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Monday, June 04, 2007
Freedom of Religion - A View From Azmi Sharom
At the end of the day it is simply quite cruel to not allow someone to believe what they want to believe. It is not a decision made lightly and as can be seen in Lina Joy's situation, one that can lead to misery and heartache.
Just as I am sure many converts into Islam face misery and heartache from their respective community. It's hard enough to face being ostraciced from family and friends without having to face legal persecution as well. When faced with two contesting human opinions on the 'precepts' of Islam, one which is harsh and one which is merciful, I choose the latter.
Religion is one path towards personal peace and spiritual fulfilment. It is also something which depends entirely on faith. Even if the religion is a 'way of life', a term commonly used to describe Islam; it still needs belief and faith. How can one be forced to follow a 'way of life' if one simply does not believe in it? Once the element of force comes into the picture, be it in the form of fines, imprisonment or 'rehabilitation', then religion ceases to be about the spiritual and becomes instead a matter of power. I can not accept that the religion I was born into and my children are raised in is about anything as crass as power.
And it is my right to believe that.
Read his full article.
17 comments:
Discrimination in the private sector is everywhere. Even the Chinese businessman who is just starting gets discriminated against more established ones, unless he has a mentor to back him up.
As for career interviews, it is best to get a recommendation first. If I am using my own money, it is my right to choose whom I want - even to the extent of discrimination. Why would I want to hire someone that I cannot have lunch with, work with or converse with?
The BN government on the other hand is discriminating against the non-malays not with the malay money, but with probably the Chinese money as the latter pay the bulk of income tax collected in the country. That we are against.
- David BC Tan said...
As always, Azmi Sharom hits the nail on the head. He reminds us how much clear-headed individuals are needed if Malaysia is to move ahead
To get ahead in the world today, China has taken steps to encourage its citizens to master English and the Chinese are taking it like fish to water. Likewise, the Americans have no choice but to master Mandarin.
Bill Gates and Steven Jobs have already said that the first wave of the Internet language is almost over, i.e. English. It is time to prepare for the second wave, Mandarin.
And what do we have here? Still hanging on to the notion that Bahasa Melayu is the lingua franca of the world even as events are unfolding before their very eyes that thousands upon thousands of graduates could not get employed because of their inability to grasp the English language.
Where is the pragmatism for change? Even the hardcore communists like the Chinese have to finally gave in, swallow their pride and do what is best for the nation. Today, they call the shots and America has to kowtow to them. China does not need a military adventure but an economic one will do just fine. From the looks of it, our people here will never go for a change. The mathematics and science in English is nothing more than a cosmetic change.
It is a funny world we live in. The Americans and British are falling over each other to master Mandarin, and the Chinese are learning English at a rapid pace. And here what are we doing? Learning our Bahasa Melayu. Good luck Malaysians. Won't be long we will all be left behind.
Our politicians think there is something to gain from making racial and religious statements at the great expense of Malaysia and its ordinary people.
Sadly, they are right and have been very successful to achieve their narrow, personal and selfish aims. Enormous damage has been done to the social cohesion and development and progress of the country. It is so sorry to see them lagging further and further behind as a result of their inferiority complex. It is more sorry to see that they can trade the future of this country with their inferiority complex.
What is their definition of integrity? What is morality? What is patriotism? What is……….
Generations have been brought up with this totally unacceptable and unhealthy environment. It would take generations to heal and resolve this damage.
This bumis/non-bumis dichotomy is a well-entrenched policy which is here to stay for a long long time and eventually lead the country to ruin.
Face it, the easy part of it can be done is removing the legal discrimination, the damage is so overdone now, it may take forever to change the cultural discrimination that has been infused.
Having said that, money has to be spent on education. Only with world-class education and grasp of the global world can we have better ties with other countries. This will invariably lead to a robust knowledge based economy and more business opportunities.
If anybody who thinks that corruption and racial discrimination is not wrong then there will be nothing that is wrong.
This is what actually happening in Umno. They love the two evils:
(i) corruption to enrich themselves (ii) racial discrimination to make them feel good and superior to other races (when they do not know that they still need to be spoon fed and the tongkat) and deceive the poor kampung folks that they are heroes to their race who keep on voting for them.
They are actually robbing the country by making everybody poorer, malays and other races alike. Petrol prices are raised with hundred and one excuse, and tolls are raised without any transparency, and everything has gone up making the poor becoming poorer.
I do not see anything that they can be proud of, and nothing superior about them. Even to rob, they are all given assistance and tongkat to do it by having two set of laws, one for them and one for the ordinary citizens.
The reason is to help malays so that they can be at par with other races. They get all this sorts of privileges and advantages that in the end it all goes down to drain just like that. Scholarships, 7% discount on properties purchase, matriculations, Mara and the list just goes on.
Well, I did agree at first with this. But hang on, 2007-1957 is 50 years and that is like 2 generations of human beings……….what happen now? Are they at the same level with other races? In a way yes, but every way is no. I do not think so.
Malays take all these advantages as their rights and not as a stepping-stone for them to move forward. The question is how long more do they need the government to support and feed their mouth?
If you ask me that, I'd say that they need not even a single second more for all the privileges that they have. 50 years is more than enough for them to realize that they need to change.
Can someone please tell me which race in Malaysia that top the chart in drug addiction? Can someone please tell me which race in Malaysia that is in the 'deans list' for raping, illegal racing and gangsterism?
If that is what the privileges do to them, perhaps we should give them more privileges so the malays who do that will just extinct in this world leaving only the 'enlightened' one.
While the malays are 'bestowed' with all the privileges, other races are working hard to change their fate themselves, realising that the government places a greater emphasis only on malays. I have seen this and I speak from experiences.
While the non-malays are working hard, the malays are lazing around because they know that government will back them up. Well, which one do you think will excel more? The one that has no advantages but work hard or the one that has all the advantages but do nothing?
I did not say that they are all like that. Some do take full use of the advantages and they really excel. As a malay, I guess that they need to learn the hard way like other races do. Give them what they deserve or distributed the resources equally.
Am I one of them? I guess I compete fairly in my study. I refuse to go to boarding school when I get the offer and I am thankful for that. Boarding school only narrows your scope of thinking because you are just interacting with the malays.
I wholeheartedly agree with the real meritocracy effort by the government. Learn the hard way man! Feel free to share them with your friends (however be careful) and am willing to opine more.
I believe it is possible to get your message across without having to resort to name-calling. Let us not be racist for the sake of Malaysia and its people, no matter how much we resent some of the government policies that have impacted our lives.
We have the tallest, longest, largest, greatest, grandest, biggest, everything; and now some record breaking events, falling, collapsing, cracking, bursting, break-downing incidents in new buildings. It is only the beginning.
Just don't ask the professionals to come back and say that Malaysia is home country since we are just - penumpang.
Nice speech there……….Did Singapore pay you for that? Because you are encouraging people to go to Singapore and never look back.
You will see an exodus of people going to Singapore and Singapore will thank Malaysia for being the surrogate mother for 12 years (free education from Standard 1 - Form 6).
Singapore is not a natural country but man-made, a trading post the British has developed into a nodal point in their worldwide maritime empire - they inherited the island without its hinterland, like a heart without a body. Don't get me? Ok.
Managing Singapore is easy? You must be kidding me. Try to read up on the history of Singapore when they first leave Malaysia to go their own way with no signposts to their next destination.
They had to build up an army from scratch, and the British had made no offer to help. They need to prevent massive unemployment when British wanted to pull out. No financial centre at the beginning, messed up the general election, the communist self-destruct was even scary……….
My history probably get the facts wrong, but what I know is that the Singapore we see today - modern, rich, shining was a colony, decrepit, poor once.
The Chinese and Indians have been in Malaysia for more than a hundred years but still some people think they are second class immigrants, not even full fledged citizens.
Let me ask you a question. If you say that the other races are second class, why collect the same amount of taxes from them? Why not has a separate taxing system for the different races? If a race contributes more to the country income, I can understand if the government decides to give that race special privileges and rights.
Otherwise, it is a silly policy that will make us lose out in the global competitive environment. How do you compete with another country, say Singapore, when you have a steady decline of human resources (the educated and technical population) to the other country? Singapore become first world within one generation. Where are we now?
It seems that they are contented by the fact that we are the leader of third world countries. Nothing to be proud of - actually - but that is their mentality……….
To be honest, I rather see Malaysia economic die than see people been unequal because of their race. Most of us here are eligible to vote, so say no to Umno and their BN bullshit. MCA, MIC are Umno's puppet.
Show me a malay who has more than 9 A1s in SPM who was turned away in his application for scholarship, and I will show you 20 non-malays in the same situation.
I wish the pro-malay special rights people could step into a non-malay shoe for one day and taste life in Malaysia.
I will just leave. Sooner or later, they are going to realize the massive brain drain - in fact they already have.
Malaysia is the only country in the world where the constitution itself (no less) says that a particular race has to belong a particular religion. No other country follows this ruling. Not even Arabia (birthplace of Islam) or Indonesia (largest Muslim population).
To parody a line from the song, Malaysia politicians, civil servants and those in authority are killing this country softly with their corruption.
Platitudes and promises aside, it is no joke that the level of systemic corruption in our country has gone from bad to worse. Leaders can choose to ignore it and close an eye, but the truth is everywhere we turn we see the destructive traces of corruption.
Services and infrastructure are breaking down and left unattended, trucks and buses are spewing out excessive exhaust smoke and the haze is now here every year. Road accidents are up due to unqualified drivers, and vehicles being let onto the roads in a less-than-roadworthy condition.
How is all this due to corruption? When tenders are bypassed. When a phone call is made to influence a decision. When 'under-the-table' money is passed to decision makers. When the most proficient and efficient contractor is sidestepped for the one with better 'offerings'.
This is how we get flyovers deemed unsafe, hospitals with fungus, parks turned into housing developments, roads not made to specifications, and trees felled without permission.
This is why we have increasing health costs, highway concessionaires that lose toll collections, and disappearing green lungs. All because of corruption.
Integrity is what you are when no one is looking. Malaysians need to know the effects of what they do. Things are a-changing there and all of sudden there is law and order.
Maybe we in Malaysia won't shoot our corrupt leaders and civil servants but let us do the minimum by exposing them and weeding them out of their positions.
Enough of mere talk.
Is the language diversity in our educational system a stumbling block to so-called 'national unity'? Despite the insistence of this idea by the self-interested ruling elite, it is simply wrong.
And the common use of English did not stop Americans from fighting Britons in the War of Independence. And let us not forget the American Civil War - both sides spoke English.
And to the contrary, we see Europeans of different mother tongues coming together in a democratic manner to forge a united continent in the form of the multilingual European Union with common standards of human rights, governance and democracy.
English-speaking people with different mother tongues are also now living peacefully in five different sovereign and independent countries namely the United States, New Zealand, Canada, Britain and Australia.
It is time for the Malaysia ruling elite and their ideologues to stop spreading the voodoo of that language diversity hampers national unity.
The root cause of national disunity is none other than the existence of race-based political parties like Umno, MIC and MCA, which perpetuate race-based affirmative action policies and which only benefit the upper class BN gangs and their sons, daughters and cronies.
I applaud some person letter, on how our Malaysia former prime minister exploited the wealth of this country, to build instant bumi business tycoons and billionaires.
In his 22 years of prime minister ship, he has build on the racism in this country where people still whisper about it but are afraid to talk openly and confidently about it.
It has affected the millions of citizens who are the minority in this country. This country does not respect the minority - the Orang Asli, the Indians, the Chinese, and many others.
Let me illustrate. That is a clear example of an disadvantaged Indian family in Malaysia and there are many which are unemployed, illiterate, displaced (moved from the estates to cities without any savings), criminally inclined (40 percent of prisoners in Malaysia are Indians), alcoholics and basically eking a living on the fringes of society.
We have a society which does not want to listen, speak or even talk to them. There have been many good souls out there who have tried very hard to assist the Indians to come out of their poverty since the 70s.
As far as I know, and we have found that it is impossible for just a few groups to do that unless there is a political will for these minority groups to escape poverty.
Because of the very one-sidedness of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and a government comprising racially-based political parties, we can never achieve an equitable society. We advertise heavily that we are a multi-racial society but we all know (but are afraid to say it) that it is not.
Our own education system is not fair. It is not fair in the provision of social services. It is not fair in the promotions in the civil service. It is not fair for business licencing. This is the life story of the poor minority in my country.
- Khoo Kay Peng said...
The irony is many of us wanted politicians not to churn out racial statements but we unconsciously are the main culprits.
I would like to reiterate here that not all Malays are getting special privileges from the government.
The NEP is instead used by the elites to enrich themselves. The poor, whom the policy should help, remained poor after more than 35 years after the affirmative action.
Hence, I would like to urge you to be sensitive about your own statement here as well which may hurt our Malay friends who are equally marginalised by the pro-elitist policy.
We should strive, regardless of race, to correct the social imbalances.
Hi KKP ,
For once I hear some sense in you. But is this backtracking or just another ploy
- Khoo Kay Peng said...
Thanks. Not knowing who you are, I am still not reading any sensible comment from you including your current post.
If you think being sensible is backtracking or a ploy then your mind must be corrupted.
I mean it literally. Please, I have been very consistent. Otherwise, you should show proof of my inconsistency.
See, you are already passing negative judgement on me simply b'cause I have that lingering doubt. How can I not be given that your bloggers are through and through anti Malay, and so are the dappies. Just that how can you be any different - I am not born yesterday man
- Khoo Kay Peng said...
See, that is what I mean. You come here with a closed up mindset. You expect people to be like what you have branded them.
If that is so, how can I be wrong about you?
You did not even make an attempt to get to know me and my background. What a disappointment.
KKP you just need to read the comments by your bloggers again. Its basically to incite racial conflicts. I wouldn't have bothered to respond otherwise. My take is you cannot be a social activist or whatever name for long if you are so prejudiced. The people around you may listen and may even nod the Malaysian way of course but they will walk away when it matters. Good luck


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subset: commoncrawl


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New D.C. version is less lavish than original
Ask a Gotham legiter about "Ragtime," and many won't immediately conjure images from the musical's Broadway preem — they'll remember the concurrent crash-and-burn of its producer.
But backers of the Main Stem revival, in previews for a Nov. 15 opening at the Neil Simon Theater, are hoping to change that.
The 1997 Broadway bow of "Ragtime," with a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and book by Terrence McNally, was far from forgettable, boasting, for instance, a cast that included Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie.
Based on the multistrand 1975 E.L. Doctorow novel about America in the early 1900s, the show also got a spectacularly lavish Rialto staging courtesy of flamboyant Canuck producer Garth Drabinsky.
It was Drabinsky's shady business practices that came to light during the show's two-year run, bankrupting producing org Livent. (In August, Drabinsky was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud and forgery.)
"I think this show got wrapped up into that story, so many people forgot the art in it," says Kevin McCollum, who brings the new "Ragtime" back to Gotham with fellow producers Roy Furman and Emanuel Azenberg, among others.
Besides, 1997-98 was the season of "The Lion King," whose phenomenal ongoing success seems to have overshadowed most of the rest of that year's shows, "Ragtime" included. (While "Ragtime" won four Tonys, including score and book, "The Lion King" took the top musical prize.)
The latest incarnation of "Ragtime" initially bowed in the spring at Washington, D.C.'s, Kennedy Center, which about once a year produces a sizable legit project to slot into the presenter's season of offerings originated elsewhere.
Kennedy Center president Michael M. Kaiser had begun thinking about "Ragtime" some five years ago as part of a focus on the current generation of Broadway musical creatives, among them Ahrens and Flaherty ("Once on This Island," "A Man of No Importance").
It was the composer-lyricist duo who suggested Marcia Milgrom Dodge to direct, after Dodge helmed a notably successful 2006 re-imagining of Ahrens and Flaherty's "Seussical" for Theaterworks/USA, which is still touring the production.
Ahrens and Flaherty encouraged Dodge to think about staging "Ragtime" with somewhat less extravagance than original helmer Frank Galati turned out for the preem, which had a technologically elaborate set that included fireworks and a working Model T automobile.
"What they really wanted was for me to do the show without being so literal, so there's a theatricality to my approach," Dodge says.
The new production has a multitiered scaffold-style set by Derek McLane. The critical raves that came after the April opening in Washington also noted an intimate focus on the musical's central characters, who include Americans drawn from white, black and Jewish immigrant communities.
"There was much more pageantry in the original. That was Garth's personality," McCollum says. "This is much more grounded in the relationships rather than the themes."
Creatives cast the show on the younger side, partly to reflect the youth of the country that is the musical's broader subject. Nineteen thesps — including Quentin Earl Darrington, Christiane Noll, Ron Bohmer, Bobby Steggert — are reprising roles they played in the D.C. production.
Though somewhat less lavish than the preem, the revival is a hefty endeavor, with a cast of 40 and an orchestra of 28. At the Kennedy Center, the budget approached $5 million, while the Gotham transfer necessitated $8.5 million more in capitalization costs.
In D.C. the show took in an unusually robust $3 million, according to Kaiser. "It sold really well long before it opened, and we were surprised by that," he says. "It sold on the name 'Ragtime,' I think. It's also a serious show, and I think people are anxious for something substantive."
The Washington reviews drew Gotham-based producers including McCollum, who has had a long relationship with the musical. His wife, Lynnette Perry, played showgirl Evelyn Nesbit in the original, and he'd been toying with the idea of a revival even before he heard about the Kennedy Center's plans.
The producer characterizes box office as good for a crowded market; he doesn't expect people to start talking about the show until after it opens.
Nor is he concerned that now is too soon for Broadway to revisit "Ragtime," especially since in his view the original production's run was curtailed by Livent's financial drama.
Part of the appeal for the current production, he says, is the fact that many of the show's themes have taken on greater resonance in the dozen years since the tuner first bowed. Its story of turn-of-the-century bigotry, for instance, has acquired new textures since the election of the first African-American president.
And as Dodge points out, in the show, J.P. Morgan, one of several historical characters incorporated into the fictional storyline, talks about the economy in ways that will play differently in the wake of last year's fiscal downturn.
"Everything we're talking about in the show is current events," she says.


text:
An Elkins native is making it big in the world of special effects, and he will be featured on Face Off, season five, beginning Tuesday. Steve Tolin, son of Bill and Susan Tolin, will be a contestant on the show on the Syfy Channel when it debuts at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Tuesday.
Representatives from the show say Tolin has loved special effects since childhood and he has practiced his craft in one way or another for most of his life. Tolin has always loved movies, biology and art, areas of interest that mix together to make a budding special effects artist.
In high school his decision to pursue special effects was solidified when he was selected to attend the W.Va. Governor's School for the Arts.
Article Photos
Submitted photo
Elkins native Steve Tolin and his daughter work on a project. Tolin will be appearing on the Syfy Channel's Face Off show, which begins on Tuesday.
"My art teacher at Elkins High School was Mary Ann Nichols," Tolin said. "She was awesome. I would not have gone to Governor's School for the Arts if she had not put the application in front of me and had me fill it out. I don't think I would not be a professional artist if I had not attended that school. Mrs. Nichols had a critical influence on me."
Tolin said many others, including his mother and father, helped steer him in the right direction.
"There was a time that my mother and her boyfriend owned a bed and breakfast and we lived on the third floor," Tolin said. Living with us was an artist named Jeff Barner. He is amazing with watercolors. He was one of my earliest influences and helped me see you could make a living as an artist.
Tolin said two others helped instill qualities in him that have helped with his success through the years.
My fifth-grade teacher helped me develop a natural curiosity," Tolin said. "John Aliveto helped me see things from a different angle. This added to my artistic side. Also, Ernie Cross, my Karate instructor from the YMCA, helped me through martial arts. This training helped shape my work ethic."
Tolin graduated on the Dean's list from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2000, and has acquired most of his professional knowledge from running his own studio the past 13 years. He said his passion and talent for the field also helped him win a Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago for Outstanding Special Effects.
When designing, he believes form follows function and always uses the best ideas from his team, even if they are not his own. He hopes to win Face Off so he can more effectively pursue his dream to move to Los Angeles and expand his FX business.
Tolin, who applied for the second season of Face Off as well, said his interest in being on the show is because of the national exposure.
"I run my own business in Pittsburgh and any advertising to draw people to my business and web site so they know I exist help," Tolin said. "I would say the networking possibilities with other contestants and judges is a great reason to be on the show. And at the end, the big hunk of cheese is the opportunity to win a big stash of cash.
"When I found out I was on the show, this season, I was very excited. It is not easy and many people audition to be on Face Off. It is also really nerve racking because I am putting myself on a national platform in front of people. You are really exposing yourself, but ultimately I decided to jump in."
The fifth season runs for 13 episodes before a winner will be named.
Tolin is a married father of two daughters and enjoys practicing martial arts in his spare time. His favorite movies with special effects are Harry and the Hendersons, Gremlins, Dark Crystal and Labyrith.
"I am definitely proud of my hometown roots," Tolin said. "It excites me to represent Elkins, West Virginia. Just keep rooting for me. Send positive energy my way. My hometown was critical in forming what I am today."
Unexpected twists and turns await in the fifth season of Syfy's Face Off. According to representatives from Syfy, this year's season features eight talented and up-and-coming special effects make-up artists who arrive to the competition in Los Angeles to a shocking revelation -- among their competition are eight more contestants from past seasons of Face Off, all hungry for a chance at redemption.
The stakes are higher than ever as they jump right into their first foundation challenge in which they must complete the looks of costumed partygoers for an elaborate costume ball, with colorfully dressed cast members from Syfy's new docu-series Heroes of Cosplay in attendance for inspiration. Heroes of Cosplay premieres immediately following Face Off.
Returning to the lab for the new season is actress and host McKenzie Westmore, along with judges Ve Neill (The Hunger Games, The Amazing Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean), Glenn Hetrick (CSI: New York, The Hunger Games, Heroes) and Neville Page (Avatar, Prometheus). World-renowned makeup artist -- and McKenzie's dad Michael Westmore resumes his role as the official contestant mentor to the contestants.
The guest judges on tap for season five include Bryan Fuller, Catherine Hardwicke, Academy Award winning makeup artist Bill Corso, Kevin Grevioux, Lin Shayne, renowned sculptor and concept artist Jordu Schell, Cassandra Peterson, former Face Off series judge Patrick Tatopolous and Academy Award winning makeup artist Valli O'Reilly.
For the Spotlight Challenges this season the contestants are tasked to create fully-realized characters that not only look camera ready for TV or film, but also tell a story specific to the challenge's genre, scene or world. The new season's challenges include creating a futuristic Frankenstein and his bride; a whimsical character inspired by Mother Goose nursery rhymes; a Morlock-inspired subterranean humanoid beast; an alluring Mother Earth goddess inspired by the contestants' own moms; a reimagined and modern version of a classic Halloween character complete with an articulating 'treat'; an original living art character inspired by Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art, Expressionism and Constructivism; a stylized alien for an out-of-this-world performance on the Reveal Stage with world-renown circus troupe, Cirque Berzerk; a grim character inspired by one of the seven deadly sins; a scary ghost with a comedic edge; a dark elf warrior for a fantastical elven army; and an exotic flying creature/human-hybrid.
For the finale, the final three contestants will each create two lead characters from Swan Lake: a woman transforming into a swan and the sorcerer who casts the spell on her. These finale makeups will be put to the test in an epic performance by the Los Angeles Ballet.
The Face Off contestants will be whittled down week by week, until only three remain for a finale showdown. The winning artist will receive $100,000, a 2013 Fiat and a VIP trip from Kryolan Professional Make-Up to one of their 85 international locations. Kryolan Professional Make-Up has joined the series as the official make-up sponsor.
To meet the cast of season four, see photo galleries and video, visit www.syfy.com/faceoff. Photography and bios are also available at www.nbcumv.com. More information about Tolin is available on his website at tolinfx.com.


text:
Layoffs fall in February 2005
March 25, 2005
In February 2005, employers took 1,128 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 117,684, seasonally adjusted.
The number of layoff events fell by 329 from January 2005 and was the lowest for any month since October 2000.
The number of initial claims due to mass layoff actions declined by 33,306 over the month and was the lowest for any month since May 2004.
These data are from the Mass Layoff Statistics program. Mass layoffs data for January and February 2005 are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Mass Layoffs in February 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-486.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Layoffs fall in February 2005 on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2005/mar/wk3/art05.htm (visited September 27, 2016).
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Routh, Bush, Bradford join Samonek's comedy
Starz Prods. has launched production of ensemble comedy "Table for Three," with Brandon Routh, Sophia Bush, Jesse Bradford, Jennifer Morrison, Johnny Galecki and Lisa Lapira. Michael Samonek directs from his own screenplay.
Story centers on a suddenly single young man who invites a "perfect couple" to share his large apartment, only to see them completely disrupt his life when they insert themselves into his new romance. Routh ("Superman Returns") has the lead role while Bradford ("W") and Bush ("One Tree Hill") portray the couple.
Nathan Reimann and Melissa Jones produce, with Karen Bailey exec producing. "Table" is slated for theatrical release later this year,
Starz Prods., a unit of Starz Media, is also prepping the release of comedy "Lower Learning."


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Waszynski, Christine MS, RN, GNP-C; Veronneau, Patricia MSN, RN; Therrien, Karyn MSN, RN; Brousseau, Melissa BSN; Massa, Angela BSN; Levick, Sarah BSN
Christine Waszynski is a geriatric NP in the Department of Geriatric Medicine at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT. Patricia Veronneau is the nursing coordinator and Angela Massa and Sarah Levick are staff nurses in the Department of Nursing at Hartford Hospital; at the time of this project, Melissa Brousseau was also a staff nurse at Hartford Hospital. Karyn Therrien is a nursing education supervisor in the Practical Nursing Program at Porter and Chester Institute, Rocky Hill, CT; at the time of this project, she was a nurse manager at Hartford Hospital, where she continues to teach per diem in the Parent Education Program. The Catherine and Alexander Wright Fund provided funding for materials used in the project. Contact author: Christine Waszynski, firstname.lastname@example.com. The authors and planners have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Overview: Hospitalized patients who are suffering from cognitive impairment, delirium, suicidal ideation, traumatic brain injury, or another behavior-altering condition are often placed under continuous observation by designated "sitters." These patients may become agitated, which can jeopardize their safety even when a sitter is present. This quality improvement project was based on the hypothesis that agitation can be decreased by engaging these patients in individualized therapeutic activities. The authors created a tool that allowed continuous observers to identify a patient's abilities and interests, and then offer such activities to the patient. Data were collected using a scale that measured patient agitation before, during, and after these activities. The authors found that during the activities, 73% of patients had decreased levels of agitation compared with baseline, and 64% remained less agitated for at least one hour afterward.
The intervention appeared effective in reducing levels of agitation in selected patients who were receiving continuous observation on nonpsychiatric units at a large, urban level 1 trauma center. Many patients expressed gratitude for the diversion from their health issues. Further investigation into the effectiveness of this intervention and its impact on the use of medications or restraints is warranted.
Hospitalization is inherently stressful: the patient finds herself or himself sick or injured, feeling vulnerable in an unfamiliar environment. A perception of loss of control can lead to anxiety or agitation, and this may be especially likely in patients with cognitive or psychiatric disorders. Such patients are known to be at increased risk for falls and for self-harm through treatment disruption or impulsive behavior. Traditional nursing interventions to minimize these risks, such as using exit alarms to limit independent mobility or disguising necessary medical equipment, are often ineffective with this patient population. Thus continuous observation is often employed as a necessary safety strategy.
Most hospitals have protocols or guidelines governing the use of continuous observation. It's usually provided by a member of the nursing staff, such as a nursing assistant, but nursing students or other trained individuals can also serve in this capacity. This observer, often referred to as a "sitter," is responsible for keeping the patient safe. The job description might include providing personal care and mobilization assistance, or it might be limited to observing the patient and intervening if the patient exhibits dangerous behaviors.
Continuous observation can be challenging for various reasons. For hospital administrators, it's costly to pay a staff member to observe a single patient for an entire shift. It's also difficult to anticipate how many sitters will be needed for a given shift, since the need varies depending on the number and characteristics of patients who might require continuous observation. Nursing assistants working per diem or from a float pool are often used as sitters. Still, it can be hard to maintain enough qualified staff in this capacity. It may mean reallocating scheduled staff—and if a staff member must be reassigned from caring for several patients to observing just one, this can cause a shortage of caregivers for other patients.
National patient safety goals have focused upon providing a safe environment for hospitalized patients.1, 2 Although continuous observation is an intervention typically used for selected high-risk patients, the research does not appear to support its use—either as a cost-effective measure or as a means of preventing patient harm or improving patient satisfaction.3, 4 Effective alternatives have been described in the literature. At one hospital, the Specialized Adult-Focused Environment (SAFE) unit program involves grouping high-risk patients in close proximity, which allows staff "to attend to them frequently if not constantly" and to provide individualized diversionary activities as part of the plan of care.5 The hospital has reported that this approach improved patient care while significantly decreasing sitter hours and costs. Another model, the Delirium Room model, involves creating a four-bed patient area with 24-hour nursing presence and emphasizing nonpharmacologic approaches to care.6 Although more research is needed, there is evidence suggesting that this approach can lower negative outcomes (such as loss of function and higher mortality) that are associated with delirium. Both programs incorporate a therapeutic focus to decrease agitation and anxiety, which can disrupt treatment and put patients at higher risk for falls and injury.
Our quality improvement project. Our hospital, which has more than 850 beds, is an inner-city level 1 trauma and teaching center. It has consistently used an average of 40 full-time employees as sitters annually. But such staffing has often proved challenging. At times unit staff members had to be reassigned to meet this need, which often meant increased patient workloads for other staff. In response, in 2007 the hospital created a special float pool. Known as the Specially Trained and Responsive (STAR) team, it's made up of 100 students working per diem as nursing assistants while completing nursing degrees. This has improved the hospital's ability to provide continuous observation when necessary.
Yet during monthly departmental work group meetings, nursing staff from various departments described the tedious nature of "sitting" with, and the discomfiture of "looking at," a single patient for eight hours. Moreover, some patients had reported feeling "watched and intruded upon"—feelings that could increase their anxiety and agitation. In short, there appeared to be a lack of patient and staff satisfaction with the sitter's role, and we began to ask ourselves whether staff assigned this role could be more involved with these patients. For many years the hospital has trained volunteers in how to engage patients in various activities, with favorable responses. Nurses and patient care attendants have also received education, during orientation and geriatric resource training classes, about the potential value of therapeutic activities for patients. Yet this strategy was rarely implemented for patients receiving continuous observation.
In 2011, we decided to explore alternative and creative ways to provide a safer, more supportive environment for these patients. To assemble a project team, the nursing coordinator (PV) asked for volunteers from our nursing staff, and two of us (CW and KT) responded. Two nursing assistants from the STAR Team (MB and AM) were also selected to participate, based upon their work performance, project interest, and ability to balance work and school demands. (A third nursing assistant [SL] joined the project later.) The purpose of the project was to offer individualized therapeutic activities to patients who were receiving continuous observation and measure the effect on their levels of agitation. Our goal was not to decrease the use of continuous observers; rather, we wanted to maximize the effect of an observer's presence on the patient's safety and well-being. We chose agitation as the target behavior we wanted to decrease, since it was the most common reason for the use of continuous observation in our hospital. We began by searching the literature.
Agitation has been defined as "a state of chronic restlessness and increased psychomotor activity generally observed as an expression of emotional tension and characterized by purposeless, restless activity. Pacing, talking, crying, and laughing sometimes are characteristic and may serve to release nervous tension associated with anxiety, fear, or other mental stress."7 In hospitalized patients, agitation can have multiple causes, including stress, pain, inactivity, frustration, confusion, and an inability to communicate. As Segatore and Adams note, agitation levels can range from mild, in which harm is unlikely, to severe, in which the patient's verbally or physically violent behaviors can potentially cause harm to self or others.8 Patients at high risk for agitation include those with cognitive decline or dementia, multiple medical or psychiatric diagnoses, or polypharmacy.8 In the hospital setting, patients who are agitated are often physically restrained; but this usually increases their agitation and worsens disruptive behaviors.9 Indeed, the use of restraints has been associated with lower cognitive performance, lower functionality in activities of daily living, decreased psychological well-being, and increased risk of serious injury.9, 10
Nonpharmacologic approaches to patients who are agitated can be effective. The hospitalized patient's cognitive and functional abilities, as well as her or his interests, should be matched with activities that might elicit a sense of purpose, accomplishment, comfort, or enjoyment. Such activities can be cognitively engaging and multimodal. For example, activities that involve physical action (such as ball tossing), social interaction (such as board or card games), or sensory input (such as listening to music or blowing scented bubbles) can all decrease agitation. They can serve as distractions, elicit positive memories, encourage cooperation, and provide a constructive outlet for restlessness.
Music has long been useful in promoting healing. In the mid-1800s, Florence Nightingale noted that playing music for hospitalized patients often had beneficial effects and could "[take] away the nervous irritation of their incapacity."11 Now there is evidence that music can lower levels of pain, stress, anxiety, and depression. In a review of 42 randomized controlled trials testing music interventions for surgical patients, Nilsson and colleagues found that music lowered patients' anxiety and pain in more than 50% of the studies.12 In one study, patients who listened to music intraoperatively reported significantly lower pain intensity and required less ketobemidone (a morphine equivalent used in Scandinavia) compared with controls.13 In another study, Costa and colleagues found that patients who listened to music while undergoing colonoscopy required less sedation and had lower pain scores than controls.14 Lai and Good found that listening to soothing music at bedtime significantly improved sleep quality in older adults.15 People with dementia have also been shown to benefit from music interventions, demonstrating decreases in disruptive behaviors, anxiety, and depression.16-19
Arts-based therapeutic activities such as painting and origami, which promote creative expression, have been found to be effective in relieving psychological distress in hospitalized patients with dementia, anxiety, or depression.20 A growing body of research acknowledges the role of art therapy in helping patients to feel empowered and manage pain.21, 22
There is some evidence that multisensory stimulation can improve mood, functionality, and behavior in cognitively impaired patients. Such interventions can include tactile, auditory, and visual elements aimed at promoting comfort, purposeful activity, and socialization. Experts suggest that items and activities be chosen carefully to reflect patient preferences, cognitive capacity, and physical abilities.23 In a study conducted among people with Alzheimer's disease, Ward-Smith and colleagues tested "multisensory stimulation environments" that included elements such as fiber optic lights, aromatherapy, and wind chimes.24 The intervention decreased the incidence of disruptive behaviors, including pacing, exit seeking, hitting, yelling, and aggressive talking.
The literature convinced us that our continuous observers might have more therapeutic effect if they incorporated individualized multisensory interventions into care. We decided to introduce this new approach on a small scale and measure its effectiveness.
The first step was to characterize the needs of patients who were assigned to continuous observation. Several months of data, collected retrospectively, revealed that an average of eight patients per day received such observation in the hospital's medical, surgical, and specialty inpatient units. (The inpatient psychiatric units, which are located on an adjoining campus, were excluded from the project.) Patients were categorized according to the reason they were under continuous observation. The majority of the patients were deemed at risk for harm as a result of impulsivity and agitation, secondary to dementia, delirium, traumatic brain injury, or substance dependence. A small percentage of the medical patients had reported suicidal intent.
Most of the patients under continuous observation were experiencing both anxiety and agitation, leading to disruptive behaviors and attempts to walk unassisted. Despite intensive supervision, they were disrupting treatment and experiencing falls. When restraints were used, the level of agitation frequently escalated. We acknowledged that continuous observation, as it was currently being performed, was less than effective. The observers were then encouraged to try engaging the patient in an activity and to note the patient's response. Many patients showed interest in the offered activity and appeared to enjoy it. It was at this point that we decided to explore patients' responses to individualized activities in a measurable way.
To measure agitation levels before, during, and after an individualized therapeutic activity (the intervention), we chose the Agitated Behavior Scale (ABS). Developed by Bogner, this 14-item scale was originally designed to assess agitation during the acute phase of recovery from an acquired brain injury and is available free online (www.tbims.org/combi/abs/abs.pdf).25 The ABS has also been used by nurses and therapists to assess agitation in nursing home residents with progressive dementias, primarily Alzheimer's disease.26, 27 The scale measures agitation based on 14 observable behaviors that are scored by the rater. Each behavior can be scored as 1, absent; 2, slight; 3, moderate; or 4, extreme. Total scores can range from 14 (no agitation) to 56 (severe agitation). This tool has demonstrated good concurrent and construct validity, interrater reliability, and internal consistency.28
At the start, our project involved just two nursing students working as continuous observers and trained in the use of the ABS. They carried out the therapeutic activities and completed the ABS on all 42 patients to whom they were assigned over a three-month period, from August 1 through October 31, 2011. Following this period, 10 additional continuous observers from the STAR team were trained in the use of the scale and the implementation of therapeutic activities. During the next four months, from November 1, 2011, through February 29, 2012, data were collected on an additional 32 patients receiving continuous observation.
To help us choose activities likely to be more effective for a given patient, we developed a Personal Approach Form and used it to gather and record information about the patient's lifestyle, hobbies, and leisure activities (to see Figure 1, go to http://links.lww.com/AJN/A49). This form was attached to the ABS and used by the participating continuous observers. The observer completed the form with the patient, and then left it in the room as a guide for future interactions with other observers. If the patient was nonverbal or unable to answer appropriately, the observer was instructed to ask a family member or significant other to complete the questionnaire on the patient's behalf.
Based on what we learned from patients' responses to the questionnaire, a variety of items were collected and placed in a central location near the nurse staffing office, where continuous observers report to get their assignments. Some of the most common requests were for reading glasses, crossword puzzles, playing cards, checkers, stuffed animals, flashing light-up "puffer" balls, and CD players with classical music CDs (for a more complete list, see Items Used for Therapeutic Activities). As the project evolved, at the start of the second data collection period, the items were placed on a rolling cart and brought by a volunteer to the room of each patient receiving continuous observation. The Personal Approach Form was administered before choosing and implementing a therapeutic activity; the ABS was administered before, during, and after each such intervention. At the end of each shift, the continuous observer returned the ABS form to the staffing office. All forms were collected by the program team for analysis.
Quantitative. A convenience sample of 74 patients receiving continuous observation was evaluated using the ABS and the Personal Approach Form. These patients, 60 men and 14 women, ranged in age from 17 to 94 years (mean, 58.7 years). They were receiving continuous observation for behaviors related to dementia, delirium, alcohol withdrawal, traumatic brain injury, or suicidal ideation.
Overall, most patients showed a marked decrease in agitation during the individualized therapeutic activity, and this decrease was often sustained for a period of time afterward. Median ABS scores for the patients were calculated for the periods before, during, and after the activity; these are displayed in Figure 2. The patients' ABS scores recorded before the intervention were grouped into categories reflecting the level of agitation, as follows: scores of 14 to 19, mild agitation; 20 to 29, moderate agitation; 30 or higher, severe agitation.
Agitation levels decreased among patients within all three groups. The largest effect was seen in the patients who had the highest agitation scores before the intervention. For 54 of the 74 patients (73%), ABS scores decreased during the activity, compared with scores taken beforehand. And 47 patients (64%) maintained a lower ABS score one hour after the activity. Seven patients (9%) displayed no symptoms of agitation before, during, or after the activity. One patient with an ABS score of 44 showed no response either during the activity or afterward. Two patients showed no response during the activity but displayed lower agitation scores afterward. One patient had a slightly higher ABS score during the activity, but it returned to baseline afterward. One patient had slightly higher ABS scores both during and after the activity than beforehand. No patients fell or were injured during shifts in which the individualized therapeutic activities were provided.
Qualitative. The continuous observers who participated in collecting data during the intervention were also asked to write a short paragraph about each experience. Although not every intervention was successful, the overall results were impressive. The majority of the qualitative data included several themes. In most cases, regardless of the activity chosen, the intervention had positive effects on the patient, including decreased agitation and increased positive nonverbal cues such as smiling, laughing, and interacting with others. These positive effects weren't limited to the patient but extended to the observers as well, who reported having more enjoyable interactions and decreased stress as their patients' agitation lessened. The observers reported that they often felt as if they were making a difference. They expressed appreciation that they now had a means to interact with these patients, instead of merely watching them. Some patients expressed a similar appreciation, in the sense that they felt more dignity and did not feel as if they were being held captive or "stared at." The therapeutic activities provided creative ways for the patients to express themselves and to release feelings of purposelessness. The activities also helped to distract patients from their current situation and to facilitate conversations about happier days.
It's also worth noting that, in itself, the act of completing the Personal Approach Form appeared to be a valuable component of the intervention. The form helped the observers to engage patients in conversation and aided in patients' recall of positive experiences.
Following are a few accounts by one observer (SL) describing the impact of several interventions upon the patient, the family, and the observer.
1. I spent 12 hours as a continuous observer for an 80-year-old man with a recent head injury who also had early dementia at baseline. I had been told that he was disoriented and confused, and that he required physical restraints because he at times becomes violent toward the staff…. After spending some time with this man I realized that he was frightened and that he became nervous when the staff began providing care. I talked to him quietly, got his attention, and explained what was going on around him. I asked him about his past and what kind of activities he enjoyed doing. He shared that he was a nuclear physicist by profession, liked to play cards and checkers, and enjoyed classical music. Within an hour, the "violent, confused man" was sitting up in a bedside chair playing a game of checkers while classical music played in the background. Not only did he behave calmly for the remainder of the shift, but he was cooperative with every procedure he was put through for the rest of the day. Later his wife came in and asked me how he had been…. When I told her that he had been calm and interactive, and in fact we had enjoyed a great game of checkers, she was astonished! She said this was the first day he had not been violent or angry with someone…. She told me that she could go home with no worry on her mind because she knew he would be OK that night.
2. I was assigned to [an ED] patient who had overdosed on antidepressants. Although he assured the staff that this was not a suicide attempt, they still wanted him to be observed. The doctor was in the room with him and informed me that it would be a while, so I went to the activity room and obtained a few magazines, a checkerboard, and a book of crossword puzzles. Once the doctor left and I had him settled in, I asked him how he was feeling. He told me he was feeling very anxious and… depressed and had taken too many pills to try to make himself feel better. He told me about all the bad things that had happened to him in the past few years and the more he talked the more upset he appeared to get. Since he was on a cardiac monitor I was watching his heart rate and blood pressure rise as he appeared more and more anxious. I asked if he would like to play a game to get his mind off of things. He looked relieved and gave me a very enthusiastic "yes!" He wanted to play tic-tac-toe, but after beating me four times he decided I wasn't very good and we moved on to checkers. He beat me in checkers as well and the game had us laughing and making fun of my terrible checkers skills. After about a half hour I noticed that his vital signs had returned to normal, and he appeared much more relaxed. He was enjoying himself and having a lot of fun, even though he was not in the best of situations…. I went home that day happy, knowing that I had made a difference. Although I could not change his situation or fix the problems in his life, I could at least help this man to find something positive in the situation which was probably one of the darkest days of his life.
3. The patient was a 70-year-old female displaying agitation and resistance to care. Her initial preintervention ABS score was 28. After listening to Christian music, the patient became more calm and cooperative with medical treatments. Her ABS score was 19 during the music and was 18 one hour later.
4. The patient was displaying impulsive behaviors, specifically trying to leave the unit, and was having trouble expressing thoughts in a clear manner with [an] ABS score of 19. While playing cards (War) with the observer, the patient became calm and was now able to express self more clearly. The ABS [score] decreased to 14 (no agitation) and remained that way following the activity as the patient went to sleep for the night without awakening.
5. The patient was an 80-year-old gentleman with hearing impairment experiencing delirium. He displayed repeated attempts to leave the bed and became angry when not allowed to do so. The observers took the patient for a walk in the hallway. A rolling walker was used to increase stability and safety. While walking the patient became less angry and actually began to reminisce about his life, sharing his past occupation as an architect. When he returned to his room, he was given colored pencils with which he drew a plan for a building.
6. The patient was a 40-year-old male with alcohol dependence. He began expressing fears of being shot. The preintervention ABS score was 38. The observer offered to play cards with the patient, which resulted in a calming effect after only a few minutes. He began smiling, laughing and expressed feelings of trust. The ABS [score] while playing cards was 21 and was 14 one hour after the activity.
In this project, the use of individualized therapeutic activities for hospitalized patients who were under continuous observation was associated with marked decreases in agitation. For a majority of patients, lower agitation levels were achieved during the activity and were sustained for at least one hour afterward. The therapeutic activities were intended to increase the effectiveness of continuous observers in enhancing patient safety and comfort, and in so doing, gave observers a more meaningful role to play. Indeed, many of the observers reported feeling a sense of accomplishment in being better able to calm their patients. However, although we found an association between the introduction of therapeutic activities and decreased agitation, it's important to note that there may have been other factors accounting for the decrease. Other limitations of the project include potential rater bias, since the observers rating the patients' agitation levels weren't blinded to the intervention, and lack of a control group. We believe this project merits replication and further study.
The idea of maximizing the effectiveness of the continuous observer proved a useful guide. Giving observers a tool—the Personal Approach Form—with which to gather information about a patient's interests and preferences was in itself constructive: it facilitated patient–observer interactions as well as helping observers to identify appropriate activities for individual patients. It also allowed patients to be involved in choosing activities, which may have helped to foster a sense of greater self-determination and control.
Staff and STAR team volunteers directly involved in the project, as well as others (the nurses supervising the continuous observers and staff who began to use the activities for patients who weren't receiving continuous observation), were regularly asked for input regarding which activities were most popular and effective with patients. The stock of these items was then increased to ensure their availability, and staff were encouraged to store some of these items on their units for easy accessibility. New items were added at the suggestion of staff, volunteers, patients, and families. Donations of new or gently used items were requested from manufacturers, community groups, private donors, and our hospital auxiliary. Many people responded with generosity, including hospital employees, local businesses, the town's Rotary Club, and a high school Key Club. Through use of a variety of funding sources and volunteer assistance, projects like ours can be cost neutral for the organization.
The hospital administration has shown strong support for this project. Many departments—including nursing, volunteer services, purchasing, storeroom, and philanthropy—have collaborated to accomplish its success. These departments assisted with the start-up, day-to-day operation, and expansion of the project. The project team received the hospital's Full Circle award and was acknowledged in a variety of forums.
Other areas of our hospital are now also using therapeutic activities to calm and relax patients. For example, postoperative acute care unit staff regularly use selected activities with patients emerging from anesthesia. In many cases, this has averted the need for pharmacologic treatment or restraints. Outpatient areas, such as the outpatient dialysis center, have requested items to occupy patients during treatment. For patients at risk for delirium, staff nurses report thinking more proactively, gathering items ahead of time in an attempt to prevent or decrease agitation. We are collecting these stories as anecdotal evidence and plan to share them in the future.
Suggestions for research. Further research is needed to investigate the association this project found between the use of individualized therapeutic activities and decreased patient agitation. A study exploring whether the use of therapeutic activities affects the amount, frequency, and duration of medications given to manage agitation would be useful. Studies examining the effect of therapeutic activities on the need for ongoing continuous observation, patient complications, length of stay, and patient satisfaction would also be valuable.
For 25 additional continuing nursing education articles on quality improvement topics, go to www. nursingcenter.com/ce.
agitation; cognitive impairment; continuous observation; delirium; psychiatric disorder; suicidal ideation; therapeutic activity; traumatic brain injury
© 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.
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25.Feb.2010 #382
The Diary of Anne Frank Nicole:
Dear diary, today my cast and I went to the park. I think I'm falling in love.
Dear diary, my foot is so swollen that it's spilling out the sides of my cast. My cast is blue.
Deary diary, my cast and I had a sexy photoshoot today. I smell a new profile pic!
Dear diary, cast cast cast casty cast cast.
Thanks to N. for submitting!


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The guest list? A who's who of Hollywood talent: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Debra Messing, Mariska Hargitay, Christian Slater, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jaime Pressly, Stephen Colbert and Ricky Gervais were at the party, co-sponsored by PEOPLE.
For one guest, Survivor host Jeff Probst, suddenly finding himself at the Lawn at Century Park Sept. 19 – and in the company of the likes of Hayden Panettiere, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler – was nothing less than a culture shock.
"We literally just landed," the reality-TV host, fresh off a plane from the Pacific jungle, told PEOPLE when we caught up with him on Emmy night. "To go from the islands of Samoa, where people literally are walking around with machetes, to Hollywood, where people are walking around with Emmys! But it is good to be home."
At the Evening Before party, Probst said, "Just when we [his date was actress Sheetal Sheth] were getting ready to leave, Michael J. Fox came up and said, 'I gotta tell ya, I'm a big Survivor fan, and I talked for 20 minutes with an ICON!"
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Topic: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Broadcast Tuesday, September 27, 7:30 p.m. on 21Alive
Dr. David Bojrab from Pain Management Associates and Terry Bussen from Community Open MRI will discuss what role MRI's play in today's health care.
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Michael Jackson
A more apt title might be Pressure. And who would feel more of that than Jackson, trying to compete with the best-selling album in history: his own 1982 Thriller. Jackson's task this time out was complicated by the fact that in the four years since his megaselling Bad, rap and hip-hop have radically altered dance music. On Dangerous, Jackson tries to accommodate the new "rhythm nation" (in his sister Janet's phrase) on several tracks, enlisting New Jack Swing innovator Teddy Riley to write and produce.
Actually it's kind of sad to see a trendsetter like M.J. being led around by his skinny nose, aping current fashions. On cuts like "Jam" and "Can't Let Her Get Away," he captures the outer style but not the energizing spirit of hip-hop. New Jackers know it takes a supple presentation to offset those thudding, mechanistic beats. Jackson can be many things, but loosey-goosey isn't one of them. Guest rappers are brought in, but the rap segments sound, as they did on Prince's recent release, awkward and token.
The strength of this record stems from bouncy, up-tempo pop like "Remember the Time" and "Keep the Faith." Surprisingly effective, too, are the simple, spry rock riffs that power "Black and White," "Give in to Me" and "Why You Wanna Trip on Me." That last title shows how Jackson's seclusion has cut him off from the evolving pop vernacular—"trip on me" is a weird twist on an outdated locution.
To give him his due, though, almost all the songs have appealing elements, whether it's a catchy chorus ("In the Closet") or a dizzy clutch-and-grab groove ("She Drives Me Wild"). There are no stop-the-world numbers. But containing 77 minutes of solid music, Dangerous at least gives the paying audience its money's worth. (Epic)
Picks and Pans Review: Dangerous
updated 12/23/1991 AT 01:00 AM EST
•originally published 12/23/1991 AT 01:00 AM EST


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LONDON - The first painting by the Dutch Old Master Johannes Vermeer to be sold at an auction in decades was bought for more than $30 million Wednesday.
The 10 inch by 8-inch painting, "Young Woman Seated at the Virginals," exceeded the reserve price of $5.5 million when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's in central London.
The work, showing a young woman playing music, with her face turned toward the viewer, was the first Vermeer painting be put up for auction in more than 80 years, Sotheby's said.
A company spokeswoman said it was sold to an anonymous buyer for $30,101,472, including a buyer's premium.
The painting is now the only accepted Vermeer work currently in private hands, Sotheby's said.
There are 35 other paintings around the world attributed to Vermeer, making auctions of his work a rare event.
The last time a Vermeer was offered for sale at auction was 1921, Sotheby's said.
Like many of the artist's more famous works, it shows off his widely regarded skill with light and color.
But the painting spent most of the 20th century languishing in near obscurity.
Until last year, experts had disagreed about the significance of the work, which had lost its Vermeer attribution after a forgery scandal in the 1940s.
After more than 10 years of extensive research by leading scholars, it finally took its place alongside Vermeer's other paintings.
The old master has proved immensely popular with the public in recent years.
During that time, a major Vermeer exhibition in London sold out, and a film based on a Vermeer painting, "Girl with a Pearl Earring," starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, was a worldwide hit.
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Shoemaker who worked in the village of Springville in Concord, New York. Daybooks include the prices of boots and shoes, and the method and form of payment (rarely cash, sometimes labor, but often apples, potatoes, chicken, wheat, mutton, pork, beef, hay, and other farm products such as cow hides and calf skins).
The collection is open for research.
Philemon L. Tyler was born in Massachusetts in 1812. He and his wife Tersilla, also a native of Massachusetts, settled in New York some time before the birth of their first child in 1838. By 1850, after at least a decade in the village of Springville in the agricultural town of Concord, New York, Tyler had three children, and real estate valued at $4,400.
The two daybooks span the years from 1841 to a few notations in 1852. They document the prices of boots and shoes and exchange system that typified farming communities in the northeast. Customers paid Tyler with apples, potatoes, chicken, wheat, mutton, pork, beef, and hay, among other farm products, and only rarely in cash. In some cases, labor rather than products was exchanged. Edward Rushmore built stairs for Tyler in 1842; Henry Fuller paid his bill by one day's work with a team moving goods from Yorkshire. Of course, many farmers with livestock traded cow hides or calf skins for Tyler's wares. At times, customers accumulated quite substantial debts for a small-shop shoemaker; when E.W. Worth settled his accounts on January 9, 1845, the total amounted to $54.70, although Tyler's boots never cost more than $3.50 per pair.
Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf.
Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Cite as: Philemon L. Tyler Daybooks (MS 236). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
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Welcome back football season. The air is much nicer to breath. We all know the rules. 1. Discipline 2. Budget 3. Do your Home work 4. Place your bet 5. Cross your fingers (you need luck on your side).
First few weeks I usually take it slow, especially in college football. I don't care what the analyst says about the team. How good SEC is compare to other conferences. At the end of the day, these are still 19 years old kids. Most of these kids are still wearing diapers and need tampons. Some may disagree with me but at end of the day we are here together to break our bookie back (hopefully).
Here are my plays for this week.
Ohio States -24.5 First game of Urban Meyer.
Penn States -7 Nittany Lions will show the world Football is bigger then the scandal.
NCStates +3.5 Derek Dooley will be looking for a new job at the end of the season.
Good Luck.
Copyright © 1995-


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KMBC 9 meteorologist Lisa Teachman says scattered showers and storms could bubble up late Thursday but should be gone in time for late-night fireworks displays. A similar pattern of pop-up storms is possible again on Friday.
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Located on a former hop farm in Cooperstown, N.Y., Brewery Ommegang is one of America's most unique microbreweries. It produces award-winning seasonal and year-round beers, and, in just 10 years, has become known throughout the country for its quality.
It was this success that led Ommegang to HTC.
With minimal storage space and its workforce already devoted to brewing its one-of-a-kind beers, Ommegang needed assistance assembling and storing gift packs and sample packs of beer. "So we listened to what their needs were and developed processes that really helped them to do their job better," said Bob Payne, vice president of manufacturing and operations for HTC.
The packaging and assembly staff at HTC began assembling the promotional packs of beer, with the work being done entirely by people with disabilities. Ommegang was so pleased with the service that it went on to enlist the help of Supply Chain Logistics to ship online orders of Ommegang T-shirts, mugs and other promotional items to customers around the country. HTC also began shipping promotional items ordered by Ommegang's national sales representatives directly to the representative at locales across the nation. "Our goal is always to develop a solution that is easy for the customer," Payne said. "It has to be easy for them to do business with us."


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------Taking in is happier than letting out.
Central Coast of NSW, Australia
Looks like it is just tacked under the arm.
------Sewing: A creative mess is better than tidy idleness. ~Author Unknown
------Mel (Melbourne, Australia)
------Stash: 206.75 yds. @ 08.06.16
------from Daytona Beach, FL
My "guess" is that the back has a section that is raised up to also form a channel for the neck tie to go through. From the looks a good sized dart or pleat occurs under the arm.
From the pictures it is hard to see if the neck tie piece is a thick cord that just happens to match or some of the fabric twisted upon itself. My other complete guess is that it just slips over the head without any need for opening devices.
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It's easy to imagine my father as a little boy, befriended by his books, his faithful dog Brindle and all the neighborhood children he met throughout his nomadic young life. He was born a few years before the stock market crash of 1929 and, though his earliest memories are inextricably linked to the Great Depression, he describes that life with unimpeachable fondness — a world of day-to-day riches. My father's father moved the family from verdant North Carolina to dusty New Mexico, then back to North Carolina, Oregon and Kansas, first in search of work in the worst of economic times and later in professional ascent within the U.S. civil service.
Small town sensibilities, urban schooling, rural summers with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and the romance of 1930s car travel along the unpaved roads out West gave my father a uniquely textured childhood. He was regularly uprooted, he says, but always felt loved and secure.
His mother was a dependable source of care and affection and made sure books were available to him wherever they lived. His father, quick to recognize Dad's skill with the written word, paid him (as an 8-year-old!) to write movie reviews, planting a tiny seed that surely led to my father's long and respected tenure as a newspaperman.
Did his parents know what sort of man would grow from this boy? When I was born barely a year after he and my mother said "I do," did he yet know what kind of father he wanted to be? Did he realize that taking on the enormous responsibility of rearing five children would make him a finer man?
I've known my father for a long time now. I believe we understand each other. We share basic attributes and interests — a good sense of humor, a tendency toward cynicism, easy friendships, a farmer's instincts for growing summer vegetables and an unapologetic love of books. I think my siblings would agree that Dad's success as a father lies in the essence of who he is, an affable man with a rich inner life — an imperfect but lovable product of his time, upbringing and intellect. A good provider. A stern taskmaster. A poet at heart.
My father can be unexpectedly insensitive, but he has a masterful capacity for intimacy. People love him. He has always been at ease with expressing pride in his children. He has never been stingy with affection. He is not one to seek praise for his charitable works or wallow in self-pity. And I have never heard him utter a negative word about my mother. Not a single word.
Once his family returned to North Carolina for good, my father never lived anywhere else. His desire for stability spilled over into a commitment to his wife and children — a career spent with one publishing company and a life lived in the same grand, white clapboard house for nearly 50 years. He and my mother, now well into their 80s, live there still.
Some years ago, on a humid evening in late June, my father and I sat on their back porch swing, relaxing after my mother's traditional summer supper of fresh local produce: corn on the cob, field peas, homegrown tomatoes, corn bread and sweet ice tea. My sisters and brothers were there with their children, so there was a lot of conversation. The sky had darkened enough to create a sensation as all the cousins chased lightning bugs through the lush vegetation of my parents' magical garden. The scent of mimosa trees hung thickly in the air and the ceiling fans lazily pretended to cool us.
"This is what I love," said my father. "A summer's evening on this porch, with my grown children at home and the unrushed time to admire my progeny."


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Travel Gallery
Barcelona's La Boqueria market
Photo: Thomas Huang/Staff
La Boqueria, the oldest and largest public market in all of Europe, the heart and soul of Barcelona, was at first a locale where peasants sold their produce outside the city gates but then expanded into an ancient and glorious supermarket when the city's medieval walls fell in the early 1800s.
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Steelworkers: Fighting to win
LAS VEGAS – A "corporate crime wave" is crushing steelworkers and their communities, charged Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), in his fiery opening address to the 31st USWA Constitutional Convention here, August 5. And, Gerard vowed, "We're going to fix it!"
Court ruling on detainees hailed
Civil liberties advocates say U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler's Aug. 2 order that the Justice Department must release the names of detainees held since Sept. 11 is a significant repudiation of the Bush administration's secret detention policies.
Bush threatens troops in longshore dispute
LOS ANGELES – The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) revealed this week that a secret Bush administration task force has threatened a military takeover of West Coast ports if the union decides to strike.
Music review: Musicians respond to Sept. 11
Steve Earle's new album, Jerusalem, will be released on Sept. 24. He returns to his typically sharp and insightful political response to the world as he sees it. Earle said, in a recent interview, that President Bush's USA Patriot Act is "an incredibly dangerous piece of legislation. Freedoms, American freedoms, things voted into law as American Freedoms, everything that came out of the 1960s are disappearing, and any patriot can see that has to be opposed."
Walking with a Prisoner of Conscience
Prisoner of Conscience, a Memoir, by Kenneth Kennon, 88105-020, Former Prisoner of Conscience (POC) Kenneth Kennon ranks high among the minority of those who walk their talk. This devoted family man and friend, minister and counselor, poet and writer, agitator and lawbreaker recently walked a path that led him into federal prison. His book, Prisoner of Conscience, thoughtfully and insightfully details that walk through a punishing, dehumanizing, monotonous and frustrating six-month stay.
Economic recovery? Not for African Americans
Although the official unemployment rate for July stood at 5.9 percent, it was 9.9 percent if "hidden" unemployment – those who would work if they could find jobs – were taken into account, and that's bad.
Racial discrimination and income
Two recent studies, one by Katherine L. Bradbury, vice president and economist at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, and the other by two Rutgers Law School professors, document the extent of employment discrimination against African Americans and its impact on their earnings.
House votes to allow travel, trade with Cuba
Those who have been fighting for 40 years to end the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba scored a stunning victory in the House of Representatives late last month.
Nightmare on the border
LAWRENCE, Massachusetts – When Nicole Ayala, of Killeen, Texas, decided to take her mother-in-law on a day trip to Mexico, she had no idea that she would be insulted or made to feel "as if I was a criminal" upon returning to the United States through the border crossing at Del Rio, Texas. Ayala, who has lived in the U.S. for the last 25 of her 26 years and served in the U.S. Army for five years, had left her green card at home.
Apartheid in the Holy Land
In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am a patron of a Holocaust center in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.


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Great to have you join us!
We're very excited that you want to join the fun and become a member of Singles On Sailboats.
Regular membership is open to all single persons twenty-one years of age or older, regardless of race, color, creed, sex or national origins, who have an interest in sailing.
Click on one of the links below to start the membership application process. You'll notice that you have a choice between Regular Member or Skipper Member (if you own a boat that you plan to sail with SOS).
New member price is $75. This covers administrative fee of $10.00 plus annual membership dues of $65.00, and activates your membership through December 31, 2016. SOS operates on a calendar year basis; there are no prorated memberships.


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Top Definition
An account of the origin of the gods.
The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod (8th-7th century BCE) describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BCE. It is written in the same artificial Epic dialect of Ancient Greek used by Homer.
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Sebastian is a 16-month-old Labrador who works as an assistance dog at the Lebanon School District. His mission? Helping students with disabilities and special needs be more calm and relaxed in the classroom.
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SAT preparation courses offered at Penn State York this fall
High school students preparing to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) can find help through SAT preparation courses being offered at Penn State York.
The courses will provide valuable information regarding test format, proven test-taking strategies, a review of essential verbal, math, and critical reading skills, as well as proper essay-writing techniques assessed in the SAT 1.
Cost for each four-session course is $210 and includes a copy of "The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT" by the College Board.
Courses at Penn State York are held on Saturdays, Sept. 6-27, from 9 a.m. to 12:35 p.m., in preparation for the October and November SAT, and November 1-22, from 9 a.m. to 12:35 p.m., in preparation for the December SAT.
Students should bring a calculator for use in the math review portion of the course.
For more information on the courses offered at Penn State York, please call Judy Woods at (717) 771-4032, email her at firstname.lastname@example.com, or visit the website at http://yk.psu.edu/SAT.


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Welcome to CitiAlly!
CitiAlly is a professional networking site focusing on Africa and the Middle East. If you are a professional working in Africa or the Middle East or with an interest to work in the region, then you need CitiAlly to network with professionals working in the region or with knowledge and interest in the region. CitiAlly will help you develop new relationships relevant for your career, exchange ideas and views, find employment and drive your career forward.
If you are an entrepreneur operating within Africa or the Middle East or with an interest in developing a business initiative within the region, then CitiAlly is the tool you need to help your business gain a competitive advantage. CitiAlly will help you make your business more visible, discuss business related issues with knowledgeable contacts, find potential partners or experts in a field and communicate corporate events and conferences.
CitiAlly is setup to facilitate the need for professional networking with specific features for Africa and the Middle East included in the service. In addition to traditional features such as job posting, business profiling, groups, events etc. the site will present project profiles from the region, make small businesses more visible, present working practices and issues from different regions, present opportunities for large and small businesses from different regions, present discussions with professionals and entrepreneurs from different regions amongst other features.
CitiAlly aims to be a comprehensive tool to address the needs of professionals and entrepreneurs to network to help their career or business with specific features and information on the region being made available.
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Bitrika - 03/09/2015
A next generation digital currency, Bitrika is coming to Africa. Bitrika is highly secure, simple to use and reliable. It is expected to transform the financial landscape in Africa and beyond.
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