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Page One
Gwen and I recently saw Page One, the documentary about the New York Times.
It was a sort of mile-high survey of the problems that most American newspapers are facing today. It was interesting watching it while the scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch's British tabloids is at its peak—Murdoch had nothing to do with the movie except extolling the iPad as the potential savior of the newspaper industry. The issues that the movie touched on—and there were so many that it didn't really have much time to do more than touch on them—are all familiar to anyone paying attention to the news about newspapers—declining ad revenue, competition from online sources, the chummy, codependent relationship with power that leads to horrors like Judy Miller—but it was still very interesting seeing these discussed by the people directly affected by them.
Just as the movie hopscotched from issue to issue, it never quite developed a central thesis. But if a documentary can have a hero, this one definitely did in the person of David Carr. And if it can have one defining moment, this one's came when he was on a panel talking about the future of journalism or something like that, clearly representing the old guard. At one point, Michael Wolff stands up and talks about how the world would manage without the New York Times. Then Carr gets up, shows a printout of the Newser.com (Michael Wolff's project) front page; then shows the printout with all the stories sourced from old media ripped out, leaving nothing but a rough paper sieve.
There was talk about the role of the professional journalist vs citizen-journalists, of whether the civic function of newspapers actually makes business sense. There was a lot of talk about Twitter. Interestingly, not a lot about Facebook. The talk about blogs was mostly in the context of tabloid-grade professional blogs like Nick Denton's properties—at one point, Denton is interviewed, and we see his "leaderboard"—the most popular current stories—on a big TV. None of the stories are news. They're gossip.
For a brief moment, when blogs were new to most people, some people suggested that in the future everyone would have a blog and we'd get our news through legions of citizen-journalists, with some editorial control or artificial intelligence or something to make sure we as readers got the stuff that was of highest quality and greatest relevance to our interests. Technically, that's possible. My friend Chip long ago set up the website Austin Bloggers, where anyone with a blog can post a link to their Austin-related postings. There's definitely some good stuff there that's too finely focused for traditional media.
But the idea that citizen journalists could replace professional journalists entirely was naive from the start, and since then, we've learned that most people, even if they are interested in sharing stuff online (and lots of people are), are not very interested in blogging per se.
I think there are two reasons for this: the effort and the reward. While it is possible to dash off a simple blog post, blogging software has not really encouraged this. The writing interface for this blog looks like this:
Admittedly, there are blogging systems that are simpler than this, but this is the system I'm using, and it's a mainstream one. Contrast that with the posting interface for Twitter:
Even once you've got a blog set up, there's just a lot more cognitive load in getting a post up.
And then there's the payoff. With Twitter or Facebook, your friends are probably going to see what you write and can easily comment on it; if you're writing something personal, it's relatively easy to make it so that only your friends see it. There's more of a message-in-a-bottle quality to a blog post. Friends are less likely to comment (partly because even the commenting interface is more complicated, thanks in part to comment spam in blogs), and making a blog post visible only to friends involves considerably more administrative overhead for the writer and readers. Live Journal, as easy as it is to ridicule as the repository for bad poetry by teenagers, got this right by providing a blogging platform with social-networking features built in.
And unfortunately, while Facebook and Twitter have displaced what might have otherwise been a lot of blogging, they have not adequately replaced blogging. They're fine for ephemeral, off-the-cuff communication—better than a blog, I'd say. A friend's Twitter or Facebook postings are like a running stream that I can dip into when I feel like it, but they don't work as a repository for sustained writing—one the writing side, because Twitter and Facebook are designed for off-the-cuff and short writing, and on the reading side, because it's relatively difficult to backtrack and look at previous postings. As a medium for citizen journalism, this means that Twitter can be useful as a channel for minute-by-minute breaking news (Facebook less so, because posts are more often hidden from those you don't know even if they are on Facebook, and Facebook in general is walled off from the rest of the Internet), but worthless for anything longer than that—especially with Facebook, where it seems almost impossible to dig up an old post. The same is true for discussions on posts, so while Facebook is great for getting people talking, it's lousy for looking back at what people were talking about. For superficial gossip-grade conversations, this is fine. For more substantial discussions that one might want to look back on, it's a problem.
Google Plus is too new to have been discussed in the movie. It allows for longer-form writing than Twitter or Facebook. The fact that Google is behind it suggests that maybe old posts would be searchable (though right now, they aren't). And Google already owns a blogging platform, Blogger. I'll be interested in seeing how they play out.


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This story appears in the January 20, 2013 issue of Forbes. Subscribe
SUFFERING FROM A TOOTHACHE, a South Carolina woman headed to her local emergency room a few months ago. The doctor there responded by administering Dilaudid, a powerful intramuscular narcotic typically reserved for cancer-related pain. Why, his nurse queried, was he killing a flea with a sledgehammer? Afraid of malpractice? No, the doc replied, Press Ganey. "My scores last month were low."
Press who? The little-known company has become a hated target of hospital physicians, outstripping even trial lawyers. Utter its name in an emergency room and you'll likely unleash a cloud of four-letter words. Based in South Bend, Ind., Press Ganey is the nation's leading provider of patient satisfaction surveys, the Yelp equivalent for hospitals and doctors, and a central component of health care reform. Over the past decade the government has fully embraced the "patient is always right" model--these surveys focus on areas like waiting times, pain management and communication skills--betting that increased customer satisfaction will improve the quality of care and reduce costs. There's some evidence they have. An ObamaCare initiative adds extra teeth, to the tune of $850 million, reducing Medicare reimbursement fees for hospitals with less-than-stellar scores.
Accordingly, hospitals kowtow to Press Ganey. In November nearly 2,000 administrators spent $1,100 or more each to attend Press Ganey's glittery client conference--a closed-to-the-public affair in Washington, D.C., with keynotes by Jeb Bush and astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, former congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Press Ganey is helping hospitals fulfill their mandated obligation. Some have taken an extra step, tying physicians' compensation to their ratings.
That may sound like a good thing. Why shouldn't you grade the quality of your medical care, the way that you pass judgments on other services, whether hotel stays via TripAdvisor or contractors via Angie's List?
The short reason: The current system might just kill you. Many doctors, in order to get high ratings (and a higher salary), overprescribe and overtest, just to "satisfy" patients, who probably aren't qualified to judge their care. And there's a financial cost, as flawed survey methods and the decisions they induce, produce billions more in waste. It's a case of good intentions gone badly awry--and it's only getting worse.
FOR ALL THE DOCTORS OUT THERE CARPING about these surveys, a message from Press Ganey CEO Patrick Ryan, a veteran health care executive: Suck it up. "Nobody wants to be evaluated; it's a tough thing to see a bad score," he says. "But when I meet with physician groups I tell them the train has left the station. Measurement is going to occur."
But what exactly are Press Ganey and its two main rivals, the Gallup polling company and the publicly traded National Research Corp., measuring? Customers know what they want when they review spaghetti carbonara for Zagat. But giving patients exactly what they want, versus what the doctor thinks is right, can be very bad medicine. Last February researchers at UC Davis, using data from nearly 52,000 adults, found that the most satisfied patients spent the most on health care and prescription drugs. They were 12% more likely to be admitted to the hospital and accounted for 9% more in total health care costs. Strikingly, they were also the ones more likely to die.
Why? The UC Davis authors posit that the most satisfied patients have a higher mortality rate because they receive more discretionary services--interventions that carry a risk of adverse effects. Even routine screenings for diseases like prostate cancer can lead to unnecessary drugs and operations with allergic reactions and surgical complications that leave patients worse off. (While the report controlled for age and health status, critics have challenged its methodology and claimed its findings are overstated. But other studies also confirm that patient satisfaction is not always a reliable index of good care.)
"Numerous studies have found that patients are consistently highly satisfied with one of the most common downsides of medical care--false-positive test results and the downstream events that follow," wrote Dr. Brenda Sirovich of the VA Outcomes Group in White River Junction, Vt., commenting on the UC Davis study. "Almost any unnecessary or discretionary test has a good chance of detecting an abnormality." Such testing "is a double-edged sword," explains Dr. H. Gilbert Welch in his 2011 book, Overdiagnosed, often leading to "the detection of abnormalities that are not destined to ever bother us."
Our health care system already suffers from a "more is always better" fallacy. "Practicing physicians have learned--from reimbursement systems, the medical liability environment and clinical performance scorekeepers--that they will be rewarded for excess and penalized if they risk not doing enough," says Sirovich. An overreliance on patient surveys, she says, only inflames the problem of overtreatment.
Press Ganey's Ryan points the finger elsewhere: "If there's anything going on that's driving somebody to test more, it's the fear of malpractice." For the past few decades that's certainly been true. Money drives professional behavior for doctors, as it does for virtually everyone else, and the soaring insurance premiums that come with a malpractice suit have surely affected decision making.
But as hospitals and other employers increasingly tie physicians' compensation to patient wishes, doctors are pushed even further down the dangerous path of overtreatment. Nearly two-thirds of all physicians now have annual incentive plans, according to the Hay Group, a Philadelphia-based management consultancy that surveyed 182 health care groups. Of those, 66% rely on patient satisfaction to measure physician performance; that number has increased 23% over the past two years.
THE MATH IS NOW SIMPLE FOR DOCTORS: More tests and stronger drugs equal more satisfied patients, and more satisfied patients equal more pay. The biggest loser: the patient, who may not receive appropriate care.
"By creating a monetary incentive to increase patient satisfaction, the government is not only increasing its expenses but promoting a metric that significantly increases death rates," says William P. Sullivan, an emergency room doctor in Spring Valley, Ill. He's a long-time critic of patient surveys.
Another emergency room doctor in Columbia, S.C., who requested that we withhold his name, walked us through how this plays out in real life. Between 5% and 7% of his compensation--some $10,000--is dependent on high Press Ganey scores. So when the family of an elderly woman insisted that she be admitted to the hospital after stroke-like symptoms, he agreed to do so, even though her test results were negative and he wanted to send her home. "Her family refused, and they told me so," he recalls. "Do I call security and escort them out? I was more concerned with them giving me a bad patient-satisfaction survey score than her going home and having a stroke," which he considered highly unlikely. In admitting the patient, he exposed her to hospital-borne infections and, worse, a hefty bill for, as he puts it, "us doing nothing since she didn't satisfy the criteria for admission."
These ethical dilemmas are playing out across the country, with the need to please customers often trumping their health. In a recent online survey of 700-plus emergency room doctors by Emergency Physicians Monthly, 59% admitted they increased the number of tests they performed because of patient satisfaction surveys. The South Carolina Medical Association asked its members whether they'd ever ordered a test they felt was inappropriate because of such pressures, and 55% of 131 respondents said yes. Nearly half said they'd improperly prescribed antibiotics and narcotic pain medication in direct response to patient satisfaction surveys.
One emergency room with poor survey scores started offering Vicodin "goody bags" to discharged patients in order to improve their ratings. And doctors face the reality that uncomfortable discussions on behavioral topics--say, smoking or obesity--come with the risk of a pay cut. "The challenge is how do we discuss this with the patient so the patient doesn't leave unhappy," addiction specialist Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska recently told the AMA's American Medical News. "Saying yes is easy."
OVERTREATMENT IS MORE THAN A SILENT KILLER. It's cripplingly expensive. Drill down to almost any procedure that keeps skittish patients happy and the price tag is enormous. Overused prostate cancer screenings? At least $3 billion a year. Unnecessary antibiotics? Another $1 billion annually--with the added harm of creating drug-resistant bacteria. All told, overtreatment accounted for up to $226 billion in 2011, for things like unnecessary procedures and prescriptions that don't help patients. That's according to Donald M. Berwick, the former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees those programs. Another $55 billion a year is directly tied to the abuse of prescribed opiates. Ironic, since government-mandated surveys were supposed to cut medical costs.
Until the government got involved, surveying patients was a sleepy niche business. Then, in 2002, CMS announced a national program to survey patients and require public reporting of the results. The move was part of a Bush Administration initiative to improve accountability and public disclosure and to empower patients to make more informed decisions about health care.
Instead, that move empowered Press Ganey. When it was founded in 1985 by an anthropologist and a sociologist from Notre Dame, just a handful of hospitals routinely asked patients if they were happy with the care they received. The practice expanded gradually by the late 1990s. The federal mandate transformed a voluntary expense into a compulsory one, increasing demand exponentially. Hospitals had to turn to companies like Press Ganey, which administers the federal survey for them and rates other units not covered by the mandate, like the ER.
Investors have also reaped the rewards. Press Ganey was taken private in 2003 by American Securities, a New York private equity firm, for a reported $100 million. Four years later it was flipped to another private equity outfit, Vestar, for a reported $673 million. Since then revenue at Press Ganey has grown at high single digits; it earned $82 million (Ebitda) on $217 million in sales in 2011.
ObamaCare's "pay-for-performance" program is providing yet another boost. Starting last October, hospitals that perform poorly on quality measures forfeit 1% of their Medicare payments, a number that doubles by 2017, putting some $2 billion at risk. Thirty percent of that determination will be based on the hospital rankings from mandated patient surveys. That means, in some cases, hospitals are throwing money at things like new elevators and valet parking. It means doctors will be under yet more pressure to give their customers what they want.
And it means ever more clout for operations like Press Ganey. It processed 70 million patient surveys last year from 10,000-plus health care organizations and half of all U.S. hospitals. And it stands to gain even more from groups like the Cleveland Clinic, which already spends $500,000 a year on government-dictated surveys.
JUST HOW RELIABLE ARE THOSE SURVEYS? Many doctors question their validity, starting with the sample size. Given that physicians are often judged on a handful of survey responses, though they see hundreds of patients, it seems crazy to tie their compensation to misleading results. Press Ganey admits that survey sample sizes sometimes are too small and says a minimum of 30 responses for an ER is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions from its data. But William Sullivan, the Illinois ER doctor, says that Press Ganey reports monthly results to his hospital even when there are as few as eight to ten surveys. His department has ranked in the first percentile one month and in the 99th percentile two months later.
"Response rates have been dramatically declining over the past decade," says Paul Alexander Clark, founder of SmartPatient, a health care analytics company. He should know: Until 2007 Clark was in charge of Press Ganey's patient-satisfaction improvement group. The response rates, he says, are now "too low to produce reliable results." Insiders have known this for a decade. "This is a dirty little secret in our industry," a senior Gallup executive wrote in a 2002 letter to the CMS chief. "At those levels the standard rules of probability don't exist. ... This means you may or may not be tracking real patient attitudes." CMS declined several requests to comment on the record. Press Ganey says response rates are high enough to provide "scientifically valid results."
Why not simply raise the response rate or increase sample size? Not so easy for an industry that largely still relies on inefficient mail and phone surveys. "It's a very expensive proposition to mail surveys, and it's a very labor-intensive proposition to have call centers to call people," explains Clark. And regardless, physicians complain that patients who do respond are a self-selecting group, either extremely happy with or furious at their doctors. But Press Ganey's Ryan says there's no proof that "only the angry people respond."
Many complicating factors, say Clark and others, further taint survey results, including geographical, cultural and racial differences among patients. Community-based hospitals in the Southeast generally rate far higher than large academic hospitals in the northern part of the country. One Cleveland Clinic study evaluating survey bias found that no U.S. hospital with 500-plus beds has scored in the top tenth percentile when it comes to basic communication by doctors and nurses.
What's the right way to embrace a patient's point of view? Experts like Josh Fenton, an author of the UC Davis study, advocate aligning incentives with evidence-based care, but that's easier said than measured. He also suggests encouraging doctors to modify patient expectations. "Handing them a Z-Pac for a cold may make a patient very satisfied, but it costs our health care system $100 and puts the patient at risk of side effects." Far better to explain why that's not in a patient's best interests. Again, easier said than done (especially for time-pressed physicians): You can tell people to eat their vegetables all you want; they're still going to remember more fondly the person who gave them a slice of cake.
Others are trying to disrupt the process altogether. Palo Alto, Calif. plastic surgeon Steven Bates was so fed up with the inefficiencies, low response rates and expense of existing survey vendors that he and a few colleagues teamed up to launch DocsVox. Instead of relying on paper and phone calls, its platform integrates e-mail, social media and mobile technology to manage doctor-patient relations. "I want to see a system that works," says Bates, "generating a robust number of patient responses using technology that patients like and is easy to use." DocsVox, which has raised two undisclosed rounds from friends and family, is beta-testing the platform with Bay Area-based clients.
Press Ganey is already moving the business of surveying doctors well past emergency rooms and hospital visits. The widening government mandate provides a push. "The hospital is going to need to see your experience across the spectrum of care," says Press Ganey's Ryan. Next stop: clinics and doctors' offices across America.

subset: commoncrawl


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Bekker, Peter (1687-1749)
Peter (Pieter) Bekker (Becker): preacher of the Mennonites (Groninger Old Flemish) in West Prussia; born 24 February 1687, Deutsch Konopat, Schwetz, Prussia, the son of Johann Becker. Peter's father was the son of Lutheran parents. Peter married Trincke Ratzlaff (29 September 1691 - 27 December 1754) on 24 September 1708 in Przechowka, Schwetz, Prussia. She was the daughter of Berent Ratzlaff (1660-ca. 1717) and Lysabet (Onrow) Ratzlaff. Peter and Trincke had at least three children: Berent, Ancke, and Peter. Peter died on 5 September 1749 in Prussia.
At the time of the visit of Hendrik Berends Hulshoff in 1719 he was living at Przeckowsken on the Vistula. Later he evidently lived at Danzig. In the [[Amsterdam Mennonite Library (Bibliotheek en Archief van de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam)|archives at Amsterdam]] there are eight letters from him in which he requests help from the Committee for Foreign Needs (Commissie voor Buitenlandsche Nooden), because of floods, famine, and persecution. The first letter is dated 6 March 1727, and the last one 20 June 1737 (See bibliography).
Another minister named Peter Becker, who was minister of the congregation at Kleinsee, wrote on 23 March 1776, on behalf of this congregation, to ask to have their debt canceled (Inv. Arch. Amst. I, No. 1713).
GRANDMA (The Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) Database, 7.0 ed. Fresno, CA: California Mennonite Historical Society, 2012: #31954.
Hoop Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de. Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam, 2 vols. Amsterdam: Uitgegeven en ten geschenke aangeboden door den Kerkeraad dier Gemeente, 1883-1884: v. I, Nos. 1088, 1581, 1598, 1610, 1635, 1643, 1645, 1662, 1713; v. II, 2, 738, 740.
Author(s) | Nanne van der Zijpp |
Richard D. Thiessen | |
Date Published | November 2012 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der and Richard D. Thiessen. "Bekker, Peter (1687-1749)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2012. Web. 27 Feb 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bekker,_Peter_(1687-1749)&oldid=127142.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der and Richard D. Thiessen. (November 2012). Bekker, Peter (1687-1749). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 February 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bekker,_Peter_(1687-1749)&oldid=127142.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 268. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


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I'm Back...
Back from Costa Rica :) I missed you all! Back at work and ready to be back on vacation again, lol. I think my next trip will be in the Mediterranean with the boyfriend. I felt bad leaving him home by himself, lol.
My trip was fabulous. It was definitely the most adventurous trip we've taken so far. Ziplining thousands of feet up and doing some strenous hikes in the national forests...whew! I'm tired just thinking about it, lol. All in all it was a beautiful country...definitely something I'll never forget. Once all of the pictures are compiled i'll do a more thorough entry with lots of pics, I promise.
I've pretty much caught up on most of my emails and youtube messages...good thing I type fast, lol. While I was gone, the boyfriend was good and uploaded two youtube videos like I instructed :)
I got back late Friday evening, and basically vegged out for most of the weekend. Saturday night I went to a birthday party of a photographer (half pinay by the way) on the rooftop of a beautiful loft in Atlanta. You could tell the party was filled with models, fashion stylists, and funky people in general...a bit intimidating but I met some really cool people.
Sunday, more resting, and then I attended the MAC pro class here in Atlanta. Unfortunately, I was a bit out of it...I thought the class was at 7pm but it was at 6pm, yikes! So unfortunately I only caught the last ten minutes of the class. I also missed out on the cute MAC book they passed out with notes and face charts. The people there probably snagged all the extras.
However, I was able to pick up a few really good tips. I also did a haul with the $100 in redeemable product you get for attending/paying for the class. I'll upload pics tonight along with the tips I learned.
Next up in terms of videos:
-Pur Minerals Cosmetics and Skincare Review
-Pur Minerals Brown Eyes Tutorial
-Most Frequently Asked Questions Vid
-Set Bag video
-Smokey Purple Eye Tutorial Using MUFE no. 92 bright purple eyeshadow and Urban Decay eyeshadows
Thanks for sticking around guys...I'll be back up and running soon!


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This article is more than 1 year old
India's Karbonn launches £26 Android phone
Only 2G, but...
For the same amount of money as an Apple adapter plug, Indian mobile company Karbonn is selling a fully fledged Android smartphone.
The Karbonn Smart A50S is on sale now at a starting price of 2,699 rupees, or twenty-six of your British pounds, SIM-free. It's only 2G with EDGE support, in part because the IP royalties on 3G are so significant (thank you Qualcomm), but it does have a 2MP pixel main camera, VGA front camera and 256MB of internal memory. It also has 2GB storage – of which they claim 600MB is free. This is expandable to 32GB with a micro SD card.
Its 3.5-inch capacitive touch-sensitive screen has a pixel resolution of 480 x 320 and the phone has a 1100mAh battery that is reportedly good for a day. The size of the screen means it's small at 61.8x115.7x10.5 mm and light at 120g.
Based on a 1.2GHz dual core processor, it's not the speediest of things – the small amount of system memory won't help there – but it supports Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. The A50S is a dual SIM phone and runs Jellybean.
At 2,699 Rupees, the Karbonn phone is less than half the price of the Rs. 6,299 Nokia X, which is targeted as a super cheap phone for the Indian market. The Moto G, which is generally thought of as a cheap Android phone, officially sells for Rs. 13.999.
Disappointingly for a country where cricket reports and Bollywood films are so popular, the A50S is reported to have quite a poor speaker.
The second-hand market is important in India and the quality of the packaging affects the resale value, so in keeping with this, the phone ships in a decent box. It also has micro USB, which means users won't need any kind of adapter plugs. ®


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As the seasons go 'round, new holidays replace the old. Among those that have dropped off the ritual circuit are the saints' days of the Anglican Church popular in Old Virginia. For example, Williamsburg's Virginia Gazette of October 7, 1737, announced on November 30—St. Andrew's Day:
It is propos'd, that 20 Horses or Mares do run round a Three Mile Course, for a Prize of the Value of Five Pounds, according to the usual Rules of Racing; That every horse that runs shall be first enter'd with Mr. Joseph Fox, and that no Person have the Liberty of putting in a Horse, unless he is a Subscriber toward defraying the Expence of this Entertainment, and pay to Mr. Fox Half a Pistole of it at entring his Horse.—Anthony F. Aveni
That a Hat of the Value of 20s. be cudgell'd for, and that after the first Challenge made, the Drums are to beat, once every Quarter of an Hour, for Three Challenges round the Ring; on no Answer made, the Person Challenging to be entitled to the Prize; and none to Play with their Left Hand.
These festivities were accompanied by a fiddler's competition, a singing competition, a wrestling match, a boys' race—with a hat valued at twelve shillings as the prize—and a beauty contest:
That a Pair of handsome Silk Stockings of One Pistole Value, be given to the handsomest young Country Maid that appears in the Field; With many other whimsical and Comical Diversions, too tedious to mention here.


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After 13 years as a stylist and beautician, Shay Fox decided it was time for a change. She had always loved showing off her hot body, so she started modeling, appearing on the pages of several magazines before deciding to step it up even further by entering fitness competitions and exotic dancing. After a few years of dancing in Las Vegas and all over California, Shay had a conversation with her friend, porn star Devon Michaels, who convinced her to take it to the next level by fucking on film! Luckily for busty MILF fans all across the world, Shay agreed, and she's been making dicks hard and pussies wet ever since with her toned body and endless cravings for hard cocks! So make sure to check out this fit and freaky foxy lady's videos right here at Brazzers, because you can never have too much MILF in your diet!
( Hiện chưa có phim của diễn viên này )


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Chris Hedges's profound and unsettling examination of America in crisis is "an exceedingly…provocative book, certain to arouse controversy, but offering a point of view that needs to be heard" (Booklist), about how bitter hopelessness and malaise have resulted in a culture of sadism and hate.
America, says Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Chris Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of profound hopelessness, a bitter despair, and a civil society that has ceased to function. The opioid crisis; the retreat into gambling to cope with economic distress; the pornification of culture; the rise of magical thinking; the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of suicides are the physical manifestations of a society that is being ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. As our society unravels, we also face global upheaval caused by catastrophic climate change. All these ills presage a frightening reconfiguration of the nation and the planet.
Donald Trump rode this disenchantment to power. In his "forceful and direct" (Publishers Weekly) America: The Farewell Tour, Hedges argues that neither political party, now captured by corporate power, addresses the systemic problem. Until our corporate coup d'état is reversed these diseases will grow and ravage the country. "With sharply observed detail, Hedges writes a requiem for the American dream" (Kirkus Reviews) and seeks to jolt us out of our complacency while there is still time.


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Multithreading - Part 2 by (28 February 2000) |
Return to The Archives |
Last time on "The Young and the Multithreading"... we scratched into the surface of setting up more than one thread using a simple thread wrapper. But one very important part that wasn't discussed was how to protect data that is used by more than one thread. |
The Problem With Critical Space Data
Imagine that two threads need to access a linked list of ...stuff.
(if you really needed that explained to you, you probably don't need to be learning about multithreading yet, either (: ) Windows is giving each thread x milliseconds of time to run, based on that thread's priority. So let's say thread A is trying to delete something from the list:
and thread B is searching through the list for some information
Neither one is a problem UNLESS by some horrible chance Windows decides to switch thread control at a really bad time.
Since unprotectedListItem4->SetNext( NULL ); hasn't been called yet, disaster ensues. If you didn't know what you were looking for, the reason for this kind of bug could drive you quite mad. Fortunately for me, I was already pretty far gone, so I didn't have much to lose. Of course, this is only one of many possible disasters. What should be done about it? |
(Enter Mutexes, stage left)
Ever play Railroad Tycoon? The big trick was that you'd waste a lot of money doubling all your track.
If two trains wanted to use the same piece of track they'd crash. The solution was to put up switching
stations everywhere. The moment a train started to use a piece of track, the switching station lights would
change to red, meaning "this track is being used, stop and wait!" The moment that piece of track was empty
again the lights would turn green and then it was first come, first serve to see who'd get to go next. Why the largely unrelated seguay down memory lane? The track is critical data. The trains are threads. The switching stations are Mutexes. Only one thread at a time can control a mutex and any other thread that wants to use a mutex will have to wait until the current thread is done (or it gets tired or trying to use it and goes off to do something else). The basics of using a mutex are straightforward, but to make life easy I wrapped them into a nice little base class as follows. |
The cMonitor class
Since creation and destruction of the mutex are taken care of the moment the class is created, The only thing left to do is use the MutexOn() and MutexOff() functions. How about our previous linked list example?
in both cases gListProtector is the same instance of cMonitor. What happens is that either thread will wait an INFINITE amount of time (careful!) until the other thread calls cMonitor::MutexOff(). That way nobody steps on anybody's toes. And don't worry - if the same thread calls cMonitor::MutexOn() twice, it won't get stuck (: |
Suggestions & comments on feedback
Rather than make a actual gListProtector, I made cMutex a base class of cThread. Then when I derived cThread I
made sure that any thread that wanted to use cDerivedFromCThread::someData could only be access it through
cDerivedFromCThread::SomeFunction(), which would in turn use cMonitor to guarantee that nobody could screw
things up. Ok, now It's been 3 days since part 1 of this tutorial was posted on the internet and I've already received four emails about it, which is more feedback than I've gotten on anything. Ever. To those people: Thank you! However: every one of the emails I got went on to suggest "make gsThreadProc a (friend/static member) of cThread" and a few have added "then you could make cThread::ThreadProc protected." I thought I mentioned it in the first part, but let me reiterrate: Notice all those
everywhere? If you do NOT turn on the option to build a multithreaded application, all the multithreaded code DISAPPEARS. But perhaps you still want to be able to call cDerivedFromCThread::ThreadProc() - what then? The only way is to leave cThread::ThreadProc() public or make every class that wants to call ThreadProc() a friend. Just because they play nice together doesn't mean they should be friends: friend classes can access protected data, which would make our mutex protected data unsafe. I would advise that you NOT remove the #if defined(), especially if you want to port your code to another platform, multithreading in Linux, Unix and on Macs is completely different, but the monitor and thread classes shouldn't have to change. If you are debugging your application and it seems like data that you don't refrence is being modified in curious ways then it's probably because you've written something into funny memory (such as beyond the bounds of an array) and the effect didn't appear until the other thread was called. Anyhow, that's just about everything I know about multithreading so far. If there's something you'd like me to add or a topic you'd like me to write about, contact me! Created: Dan Royer aka "Aggrav8d" Contact: email@example.com Global scope variables and functions are like "20 CDs for 1 penny" deals from mail order companies - they sound good but they're almost impossible to get rid of (and most of the time turn into a big headache). |
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Augmented Reality as No Trespassing Sign
An app on a smartphone (iPhone, Android) can use the phone's camera to read a bar code (QR Code) and then display information associated with the code.
For instance, Stickybits offers custom barcode stickers, where each sticker bears a unique code and refers to unique information. A user can stick the code on any physical object or space, such as a coffee pot or the door to a hotel. Then the user can direct that when a smartphone scans the code, the phone will display text, an image, a video, a web page and so on.
With the right app, the phone might display a form of "augmented reality," which presents a live video image of the physical object or space to which the sticker is attached, together with additional information such as a video.
I ponder this Buck Rogers technology. How might it be used to present legal information in association with an object or space? Example: I could place a bar code on a bottle of medicine. Under the code might be the words "Scan for Warnings, Disclaimers and Terms of Use" . . . not unlike the "Terms of Use" hyperlink commonly at the bottom of web pages today. If a patient scans the code, his phone could present a lengthy contract, saying that the patient agrees to the contract by opening the bottle.
Thus a new frontier will open in the eternal war over contracts of adhesion. The war has included battles over shrinkwrap agreements (on boxes of software), clickwrap agreements, and end user license agreements.
A student in one of my SANS courses came to call the terms of use on web pages "drive-by contracts" because a user might be deemed to have agreed to a contract simply by visiting a web page.
How enforceable are such agreements? The answer is it depends. I suspect courts are more ready to enforce "drive-by contracts," web no-trespassing notices*, augmented reality agreements and the like against unsympathetic, parties such as hackers or malicious intruders, and against sophisticated parties such as professional investigators.
Update: California attorney Dan Balsam publishes a contract he says is binding on spammers. http://hack-igations.blogspot.com/2010/12/web-contract-eula-published-to-world.html More: Can hackers consent and agree to be surveilled and thwarted?
–-Benjamin Wright
Mr. Wright teaches cyber investigation law at the SANS Institute.
* A web no-trespassing sign might deter so-called OSINT (open source intelligence) gathering by the adversaries of the web site owner. Adversaries might include plaintiff lawyers or labor union organizers.


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Trans Legal Advocates of Washington was founded in 2012 by community legal advocates in Washington, DC to better serve the legal needs of transgender people in the Metro Washington, DC area, which includes the immediate areas of Maryland and Virginia.
TransLAW aims to meet these needs by serving trans clients for free in a clinic setting with our partnership with Whitman-Walker Health, by providing financial assistance to clients who might otherwise be unable to afford to change their name and gender markers on identity documents, and by training legal services organizations and legal professionals.
At this time, TransLAW is unable to offer direct legal services or legal referrals. If you need services or a referral, contact Whitman-Walker Health's Legal Services.


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Cornwell's Pope: A Nasty Caricature of a Noble and Saintly Man
Point by Point Rebuttal by Church Historian, Dr. Peter Gumpel
In light of the recent controversy provoked by the promotion of John Cornwell's new book: "Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII," ZENIT has obtained an exclusive point by point rebuttal from one of the most respected authorities on the Catholic Church and the Second World War, Dr. Peter Gumpel, S.J. He is postulator of the cause for beatification of Pius XII and has carried out years of extensive research on the life and historical facts surrounding the person and pontificate of Pope Pacelli.
During a recent presentation in Rome of the book "The Jews, Pius XII and The Black Legend," by Italian journalist and writer Antonio Gasperi, Dr. Gumpel came to the final conclusion: "After reading over 100,000 pages of the documents for the process of beatification, I am more and more convinced that Pius XII was a saint."
By Dr. Peter Gumpel, S.J.
The cover of the book of Cornwell depicts Archbishop Pacelli leaving a German government building, guarded by two soldiers. This official visit of the then Nuncio took place not later than 1929, that is, four years before Hitler came into power (January 30, 1933). Since Pacelli left Germany in 1929 and never returned there, using this photograph is misleading and tendentious. Against this old and dirty trick protests were repeatedly published. The fact that a few months ago in a review in the USA Cornwell uses this photo on the cover of his book reveals from the outset his intention to denigrate the future Pius XII.
At the beginning of the book a list of archives is published which Cornwell says to have consulted. This list is extremely meager for a pretentious book of this size. Scores of archives which could and should have been consulted are simply ignored. This regards German, Italian, U. S. Archives, the Acts of the Nuremberg Trials, etc. Even those archives which are mentioned, are certainly not fully explored and used. Most sources used by Cornwell are secondary sources and here the choice is extremely selective. Cornwell deals at length with the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany, but never mentions the standard work of Dr. Heinz Hirten which is an extremely well documented, scholarly work that deals with the situation of the German Catholics between 1918-1945. Other standard works dealing with this topic are equally ignored by the author.
The first part of the book of Cornwell is wishy-washy. Instead of solid documentation we find a series of gratuitous conjectures, suppositions, insinuations. Cornwell deals at length with Concordats, totally ignoring their primary pastoral importance, and suggesting and asserting all the time that the only purpose of the Holy See is to strengthen its power and in particular to secure the right to appoint Bishops of its own liking. Cornwell does not mention such abuses as Josephinism, popular in Austria and to a certain extent even in Bavaria. Cornwell speaks about modernism without even mentioning its real dangers (Loisy, Tyrrel), rather concentrating on the witch hunt which in fact did not take place. However, there is not a shred of evidence that Pacelli ever took any part in the latter. Cornwell does not say that Pacelli did take part in this regrettable phenomenon, but he insinuates that he lived in this atmosphere in the earlier stages of his life.
The Serbian Concordat. It is to be noted that this was requested by Serbia and that the Holy See never refuses negotiations of this kind. Pacelli was then in a subordinate position. Each step of the negotiations had to be examined by his superiors, the Cardinal Secretary of State of that time and Pope Benedict XV. The suggestion that Pacelli in the Concordat with Serbia contributed to the outbreak of World War I is patently absurd and not taken seriously by any competent scholar.
Pacelli, Apostolic Nuncio in Bavaria (1917) and Germany (1920-1929). The positive aspects of this activity are glossed over. Great emphasis is placed on the uprising in Munich in 1919. In his report to the Secretary of State, the fact that the leaders of these terrorists were Jews sent from Russia (just as the leaders of the revolutions in Berlin were led by Jews sent from Russia [Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg] as well as Bela Kun in Hungary) are historical facts. To mention such facts has absolutely nothing to do with anti-semitism, as Cornwell wrongly insinuates. It was necessary to mention who the terrorist leaders in Munich were so that the Superior of Pacelli could understand that this was a part of an effort of the Russian Communists to extend their power in various Western countries.
Pacelli and Hitler. Cornwell refers in the list of works, which he says to have consulted, to one book in which it is explicitly stated that in 1920, that is four years before Hitler came into power (January 30, 1933), Pacelli warned in abrasive terms against Hitler and could not understand that even highly competent Germans did not share his totally negative judgement. Cornwell omits this statement. Either he did not read this book, or he willingly omitted this and other similar easily ascertainable statements of Pacelli, simply because they do not tally with his destructive tendencies.
The Concordat with Nazi Germany. Here again the request was made by Hitler who at that time made repeatedly positive statements about the two Christian denominations in Germany. If Pius XI had refused the negotiations, Hitler would have said: I extended a hand of peace, but it was brutally rejected. The persecution of the Catholic Church which existed already on local levels would have become an official and severe persecution (N. B.: When the German Bishops protested against local persecutions, Hitler always claimed that this was done without his foreknowledge and without his consent. Cornwell does not mention this. He likewise "ignores" or at least never mentions that the Concordat was "not" the international pact concluded by Hitler, the Concordat was preceded by the so-called "four countries pact" (England, France, Italy, Germany; signed in Milan). Pacelli knew that he could not trust Hitler and mentioned this to the English diplomat Kirkpatrick a few weeks after the paraphrasing of the Concordat (July 20, 1933). Totally false is the assertion of Cornwell that the Concordat impeded political and social activities on the part of Catholics. It was agreed that priests and religious should not engage in "party" politics.
In the Nuremberg Trials, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joachim v. Ribbentrop, admitted that Pacelli, as Secretary of State, had sent scores of protests about infractions of the Concordat but that these were nearly always ignored. Finally in 1937 there came the Encyclical letter "Mit brennender Sorge" -- with "burning" preoccupation and not "with great appreciation" as Cornwell mistranslates. Main author of this flaming protest: Pacelli, "Hitler's Pope"!!! Cornwell equally plays down or downright omits the sharp condemnation of Nazism made by Pacelli at Lourdes, Lisieux, Paris, Budapest, where he went as Papal Legate. It is true that neither Hitler nor Nazism were ever mentioned by name, but everybody understood against whom these condemnations were directed. If Cornwell had made a serious effort to ascertain this, -- a reading of reviews and newspapers in U. S., England, France, Holland, etc, would have made this clear to him --, not to mention the Nazi publications which throughout the book of Cornwell are simply neglected and totally underestimated. To be noticed also: that every utterance of this kind aggravated the situation of Catholics in Germany (just as later in the countries occupied by the Nazis).
Pius XII, Pope. Cornwell belittles the serious efforts of Pius XII to prevent World War II and makes a ridiculous comment on the first Encyclical of Pius XII (published at the beginning of World War II). In fact, if this encyclical letter was so insignificant as Cornwell wishes us to believe, why then did the Allies airdrop 88,000 copies of this Encyclical letter over Germany, where this Encyclical letter could not be published? Cornwell, of course, does not mention this action of the Allies. Simple ignorance? But the fact was easily ascertainable in the literature which Cornwell pointedly omitted in his notes and bibliography.
Pius XII and The Occupied Countries. In repeated speeches Pius XII protested against the unjust treatment of the occupied countries. However, especially the Polish Bishops -- except those who had fled Poland and lived abroad in safety, such as Cardinal Hlond and Bishop Radonski -- begged the Pope not to make these protests because they achieved nothing good, but only aggravated the situation of oppression and persecution. Downright classical and frequently mentioned is the case of messages sent by Pius XII through a chaplain of a Maltese relief train to Archbishop Sapjeha (Krakow). When the latter read this message, he threw the whole lot in the fire, saying that if ever a copy fell into the hands of the Gestapo, they would kill all Polish priests. Typical is the fact that thousands of Polish and other priests were killed by the Nazis and that the standard work of Professor Dr. Olrich von Held (now in its third edition): "Priester unter Hitlers Terror" (Priests -- in Germany -- Under the Terror of Hitler) is never mentioned or quoted by Cornwell. On the whole, one must say that Cornwell, who has never lived in a highly organized criminal police state, is totally unaware of the situation prevailing in such a state and that, in consequence, a great many of his judgements, appraisals, suggestions, etc., are completely unrealistic, utopian and anachronistic From an historical point of view, one must be able to understand the situation as it was then and not judge it with the hindsight from today's situation in free countries. To proceed in such an irresponsible manner is a capital mistake which is everywhere present in the book of Cornwell.
Cornwell and the German Bishops. The treatment of the German Bishops by Cornwell is extremely unfair. Prior to the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor, they had repeatedly warned against the Nazis and their pagan "Weltanshauung" (ideology). When Hitler became the legitimately appointed Chancellor of the Reich, a "modus vivendi" had to be found. It was then not clear to the Bishops, the German politicians, and many German Jews, how Hitler would act once he had obtained the government. However, "never" did the Bishops approve his ideology and increasingly they protested against his actions. Bishop Gröber (Archbishop of Freiburg) whom Cornwell calls the "brown Bishop" was initially in favor of a certain effort to come to terms with Hitler, but quite soon he became a bitter opponent of the regime. What Cornwell does not say is the fact that in various reports of the Gestapo one can read that as long as the Catholic Church has any influence on the people, the Nazi ideology would never be accepted by a large section of the German people. The classic work of Boberach which published the internal reports of the Gestapo is, of course, not even mentioned once by Cornwell.
Pius XII and the statute of impartiality, traditional with the Holy See. Both parties in the Second World War exercised pressure on Pius XII to declare a "crusade": the opponents of Hitler wanted the Pope to declare a crusade against Nazism; Hitler exercised pressure on him to declare a crusade against Bolshevism. Both pretences were absurd, considering that Bolshevism had committed and continued to commit numerous crimes and persecuted every form or religion, and the same applied to the Nazis (with the exception of those Protestants who actively supported Hitler).
Pius XII and the Jews. During the Second World War, and till five years after his death († 9 October 1958), Pius XII was greatly praised by all kinds of Jewish organizations, chief Rabbis of diverse countries and especially from the U. S. (see my article in "The Tablet" and the article "In defense of Pius XII" in Newsweek). The debate if a flaming public protest against the crimes against the Jews would have had any effect will probably continue to a large extent due to biased and partial writers who have an interest to denigrate the Catholic Church.
In my considered opinion, a public protest would not have saved a single Jewish life. It would only have aggravated the persecution both of Jews and of Catholics. Moreover it would have impeded and practically made impossible the very extensive silent action of helping Jews in every possible manner. It is well known that no organization has saved so many Jews as the Catholic Church, and this on the formal order of Pius XII. The latter knew well and is on record that this "silence" -- which, however, was not a "silence" at all for everyone who wanted to hear and understand -- might one day be held against him. However, he was not concerned for his reputation, but with saving Jewish lives and this was the only just decision, which clearly required wisdom and a great amount of courage. Cornwell has simply not understood this. He does not do justice to the facts when, in order to belittle Pinchas E. Lapide who praised Pius XII, he attributes to him second motives without producing a shred of evidence.
Cornwell also has never asked himself why the projected rounding-up of 8,000 Roman Jews was suddenly stopped after about 1,000 Roman Jews were caught in October, 1943. He totally misrepresents the interview which immediately afterwards the Secretary of State Maglione had with the German Embassador von Weizsäcker, called to the Vatican on the urgent request made in the name of Pius XII. Weizsäcker played an ambiguous role. Afraid that a formal protest made by the Holy See would enrage Hitler, he gave a too bland impression of the attitude of the Holy See and this became patently clear in the Nuremberg Trials which Cornwell ignores completely. But there is far more. On the order of Pius XII the German military commander of Rome, Brigadier General Rainer Stahel, an Austrian officer of the old school, was approached. This humane man sent a phonogram directly to Himmler. His reason given: this kind of violent action against the Italian Jews disturbs my military plans to reinforce the German divisions still fighting far to the south of Rome, and can also create serious problems here in Rome. This was a true reason, but no less important was another one: his indignation about the criminal acts of the Gestapo and his compassion for the Jews. His intervention had success. Himmler immediately ordered to stop further deportations. In this way thousands of Jews could be hidden, at the order of Pius XII, in the Vatican and in more than 150 ecclesiastical institutions in Rome. All this is, of course, not said by Cornwell. That Pius XII could do nothing with regard to the reprisal after the killing by (Italian resistance) "partisans" of 33 German -- rather South Tyrolian -- policeman, has been demonstrated for years. The repraisal was carried out within 24 hours of the attack on personal order of Hitler. A reprisal was certain, but its nature was unknown. Every effort of ecclesiastics sent by Pius XII to various German authorities failed because none of them could be reached in time.
Two more individual remarks. Cornwell complains that a report sent by Msgr. Riegner from Switzerland to Rome was not published in the "Acts and Documents of the Holy See During the Second World War," Riegner handed this report to the nuncio in Switzerland in March 1942, thus: a few months after the Worms Conference (20 January 1942). This report reached the Vatican only in October 1942 as is clear from the dispatch of the Nuncio published in the "Acts and Documents," where Riegner's report is mentioned. However, with a view to the fact -- so frequent in times of war - it was not possible to check whether the facts mentioned in this report were objectively true. The U.S. State Department had manifested doubts about this type of reports and asked the Vatican whether they would confirm them.
The second fact concerns an interview that the U.S. diplomat, Mr. Tillerman had with Pope Pius XII. Cornwell makes much of this. He says that this interview took place on Oct. 18, 1943, thus a few days after the rounding-up of 1,000 Jews. Cornwell accuses Pius XII that he was so little concerned with the fate of the Jews that he did not even mention them. The whole argument falls flat. In fact, the dispatch of Tillerman, in which he says to have had an interview with Pius XII "today," is dated not Oct. 18, but Oct. 19. In fact, even the date "19" is wrong. The interview took place on Oct. "14." This results from the very accurate lists of interviews granted to diplomats by Pius XII. The fact that this interview took place on Oct. 14 (fourteenth) is registered in two distinct volumes of the "Acts and Documents," which Cornwell quotes in his meager list of archives but, obviously has never read accurately, if at all.
Pius XII, Hitler's Pope? In my previous fax I have already pointed out what Pacelli as early as 1929 thought and said about Hitler. To this must be added that he repeatedly went on record saying that Hitler's victory in World War II would mean the end of the Catholic Church in Europe. Likewise, if he was indeed Hitler's Pope, why did he transmit to the English government the proposal of a group of anti-Nazi German generals, who asked whether England would make peace with Germany, if they, the group of German generals, succeeded in arresting Hitler and removing him from government. Incidentally, it was not a low-ranking officer, Colonel Oster, who was responsible for this proposal, but Colonel-General (four star general) Ludwig Beck. The latter had been the chief of the German General Staff, but in 1938 resigned from this new post since he had become convinced that Hitler was a criminal who against all promises and treaties would attack other nations. Pacelli had known Beck when he was nuncio in Berlin and highly esteemed his honesty and integrity. If Pius XII would have been "Hitler's Pope" he would never have undertaken this highly dangerous mediation. And again: when the United States after Pearl Harbor became allies with Russia, many American Catholics had problems of conscience whether they could help produce weapons which would go to communist Russia. Pius XII had, in fact, in his 1937 encyclical "Divini Redemptoris," forbidden Catholics to do anything in favor of the communists. Pius XII informed about this situation, ordered the Apostolic Delegate in Washington, Archbishop Amleto Cicognani (who later became Secretary of State) to induce one or more prestigious U.S. bishops to publish the following statement: the position of the Catholic Church with regard to communism remains what it has always been. However, the Church has nothing against the Russian people. It is now the Russian people who have been attacked and thus Catholics should not have any problems in helping a people who have been unjustly attacked. This statement was made public by at least one U.S. bishop and endorsed by others. It was, of course, understood on whose initiative this problem was solved. How then can Pius XII be called "Hitler's Pope?" If he had been that, he would obviously never have given the above order. He could have even proclaimed a crusade against communist Russia, which, of course, notwithstanding the pressure of Nazi Germany, he steadfastly and courageously refused to do.
Pius XII and Communism. There is clear historical evidence that Pius XII was deadly opposed both to national socialism and to communism. It is equally clear that, everything considered, he thought that in the long run communism was the greater danger for the worlds and for Christianity. Mr. Churchill was of the same idea. He never shared the optimism of President Roosevelt who was convinced that the Russian communists would change their ideology and their attitude to religious communities. Well, history has demonstrated who was right and who was wrong. With regard to this question Glennon's book, "The Cardinal Spellman Story," is highly revealing. Spellman had many personal contacts with Roosevelt and Glennon's book was published when Spellman was still alive. Cornwell mentions this book, but abstains from making use of the most crucial pages.
Pius XII and the so-called policy of appeasement with regard to Hitler. In my previous fax I have already mentioned the role which Pacelli played in drafting the encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge." I equally referred to his speeches as Papal legate in Lourdes, Paris, Budapest, etc. According to protocol, a newly-elected pope informs all the governments with which the Holy See has diplomatic relations that this election has taken place. A personal note of Pius XII to Hitler was therefore necessary. The tone is moderate. At the height of the Kulturkampf, the newly-elected Leo XIII sent a similar message to the Germany of Bismarck which had eased the tensions. A similar gesture had to be made by Pius XII, though he had no illusions. He said: We must show that we want peace; if the other side does not want peace, we will fight. Speaking about such appeasement, the question must be asked about the actions of England and France. They made, from the outset, concessions to Hitler which they had persistently refused to make to the democratic governments of Germany prior to Hitler. England and France consistently gave in to Hitler (the occupation of the demilitarized territory on the western bank of the Rhine; the Fleet agreement between England and Germany; the introduction of military conscription, that is, obligatory military service of all young German men). But most of all, in 1937 the Holy See, with the encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge," had denounced tin the clearest and sharpest possible way that Hitler was not trustworthy and that treatises signed by him were worthless. And then in 1938, a year later, there was the ill-fated Munich Conference (England, France, Italy, Germany) and Mr. Neville Chamberlain and Mr. Daladier so trusting that now there was "Peace for our times, and peace forever!"
Pius XII and Other Activities. Cornwell has little to say about the great encyclical letters of Pius XII, namely "Mystici corporis" (on the Church), "Divino afflante Spiritu" (on advanced Scripture studies), "Mediator Dei" (the liturgy's Magna Charta), nor about his numerous other encyclicals, nor about his speeches which covered the gamut of all modern problems. Cornwell, a rank amateur in these matters, has the impudence to make at times negative remarks on those important activities without which the Second Vatican Council would not have been possible. In fact, after Sacred Scripture, the Council's documents cite no single author as frequently as Pius XII. Cornwell attacks Pius XII on two issues: a) the document Humani generis, without even realizing that there were, at that time, some tendencies of theological relativism emerging which needed to be corrected. Today judgements on this whole question are far more just and balanced than they were in previous times. b) The question of the priest-workers. Pius II did "not" forbid them. He was, however, aware of the fact that in not so few cases, priests played an important role in communist-led trade unions; that they neglected their priestly duties and prayer; that they propagated class struggle; that some had become fervent communists. Pius XII appreciated the generosity of so many priest workers, but felt it necessary to safeguard their priestly life by reducing the hours as workers in lay occupations. It was John XXIII, former nuncio in Paris, who forbade radically the institute of priest-workers which Paul VI restarted, but insisting on a severe selection and accurate formation and supervision.
Cornwell and Pius XII's Character. Cornwell calls Pius XII ambitious and insinuates that he was a careerist. This is not true. The young Pacelli made rapid progress in his career because he was brilliant, conscientious and hardworking. There is not a shred of evidence that there were any other reasons for his rapid advancement, let alone that he himself tried to favor his career. The young priest Pacelli wanted to do pastoral work in the direct sense of the word as every good priest should wish to do. It was only in obedience to higher authority that he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See. When in 1929, his task as Apostolic Nuncio had come to an end, he desired to become a diocesan bishop and do pastoral work in this way. When he had been elected Pope, he did not accept his election immediately, but insisted on another ballot. When this was overwhelmingly in his favor, he accepted the election as a sign of God's will, but "in signum crucis," as a heavy cross.
Cornwell speaks of Pius XII's "narcissism." I frankly cannot see how this outrageous statement can be or is substantiated. Pius XII hated to be photographed but submitted to what for him was distasteful because so many people wanted his photograph and out of goodness he did not want to disappoint them.
During his reign Pius XII received many millions of people in public audiences. These audiences were different from those of later times. Pius XII went right in the midst of people, talked to them, even heard confessions. Cornwell mocks Pius XII that he had his hands doused but forgets to say that in shaking so many hands, his own hands were frequently bruised and scratched. Cornwell undoubtedly knew how the people reacted to these audiences and how they saw in Pius a humble, charitable, saintly person.
The use of sources made by Cornwell. With only one or two exceptions, Cornwell totally ignores the scores of scientific and highly documented volumes published by the "Kommission für Zeitgeschichte" (History Commission), which now number well over 40 volumes.
Cornwell certainly knew about the book of the Hungarian Jew, Jeno Levai. The prologue and epilogue of this book were written by Dr. Robert Kempner, the Chief Assistant Prosecutor of the United States of America at the Nuremberg trials. Kempner refutes the attacks against Pius XII and his judgement in regard to the Pope's behavior in World War II and his decision to refrain from too outspoken protests against the persecution of the Jews in order to help them efficaciously is totally positive. Kempner knew what was possible in the given circumstances and his judgement must be taken seriously. Cornwell omits this for obvious reasons.
Cornwell does not give due importance to the fact that the International Red Cross (with headquarters in neutral Switzerland) came to exactly the same appraisal of the situation as Pius XII and equally refrained from loud protests so as not to jeopardize secret and silent actions helping Jews. The same applies to the then nascent Ecumenical Council of Christian Churches (also situated in neutral Switzerland).
Numerous times you find the following entries: "quoted by..." This means that the original sources have not been consulted and that to a large extent secondary sources have been used, hardly an academic procedure, let alone a procedure of accepted standards in a pretentious book of this size. The phenomenon "quoted by..." is very frequently applied to the work of Klaus Scholder which has been severely criticized on various counts. Scholder who is dealing with Concordat is largely surpassed by the standard works of Volk regarding the Concordat with Bavaria and Nazi Germany (20 July 1933). Yet though this is known, Cornwell prefers Scholder to Volk, obviously because this suits his negative thesis with regard to Pacelli, nuncio, and then Secretary of State.
Cornwell seems to have blind faith in what is published in the memoirs of the late Dr. Brüning. The latter was Chancellor of Germany in the years 1930 - 1932 in a desperate situation (i.e., after "Black Friday" -- the New York stock market crash -- the recall of loans made to Germany by foreign countries, millions of unemployed, bankruptcy of numerous German banks and businesses). Brüning tried to do what he could, but he also made serious economic mistakes. In 1932 his cabinet was brought down and this traumatized him for the rest of his life. He blamed Msgr. Kaas as co-responsible for his dismissal, and since Kaas worked with Pacelli, his pathological aversion to Kaas was extended also to Pacelli. Brüning, still Chancellor, but already overworked and in a highly nervous condition, also had a somewhat stormy meeting with Pacelli, as he says. When years later Brüning wrote his memoirs, he was an embittered and frustrated personality. Subjectively, his honesty cannot be questioned, but highly qualified experts have rightly challenged the objective truth of these memoirs. Cornwell quotes these memoirs a-critically.
Cornwell claims to have studied all the Acts of the canonical inquiry made with regard to the beatification of Pius XII. He totally omits the nearly 100% positive judgements of all these witnesses and this is not honest. He blindly trusts the deposition of a sister of Pius XII who says only good things about her brother, but is very hostile with regard to Mother Pascalina. Any objective judge realizes that she was envious of Pascalina, who had daily contact with Pacelli, Secretary of State and Pope whereas she herself saw her brother only rarely. Her accusation that Pascalina came from Berlin to Rome without the request of Pacelli and without leave from her own superiors is, of course, absurd, but Cornwell again, for obvious reasons, accepts this statement without reservation.
After Rolf Hochhuth produced his play "The Vicar", in 1963, Cardinal Montini (later Paul VI) wrote a strong letter in defense of Pius XII, a few days before he himself was elected Pope. This letter was published in "The Tablet" a few days after Montini's election to the papacy. It was also published in "La Civiltà Cattolica" and elsewhere. John XXIII had always expressed his highest esteem for Pius XII. In his latest trip to Africa, Pope John Paul II called him a great Pope. When a journalist questioned him about the (alleged) silence on the Holocaust on the part of Pius XII, John Paul II reacted very sharply and advised the journalist to read one Father Blet who had just published a clear defense of Pius XII. Earlier this year the Secretary of State, Cardinal Sodano, reacted in an extremely sharp way against the calumnies against Pius XII, and the "sottile persecuzione" (the deceitful persecution) of the latter, which indeed is based on a deliberate falsification of history. Cornwell either ignores or plays down such statements, just as he does not duly appreciate the fact that in the document "We Remember," there is a long footnote in defense of Pius XII.
Cornwell undoubtedly knew about the obituaries published by the "Sunday Times" in England and elsewhere. Cornwell knew what Field Marshal Montgomery, not exactly an easy character, wrote in the "Sunday Times" of October 12, 1958 about his frequent private audiences with Pius XII. Montgomery, a staunch Anglican and son of an Anglican bishop, had so deep a friendship with Pius XII that in his (Montgomery's) bedroom there were two photographs: one of his father, the other of Pius XII.
Cornwell also frequently refers to Sir D'Arcy Osborne, the English Minister to the Holy See, but he does not mention that this diplomat, who during the Second World War lived in the Vatican, considered Pius XII the most saintly person it had been his privilege to meet in his long life and that he confided in a private letter that he regretted not being a Catholic to be able to receive Holy Communion at the hands of Pius XII. Many other testimonies could be added, such as that of Evelyn Waugh, beside those of so many other outstanding and honest persons. Of all this is taken into account, one feels bound to say that the vicious book of Cornwell attempts a moral lynching, and an authentic well character assassination. His Pius XII is not "Hitler's Pope"; it is a fictitious Pius XII, a nasty caricature of a noble and saintly man.
Conclusion. There are many more things that could be said. For example that Cornwell is totally unaware of the psychological warfare made especially by the English by divulging false reports about transmissions by Vatican Radio and others, or that he obviously has never heard about the Scattolini forgeries which were widely believed. After the war, Scattolini was arrested by the Italian police and admitted that these reports (about 1,000) were purely and simply invented by him in order to make money. Cornwell has never checked whether and to what extent he has fallen a victim of this man who was condemned by the Italian Tribunal and sent to prison. Much more could be said, but the few above remarks give you an idea of what to think about the book of Cornwell who, naturally, also attacks John Paul II. Everything considered, my judgement is the following: Cornwell who is a rank amateur in the field of history, canon law, etc., has produced a shoddy, superficial and totally untrustworthy book which, to say the very least, is objectively biased, tendentious and so unilateral and one-sided that one wonders what really prompted this man to write this book. ZE99091630
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text:
La Commedia, the new film produced and directed by Amos Poe, one of the protagonists of the "No Wave Cinema" – the underground film movement based in New York, and father of the American Indie cinema, will be concluded in time for the 67th Venice International Film Festival.
The film will have its world premiere on Friday September 3rd, at Midnight in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema), Out of Competition. The readings of the verses by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri are by Roberto Benigni (Paradiso), Alfonso Santagata (Inferno), Sandro Lombardi (Purgatorio). Loretta Mugnai is the metaphorical Beatrice Portinari. Music by Debbie Harry, Decay of Angels, Hayley Moss, Peter Gordon, Muchael Duclos, Brenda Elthon, Paraphilia, Dave Mitchell, Riccardo Moretti, and Andres Nazrala.
The 67th Venice International Film Festival will take place on the Lido from September 1 through 1 2010, directed by Marco Mueller and organized by la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta.
Amos Poe's La Commedia is inspired by Dante Alighieri's literary masterpiece The Divine Comedy and Eadweard Muybridge's 19th century breakthrough The Horse in Motion, arguably the first"motion picture". The key element of this film is the idea of a journey in motion, our life's journey from hell, to purgatory to paradise – a pattern of events. Amos and Dante are two middle-aged "travellers" that have to confront themselves while undergoing a mid-life crisis. "Midway upon the journey of our life | I found myself within a forest dark…" so begins the Inferno. La Commedia is conceived as a cinema-verite document of Poe's exile in Italy and France and especially Florence. It deals primarily with the perception of motion in a motion picture, whatever "narrative" we find is completely subjective. It's composed of 20,000 animated still images divided into three cinematic sequences (100 minutes, like Dante's 100 "canti") that remind us of Dante Alighieri's allegorical journey in search of Beatrice through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven – a kind of re-invention of the Commedia for the 21st Century, seven centuries after Alighieri's revolutionary masterpiece. Poe carves a new "lingua vulgare" on the movie screen – a "dolce stil novo" of poetry.
The Directors said: "I was looking for a film to make and was looking for a good writer. Dante came to mind. La Commedia grew organically from my readings of The Divine Comedy, falling in love with a Florentine, my fascination with the roots of cinema as a movable poetic feast, and the help of thousands of fans on Facebook. My hope is that the viewer will be equally entertained by what is going on on the screen as by what's happening in her or his head and heart. I believe that the magic of cinema lies in the interaction between the two narratives, the one that occurs in front of us and the one inside our soul".
The film is an avant-garde production. While predicated on the prolific support of social networks such as YouTube, Facebook and Kickstarter – thus pushing the envelope of filmmaking today – it was produced by its author, in collaboration with producers Elena Santamaria, Ben Bindra, JR Skola and Victoria Bousis.
Biographical notes:
Amos Poe – (Tel Aviv, Israel, 1950), considered the father of American Indie Cinema, is also one of the founders of the No Wave Cinema movement along with Jim Jarmusch, Eric Mitchell, James Nares, John Lurie, and Richard Kern. He soon embraced B-movies, the avant-garde and the Nouvelle Vague, creating an innovative and vibrant style of cinema. He made his debut in 1975 directing Night Lunch with Ivan Kral. The following year he produced, edited and shot The Blank Generation (1976), regarded as the definitive manifesto of punk film, chronicling the seminal performances of Patti Smith, Blondie, Ramones, Talking Heads, Heartbreakers and many others. His next work, Unmade Beds (1976), which he wrote, produced and directed, was his debut feature-length film, a tribute to the French Nouvelle Vague and Godard's A bout de souffle (1960).
In 1977 Poe wrote, produced and directed The Foreigner (1978), with Eric Mitchell and Debbie Harry, considered one of his most influential works. Subway Riders (1981) completes his underground trilogy, a series of bohemian-style films interpreted by artists, musicians and poets from downtown New York. In 1983-84, Poe co-wrote and directed Alphabet City, his first 35mm film, and directed many music videos (Run DMC, Animotion, Anthrax, Juice Newton, etc.). Subsequently he wrote Rocket Gibraltar (1988) directed by Daniel Petrie and in the late Eighties he worked on several screenplays. The year 1990 marked Poe's return to film direction with Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (1991) presented at the Berlin Festival. The following year the filmmaker produced Joey Breaker by Steven Starr, before his return to screenwriting with Tar Baby (from the novel by Toni Morrison), Kid Killer, La Pacifica (translated into a graphic novel by DC Comics), The Guitar and many other titles. In 1994 he directed Dead Weekend, the sci-fi inspired by Ed Wood. In the late 1990s he wrote and directed the neo-noir Frogs for Snakes (1998). In 1999 he began to teach film at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, while between 2002 and 2003 he produced and directed Steve Earle: Just An American Boy, a portrait of the American singer-songwriter. In 2007 he attended the 64th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti Eventi section with the experimental underground-style documentary Empire II, which filmed New York out of a window for a year, inspired by Empire (1964) by Andy Warhol. In 2008 Poe worked on other projects, including the screenplay for The Guitar, the directing debut of Amy Redford presented at the Sundance Film Festival, and www.pianospecs.com, a platform for filmmakers, designers and artists. The following year, Poe was back at Venice as Jury president for the Corto Cortissimo section. Amos Poe lives between New York and Florence. Currently he is working on a series of cinematic projects to be developed in Italy.


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The Jungle Book
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The Jungle Book Collector's Edition (2016)
Walt Disney Studios released a collector's edition of Jon Favreau's highly regarded film starring Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, and Neel Sethi. The film earned a 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating, which is one of the highest rated films since the site's inception, along with a high 7.6 IMDB user rating.
Fanpop's Dr. Evan reviewed the collector's edition prior to release:
"Part of Disney's unstoppable 2016 movie domination, The Jungle Book paired astounding visuals with a multiple-Oscar-winning ensemble cast that is beyond reproach. The Collector's Edition release is another example of top-tier bonus content paired with a flawless transfer to home 3D.
Of course, it's also the top edition for people without 3D TVs, and given Disney's movie vault (good luck getting a real copy of Beauty and the Beast 3D now), it's a classic worth obtaining.
Unlike the Star Wars Collector's Edition I reviewed recently, the Collector's Edition of The Jungle Book ships in a more typical blue case and without the leatherette display box. I actually prefer this presentation as it fits in better with a typical movie collection, but to each their own.
Finally, it's difficult to describe the richness of the 3D, and of course not possible to show in photographs. Compared to the aforementioned Beauty and the Beast 3D, which was turned 3D after the fact, The Jungle Book's visuals were intended for HD and 3D from the start and, in many ways, are more vivid than those of real life. Compare a photograph of a Bengal or Siberian tiger versus Disney's rendering of Shere Khan and you'll see what I mean. Highly recommended."
Official press release:
"It's one of the few films in which 3D enhancement is justified. Each scene captures the essence of each animal so vividly that children in the audience were reaching out to the screen to try to 'touch' the fur. –Maricar Estrella, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Get lost in the jungle with collectible packaging, spectacular 3D and new bonus features!
BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 7, 2016 — Beginning Nov. 15, the collector's edition of Disney's live-action epic adventure "The Jungle Book"—Jon Favreau's stunning reimagining of Walt Disney's animated classic—will be available to own just in time for the holidays. "The Jungle Book" Collector's Edition offers more than just the bare necessities with collectible packaging and a three-disc set containing the original theatrical release on Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™, Digital HD and DVD, along with originally released bonus features and five never-before-seen extras.
The Collector's Edition provides fans with unprecedented access to "The Jungle Book" production through exciting new bonus features, including a performance of "The Bare Necessities" by Bill Murray (voice of Baloo) and jazz greats Dr. John and Kermit Ruffins, an inside look at the collaboration between director Jon Favreau and renowned composer Richard Sherman on a new version of the classic song "I Wan'na Be Like You," a fascinating feature exposing the visual effects magic behind some of the movie's most memorable moments, an early animatic of the scene where Mowgli meets Kaa, and a global celebration as Mowgli and Baloo sing "The Bare Necessities."
"The Jungle Book" has mesmerized audiences worldwide, earning critical acclaim and more than $965 million at the global box office to date. It boasts an unforgettable all-star cast, including Bill Murray ("Lost in Translation") as the voice of Baloo, Ben Kingsley ("Learning to Drive," "The Walk") as Bagheera, Idris Elba ("Beast of No Nation") roars as the voice of Shere Khan and Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave," "Star Wars: The Force Awakens") as the voice of mother wolf Raksha. Scarlett Johansson ("Avengers: Age of Ultron") gives life to Kaa, Giancarlo Esposito ("Breaking Bad") provides the voice of alpha-male wolf Akela and Christopher Walken ("The Deer Hunter") lends his iconic voice to King Louie. Newcomer Neel Sethi stars as the film's only human character, Mowgli.
Bonus features include*:
- The Bare Necessities: From the Jungle to the Bayou – Travel to the heart of New Orleans to swing with composer John Debney, Bill Murray and jazz greats Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins and the rest of their lively band, as they perform another version of "The Bare Necessities."
- The Return of a Legend – Award-winning songwriter and Disney Legend Richard Sherman co-wrote the music from "Mary Poppins," "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" and Walt Disney's animated classic "The Jungle Book." Watch as director Jon Favreau and Sherman collaborate to create additional lyrics and record a demo for the new version of the classic song, "I Wan'na Be Like You."
- The Jungle Effect – Experience more visual effects magic in this sequence that shows the evolution of key moments from "The Jungle Book."
- Developing Kaa – See an early animatic that played a part in the development of the scene where Mowgli meets Kaa and learns more about the tale of the "red flower."
- "The Jungle Book" Around the World – Join the global celebration as Mowgli and Baloo sing "The Bare Necessities."
- Classic Bonus Features**
- "The Jungle Book" Reimagined – Favreau sits down with producer Brigham Taylor and visual effects supervisor Robert Legato to discuss "The Jungle Book" and reflect on the years they devoted to the reimagining of this timeless tale. Discover how Rudyard Kipling's original stories and the classic animated film influenced their unique approach, witness the technical wizardry that enabled the team to create a believable and thrilling movie-going experience, and learn how they borrowed a page from Walt Disney's innovation playbook to make it all happen. Lastly, meet the all-star voice cast who help bring the film's colorful characters to life, as well as the musicians who accent the adventure with a majestic music score.
- I Am Mowgli – Follow the extraordinary journey of 12-year-old Neel Sethi, who was selected from thousands of hopefuls worldwide to play Mowgli "alongside" some of today's biggest movie stars. Get a glimpse of Neel's life before Hollywood came calling, check out his audition that sealed the deal, and see how a close-working relationship with Favreau brought out his best. Plus, Neel shares how filming "The Jungle Book" was one wild ride, from working alongside imaginary animals to performing some super-fun stunts.
- King Louie's Temple: Layer by Layer – So, exactly how do you create a musical number featuring one man-cub, a massive, legendary ape and an army of wild and wily monkeys in the Seeonee jungle? Viewers are granted rare and unique access to the development of the "I Wan'na Be Like You" sequence in which King Louie attempts to coerce Mowgli into giving up Man's deadly "red flower" (fire). A fast-moving musical progression reel showcases storyboards, animatics, Christopher Walken's recording session and visual effects layers, which ultimately merge to form one of the film's most memorable scenes.
- Audio Commentary – Favreau delivers his scene-by-scene perspective on the live-action adventure "The Jungle Book" with all the candor and humor you'd expect from this multi-talented actor-writer-director-producer.
* Bonus features may vary by retailer. New bonus content is available in the 3D Collector's Edition package only.
**Classic bonus from the initial August 2016 release of "The Jungle Book"
Directed by Jon Favreau ("Iron Man," "Iron Man 2," "Chef") and produced by Favreau and Brigham Taylor (executive producer of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," "Tomorrowland"), from a screenplay by Justin Marks, "The Jungle Book" is a live-action epic adventure based on Rudyard Kipling's timeless stories, inspired by Disney's classic 1967 animated film and centered on Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a man-cub who's been raised by a family of wolves. But Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voice of Idris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat.
The film's musical score, composed by Emmy® winner and Oscar-, BAFTA- and Annie Award-nominee John Debney ("Elf," "Iron Man 2"), features a classic orchestral sound accented by ethnic instruments and pays homage to the original film by highlighting snippets of the classic songs we all know and love.
Also available on Digital 3D by select digital retailers.
Feature Run Time: Approximately 106 minutes
Rating: PG in U.S. and Canada
Aspect Ratio: Blu-ray 3D Feature Film = 1080p High Definition / Widescreen 1.78:1
Blu-ray Feature Film = 1080p High Definition / Widescreen 1.85:1
DVD Feature Film = 1.85:1
Audio: Blu-ray 3D & Blu-ray = English 7.1 DTS-HDMA & 2.0 Descriptive Audio, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital Language Tracks
DVD = English, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital Language Tracks, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio
Languages/Subtitles: Blu-ray 3D & Blu-ray = English SDH, Spanish and French
DVD = English SDH, Spanish and French
Facebook: Facebook.com/DisneyJungleBook
Website: Movies.Disney.com/the-jungle-book-2016
Twitter: Twitter.com/TheJungleBook
Website: Instagram.com/disneythejunglebook
Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) is an engaging and family-friendly cloud-based digital movie service that makes it easy to buy Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars movies once and watch them anywhere. Viewers can enjoy their digital movies from the comfort of their living room and across multiple mobile platforms by simply adding the free DMA app or channel to their devices, such as iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android mobile phones and tablets, Android TV, Amazon's Fire tablets, Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Roku, and Xbox 360, and connecting to their DMA account with participating providers including iTunes, Amazon Video, VUDU, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV and Fios by Verizon. DMA users can explore Disney's library of over 450 digital movies, discover hours of new and exclusive short-form content, redeem Digital Movie codes found in eligible Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars product, and earn Disney Movie Rewards points with every digital purchase.
For over 90 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under the following banners: Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios; Disneynature; Marvel Studios; Lucasfilm; and Touchstone Pictures. The Disney Music Group encompasses the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, as well as Disney Music Publishing. The Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Disney on Broadway, Disney On Ice and Disney Live!.


text:
Associated Press
PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Growing up in Los Angeles, I loved camping.
My family and I regularly escaped the city's concrete sprawl for California's wilder edges, driving deep into the desert or high up into the mountains. We'd set up a tent and plunk down sleeping bags, each trip a dusty, if slightly smelly, adventure.
Then something changed. As an adult, I stopped camping. Though still an avid nature-lover and hiker, I didn't want to abandon the modern perks of home — roof, electricity, bed! — or similarly equipped hotels.
This year I decided to break that 15-year-long camping drought. I joined my stepmother, sister, aunt, uncle and Danish father, who has averaged three camping trips a year since he moved to California in 1977, on a three-day camping excursion in Pinnacles National Park, south of San Jose. The experience turned out fun, freeing and easier than I thought it would be.
Here are five things you might be worried about when it comes to camping, along with ways to cope.
Forgoing a comfy mattress for a sleeping bag may not sound appealing, but there are ways to lessen the ick. Driving to a campground versus hiking in means you can stuff your vehicle with provisions — including a tent you can stand up in for maximum comfort.
The taller the entrance to your tent, the less it affects your back. Then make sure to have a self-inflating mattress, like a Therm-a-Rest, or an air mattress you can inflate with a pump. Slip it under your sleeping bag to avoid the sleepless scenes from "The Princess and the Pea." Another option is a collapsible camp cot.
Camping in spring and summer means using lighter rectangular sleeping bags stuffed with synthetic material. When it's cold, go with a down-filled mummy-shaped sleeping bag that cinches around your face. I also found bringing a bedroom pillow helped. It smelled and felt like home.
These days some commercially operated campgrounds offer Internet access. But if you're heading to wilderness-type parks, depending on location, you may not even have cellphone service.
You can always bring an external battery pack and angrily play Candy Crush for hours, but that really defeats the purpose of being outdoors. I did bring my excellent Jackery Fit portable battery pack, but only to make sure my iPhone was charged enough to take photos during hikes into Pinnacles' winding mountain caves.
Channel the great naturalist Henry David Thoreau, and remember that the internet will still be there later. Play cards, eat, drink, breathe in fresh air, hike, build a campfire and enjoy the company of others — in person instead of online.
You love food, and so do animals, including squirrels and bears, whose sense of smell overshadows ours and who may find your fragrant dinner supplies irresistible. Just remember: They want your food, not you.
Never leave trash, toiletries, dirty dishes, food or drinks unattended. Don't leave trash and open containers in your car or around the campsite. Look for metal lockers to store trash and food onsite. Keep your tent zipped up, and keep in mind that bugs and birds also enjoy nibbling on half-eaten peanut butter sandwiches, so don't give them the chance.
As for ticks and mosquitoes, insect repellent works. For major bug phobias or when biting insects are thick, outdoor supply stores and websites sell inexpensive, lightweight mesh jackets that you can zip yourself into — including your hands and face if need be.
You can live without electricity, a full-length mirror and private bathrooms without sacrificing hygiene or general spiffiness.
Most developed tent campgrounds you can drive to have communal bathrooms with running drinking water, sinks and showers, but check in advance. Pretend you're at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, strap on a floppy hat and embrace a wind-swept, natural look.
Try gas- or battery-powered lanterns for preparing food and hanging out in the evening. A headlamp works well for midnight bathroom runs and as a makeshift night-light hung in a tent.
Leaving your smoothie blender home doesn't mean you can't have delicious food while camping.
Get a decently sized cooler that can keep your food cold for a few days before the ice needs to be changed out, and a small basin to wash dishes. Bring a propane gas-powered camp stove with one or two burners. In campgrounds with grills, you can fire-roast anything from portobello mushrooms to zucchini. At night my family and I made gooey s'mores.
"Approach camping as an adventure with possibilities of new experiences of fun, and the possibility of challenges," my dad told me. "Camping gives you a sense of togetherness in a natural environment you're not usually in, that you end up enjoying together."
Follow Solvej Schou at www.twitter.com/solvej_schou
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.