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Wild Boars, either escapees from sport hunting compounds or farms, have established themselves in the Catskills, posing threats to humans, crops and livestock. Hikers and farmers are cautioned to avoid these aggressive omnivores.
According to today's Wayne Independent newspaper, "Currently, there are breeding populations of feral swine in both Sullivan and Delaware Counties. Most of the populations in New York can be traced back to escaped and abandoned Eurasian boars in captivity and hunting preserves."
To learn what can be done to deal with this invasive species, informational meetings are being offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Sullivan County, as part of the Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP), on April 8th, 1-3pm at the Hancock Town Hall, Hancock, and April 22nd, 5:30-7:30pm Liberty CCE office, in Liberty. Pre-registration and a $10 fee are required.
In addition, CRISP and USDA Wildlife Services will be co-hosting workshops on identification and reporting of Eurasian Boar in Delaware and Sullivan counties. Learn about the damages and dangers that these invasive species pose to private property and the environment, as well as what you can do to help.
From CRISP's website: "CRISP partners represent diverse stakeholders throughout the Catskill Mountain Region. Our mission is to promote education, prevention, early detection and control of invasive species to limit their impact on the ecosystems and economies of the Catskills."
July 6-12 is New York Invasive Species Awareness Week. Besides wild boars, other invasive species listed for the region include: Giant Hogweed, which can cause serious burns; Asian Longhorned Beetle, damages trees: and the Emerald Ash Borer, which is decimating the Ash tree population in the Hudson Valley and Catskills as well as many other regions in the Northeast.
These and others are classified as invasive species in our area. You can learn how to identify them, control them, avoid them and map them on CRISP's website.
Suggested Links
- Invasive species: Protecting our local ecosystems from alien invasions
- Invasive species workshop and nature walk by Allegheny Land Trust
- Invasive species- fish (part 2 of 2)
- Wild boars and wild fires in Russia could increase exposure to radiation from nuclear energy plants
- Feral pigs are going "hog wild" across America


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Bottlegreen Drinks Co in Health and Wellness (United Kingdom)
Bottlegreen Drinks Co in Health and Wellness (United Kingdom)
Published: July 2014
Publisher: Euromonitor International
Product ref: 218999
Pages: 2
Format: PDF
Delivery: Immediate download
Bottlegreen Drinks will continue to focus on offering limited edition variants, both in terms of flavours and packaging, and will also seek to engage consumers via its chatty Facebook and Twitter accounts and luxurious prize competitions. However, price is expected to become a stronger area of focus at the start of the forecast period, due to the company losing share to Coca-Cola in NH juice-based non-cola carbonates at the end of the review period. 2014 for example saw the company offering...
Euromonitor International Local Company Profiles are a concise set of briefings detailing the strategic direction taken by a company. Discover key contact details, the company background and their competitive positioning through this collection of snapshot company profiles.
Product coverage: Health and Wellness by Category, Health and Wellness by Prime Positioning, Health and Wellness by Type.
Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.
Euromonitor International
July 2014
Strategic Direction
Key Facts
Summary 1 Bottlegreen Drinks Co: Key Facts
Company Background
Competitive Positioning
Summary 2 Bottlegreen Drinks Co: Competitive Position 2013
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From Wikiquote
Sanity denotes one's mind being in a healthy condition; not deranged; acting rationally.
- Without laughter life on our planet would be intolerable. So important is laughter to us that humanity highly rewards members of one of the most unusual professions on earth, those who make a living by inducing laughter in others. This is very strange if you stop to think of it: that otherwise sane and responsible citizens should devote their professional energies to causing others to make sharp, explosive barking-like exhalations.
- Steve Allen, Funny People (1981)
- Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage...
- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
- The criterion of mental health is not one of individual adjustment to a given social order, but a universal one, valid for all men, of giving a satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.
- Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (1955)
- I never said 'The superman exists and he's American.' What I said was 'God exists and he's American.' If that statement starts to chill you after a couple of moments' consideration, then don't be alarmed. A feeling of intense and crushing religious terror at the concept indicates only that you are still sane.
- Dr. Milton Glass, Alan Moore, Watchmen
- So I had to face the fact that I was blessed with abilities that were considered symptoms of emotional abnormality or mental derangement by psychology, often thought of as demonic by religion, and whose very existence was denied altogether by science. So in my darker moments I used to think that my psychic initiation and subsequent experiences were a mixed bag, to say the least. But the fact is that I was very sensitive to criticism for the very good reason that often I shared many of the beliefs that stimulated it.
- Jane Roberts in The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto, p. 48
- Sanity is madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled.
- George Santayana, Interpretations of Poetry and Religion (1900)
- I must confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world.
- H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau


text:
Latest Downloads
Product Info
Specifications Download Energy Guide Download Spec Sheet
- Total Capacity (cu. ft.) 29.1 cu. ft.
- High-Efficiency LED Lighting Yes
Cooling System
Twin Cooling Plus®
Method in which cold air circulates through a refrigerator. A twin system has two separate evaporators.
- Stainless Steel Interior Accents Yes
EZ-Open Handle™
Engineered handle that allows for easy opening and closing of a fully-loaded freezer.
- Interior Design Stainless Steel Interior Accents
- CEE Rating Tier 1
French Door
Type of refrigerator: Side by Side, French Door 4-Door Flex™ or Bottom Freezer.
Full Specifications
Additional Filtered Ice Maker In the Freezer YesTotal Capacity (cu. ft.) 29.1 cu. ft.External Filtered Water and Ice Dispenser YesFlexZone Drawer YesHigh-Efficiency LED Lighting YesCooling System ?Twin Cooling Plus®
Method in which cold air circulates through a refrigerator. A twin system has two separate evaporators.Surround Air Flow ?Yes
A fan system that keeps the refrigerator at the optimal temperature by distributing cool air evenly.Power Freeze and Power Cool Options ?Yes
Feature that when selected can fast-freeze or fast-chill food in a short period of time.Humidity Controlled Crispers 2Tempered Glass Spill Proof Shelves 5Gallon Bins ?3
Spacious shelf on door secures extra large containers (like gallons of milk) for easy access.EZ-Open Handle™ YesStainless Steel Interior Accents YesAuto Pull Out Clear Upper Freezer Drawer Yes2-Minute Door Alarm ?Yes
Audible alert indicating that the refrigerator door has been open for two minutes.Contour Doors w/ Smooth Finish ?Yes
Refrigerator doors are shaped for optimal feel, functionality, and aesthetics.CoolTight Door ?Yes
Refrigerator door that self-closes with a tight seal to conserve energy and to prevent spoilage.Dispenser Light ?Yes
A contraption on a refrigerator door that provides instant access to ice or water.Display Color Ice BlueFilter Indicator YesWater Filter ?HAF-CIN/EXP
Filter in a refrigerator that removes impurities from drinking water before it is dispensed.Refrigerant ?R134a
Chemical cooling agent. R134a does not deplete the ozone layer or contain chlorine.Dimensions
FlexZone Capacity (cu. ft.) 4.1 cu. ft.Product Dimensions with Hinges, Handles and Door (W x H x D) 35 3/4" x 70" x 37 7/8"Product Dimensions without Hinges and Door (W x H x D) 35 3/4" x 68 7/8" x 30 7/8"Product Dimensions with Door without Handles (W x H x D) 35 3/4" x 70" x 35 1/2"Product Dimensions with Doors Open (W x H x D) 35 3/4" x 70" x 49 5/8"Shipping Dimensions (W x H x D) 38 1/4" x 76 5/8" x 38 1/4"Refrigerator Features
Refrigerator Capacity (cu. ft.) 16.41External Filtered Water/Ice Dispenser YesHumidity Control Crispers ?2
Fruit and vegetable drawers have adjustable air moisture levels to keep produce fresher for longer.Tempered Glass Shelves ?5
Shelves made of heat-treated, high strength safety glass.Gallon Bins ?3
Spacious shelf on door secures extra large containers (like gallons of milk) for easy access.Total Bins 7High-Efficiency LED Lighting YesDairy Compartment ?Yes
Shelf inside a refrigerator door with a liftable lid designed to store dairy products.Extending Half Shelf ?1
Refrigerator tier that can be adjusted from half length to full length to accommodate storage needs.Foldable Shelves ?1
Tiers inside a refrigerator that can be folded in half to accommodate large containers.Interior Light ?High Efficiency LED , Side LED + Showcase LED
Light located in the freezer that is activated when the door is opened.Shelves 5Slide-In Shelf ?1
Shelves that slide in for easy creation of more shelf space.Slide-out Shelves ?1
Shelves that slide out for easy access to food products in the rear of a refrigerator.Spill proof shelves YesWater and Ice Dispenser ?Yes
A device on the outside of a refrigerator door that provides instant access to ice or water.Automatic Ice Maker YesShowcase Door YesFlexZone Drawer
Total Capacity (cu. ft.) 4.09EZ-Open Handle™ ?Yes
Engineered handle that allows for easy opening and closing of a fully-loaded freezer.Temperature Zones 4 StepFreezer Features
Freezer Capacity (cu. ft.) 9.0EZ-Open Handle™ ?Yes
Engineered handle that allows for easy opening and closing of a fully-loaded freezer.Drawer Divider 1In-Door Pizza Pocket ?Yes
Compartment on the inside of a freezer door designed to store a 16" pizza box.High-Efficiency LED Lighting YesWater and Ice Dispenser ?Yes
A device on the outside of a refrigerator door that provides instant access to ice or water.Cubed and Crushed Ice ?Cubed/Crushed
Ability of the device on the outside of a refrigerator door to provides instant access to cubed or crushed ice.Interior Light ?High Efficiency LED
Light located in the freezer that is activated when the door is opened.Large 2-Divider Opaque Bins ?Yes
High-capacity container with multiple compartments for frozen food storage and organization.Warranty
1 Year One (1) Year Parts and Labor on Refrigerator5 Years Five (5) Years Parts and Labor on Sealed Refrigeration System Only*10 Years Ten (10) years Parts and Five (5) years Labor on Digital Inverter Compressor (*Compressor, evaporator, condenser, drier, connecting tubing)Design
Color ?Stainless Steel
External color of the refrigerator.Interior Design Stainless Steel Interior AccentsEnergy
CEE Rating Tier 1kWh/Cycle 735ENERGY STAR® Certified ?Yes
Compliance with ENERGY STAR®, a government program, ensures eco-friendly, energy efficient refrigeration.Power
Energy Consumption 735Refrigerator Type
Type ?French Door
Type of refrigerator: Side by Side, French Door 4-Door Flex™ or Bottom Freezer.Weight
Product Weight (lb.) ?See More +407.9 lb.
Weight of the refrigerator in pounds (lb.).Shipping Weight (lb.) ?432.1 lb.
Weight of the refrigerator and shipping container in pounds (lb.).
This SAMSUNG brand product, as supplied and distributed by SAMSUNG and delivered new, in the original carton to the original consumer purchaser, is warranted by SAMSUNG against manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship for a limited warranty period of:
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Manuals & Downloads
User Manual ver.15 (ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, 38.04 MB)Nov 30, 2015
Quick Guide ver.1.0 (ENGLISH, 0.0 MB)Mar 6, 2013
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4-Door Refrigerator with Automatic Sparkling Water Dispenser
- 4-Door Refrigerator with Automatic Sparkling Water
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So, instead of just criticizing I will offer my completely useless .02 as to how to tackle bad eating/lifestyle habits.
What we are seeing in America is a strange paradox: more and more healthy or diet foods are coming onto the market, yet the nations waist line keeps expanding. WTF?
One explanation is the dieters paradox, which describes a condition whereby the dieters simply focuses on details over what really matters aka calories.
Case in point: the low fat foods of the 80s. People are much more inclined to overeat a "fat free" food since they perceive it as healthy. Gummy bears are fat free....hmmm gummy bears.
So that is lesson number one; calories matter, matter much more than whatever exotic diet scheme you might have deiced to follow.
And yet, most people have a pretty good idea as to what they should do and they still fail. Why?
One reason is that people are horrible at estimating how many calories they ate. Quick poll: what did you have for lunch two days ago?
See. So on overage, people underestimating the calories they consume by 50%, while they overestimating the calories burned by 50%. Therefore, failure to lose weight is pre-programmed.
Solution: the dreaded food log. But since it is 2013, we can use one of the many good apps out there.
But even then, most dieters struggle with losing weight despite having the knowledge and the the tools. Why? It comes down to behavioral issues.
Humans are complicated animals, we do not like change. However, dieting often includes a complete lifestyle change which can be overwhelming, therefore I recommend to break it down into stages.
Phase 1
Eliminate one bad habit a week. Example : replace french fries with baked fries.
Week two: replace candy bars with quest bars. After six weeks, you should have a decent base to start a workout program. Ideally, you are only eating single ingredient foods by then.
Phase 2:
Start working out with 2x30 minutes per week, a simple full body workout will do the trick. After 4 weeks, you might bump it up to three times per week. You might have noticed that I put the eating part before working out, the reason being that most people try to out-exercise a poor diet. Impossible.
Phase 3:
Check your environment. This might be the toughest part, but if your inner circle isn't supportive of your weight loss endeavor, do they really have your best interest at hand? Changes might be needed.
So to conclude, it is important to understand that while weight loss is mainly calories in vs calories out, psychological factors do play a critical role as well. if you happen to fall off the wagon ( as we all do), do not beat yourself up. Nobody can time travel yet, )maybe the North Koreans but I am not sure about that), so there is no point in self flagellation about past meals. Simply go back to your diet, you will be just fine.
Till next time


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(Ivanhoe Newswire) – The Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto, Canada has found that digital direct radiography (DR) is significantly more effective than computed radiography (CR) at detecting breast cancer.
The findings are the first to show a difference between the two types of digital imaging when compared with screen film mammography. For the study, a total of 403,688 women were screened by screen film mammography, while 220,520 had DR and 64,210 underwent CR. The women were followed for 12 months after screening.
DR detected 4.9 cancers per 1,000 mammograms, a figure almost identical to screen film mammography's rate of 4.8 cancers per 1,000 mammograms. However, CR's detection rate of 3.4 cancers per 1,000 mammograms was significantly lower. "CR was 21 percent less effective than DR," Anna M. Chiarelli, Ph.D., senior scientist in Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care, was quoted as saying. "This could result in about 10 fewer cancers detected per 10,000 women screened."
For more information go to: http://www2.rsna.org/timssnet/media/pressreleases/pr_target.cfm?ID=669
SOURCE: Radiology, May 2013
Click Here for a free weekly email with Ivanhoe's latest Medical Breakthroughs.
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How to Find a Qualified Mammography Provider
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text: You will be head over heels for these saucy little numbers! They will perfectly compliment any outfit for any occasion! Make sure to add these to your collection, they definitely are a must have! The features for these heels include a metallic textured faux leather upper in a pump design, scoop vamp, round closed toe, high polish platform and heel with carved spiked detailing, smooth lining, and cushioned footbed. Approximately 6 3/4 inch heels and 2 3/4 inch platforms. Please note sizes run a half size smaller. Style: shoes-heels-rk-akarafuchsia Brand: Red Kiss


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To upload artowrk to our drop box. Please fill out all the required information in the form below, choose your file(s) & click on SendThisFile. When the file is finished at 100% "File Successfully Uploaded" will appear in the upload window below.
Copyright © 2012, Blue Sky Outdoor1818 W. Lindsey, Suite D248, Norman, OK, 73069(405) 928-5800


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This week The Dirty Pearls have announced that they will be opening for Lady Gaga this Thursday March 13th, at the South By Southwest Festival (SXSW). They will be playing on the Doritos BOLDstage at Stubbs in Austin, TX. Lady Starlight is also on the bill.
The Dirty Pearls are based in New York City's Manhattan Lower East Side neighborhood. The band is a glutton of punishment for their fans with more catchy hooks, more guitars, and more leather than the other bands out there today.
This will not be the first time the band has traveled with Lady Gaga. In 2013 the band traveled across the country with Gaga and also played New York City's Times Square as part of the Born Brave Bus Tour.
Last year, The Dirty Pearls released their first full LP titled Whether You Like It Or Not.
Essential Tracks: "Whether You Like It Or Not", "Who's Coming Back To Who", "Caffeine & Gasoline", "Bring On The Night", and "Love Sick Love"
(NOTE: A previous version of this article contained inaccurate band members.)


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In the episode before the finale of Tyler Perry's "The Have and Have Nots" on OWN last Tuesday, we learned a lot of new information about the haves and the have nots. With only one more episode this season, we know there will be several cliffhangers during the final episode next week.
On Wednesday, Entertainment Royale recapped what happened on this week's show with only one more to go. Jeffrey has a talk with his father who is behind him all the way about being Jay. However, Jeffrey's mother has a different opinion about Jeffrey being gay. In a previous episode, Veronica even set Jeffrey up with a girl and questioned him about having sex with her.
Cathryn searches Amanda's room for a gun, but she didn't find it. When Amanda enters, she takes the gun from under a pillow and begin singing the childhood song she used to sing with her father. Judge Cryer forced someone else to take the fall for the Wyatt's hit and run accident that killed a little girl and put Benny in the hospital on life support.
Benny is out of the hospital and is a changed man. He questioned Hanna and the man he recently learned is his father in a previous episode to get them to stop fighting and act like adults. In this week's episode, Benny is again the peacemaker trying to get Candace and Hanna to get along. Candace confesses that Quincy murdered their baby and is still out to kill her. Despite Candace's tearful story, Hanna wants to kick her out, saying that she'll only lure the murderous Quincy to kill them all. Benny won't hear of it and demands that Candace stay with them where she'll be safe. Benny gets her to stay with them against Hanna's wishes.
Hanna goes to the Cryers to apologize for telling the police Wyatt was the one who was guilty of killing the little girl and wounding Benny. Jim asks her to leave, but Catheryn gives Hanna her old job back telling her to return after she gets Benny settled at home.
A new man was introduced last week to work at the campaign headquarters. He is given an envelope to take to Judge Cryer's house. When he arrives, Celine sees him and follows him to Jim's office where there is a confrontation. Jim yells at her, and Carlos says, "Don't talk to my mother that way." We learned in previous episodes that Celine has a son, and we suspected the child was Jim's. We don't have to wonder any longer because Carlos lets Jim know Jim is his father. Carlos and Celine speak in Spanish which infuriates Jim.
There are quite a few loose ends going into the finale, and the preview shows that someone gets kills. We have to wait to see who it is or if that will be the cliffhanger. Amanda has threatened to kill her parents, Candace is hiding from Quincy so he won't kill her, and Benny is angry enough with Quincy to kill him, and Candace has enlisted the help of hit men to kill Jim.
For additional information about what happened on this week's episode of "The Haves and the Have Nots" visit, OWN's website. Make sure you watch the season's finale on July 29.


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As a Junior in 2015:Competed in four meets, scoring in one…Ran a 27:12.7 at the IC4A Championship (11/21) to place second on the team and 61st overall…Finished eighth for UMass at the A-10 Championships (10/31) with a time of 26:16.4...Placed first for UMass and 11th overall with a time of 26:03.9 at the JV New England Championships (10/10)... Ran a 26:04 at the Paul Short Invitational (10/2) to finish ninth for UMass...Was UMass' ninth place finisher with a time of 26:57.1 at the Battle in Beantown (9/25).
As A Sophomore In 2014: Was fifth for the team and 56th overall at the IC4A Championship (11/22) finishing with a time of 27:27.0... Finished 9th for the team at the NCAA Regional Championship (11/14)... Placed 75th overall at the Atlantic 10 Championship (11/1) with a time of 26:25.5. Complete the New England Championships (10/11) in 25:35.2 finishing 77th overall... Finished 199th overall at the Paul Short Invitational (10/4) in 25:51... Finished in 26:25 and 118th overall at the Battle in Beantown (9/26)... Ran a time of 20:18.60 at the Minuteman Invitational (9/13) finishing 47th overall.
As A Freshman In 2013: Competed in five meets ... Finished seventh on the squad at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship (11/15) with a time of 35:34.2 ... Was third on the team, 141st overall at the New England Championship (10/12) with a time of 26:31.0 ... Crossed the line seventh among UMass' runners at the Paul Short Invitational (10/5) in 28:14.0 ... Finished seventh on the team and 61st overall at the Boston College Invitational (9/27) (26:03.0) ... Also ran in the UMass Invitational (9/8) (20:13.76).
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Give a Gift Membership
With this gift of nature, Nature Conservancy magazine arrives all year long. Join
On Friday, August 22, 2008, four litters of wild-born black-footed ferrets, the most endangered mammal in North America, were found in Logan County, Kansas, marking the first time ferrets had been documented on Kansas soil in 50 years.
The discovered litter marks a step forward for the black-footed ferret reintroduction program. In December 2007, 10 ferrets were released onto The Nature Conservancy's Smoky Valley Ranch and 14 on other private lands, as part of a federal reintroduction effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
"This is great news for all the partners involved with the reintroduction and for the public. We all hoped the reintroduction would be successful, but these are complex initiatives" said Rob Manes, Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy Kansas Chapter. "The discovery of these kits indicates that successes are possible."
Over the past week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been surveying Smoky Valley Ranch and other Logan County reintroduction sites to determine how many ferrets were present after the spring whelping season. A total of four litters were found. Black-footed ferret litters may contain as many as four kits. Ferrets live and rear their young in prairie dog burrows; they also depend on prairie dogs as their main food source. The kits are usually born in May or June and do not come above ground for the first six weeks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to measure the success of the reintroduction before the kits mature and move to other prairie dog burrows.
The nocturnal black-footed ferret, which weighs no more than three pounds and measures less than two feet, has been at the brink of extinction in recent decades due to disease and loss of native grasslands – the least protected and most threatened terrestrial habitat on Earth. Additionally, prairie dogs are the ferrets main food source, and according to the FWS sources, prairie dog numbers have decreased by approximately 95 to 98 percent over the last century.
The Nature Conservancy in Kansas and in other Great Plains states is working to conserve both prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets as part of fully functioning ecosystems. In coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, local landowners and other partners, The Conservancy is working to establish a shortgrass prairie landscape that will provide habitat for the ferret while protecting the interests of landowners and other stakeholders. The Conservancy is working at sites in multiple states to recover populations of prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets, and other key species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set a goal of 1,500 breeding adult ferrets in the wild by 2010. Want to learn more about the black-footed ferret release and watch a video? Click here!
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the web at www.nature.org. To learn about the Conservancy's global initiatives, visit www.nature.org/global. To keep up with current Conservancy news, follow @nature_press on Twitter.


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Bottoms up! It's been a bit over a month since Brazil's annual "Miss BumBum" contest for the election of booty queen of 2012, held in a Sao Paulo hotel! These days, the eyes of the world are on Carine Felizardo and her sexy bumbum!
Carine Felizardo, a curvy Jessica Simpson lookalike, is proudly carrying a title of Miss Bum Bum, that rewards her for having the country's sexiest backside. She was awarded with $2, 500 check and said:
"I am overwhelmed, very, very happy. I would like to thank those who voted for me, those who believed in me, my family, my friends." This extremely happy girl with amazing behind is also single lady with a very pretty face.
"I am very proud of my bumbum (as Brazilians call the backside), proud to represent Brazilian woman", she said and added that she owes her victory to the years of hard gym training. Felizardo also said:" I feel fully realized. I really did not expect to win. It is a dream come true."
The Miss BumBum pageant is only in its second year of existence and it already draw a lot of attention of the notoriously butt-loving Brazilians. Every man would definitely love to be a part of the judging team. Rosana Ferreira – last year's Miss Bumbum, was a member of jury team and she was the one that delivered the verdict after the contestants sashayed down the catwalk. First in evening dresses, and after that in string bikinis that were revealing the sexiest part of their bodies.
Young ladies have been working really hard to get ready for the final. They also took surfing and jungle training courses to tighten their buns. Cacau Oliver, a famous female beauty spotter, said: "The Brazilian woman's derriere is a part of the body that the whole world admires and the contest just reaffirms this."
Alike every other beauty pageant, this booty pageant couldn't pass without a scandal. One of the contestants, Cibelle Riberio was almost disqualified amid suspicions she may have had buttock implants. At first, she refused to take an X-ray, which almost derailed her spot in the running. Nevertheless, after a while, she submitted an X-ray and she was back in the running.
Only the fact that this content exists is like a dream come true for all those booty lovers out there. The further proof that all the best things in the world are made in Brazil is included in the amazing picture gallery that you can find below this text.


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Archive for 'National identity' Category
A Brief Guide to Voting.*
Posted on 08:34, September 19th, 2014 by Pablo
For those who remain undecided about where their voting preferences lie, allow me to offer this brief guide.
If you are an urban hipster, video game geek or under 20 who likes to yell "F*** you" a lot, then the Internet Party is your best option.
If you are a disgruntled old lefty or maori activist who waxes nostalgic for the glory days of relevancy, or a bogan, vote Mana.
If you are smug materialist wanker or wanna-be wanker who thinks the poor deserve their fate, money equates to personal value and anything goes in the pursuit of money or power, then vote National.
If you are an anxious sell-out who wishes that you were better than that, or a brown person wanting to climb the social ladder a few rungs, then vote Labour.
If you are a non-anxious sell-out who thinks the word sustainable is cool to use at cocktail parties, vote Green.
If you are religious, like the death penalty and are into smacking kids, vote Conservative.
If you are a closet freak who acts straight-laced in public but likes to get kinky in private, vote United Future.
If you are part of the maori aristocracy or a maori who likes to suck up to the Man, vote Maori party.
If you are pakeha geezer, xenophobe or confused economic nationalist, vote Winston First.
If you are a wide eyed adolescent pseudo-intellectual who masturbates while reading Ann Rand and wonder why you cannot get a date, vote ACT.
If you think that 1080 is part of 5 Eyes, vote Ban 1080.
If you are loser who likes to follow another loser, NZ Independent Coalition is your choice.
If you have no clue as to what you want in life, Focus New Zealand can help.
If you like Winston First policies but cannot stand Winnie, vote Democrats for Social Credit.
If you think that it is hilarious that taxpayers fund the campaign of a piss-take satirical group, then vote Civilian Party.
If you wish people would just chill out, then Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is for you.
If you are a recent immigrant, you should re-think that decision. Vote Blank.
And if all else fails…vote for Penny Bright!
*This guide is for general reference purposes and should not be considered an endorsement or recommendation of anything.
Posted in Democracy, elections, governance, National identity, Politics | 11 Comments | Read More »
Mission to nowhere.
Posted on 16:06, October 8th, 2013 by Pablo
It is said that the who and when of diplomatic missions tells much about the disposition of the government sending them. If that is true, then consider this.
The most important annual Trans-Pacific diplomatic (APEC) meetings are being held in Bali this week. John Key and Tim Groser are there, once again pushing their trade-first (only?) agenda in the main sessions and back rooms.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Murray McCully is on a mission to Antarctica.
Since Antarctica has no diplomatic agencies on its soil, it seems odd that the foreign minister is headed that way in the absence of a treaty signing or other diplomatic event. His press release states that the visit, his first, is because he is the minister responsible for New Zealand's Antarctic Affairs and that along with his visit to Scott Base he will head to the US base at McMurdo Sound. But there is nothing diplomatic on his agenda.
Mr. McCully is not a minister for anything scientific, so he is not discharging science portfolio responsibilities by visiting one of the research stations on the continent. Perhaps, as Minister of Sports and Recreation, he is looking into possibilities along those lines, especially since he was flown down on an Air Force plane along with 117 others plus the 11 person Air Force crew.
But if he is not engaged in anything other than a tour of the realm, why is he not with other Trans-Pacific foreign ministers in Bali? Is this the contemporary equivalent of the colonial practice of assigning diplomats in disgrace to a posting in Brazzaville? Is Antarctica New Zealand's diplomatic version of the Mosquito Coast?
MFAT and National will say that he was superfluous to requirements in Bali (not exactly in that language) because the PM and Trade Minister are there. That tells us two things.
On the international relations front it confirms that New Zealand's foreign policy is dominated by a trade fixation (fetishism?) that has come to dominate all other aspects of New Zealand's diplomatic endeavor. In spite of Mr. Key's posturing at the UN with regard to UN reform, weapons non-proliferation and multilateral intervention in search for votes for a Security Council temporary seat next year, the hard fact is that New Zealand's diplomatic ranks have been purged, one way or another, of arms control and non-proliferation specialists, climate change and human rights experts and many other senior diplomats whose primary expertise lies outside the realm of trade. They have been replaced by younger, less costly and more narrowly focused trade zealots (many riding on Groser's coat tails) whose knowledge and experience in other diplomatic fields is comparatively thin.
This has been accompanied by out-sourcing lead responsibility for intelligence sharing and security assistance negotiations to the GCSB, SIS and NZDF, which is one of the reasons, in concert with the trade fixation, that New Zealand's foreign relations have taken a distinctly schizophrenic look under National (trade with the East, defend with the West, even if the PRC and US are on a collision course for supremacy in the Western Pacific).
One might respond that spy agencies and armed forces should cut their own deals with foreign counterparts, since it is their business after all. But that is precisely why diplomatic intercession is required–securing the national interest is a long-term game played on many fronts that is not reducible to bureaucratic self-interest, making friends amongst foreign counterparts, or currying immediate favor. It is a fluid balancing game rather than a static one-off opportunity, which is why allowing spooks and uniforms to dictate the terms of engagement on matters of intelligence and security is less than ideal. That is particularly so when the ministers in charge of security and intelligence as well as military affairs are less than conversant with the nature of the operations they are responsible for and where there is no independent oversight of their decisions regarding the conduct of those operations.
Likewise, trade zealots need to have their single-minded obsession with neo-Ricardian prescriptions tempered by those who understand that the world is not solely dominated by trade balances and import/export quotas, tariffs, licensing and the other minutiae of cross-border economic interaction. Important as these are, they need to be considered in relation to other areas of diplomatic endeavor so that coherence, congruence and continuity in foreign affairs can be achieved and maintained. The latter is important for no other reason than it helps establish and maintain a nation's reputation as a global actor.
New Zealand's reputation as a global actor has transformed under National from that of an independent and autonomous honest broker into that of a wheeling, dealing "free" trading operator that hedges its bets by cozying up to the world military superpower. It remains to be seen how tenable this position will be over the long-term.
On the internal front McCully's Antarctic junket offers proof that he is an outcast within his own party, a pariah best unseen and unheard. He has no significant allies in the Collins or Joyce factions of the National caucus and no real friends elsewhere. He has no discernible influence on foreign policy, serving more as a spokesperson and chief of ceremony. The weeks before his trip to the frozen continent he was flitting about the US and Caribbean, visiting the America's Cup before heading to the UN for some meeting and greeting, then onto bilaterals with Caribbean counterparts. Prior to that he was at the Pacific Island Forum in the Marshall Islands, preceded by trips to Hong Kong, China and Mongolia, Melanesia and the Cook Islands and Africa and the Seychelles. He presented many gifts to a variety of dignitaries from far-off lands and wore colorful shirts as much as he did suits. He did little hard negotiating.
That is a lot of time spent abroad during times when parliament is sitting, particularly when the bulk of the trips were for more symbolic than significant purposes. Come to think of it, when was the last time he answered a question in the debating chamber? I may have missed it but he does seem conspicuous by his absence.
In effect, McCully has been given a comfy sinecure to ensure that he stays away from his own caucus and steers clear of involvement in the "real" business of foreign affairs, that being trade. This neuters him in terms of the internal politics within National as well as with regard to foreign policy making (which is now the province of Groser and his minions). This is a variation on the theme used by Labour with respect to Winston Peters, when he became a Foreign Minister not in cabinet who spent a similar amount of time as McCully does exploring the far–and nicer–reaches of the globe. Except Antarctica.
And we have paid for all of it.
Whose Team New Zealand?
Posted on 16:20, September 21st, 2013 by Pablo
As much as anybody I enjoy sports and competition, so much so that I enjoy watching top level competition in sports that I am unfamiliar with. I have therefore enjoyed watching the America's Cup racing, not so much because of the nationality of the teams but because of the boat design, speed, tactics and seamanship involved. In fact, I am poorly placed to get worked up on patriotic grounds because as readers of my earlier post on liminality may remember, I have allegiances to several countries and divided loyalties as a result. Moreover, I believe patriotism to be the last (and best) refuge of political scoundrels so I endeavour to resist its emotional pull wherever I happen to be living.
In this America's Cup series I am cheering for Team New Zealand because I know that it means a lot to New Zealand and very little to the US. Other than rugby, Kiwis tend to adopt a "David versus Goliath" approach to international team sports. They are not alone in this small country syndrome, as I have pointed out previously with regard to Uruguay and team sports other than soccer. But in New Zealand that syndrome extends beyond sports, including into the international political and economic arenas.
With regard to the America's Cup, here in NZ there is live blow by blow coverage of every meter of every race, whereas in the US it is not being covered live anywhere except on boutique cable boating channels. Here it is front page news in every newspaper and news broadcast. In the US it barely rates a header in the sports section of big city newspapers, including that of the race venue San Francisco. Heck, in Texas high school football (the helmeted version) gets more coverage on a weekend than the America's Cup has had in a year!
In the US most people do not give a darn that Larry Ellison indulges a billionaire fancy with a crew that includes only one American. Here people want to name their first born sons after Dean Barker. They also want that turncoat, traitorous preferably ex-kiwi Russell Coutts strung from the lanyard because he dared to work for the competition. In other words, Kiwis are heavily invested in the outcome whereas in the US they are not.
Or are Kiwis that heavily invested? From what I gather from video coverage of people watching the race live on television on the Auckland waterfront, there is hardly a brown face in the mix. The same goes for those Kiwis who have traveled to the America's Cup Village in San Francisco. Pure pakeha pulsation throughout.
So where are the non-Pakeha kiwis when it comes to this race? Are they just not into sailing? If so, why not? Why is something that is so heavily promoted by the media and advertisers as a nationalistic rallying point having so little impact on non-Pakeha communities?
I ask because the New Zealand taxpayers have put $38 million into Team Emirates for this race series (both Labour and National support the expenditure). So whether or not they are emotionally invested in the racing, Kiwis are financially invested in it. The public expenditure was justified on grounds that the economic benefits to NZ of a future Cup defense in the event of a win would justify the investment (since winners get to name the venue for the next race). The narrow investment now is said to bring greater and broader future returns.
Besides the fact that no public consultation preceded the allocation of taxpayer money to Team Emirates, the issue of benefits is thorny. Even if Auckland benefits from hosting a future defense of the Cup (and that would mostly go temporarily to hoteliers, restaurants, bars and other service sector providers), what about the rest of the country? Other than Auckland based niche industries like boat-building and sail-making and a few high-end tourist locations and ventures, is it true that the country as a whole will benefit from the tax revenues generated by increased economic activity in Auckland? Do we really expect to believe that places like Ruatoki and Twizel will see direct benefit from an America's Cup defense in Auckland?
It should be noted that Team Oracle USA received no public funds for its Cup defense, and that the redevelopment of the Embarcadero in San Francisco was a majority private venture that has not yielded the economic dividends to the city that were originally tabled by way of justification for holding the race there. So the "future benefits" argument is contentious at best, especially if drawn over the long-term. Yet spending public money on the challenge is seen as in the long-term NZ national interest.
Put another way, why is it that NZ taxpayers coughed up money for a yacht race campaign that not all New Zealanders care about and which relatively few New Zealanders will benefit from in the form of future uncertain economic returns in the event of a successful challenge this year? Since hosting the Cup defense will undoubtably include allocations of more taxpayer dollars to infrastructure and venue development, is this an appropriate use of public money? Given that the food in schools program receives just $10 million a year, could it not be argued that government priorities are a bit out of whack when it comes to long-term investment in the nation's future?
Leftist conspiracy types will claim that the government subsidy for a small appeal elitist sport is designed to benefit its rich and upper middle class business supporters, nothing more. I would hope not, but then again I come back to the question of who in New Zealand is truly supporting the Cup challenge. Is the America's Cup for the few or for the many? In the US it is for the few by the few, but here in NZ the issue appears a bit more complicated.
Anyway, I could be entirely wrong in my read and certainly do not have a good handle on the extent of support for the America's Cup outside of what I have seen and heard in the media. Readers are welcome to ponder and comment on the issue.
Better to do that than to get started on the subject of host venue race time limits being enforced in low wind conditions on a day when a overwhelming match-winning victory by the challengers was in sight!
Posted in An inclusive society, Democracy, Economy, governance, History, identity, National identity, Public services, Sports | 25 Comments | Read More »
Maori Socialism versus Maori Capitalism?
Posted on 13:18, February 6th, 2013 by Pablo
Woe be it for me to venture into the minefield of Maori politics on Waitangi Day. Yet the ructions around "Escortgate" at Te Tii Marae got me to thinking that perhaps there is more to the story than arguments within Ngapuhi and the inevitable displays of division that seem to mark the yearly event. At risk of stating the obvious, it is not just about different forms of identity politics.
Instead, what may be on display is the fundamental conflict between what might be called maori socialism and maori capitalism. By that I mean maori identity superimposed on a class base. Maori socialism is a view that is working class and lumpenproletarian in perspective, while Maori capitalism is propertied and bourgeois in orientation. The Hareweras and the Mana Party are a good examples of the former while the Maori Party and entities such as the so-called "Brown Table," to say nothing of numerous trusts and boards, constitute examples of the latter. The conflict between them is not so much rooted in personalities, iwi and hapu (although there is clearly a strong element of that), but in fundamental differences in economic perspective and the proper approach to the Pakeha-dominated socio-economic and political status quo.
To be clear, I am not referring in this instance to pure forms of socialist or capitalist thought. Communal and egalitarian beliefs are as strongly represented in maori economics and society as are ownership and hierarchy. In the realm of Maori politics it seems that hybrid approaches rooted in one or the other ideological perspective have come to dominate political discourse. But the broad division between "Left" and "Right" seem fairly distinct.
The "militant" (although it is not truly that), "socialist" (although it is also not really that) approach is to largely reject the Pakeha rules of the game as given while working on what generously can be called a war of position strategy: raising consciousness amongst subaltern groups within whom lower class maori constitute the core around which issues of praxis are addressed. In this strategy alliances with Pakeha leftists are feasible because the ideological line vis a vis the common class enemy is roughly the same.
The "moderate" (phrased nicely) capitalist approach is one of pragmatic accommodation and incremental gains within the elite system as given. Alliance with Pakeha elites is possible given the division of potential spoils available in a system constructed by and for elites, but which increasingly has the potential to be colour and ethnicity-blind. Here the strategy is also one of a war of position, but in this case from within rather than from without.
Needless to say, there is some blurring between the two (e.g. Mana plays within the institutional rules of the political system and the Maori Party is not averse to relying on extra-institutional means of getting their point across). There are also significant agent-principal problems on both sides.
Even so, it seems that the main source of conflict within maoridom is grounded in class orientation and its corresponding strategic approach as much if not more than anything else. Put vulgarly in leftist terms, it is a conflict between the staunch and the sell-outs. Put bluntly in capitalist terms, it is a conflict between losers and realists.
From a practical standpoint, the underlying class differences are more difficult to resolve than other aspects of maori identity. It is in the Pakeha elite interest to keep things so.
Given my ignorance of Maori politics I could be wrong. I defer to Lew, Anita and more informed readers in any event. My intent is not to stir. Instead, this post is written as an inquiry rather than a statement. Your views on the issue are therefore welcome.
Interpreting the conservative take on the US elections.
Posted on 15:50, November 6th, 2012 by Pablo
If I read the conservative commentariat correctly with regard to tomorrow's US elections, the following will happen:
Obama wins: As the fifth rider of the apocalypse, Obama will bring the end of days, armageddon, leading to the imposition of a debt-ridden, welfare-spending LBGT atheistic Islamofascist Zionist-Stalinist-Orwelian state in which children and the elderly are eaten after being vivisected and animals and dirt will have more rights than natural gas. The walls of the shining White house on the hill will crumble. Locusts will plague and fire will belch from the skies in non-industrial areas as the ground turns to dust and the rivers run dry. The seas will retreat and the icecaps will melt, but not due to man-made climate change. Female sports will become dominant.
Romney wins: Milk, honey, money and expensive Eau de Cologne will rain down upon the chosen debt producing and debt reducing Christian people and hedge fund managers, sunshine will spring eternal, a million flowers will bloom, all dole-bludging, illegal alien LBGT atheist Islamofascist Zionist-Stalinists will be rendered asunder by lightning strikes from the heavenly Father and world peace and prosperity will obtain in our time. White folk will become cool again. Soccer will be purged from the global landscape because it is un-American and does not involve teams with American Indian names, padding, helmets or blunt instruments and has a penchant for shorts that is second only to League in terms of questionability. White shirts and somber ties will once again be suitable apparel. Shoes will be tied. The help will know their place.
Posted in Blogosphere, cultural difference, Democracy, elections, governance, identity, National identity, Politics, Social change, Toleration, USA | 17 Comments | Read More »
Blog Link: Deconstructing New Zealand Foreign Policy.
Posted on 17:04, August 1st, 2012 by Pablo
A recent canvass of members of the diplomatic community resident in Wellington had as a common theme the apparent incoherence of contemporary New Zealand foreign policy. That prompted me to attempt to deconstruct the major features of New Zealand foreign policy during the last three decades and to offer some explanations as to why they no longer hold in the measure that they once did. You can find the explanation here.
Gaming Gay Marriage
Posted on 14:29, July 29th, 2012 by Pablo
I have never quite understood the argument that gay sex is "unnatural." Unless one believes that the only natural sex is that which reproduces the species, then how one chooses to express sexuality is as natural as differences in hair or skin color. If we admit that sex can be a means of expressing love, affection and physical pleasure rather than purely a reproductive act, then how one goes about doing that is as natural as variations in climate or on a theme. It does not matter if sexual preference is by "choice" or genetics or some combination thereof. Once the reproductive imperative is removed as the sole reason for having sex, then how one chooses to partake is almost limitless (I say "almost" because I adhere to convention that sex should be between consenting adults, or in the case of teenagers, between those of similar age, and that no coercion or exploitation can be involved).
I introduce the subject of gay marriage this way because I simply fail to understand why it is an issue. When I hear opponents argue against it I am reminded of the old Argentine saying about Catholic clergy opposed to divorce: if they do not like divorce they should not marry. Or the more recent retort: if one does not like gay marriage then one should not marry a gay.
One thing is clear. The reproductive imperative does not apply to the legal recognition of straight marriages. Many heterosexual couples are childless by choice or circumstance. Some fulfill their parental instinct via adoption or with the help of surrogates, but others do not. In all cases they are legally free to marry.
Having thought about it a bit in light of recent arguments arising out a parliamentary bid to legalize gay marriage, it strikes me that the debate can be seen in simple game theoretic fashion.
Those opposed to gay marriage see the outcome if it is legalized in zero or negative sum terms. Awarding the right to marry to homosexuals will directly and negatively impact on heterosexual marriage. The belief is that awarding gays the right to marry comes at the immediate expense of heterosexual marriages, and that something will be directly lost or detracted from the latter if the former is permitted. Worst yet, the situation could become collectively negative sum if gays are allowed to marry: both gays and straights will suffer losses as a result (this is usually seen in the "children need hetero parents" argument, but extends to the costs of awarding full rights to married gay couples when it comes to family-oriented taxation, insurance and health benefits). The bottom line is that awarding equal marriage rights to gays (as a sexual minority) will impose costs or losses on the sexual majority, and therefore should not allowed under the lesser evil principle because collectively it is a lose-lose proposition.
Those in favor of gay marriage see the issue in even or positive sum terms. They see gay marriage as taking nothing from nor adding to hetero marriage, or in the most optimistic view, enhancing the value of marriage as an institution by extending the franchise to those of same-sex persuasion who wish to monogamously commit to each other in the eyes of the state (I will leave aside issues about non-monogomous unions and plural marriages in order to make the first-order point). In this view gay marriage should be encouraged as it deepens the familial bases of social stability and is therefore a greater good for society as a whole. It is a win-win solution.
Whatever other issues are put forth pro and con, it seems to me that this is the real crux of the issue. The rantings of bigots and extremists are not addressed here simply because they do not matter. I include in this God-botherers and other repressed and closeted people who act out of irrational psychological fear. Nor do I care to indulge the arguments of some extremists who think anything goes and there should be no prohibitions on sexual contact (say, the Man-Boy Love Association crowd). Here I am simply trying to distill the rational arguments in favor and against.
For me the issue is certainly even sum and probably positive sum. If we accept that one major source of social decay is the decline of the "traditional" family defined by heterosexual marriage, then it seems to me that one good response is to encourage the rise of "non-traditional" families as a complement. After all, "traditional" gender roles have been altered over the years (I would say for the better) without killing off the majority notion of marriage and family as the pillars of society, so I do not see how non-traditional marriage and families will be any more harmful to social stability than allowing women the vote or non-whites to have equal civil rights.
With regard to marriage specifically, there are already precedents for taking what was non-traditional or even taboo and making it commonplace. For example, marriages of mixed race or inter-faith couples, or those with intellectual or physical disabilities, once were viewed as suspect or dangerous (often on reproductive grounds), and in some cases legally proscribed. Today they are additional and welcome threads that rather than harm have added to the vibrancy of the matrimonial fabric of complex societies.
Anyway, this may be obvious to KP readers given their ideological dispositions. The point I am trying to make is that marriage is not a pie with a finite number of slices, where giving one slice to gays will mean that there is not enough left for straights. To the contrary, marriage should be seen as an expanding pie in with we can all share regardless of sexual preference because we commonly appreciate the order and stability it helps bring to our individual and collective lives. I reckon that is a very traditional way of thinking.
Posted in An inclusive society, Democracy, Feminism, identity, National identity, Politics, Social change, Toleration, Uncategorized | 13 Comments | Read More »
Market-oriented social engineering.
Posted on 13:13, July 24th, 2012 by Pablo
The political Right regularly accuses the Left of engaging in social engineering. Be it pushing such unnatural constructs as union and civil rights, health awareness and environmental concerns, the Right claims that the Left is out to control how people behave and even think. For freedom-loving individualists, this is anathema.
Consider my surprise, then, when I saw the Prime Minister saying that one of the reasons for the $2000 dollar "kiwi-first" purchase option with loyalty premium for Mighty River Power shares was to "change the investment psychology" of New Zealanders. It seems Kiwis put money into real estate and bonds, but not the stock market. Mr. Key thinks that his countrymen and women should diversify their portfolios into stocks, and the asset sales option is one way of promoting that. After all, it is not really prudent to have too many eggs in one basket.
I can see his logic. As a money trader and speculator, stock manipulation comes natural to Mr. Key. Sell short, hold, think long…he has the field covered. And truth be told, in a market environment such as NZ's, it may not be unreasonable to urge people to spread their savings around. Higher rates of savings are traditionally linked to higher standards of living and growth, so by market logic such a move is both collectively and individually optimal.
What I find notable is the PM's admission that the Mighty River Power stock purchase proposal is a deliberate attempt to alter the way Kiwis think about investment. In other words, it is a social engineering project that proposes to transform the psychological disposition of Kiwis when looking at their investment options.
But if that is the intention, how is that different from campaigns to get people to stop smoking, not drink and drive, use public transport, practice safe sex, license and desex their pets or stop littering? Are these not all examples of what the Right claims is undue interference by government on the rights of individuals to freely choose how to live their lives? Even if one admits that the share purchase option is not compulsory and still a matter of free choice (as are some of the examples just mentioned), is not the intention of the National government and Mr. Key to engage in exactly the type of social engineering–to include psychological indoctrination–that the Right accuses the Left of championing for its nefarious totalitarian purposes? Mr. Key has admitted that there is a social engineering intent to the proposal, so how is that good when other social engineering experiments are considered by the political Right to be bad? Or are some types of social engineering more acceptable to freedom-loving market individualists than others?
If the latter is true, than even the Right has to admit that social engineering projects embarked upon by governments are not always contrary to the small-governance/more market/individual choice principles that ideologically underpin Right thought. And if that is the case, then how can social engineering experiments be totalitarian, collectivist and fundamentally anti-democratic at their core?
Pardon me if I see a little contradiction here…
Posted in An inclusive society, Economics, Economy, governance, National identity, Politics, Propaganda, Public services | 13 Comments | Read More »
On Liminality.
Posted on 15:05, July 5th, 2012 by Pablo
For some time I have been pondering the issue of liminality. It is a term that appears in cultural studies and all sorts of post-modern rubbish posing as theory, but in this instance it resonates with me and seems to accurately depict a social condition that is increasingly evident in a multi-globalized world. "Liminality" refers to state of intermediacy or even indeterminacy. It is a condition of being caught in betwixt and in between, of being in two or more places at once but not being fully settled in any one of them. It is different from and more than hybridity, which is a combination rather than a condition, although hybridity can lead to liminality in some instances (say, a mixed race person moving between the different class and cultural backgrounds of parents).
In my frame of reference liminality is the condition where a person who has lived for significant periods of time in more than one country finds him/herself saddled with affections and aversions from each, leading to overlapping loyalties, and more importantly, a sense of relativism that destroys any notions of cultural absolutes or ideals. For example, the more the individual lives in different places, the more it seems to me that it is hard to get seriously nationalistic about any one of them. Even such small issues as sports loyalty can be a complicated matter. I, for example, follow Argentina in soccer because I grew up there. I root for Barcelona because it has a genius Argentine forward and a very Argentine style of play, but support Portugal as a national side in Europe because I lived in Lisbon for while and watched several of their players live as part of the experience. I support the ABs in rugby but switch allegiances to the Pumas when the play each other. I support the US in things like baseball and basketball, but then again tend to root for Greece in basketball because I lived in Athens for a while and the Greeks are crazy about b-ball, and cannot help but cheer for any small Latin American country when they play against the US in either sport (and truth be told, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela have great baseball traditions and Argentina and Brazil have beaten the US in international basketball competition. Yay for them!).
Although I am not sure that they are sports rather than games, I have taken an interest in and support Singapore in table tennis and badminton because, well, I lived in Singapore for a few years and that is the only thing that they do well when it comes to international "athletic" competition (truth be told the national sport in Singapore is shopping, but they do not award medals for that). When not rooting for Argentina my default options are Chile (where my family lived for several years and where I subsequently conducted field research), Uruguay (where my family vacationed for extended periods during our time in Argentina and where I conducted field research in later years) and Brazil (where I lived episodically in the 1980s).
The sports angle is a minor one. The more serious issue is that as more and more people travel and settle across international borders, the more liminal they become. In many instances this occurs on top of an urban-rural disjuncture, whereby people transplanted from one to the other find themselves (at least initially) alienated and out of synch with the rhythm of life in their new locale. Think of a Laotian peasant or Somali refugee arriving and settling in Auckland. As with most new migrants, particularly those that are involuntarily re-settled, the pull of nostalgia for what was culturally lost very often overwhelms the urge to integrate and accept new values, mores and customs. It is only subsequent native-born generations that feel grounded in the new culture, but even they are often caught in betwixt and in between. One solution, particularly if the native population is hostile to new settlers, is to retreat in parochial defense of the "old" country or way of life. But even that eventually gives way to mixed feelings of loyalty and obligation to the old and the new.
Liminality occurs at the sub-national as well as the international level, both of which have been impacted by the revolution in transportation and telecommunications. There are consequently more and more people living in a liminal condition or state of mind. It therefore seems to me that "liminality" should be included in policy debates about things such as immigration, although to do that correctly we will have to wrestle the term away from the cultural relativists and other intellectual poseurs who think that trafficking in big words is equivalent to practicable and useful social research.
I am no expert on the topic so mention all of this merely as a subjective reflection. It is prompted by the July 4 celebrations in the US and comments by friends back there about how the US is the greatest country on earth etc. Yet most of these folk have never lived outside the States for an extended period of time, so how would they know? From my perspective it certainly has many merits and offers many opportunities, but in the end that is as much due to the its continental size and relative insulation as it is to the particularities of its people, politics and culture. Mind you, I feel certainly loyalty to the US as the country of my birth and whose government I once served, where my children and siblings reside, but that competes with my childhood loyalty to Argentina and current loyalty to NZ (which is where I expect to end my days. That raises an interesting sidebar: how many people actually think about the country or place that they would prefer to die in? I can say one thing for sure. Among other unhappy places, Afghanistan is not on the top of my list, with all due respect to the Afghans that I have known).
Who is to say that Canada, Costa Rica, Norway, Estonia, Turkey, Bhutan or–the goddess forbid–Australia is not the "greatest" country? How is universal "greatness" as a nation defined? One would have had to have lived in many places and have done many different things in order to make such a distinction (I do not mention Aotearoa simply because we all know that it is Godzone). And if one did in fact live in many places doing many different things, it is more likely that s/he would be at a loss to pick one single place as being above all of the rest in every respect. That is what liminality can do to a person–it makes it impossible to speak about culture or nationality in absolute or definitive terms. I say this even though I am fully aware of the canard that states that "there is no place like home," whereby expats use the experience of living abroad to reaffirm their loyalty to their nation of origin (my parents did this for most of their lives). That may be true in some but not all instances, and I would argue that the more countries one lives in the less able s/he is to make such an assertion.
In any event, I write this as a person born in the US, raised and subsequently lived as an adult in Argentina and other Latin American as well as European and SE Asian countries, who resides permanently in NZ while continuing to travel to Australia, the US and elsewhere for professional and personal reasons. That pretty much defines my liminality, which I am not entirely sure is a bad thing.
In Hellas, out with the new and in with the old.
Posted on 17:55, June 20th, 2012 by Pablo
The outcome of the latest Greek election is not surprising. When faced with uncertainty and dire predictions of collective and individual doom in the event that radical change occurs, voters often tend to go with the status quo or what is already in place. Confronted with the "valley of transition" to an unknown future, voters rationally calculate that their interests are best served by staying with what is known rather than leap into the unknown. Add to that the orchestrated litany of woes predicted by bankers, capitalist-oriented politicians, and lender nations, who pretty much predicted the end of the world as we know it if Greece were to default on its debts and withdraw from the Eurozone currency market, and it is easy to see why a plurality of Greeks decided to stay with the hand that they have been dealt with.
The trouble is that hand, in the form of a New Democracy/PASOK coalition (the so-called "bailout coalition") is exactly the hand that got Greece into the debt crisis in the first place. It was first New Democracy, then PASOK governments that set new records of corruption, clientalism, patronage and nepotism while running up the public debt on state-centered labor absorption and entitlement projects that did nothing for productivity or the revitalization of the Greek private sector (which remains fragmented and dominated by oligarchic interests in the few globally viable Greek industries such as shipping). It is to this pro-Euro political cabal that the responsibility for "rescuing" Greece is entrusted. That is not going to happen.
True, the terms of the bailout will be relaxed even further now that a pro-Euro government can be formed. That much is clear given that Andrea Merkel has hinted that the repayment terms can be "softened." The hard truth is that repayment can be softened because what is being repaid in Greece is the compound interest on the foreign loans. The logic is that of the credit card: the issuer of the card would prefer for users to not pay off their total debt on a monthly basis and instead accumulate interest-accruing cumulative debt while paying off less than the total owed. If the user reachers a credit limit with interest debt accruing, the limit is raised. If the user defaults on the debt after a series of credit limit raises, measures are taken to seize assets of worth comparable to the outstanding amount.
States are different than individual credit card users because as sovereign entities they can avoid asset seizure on home soil even while bankrupt. As Argentina proved in 2000, they can default and renegotiate the terms of debt repayment according to local conditions (after Argentina defaulted on its foreign debts it was eventually able to negotiate a repayment to creditors of US 36 cents on every dollar owed. The creditors took the deal, then began lending again, albeit more cautiously. The devalued Argentine peso sparked an export boom of agricultural commodities that led to post-default growth rates unseen for 50 years). The short-term impact of default can be painful (witness the run on Greek banks as people try to cash in and export Euros), but measures can be taken to curtail capital flight and to mitigate the deleterious effects of moving to a devalued currency (the Argentines did this by placing stringent limits on currency transfers abroad in the first months after they de-coupled the Argentine peso from the US dollar while at the same time issuing interest-bearing government bonds to dollar holders in the amount valid at the exchange rate of the day before the de-coupling). Greece has not adopted any of these measures as of yet, but that is because a pro-Euro caretaker government, as well as the PASOK government that preceded it, wanted to heighten the sense of doom should an anti-Euro coalition look to be winning majority support.
That scenario emerged in the form of Syriza. Although it is formally known as the Coalition of the Radical Left it is anything but "radical" (no matter how many times the corporate media tries to emphasize that point). Instead, it is a coalition of Socialists, Social Democrats, Greens, Trotskyites, Maoists and independents not associated with the Greek Communist Party (KKE). It has an agenda that includes a possible default, and will now be the largest opposition bloc in the Greek parliament. Contrary to the perception that it came out of nowhere in this year's elections, Syriza has been steadily building a popular voting base since 2004, increasing its electoral percentage significantly in 2007, 2009 and May 2012. Although it has had splits and defections (which are endemic in Greek politics, particularly on the Left), Syriza was the second largest vote-getter in the May 2012 elections and its margin of loss to New Democracy in the second-round elections held last weekend is less than it was in May. The bailout coalition may have a narrow majority, but Syriza and other Left minority parties will prove to be a formidable parliamentary obstacle to the implementation of its pro-Euro agenda.
That is why the new Greek "bailout" government will not be successful even if it renegotiates the terms of the bailout along more favorable lines than in previous iterations. It will be forced to deal with the combined pressures of Syriza opposition in parliament and the angry–and I reckon increasingly violent–opposition of the non-parliamentary Left in the street. Greece has a long tradition of student and union militancy and urban guerrilla warfare. Even during the best of times militant groups have used irregular violence to make their points about Greek capitalism and its ties to Western imperialism. They have burned and they have killed (including a CIA station chief, a British embassy official and various Greek security officers) during the decades after the Colonel's dictatorship fell in 1973. These militant strands have not gone away and instead have been reinforced as the debt crisis drags on and the impact of austerity measures take their toll on the average (and increasingly unemployed) wage-earner. With unemployment at 20 percent and youth unemployment at 50 percent, the recruitment pool for Greek militants has grown exponentially.
Some of this has been siphoned off my neo-fascist parties like Golden Dawn. But the bulk of popular rage has been channeled by the Left, divided into the institutional vehicles of Syriza and the KKE (and various off-shoots), and the direct action, non-institutionalized vehicles comprised by the likes of Revolutionary Sect (who favor political assassinations) or Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei (who appropriately enough favor arson), that follow a long line of militant groups with a penchant for violence such as the N-17 and Revolutionary Struggle (and may in fact include former members of the latter), to say nothing of various anarchist cells.
These militant groups are not going stay quiet. Instead, I foresee a rising and relentless tide of irregular violence coupled with acts of passive resistance and civil disobedience so long as the political elite continues to play by the Euro rules of the game. Every Greek knows that the solution to the crisis is political rather than economic because the bankers have made more than enough profit on their loans and it is now time for them to draw down or write off the remaining interest owed. A softened bailout package only goes halfway towards easing the collective burden of debt, and the continued imposition of fiscal austerity deepens the stresses on Greek society (urban crime has ramped up significantly this year, and it already was pretty bad when I lived in Athens in 2010). Instead of continuing to cater to banks, the political decision palatable to most (non-elite) Greeks is not a softened bailout package, now into its fourth iteration. It is a complete re-structuring, with or without default, of the economic apparatus so that national rather than foreign interests prevail on matters of employment, income and production. This may require a retrenchment and drop in standards of living over the short-term, but it at least gives Greeks a voice in the economic decisions that heretofore and presently are made by Euro-focused elites more attuned to the preferences and interests of European finance capital than they are to those of their own people.
If there is a domino effect in other countries in the event that Greece eventually (I would say inevitably) defaults, then so be it simply because that is the risk that bankers and their host governments assumed when they lent to PASOK and New Democracy governments in the past. Perhaps it is time for bankers to pay the piper as well. After all, although their profit margins may fall as a result of the Greek default, they have already insured against the eventuality (the write-off of Greek debt by large financial institutions in the US, UK and Europe is the story that never gets mentioned by the corporate media). Moreover, and most importantly, the banks can accept the default and take their losses on projected interest as a means of keeping Greece in the Eurozone market, thereby avoiding the contagion effect so widely predicted at the moment. Default does not have to mean leaving the Euro currency market. Greece can default and stay in the Eurozone so long as the banks accept that it is in their long-term interest to shoulder the diminished profits (not real losses) that a default will bring.
Again, the economic decisions about Greece had already been made by the European banks, and they are now simply waiting, while claiming gloom and doom, for the political decision to terminate their interest-based revenue streams. The PASOK/New Democracy bailout coalition only delays that political inevitability, and Syriza and the militant Left will ensure that the next bailout is just another stopgap on the road to default and regeneration along more sustainable lines.
Whatever happens, it looks to be another long hot summer in the Peloponnese. Expect a lot of wildfires.


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Advance Auto Parts store being built in Rocky Point
Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 12:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 12:14 a.m.
PENDER COUNTY | Advance Auto Parts is opening a new store in Rocky Point this spring.
The 6,000 square-foot store is currently under construction and the Roanoke, Va.-based retailer says that it's scheduled to open in late April. The store will employ about 12 people, according to a company spokesperson, and is located at the corner of U.S. 117 and N.C. 210 near the Food Lion shopping center. Advance has more than 3,600 stores in the country and 10 in the Wilmington area, including Hampstead and Burgaw.
Store hours and employee information will be released later, according to the company, but nearby stores are open seven days a week.
– Claire Parker
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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Does there exist a function $f(n)$ such that as $n \rightarrow \infty$, we have $p(n) < f(n) < e(n)$? Where $p$ is any polynomial and $e$ is any exponential (e.g. $e(n) = e^{\alpha n}, \alpha > 0$)
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Sure. The clearest way to see this is to take logarithms: after taking logarithms, you're looking for a function $\log f(n)$ which grows strictly faster than $k \log n$ for any $k$ but strictly slower than $kn$ for any $k$. And there are plenty of functions with this property, e.g. $(\log n)^{\alpha}$ for $\alpha > 1$ or $n^{\alpha}$ for $0 < \alpha < 1$.
How about $f(n)=e^{\sqrt{n}}$, slowing down the exponent in $e^n$? Or $f(n)=n^{\log{n}}$, speeding up the exponent in $n^k$?


text: One of the organizations I am involved in on campus is a group called Open Mic Night (OMN). This group started my freshmen year. The group has taken off since then. We now have about 150 people showing up to everyone we do. This is astounding. OMN meets once a month in the student lounge. Every single time the performers change and the dynamic changes. I have seen people do stand up comedy, music, dance, and poetry. It is a crazy group. I really like the variety of the acts. It is open to any student and faculty on campus. Anyone can come up and simply do whatever they would like. We have a page that I will attach.


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DIAWA J1650 FRESH WATER SPINNING REEL (USED) For Sale
|Current Bid: $ 9.99
Action of reel is smooth
This listing is for a Diawa Fresh Water Spinning Reel. The Reel is used and in very good condition. The reel seat piece is very clean. These have been very popular reels. This is being sold in as is condition, sale is final. In addition I am consolidating my train collection and layout from an area of 1200 square feet to 400 square feet so there will be a lot of previously used and run items along with items that have never been used. These will be listed over the next 6 months to a year. I have a lot of items. Save more, I will combine shipping for multiple items. I accept PayPal. Shipping will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays unless prior arrangements have been made. I COMBINE SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS. I will not ship to international destinations. Thanks for looking and please check out my other auction items. Above all else have fun looking and bidding
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Gatwood, Robin Fredrick
Robin Frederick Gatwood
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 30th Air Division
Date of Birth: 05 December 1946
Home City of Record: Hickory NC
Loss Date: 02 April 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 165000N 1070100E (YD146612)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: EB66E ("Bat 21")
Refno: 1811
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
Personnel in Incident: April 2: Robin F. Gatwood; Wayne L. Bolte; Anthony
Giannangeli; Charles A. Levis; Henry M. Serex; (all missing from the EB66).
LtCol. Iceal Hambleton (rescued after 12 days from EB66). Ronald P.
Paschall; Byron K. Kulland; John W. Frink (all missing from UH1H rescue
helicopter), Jose M. Astorga (captured and released in 1973 from UH1H).
April 3: William J. Henderson (captured and released in 1973 from OV10A
rescue craft); Mark Clark (rescued after 12 days from OV10A rescue craft).
April 6: James H. Alley; Allen J. Avery; Peter H. Chapman; John H. Call;
William R. Pearson; Roy D. Prater (all KIA/BNR from HH53C "Jolly 52" rescue
chopper). Also in very close proximity to "Bat 21"on April 3: Allen D.
Christensen; Douglas L. O'Neil; Edward W. Williams; Larry A. Zich (all
missing from UH1H). April 7: Bruce Charles Walker (evaded 11 days); Larry
F. Potts (captured & died in POW camp) (both missing from OV10A).
SYNOPSIS: On the afternoon of April 2, 1972, two Thailand-based EB66
aircraft (Bat 21 and Bat 22), from the 30th Air Division, were flying
pathfinder escort for a cell of B52s bombing near the DMZ. Bat 21 took a
direct SAM hit and the plane went down. A single beeper signal was heard,
that of navigator Col. Iceal Hambleton. At this time it was assumed the rest
of the crew died in the crash. The crew included Maj. Wayne L. Bolte, pilot;
1Lt. Robin F. Gatwood, Lt Col. Anthony R. Giannangeli, LtCol. Charles A.
Levis, and Maj. Henry M. Serex, all crew members. It should be noted that
the lowest ranking man aboard this plane was Gatwood, a First Lieutenant.
This was not an ordinary crew, and its members, particularly Hambleton,
would be a prize capture for the enemy because of military knowledge they
It became critical, therefore, that the U.S. locate Hambleton, and any other
surviving crew members before the Vietnamese did - and the Vietnamese were
trying hard to find them first.
An Army search and rescue team was nearby and dispatched two UH1H "slicks"
and two UH1B "Cobras". When they approached Hambleton's position just before
dark, at about 50 feet off the ground, with one of the AH1G Cobra gunships
flying at 300 feet for cover, two of the helicopters were shot down. One,
the Cobra (Blue Ghost 28) reached safety and the crew was picked up, without
having seen the other downed helicopter. The other, a UH1H from F Troop, 8th
Cavalry, 196th Brigade, had just flown over some huts into a clearing when
they encountered ground fire, and the helicopter exploded. Jose Astorga, the
gunner, was injured in the chest and knee by the gunfire. Astorga became
unconscious, and when he recovered, the helicopter was on the ground. He
found the pilot, 1Lt. Byron K. Kulland, lying outside the helicopter. WO
John W. Frink, the co-pilot, was strapped in his seat and conscious. The
crew chief, SP5 Ronald P. Paschall, was pinned by his leg in the helicopter,
but alive. WO Franks urged Astorga to leave them, and Astorga was captured.
He soon observed the aircraft to be hit by automatic weapons fire, and to
explode with the rest of the crew inside. He never saw the rest of the crew
again. Astorga was released by the North Vietnamese in 1973.
The following day, Nail 38, an OV10A equipped with electronic rescue gear
enabling its crew to get a rapid "fix" on its rescue target entered
Hambleton's area and was shot down. The crew, William J. Henderson and Mark
Clark, both parachuted out safely. Henderson was captured and released in
1973. Clark evaded for 12 days and was subsequently rescued.
On April 3, the day Nail 38 was shot down, a UH1H "slick" went down in the
same area carrying a crew of four enlisted Army personnel. They had no
direct connection to the rescue of Bat 21, but were very probably shot down
by the same SAM installations that downed Bat 21. The helicopter, from H/HQ,
37th Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade, had left Marble Mountain
Airfield, Da Nang, on a standard resupply mission to signal units in and
around Quang Tri City. The crew, consisting of WO Douglas L. O'Neil, pilot;
CW2 Larry A. Zich, co-pilot; SP5 Allen D. Christensen, crew chief; and SP4
Edward W. Williams, gunner; remain missing in action.
On April 6, an attempt was made to pick up Clark and Hambleton which
resulted in an HH53C helicopter being shot down. The chopper was badly hit.
The helicopter landed on its side and continued to burn, consuming the
entire craft, and presumably, all 6 men aboard. The crew of this aircraft
consisted of James H. Alley; Allen J. Avery, John H. Call III, Peter H.
Chapman, William R. Pearson, and Roy D. Prater. Search and rescue noted no
signs of survivors, but it is felt that the Vietnamese probably know the
fate of this crew because of the close proximity of the downed aircraft to
enemy locations.
On April 7 another Air Force OV10A went down in the area with Larry Potts
and Bruce Walker aboard. Walker, the Air Force pilot of the aircraft, evaded
capture 11 days, while it is reported that Potts was captured and died in
Quang Binh prison. Potts, the observer, was a Marine Corps officer. Walker's
last radio transmission to search and rescue was for SAR not to make an
attempt to rescue, the enemy was closing in. Both men remain unaccounted
Hambleton and Clark were rescued after 12 incredible days. Hambleton
continually changed positions and reported on enemy activity as he went,
even to the extent of calling in close air strikes near his position. He was
tracked by a code he devised relating to the length and lie direction of
various golf holes he knew well. Another 20 or so Americans were not so
In July 1986, the daughter of Henry Serex learned that, one week after all
search and rescue had been "called off" for Bat 21, another mission was
mounted to recover "another downed crewmember" from Bat 21. She doesn't know
whether or not it is her father or another man on the EB66 aircraft. No
additional information has been released. When the movie "Bat 21" was
released, she was horrified to learn that virtually no mention of the rest
of the crew, including her father, was made.
In Vietnam, to most fighting men, the man that fought beside them, whether
in the air or on the ground, was worth dying for. Each understood that the
other would die for him if necessary. Thus, also considering the critical
knowledge possessed by Col. Hambleton and some of the others, the seemingly
uncanny means taken to recover Clark and Hambleton are not so unusual at
What defies logic and explanation, however, is that the government that
sent these men to battle can distort or withhold information to their
families, and knowingly abandon hundreds of men known or strongly suspected
to be in enemy hands.
Thousands of reports have been received by the U.S. Government indicating
that Americans are still alive, in captivity in Southeast Asia. It has been
17 years for those who may have survived the 1972 Easter crashes and rescue
attempts. How much longer must they wait for their country to bring "peace
with honor" to them and bring them home?
On 02 Apr 1972 two EB-66 electronic warfare aircraft departed Korat RTAFB
in Thailand to provide EW support to B-52 bombers operating south of the
DMZ. BAT 21 was lead with BAT 22 as number two. The "Easter Offensive" had
just begun and very large North Vietnamese forces were moving south through
the DMZ. Although numerous SA-2 missiles were fired at the B-52s, there were
no hits ... until BAT 21 was hit while turning south to vacate the target
area. The stricken EB-66 broke up at about 18,000 feet, but only one
crewman - navigator Lt Col Iceal Hambleton - was able to parachute to safety
on the ground. The safety was illusory, though, since Hambleton landed in the
midst of the south-bound NVA forces. SAR and strike aircraft supported
Hambleton as he moved south toward a pick-up point, but it soon became
apparent that the area was simply too "hot" for SAR helicopter operations.
After 11 days of travel by night, Hambleton was able to join up with a
South Vietnamese SEAL team led by US Navy Lieutenant Tom Norris and was
successfully rescued.
The downing of BAT 21 and the subsequent SAR efforts were costly in terms of aircraft and aircrews:
2 Apr: BAT 21, EB-66C tail number 54-0466, 42nd TEWS:
Lt Col Iceal Hambleton, rescued
Lt Col Anthony R. Giannangeli, KIA
Major Wayne L. Bolte, KIA
Major Henry M. Serex, KIA
1st Lt Robin F. Gatwood, KIA
The remains of BAT 21's crew have not been repatriated.
2 Apr: Army UH-1H tail number 67-17801, F Troop, 8th Cav Rgt
1LT Byron Kent Kulland, pilot, MIA
WO1 John Wesley Frink, pilot, MIA
SP5 Ronald Page Paschall, crew chief, MIA
SP4 Jose M. Astorga, gunner, POW, repatriated 05 Mar 73
The remains of Kulland, Frink, and Paschall were repatriated in 1993
and identified in 1994.
2 Apr: Army AH-1G tail number 68-17033, F Troop, 8th Cav Rgt
Aircraft destroyed; no losses.
3 Apr: USAF OV-10A tail number 68-3789, 23rd TASS
1st Lt William J. Henderson, POW, repatriated 27 Mar 73
1st Lt Mark N. Clark, picked up
3 Apr: Army UH-1H tail number 68-16330, 37th Signal Bn
CW2 Larry A. Zich, pilot, MIA
WO Douglas L. O'Neill, pilot, MIA
SP5 Allen D. Christensen, crewman, MIA
SP4 Edward W. Williams, crewman, MIA
This loss was not directly associated with the BAT 21 incident, but occurred
in the same area. Their remains have not been recovered.
6 Apr: USAF HH-53C tail number 68-10365, 37th ARRS
Capt John Henry Call, pilot
1st Lt Peter Hayden Chapman, pilot
TSgt Allen Jones Avery, crewman
TSgt Roy Dewitt Prater, crewman
Sgt William Roy Pearson, crewman
Sgt James Harold Alley, combat photographer, 601st Photo Flight
The HH-53 was hit by ground fire as it approached Hambleton's position, rolled inverted, and exploded and burned on ground impact. The crewmen's remains were repatriated and identified on 25 Sep 1997.
7 Apr: USAF OV-10A tail number 68-3820, 23rd TASS
Captain Bruce C. Walker, USAF, pilot
Captain Larry F. Potts, USMC, observer, 1st ANGLICO
Walker evaded capture for 11 days; his last radio transmission to SAR forces was to not to make a rescue attempt as the enemy was closing in. There are reports that Potts was captured and died in Quang Binh prison. Both men remain unaccounted for.
All told, 26 US air crewmen were on the ground. Four were rescued: Hambleton, Clark, and the two AH-1G crewmen. Two were repatriated when the POWs returned: Henderson and Astorga. Twenty died or disappeared. Of those men, nine have come home. Eleven have not. Robin Gatwood is among these eleven men.
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The POW Network, Hobson's "Vietnam Air Losses", The Virtual Wall, and the US DoD POW/MIA Office.