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Final Fantasy VII
Fort Condor FAQ by Master Epyon
Version: 3.0 | Updated: 03/02/12 | Printable Version
Final Fantasy VII Playstation Version Fort Condor In-Depth FAQ version 2.0 Written By: Master Epyon on August 26th, 2002. Last updated on: March 1, 2012 COMPLETE! E-mail: email@example.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Legal Stuff 2. Revision History 3. What and Where is Fort Condor? 4. What is the Mini-Game? (And General Tips) 5. Advanced Tips (Or, the lazy guide) 6. When do the Battles take place and what is the prize? 7. What if they reach the shack? 8. What can I buy at Fort Condor? (The Shop List) 9. Credits --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGAL STUFF --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a comprehensive guide written to help out with the Fort Condor mini-game. It is not to be reproduced, changed, or altered in any form, and can only be found at http://www.gamefaqs.com Anyone else who wants to use it must mail me and cannot change the contents within without my permission. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVISION HISTORY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- My revision history works like this; if I add a new section, it'll be updated by 1. (I.e, from 2.0 to 3.0) Each little update I put in that section will be .1. (I.e, from 2.0 to 2.3, because there are three things I updated in the sections) Version 2.0 (Made on August 31, 2002) -Added revision history :D -Fixed some mistakes -Found out what CMD. Grand Horn actually uses. -Found out when you can get Fire Catapults and Tri-Stoners. -Found out that when you win five "Potions", you actually receive nothing. -Found out that you MUST have 4,000 gil or more before each battle or you can't play it. Version 2.5 (Made on September 1, 2002) -Found out you can't choose the option "Let them handle it" if the man has less than 3,000 gil. -Found out that CMD. Grand Horn (3) only uses Grand Attack when he dies. -Added a note beside the Commander's stats. -Re-arranged Tri-Stoner in the Advanced Tips for easier reference. -Added an ASCII Art Chart for the enemies and allies and fixed the ASCII Art for the Damage Done/Taken Section. Version 3.0 (Made on March 1, 2012) -Listed the remaining missing battles and their prizes! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT AND WHERE IS FORT CONDOR? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fort Condor is a reactor where a Condor is resting. Shinra wants to chase the Condor away and (Later)also want to get the Huge Materia. A resistance group wants to protect the Condor because it's laying it's eggs. Your job is to help them. Fort Condor is located South-East of Junon, it's surrounded by a canyon and has a giant Condor on top of it. Inside you can buy Materia and other items, and rest at an inn. There is a man guarding the door though. Tell him you want to help. Then go up the ladder and talk to the man at the table, and tell him you'll help! All set? Go up the left-most ladder, talk to the person, and you're all set to play the mini-game! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S THE MINI-GAME? (AND GENERAL TIPS) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- After talking to the guy at the top, you are presented with some options. You can find out about the soldiers you can hire, and the enemies which you will fight. You can also pick some other options. Contribute Gil - Give the man some gil. Every time you skip/lose a battle, he'll lose 3,000 gil. In all honesty, it doesn't seem to make any difference whether he runs out or not, but just to be safe, you should max out his gil. (30,000 gil). Definitely let him have 15,000 gil prior to battle #14. Let them handle it - The battle will automatically be over and the man will lose 3,000 gil. You will not win a prize. Not a very smart choice. Note that you CANNOT pick this choice if the man has less than 3,000 gil. Okay, Ready - Start the Mini-Game To play the game you must hire soldiers with your money (Not the other guy's) and set up soldiers. You may place up to twenty soldiers, and if you defeat all the enemies on screen, you'll win and you will receive 1/2 the gil of all the soldiers you hired that lived. (I.e, if you built a Tri-Stoner for 1000 gil you'll get back 500 gil if its still standing)You may set them about half-way down the mountain. When you're ready, press the X button and start the game! Now, there are some simple things you must know. -Like it or not, you must have 4,000 gil or more before he'll let you play the game. With this in mind, always keep spare change... -Press Circle over an ally to give him/her a command. Usually, you can only move to a different location, or attack an enemy. However, certain troops can do special things. A Worker, for example, can set a bomb which will explode on contact with an enemy, doing some damage. Usually, allies with special abilities should not be sent to attack. -Moving the Cursor over an enemy/ally will let you see their current HP/Max HP and you can see whether they're moving, set to attack, or healing. -When you need to pick between a group of huddled soldiers, you will be given an option of which one to pick. For example, I have three Defenders all huddled together. An enemy is making his/her way up the mountain, and two of my Defenders are badly injured. When I press Circle in the group, I can choose which soldier I wish to command. Same goes for when you're attacking a huddled group. (Although you'll usually end up hitting the enemy closest to you) -You can set down Stationary Units such as Stoners and Catapults to attack the enemy while another troop finishes them off. However, the land-based Stoners are not effective against flying enemies. Take note, also, that these machines can be destroyed very easily when an enemy reaches them. One more thing: The moment a Stationary Unit is set, it will fire. Then it needs to take some time (Usually about 5 seconds) to reload. To use this to your advantage, build one in front of an enemy troop and when it is destroyed, build another one...etc. -You may hire soldiers during battle, but ONLY if you have less than twenty soldiers left. -If a soldier is strong against a certain enemy, it will do nearly 2x damage and receive about 1/2 damage. -Likewise, if they're weak against a certain enemy, they will perform poorly, doing around 1/2 damage and receiving around 2x damage. -Attackers are best against Beast enemies, but fall quickly to Barbarians. -Defenders are best against Barbarians, but fall quickly to Wyverns. -Shooters are best against Wyverns, but fall quickly (And I mean quickly) to beasts. -With the three above statements, you should realize that you need to be diverse. An entire team of Shooters will not win the game for you easily. -All other troops are weak against nothing and strong against nothing(although Stoners and Tri-Stoners do low damage to Wyverns). -If an enemy reaches the shack, you must fight CMD. Grand Horn with your actual party. Don't worry, he isn't that hard, but you won't receive the normal prize for winning. (You can get a rare prize from him, though, see below) -Use your money wisely. If you waste it you may end up being unprepared for the next battle. -Workers can only place one bomb at a time until it explodes. Repairers can heal your troops by 10 each turs, but CANNOT heal troops while they are in battle. -Stationary units can be dismantled. The only time you should really do this is when you want to hire another troop, or if all the enemies have passed this unit. You may also change a Stationary unit's firing direction. -Attackers have high speed but have short range, Shooters have long range but weak power, and Defenders have high power but low speed. -The last enemy to climb the mountain is the Commander. He is very tough and suffers half damage (Rounded down) by all of your soldiers. I recommend using Shooters, because they have long range, or Defenders, because of their high attack power. A good choice is to send three Defender's with full HP all at once to attack the Commander. That way you won't lose anyone to him. -You can raise the game speed by pressing R1. You can lower it with L1. Raise it when you want troops to get to where they're going, but slow it down when you need to look around. -You cannot damage your own troops with your own traps. With that in mind, you should be able to win. However, if you want straight details, see below... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADVANCED TIPS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this section, I will tell you what soldiers you can hire, how much they cost, their HP's, attack power, range, the enemies, their stats, how much damage they each do, and how much damage they take. Units you may hire - |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | ALLIES | HP | ATTACK | RANGE | COST | STRONG AGAINST | WEAK AGAINST | |-----------|----|--------|-------|------|----------------|---------------| | Fighter| 200| 30 | 1 | 400 | NONE | NONE | | Attacker| 180| 25 | 1 | 420 | BEAST | BARBARIAN | | Defender| 220| 35 | 1 | 440 | BARBARIAN | WYVERN | | Shooter| 160| 20 | 1~3 | 520 | WYVERN | BEAST | | Repairer| 160| 10 | 1 | 480 | NONE | NONE | | Worker| 160| 15 | 1 | 400 | NONE | NONE | | Stoner| 100| 20 | 1~4 | 480 | NONE | NONE | |Tri-Stoner*| 150| 35 | 1~5 | 1000 | NONE | NONE | | Catapult| 100| 18 | 1~5 | 480 | NONE | NONE | |F.Catapult*| 120| 25 | 1~6 | 600 | NONE | NONE | |Worker Bomb|NONE| 15 | 1~3 | NONE | NONE | NONE | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| * (1)= Tri-Stoners do not become available until battle number 8 and onwards. * (2) = Fire Catapult's do not become available until battle number 5 and onwards. BTW, F.Catapult stands for Fire Catapult. Note that Worker Bomb is the Bomb laid down by the Worker, which explodes on contact with an enemy. Here is a list of all the enemies- (Note that there's no "Cost" section because you can't buy enemies!) |----------------------------------------------------------------| | ENEMIES | HP | ATTACK | RANGE | STRONG AGAINST | WEAK AGAINST | |----------|----|--------|-------|----------------|--------------| | BEAST | 180| 25 | 1 | SHOOTER | ATTACKER | |BARBARIAN | 130| 15 | 1~3 | ATTACKER | DEFENDER | | WYVERN | 140| 20 | 1 | DEFENDER | SHOOTER | |COMMANDER*| 230| 50 | 1 | NONE | NONE | |----------------------------------------------------------------| * = There is only one commander, and he always appears last. The following is a chart detailing how much damage the units do and take. The first number is the damage given by your soldier, the second number is damage given to that soldier by the specific enemy. (With the exception of Worker's Bomb, which has only the damage given number) Also, the Repairer can heal 10 HP at a time. |-----------------------------------------------| | ALLIES | ENEMIES | | ------------|-----|---------|------|----------| | |Beast|Barbarian|Wyvern|Commander | | Fighter|30,25| 30, 15 |27, 20| 15, 50 | | Attacker|40,12| 17, 22 |20, 22| 12, 50 | | Defender|35,25| 52, 7 |24, 30| 17, 50 | | Shooter|10,37| 16, 15 |30, 10| 6, 50 | | Repairer|10,25| 10, 15 | 9, 20| 5, 50 | | Worker|15,25| 15, 15 |13, 20| 7, 50 | | Stoner|20,25| 16, 15 | 6, 20| 10, 50 | | Tri-Stoner|30,25| 24, 15 | 9, 20| 15, 50 | | Catapult|18,25| 14, 15 |14, 20| 9, 50 | |Fire Catapult|25,25| 20, 15 |20, 20| 12, 50 | |Worker's Bomb| 15 | 15 | 13 | 7 | |-----------------------------------------------| Next, I'll detail when all the battles take place. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHEN DO ALL THE BATTLES TAKE PLACE AND WHAT IS THE PRIZE? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The battles take place at certain times during the story. NOTE: If you skip a battle, you cannot go back to it. If you skip a battle, you will receive the item you would have won from the previous one except x3. (With the exception of rare items) For example, if I skip battle #3 and do battle #4, I'll win 3 Ethers instead of a Megalixir. If I skip #3 and #4, I'll still win 3x Ethers. From then on, you'll get the prize you would have got from the battle after the one you skipped. (I.e, you'll win a megalixir in battle #5 for the first example) Try to do all of these battles as early as possible! Thanks to SHiroshige's FAQ and Absolute Steve for listing certain battles. Battle #1: Takes place before resting at the house in Junon. You'll win a Magic Comb. (A weapon for Red XIII) Battle #2: After resting at the house in Junon and defeating Bottomswell, before obtaining the Shiva materia. You'll win a Peace Ring. Battle #3: After getting in the water with Mr. Dolphin, before you use the Dolphin Whistle. You'll win 3 Ethers. (HUGE thanks to the FF7 message board for this one! The game also mistranslates them into Tinctures) Battle #4: After getting the Buggy, before going to Cosmo Canyon. You'll win a Megalixir. Battle #5: After choosing your party for the Cave of the Gi, before getting the Tiny Bronco. It "Says" you win 5 potions, but these are actually 5 Hi-Potions. Battle #6: After you complete the Cave of the Gi, before talking to Shera in Rocket Town. It "says" you win five potions once again, but once again these are 5 Hi-Potions. Battle #7: After talking to Shera in Rocket Town, before Rufus shows up. You'll win a Superball (a weapon for Yuffie). Battle #8: After you can use the Tiny Bronco, before you obtain the Keystone. You'll win 3 Turbo Ethers. Battle #9: After going on the date, before going to the Temple of the Ancients. You'll win 3 Turbo Ethers. Battle #10: After getting through the Temple of the Ancients, before using the Lunar Harp. You'll win 5 X-Potions, though the game seems to indicate you win nothing. Battle #11: After using the Lunar Harp, before resting in the Forgotten Capital. You'll win 5 X-Potions, though the game seems to indicate you win nothing. Battle #12: After sleeping in the Forgotten Capital, before the end of disc one. You'll win 5 X-Potions, though the game seems to indicate you win nothing. Battle #13: After disc two starts, before you obtain the Highwind airship. You'll win 3 Elixirs. Battle #14: It takes place during the seven days you're captured in Junon. You cannot go to it. Shinra attacks five times during the seven days you're asleep. Battle #15: Same as #14. Battle #16: Same as #14. Battle #17: Same as #14. Battle #18: Same as #14. Battle #19: After getting the Highwind, before going to Mideel. You'll win 3 Elixirs. Battle #20: Shinra attacks while you're visiting Cloud at Mideel. You cannot go to it. Another wasted opportunity. Battle #21: After visiting Cloud at Mideel. Take note that this battle is MANDATORY. Before doing the battle, the man will give you all the money he has. If you win, go outside to get the Phoenix Materia and talk to the guy at the table to get the Huge Materia. If you lose to CMD. Grand Horn here, you're kicked out of Fort Condor FOR GOOD. There, that's all of them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT IF THEY REACH THE SHACK? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If they reach the shack, you'll fight CMD. Grand Horn. He isn't tough, and you can win a good prize for beating him. If you lose to him, you won't get the prize but you won't get game over. Note though that if you lose to him in battle 21, you're kicked out of Fort Condor forever. Also, his stats can sometimes stay lowered if your party level is low and few enemies are left. Here are his stats...(Thanks to Kao Megura's FAQ for this info) CMD. Grand Horn LV - 19 EXP - 200 HP - 2000 AP - 20 MP - 100 Gil - 2400 Attacks: Punch, Grand Attack NOTE: You fight this version in battles 1-3 CMD. Grand Horn LV - 25 EXP - 400 HP - 4000 AP - 40 MP - 200 Gil - 4800 Attacks: Poison Breath NOTE: You fight this version in battles 4-20 CMD. Grand Horn LV - 37 EXP - 800 HP - 8000 AP - 80 MP - 300 Gil - 9600 Attacks: Punch, Poison Breath, Grand Attack* NOTE: You fight this version in battle 21. * = The ONLY time he uses Grand Attack this time is when you kill him, and he'll ALWAYS do it. Battles 1-3: Vagyrisk Claw. Note that this Claw can be stolen before all your characters are level 78 from Bagrisk enemies on the world map at the Cosmo Area as a rare steal. Battles 4-20: NOTHING! Battle 21: Imperial Guard. Let them reach the shack this time so you can win this. (Don't worry, you can still get Phoenix and the Huge Materia, providing you don't lose to him) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT CAN I BUY AT FORT CONDOR? (THE SHOP LIST) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can buy the following things at Fort Condor... BIG thanks to Kao Megura's FAQ for this info. THE ITEM SHOP - DISC 1 Potion - 50 GIL Phoenix Down - 300 GIL Hyper - 100 GIL Tranquilizer - 100 GIL Tent - 500 GIL THE ITEM SHOP - DISC 2 AND 3 Hi-Potion - 300 GIL Phoenix Down - 300 GIL Ether - 1,500 GIL Hyper - 100 GIL Tranquilizer - 100 GIL Tent - 500 GIL S-Mine - 1,000 GIL THE MATERIA SHOP - DISC 1 Fire - 600 GIL Lightning - 600 GIL Ice - 600 GIL Restore - 750 GIL THE MATERIA SHOP - DISC 2 AND 3 Throw - 10,000 GIL Manipulate - 10,000 GIL Deathblow - 10,000 GIL Destruct - 9,000 GIL All - 20,000 GIL --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to www.gamefaqs.com for its great FAQ's. Thanks to the FFVII message board for the info on battle #3. Thanks to Kao Megura for his EXCELLENT FF7 FAQ. Thanks to Absolute Steve for some updated information! Thanks to CJayC for a great job on the site. And...to my parents, otherwise I couldn't have brought to you this FAQ. Copyright 2002


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Racer Jeff Gordon didn't like his first Test Drive being called a fake, so he teamed back up with Pepsi to prank the reporter who called him out...
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If you've got kids or grandchildren, buy them a share of stock in a company they love. Hang it on the wall, teach your kids about money!"
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Pro Tools 10 Essential Training with musician and producer David Franz illuminates the process of recording, editing, mixing, and mastering in Avid Pro Tools, the industry-standard software for music and postproduction. The course covers recording live audio and adding effects on the fly, creating music with virtual instruments and plug-ins, editing for time and pitch manipulation, creating a musical score, and mixing and mastering a track.
After you've recorded or edited a clip and you don't want to unintentionally move that clip, you can lock the clip in place. There are two ways to lock a clip. The first is called an Edit Lock. So I'm going to go down here with the Grabber tool, select these two regions, go up to Clip and choose Edit Lock. And you'll notice now that these two regions have these little locks, solid locks, as little icons in the lower left corner. If I try to click and drag these, move them around, you get this warning: This command will affect one or more locked clips.
So you can choose to either Allow it or Cancel it, but at least you'll know that this clip is locked and you won't accidentally or unintentionally move the clip. So I'm going to cancel that. Now, I'm going to switch over to the Trim tool and try to do the same thing. And I get the same warning. Cancel. And like usual, there is a keyboard shortcut for this command, Command+L on a Mac or Ctrl+L on Windows will Edit Lock this clip. Time Lock is a slightly more lenient type of locking.
The clip will be locked in time, but you can edit it as long as the edits don't move the clip in time. And you should note that Time Lock doesn't have the same allow feature as the Edit Lock does. So let's take a look at this. So I'm going to first get rid of the Edit Lock, and now add the Time Lock, and you'll see the lock is slightly different. Now if I try and trim this, I actually can trim it, because it doesn't actually move the clip at all in time, it just cuts off some of it.
However, if I use the Grabber and I try to move it, it doesn't move at all. Now let's talk about muting a clip. Muting a clip simply means to make it silent, but not delete it. Let's say you want to drop out this sitar part for 8 bars in the middle of the song. So all we need to do is just mute that section. All you've got to do is go up to the Edit menu and choose Mute Clips, and that mutes it out.
And of course there is keyboard shortcuts for this, Command+M on a Mac or Ctrl+M in Windows. Muting is a great way to help build the song arrangement in loop-based music production, as well as a simple tool for creating space in a mix. I also recommend locking your clips once you've done some editing to a session or at least once you start mixing your song. You don't want to spend time realigning clips that you might have moved by accident while mixing. I'm sure you'll use these locking and muting commands a lot while using Pro Tools.
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Recipe by Dannon® Oikos®
"An impressive side dish that will be your new go-to sweet potato recipe."
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medium sweet potatoes
1 cup
Dannon Oikos Plain Greek Nonfat Yogurt
1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon
ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon
ground nutmeg
Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste
2 tablespoons
brown sugar
The concept of this recipe is great, and reading over the spices I thought too that they'd taste wonderful with the sweet potato. Like Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie. The first couple bites were yummy, but beyond that, there was some nagging taste that was off putting for me. I have tried a similar recipe which included onion, and I found that helped to balance the flavours, so perhaps a sweet onion here would as well. We did skip the brown sugar, and didn't stuff the potato skins, simply mashed and served.
1 Rating
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Cinnamon Scented Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Serving Size: 1/6 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 151
Calories from Fat: 1
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Fruit blended with creamy yogurt and cold milk makes a refreshing summer snack.
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Rumsfeld: Thank you very much.
Greetings! At ease. It's amazing.
Well I'm delighted to be here. The first time I was on the flight deck of a ship, it's hard to believe but it was I think in 1942 and it was a baby aircraft carried called the [inaudible] during World War II. My father had been sent there as an officer on the ship and they were just commissioning it. I remember the sounds and the smells and the feeling of being on the flight deck. It was a bit bigger than this ship, and had a different purpose, of course, but it's always a thrill for me to be back and have a chance to say hello to new folks.
I know that every one of you is a volunteer. Each of you put your hand up and said you wanted to serve our country -- some of you many years ago, some of you quite recently. But in every case you've become a key part of history and what's taking place in this world of ours.
You're aboard a ship with a distinguished name, an historic name. You're part of the finest military on the face of the earth. You will be able to look back on your service in five or ten or fifteen or twenty years and visit about it with your children, maybe even your grandchildren at some point, and know in your hearts that you've been part of liberating 50 million human beings, people who were living in terrorist states. People who were living in repressive regimes. People whose lives were threatened by the Taliban and the al-Qaida in the case of Afghanistan, that used the soccer stadiums to behead people and filled up mass graves. And that today as we meet in this lovely setting in the south of France, Afghanistan is clearly on a path towards democracy where those people are able to get up in the morning and go where they wish and say what they wish and think what they wish. Where there's a free press, a free political system, the first popularly elected President in the 5,000 year history of that country.
I was there in Kabul for the inauguration and I will never forget it in my entire life. It was one of the most memorable moments.
We just experienced last Sunday elections in Iraq. Admittedly, the Iraqi people don't have much experience with democracy. An awful lot of experts and pundits and people who observe these things and write about them have suggested that the people in that part of the world aren't ready for democracy, that they really aren't ready for freedom.
We all know that if you're free, you're free to be wise but you're also free to be foolish. You're free to be kind and you're also free to be vicious. So freedom is not an easy thing.
But if one thinks about what took place Sunday with 25 million people who have had no experience with freedom, no experience with democracy, and what's taken place every hour since last Sunday. Instead of talking about killing people, instead of talking about invading neighbors, instead of a country that used chemical weapons against its own people and against its neighbors, what's being done today in Iraq is politics. People are talking. They're discussing. They're wondering who got the most votes. They're wondering who ought to be the President, who ought to be the Deputy Presidents and who might be Prime Minister and who should be the Ministers of the various departments and agencies of that government. They're discussing how they can reach out to the Sunnis who didn't participate fully in the election to make sure that they have a single country.
I wish I could assure you that everything was going to turn out well, but I can't. I suspect that there are going to be more people killed, that there will be more difficulties, that it will be a bumpy road, a tough road. But I don't believe in the history of the world there's ever been a country that has gone from a dictatorship, a repressive regime or an authoritarian regime to a democracy smoothly. Even Thomas Jefferson said you cannot expect to go from despotism to democracy on a featherbed.
Our country didn't go on a featherbed. It's always tough. So expect it to be tough. But I am hopeful. I am hopeful that when we look back we will see that these people who have every opportunity -- they have the oil wells, they have water, they have education, they're industrious people in Iraq, and we need moderate Muslim leadership in this world to help in the struggle against extremism. We now have Musharraf in Pakistan. We have Mr. Karzai and his team in Afghanistan. We'll have new leadership in Iraq that will be moderate Muslim leadership in my view.
If you think about the -- In my lifetime alone we've seen the rise and the fall of fascism. We've seen the rise and the fall of communism. And I hope and pray that I live long enough to see not just the rise but also the fall of extremism and the struggle, where we're victorious in the struggle against terrorism.
So I thank you all. What you're doing is important. I know you're away from home for many many months and you have families and loved ones and you're missing opportunities to do things back there, but what you're doing is important, it's noble work, it's needed, and it's successful. I thank each of you for that.
So God bless each of you and God bless our wonderful country. Thank you so much.


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Legendary trumpeter to headline River Raisin Jazz FestivalWritten by Vicki L. Kroll | | firstname.lastname@example.com
It was a journalist who turned Arturo Sandoval on to jazz.
"He played for me a Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie record. Oh my goodness, I went crazy, saying, 'Wow! What is this? Man, what are those people playing? That's so difficult! I love it! I want to learn how to play that!'
"And then I start with that and I'm still trying to figure out what those people were playing," the renowned trumpet player said.
In 1977, Sandoval had a chance to meet his idol when Gillespie visited his home country of Cuba. But he didn't tell the trumpeter he was also a musician right away.
"I drove him all over the city for the whole day. Then in the evening, we got a jam session," Sandoval recalled. "When he gets to the place, I was warming up on stage and he saw me with a trumpet, and he opened his eyes and said, 'What the heck's my driver doing with a trumpet?' And somebody said, 'No, no, no! He's the guy here in Cuba!'"
With the help of Gillespie, Sandoval soon became one of the great horn players of the world.
"[Gillespie] really helped me a lot. He was so good to me since we met. He gave me so many opportunities over so many years," he said.
Sandoval was touring with Gillespie in Spain in 1990 when he and his family were granted political asylum by the United States.
"Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You)" is the title of Sandoval's disc released in May.
"[It's] a group of tunes I have been playing that I had the honor and privilege to play with [Gillespie] many times when he was alive. It was a lot of fun doing the record; this is the kind of material that I really love," the jazzman said.
"The most important thing he taught me was love music," Sandoval said. "That was really the key motivation for me was how much he loved music and how much he really enjoyed talking and playing and trying to learn things about music."
One of his father's loves inspired his new CD, "Tango — Como Yo Te Siento," released in July.
"I remember my father — my dear father, he's in heaven — he liked tango music very much, and he never showed any kind of interest in music in general," Sandoval said during a call from his home near Los Angeles.
"But when you put in a good tango, he loved it. He knew the lyrics and the melodies of every tango. And in certain ways, this is a tribute as well to my dear father."
The Grammy Award winner will headline the River Raisin Jazz Festival at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 12 at St. Mary's Park in Monroe. The event is free.
"At all my gigs, I play percussion and I sing a couple tunes, and I play piano and play keyboard, and I dance a little bit, and I tell the story — I have fun on stage," Sandoval said. "My intention, my goal, is to let the people have fun too."
River Raisin Jazz Festival
St. Mary's Park, Monroe, Free
Saturday, Aug. 11
1 p.m. The River Raisin Big Band
2:30 p.m. Deon Yates
4 p.m. Hot Sauce
5:45 p.m. Chris Standring
7:30 p.m. Alexander Zonjic & Friends with special guest Bob James
Sunday, Aug. 12
1 p.m. RJ Spangler with special guests Larry Smith and Nikki Pearse
2:30 p.m. Soundproof
4 p.m. David Myles & The Mylestones
5:45 p.m. Chieli Minucci
7:30 p.m. Arturo Sandoval
Tags: Artura Sandoval, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, River Raisin Jazz Festival


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Homeless shelter cuts: Public hearing set for tomorrowWritten by Caitlin McGlade | | email@example.com
Homeless shelter directors will address members of city council June 13 about deep cuts their agencies might soon have to take.
The staff and directors are clamoring to figure out how they'll fill gaping budget holes by the beginning of next month, when they have to start a new budget cycle.
The city released Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) recommendations last week and the results marred the hopes that any shelter directors had of making up for lost funding they incurred from prior cuts.
City Council has yet to vote on the recommendations, and has the final say.
The homeless shelters, including the Aurora House, Family House, Bethany House, the Harbor House and La Posada Family Shelter, learned about two months ago that they would no longer receive Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Many of these shelters have depended on this money for decades. The Aurora House, a rehabilitative transitional housing program, used CDBG funding for at least 12 percent of its budget.
The Family House, a homeless shelter for families who stay about 38 days on average, loses 10 percent of its budget without CDBG funds.
Renee Palacios, director of the shelter, is irate.
"One Government Center isn't going to be able to shake us out," Palacios told Toledo Free Press last week.
Toledo took a cut in federal money for CDBG funding, but got more money for ESG allocations compared to prior years. Lourdes Santiago, director of the Department of Neighborhoods, said the city's review panel chose not to grant some agencies with CDBG money because they were eligible for ESG while other city programs were not.
This did not imply, however, that the amount the shelters might receive would entirely replace the amount lost from CDBG money, Santiago said.
Palacios said she and other shelter directors were led to believe that the ESG money would cover for CDBG losses. But the amounts announced last week are meager replacements, Palacios said.
The public hearing will take place in council chambers at 1 Government Center at 2 p.m.
Tags: Aurora House, Bethany House, Caitlin McGlade, Family House, Harbor House, homeless shelter funding, La Posada Family Shelter, Lourdes Santiago, Renee Palacios


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'My Ladye Nevells Booke' is one of the finest Tudor music manuscripts in existence and contains 42 pieces for keyboard by William Byrd, the greatest English composer of his age. The manuscript was acquired by the British Library in 2006 and a digitised version is now available as a 'Turning the Pages' feature in the Library's Online Gallery.
A voluntarie: for my ladye nevell: by William Byrd
About the manuscript
'My Ladye Nevells Booke' is one of the most beautifully written music manuscripts to survive from the late 16th century, and is still preserved in its original ornate binding. It was painstakingly compiled by the Windsor-based scribe John Baldwin, who completed work on it on 11 September 1591. Baldwin seems to have worked under the direction of the composer of all the pieces in the book, William Byrd, and clearly thought highly of him, describing him elsewhere as one
whose greate skill and knowledge: dothe excelle all at this tyme:
and farre to strange countries: abroade his skill dothe shyne:
Binding of 'My Ladye Nevells Booke'
By 1591 Byrd was mid-way through his career as composer of church music and secular vocal and instrumental music. The manuscript provides a snapshot of the keyboard music he had composed by that date and is an exceptionally important source for his music. It contains some of his best-known compositions for keyboard, including variations on the popular tunes 'Sellinger's Round' and 'All in a Garden Green'.
Inscription in My Ladye Nevells Booke, 'mr: W: birde: gentleman: of: her: majesties: chappell:
It also includes music written by Byrd specially for the dedicatee of the manuscript, 'Ladye Nevell'. She has recently been identified as Elizabeth, wife of Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbere, Berkshire. Her family's coat of arms adorns a leaf at the front of the manuscript.
Nevill family coat of arms © The British Library Board
The manuscript was accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the British Library in April 2006, with additional funding from donors. The British Library would like to thank the following, whose generosity made the acquisition possible: National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund, Friends of the British Library, Friends of the National Libraries, the Golsoncott Foundation and a great many members of the public who contributed through the British Library Support programme and a special collection box. You can view the complete manuscript in the Library's Online Gallery.
Calligraphy in My Ladye Nevells Booke © The British Library Board
Music Collections
The British Library
96 Euston Road
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7772
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7751
E-mail: Ask the Music Reference Team


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When someone argues for moral equivalency between the American government and Al Qaeda and suggests Bush is leading America toward fascism, we tend to assume the person is a leftist. But those same views are widely shared by parts of the libertarian right.
This isn't entirely new: in the 1930's the pro-communist left and the isolationist right both decried Roosevelt as a fascist war-mongerer. In the 1960's both the New Right and New Left were sure that Lyndon Johnson's Great Society was the incarnation of "friendly fascism." The common thread was that both the anarcho-libertarians of Young Americans for Freedom and the anarcho-socialists of The Students for a Democratic Society saw the compromises of politics and the bureaucracies associated with governments as the spawn of soul-slaying managerialism. They (like Ron Paul) both adored Randolph Bourne, the American critic of WWI, entirely unaware of the appeal German romanticism and proto-fascism had for him. You could hear those common chords in Tim Russert's interview with Ron Paul on Meet the Press this past Sunday:
MR. RUSSERT: But let me go back to this ad. You do not believe that Mike Huckabee, that ad commercial represents the potential of fascism in the form of a cross.
REP. PAUL: No. But I think this country, a movement in the last 100 years, is moving toward fascism. Fascism today, the softer term, because people have different definition of fascism, is corporatism when the military industrial complex runs the show, when the—in the name of security pay—pass the Patriot Act. You don't vote for it, you know, you're not patriotic America. If you don't support the troops and you don't support—if you don't support the war you don't support the troops. It's that kind of antagonism. But we have more corporatism and more abuse of our civil liberties, more loss of our privacy, national ID cards, all this stuff coming has a fascist tone to it. And the country's moving in that direction. That's what I'm thinking about. This was not personalized. I never even used my opponents names if you, if you notice.
MR. RUSSERT: So you think we're close to fascism?
REP. PAUL: I think we're approaching it very close. One—there's one, there's one documentary that's been put out recently that has generated a lot of interest called "Freedom to Fascism." And we're moving in that direction. Were not moving toward Hitler-type fascism, but we're moving toward a softer fascism. Loss of civil liberties, corporations running the show, big government in bed with big business. So you have the military industrial complex, you have the medical industrial complex, you have the financial industry, you have the communications industry. They go to Washington and spend hundreds of millions of dollars. That's where the control is. I call that a soft form of fascism, something that is very dangerous.
Paul, the provincial, is as blissfully unaware of the history of 1300 years of Jihad as the Daily Kos and most of its readers. Here's his exchange with Russert on Al-Qaeda:
MR. RUSSERT: It sounds like you think that the problem is al-Qaeda—the problem is the United States, not al-Qaeda.
REP. PAUL: No, it's both. It's both—al-Qaeda becomes violent. It's sort of like if you step in a snake pit and you get bit, you know, who caused the trouble? Because you stepped in the snake pit or because snakes bite you? So I think you have to understand both. But why, why produce the incentive for these violent, vicious thugs to want to come here and kill us.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you think there's an ideological struggle that Islamic fascists want to take over the world?
REP. PAUL: Oh, I think some, just like the West is wanting to do that all the time. Look at the way they look at us. I mean, we're in a, we're in a 130 countries. We have 700 bases. How do you think they proposed that to their people, saying "What does America want to do? Are they over here to be nice to us and teach us how to be good democrats?"
MR. RUSSERT: So you see a moral equivalency between the West and Islamic fascism.
REP. PAUL: For some people, some radicals on each side that when we impose our will with force by a few number of people—not the American people—I'm talking the people who have hijacked our foreign policy, the people who took George Bush's foreign policy of a humble foreign policy and turned it into one of nation-building which he complained about.
But for all the similarities between the heirs of the New Right and the New Left, Paul, a Texan still carries some burden peculiar to right-wing libertarians. Abe Lincoln is a very bad guy, the father of Leviathan state that's lead to today's incipient (it's always incipient) fascism. And while there are and have been card-carrying left-liberal Lincoln haters (Gore Vidal, John Updike, and Edmund Wilson, to name a few) this is largely an affectation of the right. Paul, unaware that Brazil didn't abolish slavery until 1888 and Saudi Arabia till 1962, had the following exchange with Russert:
MR. RUSSERT: I was intrigued by your comments about Abe Lincoln. "According to Paul, Abe Lincoln should never have gone to war; there were better ways of getting rid of slavery."
REP. PAUL: Absolutely. Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war. No, he shouldn't have gone, gone to war. He did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic. I mean, it was the—that iron, iron fist..
MR. RUSSERT: We'd still have slavery.
REP. PAUL: Oh, come on, Tim. Slavery was phased out in every other country of the world. And the way I'm advising that it should have been done is do like the British empire did. You, you buy the slaves and release them. How much would that cost compared to killing 600,000 Americans and where it lingered for 100 years? I mean, the hatred and all that existed. So every other major country in the world got rid of slavery without a civil war. I mean, that doesn't sound too radical to me. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach.
Still, for all their similarities, the heirs of the New Right and the New Left do have some fundamental differences. In part because the leftists are afraid that we will pollute the world with our capitalist-liberal democratic ideals, while the rightists are worried that the rest of the world will pollute our founding traditions with statist and socialist effects. But the common bottom line is neo-isolationism.


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Central Cyanosis
Central cyanosis reflects systemic hypoxia. It may be seen in patients with congenital cyanotic heart disease or acute hypoxia from pulmonary oedema,where it indicates impending death. Look for a bluish discoloration of the lips and tongue. The sensitivity of the finding reflects the level of the plasma hemoglobin, or more specifically the plasma concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin in peripheral blood. In a patient with a normal hemoglobin (13.5-18 g/dL in men, 11.5-16 g/dL in women) central cyanosis becomes detectable with oxygen saturation values of between 80 and 87 %. Anaemic patients require more severe hypoxia before cyanosis becomes clinically apparent. With a hemoglobin of 6 g/dL oxygen saturation would need to fall as low as 60% before cyanosis becomes clinically apparent.


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The Drummer's Gene
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Platinum Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Portland, OR USA
Posts: 5,589
Re: The Drummer's Gene
As far as the "drummer's gene" goes, I've seen many kids who HAVE to bang on pots and pans when they're younger grow up to get into music. Not necessarily drums, but there's a little "something special" that I think many musicians have...a draw to music and expressing themselves, and, yes, taking life experiences and hobbies to the extreme. I wouldn't limit it to drummers, per say, but a drummer with the "gene" will take their drumming and art farther and more serious than, say, a drummer who didn't bang away on pots and pans when they were younger.
Of course, there are exceptions to EVERY rule (except this one).
I, for one, didn't bang on pots and pans when I was younger, but I have the drive, motivation, and intellect to fully immerse myself in whatever I'm doing to the extreme, for the sheer love of it. I do want to go skydiving some day, but I'm not in any hurry to, especially since having kids...
Be vewwy quiet, I'm hunting Lawwy
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Wrongful Convictions
Wrongful Convictions
In 2009, the Observer's Dave Mann wrote a four-part series investigating flawed arson cases in Texas. Dave found compelling evidence that three men had been wrongly convicted based on junk science that mistook accidental fires for arson. Dave later investigated alleged wrongful convictions based on flawed blood spatter and hair follicle evidence. You can also read on this page Dave's coverage of Texas' investigation into the infamous Cameron Todd Willingham case. Willingham was executed in 2004 on arson evidence that has since been debunked.
Michael Morton and Sen. Rodney Ellis Aim to Improve DNA Testing Law
Wrongful Convictions In 2009, the Observer's Dave Mann wrote a four-part series investigating flawed arson cases in Texas. Dave found compelling evidence that […]
Ed Graf Trial Ends in Guilty Plea
The jury has begun deliberating the fate of Ed Graf, a Waco man being re-tried on controversial arson charges. Graf has spent 25 years in prison.
At Ed Graf Trial, Prosecutors Rely on Circumstantial Evidence
On day two of Ed Graf's re-trial in Waco, the prosecution began laying out its circumstantial evidence.
Re-Trial of Ed Graf's Flawed Arson Case Begins in Waco
After 25 years in prison, Ed Graf is once again on trial for a crime he likely didn't commit.
Observer Radio Episode 70: An Exonerated Man's Search for Closure
In February, Chris Scott confronted the man whose crime put him in prison.
The Arson Files: After Serving 25 Years, Ed Graf May Finally Receive New Trial
Ed Graf had waited 25 years for a chance to prove his innocence, and late last week, he finally got it.
DNA Tests Undermine Evidence in Texas Execution
New results show Claude Jones was put to death on flawed evidence.
A Bloody Injustice
Warren Horinek was a vicious drunk with a history of threatening his wife. But his conviction for murdering her was based on junk science–like thousands of others.


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Adobe Reader 9
Last Review: 08-23-2010
Available To:
- Students Admitted to UT Arlington
- Currently Enrolled UT Arlington Students
- Departments and Offices at UT Arlington
- Faculty (currently appointed) and Staff
Vendor: Adobe
Product: Reader
Version: 9.5
Standard Software Supported By: Desktop
OIT Support Levels: Partial
Free software allowing the viewing and printing of Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
System Requirements: Mfg Minimum
- Base OS: Mac
- OS Version: 10.4
- Processor: PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel
- RAM: 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended)
- Additional Hard Disk Space Needed: 170 MB
System Requirements: OIT Required
- Base OS: Mac
- OS Version: 10.5
- Processor: PPC G5 1.6Ghz, Intel 1.6Ghz
How to Get:
For UT Arlington owned computers, call the Helpdesk at x2-2208 and request Reader to be installed on a faculty/staff machine.
For Student, faculty, and staff individual use, download it from the Adobe website.


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The 15-year-old Spring Lake boy, Drew Johnson, was traveling west on M-104 near 144th Avenue at about 6 p.m., when a westbound car passed, and then turned into a business in front of him, police said.
An ambulance took the teen to North Ottawa Community Hospital in good condition.
Police said he was wearing his helmet.
Spring Lake High School Principal Mike Gilchrist confirmed this morning that the boy is a freshman at the school.
Johnson suffered two broken bones in his left leg and is scheduled to have surgery this afternoon, said his step-father, Cory Howe.
"He's doing good," Howe said.
Police are looking for a white male in his early 20s driving a green Pontiac, possibly a Grand Am or a Grand Prix.
The car should be damaged and have orange and gray paint from the moped on it, Howe said.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Silent Observer at 877-88-SILENT.
The Tribune would like more information on this incident. Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact reporter Becky Vargo at firstname.lastname@example.com, or call her at 842-6400 ext. 231.


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immerses the viewers into a world of fantasy and wonder. Like many other fantastic tales,
the movie conceals within its symbolism an underlying meaning and, in this case,
it is rather disturbing. Labyrinth describes the programming of a mind control victim
at the hands of a sadistic handler. We will look at the occult meaning
of the symbolism found in Labyrinth.
is a quintessential 80s movie that contains everything we love
from the 80s:
80s synth music, 80s CGI effects and a 80s David Bowie in the same 80s hairdo
that your aunt Susan had in the 80s. What's not to love? The movie has, in fact,
become a "cult classic" and is still a children's favorite. But like many of these delightfully
twisted fantasy movies, there is more to Labyrinth than meets the eye.
By understanding the occult symbolism and references in Labyrinth, the movie becomes
a big allegory for mind control, where each scene refers to a particular aspect of the process.
Read this fascinating article at VigilantCitizen.com


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Archive - Aug 30, 2009
New Star Trek Online "Meet The Team" & Screenshot
By Captain Pyke | August 30, 2009 - 11:27 pm
Star Trek Online just posted a brand new screenshot showing what looks like a Federation facility, possibly a space station, and a brand new Installment of "meet the team". Check out the new ST:O screenshot here.
Meet the Team: Lee Dotson
What do you do on Star Trek Online?


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Twinkling Flare Headpiece
Style: 29011590
Paris by Debra Moreland's delicate bridal cap made from sparkling bursts of pearls and Swarovski crystals is refreshingly versatile, and can be placed wherever an accent is needed. Comes with two bobby pins. 3.25"H, 8.5"L. Rhodium plated brass, glass pearls, Swarovski crystals. Handmade in USA.


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Ammu Joseph
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was obliged to sell off its transmission facilities through private industry tender some years ago, thanks to legislation introduced by the U.K. government, then headed by the Conservative Party, which planned to use the proceeds to swell the coffers of the state. However, a citizens' media-watch group, Voice of the Listener and Viewer (www.vlv.org.uk), successfully argued that since the public had paid for the transmitters through license fees, the sale proceeds should be returned to the public broadcaster. The government gave in and the BBC was richer by 200 million pounds sterling.
This was one of the all-too-rare success stories shared at a recent workshop on 'Citizens' Media: Promoting Citizens' Participation in Broadcasting,' organised by the Asia-Pacific Institute For Broadcasting Development (AIBD), in collaboration with UNESCO and the World Radio and Television Council (WRTVC), in Kuala Lumpur.
The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (www.friends.ca) experience was another positive story presented at the workshop. Entirely financed through voluntary contributions from 60,000 Canadian families (to the tune of US$ 1.4 million per annum), the organisation's mission is to defend and enhance the quality and quantity of Canadian programming as 'the first audio-visual colony of the United States' struggles to withstand the cultural onslaught from across the border. According to spokesperson Ian Morrison, the FCB (otherwise known as Friends) undertakes a variety of activities in pursuit of its goal. For instance, it recently completed a series of widely reported public meetings on Canadian control of media and communications and released a new, professionally conducted opinion survey on Canadian culture in the context of Canada/U.S. relations.
Hello OB-Van, a 30-year-old participatory radio programme that is still going strong in Germany, attracting 300,000 listeners spread across the North Rhine region, was yet another inspiring example highlighted during the workshop. Named after the multi-purpose van that airs the show from a different location every week, the programme -- now also shown on national television once a month -- resembles an outdoor town-hall meeting, its presenters interacting with citizens in a public space on topics chosen by the audience (some 1500 subjects at last count).
These examples illustrate some of the ways in which and levels at which the interface between citizens and the media can and occasionally do take place in different parts of the world: intervention in policy, monitoring and advocacy, and meaningful participation in programmes.
The purpose of the Citizen's Media workshop, the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, was to review the current situation regarding the place and role of citizens in relation to the media in general and broadcasting in particular, and to discuss the possibility of constructive dialogue between civil society, broadcasters and media regulatory authorities. As the organisers stressed, the issue of citizens' rights vis a vis the media has become critical in view of the extraordinary growth of mass media, the emergence of new media and the media's consequent, unprecedented position of influence in the world today.
As Javad Jabbar of Pakistan, chairperson of the South Asia Media Association, Karachi, said during the workshop, the media now wield enormous power and yet remain largely unaccountable, often in the name of freedom of expression. He presented a list outlining citizens' rights as well as responsibilities in this context, which was adopted as a draft charter by the 40 participants from 22 countries in the Asia Pacific region, Europe and North America. (See workshop recommendations below.)
According to VLV's 'Guidelines for the Promotion of Citizen Participation in Broadcasting,' circulated at the workshop, 'A strong relationship between the nation's broadcasters and its citizens provides one of the means for withstanding threats to national identity implicit in market pressures and in multinational media corporations' capacity to introduce globalisation and cultural homogenisation. The promotion of a constructive dialogue between citizens and broadcasters is therefore vital. The exact terms in which that dialogue will be conducted will vary from one society to another. The underlying principle, however, must be one of mutual trust: first, trust by the broadcasters that the public will understand the practical constraints under which the broadcaster operates ' and, secondly, trust by the public that the broadcaster will treat the dialogue seriously, not exploiting it as an opportunity to promote their public relations while failing to recognise any obligations towards accountability and good governance.'
It was clear from both presentations and discussions at the workshop that the situation of both the media and citizens in the many countries in the Asia-Pacific region -- with DIVerse political and media systems -- presented many challenges and some opportunities.
There is, of course, the familiar problem of public service broadcasters that are state controlled and thereby highly vulnerable to political pressure. As Kishali Pinto Jayawardena of Sri Lanka, deputy director of the Law and Society Trust, Colombo, said, the crucial relationship between broadcasters and citizens cannot be healthy as long as the broadcasting regime is subject to governmental control and interference. Structural reform of the domestic broadcasting regime (vis a vis the independence of the public broadcaster as well as the basis on which licenses of private broadcasters are issued) must be among the first objectives of a process aiming to promote civil society participation in broadcasting, she said.
In Sri Lanka, as in India, Supreme Court judgements have upheld not only citizens' right to freedom of expression but also the important principle that the airwaves/frequencies constitute public property and are to be used to benefit the public, with governments functioning primarily as trustees for the public. According to Jayawardena, it is up to citizens to use these progressive judgements to secure their rights and, especially, to ensure that media are independent and impartial.
The problem of democratic deficit is an even more fundamental challenge to citizens' participation in the media in the region. Isa Saharkhiz of Iran, editor-in-chief and manager of Aftab magazine, Tehran, underscored the importance of democracy to any kind of citizen involvement in the media, citing the example of his own country. According to him, the liberal policies introduced by the popularly elected, reformist government that came into power in 1997 led to an upsurge in media proliferation and journalistic activity. Not only did the new openness encourage journalists who had left the scene on account of censorship and political pressure to return to the profession, but scholars and specialists in various fields began to contribute to the media. In addition, once citizens had witnessed and experienced the reality of political freedom, they also began to participate in the media more actively as contributors, sources of information and opinion, and audiences.
The situation changed dramatically in 2000, following the judicial clamp-down on the independent, pro-reforms media, which led to the shutting down of 20 newspapers and magazines within 40 hours. Since then more than 100 publications have been closed, and a large number of journalists, including senior editors and publishers, have been prosecuted and imprisoned. Self-censorship has naturally increased, and many journalists have quit the profession. The bottom line, according to Saharkhiz, is that democracy and freedom of expression are 'absolute prerequisites for meaningful, dynamic media activity and the promotion of citizens' participation in broadcasting.'
A different note of caution was sounded by Atmakusumah Astraatmadja of Indonesia, executive director of the Soetomo Press Institute, Jakarta. According to him, the advent of democracy in 1998 was catalysed by an unprecedented growth of media - both print and broadcast -- in his country, too. However, he pointed out, the termination of an authoritarian national regime does not necessarily end all pressures on the media. For instance, threats still come through local governments using legal measures based on a 50-year-old 'emergency law.' They also exist in the form of violent protests against and threats to journalists and media outlets from members of various organisations, including some representing religious communities or movements. Such censorship by mob, or street censorship - increasingly common in India, too -- is clearly not the kind of citizen participation the workshop was designed to encourage.
On a happier note, community media clearly represent an important avenue for citizens' participation in broadcasting. As Steve Buckley, president of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), put it, 'community-based, independent media with social rather than commercial objectives' provide a necessary alternative to the two dominant, often opposing, media forms prevalent across the world: public and private. According to him, at present country-level legislative and regulatory frameworks, and associated spectrum planning, remain the most persistent obstacles to the establishment and growth of this third option, although recent developments in several parts of the world indicate a trend towards the opening up of the airwaves.
Unlike the situation in India, where the government is only now -- slowly and hesitantly -- formulating policy to make the dream of community radio a reality, and Sri Lanka, where community broadcasting has not yet been effectively delinked from the state broadcasting system, in Nepal community radio has slowly but surely come into its own since the introduction of parliamentary democracy, with seven stations already on air.
The country appears to be surging ahead with FM radio, too, with 53 independent channels run by DIVerse groups, ranging from commercial enterprises to non-governmental organisations. According to Manisha Aryal, executive director of the Antenna Foundation, Kathmandu (a production house which buys time on Radio Nepal for its programmes and also provides uncensored versions to other stations), even commercial stations are beginning to include public interest programming in their schedules.
In another inspiring story of citizen participation, Aryal spoke of the 900 Listeners' Clubs spread across the country, each with memberships of up to a dozen teenagers and young adults, most of them male. The Foundation provides them with audio-tapes of programmes, which are played at village fairs, in long-distance buses, and so on, and they return the favour by remaining in regular communication and, especially, sending feedback about the programmes and their reception by various audiences.
Clearly there are many lessons in all these experiences for countries across the region. In addition there are a few others that may need to be taken on board in this context. One such lesson is, surely, that 'citizens' do not constitute a homogenous category.
Take, for example, the popular television programmes based on 'audience participation.' Diversity does not appear to be a criterion for the selection of participants, at least in India. As a result, 'the people' in the studios are hardly representative of the multiple classes, castes, ethnic and religious communities, languages and educational levels that make up the Indian population - nor, for that matter, is there much variation in their geographical location, with 'national' programmes remaining largely Delhi-centric. What is more, the air-time provided to 'ordinary people' in the studio is usually just a fraction of that allotted to celebrity or specialist participants.
Further, in the era of mass media as the new opiate of the middle classes, when even news programmes and channels have succumbed to the infotainment imperative, little attention is paid to the DIVersity of interests and concerns that exists even within the urban middle classes. It is not surprising, therefore, that even programmes apparently open to public participation currently reflect little DIVersity in content or perspective.
Another important lesson is that citizens' participation in media matters cannot be secured through lip service or token gestures.
Take, for example, recent developments in media policy in India. In April, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which is now the designated regulator for the broadcast sector as well, issued two consultation papers, ostensibly to seek inputs from 'stakeholders.' The first, dated 14 April, related to the second phase of private FM radio broadcasting, and the second, dated 20 April, to various issues concerning broadcasting and the distribution of television channels. Both were posted on the TRAI website. Neither was widely publicised.
Chapter 5 of the 64-page former document lists 19 issues for consideration; yet the deadline for comments was up in just three weeks, on 7 May. Chapter 7 of the 99-page second document also highlights for discussion a number of issues relating to the controversial Conditional Access System, competition in and pricing of cable services, advertisements on television, and customer service.
Towards the end of the month the website announced a series of open house discussions in three cities (Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai) between 7 and 15 May 'to seek inputs from the public in formulating policy in the following areas of broadcasting: FM Radio, Cable and Broadcasting Services, and Unified Licensing.' The 'public hearings,' which were to be held in city hotels, were not well publicised either.
In any case it is not clear what could be achieved through one-day consultations in three metropolises, each comprising a one-hour session on FM radio and a one and a half hour one on Cable and Broadcasting Services. Only Delhi and Mumbai were treated to a second day of deliberations, this time on Unified Licensing (two and a half hours) and Limits on the Number of Tariff Plans (one hour). In addition to these limitations, the announcement heralding the open houses included a caveat: 'In view of the large number of persons likely to attend (the Consultation on Broadcasting and Cable Services) and in order to make the Consultation meaningful, admission to this Consultation would be restricted to those who have been sent invitations.' So much for citizen participation.
However, if there is one message that emerged from this preliminary Citizens' Media workshop it is a positive one, calling for public action to assert and activate citizens' right to be acknowledged as stakeholders in the media, to influence media policy, to shape media content and to be represented in the media. For this, civil society first needs to recognise that media and culture are matters of public interest about which citizens must be both concerned and proactive. As Buckley put it, 'It is increasingly important that we, as citizens, articulate a broader perspective (on media) and build coalitions for the defence of culture and linguistic DIVersity, for progressive communications reform, and for the extension of communication rights.'
18 April, 2004
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The following recommendations were made by the participants at the workshop:
Broadcasters, civil society organisations and international development agencies are enjoined to
* Develop a performance index that citizens can use as a guide to reviewing the performance of broadcasters and suggesting improvements for the future.
* Encourage elaboration of quality standards that are globally recognized to evaluate/monitor broadcasting against established benchmarks.
* Encourage regional/ local initiatives for citizen participation in broadcasting through national and regional workshops, training programmes and training resources.
* Map citizen participation in the Asia Pacific - strengths, problem areas, desirable changes, best practices - as a guide in promoting citizen groups.
* Develop a document on citizens' rights and responsibilities with regard to media, disseminate and advocate this widely among the different stakeholders in broadcasting.
* Undertake regular and systematic analysis of broadcast content and advocate measures to promote the successes and address the gaps.
* Encourage broadcasters to set up mechanisms to receive and respond swiftly and appropriately to citizens' feedback.
* Develop schools as focal points for citizens' awareness and participation. Media studies may be considered as a mandatory subject in schools, and media literacy programmes could be included at every stage in the educational system.
* Set up mechanisms for regular dialogue with advertisers and sponsors with the objective of promoting relevant and responsible programme content.
* Ensure independence and transparency in the formation and functioning of citizens' organizations through the involvement of varied interest groups representing different sectors of society, and DIVersified sources of funding. Involvement and support of existing professional organizations and civil society groups would be important in this context.
* Encourage a process of consensus building between broadcasters, government, regulators and citizen groups, consciously avoiding a confrontationist approach.
* Use interactive technologies and methodologies to encourage participation of DIVerse sections of the population in the countries of the region.
* Identify and disseminate best practices in broadcasting organizations. To facilitate this, an award may be instituted for best practices in public interest broadcasting.
* Initiate and support awareness building among the different stakeholders and training of citizen groups in media literacy and monitoring.
* World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on every 3rd of May, be redesignated as World Media Freedom Day.
Governments are urged to
* Ensure that the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and right to communicate as enshrined in international covenants, are protected.
* Recognise that media policies and legislation are vital aspects of public policy.
* Create through appropriate policy, legislative and regulatory instruments, distinct categories for state/public service, private commercial and community broadcasters with distinctive roles in the development of each nation.
* Strengthen the public service role of national/state broadcasters.
* Encourage community broadcasters to contribute to the development and empowerment of their communities.
* Recognise citizens as stakeholders in the broadcast media and initiate and support processes for civil society groups to organize themselves to perform a valuable role in monitoring and dialoguing with the stakeholders in the broadcasting system.
* Recognize and support media monitoring and public opinion surveys as essential tools in addressing the DIVerse needs and interests of citizens in the pluralistic societies of the Asia Pacific region.
* Take appropriate measures to ensure the free flow of information and promote cultural DIVersity and plurality of perspectives.
The participants also endorsed the recommendations of the Bangkok Declaration, adopted by the Ministerial Conference in May 2003 (available at www.aibd.org.my).
Three additional recommendations were proposed during the presentation on the workshop during the Asia Media Summit:
1. Where representative bodies of private, independent radio and TV channels do not exist within a country, these should be established in order to enable coordinated action by broadcasters in various respects, but most particularly in ensuring minimal observance of rules and norms of public interest and public service broadcasting as also to make a continuous dialogue with citizens convenient and feasible.
2. Where private and independent TV and radio channels are broadcasting across national boundaries, representative forums of such transnational broadcasters also need to be created to help formulate codes of ethics that are appropriate for regions and continents as distinct from codes that are applied only within countries, as well as because such forums will facilitate dialogue and cooperation with citizens' forums from across the region.
3. There is a need to build a global media civil society coalition to balance the growth of global media and to facilitate dialogue.


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Book Fair for Children in Sfax
A book fair for children will be held between March 22 and April 2 everyday from 10:00 to 20:00 in Sfax. <i>La Presse</i> reports that the fair will host fifty foreign participants (mainly editors, publishing houses, libraries and associations) coming from European countries and Arab countries.
Within the framework of this event, there will be also a conference titled "Science in children books: twenty years of practice in children books in Tunisia", which will take place from March 25-27 with the participation of Michelle Bouffetier (responsible for the youth section of Charles Gaulles Library) and George-Andre Vuaroqueaux (director of the center of international studies in children literature). During the event, tales will be told for children by famous Tunisian names such as by Mouna Noureddine (on March 23), Belgacem Haj Ali (on March 26), Hafedh El Khabou (on March 27), Zeïneb Hamed (on March 28), Jamil Joudi (on March 30) and Béchir Drissi (on April 1).


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Sept. 16, 2011
Midland, Texas – The University of New Mexico men's tennis team wrapped up day one of the Midland Collegiate Invitational with singles player Jadon Phillips advancing on to the second round of singles.
The UNM singles player Jadon Phillips seeded number five in the tournament, also ranked eighty-three in the country, notched a win for the Lobos to start the day taking down Rice University's Isamu Tachibana with a score of 6-2, 6-2. He will be advancing to 16-round singles main draw.
Conor Berg faced the number one seed in the tournament, also ranked number twenty-nine in the country, and played with spirit against Tulsa University's Japie De Klerk losing in a tie-break in the third set 4-6, 7-5, 7-6.
Carl Ho played his heart out but was not able to defeat Abilene Christian's Hans Hoch losing in a tie-break in the third set 7-6, 6-7, 7-6.
Phil Anderson also fell in the first round against Davidson's Calum Gee 7-6, 6-3.
While Lobos Carl Ho, Phil Anderson and Conor Berg did not win in the main draw; they each won a match in consolation and will be advancing to the next round.
In the doubles arena, Phillips/Anderson will be advancing to the third round of the tournament while Berg/ Ho will not be joining them losing in the second match against Texas A&M.
For more information visit www.rc10s.com


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Eastern Garter Snake
Thamnophis sirtalis
Spring welcomes many plants and animals from their winter retreats. Here at Prairie Ridge we have had the opportunity to be greeted on sunny days by an Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) that has taken its winter refuge near our offices. This scaly critter seems oblivious to approach as long as we don't harass it.
Eastern Garter Snakes are commonly found throughout North Carolina. When alarmed or handled, these relatively harmless snakes may flatten their heads, attempt to bite, and exude a foul smelling musk from glands near the base of their tail in an attempt to defend themselves. As predators, these snakes will eat a variety of smaller animals including earthworms, fish, and amphibians. Our local specimen has been recently observed eating a toad.
Be sure to be on the look out for snakes and other reptiles in your yard as they become more active with the warmer spring weather. You can help scientists track our native reptiles and amphibians by participating in the Carolina Herp Atlas by visiting their website: www.carolinaherpatlas.org.
Find out more about the natural happenings at Prairie Ridge at our What Time Is It In Nature Archive.


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Shigeki Hayashi: Babies In Spacesuitsby: Ivan Pok
Ceramist Shigeki Hayashi makes intriguing and bizarre works of art. His life like sculptures of babies in spacesuits and S&M outfit togged femmes are examples of the "possibility of ceramic expression" as he puts it. Weird and wonderful at the same time, his work seems to address the Japanese obsession with youth and sex. His latest work, The Entertainment Ceramics 2 has 2 rows of spacesuit clad infants facing each other. Eyes closed, they appear as if they were in the womb. In some of his older work, disembodied heads seem to meld into or out of the floor, depending on the angle you view at. It's pretty amazing work, a wee bit disturbing, but totally worth checking out.
Via WMMNA
The Graphic Imperativeby: Ivan Pok
We live in turbulent times, but its good to see some people care about the world and are trying to make some kind of difference through the arts– using whatever tools they have. The Massachusetts College of Art and Philadelphia University put together a series of posters called The Graphic Imperative: International Posters for Peace, Social Justice and the Environment 1965-2005. The Graphic Imperative is a selection of 121 unique posters, all created to address the various issues that plague us (by artists around the world). Thought provoking, serious, sometimes humorous, sarcastic and critical, these are some of the best statement posters we've ever seen. The Graphic Imperative is currently on exhibit at the AIGA National Design Center in New York from June 15th to August 18th, 2006. So if you're in the area, go see the posters in full size–beautiful work!
Real Dutch Designby: Kobayashi 5
This year's edition of the Dutch design book is so real that the publishers added the word 'Real' to the title. Real Dutch Design 2006/2007 is quite possibly the most comprehensive reference for anyone interested in this leading area of design. At almost 1,000 pages in length and divided into two seperate volumes, the book contains portfolios and information on more than 300 designers. The great thing about Real Dutch Design is that there are editorial sections preceding the portofilios in which design experts and users give their opinions and thoughts on the future of Dutch design. With this framework in mind, the reader is then presented in the following pages with a wide variety of works that each meet the client demands in unique ways. Order your copy today.