة التي قال كودي انها ستنجح ١٠٠%"
"هيا بسرعة، انه لا يرى شيئا"
"رجل، تسليط الضوء هي مهنته"
"ماذا تفعلون يا جماعة؟، تاي هنا"
"لدينا توهج في الظلام، هيلا هوب سوف ترمية للاعلى"
"جراي سوف يركل خلاله و يضرب الشريط الذي في الجهة المقابلة"
Vietnamese:
Không. Đây là của tôi. Lần thứ hai tôi thực sự bắn nó
Ko đời nào tôi lại nghĩ theo cách đó
lần đầu là 20 năm về trc
có 1 thứ j đó mà có 1 chỉ số thành công
là 100% ??
một 2 chân lên
làm thôi
đc rồi làm thôi
đây là một 2 chân lên mà Cody nói Có chỉ số thành công là 100%
nhanh lên anh ấy ko thấy j cả
ae đây là đình cao của sự nghiệp
J vậy mọi nguời Taylor đây
chúng tôi có phát sáng trong đêm hula hốp sẽ núơng chúng lên
Gary sẽ đá nó qua và đâm vào thanh sắt
Russian:
Ну вообще-то это был... мой второй раз в жизни, когда я стрелял из лука
Капец! о чем я думал!
Первый раз был пару лет назад
Если что, то у меня показатель успеха 100%
Удар с двух футов!
Да! Давай сделаем это!
Это удар с двух футов который 100% успешный.
Это попытка №2
Чувак это самый яркий эпизод в его карьере!
У нас есть неоновый обруч
Гарри планирует крас бар через него
Turkish:
Hayır o benim...o benim gerçekten sıktığım ikinci seferimdi
Hadi canım, ne düşünüyordum ki
İlk atışım 25 yıl önceydi
Başarı oranı %100 olan birşey var mı lao ?
a two foot put(iki feetlik golf atışı, en basit atış)
Hadi yapalım!!
Tamam Hadi yapalım!!
İşte two foot put, cody nin dediğine göre bunun başarılı olma ihtimali %100
Acele et çabuk, bi' şey görmedi
işte two foot put
Dostum bu onun kariyerindeki en üst nokta.
Naber millet, Tay burada
Burada parıltılı hula hoppumuz var ve onu çevireceğiz
Gary onu tekmeleyecek ve crossbar'a vuracak
Danish:
nej det var min .. det var min anden gang jeg faktisk skød
no way hvad tænkte jeg på
Første gang var for tyve år siden
er der noget, der har en succesrate på 100%? ay hay aw
en to fod put
Lad os gøre det
Lad os gøre det
dette er en to fod pot Cody siger 100% succesrate
Skynd dig hurtig han kunne ikke se noget
dette er en to fod put
Dude dette er højdepunktet i hans karriere
Hvad sker der gutter, Ty her
Vi fik en selvlysende hulahopring har tænkt mig at kaste den op
Gary sparker bolden gennem den og ramme overlæggeren
German:
Nein, das war mein … das war mein zweiter wirklicher Schuss
Auf keinen Fall! Was habe ich mir gedacht?
Das erste Mal war vor zwanzig Jahren
Gibt es etwas das eine 100% Erfolgsquote hat? Ay Hay Aw
Ein zwei Fuß Stoß
Lass es uns tun!
Lass es uns tun! In Ordnung!
Das ist der zwei Fuß Stoß von dem Cody sagt er hat eine 100% Erfolgsquote
hahaha
Beeil dich! Schnell! Er hat nichts gesehen
Das ist der zwei Fuß Stoß
Kumpel, das ist das Highlight seiner Karriere
Was geht Leute? Tay hier
Wir haben einen Glow-in-the-dark-hula-hoop-reifen! Ich werfe ihn hoch
Gary wird hindurch kicken und die Querstange treffen
Spanish:
Ese realmente ha sido la segunda vez que disparo con arco.
Ni de coña, ¿en qué estaba pensando?
Y la primera vez fue hace veinte años
Hay algo que tenga una probabilidad de éxito al 100%?
Un put de dos pies
Vamos a hacerlo!
¡Vamos a hacerlo! ¡Sí!
Este es el put de dos pies que Cody dice tiene una probabilidad de éxito del 100%
(Risas)
Corre, corre, él no ha visto nada.
Este es el Put de dos pies
Tío, este es el punto máximo de su carrera.
¿Qué tal chicos?, soy Ty
Tenemos un hula hoop que brilla en la oscuridad y vamos a tirarlo.
Gary va a disparar a través de él y va a dar al larguero.
Arabic:
"هذه خدعة خلال حلقة العارضه"
"هناك نذهب"
"مهلا ، يا رفاق تريد دائما أن تعرف ما أنا سيئة فيه"
"حسنًا ، لقد وجدنا شيئًا واحدًا. حول التطويق"
الرجال هم في الطابق السفلي ، ولنستعد. في هذه الأثناء
"سأحاول وأحصل على اثنين منهم عندما يخرجون"
Dutch:
dit is de through the ring crossbar schot
Oh, Daar gaan we baby
Hé, julie willen altijd weten waar ik slecht in ben.
Nou, we hebben één ding gevonden. hoelahoepen
De jongens zijn beneden, zich aan het klaarmaken. In de tussentijd
heb ik voor ons een kleine 'geest aan een touw' prank
Ik ga proberen er een paar van hen te pakken te krijgen als ze naar buiten komen
Portuguese:
Esta é a jogada Through the Ring Crossbar
Oh, lá vamos nós baby
Ei, vocês sempre quiseram saber no que eu sou ruim
Bem, nós descobrimos uma coisa no Arco
Os caras estão lá embaixo, se preparando. Enquanto isso
Eu pendurei esse pequeno fantasma para uma brincadeira
E vou tentar pegar alguns deles quando saírem
Turkish:
İşte Düşünceleri Tekmele ve Engel çubuğunu Vur Vuruşu WTF
Oh işte orada biz gidiyoruz bebeğim
Hey millet siz her zaman benim neyde kötü olduğumu bilmek istiyordunuz.
İyi, bitane bulduk Hula Hopp çevirme
Diğerleri yukarıdalar,hazırlanıyorlar.Bu arada
Bende ip şakası için küçük bir hayaleti çengelledim.
Deneyelim ve onları dışarı çıkarıp birleştirelim.
Russian:
О да! Вот настоящий удар в девятку !!
Ты видел это?
Хэй, ребята, вы всегда хотели узнать в чем же я плох.
Хорошо, мы нашли кое-что. Кручение обруча
Там внизу чуваки готовят что-то.
А у меня тут маленький призрак.
И я планирую тут небольшой ПРАНК!
И сейчас я пранкону этих ребят.
Идёмте!
German:
Das ist der durch-den-ring-Lattenschuss
Oh, geht doch, baby
Hey, Leute! Ihr wolltet immer wissen in was ich schlecht bin?!
Gut, wir haben da was gefunden. Hula Hooping
Die Jungs sind unten, machen sich fertig. In der Zwischenzeit …
… habe ich uns mit einem kleinen Geist-an-der-Schnurr-Prank ausgestattet
Ich werde versuchen einige von ihnen zu erschrecken wenn sie rauskommen
Vietnamese:
đây là cú đi xuyên qua nhẫn
ô quẩy lên anh em
này các anh luôn muốn biết tôi ko giỏi ở cái j
hừm chùng ta tìm thấy 1 thứ. Hu-la Hốp bing phê
mọi nguời ở dứôi tầng sẵn sàng
Tôi nối chúng tôi lên một chút ma trên một trò đùa chuỗi
Sẽ cố gắng và có được một vài trong số họ khi họ đi ra
Danish:
dette er overlægger skuddet gennem ringen
Åh, sådan baby
Hey, i prøver altid at finde ud af hvad jeg er dårlig til.
Tja, vi har fundet en ting. Hulahopring
Drengene er nedenunder, og de er ved at blive klar. I mellemtiden..
Så laver jeg spøgelse på en snor prank klar
Vil forsøge at få skramt et par af dem, som de kommer ud
Spanish:
Este es el Throguh the Ring Crossbar Shot
Oh, allá vamos.
Hey, todos vosotros siempre queríais saber qué se me da mal
Bueno, hemos encontrado una cosa, usar el hula hoop.
Los chicos están escaleras abajo, preparándose. Mientras tanto
He hecho una broma enganchando este pequeño fantasma a una cuerda
Voy a intentar y asustar a un par de ellos cuando salgan.
English:
this is through the ring crossbar shot
Oh, There we go baby
Hey, you guys always want to know what i'm bad at.
Well, we've found one thing. Hula Hooping
Guys are downstairs, getting ready. In the meantime
I hooked us up a little ghost on a string prank
Gonna try and get a couple of them as they come out
Polish:
To jest strzał przez koło prosto w poprzeczkę.
Och, o to chodziło, złotko!
Hej, chłopaki, zawsze chcieliście wiedzieć w czym jestem kiepski.
Znaleźliśmy jedną rzecz. Używanie hula hop.
Chłopaki są na dole, przygotowują się. W międzyczasie...
Znalazłem nam małego ducha na sznurku - do żartu.
Wypróbuję go i postaram się dorwać kilku z nich, kiedy będą wychodzić.
French:
et voici le coup franc tranversale
Oh, trop fort !
Hé, vous qui voulaient toujours savoir à quoi je suis mauvais
Eh bien, nous avons trouvé une chose : le hula hoop
Les gars sont en bas, se préparent. Pendant ce temps
j'ai accroché un petit fantôme sur une chaîne pour un prank
On va essayer d'en effrayer certains quand ils vont passer
Indonesian:
ini adalah tembakan melewati lingkaran mistar gawang
Oh, disana kita berhasil
Hei, kalian selalu ingin tahu aku buruk melakukan apa.
Kami menemukan satu hal. Hula Hooping
Orang-orang di lantai bawah, bersiap-siap. Sementara itu...
Aku mengaitkan sebuah prank setan kecil dengan tali
Akan mencoba dan menakuti beberapa dari mereka saat mereka keluar
Portuguese:
(Risos) A pegadinha do fantasma na corda
Obrigado <3
Denice, o fantasma
Este é o Mobile Gonger, aqui vamos
Isto foi estranhamente satisfatório
Isso é o que vocês fazem para viver?
É hora de Hóquei
Vamos acertar o alvo
Esta é a jogada Top Corner Lazer
Esta é a Upper Deck Ping Pong Splasher
Danish:
(griner) Spøgelset på en snor pranken!
Tak
Spøgelset Denice.
Dette er den mobile kaster, kom så!
Der var underligt tilfredsstillende
Er dette, hvad man burde leve af ?
Det er Hockey tid
Ty! Lets knock oute knock out målet
Dette er top hjørne laser skuddet
Dette er det øverste dæk bordtennisbolds Splasker
Turkish:
(Gülüyor)İşte İpte Hayalet Şakası!!!
Teşekkürler <3
Hayalet Denice
İşte seyyar çan, Başlıyoruz!!!
Bunun sanki garip bir tatmin ediciliği var.
Bu sizin yaşamak için yaptığınız şey mi?
İşte hockey zamanı
Hadi hedefteki şeyi nakavt edelim
İşte tam köşedeki hedefe lazer vuruşu
Bu, üst güverte ping pong kalkan vuruşu
Arabic:
"(يضحك) الشبح على مزحة!"
وشكرا لكم <3
"دينيس ، الشبح"
"مثل ذلك ، كان مرضيا بغرابة"
هذا ما تفعله من أجل لقمة العيش؟
إنه وقت الهوكي
"يتيح لك ضرب هدف خروج المغلوب"
"هذه هي قمة الرصاص بالليزر"
"هذا هو الطابق العلوي بينغ بونغ"
Dutch:
(Lacht) Het spook op een touw prank!
Dank je <3
Denice, de geest
Dit is de Mobile Gonger, Daar gaan we
Dat was vreemd bevredigend
Dit is wat je doet voor de kost?
Het is Hockey tijd
laten we het knock-out doel knock-out slaan
Dit is de top corner lazer schot
Dit is de Upper Deck Ping Pong Splasher
French:
(rires) Ce prank est génial !
Merci à
Denice, le fantôme
C'est le Mobile Gonger (sorte de kart à 3 roues), allons-y
C'est bizarre mais ça fait du bien
Et en plus c'est vôtre métier ?
Il est temps de jouer au hockey
Il va assommer la cible
Ceci est le tir du palet lumineux
Et voici le jeté d'une balle de ping pong depuis le premier étage
Polish:
(Śmiech) Żart z duchem na sznurku!
Dziękuję <3
Denice, duch.
Oto Mobile Gonger (Ruchomy Gonger). Lecimy!
Cóż, to było dziwnie satysfakcjonujące.
Tym się zajmujesz na co dzień?
Czas na Hokej.
Znokautujmy nokautujący cel.
Oto lazerowe uderzenie w górny róg.
To jest Upper Deck Ping Pong Splasher (Górnolotne Chlupnięcie Ping Pongiem)
Spanish:
(Risas) Ah, la broma del fantasma en la cuerda.
Gracias!
Denise, el fantasma
Este es el Mobile Ganger, vamos allá
Como, eso fue extrañamente satisfactorio.
¿Esto es lo que hacéis para ganaros la vida?
Es la hora de hockey
Ty, vamos a derrumbar nuestro objetivo.
Este es el Top Corner Lazer Shot
Este es el Upper Deck Ping Pong Splasher
Russian:
АААААА
Пранки каждый день!!!
Спасибо вам!
Denice, призрак
Это мобильный Ганер!
ПОГНАЛИ!
Это было странное удовлетворение
Это то, что вы делаете чтобы зарабатывать на жизнь?
Время Хоккея
Давайте покажет каким должен быть хокей
Это Upper Deck Ping Pongг Splasher
English:
(Laugths) The ghost on a string prank!
Thank You <3
Denice, the ghost
This is the Mobile Gonger, Here we go
Like, that was weirdly satisfying
This is what you do for a living?
It's Hockey time
Lets knock out the knock out target
This is the top corner lazer shot
This is the Upper Deck Ping Pong Splasher
Vietnamese:
(Laugths) Con ma trên một trò đùa chuỗi!
Cảm ơn bạn <3
Denice, con ma
Đây là di động Gonger, Ở đây chúng ta đi
Giống như, đó là thật là thú vui thỏa mãn
Đây là những gì bạn làm để kiếm sống?
Đây là thời gian Hockey
Cho phép hạ gục mục tiêu knock out
Đây là góc lazer bắn đầu
Đây là phần trên Deck Ping Pong Splasher
German:
(Lacht) Der Geist-an-der-Schnurr-Prank
Danke
Denice, der Geist
Das ist der mobile Gonger! Los geht's!
Das war unheimlich befriedigend
Das ist womit ihr Geld verdient?
Es ist Hockey Zeit!
Tay lass uns das K.O.-Ziel herausschlagen
Das ist der obere-Ecke-Laser-Schuss
Das ist der Balkon-Ping-Pong-Spritzer
Indonesian:
(Tertawa) Prank hantu diikat!
Terima kasih <3
Denice, si hantu
Ini adalah Mobile Gonger, kita mulai...
Kelihatanya, itu benar2 memuaskan
Ini yang kalian lakukan untuk bertahan hidup ?
Ini waktunya Hockey
Mari kita melumpuhkan target pelumpuhan
Ini adalah tembakan lazer pojok atas
Ini adalah Upper Deck Ping Pong Splasher
Indonesian:
Berhasil
apa kabar, apa kabar
Ini dasi yang lagi bicara
Ketika aku bicara pembicaraan dasi
Itulah yang ingin kita lihat
Tai, ayo lakukan Bomb Swish
Sebuah tembakan bagus merupakan awal yang bagus
Jadi aku dapat pujian untuk itu kan ? BAGUS SEKALI ADAM
Turkish:
Halettim!
Naber,Naber
Bu konuşan kravat
Ben konuştuğum zaman kravatta konuşuyor.
Bu nee!!! görmek istediğimiz şey
Kravat, bizimle beraber havalı topu vur.
Mükemmel bir vuruş ,güzel giriş videosu
Mükemmel "adam" , O zaman bunu için ödeme alırım.
Vietnamese:
Whad lên, whad lên
Nó nói kìa
Khi tôi nói chuyện cà vạt cũng nói chuyện
Đó là những gì chúng tôi muốn xem
Tai, đâm phải chúng tôi với Bomb Swish
Một bắn Goodtrick là một giới thiệu tốt
Vì vậy, tôi nhận được tin cho rằng? Welldone ADAM
Dutch:
Hebbes
Whad up, Whad up
het is pratende stropdas
Als ik praat praat de stropdas
Dat is wat we wilden zien
Tay, raak ons met de Swish Bomb
Een goede trick shot is een goede intro
Dus ik krijg daar krediet voor toch? Goed gedaan Adam!
Portuguese:
Acertei!
e então, e então?
É a Gravata Falante
Quando eu falo a gravata fala
É isso que queremos ver
Tay, acertanos com o Swish Bomb
Para começar qualquer bom truque é bom uma boa intro
Então eu vou ganhar com isso? MUITO BEM ADAM, é isso!
English:
Got 'em
Whad up, whad up
Its Talking Tie
When I talk the tie talk
Thats what we wanted to see
Tai, Hit us with the Swish Bomb
A Goodtrick shot is a good intro
So I get credit for that? WELLDONE ADAM
Spanish:
¿Qué pasa? ¿Qué pasa?
Es la corbata que habla
Cuando yo hablo, la corbata habla
Eso es todo lo que queríamos ver
Ty, enséñanos el Swish Bomb
Un buen comienzo de un trickshot es siempre una buena introducción
¿Así que me llevo mérito por ello?
¡Muy bien hecho Adam!
Arabic:
"ما الأمر ، ما الأمر"
انها تتحدث التعادل
عندما أتحدث عن المحادثة
هذا ما أردنا رؤيته
"تاي ، ضربنا بقنبلة حفيف"
"لقطة جيدة للخدعة هي مقدمة جيدة"
إذن أنا أفهم ذلك؟ حسنا فعلت آدم
Polish:
Mam to!
Co tam, co tam?
Oto Gadający Krawat.
Kiedy ja mówię, krawat też.
To jest to, co chcieliśmy zobaczyć.
Tai, podbij do nas ze Swish Bomb (Śmigająca Bomba)
Nadchodzę!
Podstawą każdej dobrej sztuczki jest odpowiednie wejście.
Więc mam na to pozwolenie?
DOBRA ROBOTA, ADAM
Danish:
Fik den
Whad op, whad op
Det er Talende Ty her
Det er hvor jeg snakker om slips
Det er hvad jeg vil se
Ty, fyr den med en bombe
Kommer nu
Starten på et godt Goodtrick skud er en god intro
Så jeg får ros for det? Godt gået ADAM
German:
Hab Sie!
Was geht, was geht?
Es ist die Sprechende Krawatte
Wenn ich spreche, spricht die Krawatte
Das war alles was wir sehen wollten
Ty, triff uns mit der sausenden Bombe
Ein guter Trickshot ist ein gutes Intro
Also werde ich dafür belohnt? Gut gemacht, Adam!
French:
En plein dans le gobelet
Quoi de neuf
c'est Tay avec sa cravate connectée
Quand je parle la cravate change de couleur
C'est ce que nous voulions voir
Tai, fais nous ton lancé de la Swish Bomb
Bon réussir un bon Trickshot il faut toujours une bonne intro
-Tu es donc en train de me féliciter ?
-Bravo Adam
Russian:
Чё как сам !
Давай поговорим !
Чё не хочешь
Это то, что мы хотели бы видеть
Покажи как это делается
Что ж преступаем
Russian:
Как дела, ребята? спасибо что смотрели, если вы еще
не подписчик Dude Perfect , нажмите здесь, так что вы не пропустите
любое новое видео, отдельное спасибо нашим друзьям Адаму и
Крэйгу за то, что пришли повеселиться с нами
Проверьте их новое шоу, GHOSTED на Fox
или нажмите здесь, если вы хотите увидеть некоторые из их последних эпизодов
Если вы хотите увидеть последнее видео, нажмите здесь
Подписывайся сейчас. Заземляй его, Ноган, Увидимся
Dutch:
Whats up guys, bedankt voor het kijken, als je niet al
een Dude Perfect abonnee bent, klik dan hier beneden, zodat je niet nieuwe
video's mist, speciale dank aan onze vrienden Adam en
Craig voor het komen hangen met ons
Check hun gloednieuwe show ghosted op Fox
of klik hier als u een van hun laatste afleveringen wilt zien
Als u de laatste video wilt zien, klik dan hier
Wij gaan weg voor nu. Zie je later!
French:
Merci les mecs de regarder nos vidéos
Si vous n'êtes toujours pas abonnés,
le bouton et juste en bas pour ne rien rater
de nos nouvelles vidéos, merci à nos amis Adam et
Craig d'être venu traîner avec nous
Aller voir leur tout nouveau spectacle, ghosted sur Fox
ou cliquez ici si vous voulez voir leur dernier épisode
Si vous voulez voir la dernière vidéo, cliquez ici
[coup de poing] [coup de tête]
A la prochaine !
Vietnamese:
Whats up guys, nhờ để xem, Nếu bạn chưa là
một nguoi dăng kí của Dude Perfect, nhấn xuống đây để bạn không bỏ lỡ
bất kỳ video mới, đặc biệt nhờ vào bạn bè của chúng tôi Adam
và Craig cho đến đi chơi với chúng tôi
Kiểm tra thương hiệu chương trình mới của họ, mờ đi trên Fox
hoặc bấm vào đây nếu bạn muốn xem một số tập phim mới nhất của họ
Nếu bạn muốn xem video cuối cùng, nhấn chuột phải ở đây
Ký ra cho bây giờ. Nghiền nó, Nogan, Tạm biệt
Turkish:
Naber millet,izlediğiniz için teşekkürler,Eğer hala yapmadıysanız
Dude Perfect'i takip edin!!! Buraya tıklayın ve bu sayede hiçbir yeni
videoyu kaçırmayın,özellikele adam ve craig e geldikleri için teşekkür ederim.
Çeviren: Yavuz Ayaz, Adem Okudan
Danish:
Whats up folkens, tak for at i ser med, hvis du ikke allerede
er en Dude Perfect abonnent, skal du klikke her nede, så du ikke gå glip af
om eventuelle nye videoer, særlig tak til vores venner Adam og
Craig for at komme til at hænge ud med os
Tjek deres helt nye show, ghost på Fox
eller klik her hvis du ønsker at se nogle af deres seneste episode
Hvis du vil se den sidste video, klik her
Logger ud for nu. Ground det, Nogan, See ya
Polish:
Co tam, chłopaki? Dziękujemy za obejrzenie.
Jeśli jeszcze nie subskrybujesz Dude Perfect, kliknij dokładnie tu.
Dzięki temu nie przegapisz żadnego nowego filmiku.
Specjalne podziękowania dla naszych przyjaciół Adama i Craig'a za to, że przyszli się z nami spotkać.
Sprawdźcie ich najnowszy pokaz- GHOSTED on Fox
Albo kliknijcie tutaj, jeśli chcecie zobaczyć kilka z ich ostatnich filmików.
Jeżeli chcecie zobaczyć ostatnio filmik, kliknijcie tutaj.
Na razie spadamy. Ogarnij to, Nogan! Do zobaczenia!
Spanish:
¿Qué tal chicos? Gracias por vernos, si no estáis aún
suscritos a Dude Perfect, podeís clickar aquí abajo y así no os perdereis ningún
video nuevo, gracias especialmente a nuestros amigos Adam y
Craig por venir a pasar el rato con nosotros
Pasaros a visitar su nuevo programa, GHOSTED, los domingos en la Fox
O haz click aquí si quieres ver algunos de sus últimos episodios
Si quieres ver el último vídeo, haz click justo aquí
Nos vamos por ahora, hasta luego.
German:
Was geht, Leute, danke fürs zusehen! Wenn du noch kein
Dude Perfect Abonnent bist, klick hier, damit du
keines unserer Videos verpasst! Besonderer Dank gilt unseren Freunden Adam und
Craig, die mit uns abgehängt haben.
Schaut euch unbedingt ihre Brand neue Show, GHOSTED, sonntags auf Fox an
oder ihr klickt hier wenn ihr eine ihrer letzten Episoden sehen wollt.
Wenn ihr unser letztes Video sehen wollt, klickt einfach hier
Wir melden uns für hier ab! Ground it, Noggin, wir sehen uns!
English:
Whats up guys, thanks for watching, If your not already
a Dude Perfect subscriber, click down here so you dont miss out
on any new videos, special thanks to our friends Adam and
Craig for coming to hang out with us
Check out their brand new show, GHOSTED on Fox
or click here if you wanna see some of their latest episode
If you wanna see the last video, click right here
Signing out for now. Ground it, Nogan, See ya
Portuguese:
E aí galera, obrigado por assistir, se ainda não for inscrito no Dude Perfect
clique aqui em baixo para não perder nenhum vídeo novo
Um agradecimento especial para o nosso amigo Adam por vir curtir conosco
Confira o seu novo show, GHOSTED On Fox
ou clique aqui se você quiser assistir o último episódio
Se quiser assistir o último vídeo, clique aqui
É tudo por agora! Vemonos por ai!
Indonesian:
Apa kabar guys, terima kasih telah menonton, jika Anda belum menjadi...
...subscriber Dude Perfect , klik di sini. jadi kalian tidak ketinggalan...
...video baru apapun, terima kasih khususnya kepada teman kita Adam dan...
...Craig untuk bersenang-senang dengan kami
Lihat acara baru mereka, GHOSTED on Fox
atau klik di sini jika kalian ingin melihat beberapa episode terbaru mereka
Jika Anda ingin melihat video terakhir, klik di sini
Saatnya pamit, Ground it, Nogan it, sampai jumpa lagi
Arabic:
ما الأمر يا رفاق ، شكرا للمشاهدة ، إذا لم تكن بالفعل
مشترك Dude Perfect ، انقر هنا لأسفل حتى لا تفوت
أي فيديو جديد ، شكر خاص لأصدقائنا آدم و
كريج لمجيئنا معنا
تحقق من العلامة التجارية العرض الجديد، المخفي على فوكس
أو انقر هنا إذا كنت تريد مشاهدة بعض من أحدث حلقاتها
إذا كنت تريد مشاهدة الفيديو الأخير ، فانقر هنا
"تسجيل الخروج الآن. ارضيها ، نعم ، انظر يا"
|
---
address: 'Department of Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA, Institute for Mathematical Problems in Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142292, Russia'
author:
- 'Yuri G. Zarhin'
title: 'Torsion of abelian varieties, Weil classes and cyclotomic extensions'
---
Let $K\subset\C$ be a field finitely generated over $\Q$, $K(a)\subset \C$ the algebraic closure of $K$, $G(K)=\Gal(K(a)/K)$ its Galois group. For each positive integer $m$ we write $K(\mu_m)$ for the subfield of $K(a)$ obtained by adjoining to $K$ all $m$th roots of unity. For each prime $\ell$ we write $K(\ell)$ for the subfield of $K(a)$ obtained by adjoining to $K$ all $\ell-$power roots of unity. We write $K(c)$ for the subfield of $K(a)$ obtained by adjoining to $K$ all roots of unity in $K(a)$. Let $K(ab)\subset K(a)$ be the maximal abelian extension of $K$. The field $K(ab)$ contains $K(c)$; if $K=\Q$ then $\Q(ab)=\Q(c)$ (the Kronecker-Weber theorem). We write $\chi_{\ell}: G(K)\to \Z_{\ell}^*$ for the cyclotomic character defining the Galois action on all $\ell$-power roots of unity. We write $\chil=\chi_{\ell}\bmod{\ell}: G(K)\to \Z_{\ell}^*\to (\Z/\ell\Z)^*$ for the cyclotomic character defining the Galois action on the $\ell-$th roots of unity. The character $\chi_{\ell}$ identifies $\Gal(K(\ell)/K)$ with a subgroup of $\Z_{\ell}^*=\Gal(\Q(\ell)/\Q)$. Let $\mu(\Z_{\ell})$ be the finite cyclic group $\mu(\Z_{\ell})$ of all roots of unity in $\Z_{\ell}^*$. Its order is equal to $\ell-1$ if $\ell$ is odd and $2$ if $\ell=2$. Let $\Q(\ell)'$ be the subfield of $\mu(\Z_{\ell})-$invariants in $\Q(\ell)$. Clearly, $\Gal(\Q(\ell)/\Q(\ell)')=\mu(\Z_{\ell})$ and $\Gal(\Q(\ell)'/\Q)=\Z_{\ell}^*/\mu(\Z_{\ell})$ is isomorphic to $\Z_{\ell}$. Let $g$ be a positive integer, $X$ a $g-$dimensional abelian variety over $K$. We write $\End_K(X)$ for the ring of all endomorphisms of $X$ defined over $K$ and $\End^0(X)$ for the finite-dimensional semisimple $\Q-$algebra $\End_K(X)\otimes\Q$. Its center $F=F_X$ is a field if and only if $X$ is $K-$isogenous to a power of a $K-$simple abelian variety. If so, $F$ is either a totally real number field or a CM-field. We write $\Lie(X)$ for the tangent space to $X$ at the origin. It is the $g-$dimensional $K-$vector space. By functoriality, $\End^0(X)$ acts faithfully on $\Lie(X)$. We write $$\Tr_{\Lie(X)}: \End^0(X) \hookrightarrow \End_K(\Lie(X)) \to K\subset \C$$ for the corresponding trace map. The embedding $\End^0(X) \hookrightarrow \End_K(\Lie(X))$ gives rise to a natural structure of (not necessarily faithful) $\End^0(X)\otimes_{\Q}K-$module on $\Lie(X)$.
The well-known Mordell-Weil-Néron-Lang theorem asserts that $X(K)$ is a finitely generated commutative group. In particular, its torsion subgroup $\TORS(X(K))$ is finite. Hereafter we will write $\TORS(A)$ for the torsion subgroup of a commutative group $A$. This implies that $\TORS(X(L))$ is finite for any finite algebraic extension $L$ of $K$. Mazur [@Mazur1] has raised the question of whether the groups $X(K(\ell))$ are finitely generated. In this connection, Serre (in letters to Mazur, of January 1974) and Imai [@Imai] have proved independently that $\TORS(X(K(\ell)))$ is finite for all $\ell$.
Now assume that $L\subset K(a)\subset\C$ is an infinite Galois extension of $K$. When $L=K(c)$ a theorem of Ribet [@Ribet] asserts that $\TORS(X(K(c))$ is finite. The author [@ZarhinDuke] has proven that if the center $F$ of $\End^0(X)$ is a direct sum of totally real number fields and $\TORS(X(L))$ is infinite then $L$ contains infinitely many roots of unity. On the other hand, Bogomolov (Séminaire Delange-Pisot-Poitou, mai 1982, Paris) proved that $\TORS(X(L))$ is finite if the intersection of $L$ and $K(ab)$ has finite degree over $K$. For example, if $K=\Q$, we obtain that if $\TORS(X(L))$ is infinite then the intersection of $L$ and $\Q(c)$ has infinite degree over $\Q$. The main result of the present paper is the following statement, which deals with essentially non-cyclotomic extensions and may be viewed as a partial improvement of the Bogomolov’s result.
We say that $X$ and $K$ satisfy hypothesis (H) if they enjoy one of the following properties:
1. There is a discrete valuation $v$ on $K$ such that $X$ has potential purely multiplicative reduction at $v$;
2. $K$ does not contain a CM-field (e.g., $K\subset \R$);
3. The Hodge group of $X$ is semisimple.
4. The center $F$ of $\End^0(X)$ is a CM-field and the pair $(X,F)$ is of Weil type, i.e., the $F\otimes_{\Q}K-$module $\Lie(X)$ is free.
It is proven in [@SZ] that if an abelian variety has somewhere a (potential) purely multiplicative reduction then its Hodge group is semisimple.
Let $X$ be a $g$-dimensional abelian variety over $K$. Assume that $X$ and $K$ satisfy hypothesis (H). If the intersection of $L$ and $K(c)$ has finite degree over $K$ then $\TORS(X(L))$ is finite.
If $L$ is [*totally real*]{} then $\TORS(X(L))$ is finite for an arbitrary $X$ [@Zhang]. We refer to [@Ribet], [@ZarhinMatZametki],[@ZarhinDuke], [@Wingberg], [@ZarhinMA], [@ZarhinIzv], [@Zhang] for other results concerning the torsion in infinite extensions.
The Main Theorem is an immediate corollary of the following statement.
\[Theorem 1\] Let $g$ be a positive integer. There exists a positive integer $N=N(g)$ depending only on $g$ and enjoying the following properties:
Let $X$ be a $g-$dimensional abelian variety over $K$ and assume that $X$ and $K$ satisfy hypothesis (H).
*Then:*
- Assume that for some prime $\ell$ the $\ell-$primary part of $\TORS(X(L))$ is infinite. Then $K(\ell)$ has finite degree over the intersection $L \bigcap K(\ell)$ and this degree divides $(N,\ell-1)$ if $\ell$ is odd and divides $2$ if $\ell=2$ respectively. In addition, $L$ contains $\Q(\ell)'$.
- Let $P=P(X,L)$ be the set of primes $\ell$ such that $X(L)$ contains a point of order $\ell$. If $P$ is infinite then for all but finitely many primes $\ell \in P$ the degree $[K(\mu_{\ell}):L\bigcap K(\mu_{\ell})]$ of the field extension $K(\mu_{\ell})/L\bigcap K(\mu_{\ell})$ divides $(N,\ell-1)$.
We will prove Theorem \[Theorem 1\] in Section 3.
I would like to thank the MPI für Mathematik for its hospitality.
Main construction
=================
Let $F$ be the center of $\End_K(X)\otimes\Q$, $R_F=F\bigcap \End_K(X)$ the center of $\End_K(X)$. We put $$V_{\Z}=V_{\Z}(X)=H_1(X(\C),\Z), \quad V=V(X)=H_1(X(\C),\Q)= V_{\Z}\otimes\Q.$$ For each nonnegative integer $m$ one may naturally identify the $m$th rational cohomology group $H^m(X(\C),\Q)$ of $X(\C)$ with $\Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda^m_{\Q}(V(X),\Q)$. For each prime $\ell$ there are natural identifications $$X_{\ell}=V_{\Z}/\ell V_{Z}, T_{\ell}(X)=V_{Z}\otimes\Z_{\ell}, V_{\ell}(X)=V(X)\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}=V_{\Z}\otimes\Q_{\ell}.$$ There is a natural Galois action $$\rho_{\ell}=\rho_{\ell,X}:G(K)\to \Aut_{\Z_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(X)) \subset \Aut_{\Q_{\ell}}(V_{\ell}(X)),$$ induced by the Galois action on the torsion points of $X$ [@Serre]. One may naturally identify the $m$th $\ell-$adic cohomology group $H^m(X_a,\Q_{\ell})$ of $X_a=X\times K(a)$ with $$\Hom_{\Q_{\ell}}(\Lambda^m_{\Q_{\ell}}(V_{\ell}(X),\Q_{\ell})=\Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda^m_{\Q}(V(X),\Q))\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}).$$ This identification is an isomorphism of the Galois modules.
Assume now that $F$ is a number field, i.e., $X$ is either simple or is isogenous over $K$ to a self-product of a simple abelian variety. Let $O_F$ be the ring of integers in $F$. It is well-known that $R_F$ is a subgroup of finite index in $O_F$. Recall that for each prime $\ell$ there is a splitting $F\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}=\oplus F_{\lambda}$ where $\lambda$ runs through the set of prime ideals dividing $\ell$ in $O_F$ and $F_{\lambda}$ is the completion of $F$ with respect to $\lambda-$adic topology. There is a natural splitting $V_{\ell}(X)=\oplus V_{\lambda}(X)$ where $$V_{\lambda}(X)=F_{\lambda} V_{\ell}(X) =V(X)\otimes_F F_{\lambda}.$$ It is well-known that all $V_{\lambda}(X)$ are $G(K)-$invariant $F_{\lambda}-$vector spaces of dimension $2\dim(X)/[F:\Q]$. We write $\rho_{\lambda,X}$ for the corresponding $\lambda-$adic representation $$\rho_{\lambda,X}:G(K) \to\Aut_{F_{\lambda}}V_{\lambda}(X)$$ of $G(K)$ [@Serre],[@RibetA]. Similarly, for all but finitely many $\ell$ $$R_F/\ell R_F=O_F/\ell O_F = \oplus_{\lambda\mid\ell} O_F/\lambda$$ is a direct sum of finite fields $O_F/\lambda$ of characteristic $\ell$. Also, $X_{\ell}=V_{\Z}/\ell V_{\Z}$ is a free $R_F/\ell R_F=O_F/\ell O_F-$module of rank $2\dim(X)/[F:\Q]$ and there is a natural splitting $$X_{\ell}=V_{\Z}/\ell V_{\Z}=\oplus_{\lambda\mid\ell} X_{\lambda}$$ where $X_{\lambda}=(O_F/\lambda) \cdot X_{\ell}.$ Clearly, each $X_{\lambda}$ is a $G(K)-$invariant $O_F/\lambda-$vector space of dimension $2\dim(X)/[F:\Q]$. We write $\bar{\rho}_{\lambda,X}$ for the corresponding modular representation $$\bar{\rho}_{\lambda,X}:G(K) \to\Aut_{O_F/\lambda}X_{\lambda}$$ of $G(K)$ [@RibetA]. Let $d$ be a positive integer and assume that there exists a non-zero $2d-$linear form $\psi \in \Hom_{\Q}(\otimes^{2d}_{\Q} V(X),\Q)$, enjoying the following properties.
1. For all $f\in F; v_1, \ldots v_{2d}\in V(X)$ $$\psi(f v_1,v_2,\ldots ,v_{2d})=\psi(v_1,fv_2,\ldots ,v_{2d})=\cdots =
\psi(v_1,v_2,\ldots ,fv_{2d}).$$
2. For any prime $\ell$ let us extend $\psi$ by $\Q_{\ell}-$linearity to the non-zero multilinear form $\psi_{\ell} \in \Hom_{\Q_{\ell}}(\otimes^{2d}_{\Q_{\ell}} V_{\ell}(X),\Q_{\ell})$. Then for all $\sigma \in G(K); v_1, \ldots v_{2d}\in V_{\ell}(X)$ $$\psi_{\ell} (\sigma(v_1),\sigma(v_2),\ldots,\sigma(v_{2d}))=
\chi_{\ell}^d(\sigma)\psi_{\ell}(v_1,v_2,\ldots ,v_{2d}).$$
We call such a form [*admissible*]{} or $d-$[*admissible*]{}.
.5cm
[**Example.**]{} Let us assume that $F$ is a [*totally real*]{} number field. If $\mathcal L$ is an invertible sheaf on $X$ defined over $K$ and algebraically non-equivalent to zero then one may associate to $\mathcal L$ its first Chern class $$c_1({\mathcal L})\in H^2(X(\C),\Q)=\Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda^2_{\Q}(V(X),\Q).$$ The well-known properties of Rosati involutions and Weil pairings imply that $c_1({\mathcal L})$ is $1-$admissible (see p. 237 of [@MumfordAV], especially the last sentence and Section 2 of [@SZMathZ]).
.5cm
There exists a unique $F-2d-$linear form $\psi_F\in \Hom_F(\otimes^{2d}_F V(X),F)$ such that $$\psi={\Tr}_{F/\Q}(\psi_F).$$ Multiplying $\psi$ by a sufficiently divisible positive integer, we may and will assume that the restriction of $\psi_F$ to $V_{\Z}\times \cdots V_{\Z}$ takes on values in $R_F$. Let $\Im(\psi_F)$ be the additive subgroup of $R_F$ generated by values of $\psi_F$ on $V_{\Z}\times \cdots V_{\Z}$ takes on values in $R_F$. Let $\Im(\psi_F)$ be the additive subgroup of $R_F$ generated by values of $\psi_F$ on $V_{\Z}\times\cdots V_{\Z}$. Clearly, $\Im(R_F)$ is a subgroup of finite index in $R_F$ that is an ideal. Notice that for all but finitely many primes $\ell$ $$O_F=R_F/\ell R_F, \Im(\psi_F)=R_F/\ell R_F.$$ Let us extend $\psi_F$ by $F_{\lambda}-$linearity to the [*non-zero*]{} multilinear form $$\psi_{F,\lambda} \in \Hom_{F_{\ell}}(\otimes^{2d}_{F_{\lambda}} V_{\lambda}(X),F_{\lambda}).$$ Then $$\psi_{F,\lambda}(\sigma(v_1),\sigma(v_2),\ldots,\sigma(v_{2d}))=
\chi_{\ell}^d(\sigma)\psi_{F,\lambda}(v_1,v_2,\ldots ,v_{2d})$$ for all $\sigma \in G(K); v_1, \ldots v_{2d}\in V_{\lambda}(X)$.
Similarly, for all but finitely many $\ell$ the form $\psi_F$ induces a non-zero multilinear form $$\psi_{F}^{(\ell)} \in \Hom_{R_F/\ell R_F}(\otimes^{2d}_{R_F/\ell R_F} X_{\ell},R_F/\ell R_F)$$ enjoying the following properties:
- The subgroup of $R_F/\ell R_F$ generated by all the values of $\psi_{F}^{(\ell)}$ coincides with $R_F/\ell R_F$;
- For all $\sigma \in G(K); v_1, \ldots v_{2d}\in X_{\ell}$ $$\psi_{F}^{(\ell)}(\sigma(v_1),\sigma(v_2),\ldots,\sigma(v_{2d}))=
\chil^d(\sigma)\psi_{F}^{(\ell)}(v_1,v_2,\ldots ,v_{2d}).$$
This implies that for all but finitely many $\ell$ the restriction of $\psi_{F}^{\ell}$ to $X_{\lambda}$ defines a [*non-zero*]{} multilinear form $$\psi_{F}^{(\lambda)} \in \Hom_{O_F/\lambda}(\otimes^{2d}_{O_F/\lambda} X_{\ell},O_F/\lambda)$$ enjoying the following property:
$$\psi_{F}^{(\lambda)}(\sigma(v_1),\sigma(v_2),\ldots,\sigma(v_{2d}))=
\chil^d(\sigma)\psi_{F}^{(\lambda)}(v_1,v_2,\ldots ,v_{2d})$$ for all $\sigma \in G(K); v_1, \ldots v_{2d}\in X_{\lambda}$.
Using the Künneth formula for $X_a^{2d}$, one may view $\psi_{\ell}$ as a Tate cohomology class on $X_a^{2d}$. If $\psi$ is skew-symmetric then $\psi_{\ell}$ is a Tate cohomology class on $X_a$.
Assume that the center $F$ of $\End^0 X$ is a field and there is a $d-$admissible form $\psi$ on $X$. Let $\ell$ be a prime and assume that the $\ell-$ torsion in $X(L)$ is infinite. If $L^{(\ell)}$ is the intersection of $L$ and $K(\ell)$ then the field extension $K(\ell)/L^{(\ell)}$ has finite degree dividing $(d,\ell-1)$ if $\ell$ is odd and dividing $2$ if $\ell=2$ respectively. In addition, $L$ contains $\Q(\ell)'$.
As explained in ([@ZarhinMA], 0.8, 0.11) the assumption that the $\ell-$torsion in $X(L)$ is infinite means that there exists a place $\lambda$ of F, dividing $\ell$ such that the Galois group $G(L)$ of $L$ acts trivially on $V_{\lambda}(X)$. Since $\psi_{F,\lambda}$ is not identically zero, we conclude that $$\chi_{\ell}^d(\sigma)=1 \quad \forall \sigma \in G(L) \subset G(K).$$ We write $G'$ for the kernel of $\chi_{\ell}^d$. We have $G(L)\subset G'\subset G(K)$.
Recall that the kernel of $\chi_{\ell}:G(K) \to \Z_\ell^*$ coincides with the Galois group $G(K(\ell))$ of $K(\ell)$ and $\chi_{\ell}$ identifies $\Gal(K(\ell)/K)$ with a subgroup of $\Z_\ell^*=\Gal(\Q(\ell)/\Q)$. Since the torsion subgroup of $\Z_\ell^*$ is the cyclic group $\mu(\Z_{\ell})$ of order $\ell-1$ if $\ell$ is odd and of order $2$ if $\ell=2$, $G'$ coincides with the kernel of $(\chi_{\ell})^{d'}$ with $d'=(d,\ell-1)$ if $\ell$ is odd and $d'=(d,2)$ if $\ell=2$ respectively. This implies that the field $K'=K(a)^{G'}$ of $G'-$invariants is a subfield of $K(\ell)$ and $[K(\ell):K']$ divides $d'$, since $\chi_{\ell}$ establishes an isomorphism between $\Gal(K(\ell)/K')$ and
$$\{s \in \Im(\chi_{\ell})\subset \Z_{\ell}^*\mid s^{d'}=1\}
\subset \{s \in \mu(\Z_{\ell})\mid s^{d'}=1\}.$$ Now it is clear that $K'\subset L$, since $G(L) \subset G'=G(K')$. It is also clear that $K(\ell)/K'$ is a cyclic extension of degree dividing $d'$.
In order to prove the last assertion of the theorem, notice that $\Gal(K(\ell)/K) \subset \Gal(\Q(\ell)/\Q)=\Z_{\ell}^*$ and the finite subgroup $\Gal(K(\ell)/K')$ of $\Gal(K(\ell)/K)$ sits in $\mu(\Z_{\ell})\subset\Z_{\ell}^*$. Since $\mu(\Z_{\ell})=\Gal(\Q(\ell)/\Q(\ell)')$, $\Q(\ell)'\subset K'$. Since $K'\subset L$, $\Q(\ell)'\subset L$.
Assume that the center $F$ of $\End^0 X$ is a field and there is a $d-$ admissible form $\psi$ on $X$. Let $S$ be an infinite set of primes $\ell$ such that for all but finitely many $\ell\in S$ the $\ell-$torsion in $X(L)$ is not zero. Then for all but finitely many $\ell\in S$ the field extension $K(\mu_{\ell})/K(\mu_{\ell})\bigcap L$ has degree dividing $(d,\ell-1)$.
For all but finitely many $\ell$ the $G(K)-$module $X_{\ell}$ is semisimple and the centralizer of $G(K)$ in $\End(X_{\ell})$ coincides with $\End_K(X)\otimes \Z/\ell\Z$. This assertion was proven in [@ZarhinInv] for number fields $K$; the proof is based on results of Faltings [@Faltings1]. (See [@MW] for an effective version.) However, the same proof works for arbitrary finitely generated fields $K$, if one uses results of [@Faltings2], generalizing the results of [@Faltings1]. Clearly, for all but finitely many $\ell$ the center of $\End_K(X)\otimes \Z/\ell\Z$ coincides with $R_F/\ell R_F=O_F/\ell O_F$. Applying Theorem 5f of [@ZarhinDuke] to $G=G(K), G'=G(L), H=X_{\ell}, D=\End_K(X)\otimes \Z/\ell\Z,
R=F_F/\ell R_F$, we conclude that for all but finitely many $\ell \in S$ there exists $\lambda\mid\ell$ such that $G(L)$ acts trivially on $X_{\lambda}$. Using the Galois equivariance of the non-zero form $\psi_{F}^{(\lambda)}$, we conclude that for all but finitely many $\ell\in S$ the character $\chil^d$ kills $G(L)$. We write $G'$ for the kernel of $\chil^d$. We have $G(L)\subset G'\subset G(K)$.
Recall that the kernel of $\chil:G(K) \to (\Z/\ell \Z)^*$ coincides with $G(K(\mu_{\ell}))$ and $(\Z/\ell \Z)^*$ is a cyclic group of order $\ell-1$. This implies that the field $K'=K(a)^{G'}$ of $G'-$invariants is a subfield of $K(\mu_{\ell})$ and $[K(\mu_{\ell}):K']$ divides $(\ell-1,d)$, since $\chil$ establishes an isomorphism between $\Gal(K(\mu_{\ell})/K')$ and $\{s \in \Im(\chil)\subset (\Z/\ell \Z)^*\mid s^d=1\}$. One has only to notice that $K'\subset L$, since $G(L) \subset G'=G(K')$.
Assume that the torsion subgroup of $X(L)$ is infinite. Then the intersection of $L$ and $K(c)$ has infinite degree over $K$.
Indeed, either there is a prime $\ell$ such that the $\ell-$torsion in $X(L)$ is infinite or for infinitely many primes $\ell$ the $\ell-torsion$ in $X(L)$ is not zero. Now, one has only to apply the previous two theorems.
Weil classes and admissible forms
=================================
Suppose $A$ is an abelian variety defined over $K$, $\k$ is a CM-field, $\iota : \k \hookrightarrow \End_K^0(A)$ is an embedding, and $C$ is an algebraically closed field containing $K$ (for instance, $C=\C$ or $C=\bar{\Q}$). Let $\Lie(A)$ be the tangent space of $A$ at the origin, an $K$-vector space. If $\sigma$ is an embedding of $\k$ into $C$, let $$n_\sigma = \dim_C\{t \in \Lie(A)\otimes_K C :
\iota(\alpha)t = \sigma(\alpha)t {\text{ for all }} \alpha \in \k\}.$$ Write ${\bar \sigma}$ for the composition of $\sigma$ with the involution complex conjugation of $\k$.
Recall that a triple $(A,\k,\iota)$ is [*of Weil type*]{} if $A$ is an abelian variety over an algebraically closed field $C$ of characteristic zero, $\k$ is a CM-field, and $\iota : \k \hookrightarrow \End^0(A)$ is an embedding, such that $n_\sigma = n_{\bar \sigma}$ for all embeddings $\sigma$ of $\k$ into $C$.
It is known [@SZMathZ] that $(A,\k,\iota)$ is of Weil type if and only if $\iota$ makes $\Lie(A) \otimes_K C$ into a free $\k \otimes_\Q C$-module (see p. 525 of [@Ribet] for the case where $\k$ is an imaginary quadratic field). Now, assume that $A=X$ and the image $\iota(k)$ contains the center $F$ of $\End_K(X)\otimes\Q$ (for instance, $F=k$). Notice that in the case of Weil type the degree $[k:\Q]$ divides $\dim(A)$. In particular, $\dim(A)$ is even.
Our goal is to construct an admissible form, using a triple $(A,\k,\iota)$ of Weil type.
Recall that the degree $[k:\Q]$ divides $\dim(A)$, put $d=\dim(X)/[k:\Q]$ and consider the space of Weil classes ([@WeilHodge], [@Deligne], [@SZMathZ]) $$W_{k,X}=\Hom_k(\Lambda_k^{2d} V(X),\Q(d)) \hookrightarrow \Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda_{\Q}^{2d}V(X),\Q(d))=H^{2d}(X(\C),\Q)(d).$$ Clearly, $W_{k,X}$ carries a natural structure of one-dimensional $k-$vector space. If fix an isomorphism of one-dimensional $\Q-$vector spaces $\Q \cong
\Q(2d)$ then one may naturally identify $\Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda_{\Q}^{2d}V(X),\Q(d))$ with $\Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda_{\Q}^{2d}V(X),\Q)$ and $W_{k,X}$ can be described as the space of all $2d-$linear skew-symmetric form $\psi \in \Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda^{2d}_{\Q} V,\Q)$ with $$\psi(f v_1,v_2,\ldots ,v_{2d})=\psi(v_1,fv_2,\ldots ,v_{2d})=\cdots =
\psi(v_1,v_2,\ldots ,fv_{2d})$$ for all $f\in F; v_1, \ldots v_{2d}\in V(X)$.
Since $(X,k.\iota)$ is of Weil type, all elements of $W_k$ are Hodge classes by Proposition 4.4 of [@Deligne]. Therefore, by Theorem 2.11 of [@Deligne] they must be also [*absolute Hodge cycles*]{}; cf. [@Deligne].
Let $\mu_k$ be the finite multiplicative group of all roots of unity in $k$. There is a continuous character $\chi_{X,k}:G(K) \to \mu_k \subset k^*,$ enjoying the following properties:
For each prime $\ell$ the subgroup $$W_k \subset W_{k,X}\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}\subset H^{2d}(X(\C),\Q)(d)\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}
=H^{2d}(X_a,\Q_{\ell})(d)$$ is $G(K)-$stable and the action of $G(K)$ on $W_k$ is defined via the character $$\chi_{X,k}:G(K) \to \mu_k \subset k^* =\Aut_k(W_{k,X}).$$
Since all elements of $k$ are endomorphisms of $X$ defined over $K$, it follows easily that $W_{k,X}\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}$ is $G(K)-$stable and $G(K)$ acts on $W_{k,X}\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}$ via a certain character $\chi_{X,k,\ell}:G(K) \to [k\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}]^*=
\Pi_{\lambda\mid \ell}k_{\lambda}^*.$
Let us consider the $\Q-$vector subspace $$C^d_{\AH}(X)\subset H^{2d}(X(\C),\Q)(d)\subset H^{2d}(X_a,\Q_{\ell})(d)$$ of absolute Hodge classes. Then $C^d_{\AH}(X)$ is $G(K)-$stable and the action of $G(K)$ on $C^d_{\AH}(X)$ does not depend on $\ell$ and factors through a finite quotient; cf. [@Deligne], Prop. 2.9b. Since $W_{k,X}$ consists of Hodge classes and $X$ is an abelian variety, all Weil classes are absolute Hodge classes, i.e, $W_{k,X}\subset C^d_{\AH}(X),$ [@Deligne], Th. 2.11. This implies easily that the subgroup $\Im(\chi_{X,k,\ell})$ is finite and contained in $k^*$, since the intersection of $W_{k,X}\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}$ and $C^d_{\AH}(X)$ coincides with $W_{k,X}$. (In fact, $W_{k,X}$ coincides even with the intersection of $W_{k,X}\otimes_{\Q}\Q_{\ell}$ and $H^{2d}(X(\C),\Q)(d)$.) This implies also that $\chi_{X,k,\ell}$ does not depend on the choice of $\ell$. So, we may view $\chi_{X,k,\ell}$ as the continuous homomorphism $$\chi_{X,k}:=\chi_{X,k,\ell}:G(K) \to \mu_k \subset k^*,$$ which does not depend on the choice of $\ell$.
Let $r$ be the order of the finite group $\Im(\chi_{X,k})$. Clearly, $r$ divides the order of $\mu_k$. Let us put $Y=X^r$ and consider the Künneth chunk $$H^{2d}(X(\C),\Q)(d)^{\otimes r} \subset H^{2dr}(X(\C)^r,\Q)(dr)=H^{2dr}(Y(\C),\Q)(dr)$$ of the $2dr$th rational cohomology group of $Y$. One may easily check that the tensor power $$W_{k,X}^{\otimes r}\subset H^{2d}(X(\C),\Q)(d)^{\otimes r} \subset H^{2dr}(X(\C)^r,\Q)(dr)=H^{2dr}(Y(\C),\Q)(dr)$$ coincides with the space $W_{k,Y}$ of Weil classes on $Y$ attached to the “diagonal" embedding $$k \to \End^0(X) \subset \End^0(X^r)=\End^0(Y).$$ Since the centers of $\End^0(X)$ and $\End^0(X^r)$ coincide, the image of $k$ in $\End^0(Y)$ does contain the center of $\End^0(Y)$.
One may easily check that $G(K)$ acts on $W_{k,Y}=W_{k,X}^{\otimes r}$ via the character $\chi_{X,k}^r$, which is trivial, i.e., $W_{k,Y}$ consists of $G(K)-$invariants.
Let us fix an isomorphism of one-dimensional $\Q-$vector spaces $\Q \cong \Q(2dr)$ and choose a [*non-zero*]{} element $$\psi \in W_{k,Y} \subset H^{2dr}(Y,\Q)(dr)=\Hom_{\Q}(\Lambda^{2dr}_{\Q}(V(Y),\Q).$$ Then a skew-symmetric $2dr-$linear form $\psi$ is admissible.
Applying to $\psi$ the theorems of the previous section, we obtain the following statement, which implies the case 4 (in the hypothesis (H)) of Theorem \[Theorem 1\].
Assume that the center $F$ of $\End^0 X$ is a CM-field and $(X,F, \Id)$ is of Weil type. Let us put $d= \#(\mu_F) \times 2 \dim(X)/[F:\Q] \in \Z_{+}.$ Let $L$ be an infinite Galois extension of $K$.
1. Let $\ell$ be a prime such that the $\ell-$torsion in $X(L)$ is infinite. Let $L^{(\ell)}$ be the intersection of $L$ and $K(\ell)$. Then the field extension $K(\ell)/L^{(\ell)}$ has finite degree dividing $(d,\ell-1)$ if $\ell$ is odd and dividing $2$ if $\ell=2$ respectively. In addition, $L$ contains $\Q(\ell)'$.
2. Let $S$ be the set of primes $\ell$ such that $X(L)$ contains a point of order $\ell$ and assume that $S$ is infinite. Then for all but finitely many $\ell\in S$ the field extension $K(\mu_{\ell})/K(\mu_{\ell})\bigcap L$ has degree dividing $(d,\ell-1)$.
Since $[F:\Q]$ divides $2\dim(X)=2g$, one may easily find an explicit positive integer $M=M(g)$, depending only on $g$ and divisible by $\#(\mu_F) \times 2 \dim(X)/[F:\Q]$
Proof of Theorem \[Theorem 1\]
==============================
We may and will assume that $X$ is $K-$simple. Then the center $F$ of $\End^0
X$ is either a totally real number field or a CM-field. If $F$ is totally real then the assertion of Theorem \[Theorem 1\] is proven in [@ZarhinDuke] with $N=1$. So, further we assume that $F$ is a CM-field. We also know that the assertion of Theorem \[Theorem 1\] is true when $(X,F)$ is of Weil type (Case 4 of Hypothesis (H)).
Cases 1 and 3 of Hypothesis (H)
--------------------------------
Enlarging $K$ if necessary, we may and will assume that $X$ is absolutely simple and has semistable reduction. Then, the results of [@SZ] imply that in both cases $\Hdg_X$ is semisimple. This means that $(X,F,\Id)$ is of Weil type (cf. for instance [@SZ]). Now, one has only to apply the result of the previous section with $d=\#(\mu_F) \times 2\dim(X)/[F:\Q]$ and get the assertion of Theorem \[Theorem 1\] with $N=M(g)$.
Case 2 of Hypothesis (H)
------------------------
We know that the assertion of the theorem is true if $(X,F,\Id)$ is of Weil type. So, we may assume that $(X,F,\Id)$ is not of Weil type.
Let us consider the trace map $$\Tr_{\Lie(X)}: F \subset \End^0(X)\hookrightarrow\End_K(\Lie(X)) \to K\subset \C.$$ Our assumption means that the image $\Tr_{\Lie(X)}(F)$ is not contained in $\R$. On the other hand, let us fix an embedding of $F$ into $\C$ and let $L$ be the normal closure of $F$ into $\C$. Clearly, $L$ is a CM-field, containing $\Tr_{\Lie(X)}(F)$. Since $\Tr_{\Lie(X)}(F)\subset K$, the intersection $L\bigcap K$ contains an element, which is not totally real. Since any subfield of a CM-field is either totally real or CM, the field $L\bigcap K$ is a CM-subfield of $K$.
If $K$ is a number field not containing a CM-field, one may give another proof, using theory of abelian $\lambda-$adic representations [@Serre] instead of Weil/Hodge classes. The crucial point is that in this case the Serre’s tori $T_{\mathfrak m}$ are isomorphic to the multiplicative group ${\mathbf G}_m$ [@Serre], Sect. 3.4.
Let $X$ be a $K-$simple abelian variety of odd dimension. Assume that $K$ does not contain a CM-subfield (e.g., $K\subset \R$). If $X(L)$ contains infinitely many points of finite order then $L$ contains infinitely many roots of unity.
In the case of the totally real center $F$ this assertion is proven in ([@ZarhinDuke], Th.6, p. 142) without restrictions on the dimension. So, in order to prove Corollary, it suffices to check that $F$ is not a CM-field.
Assume that $F$ is a CM-field. Since $\dim(X)$ is odd, $(X,F,\Id)$ is not of Weil type. Now, the arguments, used in the proof of Case 2 imply that $K$ contains a CM-subfield. This gives us a desired contradiction.
The assertion of Corollary cannot be extended to the even-dimensional case. In Section \[roots\] we give an explicit counterexample.
Let $X$ be a $g-$dimensional abelian variety that is not necessarily $K-$simple and let $F$ be the center of $\End^0(X)$. Assume that $$\Tr_{\Lie(X)}(F)\subset\R.$$ Then the assertion of Theorem \[Theorem 1\] holds true for $X$. Indeed, if $Y$ is a $K-$simple abelian subvariety of $X$ and $F_Y$ is the center of $\End^0(Y)$ then one may easily check that either $F_Y$ is a totally real number field or $(Y,F_Y,\Id)$ is of Weil type.
Example {#roots}
=======
In this section we construct an abelian surface $X$ over $\Q$ and a Galois extension $L$ of $\Q$ such that $L$ contains only finitely many roots of unity but $X(L)$ contains infinitely many points of finite order. Of course, the intersection of $L$ and $\Q(c)$ is of infinite degree over $\Q$.
Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over $\Q$ without complex multiplication (e. g., $j(E)$ is not an integer). Let us put $$Y=\{(e_1,e_2,e_3) \in E^3\mid e_1+e_2+e_3=0\}.$$ Clearly, $Y$ is an abelian surface over $\Q$ isomorphic to $E^2$. Denote by $s$ an automorphism of $Y$ induced by the cyclic permutation of factors of $E^3$, i.e., $$s(e_1,e_2,e_3)=(e_3,e_1,e_2) \quad \forall\ (e_1,e_2,e_3) \in Y.$$ Let $C$ be the cyclic subgroup in $\Aut(X)$ of order $3$ generated by $s$.
By a theorem of Serre [@Serre2] the homomorphism $$\rho_{\ell,E}: G(\Q) \to \Aut_{\Z_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(E)) \cong \GL(2,\Z_{\ell})$$ is [*surjective*]{} for all but finitely many $\ell$. Notice, that the composition $$\det \rho_{\ell,E}: G(\Q) \to \GL(2,\Z_{\ell}) \to \Z_{\ell}^*$$ coincides with $\chi_{\ell}: G(K)\to \Z_{\ell}^*$ [@Serre2]. In particular, if $\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))$ is the field of definition of all points on $E$ of $\ell$-power order then $\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))/\Q$ is the Galois extension with the Galois group $\GL(2,\Z_{\ell})$. In addition, the cyclotomic field $\Q(\ell)$ is the [*maximal abelian*]{} subextension of $\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))$ and the subgroup $\Gal(\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))/\Q(\ell)) \subset \Gal(\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))/\Q)$ coincides with $\SL(2,\Z_{\ell})$.
Let us fix such an $\ell$, assuming in addition that $\ell-1$ is divisible by $3$ but not divisible by $9$. Let $\mu_{3,\ell}$ be the group of cubic roots of unity in $\Z_{\ell}^*$. Then there exists a continuous surjective homomorphism $\pri_3: \Z_{\ell}^* \to \mu_{3,\ell},$ coinciding with the identity map on $\mu_{3,\ell}$. These properties determine $\pri_3$ uniquely.
Let us define field $L$ as a subextension of $\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))$ such that $\Q(E(\ell^{\infty}))/L$ is a cubic extension, whose Galois (sub)group coincides with $$\mu_{3,\ell}\cdot\Id=\{\gamma \cdot \Id\mid \gamma \in \mu_{3,\ell}\} \subset \GL(2,\Z_{\ell}).$$ It follows immediately that $L$ is a Galois extension of $\Q$ and it does not contain a primitive $\ell$th root of unity. This implies that $1$ and $-1$ are the only roots of unity in $L$.
Let us choose a [*primitive*]{} cubic root of unity $\gamma \in \mu_{3,\ell}$ and let $\iota: \mu_{3,\ell} \to C$ be the isomorphism, which sends $\gamma$ to $s$.
Now, let us define $X$ as the twist of $Y$ via the cubic character $$\kappa:=\iota\pri_3 \chi_{\ell}
=\iota \pri_3 \det \rho_{\ell,E}
: G(\Q)\to \mu_{3,\ell} \to C \subset \Aut(Y).$$
The Galois module $T_{\ell}(X)$ is the twist of $T_{\ell}(E)^2$ via $\kappa$. Namely, $$T_{\ell}(X)=\{(v_1,v_2,v_3)\in T_{\ell}(E)\oplus T_{\ell}(E)\oplus T_{\ell}(E)\mid v_1+v_2+v_3=0\}$$ as the $\Z_{\ell}-$module but $$\rho_{\ell,X}(\sigma)(v_1,v_2,v_3)=\kappa(\sigma)(\rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)(v_1),\rho_{\ell,X}(\sigma)(v_2),\rho_{\ell,X}(\sigma)(v_3))$$ for all $\sigma \in G(\Q)$. Now, we construct explicitly $G(L)-$invariant elements of $T_{\ell}(X).$ Starting with any $v \in T_{\ell}(E)$, put
$$w=(\gamma^{-1}v,\gamma v,v)=(\gamma^2 v,\gamma v, v)\in T_{\ell}(E)\oplus T_{\ell}(E)\oplus T_{\ell}(E).$$ Clearly, $w \in T_{\ell}(X);\quad sw =\gamma w.$ Let us check that $w$ is $G(L)-$invariant. Clearly, $$G(L)=\{\sigma\in G(\Q)\mid \rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma) \in \mu_{3,\ell}\cdot \Id\}.$$ Let $\sigma \in G(L)$ with $\rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)=\zeta\Id, \quad \zeta \in
\mu_{3,\ell}.$ If $\zeta=1$ , i.e., $\rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)=\Id$ then all elements of $V_{\ell}(X)$ are $\sigma-$invariant. Since $\mu_{3,\ell}=\{1,\gamma,\gamma^{-1}\}$, we may assume that $\zeta=\gamma$, i.e., $\rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)=\gamma\cdot \Id$ and therefore $\det \rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)=\gamma^2=\gamma^{-1}.$ Then $$\rho_{\ell,X}(\sigma)(w)=$$ $$\iota(\pri_3(\det \rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)))(\rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)(\gamma^2
v),\rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)(\gamma v), \rho_{\ell,E}(\sigma)( v))=\iota(\gamma^2)(\gamma w)=$$ $$s^2(\gamma w)=\gamma s^2 w=\gamma\gamma^{2} w=w.$$
This proves that $w$ is $G(L)-$invariant.
Now, I claim that $X(L)$ contains infinitely many points, whose order is a power of $\ell$. Indeed, starting with a non-divisible element $v \in T_{\ell}(E)$ and identifying the group $X_{\ell^n}$ with the quotient $T_{\ell}(X)/\ell^n T_{\ell}(X)$, we get a $L-$rational point $(\gamma^2 v,\gamma v,v)\mod\ell^n T_{\ell}(X) \in T_{\ell}(X)/\ell^n
T_{\ell}(X)=X_{\ell^n}$ of order $\ell^n$.
Another Example
===============
Let $K$ be an imaginary quadratic field with class number $1$ and let $E$ be an elliptic curve over $\Q$ such that $\End_K(E)=O_K$ is the ring of integers in $K$. In this section we construct a Galois extension $L$ of $K$ such that $E(L)$ contains infinitely many points of finite order but the intersection of $L$ and $K(c)$ is of finite degree over $K$ (even coincides with $K$).
We write $\iota:\C \to \C$ for the complex conjugation $z\mapsto
\bar{z}$. We write $R$ for $O_K$. Clearly, $\End_{\Q}(E)=\Z\ne R$. It follows easily that $$\iota(ux)=\bar{u}(\iota(x))\quad \forall x \in E(\C), u\in R.$$ Notice that $K$ is abelian over $\Q$. Since $\Q(c)=\Q(ab)$, $K \subset
\Q(c)$ and therefore $$K(c)=\Q(c).$$
Let $\ell$ be a prime number. We write $R_{\ell}$ for $R \otimes \Z_{\ell}$. It is well-known that $T_{\ell}(E)$ is a free $R \otimes \Z_{\ell}$-module of rank $1$ and therefore $$\End_{R_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(E))=R_{\ell},\quad \Aut_{R_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(E))=R_{\ell}^*.$$ Let us consider the corresponding $\ell$-adic representation $$\rho_{\ell,E}: G(\Q) \to \Aut_{\Z_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(E)) \cong \GL(2,\Z_{\ell}).$$ Clearly, $G_{\ell}:=\rho_{\ell,E}(G(\Q))$ is not a subgroup of $R_{\ell}^*=\Aut_{R_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(E))$ but $$H_{\ell}:=\rho_{\ell,E}(G(K))\subseteq R_{\ell}^*.$$
It is also known ([@Serre2], Sect. 4.5) that $$H_{\ell}=R_{\ell}^*$$ for all but finitely many primes $\ell$. Let us fix such an $\ell$, assuming in addition that $\ell$ is unramified and splits in $K$. This implies that $\ell=\q\bar{\q}$ for some $\q\in K$ and $$O_K=\q\cdot O_K+\bar{\q}\cdot O_K,\quad R_{\ell}=R_{\q}\oplus R_{\bar{\q}},
\quad R_{\q}=\Z_{\ell}, R_{\bar{\q}}= \Z_{\ell},$$ $$\q R_{\ell}=\ell R_{\q}\oplus R_{\bar{\q}}=
\ell \Z_{\ell}\oplus\Z_{\ell}\subset \Z_{\ell}\oplus\Z_{\ell}= R_{\ell},$$ $$\bar{\q} R_{\ell}= R_{\q}\oplus \ell R_{\bar{\q}}=
\Z_{\ell}\oplus\ell\Z_{\ell}\subset \Z_{\ell}\oplus\Z_{\ell}= R_{\ell},$$ $$R_{\ell}^*=R_{\q}^*\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*,\quad R_{\q}^*=\Z_{\ell}^*, R_{\bar{\q}}^*= \Z_{\ell}^*.$$ We also have $$T_{\ell}(E)=T_{\q}(E)\oplus T_{\bar{\q}}(E)$$ where $$T_{\q}(E):=R_{\q}\cdot T_{\ell}(E),\quad T_{\bar{\q}}(E):=R_{\bar{\q}}\cdot T_{\ell}(E)$$ are free $\Z_{\ell}$-modules of rank $1$. This implies that for each positive integer $i$ $$\q^i T_{\q}(E)=\ell^i T_{\q}(E), \quad \bar{\q}^i T_{\q}(E)=T_{\q}(E),$$ $$\bar{q}^i T_{\bar{\q}}(E)=\ell^i T_{\bar{\q}}(E),\quad
\q^i T_{\bar{\q}}(E)=T_{\bar{\q}}(E)$$ and therefore $$T_{\ell}(E)/\ell^i T_{\ell}(E)=
T_{\q}(E)/\ell^i T_{\q}(E)\oplus T_{\bar{\q}}(E)/\ell^i T_{\bar{\q}}(E)=
T_{\q}(E)/\q^i T_{\q}(E)\oplus T_{\bar{\q}}(E)/\bar{\q}^i T_{\bar{\q}}(E).$$ It follows easily that a point $x \in E_{\ell^i}=T_{\ell}(E)/\ell^i T_{\ell}(E)$ satisfies $\q^i x=0$ (respectively $\bar{\q}^i x=0$) if and only if $x \in T_{\q}(E)/\ell^i T_{\q}(E)$ (respectively $x \in T_{\bar{\q}}(E)/\ell^i T_{\bar{\q}}(E)$).
Let us put $$\tau:=\rho_{\ell,E}(\iota) \in G_{\ell} \subset \Aut_{\Z_{\ell}}(T_{\ell}(E)).$$ Then $\tau^2=\Id$ and $$\tau( R_{\q}^*\times\{1\}) \tau^{-1}=\{1\}\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*\subset R_{\ell}^* ,\quad
\tau(\{1\}\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*) \tau^{-1}=R_{\q}^*\times\{1\})\subset R_{\ell}^*.$$ It is also clear that $$\tau(T_{\q}(E))=T_{\bar{\q}}(E), \quad \tau(T_{\bar{\q}}(E))=T_{\q}(E).$$
Let us consider the field $K(E(\ell^{\infty}))$ of definition of all points on $E$ of $\ell$-power order. It is the Galois extension of $K$ with the Galois group $R_{\ell}^*=R_{\q}^*\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*.$ It is also normal over $\Q$ and $\Gal(K(E(\ell^{\infty}))/\Q)=G_{\ell}$, since $E$ is defined over $\Q$ and $K$ is normal over $\Q$.
Let us define $L$ as a subextension of $K(E(\ell^{\infty}))/K$ such that $$\Gal(K(E(\ell^{\infty}))/L)=\{1\}\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*\subset
R_{\q}^*\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*=R_{\ell}^*=\Gal(K(E(\ell^{\infty}))/K).$$ One may easily check that $L$ coincides with the field $K(E(\q^{\infty}))$ of definition of all torsion points on $E$ which are killed by a power of $\q$. In particular, $E(L)$ contains infinitely many points, whose order is a power of $\ell$. Let us consider the field $L'=\iota(L)$. Clearly, $K\subset L'\subset K(E(\ell^{\infty}))$ and $L'$ coincides with the field $K(E(\bar{\q}^{\infty}))$ of definition of all torsion points on $E$ which are killed by a power of $\bar{\q}$. It is also clear that $$\Gal(K(E(\ell^{\infty}))/L)=\tau(\{1\}\times
R_{\bar{\q}}^*)\tau^{-1}=R_{\q}^*\times\{1\}\subset
R_{\q}^*\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*=R_{\ell}^*=\Gal(K(E(\ell^{\infty}).$$
Since the subgroups $\{1\}\times R_{\bar{\q}}^*$ and $R_{\q}^*\times\{1\}$ generate the whole group $R_{\ell}^*=\Gal(K(E(\ell^{\infty}))/K)$, $$L\bigcap \iota(L)=L\bigcap L'=K.$$ It follows that if $M/K$ is a subextension of $L/K$ such that $M$ is normal over $\Q$ then $M=K$. Since $K(c)=\Q(c)$, $L\bigcap K(c)=L\bigcap \Q(c)$ is a subfield of $\Q(c)$ and therefore is normal (even abelian) over $\Q$. It follows that $$L\bigcap K(c)=K.$$
Abelian subextensions
=====================
The following statement may be viewed as a variant of Theorem \[Theorem 1\] for arbitrary abelian varieties over number fields.
\[abelian\] *Let $X$ be an abelian variety over a number field $K$. Then:*
1. If for some prime $\ell$ the $\ell-$primary part of $\TORS(X(L))$ is infinite then $L$ contains an abelian infinite subextension $E\subset L$ such that $\Gal(E/K)\cong \Z_{\ell}$ and $E/K$ is ramified only at divisors of $\ell$.
2. Let $P=P(X,L)$ be the set of primes $\ell$ such that $X(L)$ contains a point of order $\ell$. If $P$ is infinite then for all but finitely many primes $\ell \in P$ there exist a finite subextension $E^{(\ell)}\subset L$ such that $E^{(\ell)}/K$ is a ramified abelian extension which is unramified outside divisors of $\ell$. In addition, the degree $[E^{(\ell)}:K]$ is prime to $\ell$ and degree $[E^{(\ell)}:K]$ tends to infinity while $\ell$ tends to infinity.
If $\TORS(X(L))$ is infinite then $L$ contains an infinite abelian subextension of $K$.
First, we may and will assume that $X$ is $K-$simple, i.e., the center $F$ of the endomorphism algebra of $X$ is a number field.
Second, there is a positive integer $d$, enjoying the following property:
If $m$ is a positive integer such that $\varphi(m) \le 2g=2\dim(X)$ then $d$ is divisible by $m$.
Third, let $\lambda$ be a prime ideal in $O_F$ dividing a prime number $\ell$. Then, in the notations of Section 1 the following statement is true.
1. The composition $$\pi_{\lambda}:=(\det_{F_{\lambda}} \rho_{\lambda,X})^d:G(K) \to
\Aut_{F_{\lambda}}V_{\lambda}(X) \to {F_{\lambda}}^* \to
{F_{\lambda}}^*$$ is an abelian representation of $G(K)$ unramified outside divisors of $\ell$.
2. For all but finitely many $\lambda$ the composition $$\bar{\pi}_{\lambda}:=(\det_{F_{\lambda}}\bar{\rho}_{\lambda,X})^d:G(K) \to
\Aut_{O_F/\lambda}X_{\lambda} \to (O_F/\lambda)^* \to
(O_F/\lambda)^*$$ is an abelian representation of $G(K)$ unramified outside divisors of $\ell$.
We will prove Lemma at the end of this section. Now, let us finish the proof of Theorem, assuming validity of Lemma.
First, notice that the ratio $$e=2\dim(X)/[F:\Q]$$ is a positive integer. Second, for all but finitely many primes $p$ there exists a finite collection of [*Weil numbers*]{}, i.e., certain algebraic integers $\{\alpha_1,\ldots
\alpha_{e}\} \subset F(a)$, enjoying the following properties:
- (Weil’s condition) There is a positive integer $q>1$ such that $q$ is an integral power of $p$ and all $\mid\alpha_i\mid^2=q$ for all embeddings $F(a)\subset\C$.
- For all $\ell\ne p$ and $\lambda\mid\ell$ there is a subset $S_{\lambda}\subset \{1,\ldots e\}$ such that $(\prod_{i\in S_{\lambda}}\alpha_i)\in
O_F$ and the group $\Im(\pi_{\lambda})$ contains $\prod_{i\in
S_{\lambda}}\alpha_i$.
- For all but finitely many $\lambda$ the subgroup $\Im(\bar{\pi}_{\lambda})$ contains $(\prod_{i\in S_{\lambda}}\alpha_i)\mod \lambda \in (O_F/\lambda)^*$.
Indeed, let us choose a prime ideal $\mathbf v$ in the ring $O_K$ of all algebraic integers in $K$ such that $X$ has good reduction at $\mathbf
v$. Let $$Fr_{\mathbf v} \in \Im(\rho_{\lambda,X}) \subset \Aut_{F_{\lambda}}V_{\lambda}(X)$$ be [*Frobenius element*]{} $Fr_{\mathbf v}$ at $\mathbf v$ (defined up to conjugacy)[@Serre],[@RibetA]. Then the set of its eigenvalues belongs to $F(a)$, does not depend on the choice of $\lambda$ and satisfies all the desired properties with $p$ the residual characteristic of $\mathbf v$ and $q=\#(O_K/{\mathbf v})$([@Shimura], Ch. 7, Prop. 7.21 and proof of Prop. 7.23).
We know that there exists $\lambda$ dividing $\ell$ such that the subspace $V_{\lambda}(X)$ consists of $G(L)-$invariants. This means that $G(L)$ lies in the kernel of $\pi_{\lambda}$. This implies that the field $E'$ of $\ker(\pi_{\lambda})-$invariants is an abelian subextension of L, unramified outside divisors of $\ell$ and $\Gal(E'/K)$ is isomorphic to $\Im(\pi_{\lambda})$. Choosing a collection of Weil numbers attached to prime $p\ne\ell$, we easily conclude that $\Im(\pi_{\lambda})$ is an [*infinite*]{} commutative $\ell-$adic Lie group [@Serre] and therefore, there is a continuous quotient of $\Im(\pi_{\lambda})$, isomorphic to $\Z_{\ell}$. One has to take as $E$ the subextension of $E'$ corresponding to this quotient.
We know that for all but finitely many $\ell \in P$ there exists $\lambda$ dividing $\ell$ such that $X_{\lambda}$ consists of $G(L)-$invariants. This means that the field $E^{(\ell)}$ of $\ker(\bar{\pi}_{\lambda})-$invariants is an abelian subextension of L, unramified outside divisors of $\ell$ and $\Gal(E^{(\ell)}/K)$ is isomorphic to $\Im(\pi_{\lambda})$. In order to prove that $[E^{(\ell)}:K]$ tends to infinity, let us assume that there exist an infinite subset $P'\subset P$ and a positive integer $D$ such that $\#(\Gal(E^{(\ell)}/K))=[E^{(\ell)}:K]$ divides $D$ for all $\ell\in P'$. This means that $$\bar{\pi}_{\lambda}^D: G(K)\to (O_F/\lambda)^*$$ is a trivial homomorphism for [*infinitely many*]{} $\lambda$. In order to get a contradiction, let us choose a collection of Weil numbers $\{\alpha_1,\ldots
\alpha_{e}\}$ enjoying the properties described above.
Clearly. for any non-empty subset $ S \subset \{1,\ldots e\}$ the product $\alpha_S:=\prod_{i\in S} \alpha_i$ is not a root of unity. In addition, if $\alpha_S\in
O_F$ then there only finitely many $\lambda$ such that $\alpha_S^D-1$ is an element of $\lambda$. Since there are only finitely many subsets of $\{1,\ldots2g\}$, for all but finitely many $\lambda$ the group $$\Im((\bar{\pi}_{\lambda})^D) \subset (O_F/\lambda)^*$$ contains an element of type $\alpha_S^D\mod \lambda$ different from 1. This implies that $(\bar{\pi}_{\lambda})^D$ is a non-trivial homomorphism for all but finitely many $\lambda$. This gives the desired contradiction.
Let $\mathbf v$ be a prime ideal in the ring $O_K$ of all algebraic integers in $K$. We write $I_{\mathbf v} \subset G(K)$ for the corresponding inertia subgroup defined up to conjugacy. Assume that the residual characteristic of $\mathbf v$ is different from $\ell$. It is known [@SGA] that for any $ \sigma \in I_{\mathbf v}$ there exists a positive integer $m$ such that $\rho_{\ell,X}(\sigma)^m$ is an unipotent operator in $V_{\ell}(X)$ and its characteristic polynomial has coefficients in $\Z$. This implies that if $m$ is the smallest integer enjoying this property then the characteristic polynomial is divisible by the $m$th cyclotomic polynomial. This implies that $2g\ge \varphi(m)$ and therefore $m$ divides $d$. Since $V_{\lambda}(X)$ is a Galois-invariant subspace of $V_{\ell}(X)$ and (for all but finitely many $\ell$) $X_{\lambda}$ is a Galois-invariant subspace of $T_{\ell}(X)/\ell T_{\ell}(X)$, a Galois automorphism $\sigma^d$ acts as an unipotent operator in $V_{\lambda}(X)$ and (for all but finitely many $\lambda$) in $X_{\lambda}$. One has only to recall that the determinant of an unipotent operator is always $1$.
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|
Winnfield (La.) rising senior Alonzo Moore did not have a shortage of big-time plays last fall. After playing quarterback as a sophomore, Moore made a smooth transition to receiver and running back last fall and posted some impressive numbers.
The 6-foot-2 and 175-pound Moore had 49 catches for 1,246 yards and 17 touchdowns, and he also rushed for 591 yards and nine more scores.
"It went well and I am just focused this summer on being better in all areas," said Moore, who has been timed with 4.49 speed this summer. "I've been hitting the weight room a lot when I am not at college camps and I've been training real hard. So that part has been going good and I am just trying to get better at everything."
And speaking of those college camps, Moore was in attendence at Mississippi State's camp last week and then made his way to LSU and then Nebraska.
"I am going to Nebraska's camp this week and I felt I did well at LSU," said Moore. "LSU didn't talk about offering but I did well at their camp. After Nebraska, I am not sure where I might go the rest of the summer."
Moore currently holds offers from MSU, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Minnesota and Memphis. As noted, Moore put on a solid showing at Mississippi State and said he left campus impressed with the Bulldogs.
"It was a very good trip and very good seeing their campus," said Moore. "That was my first time at Mississippi State and it went good. Their coaches told me they are very interested in me and said they would love to have me playing there. And I like their spread offense, too, and I think that is the offense that fits me the best."
Moore added that he is in "no rush" to make his college decision and said his summer trips will give him a better view of the programs recruiting him.
"I like all the schools that have offered me already," said Moore. "And I would say Mississippi State is on me the hardest. I am just seeing who is the most interested in me and how I would fit into these offenses. I am in no rush at all and I just want to make sure of my decision before I pick my future school." |
I recently watched a great talk titled Optimizing ClojureScript Apps For Speed, where Allen Rohner discusses the benefits and hurdles of server-side rendering.
React supports hooking in to server generated HTML at runtime. However, since React is a JavaScript library it becomes problematic to leverage this functionality from Clojure. While the JVM provides a Js runtime with Nashorn, it's extremely slow and requires a lot of twiddling to work for even basic examples.
Another approach is to run an instance of Node.js and farm out React rendering to it. This avoids the limitations of Nashorn, but introduces a host of new problems described in the talk.
Allen then proposes an alternative approach where he implements parts of the Om API and cross-compiles the components that way. You can see how this works in his Foam library.
The main difficulty identified in the talk is in implementing a sufficient amount of Om API in order to generate HTML on the server.
This got me thinking about what it would take to leverage this approach using Reagent. Unlike Om, Reagent has a tiny API and the only part of it used to create components is the Reagent atom implementation. The components themselves are written using plain Hiccup syntax.
Let's see how this could work. We'll start by creating a new Reagent project:
lein new reagent reagent-serverside
Next, we'll add a new namespace in called reagent-serverside.home src/cljc/reagent_serverside/home.cljc . This namespace will house the home page component that we'll pre-render on the server.
All we have to do now is to use a reader conditional to only require the Reagent atom during ClojureScript compilation:
(ns reagent-serverside.home #?(:cljs (:require [reagent.core :as reagent :refer [atom]])))
We can now write our components as we would normally:
(ns reagent-serverside.home #?(:cljs (:require [reagent.core :as reagent :refer [atom]]))) (def items (atom nil)) (defn item-list [items] [:ul (for [item items] ^{:key item} [:li item])]) (defn add-item-button [items] [:button {:on-click #(swap! items conj (count @items))} "add item"]) (defn home-page [] [:div [:h2 "Welcome to reagent-serverside"] [add-item-button items] [item-list @items]])
We'll have the items atom to house a collection of items, an item-list function to render it, and the home-page function that will use the item-list component. We also have a button that lets the user add new items with an :on-click event. This is all standard Reagent code.
Rendering on the Server
Now, let's navigate to the reagent-serverside.handler namespace and reference the reagent-serverside.home we just created.
(ns reagent-serverside.handler (:require ... [reagent-serverside.home :refer [items home-page]]))
We'll now have to write the functions that will traverse the components and render them as appropriate. We'll attach a :data-reactid key to each one to give it an identifier that React looks for, and inject the result into our Hiccup markup.
(defn react-id-str [react-id] (assert (vector? react-id)) (str "." (clojure.string/join "." react-id))) (defn set-react-id [react-id element] (update element 1 merge {:data-reactid (react-id-str react-id)})) (defn normalize [component] (if (map? (second component)) component (into [(first component) {}] (rest component)))) (defn render ([component] (render [0] component)) ([id component] (cond (fn? component) (render (component)) (not (coll? component)) component (coll? (first component)) (map-indexed #(render (conj id %1) %2) component) (keyword? (first component)) (let [[tag opts & body] (normalize component)] (->> body (map-indexed #(render (conj id %1) %2)) (into [tag opts]) (set-react-id id))) (fn? (first component)) (render id (apply (first component) (rest component)))))) (reset! items (range 10)) (def mount-target [:div#app (render home-page)])
The render function will recursively walk the components evaluating any functions it finds and assigning the React id to each element.
Next, we'll set the items atom to a range of numbers, and then call render inside the mount-target to generate the markup.
Rendering on the Client
Finally, let's navigate to the reagent-serverside.core namespace in the src/cljs source path. We'll update it to reference the home namespace we created and render the home-page component on load.
(ns reagent-serverside.core (:require [reagent.core :as reagent :refer [atom]] [reagent-serverside.home :refer [items home-page]])) (defn mount-root [] (reagent/render [home-page] (.getElementById js/document "app"))) (defn init! [] (reset! items (range 20)) (mount-root))
When we load the page we'll immediately see the server generated markup and then it will be updated by Reagent when ClojureScript is loaded. There are a few caveats here that you should be aware of.
Any components you wish to render on the server have to be written in cljc , so you may end up having to add some shims for things like Ajax calls.
The component syntax has to work with both Reagent and Hiccup, so you have to be mindful to use the common subset.
React is fairly picky about the structure and the data-reactid tags. So, it can be tricky to generate a DOM tree that it likes. The example in the post will give a React warning about the DOM being different. Some more work is needed around this.
However, even in the case that React doesn't reuse the DOM, the user will see the page immediately and you'll get the benefits of SEO for your site.
Full source is available on GitHub.
Conclusions
Overall, I'm very happy with the results and it looks like it would be fairly easy to wrap this up into a library. The data focused approach is a huge win for Reagent here in my opinion. Since the components are laid out using regular Clojure data structures there's no need to implement any special API and things just work out of the box. |
Q:
Align environment with blank left side in the first line
Is it possible to use the align environment (or something similar) to typeset something like the following (nonesense) example with correct spacing?
|a - c|
< |a - b| + |b - c|
What I want: The first line should be aligned to everything in the second (and consecutive lines) right from the <. I tried things like
\begin{align*}
& |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
or
\begin{align*}
& |a - c|\\
< & |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
but in the first example, the first line isn't aligned, and in the second example, the < is too close to the first | in the second line.
Using something like \phantom{<} in the first line, i.e.
\begin{align*}
& \phantom{<} |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
didn't align the first line correctly, either. I'm probably overlooking a really obvious solution here, but I can't think of one myself and don't really know what to search for.
EDIT:
MWE:
\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
& |a-c| \\
& < |a-b| + |b-c|
\end{align*}
\begin{align*}
& |a-c| \\
< & |a-b| + |b-c|
\end{align*}
\begin{align*}
& \phantom{<} |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
What I want:
\begin{align*}
& \phantom{ {}<{}} |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
\end{document}
The indicated align* is what I want (i.e. the last one), which is cmhughes' solution. Is there a way to do this without the \phantom (meaning a more flexible solution), or do you have to do it like this?
A:
if the space you want after the < is the same as you'd get if everything
were on one line, then simply putting {} between the < and the & is sufficient:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
& |a - c| \\
<{} & |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
\[ |a - c| < |a - b| + |b - c| \]
\end{document}
|
Walker: No plans for a recount; Update: Walker by 12?
posted at 1:01 pm on June 4, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
With the recall election in Wisconsin going to the voters tomorrow, one might have expected a boatload of news in the race, but so far the day has been fairly quiet. The PPP poll didn’t show any change from its historical series, pointing to a narrow win for Scott Walker. RCP’s polling average shows a 6.4-point Scott Walker lead in all polls taken in the last four weeks, all of which used likely voters as their base, which hints at a somewhat more significant win in tomorrow’s voting. Either way, Walker says he hasn’t planned for a recount, even though he’s careful to state that the race will be close no matter what happens:
Gov. Scott Walker said Monday he was optimistic he would win Tuesday’s recall election, but added he thought the race would be tight.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he told reporters. “We’re not overconfident. We understand this is going to be a big vote turnout. But we understand there is a lot of passion from all different directions. We want to make sure we get our voters out and make as many last-minute appeals to undecided voters that if they want to move on, if they want to go forward, we’re the candidate.” …
Asked if he’d made plans for a recount, he shook his head.
“In our case, we’re focused on getting people to the polls, focused on a way to win,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a big turnout across the board. … I’m not conceding any part of the state of Wisconsin.”
Another poll did come out today, from an outfit of which I’m not aware called Angus Reid Opinion. The results show Walker up six over Barrett 53/47 among “decided” voters, polled in an online survey. That matches the RCP average, but online surveys are somewhat less accepted than phone surveys, although it’s not to say that it’s not legitimate, either. The crosstabs are interesting; according to this survey, Barrett and Walker tie among seniors, while PPP showed Walker with a substantial lead in that demo — 19 points, in fact. It also shows Barrett and Walker tied with voters under 35 years of age, which seems counter-intuitive as well. Walker takes 22% of voters who went with Barack Obama in 2008, while Barrett only gets 12% of McCain voters. Take it with as big a grain of salt as you’d wish.
On the other hand, Jim Geraghty reports that Barrett seems to be losing the Brewers Poll:
During the third inning, the jumbotron began showing random crowd shots (which had the attention of the crowd and generated friendly cheers) – the cute baby in the Brewers jumper, the shirtless guys with beers, the pretty girls dancing to the music. Then, the camera panned to a guy holding up a “Vote Barrett” sign. The crowd erupted…in boos! These were significant, sustained boos. I asked the couple seated next to me – a young couple that didn’t appear to be regular CPAC attendees or anything – about the situation and they said, “Barrett’s got no chance. People are sick of this thing.”
The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor elections on June 5, 2012, in the following jurisdictions to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes: Alameda, Fresno and Riverside Counties, Calif.; Cibola and Sandoval Counties, N.M.; Shannon County, S.D.; and the city of Milwaukee.
The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group. In addition, the act requires certain covered jurisdictions to provide language assistance during the election process. Fresno County, Riverside County and the city of Milwaukee are required to provide assistance in Spanish. Cibola, Sandoval and Shannon Counties are required to provide language assistance to Native American voters. Alameda County is required to provide language assistance to Hispanic, Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino voters.
Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to jurisdictions that are certified by the attorney general or by a federal court order. Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in Shannon County based on the attorney general’s certification and in Alameda, Riverside and Sandoval Counties based on court orders. The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in these jurisdictions, and Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.
In addition, Justice Department personnel will monitor polling place activities in Fresno County, Cibola County and the city of Milwaukee. Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.
Interesting, but apparently routine. Milwaukee appears to be a covered jurisdiction in the VRA, pursuant to a notice filed at least since 2010, long before any recall effort began. The scope of the “monitoring” is only to ensure that Spanish-language ballots and voting materials are present in precincts within the city of Milwaukee.
What if Walker wins, especially by a significant margin? John Fund says that no one will be able to pretend that it was a decision made by an uninformed electorate, and a loss by Democrats and unions will have both looking for a scapegoat, and Mitt Romney with a turnkey operation in a suddenly-competitive state:
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times dismissed Obama on Sunday as someone who “prefers to float above, at a reserve, in grandiose mists.” When the likes of Dowd are no longer feeling the love, we shouldn’t be surprised that other Democrats are dumping on Obama for not showing up to help Barrett in Wisconsin. “Progressive Pundits Lay Groundwork to Blame Obama if Wisconsin Recall Fails” was the headline of a searing critique by Noah Rothman at Mediaite. He quoted Ed Schultz of MSNBC sarcastically noting that the president was in neighboring Iowa and Minnesota last week and that his campaign office is in nearby Chicago. “It’s all around, but is it in?” Schultz asked of the Obama campaign. “[Union members] want him on that line because he talked about being on that line with them back in 2007.” Schultz closed his plea for an Obama visit by saying it is the “job of a leader” to motivate his followers.
Liberals view Wisconsin as a state that is “leading the way in reshaping American’s view of the role of government,” Rothman emphasizes. “President Obama has abandoned that fight, noting correctly that it is not likely to be won,” he says. “But progressive pundits . . . are right — this is not just another election. . . . It is a fight with broad implications that President Obama has abandoned. The question now becomes, can they [progressives] forgive this betrayal ahead of a tough election in the fall?”
The state hasn’t voted Republican since Ronald Reagan’s reelection effort in 1984, and Obama won it easily by 14 points in 2008. But the state can be competitive. Both Al Gore and John Kerry carried it by only a handful of votes — many of which may have been fraudulent, as a 2007 Milwaukee Police Department report showed.
By this fall, Wisconsin’s new voting law will probably be in effect. It limits same-day registration abuses and requires voters to show photo ID at the polls; this should reduce the role of last-minute fraudsters such as the infamous Park Avenue heiress who pled guilty to flying to Milwaukee in 2000 and passing out cigarettes to homeless people in exchange for their promise to vote for Al Gore.
The psychological blow of losing yet another recall campaign would surely reduce enthusiasm and turnout on the left, while leaving Romney with an extensive campaign infrastructure in the state: 22 offices set up by Governor Walker, firmly in place only five months before the presidential race.
That all depends, of course, on a Walker win. That depends on Republicans winning the turnout battle tomorrow.
Update: According to We Ask America, the race has shifted in the last few days — in Walker’s direction:
So, as fireworks continue to explode over the political horizon in the Dairy State, we asked 1,570 likely voters who they support in the June 5 election. Here are the results. …
Those surprising results would project at a 56-44 final win for Walker. HOWEVER, while Walker continues to lead Barrett, we once again caution readers that this is an extremely difficult election to predict. Turnout is king in all elections, and it may be even more important in this one. Wisconsin’s labor movement is keen to get as many of the anti-Walker voters to the polls as possible and have displayed the ability to rally their troops effectively. And Wisconsin regulations allow Election Day voter registration with a minimum of residency documentation–something that has both sides whispering of potential abuse from their opponents.
WAA had Walker up seven last week. This is an automated poll (like Rasmussen, for instance), conducted among 1570 likely voters, a very large sample for a statewide election. WAA warns that it will still come down to turnout, but that’s an eyepopping gap the day before the election.
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We’ve had rallies all week. Barrett had a rally and 300 people showed up. Walker had a rally and over 4,000 attended. We have phone banks all across the state and thousands of people on the ground. I wold bet Walker wins by at least 7 points.
idesign on June 4, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Was that the Barrett rally where the Cops weren’t very professional with that ex-union Vet?
“It’s all around, but is it in?” Schultz asked of the Obama campaign. “[Union members] want him on that line because he talked about being on that line with them back in 2007.” Schultz closed his plea for an Obama visit by saying it is the “job of a leader” to motivate his followers.
Pssst, Special Ed. Obama doesn’t take off his “bedroom slippers and put on his marching shoes.” That’s what he expects all of you suckas and sycophants to do for him.
Ok how’s about June for the double whammy, huh? Walker wins handily and the SCOTUS rules against obummercare. Triple whammy? Romney bookends another strategic Axeljob propaganda rally before he finds the traitor in his ranks.
We once had a local election with a outspoken anti-tax (Conservative) town trooper parking his empty squad car near the polls. He was involuntarily transferred after that for what some considered an intimidating act upon the voters.
In lieu of that kind of judgment, wouldn’t Holder’s anti-Walker department, that refused to prosecute the new black panthers for voter intimidation, be far more intimidating?
Wouldn’t they be apt to find any minor discrepancy (wind blowing from the right is a biased election) to discredit the election? Would this be a not too surprising administration move to discredit the entire process?
Lol, ragarding David Schuster saying Walker is the “target” of a Federal probe.
I’m sorry, just LOL. If the Democrats have ANYTHING on Walker, don;t you think the would have been shouting it from the rooftops for weeks? So the first we here of this EXPLOSIVE story is the day before the election.
I’m having second thoughts about my pre-election jitters concerning voter fraud. If the latest polls are close, it looks like another tsunami is about to hit the Wisconsin Democrats. I’m doubting that the DNC, the unions, or the DOJ can jin up enough fraudulent votes to overcome this.
I have the perfect answer to the Department of Injustice’s presence in Wisconsin tomorrow. Chuck Norris needs to show up in Madison tomorrow wearing a t-shirt that says: Walker Texas Ranger Stands with Walker Wisconsin Governor.
I saw David Shuster is reporting today Scott Walker is about to be federally indicted or “frogmarched” as they say out of the statehouse, so sources tell him. You remember David Shuster of MSNBC, right? The guy who PROMISED Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann that sources told him that Karl Rove was going to be federally indicted or “frogmarched” as they say out of the White House by the end of that day he reported it.
Last evening, our young adult son was over for dinner. Matt works as an outside salesman for a small business in Oshkosh. He mentioned that his schedule was changed again and that he was going to have to travel next week. Both my husband and I looked at him in horror and said “WAIT. Did you VOTE already?” He said, ‘NO, but the absentee polls are closed so I don’t know what I can do!’ Since he was planning on being out of town all week, that meant that his wife would be traveling to her parents home up north and NOT VOTE EITHER!
Well, this morning he called me and said, “Mom, when I got home last night, I had an email from my boss (who was going to travel with him). The email said, ‘Matt, can we change our flight schedule and leave late Tuesday morning? We need to vote.’ Matt said, ‘well yes, but it’ll cost $150 PER TICKET to make the change’. Boss says, “Well, You don’t have to tell me who you’re voting for, but I AM voting for Walker, so if YOU’RE voting for Barrett, let’s just SKIP it because we’ll cancel each other out. BUT, if you’re voting for WALKER, make the change”. Matt said, “I’ll change the tickets right away, Boss.”
JSO and Kos DEBUNKED it. How bad is that? To be a lefty group trying to get rid of Walker and have Kos and JSO debunk your Rathergate? LOL.
Resist We Much on June 4, 2012 at 5:00 PM
Oh I am glad to hear JS wasn’t that bad! How truly embarrassing for them. I saw they “pants of fired” Barrett on the deer czar emails. Saw that of FB for weeks now. I posted the pants on fire an hour ago.
Lifelong WI resident here (40+ years). (Just the thought of accidentally stepping into the land of 10,000 pale faces…er lakes, keeps me well rooted in this fantastic state – resident liberal idiots excepted.)
There is a modicrim of truth to the notion that people are extremely tired of the recall and think that it was a bad idea to begin with. I think a significant percentage (perhaps nearly as high as the eventual difference in the final results) of voters for Scott Walker are not necessarily voting for him as they are voting against this terrible idea of a recall. Don’t forget that the Lt. Governor and 4 state senate seats are also part of this recall election. A loss of any one of those could really be an issue for the remainder of Walker’s first term.
My wife and mom both fall into that category. I’m not saying they would normally vote democratic, but they normally might not be inclined to go out and vote Republican on any given day, preferring to not vote. They are both voting for Walker tomorrow. So while my immediate family is 6 for 6 in the Walker column, I also have a disproportionate number of cousins who will be voting for Barrett (Teachers all….grade school through UW System professors). Think of all the fun we will have at a family wedding this coming weekend….
Optimistically predicting a strong Walker win tomorrow night – no recount. Either way, I am going to be so hammered tomorrow night.
I now see the really fundamental thing about Walker wasn’t making the teachers pony up for health and pension to levels paid in other states. It is making union dues optional. The monster doesn’t grow on voluntary donations.
“If union members are upset that the millions union bosses have dumped into defeating Gov. Walker in tomorrow’s recall election appear not to be working, they may be furious when they learn the details of a new investigation by the Government Accountability Institute.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Despite the nearly 200 demonstrations against JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and the other big banks, the AFL-CIO and SEIU are in bed with JP Morgan Chase—big time. Through something called the “Union Plus Mortgage Program,” the AFL-CIO and SEIU provide their members over 80,000 home mortgage loans totaling a whopping $15.2 billion. And who have the unions relied upon for 12 years and running to offer these home loans? You guessed it, JP Morgan Chase, the very bank the big union bosses direct their members to rail against.”
“Fine. Just remember that corporations can be one person (although LLC would be a better organisational structure for them). Without corporate personhood, there will be lawyers like me, who will sue your small business owner arse and take your business, your home, your wife’s engagement ring, your kids’ college funds, their piggy banks, and their Buzz Lightyear underwear.
You don’t want corporate personhood. Great. We can go back to sole proprietorships and I’ll go back to work and be the biggest sheister of an ambulance chaser you’ve ever encountered…especially if you are a Progressive and were stupid enough to support this insanity.”
Needless to say, I don’t even hear crickets afterward because they are stunned into silence.
Anyone see recent polling on Rebecca Kleefisch?
Also, the 4 Senate seats….heard that if 1 goes (D) the republicans lose the majority.
So much at stake here.
Maybe Wisconsin will wake up to the enormous power & greed of public unions.
Prediction: Walker loses a close race when Milwaukee, under DOJ supervision, reports a 5,000,000 to O vote in favor of Barrett. A recount will be demanded, but, unfortunately, won’t take place because all the city’s ballots will be destroyed, when the building they are housed in, accidentally burns down. |
Ships, fishnets and other underwater structures or equipment tend to attract aquatic organisms such as barnacles, mussels, and algae which interfere with an efficient operation of ships and cause a waste of fuels in ships or cause clogging and shorten the service life of fishnets. To prevent such attachment of life to underwater structures, it is common practice to coat the surfaces of the structures with an antifouling coating. As a representative antifouling coating heretofore in use, there is a matrix type antifouling coating comprising a formulation of a rosin and a vinyl or alkyd resin which is insoluble in seawater. However, since a coating of this type releases an antifoulant ingredient together with the rosin into the seawater, a long-term stable antifouling effect cannot be expected and, moreover, since the insoluble resin remaining in the coating film forms a skeletal structure, the coating has the disadvantage that particularly when it is applied to ships, the resistance between the seawater and the coated surface is increased to slow down the speed of ships.
In recent years, in view of the long-term antifouling effect and other advantages, hydrolyzable antifouling coatings have been utilized widely and, as one variation, a coating comprising a metal-containing resin composition has been developed. Metal-containing resins in which a pendant acidic group and a monobasic organic acid form a salt with a metal atom and methods for producing the resins have been described in the patent applications filed by the present applicant, inter alia, Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-62-101653, Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-63-128008, Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-63-128084 and Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-08-73536. When a resin of this kind is used in an antifouling coating, the resin is gradually hydrolyzed in seawater to release the antifoulant metal ion and, at the same time, the resin itself is solubilized and eluted out to exhibit a self-polishing effect. |
package merge_two_sorted_lists
type ListNode struct {
Val int
Next *ListNode
}
func mergeTwoLists(l1 *ListNode, l2 *ListNode) *ListNode {
if l1 == nil {
return l2
} else if l2 == nil {
return l1
}
var head *ListNode
if l1.Val < l2.Val {
head = l1
head.Next = mergeTwoLists(l1.Next, l2)
} else {
head = l2
head.Next = mergeTwoLists(l2.Next, l1)
}
return head
}
|
Ever wondered what happened to the mall in The Blues Brothers after Jake, Elwood, and all those cops drove right through it? They actually left it just the way it was, but that's only the start of the Dixie Square Mall's decline.
We just saw that legendary Blues Brother chase today on our list of crazy videos of cars driving through stuff. Reader Jonrev then told us the whole story of the mall itself, something I'd never heard before.
Some intel on the Blues Brothers mall: it was the former Dixie Square Shopping Center in Harvey, IL; a south-suburb of Chicago. It was only open for 13 years before closing in 1979, when the city's crime rate exploded in the wake of "white flight". Timing, of course, couldn't be better for John Landis, and in August he set up shop in the vacant mall and "dressed it up" to appear fully-functional and open. Of course, that was just Hollywood magic, and once the crew left (the mall in a disastrous state that was never repaired, despite a lawsuit that was ultimately tossed): the mall was briefly used as a school, then left to rot from 1981 onward. From there, it was a heavy crime magnet, with gang activity and vandalism taking over for the first 20 years until photographers began documenting and exploring its bombed-out shell, starting around 2003 or so. After at least one murder was committed in there, multiple arsons, roof collapses, one botched revitalization project after another, thousands of photographs, and an "accidental" demolition of one of the anchor stores that was to be purchased and used as a warehouse: it was finally demolished late last year, only-possible through the use of Hurricane Ike disaster relief funding... business as usual in Illinois.
Multiple cars went through there after Jake and Elwood... Travis Bell drove easily the best Bluesmobile replica ever made through there years ago, following the same path as the original BluMo.
If anyone can track down video of that recreation run, send me an e-mail, or let me know in Kinja below. Raphael at Jalopnik dot com.
Photo Credits top to bottom: Ian Freimuth, Matt Becker, Ken Fager, Ken Fager again |
Brexit:
‘Britons
just as
welcome’
Minister pledges support, teacher jobs safeguarded
by OLIVER ROWLAND
FRANCE has reassured British residents that
they are still welcome here and official guidelines have been issued in the run-up to Brexit.
The guidelines – in six sections: driving licences, integration, travel, residency, nationality and
elections – cover both a deal and no-deal. They
confirm that residency cards will be obligatory.
We can provide a translation (see page 4).
This comes as French MPs passed a special
law enabling measures to be brought in quickly
to cope with a no-deal including for ports,
flights, Eurostar travel and Britons whose residency rights would, in theory, be lost overnight.
France’s Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau
said: “I want to tell British people living here
that they will be welcome tomorrow as they
are today. Many of them could not take part
in the referendum that led to Brexit. They
must not become hostages of a no-deal...
“We commit ourselves without ambiguity to
do everything to ensure a situation comparable to that which they would have benefited
from in the context of the deal.”
Mrs Loiseau also said British teachers and
other fonctionnaires could keep their status.
Full Brexit updates: Pages 4-5
P5
LOUIS The village
PASTEUR with 800
mayors
INTERVIEW
Senator
for French
abroad
P12
P15
SIMON HEFFER
Macron tried
to do the
impossible
P14
Amazing scientist
but also media genius
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All copyright is reserved to the publisher.
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claims of advertisers or their professionalism.
Mensuel Depôt légal – a parution.
RCI 10 S 05218 ISSN: 1742 - 6421
CPPAP: 0121 I 85379
The Connexion
January 2019
Will gilets jaunes form a political party?
COULD the gilets jaunes form a
political party to contest this year’s
European elections?
They have so far been associated
mostly with road blockages and street
protests, but Hayk Shahinyan, a prominent figure in the movement in the
Seine-Maritime area, has announced:
“We’re getting organised – we’re going to
present a list in the European elections.”
If they did, they could win as much as
12% of the vote, behind an En Marche/
MoDem list with 21%, according to an
Ipsos poll for Le Journal du Dimanche.
That could put them in the running for
second place. In comparison, green party EELV won 9% and six seats in 2014;
the Socialists won 14% and 13 seats.
Commentators say they could become
a French version of Italy’s 5 Star Movement but many point to the lack of clear
leadership and a defined list of demands.
After concessions and four weekends
of disruption, 66% of the French still
said they supported the protests. At
the same time, 49% found the president’s response “convincing” and 54%
thought the movement should stop, according to an OpinionWay poll. A ‘fifth
act’ of protests went ahead with 66,000
– half as many as the Saturday before
– joining in, said the Interior Ministry.
Their demands are varied, with a
‘Red scarves’ grow to claim 30,000 supporters
THE foulards rouges (red scarves) – a
movement opposed to the methods of
the gilets jaunes – now claim to have
more than 30,000 supporters.
Spokesman “Loïc” (he withheld his
surname, saying members had
received threats) said: “Everyone in
the group has their own opinion on
the root cause of the gilets jaunes.
“Some agree there are too many taxes,
others say people shouldn’t complain
about them. We’re not aiming to enter
that debate – we are only against the
way the gilets jaunes are expressing
themselves. We condemn the violence,
and lots of people started joining us
after the street riots in Paris”. He says
that although the gilets jaunes have
been infiltrated by extremists from far
left and far right groups, some are
themselves pro-violence.
“That’s our first point: we are antiviolence. Our second is that we want
the freedom to circulate, as written in
article 13 of Declaration of Human
Rights. We are against the fact that
many small businesses are losing
money through this.” He doubts the
concessions will be enough. “It won’t
stop because the gilets jaunes are not
all asking for the same things. Some
want a referendum, even though they
don’t have a question to ask, some
want to topple the government.”
The group is run through Facebook
and, as an IT professional, Loïc says its
influence is huge. “Now Facebook promotes content from groups over content in pages, so you see more of what
you like, meaning you consume more
Facebook. It’s a business, after all, but it
means you get into your bubble where
you think everyone agrees with you.”
significant number seeking to see
President Macron removed from office.
They include “citizens’ initiative
referendums” – the right for the
people to create or modify a law without
going via parliament or government if
it is supported by 700,000 signatures
– ending homelessness, raising disability benefits and new caps on rents.
After a month of blockages on roundabouts and péages and – sometimes
violent – street protests, the president
announced concessions, including €100
more a month for those on the minimum wage, axing a planned rise in tax on
diesel, suspending a new tougher contrôle
technique on diesel cars for six months,
ending tax on overtime, and axing higher
social charges on pensions for those with
income under €2,000 a month.
One of the unwitting founders of
the movement, Jacline Mouraud, who
made a passionate video against the
fuel tax but has since been disowned by
many hardliners, has called for an end
to the blockages. She told Connexion:
“The changes made by the president are
in the right direction, even if they do
not go far enough. His tone was serious
and marked with humility. We must
now transform the movement to limit
the impact on the economy.”
She said the government planned to
organise ‘citizens’ rendez-vous’ meetings
and people should take part, so problems
are heard, and “build, not destroy”.
People need to feel tax justice Social media is the
IT DID not go unnoticed by protesters that on the same day
President Macron spoke to the nation with concessions, the
Senate voted through changes to the Exit Tax. Currently, rich
businesspeople who leave France must pay a tax on the
‘latent capital gains’ of their business shares of 30% if they
sell them within 15 years – this was reduced to two to five
years. We spoke to two tax experts about tax justice.
Tax justice and tax equality are
vital to France, says Robert
Matthieu, former tax inspector
and author of Payer Moins
d’Impôts pour les Nuls (Paying
Less Tax for Dummies) – but
achieving them is not easy.
The ISF (Impôt de solidarité sur
la fortune) was designed to
reallocate wealth from the richest to the poorest and close the
gap between the two.
President Macron, as promised in his manifesto,
relaunched the tax as the Impôt
sur la fortune immobilière, limiting it to property. Shares and
trust funds are now exempt.
The effect has been less tax in
percentage terms for the richest
1% while the burden on the least
prosperous 10-15% has grown.
Lucas Chancel, co-director of
the World Inequality Lab at the
Paris School of Economics, says
tax injustice grates on most
people, with 75% in favour of
re-establishing ISF.
He said: “There is always talk
that the rich will leave the country if they are taxed too much
but studies show that this is not
the case. Figures also show that
taxing them less does not have a
trickle-down effect. It does not
kick-start the economy.”
He said the most unpopular
taxes on fossil fuels are needed.
“Taxing fossil fuels drives
people to change their heating
methods, and their transport to
cleaner, less polluting methods.
We have to reduce consump-
tion in order to reduce pollution but changing consuming
means spending money, to
change cars, to change heating
boilers etc.
“So I think we should re-establish the ISF, which would
generate around €5billion a
year, and spend that on helping
people change.”
ISF, he said, was always about
tax justice and establishing
equality. “It’s true that 58% of
the population don’t pay
income tax but that’s a tiny part
of taxes levied. There are social
security contributions, VAT
and taxes on so many other
things. The working poor pay
around 48% in indirect taxes,
which is approximately the
same as the rich. That’s the
injustice.”
He said the tax system is so
complex that nobody really
understands it and only the rich
can work it to their advantage.
To give it more sense,
people should pay less indirect
tax and more income tax. “They
need to feel they’re directly contributing to the project in France,
that they are stakeholders. Paying
income tax would help.”
Mr Matthieu agrees. He said:
“Getting tax rebates or credits
makes people feel like they are
getting a favour from the state.
“It’s complicated because no
government wants to announce
a tax for everyone. We need a
completely overhauled, simplified system but governments
just tweak. For example, the
new prélèvement à la source [pay
as you earn] is not a new tax,
just a new way of collecting it.”
He said French people have
been allergic to paying tax since
the Revolution. “But everyone
should pay at least €20 because
that makes them equal citizens,
and they would appreciate more
what their taxes provide, in
terms of public infrastructure.
“It might also be good to have
different bands of TVA so
people pay less for necessities,
more for luxuries.”
Mr Matthieu believes the main
problem is that society is undergoing a profound transformation. “Now people want instant
access to everything, they want
three televisions, three cars,
phones, a cruise for the whole
family. The rich have these
things, so why shouldn’t they?
“In this new society everyone
has everything, but it’s hard to
manage that. And meanwhile
the real poor can’t buy food.
“We have to distinguish the
real poor from the aspirational
want-mores. We can’t satisfy
them, but we can help those at
the absolute bottom end.”
The tax system, and the philosophy of paying tax, should be
explained in schools, he added.
“We also need to achieve tax
justice so tax is to pay for communal things like roads and to
redistribute wealth.”
It is a matter of national unity,
he said. People must feel they
are paying to finance a common project, a common view of
the country, of what they want
France to become in the future.
“That’s the bottom line. We
need a clearly defined national
project that everyone agrees on.
National unity is important.”
new force in politics
THE gilets jaunes protests
have been organised through
Facebook and commentators
question how healthy this is.
Many feel Facebook has
been hijacked by extremists,
noting the part it played in
Brexit and the election of
Donald Trump and several
other populist leaders.
Social media techniques are
not hard. Loïc, a spokesman
for the foulards rouges Facebook group (article above)
said it was easy to harness the
site’s algorithms.
“They used to prioritise pages
over local groups, but now it is
the opposite. It’s easy to build a
presence in a few days.”
He says IT professionals
will always adapt to play the
game. But several deaths,
many serious injuries and the
impact on the economy show
that it is not a game.
Olivier Costa, research professor at the CNRS in Bordeaux, says the danger is that
Facebook amplifies emotions:
“People who have never
learned the rules of formal
debate start discussing complex issues and it becomes
heated.
“Soon there’s no debate, no
negotiation, just a lot of
people stating their opinions.”
He says that as a result the
demands put forward by the
gilets jaunes were not logical,
coherent, or sometimes even
practical.
“Social media amplifies and
simplifies complex issues. The
gilets jaunes went from chatting on Facebook to extreme
action without talking to the
authorities and that’s new to
politics. The government was
caught off guard.”
He says it is a principle that
leaders do not negotiate in the
face of violence and threats.
“So Macron refused to speak
on the subject, and on the
other side, the gilets jaunes felt
their emotions were important
and had to be expressed.”
The situation revealed a paradox: people might be asking
whether the violence was
needed to persuade President
Macron to abandon unpopular tax hikes and to raise the
minimum wage, but the government was cornered. There
was little else they could do.
“The government didn’t see
it coming.
“They ignored the rumbling
discontent about the 80km
speed limit, the drop in ISF.
“There was a lack of political experience, and Macron
didn’t want to be seen as weak
like Hollande. He wanted to
just get on and impose his
programme from the start.
“He threw away much of his
social capital, so he came over
as arrogant instead of intelligent and thoughtful. He came
across as a snob.”
Mr Costa says politicians will
have to adapt: “Social media
is a new power, it is a louder
noise from the crowd. Politicians will have to pay more
attention to public opinion.
“This could be the beginning of a transformation.
People could get more
involved in politics and
civil life, and politicians could
begin to listen more.”
Higher fees for
overseas students
STUDENTS from outside the
EU will pay higher university
fees as of 2019-2020.
Britons coming to study after
Brexit are likely to be affected
(not those who live in France).
An annual undergraduate fee
will rise from €170 to €2,770
(but still seven times less than
UK overseas student fees and,
the government says, a third of
the actual, unsubsidised, cost).
600 speed cameras
are out of order
SIX hundred speed cameras,
out of a total 4,500, were listed
as out of order after the weeks
of gilets jaunes action by the
website radars-auto.com. More
than 130 had been burnt out.
Eight new cases of
babies without arms
EIGHT new cases of babies
born with malformed arms
have been identified in
Morbihan, Brittany, and added
to a national inquiry into
villages with high numbers.
One village, Guidel, had four
cases from 2011 to 2013. There
are 150 a year nationally.
Possible causes include genetics or toxic substances in diet,
medicines or the environment.
My house is in one region, my garden in another
YOU can only imagine the
administrative headaches for
the hamlet of La Lamberdais –
its eight homes are split between
two communes, two departments and even two regions.
But the good news for
residents is that, from January 1,
all their homes in north-east
France have been “moved” into
one commune in Brittany.
For decades, some residents
have belonged to the commune
of Grand-Fougeray in Ille-etVilaine in Brittany while others
to Mouais commune in LoireAtlantique, Pays de la Loire.
It meant the Mouais postman
had to cover an extra 4.5km to
deliver mail to two people, and
one traditional longère received
two taxe foncière bills each year
because the long low home is
half in one region and half in
the other.
Local farmer François Ruanlt
said: “At one point La Poste got
mixed up and wanted me to have
two letterboxes. Their computer
couldn’t understand it.
“I grew up in my parents’ home
on the Grand-Fougeray side of
the border but when I built a
house just down the lane, I
changed department and region.
“We had to be very careful
measuring out the land and
now there is just a metre
between my house and the
border, so the house and the
At one point La Poste wanted farmer François Ruanlt to have two different letterboxes
garden are not in the same
region.”
The main road to the hamlet
passes by Grand-Fougeray and
Mr Ruanlt said everyone is
happy with the move to incorporate all the commune there.
Rubbish collection will also
improve – at the moment dustmen from the two departments
Secret illegal clock
restorer gets the job
by BRIAN MCCULLOCH
ONE of the men involved in a
clandestine restoration of the
clock at the Panthéon in Paris
has been appointed its official
restorer – more than a decade
after being taken to court.
“It’s a lovely story,” said a
Panthéon spokeswoman. “The
circle has been completed.”
The clock stopped working in
1965 and this was noticed by
Untergunther, the “restoration
wing” of UX, a “positive and
apolitical” group which infiltrates and improves neglected
public places and stages events.
Clock resto
rer Jean-Baptiste
Viot was a member, and he and
friends found ways to enter the
Panthéon after hours in 2005
and 2006. Methods included
not leaving at closing time and
copying keys left hanging on a
hook by the door by guards.
They even set up a “lounge”
with sofas, a hot plate and dining
table in a space between the
dome and the wall, with a
stunning view of Paris.
They did the work, spending
€4,000 on parts. But when they
told the administrator what
they had done (“so he could
keep it wound up,” one of the
group, Lazar Kunstmann, told
Connexion in 2007), they were
taken to court. Authorities from
News 3
connexionfrance.com
Centre
des
Monuments
Nationaux (CMN) failed in
attempts to prosecute because
the concept of breaking into a
public monument did not exist.
Lawyers argued it was, by
definition, open to the public.
What is more, “you can’t be
prosecuted for improving
something”, Mr Kunstmann
said at the time.
CMN eventually got them in
court in 2007, demanding
€48,300 in damages and costs
after they were caught sawing
through a padlock.
“
He knew the
mechanism better
than anyone else
The group was let off but with a
warning about the consequences
of a criminal conviction,
especially for a member who
worked as a nurse.
Untergunther then moved out
of the spotlight and the clock
was neglected and stopped
working again – until this year
when a budget was allocated for
restoration.
Mr Viot, now a respected
clock restorer and watch maker,
won the tender. Mr Kunstmann
said that when Mr Viot applied,
he did not hide that he was the
clockmaker taken to court.
“It was a strong argument in
his favour,” he said. “Through
the work he had done, he knew
the mechanism better than anyone else and had a good idea of
what needed doing.
“Without the work we did, this
would not have been possible.
We saved original parts from
rusting beyond repair.”
The clock is in three parts: the
face, which was not touched in
the clandestine restoration
because it would have needed
scaffolding; the mechanism in a
room above it, restored in 20052006 by Mr Viot; and bells, situated above the mechanism.
All three parts have now been
restored.
Asked what is special about the
mid-19th century clock, Mr
Kunstmann said: “It was very
well made by Wagner, who used
to be royal clockmakers, with
ingenious mechanics, designed
to last centuries if looked after.
“To neglect it, or replace it with
a digital unit which will last 10
years before being thrown away,
would be shameful.”
Untergunther’s theory is that
the clock was sabotaged in the
1960s by an employee bored
with winding it, then neglected.
arrive on different days to
empty different bins in the
hamlet, often having to cross
over the border several times.
“The borders might have
made sense at the time of the
Revolution [when France was
divided into departments] but
they do not always do so now,”
Mr Ruanlt said. “Unfortunately,
for us the change will not lead
to any reduction in taxes.”
The consolidation of the commune into Grand-Fougeray
had to be agreed at national
government level and involved
a land swap of 2,000m2 of
communal land outside the
hamlet so that Mouais would
not lose out.
New drivers
swear to be
responsible
PEOPLE who pass their driving
tests are now required to sign a
“Charter of the responsible
driver” online before they are
issued with a certificate allowing
them to take to the roads.
Candidates will be asked to
read safety advice and to watch a
YouTube video (tinyurl.com/
y743tclf) which includes a
reminder that drivers are three
times more likely to die in a road
accident in their first two years.
It also recommends downloading a Mode Conduite app which
puts your phone out of action
and responds for you to people
who text or call.
The latest accident statistics
show a year-on-year drop in
deaths (down 44 in October,
2018, compared to 2017), possibly linked to the lowering of the
speed limit on secondary roads.
However, the total number of
accidents was up 5.5%, as was
the number of pedestrian deaths.
The government hopes these
will be reduced by measures
including the possibility of drivers being fined if they are seen
on camera not respecting pedestrians’ right to cross the road.
In theory, pedestrians always
have the right of way.
France has taken action to protect the rights
of Britons living here in the event of no deal
with a new law allowing it to bring in safeguard
measures quickly.
It comes as the UK – finally – issues no-deal
planning advice for Britons living in the EU.
France’s Ministry of the Interior has also
created advice pages for British residents, with
information relating to both a deal and a
no-deal. This is in six sections: residency, travel,
integration, driving licences, elections, and
applying for French nationality.
Connexion has translated the sections, with
verification by the British Community
Committee of France. The translations are on
our website, or email news@connexion
france.com to have the links sent to you.
The British no-deal planning paper states that,
in that event, the UK wishes to continue to pay
an uprated state pension to eligible Britons living
in the EU. This and other matters which the UK
has control over would be subject to reciprocity
(ie. EU pensioners would need to continue to
receive their full pensions in the UK).
The UK also says that, as previously stated, it
would aim for healthcare arrangements for its
state pensioners in the EU to continue to
operate via reciprocal agreements, whether with
the EU as a whole or individual member states.
The same would apply to other ‘social security coordination’ matters, such as the right to
claim ‘exported’ disability benefits in France or
benefit from pension aggregation.
In a no-deal, Britain would continue to seek
agreements with EU states to give Britons the
right to vote and stand in local elections, as it
will also do in the case of a deal. EU citizens in
the UK will be able to do so, it says.
Also relevant – as France has previously stated
it will look closely at how its citizens are treated
– is that the paper confirms that the UK would
wish to maintain most of the benefits of the
draft withdrawal agreement for EU citizens
settled in Britain before Brexit day. “They will be
able to stay and carry on with their lives broadly
as now,” it says. “They will continue to be able to
work, study, and access benefits and services in
the UK on the same basis after we exit the EU.”
Rights would, however, be subject to any
future UK legal changes also affecting Britons.
This means the same rules and application
process for qualifying to stay will apply as in the
case of the withdrawal agreement going ahead.
EU citizens would be allowed to leave the UK
for up to five years without losing the status –
the same as under the deal.
There are differences: in the event of no-deal,
there would be no transition period and those
living in the UK before Brexit would have to
apply for ‘settled status’ by the end of 2020 (in the
event of a deal, there would be a grace period
until the end of June 2021).
There are also more restrictions than under the
deal regarding EU citizens bringing family to the
UK (see the full UK paper: tinyurl.com/y93optje).
The French Interior Ministry’s new site for
British teachers and hospital
workers can keep their jobs
THERE is good news for British
teachers and others who are
fonctionnaires in France as the
government and MPs have backed
an amendment to the new Brexit
law to allow them to keep this
special status afterwards.
This status is normally – by a law
called the Loi le Pors – reserved for
French and EU/EEA citizens.
When we speak of a fonctionnaire, technically this refers to a
fonctionnaire titulaire – a person
who works in la fonction publique
(public service), with a special
civil servant status.
It applies to 1,715 Britons out of
a total 5,115 working for the
national state, local government
or public hospitals. Many of them
teach English in state schools and
private ones under contract.
Britons in hundreds of other
professions, such as nurses, psychologists and hospital managers,
are potentially affected by the loss
of the status too.
A titulaire has high job security
and a clearly-defined pay structure based on seniority and time
in the post.
Other public sector workers are
contractuels, on less secure work
contracts with a salary which is,
in theory, negotiated with the
employer, who is meant to consider qualifications and experience. In practice, it is often “take
it or leave it”. They sometimes
take exams to ‘titularise’.
The French Brexit law gives the
government powers to sort out
problems that would arise if there
is no-deal, but a Foreign Affairs
Ministry source said the same
would apply if there is a deal.
tons
It would not apply to Bri
coming to France in future, but
the law says it would cover those
already working as fonctionnaires,
plus stagiaires in a first year after
taking fonctionnaire exams.
The Brexit law says the government should aim to take measures
to maintain the ‘“conditions of
status and employment they have
maintain the status
of French fonctionnaires.”
An
Interior
Ministry spokesman
said
the
expected effect is
protection for those
w it h
the
status before Brexit,
in the case of
no-deal, or before
the end of the transition period if
there is a deal.It had
previously
been
feared that, due to
France’s strict rules,
the fonctionnaires
might lose the status, with or without
a deal.
On the other side
of the Channel the
issue is less significant as there are few
comparable posts
that can be held
Lecturer Melanie Hills welcomed
only by a British or
the government’s new policy
EU citizen.
Melanie Hills, a
now” and “without any barriers
single mother of two who teaches
linked to nationality”.
Europe Minister Nathalie English in a higher education
Loiseau previously said British engineering school in Hautetitulaires would not be able to Pyrénées said: “This is really
remain so “by definition” and it good news. Fingers crossed it
had been thought they would goes through.
“Nobody would accept moving
have to move – where possible –
to be a contractuel.
to contractuel contracts.
“To work very hard to have this
These are often temporary, but
even where they are not, they are status and then have it taken away
considered less secure. Some would be a disaster – hopefully,
senior public sector posts may now it won’t come to that.”
She has been trying to apply for
not be held by contractuels.
The law has now been voted French nationality but it is
through by MPs before going to a proving difficult. She is also
mixed senators’ and MPs’ com- concerned it may be too late
mittee for final review. No signif- before Brexit or the end of the
transition period.
icant changes were expected.
Ms Hills, 51, said she worked as
Germany has also passed a law
a contractuel before passing a
to protect its equivalent workers.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry CAPES French teaching qualificasource said: “The take-home on tion, a masters degree, and written
this is that the government’s and oral exams to become a stagiposition has evolved and it aire, then the one year’s experisupports Britons being able to ence to ‘titularise’. “You can
imagine how it felt to be told ‘you
can be a contractuel’ – you work
all these years and think you have
a job for life, then have to go back
to square one.”
She said job insecurity is part of
the problem. “I live in a rural area
and there are a lot of contractuel
teachers. I’d probably have been
like them, running round looking
for bits of work.
“There are very few who have a
CDI [permanent contract]. Plus
my salary would go down – in
theory, a contractuel salary is
negotiable, but in reality you get
what you get, and if you’re not
happy, there are plenty of
others looking for work.”
One kind of public service work
that cannot be done by a contractuel is being agrégé, a highly-qualified subject teacher. One reader,
who asked to be anonymous, said
her son had just passed the exam
for this. “What a nightmare if,
after seven years of study, he is
told he can’t take up the job he’s
worked so hard for,” she said.
Another reader, working in an
allied health profession in a
hospital, said she had been planning to ‘titularise’ but Brexit might
take away the possibility.
She said: “As a contractuel, the
pension is slightly less generous
but also the big thing is that for
titulaires, if their job disappears,
they’re offered another elsewhere,
and if they move to another area
they are prioritised for vacancies.
Whereas if I had to move, I would
have to compete for a job.
“For the titulaires, a lot of job
progression happens via internal
competitions and even someone
without the baccalauréat can do
well – but if they lost the status,
they could then find themselves a
contractuel with no transferable
qualifications.”
Another reader said he feared
changing status could have halved
his salary. “There is no way I
would accept the humiliation.
I would walk away,” he said.
Britons is at tinyurl.com/MinistryPrepares. By
and large, it contains no surprises compared to
what we have reported in recent editions.
One point of uncertainty is that it states in the
section about Séjour (residency rights) that
where Britons hold a carte de séjour obtained as
EU citizens before Brexit day, they will need to
replace this with a different card (as yet not
defined) after the end of the transition period if a
deal is reached (with a grace period until at least
July 2021).
An Interior Ministry source said: “Contacts in
the minister’s office confirm it is worth getting a
carte now because it will simplify the process for
obtaining a new card.” In the case of no-deal, the
site says cards obtained before Brexit would have
to be exchanged afterwards, according to a
calendar that would be clarified in due course.
The site also contains tips on applying for
French nationality, including clarifications for
situations such as people who work cross-border
in Monaco or Switzerland.
Consular service gears
up to give carte help
STAFFING levels have been
“significantly” increased at
the British consular service to
give extra help to Britons
living in France during the
Brexit process.
It expects to spend more
time helping with carte de
séjour application issues as
these become obligatory.
This means more focus on
residents rather than visitors
and comes after years of the
consular service being
slimmed down in Europe,
with investment further afield.
Olaf Henricson-Bell, head
of politics and communication at the British Embassy
Paris, said: “We are expecting an increase in inquiries
and requests for assistance
and in the complexity of
some of our consular cases,
due to Brexit, so we are
increasing capacity.
“That includes both our
core consular capacity and
call-handling and people
working on policy areas
related to British citizens.”
The embassy has also been
working to improve the ways
it keeps Britons informed, he
said, including working with
mairies. The ambassador
recently spoke at a conference of mayors.
It is also working with the
French government to help
it communicate clearly to
the British community, he
said. Outreach meetings will
continue next year (see
tinyurl.com/yb22ay3u) and it
will hold regular discussions
with representatives of
British in Europe groups.
The UK advises checking
for Brexit updates at tinyurl.
com/travellingAndLiving
tinyurl.com/LivingFrance
and tinyurl.com/
FranceTravelAdvice.
Shindler appeal
or loan, or was sacked or not
allowed to register to vote,
due to being British.
Ideally, you should have
proof in writing. If this applies
to you, let us know at news@
connexionfrance.com.
More Brexit updates
FRENCH barrister Julien
Fouchet has appealed against
the dismissal of his case for
13 Britons in the EU, including veteran Harry Shindler.
He argues that Britons are
already impacted by Brexit, contrary to the view of
General Court of the EU
judges in rejecting his case.
He had argued that the
Britons, including Mr Shindler, 97, are badly affected
by the referendum decision
in which they had no vote
because they had been outside the UK over15 years.
The court said the case
was inadmissible as Brexit
has not happened yet and
the mere opening of Brexit
negotiations had not affected
their rights.
Mr Fouchet is appealing
to the European Court of
Justice and is interested in
gathering more evidence to
bolster his case – for example, anyone who has been
refused a job, home rental
Register to vote
ANOTHER referendum or
snap general election is
possible so you should check
you are registered to vote in
the UK if you wish to do so.
Britons who have been
living outside the UK less
than 15 years may register at
gov.uk/register-to-vote.
You can send a scanned
copy of the form by email as
long as all parts are visible
and the signature is clear.
If you have previously registered from abroad, you
must renew annually to
remain registered.
You need to make a
separate application, opting
for a choice of a postal or
proxy vote, unless you can
vote in person in the UK.
The Connexion
January 2019
Ring-fence our rights
now, say campaigners
CAMPAIGNING group British in Europe has
renewed calls for ring-fencing of the citizens’ rights
part of the draft withdrawal agreement as political
chaos in the UK gave rise to renewed uncertainty.
With British MPs unlikely to vote in favour of the
negotiated deal and the vote being put off by Prime
Minister Theresa May, and with the EU saying no
other deal is available, it is looking more likely than
ever that we will see either Britain crashing out
with no deal or, alternatively, no Brexit at all.
This comes as the European Court of Justice said
that Britain may, until Brexit day, cancel Brexit if it
decides to do so, according to its own constitutional procedures (eg. an MPs’ vote or another referendum, also known as a “People’s Vote”).
In another twist, an amendment was passed by
the UK parliament giving MPs the right to a final
say on how the UK should proceed if the Brexit
deal is voted down.
No-Brexit would retain the status quo for Britons
in France and ensure future generations could
continue to come to the country freely to work or
retire, as they have for the last 26 years since the
full EU single market came into force.
No-deal would mean British people in EU
countries become technically illegal immigrants
on March 30 unless emergency laws are put into
place by the countries where they live.
France and Germany are so far said to be the only
countries to have created legislation to deal with
this. Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau’s new Brexit
law is currently going through final stages.
A source in the Europe Ministry confirmed to
Connexion that Mrs Loiseau aims to be “very
protective” of Britons’ rights in the case of no-deal
and she “has a strong will to protect Britons in
France”. Even so, British in Europe points out that
the draft deal, while imperfect, is better for British
expatriates than having to fall back on such help,
not least because it contains clear guarantees of the
rights continuing for life.
What is more, it covers a raft of areas in its 600
pages, and individual countries seeking to replicate
it would be time-consuming.
For Britons here, it would require laws to be
passed both in the UK and France, plus bilateral
deals being agreed between the UK and France, or
the UK and EU, on matters such as pension
up-rating and aggregation, healthcare and social
security.
If the draft deal is accepted by UK MPs, the final
hurdle would be a debate and vote by the European
Parliament which is not now expected before
February or March due to formalities required to
present it to the parliament, including translation
into different languages.
However, it is thought the MEPs would not, at
this stage, object to the deal, despite the fact that it
falls short of their previously expressed wishes,
including full continuing free movement rights to
live and work across the EU and voting rights.
The parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy
Verhofstadt told Connexion: “The withdrawal
agreement and political declaration [on the future
UK/EU relationship] are the only and best
agreements possible, considering the positions of
the UK government and the Good Friday
Agreement.
“I believe this framework provides for the
possibility to establish in the future a really close
relationship between the EU and the UK.
“The basis of this would be an ‘association agreement’, as the European Parliament has proposed
from day one.”
Lord Lawson leaving France
FORMER Vote Leave chairman
Lord Lawson is selling up in
France to move back to the UK,
six months after revealing to
Connexion he was applying for a
carte de séjour – a card which
proves you are a legal and stable
resident of France.
Lord Lawson, Chancellor of
the Exchequer under Margaret
Thatcher, bought and renovated
a 19th century country mansion
in the Gers in the south-west in
2001. He lives there and travels
back for House of Lords debates.
But he recently told a BBC
Radio 5 interviewer that he was
returning to live in the UK.
When Connexion contacted
him to ask why, he said: “My
house is on the market. It’s well
known that I live here and when
I’ve sold it I’ll be moving back
to where my children and
grandchildren live.”
Asked what had changed since
spring when he was applying for
a residency card, he said: “That
was not with a view to staying but
to make sure I have medical coverage while I’m here.
“French bureaucracy is pretty
slow so it [the card] hasn’t come
through yet.”
Under British law, members
of the House of Lords must be
UK tax-domiciled.
When Connexion asked him if
this was a factor in his decision
to return to the UK, Lord
Lawson said: “I am tax resident
in the UK.” Had this caused
“
‘Brexit is
currently
a complete
mess’
Lord Lawson
problems with his French residency application? “No, not at
all,” he said.
Lord Lawson, 86, added that
he considers Brexit is currently
“a complete mess”, with the exit
deal on the table “disastrous”.
A French Interior Ministry
source said that tax residency
abroad would usually block
someone from being considered an habitual resident of
France, which is necessary for
obtaining a carte de séjour.
One tax specialist working
with Britons in France said the
French do not separate the
concepts of residence and domicile, as the UK does, and Lord
Lawson probably meets French
residency criteria through
having his main home here.
However, he said there are
dispensations which British
statesmen can use so they are
still deemed by the UK to be
domiciled there for tax.
“Having your cake and eating
it is one of the great joys of
being a politician,” he said.
The prefecture of the Gers
said it had no record of an
application for a residency card
News 5
connexionfrance.com
from Lord Lawson.
British residents at the time of
Brexit will need to meet the
same stable and legal residency
criteria required for an EU citizen permanent residency carte
de séjour to stay living here
under the terms of the draft
agreement. The card is expected to simplify proving the right
to benefit from the agreement.
After Brexit, Britons would
either have to apply for visas
and non-EU citizen residency
cards to move here or be
restricted to staying for no
more than 90 days out of every
180 days as visitors.
The draft Brexit agreement
includes the right for British state
pensioners living in France to
continue having French healthcare paid for by the UK as now
via the EU’s S1 form scheme.
A permanent residency card
(which EU citizens may apply
for if they can prove five years’
continuous, legal, residency)
also guarantees the right to be
covered under the French Puma
health system for those who do
not qualify in other ways such as
by work or holding an S1 form.
Occasional visitors, such as
holiday home-owners, currently
use a European Ehic card for
healthcare they need in France.
Under the draft deal this will
continue during any transition
period but will be subject to
separate negotiations about the
ongoing relationship yet to start.
‘Sausage Street’ may Pay-out of
change name - but €1,000 as
not to please vegans licence is
RUE de la Saucisse may be
changing its name but it is not
because vegans demanded it.
Animal rights group Peta had
written demanding the street in
Issigeac in the Dordogne be
renamed Rue Soy-cisse, a
reference to soya beans and a
vegetarian sausage brand.
But mayor Jean-Claude
Castagner said: “The name is
relatively modern and came
about because in this 15m-long
alley, there used to live a slightly
eccentric old lady, who looked
like a sausage, being tall and
round and having a stoop.
“She looked after her mother
in often difficult circumstances
and was a real character.
“She liked her nickname La
Saucisse but I felt it’s demeaning
and I want the street to reflect
her real name, Suzanne Tessier.”
She died in the 1960s. Peta has
also called for Rue aux Fromages
in Caen to be changed to Rue
aux Faux Mages, and for Rue de
la Boucherie in Limoges’s old
quarter to become Rue de la
Bouche qui crie.
Peta spokeswoman Anissa
Putois said: “We send out many
messages and videos showing
the horrible treatment of
animals used for meat or dairy
production, and people do not
like watching them.
“By mixing them with lighter
items like this, we hope people
will think about how we treat
animals and act on it.”
To change the name of a
street, a formal letter to the
mairie will get the request on
the council’s agenda. If the
council agrees, the request is
sent to the prefecture. Residents
then have to notify their contacts of their change of address.
Déja vu as Puma bills arrive...
CONNEXION is again hearing of isolated cases of state pensioners
who are due “free” healthcare in France under the European S1 scheme
being sent Cotisation subsidiaire maladie (Puma) bills by Urssaf. This is
likely to be because you are not known to them as having a French
salary or pension. You should show them a copy of your S1 form.
delayed
A MAN whose driving licence
was suspended for drink-driving
has won €1,000 damages plus
€50 per day of further delay after
he had waited six months for a
new one to be issued.
The Parisian hired an avocat
and won a case in the tribunal
administratif.
The lawyer said slow delivery of
a new licence from the national
ANTS agency meant his client
had risked fines for driving without a licence, even though he was
entitled to drive.
Peter Adams from Léran,
Ariège, who – like many other
readers – has been waiting for a
French licence from Nantes
prefecture, flagged this up.
In his case, the delay is (so far)
four months. He said he is looking to sue too, especially as it is
now possible to apply to the
administrative courts without a
lawyer via citoyens.telerecours.fr.
Like the Parisian, he lost his
UK licence due to a (two-month)
suspension and applied for a
French licence but has not even
received an acknowledgement.
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Experts for Expats in France
6 News
connexionfrance.com
A DAMNING report on the
privatisation of ToulouseBlagnac Airport has criticised
the Chinese-led board for
draining reserves by demanding a €40million payout from
€10million profits.
The Cour des Comptes state
auditors said the site – which
Occitanie region claims is strategically vital because of its links
to Airbus – has been left in the
hands of an “unstable” board
with links to the Chinese state.
It called for reforms in foreign
investments, which has happened with privatisations at
other airports such as Nice.
A spokesman for Toulouse
airport, which has UK flights
with Easy
Jet, Ryanair, British
Airways and Flybe, said: “We
have absolutely no comment to
make.”
Attempts to speak to representatives of the Chinese shareholders also failed – not
surprisingly, as even the Cour
des Comptes was unable to find
any physical trace of their
holding company in France.
The French state sold a 49.9%
stake in the airport to the
Chinese consortium Casil
Europe, which had bid €308mil-
Photo: Benjamin Pasquier CC BY-SA 4.0
Chinese criticised over €40m
claim on €10m airport profit
Occitanie’s Carole Delga
said Toulouse was unique
lion. It is made up of Shandong
Hi-Speed, owned by the
Chinese state, and British
Virgin Islands firm Friedmann
Pacific AG, which is owned and
operated by a Hong Kong businessman.
The consortium committed to
an option to buy the state’s last
10% of shares by April 2019,
and joined it in a confidential
shareholders’ pact.
However, local representatives
on the 15-seat board were upset
and wrote to the prime minister,
asking the state not to sell its
remaining shares. Last February
the government cancelled the
sale option and maintained a
state interest in the airport,
although details of the deal with
Casil Europe remained secret.
The Cour des Comptes condemned this arrangement, saying governance was “unstable
and ambiguous”.
The board has six Chinese
members, two from the French
state, four from Toulouse
Chambre de Commerce (CCI),
and one each from Toulouse
Métropole, Haute-Garonne and
Occitanie local authorities.
The councils and Toulouse
CCI hold the remaining shares.
Difficulties started at the
board’s first meeting as some
Chinese directors did not speak
French or English and the need
for translation slowed progress.
But what most upset local representatives were the Chinese
demands, backed by the French
state, for big dividends, even if
it meant raiding reserves.
In 2016 the Chinese wanted
€40million in dividends from a
net profit of around €10million.
After a boardroom battle, they
accepted a €20million dividend,
with €15million coming from
reserves. In 2017 a similar
battle resulted in a €7.8million
dividend, with €1.5million
from reserves.
Occitanie region president
Carole Delga replied to
questions with a statement
emphasising the unique nature
of Toulouse-Blagnac. She wrote:
“It is used by Airbus, especially
for all its test flights.
“It is thus a question of
national sovereignty, and these
are words not used lightly.
“It is not just a simple commercial airport like Nice. That
is why it is essential that the
state remains a shareholder in
this airport, because there is a
national dimension.
“Public shareholders must
remain in the majority.”
Despite their criticism, the
auditors recognised that revenue, profits and passenger
numbers at the airport have
soared as Casil Europe targeted
more long-haul flights
The number of passengers has
risen from 7.4million in 2014 to
9.2million in 2017, a 23% rise
when overall French provincial
air passenger numbers rose
15.9%. Overall sales figures are
also up 10.5% to €142.3million
in 2017.
EasyJet and Ryanair expand in France
RYANAIR and EasyJet are opening new
French bases and routes, including to Dublin
and Manchester, creating hundreds of jobs.
The new base at Nantes will be EasyJet’s
seventh in France, which the airline says is
its second largest market after the UK.
Ryanair said its new sites at Bordeaux
and Marseille are the “first phase of developments” after earlier saying it was “in
talks with several regional airports”.
Ryanair’s decision follows its win in the
French appeal court over claims it broke
employment law by employing 127 staff at
Marseille on Irish labour contracts – and
its decision to pay the French government
€525,000 to free a plane impounded at
Bordeaux over illegal subsidies.
Employees at Bordeaux and Marseille
will be on French contracts and it is investing €200million in each, with two Boeing
737-800 jets apiece, and 16 routes from
Bordeaux and 11 from Marseille. Both
have twice-a-week Manchester flights.
Ryanair chief commercial officer David
O’Brien said: “Our growth will create 120
jobs and deliver 1.1million customers a year
at Bordeaux and 2.4million at Marseille.”
For EasyJet, its decision to base three
A320 aircraft at Nantes will create 100 jobs
on French contracts and open up new
routes to Bastia, Bilbao, Copenhagen,
Dubrovnik, Rome, Granada, Marrakech
and Tenerife this summer. A spokesman
said: “We’ve had a long relationship with
Nantes, starting 10 years ago, and by opening the base we will reinforce our local
presence and accelerate development,
which means more flights at better times –
and 400,000 extra passengers in 2019.”
EasyJet said France was its second largest
market after the UK despite low-cost
carriers having only 30% of the market,
compared to 47% for the rest of Europe.
On-going train strikes in 2018 and the
disputes at Air France boosted EasyJet’s
French income by €20million.
Asked about a no-deal Brexit, the airline
said it was confident flights would
continue as the UK and EU had said an
agreement would be signed. “We have
taken steps already, with HQs in Austria,
Switzerland and the UK,” it said.
Sports certificates might end
Check your winter route
Polluting cruise liner fined
SPORTS medical certificates which are
needed to join clubs and associations may
be ended after an MP said in a report that
they do not prevent heart attacks and cuts
could save €100million a year.
Perrine Goulet (Nièvre) said a certificat de
non contre-indication à la pratique sportive
should only be for high-intensity sports.
DRIVERS can find out more about road
conditions on their journey this winter as
the traffic agency Bison Futé is creating
up-to-the-minute road-weather maps.
Www.bison-fute.gouv.fr has a Routes en
Hiver section with zoomable maps of
France and main winter black spots, giving
green, amber, red and black warnings.
A CRUISE liner captain and his bosses
have been fined €100,000 for polluting the
air in Marseille by using heavy-sulphur oil.
The fine on the skipper of the Azura and
US owner Carnival is the first such court
case in France. It comes after heavy local
criticism of poor air quality with plumes of
black smoke seen over the port area.
The Puma
system
explained
FRANCE’S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER
Hors serie No 17/ special publication from
herbalists who treat health
problems with plants have been
banned as a profession in
France since 1942 but may soon
regain official status.
This follows months of
consultations into the role of
herboristes at the Sénat, leading
to senators making 39 recommendations in a report, including calls for law changes.
A further consultation period
has started.
Among the justifications for
working to bring herboristes
into the modern health system
is the agricultural potential of
growing plants for health
purposes and the boost it could
bring to rural areas.
The Vichy regime banned
herboristes in 1942 under pressure from pharmacists, who
wanted to get rid of competitors
who used what they saw as
unscientific charlatan practices.
Despite the ban, many rural
areas continued to have “wise
women” to whom locals would
turn for remedies made from
plants.
In 2004 the law was amended
to allow the few stores still selling herbs, often under the guise
of being tisane shops, to again
promote the health benefits, as
long as it was done under the
guidance of a pharmacist.
Even before then, herboristes
were getting round the law.
The private Ecole Lyonnaise
de Plantes Médicinales et des
Savoirs Naturels was founded
40 years ago, with faculty staff
including doctors, botanists
and pharmacists. The school
has had record numbers of
students in the past few years
and is highly selective, with
student fees of €1,800 a year, or
€2,268 if financed by training
groups or companies.
Students are a mix of people
with farming projects, health
professionals, cooks, and those
seeking work with organic food.
Deputy director Françoise
Pillet said: “We do not, and
have not ever, issued formal
diplomas. That is how we have
managed to exist legally, but it is
the quality of the work we do
which is why we have survived.”
There are 1,200 students, with
600 doing three-year distancelearning courses. Students also
meet in local groups for lessons
and practical demos.
Founder and director Patrice
de Bonneval had mixed feelings
about bringing herboristes back
into the legal framework. “On
one level it is good, especially if
it improves job prospects.
“But when you look at the
work we and others are doing, it
is miles away from a university
science course, such as ones
pharmacists follow.
“Herboristes know plants,
their virtues and dangers, but
they also trained from the start
to marry that with the people
they give the plants to, and that
sharing outlook is a completely
different spirit to what you get
with a university course.”
He said it was gratifying to see
renewed interest in plant medicine, driven partly by people’s
wish to be more éco but also by
a more open philosophy of life.
Car premiums rise
to cover uninsured
MOTORISTS face rises in insurance premiums as MPs say they
need to pay more to cover the rising costs of treating victims of
uninsured and hit-and-run drivers.
They want insurers’ contributions to the Fonds de garantie des
assurances obligatoires de dommages to increase from 12% to 25%,
which could amount to an extra €10 on policies.
Rising care costs for victims are part of the reason for the call
for extra cash but a large part of the problem is the increasing
number of uninsured cars on the road. It coincides with the
launch of the fichier des véhicules assurés motor insurance register
this month, which gives police details of whether a car is insured
or not. Uninsured drivers face fines of up to €3,750.
Drivers who want to keep costs down can use the loi Hamon
that allows them to cancel insurance at any point after the first
year and sign up for new cheaper cover elsewhere.
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January 2019
Eating organic means reduced
exposure to pesticide residues
cides – and a 34% reduction for
post-menopausal breast cancer.
There are limits on the work
by Emmanuelle Kesse and the
team at Université Paris 13 and
the Institut National de la Santé
et de la Recherche Médicale
(Inserm).
It does not show organic food
is the direct cause of the reduced
risk as it is accepted that people
who eat more organic food have
healthier overall lifestyles and
eating habits. The findings on
lymphoma were also a small
part of the overall result, so may
not be statistically significant.
Dr Kesse said the “likeliest
explanation” for finding a 25%
reduction in overall cancer risk
for organic food-eaters was “the
presence of synthetic pesticide
residues, more common and at
higher doses in foods from conventional agriculture”.
Research agency Inra said the
results suggested a diet rich in
organic foods could limit cancers – but said it was not possible to identify cause and effect
from a single study. It said other
explanations included potentially higher levels of micronutrients in organic foods.
Dr Kesse study ran from May
2009 to November 2016 with
69,000 volunteers – average age
44, with 78% women – listed on
the NutriNet-Santé website as
ready to do food research.
A total of 1,340 cancers
appeared, including breast
cancer (34%), prostate cancer
(13%), skin cancer (10%) and
bowel cancer (7%).
There were fewer cases in
people who ate mainly organic
food – 269 against 360 in those
eating the least organic food.
The numbers involved in the
lymphoma findings were small.
Fifteen people who ate the least
organic food had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, against two
among the high-organic eaters.
Blind
rider’s
double
Olympic
dream
Photo: Verity Smith
Photo: Ken Seaton
Organic food linked to
25% drop in cancer risk
PUBLIC health advice is to be
updated to make consumers
aware of the advantages of local
seasonal foods – and push the
organic message.
The new advice comes after a
well-publicised French study
suggested people who eat mainly
organic food have a lower risk
of cancer than those who eat
little bio.
Raphaëlle Ancellin, prevention project manager at the
Institut National du Cancer,
said: “We cannot make recommendations based on this study
alone, we need more research.
“However, the Haut Conseil
de la Santé Publique is amending its diet guidance in 2019,
expanding the present ‘eat more
fruit and veg and cut processed
food, red meat and charcuterie’
to a more complete message: eat
more fruit, veg and whole
grains, be environmentally
aware and buy local, buy seasonal and possibly organic.”
The study, of nearly 70,000
people, found a 76% reduction
in lymphoma blood cancer risk
– one of the most common
cancers in farm workers who
have a higher exposure to pesti-
News 7
connexionfrance.com
Verity and her beloved horse Szekit before it fell ill
BLIND dressage rider Verity Smith’s dreams of
becoming the first rider to compete at both the
Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2020
have been revived after being dashed when her
beloved horse fell ill.
Despite being blind, Nîmes-based Verity, 45, is
ranked 12th in France at Elite Able-Bodied level.
Her only concession is the use of a team of nine
“Scoobies”, who call out the letters positioned
around the arena.
In 2017, Verity and her horse Szekit were
selected for the French dressage Paralympic
squad and had a realistic prospect of competing
in both games in Tokyo, but those hopes seemed
over when the horse fell seriously ill.
Verity, who is British but has lived most of her
life in France after moving here as a teenager, has
spent many months by Szekit’s side at a clinic in
St Etienne. Due to their bond, Verity felt her
career as a rider was finished. Then her trainer
said she had found a new horse: a 10-year-old
Hanoverian mare called Daizy. Former Team GB
rider Verity said: “At first I didn’t want to think
about it because it felt like being married to
someone and taking a boyfriend.”
Valuable training time has been lost so they
must work hard to be selected for the national
team on February 4, but Daizy is already competing at Grand Prix level and Verity is confident.
The only obstacle left is finance – to buy Daizy,
Verity needs to raise €200,000 by the end of this
month. To support her, visit bit.ly/2TYDqJf.
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Brexit brings uncertainty, including for expatriates holding
UK pensions. To determine if a transfer is in your best
interests, and to understand the possible benefits, please
contact us to arrange a personal evaluation
(which is provided free of charge and without obligation).
Deal, no deal, no Brexit?
2019 will be a big year for
politics, tax and free glasses
This will be a significant year for Britons in France
– from the start of a new tax system to (it is hoped)
the long-awaited end of the 15-year voting rule for
British elections, and a fast-approaching Brexit day
(assuming it is not all called off). We look at some of
the changes in store for France this year
Some items, such as certain health and
finance matters, were subject to a vote
on 2019 budget laws on going to press,
but are unlikely to change significantly.
Health
full reimbursement of a range of
quality glasses, hearing aids and
dental prosthetics (crowns/bridges)
will be phased in from 2019 to 2021.
Carried out via state funding and
top-up insurance, it is called 100%
santé and is open to all residents.
LOWER earners will see the end of
the Aide au Paiement d’une Complé
mentaire Santé (ACS) that helps them
pay for a top-up health policy. From
November 1, those qualifying will
move to the CMU-C, which offers
‘free’ healthcare to low earners.
Depending on age and means, they
will have to pay a monthly contribution of no more than €30.
ed to support GPs and specialists in
areas with a shortage of doctors. They
will assist by welcoming patients, taking blood pressure, making appoint
ments with specialists, billing etc.
A THREE-YEAR experiment starts in
which some A&Es will be paid for
sending patients who are not
emergency cases to see a GP instead.
TRIALS of flu jabs in pharmacies are
being extended to two further regions
in winter 2018-2019 (Hauts-deFrance and Occitanie) with a view to
the measure being rolled out everywhere in winter 2019-2020.
PRICES for a cigarette pack rise by
50 centimes in March and
then again in
November.
January 2019
Education
and training
SCHOOLING will become obligatory for all from the age of three from
the 2019 rentrée in September.
CONTINUOUS training credits in
the Compte personnel de formation
(CPF) that employees, jobseekers and
self-employed people now build up
will this year consist of a value in
euros rather than an amount of hours.
During the second half of the year, an
app will be launched that will allow
credit-holders to manage purchases of
training, which can include online
learning but must consist of approved
courses leading to a certificate.
Sport
THE TOUR de France starts from
Brussels, the capital of Belgium (and
the EU). The Grand Départ will be
on Saturday July 6 and the route will
cross north-eastern France before
heading south-west to the Pyrénées.
The closing stages will be in the
Alps before the riders fly to the
Ile-de-France for the traditional finale along the ChampsElysées in Paris on July 28.
PRICES of a national
hunting licence are set
to drop – though on
going to press there
was debate about
the final fee.
President Macron
had spoken of halving
it from around €400 to
€200, but it might end up
at €210 to €240, some
sources said. Most
hunters do not have
this type of licence
but rather hunt
under a departmental licence.
DAILY accommodation fees in
the Forfait journalier hospitalier
that helps cover the cost of a
hospital stay rise from €18 to €20.
Photo: letour.fr
EARLY diagnosis, monitoring and
care of children who may be autistic
or have other developmental issues is
to be set up and reimbursed.
PLANS to offer medically-assisted
conception to all women, including
same-sex couples, will be debated this
year as part of a bioethics law.
The Connexion
THE FIRST posts will be created for
assistants médicaux, who will be fund-
Photo: A.S.O.
GOLFERS face a
new set of competition rules as
new international
modifications are brought in.
Details can be found at tinyurl.
com/y8dkeeqs (French) or
tinyurl.com/yawye5tw (R&A,
English).
They set a new time restriction for searching for a lost
ball, down from five to three
minutes, and a player dropping a ball after it lands in an
unplayable place (dropper la
balle) should let it fall from
knee height instead of the
shoulder.
Tour de France will start from Brussels and have three finishes above 2,000m
THE FIFA Women’s World
Cup will be held in nine cities
from June 7 to July 7. It opens
in Paris and the final is at the
Stade des Lumières in Lyon
suburb Décines-Charpieu.
Home and daily life
THE tax credit scheme for eco-friendly
home improvements will now include
50% against the cost of removing an
oil-fired boiler and a credit of 30%
towards the cost of the labour (including VAT) for putting in alternatives,
such as a wood-burner or heat pump.
AID for low-income families to pay
energy bills sees the cheque énergie
rise from an average €150 to an average €200 (the amount depends on
income, family size and energy use).
Minimum and maximum amounts
are also rising, from €48 to €76 and
from €227 to €277. Those eligible
should be sent a cheque in the post.
NEW ‘one-stop shops’ will help those
who employ a home worker, such as a
cleaner or gardener, with social security fund Urssaf managing payments.
From March parents who pay childminders can use pajemploi.urssaf.fr
and others can use cesu-urssaf.fr from
June, to opt not only to have social
charges paid out of their bank account
but also the salary. At-source tax for
workers in the home is deferred a year
to 2020 when the levies can then also
be taken automatically via these sites.
A NEW law will be passed to allow
faster removal of offensive (racist,
sexist, homophobic…) material
from social media.
families with a disabled child
with the AEEH education benefit will
see the Complément mode de garde
rise by 30%; a gain of up to €140 for
families employing childcare workers.
PRICES of red stamps rise 10 centimes
to €1.05, while the green stamp rises
eight centimes to 88 centimes. La Poste
says it needs to compensate for declining volumes (a red stamp was 55
centimes in 2009). There will now be
three centimes off for those who print
stamps at home via La Poste’s website.
A 20g letter in the EU is also rising by
10 centimes to €1.30 and there will no
longer be a different price for the rest
of the world, just a single international
rate – meaning the price for the UK
should not rise after Brexit.
AN EU regulation on matrimonial
regimes comes into force on January
29, 2019. It will no longer be possible for a British person in France to
change their regime only for property in France. It will now have to
apply to their worldwide estate. The
change is not retrospective.
UNDER an EU proposal, countries
may be asked to decide by March 31 if
they wish to retain their winter time
all year round – in which case they
would change clocks for the last time
in October – or summer time (the last
change would be in March).
Transport
PLANS to raise fuel prices on January
1 by 3 centimes/litre on diesel and 6
centimes/litre on petrol – targets of
the gilets jaunes protests – have been
cancelled by the prime minister. A
temporary cap has also been set on
electricity and gas prices.
SIMILARLY, new stricter emissions
rules in the Contrôle technique (MOT)
have been suspended for six months.
A NEW law on transport will be
debated in the spring.
One measure sets stricter rules on
car-sharing payments: if a fee is set for
a single passenger then a set reduction
will apply for each extra passenger
Another plan would remove péage
barriers in favour of number plate
recognition ,with drivers billed by
direct debit. Tests are under way on
the A4 Paris-Strasbourg motorway.
Employers are already encouraged to
help staff who come to work by car or
public transport. In the new law they
will be urged to offer up to €400/year
to those using car-share or bicycle. It
may also allow lone women travellers
to ask bus drivers to request a halt
between stops for better safety.
FROM January prime à la conversion
January 2019
Work / Employment
SMALL businesses with turnover of
less than €5,000 will not have to pay
the CFE business tax from this year.
In addition, micro-entreprises with a
turnover of under €5,000 will no
longer need to have a dedicated
bank account – unless they exceed
this threshold two years in a row.
connexionfrance.com
UNLESS there is a last-minute
change due to a snap general election, an MPs’ vote or another referendum, the UK will leave the
European Union on Friday, March
29, at midnight French time.
If the Brexit deal was agreed by
British MPs in December, the last
hurdle will be a vote by MEPs in
February or March.
If a withdrawal agreement is in
place, a transition period will last
until the end of 2020, when nothing
should change in terms of rights of
Britons in France.
Britons would have until July 2021
to apply for a card proving their
right to benefit from it.
Those with EU citizen cartes de
séjour may be required to exchange
them. If a no-deal scenario looks
likely, the French government is
INCLUDED in the 2019 Finance Law,
being finalised on going to press, is a
measure replacing two income tax
credits, CICE and CITS, with a permanent six percentage point cut in the
health social charges on salaries up to
2.5 times the Smic minimum wage.
ANOTHER measure is halting social
charges on overtime from September
1, estimated to give an average €200
per year per worker (as more pay
goes into their pocket). President
Macron told gilet jaunes protestersthis will also apply to income tax.
for scrapping an old car and buying a
greener one is doubled for the 20%
lowest-income families and for workers who drive at least 60km/day to go
to work. It is up to €4,000 for buying
a low-emission diesel or petrol car,
either new or second hand (the prime
is €2,000 for other families who do
not pay tax, or €1,000 for those who
do). Amounts are higher for electric
or (new this year) hybrid cars.
THE MALUS (financial penalty)
applied to polluting cars will also now
apply to pick-ups, apart from ones
used by artisans for their work.
FROM winter 2019/2020, drivers in
some mountain areas may be obliged
by law to use winter tyres. Prefects
will list the communes affected.
4G INTERNET reception will be
available in the Lyon metro this year.
Both Easyjet and Ryanair are opening new bases in France. See page 6.
Culture and events
ELTON John will play four French
dates in Lille, Paris, Bordeaux and
Nîmes for his Farewell Yellow Brick
Road tour. The Lille event is June 18,
with Paris on June 20, Bordeaux June
22, and Nîmes on June 23
THIS year is the 350th anniversary of
the Opéra National de Paris since it
was created as the Académie Royale
de Musique by Louis XIV.
THE ACCRE scheme, which gives
reduced social charges to those starting or taking over a business under
conditions linked to age or claiming
unemployment or other welfare benefits, is to be opened to all with a sole
criteria of means (net annual income
of less than €40,000).
Renamed exonération de début
d’activité, it will be for the first year
only or for micro-entrepreneurs it may
be extended to three. As now, it will
be an exemption if your income is
under a certain level (€30,393), or
otherwise a reduction above that.
AS THE Régime Social des
Indépendants (RSI) was abolished
(with transitional arrangements) in
2018, self-employed people who start
a new business this year will be covered by the Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie for sickness insurance,
as for employees. This has no effect
on social charges or their health cover.
THE LIST of types of self-employed
work requiring affiliation to Cipav for
pension cotisations is much reduced
for new businesses. Remaining sectors
include architects, ski instructors and
osteopaths. The others should join the
Sécurité Sociale des Indépendants
(which has replaced RSI).
PRIME d’activité, a top-up for
low-earning workers, is being
increased for those with work-related
incomes of 0.5-1.2 x the Smic minimum wage. There will be up to a
maximum €30 a month extra by June
for a single person on the Smic.
FOLLOWING gilets jaunes protests
President Macron promised workers
on the Smic they would get an extra
€100/month though the precise means
of doing this was not confirmed.
SENATORS will discuss the PACTE
Law in January. It includes simpler
patents procedures; creating a vetting
system and whitelist and legal framework for ICOs (‘initial coin offerings’
where people can invest in something
via a new cryptocurrency); rules for
more self-driving car experiments;
and a plan to pool public and private
expertise to advance this technology.
THE RIGHT to paid maternity leave
for self-employed women is extended to give equality with employees,
ie. a total of four months, or 16
weeks, up from 10. Maternity pay is
around €54/day. Those taking paid
maternity leave must stop work for
at least 56 days, up from 44.
THE ARPE, a benefit for certain
people aged under 28 seeking a first
job, has been abolished.
BUSINESSES with a CSE committee
representing the employees (which
from 2020 will include all those with
at least 11 employees) should now
designate one member to have
responsibility for combating sexual
A STAGE show in honour of Johnny
Hallyday is to open in Paris by the
end of the year at the Casino de Paris
music hall in the 9th arrondissement.
REPLICA 18th Century frigate the
Hermione will voyage around the
north from April to July, coinciding
with the 75th anniversary of the
Normandy Landings. She will take
part in nautical festivals from May
23-27 at Saint-Nazaire and Nantes and
in Rouen on June 7.
harassment and sexism. Employers
must also post up a text regarding the
laws on sexual harassment and refer
to these in recruitment and training.
CEILINGS for micro-entrepreneurs
will not change this year.
Micro-entrepreneurs who use the
simplified tax system, paying
monthly or three-monthly based on
turnover, are not affected by the new
at-source taxation but those declaring annually will pay instalments by
direct debit based on 2017 income
declared in 2018. Instalments will be
readjusted in September after the
spring declaration of 2018’s income.
Those who start businesses during
the year can either volunteer to start
paying instalments, or wait for the
adjustment in September 2020.
SET-UP courses for people starting an
artisan business will now be optional,
with the cost falling from an average
€250 for a week’s course to €194.
SELF-EMPLOYED people who have
to close a business due to going into
receivership or bankruptcy will be
able to claim unemployment benefit.
Under certain conditions (including
having been in the job five years)
people who resign to retrain or to
start or take over a business will also
be able to claim benefit (called allocation d’aide au retour à l’emploi projet).
See also page 33 for more new tax and
money items, including the start of the
at-source tax system in France
Tax and money
A TAX on borrower’s insurance that
people take out when taking a loan to
buy a property will be extended from
January 1 on new policies. This tax, at
9%, was already applied to the guarantees for loss of job or disability and
will now also be applied to the death
insurance portion, increasing the
overall cost by around €2-3/month.
It will go towards social housing and
helps compensate for a loss of revenue
from a business tax that now applies
only to those with 50 or more
employees, compared to 20 before.
Photo: Gabbot Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
The FIFA
Women’s World
Cup will be held
this year with
the final in Lyon
AN OPTION for firms to pay impôt
sur les sociétés (corporation tax)
instead of income tax will no longer
be irreversible. A lowering of the rates
of impôt sur les sociétés under way
since 2017 will continue, with the
rates being 28% for the first €500,000
of profit and then 31%.
What’s new? 9
Politics... and Brexit
Photo: Duncan Hull - CC BY 2.0 / Banksy
The Connexion
Farewell, not
Goodbye, as Elton
John plays his last
concerts in France
THE EXIT tax on latent capital gains
of wealthy business owners leaving
France, formerly payable up to 15
years after a person left France if they
then sold shares in a French business,
will now only be payable for two to
five years (for the wealthiest). MPs
expected to pass laws to deal with
this before Brexit day, including
ones helping secure the right of
existing British residents to continue to live and work in France.
EUROPEAN elections will be held
on May 23-26. British people will not
be able to take part.
A REFERENDUM could take place
on whether or not the department of
Loire-Atlantique should join Brittany.
A BILL to end the 15-year limit on
Britons voting from abroad may
finally be passed by the UK
Parliament early this year.
British MP Sir Roger Gale has
proposed it be known as Shindler’s
Law, for campaigner Harry Shindler
who will be 98 in July.
raised this after the government proposed two years for all.
IN JANUARY complementary
pension regimes for management and
other workers will merge – to be
called Agirc-Arrco. Rights obtained
before this will be unchanged and
pension ‘point’ values will be aligned
with the Arrco ones. For most workers it will mean a small increase in
charges with no increase in pension.
A new bonus-malus will encourage
people to continue to work after they
can retire on a full pension. Those
retiring immediately receive 10% less
“complementary pension” in the first
three years (5% for those on small
pensions), up to age 67 at the most,
while those working on for two or
more years obtain 10-30% extra,
payable only in the first year.
The fusion will benefit managers’
widow/ers as a non-means-tested pension de réversion will be available from
age 55, whereas it was 60 for Agirc.
CERTAIN tabacs are to offer bitcoin
and ethereum cryptocurrencies.
BASIC salaries of fonctionnaires are
to be frozen this year (though rises
based on service will remain).
LEGAL changes will affect rights of
people living in copropriété flats,
including possible fines for syndics
who delay sending residents documents such as contracts and invoices,
and a postal vote option for people
who cannot get to a residents’ AGM.
Property
ZERO interest eco-loans will be prolonged and opened up to more projects, with people no longer needing
to do multiple kinds of renovation.
The repayment period is extended to
15 years, no matter how many works
were done and it will be for homes at
least two years old, while previously
it was for those built before 1990.
HOUSING benefits APL, ALF and
ALS will rise less than inflation. Also,
as of April, officials will use the last 12
months of income to calculate eligibility and not income two years before
based on the income tax declaration.
Shopping
GALERIES Lafayette is opening a new
store on the Champs-Elysées in spring
on the former Virgin Megastore site.
Some 300 ‘personal stylists’ are being
trained to help customers.
More French trying
to quit smoking
THE number of smokers
trying to kick the habit is
expected to soar this year as all
anti-smoking aids became
reimbursable from January 1.
Numbers had already jumped
by more than 300,000 towards
the end of last year after the
State agreed to cover up to
€150 of an individual’s cost on
just under half the aids on the
market. The cost of a pack of
20 cigarettes is set to rise to
€10 early this year.
EU-wide helpline
for victims of rape
A Europe-wide helpline
that offers victims of assault
and rape direct access to
professional support launched
in December.
The number – 116 006 – is
free to call, anonymous, and is
open seven days a week from
9h to 19h. It connects victims
to more than 130 professional
support associations.
Vital cash aid for
drought-hit farmers
Livestock farmers in the
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes are to
receive up to €2,000 in aid to
help them feed their animals
over winter after the long
summer drought wrecked
fodder supplies.
The drought, which has been
described as the worst since
2003, has seen farmers in large
swathes of the region draw on
their winter food supplies since
late summer, say reports.
4,000 tabacs now
able to sell Bitcoin
UP TO 4,000 of France’s 27,000
tabacs have been equipped
with software that allows
customers to buy either
Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrencies from January 1.
If successful, the scheme
will be rolled out to all
tabacs, but the Banque de
France has rejected claims
that it has given the plan its
backing.
Normandy bakers
accused in court of
working too much
Two bakers from Calvados in
Normandy have been summoned before
their local courts, accused of illegally
selling bread seven days per week.
Isabelle and Xavier Perret, owners of
La Boulaga bakery in the 3,800population town of Troarn, stand
accused of the “uninterrupted sale of
bread” after opening their shop every
day of the week for the past year.
The department bakers’ union (le
syndicat départemental des boulangers
du Calvados) has accused the couple of
breaching a century-old law on bread
selling.
The couple have now appeared at the
TGI (tribunal de grande instance) de
Caen, accused of “disloyal competition”
for opening their shop every day, as the union claims - “other small artisans
do not have the means to do this”.
Mr Perret said: “It’s strange for me to
think that I’m having to go to court
because I’m working!
“I have 12 staff members, and I
respect their time off. We do shifts, and
I respect their right to work.
“It’s shocking to have [a court case]
when you hear President [Macron] saying things like ‘You only have to cross
the street to find work’.” According to
Hospital in call for
unusual donations
A hospital in Paris is willing to pay €50 to anyone who
can provide it with some very
particular donations.
Doctors at Saint-Antoine
hospital are conducting a study
into the bowel disease hemorrhagic rectocolitis – and need
stool samples to assist in their
research.
Five arrested over
driving licence fraud
Police have broken up a
criminal gang they believe is
responsible for helping as many
as 600 motorists in and around
Marseille get their driving
licences without passing a key
part of their tests.
The group were arrested after
a scam was uncovered in which
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
January 2019
Keep out of it,
Trump is
warned after
gilets tweets
Photo: La Boulaga / Facebook
10 News in brief
the couple, being forced to close one
day a week would completely disrupt
the shop’s functioning and lead to the
loss of two jobs.
They have now started a petition to
help gather support for their case.
The laws on selling bread every day
date back to 1919. As a result, most
departments in France forbid shops,
stands and stalls selling loaves – such as
baguettes – every day, and demand that
shops have at least one day off a week.
The Perret bakery is not the first to
fall foul of such laws in recent years.
people falsely posing as candidates took the theoretical part
of the driving test.
State will now pay
cost of condoms
A BRAND of condom – the
French-made Eden – can now
be reimbursed on prescription
by social security as part of a
national effort to combat
sexually transmitted infections.
At present, the cost of treating STIs is €2billion per year,
including €1.6billion for HIV
alone. About 6,000 new cases
of HIV infections are discovered every year, according to
the Ministry of Health.
Official warning over
carte vitale scam
The public are being
warned against an email scam
Last July, Servane and Emmanuel
Deuval – who run the la Feuillette
bakery in Mondeville (BasseNormandie) – were forbidden by a
court to sell bread on Tuesdays.
They now continue to make legal sales
seven days a week due to two loopholes
in the law.
They sell sandwiches and cakes, but
not simple loaves of bread, on Tuesdays,
and have installed an automatic vending machine in their car park, which
dispenses bread 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
inviting people to update their
carte vitale insurance card by
“filling in an online form”,
medical insurance agency
l’Assurance Maladie has said.
The scam is particularly “well
done”, the agency said, but is
completely false, and the email
should be deleted immediately
if you receive a version.
Price-fixing brands
are fined €189m
Six major white goods brands
have been fined €189million by
the French consumer agency
DGCCRF for their role in a
secret price-fixing agreement.
BSH (Bosch, Siemens, Viva,
Neff), Candy Hoover;
Eberhardt Frères (Liebherr);
Electrolux (AEG, Arthur
Martin); Indesit (Ariston,
Scholtès); and Whirlpool
joined together to increase
their minimum selling prices
to distributors, the investigation found. The policies were
found to have been agreed “at
the highest levels of the companies during secret meetings”.
Louvre reaches
10m visitor mark
The LOUVRE is seeking to
widen its appeal to Chinese
visitors as it celebrates a
record-breaking 10 million
tourist visits in 2018 –
confirming its status as the
world’s most-visited museum.
Its president Jean-Luc
Martinez said it is becoming
even more important for the
site to widen its appeal to
foreigners - especially the
Chinese, who make up an
ever-greater proportion of visitors. It is looking to include
more exhibitions of Asian art.
FRANCE has asked President
Donald Trump to stop interfering in its national politics
after his repeated tweets on the
gilets jaunes protests.
The US president, who
alleged that the Paris Agreement
on climate change was at fault,
has also been criticised for not
commenting on a march against
climate change (La Marche Pour
Le Climat), which took place
across France.
At least 20,000 people
marched in Paris on the same
weekend as the fourth round of
gilets jaunes protests .
Foreign Affairs Minister JeanYves Le Drian said: “I say to
Donald Trump – and the
President of the Republic also
says – we do not take part in
American debates, so let us live
our own national life.
“We do not try to interfere in
internal American politics, and
we would like this consideration
to be reciprocated.”
After the first protests in Paris,
Mr Trump said it had been a
“very sad day and night” and a
solution would be “to end the
ridiculous and extremely expensive Paris Agreement and return
money to the people in the form
of lower taxes”.
He had previously tweeted:
“The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris. Protests
and riots all over France.”
He claimed French protesters
had chanted “We Want Trump”,
but Mr Le Drian said: “As far as
I know, the gilets jaunes did not
protest in English, and videos
that appeared in the US in
which you hear ‘We want
Trump’ were from London, and
filmed during Mr Trump’s visit.”
Mr Trump announced his
intention to take the United
States out of the Paris Agree
ment, which aims to decrease
greenhouse gas emissions and
limit temperature rises, in 2017.
The Connexion
January 2019
connexionfrance.com
News in brief 11
Dordogne named one of world’s most exciting places to visit
February
FRANCE’S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER
Your practical Q&A
The stunning Benedictine Abbey of Brantôme (above), on the banks of the Dronne in the
Dordogne was one of the attractions mentioned in the National Geographic article. The abbey
was founded in 769 by Charlemagne. According to legend, he donated relics of Saint Sicarius to
the abbey. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times in the centuries that followed. Its
Romanesque bell-tower is a competitor for the title ‘oldest in France’.
Exciting? Not really but many, many other reasons to love living here
Connexion reporter
Jane Hanks puts her
long-held love of
Dordogne into words
I have lived in the Dordogne
for 27 years and I love it.
There are many beautiful
places in France. Some are
more spectacular, like the
Alps. Others are more culturally vibrant, like nearby Bordeaux and Toulouse, or with
more sun, but it is always good
to get back to the Périgord.
The combination of the rural
landscape and the consistently
beautiful architecture with
its warm ochre stone makes
it a wonderful place to be. It
is part of a Unesco biosphere
reserve; chosen because there
is no major industry or vast
city to pollute the beauty of
the department.
National Geographic says it is
one of the most “exciting”
places to visit in the world. It
is not the word I would use;
no mind-blowing thrills here,
rather an appreciation of the
best things in life and a closeness to nature and history.
Here are the famous painted
prehistoric caves like Lascaux,
the valley of the five chateaux,
the medieval town of Sarlat
and the river Dordogne at its
most majestic. I never cease to
enjoy the beauty of it each
time I have to drive anywhere,
even for the most banal
administrative appointment.
I also love my Dordogne,
which is the woodland just
outside my back door. Trees
cover 45% of the department
and most of it is unmanaged
and wild. It is a privilege to
have such easy access to
nature. Often, while out walking, I am rewarded by the site
of deer feeding on grass.
One bleak winter day, a
magnificent stag walked
across the track in front of
me. Two days ago, a wild boar
hurtled out of hiding.
My family have always
appreciated the river. Every
summer we spend hours
either in, on or by it. The
children learned to swim in
its unpolluted waters and we
have enjoyed many a barbecue
on the beach.
The Château de Commarque
sums up the best of the
Dordogne for me (see page 37)
– centuries of human history
hiding in the undergrowth to
be revealed by the hard toil of
a typically warm-hearted and
generous local man.
The Dordogne has a special
rustic, earthy beauty. Black
winter trees silhouetted against
the sky. The richness of the
greens in the summer.
Underlying history everywhere. A mixture of stone and
tree and earth.
Photo: Google
Levothyrox hearing moves to hall
to fit in huge crowd of witnesses
Google honours French ‘father of
deaf’ who worked to stop prejudice
Photo: Unknown / Public domain
GOOGLE has paid
homage to CharlesMichel de l’Epée
(right), who founded the first school
for deaf children in
Paris in 1760 and is
seen as leading the
way in deaf education. His methods
spread throughout
the world.
A Google Doodle
on its home page (above)
featured an animation of
children using sign language
to spell “Google” to mark
what would have been Abbé
l’Epée’s 306th birthday.
Born near Versailles in 1712,
Abbé l’Épée (he trained as a
priest) helped dispel the myth
that deaf people
were incapable of
learning. His work
allowed deaf people
to have an education and to defend
themselves in court.
Sign language
existed among deaf
people but he was
the first French
hearing person to
take an interest in it
and helped standardise French
sign language by categorising
the signs people used. He
developed a visually-based
educational system used in
his free school, which after his
death became a state institution, now the Institut national
de jeunes sourds de Paris.
A COURT hearing in the case
of controversial thyroid medication Levothyrox has opened in
a concert hall as the Lyon Palais
de Justice was too small for the
4,113 plaintiffs.
The hearing began last
month, with plaintiffs suing the
drug manufacturer, German
laboratory Merck, over a “lack
of information about the
medication’s controversial new
formula”, which was introduced
in France in spring 2017. It had
to decamp to the Double Mixte
concert hall in Villeurbanne.
The new formula caused a
scandal, with patients claiming
the medicine no longer works.
Around three million people
take the formula in France and
around 30,000 have reported
side-effects. Reports of problems emerged in August 2017.
Health Minister Agnès Buzyn
then made the old formula of
Levothyrox available, with
almost half the 130,000 boxes
selling out in two days.
Further tests of the new one –
including by French medical
safety body ANSM – found it to
be of “good quality”, and it is
still used. One ANSM study
found side-effects were similar
to those of the old formula but
unexpectedly frequent.
The new one was introduced
on request from ANSM. It
replaced inactive ingredient
lactose, thought to have made
the pills less effective over
time, with another additive.
However, some patients say it
caused side-effects or the return
of their thyroid problems, with
symptoms such as depression,
fatigue, coldness, hair loss,
shaking, headaches, vertigo, and
even cancers.
Victims’ association l’Association Française des Malades de
la Thyroïde (AFMT) says its
own tests found “anomalies in
the composition” of the drug.
Merck plans to roll the
formula out across 21 Euro
pean countries this year. Some
opponents allege its enthusiasm
for it is linked to a much longer
patent period, because the old
one expires this year.
between a diététicien
n Can I call emergency
services in France from the and nutritionniste?
UK (for a relative here)?
n Is it law that officials
must accept documents in
n My tree’s branches fell
into next door’s property – all EU languages now?
do they still belong to me?
n What charges are due on
assurance vie withdrawals?
n What is the difference
Equity release in France
‘I want to do it but it’s a bad deal’
PLUS...What does a
PACS partnership offer?
‘The book
is seen
as very
important
here’
Photo: Bloomsbury
Photo: Monster1000 / CC BY-SA 3.0
The Dordogne has been
named as one of National
Geographic’s top five world’s
most exciting destinations to
visit this year because of its
“picturesque and historic”
attractions and culture.
It appeared at five on a list of
28 destinations for 2019 and
was dubbed “worth a trip” for
its “defining beauty and wonder in south-western France”.
National Geographic’s reporter Kimberley Lovato wrote: “I
am crazily in love with
everything about it: the prehistoric caves, the fairy-tale
castles and the resilient locals.”
Ms Lovato also cited good
food, the mix of languages,
and dialects such as Occitan.
She gave a special mention
to the traditional Félibrée
festival, which celebrates the
culture, music and history of
the Occitanie, Périgord, and
Langue d’Oc regions.
This year it will take place
in Périgueux.
INTERVIEW: Author Delphine de
Vigan on enduring literary culture
+ Art Deco and where to spot it
+ Meet the new cupcake queen
+ A piece of Aveyron... in Argentina
+ Why are some wines so pricy?
an extraordinary life...
Joan of Arc’s story
+ Paris’s Luxembourg gardens
+ Chocolate mousse recipes
+ France’s love of musicals
These and many more practical tips and topics
about life in France. Don’t miss out on a copy:
subscribe
Subscribe now to receive the February edition
at your home. Only €49 to a French address
www.connexionfrance.com
Call Nathalie on 06 40 55 71 63
12 Village life
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
January 2019
Cédric Szabo,
right, is head of
the Association
des Maires Ruraux
de France, a group
representing 10,000
mayors of small rural communes. He tells Samantha
David their work deserves
to be better recognised.
SMALL-TOWN maires have launched
a charm offensive to highlight their
work and fight back against what they
see as efforts to force them out of
office permanently.
They argue that maintaining these
tiny administrative units is important
to life in the countryside.
Cédric Szabo, head of the
Association des Maires Ruraux de
France (AMRF), which represents
around 10,000 maires in charge of
communes with fewer than 3,500
residents, says mayors of small rural
communes are an essential
expression of democracy.
“It is vital to maintain this system
because it means people know exactly
who to turn to for assistance with
everything, even disputes with
neighbours,” he said. “People in small
rural communes know that someone
is looking after them.”
There are 35,228 communes in
mainland France, and each has a
mairie, a maire, a secretary and a full
set of councillors.
About 34,600 communes are home
to fewer than 5,000 people and, of
those, 31,500 have populations under
2,000. There are around 20,000
communes in France with populations
of fewer than 500. Some are home to
just a few dozen individuals.
Mayors receive expenses for their
work on a sliding scale related to the
number of residents. For example, a
mayor of a commune of between
1,000 and 3,499 residents receives
€1,635 a month. The number of
Photo: Musee Jardins-Sabourdy
We must protect endangered rural mayors
The work of the mayor of Vicq-sur-Breuilh in Haute Vienne, who renovated the former presbytery and reopened it as an
art museum that attracts thousands of visitors a year, has been hailed as a ‘little miracle’ by Cédric Szabo
maires stepping down from their
positions has risen 55% since 2014,
according to figures reported by
Agence France Press.
But this is not accurate, says Mr
Szabo. “Most maires are staying,” he
said. “But it’s true that the pressure is
mounting.”
One source of discontent is being
forced to work with the maires of
other communes. Successive governments have moved towards amalgamating smaller communes to save
money and increase efficiency.
Mr Szabo said: “Rural maires have
always had to do this on some issues
because it’s impossible for a small
commune to do everything alone.
School buses, for example, are best
organised inter-communally.
“So intercommunalité has always
existed but now it is being forced on
communes, and working in a way you
haven’t chosen, with people you
haven’t chosen to work with ... that
doesn’t always come easily.”
La Dépêche du Midi daily newspaper
in the Midi-Pyrénées has given the
phenomenon a name: le blues des
maires. Causes cited include decreasing budgets and power, and the
increased role now given to ‘intercommunalités’ – which have in some
places regrouped up to 50 maires.
Stuck in meetings with dozens of
other maires, many feel they do not
have a genuine voice.
“The 2015 ‘Loi NOTRe’ gave more
power and more money to intercommunalités. That was a big change
imposed from Paris that came on top
of a whole raft of other legislation
decreasing the power of small maires,”
Mr Szabo said.
“We’ve also seen the formal creation
of ‘métropoles’ and the enlargement of
the ‘régions’ which has further
centralised decision-making.
“Small mairies can manage the
specific affairs of small communes in
a way that doesn’t happen when
administration is centralised.”
He is also in favour of mayors being
elected multiple times. Currently, they
serve six years and can be re-elected
without limit, but proposals to limit
their mandat to three consecutive terms
in communes of more than 3,500
residents are under review.
“Only being able to serve one or two
mandates would not allow maires to get
anything done. Large projects take
longer.”
He points to the village of Vicq-surBreuilh in Haute Vienne, where
Christine de Neuville is maire. “I visited recently and what she has done is
nothing short of a little miracle.
“The village was dying, but since
being elected in 2001, she has set up a
shop, a restaurant, and a creche.
“She’s also renovated the old
presbytery, and reopened it as an art
museum which now attracts around
10,000 visitors a year. There are floral
decorations, and more businesses are
opening. It’s a success, a little miracle.”
This is why maires being able to run
for office multiple times is not
anti-democratic, he says. “Residents
can vote a maire out if they prefer
someone else. That is real democracy.
Voter turnout for municipal elections
in the larger cities is around 55% but
in rural communes it is typically very
high, up to 90%, which means rural
maires have great legitimacy.
“Anyone can challenge a maire and
run against them at the elections.
“The fact that so few people do is a
reflection of how few people want to
take the job on. There are maires who
have been elected for 40 years and
can’t find anyone to replace them.”
Mr Szabo is not a maire himself. “I
do not have that honour. Our role at
the federation is to defend rural
communes in their current form.
“This move to centralise power must
be resisted, as must the obsession with
reducing the number of communes.
“Mayors of rural communes manage
92% of French territory but do not get
enough money to do it properly.
“Technocrats want to reduce the
number of fonctionnaires all over
France, but they represent rural
development through democracy.
“The president says he supports
start-ups, and communes are just like
start-ups, so why doesn’t he like them
more? Because they’re independent of
government, that’s why.”
Several rural mayors are worried
about Brexit because many smaller
communes have been re-dynamised
by incomers from the UK and from
all over the EU.
“Mayors are also concerned that
Brexit will increase their administrative burden and that if UK nationals
lose the right to run in municipal
elections, there will be a shortfall of
elected councillors,” he added.
Currently, 900 British people are
local councillors in France. They
have been allowed to continue in
the positions until the next local
elections in 2020.
“Many Britons living in rural France
play a healthy role in their local
mairies. We get a lot of letters from
maires about this issue. It’s just
another problem facing maires in
rural France,” said Mr Szabo.
The village where everyone has been le maire since 1971
Residents of Vandoncourt are encouraged to organise events
under a long-standing participative democracy project
VANDONCOURT has been called “the
village with 600 mayors”... only now there
are more like 800 of them.
The village, in the Franche-Comté, got
everyone involved when it started its own
system of “participative democracy” in
1971. The scheme is still running today
and its fall in population has reversed.
When the project was launched, there
were 700 people living there and the
population was falling. Now there are 860
residents and the village has no fewer than
28 active associations.
The associations form one of the pillars
of the participative democracy project,
along with eight commissions, open to the
public, which hold quarterly public meetings on all topics affecting local life.
There is also an elected council and a
strong policy of holding regular communal
events, in which everyone is urged to
participate. Mayor Patrice Vernier told
Connexion: “These range from the village
fêtes and meals, to building projects to
conserve the heritage of our buildings, to
communal litter picking and tidying up.”
When the originator of the scheme,
former mayor Jean-Pierre Maillard-Salin,
introduced it, it made national news.
Headlines proclaimed Vandoncourt to be
“The Village With 600 Mayors”, or even
l’Irréductible Village Gaulois (after the
Astérix comic strips).
Mr Vernier was elected mayor after Mr
Maillard-Salin’s death in 1993 and has
continued the policies. “It is a measure of
how well thought-out they were that they
continue, long after the initial buzz has
worn out,” he said. “At their centre is a
dynamic spirit, a wish to take the initiative,
of conviviality and civic pride.
“From the mayor’s point of view, it is
important that people are given the space
to express themselves in public meetings
or through the associations, and secondly
that they are listened to, and their views
discussed seriously and taken into account.
“Ultimately, it is down to the population
of the village to make it work.
“Modestly, I can say that our population
is growing while that of many other small
towns and villages is falling, so we must be
doing something right.”
He said that although there was a lot of
interest in the participative democracy
project from other communes in France,
he had no lessons to give. “I cannot give
advice to others because I do not live there
and do not know their circumstances. It is
no good someone coming and looking at
what we are doing and trying to copy and
paste it because it will not work unless
there is a real community spirit attached to
it,” he said.
The eight commissions cover teaching
and children; technical matters, communal
buildings and roads; finance and budgeting; social and family affairs; civic life,
including planning permissions, drains,
and flower displays; culture and ceremonies; surrounding areas, including
environmental matters, forests, orchards
and the cemetery; and finally work, youth
and economic solidarity matters.
Every resident is encouraged to join one
or more commissions, take part in their
meetings and volunteer in projects. Each
has two or three designated organisers,
who may also be on the municipal council.
Members are also responsible for specific
sectors or streets.
Mr Vernier said he put a lot of emphasis
on the organisation of festive events.
“They bring people together in an
informal way, and you get to know people.
“So even though we are the size of a
small town, the spirit is that of a village.”
The Connexion
January 2019
Maria Doyle Cuche sang
in the Eurovision Song
Contest, toured the US and
raised seven children in
France – all despite being
blind. Her autobiography
On ne voit bien qu’avec le
coeur [You can only see
clearly with the heart] is
out... she tells Claire McQue
her remarkable story
Maria DOYLE CUCHE’S voice
bursts through the phone from her
home in rural France.
She is singing You Raise Me Up in
flawless, clear tones as her way of
explaining who Brendan Graham is.
Graham, one of Ireland’s most
prolific songwriters, wrote Wait until
the Weekend Comes. In 1985 the
teenage Maria (singing as Maria
Christian) opened the Eurovision
Song Contest by singing that song.
Maria, now 53, is a force of nature.
Born into poverty in the Irish
border town of Dundalk in 1965, she
became blind at the age of nine
through a rare genetic illness but went
on to tour America at the age of 13
and then win the hearts of the public
in the Eurovision Song Contest.
A few years later she married a
Frenchman she had met just six
weeks earlier and then moved to
Chanteheux in Lorraine, north-east
France, where they have raised seven
children.
She remembers her life vividly,
recounting details as if she were
watching a film in her head.
“I knew I was born to sing,” she says.
She remembers winning a local song
contest aged five, singing Frankie
Avalon’s Why. “I’ll never let you go, I
think you’re awfully sweet” were lyrics
her mother sang to her as a child and
the words Maria sang to her own
brothers and sisters in Dundalk.
The first four months of Maria’s life
were spent inside an Irish Magdalene
Laundry, one of the institutions run
by nuns where “fallen” women notoriously suffered horrific mistreatment.
Her mother Eileen had refused to
give her baby up for adoption and
managed to leave the laundry after 11
months. She married a man named
Patsy McCabe and started a new life.
“I became a McCabe at 18 months,”
Maria says.
Her family fell on tough times,
struggling to pay the bills. “One time,
when we had an electricity meter
installed, my mammy broke it to recuperate the 50p coins she had fed into
it so we could buy bread and milk.”
For Maria, singing has always been a
tool of empowerment. When one of
her sisters died aged 2, Maria’s father
turned to alcohol and her mother to
valium.
“
connexionfrance.com
Interview 13
‘Anything is
possible if
you want
it enough...
I am living
proof of that’
Blind Irish Eurovision Song
Contest singer Maria Doyle Cuche,
who lives in France
“I used to sing to keep the atmosphere light at home,” she said. “I knew
my voice would help me through.”
Then, aged nine, her eyesight started
to fail due to a rare genetic condition
known as Stargardt disease. Maria
recalls her mother’s words: “He closed
your eyes, but he gave you a voice.
That will open doors.”
“And mammy was right,” Maria says.
“Who I am today is because I was
blind. If I went on Eurovision and
toured America and had seven kids, it
is because I am blind. I want to show
to everybody that, if I could do that
blind, what can somebody normal do?
You can do even more.”
Aged 13, she escaped from a residential school for the blind in Dublin
that she hated. Despite her lack of
eyesight, she travelled the 50 miles
back to her family home in Dundalk.
“I knew the way because me and
mammy used to take the bus when I
was younger. I had a sixth sense. By the
time I got home, everybody thought I
was dead. The blindness gave me a
great strength, the will to fight.
“I used to love looking at the stars. I
said to myself ‘Imagine that your
blindness is the sky at night and you
are the little star that’s there shining in
the corner. That’s what you’re going to
be like, one of those stars, up there for
the world to see. For over 40 years I’ve
been fighting so that this blindness
doesn’t put that little light out.”
With the news of her impending
blindness came the realisation that
Patsy McCabe was not her biological
I want to show to
everybody that, if I
could do this blind,
what can somebody
normal do? You can
do even more
Maria with her husband and seven children. Music runs in the family, she says
father. Her real father was a Spaniard,
who unknowingly carried the recessive gene for the disease. To this day,
he is unaware that Maria is his child.
She hopes he will hear about her book
and make contact.
At the time, nine-year-old Maria
said to herself: “I’m special. Maybe my
Daddy is Zorro. It doesn’t matter if
I’m going blind, I’m alive, I know
what it is to see. I have working legs
and working ears and I want to be a
singer. You don’t need eyes to sing.”
Maria’s dreams became reality when
a group of Americans saw her singing,
aged 13, at a festival and made the
decision to take her to America.
“That’s when my life changed,” she
said. She went on tour, and won the
hearts of the American people, who
even set up a Maria McCabe fund for
her, in the hope of finding a cure for
her blindness. In 1985, songwriter
Brendan Graham picked her to do a
demo of the ballad Wait until the
Weekend Comes and suddenly she
found herself opening the Eurovision
Song Contest in Gothenburg, aged 19.
Maria described that week as being
like a Cinderella ball. “I didn’t win but
I didn’t care. It was stunning just to be
a part of it. I didn’t talk at all about
my blindness. I just said I had a problem with my eyes and needed glasses.”
A romance with Richard Herrey, the
Swedish winner of the previous year’s
song contest, was lapped up by the
press, but they split due to religious
differences. “He was a Mormon and I
wanted to stay Catholic.”
A few years later she met the man
who did become her husband: ironically, a Mormon missionary on a trip
to Ireland from France.
Within six weeks they were married
and expecting their first child.
Turning down an offer of a record
contract from a company in London,
Maria and her husband moved to
France in 1992 when jobs were scarce
in Ireland due to recession.
Maria says moving to rural France
was one of the hardest things she has
ever done.
“I didn’t know anybody, I had no
family, no friends and I couldn’t speak
French. I was very homesick.”
While Maria’s husband worked in a
local DIY shop, she raised their seven
children, now aged between 12 and
26. Unable to drive due to her blindness, this was a struggle.
“Nothing in the village was adapted
for blind people. We would walk up
and down the steps to the school and
the village with the pram, soaked to
the bone in the rain. It was awkward
and hard to get around but I was used
to it. I just had to get on with it. The
kids were my help.
“Nobody offered us a lift. People just
thought I was a stranger who couldn’t
speak French with a gang of kids.
Many didn’t even realise I am blind
until recently.”
Only six months ago, a wheelchair
accessible paved slope was built alongside the steps leading up to the village
that Maria has had to climb for the
last 26 years.
“I did make France my home in the
end but it wasn’t easy. Now I have my
own clan with loads of friends in the
village and everybody knows me.”
Music runs in the family. “I have a
pianist, violinist, cellist, flautist and
guitarist,” she said. “The dream would
be to record an album with all of us or
to represent France in the Eurovision
Song Contest.”
Last year, the French publishing
house Plon offered Maria a book deal
following an inspirational TEDx talk
she delivered in Strasbourg. The title
of her autobiography On ne voit bien
qu’avec le coeur is drawn from Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry’s novel Le Petit
Prince. The full quotation translates as
“It is only with the heart that one can
rightly see; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” When her husband
read her book aloud for the first time,
Maria said it felt “better than a story”.
Maria ascribes her outlook to her
undeterred belief in a higher force
that gives purpose to her life.
“I want to give the strength and
courage to those that have found out
their child is blind, or somebody
recently diagnosed with breast cancer,
or any bad news. Anything is possible
if you want it enough. If you have the
vision to live, resist and fight it, you
can put your mind to it. I am living
proof of that.”
14 Comment
January 2019
Simon Heffer, the renowned political commentator
and historian, turns his gaze to French politics
Nabila Ramdani is an award-winning
French-Algerian journalist who specialises
in French politics and the Arab world.
Her articles feature in the French national
press as well as internationally.
She is a regular columnist in The Connexion.
Simon Heffer is also a columnist for the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs
Why French food
is now at the
bottom of the List
IF people consider that you have
some kind of expertise about
France, then there is a subject that
you will never fail to get questioned about. Forget the increasingly chaotic nature of the Fifth
Republic or related political, economic or social subjects – what
people really want to know is
where they can enjoy exquisite
Gallic cuisine.
I get messages all the time asking me to name the latest ‘in’ restaurant in cities such as Paris or
Marseille. Most requests are for a
Top Three, while others aspire to
details of at least 10, to include a
breakdown of best hors d’oeuvres
through to what’s new on the
cheese course.
In recent years, such advice has
been harder and harder to deliver.
Not because of cynicism or apathy,
but because much of the food you
come across in France nowadays is
ordinary to bad.
That sounds like a terrible
admission from someone who
should display at least a modicum
of food patriotism, especially to my
home city of Paris, but the situation really is pretty dire. La Liste –
a highly respected compilation of
1,000 global restaurants approved
by France’s Foreign Ministry and
Tourist Board – confirms this.
The latest Liste points to a
dearth of decent bistros – the kind
that used to be available everywhere, including British cities such
as London – and even says that
what is available in sensibly priced
restaurants can be “lamentable”.
Yes, the restaurant Guy Savoy,
situated on the Left Bank of Paris,
is top of La Liste, but that will
hardly help it get on one of my
lists. Michelin currently puts it in
the price range of €234 to €415
for a meal without drinks.
Artichoke soup with black truffles
may be on the menu, but generally
it reads like a glorified list of staples – salmon served with lemons,
saddle and rack of lamb, ice
cream and biscuits. It would not be
too difficult to offer all of this for at
least a fifth of the price, while still
making a decent profit.
Bill inflation is now quite absurd
across the whole range of places
to eat. Many Paris bistros, even
those with nothing like the prestige
of Guy Savoy, think nothing of asking €40 plus for a steak, and €25
for a bowl of pasta.
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
As in provincial France, you can
enjoy a passably satisfying meal,
but very little that tastes exceptional. Worse still, the dreaded microwaves whirr and beep away in
most kitchens, before pre-assembled dishes are topped with a
sprinkling of ageing parsley to dishonestly create the impression of
fait maison (home made).
There have been attempts to
market select restaurants with fait
maison labels, but this is hardly
encouraging. It simply proves that
homemade food is the exception,
and not the rule.
Institutional reasons are behind
many of the problems. Business
rates and other high taxes, combined with spiralling employment
costs, make it very difficult for restaurateurs to hire proper cooks.
The inherent conservatism of the
French means they do not experiment with the
kind of exotic
food you find all
over cities such
as London nowadays. Arab
couscous is one Among those
of the most pop- restaurants
ular dishes in
that are
France for hissurviving
torical and cultural reasons
economically,
(mainly to do
there is a huge
with colonisation and associ- reliance on
ated North
tourists who
African immigrawill only visit
tion), but there
are very few
once. So there
offers of any
is no emphasis
more exciting
plats.
on building up
Among those
a loyal local
restaurants that
clientele who
are surviving
economically,
would expect
there is a huge
reliance on tour- high standards
ists who will
only visit once. In this sense, there
is no emphasis on building up a
loyal local clientele who would
expect high standards. Most of the
in-and-outers will be foreigners
who will be disinclined to complain
about establishments they will
never go back to.
My message to them is the same
as it is to those of you who will
continue to send me restaurant list
requests in 2019: don’t say I didn’t
warn you!
“
E
mmanuel Macron must find it
incomprehensible. A few weeks
ago, as this column observed,
he considered himself the next
emperor of Europe, awaiting Angela
Merkel’s withdrawal from the Ger
man chancellorship before ascending
his apparently inevitable throne.
Now he is humbled, humiliated,
forced into a craven surrender to a
traditional French mob chucking
cobblestones and Molotov cocktails.
Le Figaro, during the mid-December
EU summit, put it appropriately:
‘Macron affaibli sur la scène européenne’,
splashed on its front page across a pho
tograph of the president, his gaze fixed
to the ground ahead of him, walking
into the meeting alone and manifestly
without his usual swagger.
That he had to apologise for that
swagger – his arrogance, which
seemed to mark him out as a
self-conscious Brahmin or elitist – as
part of his appeasement of the gilets
jaunes was but a part of his selfabasement before a group who chose
civil disobedience rather than consti
tutional methods to show their dis
satisfaction with the Macron régime.
How did they hobble him so quick
ly? Perhaps the first reason lay in a
central paradox of French life: that
for a country which, since 1789, has
prided itself on equality, it has
through its system of grandes écoles
created a ruling elite of which
M. Macron is a poor advertisement.
It is an elite that betrays little con
nection with the average French man
or woman, and the gulf between the
two was responsible for M. Macron’s
inability to damp down the feelings
of the protesters. He simply did not
know where to start and was being
bombarded on a number of fronts.
That was a further problem. The
gilets jaunes were a barely coherent
force: they had no leader, or any
unanimously-agreed manifesto of
objections to the Macron programme.
Once M. Macron settled what had
appeared to be the main problem
– the rise in taxation of diesel and
petrol that especially disadvantaged
those living in the French countryside
– others, such as purchasing power
and the size of disposable income –
came out of the metaphorical trees
and started to attack him.
The president went on television to
offer his list of bribes and induce
ments to his disaffected people,
including a rise in the minimum
wage, but seemed to have had the
stuffing knocked out of him aware
his forthrightness in the past had
done him no favours, M. Macron
now seemed positively sheepish.
Having been perceived as aggressive,
he was now perceived as weak.
The British statesman R. A. Butler,
one of the cleverest men to have held
office in the United Kingdom in the
last century and, largely for that
reason, twice cheated of the job of
prime minister, called politics “the
art of the possible”. M. Macron would
have done well to bear that in mind,
Macron’s error
was trying to do
the impossible.
Politics is the art
of the possible
because if you design policies to
assist a minority at the expense of
the many you are asking for trouble.
His fuel tax increases aimed to com
bat global warming, something dear
to the hearts of metropolitan liberals
in Paris as in smart cities the world
over. If it occurred to M. Macron the
required sacrifice might not play so
well in the Dordogne, the Auvergne
or the economically-deprived villages
of Hauts-de-France, he did not allow
it to affect his policy. By trying to do
what was impossible, he has badly
weakened himself.
He has more than three years of his
mandate left; he also has pitifully
weak organised political opposition,
another, and under-appreciated, rea
son for the rise of the gilets jaunes,
who were merely doing what a seri
ous Opposition ought to do. Also,
France is rich enough, in global
terms, to rub along issuing the odd
bribe and inducement to calm down
the people without causing immedi
ate economic collapse. But M.
Macron does not have a coherent
party of his own; La République en
Marche, the vehicle that got him to
the Élysée Palace in 2019, started to
decompose almost as soon as its job
“
His main hope must
be that the gilets jaunes
form a party and
stand in the European
elections in the
spring and take votes
from his rivals
was done. M. Macron was elected
because he was not Marine Le Pen;
he will need a more compelling argu
ment if he is to have a second term.
What seemed his main intention
when assuming power – to restruc
ture the French economy – was right.
France is an uncompetitive nation
that, and as a result (and because of
being trapped in a currency union
that overvalues its currency, a project
M. Macron actively supports) has
depressingly high unemployment
and too many on low earnings.
Despite one or two victories against
them – notably against the rail work
ers earlier this year – it remains a
country in which syndicalists wield
disproportionate power. Despite,
also, M. Macron having begun to
address the problem of the Code du
travail, the massive rulebook by
which relations between employers
and their staff are regulated, France
remains a profoundly over-regulated
economy. After his surrender to the
gilets jaunes – a surrender made all
the more embarrassing after the mas
sive displays of force, with hundreds
of arrests, that preceded it – it defies
belief that the president can achieve
the sort of widespread reforms that
France so badly needs.
He should have engaged the public
– and not just his fellow elitists – in a
proper conversation about how he
needed their co-operation to change
France in a way that equipped it to
deal with the modern world.
His main hope must be that the
gilets jaunes form a party and stand in
the European elections in the spring,
and take votes from his rivals –
though they might just take votes
from LREM, itself a protest move
ment. As it is, France remains trapped
in the mindset of the Fourth Republic,
the consensual ideas advanced after
1946 to unite a France riven by the
occupation. France must, it seems,
await yet another president to lead
this change of mind and to take the
country into the 21st century.
Find more Comment both from columnists and readers online
connexionfrance.com/Comment
January 2019
‘I find it natural to speak for Britons’
OLIVIER CADIC, senator for
the French abroad, tells Oliver
Rowland why he has also been
helping the British in France
– and how he is surprised that
Britons abroad have no such
dedicated representation
Unlike the MPs for the French abroad
you don’t represent a part of the world?
No, I’ve just come back from Madagascar,
where I was working on cases of French
people being kidnapped and murdered
there – this year alone eight kidnappings
and four murders. I met the prime minister
and we set the objective that they will name
a judge to be in charge of these cases, so we
have a contact point for our judge who is
following these dossiers.
It’s one example. I think of the British academic doing political research who recently
was condemned to life imprisonment in the
UAE on accusations of spying. It’s the kind
of case a British counterpart might have
helped with – if they existed.
Another example happened in the
Dominican Republic, where French pilots
had been arrested, supposedly with drugs in
the plane. I went to the trial and helped the
families. Diplomats are there to avoid disputes with the local authorities and have
limits, whereas a politician, will generally be
listened to and can do something extra.
So it is very hands-on?
Absolutely, and we see at the moment the
difference with the British – they just have
to cope on their own.
Apart from being a senator,
you are an entrepreneur?
commerce, for example a FranceMozambique one; I support creating
French schools and Alliances Françaises
abroad and worked to support the transfer
of a French medical centre to Vietnam.
I helped find a solution for retirees in
America whose French banks didn’t want
problems with the American authorities so
stopped sending their pensions.
Photo: Sénat
FRANCE has 12 senators for the French
abroad and 11 dedicated MPs.
One of its senators Olivier Cadic, who
lives in Kent, recently spoke at both the
French Senate and at the British Houses of
Parliament to support maintaining the
rights of Britons in the EU.
Mr Cadic was formerly a councillor on
the Assembly of the French Abroad, a
consultative body which has one or more
elected representatives for each French
consulate (including nine in London),
elected by French people registered with
that consulate. It meets twice a year in
Paris and he sat on it from 2006-2014.
“It is these representatives who together
elect the senators for the French abroad,”
he said. “Now I sit in the Senate and I represent the French across the whole world.
Senator
Olivier Cadic
I used to have a business in electronics
and the internet, but I sold up. Now I have
a publishing business called Cinebook –
for example, Lucky Luke comic books in
English, that’s me. I’m the world’s biggest
buyer of rights of cartoon books, which I
translate to English and sell worldwide.
How do you divide up your time?
It’s not complicated – 40% of my time,
four nights out of ten, I’m in Paris at the
Senate, three nights I’m in England, and
three in the rest of the world; last week I
was in Mauritius and Madagascar. Next I’ll
be in Lithuania and then Washington.
Why did you want the job?
I was asked to go for it. I’d given a lot of
support to French businesspeople in the
UK, and a senator told me I would make a
good politician.
How does the role differ from the MPs’?
Well for a start we sit in different houses,
and the fact we have both makes sure the
French abroad are represented at all stages
of a law. There are as many French people
abroad as in the DOM-TOMs and they
have specific concerns. It helps them to stay
in touch with French politics, to be
involved and have their rights defended and
to make sure their issues are taken into
account, whether on tax, social security etc.
Can you give examples of issues?
Senators for the French abroad managed
to remove the social charges on property
incomes of the French abroad in the EU.
We also gained a lot for the organisation
of French education abroad and we
obtained a special social security caisse for
expatriates. I work to create chambers of
Do you see speaking out for the British
in France as an extension of this?
Yes. I realised when Brexit happened and I
started doing talks to EU citizens abroad in
the UK that all the other nationalities didn’t
have such representatives and in a way I
was representing everyone.
And I consider that defending the British
of France is in a way an extension of
defending the French of the UK. It’s the
other side of the coin. It doesn’t seem right
to me not to also think about them. Their
fates are linked and I found it natural to
speak for both.
Whatever decisions the British take with
regard to the French in the UK, even if they
were to be very tough on them, I will ask
that there are better conditions for Britons
in France. They weren’t responsible for the
situation and are victims of it like us and it’s
not fair to treat them poorly. It would honour us to maintain all their rights.
The idea of dedicated MPs for Britons
abroad is supported by the Lib Dems,
but the government thinks expatriates
should maintain a link with their old
constituencies. But those MPs do not
necessarily understand their issues...
No they don’t know what they are at all.
What it means is that for the government
you don’t exist, as British expatriates. But
they are conservatives with a small C, and
I think the current Labour Party is as well.
To me it’s a real source of pride to have
this representative role because other
countries see us as an example. In the
Tunisian assembly now they have MPs representing Tunisians in France. But there’s
really no representation at all for British
people abroad, which I find incredible.
The British have an insular view and if
you’re not on the island anymore it’s over.
There’s not even any representation of
expatriates at the embassy in France; I find
it unbelievable. It’s as if they just lose their
rights - which they do in fact, since after
15 years they don’t even have a right to
vote. It’s extraordinary.
Note: There are around 2 million French
people living outside of France. Around
5 million British people live out of the UK
(2 million of whom live in EU countries).
Zone blanche solution to teenage phone addiction
by SAMANTHA DAVID
IT IS now illegal for pupils to use mobile
phones, tablets, smart watches or other
connected items in écoles and collèges.
Mobiles prevent children concentrating,
are a tool for online bullying as well as a
temptation to thieves, and prevent pupils
making friends in real life, according to
the authorities.
It is not against the law to take a mobile
to school but on the premises they have to
be switched off and put away. Special
phone lockers might be an interesting way
forward, suggests the government website.
It is also illegal for pupils to use their tech
devices on school trips.
The website says punishments can
include confiscating the phone for the rest
of the day, extra homework and detention.
But how is all this going to work? Are
staff going to prowl the grounds seeking
out the Candy Crush kids?
One hopes not. The law should be just a
backup for what ought to be self-evident:
you don’t fiddle with your phone when
someone is speaking to you or when you
are supposed to be working.
And now a law backs it up, there can be
no argument when teachers insist on
phones being turned off.
I bet there will be, though. It’s hard
enough stopping children sneaking phones
into their beds, let alone persuading them
to stop using them during the day.
Excessive mobile use is a problem.
The endless body-perfect images, the
competition to have the best Insta pix, the
coolest Facebook page, the most likes, the
most retweets... It all piles on the pressure.
Comment 15
connexionfrance.com
It also eats time that could be spent making friends, learning instruments, playing
sport and other old-fashioned stuff.
And from a parent’s point of view, it’s
no fun living with a teenager who is
physically present but mentally awol.
Perhaps people living in the so-called
zones blanches – those patches of rural
France where there is still no network,
internet or wifi – are rather lucky.
Instead of complaining and asking the
authorities to get them connected as soon
as possible, maybe they could sell their
properties to families with ados?
In fact, once more people realise the
benefits of living in a zone blanche –
your kids look up when you speak to
them, no more battles to limit screen
time – perhaps house prices in these
areas will rise.
When Citroën meant
style and innovation
by ‘Ross Beef’
French car-makers traditionally reveal new models and
concept-car technology in the
autumn and the Citroën DS
was no exception.
Launched at the Paris Motor
Show in October 1955, it
revolutionised motoring and
remains an undisputable icon
of French design.
Before mondialisation – the
globalisation of car markets
and manufacturers, during
which time cars have become
blandly similar – each country
had a recognisable automobile
style. Certainly France did, and
none more so than Citroën.
“
It combined
technological
prowess and
audacious design
innovation which
defined it as a
symbol of Les
Trente Glorieuses
There are few things more
thoroughly French than a 2CV
– apart from the Eiffel Tower,
baguettes, berets… well, you
get the point.
Like the 2CV, the DS is the
essence of Frenchness – even
though its original designer
was Italian. Its name is a play
on words – DS with a French
pronunciation gives déesse, the
goddess – and it harks back to
a period of forward-looking
optimism, social change and
industrial growth.
The car was ahead of its time
– and an instant success, with
nearly 1.5 million cars produced over a 20-year period
until 1975. It combined technological prowess and audacious design innovation which
defined it as a symbol of the
Trente Glorieuses period, from
post-war reconstruction to the
1970s oil crisis. The extended
bonnet with integrated headlights, the curved windscreen
and streamlined roof, the long
tail and sweeping rear wing,
half enveloping the back
wheels, gave the DS its
avant-garde style.
The look was enhanced by
the big chrome hubcaps,
roof-mounted cylindrical indicators and extensive colour
schemes, often with a differentcolour body and roof.
The DS was packed with
innovative technology. It was
the first European car to have
independent brakes equipped
with discs at the front. It had
power-assisted steering, a
1900cc engine, and a semiautomatic gear change.
But it is the variable-height
hydro-pneumatic suspension
that most people associate with
the double-chevron brand.
Select the ride height, and with
the pressurised system allowing
trajectory correction, you
could experience magic carpet
comfort when out on the road.
Famously, the suspension also
allowed the DS to drive on
three wheels if required, in case
of a puncture or damage.
Inside, the futuristic dashboard was like nothing before.
In front of the single-branch
steering wheel, you used the
stick shifter to start the motor
as well as change gear.
Aeronautical-style instruments
and switches were visible and
accessible behind.
The large seats, thick arm
rests and padded carpeting
made for a comfortable driving
environment and set the DS
apart from its competitors, in
classic French style.
The DS was popular with the
middle class and with the stars
of the time, as well being the
presidential vehicle par
excellence. General de Gaulle
survived an assassination
attempt in 1962, thanks to the
road-holding ability of the car.
Occasionally you pass one,
often restored, cutting a dash
through the town or country.
It is an indication of the
significance of the car that,
even today, it attracts
attention. Its appeal goes
beyond automotive passion,
evoking a bygone era... proof
that even in motoring, style
never goes out of fashion.
Photo: Mic / CC BY 2.0
The Connexion
16 Letters
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
EU needs us more
They said it …
He is a king. Unfortunately, he’s
going to end up like Louis XVI.
An unnamed gilets jaunes protester
A member of the grassroots movement’s view of President Macron
The MP explains why he broke National
Assembly dress code rules and donned a gilet
jaune jacket in the chamber
The Paris Agreement isn’t
working out so well for Paris.
Protests and riots all over France.
People do not want to pay large
sums of money, much to third
world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe
protect the environment.
Chanting “We Want Trump!”
President Donald Trump
The US President falsely claims gilets jaunes chanted his name
during violent protests on the Champs-Elysees that had nothing to do with the
Paris Climate Agreement See page 10 for France’s reaction
What motivates fraudulent
bosses is the game
Eva Joly
The former financial judge in L’Obs on Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn
who is charged with financial misconduct re his personal tax declarations
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06 40 55 71 63
I WRITE in reply to your web
article from Nick Inman about
the EU bringing peace (EU
membership a small price to pay
for peace).
Both world wars were not
started by a “clash of nation
states” but by the ambition of
Germany to dominate Europe.
In Hitler’s case, to unify what he
saw as the Germanic people and
create what he referred to as
Germania. Prior to that, it was
the Kaiser. Earlier, Napoleon
aimed to spread French
influence across Europe.
I viewed the creation of the
Common Market as a realistic
and welcome move towards
co-operation and free trade in
Europe. The Maastricht Treaty,
however, was a cynical hijacking
by a power-hungry bureaucracy
to turn it into a vast federation.
Mr Inman’s own expressions of
“self-serving Eurocrats of
Brussels” and “flawed and bumbling institutions of the EU”
acknowledge the potential.
Germany pulls the strings of
the EU and the current man-
Nothing humiliating about cartes
oeuvring of Macron as Merkel
loses influence should give pause
to any notion it is the EU that is
preventing another war.
With some reservation, I supported Brexit (I didn’t get a
vote). But given the recent attitude of those Eurocrats to the
UK vote to leave, the fixation
that they must prevail against the
democratic choice of the Brits, I
am now firmly for Brexit and,
adding in other current stresses,
suggest the disintegration of the
EU may not be long delayed.
I am reminded of a conversation I had recently with a French
neighbour. Discussing Brexit, he
said at one point “don’t leave us”.
I initially assumed he meant
“don’t Brexit”. Further discussion
clarified he meant “be around
when the EU goes pear-shaped”.
Our government has made a
total mess of negotiations. The
EU have ensured they would
prevail. We are just at the beginning of an emotive and difficult
period, however this plays out.
David Homewood
by email
Papers piling up
It would be easier to accept the French government’s
professed concern for the environment if there were
evidence that it designed its administrative procedures
with the health of the planet in mind.
I make this observation because I am currently involved
in the process of assembling the paperwork for an
application for a carte de séjour and so far have amassed
around half a kilogramme of paper – I accept some of this
paper mountain is “just in case”, but even so!
Additionally, it seems I must make at least two trips to the
prefecture, which is more than 100km from where I live.
Overall, not exactly an environmentally friendly process.
Accepting the conditions that one must have lived in
France for at least five years and have sufficient income not
to be a burden on the French state, surely all the evidence
required to prove these facts is contained in one’s French
income tax returns for those five years: a communication
between the Fisc and the prefecture could verify this.
And all the bills etc said to prove residence in France
without periods of absence of more than two weeks or so at
a time in fact do nothing of the sort! As for the fingerprint
requirement, that could be done at a local gendarmerie.
Just my pennyworth to help save the planet, reduce the
workload at the prefecture and last, but not least, save me a
lot of time and expense.
Malcolm EVANS
Haute-Garonne
January 2019
Re: Humiliating faff for carte Letters, December edition.
One of the tenets of the
European Union is freedom of
movement, thanks to which
British people have been able to
reside in France with the minimum bureaucracy, and likewise
EU citizens’ ability to reside in
the UK. Each member country
has, however, been at liberty to
implement their own immigration policies and procedures.
I would hazard a guess that the
vast majority of UK immigrants
into the EU never even bothered
to apply for cartes de séjour until
the events of June 2016 put this
freedom in jeopardy, and have
now done so in the hope the
carte will stand us in good stead
whatever the outcome of Brexit.
I fail to see any “humiliation”
in providing documents which
the French government decided
long ago were necessary to prove
residency, financial means, etc.
Contrast your letter headline of
the same issue “French law will
protect Britons in Brexit chaos”
(sadly not as straightforward as
it reads, I’m afraid!) with May’s
disgraceful comments about EU
citizens “queue jumping”. And
perhaps your respondent should
ponder on the true meaning of
humiliation, such as that visited
on some of the “Windrush’” generations by the UK government.
Julia Higginbotham
Lot-et-Garonne
Why the gilets annoy me
THERE is one aspect of the gilets jaunes I find intensely annoying.
If you need a tunic to be seen in the dark on a bike, you have to
buy a yellow one. I wear mine a lot. A turning point came when I
was cheered by lycéens as I sped past their school in a balaclava for
the cold. I’m not a militant, I just don’t want to be run over by a car.
I found other colours online but orange suggests a council worker; green, eco-activism... finally I found and ordered a royal blue.
Miles CLERY-FOX, by email
GDP protects the rich
The use by Eurostat of taxation as
a percentage of GDP is as false a
measure as is GDP.
Gross Domestic Product ignores
all collateral and consequential
damage (eg pollution/global warming costs). It is a broad brush that
reveals nothing useful to most.
Up to now, the better social
services in France make sense out
of paying taxes, which are essential
to any sane society, especially if well
used by its government.
Sadly, the tendency to privatise
essential social services puts France
on the same course we have seen in
the UK since Thatcherism. In short,
privatisation of social services
which uses our taxes to enrich
private faceless shareholders.
It may be more useful, in this
gilets jaunes age, to have tax levels
broken down as a percentage of
income and wealth by groupings
(such as the 5% highest total
incomes as a percentage of gross
worldwide wealth, going down by
5% or 10% steps to the lowest
5%-unemployed).
Last year, the “patrons” of CAC40
gave themselves 14% annual
increases on huge figures. City of
London Stock market bosses did
better, at 25%.
Then, instead of expressing our
sense of injustice by inconveniencing fellow gilets jaunes, we can all
be gilets jaunes targeting the real
villains in our increasingly divided
free market capitalist societies.
I have always gladly declared and
paid all my taxes both in the UK
(from 1954, age 18), and now in
France since 2000 where I live as a
French citizen.
I enjoy an adequate pension and
comfortable life here but feel that
the pursuit of never-ending
economic growth is being outpaced
by the increasing need for more
and more charities to deal with the
victims of the greedy few and their
political allies.
Brian Hurley, Dordogne
The Connexion
January 2019
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Banking at a
snail’s pace
Has anyone else felt that the
French banking system is excruciatingly slow and inefficient?
In 11 years, we are now on our
third bank. First CIC, then
Barclays/Milleis, and now Crédit
Agricole.
All suffer the same fate, taking
ages to implement instructions
and never responding to
correspondence, or requiring
your life history in paperwork.
Latterly, it took Milleis 21 days
to close a Livret A after two
letters, five emails and two
phone calls. Similarly, CA have
taken nearly three months to
offer a small loan to repair a
barn roof, with double the loan
cost secured by an assurance vie,
and required reams of personal
documentation, far more than
for a carte de séjour! What a
shambles.
Name and address
withheld on request
Tax matters
Nabila Ramdani’s criticism of
the Gilet Jaunes (December
Connexion) seems a case of not
seeing the wood for the trees.
The fundamental decisions
about what is produced and how
are made in the interests of a
small global elite.
This elite loves flat taxes on
essentials such as fuel duty
because the major impact is on
the lives of poor people. The
very wealthy are highly skilled at
protecting their money and
making sure that the costs of
their choices are dumped on
those who have no choice. At the
same time, they can pose as
defenders of the planet.
To ignore this is to provide
ammunition to climate-change
deniers who appear champions
of the average person while
encouraging business as usual.
Steve Gelfer
Châtellerault
Letters 17
connexionfrance.com
w w w. b l e v i n s f r a n k s . c o m
Don’t fall for gilets’ Who pays for anarchy? Only a fool
breaks two
populist propaganda
second rule
Re: the gilets jaunes – as a
French citizen who lived in
Britain for decades and now
living in France with my
British husband, I am appalled
by this anarchic and nihilistic
leaderless movement which has
taken hold of the country and
has won the approval of most
of the press, left and right,
duped into believing their
populist propaganda.
To the cry of “ras-le-bol fiscal” (down with taxes) I say
“ras-le-bol des râleurs” (down
with the moaners). Moaning
about everything and anything
has now reached hysterical
proportions.
That, in a country with one
of the highest levels of social
protection in Europe, with a
myriad of benefits and tax
breaks for the low paid, the
highest state pensions as well
as the lowest pension age in
Europe, the lowest level of
poverty in Europe, the best
health service in the world and
Letter
of the
month
the same standard of living as
Germany… I could go on.
(information from Eurostat).
But in France, people are no
longer prepared to pay for any
of it and scream blue murder if
any benefits or public services
are taken away from them.
The country has become, in
effect, ungovernable. The idea
that Macron is arrogant and
therefore should resign is
ludicrous. No president can
win. Hollande was accused of
being not presidential enough.
The “cause” of the gilets
jaunes is groundless. There is
no road tax to pay and the
price of petrol in France is
average for Europe, in line with
the cost of living and by no
means excessive. After the
Paris riots, there is no doubt
the aim is the destabilisation of
the Macron government. We
live in dangerous times, in
France and in Brexit Britain.
Daniele Lebreton-Travis,
address supplied
Mrs Lebreton-Travis wins the Connexion letter of the month and a copy of the Connexion Puzzle
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The Editor’s decision is final.
Write to: The Connexion, Patio Palace,
41 avenue Hector Otto, 98000 Monaco or
email [email protected]
Clue in the constitution
Your article “Mythbuster: France is a Catholic country”
(December Connexion) misses the most important point of all.
The opening words of the French Constitution are clear: “France is
a republic, secular and indivisible.” So, to claim France is a Catholic
country is arguing with the foundation on which the state is based.
By contrast, the UK is a monarchy in which the Church of
England and the state are intricately intertwined.
The Church of England is the second biggest landowner (after the
House of Windsor) and enjoys huge tax advantages denied both to
adherents of other faiths and those of no faith. In the context of a
multicultural society, such privilege is indefensible. France has set
an example from which the UK could learn a great deal.
Stephen D Morgan, Finistère
You said it …
France introduces fixed
fines for drug use
“When are the powers that be going to grow up
and realise just how much good cannabis can
and does do.” N.D.
“Make them do it away from people who want
nothing to do with smoking, so the smoke does no
harm to anyone but the smokers.” H.I.
“Big pharma has invested so much hiding the
facts, it will take someone famous being saved
from cancer to shift the thought process.” T.G.
“I believe if in control of a vehicle, then yes, but as
with alcohol, some guy sat in his garden chilling
just let them be.” B.H.
“Legalise it, already.” C.M.
I am 75 and have lived in
France for over 30 years. I weep
when I see a country tearing
itself apart as a disbelieving
world watches it descending into
anarchy. A government that
appears unable or unwilling to
take decisive action.
At this time of the year I
usually travel by car to England
to share Christmas and New
Year with my family. This year it
is impossible.
I am told that the gilets jaunes
have legitimate grievances. That
may be so but the method of
securing a resolution cannot be
right. Ordinary people are being
prevented from going about
their lawful lives. People are
being prevented from keeping
medical appointments.
Businesses unable to trade.
The rest of the world is seeing
a capital trashed; the Arc de
Triomphe desecrated and that
must grieve many war veterans.
As a former senior police
officer of over 30 years I suspect
genuine ranks of the gilets
jaunes have been infiltrated by
criminal elements for their own
ends – those who are seen to be
wearing masks. The genuine
gilets jaunes are willing to be
seen and be interviewed.
When this situation is finally
over, there will be a price to pay.
France has to recover and
there is the cost of policing the
protests, clearing debris, rebuilding properties, businesses to
recover from lost trade. To
rebuild confidence that France is
a country to visit and trade with.
The government will pay in
the first instance but the money
has to come from somewhere
and that place is the people,
whether by direct or indirect
taxes, and those taxes will
continue for years.
Name and address
withheld on request
President Macron eloquently denounced the French violence
on the one hand, but then basically gave in to the protesters’
demands, reflecting all that is wrong with today’s “leadership.” In
short, he caved and rewarded bad behaviour.
What’s the real message then? Riot more to get what you want. It
works well, after all, so expect more.
William Choslovsky
Chicago, US
Problems in UK are real
Tony LIVELY (Knives out for the UK – December) complains
about TV coverage of British problems.
Maybe when he lived in the UK he did not notice the continual
digs and abuse of France and the French in the press, on TV, from
comedians, and in everyday conversation.
We noticed it because my French wife had to put up with it almost
every day, sometimes to her face. It was as if people did not notice
they were being Francophobic, so embedded is this kind of
unpleasantness. She was relieved to come to live in her country,
where we have not noticed much negative feeling towards the UK,
more a kind of respect for things British.
Anyway, gangs and use of knives is on British TV and in the press
almost every day now, so it is hardly surprising it has been picked
up by foreign media. True, “unsociable goings-on” are not exclusive
to Britain, but post-referendum and austerity it has got a lot worse,
and will probably get worse still when Brexit actually happens.
Christopher O’Hagan, Sarthe
According to World Health
Organisation statistics, there
were 1,792 road accident fatalities in the UK in 2016 compared
to 3,477 in France. Another
comparison shows 27 road
deaths per million of population
in the UK in 2017 compared
with 53 per million in France.
France is five times larger than
the UK with approximately the
same population. UK roads are
more congested and road
surfaces are superior in France.
UK minor roads are well worn
with lumps and potholes.
Why then has France nearly
twice as many road deaths?
The answer is simple – French
motorists drive too close to the
car in front. French drivers
ignore the rules at roundabouts
and jump in front of cars already
on the roundabout.
Anybody in the UK who has
been on an advanced driving
course (or on a course to avoid
speeding points) has had this
rhyme hammered in to them by
the police instructors: Only a
fool breaks the two-second rule.
When driving, you observe the
car in front as it passes a fixed
object (tree, road sign etc) and
count two seconds. You should
then be passing the fixed point
yourself. The rule works at any
speed to make sure you leave a
safe gap. On wet or greasy roads
you should double this distance.
If you leave a two-second gap
in France, you will soon find a
French driver rear-pushing to
shift you out of the way.
So how can these statistics be
rectified? It will need a massive
re-educational programme and
higher penalties for tailgating.
I doubt it can ever happen.
David Hardy
by email
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Here is a selection of recent popular subjects and readers’ comments...
Smacking should be
banned in France, says law chief
“I find the behaviour of children in France quite
outstanding. Please don’t follow the UK in this
as it’s a slippery slope. Discipline is fine, respect
will be earned.” B.H.
“Good. It is entirely possible to discipline a child
without shouting, smacking, or any other form of
abuse.” S.D.
“If you have to hit a child to change their
behaviour, it is you who has failed.” S.K.
“You can raise a child without smacking them. You
are not allowed to smack, for example, your
workmate – so why a little child? Smacking just
creates hate and fear.” E.W.
No congestion charges in France
“The country will collapse if the people don’t
realise they cannot spend what they haven’t got.
They’ll go the way of Greece.” L.H.
“So the people in the towns avoid congestion
charges, which are a fair and accepted method of
diminishing pollution. They simply don’t get it.” J.S.
“And people ask why the French protest.
M. son Majesté Impérial L’Empereur
Macroparte appears to have no clothes..” D.S.
“But the French have it easy. I get €350 a month
for my two kids, plus my childminder is €100 a
month. When the kids were born, the state gave
me €1,000 each one. I wouldn’t have had
children, or a house, if I were in the UK.” H.T.
Your views on the gilets jaunes
“The French get out and make their feelings
known. The French government listens. The UK
could learn from both lessons.” A.P.
“Macron gave a mere peace offering to calm the
violence. It will not affect the longterm goal.” R.M.
“They have to stop now. Enough is enough.
They are like yellow militia.” M.S.
“It wouldn’t matter who was president of France the French hate any type of reform to make France
prosperous and will fight against it.” K.C.
“Not all French have money. Not all expats have
money. As with a lot of government measures,
the poor are hit the hardest.” N.B.
Q& A
Readers’
questions
answered
Send your queries about life here to Oliver Rowland
by email to [email protected]
I had to change my motorbike’s speedo
I BROUGHT my Triumph
motorbike to France and
was required to change
the speedometer, which
showed mph and kph,
to one showing only kph.
This seems petty. D.K.
IF a vehicle is recent and
made in the EU and thus
has an EU certificate of
conformity from the manufacturer, then it should be
accepted and does not have
to undergo inspection for
homologation in order to
carry French number plates.
You can apply directly
online for a French registration document in this case.
A car would also need to
pass a French MOT test
(contrôle technique), including a check on the speed-
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
ometer, but this should be
limited to checking it works.
In other cases you need to
apply for the vehicle to be
inspected by the Direction
Régionale de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement et
du Logement (Dreal).
Each region has its own.
Created in 2013, these
bodies absorbed the functions of the old inspectors of
mines. The link is that the
first regulated vehicles were
mine trains.
The law is officially the
same for all but in practice
interpretations can vary
from inspector to inspector
and from Dreal to Dreal
across the country, so the
interpretation you experienced might not be the
same as that experienced by
someone else. Triumph
France said it is not usual to
have to change the speedometer. The legal requirement is that it be clearly
marked in kph and that the
kph divisions are numbered
in divisions of 10. Therefore
a speedometer numbered
10kph, 20kph, 30kph, or
one numbered 20kph,
40kph, 60kph, should be
OK. If it was numbered in
5kph sections, then it would
have to be changed.
There could have been a
problem with the legibility
of the kph scale in the eye of
the inspector, who might
have thought the mix of
numbers was too confusing,
or there might have been
another aspect of the original which they did not like.
Am I insured for subsidence?
IS SUBSIDENCE covered by household
insurance? G.V.
SUBSIDENCE (affaissement) is covered by
most multirisques habitation household
contracts but usually under the cover for
catastrophes naturelles (natural disasters),
related to drought, flood, earthquakes etc.
Claims can be met only if you have relevant insurance and if the government has
published a decree in the Journal Officiel
declaring a state of natural disaster covering
the area where you have your home.
Usually this will cover a whole commune
but sometimes it is limited to only part of it.
Once the decree has been published, the
way is open for insurance companies to pay
out quickly – they are partly compensated
through a special fund. Claims have to be
lodged within 10 days.
The first stop is to ask at the mairie to see
if a decree has been issued. If there is no
decree, you can ask the mairie to get one
from the Ministère de la Cohésion des territoires. You may have to pay for a survey,
although it might be covered by a protection
juridique clause as part of your home insurance. As well as the mayor, you could contact your MP, senator and departmental or
regional councillors and anyone else you
believe might have some influence.
If you are successful, you will still have to
contribute a franchise légale of €1,520 if the
damage the claim relates to has been caused
by drought, or the re-hydration of the soil.
If you find cracks in the home due to subsidence and your home was built in the last
10 years, you can make use of the garantie
décennale, the 10-year builder’s guarantee.
This should cover problems relating to the
solidity of your home in this period.
Also if you discover subsidence after a
purchase, you might be able to make a
claim against the seller for a vice caché (a
hidden defect), but this can be difficult. The
problem needs to have existed before you
purchased it but not have been obviously
apparent to you at the time. Finally, if the
subsidence is due to actions of a neighbour
or the council, then you can sue them.
What’s the law on petrol cans?
CAN I legally transport spare diesel or
petrol in a can in my car and does the
law change on this when you cross the
border to another EU country? K.R.
YES, the law in France allows you to transport jerry cans of petrol or diesel and the
legal maximum is too high to pose a
problem. The key requirement is that the
cans are homologué, ie. made for the purpose and with a mark showing they follow
the UN regulations (ONU in French) for
transporting dangerous substances.
Les jerricans in sizes of 5l, 10l and 20l are
commonly sold. Note that you should also
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have two fire extinguishers in the car,
according to the letter of the law.
The main regulations on this were ratified by 48 countries but, according to car
hire firm Sixt, the carrying of jerry cans is
not legal in Portugal, so there may be
additional restrictions in some countries.
The RAC states people should not carry
more than 10l in the car when entering
France from another country. There are
also restrictions imposed by some transport companies, eg. Brittany Ferries, which
runs services between the UK and France
and Spain, allows passengers to have only
5l containers on board (a small jerry can).
Can I call French emergency
services from the UK (for a
relative here)?
January 2019
Can I become
French if my
job income is
from abroad?
I AM a British person living in France who works
across the border in Belgium. I want to apply for
French nationality but have heard that if your
main income comes from outside France it can
be a problem. Is this true? S.W.
A FRENCH Interior Ministry official said that it is
true that part of the notion of “residence” in France,
for purposes of requesting a change of nationality,
is that you should have your “centre of material
interest” in France, which includes financial
autonomy and having French-source income.
Having income from abroad may indicate a
“context of dependency on and/or allegiance to the
other state”, she said. Having income from abroad
does not in itself bar you if you are not dependent
on it for your basic needs. In other words, at least
part of your income should come from France.
But the official added: “The case of frontier workers is always complex and is looked at as a whole.
“There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The fact that
someone works abroad is a negative point but if it is
not in the country of origin, then the “dependency/
allegiance” issue is reduced. We also look at family
links, whether the person owns property here,
whether they pay their taxes in France, etc.”
My older son was not born in France but his
younger brother was and will be eligible for
French nationality when he reaches 13. I understand my older son will then be able to apply,
due to being the sibling of a French person. The
Can undeclared
driver use a car?
ONCE in a while I drive the family car
even though I am not declared to the
insurer as either a main or secondary
driver. If I have an accident, will I still
be covered by the insurance? M.M.
THE ISSUE here is whether or not you
genuinely only drive the car on an
occasional basis.
According to insurance rules, everyone
who drives the car on any kind of regular
basis should be known to the insurer so
they can adjust the premiums depending
on the way the car is used.
If someone other than the main
declared driver or drivers uses the car
frequently, it changes the risks involved in
the use of it.
If other people drive it, this should only
be exceptional, with typical examples
being because the main driver had been
drinking or did not have their glasses.
If you declare an accident and say you
were driving it only on an exceptional
basis, the insurer might carry out investigations if there is a large pay-out involved
and/or they have doubts about the truth
of the situation.
They have investigators, often retired
police officers or gendarmes, on their
books who may visit and ask questions of
neighbours, for example.
What is the difference
between a diététicien and
nutritionniste?
Image: JLPC Wikimedia Commons
18 Practical
rules say this applies if he has lived in France
since the age of six but does that mean he has
to have had his sixth birthday here or is it all
right if he moved here when he was already six,
as is our case? I have also heard that a parent
of a French person has the right to French
nationality 25 years after the child gained
French nationality – is that correct and is it only
if the child was born in France? D.A.
THE first rule applies as long as the person came
before their seventh birthday, an Interior Ministry
spokesman said. Other conditions apply too, such as
residency in France, being aged over 18 and
having been to school in France.
As for the 25-year rule, this is correct and it applies
to parents of French people regardless of how they
gained French nationality. The only difficulty may
be in proving the 25-year residency if you are from
another EU state. This is because EU nationals generally have not had cartes de séjour, so you will need
paperwork demonstrating that you have been living
here all that time (owning property is not enough).
If we move back to UK will our
different-sex Pacs be valid?
WE ARE in a differentgender Pacs [a French
form of civil partnership
open to same and opposite sex couples, often
entered into for property
purchases] and are considering returning to the
UK. Will our Pacs be
recognised there? B.F.
UNFORTUNATELY, no it
will not, although this may
change in the near future.
Lauren Evans, an associate with the London-based
international law firm
Kingsley Napley, said the
UK’s Civil Partnership Act
2004 recognises the French
Pacs, but only for same-sex
couples, which it considers
comparable to the current
UK civil partnership.
So a heterosexual Pacs is
not recognised.
However, legislation is
going through the UK
parliament (in the form of
a private member’s bill) to
allow heterosexual couples
My tree’s branches fell into a
neighbour’s property – do
they still belong to me?
to enter into British civil
partnerships.
Ms Evans said the current
version of the British bill
does not mention the
recognition of overseas
relationships, but it
requires additional regulations to be made amending
the 2004 act.
At that point the
section on “overseas
relationships treated as
civil partnerships” could be
amended.
She added that there is, as
yet, no guarantee that such
recognition would be
retrospective to include an
opposite sex Pacs entered
into before the change in
the UK law, although it is
possible.
At present therefore, the
only sure option would be
to get married – or to wait
and see if the law changes.
Ms Evans said she will
take the issue up with the
MP who put forward the
private member’s bill.
Is there a law that officials
must now accept documents
in all EU languages?
To receive the next issue at home... subscribe at www.connexionfrance.com by January 12
Q: I reported a fault on my
line and was told if the fault
was inside my property, then
I would be charged €69.
I never saw a technician
outside my property, let
alone inside my house, so
queried it when I was
charged all the same. I was
told that the charge was
regardless of whether or not
the fault was inside my
property. They agreed to
credit me the €69, but how
can we be responsible for
faulty Orange infrastructure?
They told me the law
changed recently. T.R.
You may have seen
CRS companies
out in force – and in
action – during the
gilets jaunes protests.
EVENTS were tense during the
recent gilets jaunes protests
against fuel prices and general
tax rises. On the ChampsElysées in Paris, CRS riot
officers used tear gas to push
back protesters attempting to
breach police lines.
They also had water cannons
ready and grenades assourdissantes (stun grenades that
flash and bang and are thrown
into the air) were used.
One CRS member told BFM
TV it was the worst situation he
had seen in 19 years in the job.
“At one point they were throwing things at us and we were
saying to ourselves ‘we mustn’t
get to the point where we have
to use our weapons in selfdefence’,” he said.
The TV station reported that –
in scenes reminiscent of the
May 1968 student and worker
protests – bottles and paving
stones were thrown. Makeshift
barricades were created by
protesters out of planks, building site barriers, plastic bins and
other street furniture.
The CRS officer said: “People
don’t realise we’re human too
and the uniform we wear
doesn’t protect us from death.”
According to left-leaning
newspaper Le Monde, the CRS
was heavy-handed at times on
the last weekend in November,
with barrages of officers equip
ped with reinforced trucks at
the end of the Champs-Elysées
nearest the presidential palace.
This came after they were
caught out the weekend before
when protesters came near the
Elysée. Le Monde said: “On
Saturday morning they straight
away started using tear gas
against little disparate groups
which until then had been
perfectly non-violent.”
Elsewhere around France there
was a CRS presence at locations
where the gilets jaunes protesters were active, on roads and
roundabouts and at motorway
péages.
A reassuring presence helping
to keep the peace and public
safety – or an oppressive tool of
the capitalist state? It
depends on your
politics. CRS forces
are generally recognisable from their
heavy protective gear,
often with riot shields
and helmets, and the
red and white logo on
the uniform showing
a flaming torch and
an oak leaf wreath.
The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) were
created in 1944 to fill a gap after
the dissolution of Vichy regime
paramilitary groups. They were
established on a permanent
national footing after the
government considered they
conducted themselves well
during strikes in 1947.
Their role is maintaining and
re-establishing public order –
essentially riot and crowd
control – including dealing with
terror attacks.
Officially the CRS are “com-
panies” of the police, and une
CRS usually refers to one of the
companies, whereas, informally,
un CRS means a CRS officer.
Their motto is “To serve” and
their logo, known as the CRS
flame, was designed by a French
painter from Versailles.
In the past the CRS were
especially present at flashpoints
of unrest, such as May 1968 in
Paris or the 1995 fishermen’s
protest in Rennes, when the
17th century Brittany parliament building was set alight.
They were also involved in
the Algerian war. Thousands
were sent over in the period
1952-1962 and many were
killed or wounded.
Unlike the officers, who undeniably have a challenging job,
those involved in such protests
see the clashes differently. Take
singer-songwriter Maxime le
Forestier’s 1972 song, Mon
Our main image
was drawn for
Connexion by
artist Perry Taylor.
For more of
his work see
www.perrytaylor.fr
Frère, about things he would
have liked to have done with his
imaginary brother, in which he
tenderly sang that: “If life had
been kinder, she would have
divided into two, the pairs of
gloves, the pairs of smacks; she
would surely have shared out
the words of love, and the
paving stones, girls and baton
blows.”
The officers have chosen this
specialism and receive appropriate training. As well as 60
general CRS companies, there
are nine for motorways, two for
mountain rescue and six motor-
cycle units. There is also one
specialising in escorting celebrities, notably the president of the
Republic, called CRS no.1 (la
Musique de la Police Nationale,
a professional fanfare band and
orchestra, is part of it).
Another role, since 1958, is
acting as beach lifeguards (who
also carry a gun in case of a
terror attack), though this could
stop next year after a state
finance watchdog said it was
costly. The government thinks
they should focus on their main
work instead.
They often work in partnership with mobile gendarmerie
units (known as la jaune from
their gold insignia), who are
technically soldiers while the
CRS are fonctionnaires.
Since 2009, both come under
the authority of the Interior
Ministry. Below this, the hierarchy is the director general of the
Police Nationale and the
Direction Centrale des CRS
(DCCRS). There are seven zone
headquarters, in Vélizy (Yvelines), Lille, Rennes, Bordeaux,
Marseille, Lyon and Metz.
The CRS tend to work mostly
in or near cities and are often
present at strikes and protests.
The role includes protecting
people and buildings from
violence, including watching
places of worship or ceremonies
and festivities if there is potential for violent protest or opposition. They also aim to stop
related crimes such as looting.
The CRS have a support role
at borders, aimed at preventing
illegal immigration, especially
of dangerous individuals.
To enter the service, people
must be aged 17-34, have a
driving licence, a clean criminal
record, be in “perfect physical
condition” and at least 168cm
tall for men or 160cm for
women.
A: You pay a monthly line rental
and rightly expect that Orange
will comply with its contractual
responsibility to maintain a working service to your property. The
point at which your responsibilities start is from the Dispositif de
Terminaison Intérieur box on the
inside of your property, just
where the line enters; not the
first phone socket, as is commonly believed. All internal wiring is, as you say, your responsibility.
This situation even applies to
older installations where the
telephone line is carried from the
nearest telephone pole overhead to the home.
Should the line be damaged
by trees, you would be expected
to have the branches cut back,
but the repair of the line remains
Orange’s responsibility. New line
installations require the property
owner to bury the line underground from the boundary to the
point of entry to the house and
drill a hole in the external wall to
enable the cable to pass.
Anything different would leave
subscribers exposed to high
potential costs. Should you have
to pay to replace a telephone
pole that had rotted, or to
replace components in the local
exchange?
In the 15 years we have provided these services to customers in France, we have never
passed on such a charge and
have from time to time challenged charges. We are not
aware of any recent change
of law.
If it happens again, you could
request that the regulator Arcep
investigate and adjudicate
(arcep.fr).
Euro Sense
Shaun Dash, from Currencies Direct,
answers a reader question on
currency exchange
Q: My son lives in France and I want to transfer him around
£30,000. Is it best to make the transfer in one go or to do it
in several smaller amounts? R.S.
A: Breaking the transfer down into smaller payments may not be
the right move. Generally speaking, currency providers will offer
you a more competitive exchange rate on larger amounts.
The only reason you might want to break your transfer down is if
you believe the exchange rate may strengthen in the future but you
want to hedge your bets against a possible drop by moving some
of the money earlier.
If you are not sure how exchange rates are likely to move, get in
touch with a leading currency transfer provider and ask them to
keep you updated with the latest rate fluctuations.
While there can be restrictions on the amount that can be moved
between certain countries (South Africa, for example) there are currently no restrictions regarding size of transfers to and from Europe.
While the UK’s exit from the EU might have an impact in the
future, so far nothing definitive has been mentioned regarding personal transfers. It is also hoped that the eventual Brexit deal will
involve the maintenance of close financial ties. However, there is
really no telling what impact a no-deal Brexit could have on
currency transfers between the UK and EU and it will likely depend
on whether the UK government seeks to remain in the European
Economic Area and maintain regulatory alignment.
If you are worried about the potential ramifications of Brexit, it is
a good idea to talk through your requirements with a currency
specialist as soon as possible. While Britain’s future outside of the
EU and the impact on transfers remains unclear, with the support of
the right currency provider you can maximise your returns and
make sure your son gets more euros for your pounds.
Email your currency queries to [email protected]
For more information about making international
money transfers with Currencies Direct
visit the website www.currenciesdirect.com/france
or call +33 (0)4 22 32 62 40
20 Practical
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
January 2019
Civic service: it’s volunteering but with benefits
should sign on at service-civique.
gouv.fr and look for a mission which
interests them in the location of their
choice. Some of the missions are
overseas.
They can then apply online.
Educational qualifications are not
taken into account but they have to
write a motivation letter. Some
organisations answer quickly but
applicants might have to be patient
for a reply from others.
Service Civique is popular, so it is
best to apply for several to have the
best chance of being selected.
It is open to French nationals and to
members of the European Union, as
well as to those of other nationalities
who are legally resident.
A Service Civique spokesperson
told Connexion that young Britons in
France will be accepted on to the
scheme until at least December 31,
2020, assuming a deal on Brexit is
agreed.
n The government wants to go further and introduce a Service National
Universel, following calls for either a
return to obligatory military service
or mandatory Service Civique placements. A trial could begin this year.
The scheme would be introduced in
two phases. The first would be an
obligatory period in school at age 16.
It would last for up to a month and
would include a short period with
pupils living together and a
community project. This could be in a
charity, a public body or the army,
police or sapeurs pompiers.
A second phase, to be introduced
later, would last one to three months.
Young people would be engaged in a
public-interest pursuit such as
heritage or helping others, or a spell
in the military.
A recent government study of
45,000 teenagers found 75% were in
favour, despite a lycée student strike
in early December in protest at
education reforms, including
compulsory civic service.
Homeless charity work
made me rethink career
CASE STUDY: Tài NGO is 19 and, like many young
people, he started a post-bac course but soon realised
it was not for him. Instead of biology, he decided he
wanted to do social work and opted for a Service
Civique to find out more about what it involves.
He is in Paris working in a charity called Les Enfants
du Canal, which assists people living on the streets. He
started last June and will finish later this month.
“Every day I go to three different places and meet
homeless people,” he said.
“We talk and sometimes organise trips to museums
or art galleries to offer them something cultural. The
eventual aim is for them move off the streets.”
He says the experience has been a real education: “I
had preconceived ideas, thinking homeless people
were all alcoholics, dirty and unpleasant, but I have
found this is not true.
“We are always welcomed with a smile, and I think
what we do is useful and helpful.
“I have learnt to interact with homeless people and
to be independent because you are often faced with
situations where you have to make a decision quickly.
“It has put me directly in contact with real-life prob-
Tài Ngo (right), pictured with colleague Etienne Garçon,
swapped a biology course for a social work career after
starting a Service Civique programme
lems and it makes you understand things differently.”
It will also help him in his future career: “I know now
what I want to do and this experience should help me
to get a place to study social work as, in an interview, I
will be able to show that I understand more what this
job is about.”
I wanted to do some good following Paris attacks
CASE STUDY: When Lavan
Natkunam (right) was 22, he did
not know what to do with his life,
having become disenchanted with
his post-bac studies.
He wasted much of his time getting up late, spending hours on his
computer and feeling lost. It was
the Paris terror attacks which made
him change. “It acted as a spark.
There was so much unhappiness
around. I wanted to do some good
in the world and so I signed up for
a Service Civique,” he said.
He was the first one to be taken
on by Caf, the state family allowance organisation which runs two
social centres in Paris.
His job was to find a way of giv-
ing the public access to computers
and to help them to use them: “It
was a new idea so I had to decide
how to do it. I was able to set up a
space where people could come to
use computers and then I gave
lessons on how to access and use
sites like the Caf, Pôle Emploi and
Assurance Maladie. I had not
realised that so many people needed help in this way.” He enjoyed his
Photo: Service Civique
SERVICE Civique gives young people
the chance to do voluntary work for
between six months and a year.
They receive a net payment of €580
a month to help with living costs.
The scheme was introduced in 2010,
and it aims to encourage social
cohesion by giving young adults the
chance to meet people and experience
situations they would not otherwise
come across.
It can also teach skills volunteers
might not have learned at school and
give them ideas for future careers.
The scheme has grown steadily. In
the first year, some 6,000 took part,
rising to 140,000 in 2018.
More than 11,000 associations,
organisations and public bodies are
authorised to take on Service Civique
volunteers but there is still far more
demand from young people than
available places. The current aim is to
have 150,000 placements a year.
The scheme is open to anyone aged
16 to 25 – extended to 30 for people
with disabilities – and it attracts the
same number of men and women.
The average age is 21 and around
40% enter the programme after getting their bac. Another 33% do so
after higher studies, and around 24%
after leaving school without the bac.
It can be taken like a gap year and
university students get authorisation
to take a break in their studies to do a
Service Civique placement.
It is also attractive to people who
have dropped out of education, as it
can help them find something to do
while they consider their future.
Reasons for taking part, according
to a survey, included professional
experience, getting involved in social
work, and being useful to others.
There are different types of mission,
ranging from helping in a school or
giving information on cutting energy
costs in the home to wildlife projects,
visiting the elderly who are alone at
home, getting involved in sports
associations, and organising cultural
activities. Anyone who wants to apply
time in the centres so much that he
went every day, and got involved in
other activities such as helping
children with their homework. “It
really made me get off my sofa and
gave me a new purpose in life.”
He went on to get a short-term
contract helping people to use
computers and is now a student at
a renowned computer training
school. “Before, I thought you
could only be a software designer if
you worked in computers. Now, I
know there are other openings.”
He said Service Civique set him
back on track and gave him
confidence because he could be
useful to others: “It was a boost to
be thanked for the work you did.”
Happy New Year to everyone living in ‘tax haven’ France
Money Matters
Robert Kent of
Kentingtons explains.
www.kentingtons.com
“France as a tax haven” – a few years ago, we
ran a series of seminars with this very heading
and they were all well attended, even if only by
people wanting to poke fun at the notion (but
who actually left confounded).
Many people have an incorrect definition of a
tax haven in their minds. They think it is a place
or country with no tax. Not so – the extended
English Collins dictionary states: “A tax haven is
a country or place that has a low rate of tax so
that people choose to live there or register
companies there in order to avoid paying higher
tax in their own countries.”
Using this definition, it is easy to prove that,
for many, simply moving to France made them
better off. This is in spite of the recent news that
France has again topped the EU tax burden list
(this is distorted as it takes into account tax on
businesses) or the gilets jaunes protests against
rising taxes, particularly on fuel.
Is this the case for everybody? Indeed not, but
the point being made is that France is not the
high-tax country that everyone thinks it is. The
issue with French tax is its complexity.
What makses France tax-friendly?
The parts system: This essentially shares allowances and thresholds between household
members. The more people in the household,
the more sharing takes place. In the UK, for
example, self-employed people employing their
spouses to take advantage of allowances is
common. This is not required in France.
Even for a small household, this works well.
If we take a married couple, Mr and Mrs
Smith, of UK state retirement age, where one is
receiving pensions of the equivalent of €50,000
per year. UK tax would be around €7,400
(depending on the exchange rate used).
The mere act of moving to France means that
Mr and Mrs Smith’s tax bill reduces to around
€3,730 … pretty much half!
One of the confusing things about the French
system is the plethora of rules. It can be
mind-boggling. People simply look at the tax
bands, drawing quick conclusions, and so
dramatically miscalculate.
What about wealth tax?
This tax has been a stumbling block for some,
though it does not apply to many people,
ie. only to those with a worldwide estate above
€1.3million. The good news is that, as from last
year, this is now just a property tax, and so will
only be applied to property (and funds investing
in property). The government plans to reassess
this in 2019 and continue or amend depending
on the results. There are allowances to consider,
such as 30% on the main home and offsetting all
taxation, debt etc. This means that owning a
house (maybe a nice chateau) valued at
€1.8million and €10million in the bank, gives
rise to a wealth tax bill of €0.
What about local taxes?
We have seen taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière
rise significantly over the last few years, but taxe
d’habitation, for many people, will be reduced
dramatically to zero. Even people with relatively
high levels of income (for example, couples with
tax-referenced income up to €45,000 per year),
will not have to pay this tax by 2020.
The new “flat tax” on savings
The new tax is 30%. Thankfully, it includes
social charges, which are now 17.2%, so actually
the flat “tax” is just 12.8%. This does have an
impact on assurance vie investments after eight
years, which could be taxed at 7.5%, so this adds
5.3%. In the early years, however, the tax-atsource rate starts at 35% + 17.2%. Therefore, the
new tax is a huge improvement. With good
financial planning, it is possible to make
significant savings being assessed via the
declaration, since much of the income from an
assurance vie is not even deemed “taxable”.
To illustrate that this tax is hardly an issue: If
Mr and Mrs Smith (our friends from earlier)
were drawing their €50,000 from an assurance
vie instead of a pension, their income tax bill
would be a huge €0. Even happier New Year!
All great but what about the cloud of Brexit?
Indeed, we can be as miserable as we like about
the politics, but we can be overjoyed that we are
here (or looking to move as soon as possible).
People are worried about their right to remain,
the unknowns on tax and health. If you want to
live in France, none of these are issues.
Non-EU citizens move to France all the time,
with no problems, and tax is covered by tax
treaties, which are bilateral agreements, so
nothing to do with the EU. There are
solutions for health, even if Brexit ends in total
disaster.
I would reason that if anyone is blaming Brexit
for putting off a move to France, their hearts
simply are not in it.
In conclusion, France is one of the most
wonderful countries in the world to live and,
what is more, it can be a tax haven and it could
be for you. Happy New Year!
French living
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A beginner’s guide to skiing Recipes from the Ritz Louis Pasteur
2 Ski France
French Living I January 2019
Planning a skiing holiday?
Think beyond just being
out on the slopes all day
Whether you are looking for a non-stop party or a family friendly atmosphere, France
has the perfect winter resort for you. Samantha David lists the differences to look out for
Photos OT St-Lary; inset: Propaganda73
D
eciding to go skiing is one
thing. Actually finding a
resort that is perfect for
your needs is infinitely
trickier: all promise endless
snow, mulled wine and blue skies; all of
them have ski schools and lifts. How
are you supposed to tell the difference?
In France, one of the first decisions is:
Alps or Pyrenees? Obviously, living closer
to one than the other will count, but if
both are equally accessible to you, what
are the differences? Generally speaking,
skiing in the Alps is fast and furious,
fashionable and fun. The Pyrenees is
more chilled, more family-orientated,
more authentic and less self-conscious.
Many resorts in the Alps are connected
by ski lifts and cable cars so you can ski
over several hundred kilometres of
mountain. For beginners and intermediates, the number of ski runs available in
the resort will not matter as much as it
does for experienced skiers who are
always seeking a new challenge.
Resorts in the Pyrenees have plenty of
skiing but slopes are often less crowded,
so beginners can learn at their own pace
without fearing imminent physical contact with an adrenaline junkie.
For most skiers, what is often more
important is the overall atmosphere.
Frenetic or chilled? Trendy or come-asyou-are? Resorts that offer challenging
snow parks attract a more energetic,
adrenaline-fuelled crowd than resorts
with land art and beginner trails.
Nightlife is also another clue. Not
everyone goes skiing to ski. Increasing
numbers of people go to party.
The ‘La Folie Douce’ chain, for
example, has venues in
Avoriaz, Méribel, Alpe
d’Huez, Val Thorens,
and Val d’Isère.
Each is built on
the slopes, usually
just beside the cable
car, and contains a
high-end restaurant, and a cheaper
canteen, plus bars
and an all-day club
atmosphere – with
sun-bathing, drinking,
music and dancing on a terrace overlooking the slopes. Many
people take a cable car to the club for
lunch, party all afternoon and take the
last cable car down to the resort – to
plunge into a vibrant après-ski scene.
Not all resorts in the Alps are party
central, however; there are quieter,
more family-friendly places (Les Saisies,
Ardent, and Reberty 2000, for example)
but as a rule the Pyrenees offers smaller,
more relaxing, resorts with quieter bars
and restaurants.
By the numbers
Pay attention to those numbers tacked
onto the end of resort names. ‘Les Arcs’
in the Savoie might sound like one resort,
but it is actually five separate places.
‘Arc 1600’ was the first ski resort constructed in 1968 above the market town
of Bourg-Saint-Maurice and connected
directly to the town’s railway station by a
funicular railway.
The architecture is very Sixties and
prices are realistic (because it is so easy to
take the funicular down to BourgSaint-Maurice). ‘Arc 1800’ was
built in 1974 and is the
biggest of the ‘Les Arcs’
resorts. ‘Arc 2000’ was
built in 1979 and
optimistically
named for the turn
of the millennium.
It is small, quiet
and compact, perfect for experienced
skiers wanting direct
access to the slopes.
It can, however, be
closed during bad weather,
a problem less likely to afflict
west-facing ‘Arcs 1800’.
(Incidentally, the higher resorts are ski
in/ski out, meaning you can put your skis
on at the door of your accommodation
and ski down to a lift, and ski back down
to your door when it’s time to go home.)
The newest development (finished in
2008) is ‘Arcs 1950’ which is set around a
high street designed to reference a waterfall, tumbling downhill in a series of
twists and turns.
The architecture of ‘Arcs 1950’ referenc-
Family friendly
resorts such as
St-Lary, above, have
a very different
atmosphere to the
all-day parties in
found some Alpine
locations
“
Resorts
that offer
challenging
snow parks
attract a
more energetic adrenaline-fuelled
crowd than
resorts with
land art and
beginner
trails
es traditional low-rise chalets, and even
the pedestrianised village centre – which
you can ski down – is designed to look as
if it grew organically.
The shops, bars and restaurants in ‘Arcs
1950’ are beautiful but prices are higher
than in stations at lower altitudes.
All ‘Les Arcs’ resorts are linked by the
Vanoise Express to the 425km Paradiski
area, which includes La Plagne and
Peisey-Vallandry. The same valley is also
home to the ‘Espace Killy’ (Val d’Isère
and Tignes) as well as ‘Les Trois Vallées’
(including Courchevel, Méribel, Val
Thorens, etc), making it one of the most
densely skied valleys in the world.
Cut accommodation costs
Skiing can be an expensive holiday,
but one way of bringing costs down is
booking your own travel and opting
for hostel-style accommodation, available in many resorts. Modern hostels
offer family rooms, washing machines,
restaurants, and wifi as well as communal kitchens and dormitories, and
breakfast is usually included.
The International Youth Hostelling
Association (fuaj.org) has properties
in ski resorts. The Auberge de
Jeunesse Chamonix Mont-Blanc offers
bed and breakfast plus free shuttle
rides to the slopes starting at €23 per
night (minimum of two nights).
They offer two-day packages from
around €60 including one night in the
hostel and a ski pass. There are hostels
in Chamonix, as well as Chamrousse,
La Clusaz and Les Deux Alpes.
The-backpacking-site.com has useful
Real towns
The Pyrenees has its own charms. More
resorts are real towns, and because they
are smaller, the welcome is personal.
A personal favourite is La Mongie, a
small resort at 1800m which offers skiing
and lounging about in the sun. There is
no ice rink, no swimming pool, no prestigious spa. There are two mini-marts, a
handful of gift shops, some bars and restaurants and a selection of ski hire places.
No nightclub, no disco, no party vibe.
This is the place where children can
either learn to ski or just play in the snow.
Adults can stretch their legs in the sunshine while contemplating the slopes, and
lists, while French association UCPA
organises cheap sports holidays for
people aged from six to 55 years-old.
The website ucpa.com offers a week’s
skiing from €730 per person including
accommodation, ski pass, equipment,
lessons, and leisure activities.
Going solo?
More companies are offering skiing
holidays for solo travellers. These are
not romantic ‘singles holidays’, but
holidays for people whose nearest
and dearest do not like snow sports.
French website copinesdevoyage.com
organises ski trips for women travelling solo. Travellers book to go on a
planned trip which becomes definite
once enough people have signed up.
UK sites include solosholidays.co.uk,
friendshiptravel.com and solotravel.org
but many mainstream travel companies also offer ski holidays for solos.
Learning to ski 3
Confessions of a late
convert to winter sports
Photo: Propaganda73
Photo: Jo Pendered
Photo: Agence Urope
Photo: P Compere
January 2019 I French Living
Connexion reader Jo Pendered
(above) started skiing nine years ago,
when she was 46. “My husband, Steve, is
a really keen skier and I’d always wanted to try it, but never had the chance.
“So he took me to Val d’Isère for a
week, and taught me – mainly by putting me on a couple of black runs fairly
early on!”
She admitted that she got stuck, but
took courage from seeing a crocodile of
five year olds skiing past and decided to
copy them.
“Skiing is all in your head, it’s about
believing you can do it. So for me, seeing those children go past was a trigger,
thinking that if they can do it, so can I.”
A keen runner and cycler, Jo said she
has always been quite healthy but learning to ski made her feel able to tackle
new adventures.
“I’m 54 and we’re both retired but I
have every intention of skiing for the
rest of my life,” she said. “It’s fun, the
weather is often stunning and the
mountains are beautiful.
“I would definitely encourage anyone
to take it up at any age. But I would
encourage everyone to wear a helmet,
too many people come a cropper without them. You wouldn’t go on a motorbike without a helmet on, would you?”
Your resort of choice
will depend on if you
want to head to an
après-ski party, stare
at the heavens on a
clear night (Pic du
Midi, top), or relax
in a spa (Cauterets,
below) after a day
on the slopes
Photo: Arnaud Spari
once you do get round to strapping a pair
of planks to your feet, you’ve got over
100kms of pistes to explore. On a good
day, you can see the Spanish border.
If you really cannot stand the easy life
any more, you could always take the cable
car up to the Pic du Midi de Bigorre on
the summit above the resort. NASA had a
telescope installed there in 1963 to take
photographs of the moon in preparation
for the Apollo missions.
Failing that, a short drive will get you
to Bagnères-de-Bigorre, where there are
supermarkets, a casino, an 18-hole golf
course, and a spa.
For a Pyrenean resort which offers yet
another spa, and is directly accessible by
train, try Cauterets.
A real market town, it has access to the
ski slopes via a fast cable car, and you can
rent a locker and leave your equipment
up on the slopes, meaning you do not
have to tote it all up and down the mountain every day.
For families, St-Lary is hard to beat.
It has 100km of ski runs including the
challenging 3.6km Mirabelle run, but is
also well-equipped for children, with a
snow kindergarten, a special park for six
to 12-year olds, a toboggan run and a
recently refurbished area for beginners.
So when choosing a resort, rather than
looking at pistes and snow, try considering either a) a purpose-built resort or real
village/town; or b) party central or chill
zone. But don’t forget to check out offpiste activities and amusements.
And if you are opting for self-catering,
remember that unless there’s a large
hypermarket nearby, you will pay a fortune for groceries.
Photo: Cathy Breyton
Tai Chi and the art of older skiing
Ski instructor Cathy Breyton (above,
middle) is 63 and says it’s entirely possible to learn at any age.
She uses a method which she calls Tai
Ski, which uses elements from martial
art Tai Chi, especially finding your balance and shifting your weight, which
are key skills in skiing.
“Beginners tend to lean backwards,
meaning their weight is on the wrong
part of the ski and they have trouble
controlling the movement. All learners,
but especially people over 50, need to
transform their fear into a desire to
learn, a desire to have fun, a desire to
slide. Once that switch has happened
and fear has gone, learning becomes
easy.”
She recommends The Centered Skier
by Denise McCluggage. “I took lessons
from Denise and she taught me to ski
so well that I set the women’s speed skiing records in 1978 and 1980.
“Her book is a good place to start the
psychological journey towards enjoying
the sensation of sliding.”
She says that she doesn’t consider skiing a dangerous sport. “You ski for
pleasure, for fun. Tai Ski makes it like
dancing on snow. But for complete
beginners it’s a good idea to do some
exercise before arriving on the ski
slopes because falling over isn’t the
problem. Standing up again is more
often the problem.”
The Tai Ski method is particularly
good for beginners, nervous skiers and
intermediates wanting to ski more
effortlessly.
She will run group courses and give
private lessons at Grand Tourmalet/La
Mongie February 3 to 8 and March 9 to
16 2019, and will be in Val Thorens at
the end of March. Nine hours of lessons
(in English, Spanish or French) over
three days in a group of four to six people costs €164 per person. Cathy’s email
is [email protected]
4 Rencontre
French Living I January 2019
Don’t call me an illustrator – I am an
artist who creates books for children
Photo: D. Desmard
Jane Hanks discovers a
few of the secrets of an
award-winning author
of children’s books
P
auline Kalioujny writes and
illustrates children’s books.
She has won two awards in
2018 for her book Promenons
Nous Dans Les Bois – the Prix
Pitchou at the Fête du Livre de Jeunesse
at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, Drôme,
and the Grand Prix de l’Illustration
awarded at the Museum of Children’s
Illustrations at Moulins, Alliers.
She is an established author/illustrator
and publishes books regularly. Baba Yaga
came out in October, and she has another
book due for release for the Spring.
However, as she explained, it is a long
road from loving to draw as a child to
having a book published with your name
on the cover:
What attracted you to
writing and illustrating?
All children love drawing and being
imaginative but most stop when they are
older. Artists like me, decide they will not
stop being like that. I grew up in a family
where my mother and grandmother were
both interested in children’s literature and
we had a house full of books.
I didn’t want to create books when I
was young. As a teenager I wanted to be
a painter, but I didn’t get a place at Les
Beaux Arts and I was devastated. Instead,
I went to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure
des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
At first I wasn’t keen, but I then found it
interesting to learn all sorts of different
methods, such as graphic arts, photography and video and to learn how to create
an image which will be shared.
The wonderful thing about creating
a children’s book is that it will be enjoyed
all round the country by adults and
children.
You write as well as draw
and paint, so how do you
like to describe yourself?
I do not like the term illustrator because it is not just
about drawing. I prefer to
be called an artist who creates books for children. I
like to create an artistic
adventure from words
and images.
It gives a great freedom
of expression and creativity. I think our work is often
undervalued and that the work
we do is an art form.
I also think it has an important role,
as surrounding children with beautiful
books is vital to their development and
children should have access to art just as
adults do. Art helps you understand the
world around you.
How do you go about creating a book?
It takes a very long time. I have masses of
ideas, all the time, and they develop slowly into what may or may not eventually
become a complete book. I have a sketch
book and little by little a character might
emerge. Some ideas have to be discarded
along the way and others might suddenly
grow when I see or hear something
which adds to it, or observe a child who
acts in the way I think my character
would act. It is a very long process.
For example, I am obsessed by flowers,
and the way they are constructed and I
draw them all the time.
For several years, I have wanted to
include them as a
theme for a book, and
now I have eventually
come up with an idea
that a publisher has
accepted, about a young
person who goes into a
garden and is confronted
by the different characters
of the flowers and what
they represent.
Now I am doing the illustrations and it should come
out in April.
Doing the drawings is really the last step, and, because I have years
of practice now, it is the easiest and
quickest part, though it may still take
some months. However the birth of the
book has begun!
What are your inspirations?
I like to explore the link between man
and nature. I think ecological issues are
very important and in Promenons Nous
Dans Les Bois the wolf is not the big bad
enemy as it is in this classic French song,
but comes to the aid of the characters in
the book and at the end the little girl and
Pauline Kalioujny’s
version of the
perennial classic
children’s story,
Promenons Nous
Dans Les Bois
draws heavily on the
influences of stories
she heard from her
Ukrainian father
“
When you
grow up
with two
cultures in
one country,
you often do
not understand why
you don’t
quite fit in
the wolf are merged in the same image.
I do not want them just to be for children, but also for the adults who are
reading them to their children so that
they work on different levels.
I am also definitely influenced by the
fact that my father was Ukrainian and my
mother was French.
I was brought up with the fabulous
illustrations from Russian books in the
thirties and my characters are often pictured in the winter, wrapped up snugly in
hoods and soft scarves. The colours I use
are often red, black and white.
It was just not possible for me to remain
indifferent to the legends and the songs
of my paternal background. However, I
did not go to Russia until I was grownup, but then it made a lot of things fall
into place.
When you grow up with two cultures in
one country, you often do not understand
why you don’t quite fit in, until you visit
that other country and recognise things
in it that are in you, and that are not in
the country you grew up in.
It can be hard growing up like that,
but in the end you appreciate it for the
richness it adds to your life.
Is France a good place
for children’s books?
It is one of the best places in the world
for illustrated children’s books.
There are several publishers and they
are very popular. I know Italians who
come to work in France because this culture just does not exist in Italy. Why it
should be so strong in France, I just do
not know.
Can you describe a working day?
Today, I am lucky enough to have enough
work to concentrate just on my books.
For a long time I had to do other jobs to
make ends meet. But now I live above my
workshop and go into it in the morning.
It is a bit like being a craftsperson. I have
all the tools of my trade around me and I
get to work. I draw and paint.
I write and there is a lot of administrative work to do as well; drawing up
quotes, answering emails and so on. It is
solitary and you have to be disciplined as
there is nobody with you to encourage
you. Being in my workshop is like being
in my brain and so I do also need to go
out and have a break.
I meet with my editor and my art
advisor and I like to work with them in
a team. Sometimes I go for a drink in a
café for a change of scene and I also like
to go to exhibitions and have a rich cultural life I can draw on to add to my
books. It is great to live in Paris, to have
all that around me. I am often invited
to schools and to book fairs so my week
in the workshop may well be broken up
by a trip.
What is it like when you
see your work published?
It gives me a feeling of great joy.
It is a huge struggle to get to that point,
but it is worth it. I am happy to be doing
what I do. When children ask me questions about the characters in the book
and I feel they have entered into the universe I have created, I forget how difficult
it all was and it is pure magic.
www.paulinekalioujny.com
6 Gardens/Green news
French Living I January 2019
Green-fingered generosity in 2018
T
he year 2018 has been another
success for Open Gardens/
Jardins Ouverts, which has
donated €25,000 to charity,
€1,500 more than last year.
It means that since it was created in 2013,
the association has been able to hand out
€75,550 in total.
It began when four British gardeners in
the Creuse decided to open their gardens
to see if they could raise money for charity and the idea quickly caught on. There
are now 151 gardens signed up and the
scheme is present in 35 departments and
it encourages gardeners of all nationalities to open up their gardens, big and
small to the public.
Visitors buy a €10 membership card
which gives them access to any of the
gardens for one year or pay €5 for a Day
Pass which allows access to any of the
gardens on the day of purchase. There is
also the €35 Partner Gardens card, which
gives access to privately owned gardens
as well as a growing list of prestigious
French gardens, which are offering Open
Garden members free entry.
40% of gardens are French owned and
it has been welcomed with open arms by
one of France’s most prestigious gardening shows, the bi-annual Journées des
Plantes de Chantilly, held in the grounds
of the château de Chantilly, north-west of
Paris. During the show in October, there
was a ceremony to hand over the money
raised to two of this years fifteen charities,
A Chacun son Everest and Quelque
Chose en Plus.
The main beneficiary
from the start has been,
A Chacun son Everest
which runs courses in
the Alps to help children
and women who are in
remission from cancer
but need help restoring
their confidence after
treatment. It received
€15,000.
Among the other
fourteen charities is Dauphin Corse,
which received €1,000.
It gives financial help towards the treatment of individuals who have an illness
or a handicap and in particular to fund
unforeseen costs, such as an expensive
cure only available in a foreign country.
It is run by an extraordinary man, who
has overcome his own handicap and now
wishes to help others do the same.
Thierry Corbalan, from Ajaccio,
Time to clean your car?
The Assemblée Nationale has voted to
tighten penalties for polluting motor
vehicles, a measure which aims to
encourage the acquisition of so-called
“clean” vehicles.
The car penalty “defines a tax additional
to the tax on vehicle registration certificates on the basis of their carbon dioxide
emissions”, according to the finance bill
for 2019. A key amendment was the lowering of the threshold for the application
of the penalty to 117g of carbon dioxide
per km, from the current 120g.
The government says it hopes to generate additional revenue of €31 million,
which it says will to help finance, and
potentially increase, the buyer’s ‘conver-
Corsica, used to work for the police, but
lost both his arms and a toe after a fishing expedition, when his carbon rod
touched an electricity line as he crossed a
bridge over a railway line. He had always
loved sport and was three times vice-judo
champion for France Police. So just
months after his accident he started running, and then turned to swimming with
a mono-flipper and
set himself astonishing challenges.
In 2017 he swam
80km non-stop
between Montecristo
in Italy and Bastia in
Corsica, which took
him 26 hours. This year
he was one of a team of
four who swam around
Corsica.
He used to raise money through his
challenges for other charities, but in 2012
he decided to set up his own.
“I will help anyone who has a story
which touches me and where I think I
can help. Recently it was for a man in his
sixties who has gallbladder cancer and
the only treatment available was in
Germany where he had to fund the operation himself. A lady from Guadeloupe
Photo: Pixabay
Green news
Photos: Fondation Claude Monet
Jane Hanks speaks to the founder of Open Gardens about another successful year and meets a remarkable beneficiary
“
I have
found that
there are
many,
many
people who
are willing
to give up
their time
for nothing
Mick Moat,
Open Gardens
founder
sion bonus’. It has also called on manufacturers to help with some of the costs.
You can see details of current levels
of ‘bonus’ – including up to €2,500 for
the purchase of an electric car – at
www.primealaconversion.gouv.fr
New eco post for airport politician
Nicole Klein, Prefect of Loire-Atlantique
and the Pays-de-la-Loire region, was due
to retire at the end of November. But
instead, at the age of 66, she became
the new Chief of Staff of Nantes-born
François de Rugy, who was appointed
Minister of Ecological Transition last
September, replacing Nicolas Hulot.
Mrs Klein had previously impressed
ministers with how she handled the
shelving of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes
new airport plan, and she will now be
dealing with equally thorny subjects as
conflicts with France’s powerful hunting
who has a rare tumour needed to come
to Marseille and we paid to enable her
husband to accompany her. For some
years we have supported a young girl,
Chloé Verbauwe, who is unable
to walk and her family cannot pay for
all the costly materials she needs.”
In 2019 he will be sixty and plans to
swim 60km in Lac Léman. He trains by
swimming every day of the year in the
sea as the majority of the money given
out by the association is raised
by Thierry Corbalan himself. However he also has
partners like Open
Gardens and he says he
is very grateful for the
support he has had
since Mick Moat first
contacted him.
The other charities
that Open Gardens supports are Quelque chose en
Plus, €1,500, a centre for
young people with disabilities;
Réseau Bulle, €1,000, a network of assistance and mutual support for families
and individuals affected by autism;
Costello Syndrome, €1,000, gives help for
those with a rare disease which manifests
itself in the first months of life and results
lobby, the limitation of pesticides in agriculture, the future of the French nuclear
fleet and the conversion of coal-fired
power plants.
‘Funnel’ lake dries up due to drought
A lake in the Doubs department of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté has completely dried up due to the ongoing drought
affecting parts of France, resulting in
thousands of dead fish.
Due to mud hazards (a walker recently
got stuck), visitors are no longer permitted at Lake Bouverans, which is also
known as ‘The Funnel’.
The surface area and water levels of the
lake already change frequently throughout the year, due to the underground
drainage network on which it is located.
The region has been particularly affected by the lack of rainfall this year, with 35
municipalities getting their supply by
in growth and mental retardation; Bouée
d’Espoir, €1,000, eases the difficulties and
despair of those at increasing risk of marginalisation by helping to set them back
on a positive path in life.
A Bras Ouverts, €1,000, organises holidays for young people and children with
disabilities; Chiens Guides €500, trains
and allocates guide dogs for blind and
partially sighted people; Marfan
Syndrome, €500, helps those with a
genetic disorder which affects heart,
lungs, skin, blood vessels, bones, joints
and eyes and can be life-threatening;
Rigolopito, €500, clowns put a smile on
the faces of children in hospital; and the
following are new this year; Dessine moi
un mouton, €500, for families and children with serious illnesses; Rayon de
Soleil, €500, to help with financial costs
for families with children with serious
illnesses such as cancer; MS, Sclérose en
Plaques, €500, multiple sclerosis; Les
P’tits Doudous d’Aliénor, €500, support
for children at Le Mans hospital and
APTED, €500, support group for people
with neuroendocrine tumours.
Next year will see a change as founding
member and President, Mick Moat is
leaving France, as his wife wishes to live
nearer family in the UK. A new President
will be chosen at the AGM in February
and Mr Moat says he is very sad to leave,
but supremely confident that the people
taking over will do a good job.
He says it has been a wonderful experience: “Doing something like this renews
your faith in humanity. I have found out
that there are many, many people who
are willing to give up their time for
nothing and help those less fortunate
than themselves.”
He says he is proud that
nearly 50% of their gardens
are now French owned:
“It is a tribute to the
British that they have
introduced something
new to the French culture, and a tribute to the
French that they have
received this new idea
with open arms.”
He says he hopes more
gardeners will join the scheme:
“Our target for next year is 200 gardens.
We are always looking for more gardeners so welcome anyone who wants to
join. More open gardens means more
money for charity.”
opengardens.eu
mobile water tank. Meanwhile, the
Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume
has said that an agricultural disaster plan
will be put in place for all departments
affected by the drought.
Swimmer swam in ‘plastic soup’
A long-distance swimmer who completed
a tour of France, has said that he swam in
‘plastic soups’ in some areas.
Rémi Camus told the France 5 programme C politique, la suite, that two
places were particularly bad, both of them
in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques: the entrance
to the port of Bayonne, and Hendaye,
right next to the border with Spain.
He said that about “700-800 metres”
from the coast, there is plastic in the
water three metres thick and 40 kilometres long. “There was an open dump
on the Spanish coast that would be used
when sea conditions were favourable.”
Gardening 7
Photos: Cathy Thompson
Photo: Castorama
January 2019 I French Living
Layered benefits of lasagne bed
Grower’s digest
Recycle your Christmas tree
To recycle your sapin (Christmas tree)
quickly and easily for compost, you need
a broyeur végétaux (plant shredder), a
wide variety of which are available to buy
in stores such as Gamm’ Vert, Castorama
and Leroy Merlin.
There are three main types to choose
from: le broyeur à disque porte-lames (a
blade-disc – fast, ideal for small gardens),
le broyeur à rotor (rotor crusher, which
compresses the branches first) or le broyeur à turbine (turbine mill, ideal for very
hard wood). Model shown: Bosch AXT
2550 TC, €419.90; www.castorama.fr.
The woodcutter’s story
An innovative couple of horticulturalists
from Fréjus in the Var have developed a
round-the-clock plant watering system
that could be ideal for people with plants
who are going away on holiday.
The Capill ’O feeds a plant 24 hours a day
by capillary, via a polypropylene wick immersed in a water reserve. The whole thing
is propped up by a frame and plants do
not spoil from direct contact with water.
The innovation won a prize at last
year’s Lépine inventions competition is
currently in production by a Dijon firm.
Prices will vary from €15 to €25.
Under wraps
Keep outdoor
potted plants
and shrubs
warm this
winter with
a breathable
white housse.
Made of 50 g/
m2 non-woven
polypropylene
with UV protection, it measures 200cm high and
costs €9.95. Permeable and resistant, it
lets air, water and light through to keep
your plants healthy. www.truffaut.com
Social media app Instagram is a brilliant way
to enjoy other people’s
gardens in France, with
everyone from chateau
visitors to chambre d’hôtes
owners posting seasonal
snaps of their gardens
(users can search using
the hashtag #jardins).
This month’s pick
features a detail of French
leafy, wintery glory, as
captured by dalpul.
French garden diary
I
t was clear to me from the pleasing
trickle of readers’ courgette and
haricot recipes we received that
more than a few of you are quite
dedicated to your potager.
I increasingly share your passion for
growing my own and imagine that the
influence of my French neighbours –
foodies to a man or woman – has something to do with this. But have you
noticed that there is, in France, a kind of
‘permaculture’ style that was probably
typical decades before the Englishspeaking world discovered it?
The garden as a kitchen resource –
with the gardener as ‘gatherer’ in season,
whether it’s a supply of nuts, fruits, or a
few perennial, leafy crops.
There are many cultivars of perennial
vegetable still popular in France: Chou
perpetual Daubenton (a cabbage that
doesn’t make heads, but is grown for the
young leaves), cardoon, Good King
Henry (a spinach substitute), onions for
many purposes, and lovage or ‘poor
man’s celery’.
If I had any flat land, I’d try growing
vegetables in lasagne beds. I’ll never forget a friend presenting me with the most
superb butterhead lettuces direct from his
lasagne bed – right in the middle of a
drought. These beds are ideally situated
right near the kitchen door, where they
can be watered every day.
Start by creating raised beds in any
shape you fancy – the walls can be of
wood, old brick, roof tiles, even tyres
(with the added advantage of providing
good insulation early in the season). It’s
the produce that counts, rather than the
shape or look of the beds. You don’t have
to lift the turf at the base, but should cut
Attract more wildlife
to your garden
with high quality food, feeders, nest
boxes, plants and more!
visit www.vivara.fr
the grass and remove any really evil
weeds before you start.
Lay a cardboard base and get cracking
on the growing medium for the bed,
alternating layers of woody/carbon-rich
material with layers high in nitrogen. The
first, high-nitrogen, layer is composed of
grass cuttings, weeds, green kitchen
waste, chicken manure, coffee grinds, etc.
Then a carbon layer: shredded woody
prunings, fallen leaves, shredded paper,
dead plant material such as the chopped
stems of your herbaceous plants after the
autumn/winter tidy. Continue to build
these two layers up to as much as
45-60cm in height, and water each layer
before you add the next.
Cover the bed with permeable
landscaping fabric and leave to
bake! Ideally the bed should be
left to mature for a year, but if
you want a start this season,
you can lay an 8-10cm layer of
finished compost/good garden
topsoil and plant into that.
A quick-fix method for creating
vegetable beds that are not raised
(and are less water-retentive than lasagne
“
If I had any flat land,
I’d try growing in
lasagne beds
beds) is to lay sheets of cardboard onto
the ground and then to build up a growing medium by adding a very thick layer
of mushroom compost or a soil/manure
mix on top of the cardboard. This is very
much a no-dig, permaculture type
approach to growing vegetables – they
root into the soil below the cardboard –
and it works impressively well. Not only
does ‘no-dig’ save your back, it also saves
the crucial earthworms.
For those who garden on sloping land
and want to create flat terraces for growing vegetables (again, conserving moisture and making watering easier) you can
do this without the expense of actually
building raised walls.
Try roughly terracing (with a good old
spade!) the site into different flat areas
and lay landscaping fabric on the steep
slopes between each of your ‘flats’.
Through slits in the landscaping fabric you can
plant evergreen shrubs
to create a green
‘wall’ on each slope.
Favour bee plants,
such as santolina,
lavender, hyssop,
thyme, marjoram …
whatever you fancy.
Then, at the top of
each slope create a low
hedge to retain the soil on
your planting terrace.
I used box cuttings, directly stuck in
in autumn from my own plants, but if
you’ve been plagued by the box tree moth
caterpillar, try substitutes such as hebe,
Euonymus japonicus ‘Microphyllus’,
Lonicera nitida, Ilex crenata, or rosemary.
TIPS FOR THE MONTH Don’t forget
to sow onions as early as possible (under
cover, in cell trays in colder areas). Check
newly planted trees and their stakes to
ensure that roots are safe against any
rocking by winter winds and that the tree
trunks are not being damaged. Damage
to the top layer of bark in very young
trees can curtail uptake of water and
nutrients in spring.
8 The big interview
F
or the past nine years, retired
surgeon Dr Bernard Leménager
has willingly flown to war-torn
regions around the world to
offer his medical expertise as
a doctor with arguably the best-known
French charitable organisation, Médecins
sans Frontières (MSF).
“I am 69 now. I used to work in a public
hospital in France,” he said. “I decided to
retire when I was 61 so I could work for
Médecins sans Frontières.
“For the past nine years I have taken
part in five or six missions a year. Half
have been in Africa, and half in the
Middle East – in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.”
Dr Leménager has recently returned
from seven weeks operating and saving
lives in Yemen, where civil war has raged
since 2014 when Houthi rebels, a group
of Shi’ite Muslims from the north, overran the capital and forced President Hadi
to flee. The President had been supported
by Saudi Arabia, which set up a coalition
and began air strikes.
The conflict, which has become known
as the Forgotten War as it has had little
media coverage in the west, has left the
country’s infrastructure in tatters.
MSF calculates that half its medical
structures have been destroyed. In 2017,
the United Nations estimated that – out
of a population of around 27million –
more than 20million were in need of
humanitarian aid.
In October 2018, the UN said the country was about to face one of the biggest
famines for 100 years, with 13million on
the verge of starvation.
MSF has since said that, though there
are huge problems in Yemen, the disaster
is not on that scale. They point out that it
is difficult for journalists to access the
country and for facts to be verified and
there are many no go zones because of
continuous bombing.
The medical charity is one of the few
to have been able to gain access to the
country. It has centres in Houthi territory
to the north, as well as the Saudi coalition-controlled south.
Between March 2015 and May 2018,
MSF treated 81,633 war casualties and
835,333 people in its casualty departments in Yemen, and carried out 64,659
surgical interventions. Another 108,032
were admitted to Cholera Treatment
Centres.
That is just a fraction of the work it
does. In 2018, MSF France undertook
operations in, among others, Gaza,
Central African Republic, Syria, Libya,
Chad, Uganda, and Iraq. It helped
the ship Aquarius save refugees in the
Mediterranean and cared for Rohingya
refugees in Bangladesh. Doctors treated a
new Ebola outbreak in Congo.
In total, it dealt with 10.6million
out-patient consultations and admitted
749,700 patients for treatment.
Dr Leménager has been to Yemen several times and described the hospital he
worked in the last time he was there:
“I was in an MSF hospital constructed
out of tents in Mocha, a small town on
‘We operated
on a man
who was
110, and a
7-month-old
baby who
had been shot
in the stomach’
the Red Sea coast which gave its name to
the coffee it used to export from its port
up to the 18th century.
“It is about four hours from the main
city of Aden in the south and this is the
nearest hospital to the front line of the
war, about two hours to the north. It was
opened in August with an operating theatre, a casualty service, an intensive care
unit and three wards, two for men and
one for women and children.
“In all there are 35 beds and, once treated, patients either stay with us or are
transferred to the bigger 100-bed MSF
hospital in Aden. Though it is under
canvas, conditions are good; there is air
conditioning and it is well equipped.
“Two surgeons and two anaesthetists
share the work, and though we can be
called on at any time, night or day, we do
have time to relax, which is important so
that when we do work, we can do it well.”
Not all the hospital’s patients are a
direct result of the conflict: “We look
after both military and civil casualties,
as there is no longer any other hospital
in the region with facilities for surgery.
“Some patients are war wounded, either
by bullets, shrapnel or by mines, as there
are several of these around. We have
operated on a man for bullet and shrapnel wounds who was 110, and a
seven-month-old baby who had been
shot in the stomach.
“One young boy arrived with a tourniquet around his leg, following a shrapnel
wound. We were able to save his leg and
afterwards he was able to return to his
home. We have Yemen staff and there
was a wonderful physiotherapist, Farouk,
who took great care of him. We also do
other, ‘classic’ surgery for the local population, such as removing appendix and
caesareans so the work is varied.”
Despite the constant threat of violence,
Dr Leménager said he rarely felt in any
danger while working in the war-torn
nation: “There are never too many dangerous situations, though when you go into
“
The
hospital
was right in
the middle
of the two
front lines.
We received
a hundred
wounded
a day
the town there are two problems. One is
crossing the road, because the way they
drive is hair-raising and the other from the
fact that they say that in Yemen there are
more Kalashnikovs than there are homes.
Every family owns at least two or three
and the men walk about with their guns
and fire into the air at random, for fun,
which causes lots of accidents. It is a tradition to do so at weddings and once, three
bullets pierced our tents from one such
occasion. Luckily no-one was hurt.”
In 2015 Dr Leménager
was in Aden during a
battle in the city which
lasted three months:
“The hospital was right
in the middle of the two
front lines.
“We received a hundred wounded a day.
“I was also in Mosul,
Iraq, just after it had
been liberated from
Daesh (ISIS). We were
just six or seven kilometres from the fighting. We took in a great
number of wounded
and it was pretty risky.
“On another occasion
I was in Syria, but we
did not stay very long,
because it was very dangerous. The problem with ISIS / Daesh is that we, as doctors could be a potential target and there
is a real possibility of being kidnapped.
“When you are in places like this there
is always a risk. We leave it to the MSF
organisers who know what is happening
on the ground to assess the situation and
they make sure we are never in too much
danger. We are there to cure, not to fight.”
Dr Leménager may have made light of
the dangers, but it only takes one look at
the facts to realise the risks he and his
colleagues take. In 2016, four medical
units supported by MSF were attacked in
Yemen. One, a hospital in Abs, in the
Photos on this page: Mathieu Fortoul / MSFG and Rémi Decoster
Dr Bernard Leménager
recently returned from
seven weeks in Yemen,
where he worked –
again – with Médecins
Sans Frontières. He tells
Jane Hanks about the
fearless charity’s work
French Living I January 2019
north-west, was hit by an air attack
which left 19 dead and 124wounded. One
of those who died was an MSF employee.
He agrees that not many people in
France know about the extent of the conflict in Yemen. “There has been very little
about it in the media. Not about the war,
nor about the repercussions.
“The health system has been completely
disrupted so that there is very little access
to health care.
“There is immense malnutrition and
cholera epidemics. I think
it is a crisis which is getting more and more
dramatic.”
And he said the work
of MSF was making an
incalculable difference
to the lives of people in
Yemen: “If the hospital
in Mocha was not there,
there would be no surgery, no help for the
wounded, no caesareans. There would be
more deaths.
“The people in Yemen
are really kind and
adorable. They do
everything they can to
make us welcome. And,
when I was in Iraq, just
after the towns had been freed, they
thanked us everywhere we went.”
Médecins sans Frontières is arguably
the best-known French international
charity. It was founded in 1971 in Paris
and for more than 40 years it has been
giving medical aid to people whose life
and health is threatened, mostly by war,
but also by epidemics, natural disasters
and lack of health care. It operates in 72
countries and prides itself on being independent as it is funded by private rather
than government money.
“I did not sign up just to help people,”
Dr Leménager said. “If I had only wanted
to do good works, I could have stayed in
Trending 9
January 2019 I French Living
Charlotte Cady from
online brocante
business Selency
Flea markets move online
– and go upmarket, too...
Jane Hanks talks to the young entrepreneur credited with giving
the traditional French brocante a thoroughly modern new look
#trending
F
on hand so the charity can react rapidly
to any new crisis and stay neutral. It
always tries to have medical centres in
areas supported by both sides of a conflict. It does not have to waste time persuading public bodies to hand over cash.
“Amongst the medical staff there are a
great number of young retired but also
working doctors who take time out of
their annual leave to work for MSF.
“When we do a mission all our expenses are paid, including air fares, board
and lodgings, and we are given a small
sum to cover extra expenses. MSF also
employs local people, so that in Mocha
we had 150 staff, including medical and
administrative workers, and only 10% of
us came from outside Yemen.”
He is 69, so surely it is a huge commitment and physically exhausting? “I will
not be able to keep on doing it for ever,
but while I can, I will.”
Top left, Dr
Leménager operates
on a gunshot victim
in Central African
Republic. Above,
with the boy whose
leg he saved in
Yemen. Below,
carrying out a
consultation at a
hospital in Ivory
Coast shortly after
fighting broke out
Photo: Brigitte Breuillac / MSF
France because there is plenty of misery
here that needs addressing.
“Working for MSF is interesting on a
professional, personal and humanitarian
level. As a doctor you extend your skills
because you see different kinds of
pathologies, and for me it is interesting
because you meet people from all over
the world with different experiences.
“There are MSF staff from the UK,
Armenia, Pakistan, Australia, the United
States and though we are not tourists in
the usual sense it is fascinating to get to
know about people’s way of life in the
different countries we work in.”
Charities are often criticised for the
way they spend their money, but Dr
Leménager feels the MSF does its best:
“It is a huge organisation, but it keeps its
administrative costs to a minimum.
“The fact that 97% of its money comes
from private donors means the money is
ans of vide greniers, flea
markets and brocantes are
buying more and more of their
second hand furniture and
antiques on line.
Rather than getting up early at weekends to stroll around stalls and shops,
they are looking at beautifully presented
objects from the comfort of home, where
they can imagine just where to put this or
that object.
There are a range of sites, with their
own specialities. For example, Luckyfind,
for vintage and quality second-hand;
Atelier du Petit Parc for Fifties and Sixties
objects from France, Belgium, Holland
and Denmark; Design Market for highend pieces, and for those searching
antiques there is Antiquités en France.
‘Label Emmaüs’ was launched by the
charity of the same name in December
2016, and has attracted a new public
to those who already know their second-hand stores (where money from
sales goes to their charity).
Organisers say in the first year they
sold 10,000 items and 25% of buyers had
never bought from Emmaüs before.
One of the first sites – and now one of
the most successful – was Selency. It was
launched by two young entrepreneurs in
2014, Maxime Brousse, passionate about
start-ups and Charlotte Cadé (pictured
above), who has always adored brocantes
and decoration:
“I found I wasted a lot of time going to
brocantes and searching on Ebay, so I set
up a site to make it easier to find what
you want,” Ms Cadé told Connexion.
“It has been a pleasant surprise to see
how popular it has become. We now have
100,000 objects on line, employ 30 people, sell 100 items a day and it is still
growing. We are en plein boom.”
She believes she has introduced a new
approach to buying second hand: “The
emphasis is on decoration, rather than
brocante and we take photos to give ideas
and show what a room could look like.
Our launch coincided with an increasingly eco-responsible public who think that
buying old is better than buying new.”
The site sells a wide range of styles,
with prices ranging from €10-€25,000.
Most sellers are professionals and
Selency takes a commission of 25% but
private individuals can also sell on the
site for a 15% fee. Buyers cover the cost
of delivery.
She agrees it is not the same as finding
the objects yourself and touching them:
“Ten years ago no-one would have
thought it possible to buy online, but this
is another way of buying where you don’t
get dusty, and you can take your time to
decide whether to purchase or not.”
Armel Labbé is a third generation
antiques seller, at La-Chartre-sur-le-Loir,
Sarthe, with a shop that has been in existence since 1925.
Not all dealers welcome the idea of selling on the web, but he says it has brought
a breath of fresh air to the business: “The
Selency story attracted my attention
straight away because I think Charlotte
Cadé has given a new image to brocante,
modernised the job and brought in a new
generation interested in antiques.”
He puts his finds on her site, his own
and on others and around 50% of his
sales are via the internet.
“
Ten years ago no-one
would have thought
it possible to buy
online, but this is
another way of buying
“It has been a massive amount of work.
You now have to photograph your items,
spend time checking the sites and emails
and I now have three rooms dedicated to
packing materials.
“I like to say that a shop is no longer
enough, but that internet is not enough
either, so you need both.”
He says he uses all social media : “My
latest discovery is Instagram. I have posted a photo and found customers outside
my door the next day to buy the item!
“I am thinking of expanding to use
overseas sites, as 2018 has been a difficult
year for everyone. It means I will have to
spend more evenings working up until
midnight, but the internet opens up huge
possibilities for both sellers and buyers.”
10 January What’s on
French Living I January 2019
French new year gets off to a flying start
La Grande Odyssée, Savoie Mont Blanc
January 12–23
Photos: Jiri Vondrak; Inset: Vincent Piccerelle
The Alps’ breathtaking scenery forms the backdrop to this high altitude
dog sled race which sees the best mushers in the world go neck-to-neck
over the course of 12 days. Plunging through more than 700kilometres
of thick snow, the exhilarating race weaves through France’s Savoie and
Haute-Savoie regions, taking in 22 different ski resorts before finishing
in the Savoie gem of Val Cenis Lanslebourg.
La Grande Odyssée is classed as one of the most challenging races of its
kind, both for the tough conditions and the different speed challenges for
each leg of the journey. After a firework display, the race gets underway at
Samoëns passing through the Col du Mont Cenis Base Polaire at 2000
metres, Megève and Les Gets on 15 January.
At each village, spectators can feast on giant tartiflettes and mulled wine
cooked up by local restaurants, while watching the 14 dog-strong sleds fly
by in a flurry of snow. Snowshoeing and wintery walks are on offer or
snuggle up with the pups at the end of their long day of racing.
grandeodyssee.com/en
More January events
Festival Flamenco, Nîmes
January 11 – 19
The fire of the Andalusian dance pulls
Nîmes out of its wintery hibernation,
bringing flamenco’s evocative music
and impassioned dancing to the
Théâtre de Nîmes and other venues.
The city has been showcasing musicians,
dancers and singers for over 20 years,
featuring both emerging and established
artists such as Arcángel (above).
Arrive with castanets and a volley of
“Olé” because this is one not to miss.
theatredenimes.com/festival-flamenco
La La Land ciné-concert, Floirac
January 5
Justin Hurwitz’ jazzy soundtrack is
brought to life by a 75 person-strong
big band playing live as blockbuster La
La Land shows on the big screen.
The Yellow Socks Orchestra accompany the six time Oscar winning film –
including one for the best original
soundtrack.
Sit back and be transported to the land
of showbiz as Emma Stone and Ryan
Gosling tap-dance their hearts out on
the silver screen.
arkeaarena.com/event/la-la-land-cineconcert-billetterie-bordeaux
Carte Blanche to Tomás Saraceno:
On Air, Palais de Tokyo
until January 6
Saraceno’s visionary installations are
closer to science than they are art.
In this immersive, multidisciplinary
exhibition, he continues to examine
humanity’s relationship with airborne
ecosystems – carbon dioxide, cosmic
particles – and ethically reconfigure our
interaction with the planet.
Step inside the silver bubbles, spidery
cobwebs and geometric shapes of this
eco-art project, where workshops,
concerts and public talks transform
the dream-like space into a “cosmic
jam session.”
palaisdetokyo.com/en/event/carte-blanchetomas-saraceno
Foire aux Miel, Lyon, January 12 – 13
Become a veritable bee connoisseur at
this fair, dedicated to the joys of honey.
Organised by the Rhône Bee-keeping
Union, the show covers everything you
could ever need to know about the
sweet sticky stuff, including tastings,
demonstrations and presentations on
the world of apiculture.
rhone.planetekiosque.com/163-513839-5foire-miel.html
Teh Dar Vietnamese Circus, Brest
January 16 – 19
From the highlands of south-west
Vietnam, an impressive performance of
dance, gymnastics and traditional culture
comes to Le Quartz stage.
Vietnamese tribal tales of animal hunts,
the jungle and reincarnation are told
through elegant aerial acrobatics, where
dancers weave hypnotically through
bamboo poles wearing exotic costumes,
accompanied by hauntingly beautiful
Vietnamese flute music.
lequartz.com/Teh-Dar.html
La Semaine Vigneronne, Samoëns
January 17 – 21
Nothing says winter in France like days
spent racing down pistes then fireside
nights with a fine bottle of red.
Combining the best of skiing and
oenology, every evening of winegrower’s
week promises an abundance of good
food, wine and company. As well as the
art of the bottle, there’s visual art too and
winegrowers are more than happy to
share their sommelier knowledge.
winter.samoens.com/event/1/127685winegrowers-week.html
Truffle Festival, Sarlat
January 20 – 21
In the heart of the Périgord, spend a
weekend in celebration of two prized
French delicacies: the black truffle and
foie gras.
Wander around the market, pausing
to notice subtle differences in truffle
varieties (usually by their aroma) and
watch the fungus sell for eye-wateringly
high prices.
Cooking workshops reveal the secret to
concocting truffle-flavoured dishes and
demonstrations explain how specially
trained dogs hunt for them, known as the
‘cavage.’ French cuisine does not get more
rich and flavoursome than foie gras, so
expect to return home well satisfied.
sarlat-tourisme.com/fete-de-la-truffe-sarlat
Le Festival International de la Bande
Dessinée, Angoulême
January 24 – 27
Since 1974, visitors have been flocking to
Angoulême in celebration of France’s 9th
art. From satirical comics for adults to
children’s educational fiction (a copy of
Astérix and Obélix can be found in every
French home) the ‘BD’ as they are known,
have a cult following both in France and
in many countries around the world.
Inside huge festival tents, there are
comic book signings, debates, workshops,
conferences and artists unveiling their
latest projects while illustrated concerts
are dotted around the city.
bdangouleme.com
La Saint-Vincent Tournante, Vézelay
January 26 – 27
Each year this travelling festival is held
in a different village in Burgundy, hence
the name ‘tournante.’ The festival of wine
dates back to the Medieval era and this
year, Burgundy’s winegrowers will unite
in the idyllic village of Vézelay, to thank
the patron saint of the wine harvest.
Burgundy’s heavy-hitters: Nuits Saint
Georges, Chablis and Mercurey are
honoured during dinners, processions
and tastings. It is a great chance to
discover some of the region’s lesser
known – but equally good – vintages.
vezelay2019.fr
Le Festival International du Film
Fantastique, Gérardmer
January 30 – February 3
The ski resort of Gérardmer in Vosges
turns into an unexpected cultural hub
when 100 showings of fantasy films are
projected across the big screens of four
movie theatres.
European and Asian films are shown in
their original versions with subtitles and
it is a good opportunity to catch new
material pre-release.
There are also sculptures, literature,
theatre and fantastical street
performances, as well as video gaming
and speciality make-up booths.
festival-gerardmer.com
Chagall, Du noir et blanc à la couleur,
Aix-en-Provence, until 24 March
Picasso said “Chagall will be the only
painter left who understands what
colour really is” and his colourful
paintings provide the perfect break
from wintery weather.
Chagall was part of many artistic
movements, from Cubism to Fauvism
and Expressionism, working with an
astounding diversity of techniques.
Inside the magnificent 18th century
Hôtel de Caumont, 130 works of art
from the second half of Chagall’s life
explore his oscillations between intense
colour and monochrome etchings.
caumont-centredart.com/node/1530
The Connexion works
with local tourist offices
for the information on
this page. Due to
possible last-minute
changes to programmes
and event timing we
recommend that you
always check with
individual organisers
before making a trip.
What’s on/Cultural digest 11
January 2019 I French Living
Dressing up, quietening down
A round-up of news, and those creating ‘le buzz’ in French cultural life
4. The silent treatment
Sharp-witted satirist Florence Foresti
became the first French performer to ban the use of
mobile phones at concert venues when she played two soldout Paris show in December.
Patrons were invited to leave
their mobile phones in a special area containing individual
electronically sealable ‘Yondr’
pouches – and were not able
to access them until after the
show or, exceptionally, in case
of emergency.
The aim, said a statement on
her website, was “to avoid pirate recordings and ensure a link with the audience”.
US rocker Jack White used the same system when he played the city’s Olympia in
July 2018.
Photo: Mucem/Lisa Ricciotti
2. Small screen, bigger future
Ile-de-France’s smallest cinema – housed
in a former barn – which was under
threat of closure due to lack of funding,
has been saved thanks to new subsidies.
The 50-seat art-house cinema in Monsen-Montois, a small village in Seine-etMarne with less than 500 inhabitants,
was opened in 2002 by Michel Le Clerc,
a former documentary director.
Part of the deal, agreed with the local
Pôle Emploi, will see the cinema’s projectionist retained for six months on a salary of €800 for a 26-hour week, with 70%
of it covered by the State.
On average, 175 local film goers attend
screenings at the picture house each
week. Donations can be made via www.
cinemons.fr and are 66% tax deductible.
On danse? Mucem Marseille
23 January – 20 May
“Alors on danse,” says Stromae, one of France’s favourite singers.
In the spirit of Stromae, Marseille’s newest cultural institution
le Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée
unveils ‘On danse?’ Inside the iconic waterfront building,
the plethora of ways in which the human body can move are
explored through film, documentary, sound tracks, ethnographic clips and sculptures (left). It is a relaxing experience: stand
up, lie down or sit down in the immersive exhibition space.
Dance is traditionally practiced in world cultures, employed in
contemporary parties and is a natural part of human movement
and social exchange. It is as prevalent in the every day as it is in
raves, formalised choreography and carefully rehearsed performances. The exhibition takes the three pillars of space, time and
body to ask the question ‘how do we dance?’
www.mucem.org/en
3. Le Bataclan is back
Le Bataclan rock venue, which was the
scene of a deadly terrorist attack in 2015,
began a new chapter in its history in
November with new owners (the
Lagardère group) and a new woman at
its helm – Florence Jeux, former director
of the annual Francofolies music festival
in La Rochelle.
The concert hall in the 11th arrondissement, which was completely renovated in
the months after the tragedy of
Christie’s auction house in Paris is in
charge of the sale of coats, dresses and
accessories, with half of them being sold
online and the other half in its salons.
The actress was styled by YSL both off
and on screen, notably when she played
the secret call-girl in 1967’s Belle de Jour.
“These are the creations of such a talented man who only created to make
women more beautiful,” said the 75-yearold, who first met the designer aged 22.
1
La Folle Journée, Nantes, 30 January until February 3
Nantes hums with the sound of classical music during La Folle
Journée, which sees nearly 250 classical music concerts unfold
over the course of five days. Short, bite-sized performances of 45
minutes come with a very reasonable price tag while for enthusiasts or for budding enthusiasts, there are plenty of opportunities
to chat with composers and musicians.
The festival also pledges to support emerging musicians. Since
it started in 1995, La Folle Journée aims to make classical music
accessible to the widest possible audience. This year’s edition is
dedicated to musical creations born during travelling, modelled
on Mozart’s symphonies that were inspired by his voyages across
Europe, in particular to Prague and Paris.
In addition to Nantes, this year the music can be heard in concert
halls across 11 towns in the Pays de Loire, from January 25 to 27.
La Folle Journée has also taken place in Spain, Poland and Japan.
follejournee.fr/en
November 13 2015, symbolically reopened with a concert by Sting on the day
before the first anniversary of the attacks.
90 concert goers were killed by gunmen while watching a gig by US group
Eagles of Death Metal.
Photo: Still from Belle de Jour
1.Frocks for the memories
French actress Catherine Deneuve will
have plenty of wardrobe space at the end
of this month, as around 300 items of her
clothing, all made by Yves St Laurent,
will be auctioned off.
Many of the pieces being sold are
bespoke creations by the bespectacled
haute couture icon, who died in 2008.
5
12 Recipes
French Living I
When Ritz met Escoffie
Jean-François Mesplède on the unique chemistry between two giants
of the hotel and culinary worlds that combined to luxurious effect
T
he partnership between
César Ritz and Auguste
Escoffier, sealed in
Monte Carlo, was one
of the most fortunate
events in their lives,” said Ritz’s wife
Marie-Louise. She goes on to say that
although Ritz had fully grasped the
importance of exceptional cuisine
during his years at the Grand Hôtel
de Lucerne, he constantly ran up
against obstacles when attempting to
put the theory into practice.
As for Escoffier, his lack of understanding prevented him from fully
exercising his considerable talents.
From the moment they met, their
compatibility worked its chemistry.
So while César Ritz knew exactly
how to taste a new sauce and give
useful advice on making it, Auguste
Escoffier could advise him on the size
of dishes and bowls.
Both innovators, Ritz was brimming
over with ideas on building and furnishing hotels, the choice of staff uniforms down to the smallest details,
and Escoffier was already reflecting
on the indispensible reorganisation of
the kitchens, an operation he carried
out a few years later.
To quote Marie-Louise Ritz again:
“they both adored simplicity.” With
one man intent on getting rid of ridiculous baubles and faded fabrics, the
other was eliminating indigestible garnishes that enhanced nothing, simplifying the menus, going so far as to
turn his back on some of Antonin
Carême’s edicts from the previous century that he now considered obsolete.
While César was studying the
hygienic measures to establish in
hotels, Auguste was reflecting on the
digestive and nutritional aspects of the
food he would serve to his clients. A
veritable revolution was taking place
in the hotel and restaurant businesses,
with the two men who welcomed the
most illustrious personalities to their
establishment taking the lead.
In the Guide culinaire, subtitled
Aide-mémoire de cuisine pratique,
begun in 1898 and finally prefaced on
November 1, 1902, Auguste Escoffier
gave a wealth of know-how and recipes to cooks. He stressed the importance of simplifying the outward
trappings of cuisine. This would not
“
The tables were
returned to the
workshop to
have their legs
shortened by
barely an inch
with just a hint of irony,
said, “Why not call it
‘Grand Marnier’?”
Lapostolle agreed enthusiastically. Many years later,
the liqueur was earning
him a fortune. So when
Ritz, Lapostolle’s good
angel, asked him for help,
the rich man readily
advanced him the money
he needed to finance the
eight-day option.
César Ritz then resigned
from
the Savoy, retaining
Partners César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier
the right to found hotels
anywhere he pleased, on either side
mean that it would be devalued –
of the Atlantic. For the moment, he
quite the contrary. Since tastes are
was starting in Paris. Escoffier was of
perpetually becoming more refined,
course embarking on the adventure
cooking must become more refined
with him. He still had to find a good
to satisfy them.
architect. Ritz knew precisely what
And now to the Ritz we must go. At
was required to fit out a hotel with
the Savoy, Ritz and Escoffier introthe greatest elegance, but he admitted
duced the English to the art of fine
that he had no idea where to begin.
dining. Gourmets flocked to the stylBy chance, Charles Mewès crossed
ish dining room. Benoît-Constant
his path. He was just the right man.
Coquelin and Bernhardt, the wellRitz explained to him that he wanted
known actors, made a point of
his hotel to be the ultimate in elepatronizing the restaurant whenever
gance, the first truly modern hotel in
they were in London. “Boni” de
Paris: “My hotel must be the last word
Castellane, politician, writer, dandy,
in modernity. Mine will be the first
and esthete, had his usual table there.
modern hotel in Paris, and it must be
It was said that thanks to its very
hygienic, efficient, and beautiful.”
capable management and excellent
Ritz did not want the establishment
kitchens, the Savoy was pushing the
to resemble a grand hotel; rather, it
borders of France as far as London.
should have the atmosphere of an
There, Escoffier created the filets de
aristocratic home, one where several
sole Coquelin, homard aux feux étergenerations had been living happily.
nels, la volaille à le Derby, and les cuiThe smallest details that would prosses de nymphes à l’aurore, which had
vide comfort were given close attenthe Prince of Wales himself tasting
tion; the kitchens were equally imporfrogs’ legs. It was there, too, that he
tant. Escoffier provided his wealth of
created the famous Peach Melba that
experience, and Ritz took a close
would appear on the Ritz menu.
interest in the ovens and iceboxes,
Yes, the Ritz. For many years, César
asking the technician who was installRitz thought longingly of Paris, a city
ing the appliances endless questions.
he had fallen in love with at a young
The main dining room, called the
age. It was his hope to create the perRégence, which opened onto a large
fect hotel there, one that would be difgarden, also involved lengthy discusferent from all those he had managed
sion between Marie-Louise Ritz and
until then. At place Vendôme, the
the two men. They were well aware
building adjacent to the Ministry of
that the surroundings in which the
Justice had just been put up for sale.
cuisine would be served were nearly
What Ritz wanted was to establish his
as important as the cuisine itself.
hotel there. It would be the ne plus
On June 1, 1898, every detail was
ultra of elegance, combining every
ready for a memorable inauguration.
refined amenity that a prince could
Up until the last minute, César Ritz
dream of having in his own abode.
bustled about, rectifying details here
This was a fine idea but one on
and there. He realised that if half the
which the partners of the Ritz Hotel
chairs were transformed into armCompany were not too keen. The
chairs, guests would linger longer at
price for the “small building” was too
the table, so he returned them to the
high for what they wanted. Ritz did
cabinetmaker to add armrests and
not give up, and in the end, the day
upholster them with the right fabric.
was saved by nothing other than a
The tables were judged to be too
liqueur. It is a story worth telling...
high and uncomfortable. They were
When he was at the Savoy, an indusreturned to the workshop to have
trialist by the name of Marnier
their legs shortened by barely an inch
Lapostolle introduced himself to
César Ritz one day. He had just creat- and delivered in the nick of time to
be installed in the dining room,
ed a liqueur, which he wanted his
where they were hastily covered
opinion on. Ritz approved heartily
with Damascus linen and laden with
of the drink, complimenting the man
shining silver and delicately engraved
who, pleased with himself, asked him
crystal, certain to satisfy the crowd of
if he could suggest a name for it.
eminent personalities gathered for
César Ritz eyed Marnier Lapostolle,
this prestigious event.
a short, pretentious gentleman, and,
for 10 minutes. Char the onion
on the burner until black, and
e half-onion with cloves.
d wash all the other vegetables.
the carrots and celery, and tie
s into a bundle. Add all the
c garnish to the pot, with the
on of the salt. Simmer gently for
hours. Season with salt after 1
cooking time. Skim the scum
off regularly. Finally, carefully
he broth.
n the beef chuck in a pot with
eanut oil. Add the aromatic
sh (onions, carrots, celery, and
). Pour in the red wine and beef
ommé. Add the herbs. Simmer
y, with the lid on, for 3 hours.
ove the beef chuck. Strain the
d, and reduce the sauce until it
ck and tasty.
he beef into thick slices, and
ge the truffle and Comté cheese
on top of each piece of meat.
under the grill for a few seconds.
the asparagus in salted boiling
for a few seconds. Refresh them;
sauté them in the butter in a pan.
he artichokes, and dip them in
with the juice of 1 lemon. Cook
in a pan with the olive oil. They
d retain their crunch. Season
salt and pepper.
ate: Place a serving of beef
the melted cheese on each plate.
nge the asparagus and sautéed
hokes on the side. Add a pool of
auce.
Photo: Chinkerfly/Flickr
er
The carnivore’s classic
that evokes raw emotions
In our series providing a sideways look at French food,
we examine the ever-divisive, uncooked steak tartare
iven the inexorable spread of
veganism and vegetarianism
(France, perhaps surprisingly,
is included in this unstoppable rise), it is likely that one
day – perhaps sooner than we all think –
meat-eaters will be in the minority.
And when that comes to pass, one of
the off-menu, naughty, morally dubious,
seemingly rank, or plain odd-yet-delicious
dishes that any self-respecting carnivore
might seek out, is steak tartare.
Its concept, with origins in Eastern Europe and later the USA, is certainly wacky,
if straightforward. Like a deconstructed
hamburger, it is a mix of seasoned and
chopped steak with a few flavour-giving
trimmings such as capers, Worcestershire
sauce and onion mixed in, and topped with
a raw egg yolk to be stirred through at the
last minute, for added goo and goodness.
When the dish first appeared in the
French foodie bible, Escoffier’s Le Guide
Culinaire, in 1921 it was called steack à
l’Americaine and served sans egg yolk. Its
name referred to the tartar sauce (a gherkin mayonnaise) it was served with. By
1938’s edition this had morphed into the
dish we know today, but ‘tartar’ stuck.
Some people worry about steak tartare’s
associated health risks and while properly
kept raw meat is fine, those with weak
immunity might want to steer clear. The
advice is: if making your own, always try
to buy the very freshest, high quality meat.
Be it a moral or animal welfare stance
that drives a vegetarian switch, or other
environmental concerns about the impact
of epic-scale cattle rearing, meat-free living
is here to stay. Steak tartare, like the edible,
Armagnac-soaked finch ortolan (illegal, of
course) and foie gras (clinging to legality
but still widely enjoyed in France) will
become even dirtier words.
What odds on Paris being home to
blacked-out, sidestreet speak-easys for
steak tartare aficionados in the year 2070?
Gadget inspector
Now available
Warm the heart with a
raclette... by candlelight
Ale and hearty: new beer
range suits British taste
In ski chalets across France, weary skiers
are tucking into cheesy raclette suppers
this winter, to replenish energy levels. But
why not give the soirée a modern twist
with this stylish, foldable ‘Yeti’ set from
Cookut, a Lyon company founded by
three young innovators.
It uses tea lights to heat a small tray full
of unctuous cheese – wait for it to melt
then spoon over your meat and potatoes!
Also available in baby blue and pink.
€14.95 per tray from www.cookut.com.
The penchant for craft ales is booming
in France (see Trending in our October
edition), so much so that Casino supermarkets now have their own ‘cave à bières’
(beer cellar) instore.
The firm has worked with two breweries
and a ‘bièrologue’ to launch a range of
artisanal beers (€2 for 33cl) called La Collective du Houblon. Featuring hoppy tipples which will be familiar to British beer
drinkers, they even have English names,
such as Amber Ale, IPA and Golden Ale.
Method for the puff pastry
1. A day ahead, prepare a beurre manié: use the dough hook of your mixer to
combine the cake flour and the butter. Spread out the beurre manié to form a
square. Cover with waxed paper, and chill.
2. To make the détrempe (the dough before the butter is incorporated): still using the
dough hook, combine the water and salt, and then the stoneground flour with the
melted butter. Do not overmix. Cover in plastic wrap, and chill.
3. The next day, envelope the détrempe (the second mixture) within the first (the
beurre manié). Roll out, and fold over twice. Leave to rest. An hour and a half
later, roll and fold two more times. An hour and a half later, repeat.
An hour and a half later, roll out the dough to make an even sheet of puff pastry
(less than 2mm thick).
4. Place this sheet of pastry between 2 sheets of waxed paper on a baking sheet. Set
a wire rack over it, and bake at 175°C for about 45 minutes, until the pastry is a
nice golden colour.
5. When done, cut out 12 rectangles, 15 x 3.5cm). Sprinkle with icing sugar through
a small strainer, and bake at 240 °C for 2-to-3 minutes to caramelize the pastry.
Remove from the oven, and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Method for the pastry cream
1. Scrape out the vanilla seeds into the milk, and bring the milk and butter, with
the vanilla seeds and bean, to a boil. Whip the egg yolk with the sugar until pale
and thick. Add the cornstarch and flour. Mix again until smooth. Pour the boiling
milk over the egg mixture; then return mixture to the saucepan, and cook for
three minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat, and
add the gelatine, whisking so that no lumps form.
2. Transfer the pastry cream to a pastry dish. Cover with plastic wrap flush with
the surface, removing any air bubbles, and place in the refrigerator to cool
completely. When the pastry cream is cool, transfer it to a bowl, and whip again
until perfectly smooth.
3. Beat the whipping cream, and carefully fold it into the vanilla pastry cream. Chill
until needed.
To assemble the mille-feuille
Spoon the pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a 12mm tip, and pipe
out two lines onto a rectangle of caramelized pastry. Repeat the procedure a
second time, and sandwich four layers together. Top with a layer of puff pastry.
High-end olive oil is
all the rage in France.
Jane Hanks visits a
producer in Corsica
and learns about the
pressing process
T
he very first olives in France
are harvested in October,
but the main period is from
November to January, with
some picked right up to May.
The timing depends on the variety of
tree, method of harvesting and the local
climatic conditions.
It is very unlikely, however. that the
olive oil you buy will come from France
as the country produces just 0.16% of the
world’s olive oil, and just 4% of the oil
consumed in France. Most of it comes
from Spain. Overall olive oil prices are
going up and due to climatic problems
2016/2017 was disastrous with just 3,000
tonnes produced compared to 6,000
tonnes in 2015/2016.
It is thought this year’s harvest will be
better. In France, concentration is mainly
on oils of quality and 27% of oils have an
AOP label. There are four regions: 66%
is produced in PACA, 20% in Occitanie,
10% in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and 4%
in Corsica.
Though production is small in Corsica,
it is an area where the production of olive
oil is on the increase and where olive oil
of a very high quality is being produced
after years of abandon. Trees over a
thousand years old are still producing
fruit and new varieties, specific to the
island have been developed by agricultural researchers and from 2017 have been
planted for future crops.
Up until the 1980s the production of
oil on the island had dwindled to almost
“
Olive producers
say there are at
least as many
types of oil as
there are wines
zero from a flourishing commerce at the
beginning of the twentieth century due to
the two World Wars, the rural exodus and
the economic depression.
Now it has an AOP label,
with 176 producers
selling 127,000 litres
a year at an average
price of €20 a litre.
Daniel Cartayrade was one of the
first Corsicans to
see the potential of
the island’s thousands
of neglected olive trees:
“The extraordinary virtue
of the olive tree is that it hardly ever
dies”, he says, “so with a little pruning
and clearing away of the undergrowth
the trees were still there to give us their
olives. Some of the trees I look after are
700, 800 or even 1,000 years old.”
There are two ways of harvesting olives
in Corsica, and bottles are labelled
according to the method used; either
Recolte sur l’arbre or Recolte à l’ancienne.
Mr Cartayrade inherited his passion for
olives from his grandmother and sticks
to the old ways, and was one of only six
producers to do so in 2017.
“In February, where I live at Zilia up in
the mountains of the Balagna region in
the North east, the olives start to ripen
up. I put nets around the trees and let the
olives fall naturally when they are ripe.
Every evening I check the nets and nearly
every day I have enough to take to the
mill.”
Because all the olives are ripe when they
are collected the resulting oil is soft and
rounded with hints of the flavours of the
surrounding aromatic plants which the
fruit readily absorbs. The disadvantage is
that it is labour intensive and as the tree is
left to its natural life cycle it only produces fruit every two years.
“For me it is a positive decision to let
the trees continue to live at their own
rhythm”, says Mr Cartayrade. “I do not
water them or add fertiliser, though I
have to treat them against the olive fruit
fly, but only when absolutely necessary. I
think it gives a better oil, less bitter and
more in line with tradition.”
From 60 trees, he produces between
1,500 and 2,000 litres, which sells quickly because of its quality, but he cannot
make a living wage from it and has
a daytime job.
From one oil to another
The President of the Syndicate
for olive producers in Corsica is
Sandrine Marfisi. She originally
worked in marketing for an international oil company but gave it up when
she married a Corsican. For the past
fifteen years her workplace has been in
the most beautiful of sites imaginable,
an olive grove by the Mediterranean,
the silvery leaves of the trees reflecting
Above: Olives that
fall naturally are
ripe and produce a
soft and rounded
oil, while some are
sharper using the
modern method of
shaking the olives
off using a machine
(right); Inset:
Sandrine Marfisi,
President of
Corsica’s olive oil
producers’ syndicate
against the deep blue of the sea beyond.
She has older existing trees but has also
planted new trees and grafted new plants
on old trunks. She produces 3,000 litres
a year from six hectares and her oil has
won many prizes, including gold from
the prestigious Paris International Agricultural Show. She needs on average 5kg
of olives to produce one litre of oil.
She harvests her olives using a hand
held machine which both vibrates the
branches and combs the fruit off into the
nets below, so all the olives from one tree
are collected at the same time. Though
still extremely physical work, with seven
hour days going from one tree to another, it is more
economically
viable than the
older method,
and the one used
the most widely.
Because all
the olives are
harvested in one
go, fertilisers are
used and high
producing varieties chosen,
the tree will
produce olives every year.
Some pesticides are used against the
olive fruit fly. Not all the olives are ripe
when picked which means the resulting
oil is sharper. As you taste it, the oil has a
smooth flavour at the front of the mouth,
with a spicy kick as it reaches the back of
the palate. Olive producers say that there
are at least as many tastes and types of oil
as there are wines.
Mrs Marfisi has her own mill, which
is unusual, but as she has a favourable
position on the coast her olives are the
first to ripen in October and the 28 AOP
approved mills on the island are not yet
in full production.
Old traditional mills with stone wheels
have now been replaced by modern aluminium ones, which do the same job but
reach European standards. “The olives
are milled on the same day they
are picked,” says Mrs Marfisi. “This is
important as they quickly lose their
health and taste benefits.
First they are washed and all the
leaves, dust and twigs removed. They are
ground into a pulp and then pass into
a chamber with a bain-marie where the
water is heated to a maximum allowed
temperature for AOP olive oil of 27°C.
The pulp is churned in this chamber for
30 minutes. It then goes into a turbine
where the oil is separated and siphoned
off into tanks. Later on I will blend the
oils to make up what will be that year’s
oil, which is then filtered before bottling.
Every year it will be different.”
She also explained that the terms Virgin and Extra Virgin
olive oil are strictly
regulated by European law which relate
to the composition
of the oil. The faster
the olive is turned
into oil, the lower the
acidity level and the
greater benefits for
health and flavour.
Extra Virgin must
have an acidity level
less or equal to 0.8%
and Virgin must have an acidity level less
or equal to 2%.
She also explained that the term ‘cold
pressed oil’ is no longer relevant as modern mills are so efficient that they can
extract nearly all the oil from the olives
in the first pressing. In the old mills the
producers would reheat the pulp after the
first extraction and then press it a second
time to get higher yields, and the superior oil came from the first, cold pressing.
Conservation advice: Keep oil away
from direct light and heat. Close the bottle well after each use. Avoid changes in
temperature. It is best to eat Extra Virign
oil within 18 months of bottling and Virgin Oil within 12 months. Corsican olive
oil is best eaten uncooked on salads and
as a dressing on fish or poultry dishes.
Photo: Chocolatrium Atelier
M
arc Cluizel and his sisters Sylvie and Catherine
are the third generation
to run Manufacture
Cluizel, the family choc-
Photo: Cluizel
olate business.
“My grandparents created the company,
my grandfather was a pâtissier from
Lyon,” says Marc. “His wife Marcelle ran
a sweet shop, and together they set up a
combined pâtisserie, chocolaterie and delicatessen in Rambouillet.
“After the First World War, they moved
to Paris but in the currency crash and
subsequent inflation, they lost most of
their money. Then suddenly my grandmother inherited a house in Damville,
in Normandy. So he decided to make his
filled chocolates there, and supply them
wholesale to other shops. Gradually, the
business grew and by 1964 the company
had 50 employees.”
The company was eventually taken
over by Marc’s father, and in time by
Marc and his sisters and today, fulfilling
their grandparents’ dream, they have five
shops in Paris. “We own the company
together. We all live in the shops and own
them. Sylvie does the finance, Catherine
manages the shops in Paris, I deal with
the manufacturing side.”
The family have established two ‘chocolatriums’; one in Damville and one in
Berlin, USA (just south of New York).
“They are like a cross between a museum
and a workshop where people can come
and learn about chocolate tasting and
about the difference between the chocolates we make and others. We explain the
difference between Cluizel chocolate and
other chocolate.”
One of the company’s particularities is
that Marc Cluizel buys directly from the
cocoa farmers, cutting out the middlemen. “Cocoa growers get around €1-2
per kilo from a negotiator, but I buy
direct and pay them around €5-7 per kilo.
I pay a fair price because I know the work
involved. And, of course, it means we use
sustainably farmed beans and I can
demand the best quality. We’re the only
family company in the world which
makes chocolate from beans bought
direct from planters selected by word
of mouth, and sealed by a handshake.”
Cluizel’s chocolatrium and boutique
in Damville, Eure, is open all year
round (Tuesday-Saturday) and makes
a fascinating visit for all the family.
See www.cluizel.com for addresses and
opening hours of their Paris shops.
Artisan cheese
of the month:
Chevrotin
Photo: www.chevrotin-aop.fr
Meet the producers
Many factors contribute to a wine’s
final sale price, and not just for
top end bottles such as Mouton
Rothschild and Margaux (inset)
Photos: Pixabay
Wine and Cheese 15
January 2019 I French Living
With production techniques dating back to the
17th century, this goat’s
cheese from the Alps is
made from the milk produced by a single herd of
goats, 80% of which must
be from the same breed
of alpine chèvre.
It is formed into a
convex disk shape not
dissimilar to its more famous winter counterpart
Reblochon – the staple of
skier’s favourite tartiflette
made with cow’s milk.
Unusually for a goat’s
cheese, Chevrotin is
an uncooked, pressed
cheese. It is designated
an AOP – Appellation
d’Origine Protégée.
You can buy in situ
throughout Savoie, such
as from husband and wife
producers Gérard et Caroline Cruz-Mermy at La
Chèvrerie des Thoules.
Local speciality:
Rillons confits
Rillons confits from
Vouvray in the Loire
are made from deboned
pork shoulder which is
cooked low and slow,
resulting in melt-in-themouth tenderness. Two
added twists: the meat is
given yet more flavour
from the caramelised
cooking juices and
further enhanced by the
addition of local wine.
To serve, it can be gently
reheated in a bain-marie
and eaten with mashed
potatoes. Available
in 450g jars from
www.bienmanger.com
How much should a bottle of wine cost?
Jonathan Hesford reveals the hidden costs that dictate a bottle’s final price tag
A year in the vineyard
I
often get asked, both by visitors to
my winery and by friends outside
the wine world, “How come some
wines cost so much more than
others? Can they really be worth
that much money?”
It is often a difficult question to answer
because it becomes a personal issue
based on wealth and how much they
know and love about wine.
Some people try to work out how
much a bottle of wine should cost based
on how much it costs to make. Some by
trying to find an objective level of its
quality. For lower-priced wines, this can
be done to some extent but once we get
into higher-priced wines, desirability
and rarity take over. This month we will
look at the costs of producing a bottle of
wine. Next month we will look at why
the price asked for that wine may have
little to do with the cost of production.
Looking at basic level wines – the kind
99% of people buy and drink – we can
use production costs to work out the
lowest price it could be sold for and see
how additional costs add to the price.
We can add up the costs of all the work
in the vineyard, from pruning through
to harvest, and divide that by the yield.
Those costs will differ depending on the
amount of care or the difficulty of the
growing conditions. A meticulously
tended organic vineyard on a steep slope
costs twice as much to run than a mechanised one on flat land. Yields can vary
“
The value of a bottle
of wine is not how
much it costs but
how much people
are prepared to
pay for it
from as low as 15hl/ha for old vines in
dry, stony soils to over 100hl/ha for productive vines in fertile soils. So the yield
is more important than the methods of
farming. So the cost of producing the
grape juice could be anything from
€0.20 to €3.60 per bottle.
Winemaking costs are perhaps more
standardised but making vast quantities
is cheaper than working with small volumes. Winemaking equipment is expensive but it’s a long term-investment so
difficult to cost the production of a
bottle but it is probably somewhere
between 5c and 25c. Ageing in new oak
barrels is the most expensive extra cost.
A new barrel adds about €2.50 to the
cost of a bottle. Hiring a top consultant
oenologist can also add significantly to
the expenses.
Bottling costs are also volume dependent and types of bottle, label and cork
can increase the cost but we are
still talking about relatively
small differences. At the bottom end, with millions of
similar bottles, plastic
corks and cheap labels it
probably costs about 30c
per bottle. For a small run
with heavy-weight, custom
bottles and the most expensive corks and labels, we
could be reaching €4.50.
So we can work out that making a
basic wine from the highest-yielding,
mechanised vineyard and cutting as
many costs as possible in the winery and
packaging, we arrive at a figure around
€0.55. Meanwhile a low-yielding, meticulously hand-tended vineyard whose
fruit is handled in small volumes with
ageing in new barrels and packaged in
the most luxurious fashion could cost as
much as €12 to produce.
So that gives us some idea of how the
cost of producing a wine can vary. Yet it
does not explain why some wines cost
considerably more than €12 to buy.
That is because we have not included
any capital costs for the purchase of the
vineyard land, the winery or any of the
administrative and financial overheads.
We have not included any profit for the
producer. Nor have we looked at getting
that wine to the consumer and encouraging them to buy it.
A hectare of vines can cost as little as
€8,000 in the Languedoc to around a million in regions like Burgundy, Northern
Rhône, Pauillac and St-Emilion.
Investments in land are often ignored
when costing wine but it stands to reason
that wine from a hugely expensive piece
of land would cost a lot more than one
from a cheap, readily available plot.
Shipping wine, even half way around
the globe, is relatively cheap. Probably
no more than 75c per bottle if done in
large volumes. However, getting that
wine into a shop may involve it passing
through several hands, each of which
takes a cut, adding between 10% and
120% to the cost. France has a low level
of duty on wine, only about 3c per bottle. But the UK and Ireland tax wine
often many times its cost. The duty on
wine in Britain is £2.16 a bottle and VAT
is applied to that and all the other costs.
Getting people to buy the wine
does not come for free either.
Wineries work on giving
away between 10 and
15% of their production
in samples of some
kind. Entering competitions, entertaining critics and potential customers, attending wine fairs
and employing sales and
marketing staff adds to the
cost of the wine. Add in advertising
and we can be talking several Euros per
bottle. Getting people to pay more
money costs more money. I once saw
costings for a $100 Napa Valley
Cabernet where the majority of the costs
were the salaries of the consultant winemaker and the salesman.
When you consider all those factors, it
is easy to see how a wine can easily triple
in cost before it reaches the consumer.
However, the value of a bottle of wine
is not how much it costs, it is how much
people are prepared to pay for it. Next
month I will talk about how that value
can be distorted and what good value
actually means in the world of wine.
Jonathan Hesford has a Postgraduate
Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology and
is the winemaker of Domaine Treloar in
the Roussillon – www.domainetreloar.com.
If you have questions on this column,
email him at [email protected]
Maureen Footer reveals
how the Provençal
hideaway of fashion
designer Christian Dior
inspired his work
A
t physical remove from Paris
and light-years from the action on the Côte d’Azur, the
nineteenth-century bastide
La Colle Noire, near Grasse,
emanates the spirit of Dior. Its vineyards,
olive groves, Renaissance stone lions, and
shaded Italian garden mingle past with
present. Cool tiled hallways, glimpses of
linen velvet, and Emilio Terry influences
add calm and charm. If his house in Passy
was a civilized nest amid the demands of
Paris and Le Moulin du Coudret represented an escape from the city, La Colle
Noire, with its solid dignity, was Dior’s
chosen home.
Purchased in 1950, the coaching inn
turned manor house was Dior’s final
domestic creation, and still a work in
progress at the time of his death in 1957.
Just as another of his last creations – the
1957 city dress “Palais de Glace,” with tidy
bodice, slender sleeves, and meticulously
gathered skirt – signalled in its sobriety,
beauty, and understatement a return
to the vision of 1947, the stone house
represented permanence. Its atmosphere
of storied family house, mixing antiques
with the occasional surprise, was gracious
and unaffected. Dior, who planned to retire to La Colle Noire, was so dedicated to
the house that he eventually sold the mill
at Milly to underwrite the renovations,
the cost of which, as typically happens,
exceeded expectations.
Approached through an allée of cypress
trees, the house sat on more than a hundred acres of pleasure garden and working
land, accompanied by gravelled terraces,
a private chapel, and views across the
valley. Dior installed a 150-foot reflecting
pool that ran the length of the house. For
parties, he illuminated the pool with fifty
candled hurricanes
around its perimeter.
André Svetchine,
the Nice-based
architect who had
designed Raymonde
Zehnacker’s nearby
country house,
provided Dior with
plenty of rein to play
gentleman architect. In fact, Dior
conceived much of
the house on his
own, often relying on
Svetchine and interior decorator MichelJacques Marsan
more for execution
than conception.
For construction,
as for couture, Dior
was a curator of
time-honoured
craftsmanship. He
required the use of old materials or, at
least, materials made in the old-fashioned
manner, whenever possible. Fortunately,
Svetchine proved adept at sourcing local
and antique elements that reinforced the
ambience of an old manor house. Glazed
Anduze planters flanked the door, and a
new gravel forecourt greeted arrivals.
Throughout the house, white walls, grey
panelling, and terracotta or white stone
floors, or some combination thereof,
weave simplicity and continuity into the
décor. Following the notion of a provincial manor that has evolved over the
years, formulas were relaxed, never strictly enforced. Periods, styles, colours, and
types of rugs varied; the only cardinal rule
was that the ambience remain polished
but unpretentious.
Decoration proceeded slowly, in part
determined by the renovation schedule. Because of a delay in the electrical
hookup, only two rooms were habitable
as of 1956. With such a leisurely pace,
the loose accumulation of furniture gave
the impression of having been amassed
over generations.
Except for one
chair by Séné, the
furniture was warm
and burnished but
far from museum
quality, generally
eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century
French, with the occasional Biedermeier
chair or Continental
piece for variety.
With its waxed
tiles and patinated
furniture, La Colle
Noire conveys Dior’s
response to postwar
reality. Instead of
falling back into familiar routines after
the war, the world
had rushed forward
into uncharted
territory.
Europe integrated warily, colonies sought
independence, the Soviet Union loomed as
the new world menace, and the economy
transitioned to industrial production. In
this mid-century flux, as patterns changed
and the pace picked up, Dior was a conservator of enduring custom.
A fashion genius coupled with conscientious businessman, Dior worked
From top: driveway
at La Colle Noire;
the designer in the
countryside; bedroom
detail with its vivid
‘retour d’Egypte’
wallpaper
Extracted from
Dior and His
Decorators: Victor
Grandpierre,
Georges Geffroy,
and The New Look
by Maureen Footer, published by
Vendome Press.
Available in all
good bookstores
and online.
incessantly in this new economic climate,
designing collections, developing perfume, and licensing new global products,
leaving him less time to pursue the
friendships, gardening, antiquing, music,
and quiet he craved. Others found themselves with less wherewithal, and even
less inclination, to observe the niceties of
the past.
Even Maison et Jardin, the glossy broadcaster of aspirational decoration, vaunted
a plastic tablecloth that could be cleaned
with the swipe of a dishcloth. Jewels, hats,
and gloves, those precious accoutrements
perfected by centuries of patronage, with
techniques conserved from generation
to generation, were called into question.
Emblematically, the actress Grace Kelly, a
Dior client, though engaged to a prince,
was photographed for Vogue without
adornment, just bare shoulders, blonde
hair, and American fraîcheur.
Quality, time, and heritage, those
hallmarks of Dior, were the new luxuries.
Now, interiors and clothes that were in
sync with the time were comfortable and
timeless, without gimmick or artifice.
Frivolity, Dior determined, was passé,
and as an artist, he reflected his time. His
pet model changed from the aloof Renée
to the accessible Victoire. He streamlined
his 1954 collection into the quiet H-Line.
Dior was – both as a professional couturier and as an individual – a believer in
the accomplishments of French civilization. The hand sewing, beading, embroidery, solid construction, and line of a
Dior dress were rooted in French history.
So, too, were Dior’s courtesy, table, and
interests in art, music, and antiques. La
Colle Noire, indifferent to fad, drew on
French crafts in its construction, history
in its furnishings, and tradition in its
seasonal rhythms.
While timelessness emanated from the
time-worn stone of Dior’s last house, its
modernity was in its ease, adaptability to
contemporary life, loose appropriation
of the past, and embrace of its time. Its
appeal, like that of the New Look dress,
was that it fulfilled a need for romance.
Get the look
With clever French high street and online
purchases, you can effortlessly pinch
some Dior country panache... Prices and
availability correct at time of going to press.
Doorway delight
Anduze pots
represent
the ultimate
in terracotta
elegance for
that Provençal
garden look.
Enamel flamed
model shown,
weighing 15kg
and measuring
47cm high,
costs €158
from www.truffaut.com
If walls could talk
Evoke the seasoned voyager’s
bedchamber
with a 4m long
Palazzo wallpaper panneau
by Coordonné,
evoking the
bucolic scene
at Lake Como.
Price €569 from
www.etoffe.com
Bedside manner
Dig around
brocantes or
vide-greniers or
a polished-up
bedside table
(chevet) or go
for a modern/
vintage take,
such as this
walnut ‘Berkeley’ model
with criss-cross metal legs. Price €150
from www.maisonsdumonde.com
17 The first lady, an environmentalist, going
after right kind of tree (9)
12 Walk in the Tuileries prior to entertaining
old soldiers today (9)
19 Fellow in charge is frantically busy (5)
13 Follow with result of the 100m sprint for
instance (5,5)
20 A veteran rep failing to catch first half of
film’s preview in Cannes (5-8)
22 A Pole running wild around Portugal’s
capital city (6)
16 French fox cub surprisingly reared with an
uakari at first (9)
18 Get to grips with Greek tech company (7)
23 Longs to house oddly neglected gecko with
English dogs (8)
19 What Pierre remembers of me getting
further without one (7)
25 Name a mountain with snow in France (6)
21 Queen leaves child in bath in
Versailles (4)
26 Henri’s toothpick contributing to insecure
dentures (4-4)
24 Peter strips off in summer in Nantes (3)
French-themed crossword
by John Foley
Note all answers are words or names associated with France
Across
Down
2 Edible mollusque marin céphalopode (6)
1 Area and former region comprising the
departments of Haute Vienne, Creuse and
Corrèze (8)
6 Nutritious food produced by les abeilles (4)
7 Flatfish known in English as a flounder (4)
8 Feathered vertebrate (6)
10 Famed fashion designer whose first
collection became known by the phrase
‘New Look” (4)
11 Place to keep – and forget – a prisoner (9)
13 What to shout for an encore (3)
14 Reference book such as a dictionary (5)
16 Area corresponding to cent mètres carrés (3)
20 Flying sport in which the pilot sits in a
harness suspended below a fabric wing (9)
Q: Eric Rohmer was a New Wave director. But he
was formerly the editor of which influential cinema magazine?
Skin deep
A performance artist from
Luxembourg, Deborah De
Robertis, caused outrage at
the Musée d’Orsay in 2014
when she posed naked from
the waist down in front of
which work depicting a
close-up of female model’s
genitals, believed to be
of the artist’s favourite
muses, Joanna Hiffernan.
5 Rideau souple – for lowering on sunny days,
even in winter (5)
WITH his 1917 urinal installation entitled
Fountain, Normandy-born artist Marcel
Duchamp was making an anti-art statement
in the Dadaist style. The only image in
existence of it was taken by Alfred Stieglitz,
an art promoter and photographer, who is
said to have then chucked it into a skip,
forever lost. Duchamp’s loo remains the
most iconic piece of ‘ready made’
conceptual art in history.
Q: Which French city is known as the “City of a thousand fountains”?
Claire’s Knee is a 1971 Eric Rohmer film
about the moral crisis and suppression of
temptation when a mid-thirties diplomat
develops an obsession for a young girl
whilst on holiday. As with all Rohmer films,
it serves on other levels
to touch on broader subjects and
ethical questions.
4 Capital of the Loir-et-Cher department on
the banks of the Loire (5)
23 Occupation or profession (6)
Photo: Alfred Stieglitz
1 Tibial pursuit
3 Could be smooth – as in skin (5)
17 National shortage of this dairy product
in 2017 due to a combination of factors
including poor weather (6)
22 A pile or heap of something (4)
Fun French facts
2 Nickname of pop singer Claude
François (6)
quirky
facts
wor , crosswor
languadsearch + ds,
ge teas
ers
Puzzles 19
January 2019 I French Living
Guess the region...
France has 13 regions, some recently formed by combining previous ones.
Every issue we pick a spot, all you need to do is work out which region it is in...
Clue: It’ll be all white on the night...
13 The dominant poetic metre
in French literature from the
17th Century onwards was the
“alexandrin”; each line is
composed of two hemistichs
(half-lines) divided by a caesura.
How many syllables are there in an
“alexandrin”?
15 How do you spell “diamond”
in French?
16 Which city do denim jeans
come from?
17 “Un archipel” ou “une archipel”?
18 What does “CEDEX” stand for?
Photo: CC0_ColiN00B_pixabay
14 When did the Fifth Republic start?
?
Answers
Can you attribute this quote to one of
France’s religious figures? “Un sourire
coûte moins cher que l’électricité, mais
donne autant de lumière.” (“A smile is
cheaper than electricity but provides
as much light.”)
Photo: Fotolia
?
Guess the region
Camping on the Pointe d’Ireuse, a mountain in
the Chablais Alps in the commune of Bellevaux,
Haute-Savoie. This is in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
region. In the background is Mont Blanc
(White Mountain).
8
12 Until the abolition of the death
penalty in 1981, the guillotine
was the standard method for
capital punishment. When was the
guillotine last used in France?
Photo: Christian Martelet/AuvergneRhône-Alpes Tourisme
7 Which is Paris’ second most visited
religious monument after the
Notre Dame cathedral?
11 Alsace Moselle has two more bank
holidays than other French regions;
which days do they fall on?
3 Rouen is
known as the
capital of
Normandy.
Whose heart
lies within
it’s cathedral?
Fun French facts
Use the first letters of the
answers to questions 1, 5,
8, 16, and 20, and the first
letter of the both words in
the answer to question 9
to spell out the name of a
delicate meringue based
biscuit in French.
20 Reviews
French films
A critical eye on the
latest ciné releases
An Impossible Love
French Living I January 2019
Are you the foie gras correspondent? Chris Bockman, Matador, £13.99 ISBN: 978-1788034-654
THERE are plenty of books about Britons
who have moved to France and done up a
rural property – but while this one seems
to be another one at first, it gives quite a
different take. Bockman moved to set up a
press agency in Toulouse, despite warnings
that there would not be enough to write
about. This is a memoir of a working life
through the lens of quirky or dramatic tales
that proved the naysayers wrong.
He first thought there might be more to
the area than met the eye when a visit to a
local gendarmerie showed a ‘double homi-
cide’ on a map of recent crimes (though the
duty officer ‘couldn’t remember’ if they had
caught the killer). Many jobs ended up
more ‘frivolous’, such as tracking down the
holiday home of former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten to find his dogs which had
become famous after he could not bring
them back to the UK due to quarantine.
Rugby and its links to local politics was
also a fund of stories and we learn there
is a Notre Dame de Rugby church in the
Landes which features a stained glass window of the baby Jesus holding a rugby ball.
Other topics range from the ‘risky PR
stunt’ of wine growers who dubbed their
wine vin de merde, to shadowing the pretender to the throne or going to a remote
farmhouse to interview a Briton released
from jail for murdering his wife, whom the
author photographed chopping food with a
large knife – part of a chapter where he
warns that the rural good life in isolated
areas is not always what Britons expect.
Interesting to dip into, though frequent
jumping between personal memoir and
verbatim reports from the time jars at first.
Books – The 20 minute review
We read recent releases with a link to France. To be fair, each gets 20 minutes’ reading time
Catherine Corsini; 135 mins
The latest film from director Corsini is
bigger in scope and ambition than anything she has made before and follows
three generations of a family’s story from
loved-up young mum to a grandmother.
The story is based on the 2015 novel by
Christine Angot, who also wrote Claire
Denis’ superb Let the Sunshine In, and is
often seen on TV chat shows being
something of a controversial provocatrice.
It begins in 1958, in Châteauroux, Indre
where mid-twenties typist Rachel – a
superb performance by Virginie Efira
(normally a comic performer but whose
serious acting skills get better with each
film) falls for a dashing and intellectual
young man, Philippe (Niels Schneider)
that she meets in the work canteen. She
falls pregnant and a daughter, Chantal
(Estelle Lescure), is born. However,
Philippe will not marry Rachel or allow
Chantal to take his surname, which for
the times is unsettling and bodes badly.
Over time, despite his manipulative
nature, narcissism and absence, Rachel
still holds a torch for him, while the now
teenage Chantal gets ever closer to her
father. Yet his increasingly dubious
behaviour is never far from the surface.
A word of praise for the superbly
naturalistic ageing make-up work on
both Rachel and Philippe – they look
very convincing as grandparents.
Also out: Sink or Swim
A disparate (and sometimes desperate)
gaggle of 30-50-something men make a
life change for the unexpected – by joining
a synchronised swimming team. Cue a
blend of farce and philosophy à la piscine!
Conflicts of Interest Terry
Stiastny, John Murray £8.99
ISBN: 978-1-444-79439-7
THIS novel by a
former BBC news
journalist is – at
least partly – set in
rural southern
France, where the
main character, a
has-been TV journalist has moved
after his marriage
and career ended.
His life is turned upside down by the arrival of an old friend on a cycling tour, a PR
man who moves in Westminster circles and
is on the verge of a peerage, whose seemingly perfect life seems to contrast with his.
The opening sets the scene in a sleepy village before the aging former war correspondent finds himself hiding under his
café table at the sound of guns being fired –
but it is just hunters firing into the air as
part of a traditional festival.
The descriptions of the setting in
Provence are well-observed and evocative
and French references and characters pepper the book. But it is just the start
of a story that is going to become much
more complicated and eventually drag
Lawrence back towards his old life.
At a house party Lawrence meets Martin’s
mistress, a doctor involved in a charity in
Africa, and he ends up being persuaded
to go back to the Congo, a place that holds
bad memories for him, to film for the
charity.
Ably-written, the plot twists and turns,
revealing past traumas and new ones,
themes of media and politics and the
titular ‘conflicts of interest’.
A Taste of Paris, David Downie, St. Martin’s
Press, $26.99 ISBN: 978-1-250-08293-0
FROM the opening lines it is clear we are in
the hands of someone who knows his subject
and loves it as he describes how his ‘treasure
hunt’ through Parisian gastronomy started in
the 1980s as he moved into a chambre de bonne
on the seventh floor (with no lift) near the Arc
de Triomphe and sought to understand the
city’s ‘gastronomic topography’ and how dining
there had evolved over the centuries since
Roman times. To his younger self the place
“exuded an attainable past, a flavourful, redolent history to be studied and consumed”. The
fruit of these decades is the topic of this fascinating book, written by
an American writer who has lived in the city ever since.
His enthusiasm and meaty prose make
you want to gobble up the book with its
titbits of foodie facts as it goes beneath the
surface with plenty of tales about its eateries, food shops and inhabitants’ dining
habits. You will learn how, for example,
the Romans of Paris loved foie gras from
geese fattened with figs (the word foie
came from the Latin for ‘fig’, Downie says)
or how the first French gastronomic critic,
Grimod de la Reynière, used to offer his
guests 52 courses with 15 wines, three coffees and 17 liqueurs.
Every page has surprising information, such as the fact that, according to 17th century socialite Mme de Sévigné, the royals at Versailles
were obsessed with eating peas, then a novelty. She wrote: “The impatience felt waiting to eat them, to have eaten them, and the pleasure of
eating them are the three topics on our princes’ tongues.”
This is not a conventional guide to eating out – in fact only the last
pages specifically concern the modern city, but throughout there are
references to famous institutions which still exist, or links made
between fashionable food Meccas of the past and modern ones.
However, despite fears of restaurants heating up ready-meals (he
notes that the fait maison logo is not well-policed and is best used as
an ‘icebreaker’ to discuss the cooking with the waiter or chef) he concludes that reports of the death of French cuisine have been greatly
exaggerated – you just need to know where to shop and eat, he says.
LIKE Hergé, Brel, or Poirot, Simenon was
a francophone Belgian often wrongly
assumed to have
been French.
However, his creation le commissaire
Jules Maigret, one of
the great literary
detectives, is French,
a senior officer in
Paris’s police judiciaire which investigates complex or
organised crime.
This episode, originally from 1963, is
part of a plan to produce new translations
of all 75 novels about the character.
Maigret, a bon vivant known for his
pipe smoking, is often found following
up leads in the city’s bistrots and brasseries, which is where we find him at the
start of this book.
Simenon fans love his simple language
and attention to detail and the story of
this book, which opens with an investigation into a murder, in mysterious circumstances, of a strip club owner from the
seedy Pigalle entertainment district, gets
straight to the point without literary flourishes. The anger of the title comes after a
lack of clues and progress which puts
Maigret’s reputation on the line.
Worth checking out if you enjoy well
put-together police mysteries though
the dialogue-led, plot-focused style also
means the book is not very introspective
or psychological, so you may sometimes
feel a little detached from the character.
The enduring linguistic legacy of the Gauls
Language notes
G
iven that the losers never get
to write history, it is hardly
surprising that there are so few
words still used in the French
language with origins dating
back to the vanquished Gauls.
Add to this the fact that the Druids of the
time preferred the spoken to written word,
and the clutch of 150 or so words in use is
small, if perfectly formed. Within 400 years
the language was largely redundant.
But to which commonly used words do
we owe the Gauls a tip of the hat? Naturebased words have stood the test of time...
The oak tree and its evergreen lodger
mistletoe were sacred to the Druids, and
the word chêne is derived from casnus then
cassanos, which means twisted or gnarled.
(The word Druid itself has origins in the
Greek word for oak – dru.)
“
Naturebased
words have
stood the
test of time
The French word for little stones or
pebbles (as used to describe beaches, for
instance) is cailloux, which stems from
the Gaulois word caljo meaning stone.
As do galets (also pebbles) from the
Gaulois gallos.
The French word for sheep – mouton –
resisted the Roman incarnation of the
species ovis to survive until today. It
comes from the Gaulois word multo.
A very pretty sounding Gaulois remnant, so memorably heard in song, is
alouette (lark) from alauda. Caesar is said
to have recruited some Alpine Gaulois
soldiers in 50BC and gave their legion
the name ‘Alauda’, which prolonged the
word’s resistance to any Latin successor.
Finally, a few dirty words – literally. La
boue in French means mud, and it can
be traced to the Gaulois bawa, which
itself stemmed from baw, meaning dirt.
Glaise, meaning clay, comes from the
Celtic gliso, while suie (soot) has its
origins in the Gallo-Roman word suda.
Shopping/Did you know? 21
January 2019 I French Living
Photo: Musée des arts et métiers-Cnam_Michèle Favareille
QUOI DE NEUF?
New products, designs and ideas from around France
Point your Pixter
From holiday selfies to foodie shots and architectural compositions of our favourite French
scenes, we all love taking photos on
our smartphones. But to give an extra
creative edge and a new dimension in
the mobile photography experience,
French company Pixter has developed
a range of premium add-on lenses.
The company was founded in 2015 by
Tristan Monod, Clément Chahmana and
Alexis Pasquesoone, three passionate photographers and technology enthusiasts,
who wanted to create simple to use and
easy to transport photo lenses to boost
creative photography.
There is a lens to suit every budget and level
of photography expertise – with prices ranging
from €29.90 for a starter lens (macro, fisheye
and wide angle) to €159.90 for the Pro Pack for
more experienced users (lenses include telephoto, polariser and super fisheye and macro pro).
Pixter lenses adapt to every smartphone model
thanks to the universal mounting system and the
company, which has had the ‘Made in Tech France’
label since 2015, also offers accessories such as
tripods and Bluetooth remote control.
www.pixter.co/en
Biological path to beauty
Socking it to them
AS SOCK production goes, the detailed,
hands-on human endeavour that goes into
making ‘Made in France’ Archiduchesse
chaussettes (see the video on their website) is
something to behold. Especially considering
the reasonable price of around €7 per pair.
Avoid lost-sock trauma with the SaintEtienne firm’s fresh and fun ‘Semainiers’
Happy Colours packs – €45 for seven pairs.
www.archiduchesse.com
DEFYING the ageing process – at least when it comes to skincare
– is not an entirely lost cause thanks to French companies such as
Phyt’s, an independent business based near Cahors, Lot.
The firm has been researching and developing natural, biological cosmetics – without gelling agents and stabilisers – since 1972,
and takes careful measures to minimise the impact that its ‘chemistry’ has on the environment. Panacée, one of its latest premium
products, is an anti-ageing cream for mature skin types that
‘reduces wrinkles significantly’. RRP €90, see website for outlets.
en.phyts.com
Bringing art
to life at home
We all have a favourite work of art.
But what if you could have a painting transposed onto a cushion, headboard, lampshade or even curtains?
French company Muséo, founded
in Paris twelve years ago, has a
three-step approach to creating
tailored artwork to adorn your
home. First, their rights and design
department searches for the work in
their imagebank and prepares the
item; next, the workshop looks after
the printing process; and finally the
finishing touches are made by its
team of skilled craftsmen.
The company works with major
hotels in France to craft in situ artworks and has also collaborated with
Philippe Starck. Artwork shown
Jeune Fille by Jean-Hippolyte
Flandrin: lampshade from €180.
en.muzeo.com
Replicas of the 1799
metre (in original case)
and kilogram measures
A weighty issue: France
invented metric system
Did you know?
T
he metric system, which is
used the world over, apart
from the USA, Burma and
Liberia, was invented in
France and was a direct
result of the Revolution. France
remains the world centre for deciding
just how we work out how long and
how heavy everything is, as the
International Bureau for Weights
and Measurements is in Paris.
Before the Revolution, weights and
measures varied not only between
countries but within nations, and
could be different from one town to
another. The new leaders in France
wanted to unify the country and one
way was to introduce a national measurement system.
They opted for a decimal system
which would be interrelated and it is
no accident that a litre of pure water
weighs a kilogram. However, the basis
of the system, which was to be the
metre, had yet to be invented. The scientific greats of the time decided to
use a natural phenomenon and so the
metre was to be equal to one ten millionth of the distance from the North
Pole to the equator. But first this had
to be measured.
In 1791, two astronomers, Joseph
Delambre and Pierre Méchain, set out
to do this by accurately measuring a
quarter of the meridian from Dunkirk
to Barcelona. Delambre went north
and Méchain went south and they
were to meet in the middle.
They thought it might take them
two years, using a triangulation system and the latest in equipment, the
Borda repeating circle. However, the
unrest following the revolution and
war between France and Spain hampered their progress and they had
many adventures on the way.
They were often mistaken for
royalist supporters with their strange
instruments and had to avoid arrest
and decapitation. Eventually in 1799,
their thousands of calculations resulted in the metre, which was gradually
used by countries all over the world.
Up until May 2019, the Musée des
Arts et Métiers in Paris is holding an
exhibition dedicated to the seven
international units of measurement
and the way we use them every day.
Laurent Vavasseur is the science curator for the museum: “Measurement is
all around us but we tend to take it for
granted. The different units are constantly evolving to become more and
more precise.
“The metre is now defined in reference to the speed of light and at the
last conference of the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures in
November 2018, four of the seven
base units were redefined, including
the kilogram, which was the last unit
to be dematerialised. Work to produce
an accurate universal measurement
system continues and this concept
was created in France.”
www.arts-et-metiers.net
22 History
French Living I January 2019
France’s first media scientist,
who fought disease – and won
L
ouis Pasteur (1822-1895)
remains one of France’s most
famous scientists. Among his
numerous achievements, he
created the first vaccines for
anthrax and rabies, invented a way of
killing bacteria in milk and wine
(pasteurisation), reduced deaths from
puerperal fever, and was instrumental in
establishing the germ theory of disease.
He was also an early “media giant”,
promoting himself and popularising
science. His Pasteur Institute remains a
pioneering hub of scientific research.
Pasteur was born in Dole, Jura, into a
poor family. His father was a tanner and
he did not start school until 1831 when
he was almost nine years old. Initially, he
was not an outstanding pupil, preferring
to spend his time fishing, and sketching
portraits of his family and friends. He
finally passed his Bac S (baccalauréat
scientifique) in 1842 and went to the Ecole
Normale Supérieure where he got a
degree in science (1845) and then worked
as a lab assistant while researching theses
in chemistry and physics.
In 1848, he got a job teaching chemistry
at the University of Strasbourg, where he
met and married Marie Laurent in 1849.
They had five children together, three of
whom died of typhoid in infancy.
In 1854, he became dean of the science
faculty at Lille University, where he began
studying the process of fermentation. It
was not newly discovered; everyone knew
how to use it to make beer, wine and
bread. But at that time no one had a
scientific explanation for how fermentation worked, what mechanism caused it.
(The answer is yeast, by the way.)
Pasteur was by then a long way from
the boy who had enjoyed sketching and
fishing. He had developed into a workaholic who kept punishing
hours (getting up at 5am
and going to bed at
9.30pm), and whose
research and studies
were rigorously
disciplined. When
he got a promotion, becoming
director of scientific studies back
at his alma mater
in Paris, he introduced a whole series
of strict reforms in an
attempt to raise academic
standards. Exams were tougher, students were threatened with expulsion for smoking and were required to
eat a universally disliked mutton stew
once a week.
In 1887, he established the Pasteur
Institute in Paris, and became its director
until his death in 1895. One of Pasteur’s
greatest strengths was his interest in
proving or disproving other scientists’
theories. He showed, for example, that
germs could not spontaneously develop
in sterile liquids. They would only grow
in contaminated liquids. The logical con-
clusion, using pasteurisation – ie. heating
beer, wine and milk to between 60 and
100 degrees centigrade to kill most germs
and keep those drinks fresh for longer –
is still used today. As is the practice of
storing heat-treated, uncontaminated
food in sealed, sterile containers.
Having established that decomposition
of foodstuffs was due to external
micro-organisms which could be killed
by heat, rather than to spontaneous
organisms integral to food, he turned his
attention to the human body and showed
that many diseases were also caused by
micro-organisms entering the body and
causing infections.
As part of his investigations into chicken cholera, he isolated the bacteria which
caused the disease and discovered how to
deliberately infect chickens with it. One
dose, however, turned out not to work.
Although the chickens became slightly ill,
they recovered. On investigation, the
dose was discovered to be weaker than
normal. Deeming the experiment a failure, he re-infected the same chickens, but
none became ill and he realised that they
were immune to the bacteria. Giving
them a very weak dose of it had effectively vaccinated them against the disease.
This type of vaccine is called “live” as it
contains live bacteria. Later on, scientists
realised that it was not always necessary
to use whole, live bacteria in vaccines
and that the same results could be
obtained using just the dead, outside part
of the cells. These are called “dead” or
inactivated vaccines.
This research has saved countless lives,
and led to the global eradication of smallpox in 1977, which Unicef estimates has
saved around five million lives every year.
Other diseases, such as polio, are almost
eradicated because 80% of the world’s
children have been immunised
against it. This percentage is
sufficient to stop the disease spreading. Vaccines
have brought many
other previously
life-threatening diseases under control,
including diphtheria,
tetanus, yellow fever,
whooping cough,
measles, mumps
and rubella.
Louis Pasteur also did
a vast amount of work on
developing a vaccine to
immunise humans against rabies.
He did not invent vaccinations, but built
on the work of previous researchers and
doctors, including Edward Jenner, who
discovered (around 1798) how to use
cowpox bacteria to inoculate people
against smallpox. But that was part of his
genius, according to Sylvie Morel, director of the museum in Dole, established in
the house where Pasteur was born. “He
was a very black and white character,
very self-disciplined, implacable towards
his enemies, ultra-loyal with friends and
family. His detractors say he borrowed
Photo: La Maison de Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur worked hard to secure his legacy,
while saving millions, writes Samantha David
Louis Pasteur,
pictured with his
family and wife (top
and inset). Bottom:
some of the tools of
his scientific trade on
display at the Maison
de Louis Pasteur
“
Pasteur was an
excellent researcher.
He didn’t pull genies
out of the hat, he
worked on other
people’s research
to advance their
discoveries
Sylvie Morel, director of
Maison de Louis Pasteur
other people’s discoveries and even his
discovery of pasteurisation wasn’t entirely
his own. Other people had already discovered that you could preserve garden
peas by keeping them in heat-treated jars,
for example. But he found out why.
“His contribution was explaining the
scientific mechanisms behind processes,
including vaccination, pasteurisation,
sterilisation, and decomposition. Jenner
knew that his vaccinations against smallpox worked, but throughout his life was
ridiculed by doubters because he couldn’t
scientifically prove how and why.”
She says that he was also one of the first
scientists to understand that research
could only progress as a team effort. For
example, his colleague Pierre Roux, who
was a co-founder of the Pasteur Institute,
developed a cure for diphtheria and discovered that dead vaccines could work.
“Pasteur was an excellent researcher.
He didn’t pull genies out of the hat,
he worked on other people’s research to
advance their discoveries. He also understood that to carry out scientific research
you need money. But, of course, money
for medical research has always been
lacking, so he realised that he would have
to sell himself, sell the work, and popularise science. He was probably the first
Local history 23
January 2019 I French Living
Photo: Wikipedia/Paul Nadar
Unique homes in an Alpine
village 2km above sea level
Europe’s highest village, in the southern Alps, has an architecture
all its own. Jane Hanks finds out why from one of its residents
Secret history of buildings
scientist to realise that he needed to
increase his stature, his media profile and
his visibility in order to get funding and
facilities. He was a media giant, and
relentlessly corrected press articles, and
explained himself and the science he did.
He vaccinated animals in public to raise
his profile, and entered for prizes and
awards in order to continue his work.”
Pasteur was awarded medals, titles,
grants and honours from countries
around the globe. In France, among other
honours, he was made a chevalier of the
Legion of Honour in 1853 and promoted
to officer, commander, grand officer and
finally given the Grand Cross of the
Legion of Honour in 1881.
During Pasteur’s lifetime there were
sections of the public who did not
understand the theory of bacteria
causing infections, and could not
understand the workings of the human
immune system, so they doubted the
effectiveness of vaccinations.
In the 21st century it might seem
odd that there are still some people
who doubt that vaccines work (see our
Back Page), but Ms Morel puts it down to
their success. “Due to immunisation programmes, today in Western Europe no
one sees people dying of diseases like TB,
diphtheria or smallpox so there is a tendency to believe that being in good health
is the natural state of things. But in fact
that’s not the case. We are healthier and
live longer than at any time in history
because we eat uncontaminated food,
drink clean water, live in clean houses and
in towns with efficient sewerage systems.
“Public health depends on a majority of
people being vaccinated in order to protect the few who are not. But today we
live in a culture of increasing individualism, where there is less concern for group
welfare than for individual choice. But if
you go to developing countries, in Africa
for example, you quickly see that public
health without vaccinations, clean water
etc is not at the same level.”
She is proud of the museum’s interactive
displays, allowing children as well as
adults to re-enact some of Pasteur’s
experiments, as well as exploring the
effect that vaccination has on public
health: “The display shows visitors the
mathematical calculations. How many
people will die of a given disease if you
vaccinate 50% of a population (it’s quite a
lot) or 70% or 90%?
“We hope it helps people understand
Pasteur’s work - and especially the
importance of vaccination.”
Pasteur realised he
needed to raise his
media profile in
order to secure
additional funding
and facilities for
his research
Saint Véran is the highest village in
Europe at 2,042 metres above sea level
and is one of the Most Beautiful Villages
in France. It is in the Southern Alps, in
the Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras,
not far from Briançon, the highest town
in France at 1,326 metres.
Legend has it that the village was
formed when a sixth-century bishop
freed the lowlands from a dragon,
which rose into the air and died in the
mountains.
Local people marked this miracle by
building a settlement where the dragon
landed and named it after the bishop,
Saint Véran.
Jacqueline Turina, who has lived in the
village all her life and who gives guided
tours to visitors, thinks the real story is
rather more prosaic: that the bishop discovered the place on
his travels to Rome and
recognised the richness
of the pastureland in
the area.
Though high in
the mountains, and
covered in snow
for seven months
of the year, Mrs
Turina says Saint
Véran is a wonderful
place to live:
“We face south with
marvellous views and
plenty of sunshine and the rich
grass grows for a far longer period
than further south.
“Transhumance has meant that sheep
and cows have been brought up here
from Provence for centuries, and this
continues today.
“At first people only lived here in summer, but perhaps, one winter, the snow
came earlier than expected and so people
had to stay, and having done so once continued to do so.”
Another attraction to settlers were the
copper mines which are even higher up
and were mined as long ago as 2,000BC,
right up until 1956. Historians believe
the metal was originally mined by some
Italian settlers.
To survive the long winters, the inhabitants built houses which are unique to the
village, as their first floor, called a fuste
and built of wood, is far bigger than in
other areas because they had to store
food and fodder there to last the long
winter.
The ground floor has thick stone walls
and families lived with no other heating
than from the animals who lived in the
same space.
Wood was precious and was kept for
cooking and for building.
Next to the house was a small stone
building called a caset. “This was built to
shelter the family during one of the very
frequent fires,” explained Mrs Turina.
“There was so much wood that a cooking fire could easily get out of hand.
“In the 16th century, the whole
village was burnt down, and
when it was rebuilt it was
separated into five sections, each separated
by a no-build zone
which acted as a fire
break.
“Each quartier was
like its own small
village, with a communal bread oven
and a water fountain,
also built in wood,
with a lavoir attached.
“Wood is everywhere in
our village.”
Two traditional houses can be visited
in the village.
The oldest dates from 1641 and is run
as a museum by the Parc Naturel
Régional du Queyras.
In the second, visitors are greeted by
the nephew of owners who lived there in
the traditional way with animals to keep
them warm in the winter until 1976.
For details of guided tours of
Saint-Véran, contact Queyras
tourist office: queyras-montagne.com
24 The big picture
French Living I January 2019
Heritage headquarters is 60 years old
Photos: Unesco
Samantha David
marks the 60th
anniversary of Unesco’s
distinctive Paris HQ by
exploring the cultural
organisation’s work
T
he distinctive Unesco
headquarters at 7 place de
Fontenoy in Paris was 60
years old last November. It
was commissioned by Unesco
(United Nations Educational Scientific
and Cultural Organisation) as a symbol of
the organisation as well as a home.
The three architects, Bernard Zehrfuss,
Marcel Breuer and Pier Luigi Nervi came
up with a seven-story building in a threearmed star shape along with a building
commonly called the ‘accordion’ and a
third building in the shape of a cube.
The three pointed star is the most iconic.
The land it is built on still belongs to the
French state, which has given Unesco a
renewable 99-year lease costing a nominal
1,000 French francs (€152) per year.
The official, laudable, purpose of Unesco
(created in 1945) is to “contribute to
the building of peace, the eradication of
poverty, sustainable development and
intercultural dialogue through education,
the sciences, culture, communication and
information.”
The Paris headquarters is surrounded by
beautiful gardens, contains a large international art collection, and hosts free cultural events which are open to the public,
although the building is currently
closed to sightseeing visits due
to security concerns.
One of the best ways to
visit the building and see
the art collection has
been during the Nuit
européenne des Musées
which will be on May
18 this year, although at
the time of going to print
Unesco’s participation in 2019
had not been confirmed. It is also
possible to visit as a group, if you make
the request at least 10 weeks in advance.
There are 44 Unesco heritage sites in
France, most of them cultural, but four
are natural: the Gulf of Porto off the coast
of Corsica; the Lagoons of New Caledonia
(in the Pacific Ocean); and the ‘Pitons,
Cirques and Remparts of Réunion island’
(in the Caribbean); and the Chaîne des
Puys-Limagne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
One site is both natural and cultural: the
Pyrénées-Mont Perdu.
The cultural sites include specific buildings like the cathedrals in Amiens,
Bourges, Chartres and Reims,
but others cover entire areas
within cities, like the Roman
monuments and buildings
in Arles, the Port of the
Moon in Bordeaux, the
historical centre of
Avignon, the Santiago
de Compostela walking
routes in France, the Episcopal City of Albi, Mont-StMichel and the bay, and the
palace and gardens of Versailles.
Getting Unesco heritage status is
obviously important. It protects sites for
future generations, but also opens the
The Unesco building,
alongside the cube
and the so-called
‘accordeon’ in Paris;
European Museum
Night is currently
the only chance
to explore inside
doors to funding, and can increase visitor
numbers and therefore revenue generated
directly and indirectly. So it is no surprise
to discover that there is a long list of sites
in France currently up for consideration.
Some, like the centre of Rouen, the Camargue, and Mont Blanc, are to be expected.
Others like the Brittany village of Carnac
(home to more than 10,000 Neolithic
standing stones) are less well-known.
Jean-Baptiste Goulard is directing
efforts to have Carnac’s menhirs and dolmens heritage listed by Unesco. “It’s a long
process because this is France,” he says.
“First you have to compile a far-ranging
dossier and submit it to the French Ministry of Culture and then another committee decides which dossier to put forward
to Unesco each year. Member States can
only put one project forward each year,
but it’s not a foregone conclusion that
Unesco will accept it. The city of Nîmes
had their dossier rejected.”
The process can take decades but it is
worth it because it literally puts a site on
the global tourist map. Brittany is already
a tourist destination but currently has no
Unesco listed sites. Getting Carnac listed
would increase visits from American,
Chinese and Japanese visitors because
tour operators design trips around Unesco heritage sites. “Visits to the site aren’t
profitable economically, but the economic
advantage to the area is considerable in
terms of visitors also paying for accommodation, entertainment, transport,
shopping, and visits to other attractions.”
It is not only about money, however.
“Being Unesco listed means there is more
money available for maintaining and protecting sites and ensuring people respect
them. Unesco status isn’t guaranteed for
life, it can be taken away if the site no
longer conforms to their requirements of
a World Heritage Site.
“In order to ensure the site is correctly
maintained, having Unesco status means
being inspected annually, and having a
formal administrative structure put in
place to oversee management, all of which
helps ensure that the standing stones will
be there for future generations.”
Relax while you, your family, and your investments are in safe hands
CONSULTANTS IN FRENCH WEALTH MANAGEMENT AND ENGINEERING
At Pelican Consulting we ensure that all this, as well as our clients
themselves, and their family, are completely protected against all forms of
tax, and that everything is established in the most practical and legal
manner… whilst naturally making sure that all investments and savings are
as risk-free as possible and yet have better-than-average levels of return.
The inside story of readers who
have had operations in France
– and how they found the
health service, by Gillian Harvey
EVERYONE living in France
has had the right since last
summer to make a mistake –
once – in their dealings with
authorities and bureaucracy.
Known as the “droit à
l’erreur”, it is the equivalent of a
one-time-only “get out of jail
free” card but only if the error
was made in good faith.
Repeated errors of the same
kind are considered to be
deliberate and therefore do not
qualify.
The law was a campaign
promise of President
Emmanuel Macron.
It means that anyone who has
breached a rule for the first
time, or “made a material
error”, cannot be punished if
they have corrected the situation on their own initiative or
Hernia meant that singing
left me in excruciating pain
Musician and singing teacher Peter
Evans, 58, moved to France in 2013 with
wife Ema. The pair run meditation and
singing retreats near Lac de Vassivière.
Initial symptoms
In April 2018, I noticed a swelling on the
left side of my groin. I recognised it
instantly, as I’d had two hernias in the past
– the first aged 18, and the second when I
was 38. If I lay on my back, it was possible
to push the swelling back in, but when I
coughed it would pop straight out again. It
was a little tender but not painful. I might
have over-exerted myself when digging up
a rose bush in the garden the day before.
I went to see my local GP, who confirmed the diagnosis. He asked whether I
wanted to have the hernia operated on. As
they don’t heal themselves and are likely to
get worse if left untreated, I said that I did,
but wanted to wait until autumn as
summer can be busy as I run singing
groups and am also a keen cyclist.
However, the next month, whilst running
singing classes, which can put strain on the
abdominal muscles, I got the first of three
episodes of excruciating pain.
A hernia is caused by part of the intestines poking out through a weak section of
the abdominal wall; if it gets trapped, it
can cause agonising pain and unless you
can get it to go back in, it can become
“strangulated” and you need emergency
surgery.
Luckily, I managed to get it to pop back
in by lying down and massaging the area,
so hospital was not needed.
However, I made an urgent appointment
with my GP, who referred me to the
Clinique François Chénieux in Limoges
for the following week. Amazingly, I still
managed to complete the rest of the singing workshop and also take part in a fourand-a-half-hour cycling event in the
intervening week.
At the hospital
The check-up at the hospital was just to
confirm the diagnosis and to arrange a
date for surgery, which was set for
September. I could have had an earlier
How is an inguinal hernia diagnosed?
An inguinal (groin) hernia appears as a
swelling in the groin, which corresponds with the passage of the intestines through the inguinal canal. It is
usually painless and often disappears
when the patient stretches, or presses
on the swelling.
A inguinal hernia may remain asymptomatic for years but it will only grow
and cannot heal spontaneously. The
most serious complication is strangulation: the intestines stuck in the hernia
can lose blood supply (necrosis); in this
case, emergency surgery is required.
How long does the operation take?
Two types of surgery are possible: by
an incision of the groin (which can be
done under local anaesthesia) or by
laparoscopy (under general anaesthesia). The laparoscopy is minimally invasive and is less painful for the patient.
Could you briefly describe what
is done to rectify the hernia?
In almost all cases, a parietal reinforcement (mesh) is put in place to prevent
recurrence. Surgery usually lasts about
30 minutes and is carried out on a
day-patient basis.
What is the prognosis for
patients after the operation?
The risk of complications after surgery
are very low (haematomas, after-pain
and, in exceptional cases, infection
may occur). The use of prosthetics
means that the chance of recurrence is
less than 2%.
NEXT MONTH: Cataracts
Peter Evans was in hospital for less
than 12 hours to have hernia repaired
appointment, but wanted to wait until after
the summer. Two weeks prior to the operation, I had an appointment with the
anaesthetist to talk about my medication
and check my blood pressure.
I was offered the choice between a spinal
anaesthesia and general. I opted for the
general because I’d never had any problem
with them in the past, and didn’t like the
idea of being temporarily paralysed.
The operation
I checked in for the operation on the day
itself at 7.30am. As I was first on the list
for theatre, I was taken to surgery at
around 9am. The procedure takes around
45 minutes, and I was fully awake in my
room by around lunchtime.
After a few checks by nurses and the
surgeon, a sandwich and a couple of cups
of coffee, my head had cleared sufficiently
for me to head home in the ambulance taxi
by 7pm. You are allowed to go home the
same day if you have a responsible adult
waiting for you.
The staff at the hospital were great and
spoke “lentement, clairement et simplement” for me, and both the ambulance taxi
drivers were lovely as well – though I did
have to ask the guy on the way home to
take it a bit easier around the corners of
the Lac-side roads!
Aftercare
Once I was home, the local nurses came
daily to check the wound and change the
dressings for the first week.
After seven days, with the incision
sufficiently healed, they removed the outer
stitches (there were two more layers of
self-dissolving sutures under the skin).
Around a month after the procedure, I
had another appointment with the surgeon
so that I could be given the all-clear to
gradually resume my usual activities.
MYTHBUSTER
High-altitude French ski resorts are eyesores
This is partly false
When it comes to high-altitude French ski resorts, the
aesthetic is often not pretty.
Concrete tower blocks from
the 60s and 70s jostle with
purpose-built squares to supply
huge demand in Tignes
(2,100m), Avoriaz (1,800m)
and Les Arcs (2,100m). The
appeal of these Brit-crowded
resorts can quickly wear thin...
at which point it is time to
move towards prettier Alpine
In this column we look at
claims often made about
France and whether they
are actually true
pastures. The picturesque
Savoyard village of Samoëns,
perched at 1,600m, is attached
to 265km of pistes belonging to
the Grand Massif ski area.
The ancient village is classed
as a monument historique and
in the quaint mountain
eateries you will find that the
majority of the customers are
French. The old cheesemaking
village of St Martin-deBelleville is lower than the
neighbouring Trois Vallées
resorts of Méribel and Val
Thorens but speedy lifts get
you up the mountain in a flash.
Take the lift over Col de
Rosael from Val Thorens to get
to Orelle, a cluster of 10 hamlets in the Maurienne valley.
You have the best of both
worlds here: access to the Trois
Vallées slopes but far enough
away for some peace and quiet.
Traditional architecture
abounds at Les Saisies. Nestled
in the Beaufortain valley, the
village boasts stunning views of
Mont Blanc. Known as a
cross-country resort, its gentle
inclines are ideal for families
and beginners.
If you enjoy a hearty meal
after a day on the slopes, try
Serre Chevalier in the Ecrins
national park.
With 250km of ski slopes and
a dozen idyllic villages, this is
where to find roaring log fires
and a typically cosy mountain
atmosphere.
after being invited to do so by
the administration.
During his campaign,
President Macron gave two
examples to illustrate how
this works.
“Today, an employer who forgets to declare to URSSAF the
Christmas bonus he paid to his
employees is fined. He will be
able to assert his right to make
a mistake tomorrow,” he said.
“Today, grandparents who are
giving accommodation to their
granddaughter because she has
just found a job near them
must report this to CAF or risk
losing part of their housing
benefits and paying penalties.
“Tomorrow, they will be able
to exercise their right to make
mistakes and will not have to
pay the penalty.”
MONEY-SAVER
Cashback sites on the rise
Cashback websites which
give you money when you
make a purchase from a
partner internet site are on
the rise in France.
Shoppers who buy an item
on a partner site receive a
percentage of the money they
spend back from the site.
Christian Goaziou, founder
of the largest such site in
France iGraal, said it works
because it is based on a classic
economic model: “All retail
companies, large or small, are
always on the lookout for two
things: one, to increase their
sales, and two, to attract more
customers.
“For that they will spend a
fortune on advertising.
“With us they get cheap publicity as people are encouraged
to buy as they get money back.
“We negotiate a deal with the
seller. They might give us 10%
of the purchase price of any
sale through our site and we
will pass on a percentage of
that to the customer.”
More than four million
people are signed up to iGraal.
When a customer wants to
buy a lawn mower, for
example, they go on the site,
look up the partner sites selling them, and buy.
A percentage of what they
pay then comes back to them
via their iGraal account.
Customers can “earn” €100
to €150 a year.
There are more than 50
similar sites in France,
including eBuyClub, with
2.5million members.
Cashback in France is not as
developed as in the US or the
UK, but a survey in 2016
showed a 20% increase every
year since 2012.
As always, you must look at
the small print to know what
you are signing up for. There
are often bigger cashbacks for
a first purchase, for example.
Consumer websites give one
warning; sign up with free
cashback sites, as pay-to-join
sites have attracted complaints
and sites should make their
money from retailers.
GPS turns off police checks
MOTORISTS who use Waze or Coyote GPS applications may
soon lose advance warning of certain police checks.
A bill that would force the apps to conceal specific types of
police presence has the support of the companies behind the apps,
as well as motoring and road safety groups.
Speed camera operations would not be affected by the draft law
but alcohol stops would be removed, as would police checks in
case of terrorist or criminal activity.
Road safety minister Emmanuel Barbe said: “The principle [of
this bill] is that a criminal who has kidnapped someone,
perpetrated a terrorist act or who is drunk while driving cannot
avoid a police check just because another driver has reported it via
an application”. The bill will be presented for vote early this year.
Gluten-free sweet deliveries
SWEET news for anyone who
is gluten-intolerant: a pâtisserie
in Lyon that sells only
gluten-free products now
delivers its gateaux nationwide.
Les Gasteliers’ pastries can be
ordered online (lesgasteliers.fr),
and will arrive on your doorstep within 48 hours. The
pâtisserie opened in 2017 with
a mission to create original
recipes that are 100%
gluten-free and made using
ingredients from organic or
sustainable sources, supplied
directly by producers. They
also have a lactose-free range
for dairy-intolerant customers.
Business Directory
Use these pages to find English-speaking tradespeople and firms across France. For your security, we check that all French
businesses listed here are registered. The listings are arranged geographically by the 5 landline telephone zones of France.
Are you a business searching for new clients?
Advertise with us - prices start from just €165 HT for 1 year!
To book a space email: [email protected] or place your advert online at the Directory section of connexionfrance.com
P23 All of France
All Tel Codes
P25 North France
Tel Codes 01 - 03
P25 South East France
Tel Code 04
P26 South West France
Tel Code 05
P26 Classifieds
P27 Community
COMMERCIAL FEATURE
The language is a castle for exploring, not for attacking !!
“And one-to-one courses are an excellent method to try.” So
says Claire Campbell, a professional teacher with an Oxford
degree and years of experience in language teaching. The
castle idea is suggested by the fortress of Quéribus, which
looks down on the picturesque village of Cucugnan, where
she welcomes students of all ages to take language courses
of a week or two, for one person or two, as required.
Leafing through her Visitors Book gives
an excellent impression of what people have
gained from her courses. The latest page
includes the following:
“It was with great trepidation that I e-mailed
Claire re booking this course. I had tried so
many other methods. In a class situation I had
been reluctant to speak out and consequently
so much passed over my head.
“Claire was inspirational. She seemed to
sense my level of competence and stretched
me while at the same time she put me at my
ease and gave me space to make mistakes
without judgment or embarrassment, and all
the while making it fun. Claire’s enthusiasm
and knowledge is catching, so I have been
inspired to continue working at home through
the stories and the exercises suggested by her .
“I loved my little apartment on the top floor
and made it my home. Cucugnan is a delight,
even in winter, and my hike up to Quéribus
was brilliant.
“I am sure my French has improved during
this week. Rules which were foggy now
become clearer and I feel so much more
confident. It has been a wonderful enlivening
experience.” Other reviews, to be found on
Tripadvisor or on her own website, also
mention increasing confidence.
According to Claire, confidence is the
key. So many people have had discouraging
experiences, either at school or at classes in
France. Too many learners have come away
convinced that French is too difficult, and that
they are incompetent . “Well, it isn’t and they
aren’t !!!”
“If the language is a castle, then the long
walk up should be enjoyable, with new vistas
opening up as you go, and a wonderful view
from the top,” she says.
The little apartment referred to is the
accommodation included in the course-price.
It has a kitchen , but the village also has three
restaurants, a famous bakery, and excellent
local wineries. Altogether, a week with Claire
is a pleasant holiday as well as language course.
Box clever and even arrange for UK purchases to be delivered to you
Watson European are
expanding their current service
of removals and storage to
include the delivery of packing
materials to your door.
Andrea Watson, the proprietor of
Watson European, explains.
“Many customers find it difficult to locate
suitable packaging material for their removals.
Being based in the UK means that Watson
European are able to source a wide variety of
boxes in quantities to suit a client’s individual
needs.”
From full home removals to the individual
pieces of furniture, Andrea’s team have the
trade contacts to supply boxes, wrapping
material and tape to ensure your belongings
can be transported in perfect condition.
With weekly services to France the Watson
European team can deliver the packaging to
your door and collect the filled packages at a
time to suit you ready for direct delivery to
the UK.
Andrea continues: “We also cater for those
not in any particular hurry to move into
their new home in France or who want to
put affairs in order first by offering up to 60
days’ free UK based storage. Many clients take
advantage of this offer.
“Also due to the increased demand we have
been experiencing, Watson European has
invested in yet more specialised equipment to
transport vehicles, home removals and even
plant and machinery. With Brexit looming
ever closer people are taking advantage of our
services, both those establishing themselves in
France or returning to the UK.
“We also offer a delivery service to our
regular customers in France when they
wish to make purchases in the UK. Where
our customers order online from different
suppliers in the UK we take delivery of the
items and can store them for up to 60 days
without charge. Once all the different orders
/ packages have arrived, our team delivers to
the customer’s door in France.”
With Watson European, you can rest
assured that your belongings – and your stress
levels – will be looked after. Andrea concludes:
“For us it’s the small things that make the big
difference. Moving home is often a stressful
experience where the best-laid plans can go
astray. Many of our clients remark on how
having our friendly staff available at the end
of phone is one of the most reassuring aspects
of our service. Being there to deal with the
smallest of detail is what our job is all about,
whether you require relocation services,
partial house removals of pre-packed items or
a complete packing and delivery service of a
full home.”
Christine Haworth-Staines
UK Chartered Psychologist
Hundreds of practical questions are
answered in Connexion helpguides
Order downloads at
www.connexionfrance.com
24 Directory
ALL OF FRANCE
www.connexionfrance.com
The Connexion January 2019
COMMERCIAL FEATURE
Taking the paperwork and pain out of a left-hand drive vehicle purchase
At Gary Automobiles near
Lyon, convenience and quality
are assured for customers
buying a left-hand drive car
ARE YOU looking to buy a left-hand drive
vehicle for your new life in France?
Gary Automobiles is an English-owned
motor dealer based just outside of Lyon in
the Rhône-Alpes, specialising in the supply
of quality new and pre-owned, left-hand
drive, French registered vehicles to expats
moving to France.
The company has been operating in
France since July 1 2003 and customers
only ever deal with Gary personally.
Convenience for the customer is a key
element in the company’s ethos, which is
why Gary Automobiles now has the facility
to register your vehicle in your name at
AXA
their premises – meaning there is no need
to worry about translation and paperwork
issues. Gary will issue your new carte
grise directly from his
office and can even
arrange your French
motor insurance and
transfer your no
claims bonus.
“I remember how hard
it was to understand the
French paperwork and
red tape when I made the
move over to France in
2001. I am happy to assist
fellow expats and take
that burden away,” says Gary.
Reassuringly, they are fully French
registered company with Siret / Siren / and
TVA numbers and only supply vehicles with
European specifications.
For customers wishing to stay over and
For information and quotes
in English contact Penny
at G.S.A.R. 05 53 40 15 71
[email protected]
AXA
INSURANCE
Jean-Marie LECOMTE
ST HILAIRE DU HARCOUET - 50600
HOME - CAR - HEALTH
We insure UK registered cars for up to 12 months
ENGLISH SPOKEN
(call Angeline) - 02 33 49 12 34
[email protected]
Test your knowledge
of all things French
with our
puzzle books
Order at
connexionfrance.com
GARY AUTOMOBILES
Specialists in supplying quality
New and Pre-owned
French registered vehicles
We buy LHD/RHD vehicles
Part-exchanges welcome
Unlike UK LHD specialists we
handle all the paperwork and
re-register the vehicle in your
name at our premises!
French registered, English owned company
Working with selected
insurers to find the best
policy for your needs
at competitive rates
covered for damage or theft
at home or elsewhere
also provides a car sourcing service –
meaning if they do not have the vehicle
you want in stock, they will find it for you.
For further recommendation, here are
some previous customer comments:
“Gary Automobiles made the whole
process as painless as possible.”
Colin Edwards
“I have used Gary Automobiles to source
and deliver a new car in France. Since I
don’t speak French it was a delight to deal
with Gary himself.” Tom Wall
“Gary’s personal and English-speaking
service has been really helpful and taken
the hassle out of buying and keeping a car
in France.” James Greig
Heslop & Platt
Agence International
•
•
•
•
•
•
visit the area (easyJet and Ryanair fly into
nearby airports), Gary can come to collect
you from the airport or train station, as
well as arrange
reservations or
advise on local
Lyonnais hotels.
Another part
of the service
offered by Gary
Automobiles is
that they do not
put people under
pressure to make
a purchase. They
understand the
logistics of moving abroad, so if they have
a suitable vehicle in stock they we will keep
it until you are ready to collect – with no
time limitations.
Part exchange with your right hand drive
vehicle is also available, while the company
Suppliers of German
kitchens by Häcker
And English Kitchens and
furniture by Neptune
Plus a range of work surfaces
and appliances
Visit our website:
www.justkitchens.fr
Or call for a chat:
05.62.58.03.64
All of France with showrooms in the South West
FOSSE SEPTIQUE
TREATMENT
An ecological alternative
to a pump out
www.eco-tabs.biz
Five Day Mindful Meditation and Yoga Retreat in Normandy
In an increasingly frantic
world it is essential to have
compassion for ourselves
and to invest in our inner
peace. Theresa and Simon
Powell run Riboudin Retreats
which offers residential
retreats to help you renew,
rebalance and reconnect with
what really matters in life and
specialises in mindfulnessbased meditation and yoga to
help address the causes of
stress.
“Our Norman long house is a 10 acre
pocket of calm, just 3km from the famous
cliffs of Étretat, an area that has provided
inspiration and sanctuary for many famous
artists over the years. With a bluebell forest
and extensive garden, we are immersed in
nature.” says Theresa.
“Each retreat day features guided
meditations, morning and evening yoga,
rural or coastal walks. There is also the
opportunity to have a massage or reiki
session to promote stress reduction.”
Theresa is a qualified Meditation teacher,
having studied extensively in France and the
UK. Riboudin Retreats offers Meditation
of Breath, Meditation of Loving Kindness,
Gratitude Meditations and Visualization
Meditations with Rose Quartz; you will
also be guided and experience deep levels
of relaxation with your meditations. If
the weather is co-operating, the yoga and
meditation classes are held in the open air,
including on the amazing cliffs of Étretat.
Simon continues, “Our experienced yoga
REMOVALS - STORAGE GENERAL TRANSPORT EXPRESS SERVICE
teacher predominately teaches Vinyasa
Yoga, with relaxing Savasana, but enjoys
teaching Power Yoga for strength and
welcomes participants of all levels. Whether
you are new to yoga and meditation or wish
to deepen your practice, we welcome you.
“Each day includes time for everyone to
pursue their own activities, Wednesday
mornings we take a visit to the local market
to buy fresh provisions, including some
delicious French cheeses. Evenings can be
enjoyed sitting by the fire pit.”
Theresa concludes, “Riboudin is the
French name for the tiny Winter Wren
Troglodytes Troglodytes which symbolise
resilience and a renewal of energy. Our
retreats are designed to nourish you from
the inside out, and guests enjoy homemade, nutritious vegetarian meals and
desserts featuring local produce including
honey, eggs and vegetables from our garden,
when they are available.”
A wide range of quality
indoor furniture and sofas
supplied and delivered direct to
your French property saving you
time and money.
Full installation of all furniture
Delivery from just £99
Tel 06 46 49 73 45
[email protected]
www.furnitureforfrance.co.uk
Visit www.riboudin.com to book for a 2019 retreat or email [email protected]
Hundreds of practical questions are
answered in Connexion helpguides
[email protected]
TO FRANCE
Guests normally arrive Monday morning and depart Friday afternoon, bed & breakfast
extensions are available. Visitor comments include, ‘We were lucky to fall into a piece of
heaven’ and ‘I will treasure the kindness and compassion of the teachers’.
English TV in your
French Home
Professional installations in
Brittany & Normandy
Mail-order throughout France
Free, friendly, helpful advice
TVBrittany
02 97 27 58 50
www.tvbrittany.com
Covering the Gard
All types of roofs renewed / repaired
Velux roof windows - Guttering
04 66 72 75 84
[email protected]
Siret No: 50066265500017
Multi-Service - Builders
Everything from repairs and maintenance to
complete A-Z renovation and decoration.
References – Professional – Reliable
Karl - 06 04 45 63 57 / Paul - 06 34 95 19 71
[email protected]
www.roofingbuildingservices.com
26 Directory
05 SOUTH west
www.connexionfrance.com
The Connexion January 2019
COMMERCIAL FEATURE
Retirement offers an opportunity to purchase and run a successful French business
The English Institute Toulon
is looking for new owners due
to the anticipated retirement
of current owners Peter and
Tracey Waite. The school is
an English Language training
centre and has operated in
the same rented premises
since 1990.
It is on the second floor of a traditional
French Hausmann style building with a
lift, right in the middle of Toulon with five
training rooms, computer room, reception,
library, kitchen etc. In all about 170m2.
Peter explains, “The English Institute
teaches English to French adults and older
teenagers. The lessons are mainly on an
individual, one to one basis although we
do teach some groups of people within
the same company. Around 50% of our
business comes from businesses in the
area for their employees. The other 50% is
from individuals doing their Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) training.
In France there is now a system where
employees have a personal budget to use
for CPD and they can use it how they want.
English is very much key for all CPD so it is
a popular use of these budgets.
“We have 4 self-employed teachers and a
full-time office manager/PA. The business
turns over, on average, €200,000 per annum.
The owners’ net remuneration is around
20-30% of turnover. Much is dependent
on how much teaching the owners do and
this figure is therefore flexible. The lease is
around 5,000 € per quarter and is renewable
every nine years. The next lease renewal is
in June 2020.
“We will be staying in the area and will
be available for an extensive handover (3-6
months) and for ongoing support.”
Tracey details the purchaser profile; “The
figures given above assume that the owners
do some teaching, it would be highly
beneficial therefore to have experience
in teaching English as a second language
(TESL, CELTA), to have general business
background and to speak French. The
office manager is French and is practically
autonomous but will need day to day
guidance on business decisions. She speaks
a strong intermediate level of English and
most of the teachers are bi-lingual - all are
native English speakers.
“We understand that with BREXIT on
the horizon British people interested in
this opportunity will have a number of
questions regarding the feasibility of living
and running a business in France. This is
something potential purchasers should
inform themselves of, however Connexion
Les Amis Des Chats
promotes sterilisation to improve
the well-being of stray and pet cats
in the rural villages of SW France.
WE NEED VOLUNTEERS
to help run our
charity shops and events.
Donations are also gratefully received at
Les amis des chats, 82150 Roquecor.
See how you can support us by visiting
www-les-amis-des-chats.com
Registered charity no: W821000447
is an excellent information source regarding
all things BREXIT.
“Property prices in Toulon are very
reasonable in comparison with some of the
other areas along the South coast, see Le
Bon Coin or SeLoger.com websites.”
If you are interested, in the first instance
please contact Peter and Tracey with a
landline telephone number and they will
call you to discuss further and answer any
initial questions you may have. They require
offers in the region of €150,000.
ELECTRICIAN
Experienced & French Registered.
French lessons
Salies de Béarn
Karine Flandé Piché
Basic french and
conversations for adults
French tutor 6eme à 3eme
[email protected]
Tel. 09 80 38 59 43
Property Management Services
Available for all types of electrical work.
Insured and guaranteed.
Areas: 16,17,24,47
Where each cat recieves the best
possible care and attention from
the day it is admitted to the
moment of its adoption.
Please call to make an appointment on
05 63 94 73 97
www.chatsduquercy.fr
PHOENIX ANIMAL
RESCUE
If you are thinking of giving an
animal a home, please consider
adopting. We have many cats
and dogs looking for loving
homes. Please visit us at:
www.phoenixasso.com
www.facebook.com/
PhoenixAssociationFrance
Consultus Care
and Nursing Short
term positions
available for live
in carers in the UK
Make a difference to an elderly
or vulnerable person’s life
Email:
[email protected]
www.consultuscare.com
ALCOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS
SOUTH OF FRANCE
Is Alcohol Costing You
More Than Money?
Call Alcoholics Anonymous.0820 200 257
www.aa-riviera.org
Siret : 49197537100015
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
South West France
Have you a problem?
www.aafrance.net
Or Call
Shepperd 06.74.95.19.66
Angela 05.49.87.79.09
The Connexion January 2019
www.connexionfrance.com
COMMERCIAL FEATURE
CLASSIFIEDS/community
Directory 27
It’s not all about the sale, a good long-term relationship counts most
December saw a major problem in the UK with mobile carrier
O2 where customers lost internet access for a few hours notes
Bob Elliott, Commercial Director of UKTelecom. However the
customer reaction was huge. This simply reflects the importance
we all now place on reliable access to the internet. Of course
there is a lot of equipment that sits behind any telecom service
and the hardware is constantly being replaced by improved
designs that are more reliable and additional services.
The same is true of your home internet
service. Long gone are the days of ‘dial-up’
where it took longer to download a simple
photo or attachment than to make a cup of
tea. As speed and reliability has improved
beyond all recognition over the last 10 or so
years the acceptance of loss of service has
diminished.
This is reflected in the forums where the
most disgruntled let of steam about the latest
loss of their broadband and the length of
time it took to get it restored. There is a clear
pattern between price and response. In fact
changing broadband supplier is as likely as
changing your utility company or bank – so
we tend to put up with quite a lot before we
overcome the inertia and find a new telecom
company.
This suggests that it is best to look
carefully at all providers before committing
to a contract. As they say, ‘the sweetness of
the cheapest deal is soon forgotten when
problems take too long to fix’. Here at
UKTelecom we have taken this to heart.
What makes’ the following: our broadband
and its many add-ons different? Well firstly we
never knowingly miss sell any of our services.
We always check customers’ locations to make
sure we offer the best service that their line
can carry. Once they are live we make sure we
look after them whether it is helping getting
set up, changing passwords, getting the best
wifi speed and many more matters; this is all
done in English or French as they prefer.
But what happens if something stops
working? This is where we take ownership
of the problem and use our experience to
get Orange engineers who look after the
telephone line network to investigate and
repair. This saves customers with little
technical French having to struggle to
describe the problem and understand what
they may need to do. From initiating the
remote repairs to arranging engineer visits to
our customers and translating between them,
everything is included in the monthly charge.
Updates by phone and email are speedy and
detailed.
This high level of customer care is reflected
in the many other things we do. From
accepting payment in £s or €s, allowing
broadband to be suspended when away and
other unique services; the choices really reflect
what customers regard as most important.
The last 5 years of continued growth has
allowed UKTelecom to improve what we do
and there will shortly be announcements of
new deals. So if you think we can offer you
better than you currently receive call us for
good honest and knowledgeable advice before
making your next move. After all it is free and
there is nothing to lose!
UKTelecom
[email protected]
0805 631632 (free from France) or
44+ (0)1483477100
Alfred Stieglitz is rightly remembered as one
of the first people to have recognised the
artistic potentials of photography. Famous
for his portraits, in particular of Georgia
O’Keeffe, and his uncompromising views
of New York’s modernity, he also gathered
around him young artists known as “precisionists” whose careers he relentlessly promoted. This lecture by Christian Monjou,
at the Théâtre du Ranelagh central Paris, on
January 10, costs €15 for non-members.
Log on to www.padfas.fr for more details.
Sunday Mass in English in the Chapelle St
Patrick CCI Rue des Irlandais, Paris, followed by coffee and chat every Sunday at
11.30am. [email protected]
Order at our shop at
connexionfrance.com or call
Nathalie on 06 40 55 71 63
19th Annual Conference on Nephrology
(kidney disease) invites all Nephrology and
other related professionals to gather for the
grand meet up at London, UK on May 2223, 2019. https://nephrology.cmesociety.com
You can see more events and post your own at connexionfrance.com/community/events
If you love waltzes and the music of Strauss
and Schubert – even Mozart and Beethoven,
you are invited to an evening of popular
Viennese music presented by Cantabile
and guest singers. Tickets for the event on
January 5 at the Espace Culturel, Eymet, are
available from the town’s tourist office, or
at the door on the night – €10 each, free to
under 12s. Email Philippa Tillyer at
[email protected] for more information.
Scenes from last year’s successful pantomime, Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is this
year’s chosen pantomime to be performed
by La Troupe d’Acteurs du Quercy at the
Salle des Fêtes in Montaigu-de-Quercy on
Saturday, January 26, at 8pm and Sunday,
January 27, at 4pm.
There will be a few twists, of course. The
dwarfs are all 6ft, having all grown up near
nuclear power stations.
The theatre group was formed in 2002 by
four expat couples who had been involved
in amateur dramatics in the UK.
Their first pantomime was Cinderella in
2003, which was performed in a village
hall. Now they have grown to over 80
members, and they put on three annual
productions, one of which is always a
pantomime at the end of January.
The group works hard to make the shows
accessible to a French audience and have
developed a method in which alternate
lines are in French and English.
President John Blaus said: “The different
lines refer to each other so that the script
can be understood in both languages. For
example, one actor may say “Oh yes, I’m
going to the Post Office”, in one language
and the next actor will say “Have you been
to the Post Office?”, in the other language.
“Half of the characters speak French and
half English. This also makes the shows
popular with schools and there will be two
free additional performances, for around
300 local primary school children.
Ticket prices for the January 26 show are
adults €8, children €4. For January 27
adults €5, children €3. Reservations at
[email protected] or by
telephoning 07 87 65 07 98
28 Directory
features
www.connexionfrance.com
The Connexion January 2019
COMMERCIAL FEATURES
Private for sale property company looking for homes throughout France
Selling property privately in
France has long been popular
with French buyers and
sellers. ARB French Property
run by Adrian and Jacqui
Bunn, have developed an
innovative way for English
speaking sellers to take
advantage of the private for
sale market, attracting buyers
from UK, France, Belgium and
Holland, all keen to save
money and to deal direct.
As Adrian explains. “Feedback from
our sellers has highlighted three areas of
concern. Firstly, the lack of a pro-active
approach to marketing a home, secondly
the quality of some of those clients sent
to view and thirdly a lack of feedback
following a visit. These are three concerns
that ARB have set out to answer.”
Jacqui continues, “We ensure that
every home receives the same high level
of attention with individually designed
property particulars containing an
extensive description, up to 30 photos,
and a free floor plan. Additionally, we
mailshot our 5000-strong database
targeting by specific postcodes such as
London and also specific occupations
including the armed services, police and
teachers.
“A typical ARB purchaser is
undoubtedly a serious buyer, has cash
available, is probably semi-retired or
retired and may well be considering a fulltime move, with many looking to enjoy
the home with family and grand-children.
We are seeing an increasing number
taking advantage of their pension fund
arrangements or cashing in on UK house
prices to purchase in France.”
Adrian adds, “To help sellers further
we introduced our Platinum Plus service
which is proving very popular with sellers.
The scheme has a one-off fee which
includes a visit to photograph, floorplan
plus advice on home dressing ready for
viewings. There is no commission or
balance payment due, saving thousands.“
After a highly successful 2018 ARB now
need homes for sale throughout all areas
of France. If you think your home will
appeal to buyers from the UK, France and
beyond, if you want a pro-active approach
and the attention your home deserves,
please call or email ARB French Property.
+44 (0)1803 469367
[email protected]
www.arbfrenchproperty.com
HARS help up-and-coming athlete
The Hearing Aid Repair Shop
(HARS) helps people of all
ages, by expertly repairing
their hearing aids.
The day after Boxing Day we helped a
young athlete by repairing her hearing aid
so she could study for an important
German GCSE mock exam at the start of
the spring term.
A member of Berkshire’s Newbury
Athletic Club, Charlotte Payne has earned
numerous accolades for her sporting
achievements and was runner up at the
Young Deaf Sports Personality of the Year
in November 2016.
Charlotte’s mum, Denise, said, “We
turned up in the snow with my daughter’s
hearing aid which had died over Christmas.
We were met with a smile by the wonderful
team at HARS who helped us out on the
spot. We were overwhelmed by their
kindness and won’t go anywhere else from
now on.”
Charlotte competes in the
throwing events – discus and
hammer. In 2016, Charlotte
was UK National Champion
and UK No. 1 in Under 15
Discus and UK No. 3 in
Under 15 Hammer.
Last year Charlotte moved
into Under 17 category and
became UK No. 1 in Under 17 Hammer
4kg, UK No. 3 in Under 17 Discus, South
England Under 17 Hammer Champion and
championship record holder. She was also
a silver medallist in hammer at the School
Games and a bronze medallist in Under
17 Discus at the English Schools
Championships.
As well as all that, Charlotte has been the
best UK deaf female thrower in hammer,
discus and shot put, for all age groups, for
the past 2 years.
Denise said, “Charlotte
is now the youngest in
her age group and has yet
another year at this level
to improve on her
amazing achievements.”
This year Charlotte has
set her sights on being
No. 1 in the UK in
hammer and discus, representing the UK in
the Under 18 European Championships in
Hungary in August and competing in the
School Games and Schools Track & Field
International.
Denise said, “Hopefully Charlotte will
have a busy summer, competing in various
national and international events, if she can
successfully win all the necessary qualifying
events beforehand. She’s capable, so it’s
definitely on the cards. Fingers crossed!
You rarely find a thrower who does both
hammer and discus to a high standard, so
Charlotte will probably have to decide
between them. It’s going to be a tough
choice to pick which one.”
The HARS team wish Charlotte all the
best with her studies and athletic
aspirations over the coming years. We hope
to be watching her compete at major
championships in the future.
If, like Charlotte, you need your hearing
aids repaired you can send them to us for a
free, no obligation quote.
For more details go to
www.hars.co.uk,
email [email protected] or
call us on 00 44 1635 48724.
Transportation company delivers “anything legal”
Possessions getting “lost” en route – this is a removal
horror story heard time and time again. However reliability,
trustworthiness and respect are qualities and the
cornerstones of the service that George White European
provides to its customers.
“At George White European we pride
ourselves on our old-fashioned values,”
said George. “We really look after all our
clients. We offer a bespoke service to each
and every one, and always ensure that
goods and belongings are delivered on
time, safely and without any problems.”
Having started driving over 30 years ago
George has obtained an award from the
European Road Transport Union for three
million kilometres of safe driving.
George Steve and Mick are highly
knowledgeable about French and British
roads and have been specialising in
southwest France for more than 15 years,
always delivering and picking up when
expected, at the agreed price. Over the
years the company has evolved into a
trusted network of like-minded ownerdrivers and are able to cope with up to 80
pallets a week from their warehouse and
storage facility near Nottingham.
The team consists of Mick, David, (the
warehouse manager) Steve, and of course
George. Also Ray who has panel vans and
Lee who drives a large low loader.
It is not just removals that George White
European team transport to and from
France, the company delivers anything
from bathrooms, furniture, kitchens, cars,
fencing, horse feed, doors, windows and
building materials to tractors, diggers,
dumpers, trailers and anything else what
will go legally into a trailer.
All customers need to do is email
[email protected] for a quote and
then arrange for their goods to be delivered
to the warehouse near Nottingham. The
company can act as a bespoke local haulage
service to collect your goods.
There are Travis Perkins and a B&Q depots
close to the warehouse which will deliver
larger building materials direct to the
warehouse for you.
“Customers just get in contact with the
Builders Merchants, email us that the goods
are on their way and they come straight to
our warehouse,“ said George, “And, as a
special bonus, any customer having goods
delivered from our depot can also order a
small supermarket shop as an added extra.”
Depending on the areas being collected
Top tractor and machinery deals delivered to France
Cowling Agriculture prides
itself on friendly advice and
excellent aftersales service –
and all at competitive prices
With 20 years of experience, Cowling
Agriculture supplies tractors and machinery
to smallholders and farmers in the UK and
Europe.
The company keeps 80 to 100 tractors
in stock, both new and used, along with a
comprehensive range of machinery. It also
has a well-equipped workshop and proficient
staff who service and repair used tractors and
machinery.
It specialises in putting together tractor and
machinery packages for first-time tractor
owners. Kim Cowling from the company
said: “We take the time to listen to customers’
requirements so that we can supply a
competitively priced and suitable package.
We are often able to supply tractors and
machinery to customers in France for a much
lower price than they could source them
locally. We pride ourselves on our friendly
advice and excellent aftersales service.”
Cowling Agriculture has been a dealer for
the Landlegend range of tractors – which
Kim says are the best value and most popular
compact tractor on the market – for more
than 10 years.
“The Landlegend 25hp tractor provides a
very good spec for a very good price,” she
said. “It is £5,395. It can easily be fitted with
a 4in1 loader and backhoe, making it ideal
for farmers, smallholders, self-builders and
equestrian yards. Our second-hand tractors
start from around £2,500 and come fully
serviced, checked over and with a minimum
of six months warranty. We can team these
up with toppers, chain harrows, logsplitters or
rotovators etc.”
For customers in France wanting to see
the tractors and machinery in action, the
company can put them in touch with one
of its many existing tractor owners. Kim
said: “We have 50-plus Landlegend tractors
working in France, plus many other used
tractors and individual machinery items. We
have many customers who come back to us to
add new machinery.”
The company regularly has deliveries
covering the UK, Ireland and France and the
driver is able to fully demonstrate the tractors
and machinery on arrival.
It keeps machinery for all seasons and often
runs special seasonal offers. The stock list can
be viewed on the website.
www.cowlingagri.com
www.landlegend.co.uk
+ 44 1458 269210
Using large multipurpose vehicles
allows George White
European to cut
charges to
customers
from and delivered to, the minimum load
could be as little as 1 pallet size of trailer
floor space, 1200mm x1000mm. A linear
metre of removals, ex our warehouse
(which is 2.6m tall and 2.4m wide and 1.0m
long), with prices from as little as £240 +
VAT. At the other end of the scale,
a full 13.6m-long load (max 24 tonnes) of
domestic removals can be handled for
around £2,800 + VAT, depending on the
locations involved.
As the team typically operate a weekly
service along routes from Dieppe or Le
Havre to the southwest of France, the costs
are kept low as the vehicles can be filled
with other goods for much of the journey.
“George White European gives great
service at a great price,” said a recent
customer. “Do not be fooled into thinking
that they are too cheap – they are just
honest.”
+33 (0)6 23 03 85 59
+44 (0)7768 867360
[email protected]
www.georgewhiteeuropean.co.uk
The Connexion January 2019
www.connexionfrance.com
COMMERCIAL FEATURES
features
Directory 29
The best way to furnish your property in France
Furniture for France has
many years’ experience of
supplying high quality
furniture to its customers
FURNITURE for France is now in its
fifteenth year of supplying quality furniture
to properties in France.
New French inspired oak furniture
designs being introduced for 2018
The company specialises in providing
clients with a customised service that offers
good quality UK-sourced furniture without
the hassle of arranging delivery and ordering furniture in the UK.
Furniture for France works with its customers all the way from the initial enquiry
through to installing the furniture in their
homes.
Offering advice on all aspects of a customer’s order, such as sofa coverings, wood
finishes and delivery schedules, ensures they
are kept informed every step of the way.
“With 15 years’ experience and thousands
of deliveries under our belts throughout
France, we have encountered almost
everything and put that to good use when
advising and helping customers find the
right furniture for their property in France,”
said the company’s managing director Brian
Muir.
The delivery service offered includes room
by room installation of all furniture ordered,
this includes assembly of all oak beds and
wardrobes as these come in sections for ease
of access to difficult staircases. All other
items are solid, no assembly pieces. Our deliveries are timed to the hour on the agreed
date of delivery. The Furniture for France
face book page will keep you up to date with
all the latest news.
Six new ranges of oak have recently been
introduced, including traditional styles in a
rustic finish. With competitively priced solid oak furniture it is no wonder Furniture
for France had its best ever year in 2017.
In addition to the new oak furniture a
choice of 12 different paint colours are
now available on all pine furniture. Wood
samples can also be sent out to customers
if required.
“With delivery costs starting at just £59 for
any quantity of furniture, there really isn’t a
better or easier way to furnish a property in
France,” said Mr Muir.
Throughout 2017
sofas continued to be the
best-selling individual
item for the company.
Loose-covered designs
are always top of the list
with the introduction
of more complex fabric
patterns and colours
allowing customers to
custom cover the sofa
of their choice. “This
process can take some
Stylish Highcleare fixed cover sofa design
time to work through,
but as the product has a life expectancy of
introduce great ranges of furniture for
over 15 years, it pays to get it right,” said Mr delivery to our customers in France without
Muir. Furniture for France makes deliveries compromising on quality or service.”
as far afield as Geneva and Nice, as well as
locally to customers in the Dordogne, the
06 46 49 73 45
Lot, Charente and Limousin.
[email protected]
Mr Muir added: “We will continue to
www.furnitureforfrance.co.uk
Complete solution to fosse septique problems
There’s little worse than
a smelly or blocked fosse
septique, but there is a
simple, ecological and costeffective treatment, say
Eco-tabs Europe founders
Shelly and Tim Burns-O’Regan
WITH costly emptying charges and the
potential to smell or get blocked, fosse
septiques can be a homeowner’s nightmare.
But an innovative product now exists
which not only takes away the need to
empty your fosse, but also removes odours
and reduces blockages.
Eco-tabs are purely bacterial-based,
not a combination of enzymes like many
competitive products. They help to increase
overall system efficiency, reduce costly
maintenance and eliminate the need for
toxic chemicals and special handling
procedures.
The tablets work by oxygenating the water
in the fosse, removing hydrogen sulfide
odours, preventing corrosion, and initiating
aerobic biological breakdown of organic
sludge, including oils and grease.
Store bought products that are enzyme
based liquify the solids for them to reform
later. So you will still need to pump out
your tank. Eco-tabs degrade the solids and
remove those pesky odours.
Company founders Shelly and Tim BurnsO’Regan say: “Our company is founded on
the core belief that eco-friendly, non-toxic
waste treatment products have become a
necessity in today’s environmentally sensitive and fragile ecosystem. We also provide
excellent customer service and follow up as
fed back from our customers.”
An eco-tabs Clean out Pack starts at 66€
( exc TVA, p+p) for a standard 3000 litre
tank compared to the cost of a pump out
truck ranging from 125€ up to 400€, this is
a no-brainer.
“Simply flush a tablet down the toilet each
month to maintain a healthy fosse septique.
Or, as an alternative to pumping out, use
two tabs and one bag of our Shock powder
and watch the magic.
“Not only do the tabs oxygenate the water,
which removes the odours, the sludge is
eaten away by the bacteria. The result:
a clean fosse which does not need to be
pumped out… all that remains is water.”
Eco-tabs are compatible for old septic
tanks right through to the new microstation
systems.
To ensure that you are only buying the
products necessary for your tank, we offer
a Personalised Treatment Plan which will
recommend the ideal products for you.
Visit: www.eco-tabs.biz and click on the link
for a Personalised Treatment Plan.
Eco-tabs are 100% ecological and mean you don’t need to pump out your fosse
For more information, visit the website or contact Tim on +33 (0)6 35 96 95 12
www.eco-tabs.biz
[email protected]
SATATISFFACTTION
74 500 €
128 125 €
87 500 €
164 000 €
105 575 €
169 125 €
WITH WEEKLY SERVICES
FRANCE
NCE
TO
AND
FROM
T
OA
ND FRO
FR
OM FRA
AND SPAIN,
SPAI
P N,
PAI
N, OUR
SPECIALISED VEHICLES
CAN ACCOMMODATE FULL
OR PARTIAL HOME
REMOVALS, CARS,
CARAVANS AND MUCH
MUCH MORE.
WE HAVE heard a lot recently
about the gilets jaunes – but
it’s good to hear too about the
gilets oranges.
They work for a little-known
but vital charity that collects
food from supermarkets and
farmers, then distributes it to
the needy in a co-ordinated
network across the country.
This is the Banques
Alimentaires, which provides
half the food given out for free
in the country every year. It
ensures that two million people
get decent meals they would
not otherwise be able to afford.
With around 100 warehouses
across the country, it relies
heavily on its 6,000 volunteers,
the gilets oranges, who make up
90% of its workforce.
The organisation, the first
food bank in Europe, was set
up in 1984 and modelled itself
on initiatives in Canada and
the US.
Sister Cécile Bigo issued an
appeal in the newspaper La
Croix: “Man has invented ways
of going to the moon. Cannot
his heart invent a way to put an
end to food waste and feed all
of humanity?”
President Jacques Bailet, himself a volunteer, says that not
many people realise the huge
logistical effort behind fetching
and sorting the food: “The aim
of our organisation is to fight
both against food waste and
lack of food for some people.
“Unlike other organisations,
such as Restos du Cœur, we do
not buy any of our food. We
collect 113,000 tonnes every
year, of which 73,000 tonnes
would otherwise be destroyed.
“For example, a supermarket
cannot sell a bag of clementines if one of them is rotten.
But we can open the bag and
use the good ones.
“Supermarkets place orders
for ready-made sandwiches
every morning, but the sandwich makers cannot know
what the order will be in
advance and so they make
more than necessary.
Above and right, volunteers
sort fruit and vegetables at a
Banques Alimentaires store
Sometimes we can pick up as
many as 4,000 sandwiches
which would otherwise be
thrown away. We also get food
when the public donate during
national collection days.”
Mr Bailet says the work of the
association saves a needy
household €92 a month on
average, which is vital to help
the poorest people meet their
bills at the end of the month.
He says being a volunteer
with the Banques Alimentaires
is rewarding: “I find I meet
people I would never have met
otherwise and it is something
that we enjoy, as well as helping others. We welcome all
kinds of skills, from driving
lorries, working with computers, logistics, sorting food or
going to companies to
persuade them to hand over
their food waste to us. A centre
may be processing 4,000 to
5,000 tonnes of food a day so
we always need help.
“You can come for half a day
a week or every day... just
whatever suits you.”
You can sign up to volunteer
at giletsorange.fr.
Volunteer sapeur pompier’s
lot is surprisingly happy one
The Bordeaux Women’s Club is seeking new members
Old US wives’ club now
embraces every woman
Bordeaux Women’s Club
(bordeauxwomensclub.org)
aims to help international
English-speaking women meet
and adapt comfortably into
French life and culture.
President Margo Durand said
it is harder than people think
for women arriving in
Bordeaux from all over the
world to settle in.
She said: “It can almost be
even more difficult for French
women coming back from a
period abroad, because everybody expects they will have a
life waiting for them here, but
it is not often the case.
“We have members from 25
different countries. It is super
and makes it very international
and interesting.”
She says that members have
to speak English fluently: “The
more comfort and reassurance
you have within one group, the
more confidence you then have
to join French activities.”
The club was founded in
1951 and was originally a US
officers’ wives club, but Mrs
Durand says they are proud
that the club still exists even
though the American army has
left Bordeaux: “The club
adapted when the few
American women left decided
they wanted to continue.”
It is strictly female-only:
“This is for historical reasons
but we have decided to keep it
this way. It is good to have one
club just for women because
together they support, empower and understand each other.”
Members can join in a range
of activities including a cinema
group, book clubs, local visits,
wine tasting, a walk-and-talk
group, and one for women to
practise their French.
Neighbourhood groups have
developed for people who live
outside the city, to make it
easier for them to meet up.
Membership costs €30 a year
and Mrs Durand said new
members are always welcome.
FRANCE’S sapeurs pompiers
fire service would love to
attract more volunteer recruits.
Volunteers can be of any
nationality as long as they live
in France, and the organisation
is keen to point out that they
do not have to be young,
muscly supermen – just people
in basic good health.
Marie-Françoise Woodward
has both French and British
nationality and joined four
years ago when she was 47.
She says being a volunteer
firefighter is an amazing thing
to do: “I love it more than I
could have imagined.
“You cannot deny the basic
usefulness of it and you feel
you are doing something
completely significant.
“It is a great way of becoming
integrated, because you are
part of a team and you help
people in your community.”
She joined when she realised
she needed to learn more about
first aid. “It is remote, where I
live in the Lot, and when my
daughter was ill and had
difficulty breathing one night, I
had to wait for two hours for
the doctor. The nearest
hospital was half an hour away.
“A friend said a lot of sapeur
pompier work is first aid-based
and persuaded me to join.”
Some 73% of sapeur pompier
work is as an emergency
ambulance service. Only 6% is
for fires, 6% for road accidents
The forgotten
story of brave
Ulster nurses
in Great War
THE remarkable story of a
group of nurses from Ulster
who set up a hospital in France
to look after soldiers during
World War One has been
turned into a book.
Author Claire McElhinney
(above) was inspired to write
after discovering her grandmother was among the group.
She wanted to highlight
women’s roles in the war as she
says most of the stories from the
time focused on fighting men.
She said: “I hope my book will
help redress the balance, shedding new light on the story of
pioneering women from Ulster
and letting my grandmother
Edith and her fellow volunteers
have their voices heard 100
years on.”
Many young women in Ulster
were already trained in first aid
because they feared civil war.
They volunteered as soon as
the Great War broke out.
The UK declined their offer
of help as it thought the war
would soon be over. However,
one of the women had contacts
in France so, not wanting to
give up, they applied to the
French, who were short of
nurses and said yes.
Their first 80-bed Ulster
Volunteer Hospital was in Pau.
The women also cared for
German soldiers at a nearby
PoW camp. In 1916, they were
moved to Lyon and looked
after French soldiers returning
from the battle of Verdun.
The hospital was funded by
donations from Ulster but in
1917 it had to be disbanded.
Claire said of her grandmother: “She died when I was
two, and none of her family
ever asked her about her time
in France. She came back to be
a farmer’s wife and had eight
children. My uncle did tell me
French homework was always
easy because his mother helped
him, but he never asked why
she knew the language.”
Tell Them of Us was funded by
the Ulster-Scots Agency. For a
free copy (just pay p&p) call 00
44 28 90 436710/email info@
ulster-scots.com.
Marie-Françoise Woodward became a volunteer at the age of 47
Colonel Yves Marcoux is
and 15% for other activities,
responsible for volunteer firesuch as responding to natural
fighters in the Lot and says 930
disasters.
out of 1,000 people working for
New recruits face 35 days of
training. After the first 10 days, the sapeurs pompiers in his
department are volunteers.
which focuses on first aid, vol“The country could not
unteers can go on-call.
afford to have round-the-clock
Mrs Woodward said: “We
professionals on duty for many
carry a pager with us, which
stations. We are always looking
tells the station whether we are
available or not. For example, if for new members.”
Volunteers must be on call
I am alone at home with my
children I will not be called up. for one weekend and a few
nights every month. You need
“If I am free, as soon as I get
to live within 10km of a fire
the call, I drop everything, get
station and speak French well.
in the car, go to the station,
change, find out what the
mission is and we’re off.
“We are usually a team of
The Connexion regularly features news and events from
four with an experienced chief
community groups all over France. We would be pleased to
and when we get to the scene
publicise your association (non-commercial) – it’s a great way
we have to make a medical
to bring in new members and it is free! You can submit events
assessment, give first aid and
via connexionfrance.com/Community To have your association/
decide whether to take the
group featured, email details to [email protected]
person to hospital or not.”
Have your group featured
32 Practical
connexionfrance.com
A ToWn in the
Gironde has gone
back to nature in
search of a costeffective way to
solve its growing
mosquito problem.
Bats are natural predators for the insects and
eat up to 2,000 each a day. So Bègles, just south
of Bordeaux, has installed bat and swallow nesting boxes.
By the end of 2018, some 100 boxes were in
place on public buildings across the town – and
the mairie is offering 100 householders a €10
refund if they buy and install a box themselves.
The boxes are seen as a cheap, effective and
permanent solution to the increasing numbers of
mosquitoes in the town every year.
Mosquitoes, including tiger mosquitoes which
have spread to 62 departments in France including the Gironde, are known to carry a number of
viruses, including dengue fever, the zika virus
and the chikungunya virus.
Symptoms of dengue and chikungunya include
severe joint pain, fever, headaches, weeping eyes
and a rash. Every year, from May to November,
health authorities in France are on high alert
for the possible spread of diseases carried by
mosquitoes.
It is not the only step that authorities in the
town have taken.
Bègles is one of an increasing number of
communes in France to turn off their street
lights for a portion of the night. As well as
cutting costs and reducing light pollution, the
move helps the local bat population, said mayor
Clément Rossignol Puech.
Notaires ‘must modernise and go high-tech’
NOTAIRES must be ready to
reform and modernise – and that
means embracing technology,
their new president has said.
Jean-François Humbert said
notaires have to gear up to
provide the service people will
expect in 10 years’ time.
He told Connexion: “We need to make progress
with integrating technology, IT, artificial intelligence and, especially, video-conferencing so we
can mediate and work with people, wherever
they are geographically. At the moment, people
can use a procuration, which means legally giving someone else the power to sign a document
for them, but how much more personal it would
be if they could be present via a video-link and
sign electronically. When someone buys a
house, it’s nice for them to be present.”
Mr Humbert would like to contribute to developing new services and diversifying activities.
He said: “I’d like to see notaires providing more
mediation, especially when it comes to international affairs, in Europe and the United States,
for example. I’d like French notaires to be able to
help clients even when they move to, say Wash
ington, on all subjects, including international
taxation. So many people are on the move now.
“Someone who owns a flat in Paris might be
working in Rome but want to rent the flat to
someone who is currently in Amsterdam.
Notaires need to be able to help in these complicated international situations.”
Mr Humbert, 61, president of the Conseil
Supérieur du Notariat (CSN), who has had a long
career as a notaire in Paris, says he wants to
ensure the profession maintains its character
across the nation, meaning people get the same
service in the countryside as in the city.
Photo: Romuald Meigneux
Batty solution to
mosquito problem
The Connexion January 2019
A notaire is both a professional and a public
servant who represents the state when legal
documents are drawn up, often in relation to big
steps of life: recording a will, sorting out inheritance, formal gifts, creating a mortgage, buying
and selling property, drawing up marriage contracts, and assigning power of attorney.
Contracts drawn up by a notaire cannot be
legally challenged, says Mr Humbert. “This
means, for example, that if a tenancy agreement
is drawn up privately and the tenant then falls
behind with the rent, the owner would have to
seek redress through the courts. But if that tenancy agreement was drawn up by a notaire, the
owner could go straight to the bailiffs as the
order to pay has already been made.”
Part of the job is finding agreement between
parties signing a contract, he says. “Humans
actually prefer to find agreement than get into
disputes and that’s what attracted me to the profession: finding agreement between people.”
The only downside about the job is that sometimes the law can be too rigid, he says. “But we
have to apply the law. That’s our job.”
The 2015 ‘Loi Macron’ made it easier for
notaires to set up new offices, which he says was
a change that surprised some in the profession,
though people have now got used to it. Prior to
this, notaires had to buy an existing practice at a
high cost, or enter a competitive exam to obtain
one of a few rare vacant or new places (60 were
created from 2005 to 2013). The law aimed to
allow qualified people to apply to open one of
around 1,000 new offices across France, with a
certain number on offer in each of 247 “free
set-up zones”. [On going to press the Conseil
supérieur du notariat (CSN) issued a statement
‘deploring’ a ‘second wave’ creating 479 extra
offices on top of 1,600 which it said had set up
since summer 2017. It said it was too soon and
more time was needed for the existing new
notaires to settle into their jobs. It was considering legal action in opposition to this].
Mr Humbert notes that because notaires represent the state, the state has a larger role in the
French legal system than in the UK and the US
– countries which consider that democracy is
served by making the legal system independent.
“In the US, the legal system was set up by
people fleeing state authority, so of course they
made an independent legal system. In France,
our history is different,” he says.
All notaires belong to the CSN, which exists
to represent them in dealings with the state, and
to regulate the profession: how they become
qualified, are co-ordinated and are disciplined.
Many people’s first dealings with a notaire are
when they buy a property. “It’s one of the most
important things people do in their lives, and
usually the most valuable purchase they make.
“The money paid to the notaire is made up of
taxes which go straight to the state, expenses,
and of course his or her fees. They are around
8% of the value of the property [and around
13% of that fee goes to the notaire]. A buyer
should be informed what the notaire’s fees will
be before they buy, to avoid nasty surprises.”
In the past a large majority of notaires used to
be male, as in many professions, but Mr
Humbert says that has changed.
“Today around 45% are women, and among
under-35s about 60% are women. This is in line
with the student intake at French law schools.”
The government fixes fees for some kinds of
work but others can be set freely. Many, but not
all, notaires offer some free advice, including at
Conseil du Coin sessions in cafés on the first
Saturday of the month (conseilducoin.fr).
Is the Cesu system
only for residents?
IS IT true that the Cesu system which simplifies employing a person in the home,
such as a cleaner, is only for
residents and not open to
holiday home owners? N.L.
YES.... and no. A spokeswoman
for Acoss, the body in charge of
the national Urssaf network,
said it is correct that nonresidents should not use the
standard Cesu system – but
there is a similar scheme specifically for them, called Tpee.
People can sign up for this at
www.tpee.urssaf.fr and it is for
anyone who employs workers in
the home for personal services,
such as gardening or cleaning,
during their stays in France. It
helps people make sure they are
meeting their responsibilities in
terms of social charge contributions for the employee.
To join the scheme, you click
adhérer under Identification.
The site has an English option.
Is a council pension
a ‘government’ one?
MY WIFE is due to start her
UK local government pension
soon. We are permanently
living in France and have
lived here for 12 years. We
pay French tax. Is the
pension taxable in France or
does it come under the type
of UK government pension
scheme that is taxed in the
UK? D.S.
Yes, a local authority pension
is usually a “government” one.
The easiest way of knowing
this is whether the pension is
paid by the Paymaster General
or not.
If so, then yes it is a government pension, and if not, then
Money and tax
changes in 2019
Send your
financial queries to
Hugh MacDonald at
[email protected]
no. Otherwise, the pension
generally qualifies as a government pension if it is paid by a
government agency.
To see which pensions qualify,
you can also check the list at
this site: tinyurl.com/y9w8n7by.
Is there a double tax
treaty with Germany?
I know a tax agreement
exists between the UK and
France but does the same
apply between Germany and
France? If tax is deducted at
source in Germany, can it be
taxed again in France? C.C.
THE GENERAL principle of
double tax treaties is to ensure
it is clear which country has
what rights to tax what income
– and one does exist between
France and Germany.
So, in general, if income is
taxed in Germany then that
same income should not also be
taxed in France. This said, it is
not because the income is taxed
in Germany that France has no
right to tax it since, per the double tax treaties, it may be a kind
of income that France has the
right to tax and not Germany. In
such a case you would have to
confirm to the German tax
authorities that you were resident in France, and not in Ger
many, so that Germany can stop
taxing the income.
It should also be noted that
some sources of income, such
as rental income and government pension income (for
The Connexion welcomes queries and publishes a selection with
answers every edition. However, please note that we cannot enter
into correspondence on money topics. Queries may be edited for
length and style. Due to the sensitive nature of topics we do not
publish full names or addresses on these pages.
Practical: Money 33
connexionfrance.com
example, from diplomatic
service, military, civil servants)
are only taxable in the country
from which they come.
These incomes are not taxed
in the country of residence but
are “taken into account” in the
French tax calculations. This is
to ensure someone does not
benefit twice from each country’s personal allowances and
increasing tax bands. While the
amount of tax paid in the foreign country, if any, is ignored,
the effect may be to place any
French taxable income into a
higher tax band.
Can I work for foreign
firm from France?
IF I relocate from the UK to
France but continue to be
paid in GBP in the UK for the
company that I work for (I
am a homeworker so can
work from anywhere), what
do I need to do to be a legal
resident in France? R.N.
THESE issues are complicated,
partly due to the application of
VAT laws, although this applies
to most countries, not just
France.
While you may be paid by a
foreign company, you will
physically be working in France
and, technically, the product of
that work is liable to French
VAT, irrespective of whether or
not this work were to be
exempt from VAT, or chargeable at 0%, or below any threshold. As a result, the foreign
company that is paying you will
be seen by the French tax
authorities as having a
theoretical office here in France,
called a succursale, and it is this
office that will be seen to be
employing you, not your current employer in the UK.
So any employer and employee social security contributions
will be due in France on what
would be seen to be your
French salary, as will any VAT,
corporation tax on the profit
the succursale makes, and other
company taxes.
The bottom line is that you
cannot work in France for a
foreign company and be
remunerated by that foreign
company since, were you to do
so, you would be causing major
problems for your employer.
The exception to this is if
your employer has a French
company to which you can be
seconded, as the rules relating
to secondments are different.
Accordingly, the best solution
for you would be to see if you
could work as a contractor, but
this would entail working for
other people or companies as
well in order, pursuant to
French employment laws, to
avoid your being nonetheless
still considered as an employee
of your contracting company.
This is an area that you would
need to discuss with your
employer as it affects them as
well as you, and would cause
them more problems than you.
Likewise, it is an area that
would need consultation with a
specialised professional.
The information on these pages is of a general nature. You should
not act or refrain from acting on it without taking professional
advice on the specific facts of your case. No liability is accepted in
respect of these articles. These articles are intended only as a general guide. Nothing herein constitutes actual financial advice.
A NEW at-source tax system
starts for all on January 1, 2019.
Online/paper declarations will
still however need to be completed every spring.
French salaries and pensions
will be paid with tax deducted,
based on a rate established from
your last declaration and noted
on your last avis d’imposition (or
based on the level of the income
alone, if you requested this).
Possible refunds or extra tax
will apply next year once you
have declared your actual 2019
income in May/June 2020.
If you have regular rental
income or foreign income,
instalments will be deducted
from your French bank account
either monthly or quarterly,
based on previous declarations.
If you previously benefited
from certain tax credits or
reductions (but not the CITE
for eco-friendly work in the
home) you should receive a
60% advance into your bank
account from January 15, based
on the declaration made for
2017 income in May/June 2018.
THE LOWERING of the
taxe d’habitation for 80% of
households continues this year
with 65% off 2019’s bill for
those eligible. Full exemption
will follow in 2020. In some
cases the promised 30% off in
2018 proved less significant
than hoped for due to rises in
the rate applied by mairies and
intercommunal bodies.
INCOME tax bands for 2019
have risen by 1.6% linked to
inflation. They are therefore:
0 - €9,964 = tax-free
€9,964 - €27,519 = 14%
€27,519 - €73,779 = 30%
€73,779 - €156,244 = 41%
€156,244 and above = 45%
IT WAS announced that banks
agreed with President Macron
not to raise fees in 2019. However commentators said in reality
it will make no difference as
hardly any rises were planned.
AROUND 3.5million pensioners with net earnings of
less than €2,000/month will
go back to the 2017 rate of
CSG social charge on pensions
(6.6% instead of 8.3%), it was
announced in response to the
gilets jaunes protests.
It comes on top of plans in the
2019 Finance Law to allow an
extra 300,000 retirees on moderate pensions to benefit from
the means-tested reduced rate
of CSG charge on their pensions
(3.8% instead of 8.3%). In 2019
the higher rate will only apply
to households which have been
over the threshold for two consecutive years, meaning those
that went into the higher rate
for the first time in 2018 will not
be included. Residents who do
not receive a French pension but
receive a state pension from another EU state do not pay social
charges on pension income.
THE AAH benefit for disabled
adults and the Aspa pension
top-up are both being increased
by more than the usual amount.
AAH will be boosted by €40/
month for its 1.1 million
recipients. Aspa, claimed by
1.3million people, increases by
€35/month as of January.
AROUND 20 “little taxes”
which do not bring in much
money for the state are being
abolished. They include tax
levies on flour, semolina and
wheat gruel; on the addition of
sugar to the grape harvest; and a
“contribution on hole punching
and precious metal tests”.
Also on the list is the annual
tax on mobile residences, payable by those living permanently
in a caravan or mobile home.
THE TV licence fee stays at €139.
ALL foreign bank accounts
must be declared as part of your
income tax declaration this year,
even if they have not been used.
ONLINE platforms such as
Airbnb are now meant to notify
the tax authorities of your annual
earnings if they exceed €3,000.
This will not exempt you from
also declaring the income, whatever the amount, with exceptions
such as occasionally selling your
own belongings or carsharing if
expenses alone are involved.
Four rules to follow for a secure financial future...
This column is by Bill Blevins
of Blevins Franks financial advice
group (www.blevinsfranks.com).
He has decades of experience
advising expatriates in France
and co-authored the Blevins
Franks Guide to Living in France
January is a time when many people reflect on
the previous 12 months and look ahead to what
the coming year will bring.
You may set goals for the year, such as exercising more, taking up a new hobby or planning a
dream holiday.
When it comes to financial planning, however,
focusing on one year is not nearly enough, you
need to plan ahead for the future.
While you should always consider current
developments that could impact your finances,
good wealth management is all about establishing
your goals, both short and long-term, then setting
up a strategic plan to achieve them.
Planning for a financially secure retirement
For many of us, the ultimate goal is to be able to
enjoy our dream retirement.
Since you are reading Connexion, that is likely to
involve living in France or at least spending a lot
of time here, and you will want to make the most
of what it has to offer.
And the good news is that life expectancy in
France is a year longer than the UK!
Not only are people living longer, they are also
enjoying a lifestyle that is more active (and arguably more expensive) than previous generations.
While this is welcome, we need to ensure our
money comfortably lasts as long as we do.
Many retirees favour low-risk, ‘safer’ invest-
ments like bank deposits. But, you have potentially 30 years to fund in retirement, which means
this is actually a risky option.
Slowly but surely the cost of living increases
every year. Even lower inflation rates can erode
the spending power of your savings over the
longer term, so you need them to at least earn
enough to keep up with inflation (and ideally beat
it), but with today’s low interest rates this is a
struggle.
Britons in France who keep savings in sterling
also need to factor in exchange rate risk, as currency movements can make a noticeable difference to the amount of income you receive.
Start by establishing what your goals are (what
income and capital growth you need, etc), and
obtain an objective analysis of your risk profile.
Working with an experienced and regulated
adviser, you can then build a portfolio, with a
careful spread of investments across asset classes,
regions, market sectors, companies, currencies
etc, designed to achieve your goals within your
risk tolerance.
The key is to find the right balance of risk and
return for your peace of mind.
Planning to protect your wealth from tax
I mentioned inflation above, but when considering your income needs you also need to factor in
taxation.
You should ideally review your tax planning
once a year to take account of any tax reforms –
and here in France they happen often and can be
quite substantial!
That said, there is only one significant tax
change in France in 2019, and that is the introduction of PAYE. But if you have not reviewed
your tax planning after the key 2018 reforms, you
should do so now.
Planning for the inevitable
Life expectancy may be increasing, but don’t use
this as an excuse to put off estate planning – or
you risk leaving it too late.
Again, start by defining your goals. Who you
want to inherit your estate and in what amounts?
Do you want to plan how and when they receive
their inheritance?
You then need to research the succession laws
and inheritance taxes in France and anywhere
else you have assets and heirs.
You need to understand the EU succession regulation ‘Brussels IV’ and the pros and cons of
using this for your cross-border estate planning.
Then take advice on how to achieve your wishes
for your heirs and to make the process as straightforward as possible for them.
At the same time, you should consider the tax
implications of your options, to find the optimum
solution for you.
Planning for Brexit
We cannot talk about planning for 2019 without
mentioning Brexit.
Negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement
were ongoing as I wrote this, so I cannot comment on what the final agreement may be, but
this is a good time to consider whether you need
to adjust your financial planning.
If you are living in France, your financial planning should be set up for France.
Do you own too many UK investments? Are all
your savings in sterling, putting you at mercy of
exchange rate swings? Are you hoping to transfer
your pension out of the UK in the future?
Be aware that many speculate the UK could
widen the 25% ‘overseas transfer charge’ after
Brexit, so that transfers within the EU are also
taxed.
When it comes to the taxation, your treatment
as an expatriate is determined by the UK/ France
tax treaty that exists independently of the EU.
There are, however, some circumstances where
taxation may be affected.
For example, if you hold UK bonds, you may
lose beneficial tax treatment in France once the
UK leaves the EU and EEA.
In this case you may want to consider moving to
arrangements which provide full tax benefits in
France.
Interestingly, we are now coming across more
people in the UK who are looking beyond Brexit
to what will happen next.
They are concerned that a change of government could impose a new taxation policy which
would impact the wealth they have worked hard
to build up in preparation for their retirement.
Even if there is no change at No. 10, are tax rises
on the middle classes still a possibility?
If you dream of living in France and are worried
about what may happen in the UK, perhaps now
is the time to start exploring your options for a
tax-efficient move to France.
Even if you cannot leave the UK yet, it would be
good to have a plan in place, especially if it is one
that could help you move sooner rather than later.
Speaking to an advisory firm experienced at
helping UK residents move to France should provide a wealth of useful information and advice.
Very best wishes to all Connexion readers for
2019 and beyond.
n Tax rates, scope and reliefs may change.
Any statements concerning taxation are based
upon our understanding of current taxation laws
and practices which are subject to change.
Tax information has been summarised; an
individual is advised to seek personalised advice.
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The Connexion
January 2019
Work 35
connexionfrance.com
Rural French origins of three-star culinary career
by JANE HANKS
CHEF Adam Smith moved to France
before his 13th birthday with his
parents and three younger brothers.
Dad Keith and mum Sharon had
wanted a change of lifestyle and the
opportunity for the four children to
grow up in the countryside away from
urban life in Stockport. They bought a
watermill at Borrèze in the Dordogne
which they ran as a chambres d’hôtes.
Adam remembers his first days at
collège were difficult: “We arrived in
the summer and had a great time for
six weeks playing in the woods and
swimming in the pool. Then it was
time to go to school and I couldn’t
speak any French.
“It was not like an English school
where the walls were decorated. Here
the classrooms were sterile and you
had to sit at a desk all day.
“In England we had been able to do
cooking, sewing and woodwork and
move around, so it was definitely a
challenge losing that. However, when
you are listening to French all day,
you soon pick up the language.”
Exams were difficult, he said, so his
brevet did not go well.
One option afterwards was the Lycée
Hôtelier catering college in nearby
Souillac in the Lot, which has the
reputation of being one of the best in
France. “I remembered enjoying
cooking and being good at it in school
in the UK and my mum was always
Growing up
in France...
A six-month
series of interviews
with people who
moved here as children
3: Chef Adam Smith
cooking at home so this was a chance
for me. I still found the school atmosphere sterile, even if there was something practical to do.
“One day, a chef came to give career
advice and he said the best place with
the most opportunities was London.
“So when I had got my bac and done
a further year specialising in
pâtisserie, I decided to go to London
where some of my French friends had
already gone.
“I had always thought of going back
to the UK once I had my diplomas
and knew I did not want to stay in the
Dordogne, which is a bit too quiet.”
In London he worked in several
restaurants. Then he got a job at the
prestigious three-star Waterside Inn
restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, run by
Alain Roux, son of Michel Roux, one
of the two famous brothers.
“My French training definitely
helped me get the job as it was the
language spoken in the kitchens and
Adam Smith outside the Jaunty Goat in Chester, where he now works
was based on French cuisine, and
studying in France has a good reputation. I stayed there for about a year. It
was tough. There were a lot of us in
the kitchen, all trying to impress the
top chef and I think you have to be
quite aggressive to succeed.
“I learnt a massive amount and
made a lot of friends who I am still in
touch with. When I finished, I went
back to France for a short break.”
Back in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, he
found work in local restaurants but it
was too tranquil so he returned to
London and signed up for an agency.
There he gained a lot of experience
doing all sorts of different work,
including catering for the Queen’s
90th birthday dinner at the Guildhall.
For a year he had another full-time
job in a restaurant not far from
London Bridge.
“Eventually, I decided I wanted to
move on from London, which is
hectic after the French countryside. I
moved to Chester, near to where I had
lived as a child, and there was a coffee
house looking for chefs.
“It has been a great challenge and
very enjoyable to transform the menu
and now you can get varied brunches
at the Jaunty Goat.
“The atmosphere in the café is really
good and I can use all the skills I have
learned without it being as stressful as
the Waterside Inn.
“The Jaunty Goat is very popular in
Chester and we have won two awards,
including one for the best café in
Cheshire.”
His parents still live in France and
he goes back to visit as often as he
can. Another of his brothers lives and
works near him in the UK and the
other two are studying in Toulouse
and Cahors.
Adam is now 26 and, looking back,
he says living in France definitely
helped him become the person he is
today: “It was a great experience and I
do not think it is a bad thing to
experience another culture and learn
another language.
“It shaped me as a person and I have
probably got more to offer as a chef
than if I had just trained in the UK. I
have always been able to find work
and it definitely led to openings that I
would not otherwise have had.”
NEXT MONTH:
Elise Jarasse who runs a farm in Corrèze
Ex-surfer turns hemp farmer
the interest for organic farmers
in growing hemp is that it
enriches the soil, fixing nitrogen like peas and beans.
Mr Lartizien used savings
from his days as a professional
surfer and investment from a
surf equipment manufacturer
to build a factory at SaintGeours-de-Maremne, near
Hossegor in the Landes, to
process hemp. “The banks
were not interested in lending
to a surfer who wanted to grow
cannabis,” he said.
The factory, initially
equipped with machines to
husk, crush and press the seeds
for oil, is due to be extended
next year to include an area
where the stalks can also be
processed for fibre.
It sells organic - bio - Made in
France hemp oil to be used
cold as a salad dressing, both
husked and unhusked seeds,
and a meal made from the
seeds. “They are wonderfully
tasty sprinkled over salads or
added to breads,” he said.
“Above all, they are very
nutritious, full of omega 3 and
6, essential oils, protein, rare
fatty acids and trace elements.”
Mr Lartizien urged people to
grow a patch of hemp in their
vegetable gardens. Seeds can be
sourced from growers in
Finland or Italy.
The only French seed producer sells hybrid seeds, which
he does not recommend.
“For a garden the benefits are
the same as for organic farmers
– you get the soil improved
and you can eat the seeds.
“Plus, if you are building and
renovating, you can use the
stalks to make insulation
material.”
His inspiration to relaunch
the hemp industry came
directly from his days as a
surfer. “I lived for 18 years in
Hawaii and travelled the world,
and everywhere I heard people
talking of the virtues of the
plant,” he said.
“I realised it was a way to
make an effort to promote it in
a way which is good for the
planet and for people.”
Previously, hemp was
important for the rope-making
and paper industries in France.
About 10 years ago, a large
building materials company
tried to launch it as a crop
grown for insulation, which
did not work.
“This time I am confident we
are on the right track,” said Mr
Lartizien.
“The seeds are the most valuable part of the plant, which is
why I started with them.”
Strategic holistic
financial planning
Making changes to one area of
your wealth management can have
unexpected consequences in another,
so at Blevins Franks we always focus
on the overall picture for our clients.
Talk to the people who know
As a substantial company, we have the
resources to provide the infrastructure,
research and analysis to give you full
holistic advice. Our advisers in France
provide invaluable local knowledge,
supported by highly skilled tax,
pensions and investment teams.
www.blevinsfranks.com
0 805 112 163 (N0 Vert)
[email protected]
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069-fr
RETIRED professional surfer
Vincent Lartizien has
relaunched professional hemp
growing in France. He now has
40 bio-farmers producing the
crop while he develops
factories to process it.
Hemp, also known as
industrial cannabis, is a version
of the plant where the active
ingredient THC, which gives
the “high” in smoked cannabis,
is below 0.2%. Mr Lartizien
produces it for its seeds, which
are edible and nutritious.
Hemp looks identical to the
cannabis grown as a recreational drug but it is legal to
grow it in France.
Mr Lartizien, pictured, said:
“Hemp seeds are all certified
by the European Union and
growers receive receipts for the
seeds they order.
“There is a mechanism where
local authorities are meant to
be told by the European Union
when hemp is grown but it
does not work well, so growers
often go to the gendarmes with
the documents themselves to
avoid problems.”
Hemp, planted in May and
harvested for seeds in
September, is now one of the
most profitable crops for
organic farmers to grow, with
most getting between €3,000
and €4,000 profit per hectare.
It requires rich soil on a long
rotation cycle but, once
planted, does not need weeding
or other treatment and is heat
and drought-resistant.
Apart from being profitable,
Many jobs unfilled
due to lack of skills
MANY sectors are struggling to
recruit even though 3.4million
are unemployed in France.
Lack of qualifications, low pay
or tough working conditions are
often cited as reasons.
IT is one sector in which jobs
are often not filled because of a
lack of skilled applicants.
Other struggling sectors
include industry, building, sales,
services to businesses and in the
home, and farming work such
as grape-picking and harvesting.
Up to 300,000 jobs went
unfilled during 2017, the last
year for which full figures are
available from Pôle Emploi.
The main problem was lack
of candidates with the right,
or sufficiently up-to-date and
specialised, training.
Jobs requiring technical
knowledge, such as manufacturing industrial equipment, are
among those where firms have
great recruitment difficulties.
Under-qualification is also a
problem: half of French jobseekers have not completed any
post-baccalauréat training.
The problem is compounded
by the fact that some seemingly straightforward jobs are
becoming more technical – a
refuse lorry driver, for example,
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
now needs IT skills to operate
the onboard computer used to
organise the rounds.
Partly to blame is a lack of
good continuing training,
according to the OECD group
of advanced economies.
Chief economist of Natixis
Bank Patrick Artus says lack
of skills is also holding back
the use of advanced robotics
technology.
He said, in Le Monde, it mostly
explains why France has more
unemployment than Germany.
Another issue in some sectors,
such as hospitality, is that
salaries and working conditions
can be off-putting.
Figures from Insee and Pôle
Emploi show specific jobs
which are hardest to fill include
dentists, technical draftspeople,
panel beaters, pipe fitters,
aircraft crew, roofers,
carpenters, home help, machine
regulators (who check settings),
boilermakers and metalworkers.
Sectors where lack of skills is
most cited as a problem include
building, such as bricklayers
(as well as secondary trades
including electricians,
plumbers and insulators),
the motor industry and road
haulage.
Small business
and tax advice
Is micro-foncier ceiling
doubled for a couple?
Q: WE ARE resident in France and so pay tax here. We own a
second property we wish to rent out. The income may exceed the
€15,000 limit to access the micro-foncier. Is this doubled to
€30,000 if the property is jointly owned? What allowances are
available to offset the cost of owning a rental property?
A: FIRSTLY, the €15,000 limit to access the simple micro-foncier
system for declaring (unfurnished) rental income is per household
(foyer fiscal) so this includes married or civil partners and dependants who live with them.
The micro-foncier system has a set abatement of 30% of the
income to account for expenses relating to the rental of the
property so you cannot offset any other specific expenses.
If rental income falls outside the micro-foncier threshold, or you
do not want to make use of it, then you are required to declare it
under the réel system, on form 2044, deducting real expenses
(keep proof – receipts etc – of these in case you are checked).
There are higher thresholds and allowances under the micro-BIC
but this system applies to income from furnished lettings, including
chambres d’hôtes and gîtes, and not unfurnished rental.
Note that those with regular income from renting out a property
will as of this year be subject to monthly or three-monthly direct
debits from their bank accounts as estimated tax instalments (with
possible repayments or extra tax later once the full income or, for
the réel, profit, is known and declared in 2020). People who start
having rental income in 2019 are subject to this immediately and
will be required to update their tax details in their online space at
impots.gouv.fr so the income is taken into account.
Email your tax questions to [email protected]
This column is sponsored by Olaf Muscat Baron who is a Fellow
of the Chartered Association of Accountants UK, a French
expert comptable and an International tax advisor. He is the principal
accountant of Fiscaly, an accountancy firm based in the Dordogne
which serves individuals and businesses in or out of France.
See www.fiscaly.fr or call 09 81 09 00 15
January 2019
Hard work leads to success
for soft furnishings expert
CRAFTS
in focus
by JANE HANKS
HANDS-ON experience is the
key to success in upholstery,
says experienced tapisseur
décorateur Sébastien Eloy.
He runs his own business in
Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the
Corrèze, and is one of five
upholsterers in a town of
45,000 people – proving there
is work to be had.
He restores and creates
chairs, armchairs and sofas. He
likes working with antiques but
also with contemporary furniture, and his shop is full of
colour, from the bright and
cheerful materials he favours.
“I became an upholsterer
because it was my father’s job,”
he said. “When I was young, I
loved watching him work and
knew I wanted to do that when
I grew up.
“I learned everything from
him. I only studied for one
qualification, a CAP in sewing,
because I wanted to create my
own modern furniture, where
you often have to sew, as well
as tack material on to a frame.”
Many people have quality
pieces of furniture in their
homes that they want to restore
rather than throw away.
A lot of his work comes from
word of mouth and he says it is
always a pleasure to hand over
a chair he has worked on
which now looks like new.
He said: “The client has to
have confidence in you because
he is handing over a part of his
family history and when you
have done a good job, it is
satisfying because the client is
happy with the result, because
something precious to him or
her can continue to be used for
many more years.”
He says people worry about
cost, but taking a chair to an
upholsterer is around the same
price as buying new from a
quality furniture store.
So you pay the same and get,
in effect, a new piece of furniture, but you have something
more valuable because it
already has its own history.
On average, a chair will take
him two days to upholster.
“You need a lot of patience and
to work slowly and carefully. I
would not say I am an artist
but a craftsman who knows
how to use his hands.
“You can go to college and
learn how to do it, but really
the only way is to get as much
practical experience as you
can. I love the work because it
is so varied.
No two chairs are the same. I
may upholster several Voltaire
chairs in a year, but they are
“
Above, Sébastien Eloy restores a family’s favourite chair.
Below, some of his brightly coloured original creations
I would not say
I am an artist
but a craftsman
who knows how
to use his hands
Upholsterer
Sébastien Eloy
always slightly different in style
and materials.”
The term tapissier décorateur,
or tapissier d’ameublement, is
not restricted to chairs and
sofas but applies to curtains,
cushions and wall-hangings.
Although most of the work is
with furniture, the definition
given by the Institut National
des Métiers d’Art is “working
with materials to create interior
textile decorations”.
In 2015 there were 4,400
artisanal upholstery businesses
in France – far fewer than in
2005, when there were 6,550.
Nearly half of their work
(40%) is restoration and the
rest is working on new furniture. They work mostly for
private clients.
Most tapissier décorateurs
(68%) work for themselves. If
not, their businesses are small
with up to three employees. It
is a job which attracts women
and men in equal proportions.
You need an artistic flair and
a sense of colour, and you must
be good with your hands. As it
often involves restoration, you
need to know about the history
and the different styles of
furniture – the difference
between a Louis XV and a
Voltaire chair, for example.
You need patience and
dexterity and there is a great
deal of technique to learn –
using hammers, tacks, needles,
various threads, scissors,
different materials from leather
to fine silks, and a sewing
machine.
It is a manual job and uses
very little machinery.
The upholsterer often has his
own workshop, which can
include a shop where he sells
what he has made or restored
direct to the public.
Often, he is called to someone’s home to look at a piece of
family furniture which needs
restoring to give a quotation.
If your first job is working for
someone else, you will start on
the smic, the minimum wage.
You do not need to have any
formal training to set up as an
upholsterer, but there are plenty of specific training courses.
You can do a CAP tapissier
lasting one to three years after
the brevet and can choose
between tapissier d’ameublement en décor or tapissier
d’ameublement en siège.
There are four possibilities at
Bac level: a BAC PRO artisanat
et métiers d’art with an option
tapissier d’ameublement (two
years); a brevet professionnel
ameublement option tapisserie
decoration (two years); a formation métiers d’art spécialité
tapisserie (three years); or a
brevet technique des métiers,
tapissier décorateur (two years).
Further studies are for a
diplôme des métiers d’art, and
the highest qualification is to
become an Artisan Tapissier de
France, which is awarded by a
jury to someone who is highly
qualified and shows he or she
has produced work of a very
high standard during his or
her career.
The Connexion
January 2019
Property 37
connexionfrance.com
Property Watch
in
A brief history of
humanity at site of
renovated chateau
AS RECENTLY as 50 years ago, all you
could see of the Château de Commarque
was part of the castle’s keep and the cross
on top of the chapel, just visible among the
trees on a densely wooded hillside.
Now the treasures of the site have been
revealed after decades of painstaking
archaeological and historical research, a
massive – and continuing – clearing
operation and major works to reinforce
and restore crumbling walls.
The chateau, between Sarlat and Les
Eyzies in the Dordogne, has been open to
the public since 2000.
Last year it was awarded the Grand
Trophée de la Plus Belle Restauration by the
Fondation pour les Monuments
Historiques and Le Figaro Magazine.
Owner Hubert de Commarque said:
“The site is unique because it was lived in
from prehistoric times up to the 16th
century. After that, it was deserted and so
we have an open history book we can read,
from the caves lived in by early man at the
bottom of the cliffs up to the homes built
further up the hillside for the lords who
ruled over this territory.
“Here there is everything man needed. A
spring, plenty of wild animals and stone
cliffs, first to shelter in and then to provide
building materials. This was an important
route between the two towns of Montignac
and Sarlat. Later, the seats of power
changed and the inhabitants moved on.”
Visitors get a hint of what our ancestors
saw – cars are parked out of sight and the
castle is a short walk down a lane into the
grassy valley of the Beaune, where there is
no evidence of modern life. No telephone
wires, no tarmac... the only building
opposite is a 14th century private castle.
At every turn, the stones and cliffs show
the marks that tell the story of
Commarque. On the hillside, the visitor
discovers a medieval castle with the
remains of surrounding houses, a chapel
and a paved street.
The imposing keep has two halves. A
12th-century section with thick walls has
stone trapdoors in the ceilings, through
which noble families would climb using
ladders they would haul up after them to
make sure they were safe from attack.
An elegant window with columns high
up in the tower shows it was for people of
importance. Added on is the 13th-century
half, with slimmer walls and larger living
spaces. When restoration work started, the
Architecture
of France...
Château de
Commarque
By JANE
HANKS
tower was an empty shell; now floors and
stone stairs have been added, so visitors
can get a feel of what it was like.
The latest project was the 14th-century
corps de logis, or living quarters, which
juxtapose the keep – and here too a spiral
staircase and floors have been added and
fireplaces restored. Scaffolding was erected
up the sheer walls and expert masons
refaced the stone, which was crumbling.
Records show that the complex was
inhabited by different noble families at the
same time, each with their own tower.
They did not necessarily live harmoniously
as records also show there were several
court cases.
Down on the valley floor are the
entrances to caves, which were inhabited
from the Paleolithic period.
Sadly, impressive prehistoric carvings
cannot be seen by the public as the
entrances are narrow and access is difficult. The valley in which Commarque is
situated has the largest concentration of
engraved Paleolithic caves in the world.
All along the cliffs below the castle are
the tell-tale square indentations where
wooden beams were once fixed for the
houses built against the rock face.
“These would have been for the roof
timbers,” said Mr Commarque. “The rest
of the building would have been below the
ground we are standing on.
“Since man first lived here, there has
been a build-up of about 15 metres of peat.
This is something we now want to explore,
to find what is hidden below us.
Everything we uncover, every detail in the
stone, gives us yet more clues as to the way
life was lived here in the past.
“If you look at these stairs carved in the
rock and then look just next to it, you can
see a cruder, narrower set which were
made earlier, when tools were less developed. Everything tells a story.”
Though Hubert de Commarque is the
present owner and, as his name indicates,
his ancestors also lived here, he had to buy
the site in 1968 before he could start work.
In the early 20th century, the site was
bought by a German prince who had
acquired a nearby chateau. For five years
he pillaged Commarque for building stone.
“He demolished at least four towers and
a house,” said Mr Commarque.
He says he bought it because he knew the
whole place would fall into irreparable
ruin if he did not act. He had already
inherited other chateaux in the region,
which he had restored, and he has always
been passionate about heritage and the
environment so it was a natural step to
tackle Commarque. “I never imagined that
I would open it to the public, though,” he
said. “I thought it would be too difficult. I
just wanted to preserve the site.”
It has been a long struggle. He could not
fund it alone and has had to battle to find
finance, comply with regulations and
convince local people that it should open.
He received financial help from the state
and from American sponsors who helped
fund the costly annual archaeological digs
and research for more than 25 years.
Then, when he wanted to open it to the
public, an association was set up to fight
the plan. He is not sure that a National
Trust-like organisation would have helped
as he would not have liked to give control
to someone else who might not have
shared his vision. He is also not the sort of
man to direct everything from the end of a
telephone – he is very hands-on.
Now in his seventies and recovering from
a stroke, he was recently shifting trees and
more earth to reveal the walls of yet
another lord’s house.
He runs Commarque with his wife
Christine and children, Aude and Jean,
and he clearly loves the place. He took me
to see every nook and cranny, involving
quite a climb from bottom to top.
He said: “We have tried to keep restoration minimalist so as to keep the magic of
the place alive. After all these years and the
struggle it has been, I find it a great
satisfaction when visitors show their
enthusiasm and you can see the stars in
their eyes as they discover a miraculous
place and they thank us with emotion.”
Open April to November. Workshops for
children. www.commarque.com
More photos can be found with this
article online at connexionfrance.com
Brittany
REGIONAL CAPITAL: Rennes
DEPARTMENTS: Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-etVilaine, Morbihan
MAIN CITIES: Brest, Quimper, Lorient, Vannes, Saint-Malo,
Saint-Brieuc, Lanester, Fougères, Concarneau, Lannion, Morlaix
A PETITION of 100,000 signatures was handed in to officials
of Loire-Atlantique at the end of November 2018 demanding
that the department return to its historic region of Brittany.
The petition had enough signatures to trigger a legal
mechanism that has prompted a debate and possible vote
which could – possibly – see four departments become five
in future, and historic Brittany be restored for the first time
since 1940.
For now, however, modern Brittany remains made up of four
departments looking out into the Atlantic from the north-west
coast of France – Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine and
Morbihan –in an ancient land of myth, mystery, and proud
tradition.
Maybe that is what makes the region so attractive: that
sense of being forever undiscovered beyond the well-known
delights of Saint-Malo, Dinard or Dinan.
Whatever the reason, Brittany remains perennially popular
with Britons looking to move to France, but – despite that – it
is still highly affordable. A typical house in Brest, for example,
will cost about €172,000, according to latest available
figures from Notaires de France, which remains firmly in the
price range of many prospective buyers, despite a 7.2% yearon-year increase, well above the national average.
Prices across the region range from highs of about €2,180/
m2 to €1,100/m2, Notaires de France figures show.
What your money buys
Under €55,000
Fantastic opportunity to purchase
a cute one-bedroom cottage with
garden and summer house.
This house has a wood-burning stove
and is within walking distance of the
boulangerie and other amenities. The
perfect easy-to-maintain holiday
home, near to Plounévez-Quintin.
€31,500 Ref: 79378GLO22
Charming detached stone house.
This is is the perfect lock-up-andleave holiday home!
Situated in the countryside, a
short drive from Callac with all its
amenities. This perfect two-bedroom
stone house would be the ideal lowmaintenance holiday home.
€52,000 Ref: 73319LRE22
More than €75,000
Excellent price for this large threebedroom home close to village
centre - 20km from the beaches!
In a village with bakery, restaurant
and welcoming community. A short
drive from the beautiful coastline
and stunning beaches, with easy
access to Lannion and Guingamp.
€77,000 Ref: 89373LRE22
Looking for something a little
different? Two one-bed houses,
full of character at end of a lane.
A great investment property at the
edge of Jugon-les-Lacs. Within 500m
of the town centre, benefiting from
the peace and quiet of the countryside with all the amenities to hand.
€99,550 Ref: 94869SAB22
Q: I plan to buy a house in France
where I will live with my partner.
If I should die first, I would like
my partner to continue living in
the home for as long as he wants
although ownership will pass
to my two sons in England. I
thought a usufruit would do this
but now I learn my partner would
pay 60% tax upon my death.
Would a PACS avoid this? T.G.
A: A PACS (pacte civil de
solidarité) is a form of civil
partnership agreement.
It can be between same
or different-sex couples
and non-French nationals
must live in France before
becoming PACS partners.
A PACS does not create
an entitlement for the
surviving partner to inherit
on the death of the first of
you. However, it allows the
same tax treatment as a
married couple and would
therefore ensure that
any asset passing to the
surviving partner would be
free from inheritance tax.
You could become PACS
partners and make a
French will giving your
partner a life interest (usu-
fruit) entitling him to
remain in the house for
the rest of his life. Your
sons will inherit the bare
interest (nue-propriété),
which is legal title subject
only to the life interest.
If you die first, your
partner will be exempt
from paying inheritance
tax. On his death, his life
interest ends and your
sons own the property
outright in equal shares.
Some additional points:
A bequest on death to a
PACS partner must not
impinge on the reserved
entitlement of any children
of the deceased. As you
have two sons, they are
each entitled to 1/3 of
your estate. Through a will,
you can leave your partner
the remaining 1/3 or a life
interest in the estate. In
order to ensure your partner receives the life interest, your will must include
a reference to article 917
of the Civil Code. Discuss
this with your notaire.
PACS couples. like married couples, are assessed
jointly for income tax.
Q: Our house heating comes
from an old oil boiler and, as
pensioners, the slump in the
exchange rate, plus price rises.
means it is harder to pay for oil
to keep us warm.
I have seen there is extra new
aid becoming available from EDF
that could help us get away from
oil altogether – can you explain
what it involves? J.S.
A: There is, indeed, help
available if you want to opt
for a greener and more
fuel-efficient heating system
and the aid involved is
significant, given the high
cost of a new system.
At present, aid from the
state ranges from €2,000 to
€3,000 for people on lower
incomes who can benefit
from the Coup de pouce
économies d’énergie.
As a couple, the maximum
earning level if you are
judged to be of moderately low income (ménages
modestes) is €27,200 to get
a €2,000 grant and for very
low incomes (ménages très
modestes) €21,217 for a
€3,000 grant.
However, as you point out,
EDF has recently said it is
keen to help people who are
tied to an old oil boiler and
has announced extra aid to
help them move on to new
cleaner, greener energy.
In this case, EDF is offering to increase the grant aid
by 50% for people who opt
to switch to a heat pump
(pompe à chaleur), giving
€4,500 for those on very
low incomes and €3,000 for
low incomes.
However, it must be noted
that the average price of a
heat pump is €11,000.
Tel: 05 61 57 90 86 www.brightavocats.com
[email protected]
If you have a legal query send it to [email protected]
We select questions for answer every edition
connexionfrance.com
The Connexion
January 2019
chateau for sale... at €4.7m
by CLAIRE McQUE
The former Lot home of
composer, poet and author Léo
Ferré and his chimpanzee is on
the market for €4,770,000.
The 14th-century Château de
Pechrigal – where Ferré lived
from1963 until 1968 – stands
three kilometres outside the
village of Gourdon.
Pech-Rigal means royal hill
in old local French dialect,
befitting its hilltop position.
The 67-hectare plot includes
meadows, tennis courts, a pool
and half a hectare of Merlot
vineyards, giving 4,000 bottles
of wine a year.
The chateau, a grand affair of
17 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms,
guard house, pigeonnier, wine
cellar, restored farmhouse and
two outhouses, was bought
and renovated by a Frenchman
in 1998.
He transformed the
crumbling property into a
luxurious second home,
occasionally used for private
events and weddings.
It had fallen into disrepair
after rebel composer Ferré left
it unlived-in for 25 years.
Ferré, born to bourgeois
parents in Monaco, escaped his
strict Christian upbringing to
live in Rome and then Paris,
where he fell into intellectual
life and composing music.
In Paris, he hung out with the
likes of André Breton, Jean
Cocteau, Jacques Prévert and
Juliette Gréco, whose all-black
clothing was inspired by Ferré’s
anarchist’s black shirt and
trousers. Jolie Môme and Paris
Léo Ferré
and Pépée
were a
fixture at
Pechrigal,
where the
chimp
helped
speed the
damage by
throwing
tiles off
the roof
Canaille were two of Ferré’s
songs made famous by Gréco.
The artist’s ardent support of
the anarchists during the
Spanish Civil War fed much
of his creative output.
His contempt for society, the
church, the army and the
government translated into his
mixture of classic chansons,
surrealist poetry and writing.
Known also for the songs
Avec le Temps and La Chanson
du Scaphandrier (The Deep sea
Diver’s Song), his lyrics were
inspired by the
poets Rimbaud, Baudelaire
and Apollinaire.
The period Ferré spent at
Pechrigal with his second wife
Madeleine Rabereau and her
daughter Annie was prolific. It
was there he composed the
album Verlaine et Rimbaud.
He also wrote C’est le
Printemps, recorded the album
Ferré 64, and wrote the controversial Franco la Muerte. He
even set up a printing press in
one of the wings. Most famous-
ly, Ferré lived there with Pépée,
a female chimpanzee.
A 1966 documentary showed
the chimp drinking soup at the
dinner table and smoking a
cigarette. Pépée even stripped
tiles from the roof and threw
them at people.
Ferré considered the chimp
his child and when Pépée died,
he moved to Tuscany with
third wife Marie-Christine, and
the chateau lay unused.
Kirsten Pollard of MaxwellBaynes, the estate agent
managing the sale (maxwellbaynes.com), said its rich
history and recent artistic links
had not added any financial
value to the property but “give
a sense of interest and cultural
value. People are interested in
the story of a place”.
She said Pechrigal was getting
many inquiries: “It would make
a great second home. It is in a
beautiful, low-key area where
you can live normally and
escape the crowds.”
Shorter-term rental Lightning reaction
a help for workers from Météo-France
A NEW type of short-term,
simplified and flexible contract
has been created that could
give home-owners the option
to rent out for longer periods
and avoid any negative effects
of Airbnb holiday rentals.
The lease, known as a bail
mobilité, has been set up for
people who need furnished
accommodation for periods of
between one and 10 months.
After a maximum of 10
months, the tenant must move
out, though shorter agreements
may be extended up to the
maximum period.
Previously, traditional leases
lasted a minimum of one year.
The bail mobilité would be
suitable for temporary workers,
students, anyone in vocational
training or on apprenticeship
contracts, who might otherwise have had to refuse a job
offer or internship, for example, because the traditional
process of finding accommodation was a problem.
The lease does not require
the usual two-month security
deposit for a furnished
property, which cuts costs for
tenants with limited means.
Landlords are still protected
as the lease is covered by a
public and free guarantee
offered by Action Logement,
known as the Visale.
The Visale usually protects
landlords for unpaid rents,
but for a bail mobilité, it also
guarantees to cover any
damage caused by the tenant at
the end of the lease.
Tenants may terminate the
lease at any time, by giving a
minimum of one month’s
notice.
Landlords do not have the
same right, except in the event
of a breach by the tenant. They
can then bring court action to
end the lease.
PROVING that an accident or
damage to your property was
caused by a lightning storm is
easier than you might think.
A lightning strike certificate
supplied by the national
forecaster Météo-France is an
official document and is
recognised by all insurance
companies in France.
The attestation de foudroiement accurately details storms
(and associated aspects such as
lightning) that occurred on a
specific day in a particular area
which could have caused
material damage to a property
or led to an accident.
It provides evidence that a
storm was going on at the time
of an incident for which a
claim has been submitted, and
will confirm – or not – that
lightning strikes were recorded
in the area where an insurance
claim has been submitted.
Lightning strike data is collat-
ed by numerous sensors across
France, which is then relayed
to a central processor in Pau.
It analyses and processes the
information in real time to
determine the location and
characteristics of all detected
strikes across France.
It can be ordered at tinyurl.
com/y8natxw9 and costs €61
plus taxes.
Normally, you will receive the
certificate within a week of
applying for it – and it gives
details of strikes within 20km
of your home.
You can choose to receive the
attestation through the post or
by email.
For damage or accidents
caused by other weather events
(for example, strong wind,
heavy rain, or very low temperatures), Météo-France recommends applying for its €62.50
weather certificate, le certificat
d’intempérie.
The Connexion
January 2019
Property 39
connexionfrance.com
How to decide if you should do it yourself
THINKING about having work done
on your home? The first, most crucial,
question is: can you do it yourself? The
second question is: should you, or
would it be wiser to call a professional?
It depends. I have not come across any
home improvement task that I cannot
theoretically do myself.
In the last 16 years I have tackled jobs
that I would have previously thought
beyond my abilities, but some I have
happily handed over to contractors.
How do I decide who does which kind
of job? Some DIYers I know draw a line
across a personal no-go area: they will
do anything except touch electricity or
plumbing, because the consequences of
a mistake seem to be irreversible. I do
not think like that.
The key calculation is: do I have the
means to undertake that which I am
about to undertake?
That means, as a minimum, sufficient
knowledge and the necessary equipment. There is no shortage of advice
around (mostly in French, of course)
and often it comes down to whether I
Brittany offers best
value on insurance
PROPERTY owners in Brittany
pay as much as €52 less for their
home insurance than someone
living in a similar property on
the Côte d’Azur.
The average annual cost of
home insurance in France
is €180, but residents pay a
premium in Paca, while those in
northwest France pay just €142.
Form and function,
style and warmth...
ANYONE who likes warm
towels after a shower will love
this radiator from Vasco. It has
32.5cm shelving behind it,
creating both warmth and
handy storage in a tight space.
The Niva Bain has a hanging
rail and three steel shelves with
power from 406-1,023W. The
934W model shown costs €836.
Pledge to cut student
housing shortage
THE government has promised
to create 60,000 affordable
properties for students by 2022
– on top of the 40,000 it has
created in the past five years.
The plan to cut the shortage
of affordable accommodation
for students will target key
areas of the country.
DIY
Photo: Nick Inman
Some buyers fear renovation
but others welcome it... our
writer Nick Inman has a foot in
both camps, as he tells in this
ongoing series of articles
When you
don’t have
a ...clou
have adequate tools, or can buy or hire
them for a reasonable price.
I also consider whether I have enough
time (and, for outdoor jobs, whether
the good weather will hold). It may
require a continuous stretch without
interruption, rather than half an hour
every other weekend.
Another self-assessment question is:
can I do it myself in a literal sense? Do I
have the strength and stamina? Will I
need assistance at some point?
Sometimes the decision is also a
matter of courage and commitment.
Start cutting a hole in an almost-new
roof to fit a skylight and you cannot
stop until the thing is watertight again.
Commitment also means resolving
not to panic when the unexpected
problem occurs – which it will.
Even if I can do the job myself, that
still leaves “Should I do it?”. Apart from
saving the cost of paying a professional,
there are two major considerations. One
is that if someone else does it, I lose
control. I have effectively had four electricians involved in the wiring of a new
DIY tile work may be uneven but gives a feeling of autonomy and satisfaction
guest room. The third undid the work
of the second then retired, leaving me
with a junction box which might have
been a work of art but took me a year to
figure out so that I could finish the job.
It might have been quicker, overall, to
have done it myself to begin with.
There are two really big differences
between a DIY and a professional job.
The first and most evident is the finish.
My house is definitively rustic in style –
and that includes all the modern additions. The joints of the plasterboard are
rough, some of my tile work is uneven,
and there are splashes of paint where
there should not be. I work to the best
of my abilities but I am far from perfect.
Mostly, I can live with my own imperfections but where it needs to look
good, I would be tempted to get in
someone who can do it properly.
The clincher difference, however, is
emotional.
Tradesmen (or tradeswomen) will do
the job much better in a fraction of the
time... but that brings me no personal
satisfaction.
I do DIY partly to save money but
mostly to learn new techniques and
know how my house “works”.
Do it yourself and you have a minor
sense of autonomy, of being in control
of your own living space.
It is an illusion, of course, because in
an old French farmhouse nothing ever
stays straight or immaculate for long.
The house tells you how things are
going to be, not the other way around.
Estate agent
wins fee case
ESTATE agents are entitled to
their fees once a sale agreement
is signed, a court has ruled.
The Cour de Cassation overturned an earlier ruling when
it said a purchaser’s decision
not to go ahead with the deal
after the 10-day withdrawal
period should have no bearing
on whether the agent, through
which the initial agreement was
signed, should be paid.
The buyer had argued that the
agent should not be paid as the
sale was not concluded.
Trêve is lost
for squatters
SQUATTERS no longer have
the protection of the winter
truce on evictions.
The Elan law contains an
amendment that specifically
excludes them from the trêve
hivernale, which stops landlords evicting tenants who are
behind with their rent between
November 1 and March 31.
Previously, although they
were not directly protected, the
trêve was often invoked in an
attempt to prevent landlords
evicting squatters.
Unauthorised work can be approved
THOSE long-ago home
improvements could come
back to bite you when you
decide to sell if you did not get
planning permission.
Extensions, conservatories,
garages, conversions of existing
garages into new rooms and
some swimming pools, fences
and entrances are among
improvements that can need
planning consent.
Generally only very small
construction work of a few
square metres requires no formalities. Above that, typically
works of up to 20m2 require a
simple déclaration préalable to
your mairie. Above 20m2, work
needs planning permission.
The local administration has
the option to refuse the work
within one month of receipt of
a déclaration (see column right).
Even simple work such as
installing a roof-light window
requires a déclaration because
it is regarded as an change to
the appearance of the building’s exterior.
If that new window is part of
the construction of a new room
that is greater than 20m2 you
need planning permission.
The rules are, naturally,
stricter for properties in conservation areas, or for listed
buildings. In such cases, before
starting any work you should
discuss your plans with the
local council.
Not obtaining the required
consent for home improvement
work could lead to later applications for permission for other
works being turned down.
Building a garden shed requires permission if over 20m2
However, work that did not
quite meet planning approval
requirements (for example,
building a 25m2 extension
rather than a 22m2 one that
was subject to permissions
received) is unlikely to face
mairie opposition after 10
years of completion
In serious cases, not getting
the appropriate approval can
lead to sizeable fines – a film
director was fined €5million
in 2010 for carrying out
significant unauthorised work
on a chateau near Nice.
But do not panic if you have
had work done that you later
realise should have required
permission. It is possible to
submit a planning application
and obtain consent retrospectively, provided the work
complies with local and
national regulations.
If not, authorities can require
you to return the property to
its original condition.
The process for obtaining
‘regularisation’ (effectively, formal recognition) of previously unapproved property
work is similar to the process
for applying for appropriate
permission in the first place.
A standard planning application needs to be made, with all
the usual attachments – plans,
‘before and after’ drawings, and
photographs.
It must show that the work
has already been carried out,
and that the application is to
formally recognise this fact,
and request approval.
If a buyer, or notaire acting
on behalf of a buyer, discovers
work has been carried out
without the necessary
approvals, they may pull out of
the deal – or demand that
planning permission is
obtained before continuing.
Be warned: the wheels of
French bureaucracy grind
slowly with applications for
post-work approval, so expect
a wait after the file has been
submitted.
If you are unsure whether
your work should have had
planning permission, the
service technique in your mairie
should be able to advise you.
Most mairies will have a PLU
(plan local d’urbanisme) and a
POS (plan d’occupation des sols)
which will include details of
any rules, such as maximum
heights of building and facade
colours. In the absence of
these, the national code de l’urbanisme sets the standard.
Note that any increase in the
size or upgrade to your home,
such as a swimming pool, is
likely to impact the level of
your local property taxes.
Declaration
or permit?
NOT all building work on
your property requires
planning permission – some
work simply requires you to
declare it to your mairie to
ensure it complies with local
planning regulations.
The mairie has 30 days to
reply if they have an objection – or to ask more information.
After that you must put up a
copy of the déclaration showing a stamp from the mairie
outside your property.
Neighbours then have two
months in which to object.
It is recommended to have a
huissier note that the notice is
on show to avoid possible
issues later.
The rule particularly applies
to building work that creates
a structure of between 5m²
and 20m². The declaration - a
déclaration préalable de
travaux – is made on a simplified form (cerfa 13703*06).
Examples of when this can
be used include:
l A conservatory or
greenhouse if the height is
more than 1.8m but less than
4m high and if the surface
area does not exceed 2,000m2
l Installation of in-ground
swimming pool of between
10m2 and 100m2 with a cover
which is either fixed or moveable but less than 1.8m high.
The Back Page
The Connexion
connexionfrance.com
January 2019
France’s mistrust of vaccination ‘is putting us at risk’
ABOUT half of French people either
disagree or do not know in response
to the statement “Overall, I think
vaccines are safe”, an article in
the medical journal The Lancet
revealed in November.
This is a bad situation, says
Françoise Salvadori, biologist and
immunologist at the Université de
Bourgogne. To put the figure into
context it is 16% in China and the UK
and 13%, for example, in Germany.
Dr Salvadori said: “Falling vaccination levels are affecting ‘herd immunity’. Tetanus is reappearing in France,
as is diphtheria across Europe.
“The eradication of polio is slowing
and only 20% of French nurses have
taken up the offer of a free flu jab.”
The Lancet’s report followed a study
of 65,819 people across 67 countries
carried out by Dr Heidi Larson, of the
London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine.
The European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control also said in
November that the most recent out-
break of measles in the EU had led to
33 deaths. Measles and rubella are
increasingly common in France.
“This was why the law was changed
from January 2018 to make 11 vaccinations obligatory between a child’s
birth and second birthday,” said Dr
Salvadori. “We’ve seen improved
uptake but I doubt we’ll see the results
for another two years until children
start school at the age of three.”
The public has been suspicious of
vaccinations since they were
introduced in the 18th century – a
time when the mistrust was justified.
“Vaccinations did save lives, but they
were much more dangerous because
there was no idea that needles should
be sterilised, and patients were often
injected with pus from an ill person.”
Today, she said, many vaccines do
not contain living cells which could
cause a medical reaction, let alone an
illness. Where live vaccines are still
used, they often use only parts of cells
so they cannot cause the actual
disease – though they can, rarely, lead
to a slight reaction.
She says: “The problem is if
someone catches a cold while sitting
in the doctor’s waiting room waiting
to be vaccinated, they might blame
the vaccination – which is medically
impossible – rather than connect it to
having sat near someone who is ill.”
Dr Salvadori, who has worked on
cancer and AIDS research, is now
investigating how the public understands scientific advances. She has
Photo: Touche pas à mon gosse 2 / Facebook
France’s
recent record
on vaccination
is poor. Biologist
and immunologist
Françoise Salvadori
(pictured) explains
some of the reasons why
‘Anti-vax’ videos, like this, have been
viewed millions of times on social
media. Dr Salvadori says people
believe them without question
published a book on the subject,
Antivax: Histoire de la Résistance aux
Vaccins du XVIIIe Siècle à Nos Jours,
co-written with science historian
Laurent-Henri Vignaud.
She says reasons for avoiding
vaccinations include: misinformation
spread via social media; a general
mistrust of the state as well as “big
pharma”; a belief that nature is better
than chemicals; a refusal to accept
that diseases such as measles, mumps
and rubella can have serious lifelong
consequences; and even in certain
circles a belief that getting ill in some
way strengthens and helps children.
“The French authorities haven’t
helped,” she said. “There have been so
many medical scandals. The disclosure that HIV-contaminated blood
had been given to patients even after
the authorities knew it was contaminated did huge damage to public trust.
“The government’s insistence that
the Chernobyl fallout cloud stopped
at the border was also ill-judged.
“Another strange thing is that some
GPs prescribe homeopathic remedies
even though there isn’t a shred of
evidence that homeopathy works.
Doctors must know they are ineffective, but perhaps they think patients
expect these prescriptions – or perhaps they rely on the placebo effect.
“There is also an excessive trust in
nature. People think that natural
remedies can’t harm them. People
forget that before modern medicine,
when everyone relied on ‘natural
remedies’, many people died at 40.
“But the social movement towards
organic products, natural fabrics, the
turning away from plastics and industrially-prepared food means people
also turn away from ‘big pharma’.
“All sorts of misinformation circulates online and because much of it
chimes with what we already believe,
and because we feel no one has anything to gain financially by informing
us via the web, people tend to believe
it without question. It’s a problem.”
She says the truth about vaccinations is that they work, they save lives,
and they are the safest, most-tested
drugs currently used in medicine –
and they do not cause autism or
auto-immune diseases. Due to
vaccination, the last known case of
smallpox was seen in 1977, and it was
declared eradicated in 1980.
Vaccinations carry fewer risks than
paracetamol or ibuprofen. “But people
can feel an immediate benefit when
they take paracetamol, so they accept
the small risk. Often, they think their
children won’t come into contact with
a serious disease, so why bother
vaccinating them?”
But she issued a note of warning:
“Not all diseases can be wiped out. It
will be possible to eradicate polio and
measles, for example, because they are
only carried by humans, but tetanus
will never be eradicated because it’s
present in all soil, and you can’t
vaccinate all the soil in the world.
“It will be difficult to eradicate
rabies, too, as it’s carried by wild
animals as well as humans, so with
diseases like that we have to protect
everyone individually.”
She particularly recommends
influenza vaccination. “The truth is
that it is 70% effective in under-fives
and only 50% effective in people over
65 because the virus mutates.
“But true influenza, as opposed to a
heavy cold, can be fatal, and can lead
to fatal secondary infections.
“It is 100% impossible to get flu or
even a cold from the vaccination
because it is a dead vaccine so there is
nothing to lose and everything to gain
from being vaccinated.”
l We profile ‘father’ of vaccines Louis
Pasteur in this month’s French Living
New year. Key areas to review.
Talk to the people who know
The big event for 2019 is, of course, Brexit – now is the time to review your financial
planning to ensure you are as ready as you can be.
Cross-border tax and estate planning only gets more complex as the years go by. Pensions
can be a minefield for expatriates. And it is more important than ever to have a carefully
planned investment portfolio. Blevins Franks can review your strategy for 2019 and
beyond to help you protect your wealth. |
WASHINGTON — As they do perhaps once in a generation — 1932, 1968 and 1980 — Americans this week will choose a new president and chart a new course in a time of economic turmoil, social upheaval and great anxiety.
Financial markets are in turmoil. Jobs are disappearing overseas. Pensions and retirement accounts are dwindling. Terrorists are vowing death to more Americans. U.S. troops are at war in two countries. Immigrants are pouring across the borders, legally and illegally, changing the complexion and the culture of the land.
Fewer than one in 10 Americans think the country’s on the right track, the lowest in the three decades that Gallup has asked the question. Consumer confidence is at a 41-year low. The president’s approval ratings rival the worst on record, and the public’s opinion of Congress is even lower.
Add to that an unprecedented barrage of negative ads, on TV, on radio and in the mailbox, waging a campaign of fear, warning that if you vote for the other guy, you’ll help terrorists, pay higher taxes or lose your job, your savings or your home.
Out of that maelstrom, Americans will choose one of two very different men to lead the country back to peace and prosperity.
John McCain, 72, is a war hero who personifies some of the country’s grandest traditions of service and sacrifice, offering a tested hand at the tiller but also the prospect of seat-of-the-pants management reflected in his sometimes erratic and impulsive campaign.
Barack Obama, 47, is the voice of a new generation whose mixed racial heritage reflects the changing nation, who promises cool confidence as an antidote to anxiety, but who also offers a thin r sum that leaves voters uncertain how or what he’ll do when he’s tested.
Propelled by the high stakes, Americans are expected to surge to polling places in record numbers Tuesday, capping weeks of heavy early voting in more than 30 states. Many states expect turnout to top 80 percent; national turnout is likely to rival, if not surpass, the modern record of 61.9 percent that was set in 1968.
That sense of urgency driven by anxiety suggests parallels to three earlier moments when the country ached for a new course:
UIn 1932, when the nation was mired in the Great Depression. Americans elected Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide and gave him big Democratic majorities in Congress, forging the first great political realignment of the 20th century. The Democrats created the modern federal government, with a first safety net of programs to help the poor and the middle class, as well as a host of new regulations for Wall Street.
UIn 1968, when the country was torn by the Vietnam War, reeling from riots and assassinations at home and anxious about social changes such as civil rights for blacks and new roles for women. Americans narrowly elected Republican Richard M. Nixon, who vowed law and order and “peace with honor” in Vietnam.
UIn 1980, when America was besieged by economic stagnation and inflation at home and seemingly rendered impotent by Iranian militants — and President Jimmy Carter himself diagnosed a national malaise. The country elected Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide and sent him to Washington to rebuild the economy and to restore American power abroad.
Every election is different, of course.
This year, the economy is nowhere as bad as 1932, when unemployment hit 23.6 percent and it seemed there was nowhere to turn for help. “People were in despair, bewildered,” said historian James MacGregor Burns, an authority on presidential leadership. “Now, people are not so much bewildered as skeptical.”
Today, unlike 1932 and more like 1968 or 1980, Americans feel threatened from abroad. Many see their culture changing in ways that they find unsettling, if not alarming. They fear they’re losing one of the institutions that helped build the American middle class, the U.S. auto industry.
While they now have a government safety net that was built up since 1932, they also see a government that failed to serve fellow Americans after Hurricane Katrina, and failed to regulate Wall Street or ward off the financial meltdown.
“This is the worst crisis of confidence in our institutions since 1932,” said pollster John Zogby. “The numbers are worse than Watergate, worse than the malaise period of the late 1970s.”
That crisis of confidence is driving an overwhelming sense that American life is changing, sometimes in ways that people don’t understand and can’t control.
That, in turn, is fueling a hunger for some new political order that can meet these challenges — whether it’s a new regulatory framework for a global economy, a shift in tax policy, or an energy policy that stops giving foreign producers ever more power over the U.S. economy and a halt to government spending that gives China and other countries ever more leverage over the U.S. government.
“It’s time for a change,” said Johnny Rodriguez, a construction worker from Indianapolis who’s been out of work for more than a year as housing starts in the city’s once booming suburbs have dried up. He’s voting for Obama, hopeful that the Democrat’s promise of tax cuts for the working and middle class will jump-start the economy and get him back to work.
Americans have been put through such a wringer this year that even when the news is good, it fails to ease the fear.
In Ohio, for example, the rapid drop in gasoline prices to as low as $2.20 a gallon hasn’t erased the sting of summer’s equally fast spike to $4. “We’re not in control, that’s the problem,” said Matt Dodds, a salesman from Lancaster, Ohio. He plans to vote for McCain, eager to see him boost American energy production.
If policies appeal to some voters, temperament may matter more, much as it did when voters were drawn to the sunny, confident optimism of FDR or Reagan’s “Morning in America.”
“It’s a politics of reassurance,” said Randall Miller, a historian at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
“One reason Obama is doing well in this sense of crisis is that he has appeared to be the cooler guy.” duct makes people more anxious, not less.”
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In July 2017 the UK Supreme Court clarified the circumstances in which the monopoly granted by a patent could be widened beyond the normal interpretation of the claim to cover variants which have no material effect on the way the invention works.
This judgment is regarded as introducing a ‘doctrine of equivalents’ into English patent law, which has the effect of broadening the claim for infringement purposes beyond its normal meaning to include immaterial variants (or equivalents). See our article on the Supreme Court case – Actavis UK Ltd and others v Eli Lilly and Company - here.
As is often the case when a decision makes a significant change to the law, further questions as to the implications of the change are now arising. Two recent High Court decisions have considered questions of interpretation and novelty as set out below.
Does the English courts’ traditional ‘purposive’ approach to claim construction still apply?
The doctrine of equivalents broadens the claim for infringement purposes beyond its normal meaning to include equivalents. But what is the ‘normal meaning’ of the claim for this purpose? Is it the literal meaning of the words or should the claim be construed ‘purposively’ in accordance with previous English case law? The High Court has now held that a purposive approach should be taken. Such a purposive construction takes into account what the person skilled in the art would have understood the claim to mean bearing in mind that the patentee’s purpose was to describe and claim an invention and bearing in mind its context. This purposive construction may (but will not necessarily) allow a broader interpretation of the claim that includes trivial or minor variants where the person skilled in the art would assume that the patentee had meant to include these. So far two High Court decisions have taken the view that this purposive construction of the claim still applies.
How does the doctrine of equivalents affect novelty?
The two High Court cases in question also both considered whether a variant (or equivalent) in a prior publication would destroy the novelty of the patent. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision there was a general principle in English patent law that if a prior publication disclosed subject-matter which, if performed, would necessarily result in infringement then the claim would lack novelty. This implied that the claim must be construed in the same way for validity and infringement purposes. However, the High Court has now questioned this principle based on the Supreme Court decision, holding that the claim would only lack novelty if the prior art disclosure would infringe the claim on its proper interpretation, without taking equivalents into account. The new position therefore seems to be that equivalents in a prior art publication are to be disregarded in relation to novelty. It should be noted, however, that equivalents may be taken into account in relation to obviousness, so that the patent could fail at the obviousness hurdle.
As these question go to the crucial issue of how broad the patent monopoly should be it is unlikely that we have heard the last of it, and we can expect these arguments to be raised before the higher courts in the not too distant future.
The first case, Generics v Yeda (26 October 2017), related to a patent for a dosage regime for the blockbuster drug Copaxone, a treatment for multiple sclerosis marketed by Teva under licence from Yeda. The second case, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare v Resmed (10 November 2017), related to a patent for a face mask used in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea. |
// Copyright 2014 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
// Package ucd provides a parser for Unicode Character Database files, the
// format of which is defined in http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr44/. See
// http://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/ for example files.
//
// It currently does not support substitutions of missing fields.
package ucd // import "golang.org/x/text/internal/ucd"
import (
"bufio"
"errors"
"fmt"
"io"
"log"
"regexp"
"strconv"
"strings"
)
// UnicodeData.txt fields.
const (
CodePoint = iota
Name
GeneralCategory
CanonicalCombiningClass
BidiClass
DecompMapping
DecimalValue
DigitValue
NumericValue
BidiMirrored
Unicode1Name
ISOComment
SimpleUppercaseMapping
SimpleLowercaseMapping
SimpleTitlecaseMapping
)
// Parse calls f for each entry in the given reader of a UCD file. It will close
// the reader upon return. It will call log.Fatal if any error occurred.
//
// This implements the most common usage pattern of using Parser.
func Parse(r io.ReadCloser, f func(p *Parser)) {
defer r.Close()
p := New(r)
for p.Next() {
f(p)
}
if err := p.Err(); err != nil {
r.Close() // os.Exit will cause defers not to be called.
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
// An Option is used to configure a Parser.
type Option func(p *Parser)
func keepRanges(p *Parser) {
p.keepRanges = true
}
var (
// KeepRanges prevents the expansion of ranges. The raw ranges can be
// obtained by calling Range(0) on the parser.
KeepRanges Option = keepRanges
)
// The Part option register a handler for lines starting with a '@'. The text
// after a '@' is available as the first field. Comments are handled as usual.
func Part(f func(p *Parser)) Option {
return func(p *Parser) {
p.partHandler = f
}
}
// The CommentHandler option passes comments that are on a line by itself to
// a given handler.
func CommentHandler(f func(s string)) Option {
return func(p *Parser) {
p.commentHandler = f
}
}
// A Parser parses Unicode Character Database (UCD) files.
type Parser struct {
scanner *bufio.Scanner
keepRanges bool // Don't expand rune ranges in field 0.
err error
comment string
field []string
// parsedRange is needed in case Range(0) is called more than once for one
// field. In some cases this requires scanning ahead.
line int
parsedRange bool
rangeStart, rangeEnd rune
partHandler func(p *Parser)
commentHandler func(s string)
}
func (p *Parser) setError(err error, msg string) {
if p.err == nil && err != nil {
if msg == "" {
p.err = fmt.Errorf("ucd:line:%d: %v", p.line, err)
} else {
p.err = fmt.Errorf("ucd:line:%d:%s: %v", p.line, msg, err)
}
}
}
func (p *Parser) getField(i int) string {
if i >= len(p.field) {
return ""
}
return p.field[i]
}
// Err returns a non-nil error if any error occurred during parsing.
func (p *Parser) Err() error {
return p.err
}
// New returns a Parser for the given Reader.
func New(r io.Reader, o ...Option) *Parser {
p := &Parser{
scanner: bufio.NewScanner(r),
}
for _, f := range o {
f(p)
}
return p
}
// Next parses the next line in the file. It returns true if a line was parsed
// and false if it reached the end of the file.
func (p *Parser) Next() bool {
if !p.keepRanges && p.rangeStart < p.rangeEnd {
p.rangeStart++
return true
}
p.comment = ""
p.field = p.field[:0]
p.parsedRange = false
for p.scanner.Scan() && p.err == nil {
p.line++
s := p.scanner.Text()
if s == "" {
continue
}
if s[0] == '#' {
if p.commentHandler != nil {
p.commentHandler(strings.TrimSpace(s[1:]))
}
continue
}
// Parse line
if i := strings.IndexByte(s, '#'); i != -1 {
p.comment = strings.TrimSpace(s[i+1:])
s = s[:i]
}
if s[0] == '@' {
if p.partHandler != nil {
p.field = append(p.field, strings.TrimSpace(s[1:]))
p.partHandler(p)
p.field = p.field[:0]
}
p.comment = ""
continue
}
for {
i := strings.IndexByte(s, ';')
if i == -1 {
p.field = append(p.field, strings.TrimSpace(s))
break
}
p.field = append(p.field, strings.TrimSpace(s[:i]))
s = s[i+1:]
}
if !p.keepRanges {
p.rangeStart, p.rangeEnd = p.getRange(0)
}
return true
}
p.setError(p.scanner.Err(), "scanner failed")
return false
}
func parseRune(b string) (rune, error) {
if len(b) > 2 && b[0] == 'U' && b[1] == '+' {
b = b[2:]
}
x, err := strconv.ParseUint(b, 16, 32)
return rune(x), err
}
func (p *Parser) parseRune(s string) rune {
x, err := parseRune(s)
p.setError(err, "failed to parse rune")
return x
}
// Rune parses and returns field i as a rune.
func (p *Parser) Rune(i int) rune {
if i > 0 || p.keepRanges {
return p.parseRune(p.getField(i))
}
return p.rangeStart
}
// Runes interprets and returns field i as a sequence of runes.
func (p *Parser) Runes(i int) (runes []rune) {
add := func(s string) {
if s = strings.TrimSpace(s); len(s) > 0 {
runes = append(runes, p.parseRune(s))
}
}
for b := p.getField(i); ; {
i := strings.IndexByte(b, ' ')
if i == -1 {
add(b)
break
}
add(b[:i])
b = b[i+1:]
}
return
}
var (
errIncorrectLegacyRange = errors.New("ucd: unmatched <* First>")
// reRange matches one line of a legacy rune range.
reRange = regexp.MustCompile("^([0-9A-F]*);<([^,]*), ([^>]*)>(.*)$")
)
// Range parses and returns field i as a rune range. A range is inclusive at
// both ends. If the field only has one rune, first and last will be identical.
// It supports the legacy format for ranges used in UnicodeData.txt.
func (p *Parser) Range(i int) (first, last rune) {
if !p.keepRanges {
return p.rangeStart, p.rangeStart
}
return p.getRange(i)
}
func (p *Parser) getRange(i int) (first, last rune) {
b := p.getField(i)
if k := strings.Index(b, ".."); k != -1 {
return p.parseRune(b[:k]), p.parseRune(b[k+2:])
}
// The first field may not be a rune, in which case we may ignore any error
// and set the range as 0..0.
x, err := parseRune(b)
if err != nil {
// Disable range parsing henceforth. This ensures that an error will be
// returned if the user subsequently will try to parse this field as
// a Rune.
p.keepRanges = true
}
// Special case for UnicodeData that was retained for backwards compatibility.
if i == 0 && len(p.field) > 1 && strings.HasSuffix(p.field[1], "First>") {
if p.parsedRange {
return p.rangeStart, p.rangeEnd
}
mf := reRange.FindStringSubmatch(p.scanner.Text())
p.line++
if mf == nil || !p.scanner.Scan() {
p.setError(errIncorrectLegacyRange, "")
return x, x
}
// Using Bytes would be more efficient here, but Text is a lot easier
// and this is not a frequent case.
ml := reRange.FindStringSubmatch(p.scanner.Text())
if ml == nil || mf[2] != ml[2] || ml[3] != "Last" || mf[4] != ml[4] {
p.setError(errIncorrectLegacyRange, "")
return x, x
}
p.rangeStart, p.rangeEnd = x, p.parseRune(p.scanner.Text()[:len(ml[1])])
p.parsedRange = true
return p.rangeStart, p.rangeEnd
}
return x, x
}
// bools recognizes all valid UCD boolean values.
var bools = map[string]bool{
"": false,
"N": false,
"No": false,
"F": false,
"False": false,
"Y": true,
"Yes": true,
"T": true,
"True": true,
}
// Bool parses and returns field i as a boolean value.
func (p *Parser) Bool(i int) bool {
f := p.getField(i)
for s, v := range bools {
if f == s {
return v
}
}
p.setError(strconv.ErrSyntax, "error parsing bool")
return false
}
// Int parses and returns field i as an integer value.
func (p *Parser) Int(i int) int {
x, err := strconv.ParseInt(string(p.getField(i)), 10, 64)
p.setError(err, "error parsing int")
return int(x)
}
// Uint parses and returns field i as an unsigned integer value.
func (p *Parser) Uint(i int) uint {
x, err := strconv.ParseUint(string(p.getField(i)), 10, 64)
p.setError(err, "error parsing uint")
return uint(x)
}
// Float parses and returns field i as a decimal value.
func (p *Parser) Float(i int) float64 {
x, err := strconv.ParseFloat(string(p.getField(i)), 64)
p.setError(err, "error parsing float")
return x
}
// String parses and returns field i as a string value.
func (p *Parser) String(i int) string {
return string(p.getField(i))
}
// Strings parses and returns field i as a space-separated list of strings.
func (p *Parser) Strings(i int) []string {
ss := strings.Split(string(p.getField(i)), " ")
for i, s := range ss {
ss[i] = strings.TrimSpace(s)
}
return ss
}
// Comment returns the comments for the current line.
func (p *Parser) Comment() string {
return string(p.comment)
}
var errUndefinedEnum = errors.New("ucd: undefined enum value")
// Enum interprets and returns field i as a value that must be one of the values
// in enum.
func (p *Parser) Enum(i int, enum ...string) string {
f := p.getField(i)
for _, s := range enum {
if f == s {
return s
}
}
p.setError(errUndefinedEnum, "error parsing enum")
return ""
}
|
"[narrator] Previously on Grey's Anatomy:" "I'm touching the aorta." " [Burke] O'Malley." " Yes, sir?" "You just flew solo." "[Alex] O'Malley plugs a hole with his finger and everyone acts like he's a hero." "I have one off day..." " You chickened out." " I hesitated briefly." "Why didn't you kiss lzzie?" " Cristina..." " It's my first day back." " I've got..." " I'm not waiting forever." "OK, we're a couple." "Whatever." "Don't make a big deal about it." "So pick me." "Choose me." "Love me." "Derek, have you ever thought that even if I am Satan and an adulterous bitch," "I still might be the love of your life?" " You're staying with her." " Yeah, she's my wife." "[Meredith] Communication." "It's the first thing we really learn in life." "She didn't even know he was married." "His wife just shows up and he dumps her." "I heard she flipped out." "What does she expect?" "She got what she deserved, dating an attending." "Dating McDreamy." "Have you seen his hair?" "No guy is that perfect." "I think it's kind of sad." "She has to work here." "With him." "With them." "Everyone knows." "Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words, and really start talking, the harder it becomes to know what to say." "Or how to ask for what we really need." "What do you need to make this marriage work?" "I need her to move to Seattle." " That's just a..." " Addison." "What do you need?" " Him to stop talking to Meredith." " It's my..." "I work with her!" "You want me to pick up my entire practice and move here?" "Fine." " I want you to give up your girlfriend." " I did give up my girlfriend." "You wanted me to take you back, I did." "In Seattle." " It's all about what he wants." " I am not the same person anymore." "I know, you're a flannel-wearing, wood-chopping fisherman." "I won't talk to her if she behaves like this." "Sorry, guys." "Time's up." "Good progress." "Well, we have to do something." "Meredith's become like an exhibit." "Like that..." "Hey." "Like a zoo animal." "Like that rare panda that everyone stares at." "Please don't say that to her face." "I think that panda died alone." "[Cristina laughs]" "This could just as easily be you." "If people knew about you and...." "Take that back." "No." "I'm just saying we should do something to cheer her up." " Don't worry about it." " It's under control." " What do you guys have going on?" " Nothing." " What?" " Where's Karev?" "Probably somewhere not kissing somebody." "Let's go, O'Malley." "Hey, so, after rounds, we have something to show you." " Mer?" "Meredith, can you hear us?" " She's not deaf." "Well, she looks weird." "Well, Derek didn't pick her." "She's gone mental." " Meredith, have you gone mental?" " I have not gone mental." "See?" "OK, she's fine." "We have something to show you." "So whatever you do, do not get assigned to a surgery this morning." " [Addison] If you give it a chance." " I gave it a chance." "He's a moron." "[man] Straight ahead." "That's the intern." "OK, yeah, mind your own business." "[Cristina] Mrs. Kimberly Griswold." "History of heart disease and surgeries." "In for a beating heart quadruple CABG." " You're late." " Yes, Karev." "Nice of you to join us." "Why keep the heart beating, Dr. Yang?" "I don't know." "What?" "I have no idea." "Oh, I don't know either." "Just don't." "Because of..." "Ow!" " Anyone else?" " Stress reduction..." " O'Malley." " I know the answer." "I'm asking O'Malley." "Scar tissue's too deep." "Heart's too weak to start up again." "You only immobilize the portion you're working on and leave the rest of the heart on its own." " Welcome to the case." " Thank you." "OK, move." " [Mrs. Griswold] What is that?" " PJs." "That is unfair." "He's punishing me for the elevator." "No, because you were late for rounds." "You want to tell me why you were late?" "Dr. Shepherd needs somebody on his nerve case today." "Go." "And you three, brush up on how not to embarrass me in front of the attendings." "Or I'll see to it that your hearts stop beating." "Clear?" "Sorry, Dr. Bailey, we really apologize." " [Meredith] What is going on?" " We found a case." " You stole a case?" " Borrowed." "From Psych." "The prelims..." "This thing is totally unprecedented." " And we found it." " Stole it." "OK, found, stole, hijacked, whatever." "Meredith, behind this door is the coolest medical mystery I have ever seen." "Now, you can either walk away, you know, guilt-free." "Mm-hm." "Or walk through this door, risk your place in the program, which could lead to spending the rest of your life serving fries in bad clothing." "So you in?" "Hell, yeah." " Mr. Herman?" " Oh." "No, please call me Shane." "I gotta hit the can." "Again." "Seems like I gotta go every 30 seconds these days." " Just a guy." " Wait for it." "I sure am glad to be off that Psych floor." " What's so special?" " Wait for it." "[groans, sighs]" "I'm not nuts." "I'm just pregnant." "[# Psapp:" "Cosy in the Rocket]" "I was fine." "And then last month... huge belly." "My doctor just kept telling me I was gaining weight with my wife." " She's due on the 30th." "It's our first." " Congratulations." "The admitting intern shipped him to Psych." "Barely did a physical." "Hear that?" "It's not fluid." "There's something in there." "[man] No joke there's something in there!" "I've been able to feel it getting bigger and bigger, growing in my... you know." "My womb." "Yeah, I know I sound crazy." "I do." "But I can prove it." "This room is supposed to be unoccupied." "Whose patient is this?" "[both] Hers." "Who transferred him?" "I don't have any paperwork, any transfer documents." "Gimme a break." "We shuffle rooms all the time." "You know, if we need a bedpan changed, we'll let you know." "OK, Doctor." "You do that." "OK, where's his chart?" "You steal a patient and don't take the chart?" " That was your job." " I was a lookout!" "How you doing?" "You good?" "You look good." "Come on." "We're friends." "What's my name?" "All right." "So I don't know your name." "It's not like we can't talk." "You don't have to be a surgeon for me to talk to you." " Really?" " Really." "Because I thought you only talked to attendings." "Now, Nicole, you've been having problems with spasticity?" "Mom?" "She says the spasms "make her legs dance."" "We just wanted to make things a little easier for her." " [man] She starts college this fall." " [woman] Seattle Community." "Not that she wouldn't have her pick of schools out of state." "But she's not ready for that yet." "What?" "Not because she's in a wheelchair?" "Has Dr. Ostfeld mentioned something called a cystoplasty?" "It's an operation to enlarge Nicole's bladder." "It creates an opening called a stoma." "It's improved life for a lot of my paralysis patients." " [man] We toyed with the idea once." " [woman] It's not for us." "[man] Maybe we should revisit it?" "[woman] An invasive procedure with a 20 per cent failure rate?" "I don't think so." "Nicole, it's something worth considering." "You wouldn't have to wear the catheter all the time." "Not to mention the medical benefits." "It would improve your quality of life." "You know, you'd be like girls your own age." "You'd be in control of your own bladder." "You'd have a more normal sex life." "When that becomes an issue, of course." "We're here for the pain procedure." "That's it." "They share the same brain." "She's not getting surgery." "Take Nicole with you everywhere today." "Labs, to coffee, take her anywhere." "Just get her away from her parents." "You want me to baby-sit the wheelchair chick?" "Nicole." "She thinks you're cute." "She's a teenager, she might even listen to you." "You want me to convince her to get that surgery." " Convince her to make the decision." " How am I supposed to do that?" "Dr. Karev, you're creative." "You'll think of something." "Thank you." "[Burke] This will be an extensive operation, even for an open-heart veteran like yourself." "My room was bigger last time." "It was brighter." "More sun." "Alan, this water is warm." "I need more ice." "I'm sending you in for a nuclear scan, then we'll get you into the OR this afternoon." "You do understand all of the risks?" "I've been through it too many times to not understand." "Get the blinds." "Open the blinds." "This room is depressing." "[Burke sighs] I'll check back a little later." "Take her for the thallium scan, pick up her X-rays on the way." "Dr. Burke, thank you for choosing me to assist you today." " Well, you're my guy, O'Malley." " I am?" "I mean, yeah." "Hand me the tissues." "No, no, wait." "Hospitals have germs." "Get my hand sanitizer out of my case." "Why would you be with someone who makes you that unhappy?" " Excuse me?" " I mean like..." "Well, like you're happy with Cristina." "And she's happy." "Well, happier." "You know, Cristina-happy, which is not normal people's happy but..." "But, you know, happy since you guys started..." "Scans." "I'm on it." "I'm your guy." "[man on PA] Dr. Hamill, 4147," "I'm an idiot." "Just look at this." "Hi." "Hello." "Meredith." "Maybe we could, you know, talk?" "[lzzie and Cristina] No." "OK." " [elevator chime] - [Alex] Beep-beep." " What'd you do to get stuck with me?" " Nothing." "Come on." "I know you're not just wheeling me around for kicks." " Nope." "I was late for rounds." " Why?" "'Cause I had things to do." "Hey, lzzie!" "Izzie!" "Hey, dollface!" "I was gonna ask you a favor." "Since you're better with people than I am..." " No." " You haven't heard what..." "No." "You're like a broken record." "God, you're only ever nice or friendly or anything when it's convenient for you." "So no to your favor." "No to you." "No." " What's up with you?" " I put on a dress." "I did my hair." "I had one night off in two weeks, and I used it on you." "And what do I get?" "Nothing." "No respect." "No apology." "You couldn't even be bothered to kiss me good night." "You know what?" "You're a coward." "And you're just as shallow as you seem." "So I am done trying to be your friend, or whatever." "I'm over it." "She's really mad at you." "[Meredith] A urine sample is the last thing we need, Mr. Herman." " Uh, meet Shane's wife, Tina." " Hey." "She's also pregnant." "[Meredith] What precipitated the psychotic episode" " that got you admitted to the hospital?" " It wasn't an episode, OK?" "And I'm not psychotic, I am pregnant." "I mean, wouldn't you freak out if you were me?" "Honey, did you bring it?" " Yeah, yeah." " Oh, good." "I can prove to everyone that I'm not crazy." "That is my patient." "He's ours now." "If you wanna fight me for it I guarantee you I'll win." " What is going on in here?" " Dr. Bailey, just a moment here." " Please, look at his abdomen." " It's a male hysterical pregnancy." "It's a Psych case, and it's mine." "It's not hysterical!" "I am pregnant!" "See?" "Psych." "No, his belly is distended." "There's no signs of ascites." "And I clearly feel a mass with deep palpation." "Surgical." " Guys." " I told you I could prove it." " Psych!" " Surgical!" " [Baile7] You're doctors." "Act like it." " Guys..." " Psych!" " Surgical!" "Guys!" "Shane took a pregnancy test." "And it's positive." "He's definitely a surgical patient now." "Do not think for a moment I condone stealing patients." "That said... way to go." "The first pregnancy test I took was a joke, to make Tina laugh." "We didn't think it would lead to, you know, this." "Mr. Herman, I can assure you, you are in no way pregnant." "[sighs] That's a relief." "To hear it officially." " [Shane] But why was that stick blue?" " [Baile7] We're going to find out." "Stevens." "Do a shotgun workup, including tumor markers." "And get CT to make some room for us in line." " [beeping]" " What's this for again?" "Uh..." "Medical journals, monthly case reports." "Annual banquet highlight reels." "[beeping]" " Hey, whose pager is that?" " Mine." "But I found him." " So can someone else go?" " No, we don't ignore pages, Yang." "Will you excuse me?" "...to get to the top." "We'll be finished soon, right, Dr. Bailey?" "Good." "OK." "Patient in 4243 needs a rectal." "Then I've got two infected wounds, a Foley, a groin abscess, four debridements and a... case of explosive diarrhea." " You're kidding me, right?" " I'm not known for my humor." "Why did you page me about...?" "None of these are my patients." "You're Bailey's intern, right?" "Then these are your patients." " [phone rings]" " Debbie here." "[Derek] A portion of intestine is used to enlarge the bladder, and then we construct a pathway to a hole in the belly button." "It's a very tiny hole." "It's virtually invisible." "She could wear a bikini and no one would ever know." "A bikini?" "She doesn't know how to swim." "She could go to the beach, lie in the sun, hang out with friends." "She's so self-conscious now." " Exactly." " Nicole could have friends her own age." " When will Nicole be back?" " After her labs." "Just think about her future." "Nicole could be independent." "She could go to college anywhere, have a job, her own apartment." " Date." "Get married." " These labs are taking a long time." "She can spend more than 20 minutes away from us, Elaine." " I'm asking about my only child." " She's not a child anymore." "She's my child." "She'll always be my child." "Alan!" "Watch your step." "You're hitting my chair." " I'm sorry." " And hold on to my bag." " I got it." " Don't rummage through it!" "[man on PA] Dr. Glenn..." ""Please" and "thank yous" were never her strong suit." " You're a very patient person." " Years of practice." " Whoops." " Oh." "I just try to keep her calm." "They didn't think she'd survive the first surgery," "let alone three more." "Here it is, ten years later..." "She's still here." "Yeah, it's a miracle that she's still alive." "That's what everyone says." "What do you say?" "Uh..." "It's right there in the vows." ""ln sickness and in health," right?" "Thanks." "A pregnant guy?" "You had a pregnant guy and you didn't tell me?" "Well, we can get you floor space in the OR for 50 bucks." "We don't even know what's wrong with him." "Whatever is inside has to come out." "We're just brokering a few deals." "Like backstage passes." "Want in on the cash?" " No." " I didn't need a pregnant guy." "I was Burke's new go-to guy." "But that's over, thanks to you." " He didn't know that I knew..." " Stop talking." "What on earth...?" "[# Annie:" "Chewing Gum]" "Hi." " I'm Alex's charity case." " I like her already." " Are you volunteering?" " Don't ask." "Why?" "It's not like we have any idea what's going on in your tiny, tiny, tiny little brain." "[Cristina] She has a point." " [pager beeps]" " I am hungry!" "So this is cool." "A real live lunchtime." "In a real cafeteria, with trays and friends." " We're not his friends." " lsn't there a cafeteria at school?" " I'm home-schooled by my parents." " That explains a lot." "Are you the "cool kids" around here or something?" "What would make you think that?" "Seems like everyone's talking about you." "[woman] I feel sorry for her." "[man]...drop her." "The guys and I were taking bets on who'd get to scan this dude." "Beers are on me tonight!" "Next up, the wager on what this thing is." " You're taking bets?" " On what's inside his belly." "You want in?" "Ten bucks." "Well, we know it's not fat, fluid, or fetus, so..." "Jeez." "Are those teeth?" "Cristina is going to be so mad she missed this." "I was told to page you, and only you, if something like this came up." "Who told you?" "Bailey?" "[retching]" " No." " Oh, yes." "And all I can say is, you must have made one serious faux pas." " I hate vomit." " You're going to need this." "[retching]" "Bailey knows." " Knows what?" " She knows." " Well, O'Malley knows." "Why not Bailey?" " So you didn't tell her?" " Why would I?" " This is bad." "We have to manage the damage ourselves before it spins out of control." " That means coming clean to the chief." " What?" " Then no one has anything to say." " No." "No way." "No way." " That's the only way." " Good morning." " Morning, Chief." " Right." "Thank you, Dr. Burke." "You're welcome." "Great board, Chief." "Could you make sure they get the breathing tube out of my throat right after surgery this time?" "Are you trying to cut off my circulation?" "He's just doing his job." "What did you say?" "I said he's just doing his job." "Well, I don't really care whose job he's doing." "He's squeezing my arm off." "Are you just gonna sit there?" "[sighs] Shut up, Kim." "Just shut up, huh?" " Hey." " You complain to me, about me, around me, all day, every day." "A little silence would be nice." "A few measly minutes of quiet!" " Can't you for once..." " Mr. Griswold." "...in your life just shut up?" "!" " [rapid beeping] - [gasps]" " [Burke] What we got?" " She had a Levine sign." "EKG shows ST-elevations in the inferior leads." "She's having a heart attack." "Give her four migs of morphine." "Run nitro at ten mics per minute." "Let's do this fast so we can get her into surgery, people." "I did this." "I did this to her." "[Baile7] Mesenteric teratoma, Chief." " [lzzie] In an adult male." " Is this possible?" "It is now." "Large bilobed cystic lesion..." " [lzzie] With a calcified structure." " [Richard] A deformed mandible." "[Baile7] Labs show elevated HCG levels." "That explains the false positive on the pregnancy test." " [lzzie] Which also means..." " Probably malignant." "[Meredith] You OK?" "You look a little green." "I think he needs some air, Chief." "[Richard] Deep breaths, Mr. Herman." "It's just... most of this medical-speak goes right over my head." "You have what's called a teratoma." "And it's really very rare in adults." "Which is why you're so popular." "It's just a mass of cells that's probably been there your whole life," " only now..." " It's growing." "Yeah." "Growing jaw bones." "And toenails." "And, uh, clumps of hair." "Yeah, I've been listening." " No one's really talking to us." " Just about you." " I know what that's like." " [Cristina] What did I miss?" "Is that..." "Is that rectal jelly on your scrubs?" "[pager beeps] [sighs]" "Dr. Bailey, all the attention, all the people, they are making them panic." "[Derek] When you said you'd found a lunch spot with a view," "I knew I should have taken you literally." "I found it in my Best of Seattle guide." "It's hardly brown-bagging it on top of the Empire State Building, but they do have these cute little viewfinders." "You always find something to complain about." "OK." "Is there anything that you like about me anymore?" "Because if there is, I really need to know now." "Well, I like that you like cute little viewfinders in every city you live in." "I don't live here yet." "Are you going to stop talking to Meredith?" " I will." " When?" "Today?" "Tomorrow?" "Next week?" "Maybe I'm not ready yet." "Are you ever going to be ready, Derek?" " What if I say no?" " Then I'm not moving here." "Well, I guess we're at an impasse then." "Dr. Yang." "We never finished our conversation." "Yes, we did." "We decided we're not going to tell you-know-who about us." "We decided?" "You're worried about your career and your reputation." "What if he hears about us through the grapevine?" " He doesn't have to hear at all." " He will." "It's just a matter of time." "Unless you're hesitating because of some different reason." "You are not thinking this through." "Like not wanting to admit to this relationship at all." "We are a couple." " Fine." " Burke..." "I said fine." "So what's up with you not wanting to get this procedure?" " I'm fine the way I am." " Good point." "Your choice." "So you're not going to try and talk me into it?" "Right now I'm going to study." "Nuclear something-fancy-name-ology." "Is that why you were late?" "You were studying?" "No." "Is that girl lzzie your girlfriend?" "No." "Do you want her to be your girlfriend?" "I got stuck with you because I was late, so if you don't mind, kid, kinda busy." " I'm 1 8, you know." " What?" "I'm not a kid." "I'm 1 8." "And I don't have to stay down here." "I could go back to my room." "So go." " lzzie's right." "You're an ass." " And I'm not an ass." "Well, OK, I am an ass." "But I'm a cute ass, right?" "How come you didn't kiss her?" "Thought you were leaving." "If I had a chance to kiss someone I liked, I wouldn't hesitate." "If I had the chance to lose the urine bag on my ankle, I wouldn't hesitate." "Then again I don't let my mommy do all my talking for me." " I don't like you." " Yes, you do." " Jerk." " Motormouth." " Baby-sitter." " Two-wheeler." "[laughs] Now that's politically incorrect." "[Burke] OK." "Looks like Mrs. Griswold is doing well." "[Burke] Suction." "Can we fix the mechanical stabilizer here?" "Right now it's gonna hit..." "Look at that." "A perfectly exposed, partially numb beating heart." "It's a beautiful thing." "[Burke] Code Red!" " [woman] Stand back!" " It caught fire." " Her heart's on fire." " [Burke] We have to save Mrs. Griswold." "[Burke] Begin fire protocol." "Code Red." " [alarm] - [man] We need wet towels!" " [Burke] Disconnect the leads." " [George] Got it." "[Burke] Any unnecessary personnel in this room, evacuate now." "Shut down the O2." " [George] On it." " [Burke] Start manual respiration." "[George] OK, I've got the Ambu bag." "Starting manual respiration." "[Burke] Gotta control this bleeding." "[Burke] Her vitals are stabilizing." "[Burke] We might just have a chance." "She was on fire." "I have never seen anything like that." "What was that?" " It was a freak accident." " I mean, she was on fire." " Yeah, you already said that." " I know." "But she was... on fire." " George." "You OK?" " She was on fire." "Hey." "That was intense." "Are you OK or..." "I'm fine." "O'Malley!" "Let's go." "[pager bleeps]" "I am so over this!" "[Cristina coughs]" "Hey, I heard a heart caught on fire in the OR?" "I am the best intern you've got." "And you are wasting me on puke and boils." "And I get it, I even deserve it, but please... you can't keep me away from this surgery." "I earned this surgery." "I stole this surgery." " What are you talking about, Yang?" " You." "Punishing me." "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" "Well, then, who has been paging me all day?" "The nurses have been on me nonstop." "Bit of respect and you could have saved yourself a very long day, Dr. Yang." " Hi, this is Debbie." " Pissing off the nurses." " Stupid." " Well, I can still scrub in, right?" "[Addison] He wants me to move here, Richard." "To pick up everything and move." "Don't stay for him, Addison." "Stay for me." "Stay for yourself." " Richard, I..." " In Seattle, you'll be front-page news." "With your reputation and the money I'll put into promoting you," "Seattle Grace will become the foremost neonatal hospital west of Manhattan." "[Addison laughs]" " You're serious?" " I'll put my money where my mouth is." " Turn around." "Walk away." " From what?" " From my intern." " What?" "I wasn't." "Yeah." "Yes, you were." "Come on, look, you can't do this." "You don't have the right." "Not anymore." " I just want to find out if she's OK." " She's not." "She's a human traffic accident and everybody's looking at the wreckage." "She's doing the best she can with what she has left." "I know you can't see this because you're in it, but you can't help her now." "You'll only make it worse." "Walk away." "Leave her to mend." "Go on!" "It's not that I don't want the operation." "I do." "I want things." "It's just..." "What if I'm not ready?" "Ready for what?" "For everything." "For taking care of myself, for being on my own." "For sex." "For love." "I've never had a boyfriend." "I've never even been kissed." "I'm like the oldest living prospective college freshman not to go to first base." " [Alex] Nah." " [laughs] It's mortifying." "There are way older losers than you, trust me." "Alex." "Would you kiss me?" "What?" "I know you're a doctor, I'm your patient, and it's against the rules." "But I would never tell anyone." "For a kiss to be really good, you want it to mean something." "You want it to be with someone you can't get out of your head." "So that when your lips finally touch, you feel it everywhere." "A kiss so hot and so deep you never want to come up for air." "You can't cheat your first kiss, Nicole." "Trust me, you don't want to." "Because when you find that right person, a first kiss is everything." " [Mr. Griswold] Her heart..." " [Burke] Caught on fire." "There will of course be an investigation." "But you should know this is not unusual as it sounds." "Your wife is going to be fine." "She's well." "We completed the operation." "And I expect that she will make a full recovery." "[Mr. Griswold groans]" "Mr. Griswold?" "[Mr. Griswold laughs]" "So..." "That's it, isn't it?" "Her heart caught on fire in the middle of her fifth open-heart operation, and she survived." "Well, she's like some... some mythical monster." "She's never gonna die!" "Mr. Griswold?" "Mr. Griswold, I know this is an emotional time for you." " If you'd like to wait..." " Wait?" "No, no, I'm not waiting any longer." "You tell her..." "Tell her..." "Hell, tell her... she'll survive without me!" "We can add two more, standing room only." " Hey, hands off!" " [Meredith] What is going on in here?" " Everybody out!" " We already have a..." "Out!" "Mr. Herman is a patient, a surgical patient, who's sick and embarrassed and tired of being stared at!" "You two, this isn't a zoo!" "Out, out, out!" "You know, if all of you want to point and whisper and stare at me, knock yourselves out!" "Look at Meredith, isn't she sad, pathetic and heartbroken?" "Maybe she's gone mental." "Maybe I have!" "But leave Mr. Herman alone!" "You should be ashamed of yourself." "And what are you looking at?" "So do you tell his wife, or should I?" "This is..." "I want to thank you for helping me out in the surgery today, O'Malley." "It was a high-pressure situation today and you were on top of it." "Well, thank you, Dr. Burke." "And, I'm sorry about before, about, you know, bringing up you and Cristina." "That... just like..." "You're still my guy, O'Malley." "Still my guy." "I always thought I'd hold your hand in the delivery room." "I'll let you know when the surgery is over, OK?" "OK." "This is as far as I go." "Hey, Dr. Grey." "Don't let them show it off, you know." "Put it in a jar, or pass it around or nothing." " Your teratoma?" " Yeah." "I feel weird about having my insides on display like that." " You promise?" " I promise." "[Meredith] At the end of the day, there are some things you just can't help but talk about." "[Baile7] You really want to be the one to dispose of this, Grey?" "[Meredith] I made a promise." "I am worried about my career." "I'm worried about my reputation and my..." "I will not be Meredith Grey." "People won't make allowances for..." "This is not about making allowances and you know that." " Everyone will know." " That's the point." "I don't want to tell the chief, OK?" "I just... don't." "Some things we just don't want to hear." "And some things we say because we can't be silent any longer." "I'm getting the operation." " She's clearly not considering..." " [man] She is considering." "I'm getting the operation." "You two talk and talk." "But you notice how you never ask me anything?" "Part of it's my fault." "I let you do it." "But I'm not cheating anymore." "I'm not sitting back and giving over control, because I am ready to handle things for myself." "Some things are more than what you say." "They're what you do." "I appreciate your candor, Preston." "I can take whatever you threw at Shepherd." " I don't need special treatment." " You're not gonna get any." "You're not married." "You're not hiding." "You came to me." "You clearly value your relationship." "What you two have together, I understand that, Preston." "And it does matter." "Some things you say because there's no other choice." "I've given it a lot of consideration." "And I've decided to move to Seattle." "And, well, Meredith won't be an issue anymore." "She's out of my life." "It's..." "Well, it's taken care of." "I must say, this is remarkable progress." "I applaud both of you." "You've taken a very significant leap." "That's what marriage is about." "Compromise." "Right?" "Yeah, it's, well, it's about, well, give and take." "Some things you keep to yourself." "[Joe] She yelled at you?" "Well, we probably deserved it." "We sold $485 worth of tickets to the surgery." "Yeah." "Did you sell more?" " Oh, yeah." " [lzzie] Out of control." " Hey, Joe." " Hey." "So you guys really don't have anything else to talk about?" "[all] No." "And not too often, but every now and then..." "What?" "What?" "...some things simply speak for themselves." "Good night." " [Cristina] Wow." " Seriously." "[laughing]" |
Q:
XMLHttpRequest cannot load https://sandbox.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt. Origin is not allowed by Access-Control-Allow-Origin
Apple seems to not be liking my ajax requests. I'm trying to verify the receipt in a PhoneGap app after an in-app purchase.
// prepare JSON object for Apple
/* Retrieve the receipt data from the transaction’s transactionReceipt property (on iOS) or from the receipt file inside the application bundle (on OS X) and encode it using base64 encoding.
Create a JSON object with a single key named receipt-data and the string you created in step 1. Your JSON code should look like this:
{
"receipt-data" : "(receipt bytes here)"
} */
var data = JSON.stringify({
'receipt-data' : btoa(transactionReceipt)
});
if(DEBUG) console.log('Data: ' + data);
var url = 'https://' + (DEBUG ? 'sandbox' : 'buy') + '.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt';
if(DEBUG) console.log('URL: ' + url);
// send the POST request
/* Post the JSON object to the App Store using an HTTP POST request. The URL for the store is https://buy.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt. */
$.ajax(url, {
type: 'POST',
data: data,
dataType: 'json',
success: function(data) {
console.log('Request returned successfully.');
// parse the response
/*
The response received from the App Store is a JSON object with two keys, status and receipt. It should look something like this:
{
"status" : 0,
"receipt" : { (receipt here) }
}
If the value of the status key is 0, this is a valid receipt. If the value is anything other than 0, this receipt is invalid.
*/
if(data.status === 0)
console.log("Receipt is valid.");
},
error : function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
console.error('Request failed with response code ' + errorThrown);
}
});
I am using jQuery and have:
$(document).bind("mobileinit", function () {
// xss
$.support.cors = true;
$.mobile.allowCrossDomainPages = true;
}
Has anyone tried verifying their receipt via ajax and had this problem?
Thanks.
A:
Domain whitelisting in Apache Cordova is a security model that
controls access to outside domains, such as http://google.com. The
default security policy is to block all network access
http://docs.phonegap.com/guide_whitelist_index.md.html
|
Adoree' Jackson
Adoree' K. Jackson (born September 18, 1995) is an American football cornerback and return specialist for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Titans in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Early years
Jackson was born on September 18, 1995, in Belleville, Illinois. During his freshman year in high school, he attended Belleville East High School. He moved to California prior to his sophomore year in high school. Jackson attended Junípero Serra High School in Gardena, California. He played numerous positions including wide receiver, running back, defensive back, and return specialist. Jackson was rated by Rivals.com as a five-star recruit and was ranked as the number one athlete and sixth best player overall in his class. He committed to the University of Southern California (USC) to play college football. Jackson also played basketball and ran track and field in high school.
College career
Jackson majored in communications with a real estate minor at USC. Jackson played in 12 games as a true freshman in 2014. He played cornerback, wide receiver, and return specialist. He was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. In the 2014 Holiday Bowl, he had a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown and a 71-yard touchdown reception in USC's 45–42 win. He finished his freshman season with 50 tackles, three receiving touchdowns, and two return touchdowns.
Jackson was named a Freshman All-American by Football Writers Association of America and Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year by the Pac-12 coaches.
In the 2015 season, Jackson finished with 27 receptions for 414 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. In addition, he recorded two punt return touchdowns and one interception return for a touchdown.
Jackson placed fifth in the long jump (almost 26 feet) and 4th in the 4×100 meters 2015 NCAA outdoor track and field championship earning two All-American awards. He also won the 2015 Pac-12 Conference Championship long jump.
On November 12, 2016, Jackson intercepted two passes from Washington's quarterback Jake Browning, helping the Trojans win their fifth straight game and upset the fourth-ranked Huskies, who were undefeated at the time.
On December 8, 2016, Jackson was awarded the 2016 Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back.
On January 16, 2017, Jackson announced he would forego his senior season and enter the 2017 NFL Draft.
College statistics
Defense
Offense & Special Teams
Source:
Professional career
NFL draft experts and analysts projected Jackson to be selected in the first or second round. Jackson received an invitation to the NFL combine and performed nearly every drill, except for the bench press, short shuttle, and three-cone drill. On March 22, 2017, he opted to participate at USC's Pro Day along with JuJu Smith-Schuster, Zach Banner, Justin Davis, Taylor McNamara, Stevie Tu'ikolovatu, Chad Wheeler, Leon McQuay III, Damien Mama, and six other prospects. He ran positional drills and completed the three-cone drill, while also meeting with team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams. Jackson was ranked the tenth best cornerback in the draft by Sports Illustrated, ranked the seventh best cornerback by ESPN, ranked the sixth best by NFLDraftScout.com, was ranked the fifth best cornerback by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and was ranked the second best cornerback by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks.
The Tennessee Titans selected Jackson in the first round (18th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.
2017 season: Rookie year
On May 23, 2017, the Titans signed him to a fully guaranteed four-year, $11.28 million contract that also includes a signing bonus of $6.34 million. He competed with Logan Ryan, LeShaun Sims, Brice McCain, and Kalan Reed throughout training camp for the vacant starting cornerback positions after the departure of Jason McCourty and Perrish Cox during the off season. Head coach Mike Mularkey named him the starting cornerback, opposite Logan Ryan, and punt returner to begin the regular season.
Jackson made his NFL debut in the season-opener against the Oakland Raiders. He recorded four solo tackles, two pass deflections, and a punt return for 35 yards in their 16–26 loss. On September 17, 2017, Jackson recorded 3 solo tackles and returned 2 punts for 55 yards as the Titans defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars by a score of 37-16. On September 24, 2017, he collected five combined tackles, defended two passes, and returned five punts for a total of 51 yards in the Titans' 33–27 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. On November 5, 2017, Jackson recorded eight combined tackles, deflected a pass, and had his first career carry for a 20-yard gain in a 23–20 win against the Baltimore Ravens.
Jackson finished his rookie season with 70 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 17 pass deflections, 868 return yards, and 55 rushing yards.
The Titans finished second in the AFC South with a 9–7 record and made the playoffs as a Wild Card team. In the Wild Card Round against the Kansas City Chiefs, Jackson had four tackles and 61 return yards as the Titans narrowly won 22-21. In the Divisional Round against the New England Patriots, he had three tackles and 83 return yards in the 35–14 loss.
2018 season
During Week 2 against the Houston Texans, Jackson recorded his first NFL interception by picking off Deshaun Watson in the 20-17 victory. Three weeks later, he recorded his second interception by picking off Josh Allen in the narrow 13-12 road loss. The Titans finished the 2018 season with a 9-7 record and barely missed out on the playoffs.
Jackson finished the 2018 season with 73 tackles, 10 pass deflections, and 2 interceptions.
NFL statistics
Regular season
Defense
Offense & Special Teams
Postseason
Defense
Offense & Special Teams
Personal life
Jackson's mom, Vianca Jackson, is a breast cancer survivor. She was honored as the 12th Titan prior to a 2017 home game against the Indianapolis Colts.
References
External links
USC Trojans bio
Category:1995 births
Category:Living people
Category:Sportspeople from Belleville, Illinois
Category:Players of American football from Illinois
Category:American football cornerbacks
Category:American football wide receivers
Category:American football return specialists
Category:USC Trojans football players
Category:USC Trojans men's track and field athletes
Category:Tennessee Titans players
Category:All-American college football players |
Mixomics analysis of breast cancer: Long non-coding RNA linc01561 acts as ceRNA involved in the progression of breast cancer.
This study aimed at finding the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), miRNA and mRNA which played critical roles in breast cancer (BrCa) by using mixOmics R package. The BrCa dataset were obtained from TCGA and then analyzed using "DESeq2" R package. Multivariate analyses were performed with the "mixOmics" R package and the first component of the stacked partial least-Squares discriminant analysis results were used for searching the interested lncRNA, miRNA and mRNA. qRT-PCR was applied to identify the bioinformatics results in four BrCa cell lines (MCF7, BT-20, ZR-75-1, and MX-1) and the breast epithelial cell line MCF-10 A. Then cells (MCF-1 and MX-1) were transfected with si-linc01561, miR-145-5p mimics and si-MMP11 to further investigate the effects of linc01561, miR-145-5p and MMP11 on the BrCa cells proliferation and apoptosis. MixOmics results showed that linc01561, miR-145-5p and MMP11 might play important roles in BrCa. qRT-PCR results identified that in BrCa cell lines, linc01561 and MMP11 were higher expressed while miR-145-5p was lower expressed compared with those in epithelial cell line. The linc01561 inhibition elevated miR-145-5p expression and then suppressed MMP11 expression. Moreover, linc01561 inhibition suppressed the BrCa cells proliferation and promoted the apoptosis, which was realized by up-regulating expression of miR-145-5p and down-regulating expression of MMP11. In summary, the findings of this study, based on ceRNA theory, combining the research foundation of miR-145-5p and MMP11, and taking linc01561 as a new study point, provide new insight into molecular-level reversing proliferation and apoptosis of BrCa. |
We study an idealized model of body–vortex interaction in two dimensions. The fluid is incompressible and inviscid and assumed to occupy the entire unbounded plane except for a simply connected region representing a rigid body. There may be a constant circulation around the body. The fluid also contains a finite number of point vortices of constant circulation but is otherwise irrotational. We assign a mass distribution to the body and let it move and rotate freely in response to the force and torque exerted by the fluid. Conversely, the fluid moves in response to the body motion. We study the occurrence of chaos in the system of ODEs emerging from these assumptions. It is well-known that the system consisting of a circular body with uniform mass distribution interacting with a single point vortex is integrable. Here we investigate how this integrability breaks down when the body center-of-mass is displaced from its geometrical center. We find two distinct regions of chaos and discuss how they relate to the topology of the trajectories of body and vortex. |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to driving a material handling vehicle and more particularly to remote driving of a vehicle from a cab on a movable upper structure thru a powershift transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Frequently, a heavy duty material handling mechanism, such as a crane or excavator, is mounted from an upper structure supported by a lower or truck chassis. The truck chassis is capable of being driven over the road or highway under the control of an operator in the main truck cab. The material handling mechanism is supported on the upper structure which is mounted from a swing bearing for relative movement with respect to the supporting truck chassis. An operators cab is provided on the upper structure for operating the material handling mechanism. During operation at a construction site, an operator in the operators cab can control movement of the truck chassis. U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,814 teaches a remote drive mechanism for powering the drive wheels from an auxiliary engine mounted on the upper structure.
In an excavator as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,814 the excavator is wheel mounted for mobility and has two engines, one on the truck chassis, primarily used for transporting the excavator between job sites, and one on the upper chassis, for powering the excavator functions. The chassis engine is turned off when the excavator is operating at a job site to conserve fuel and extend engine life. The auxiliary excavator engine is then utilized to supply hydraulic power to the excavator functions, and when the operator needs to move the vehicle this hydraulic power is delivered to the truck chassis and drives a hydraulic motor which is connected to the chassis drive system. A mechanical transmission operable from the truck chassis, is utilized for selecting the speed ratio at which the hydraulic motor can position the excavator. A limitation of this type remote drive is that an operator skilled in using a mechanical transmission is required and the gear ratio selection must be made before the operator leaves the truck chassis cab. Varying conditions on the job site may require an operator to go from the excavator cab to the truck cab to adjust the gear ratios. This results in lost time and productivity. Further a mechanical transmission allows only a limited speed in reverse gears. |
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
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ARVADA, Colo. -- Police have arrested one person in connection to a burglary case and residents in Arvada are thrilled, giving credit to investigators and their social media efforts.
Dale Simpson said someone broke into his neighbor's truck and stole items inside.
A neighbor reported seeing a suspicious vehicle leaving the neighborhood about the same time. Simpson posted on Facebook and Nextdoor, asking people to be on the lookout.
"The criminals didn’t stand a chance when you had that many people working together and providing that level of information to police," Simpson said.
Simpson said residents were able to see where the vehicle had been spotted and its proximity to other car break-ins.
"In this situation, we had a common enemy and we knew what the common enemy was driving," Simpson said.
Arvada Police Department spokesman David Snelling said investigators have been able to make one arrest and said the investigation is ongoing.
"The big thing is people shouldn’t let their guard down just because we arrest one or two people," Snelling said.
Snelling said while social media can be helpful to investigators, it's important to get information found online to police immediately instead of letting it get shared around online.
"By the time it gets to the police department, it’s polluted," Snelling said.
Simpson hopes the case inspires others to work together.
"Whether you’re the victim or see your neighbors be the victim of the crime, there is always something you can do to counter it and make a difference," Simpson said. |
David Holmes: Three million hits for motorcyclist's crash film Published duration 5 September 2014
media caption David Holmes, 38, was riding at 97mph when he was killed on the A47
A video showing the moment a motorcyclist was killed in a crash with a car has been viewed online more than three million times.
David Holmes, 38, was riding at about 97mph (156 km/h) when he died on the A47 at Honingham, Norfolk, last year.
Norfolk Police posted a video of the crash, filmed by a camera on Mr Holmes' helmet, on Thursday.
Ch Insp Chris Spinks said it had generated a "truly remarkable" amount of discussion about road safety.
Mr Holmes' family allowed the film's release in a bid to try to stop more road deaths.
It shows Mr Holmes travelling from King's Lynn and overtaking several cars and motorbikes before being hit by a Renault Clio as it turned at a junction.
image copyright Norfolk Police image caption David Holmes was killed instantly in the crash with the car last year
Mr Holmes is heard making an agonised call as he realises he cannot avoid the crash.
The driver of the car was prosecuted in April.
Mr Holmes' mother, Brenda, is shown on the video talking about the heartache of losing a child and makes a plea for people to be more careful on the roads.
She said if the video could save one life, it would be worth it.
"It has a huge shock impact and the difference is it's not a staged, mocked up advert," she said.
"It's real. It's a real life, and a real life lost."
image copyright Norfolk Police image caption The video shows how David Holmes was thrown from his bike
image copyright Norfolk Police image caption The driver of the Renault Clio told police he had not seen the motorbike
Hundreds of comments have been left on Norfolk Police's Facebook post about the video, with many saying it was a warning to both car drivers and bike riders.
Mr Spinks said: "The fact the public has taken such an interest means they are talking about road safety, which was our aim all along." |
As concerns about the coronavirus mount, Bay Area experts are worrying about what will happen if the infection strikes the region’s most vulnerable residents: the homeless.
Tent and RV encampments, where residents tend to be packed tightly together in unsanitary conditions, could provide an ideal breeding ground for the new COVID-19 virus sweeping the globe. Typical precautionary measures — such as avoiding close contact with others, self-isolating when you’re sick and washing hands frequently — are all but impossible in encampments with no solid walls or running water.
If they are infected, homeless people face a higher risk of getting very sick from the disease, experts say. They tend to be older, and their immune systems already may be compromised by other chronic illnesses, drug or alcohol use, and the harsh realities of street living.
It could become a major problem throughout California, which not only has more confirmed cases of coronavirus than any other state, but also holds the nation’s largest population of homeless residents. And thousands of those unhoused people are in the Bay Area.
“I think we’re all worried about it,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
The worry has become more pronounced in recent days. The public learned a Solano County resident appears to be the nation’s first coronavirus patient to contract the illness from an unknown source, amplifying concerns that the virus will start spreading within the state.
So far, the agencies and nonprofits tasked with taking care of the Bay Area’s homeless seem to be watching, planning and waiting, but have yet to reveal specific new policies to protect the unhoused. A California Department of Public Health representative said the agency is monitoring the situation.
“Persons experiencing homelessness are not likely to have any particular risk for COVID-19 related to international travel or exposure to recent travelers,” a spokeswoman wrote in an emailed statement. “However, as the situation evolves, the California Department of Public Health and local health departments in California will engage with groups at risk of exposure and provide information on how people can best protect their health.”
As soon as the CDC on Tuesday warned Americans that it’s not a matter of if the coronavirus will spread within the U.S., but when, the Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos began working on a plan to protect its clients, staff and volunteers, said Executive Director Tom Myers. The agency provides aid to the homeless, low-income families and seniors, and Myers worries about the virus spreading through all three of those populations.
His team’s prevention plan, which he hopes to have ready by Monday, may include precautions such as changing the way the agency operates its food pantry program — a service that draws hundreds of people every day. Workers might start donning masks and gloves before handing out food, he said. And they might begin pre-bagging food and distributing it outside the center to reduce foot traffic through the building.
“Quite frankly, we feel like we need to be incredibly proactive on this and look at what is a worst-case scenario,” Myers said.
The staff at Bay Area Community Services, an Oakland-based nonprofit, is waiting for guidance from the public health sector, said Daniel Cooperman, director of housing strategy.
“It’s obviously impacting the whole world at this point,” he said, “so it’s something we’re closely monitoring and worried about.”
The Alameda County Public Health Department is “considering the unique needs of our unhoused populations,” spokeswoman Neetu Balram wrote in an emailed statement.
“From our experience with previous outbreaks, curbing the spread of disease is a community effort and we will need the partnership of our cities and nonprofits,” Balram wrote. “We will share updated guidance with our partners as it becomes available, and will work with them to safeguard all of our communities.”
In Santa Clara County, a health department spokeswoman said the agency is working with local service providers to make sure information about health recommendations and emergency notifications reach the homeless.
For some experts, coronavirus brings to mind the hepatitis A outbreak that tore through California encampments in 2016 and 2017. After igniting in San Diego County, the disease — which can spread through close personal contact or via food and drinks contaminated with small amounts of infected stool — traveled up and down the coast, sickening more than 700 people and killing 21, according to the CDC. Bay Area Community Services quickly mobilized with county health care officials to vaccinate as many East Bay homeless residents as possible. And it worked — the outbreak largely missed the region, Cooperman said.
But there’s one big difference between coronavirus and hepatitis A: There’s no vaccine for coronavirus.
If the virus continues to spread, Kushel predicts agencies will distribute hand sanitizer and install more hand-washing stations in encampments. Hospitals also could lower their admission thresholds, she said, accepting people who have no home to rest, recuperate and self-quarantine in, even if they have minimal symptoms.
“Honestly, I think it’s going to be very challenging,” Kushel said.
Kushel also worries the coronavirus outbreak will be dangerous in other ways for the homeless even if they don’t get sick.
“My fear,” she said, “is that this will be used as another way to further stigmatize an already stigmatized and challenged population.” |
Different types of thoracic endografts.
The emerging role of stent-graft strategies for the management of thoracic aortic diseases has attracted growing acceptance, especially in considering the sobering results of open repair in thoracic high-risk settings (e.g., acute dissection, trauma, rupture). Aortic endograft technology for thoracic diseases has rapidly improved after the early use of first generation devices, and the new models show very promising early and mid-term success rates. To date there is no evidence of the superiority of any single device model over the others. Indeed, each device has some peculiarities that makes it more useful in specific settings. Current limitations in thoracic stent-grafts will hopefully be addressed with new designs of highly-individualized low-profile devices in order to extend the applicability of stent-graft technology in the thoracic aorta. Despite progress in configuration and flexibility and the greater availability of different devices compared to a decade ago, shortcomings of specific endovascular grafts including collapse, migration, or dislodgment have not been fully resolved. Nowadays the selection of patients on the basis of favourable anatomy and pathology is the key for the success of the procedure. Not all patients have lesions amenable to stent-graft repair (contraindications for endovascular treatment of thoracic aorta are still not marginal and mainly defined by anatomical constraints) and thoracic endografting is technically challenging, requiring dedicated facilities and experienced specialists. This paper discusses the different configurations and models of stent-graft for thoracic aortic disease as well as the still existing shortcomings. |
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Paracetamol
This factsheet has been written for members of the public by the UK Teratology Information Service (UKTIS). UKTIS is a not-for-profit organisation funded by Public Health England on behalf of UK Health Departments. UKTIS has been providing scientific information to health care providers since 1983 on the effects that medicines, recreational drugs and chemicals may have on the developing baby during pregnancy.
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What is it?
Paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen in some countries) is used to treat pain and fever and can be bought without a prescription.
Is it safe to take paracetamol in pregnancy?
Paracetamol has been used by pregnant women for many years without any obvious harmful effects on the developing baby. For this reason paracetamol is usually recommended as the first choice of painkiller for pregnant women. Other painkillers, including those sold over the counter without a prescription have not been shown to be any safer than paracetamol; some are not suitable for use during certain stages of pregnancy. Although it is not possible to say that any medicine is absolutely safe to use in pregnancy, there is currently no good evidence that paracetamol will harm your baby. It is however generally recommended that women who are pregnant use the lowest dose of paracetamol that works, only for as long as needed.
Paracetamol is sold both on its own and in combination with other medications e.g. in cold and flu remedies. It is important to make sure that the other medicines in combination products can be taken in pregnancy and that you do not take more than the daily recommended dose of paracetamol.
This leaflet summarises the scientific studies relating to the effects of paracetamol on a baby in the womb. This information will help you to weigh up the benefits of using paracetamol against the known or possible risks, some of which may depend on how many weeks pregnant you are.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause a miscarriage?
No increased risk of miscarriage was identified in either of two studies of women who took paracetamol during pregnancy.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause my baby to be born with birth defects?
A baby’s body and most internal organs are formed during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It is mainly during this time that some medicines are known to cause birth defects.
The majority of studies have shown that women who took paracetamol during the first three months of pregnancy are no more likely to have a baby with a birth defect than women who did not. Some studies have suggested that paracetamol use in pregnancy may increase the likelihood of male babies being born with undescended testes, although other studies have not agreed with this finding. A study using mice that was reported in the news suggested that use of paracetamol in pregnancy might reduce the levels of testosterone (a hormone important for male development) in the unborn offspring. Because this was an animal study, we do not know how it relates to human pregnancy. There is therefore currently no scientific proof that paracetamol causes birth defects, undescended testes, or changes in hormone levels.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause preterm birth?
No increased risk of giving birth too early (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) was shown in the one study which investigated this risk in women who took paracetamol during the third trimester.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause my baby to be small at birth (low birth weight)?
No increased risk of having a baby weighing less than 2500g at birth was identified with paracetamol use in pregnancy in the one study which investigated this.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause stillbirth?
No increased risk of stillbirth was identified with paracetamol use in pregnancy in the one study which investigated this.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause learning or behavioural problems in the child?
A baby’s brain continues to develop right up until the end of pregnancy. It is therefore possible that taking certain medicines at any stage of pregnancy could have a lasting effect on a child’s learning or behaviour. There is currently a lot of research into the possible causes of learning and behavioural problems, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, this is a very difficult area to study and there is currently only limited scientific information on the subject.
A small number of studies have looked at development, behaviour, and learning in children whose mothers took paracetamol during pregnancy. These studies are summarised below:
Studies of ADHD-like behaviour:• One small study of 4 year olds showed no link between exposure to paracetamol in the womb and problems with attention.
• One large study of 3 year olds showed a possible link between being exposed in the womb to paracetamol for more than 28 days and higher activity levels.
• One large study of children who were assessed at 5 and then again at 7 years of age, suggested that those exposed to paracetamol in the womb had a slightly increased chance of showing ADHD-like behaviour.
• Another study used two different tests to decide whether a group of children exposed to paracetamol in the womb were more likely to show ADHD-like behaviour than children not exposed. While one test showed that 7 year olds exposed to paracetamol in the womb may be at slightly increased risk of developing ADHD, the other test showed no increase in risk at this age. When the children were tested again aged 11 years, both of these tests agreed that there was no link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and increased risk of ADHD. However, when children at this age were asked about their own behaviour, those exposed to paracetamol were slightly more likely than those not exposed to say that they had certain behavioural problems that might be linked to ADHD.
• An additional study found that five year old children who had been exposed in the womb to paracetamol were no more likely to show ADHD symptoms than unexposed children.
• Although a large study of seven year olds showed that those who had been exposed to paracetamol in the womb were slightly more likely to be hyperactive and to have behavioural problems, further analysis of the data suggested that this may actually have been due to factors within the home after birth. The scientific quality of this study has been heavily criticised at scientific meetings and in letters that have been published in scientific journals.
Studies of other aspects of learning and behaviour:• One study showed that 12 year olds who had been exposed to paracetamol in the womb were no more likely to have psychiatric problems than those who had not been exposed.
• The large study of 3 year olds described above suggested that children who had been exposed to paracetamol in the womb for more than 28 days were more likely to have problems with behaviour, communication, and motor skills (i.e. use of muscles) than children who were not exposed. Lower levels of paracetamol use in pregnancy (use for less than 28 days) also appeared to be linked to problems with motor skills.
• The small study of 4 year olds described above showed no differences in intelligence (IQ) between those exposed in the womb to paracetamol and those not exposed.
• One large study of children aged at least ten years showed that those who were exposed in the womb to paracetamol were more likely than unexposed children to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) alongside ADHD-like symptoms. No link with ASD without ADHD symptoms was seen.
• One large study found that 5 year old children of women who took paracetamol during pregnancy were more likely to have reduced attention, and that some (but not all) aspects of behaviour that can indicate that a child might have autism spectrum disorder were more common in the boys, especially those who were exposed to paracetamol throughout pregnancy as opposed to occasionally. Exposure to paracetamol in the womb did not appear to have an effect on these children’s learning and motor skills.
The studies described above do not provide convincing scientific evidence that taking paracetamol in pregnancy causes problems with learning and behaviour the child. A number of doctors and scientists who are recognised experts in this subject have raised concerns about the quality of some of these studies, including the ways in which the information was collected and analysed, and the fact that other factors (such as the illness in the mother that paracetamol was being used to treat) could have caused the effects seen in children exposed in the womb to paracetamol. It has been widely reported in the media that these studies have shown that paracetamol use in pregnancy causes behavioural problems in the child. However, many experts agree that the evidence is not good enough to draw such conclusions, and that much more research is required before we can say whether the differences in learning and behaviour found in some of these studies are linked to paracetamol use in pregnancy.
Can taking paracetamol in pregnancy cause other health problems in the child?
Some scientific studies suggest that babies who were exposed to paracetamol in the womb may be more likely to experience episodes of wheezing or develop asthma in childhood. However, other studies do not confirm these findings and there is currently no firm scientific evidence that taking paracetamol in pregnancy increases your baby’s chance of wheezing or asthma later on in life. It is possible that women who need to take paracetamol are more likely to have a condition (such as asthma) that runs in families. This could explain why some studies have found a link.
Will my baby need extra monitoring during pregnancy?
As part of their routine antenatal care, most women will be offered a scan at around 20 weeks of pregnancy to look for birth defects and to check the baby’s growth.
Taking paracetamol during pregnancy is not expected to cause any problems that would require extra monitoring of your baby
Are there any risks to my baby if the father has taken paracetamol?
We would not expect any increased risk to your baby if the father took paracetamol before or around the time your baby was conceived.
Who can I talk to if I have questions?
If you have any questions regarding the information in this leaflet please discuss them with your health care provider. They can access more detailed medical and scientific information from www.uktis.org.
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General information
Up to 1 out of every 5 pregnancies ends in a miscarriage, and 1 in 40 babies are born with a birth defect. These are referred to as the background population risks. They describe the chance of these events happening for any pregnancy before taking factors such as the mother’s health during pregnancy, her lifestyle, medicines she takes and the genetic make up of her and the baby’s father into account.
Medicines use in pregnancy
Most medicines used by the mother will cross the placenta and reach the baby. Sometimes this may have beneficial effects for the baby. There are, however, some medicines that can harm a baby’s normal development. How a medicine affects a baby may depend on the stage of pregnancy when the medicine is taken. If you are on regular medication you should discuss these effects with your doctor/health care team before becoming pregnant.
If a new medicine is suggested for you during pregnancy, please ensure the doctor or health care professional treating you is aware of your pregnancy.
When deciding whether or not to use a medicine in pregnancy you need to weigh up how the medicine might improve your and/or your unborn baby’s health against any possible problems that the drug may cause. Our bumps leaflets are written to provide you with a summary of what is known about use of a specific medicine in pregnancy so that you can decide together with your health care provider what is best for you and your baby.
Every pregnancy is unique. The decision to start, stop, continue or change a prescribed medicine before or during pregnancy should be made in consultation with your health care provider.It is very helpful if you can record all your medication taken in pregnancy in your hand held maternity records.
www.medicinesinpregnancy.org
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to replace the individual care and advice of your health care provider. New information is continually becoming available. Whilst every effort will be made to ensure that this information is accurate and up to date at the time of publication, we cannot cover every eventuality and the information providers cannot be held responsible for any adverse outcomes following decisions made on the basis of this information. We strongly advise that printouts should NOT be kept for any length of time, or for “future reference” as they can rapidly become out of date. |
Barry Unsworth
Barry Unsworth FRSL (10 August 19304 June 2012) was an English writer known for his historical fiction. He published 17 novels, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, winning once for the 1992 novel Sacred Hunger.
Biography
Unsworth was born on 10 August 1930 in Wingate, a mining village in County Durham, England, to a family of miners. His father first entered the mines at age 12 and ordinarily Unsworth would have followed him as a miner. However, when his father was 19, he travelled to the United States for a few years and on returning to Britain entered the insurance business and thus began moving his family up the economic ladder and out of the mines. "He rescued my brother and me from that long chain of continuity that happens in mining villages," Unsworth said.
He graduated from the University of Manchester in 1951, and lived in France for a year teaching English. He also travelled extensively in Greece and Turkey during the 1960s, lecturing at the University of Athens and the University of Istanbul. His novels about fin-de-siecle Ottoman Empire, The Rage of the Vulture and Pascali's Island, were inspired by these experiences. He published his first novel in 1966, his second novel, The Greeks Have a Word For It, was an outgrowth of his teaching experience in Athens.
In 1999 he was a visiting professor at the University of Iowa's Iowa Writers' Workshop. In 2004 he taught literature and creative writing classes at Kenyon College in Ohio.
In the last years of his life, he lived in Perugia, a city in the Umbria region of Italy, with his second wife, a Finnish national. His novel After Hannibal is a fictionalised description of his efforts at settlement in the Italian countryside.
Unsworth died in Perugia, Italy in 2012, of lung cancer. He was 81. Unsworth died the same day as Ray Bradbury; as Cynthia Crossen said in the Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Bradbury invented the future; Mr. Unsworth invented the past."
Work
Unsworth's first novel, The Partnership, was published in 1966 when he was 36. "...in my earlier novels, especially the two written in the early '70s, The Hide and Mooncranker's Gift, there was a baroque quality in the style, a density. The mood was grim, but the language was more figurative and more high-spirited. There was more delight in it, more self-indulgence, too. Among my earliest influences as a writer were the American novelists of the deep south, especially Eudora Welty, and some of that elated, grotesque comedy stayed with me." Mooncranker's Gift (1973) won the Heinemann Award). Other novels included Stone Virgin (1985) and Losing Nelson (1999). In addition to Eudora Welty, he counted William Faulkner and Carson McCullers as his major influences.
Unsworth did not start to write historical fiction until his sixth novel, Pascali's Island (1980), the first of his novels to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Pascali's Island is set on an unnamed Aegean island during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Reflecting on this shift, Unsworth explained: "Nowadays I go to Britain relatively rarely and for short periods; in effect, I have become an expatriate. The result has been a certain loss of interest in British life and society and a very definite loss of confidence in my ability to register the contemporary scene there – the kind of things people say, the styles of dress, the politics etc.– with sufficient subtlety and accuracy. So I have turned to the past. The great advantage of this, for a writer of my temperament at least, is that one is freed from a great deal of surface clutter. One is enabled to take a remote period and use it as a distant mirror (to borrow Barbara Tuchman’s phrase), and so try to say things about our human condition – then and now – which transcend the particular period and become timeless." A film version directed by James Dearden, starring Charles Dance, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley, as the title character, was released in 1988.
Morality Play, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995, is a murder mystery set in 14th century England about a travelling troupe of players that put on Bible plays. It was adapted as a film, The Reckoning (2003), starring Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe.
Sacred Hunger (1992) centres on the Atlantic slave trade that moves from Liverpool to West Africa, Florida and the West Indies. It was joint winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1992, along with Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. It is generally considered his masterpiece. The story is set in the mid-18th century and centres around the Liverpool Merchant, a slave ship employed in the triangular trade, a central trade route in the Atlantic slave trade. The two main characters are cousins Erasmus Kemp, son of a wealthy merchant from Lancashire, and Matthew Paris, a physician and scientist who goes on the voyage. The novel's central theme is greed, with the subject of slavery being a primary medium for exploring how selfish desire for profit can result in evil and barbarism. The "sacred hunger" of the title refers to the profit motive. The story line has a very extensive cast of characters, some featuring in only one scene, others continually developed throughout the story, but most described in intricate detail. The narrative interweaves elements of appalling cruelty and horror with extended comedic interludes, and employs frequent period expressions. A sequel, The Quality of Mercy, was published in 2011, it was his last book.
Sugar and Rum (1988) was a novel set in contemporary Liverpool about a writer who is trying to write a novel about the Liverpool slave trade, and who is suffering from writer's block; Unsworth wrote this novel to try to get over his own block during the writing of Sacred Hunger.
Style
Unsworth's style is not heaped in historical minutiae, "I don't really care how many buttons someone had on his waistcoat. It would be good to get it right, but what really matters is trying to get hold of the spirit of the age, what it was like to be alive in that age, what it felt like to be…an ordinary person in the margins of history."
In regards to writing and growing old, Unsworth said, "With time I have grown more sparing with the words. I think less of fire-works and flourishes. I try to get warmth and colour through precision of language. This is more difficult, I think, which may be why I find writing novels so challenging and exacting."
Some critics have attacked historical fiction as being un-literary, for example James Wood writing in The New Yorker called it a "somewhat gimcrack genre not exactly jammed with greatness." However Unsworth defended the form, saying "The term historical fiction is a blunt instrument in literary criticism. When people ask, 'Is it a good historical novel?' they may as well ask, 'Is it a good Protestant novel?' or 'Is it a good transvestite novel?' I write stories that are set in the past. Fiction set in the past should be judged by the same criteria as any other fiction. Does the novel convey a sense of life, touch the reader's mind and heart? Does it belong to what D.H. Lawrence called the one bright book of life?"
Awards and honours
1973 Heinemann Award, Mooncranker's Gift
1980 Booker Prize, shortlist, Pascali's Island
1992 Booker Prize, co-winner, Sacred Hunger
1995 Booker Prize, shortlist, Morality Play
2006 Booker Prize, longlist, The Ruby in Her Navel
2012 Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, The Quality of Mercy
List of works
Novels
The Partnership (1966)
The Greeks Have a Word For It (1967)
The Hide (1970)
Mooncranker's Gift (1973)
The Big Day (1976)
Pascali's Island (1980) (US edition first published as The Idol Hunter)
The Rage of the Vulture (1982)
Stone Virgin (1985)
Sugar and Rum (1988)
Sacred Hunger (1992)
Morality Play (1995)
After Hannibal (1996)
Losing Nelson (1999)
The Songs of the Kings (2002)
The Ruby in Her Navel (2006)
Land of Marvels (2009)
The Quality of Mercy (2011)
Nonfiction
Crete (2004)
References
External links
Audio recordings from Key West Literary Seminar, 2009: Unsworth reading from Land of Marvels | 'The Economy of Truth' (lecture) | 'Why Bother with the Past?' (lecture)
Land of Marvels broadcast interview on WFMT Radio
Category:1930 births
Category:2012 deaths
Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester
Category:Booker Prize winners
Category:Deaths from cancer in Italy
Category:Deaths from lung cancer
Category:English historical novelists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
Category:Kenyon College faculty
Category:People from Wingate, County Durham
Category:20th-century English novelists
Category:21st-century British novelists |
814 So.2d 515 (2002)
Marion ASHLEY, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 3D01-2098.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
April 24, 2002.
*516 Marion Ashley, in proper person.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Steven R. Berger, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., GODERICH and SORONDO, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Affirmed. Wright v. State, 711 So.2d 66 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)(defendant precluded by doctrine of laches from bringing motion for post conviction relief where there has been lack of due diligence on the part of defendant in bringing forth claim and prejudice to the state); See State v. Oakley, 715 So.2d 956 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)(defendant would be subject to deportation on other felony conviction regardless of plea in this case).
|
In spite of these
tough times, some hotels are doing better than others and a few hotels are
actually doing quite well. This anomaly sparked my curiosity; was this
solely a result of local market variations or could it be a result of better
management aptitude in some hotels?
My conclusion is that
it is more than likely a combination of both factors. As hoteliers, we have
little control over market conditions, but total control over how we conduct
business and how we react to market variations. It's a matter of how well
hotel managers deal with fluctuations in the marketplace and how well they
lead their teams during tough times.
I have always
believed that open-minded and informed managers are those who are constantly
seeking opportunities to improve
their bottom-line. Nothing happens in a vacuum; sharing ideas and opinions
through reading and exchanging thoughts stimulates learning. Curious hotel
owners and managers are always thirsty to learn new techniques and apply
them.
There are many good
eZines which are free and chock-full of great ideas and opinions. These
daily and weekly publications enable owners and managers to sift through the
experiences of others and learn from them. …never say that you don't have
time to read and learn.
Drop That Doom and Gloom Mentality
"Misery loves
company", but some managers go a little too far. My observation has been
that successful hotel managers have the ability to maintain a positive aura
when dealing with peers and subordinates. Don't get me wrong, the current
market, and future near-term forecast, make this very difficult, but a doom
and gloom mentality has never solved anything. Peers and subordinates will
always mirror the mind-set of their leaders.
Surely, the economic
woes of the country have made it difficult to maintain positive energy, but
successful leaders find a way to generate a positive work atmosphere. I
will, no doubt, date myself when I recall Norman Vincent Peale's "The power
of positive thinking".
A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome
of every situation and action.. Be
careful not to share negative thoughts and comments with peers and
subordinates.
How Many Balls Are You Juggling?
For the past decade
or so, cost-cutting and business efficiency measures have forced most hotel
operations to multi-task job duties and responsibilities for management. By
adding new job duties and responsibilities to someone who already has a
full-time job responsibility, we have made it more and more difficult for
managers to achieve acceptable results in all areas.
I see this every day
in the area of Internet marketing. Few hotels can afford to employ someone
to be solely responsible for the Internet and electronic marketing. These
areas are generally assigned to someone who already has another full-time
job responsibility. In some hotels, this responsibility is given to someone
with little or no experience in Internet marketing at all.
Although there are
some people who perform multi-tasking very well, many others have a tough
time doing all their assigned tasks equally well. In many cases, this has
created a whole new tendency to accept mediocre results in some areas.
In The Hotel Business, Time is Not Our Friend
Along with the
combining of job responsibilities came the compression of time which can be
devoted to each assigned task.
Internet and other electronic marketing strategies are a relatively new
marketing opportunity for hotels. It's ironic that Internet marketing
matured during the era of multi-tasking popularity; this is a double whammy
on our allotment of time.
Time is always a
finite commodity; we cannot create more. The only thing we can do is to use
time in the best way possible. During this age of multi-tasking, performing
one task has to detract from the time devoted to doing something else;
leading to prioritization.
Prioritizing tasks is
an absolute must, today, this can best be done by management leaders, who
have an overall view of all the property goals. Left to their own devices,
most middle management people will choose those tasks in which they are most
familiar; not necessarily those which would provide the greater benefit to
the hotel. They will learn by seeing what is most important to management
leadership and best for the overall hotel operation.
At the risk of
sounding self-serving, limited out-sourcing of specific Internet and
electronic marketing responsibilities could be a viable solution for many
hotel operations. Hoteliers can establish time and expense limitations as
well as set specific goals and desired results. Internet analytics also
allows for specific measurement of every task; not possible with most other
marketing actions.
Your webmaster should
be a part of your electronic marketing team. Include your webmaster when
meeting with your team to discuss Internet marketing strategies. You can
develop a solid two-way dialogue to
optimize business. Go-To-Meeting is an excellent online tool to handle this;
it also eliminates transportation expense.
Time is of the
essence. Some hoteliers are attempting to wait-out the recession by simply
managing expenses until business improves; smart hoteliers are aggressively
marketingtheir hotels to gain
market share and be in a superior position when the economy recovers. When
times are tough, the smart get going. |
Statistical and bioinformatic methods are proposed to identify regulatory motifs in non-coding DNA sequence using the wealth of sequence and microarray data currently being produced for model organisms. These methods will be generalized to humans, to assist in the understanding of mutations in non-coding DNA associated with disease susceptibility. Specific aims include developing statistical methods for motif discovery, using the combination of sequence and microarray data. The proposed methods find candidate motifs in the regulatory regions of genes most over-expressed in an experimental condition, using a new motif-finding algorithm that uses subsets of sequences that are more abundant with a target motif. Association between the motif occurrence in each gene's regulatory region and the global gene expression pattern is tested to determine significant motifs. Methods are also proposed to identify genes that are co-regulated by a combination of motifs, using regression and analysis of variance techniques. Bayesian hierarchical temporal models for the analysis of microarray data are also proposed to identify genes whose expression changes over time and clusters of genes with similar temporal expression patterns. The proposed methods will be evaluated using data from the model organisms Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Bacillus subtilis. Finally, software will be developed to implement these methods, and will be documented and made publicly available for use by genomics practitioners. |
Use of chemiluminescent DNA probes in the rapid detection of oxacillin resistance in clinically isolated strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
Chemiluminescent DNA probes (AccuProbe, species specific; and FlashTrack, bacterial generic) were used to determine oxacillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Ribosomal RNA was measured at designated intervals in the presence and absence of antibiotic. A total of 48 (AccuProbe assay) and 24 (FlashTrack) S. aureus isolates with known oxacillin susceptibility patterns were inoculated into Bactec 6A bottles both with and without 4 micrograms/ml oxacillin and incubated at 35 degrees C for 4 h. Aliquots were removed at 0 and 4 h, and pellets of bacteria were obtained via selective centrifugation. Probe assay counts (relative light units, RLUs) were performed. Of 21 oxacillin-resistant S. aureus (ORSA) strains, 20 showed a > 5-fold RLU increase during the incubation period (Accu-Probe assay): 25 of 27 oxacillin-susceptible strains demonstrated a < or = 4-fold increase. AccuProbe test sensitivity and specificity were 95% and 92%, respectively. With the generic FlashTrack probe assay, all nine ORSA isolates showed a > or = 4- to 10-fold increase in RLUs, and all 15 oxacillin-susceptible strains showed a < or = 4-fold increase in RLUs during the 4-h incubation. The FlashTrack test sensitivity and specificity were both 100%. Probe assays were completed within 5 h. This study suggests that rapid and reliable determination of oxacillin resistance in S. aureus clinical isolates can be accomplished using commercially available DNA probes. |
Q:
Raise reputation cap as reputation increases
It appears that the more accepted moderator flags you raise, the more moderator flags you are allowed to raise each day, so could other activities be made consistent with this?
For example:
Could the reputation cap increase as your reputation grows, and it becomes evident you are not doing anything fraudulent? Maybe increase only within the certain tags where you have proved yourself?
This is a follow up to the question Increased Daily Limits With Increased Reputation
A:
and it becomes evident you are not doing anything fraudulent?
That is not at all why we have a reputation cap. You should read up on What is the reasoning behind the reputation cap?
|
Description
Birmingham is famously reputed to have more miles of canals than Venice. These canals contributed much to the city's growth, bringing coal and merchandise from the surrounding areas. As the city prospered economically, it continued to grow and absorb neighbouring communities, a process in many ways bound together by the waterways. Although part of the national network, Birmingham's canals, including the Worcester & Birmingham, the Stratford-upon-Avon and the Birmingham Canal Navigation, retain their original identity - and most are still in water and used regularly, albeit in different ways to their original industrial purpose. Fully updated and illustrated with stunning new photographs, this book captures the heritage, development and modern role of Birmingham's canals in a way that will appeal to canal users as well as those with a wider interest in Britain's second most populous city.show more |
642 F.2d 441
Gasoline Marketers of America, Inc., Appeal of
80-1929
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Third Circuit
2/25/81
1
D.N.J.
AFFIRMED
|
Q:
When stuck, how quickly should one resort to Stack Overflow?
I'm self-learning iOS development through the iTunes U CS193p course, and I often find myself stuck. I've been trying to get unstuck myself, but it might take me hours and hours to figure out what I'm doing wrong, be it missing a method or not really getting a whole concept like delegation.
I'm worried that I might be wasting too much time, and I'd be better off going to Stack Overflow shortly after I get stuck so I can move on.
In your experience, does quickly asking on Stack Overflow hamper the learning process or improve it?
A:
When I am working with new developers, I encourage them to come ask questions after five or ten minutes where they are not making progress.
That has two benefits: the first is that they can get help without too much time spent staring at a problem, but they only ask when they are not getting somewhere. If they are learning - even on something that isn't ultimately the answer - they are much more likely to usefully retain that information.
The second is that after about that much time they have to explain the problem to someone else. That solves a huge proportion of problems, because going through it end-to-end in order means you can spot the thing that you missed in your earlier work.
Since it sounds like you are doing this alone, try turning to a stuffed toy, or the clock, or the wall, and asking that about the problem. Explain it as you would to a person, and see if that fixes things.
If it doesn't, and you are not making progress, ask someone. Spending more than five or ten minutes stuck is a waste of your time - unless you go on to do something else, then come back to the problem with a fresh mind.
A:
My only addition to everyone else's great answers:
TYPING UP your question into the StackOverflow question interface is a great way to make sure you're thinking through it fully. I can't begin to tell you how many questions I've answered for myself in the process of laying it out clearly enough to ask it properly. The questions I've started and not submitted VASTLY outnumbers those I've actually asked.
So, I'd say go ahead and ask (after searching, of course), just don't be attached to actually hitting "Submit".
A:
Stack Overflow, and every other Stack Exchange site, has a set of guidelines for asking questions:
Do your homework
Be specific
Make it relevant to others
Be on-topic
Keep an open mind
"Do your homework" implies that you shouldn't be too quick to ask. "Be specific" implies that you understand the domain of your problem well enough to outline it concisely. If not, "do your homework" applies. "Keep an open mind" implies that you should be ready to explore solutions that you never thought would be relevant to your problem.
So it's not about asking on Stack Overflow, but whether your questions are good. Essentially the required effort is a learning experience in itself. If you do it right, you'll probably learn a couple of new things just by searching for duplicates. If not, ping me, I got a couple of down votes to spare. :P
|
SunAir Solar Reviews
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John
12 February 2019
Prior to installation not enough could be done. Even if they couldn't keep an appointment if their lives depended on it. After sale service is disgusting and non existing. Full of lies and not reliable. Wants to be paid in cash.
Buyer beware. Show additional information
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Other:After requesting 3 quotes and only getting 2 it was either this clown or another company. Bozo convinced me the circus he belonged to was better then the other one
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Peter
10 March 2014
SunAir Solar arrived at our farm on time to provide a quote. Quite a mean feat given our location and a requirement for a 4WD for easy access. There were no conditions imposed on us to have them come out right away.
Don't you hate this question from Sales people - "Are you in ready to make a commitment straight away if we can meet your requirements and expectations................"
SunAir came, measured up, checked our recent power consumption, calculated our requirements, and provided a quote whilst still on site. It took us less than a day to give them the go ahead. The job was scheduled and completed within 7 days. We are very happy with the equipment, SunAir Solar's service and their courtesy and we are more than happy to recommend them to anyone in the market for Solar around NSW. Show additional information |
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Common among economic misunderstanding is the concept of "backing." Somehow, the word "backing" signifies a final, and perplexingly, in my opinion, acceptable point.
Among all things that ever occurred in the history of the world during the entire existence of humans, the only thing which could ever be, or needed to be, backed, was a promise.
Somebody could accept a favor and "back" it with the promise to pay their debtor back in the future, in the form of something valuable to the lender. A coconut for a crab, or vice versa, perhaps.
Fiat currency is so pervasive today, that many people have little perspective on the concept of value. Historically, we are in uncharted territory. Never before have so many nations been so intricately tied together by a global monetary system. And yet, to the layman, the one who toils aways to make a living for a family, this seems normal.
It is not normal.
The main chink in the Keynsian armor is that monetarists ignore a central concept known as the subjective theory of value. If you read a modern macroeconomic textbook on the matter, you will encounter this term, but it tends to be buried and ignored. However, the implications are significant.
Why should anybody call for the "backing" of anything? The answer lies in a subtle observation of the subjective theory of value. For instance, if you make hats, you may very well be as excited about your 100th cap as you were about the first, for your own consumption, but you probably weren't. In essence, the value to which you ascribe your 100th is light years behind the value that an undoffed individual might enjoy.
In such a world, where un-had things are better than many-had things, one might search for a more objective measure of value. After all, if the value of all things is subjective, how can we trade amongst one another without resorting to barter? When two individuals wish to trade, it helps to employ a medium of exchange which deviates as little as possible compared to the whims of their endeavors.
And what is the number one factor that determines objective value? There are many contenders, but the absolute winner in the equation is scarcity.
When the US was on a gold standard, the implication was that any individual could walk into a bank, proffer about $20 worth of paper currency, and receive gold in exchange. This was the gold-backed currency of yestercentury. But why was gold chosen?
Despite what many gold enthusiasts may claim today, it had nothing to do with gold's industrial uses. In fact, the lack of industrial uses contributed to its status as a store of value. Sure, you can wear gold, but more people hid it away in safes than plastered it to their wrists.
Gold is scarce. However, even this term is often misunderstood. Because gold is highly divisible, scarcity isn't really the best term to use. Gold is limited, or at least highly limited. What you know when you hold a gold coin in your hand is that is may indeed lose value, but not because somebody made more of it over the weekend. In you hand you hold a piece of hard work, labored over precisely because gold is limited.
So why is Bitcoin backed by gold? Admittedly, it isn't. "Backing" requires a "backer," somebody who will redeem a promise with a limited item, a token of posterity, an objective measure of value, or at least, as close as you can get to such a thing.
This is why those who claim that Bitcoin is backed by nothing are misunderstanding why backings occur in the first place. The only thing that can be backed is a promise, and the best backing possible is a universally accepted, limited, measure of value. Bitcoin is no such promise. It is gold unto itself. Bitcoin is the backing.
And for the adventurous mind, pairing gold to Bitcoin is quite easy. With a total valuation of about $8T of gold, and a total valuation of $7B of Bitcoin, Bitcoin comes out at about ~1,000x undervalued. That puts Bitcoin around ~$500,000 per coin if you equate 1 ounce of gold to the equivalent portion of outstanding bitcoins.
Of course, this valuation is crazy. After all, the world would never adopt a frictionless, honest, and limited store of value as their backing article of choice if it happened to be digital too... right? |
Is there a correct way to respond to a horrific tragedy? I’m thinking, of course, about the children in a Parkland, Florida high school, randomly shot dead by a deranged young man, long known by federal and local authorities to be dangerous, and the brave adults who died protecting them. Beautiful children whose joyous voices will never again be heard.
I’m not asking about an answer. A response is something quite different. An answer is rational. It’s capable of being articulated and shared, and expresses a causal relationship. A response is profoundly personal, an experience that bubbles up from the depth of our soul. In its immediacy, it resolves our puzzlement without solving it. To share it, you need something more than prose. You need metaphors, poetry, or music.
So forgive and bear with me if I seem to ramble.
It’s a treat for me when I come across an article by physicist and mathematician Frank Wilczek. This weekend, in the Wall Street Journal, he discusses why we haven’t heretofore encountered extraterrestrial civilizations. There are about a hundred billion stars in our galaxy — and maybe ten times as many planets and moons — more ancient than our earth, which would have had a jump on us when it came to the existence of advanced civilization and technological development. It follows that, by now, we should have made contact.
Wilczek first considers the hypothesis of “immoderate greatness”: At a certain level of complexity, civilizations simply implode. They yield to the stupendous fabric of their own weight, as Edward Gibbon wrote of Rome. So sophisticated alien civilizations may have come and gone without noticing us.
Then he considers the “silence is golden” hypothesis inspired by the powerful quantum computers that work best in an insulated environment, away from light and heat. Such complex civilizations might consider that their time is better optimized thinking than reaching out.
Finally, he proposes a hypothesis that encompasses both of the foregoing: “Good thinks come in small spaces.” Limited by the speed of light, the exchange of information in a truly advanced civilization would take too long were the computational entities spaced too far about. Such civilizations would eschew the outward exploration of, say, the Star Trek’s Enterprise, in favor of expanding inward, for only so could they achieve the speed and integration of information necessary to maintain their advanced status.
Let’s analogize the foregoing to the case of an overwhelming tragedy, like Florida. On one level, it’s right and proper to look for answers to the obvious questions: Who did it? How could we have let this happen? What might we have done to prevent it? What are the best plans we can implement going forward to protect against a similar occurrence?
This is the level of simple cause and effect, the level of “immoderate greatness” which consists of the totality of the answers provided by self-serving politicians, sanctimonious virtuecrats, indecently intrusive media, obnoxious analysts, self-important professors, sociologists, and the like. Our humanity implodes under the weight of their combined testimony.
The next level is more personal. We cut out the noise of the experts. In our silent contemplation we realize that no single answer will suffice. Simplistic causality is replaced by quantum probability waves. Things will look different to a parent who’s just lost a child than it will to a police detective or a criminologist. More than one thing can be true at the same time, depending on the perspective of the observer. Schrodinger’s cat can be both dead and alive at the same time.
Finally we come to the uniquely personal level, where we ask ourselves the eternal anguished question, “How could God have let this happen?”
Aaron must have asked himself that question when his brother Moses told him that his two sons had been struck dead while performing their priestly duties. “And Aaron was silent,” the Bible tells us. It was a silence that allowed him to transcend formulaic conceptions of justice, equity, and reward.
It’s in our inwardness, according to Soren Kierkegaard, that concepts like God, freedom, and eternity are transformed from mere ideas into lived realities. It’s here that we find the still, small voice that Elijah heard that could not be found in the noisy displays of earthquake and fire. And it’s here that we might find the strength to deal with the lasting scars of what happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018. |
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Deep in the dog days
Even though there is a heat advisory today signs of fall are appearing. The red wing blackbirds that were seemingly omnipresent don’t hang around much anymore. Many birds are flocking up as the get ready to make the trip south.The tomatoes are ripening at an alarming pace this week. The yellow butterflies called clouded and orange sulphurs are going crazy on top of the ridge.But it is unmistakably summer. I sweat through my shirt every time I go painting. I am sick of trying to hold a mark with your arm covered in mosquitoes.
The corn is high. I hate it. It blocks the land and birds and obscures views and vistas. Nothing screams out inspiration like factory farming. It feels so wrong, and since so much of what I do is based off of feeling I kinda hate this time of year. If you can find a field of anything else though there is much color to paint, but because we grow so much of this shit for ethanol and our cheap diabetes inducing food supply, it is hard to find much of anything else around here, except soybeans, which isn’t much better.
I painted this barn whose owner is a 76 year old bachelor farmer named Merwin. As he walked his dog down the road I could see my grandpa in him with his slow gait and arthritic arms. It felt good to paint this barn.
The panoramic image is on Bryn Rd, which is really cool but I don't like it as much since they started planting corn.
About Me
I paint completely from life or from memory and that I find that spending time on a computer gets in the way of my process of daily observations and emotional connection to the land.
Please email me if you would like to get in touch. |
Penetrating head trauma represents about 0.4% of traumatic brain injuries^[@R1]^ and results from both projectile and nonprojectile injury. Penetrating neck trauma can cause high mortality because of many important structures located in the neck.^[@R2]^ Numerous low-velocity penetrating brain traumas have been reported already. Reports of low-velocity, combined head and neck penetrating injury are rare. We describe an unusual patient of penetrating trauma to the head and neck by a 29-cm agricultural iron fork. Meanwhile, some diagnosis and treatment key points are summarized from this patient.
CLINICAL REPORT
===============
A 54-year-old man was admitted to our department by ambulance, with an iron fork being penetrated into his upper neck, through the skull base and into brain (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}A). On physical examination, the man had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 9, with hemiparesis on his right limbs, and right lower extremity Babinski sign positive. No active bleeding from the entry point and oral cavity was observed. The skull X-ray (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}B) and computed tomography scan (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}C) demonstrated that a foreign body penetrated from the right wall of oropharynx, upward to the left nasopharyngeal posterior wall, toward the clivus and penetrated into the intracranial space, passed through the left basal ganglia region to the left parietal lobe. Digital subtraction angiography examination showed occlusion of the right external carotid artery (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}D and E).
{#F1}
A multidisciplinary team was assembled to draw up a treatment plan. After general anesthesia, plastic surgeons cut off the fork tine close to the neck skin with a shear. Vascular surgeons exposed the bilateral carotid artery to control hemorrhage from the cerebral hemisphere. A large left temporoparietal flap was fashioned by neurosurgeons. The frontal lobe and temporal lobe were injury, the black metal foreign body was visualized lateral to the oculomotor nerve and trigeminal nerve and piercing the petrous bone, dura mater, and brain parenchyma (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}F). With the assistance of vascular surgeons to control the carotid arteries, the fork was slowly and carefully pulled out from the neck incision. A 29-cm fork with 15-cm intracranial segment was successfully removed. Owing to the brain tissue swelling, the bone flap was not replaced. Computed tomography scan showed mild cerebral edema after 2 days (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}G). The patient was conducted in the intensive care unit with antibiotic, antiepileptic, antiedema, and other routine cares.
At postoperative 12th day, the man discharged, with stable vital signs, normal consciousness, and a mild paresis of his right upper limb. After 24 months follow-up, his right limb has recovered to full strength nearly.
DISCUSSION
==========
To our knowledge, this is the first patient describing a low-velocity penetrating head and neck injury with an iron fork and presents several challenges to optimize management in English literature. Multidisciplinary team is the key to save this patient.
The management principles of patients with penetrating injury differ from other injures. The protruding object should be protected from movement and stabilized during transportation to prevent further injury. The principles of surgical management for this patient are safe removal of the penetrating fork first from the neck and the brain parenchyma. Extensive hemorrhage during operation is one of the most important causes of dead. Rupture of the internal or external carotid artery, venous sinus, skull, and dura may be sources for severe bleeding. The muscle and gelfoam were used to control bleeding in our patient. Digital subtraction angiography examination should be performed for the penetrating neck and head trauma to exclude vessel injury and evaluate the adjacent relationship between the foreign matter and vessels.
Cerebral edema should be special attention in penetrating brain injury. In our patient, after removing the fork from the brain parenchyma, it encountered severe acute cerebral edema. The large craniotomy and dehydration drug facilitated to control cerebral edema.
Infection is a common complication following the contamination of foreign objects, which are also associated with significant mortality. Staphylococcus aureus is the most frequently associated organism. Intravenous prophylactic broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy is recommended and the sooner the better.^[@R3]^
On the other hand, seizure is also a common complication after penetrating brain injury. About 30% to 50% of patients develop seizures after penetrating brain injury. Antiseizure medications were recommended to use to reduce the incidence of early seizures in the first week after injury.^[@R4]^
In summary, we report a low-velocity penetrating head and neck trauma, with treatment successfully. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of penetrating neck and head injuries are essential to ensure a good outcome. Our patient illustrates a complicated, multidisciplinary surgical procedure, followed by intensive medical monitoring and treatment is the key to treatment of complex diseases. Hence, when we face such patients again, a multidisciplinary team should be established.
LL and HL contributed equally to the work.
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
|
Q:
Is it Alamofire support http2 new features?
I want to know if Alamofire support htpp2 new features like:
Multi requests and responses in same connection
Push feature
A:
Alamofire supports all of the same standards as URLSession, which includes HTTP/2.
https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire/issues/935
Let me know if this answers your question and if I should give more Context.
|
[Interview] SEA Terrans talk about the Hellbat buff
As an amateur Terran player I was really excited about the new Hellbat buff which removed Transformation Servos, and changed the transformation requirement to an Armory. So I decided to ask all the pro Aussi Terrans (Kappa) about their opinion on the patch and its potential effects on the meta. Hope you guys enjoy it.
Q: Since the nerf to Widowmines, we have been seeing Terran players experimenting with different factory units to mix into the bio composition. Hellbats are a popular alternative, but we have seen players like Bunny focus on mixing tanks and thors into his bio armies. What in your opinion is the preferable TvZ army composition vs ling bling muta at the moment?
Iaguz: No idea and currently there's no real consensus amongst top terrans which factory units to mix in with the 8+ barracks of bio production. Mines and Thors are unreliable and Zergs have figured out how to play around them. A few terrans like to use tanks but I'm not a fan, they have too many weaknesses that are not outweighed by their strengths. I don't have one I like the most and I'm always mucking about with something.
Hut: Depends on the player. If you can split really well and have nice multitasking, you can play a heavy bio style with a few mines. Personally I prefer Thor / Hellbat to complement my Marine / Medivac ball.
Q: Did you ever use the Transformation Servos upgrade in your play prior to the patch? Did you see any potential use for it?
Iaguz: No. it was the 250mm strike cannons of HotS. Good to see they realised no one was using the bloody thing and removed it.
Hut: The upgrade was only relevant in mech games, and I never play mech, so no. It was worthless as a bio player since you lose your 1st 6 hellions eventually anyway, and then you make hellbats from the factory normally.
Q: There have been whispers (mostly from Terran players) recently within the community that the TvZ matchup is slightly Zerg favoured. Do you agree with this statement? If so, do you think this patch will help balance out the match up?
Iaguz: Well it's definitely not bad for zergs. The current map pool is the best they've had in HotS with wide open spaces for setting up engagements, mains that don't have like 5 entrances for reapers and nice easy thirds. Basically this map pool is the opposite of Yeonsu. Zergs have also tightened up their early and midgames against reaper and hellion play, being able to drone a bit better and creep a bit harder and they've understood how to adapt their ling bane muta vs whatever terran is doing, a mixture of counter attacks, muta harassment and larger baneling counts to deal with heavier thor/hellbat styles.
I haven't fully assessed the hellbat buff but so far it seems like an alternative blue flame hellion style; something strong against queens and lings but almost suicidal if they go for a faster roach or muta attack. It's just cheaper then making blue flame and 16 hellions. I'm not sure if it's assisted in making consistent styles but there might be.
Hut: It was generally regarded by both sides as being Zerg favoured. Not massively, but they had a number of ways to consistently get ahead. I agree they were stronger in the mid-game which gave them advantages in the late-game. The patch allows for ALOT more flexibility from Terran and stops Zerg just defending with Ling / Queen early on.
Q: Many people are excited about the prospect of transforming the initial 6 hellions into Hellbats to strengthen the 10:30 medivac bio poke. Now that the change has come into effect, would you utilize the ability in your TvZ and how? How will this, if at all impact the Meta game?
Iaguz: Didn't do shit.
Hut: It makes the push really strong, you can force Zerg into bad engagements off creep and win. You can delay the 4th base from going up easily until after mutas are on the field, as well as killing a bunch of creep. Hellions just didnt last long enough before.
Q: Do you think this change benefits Mech or Bio more in TvZ?
Iaguz: It benefits anyone that wants to make more then 6 hellions early game which doesn't have to be any style.
Hut: The biggest change I see is doing stuff like 2 factory blue flame builds and incorporating an armory for a strong cheese, or even adding an armory and going with 10 hellions from the original factory. I haven't played with these styles too much though yet, so I can't say anything yet.
Q: Will this change impact any of the other match ups? Will this encourage more players to go for the Mech composition in TvT?
Iaguz: Not that I've noticed, and mech is still a joke vs Protoss.
Hut: It has the potential to make mech really imba TvT I think, but we'll see. There haven't been many high level TvT games at all from Korea, so the metagame has become quite stagnant in that match up.
Contributors:-
Interviews, editing: x5 MaruMarine
Banners: x5 Dot
All Starcraft 2 images are the property of Blizzard Entertinment Contributors:-Interviews, editing: x5 MaruMarineBanners: x5 DotAll Starcraft 2 images are the property of Blizzard Entertinment As an amateur Terran player I was really excited about the new Hellbat buff which removed Transformation Servos, and changed the transformation requirement to an Armory. So I decided to ask all the pro Aussi Terrans (Kappa) about their opinion on the patch and its potential effects on the meta. Hope you guys enjoy it.No idea and currently there's no real consensus amongst top terrans which factory units to mix in with the 8+ barracks of bio production. Mines and Thors are unreliable and Zergs have figured out how to play around them. A few terrans like to use tanks but I'm not a fan, they have too many weaknesses that are not outweighed by their strengths. I don't have one I like the most and I'm always mucking about with something.Depends on the player. If you can split really well and have nice multitasking, you can play a heavy bio style with a few mines. Personally I prefer Thor / Hellbat to complement my Marine / Medivac ball.No. it was the 250mm strike cannons of HotS. Good to see they realised no one was using the bloody thing and removed it.The upgrade was only relevant in mech games, and I never play mech, so no. It was worthless as a bio player since you lose your 1st 6 hellions eventually anyway, and then you make hellbats from the factory normally.Well it's definitely not bad for zergs. The current map pool is the best they've had in HotS with wide open spaces for setting up engagements, mains that don't have like 5 entrances for reapers and nice easy thirds. Basically this map pool is the opposite of Yeonsu. Zergs have also tightened up their early and midgames against reaper and hellion play, being able to drone a bit better and creep a bit harder and they've understood how to adapt their ling bane muta vs whatever terran is doing, a mixture of counter attacks, muta harassment and larger baneling counts to deal with heavier thor/hellbat styles.I haven't fully assessed the hellbat buff but so far it seems like an alternative blue flame hellion style; something strong against queens and lings but almost suicidal if they go for a faster roach or muta attack. It's just cheaper then making blue flame and 16 hellions. I'm not sure if it's assisted in making consistent styles but there might be.It was generally regarded by both sides as being Zerg favoured. Not massively, but they had a number of ways to consistently get ahead. I agree they were stronger in the mid-game which gave them advantages in the late-game. The patch allows for ALOT more flexibility from Terran and stops Zerg just defending with Ling / Queen early on.Didn't do shit.It makes the push really strong, you can force Zerg into bad engagements off creep and win. You can delay the 4th base from going up easily until after mutas are on the field, as well as killing a bunch of creep. Hellions just didnt last long enough before.It benefits anyone that wants to make more then 6 hellions early game which doesn't have to be any style.The biggest change I see is doing stuff like 2 factory blue flame builds and incorporating an armory for a strong cheese, or even adding an armory and going with 10 hellions from the original factory. I haven't played with these styles too much though yet, so I can't say anything yet.Not that I've noticed, and mech is still a joke vs Protoss.It has the potential to make mech really imba TvT I think, but we'll see. There haven't been many high level TvT games at all from Korea, so the metagame has become quite stagnant in that match up.
___________________________________ |
// Copyright Aleksey Gurtovoy 2000-2004
//
// Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
// (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
// http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
//
// Preprocessed version of "boost/mpl/greater_equal.hpp" header
// -- DO NOT modify by hand!
namespace boost { namespace mpl {
template<
typename Tag1
, typename Tag2
>
struct greater_equal_impl
: if_c<
( BOOST_MPL_AUX_NESTED_VALUE_WKND(int, Tag1)
> BOOST_MPL_AUX_NESTED_VALUE_WKND(int, Tag2)
)
, aux::cast2nd_impl< greater_equal_impl< Tag1,Tag1 >,Tag1, Tag2 >
, aux::cast1st_impl< greater_equal_impl< Tag2,Tag2 >,Tag1, Tag2 >
>::type
{
};
/// for Digital Mars C++/compilers with no CTPS/TTP support
template<> struct greater_equal_impl< na,na >
{
template< typename U1, typename U2 > struct apply
{
typedef apply type;
BOOST_STATIC_CONSTANT(int, value = 0);
};
};
template< typename Tag > struct greater_equal_impl< na,Tag >
{
template< typename U1, typename U2 > struct apply
{
typedef apply type;
BOOST_STATIC_CONSTANT(int, value = 0);
};
};
template< typename Tag > struct greater_equal_impl< Tag,na >
{
template< typename U1, typename U2 > struct apply
{
typedef apply type;
BOOST_STATIC_CONSTANT(int, value = 0);
};
};
template< typename T > struct greater_equal_tag
{
typedef typename T::tag type;
};
template<
typename BOOST_MPL_AUX_NA_PARAM(N1)
, typename BOOST_MPL_AUX_NA_PARAM(N2)
>
struct greater_equal
: greater_equal_impl<
typename greater_equal_tag<N1>::type
, typename greater_equal_tag<N2>::type
>::template apply< N1,N2 >::type
{
BOOST_MPL_AUX_LAMBDA_SUPPORT(2, greater_equal, (N1, N2))
};
BOOST_MPL_AUX_NA_SPEC2(2, 2, greater_equal)
}}
namespace boost { namespace mpl {
template<>
struct greater_equal_impl< integral_c_tag,integral_c_tag >
{
template< typename N1, typename N2 > struct apply
: bool_< ( BOOST_MPL_AUX_VALUE_WKND(N1)::value >= BOOST_MPL_AUX_VALUE_WKND(N2)::value ) >
{
};
};
}}
|
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