text:
Brittania rules
Tony Deyal
The evil that men do lives after them and so, too, their laws. This is the case of the British in India.
Ironically, I saw the announcement that India is to repeal nearly 300 obscure laws dating back to the British Raj in a BBC article. It seems that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took up office earlier this year, has made it one of his priorities to weed out 287 obsolete laws.
One of these laws from 1838 dictates that property in an area of the former imperial capital Calcutta - now called Kolkata - can only be sold to the East India Company, which laid the foundations of the British Empire but ceased to exist more than 150 years ago.
Another law that is finally going to be taken off the books is one which makes flying kites or balloons without police permission illegal across India. The reason is that the British classified them as 'aircraft', perhaps because they feared that the impoverished Indians might use them to create their own version of the Royal Air Force. Until the law is repealed, it is illegal to fly kites and balloons without government clearance in India. Guyanese in India during Easter, please take heed.
Car inspectors in the state of Andhra Pradesh must have a clean set of teeth. I am not sure how many of the inspectors in our motor vehicle inspection group would pass that test. Worse, the British banned anyone with a "pigeon chest, knock knees, flat foot, hammer toes and fractured limbs" from driving. I know a few people who would either have to walk or take the bus.
treasure trove act
The same kind of quirky authoritarianism, mixed with heavy doses of spite, is evident in other laws due to be banned, including the India Treasure Trove Act, 1878. According to the act, treasure is "anything of any value hidden in the soil" and worth 10 rupees or more. The problem is that 10 rupees is about 16 US cents or 10 pence.
If an Indian finds such treasure, a senior local official, most likely British, must be informed of the "nature and amount or approximate value of such treasure and the place where it was found". If the finder fails to hand over the booty to the government, the "share of such treasure ... shall vest in Her Majesty".
The British had enough spies among the Indian population to know if someone found anything of value. The irony is that the British left India in 1947 and reaching Her Majesty in faraway London even through the much-publicised Zoom.com will cost much more than 10 pence.
The British set up railways and post offices - institutions that we in the Caribbean know very well. But they also inflicted laws that were extremely stringent and sometimes inexplicable. The Indian Post Office Act, 1898 decrees that only the federal government has the "exclusive privilege of conveying by post, from one place to another" most letters.
One exception is "letters sent by a private friend in his way, journey or travel, to be delivered by him to the person to whom they are directed, without hire, reward or other profit or advantages for receiving, carrying or delivering them". Right now, the rich Indians who run the country's booming courier industry, a necessity in the heavy traffic that gridlocks most cities, get around the law by using the English language to their advantage. What they convey and deliver are 'documents', not 'letters'.
sonthal parganas act
One of the typical British laws that demonstrate their true nature is the Sonthal Parganas Act, 1855 which was a mixed blessing to the Sonthal tribespeople. They were exempted from general laws and regulations because they were an 'uncivilised race'. No doubt they kept their pinkies firmly on the handle of the cup when having tea.
The irony is that Great Britain is not much better with the laws they imposed on themselves. A law from 1313 decrees that MPs are not allowed to wear armour in Parliament. It is still an offence to beat or shake any carpet, rug or mat in any street in the Metropolitan Police District, although you are allowed to shake a doormat before 8 a.m.
It is illegal to keep a pigsty in front of your house (unless duly hidden), erect a washing line across any street, sing any profane or obscene song or ballad in any street or wilfully and wantonly disturb people by ringing their doorbells or knocking at their doors. It is also illegal to permit any servant to stand on the sill of any window to clean or paint it or for the keeper of a place of public resort to permit drunkenness in the house. If we had that in the Caribbean, given the nature of our society and particularly our police, every rum shop owner in the Caribbean would either be in jail permanently or our police would be richer than they are now.
The British law that truly baffled me is that it is "illegal to eat Mute Swan unless you're the Queen of Great Britain". I learnt that Mute Swans are a rare species that is less vocal than other swans. The problem with enforcing the law is that if someone other than the Queen captures the bird for the purpose of eating it, the poor creature cannot shout for help.
Tony Deyal was last seen saying that it is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament and supposes that if caught, all a guy can say is, "Oh Fawkes."


text: SOUTH BEND -- St. Joseph County health officials are investigating whether seven people who reported having diarrhea after eating spinach have gotten E. coli, a spokeswoman announced Tuesday. The news comes as federal and local health officials repeated warnings not to eat raw spinach or salads containing it until further notice. A state health expert went further, saying people may want to avoid cooking spinach right now. "At this point, it's better to just be safe and avoid it until we have more information," said Tom Duszynski, director of field epidemiology for the Indiana State Department of Health. Although it is possible to kill E. coli by cooking spinach, he said, a person who prepares spinach with E. coli risks contaminating various surfaces, including cutting boards. Indiana has eight confirmed cases of E. coli, according to the state Department of Health. St. Joseph County still has just one confirmed case, which is believed to be linked to the national outbreak, said Kara Green, the county Health Department's epidemiologist. Seven other cases remain under investigation, she said. Duszynski said people should contact a doctor if they experience symptoms, which can include diarrhea, sometimes with blood; stomach cramps; and a mild fever. Symptoms generally appear two to five days after a person has been exposed, Duszynski said, and can last for five to 10 days.Staff writer Joshua Stowe: email@example.com (574) 235-6359

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
Chapter 4 (Part III and last)
Moneys spent by Coffin
(My literal translation)
Related to the Coffin's mining claims matter is the one concerning the moneys he has spent in the days following the murder of the American hunters.
In his sworn declaration of the 6th of August 1953, before the Provincial Police investigated into his coming and going, Coffin had declared :
« When I left Gaspé, I had about around $50.00 or $60.00 dollars."
The Provincial police investigation revealed that after having left Gaspé, Coffin had indulged in substantial expenses, partly in American money and under abnormal circumstances, and several witnesses testified about them before the jury. If he had testified, Coffin would have had the almost insurmountable task of conciliating his declaration of the 6th of August 1953 with the expenses he had made and explain, to the same ends, the source of the moneys he spent other than that he had stolen from Lindsey.
Having not done so at his trial, for reasons that we know, Coffin tried to correct himself in his affidavit of the 9th of October 1955 :
« A lot of evidence was given about the money I spent between Gaspé and Montréal and there was some evidence about I lived (sic) in Montreal. This is easy to explain. It was my own money paid to me by the following persons for the following amounts and terms for services I did for them chiefly staking claims:
Greta Miller May, 1953 $30.00
Iva M. Bryker " " 90.00
Mrs. James Caputo " " 40.00
Mervyn Annett " " 40.00
John E. Eagle " " 50.00
Mrs. Marion Petrie Coffin " " 50.00
P. G. Carey " " 60.00
D. H. Coffin " " 20.00
Mrs. James Annett " " 10.00
Earl Tuzo " " 20.00
William H. Petrie June 1953 70.00
Donald F. Coffin July 1953 50.00
Albert Coffin " " 50.00
Therefore, the Commission examined in details this paragraph. It was not able however, since they had passed away, to hear Mervyn Annett, Mrs. James Annett and Albert Coffin. Moreover, given the small amount involved, it did not deem necessary to assign Mrs. James Caputo, of Newark, New Jersey, since another proof was available and was brought about her.
The moneys in question may be divided in five categories.
First category
Coffin had left Gaspé around midnight on June 12th 1953, to arrive in Montreal around midnight on June 14th. In the course of this trip, he indulged in expenses, some of which was American money that the Crown has tried to connect, apparently with success, to the moneys stolen from the American hunters. The moneys received by Coffin after his arrival in Montreal have no importance regarding this matter since, according to Marion Petrie's testimony before the Commission, Coffin only had $20.00 in his pocket on his arrival.
Come under this category three amounts received by Coffin in July 1953 only :
a) William H. Petrie: $70.00
Coffin's affidavit on this matter is exact, though the circumstances under which one of these payments was collected by Coffin do not plead much in favour of Coffin. Indeed, after having sold a revolver to William Petrie for $15.00, he cashed in once more and kept the sum of $30.00 for which William Petrie had subsequently sold again personally the same arm to a third party. Moreover, it is a revolver about which Coffin had said in Gaspé that he had pawned it in Montreal for a long time.
b) Albert Coffin : $50.00
c) Marion Petrie : $50.00
According to Coffin's affidavit, this last payment was made in May 1953, this is wrong : it was not done in May but only in July after Coffin's arrival in Montreal when Marion Petrie gave him moneys. She so declared herself.
Second category
Donald F. Coffin $50.00
If Coffin's affidavit is true, this payment would have been made in July and should fall in the previous category.
In other respects, in September 1955, Donald F. Coffin signed a declaration, which was not found in the Department of Justice's file, where he said that he had sent $15.00 to his brother Wilbert in Montréal in July 1953, but that he had not included it in his 1955 declaration.
The evidence on this subject is extremely not satisfactory and the Commission is not ready, on the one had, to base itself on Donald F. Coffin's testimony to declare erroneous his brother's affidavit, or on the other hand accept Donald F. Coffin's testimony before the Commission to correct at the same time the declaration he had given the Department of Justice in 1955 and his brother's affidavit..
Under the circumstances, the Commission may not retain this amount of $50.00 in whole or in part in the calculation of the moneys Wilbert Coffin might have collected in the course of the weeks preceding his trip to Montreal.
Third category :
a) Greta Miller $30.00
b) Mrs. James Caputo $40.00
c) Mrs. Eva Bryker : $90.00
(for herself and her two sisters Mrs. Alice Boyle and Emily Wendell).
Coffin's affidavit on this topic would be exact : he appears to have received these amounts in May 1953. However, if he has received them, he has not used them for which he had received them: no mining claims have been recorded under the name of any of those five persons.
In other respects, what Coffin has done to the four cheques he had received from Mrs. Bryker casts some light on the whole matter. Coffin did not cash any cheque directly to the bank nor deposit any himself. In the days that followed immediately the date of each of these four cheques, he has changed one with Ernest Boyle and another one with P. Lequesne, a clerk at Baker hotel in Gaspé, and two more with the Baker hotel itself.
The fact that he cashed these cheques in a hotel and that he did not use the money for which those cheques were issued, is not without casting a serious doubt on Coffin's pretension that he still had these moneys in his possession on the 12th of June 1953.
Fourth category
a) John Eagle : $50.00
b) Philip Carey : $60.00
c) Donald H. Coffin : $20.00
d) Erle Tuzo : $20.00
e) Mervyn Annett : $40.00
In giving Coffin the benefit of the doubt regarding Donald H. Coffin and Mervyn Annett, the Commission accepts that these amounts have been paid Coffin in the course of the month of May 1953 and that Coffin has, in return, staked claims for each of these five persons.
Fifth category
Mrs. James Annett : $10.00
Se has passed away but, in a declaration filed with the Department of Justice in the fall of 1955, she has claimed having paid Coffin $10.00 in May 1953 for carpentry. The Commission shall accept this declaration, though it has not been possible to verify further.
It appears from this proof that Coffin might have received, in May 1953, diverse sums of money for an amount of no more than $360 and maybe $260.00 only if we subtract the would-be payments made by Albert Coffin, Mervyn Annett et Mrs. James Annett as to which the proof was not able to confirm anything.: we are already far enough from the sum of $580.00 mentioned by Coffin in his affidavit. This proof gives us the opportunity to establish the following facts :
a) Coffin has collected moneys in May, but he had to live on that until the middle of June before going on his trip to Montreal:
b) Several cheques received by Coffin were cashed at the Baker hotel in Gaspé ;
c) No payments, according to the proof, has been done in American currency ;
d) There is contradiction between the two declarations made by Coffin, the two of them under oath on the same subject, on the 6th of August 1953 and on the 9th of 1955.
After having deliberated on all of these facts and taken into consideration the details of the proof brought before the Commission on this matter, the Commission arrives to the conclusion that the Coffin's affirmations, in paragraph 45 of his affidavit of the 9th of October 1955, does not resist to the analysis and does not give plausible explanations for the substantial expenses he indulged in, partly in Canadian money and partly in American money, in the course of his trip from Gaspé to Montreal in June 1953.
So disappears in the fog of falsehood and contradictions another allegation of Coffin's affidavit together with several others of monsieur Hébert's hypothetical affirmations. (THE END)
Nex week, I shall post the whole Chapter 7, Vol. 2, Part IV, of the Brossard Report, on


text:
A couple of months ago I interviewed Carey Mulligan for an American magazine called 'Flaunt'. She was really awesome. Nice, funny and kind. Anyway, here is the piece, which I wrote as a fictional diary because I'm weird.
Flaunt is a brilliant magazine, I recommend it highly.
The copy is below, along with PDF's of the original piece. Click on the pictures to see them big.
10 September
Dear Diary,
There's a new girl at Woldingham. Carey Mulligan. She's fourteen and she wears a Les Miserables sweater with jeans. She says she's not trying to be cool. "It's not a statement". She's boarding because her dad has got a new job in Vienna. She told me she wanted a change because the girls at her old school weren't very nice. They tried to give her a makeover but this was no Tai and Cher deal—it was a nightmare. They forced her into a mini skirt when normally she "never, ever, ever, ever likes wearing anything above the knee."
"I hate my legs," she told me, like she was telling me a secret, her voice kinda deep, in this secret way. But I don't think she smokes. Claire says she thinks the new girl is really hot, she's calling her caramel eyes.
Carey told me she's really into drama, that's what she's going to be focussing on. She'll be fine here. She'll find friends who are similar to her. I told her some girls in our year lost their virginity on a beach in Minorca, a moment of sandy teenage rebellion. Said she found that "terrifying." She's just like me.
23 October
Carey and I are getting super close, I think. Already. She's very warm and open to stuff. Since she likes acting I took her to the common room and started going through the whole collection of the VHS's. All two of them. Empire of the Sun and Elizabeth.
This was like a couple of weeks ago. Now she keeps watching Elizabeth over and over. It's not weird, I don't think. Cate Blanchett is "a personal hero" and she says this like she means it, like the way her face gets. It's hard to describe. I asked her if she wants to go and see 10 Things I Hate About You with me. There's this guy in it called Heath Ledger (weird name, right?) who looks like a total babe, and the soundtrack is AMAZING.
20 December
Everyone at school is reading Harry Potter but Carey is "completely absent from the 'Harry Potter thing" as she calls it. Which is weird. I was like come on try it, it's not like it's drugs or stuff, and I made her read the first chapter, but she was like she is too old for it. "But I love Lord Of The Rings." She confessed to being totally obsessed by Tolkien for a little bit like I was. But not as obsessed as she was by Les Miserables though. She saw that five times.
Personally, I don't get musicals. I like films, and a film version of a musical would be really weird and never work.
She's not so into music like me and doesn't have posters on her walls but I think I might make her a mix CD. Just like Blink 182, Semisonic and that rapper M&M.
Anyway, that's all—
15 January
Dear Diary,
I asked Carey if she keeps a diary. Always thinking of you my journal! But sometimes I feel like I'm the only one doing this! :(
She said she does after momentous events, like her first kiss. She says she'll write loads, that will last for a week, but then she just sort of forgets.
When I went over to her house for the weekend, I saw some in her bedroom at her house, a journal with the first two pages filled with manic writing and the rest of it blank, empty.
Dear Diary,
So much is going on. I bumped into Carey outside the Royal Court in London. It was the last night of this play she's been acting in called The Seagull. It's this play by Chekov. It's basically about people trying to be happy and stuff. I looked at some reviews online, everyone is loving her as this girl Nina. They say stuff like she's "shimmering with passion" waxing about how "she seems to radiate a visible innocence."
Carey seemed sort of sad though, a bit lost. She said she only moved to London shortly before starting the role, so she's going through a transitional time. I could tell that she's digging her nails into Nina to help her through. I asked her how she prepared for the role and she told me about this scrapbook she made, full of Russian poetry and notes on the play and her performance. She says she thinks she's found a new way to work, "to make me feel like I'm qualified. This is my dissertation for why I should be able to play this role." She's so smart! But she couldn't talk for long, and I didn't want to keep her, I felt like I could see Nina oozing out of her skin. I might go see the play when it transfers to New York. The cast sounds incredible, all those sharp, vital actors, fizzing and sparking with electric talent.
That cream Camilla lent me stinks awfully and my rash still hasn't cleared up.
E x
10 March
Dear Diary,
Saw Carey in the pub. We talked about the last time we saw each other, about the role she was playing at the time—Nina, I think. I told her I went and saw it afterwards and that it was amazing. She said that she still feels that it's the best role she's ever had. "The best writing I've gotten to say."
What's weird though, she said she returned to the Royal Court the other day to do a read through of her friends film and found the experience troubling, "I felt so, almost, devastated that I hadn't worked there in such a long time, and that I had no real plan or opportunity to." She's still making scrapbooks and has done one for most characters she's played since Nina. It always comes back to Nina.
It seems like a lot of time has passed but it's really not so much. Carey looks great, beautiful, a beautiful young woman. But she's still trying to find parts as "difficult and rewarding" as Nina, but now mainly in film. It's like being drawn to "dizzy scary heights" she says. Some people have to do that, I guess, to make good work.
15 July
Dear Diary
I've such good news! I got a chance to talk to Carey again. She called me out of the blue. It was great because I'd just been watching a bunch of her movies, like An Education and Never Let Me Go. She's good, as always, but she's always playing this like sweet and intense but ultimately fragile type of woman. And Carey, the girl I know from school, isn't really like that, she's funny and warm. I asked her about that and she acknowledged something that I'd been thinking about for a while. The appeal of playing damaged women, these strange creatures men fall apart around is an ego thing. "It's harder, more showy," she said, but at the same time it fulfils her desire to be someone else.
I think that she longs for the burst of adrenaline, the thrill that comes with being unlike your self. "When you do things that you don't understand, or that are really tricky because they're something you haven't experienced, that's almost when it's the most escapist...You're not yourself at all."
I reminded her of the 14 year old in the Les Miserables sweater (or was it Miss Saigon?) who loved A Knights Tale. (btw RIP Heath XOXO.) I said maybe she got into acting because when she was a teenager she wanted to escape herself? She told me she really didn't miss being that age. "I always felt paranoid and concerned—like everyone does I suppose—I just felt constantly, 'Oh I've fucked that up. Everyone hates me.' I had no hold of myself and it was really unsettling and horrible to be that age so I guess it might have come out of that. Just wanting to do something fixed and steady."
I told her about re-reading my old diaries the other day and being galled by the emotionally wrangling I put myself through and the self-obsession that littered the pages of my pink notebook. I think she got it. Carey is full of empathy. Just like you, diary.
20 September
OMG Drive was so amazing. Ryan Gosling was UNBELIEVABLE. I had to call Carey immediately and tell her.
She was totally happy to hear from me. She said she mainly wanted to do that film, not for the role, but because she was desperate to work with Nicolas Winding Refn, he's the guy who directed Drive.
I asked her who else she wants to work with and she said she would love to do just two lines in a Jacques Audiard film. I must confess diary – I had to google who that was. Then she told me she still writes letters to people she admires. "I call up my agent and say, 'Is it weird that I want to write to George Clooney?'"
I asked her what she wrote to people like George and she said she wrote, "I think what you do is really brilliant and if there is some way I could be involved with what you do in the future that would be amazing." It makes sense to her to tell people she is in awe of them. That's just how she feels, "I don't think anyone says, 'Oh someone saying that they like my work? Fuck you'" nobody says that. I almost told Carey I was thinking about starting to act but then I was like, I shouldn't make this about me, so I changed the topic to this show I started watching, called Girls and it turns out Carey is actually emailing Lena Dunham! I freaked.
Basically a writer friend of Carey's has been working on Girls a little bit with Lena and they've become really good friends. "After a couple of months I was like give me her email address, and I wrote her the most geeky email in the world. Now we send each other emails about future fantasy projects, although I'm sure she's going to be busy for the rest of her life."
Like me, and most women including my mother-in-law, Carey's fallen completely in love with Dunham's uncomfortable writing and beautiful figure. "Don't you find yourself watching Girls more and more and thinking, she looks amazing, and it's not that she's changing her shape or losing weight, it's that the more you watch it, and the more she struts around in tiny tiny shorts ... I'm like, I should wear tiny tiny shorts, we should all be wearing tiny tiny shorts, what the fuck?! There's this one shot of her lying on the bed, she's lying on her side, and her curve as a silhouette, she's like a portrait, she's stunning."
I told her I had become so in awe of Lena's bottom that it made me think that I would want to have any woman's figure as long as I'd seen it on film or TV. Which is both a liberating and depressing thought.
REMINDER: Get the Tracy Anderson DVD off Lara.
Saw Carey at a swanky coffee shop. I didn't want to keep her long as she was doing like a thousand things, but she stayed talking with me for ages.
We started talking about The Great Gatsby, the new Baz Lurhman 3D adaptation with Leo and everyone else that's been in the works for like forever.
She's just started doing promo for the film and I could tell she's getting scared. Especially because since filming she's lost her scrapbook for Daisy Buchanan somewhere between here and Sydney.
She said she's spent the last couple of weeks, "Trying to figure out if I actually had a virus or if I was just freaking out about this Gatsby stuff. We've started doing photoshoots and press in the last couple of weeks" and all of that is stressful. It seems that the pressure of publicly dressing herself in Daisy's clothes is troubling her, "I've never done anything where I've felt so nervous of fucking it up. Everything else there's been no real bar ... but this Gatsby project inspires so much anger or passion from people. Even British people don't get that upset if you mess up an Austen adaptation 'Oh that's fine, we've all done it.' But in America it's like, 'Don't fuck with Fitzgerald.'"
I wanted to tell her it was going to be OK. Loads of people haven't even read Fitzgerald, they just say they have. Besides, she isn't going to fuck it up, she's good. And if she does? So what? She's strong, she'll be fine.
Understandably though, she wants to do good work. She's scared of failing and for the first time she faces the possibility of failing on a big scale. Everything else has been an independent film—or something like independent. I told her she should just trust the people around her, and she said she did trust Baz, a lot. Plus Leonardo Di Caprio was so warm and supportive. He cared a lot about how the rest of the cast was feeling.
"Most people are determined to be brilliant and if everyone else isn't very good that's probably fine. Maybe better? But he's absolutely intent on everyone being at the top of their game, which is so important. They would film him, then they would turn the camera round and film me, and he would carry on doing exactly what he was doing when the camera was on him." She focused on his eyes because acting to "a piece of plastic, on the side of a lens, on a camera" is horrible. In fact, she hates cameras. Which is why Di Caprio's care and commitment to the other actors meant so much to her, "I've heard horror stories about some actors at his level, or even below his level, who don't even stay on set, they just walk off, and the stand in just reads their lines for them. Which is insane."
That's all for now,
Dear Diary
Got an email back from Carey. I'd written her asking about Los Angeles. I am in love with Hollywood, I am fascinated by L.A. stories. She said a couple of months ago she went to see the new Cohen Brother's film, Inside Llewyn Davis, that she's in. She's playing this woman named Jean Berkey who is the love interest of this 60s era folk singer, Llewyn Davis (played by Osscar Issac who Carey worked with in Drive). There's a scene in the trailer where she tells Llewyn that next time they have sex he should use two condoms and wrap them in electrical tape. It's really funny even though I don't think I actually got the joke. But the way she says it is hilarious. Anyway, she said she walked out of the screening and burst into tears. Her best friend turned to her, incredulous. "What the fuck? You've turned what you told me was your favourite film making experience ever into a complete disaster by watching it."
I think Carey now finally accepts that she can't watch herself act, "I've learnt that lesson properly now. I see all the places I could have done things differently, all the ways I've gone wrong. I can see myself acting. I think it's quite natural though, to see yourself wearing a black wig and think, 'Oh. No, don't do that. Why are you doing that? Stop talking like that.'"
But we laughed together when she talked about Hollywood. "Someone asked me a lot the other day about my skincare regieme." (Is it terrible that I do actually want to know what her skin care regieme is? I'm an awful person). Anyway Carey is baffled that some people think it's part of an actresses job description to be beautiful. "People have said to me that it's part of my job to be in shape and to take care of myself. They think these questions are totally normal. How often do you work out? What do you eat? What's your secret indulgence?"
Carey was happily ignorant of that mentality and was just acting, but one of her first costume fittings in America changed that. It hit her square in the jaw, the effects of working in a physically obsessed industry. "They made me feel so fat. I'd just come off filming something and I knew I wasn't fat. At all. And they made me feel that way and I was like, this is crazy."
When she was 24, someone took her aside and suggested she have botox. "You've got some little lines forming under your eyes", they explained. She was understandably shocked, "I need my eyes for my job!...Wow. This is different." But I think Carey likes being in L.A. when she's working, waking up with blue skies and sun every day, seeing some of her best friends. I wish I were there, but whatever. This is my life.
April 5th
Dear Diary
I read blogs and pieces and see paparrazzi shots of Carey all the time now and I'm getting a little obsessed I think. I know she must google herself, I google her, I mean. Sometimes they say such mean things. I know she's worried her aunt or in-laws will read something negative about her in a review or online and feel sorry for her, or worry that it will upset her. So I know she's worrying about their worry, which is like this whole thing, spiraling or dovetailing into bit of maddening madness.
Personally, I know she tries to be none the wiser, because she doesn't intend to read what people say about her, but the idea that she has to be strong for other people, and that they're concerned for her must be difficult.
I haven't told her yet I'm writing about her. Seriously. Can I publish this? My husband says IT IS WEIRD and DOESN'T WORK. I emailed the editor at this magazine and he said weird is better so idk?
"Just your effort to have a go at something is taken so seriously. And anybody can write, anyone now. It's not limited any more. Anyone with an opinion, whether it's remotely intelligent or not can just write it." But how intelligent do you have to be?
I remember one time when we were younger, Carey and I imagined what it will be like when we're 40. "I'll be like, 'I'm an adult,'" Carey said. Maybe then she'll feel qualified as an actress? Will she still need the scrapbooks? Carey has always been cast younger, she's always been treated like someone younger. I know she also became a wife recently. Maybe now she's married that has started to change. "So the next decade I'll think about expanding out of acting," she said a little bit ago. She would like to direct films too, but "way down the line. I like the control of film, in that once you've done it, you can send everyone away and make all the decisions on your own."
But for now Carey still feels unqualified. Diary, I think we're in the same boat. But picture that? It's a small boat, and the ocean is pretty big.
Love, as always,


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Ah, the corset. There's something about them that I just love, whether they are Edwardian, Victorian, or even seventeenth and eighteenth-century stays, they all fascinate me. However, I had never really attempted to make one myself as they always looked like rather complex garments to construct - after all stay-making and corset-making was completely separate profession from dressmaking and tailoring.
However after completing my 1912-1913 summer day dress I knew I needed the proper foundation garment to make the silhouette of that era really come to life; and my cheaply bought 'Victorian corset', which left a very obviously 'VCL' (visible corset line) where it finished just below my hips, just wasn't going to cut it.
|A corset advertisement from 1910 says it all, "If the corset is not correct, the gown cannot be."
Corsets during the teens era were under-bust, long bodied and more lightly boned their their Victorian and early Edwardian counterparts. This change in style was mostly on account of the fashions of the time, where a streamlined body shape was required for the empire waisted, sheath-like close fitting dresses and skirts.
Within only a decade the fashionable shape went from this:
|An 'S-bend' corset from the early 1900s which created an exaggerated waist and forced the breasts forward and the bottom backwards (this style lasted from about 1900-1908)
|French corset advertisement from 1911, notice how there is less emphasis on creating a waist and more on creating a slender, straight silhouette (this style lasted from about 1910-1919)
This pattern was drawn from an extant example in her collection. Not only did she provide her blog readers with a pattern that would create a teen's era corset exactly, but she also provided a step by step tutorial!
The first thing I had to do was draw up the pattern to scale. At the time I didn't have access to a photocopier and I wanted to start that night, so I drew up the pattern up by hand on baking paper.
|The original corset
|Bridges on the Body's reconstruction
The first thing I had to do was to create a mock up, to test the fit and to see if my sketching skills were any good. Turns out they were because besides one minor adjustment to the bottom of one of the back pieces, everything fitted together great. I find that with anything that is worn over a corset, or in this case a corset itself, it is so hard to judge just how it will fit until it is complete. After all something you thought would never fit you actually can once you loose a couple of inches after lacing yourself up. With this in mind I proceeded ahead with the corset pieces exactly as they were.
I stay stitched the inside seams (as the tutorial specified) and the raw edges were covered by the bias tape boning channels.
|Stay stitch seams on the side
|What stay stiched seams look like on the outside
|Not quite sure what happened here. Needless to say I had to go back and unpick it. Doh!
|Always check that your boning fits into the channels you've created!
To sew in the busk I simply folded over the extra seam allowance that I had given to the centre front pieces, made the appropriate holes for both sides of the busk and then sewed them in place using a zipper foot. I decided to hand sew around the open seams where the busk latches together (even though leaving them raw is perfectly historically accurate) as the damask material is prone to fraying.
Unfortunately I was having a little bit of trouble with my sewing machine and the thread tension at the time, so in some places the stitching isn't great. After taking the time to clean out the inside of the machine I also found that it was super dirty and full of fluff, which is why it kept jamming when I was attempting to do these seams.
|Nearly Finished!
All that was left to do was to finish off the exposed hem on the top and bottom. For the bottom I used some white cotton sateen fabic (left over from the collar of my 1912-1913 dress) which I made into a bias tape and sewed onto the bottom.
I decided not to add too many frills and lacy things to the top of the corset as the Edwardian combination undergarment that I made to wear underneath it already has pink satin ribbon, etc. So I added broderie anglaise (which the original also had) and white satin bias to the top to finish off the hem. I used white satin ribbon for the lacing and I didn't bother putting covers over the suspenders.
So here is the finished product, my 1910-1914 longline corset. Overall I'm really happy with it and it wasn't nearly as hard to make as I thought it would be! In fact its probably been the most enjoyable construction process out of all the historical garment I've made so far!
|Top of the Corset
|Corset Garters
|Side Garter
|Inside the corset
The Challenge: #19: Wood, Metal, Bone
Fabric: 0.5 metres of white cotton damask, 0.5 metre of plain white cotton for lining, scraps of white cotton sateen for hemming, scraps of cotton drill for centre back seam support
Pattern: I drew to scale this Longline Corset ca. 1910-1914 from a pattern provided by Bridges on the Body here and I constructed it using this tutorial.
Year: 1910-1914
Notions: Lots! Thread, Busk, cable ties for boning, bias tape for bone casing, 36 metal eyelets, 6.5 metres of satin ribbon, 1 metre broderie anglaise, 0.5 metre of white satin bias trim, garters
How historically accurate is it? 95%
Hours to complete: 10-15
First worn: Without garters (so incomplete) underneath 912-1914 summer day dress for photo shoot.
Total cost: $8 for damask, $4 cotton, $6 bias tape, $8 metal grommets, $3 satin ribbon, $2 satin bias trim, $2 broderie anglaise, $12 garters. The cable ties I owned already and the busk I took from an old, cheaply bought corset.


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In Salt Lake City today, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) held a fundraiser with former Bush adviser Karl Rove, where Rove declared that "Republicans will be defined this year by their effort to block Democrats' efforts for health care reform." "This year is going to be defined by Republicans and conservatives by what we oppose," said Rove. After Rove praised Bennett's health care plan, Bennett said that he agreed with Rove's goal of killing health care reform:
Rove said that he supports Bennett's work on the Healthy Americans Act — the health care bill Bennett is co-sponsoring with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon — although he said it's "not exactly the bill that you or I would like each and every section."
Bennett said his bill is not a negotiating tool on health care, but it will be there as an alternative after Democratic reforms are blocked. "The No. 1 assignment in 2009 is to kill Obamacare," Bennett said.
Another Republican member of Congress, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), also expressed a desire to "kill" health reform today. Asked on ABCnews.com's Top Line today if "Sen. Kennedy's passing" would "change anything about the political equation" for health reform, Barrasso replied that "What I'm hearing all across the country is 'kill the bill.'" Watch it:


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It seems that in continuing to push for the development of North Horsham, the American owned Liberty Property Trust and its UK promoter Andrew Blevins have failed to acknowledge the wise words of President Lincoln that 'you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time'.
We might add that in the case of Horsham and the Tory Cabinet Cabal and their lemming like cohorts, you can fool certain more gullible people all of the time!
In the light of the series of puff pieces on the proposed North Horsham development in the 26/2/15 edition of the WSCT, I would ask Liberty and Mr Blevins to stop trying to mislead the people of Horsham, most are far more aware and intelligent than his ruse recognises.
I would be grateful if Mr Blevins would answer the following simple questions:
Mr Blevins repeats (page 74) that it 'leaves open the potential to create a new parkway rail station'. Question: Have Network Rail or Southern agreed to that proposition given their intention to close Faygate and open a station at Kilnwood Vale? Where are the train paths and capacity to meet such demand given that peak time Horsham trains are already full?
He refers to the prospect of a second runway at Gatwick, yet fails to recognise that such a runway would put his proposed development in or close to the 57 LeQ noise contours where development is not permitted. Question: How would he sell £500,000 houses and encourage businesses to locate under a flight path from a new runway even if outside the 57 LeQ noise contour?
He refers to their 'award winning' development at Kings Hill (West Malling) in Kent and the jobs and business park they have created, yet fails to acknowledge the cutback in business development provision on that site from that they originally projected (source: Liberty website). Question: What was the original projection for business development at Kings Hill and what is the actual delivered and occupied space? How many jobs were originally projected to be created on the site as compared to those delivered?
He says (page 44) 'we will increase the local access to housing for first time buyers'. Question: What is the proportion of social housing at the Kings Hill development? How does the delivered compared with the projected in terms of number of social houses available at West Malling? Will Liberty make a binding commitment publicly to providing a minimum of 30 per cent of total homes on the North Horsham site (should it be permitted) as Social Housing?
Over to you Mr Blevins and Liberty for a response.
Smithbarn, Horsham


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No Recent Price Change
1871 Pierce Street
Daniel Island, SC 29492
- Residential
- Single Family Attached
- Sold
Agent Remarks
This beautiful marshfront townhouse is a true sanctuary. It is nestled among grand oaks and with outstanding views of the marsh and the Wando River. The inside is bright and inviting, with a large family room and open cook's kitchen. You can enjoy the spectacular vistas from almost every room in the house. The gleaming hardwood floors, granite / marble countertops, and Sub-Zero appliances truly make this home shine! The master bedroom has the best view in the house! The master suite features a separate sitting room/ office area. With a newly renovated master bathroom complete with quartz countertops, spacious walk-in shower, and separate tub, you'll have your own private oasis. The three-stop elevator makes packing the car for a trip or unloading groceries easier!... For those who love the simplicity of Lowcountry living, the screened porch is a wonderful feature of this home. This excellent home offers two laundry rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, which makes doing laundry easier. There aren't many properties where one can enjoy the privacy and serenity of the marsh and river. Everything about this home speaks of quality. It's definitely not your typical townhouse. It's one that you won't want to miss!
Sale Info
Listing Date: 01-16-2018
Sold Date: 03-14-2018
Aprox Days on Market:
1 month, 25 days ago
Listing Sold:
10 month, 9 days ago
Baths Info
Halfbaths: 1
Fullbaths: 2
Building Info
Year Built: 2004
Floors: Ceramic Tile, Wall To Wall Carpet, Wood
Foundation: Slab
Exterior Features
Misc Ext: Porch - Screened
Interior Features
Msc Intr: Ceilings - 9+, Elevator, Ceiling - Smooth, Walk-in Closets
Lot Info
Acres: 0
Lot Desc: Level, Marshfront, Riverview
Misc Features
Auction: No
Parking Info
Gar Pkg: 1 Car Garage
Property Features
Subsection: None
Amenity: Boat Ramp, Cable Tv Available, Neighborhood Pool, Play Park, Tennis Court, Trash Pickup, Walk/jog Trails
Desclocation: Family Room, Gas Logs, One
Roof: Asphalt Shingle
Style Sfa: Townhouse
Stories: 3 Stories
Rooms Info
Beds: 3
Ground Level: No
Rooms: Eat-in-kitchen, Family, Foyer, Laundry, Loft, Separate Dining, Study
SqFt Info
Sqft: 2,742
Utilities / HVAC
Cooling: Central
Heat: Forced Air
Water Sewer: Public Sewer, Public Water
Elem: Daniel Island
Middle: Daniel Island
High: Philip Simmons
Courtesy of listing office Island Park Properties


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Conspiracy Theories
Eamon Duffy
- Flesh Made Word: Saints' Stories and the Western Imagination by Aviad Kleinberg, translated by Jane Marie Todd
Harvard, 340 pp, £19.95, May 2008, ISBN 978 0 674 02647 6
Aviad Kleinberg's clever, wide-ranging and tendentious book begins by recounting an experience which he cannot quite decide whether to classify as a moment of blinding insight or one of personal weakness. He was watching a television interview with Mother Teresa, in which she told of her first encounter with a dying leper. The leper had asked her why she was caring for him, and she had answered: 'Because I love you.' To his own bewilderment, Kleinberg, 'a sceptic by nature, and when it comes to religious phenomena . . . even more sceptical', found that he accepted Mother Teresa's claim unquestioningly. 'For an instant, at least, I believed that those words were the pure truth,' and that this absolute love for the leper dying in her arms 'transformed the scene from a banal act of Christian charity into something heroic, sublime even'.
Doubts followed hard on that moment of surrender. Hadn't Freud discredited the very idea of the sublime, shown us that 'when saintliness is not a con, it is self-deception'? Kleinberg, temperamentally inclined to such reductionism, is nevertheless unsatisfied by it, and his book is an extended exploration of the larger implications of his own conflict. What account can we give of charisma, the appeal of extraordinary people in ordinary life? Why did the stories of the saints exercise such power in human society for more than a millennium? Sanctity is a concept which both comforts and alienates. Saints held up a moral ideal to society and were a guarantee that that ideal could actually be lived, if only by the few. They also acted as advocates with God, and transmitted back to earth his healing and forgiving grace. They were an assurance that God existed and cared about suffering and sinful humanity. But the heroically holy were also a reproach to the morally mediocre. These spiritual alpinists climbed high above the humdrum, and the very difference which made them a beacon made them also a reproach to the rest of muddling humanity, caught in the cycle of getting and begetting. 'Society needed them and resented their holy selfishness.'
The first Christian saints were martyrs, and from the start, martyrs were a problem both for pagan society and for the Church. Problematic for pagan society, because they refused to follow the script written for them by the Roman state. Condemned to humiliating and atrocious deaths as antisocial deviants, their dignity, heroism and even joy in dying challenged (and ultimately defeated) the values of the society which killed them. How could guilty men and women seem so morally superior, so certain of the justice of their cause? Problematic for the Church, because their fortitude established an impossibly high benchmark of discipleship, and because the prestige of the martyr threatened to undermine the authority of the bishop – the saint versus the system. 'The confrontation takes place between those who hold authority but have no charisma, and those who have charisma but no authority.' As popular devotion to the saints blossomed round their relics, it became clear that the cult could divide the community, unless the hierarchy could tame it. Saints appealed to many constituencies, served many needs, focused many loyalties, not all of them compatible. But 'the Catholic Church was often willing to experiment with highly volatile social materials.' So the bishops became, in Peter Brown's striking phrase, impresarios of the sacred. They took the bodies of the saints from their shrines outside the cities, and placed them under the altars of their cathedrals. Rather than a trigger for conflicting pieties, the saint became a centre of unity, an episcopal asset. Nevertheless, the popularity of these dead charismatic figures, whose historical reality was often swallowed up in increasingly lurid and fabulous stories, eluded total control, and continually threatened to draw devotees away from what the leaders of the Church considered mainstream Christianity.
According to Kleinberg, resourceful Church leaders responded to this dangerously centrifugal aspect of the cult of the saints by making a pragmatic distinction between official and popular religion. The clerical elite became custodians of the highest standards of doctrine and morality, official guardians of orthodoxy and of the Church's creeds and commandments. Increasingly, the laity were neither encouraged nor expected to trouble their minds with doctrinal subtleties. It was enough that they obeyed. And popular piety, centred first on the shrines and then on the legends of the saints, was allowed a certain latitude. As St Augustine wrote, 'What we teach is one thing, what we tolerate another.' The leaders of the Church, Kleinberg argues, 'were ready to make many compromises with the "masses", so long as these masses were not seeking to undermine the leaders' authority', and 'all things considered', the cult of the saints 'was perceived as more useful than harmful'.
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Vol. 31 No. 2 · 29 January 2009 » Eamon Duffy » Conspiracy Theories
pages 31-33 | 3816 words


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It´s time for another sketch reveal and my last as a DT for Sketchabilities! I have loved working with Karans sketches! I give you sketch number #98!
I took this photos when we stayed at Varberg one night in June. We found a playground when we walked long the sea. I have used papers and embellishments from Papirdesign.
The large flowers is from Prima and the star and small yellow Roses from Papirdesign.


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A Scheme was announced on 22nd January 2016 by the Minister for Justice and Equality to help people who are insolvent and in mortgage arrears on their home, to access independent financial and legal advice. This Scheme is co-ordinated by the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Social Protection, in co-operation with relevant agencies including the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) (which will act as the gateway for people to access advice under the Scheme), the Insolvency Service of Ireland, the Citizens Information Board and the Legal Aid Board. The Legal Aid Board is now establishing a panel of solicitors who are willing to provide services to people who are eligible under the Scheme.
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"Sculpting a National Identity" by ST's Ong Soh Chin
ST, 28th June 2011 (Click image to enlarge)
Some Thoughts
Public art as a contemporary term may demand a broader definition to include the formal, and actions involving the performative, contextual, interventive and deconstructive strategies as attempts to render, re-render or destablise an aesthetic experience in relation to environs and social dynamics. In that sense a discussion on 'modern' monumental sculptures may not be interesting. I would be wrong. Ong Soh Chin's article (Sculpting a National Identity, ST, 28 June 2011) may be rather typical in its references to arts and heritage policies, and governmental schemes and incentives, but she does make an interesting point about the social value of public art; not in terms that a public sculpture is a clever piece of object elegantly positioned into a landscape and performing an art educational function, but rather ways it which it may define a site as a 'place' that meaningfully locate social interactions and in which memories are coalesced and shared. Ong's remark on the demolition of the former National Library at Stamford Road delivers this point. That makes room in the article for a lament, that is the manner in which public sculptures, iconic or otherwise, are at times unceremoniously removed or destroyed, without regard for the artists that created them and importantly, the publics whose social habits had revolved around those sculptures and their associated spaces - an interesting way to argue for a considered approach to the problem of 'excess' public sculptures.
Where a piece of sculpture enjoys greater public attention and interests, the emotive register could indeed be measured and applied leading to a positive outcome. Ju Ming's "Living World" is one example of a popular sculpture planned for a temporary display at the
, but in 1987 became permanent after a public fund-raising campaign took place for its acquisition. Its association with the National Museum National Museum as site was strong as it was recalled to its original site after a brief period of display at the . Singapore Art Museum
In her article Ong remarks that Ng Eng Teng's 'Wealth' and 'Contentment' was moved from the old Plaza Singapura to the obscure University Cultural Centre (UCC) of the NUS, equivalent to "sending your aged parents to a nursing home". Nice phrasing. I guess that it would be a fair comment to make if that is to suggest an end-of-life outcome for the sculptures. Rather, they assumed different lives. The contexts should be remembered. The sculptures were donated to the NUS in 1997 before the renovation of the Plaza Singapura, an important act to ensure the sculptures' continuing care. Leong Weng Kam reported in the ST (23 September 1997) that the sculptures did not have a place in the new plans of the Plaza Singapura. At NUS, they were displayed along a garden walkway near the University's Central Library before its final relocation at UCC, closer to the NUS Museum which opened in 2002. Sure, in retrospect the positioning of the sculptures in their current locations could be better to provide greater prominence. But significantly, the 1997 donations are critical additions forming part of the University's Ng Eng Teng Collection, joining another 1000 pieces of sculptures, paintings and drawings donated directly by the artist.
The collection forms a coherent ensemble that avails itself for specific investigations into the artist and his practice. 'Wealth' and 'Contentment' may in many ways had been museumised and placed in the rarified context of an institutional mission, but their continual presence due to the donation is gratifying. The NUS Museum had also recently received a donation of two murals by Ng Eng Teng, rarely seen as they resided in at the Garden Hotel and removed before the hotel's impending demolition. The donation was completed with a great deal of understanding and material support of the donor. Being two of several known mural pieces by the artist completed in the early 1970s, along with a documentation of working drawings, they provide a basis for research into Eng Teng's public commissions, his artistic intent, contexts of production in Singapore and implications into contemporary conservation, themes covered in our recent exhibition Working the Tropical Garden (click here). They are indeed sculptures that attempted to invoke a sense of national identity through their references to the concept of Garden City. Their significance to
is indelible. This brings me full circle to the opening line of this posting. The multifaceted nature of public art requires acknowledgement. Indeed, once entrenched into their various locales, sculptures may acquire a social value beyond the formal. This sense of value may be translated into an expressive act of public concern when they are marked for removal, but that is rare rather than common. Chances are, there are limits to public activism and where immediacy is required, we often wonder belatedly. Meanwhile, "Tropical Rhapsody" and "Asian Symphony", the two murals salvaged from the Garden Hotel stand safe at the NUS. In them, Ong's question on 'national identity' resonates. Singapore
Posted by Ahmad Mashadi
One of two sculptures originally located at the old Plaza Singapura donated to the NUS in 1997, seen here installed at the University Cultural Centre, NUS
Ng Eng Teng's Asian Symphony (1971), donated by Kechapi Pte Ltd, deinstalled, conserved and reinstalled at National University Health Services building in 2010.
Virtual conservation undertaken on Asian Symphony (1971), through a 3D scanning process by Design Incubator Centre, NUS. The scanning was completed prior to physical conservation and the dismatling of sculpture from its original site. The digital information provides accurate records of the mural as resource for study and educational reproduction.


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Sikkim is the second smallest state of the Indian Republic, after Goa. The state is Buddhist-majority and has been ruled by the same party for years, winning election after election. As much as Sikkim might seem as another vibrant state of India, its history is intriguing. From a small kingdom that made the mistake of supporting the English East India Company to being annexed by the mighty Independent India, Sikkim's story is fully of mystery and conspiracy.
In this documentary, we try to understand how the monarchy in Sikkim functioned, where it went terribly wrong and how Sikkim eventually became the 22nd state of India.
The Monarchy
Legend goes that one night, Prince Khye Bumsa of the Royal House of Kham of Eastern Tibet received a divine instruction in his sleep to travel southwards and seek his fortune. In 1642, his fifth generation descendant Phuntsog Namgyal became the first Chogyal, or King, of Sikkim. As a deeply religious Buddhist kingdom, the new King was consecrated by three revered Lamas.
However, over successive generations, the Kingdom faced many invasions. Starting with an invasion by Bhutan that was repelled with Tibetan aid to numerous invasions by the Nepalese, Sikkim began losing territory to Nepal, a process that ended only with the help of Chinese troops who could fight the fierce Gorkhas of Nepal.
When the East India Company seized control of a majority of neighbouring India, the rulers of Sikkim saw an opportunity. With the British looking to defeat the Nepalese, Sikkim allied itself with the British. This would prove to be an unwise decision, as the British began to illegally tax the Sikkimese region of Morang. In 1849, two British doctors, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Dr Archibald Campbell, began exploring Sikkim without permission and were arrested.
The arrests angered the British, who set forth to annex Sikkim's territory. Eventually, Darjeeling and Morang were annexed by British India in 1853 and, in 1890, all of Sikkim became a British protectorate with the Chogyal as the nominal head.
The Annexation
In 1947, after India attained Independence, a referendum held in Sikkim voted against joining the Indian Union. Subsequently, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to confer the status of a protectorate upon Sikkim. Under this special arrangement, matters such as foreign relations and defense were handled by India while Sikkim retained a great deal of autonomy. A state council was formed and a Government under the Chogyal was established.
The arrangement worked well under Nehru. However, things began to change when Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister. India was caught in the midst of the cold war: the mighty United States of America and the Soviet Union were at loggerheads. While India officially toed the line of Non-Alignment, it was all too clear that it was closer to the USSR than it was to the USA. At the height of Indira Gandhi's tenure, anti-Americanism peaked. Any American in India was considered a CIA agent; the Government was extremely weary of American influence, even as neighbouring Pakistan began to ally itself with the Americans.
In a strange turn of events, the Chogyal of Sikkim decided to marry for a second time. Only this time, his wife was American. This move angered Indira Gandhi and tensions began to rise. Meanwhile, the Sikkim National Congress, a powerful political party in Sikkim, started demanding greater representation for the Nepalese minority. Riots and clashes broke out in Sikkim and there was a deep sense of dislike towards the Chogyal. The Indian Government saw this as a move by the Americans to interfere in India's affairs.
Finally, in 1975, the Kazi (Prime Minister) of Sikkim went against the Chogyal and appealed to the Indian Parliament to change Sikkim's status to a full state of India. His appeal was approved. In April 1975, a 5,000-strong contingent of the Indian Army invaded Sikkim and surrounded the Chogyal's palace. His 300 bodyguards, who were themselves trained by the Indian Army, were caught and driven away, while one of them was shot. The Chogyal was arrested. In his last letter to Indira Gandhi, he wrote:
I have no words when the Indian army was sent today in a surprise attack on Sikkim Guards who are less than 300 strong and were trained, equipped and officered by the Indian army who looked upon each other as comrades. This is a most treacherous and black day in the history of democratic India in solving the survival of our little country by use of arms.
The Chogyal died under Indian surveillance, supposedly of a weak heart. The Sikkim National Flag was lowered and subsequently banned, being replaced by the Indian Tricolour. A referendum was held under which 59% of the electorate came out to vote. Of them, 97.5% approved a merger with India. However, historians strongly dispute the statistics provided by the Indian Government as well as the fairness of the referendum, which was conducted by the Indian Army. Nonetheless, Sikkim was merged with the Indian Union as its 22nd State.
Interestingly, the treaty which enabled the merger had a special clause inserted into it by India: the merger of Sikkim and India could never be disputed in any court of the land, including the Supreme Court. Of all the instruments of accession signed between various Princely States and the Indian Union, only this one contains this special clause. Details of what actions Indian Intelligence agencies took before the annexation, including the accession of Bhutan to the United Nations, remain sketchy, mostly because the Government classifies it as a state secret.
The Union
Today, Sikkim is like any other state of India. It is nominally headed by a Governor while executive power lies with the Chief Minister and his Cabinet, who belong to and are responsible to an elected unicameral State Legislative Assembly. Sikkim's flourishing economy is based on agriculture and tourism. Sikkim is one of the most peaceful states of India. It sends one member to each house of Parliament.
While the youth of Sikkim are firmly in favour of it remaining an Indian State, there is always the thought of how a quiet little Himalayan Kingdom turned into a battleground and was gobbled up by a much-larger country that had just freed itself from foreign rule. As they say, destiny plays strange games.


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Belur, Halebid, Sravanabelagona
Did I mention the weather here is nice?
I've travelled from Belur to Halebid to Sravanabelagona via Channarayapatna by bus, all without breaking a sweat thanks to the mild climate! In the mornings and evenings it is akin to being in air conditioned comfort. In the afternoon it is just slightly on the warm side but with plenty of sunlight. Friendly conversation on the bus reveals Bangalore and its environs to be this nice weather wise all year around.
And the bus conductors have a great grasp of English and are helpful enough to make bus hopping a breeze. There are female conductors, the first I have seen since setting foot in India, and they give snazzy computerized printouts for tickets that clearly state your destination and fare. Wow!
The buildings have immaculate plastered finishes with bright coats of fresh paint, from urban shophouses to rural farmsteads. Absent is the dull patina of scruffiness, the smells of sewage, rot and feet, the darkened interiors and the dry dusty landscape I had thought was a characteristic of India while travelling through Andra Pradesh. In its place are satellite dishes on pitched roofs of terracotta tile and the smell of freshly cut grass.
The temples I have visited, the Chennakeshava Temple in Belur, Hoysaleshvara Temple, Jain Bastis and Kedareshvara Temple in Halebid, are superbly maintained with manicured lawns and parks, all without admission charges save for the small tip for the shoe rack guy.
I am thinking it is due in part to the affluence of the Bangalore Boom of the 80's that has spilled over to the rest of the state. However, two weeks in India does not an expert make! So I just settle myself to enjoy the experience.
However frequent power outages are also the norm here. And the people arn't as friendly and approachable. A greater proportion of passers-by avert their eyes when I make eye contact. And a small number seem almost hostile to my presence. It also seems the norm here for children to demand pens and Singapore currency.
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997)
2 continuity mistakes in Living Conditions
Starring: Alyson Hannigan, Amber Benson, Anthony Head, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz, Eliza Dushku, Emma Caulfield, James Marsters, Juliet Landau, Kristine Sutherland, Marc Blucas, Mercedes McNab, Michelle Trachtenberg, Nicholas Brendon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth Green
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Buffy and Kathy are deliberately infuriating each other (tapping pencils and cracking eggs) there are several lights on throughout the room (on Buffy's desk, above Kathy's computer, in the kitchenette) yet when Buffy turns out her bedside lamp, the entire area is thrown into darkness.
Continuity mistake: When the portal is opened Buffy crawls around to the other side of her bed yet just as the portal closes there is a wide shot and she isn't next to the bed.
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Xiaomi to release Commemorative Edition of Mi Router on September 19, costs 999 RMB (162.89 USD)
by Sep 12, 2014 12:33 am0
This afternoon, Xiaomi announced that on September 19, 12:00 PM, they would release the "Mi Router Commemorative Edition" which will cost 999 RMB. Purchases would still be made via pre-ordering. Unlike the regular version, the Commemorative Edition would come in a re-issued wooden case with the router's components inside, allowing the user to set up the router by himself or herself.
The Commemorative Edition has the same specs as the regular version. It will use the 1.0GHz BCM4709 Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, has 256MB DDR3-1600 RAM and 16MB RAM, as well as a 2.5-inch 1TB hard-disk. It will also support 2.4G/5G dual-frequency Wi-FI and comes with two dual-frequency antennas. It also supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and has a USB 2.0 port.


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We were at my dad's house last weekend. I was playing cards with my dad and his 2 brothers. OU was getting their butt kicked on the muted television. A Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial came on.
"Do you like KFC Papa?" Zander asked.
"Sure do," he answered and my Uncle's agreed.
"I knew it!" Zander exclaimed. "I've been asking my mom to take me there since I was three years old but my dad said it's nasty and she won't take me. I knew it was good."


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Friend's Email:
Subject: I have found a DVD that I think you would enjoy
|Kirby Right Back at Ya Vol 3 Kirby's Egg-Cellent Adventure
Actors: Makiko Ômoto, Kerry Williams (II), Kayzie Rogers, Tara Jayne, Veronica Taylor
Genres: Television, Anime & Manga, Animation
NR 2003 0hr 30min
The ancient bird, Dyna Blade, has reappeared in Cappy Town after 100 years to lay and hatch her egg. When the eggshell turns up empty, is Kirby's unruly appetite to blame? The burial site of an ancient Cappy King is disco... more »
Larger Image
|Actors: Makiko Ômoto, Kerry Williams (II), Kayzie Rogers, Tara Jayne, Veronica Taylor
Genres: Television, Anime & Manga, Animation
Sub-Genres: Television, Anime & Manga, Animation
Studio: Funimation Prod
Format: DVD - Color - Animated
DVD Release Date: 11/04/2003
Original Release Date: 09/14/2002
Theatrical Release Date: 09/14/2002
Release Year: 2003
Run Time: 0hr 30min
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 1
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English, Japanese
|Kirby Right Back at Ya Vol 1 Kirby Comes to Cappytown
NR 2002 1hr 0min
|Super Mario World Yoshi the Superstar
Director: Super Mario World
NR 2009 1hr 10min
Golden Films
Director: Masakazu Higuchi
G 2002 0hr 49min
|Reba - Season 2
Director: Scarlett Pomers
NR 2005 9hr 3min
|Criminal Minds The First Season
Directors: Adam Davidson, Andy Wolk, Charles Haid, Chris Long, Edward Allen Bernero
UR 2006 15hr 55min
|Everybody Loves Raymond The Complete Fifth Season
UR 2005 12hr 30min
|Big Momma's House
Director: Raja Gosnell
PG-13 2002 1hr 38min
|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Full-Screen Edition
Director: Chris Columbus
PG 2003 2hr 41min
|Big Momma's House 2
Director: John Whitesell
PG-13 2006 1hr 39min
|Eli Stone The Complete Second Season
Director: n/a
PG 2009 9hr 20min
|The West Wing The Complete First Season
NR 2003 15hr 56min
|Numb3rs - The Complete Second Season
Directors: Alex Zakrzewski, Andy Wolk, Bill Eagles, Bobby Roth, Dennis Smith
NR 2006 17hr 17min


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The National Poetry Slam acts not just as a competition to crown the top slam team in the country, but also as a nationwide reunion, festival, and opportunity to network and write for competitors and non-competitors alike. Dozens of open mics, workshops, and unofficial competitions take place all week during competition days.
For detailed information on our schedule of events, check out these links:


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The Daily Pioneer, 26 August 2017
By Dolkun Isa – The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been touted by China and its supporters as a groundbreaking initiative, which will bring Central Asia together with increased connectivity and historic prosperity for all. It has been heralded by China as the flagship programme of its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, now called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is a massive infrastructure project seeking to create a 21st century "Silk Route" connecting Asia with Europe through building and upgrading transportation and communication infrastructure. CPEC is a central component of this plan and consists of constructing a vast network of roads, railway and pipeline stretching some 3,000 miles from Gwadar in Pakistan to East Turkestan. It includes a promised investment of $60 billion from China, over three times the amount of foreign direct investment Pakistan has received since 2008.
However, lost in the astronomical amounts of money being spent and the promises of foreign investments, CPEC and similar initiatives will have the devastating consequences for millions of people along the corridor, including the Uyghurs living in East Turkestan, the people in Balochistan, the Sindhi people and numerous other ethnic groups whose land CPEC will cut through.
Countries interested in securing foreign investment and increased opportunity for trade have largely been supportive of the initiative at the expense of the human rights and well-being of their citizens. It is unconscionable that numerous countries across the region continue to ignore the plight of the Uyghurs.
Security and militarisation
The Uyghurs in East Turkestan have already begun to witness the ill effects of CPEC. Due to its location, East Turkestan serves as the door for China to the rest of Central Europe. To ensure the success of CPEC and OBOR, China has drastically increased military and police presence in the region and has implemented a number of policies to control the Uyghur people and to stifle any dissent. In fact, reports indicate that Chinese authorities advertised over 51,000 police jobs in East Turkestan in the first 6 months of 2017. This is more than all of the jobs posted from 2006-2014 in the region. While the Uyghur people are sadly accustomed to violence and heavy-handed actions from the Chinese military and police, this rapid escalation is extremely worrying for the fate of the Uyghur people in the region.
There strong parallels with what is currently happening in East Turkestan to what has been happening in Tibet. Most notably Chen Quanguo, notorious for the violent and suffocating tactics he employed while trying to suppress and control Tibet, was recently appointed Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (East Turkestan), a clear indication of the Chinese government's intentions.
Uyghurs are racially profiled and stopped repeatedly at the countless roadblocks across the region where they are searched and their phones and computers are confiscated. Uyghurs are not allowed to move freely, express themselves or peacefully practice their religion, creating a suffocating and oppressive environment. Recently, the Chinese government has also been cracking down on and limiting the use of the Uyghur language. Significant pressure is also being put on Uyghur students to learn Mandarin Chinese through so-called "bilingual education" programmes.
While China continues to violently repress the Uyghur people within its own borders, it also faces a conundrum with how to secure its infrastructure and investments in CPEC outside its borders. China's reputation as a staunch defender of the principles of non-interference and sovereignty further complicates this matter. Disturbing reports have emerged that as a way to circumvent this situation, China has begun to hire mercenaries to protect its interests at home and abroad, including the security firm Frontier Services Group, which is headed by Erik Prince, the founder of the notorious security firm Blackwater.
Beneficial to the few, harmful to many
In selling CPEC and OBOR, China also often points to the "benefits" its investments have had in East Turkestan and consistently touts the fact that East Turkestan is now seeing the most impressive growth in its history. However, these assertions completely ignore the important fact that this growth and "development" has been incredibly unequal. Disproportionate benefits continue to flow away from the Uyghurs and into the hands of Han-Chinese settlers. Rapidly developing industries in the region that CPEC is set to further invigorate, including construction, the energy service sector and resource extraction, tend to exclude much of the Uyghur people in favour of the Han Chinese.
For example, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a dominant state-controlled organisation in charge of construction across the region among other things, employs upwards of 2.7 million people, but Uyghurs make up only seven per cent of its workforce despite making up nearly half the population of the region. The Uyghur people have been routinely excluded from gainful employment and are forced into low-income jobs due to language requirements to speak Mandarin-Chinese or from outright discrimination.
Unless the Chinese government begins to address the economic grievances voiced by the Uyghur people, CPEC will only further exacerbate the economic divide and inequitable distribution of benefits. So far, there are few signs indicating that this will be the case.
Threat to environment
The Uyghur people have long borne the brunt of damage to the environment caused by the Chinese government. From 1964 until 1996, the Chinese authorities conducted 46 confirmed nuclear detonations at Lop Nor in East Turkestan, with major Uyghur cities only 320 km from the detonation site. It is estimated that 200,000 people died and at least 1.5 million people were affected by radiation from these tests.
In recent years, overdevelopment, rapid resource extraction and natural factors have already lead to increased land degradation and desertification in East Turkestan. This is of particular concern because, due to their exclusion from many sectors of the economy, much of the Uyghur people remain concentrated in the countryside. Uyghurs overwhelmingly work in agriculture, but the effects of land degradation, desertification and the seizure of land by the state has made farming increasingly untenable and CPEC will only exacerbate this further. This may lead to increased tensions as many Uyghurs are forced to migrate from south to north and from rural to urban areas (where many Han-Chinese settlers live). With fewer economic possibilities and the environmental degradation of their ancestral lands, the future looks bleak for many Uyghurs.
Migration and assimilation
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of CPEC is the increased connectivity itself. Connectivity and infrastructural improvements can be a double-edged sword, particularly in the Chinese context. While roads, trade and cooperation between nations can help to bring people together, it can also be used as a tool for assimilation and control.
We just need to look at recent history in China to see evidence of this. East Turkestan and Tibet's geography and relative isolation have been a blessing in the past. While both areas were still subjected to Chinese control and repression, their remoteness and inaccessibility made it difficult for the CCP to exercise absolute control in the regions. However, large investments in railways and other infrastructure projects, coupled with increasing numbers of Han-Chinese settlers in recent decades, have changed this and lead to growing levels of control by the Chinese government. In 2006, the Chinese government completed the construction of a railway to Lhasa in Tibet, which has brought millions of Han-Chinese tourists and a massive influx of long-term migrants. This has put considerable strain on the culture and identity of the Tibetan people.
China's investment in roads and improved infrastructure also helps to facilitate migration. This is important because China has been using migration as a political tool since the 1950s to change the demographics in an occupied territory to dilute the identity and culture of ethnic minority groups and to diminish their claims for self-determination.
Since China effectively took control over East Turkestan following the Second World War, the state began incentivising Chinese migration into the region in the late 1950's and the last 15 years have seen an intense redoubling of this effort. The Uyghur people, who once numbered more than 85 per cent of the population in the region, represent a mere 46 per cent of the population today, with Han Chinese at 40 per cent.
Not only does the demographic shift put pressure on Uyghur self-determination, it has resulted in widespread discrimination from schools to mosques to workplace. Han Chinese migration to the region has created a severe imbalance in both representation in government and the erosion of Uyghur culture and language. CPEC stands to further increase migration into East Turkestan as the massive infrastructure projects and more accessible transportation to the region will surely draw in more Han-Chinese migrants.
CPEC may seem, at first glance, to be a benign infrastructure project, but for the Uyghur people and other ethnic minority groups across China and Pakistan it is a very dangerous and possibly existential problem. China recognises the power of building roads and has repeatedly used them to assimilate, control and dominate. Ultimately, the international community must remain aware of the likely negative impact that the new deal will have on the conditions of Uyghurs in East Turkestan.
Written by Dolkun Isa in an Op-ed for the Pioneer
Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO / Aamir QURESHI


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Anyone who has followed this football team for longer than the 2007 season knows what I'm talking about. Most of those casual fans who hopped on the bandwagon during that year hopped off as soon as that final game ended and they realized that perfection wouldn't be attained that year. But the ones who have been around before that may understand the feeling I'm talking about.
You generally don't want to say, "I have a feeling" and put it out there because you know that if it doesn't work out, you'll get lambasted by thousands of fans who will think you single-handedly placed a jinx on their football team. Granted this generally comes from irrational non-diehard fans, because the true diehards understand that these types of columns carry no real effect on the fate of the football team. On the other hand, they may think their own gameday routines can be the difference between a win and a loss on any given Sunday, but they generally realize anything others may write doesn't matter.
But something is definitely different. And in the coming weeks fans may be surprised by just how far this team goes into the postseason, and the possibilities that lie ahead.
Maybe I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but it's hard to deny a couple of key points that make this season even different from the one in 2007 where they broke all the records:
Patriots QB Tom Brady has played mistake-free football in recent weeks, and appears poised to lead the Patriots toward a surprising playoff run. (PHOTO:Icon/SMI)
1) They're playing well down the stretch. – Heading into the final weeks of their season in '07, they weren't exactly playing their best football. Their final regular season game was a 38-35 nail-biter against the New York Giants, with a couple of other games that despite the margin of victory didn't exactly feeling like a 'given' until much later in the game.
Even in the Green Bay game this year, while the Packers did a good job of controlling the clock and staying in the game, the Patriots continued playing mistake free football and most fans knew it was just a matter of time before Brady pulled the offense ahead and they won that football game. Let's be honest, the record-setting performance they've put on in the turnover differential has been staggering, and that's a critical area that if you continue to hold the advantage – you tend to win football games. They're continuing to play well with an overall group of better receivers than Brady even had in '07. Between his performance and the players they have now – that's a good reason to feel pretty confident about where they'll end up in the coming weeks.
2) They won big even with some of their best guys sidelined – Don't get me wrong, I want Deion Branch, Aaron Hernandez, and Wes Welker back on the football field when this team takes the field again on January 16th. However, they won Sunday's game (and rather convincingly) despite having all three of these guys sidelined. Where that comes into play is if you look back and watch how badly they struggled offensively during last year's playoff game against the Ravens after Welker got injured in the final regular season game against Houston. During that playoff game, at no point did it feel like they were going to be able to come back and beat Baltimore.
It was tough to watch because as soon as the Ravens got up early, Brady appeared frustrated and didn't look like he even believed himself that he had enough firepower to get them back in the game. That's not the case this season. This year even with some of his best players out of the line-up, it looks to be a different story. They have a lot more talent at the receiver and tight end position, and as a result they still put up points. This is about as confident as he's ever looked, and if he continues to throw the ball the way he is and making good decisions, you have to like their chances.
The big question is obviously going to be how they manage to play on the defensive side of the football. Granted all you can do is take a look at how they've played in recent weeks, and clearly we've seen a fairly solid effort from the guys up front and in the secondary. Obviously one would believe that if the guys up front who have missed time are healthy, that will help them immensely. One key factor is the fact that many of these young players have the advantage of playing in front of the home crowd over the duration of the postseason. They don't have to go into an overly-amped up road environment where everything is different and the implications mean absolutely everything to that fan base.
Let's be honest - home field is a huge advantage, especially to a young football team. The fact they went out and put up 14 wins this season is an amazing feat, but it's given them an edge that could get them one step closer to playing in February. They'll have a bye next week, and then have to win a mere two home games for a shot at getting to a game that a high percentage of guys who were drafted with them may never get. All the while they're being coached by one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
That's a big edge. Hence the reason why it's hard not to have a good feeling about this football team in the coming weeks.
Maybe I'm alone, but as I said something feels different about this football team. In a year where there's no "clear cut winner" along with the fact they're about to potentially battle against teams they've already proven they can beat in the coming weeks, my optimism is pretty high about what could happen. For now I'm focused on seeing who they'll play in two weeks before I look too far ahead, but the point I'm trying to make is that I think they're better now than they were even in '07.
They're back to trying to create opportunities by spreading the ball around while doing it without also turning the football over. Considering the talent they have and how Tom Brady is playing, I don't see that changing in the coming weeks.
I haven't felt this way since 2003 when I realized the way they were running the ball and playing defense, I thought they had a chance to finish exactly the same way they did in 2001 after they missed the postseason in 2002.
We all know how that turned out, and it worked out that way for two seasons.
Whether or not it works out that way again remains to be seen. But for those of you who were around during both of those seasons, it's hard to deny the similarities. After all, it's not how you start, but how you finish. No other team this year has won eight in a row to close out the season, nor have they done it the way New England has. Even the teams who are riding high heading into the playoffs have won, at best, four straight. Of those teams you have the Indianapolis Colts and the Ravens, each of which have won four in a row. New England has already beaten each of them once this season, and the Patriots are playing better football now than they were during each of their last meetings against either of those two teams.
For now I'll put my money on an older and wiser Brady - who's obviously playing at the top of his game at this point in the year. Should many of his teammates get healthy in the coming weeks, this Patriots team appears to be a dangerous one - provided the rookies can continue to handle the "one game at a time" approach that has been the staple of this football team. If they can continue to play to that level, that in itself should have fans feeling pretty confident about where this team may be headed in the coming weeks.
But something definitely feels different about this football team. Whether or not that means a trip to Dallas is in their future – we'll have to wait and see. But I'm excited to find out if that means that January won't be the last month we'll see this team playing football.
After all, I was right before. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll find out if something special is about to happen again.


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