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Welcome! Let the Beta Backer Demo Feedback Begin!
He runs on screen with extremely comical, exaggerated animations that I'd expect from a mobile game. Then a Morte just seems to slide on screen, and then they both slide off.
This, completely. Mortes have an attack where they wrap themselves around you—having the villager run onto the screen, yell "help", and then get engulfed and dragged away by the Morte would look much nicer, in my opinion.
One other piece of feedback for the team: the HP Up and MP Up that you receive for getting above the castle are perfectly placed. When I found those I felt incredibly rewarded for thinking outside the box and for trying to explore, and that reward was so very satisfying. I hope those two items placed there make it into the final release, they are perfect.
Oh, the other thing I found is that there is no indication of how many of an enemy you have killed for a quest (i.e. quest progress). So, if I take a quest to kill 3 Dullahammers, then I should be able to see somehow the number of Dullahammers I have killed and how many I have left to kill to complete the quest. Right now, you just have to count and remember to know when to head back to collect the quest completion award.
Equipment Menu UI: Please add Speed and Range indicators. Picking a weapon just based on Attack and Damage Type is not enough information when weapons with lower Attack can hit much faster.
Small note, the jump shortly after the Garden of Silence is overly punishing.
It's not a hard jump, but if you so happen to miss it, you have no choice but to go back through the entire Garden of Silence area again.
It'd be nice if there had been a ladder to kick down, or perhaps if that platform just beneath it had a way back up.
1. When there is dialogue, the in game text does a weird thing where the text doesn't move on the the next line until the words are out of the text box. Only then will the words indent to the next line. It's a minor annoyance but a polishing request.
2. The mini map has some customization features that are all great except you can not zoom out as much as you should be able to. Doing the max zoom out of the Galleon Minerva mini map still leaves a big empty space on the bottom half of the mini map screen. The Zoom out should make the map take up the whole space, or centered in the middle if not.
So Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is basically everything I wanted so far.
There are problems with cutscene transitions (extremely jarring), and there's a whole section with no music playing (though I imagine it's intentional, it still feels off). It's also extremely easy, though that might just be because it's a beta and they're letting us play around with far more than we will get so early in the main game. In addition, during conversations, mouth animations seems off, and Miriam and Gebel seem to be the only models that are good that close up from what I've seen. Most others look weird, and kinda plastic-y, whereas the previous two look more cell shaded, like more attention was payed to them (imagine that, main character and main villain. Still, doesn't set a good precedent for the rest of the cast).
It plays pretty much exactly like one of the Sorrow Castlevania game, but spirit drops seem to have much higher drop rates, which is great. Music is good, not great so far, but really evokes what I like about Castlevania soundtracks. I found myself pulling off tricks from the DS Castlevania games with no problems; they've been faithfully re-created for Bloodstained and work perfectly with the game's systems. I expressed earlier how the game seems to be very easy, and that's mostly because you start with a loooooooooooooot of HP and it's very easy to upgrade your weapons to the second strongest available in their type via the alchemy system. I can almost guarantee there's going to be a larger list than what we have in this beta, but it also needs to be more difficult to acquire a straight upgrade, I think.
P.S.A. The Steam discussions on matters is a very.....'rough' read, proceed with caution.
- When talking to Lindsay about avenging Rosaly, the text is misspelled as "Rosary". The VA clearly says, "Rosaly". The quest's title is misspelled as well.
- When crafting food and Miriam exclaims at the creation, the sound was oddly too loud.
- Nitpick, but enemy drops fall through chandeliers.
- Opening doors between castle areas looks a bit goofy... Maybe Miriam should take a step or two back before opening the door?
- There is no progress indicator on the inventory screen for Quests. Being able to check on the Inventory screen to see how close to completing a Quest would be nice, and maybe a small indicator of sorts when you complete one. It doesn't need to be flashy, how about a green word with "Quest complete!" that appears for a few seconds like a Push notification below Miriam's health bar?
? Shouldn't Miriam's dress be changing color when she equips something, since her headwear and shoes can change? Her dress didn't change color at all. Was surprised at this.
? Seeing a Morte bubble up and explode when you hit them with fire is awesome. Wouldn't it make a bit more sense if the Bone Morte also died in a similar fashion as well?
? The "Game Over" screen is a bit uneventful. There's no musical theme or sound fading away, and Miriam goes flying across the screen backwards from getting hit by an arrow from behind? WTF?
+ You sly dogs brought back the upgradable soul system from Dawn of Sorrow, and I love it!
+ Crafting system is fun and looks deep. Looking forward to making lots of weapons and other items and enhancing them.
+ I love the map features of moving around, adjusting opacity and toggling on/off. THANK YOU FOR THIS!
+ Enemies are lovely and animate well! Favorite one is the Sabnock so far.
+ David Hayter is glorious as Zangetsu!
Thank you, everyone at 505 Games and ArtPlay for allowing me to play this. Now back to the demo to play more... Thank you!
The game meets, but the gameplay is very slow and the frames are dragged, the game is not smooth, the animations are recycled from previous Castlevanias for example Order of Ecclesia, but here they are not appreciated as the previously named title. When the characters are talking I would like it to be a drawing and not the 3d model of the character that looks horrible (no offense).
Then some scenarios look very empty ... without interaction.
After the sounds when hitting, jumping I would like them to be a bit more friendly and not so repetitive ... like the previous castlevanias.
It's not that I'm doing a comparison but you like all the previous IGA games and this one does not feel like one of them in certain aspects ... here I do not see any innovation or references ... I see copy and paste with little affection.
I few more tidbits of feedback after a bit more of playtime.
1. I would really appreciate a Japanese language option - not just the voices, but the text as well.
Not sure it's possible at this point, but it's something I'd love to have.
2. So, I went back to the starting point in the Minerva, and seen Johannes there was really odd. I mean, you supposedly already made land. It might be funny if he quipped something about what he's doing there, but you can't even interact with him - he's just part of the furniture.
3. It was mentioned a lot in an earlier thread, but having the save room in the Minerva look exactly like those in the castle is a bit jarring.
4. PC games normally have lots of settings - not just graphical settings, but volume controls for voices, effects, BGM, etc. I know there's a strong possibility they'll be there for the retail version, I thought I'd mention it just in case.
I made a feedback thread separate to this but something I want to bring special attention to.
If there's anyway to diminish that effect....or even get rid of it altogether I'd love that. To me not being able to see a part of your character as she runs through a scrolling environment is part of the immersion. To see her outline so clearly like that takes away from such immersion. I can't even think of many sidescrollers that do this let alone do it THIS clearly.
So I beg of you......reconsider. Compared to most of my feedback issues this was a minor thing but man aesthetically it'd be so much better if that wasn't there. You're never behind an object that long for it to even be an issue to begin with. Even if it's important to the team maybe even an option to turn it off would be fantastic.
I would much rather it be an option than removed entirely. For all I know it would be useful in some parts of the game. But at the same time I'd love to turn it off for screenshots or immersion's sake during areas where its not that big a deal, like right there.
Now that you guys mention it, it is a bit jarring in some spots. File this one under the "a toggle would be nice" header.
Yeah totally fine with a toggle as I said maybe there's a specific reason for them but for immersion sake I would love to be able to turn it off because those areas could look even more pretty without having Miriam's shadow ruining it.
Also I'd like to mention I'm loving all the weapon variety but I've noticed a lack of unique sound effects for them. Like for instance the Gram visually looks really cool ( big arse red sword ) but it sounds like any other heavy sword. I'm sure there will be weapons with unique sounds but it'd be cool if more of the unique looking weapons had a tonal change in some way.
- Graphics overall are solid.
- Music and sound affects are top notch. Excellent voice acting.
- Controls are butter smooth and perfect. I feel in full control of Miriam and only blame myself when a mistake happens.
- Crafting, alchemy and shard system are really awesome. Will add a lot of depth and replay value to the game.
- Head and feet visual armor changes. Nice touch.
- Huge variety of weapons with special moves tied to some of them. Very awesome.
- Character model cutscenes look awesome in the mouth area, specifically with Miriam. She looks like she's opening her mouth for a dentist visit. Needs tweaking.
- Shadows casted on the floor from Miriam don't seem to line up properly(such as in the blood moon walkway area). Needs proper alignment.
- Various items and Miriam getting stuck in the floor. I only see this happen a few times but it is a glitch.
- Graphics looks solid but need more polish. Some items and, at times Miriam, contrast badly with the backgrounds such as the HP/MP increase item.
- Add visuals to all armor pieces: body, hands, legs, rings, etc. I would like to fully ability to customize Miriam from top to bottom. Would add a lot of replay value to the game and visual flair.
- Text errors during cutscenes. One example is during the initial cutscene with Johannes and Miriam in the beginning where she says "They will help me wake up these muscles of mine." when the text says "They will help me wake these muscles of mine up."
- The transition from the ship to the shore looks awkward. On shore, after the shipwreck, the sea is calm with no storm then when you go back on the ship, the storm is up again. This doesn't look right. There should be a transition scene in between or there should be a calm background backdrop on the ship to complement the aftermath of the event.
- Cutscene models need more facial animations when they talk showing more variety of emotions. The minor character Anne has no fluctuation in her expressions when she talks.
Overall I was impressed with this demo and can see the improvements from the previous build but there is still much work to be done. I honestly would be fine with this game being delayed until 2019 for sake of quality improvement as long as I know good tender loving care is put into this product. The biggest thing is replayability and fun factor. I want to see this game succeed with future installments to come.
- Mouth movement, animation and detail of the 3D models looks awkward. Animations and models can be polished and make it look better, but to be honest, I would prefer a portrait or an image maybe based on their concept art maybe?, both could either change based on the dialog or be static and have the gameplay models move or act (?) as some Castlevanias did in the past.
- The transition into dialog is way too long as well as transitioning off of it, meaning that talking to Johannes or Dominique to do some shopping or alchemy takes too much time, so I end up mashing "Start" to get past the dialog windows as fast as I can. This could be fixed by adding some meaningful "acting" in the background or simply making them shorter, at least for vendors.
- When attacking, the voice acting is either too long or too loud (or both?), and that makes it a bit anoying pretty quickly.
- (Might be intended) Some of the enemy audios of enemies are too loud while other more important ones are too low. For example, the flapping of the Aellos is usually to loud, while the bone throw of the Bone Morte can be barely heard, so puting these two in the same area, would be annoying, especially if one is attacking you from off the screen.
- Some animations feel clunky or sluggish, like in the case of jumping, sliding, attacking and turning back. For example, in the case of jumping there is a jump and fall animation, with a quick-ish transition between the two and about a second of hover which makes it feel kind of weird.
- The background feels empty in several places, whether it is lack of foliage, weird or unpolished textures, a very empty background image or one that doesn't synergize (?) with the rest, etc.
- (Some of these might be intended) Some monsters have kind of a weird behavior, for example the Aello flies around for quite a long time before rushing to you out of the blue or throws the Gale at you if you ignore it too much. Another one is the Sabnock that always walks about 3-4 steps and would end up like trying to touch you before even thinking of launching an attack when you were in range about 1-2 steps away.
- It would be great to have a quick way to swap the type of bullet you use with the guns or have it as a second weapon, because while I don't have issues to go into the menu to change Shards, equipment or using potions, I feel a bit frustrating to have to go into the menu to change the type of bullet because you are wasting your good bullets in environmental objects or weak enemies. You could also make it a very common drop, get rid of bullet quantity, or get rid of bullets... just something that will make it viable.
- Loved the way Head, Scarf and Accessory equipment slots affect the way that you look (my Nerdy Elven Pirate will tell you so), but I would love to see the body armor get some visual representation, it could change the color palet, give you some color effects, add little bits of armor or get you to look more armored/badass the higher the level of the armor, doesn't have to be something big, but a little something would be great.
- Some enemies are small, slow and their colors blend easilly with the background. They are not too hard to spot, but hard enough to be annoying.
- The downward diagonal attacks that some small/medium weapons have (like daggers, boots and some swords) fells awkward to pull off, although I didn't even remember it existed.
- I guess the damage numbers are not correctly resolving some damage resistances, because I was able to kill a monster with 2 Summon Bat (Grade ~4) of 19 Damage, but a Spear attack that did 43 damage was not able to kill the same type of monster.
- (Probably a work in progress) An explanation of the effect of each stat or "Parameter" would be great.
Overall pretty nice, but there is room for improvement.
I second shortening or getting rid of the opening dialogue moments for shop NPCs, and we do really need a better way to switch ammo types for the gun.
1. The sign posts at the town (between the Minerva and the entrance to the town) look off because there's nothing written on them.
They're shaped like arrows, but there's nothing written on the arrows, not even illegible text, and so they look phony.
2. I noticed something about the spiked coffin gimmick at edge of the courtyard section.
Once you manage to have it snap shut without getting caught inside, you can move it, and it has a "being pushed" sound effect, right? Well, the effect happens whenever you push against it, regardless of whether or not it moves. So if you push it up against a wall, so long as you keep pushing against it you'll hear the sound effect of it "moving", even when it's not moving. I'm guessing this currently applies to all boxes in the game, and I think it would be best if you stopped hearing the sound once the object hits a wall.
3. When you upgrade a shard, it should say somewhere what the effect of the upgrade will be. Right now you only see their Attack value, but the upgrade doesn't necessarily increase it. For instance, enhancing Raging Gale seems to increase the size of the attack's hit-box, but you won't know that until you upgrade it and try it out. Considering that upgrading shards costs valuable resources (i.e, items), I would prefer to know the consequences of my actions before I decide how to spend those resources.
4. I mentioned this in the E3 community interview question thread, and it ended up not being covered, but... this game would really benefit from a toggle or shard that stops EXP point accumulation/Leveling. With the way IGAvanias traditionally work, you can't go through the game and keep your level at a minimum for maximum challenge, while at the same time accumulating rare weapons and items. Since these are drops, and drops require grinding, it follows that if you chose to grind for items, you'll end up leveling your character to the point the game becomes too easy. In Bloodstained, there's even more items to grind, especially with the crafting and alchemy system. The way things stand now, this means more unintended leveling, unfortunately.
5. Item drop bags. As lovelydumpling has noted, there's no blinking to tell you the bag's about to disappear; it just does. So blinking to let you know the bag's about to disappear would be nice, but so would having the bag immediately disappear once you grab the item. Right now it just stays there for a bit, open, and I still instinctively try to collect it even though I already have! | 2019-04-24T16:27:41Z | http://bloodstainedfanforums.com/thread/3151/welcome-beta-backer-feedback-begin?page=2 |
An ESD protection circuit is provided. The circuit includes a discharging component, a diode, and an ESD detection circuit. The discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line. The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, and a triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line. The triggering component has a positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a negative power end coupled to the first power line. An input of the triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor.
1. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:a discharging component, coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC;a diode coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line; andan ESD detection circuit, comprising:a capacitor and a resistor formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line; anda triggering component, having a positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a negative power end coupled to the first power line; an input of the triggering component being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor;wherein the discharging component is turned off during normal power operations, and triggered by a output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
2. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the discharging component is a gate-driven NMOS, a gate-grounded NMOS, an NMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, an NPN BJT, or a P-type substrate-triggered SCR.
3. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the triggering component is an inverter, an M-input NAND with all inputs coupled together, or an N-input NOR with all inputs coupled together; M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
4. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:a discharging component, coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC;a diode coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the input/output pad; andan ESD detection circuit, comprising:a capacitor and a resistor formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line; anda triggering component, having a positive power end coupled to the first power line and a negative power end coupled to the input/output pad; an input of the triggering component being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor;wherein the discharging component is turned off during normal power operations and triggered by an output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
5. The ESD protection circuit of claim 4, wherein the discharging component is a gate-driven PMOS, a gate-VDD PMOS, a PMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, a PNP BJT, or a N-type substrate-triggered SCR.
6. The ESD protection circuit of claim 4, wherein the triggering component comprises one selected from the group consisting of: two inverters coupled in series, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NAND, and an M-input NOR coupled in series with an N-input NOR, or an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NOR, wherein the M inputs are coupled with each other, the N inputs are coupled with each other, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
7. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:a first discharging component, coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC;a second discharging component, coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC;an ESD detection circuit, comprising:a capacitor and a resistor formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line;a first triggering component, having a first positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a first negative power end coupled to the first power line; a first input of the first triggering component being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor, anda second triggering component, having a second positive power end coupled to the second power line and a second negative power end coupled to the input/output pad; a second input of the second triggering component being coupled to the node between the capacitor and the resistor;wherein the first and the second discharging components are turned off during normal power operations; the first discharging component is triggered by a first output of the first triggering component in a first ESD event, and the second discharging component is triggered by a second output of the second triggering component in a second ESD event.
8. The ESD protection circuit of claim 7, wherein the first discharging component is a gate-driven NMOS, a gate-grounded NMOS, an NMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, an NPN BJT, or a P-type substrate-triggered SCR.
9. The ESD protection circuit of claim 7, wherein the second discharging component is a gate-driven PMOS, a gate-VDD PMOS, a PMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, a PNP BJT, or a N-type substrate-triggered SCR.
10. The ESD protection circuit of claim 7, wherein the first triggering component is an inverter, an M-input NAND with all inputs coupled together, or an N-input NOR with all inputs coupled together, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
11. The ESD protection circuit of claim 7, wherein the second triggering component comprises one selected from the group consisting of: two inverters coupled in series, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NAND, and an M-input NOR coupled in series with an N-input NOR, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NOR, wherein the M inputs are coupled with each other, the N inputs are coupled with each other, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
12. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:a discharging component, coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC;a first diode coupled between the input/output pad and an ESD bus in a forward direction toward the ESD bus;a second diode coupled between the ESD bus and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the ESD bus; andan ESD detection circuit, comprising:a capacitor and a resistor formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line; anda triggering component, having a positive power end coupled to the ESD bus and a negative power end coupled to the first power line; an input of the triggering component being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor;wherein the discharging component is turned off during normal power operations, and triggered by a output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
13. The ESD protection circuit of claim 12, wherein the discharging component is a gate-driven NMOS, a gate-grounded NMOS, an NMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, an NPN BJT, or a P-type substrate-triggered SCR.
14. The ESD protection circuit of claim 12, wherein the triggering component is an inverter, an M-input NAND with all inputs coupled together, or an N-input NOR with all inputs coupled together, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
15. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:a discharging component, coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC;a first diode coupled between the input/output pad and an ESD bus in a forward direction toward the input/output pad;a second diode coupled between the ESD bus and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line; andan ESD detection circuit, comprising:a capacitor and a resistor formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line; anda triggering component, having a positive power end coupled to the first power line and a negative power end coupled to the ESD bus, an input of the triggering component being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor;wherein the discharging component is turned off during normal power operations and triggered by a output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
16. The ESD protection circuit of claim 15, wherein the discharging component is a gate-driven PMOS, a gate-VDD PMOS, a PMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, a PNP BJT, or a N-type substrate-triggered SCR.
17. The ESD protection circuit of claim 15, wherein the triggering component comprises one selected from the group consisting of: two inverters coupled in series, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NAND, and an M-input NOR coupled in series with an N-input NOR, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NOR, wherein the M inputs are coupled with each other, the N inputs are coupled with each other, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
18. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:a first discharging component, coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC;a second discharging component, coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC;a first diode coupled between the input/output pad and a first ESD bus in a forward direction toward the first ESD bus;a second diode coupled between the first ESD bus and the second power line in a forward direction toward the first ESD bus;a third diode coupled between the input/output pad and a second ESD bus in a forward direction toward the input/output pad;a fourth diode coupled between the second ESD bus and the second power line in a forward direction toward the second power line; andan ESD detection circuit, comprising:a capacitor and a resistor formed in series, and coupled between the first power line and the second power line;a first triggering component, having a first positive power end coupled to the first ESD bus and a first negative power end coupled to the first power line; a first input of the first triggering component being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor; anda second triggering component, having a second positive power end coupled to the second power line and a second negative power end coupled to the second ESD bus, a second input of the second triggering component being coupled to the node between the capacitor and the resistor;wherein the first and the second discharging components are turned off during normal power operations; the first discharging component is triggered by a first output of the first triggering component in a first ESD event, and the second discharging component is triggered by a second output of the second triggering component in a second ESD event.
19. The ESD protection circuit of claim 18, wherein the first discharging component is a gate-driven NMOS, a gate-grounded NMOS, an NMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, an NPN BJT, or a P-type substrate-triggered SCR.
20. The ESD protection circuit of claim 18, wherein the second discharging component is a gate-driven PMOS, a gate-VDD PMOS, a PMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer, a PNP BJT, or a N-type substrate-triggered SCR.
21. The ESD protection circuit of claim 18, wherein the first triggering component is an inverter, an M-input NAND with all inputs coupled together, or an N-input NOR with all inputs coupled together, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
22. The ESD protection circuit of claim 18, wherein the second triggering component comprises one selected from the group consisting of: two inverters coupled in series, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NAND, and an M-input NOR coupled in series with an N-input NOR, an M-input NAND coupled in series with an N-input NOR, wherein the M inputs are coupled with each other, the N inputs are coupled with each other, M and N are positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit. In particular, the present invention relates to an ESD protection circuit suitable for applying in an integrated circuit (IC).
As the scale of devices in ICs has become smaller, the devices have become more vulnerable to Electrostatic discharge (ESD). Hence, ESD has been one of the most important reliability issues for IC products and must be taken into consideration in the design phase of all ICs.
Besides an ESD clamp device, an ESD detection circuit is another critical component in on-chip ESD protection circuits because it highly relates to the ESD protection capability of an on-chip ESD protection circuit. The ESD detection circuit is designed to provide trigger currents to turn on the ESD clamp device when the IC product is under ESD stresses.
A variety of ESD detection circuits were proposed. FIG. 1 illustrates an ESD protection circuit for input pads proposed in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,768. Generally, ESD occurs when one pin of an IC is grounded and another pin of the IC contacts an electrostatically pre-charged object. For instance, under positive-to-VSS (PS-mode) ESD stresses, a positive ESD zapping is applied to the input pad in FIG. 1 while the VSS power rail is grounded and the VDD power rail is floating.
Under PS-mode ESD stresses, the positive ESD voltage pulse at the input pad is coupled through the capacitor 102 to the gate terminal 106 of the NMOS 104. When the coupled voltage at the gate terminal 106 of NMOS 104 is greater than the threshold voltage of NMOS 104, NMOS 104 is turned on to conduct some ESD currents from the stressed input pad to the base terminal of the parasitic NPN BJT 114 in NMOS 112, which is formed by the N+ diffusion, P-well region, and N+ diffusion.
With the trigger current injected to the base terminal of the parasitic NPN BJT 114 in NMOS 212, NMOS 212 is turned on to discharge ESD current from the input pad to VSS power rail, and the internal circuit 100 can be protected from being damaged by ESD currents.
Under negative-to-VDD (ND-mode) ESD stresses, the negative ESD zapping is applied to the input pad while the VDD power rail is grounded and the VSS power rail is floating. Under ND-mode ESD stresses, the negative ESD voltage pulse at the input pad is coupled through the capacitor 122 to the gate terminal 126 of the PMOS 124. With the coupled voltage at the gate terminal 126 of PMOS 124, PMOS 124 is turned on to conduct some ESD current from the stressed input pad to the base terminal of the parasitic PNP BJT 134 in PMOS 132, which is formed by the P+ diffusion, N-well region, and P+ diffusion. With the trigger current injected to the base terminal of the parasitic PNP BJT 134 in PMOS 132, PMOS 132 is turned on to discharge ESD current from the input pad to VDD power rail.
Under positive-to-VDD (PD-mode) ESD stresses, the positive ESD zapping is applied to the input pad while the VDD power rail is grounded and the VSS power rail is floating. Under PD-mode ESD stresses, the parasitic diode formed by the P+ drain diffusion and N-well in PMOS 132 is forward-biased to discharge ESD currents from the input pad to VDD power rail.
Under negative-to-VSS (NS-mode) ESD stresses, the negative ESD zapping is applied to the input pad while the VSS power rail is grounded and the VDD power rail is floating. Under NS-mode ESD stresses, the parasitic diode formed by the N+ drain diffusion and P-well in NMOS 112 is forward-biased to discharge ESD currents from the input pad to VSS power rail.
The same concept can be applied to ESD protection design for an output pad, which is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 1, the gate terminals of PMOS 132 and NMOS 112 are connected to VDD and VSS, respectively. However, the gate terminals of PMOS 232 and NMOS 212 are connected to the pre-driving circuit 221 in FIG. 2.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 illustrate another ESD protection design proposed in "ESD protection design in a 0.18-μm salicide CMOS technology by using substrate-triggered technique" reported by M.-D. Ker, T.-Y. Chen, and C.-Y. Wu in Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 2001, pp. 754-757.
The ESD protection circuit for an input pad is shown in FIG. 3. Under PS-mode ESD stresses, a positive ESD voltage is coupled from the input pad to the floating VDD power rail. Since the capacitor C2 is connected to the grounded VSS power rail, the gate voltage of PMOS Mp2 is initially low enough to turn on Mp2. With the drain current of Mp2 injected into the P-well region of NMOS Mn1, the parasitic NPN BJT (formed by N+ drain diffusion, P-well region, and N+ source diffusion) in Mn1 is turned on to discharge ESD current from the input pad to the VSS power rail. On the other side, under NS-mode ESD stresses, the diode formed by the P-well and N+ drain diffusion in Mn1 is forward-biased to provide ESD protection.
The ESD protection circuit for an output pad is shown in FIG. 4. The gate terminals of ESD clamp devices Mp3 and Mn3 can be driven by a pre-driving circuit. Thus, Mp3 and Mn3 can simultaneously act as an output driver and ESD protection devices. Under PS-mode ESD stresses, a positive ESD voltage is coupled from the output pad to the floating VDD power rail. Since the capacitor C3 is connected to grounded VSS power rail, the gate voltage of PMOS Mp4 is initially low enough to turn on Mp4. With the drain current of Mp4 injected into the P-well region of NMOS Mn3, the parasitic NPN BJT (formed by N+ drain diffusion, P-well region, and N+ source diffusion) in Mn3 is turned on to discharge ESD current from the output pad to the VSS power rail. On the other side, under NS-mode ESD stresses, the diode formed by the P-well and N+ drain diffusion in Mn3 is forward-biased to provide ESD protection.
With the trigger circuits for both PMOS and NMOS transistors, another ESD protection circuit for an input pad proposed in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,715 is shown in FIG. 5. The ESD detection circuit 52 is designed to provide trigger current to turn on the parasitic NPN BJT in Mn1 under PS-mode ESD stresses. Similarly, the ESD detection circuit 54 is designed to provide trigger current to turn on the parasitic PNP BJT in Mp1 under ND-mode ESD stresses.
The ESD protection design for an output pad with ESD detection circuits including both PMOS and NMOS transistors is shown in FIG. 6. The ESD detection circuit 80 is designed to provide trigger current to turn on the parasitic BJT in Mn3 under PS-mode ESD stresses. The ESD detection circuit 82 is designed to provide trigger current to turn on the parasitic BJT in Mp3 under ND-mode ESD stresses.
The invention provides several new ESD protection circuits. The first embodiment according to the invention is an ESD protection circuit including a discharging component, a diode, and an ESD detection circuit. The discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line.
The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, and a triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series between the first power line and the second power line. The triggering component has a positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a negative power end coupled to the first power line. An input of the triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor. The discharging component is turned off during normal power operations and triggered by an output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
The second embodiment according to the invention is an ESD protection circuit including a discharging component, a diode, and an ESD detection circuit. The discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the input/output pad.
The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, and a triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series between the first power line and the second power line. The triggering component has a positive power end coupled to the first power line and a negative power end coupled to the input/output pad. An input of the triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor. The discharging component is turned off during normal power operations and triggered by an output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
The third embodiment according to the invention is an ESD protection circuit including a first discharging component, a second discharging component, and an ESD detection circuit. The first discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The second discharging component is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC.
The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, a first triggering component, and a second triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series between the first power line and the second power line. The first triggering component has a first positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a first negative power end coupled to the first power line. A first input of the first triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor. The second triggering component has a second positive power end coupled to the second power line and a second negative power end coupled to the input/output pad. A second input of the second triggering component is coupled to the node between the capacitor and the resistor.
The first and the second discharging components are turned off during normal power operations. The first discharging component is triggered by a first output of the first triggering component during a first ESD event, and the second discharging component is triggered by a second output of the second triggering component during a second ESD event.
The fourth embodiment according to the invention is an ESD protection circuit including a discharging component, a first diode, a second diode, and an ESD detection circuit. The discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The first diode is coupled between the input/output pad and an ESD bus in a forward direction toward the ESD bus. The second diode is coupled between the ESD bus and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the ESD bus.
The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, and a triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series between the first power line and the second power line. The triggering component has a positive power end coupled to the ESD bus and a negative power end coupled to the first power line. An input of the triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor. The discharging component is turned off during normal power operations, and triggered by an output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
The fifth embodiment according to the invention is an ESD protection circuit including a discharging component, a first diode, a second diode, and an ESD detection circuit. The discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The first diode is coupled between the input/output pad and an ESD bus in a forward direction toward the input/output pad. The second diode is coupled between the ESD bus and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line.
The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, and a triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series between the first power line and the second power line. The triggering component has a positive power end coupled to the first power line and a negative power end coupled to the ESD bus. An input of the triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor. The discharging component is turned off during normal power operations, and triggered by an output of the triggering component in an ESD event.
The sixth embodiment according to the invention is an ESD protection circuit including a first discharging component, a second discharging component, a first diode, a second diode, a third diode, a fourth diode, and an ESD detection circuit.
The first discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The second discharging component is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC. The first diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a first ESD bus in a forward direction toward the first ESD bus. The second diode is coupled between the first ESD bus and the second power line in a forward direction toward the first ESD bus. The third diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a second ESD bus in a forward direction toward the input/output pad. The fourth diode is coupled between the second ESD bus and the second power line in a forward direction toward the second power line.
The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, a first triggering component, and a second triggering component. The first triggering component has a first positive power end coupled to the first ESD bus and a first negative power end coupled to the first power line. A first input of the first triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor. The second triggering component has a second positive power end coupled to the second power line and a second negative power end coupled to the second ESD bus. A second input of the second triggering component is coupled to the node between the capacitor and the resistor.
The first and the second discharging components are turned off during normal power operations. The first discharging component is triggered by a first output of the first triggering component during a first ESD event, and the second discharging component is triggered by a second output of the second triggering component in a second ESD event.
FIG. 1 through FIG. 6 show several traditional circuits disclosed in prior arts.
FIG. 7 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the first embodiment according to the invention.
FIG. 8 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the second embodiment according to the invention.
FIG. 9 illustrates several applicable examples of the discharging component coupled between an I/O pad and the VDD power rail.
FIG. 10 illustrates several applicable examples of the discharging component coupled between an I/O pad and the VSS power rail.
FIG. 11 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the third embodiment according to the invention.
FIG. 12 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the fourth embodiment according to the invention.
FIG. 13 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the fifth embodiment according to the invention.
FIG. 14 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the sixth embodiment according to the invention.
Please refer to FIG. 7, which illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the first embodiment according to the invention. This ESD protection circuit 70 includes a discharging component 72, a diode D1, and an ESD detection circuit 74. The discharging component 72 is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line (VSS) of the IC in which the ESD protection circuit 70 is set. The diode D1 is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line (VDD) of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line.
The ESD detection circuit 74 includes a resistor R1, a capacitor C1, and a triggering component. In this embodiment, the triggering component is an inverter labeled as INV_1. The resistor R1 and the capacitor C1 are formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line. As shown in FIG. 7, the inverter INV_1 has a positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a negative power end coupled to the first power line. The input of the inverter INV_1 is coupled to the node between the capacitor C1 and the resistor R1. The output of the inverter INV_1 is coupled to the discharging component 72.
FIG. 9 illustrates several applicable examples of the discharging component 72. In actual applications, the discharging component 72 can be a gate-driven NMOS in FIG. 9(A), an NPN BJT in FIG. 9(B), a gate-grounded NMOS in FIG. 9(C), a P-type substrate-triggered SCR in FIG. 9(D), or an NMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer in FIG. 9(E).
During normal power operations of the internal circuits 100, the discharging component 72 is turned off. Under PD-mode ESD stresses, the diode D1 is forward-biased to discharge ESD currents from the input/output pad to the second power line. Under PS-mode ESD stresses, the RC-delay caused by R1 and C1 turns on the PMOS in the inverter INV_1. Thus, the discharging component 72 can be turned on by the output current of output voltage of INV_1. Thereby, the ESD current is discharged from the input/output pad to the first power line, and the internal circuit 100 can be protected from being damaged by ESD.
In actual applications, the triggering component can also be an M-input NAND with all inputs coupled together or an N-input NOR with all inputs coupled together, wherein M and N are both positive integers larger than 1, respectively.
Please refer to FIG. 8, which illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the second embodiment according to the invention. This ESD protection circuit 80 includes a discharging component 82, a diode, and an ESD detection circuit 84. The discharging component 82 is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line (VDD) of an IC. The diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line (VSS) of the IC in a forward direction toward the input/output pad.
The ESD detection circuit 84 includes a capacitor C1, a resistor R1, and a triggering component. In this embodiment, the triggering component is composed of two inverters, INV_2 and INV_3, coupled in series. The capacitor C1 and resistor R1 are formed in series between the first power line and the second power line. As shown in FIG. 8, the inverters respectively have a positive power end coupled to the first power line and a negative power end coupled to the input/output pad. Besides, the input of the inverter INV_3 is coupled to the node between the capacitor C1 and resistor R1.
FIG. 10 illustrates several applicable examples of the discharging component 82. In actual applications, the discharging component 82 can be a gate-driven PMOS in FIG. 10(A), a PNP BJT in FIG. 10(B), a gate-VDD PMOS in FIG. 10(C), a N-type substrate-triggered SCR in FIG. 10(D), or a PMOS with its gate terminal coupled to a pre-buffer in FIG. 10(E).
During normal power operations of the internal circuits 100, the discharging component 82 is turned off. Under NS-mode ESD stresses, the diode D1 is forward-biased to discharge ESD currents from the second power line to the input/output pad. On the other side, under ND-mode ESD stresses, the RC-delay of R1 and C1 turns on the PMOS of the inverter INV_3 and the NMOS of the inverter INV_2. Therefore, the discharging component 82 between the first power line and the input/output pad can be turned on by the output current or output voltage of the inverter INV_2.
In actual applications, the two inverters, INV_2 and INV_3, can be replaced by an M-input NAND plus an N-input NAND, an M-input NOR plus an N-input NOR, or an M-input NAND plus an N-input NOR. M and N are both positive integers larger than 1, respectively. According to the invention, the M or N inputs of the devices are coupled with each other.
Please refer to FIG. 11, which illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the third embodiment according to the invention. In this embodiment, the circuits in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are combined to cope with all ESD conditions (PD-mode, PS-mode, ND-mode, and NS-mode).
As shown in FIG. 11, the ESD protection circuit 110 includes a first discharging component 92, a second discharging component 94, and an ESD detection circuit 96. The first discharging component 92 is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line (VSS) of an IC. The second discharging component 94 is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line (VDD) of the IC.
The ESD detection circuit 96 includes a capacitor C1, a resistor R1, and three inverters. The first inverter INV_1 has a first positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a first negative power end coupled to the first power line. The input of the first inverter INV_1 is coupled to the node between the capacitor and the resistor. The second inverter INV_2 and the third inverter INV_3 respectively have a positive power end coupled to the second power line and a negative power end coupled to the input/output pad.
The first discharging component 92 can be one of the devices shown in FIG. 9; the second discharging component 94 can be one of the devices shown in FIG. 10. During normal power operations of the internal circuits 100, the first discharging component 92 and the second discharging component 94 are turned off. As described in the aforementioned embodiments, the three inverters are used for turning on the discharging components 92 and 94 in the ESD events.
Under PS-mode ESD stresses, the RC-delay of R1 and C1 turns on the PMOS in inverter INV_1 to turn on the first discharging component 92. Under ND-mode ESD stresses, the RC-delay of R1 and C1 turns on the PMOS in inverter INV_3 and the NMOS in inverter INV_2 to turn on the second discharging component 94. Under PD-mode ESD stresses, ESD currents can be conducted through the diode formed by the second discharging component 94. Under NS-mode ESD stresses, ESD currents can be conducted through the diode formed by the first discharging component 92.
For ESD protection of an output pad, the gate terminals of the MOSs in the inverters can be connected to a pre-buffer and act as a part of the output buffer. Besides, each inverter in this embodiment can be replaced by NAND or NOR with all inputs connected together.
FIG. 12 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the fourth embodiment according to the invention. In this embodiment, an ESD bus (ESD_Bus_1) is added between the VDD power rail and the input/output pad. With ESD_Bus_1, the coupling effects at VDD can be reduced when there is overshoot at the input/output pad. Further, in this embodiment, the power ends of the inverter INV_1 is connected to ESD_Bus_1 and VSS, so the parasitic effects of INV_1 are not contributed to the input/output pad. Thus, with ESD_Bus_1, this design is more suitable for analog or high-frequency applications.
As shown in FIG. 12, a diode D2 is coupled between ESD_Bus_1 and the VDD power rail in a forward direction toward ESD_Bus_1. The function of this diode is to prevent coupling from ESD_Bus_1 to VDD. The operations of the inverter INV_1, the discharging component 12A, the diode D1, the capacitor C1, and the resistor R1 are similar to those in the first embodiment above and not described again herein.
FIG. 13 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the fifth embodiment according to the invention. In this embodiment, an ESD bus (ESD Bus 2) is added between the VSS power rail and the input/output pad. With ESD_Bus_2, the coupling effects at VSS can be reduced when there is undershoot at the input/output pad. Besides, the inverters, INV_2 and INV_3, are connected between VDD and ESD_Bus_2, so the parasitic effects of the inverters are not contributed to the input/output pad.
As shown in FIG. 13, a diode D3 is coupled between ESD_Bus_2 and the VSS power rail in a forward direction toward ESD_Bus_2. The function of this diode is to prevent coupling from ESD_Bus_2 to VSS. The operations of the inverters, the discharging component 13A, the diode D2, the capacitor C1, and the resistor R1 are similar to those in the second embodiment above and not described again herein.
FIG. 14 illustrates the ESD protection circuit in the sixth embodiment according to the invention. In this embodiment, an ESD bus (ESD_Bus_1) is added between the VDD power rail and the input/output pad, and another ESD bus (ESD_Bus_2) is added between the VSS power rail and the input/output pad. With the two buses, the coupling effects induced by overshoot or undershoot at the I/O pad are reduced.
The operations of the inverters (INV_1˜INV_3), the discharging components (14A and 14B), the diodes (D1˜D4), the capacitor C1, and the resistor R1 are similar to those in the embodiments above and not described again herein. Similarly, each of the inverters in FIG. 12˜FIG. 14 can respectively be replaced by NAND or NOR with all inputs connected together.
In this invention, several new ESD detection circuits are proposed. The circuits can effectively provide trigger current to turn on discharging components when an integrated circuit is under ESD stresses. Furthermore, the proposed ESD bus in this invention can reduce the coupling effects between input/output pads and VDD or VSS power rails when there is overshoot or undershoot at input/output pads. | 2019-04-24T06:20:12Z | http://www.patentsencyclopedia.com/app/20090021872 |
目的是提供一种提高放电能量向可见光的变换效率和板的亮度、同时尽可能改善色纯度的气体放电板。 Object is to provide an improved discharge energy conversion efficiency to visible light and the luminance of the panel, while improving color purity as a gas discharge panel. 为此，在气体放电板中，将气体介质的封入压力设定为比以往高的101.32～266.64kPa的范围。 For this reason, in the gas discharge panel, the pressure of the gas enclosed medium is set to a range higher than the conventional 101.32 ~ 266.64kPa. 另外，对封入的气体介质，代替现有的气体组成而采用含有氦、氖、氙、氩的稀有气体混合物，并最好是使氙的含量在5体积%以下、氩的含量在0.5体积%以下、氦的含量小于55体积%，从而可以使发光效率提高，同时能降低放电电压。 In addition, enclosed gaseous medium, in place of the conventional composition of a gas containing a rare gas as helium, neon, xenon, argon mixtures, and the content of xenon is preferably 5% by volume, the content of argon at 0.5% by volume hereinafter, the helium content of less than 55% by volume, so can improve the luminous efficiency, while reducing the discharge voltage. 此外，如果采用将显示电极和地址电极隔着电介质层层叠在正面板或背面板的任何一个的表面上的结构，则即使在封入压力高的情况下，也能以较低的电压进行寻址。 Further, if the display electrode and the address electrode via a dielectric layer on a surface of any positive or rear panel of the structure, even at a high gas pressure is, addressing is performed at a relatively low voltage .
本发明涉及气体放电板及气体发光器件之类的气体放电管，尤其是用于高清晰度的等离子显示板。 The present invention relates to gas in the gas discharge panel and a gas discharge light emitting device or the like, particularly for high-definition plasma display panel.
近年来，由于对以高清晰度电视为代表的高品位大屏幕电视机的需求日益迫切，在CRT、液晶显示器(以下，简称LCD)、等离子显示板(Plasma Display Panel，以下简称PDP)等各种显示器的领域内，正进行着适用于这种电视机的显示器的开发。 In recent years, the demand for high-definition television as the representative high-quality large-screen TV increasingly urgent, in CRT, liquid crystal display (hereinafter abbreviated LCD), a plasma display panel (Plasma Display Panel, hereinafter referred to as PDP) and other in the field of display types, we are engaged in the television monitor suitable for this development.
以往作为电视机显示器而广为采用着的CRT，在析象度和画质方面优良，但因其进深尺寸和重量随屏幕的增大而增加，所以不适用于40英寸以上的大屏幕。 As a conventional television display and the CRT of the widely adopted, excellent in the resolution and picture quality, but because the depth size and weight increases with the increase in the screen, it is not available for 40-inch large screen. 而LCD虽然具有耗电少、驱动电压也低等优良的性能，可是制作大屏幕却存在着技术上的困难，视场角也受到限制。 Although the LCD has low power consumption, low driving voltage but also excellent performance, but making a large screen, but there are technical difficulties, the viewing angle is limited.
与此不同，PDP，即使在进深尺寸薄的情况下也能实现大屏幕，并已开发出50英寸级的产品。 In contrast, PDP, even when thin depth dimension can achieve the big screen, and has developed 50 inches class products.
PDP，大致可分为直流型(DC型)和交流型(AC型)，但目前适于大型化的AC型正成为主流。 The PDP, can be divided into direct current type (DC type) and alternating current type (AC type), but adapted to the size of the AC-type is becoming the mainstream.
一般的交流表面放电型PDP，其正面板和背面板隔着间壁平行配置，在以间壁分隔出的放电空间内封入放电气体。 A general AC surface discharge type the PDP, the front panel and a rear panel which via partition walls arranged in parallel, in order to discharge gas sealed in the discharge space partitioned by the partition wall. 并且，在正面板上设有显示电极，在电极上覆盖由铅玻璃构成的电介质层。 Further, the front plate is provided with display electrodes covered with a dielectric layer made of lead glass on the electrode. 在背面板上，设置着地址电极和间壁、及由红、绿或蓝的紫外线激励荧光体构成的荧光体层。 In the rear panel, and the partition is provided with address electrodes, and a phosphor layer is a phosphor excited by red, green, blue or ultraviolet light.
作为放电气体的组成，一般采用氦[He]和氙[Xe]的混合气体系列或氖[Ne]和氙[Xe]的混合气体系列，考虑到将放电电压抑制在250V以下，其封入压力通常设定在13.33～66.66kPa左右的范围内(例如，可参照：M.Nobrio，T.Yoshioka，Y.Sano，K.Nunomura，SID94′Digest727～730，1994)。 As the composition of a discharge gas, generally mixed gases series or helium neon [of He] and xenon [Xe] to [Ne] and xenon [Xe] mixed gas series, taking into account the discharge voltage is suppressed to 250V or less, which is enclosed pressure is generally is set in a range of about 13.33 ~ 66.66kPa (for example, refer to: M.Nobrio, T.Yoshioka, Y.Sano, K.Nunomura, SID94'Digest727 ~ 730,1994).
PDP的发光原理与荧光灯基本相同，即通过对电极施加电压而发生辉光放电，从Xe产生紫外线并使荧光体激励发光，但因放电能量向紫外线的变换效率及荧光体的向可见光的变换效率低，所以很难获得像荧光灯那样高的亮度。 The PDP emitting the fluorescent lamp is basically the same principle, i.e. a glow discharge by applying a voltage to the electrode occurs, and ultraviolet rays are generated from the Xe light emitting phosphor excited, but the conversion efficiency of discharge energy into visible light to ultraviolet light and conversion efficiency of the phosphor low, it is difficult to obtain as high as fluorescent brightness.
关于这一点，在应用物理Vol.51，No.3 1982年第344～347页，记载着：在气体组成为He-Xe、Ne-Xe系列的PDP中只有大约2％的电能应用于紫外线发射，最终应用于可见光的的电能也只有0.2％左右(可参照：光学技术通讯Vol.34，No.1 1996年第25页；FLAT PANEL DISPLAY(平板显示器)96′Part5-3；NHK技术研究第31卷第1号昭和54年第18页)在这样的背景条件下，期望着开发出在以PDP为代表的放电板中通过提高发光效率而在实现高亮度的同时降低放电电压的技术。 In this regard, in Applied Physics Vol.51, No.3 1982 Year 344 ~ 347, recorded: the gas composition of He-Xe, Ne-Xe PDP series of only about 2% of the energy applied to the ultraviolet emission , applied to the final energy of visible light is only about 0.2% (may refer to: the optical communication technology Vol.34, No.1, 1996 25; fLAT PANEL dISPLAY (flat panel display) 96'Part5-3; NHK techniques Study 31, No. 1, 1979, page 18) in this background, it is desirable to reduce the development of the discharge voltage while achieving high luminance discharge panel PDP represented in the art by increasing the light emission efficiency.
从显示器的市场观察也存在着这种需求。 Market Watch monitors also exist from this demand. 例如，在当前的用于40～42英寸级电视机的PDP中，在NTSC象素电平(象素640×480个、单元间距0.43mm×1.29mm、1个单元的面积0.55mm2)的情况下，可以得到1.21lm/w和400cd/m2左右的板效率和屏面亮度(例如，FLAT-PANELDISPLAY 1997 Part5-1 P198)。 For example, in the current PDP for a 40 to 42-inch class television, in a case where the pixel NTSC level (of 640 × 480 pixels, cell pitch 0.43mm × 1.29mm, 1-unit area of 0.55mm2) of under can be obtained / w and the panel efficiency and the panel brightness of about 400cd / m2 1.21lm (e.g., FLAT-PANELDISPLAY 1997 Part5-1 P198).
与此不同，在近年来所期待着的全规格42英寸级的高清晰度电视机中，象素数为1920×1125、单元间距为0.15mm×0.48mm。 On the other hand, in recent years looking forward to full size 42 inches class high definition television set, the number of pixels of 1920 × 1125, for the cell pitch 0.15mm × 0.48mm. 在这种情况下，1个单元的面积为0.072mm2，与NTSC的情况相比，仅相当于其1/7～1/8。 In this case, the area of a cell is 0.072mm2, compared with the case of NTSC, which is equivalent to only 1/7 - 1/8. 因此，可以预计到，当以过去的单元结构制作用于42英寸高清晰度电视机的PDP时，其板效率为0.15～0.17lm/w，而屏面亮度将降低到50～60cd/m2左右。 Thus, it can be expected that when a cell structure in the past for making PDP 42 inch high-definition TV, which plate efficiency 0.15 ~ 0.17lm / w, and the screen brightness will be reduced to approximately 50 ~ 60cd / m2 .
因此，在用于42英寸高清晰度电视机的PDP中，如果想要获得与现行的NTSC的CRT同样的亮度(500cd/m2)，则必需将效率提高到10倍以上(5lm/w以上)(例如，可参照「平板显示器1997第5-1部分第200页」)。 Accordingly, in the PDP 42 inches for high definition television, if you want to obtain the same luminance of the current NTSC CRT (500cd / m2), it is necessary to increase the efficiency to more than 10 times (5lm / w or more) (for example, refer to "flat panel display 1997 5-1 section 200").
另外，在PDP中为获得良好的画质，不仅要提高亮度而且需要改善色纯度从而调整白色平衡，也是重要的。 In addition, in the PDP in order to obtain good quality, not only to improve the brightness and color purity needs to be improved so as to adjust the white balance it is also important.
针对上述提高发光效率及提高色纯度这样的课题，已进行着各种各样的研究和发明。 For improving the above-described light emission efficiency and improvement in color purity of such a problem, various studies have been made and the disclosure.
例如，作为在放电气体组成上的研究尝试，在特公平5-51133号公报中，公开了一种采用氩(Ar)-氖[Ne]-氙[Xe]的3成分混合气体的发明。 For example, studies have attempted to the discharge gas composition in KOKOKU Publication No. 5-51133 discloses a method using argon (Ar) - Ne [Ne] - Xenon [Xe] 3 component of the gas mixture of the invention.
通过引入上述的氩，虽可减少从氖发出的可见光从而改善色纯度，但对发光效率不能期望有多么大的提高。 By introducing the above-described Ar, it can be reduced although the visible light emitted from neon to improve color purity, luminous efficiency can not be expected but for how greatly improved.
另外，在专利2616538号中，公开了采用氦[He]-氖[Ne]-氙[Xe]的3成分混合气体。 Further, in Patent No. 2,616,538, disclose the use of helium [of He] - a mixed gas of xenon [Xe] The three components - Ne [Ne].
按这种方式得到的发光效率，与氦[He]--氙[Xe]或氖[Ne]-氙[Xe]的2成分气体的情况相比虽有提高，但在NTSC的象素电平下仅为1lm/w左右，所以期望着开发能够使发光效率进一步提高的技术。 Luminous efficiency obtained in this way, and helium [He] - Xenon [Xe] or neon [Ne] - where xenon [Xe] 2 composition of the gas as compared to the improved but the pixel level of NTSC at only about 1lm / w, it can be desirable to develop a light-emitting efficiency is further improved technique.
本发明，是在这种背景之下进行开发的，其主要目的是提供能够提高板的亮度及放电能量向可见光的变换效率、同时能获得色纯度良好的发光的以PDP为代表的气体放电板。 The present invention is developed in this context, the main purpose is to provide a conversion efficiency can be improved brightness and discharge energy to visible light plate, while good color purity can be obtained in the light emitting PDP represented gas discharge panel .
为达到上述目的，根据本发明的一种气体放电板，在相对设置的一对板之间，形成封入了气体介质的放电空间，同时在上述一对板的相对的面的至少一个面上设置电极和荧光体层，随着放电而产生紫外线并由上述荧光体层变换为可见光从而发光，该气体放电板的特征在于：上述气体介质，是含有氦、氖、氙、氩的稀有气体混合物；在上述气体介质中含有5体积％以下的氙、小于5 5体积％的氦，0.5体积％以下的氩；上述气体介质的封入压力为101.32～266.64kPa。 To achieve the above object, according to a gas discharge panel according to the present invention, between a pair of opposed plates arranged to form a discharge space enclosed gaseous medium, while at least disposed at opposite surfaces of the pair of plates face one electrode and the phosphor layer with ultraviolet rays generated by discharge the phosphor layer to emit light is converted into visible light, characterized in that the gas discharge panel wherein: the gaseous medium, containing helium, neon, xenon, argon rare gas mixture; xenon in the gas containing 5 vol% or less of the medium, it is less than 55% by volume of helium, argon, 0.5 vol%; gas pressure of the enclosed medium is 101.32 ~ 266.64kPa.
采用这种结构提高发光效率的主要原因如下。 The main reason for such a configuration as to improve light emission efficiency.
在现有的PDP中，气体介质的封入压力，通常小于66.66kPa，随放电而产生的紫外线中，大部分是谐振线(中心波长147nm)。 In the conventional PDP, the pressure of the gas enclosed medium is, typically less than 66.66kPa, with ultraviolet rays generated by the discharge, most resonant line (center wavelength 147nm).
与此不同，如上所述，当封入压力高时(即，在放电空间内封入的原子数多时)，分子线(中心波长154nm、172nm)所占的比例增多。 Unlike this, as described above, when the high filling pressure (i.e., sealed in the discharge space is large atoms), an increase in the proportion of molecular lines (center wavelength 154nm, 172nm) occupied. 这里，与谐振线存在着自身吸收不同，分子线几乎没有自身吸收现象，所以照射在荧光体层上的紫外线的量增多，因而使亮度及发光效率提高。 Here, the self-absorption of resonant lines exist different molecular wires almost no absorption phenomenon itself, so increasing the amount of ultraviolet irradiation on the phosphor layer, to improve the brightness and thus the light emission efficiency.
另外，在通常的荧光体中，从紫外线到可见光的变换效率，在长波长一侧有增大的趋势，这也可以说是亮度及发光效率提高的原因。 Further, in the conventional phosphor, the conversion efficiency from ultraviolet to visible light in the long wavelength side tends to increase, which may be the cause of said luminance and luminous efficiency is improved.
可是，在气体放电板中，在气体介质内一般含有氖[Ne]或氙[Xe]，当封入压力较低时，很容易发生因来自氖[Ne]的可见光而使色纯度恶化的问题，与此不同，在像本发明这样的封入压力高的情况下，由于来自氖[Ne]的可见光大部分在等离子体内部被吸收，所以很难向外部射出。 However, the gas discharge panel, typically in the gaseous medium containing neon [Ne] xenon or [Xe], when the filling pressure is low, it is prone to problems resulting from neon [Ne] visible deterioration of the color purity, on the other hand, in the case of the present invention, such as a high pressure sealed, since most of the visible light from the neon [Ne] is absorbed in the interior of the plasma, is emitted to the outside is difficult. 因此，与现有的PDP相比，色纯度也可以得到改善。 Accordingly, the PDP compared with the conventional, color purity can be improved.
另外，在现有的PDP中，放电形态为第1型辉光放电，但如设定为像本发明这样的106.65～533.28kPa的高压，则可以预计到很容易发生条形辉光放电或第2型辉光放电。 Further, in the conventional PDP, discharge to form the first glow discharge, but if a high pressure is set to 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa such as in the present invention, it can be expected to occur easily glow discharge or the second bar 2 type glow discharge. 因此，由此可以使放电的阳极光柱上的电子密度提高，因而能集中地供给能量，所以也可以使紫外线的发光量增加。 Accordingly, whereby the electron density in positive column discharge is increased, and thus the energy can be supplied intensively, it may be that the amount of the ultraviolet light emission increases.
进一步，由于封入压力超过大气压(101.32kPa)，因而还具有防止大气中的杂质侵入PDP中的效果。 Further, since the pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure is sealed (101.32kPa), which also has the effect of preventing intrusion of impurities in the air in the PDP.
在106.65～533.28kPa的封入压力范围中，从106.65～133.32kPa、106.65～186.65kPa、186.65～366.64kPa、266.64～533.28kPa的各个范围，也可以看到如实施形态中说明的特征。 In the filling pressure in the range 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa from 106.65 ~ 133.32kPa, 106.65 ~ 186.65kPa, 186.65 ~ 366.64kPa, each range 266.64 ~ 533.28kPa also be seen as the embodiment described aspect features.
另外，对所封入的气体介质，如代替以往的氖-氙或氦-氙的气体组成而采用由氦、氖、氙、氩组成的4成分稀有气体混合物作为气体介质，则即使氙的量较少也能获得高的亮度和高的发光效率。 The use of a rare gas mixture 4 component consisting of helium, neon, xenon, argon consisting of a gaseous medium xenon gas composition, even if xenon amount than - In addition, the gaseous medium is enclosed, as instead of conventional neon - xenon or helium less can be obtained a high luminance and a high luminous efficiency. 即，可以得到放电电压低而发光效率高的PDP。 That is, a low discharge voltage can be obtained and high light emission efficiency PDP.
这里，为了降低放电电压，最好是使氙的含量在5体积％以下、氩的含量在0.5体积％以下、氦的含量小于55体积％。 Here, in order to reduce the discharge voltage, it is preferable that the content of xenon is 5% by volume, the content of argon at 0.5% by volume, of helium under 55% by volume.
并且，如以106.65～533.28kPa的高压封入上述4成分气体介质，则在抑制放电电压升高的同时能有效地提高亮度及发光效率。 And, at high pressure such as 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa the four components enclosed gaseous medium, is effective to improve the brightness and luminous efficiency while suppressing an increase in the discharge voltage.
另外，当放电板的结构为使显示电极和地址电极隔着放电空间相对配置时，如将封入压力设定为高压，则寻址时的电压也存在变高的倾向，但如果采用将显示电极和地址电极隔着电介质层层叠在正面板或背面板的任何一个的表面上的结构，则即使在封入压力高的情况下，也能以较低的电压进行寻址。 Further, when the structure is that the discharge panel display electrode and the address electrode facing the discharge space disposed therebetween, the filling pressure is set to such a high pressure, the addressing voltage also tends to become high, but if the display electrode and the address electrode via a dielectric layer on a surface of any positive or rear panel of the structure, even at a high gas pressure is, addressing is performed at a lower voltage.
另外，根据本发明的一种显示装置包括上述本发明的气体放电板，和对所述气体放电板的电极施加电压而驱动该气体放电板的驱动电路。 Further, the driving circuit of the voltage applied to the gas discharge panel according to the present invention comprises a gas discharge panel display apparatus of the present invention, and an electrode of the gas discharge panel.
图1是实施形态1的对置交流放电型PDP的简略断面图。 FIG 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the embodiment opposed-discharge type AC PDP 1.
图2是在形成上述PDP的保护层时采用的CVD装置的简图。 Schematic view of a CVD apparatus employed in the Figure 2 is the protective layer of the PDP is formed.
图3是在MgO保护层上形成棱锥状微细凹凸的等离子蚀刻装置的简图。 FIG 3 is a schematic view of a plasma etching apparatus is formed pyramid-like fine irregularities on the MgO protective layer.
图4是表示瞬态辉光、弧光转移的电流波形的曲线图。 FIG 4 is a graph showing the transient glow transferred arc current waveform.
图5是表示封入压力变化时的紫外线波长与发光量的关系的特性图。 FIG 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of light emission in the ultraviolet wavelength when the enclosed pressure changes.
图6是表示Xe的能级和各种反应路径的图。 FIG 6 is a diagram illustrating the energy levels and various reactive path of Xe.
图7是表示放电气体压力与谐振线、分子线、及总紫外线的关系的特性图。 FIG 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the discharge gas pressure and the resonance lines and molecular lines, and the total ultraviolet light.
图8是表示对各色荧光体的激励波长与相对发射效率的关系的特性图。 FIG 8 is a graph showing the relationship between the excitation wavelength of the phosphor of each color and relative emission efficiency.
图9是表示实验1的结果的曲线图及图表。 9 is a graph showing the results of Experiment 1 and the graph.
图10是表示实验2的结果的曲线图图11是表示实验3的结果的曲线图及图表。 FIG 10 is a graph of experimental results of FIG. 2 FIG. 11 is a graph and a graph of the results of Experiment 3.
图12是表示实验4的结果的曲线图图13是实施形态2的交流表面放电型PDP的简略断面图。 FIG 12 is a graph of the experimental results of FIG. 4 FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the AC surface discharge type PDP morphology of 2.
图14是实施形态2的交流表面放电型PDP的简略断面图。 FIG 14 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the AC surface discharge type PDP morphology of 2.
以下，说明本发明的实施形态。 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention.
(实施形态1)(PDP的总体结构及制法)图1是简略表示本实施形态的交流表面放电型PDP的斜视图。 (Embodiment 1) (PDP manufacturing method and of the overall structure) FIG 1 is a schematic showing the present embodiment of the AC surface discharge type PDP in a perspective view.
该PDP，在结构上使在正面玻璃衬底11上设有显示电极(放电电极)12a和12b、电介质层13、保护层14的正面板10及在背面玻璃衬底21上设有地址电极22、电介质层23的背面板20在使显示电极12a、12b与地址电极22对置的状态下按一定间隔相互平行配置。 That the PDP, provided that the display electrodes (discharge electrodes) 12a and 12b, dielectric layer 13, protective layer 14 of front panel 10 and the address electrodes 22 provided on the back glass substrate 21 on the front glass substrate 11 in the structure , the dielectric layer 20 in the back plate 23 of the display electrodes 12a arranged in parallel to each other at an interval 22 and 12b face each address electrode. 并且，正面板10与背面板20的间隙，通过以条带状的间壁30进行分隔而形成放电空间40，并在该放电空间40内封入放电气体。 Further, the front plate and the back plate 20 a gap 10, and the discharge space is formed by the partition 40 to partition 30 of the strip, and a discharge gas filled in the discharge space 40.
另外，在该放电空间40内，在背面板20侧设置着荧光层31。 Further, in the discharge space 40, the side of the back plate 20 is provided with the phosphor layer 31. 该荧光层31按红、绿、蓝的顺序反复排列。 The phosphor layer 31 sequence of red, green, and blue repeatedly arrayed.
显示电极12a、12b及地址电极22，都是条带状的银电极，显示电极12a、12b沿着与间壁30正交的方向配置，地址电极22与间壁30平行配置。 Display electrodes 12a, 12b and the address electrode 22, strip-shaped silver electrodes are stripe display electrodes 12a, 12b are arranged along a direction perpendicular to the partition wall 30, address electrodes 22 disposed parallel to the partition wall 30.
并且，构成在显示电极12a、12b与地址电极22的交叉处形成发射红、绿、蓝各色光的单元的放电板结构。 And constituting the display electrodes 12a, 12b are formed at the intersection of the address electrodes 22 emitting red, green, and blue discharge cell plate structure color light.
电介质层13，是厚度为20μm左右的由铅玻璃等构成的层，配置成使其覆盖正面玻璃衬底11的设有显示电极12的整个表面。 Dielectric layer 13, a thickness of a layer of lead glass or the like of the right and left of 20 m, arranged so as to cover the front side of the glass substrate 11 provided with the entire surface of the display electrode 12.
保护层14，是由氧化镁(MgO)构成的薄层，覆盖着电介质层13的整个表面。 The protective layer 14 is a thin layer made of magnesium oxide (MgO), cover the entire surface of the dielectric layer 13.
间壁30，在背面板20的电介质层23的表面上突起设置。 Partition 30, the projection is provided on a surface of the dielectric layer 23 of the rear plate 20.
在驱动该PDP时，采用驱动电路在要点亮的单元的显示电极12a与显示电极22之间施加电压而进行定址放电，然后，在显示电极12a、12b之间施加脉冲电压而进行持续放电，从而发出紫外线光，并通过由荧光体层31将其变换为可见光，使该单元发光。 When the driving the PDP, the driver circuit of the display electrode 12a and the cell to be lit for address discharge voltage is applied between the display electrode 22, and the display electrodes 12a, 12b between the pulse voltage is applied to perform sustain discharge, to emit UV light, and by 31 converts the visible light by the phosphor layer, so that the light emitting unit.
具有上述结构的PDP，按如下方法制作。 PDP having the above structure, the following production method.
正面板的制作：正面板10的制作方法是，在正面玻璃衬底11上形成显示电极12，从显示电极12之上涂敷铅基玻璃并经烧结而形成电介质层13，进一步，在电介质层13的表面上形成保护层14，并在保护层14的表面上形成微细的凹凸。 It makes the panel: the front panel 10 is the manufacturing method, display electrodes 12 are formed on the front glass substrate 11, coated on the electrode 12 from the display and a lead-based glass dielectric layer 13 is formed by sintering, further, the dielectric layer the protective layer 14 is formed on the surface 13, and form fine irregularities on the surface of the protective layer 14.
显示电极12，采用通过网板印刷涂敷银电极用膏剂后进行烧结的方法形成。 Display electrodes 12, the method of sintering applied by screen printing a silver paste electrode after forming.
铅基电介质层13的组成为70重量％的氧化铅[PbO]、15重量％的氧化硼[B2O3]、15重量％的氧化硅[SiO2]，通过网板印刷法和烧结形成。 Composition of the lead-based dielectric layer 13 is 70% by weight of lead oxide [PbO], 15% by weight of boron oxide [B2O3], 15% by weight of silica [SiO2], is formed by screen printing and sintering. 具体地说，以网板印刷法涂敷与有机粘合剂(将10％的乙基纤维素溶解在α-萜品醇内制成)混合而成的组成物，然后在580°下烘烧10分钟形成，其膜厚设定为20μm。 Specifically, applied by screen printing method with an organic binder (10% ethyl cellulose dissolved in terpineol α- made) are mixed composition, and then firing at 580 ° 10 minutes is formed, the thickness thereof is set to 20μm.
保护层14，由碱土族氧化物(这里是氧化镁[MgO])构成，是具有面取向或面取向的精细结晶结构的膜，在其表面上形成具有微细凹凸的结构。 The protective layer 14, made alkaline earth oxide (here magnesium oxide [of MgO]) configuration, having a orientation or film surface plane orientation of the fine crystal structure, a structure having fine irregularities on the surface thereof . 在本实施形态中，采用CVD法(热CVD法、等离子CVD法)形成这种由面或面取向的MgO构成的保护膜，然后用等离子蚀刻法在其表面上形成凹凸。 In the present embodiment, the formation of such a protective film made of MgO plane or the plane orientation of the CVD method (thermal CVD method, plasma CVD method), then forming irregularities on the surface thereof by a plasma etching method . 关于保护层14的形成方法及其表面上的凹凸形成方法，将在后文中详细说明。 The method of forming irregularities on its surface protective layer 14 on the forming method will be described later in detail.
背面板的制作：利用在背面玻璃衬底21上通过网板印刷涂敷银电极用膏剂后进行烧结的方法形成显示电极22，与正面板10的情况一样，通过网板印刷法和烧结在其上形成由铅基玻璃构成的电介质层23。 Making back panel: the use in the method of the back glass substrate 21 on the sintering is applied by screen printing a silver paste electrode after forming the display electrode 22, and the case where the front panel 10, as by screen printing and sintering thereof It is formed on the dielectric layer 23 made of lead-based glass. 接着，按规定的间距固定玻璃制间壁30。 Next, predetermined fixed pitch partition 30 made of glass. 然后，在以间壁30分隔出的各个空间内涂布红色荧光体、绿色荧光体、蓝色荧光体中的一种并经烧结而形成荧光体层31。 Then, in each space partitioned by the partition wall 30 is applied to a red phosphor, a green phosphor, a blue phosphor and 31 and sintered to form a phosphor layer. 作为各色的荧光体，可以采用通常在PDP中使用的荧光体，但这里也可以采用下列的荧光体。 As each color phosphor, the phosphor may be used in a PDP is generally used, but here the following phosphors may be used.
绿色荧光体： BaAl12O19：Mn蓝色荧光体： BaMgAl14O23：Eu2+粘结板形式的PDP制作：接着，用密封用玻璃将按如上方式制成的正面板和背面板粘结在一起，同时将以间壁25分隔出的放电空间30内抽成高真空(1.06×10-7kPa)，然后按规定压力封入规定组成的放电气体，从而制作PDP。 Green phosphor: BaAl12O19: Mn Blue phosphor: BaMgAl14O23: Eu2 + bonding plate of the PDP of production: Next, the sealing glass will be positive and back panels made of bonded together in a manner as described above, while the partition will pumping out the partition 25 discharge space 30 into a high vacuum (1.06 × 10-7kPa), according to predetermined pressure and then sealed discharge gas of predetermined composition, thereby producing PDP.
(关于放电气体的压力及组成)放电气体的封入压力，设定为超过大气压(101.32kPa)的106.65～533.28kPa的范围，该范围高于以往的一般封入压力。 (On the pressure and composition of the discharge gas) filled discharge gas pressure is set in the range of more than atmospheric pressure (101.32kPa) of 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa This range is generally higher than the conventional pressure sealed. 由此，与以往相比可以提高亮度及发光效率。 Thus, the conventional luminance and luminous efficiency can be improved compared.
在本实施形态中，为能以高压封入放电气体，在将板粘结在一起时，不仅在正面板和背面板的外周部而且在间壁25上也要涂布密封用玻璃，然后将其贴合并进行烧结(有关细节可参照申请号：平9-344636的日本专利)。 In the present embodiment, is capable of a high-pressure discharge gas is filled, when the plates are bonded together, not only in the outer peripheral portion of the front panel and the rear plate but also on a partition wall 25 coated with the sealing glass, and then paste the combined sintering (for details may refer to application number: Japanese Patent No. 9-344636 flat). 因此，即使以533.28kPa左右的高压封入气体，也能制成有足够耐压强度的PDP。 Thus, even if a high-pressure gas sealed about 533.28kPa, a sufficient compressive strength can also be made of PDP.
作为封入的放电气体，为能提高发光效率和降低放电电压，最好采用含有氦[He]、氖[Ne]、氙[Xe]、氩[Ar]的稀有气体混合物，以取代以往的氦-氙系列或氖-氙系列的气体组成。 As the discharge gas sealed, and the emission efficiency can be improved to reduce the discharge voltage, comprising helium is preferably used [of He], neon [Ne], xenon [Xe], argon [Ar] is a rare gas mixture, instead of a conventional helium - neon or xenon series - series of xenon gas composition.
这里，最好是使氙的含量在5体积％以下、氩的含量在0.5体积％以下、氦的含量小于55体积％，作为气体组成的具体例，可举出He(30％)-Ne(67.9％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(0.1％)这样的气体组成(气体组成式中的％表示体积％。以下同)。 Here, it is preferable that the content of xenon is 5% by volume, the content of argon at 0.5% by volume, of helium under 55% by volume, as the gas composition Specific examples thereof include He (30%) - Ne ( 67.9%) - Xe (2%) - Ar (0.1%) such gas composition (gas composition formula expressed in% vol% in the following).
上述的放电气体组成设定及封入压力设定，都有助于提高PDP的发光效率和板的亮度，特别是，如将上述的放电气体组成设定及封入压力设定结合在一起，则与以往相比能在抑制放电电压升高的同时显著地提高发光效率及板亮度，有关细节将在后文中说明。 The composition of the above-described discharge gas pressure is set and sealed, all help improve the luminance and luminous efficiency of the PDP panel, particularly, as the above-mentioned composition is set and the discharge gas filling pressure is set together, and the compared to conventional can significantly improve the panel luminance and luminous efficiency while suppressing an increase in discharge voltage, details of which will be described hereinafter.
另外，当封入压力在常压以下(以往的约66.66kPa以下)时，由于从氖(Ne)向外部发出可见光，因而很容易降低色纯度，而如使封入压力为106.65kPa以上的高压，则即使从氖(Ne)发出可见光，但因大部分在等离子体内部被吸收，所以几乎不向外部射出。 Further, when the filling pressure below atmospheric (about 66.66kPa less conventional), since the visible light emitted from neon (Ne) to the outside, which is easy to reduce the color purity, and if charged pressure of 106.65kPa or more high-pressure, the even visible light emitted from neon (Ne), but mostly absorbed in the interior of the plasma, is hardly emitted to the outside. 因此，与封入压力在常压以下(约66.66kPa以下)的情况相比，色纯度也可以改善。 Thus, as compared with the gas pressure is below atmospheric (about 66.66kPa or less), the color purity can be improved.
另外，封入压力如超过大气压，则能防止大气中的杂质侵入放电空间30内。 Further, such a pressure above atmospheric pressure is sealed, it is possible to prevent the intrusion of impurities in the atmosphere of the discharge space 30.
在本实施形态中，为使PDP的单元尺寸适合于40英寸级的高清晰度电视机，将单元间距设定为0.2mm以下，显示电极12的电极间距离d设定为0.1mm以下。 In the present embodiment, as the cell size of the PDP for 40-inch class high-definition television, the cell pitch is set to 0.2mm or less between the display electrode 12 is set to 0.1mm or less distance d.
考虑到将放电电压抑制在实用的范围内，将封入压力的上限值设定为533.28KPa。 Taking into account the discharge voltage is suppressed within a practical range, the upper limit of the filling pressure is set to 533.28KPa.
(关于MgO保护层的形成方法及其表面形成凹凸的方法)图2是在形成保护层14、24时采用的CVD装置40的简图。 (The method of forming MgO protective layer on its surface unevenness forming method) in FIG. 2 is formed using CVD 14,24 when the protective layer 40 is a schematic view apparatus.
该CVD装置40，既可以进行热CVD也可以进行等离子CVD，在装置本体45中，设有用于加热玻璃衬底47(在图1中的玻璃衬底11上形成显示电极和电介质层13后的衬底)的加热部46，装置本体45内可以用排气装置49减压。 The CVD apparatus 40, both the heat CVD, plasma CVD may be performed, in the apparatus body 45, is provided for heating a glass substrate 47 is formed on a (glass substrate 11 in FIG. 1 after display electrodes and a dielectric layer 13 the substrate) of the heating portion 46, 49 of the apparatus body 45 can be reduced by exhaust means. 此外，在装置本体45上，还设置着一个用于产生等离子体的高频电源48。 Further, the apparatus body 45 is further provided with a high frequency power supply 48 for generating plasma.
Ar气瓶41a、41b，将作为载体的氩[Ar]经由气化器(鼓泡器)42、43供给装置本体45。 Ar cylinders 41a, 41b, argon as a carrier [Ar] the apparatus body 42, 43 is supplied via the gasifier 45 (bubbler).
气化器42，用于加热和贮存用作MaO原料(原始材料)的金属螯合物，通过从Ar气瓶41a吹入Ar气，可以使该金属螯合物蒸发并送入装置本体45。 Gasifier 42, for heating and storing as MaO feedstock (raw material), metal chelates, by blowing an Ar gas from the Ar gas cylinder 41a, may cause the metal chelate is evaporated and fed to the apparatus body 45.
气化器43，用于加热和贮存成为MaO原料(原始材料)的环戊乙烯基化合物，通过从Ar气瓶41b吹入Ar气，可以使该环戊乙烯基化合物蒸发并送入装置本体45。 Vaporizer 43 for heating and storage become cyclopentyl MaO feedstock (raw material) vinyl compounds, 41b by Ar gas was blown from the Ar gas cylinder, cyclopentyl vinyl compound may cause the apparatus body 45 and fed evaporated .
作为从气化器42和气化器43供给的原始材料的具体例，可以举出Magnesium Dipivaloyl Methane(二叔戊酰甲烷镁)[Mg(C11H19O2)2]、Magnesium Acetylacetone(乙酰丙酮镁)[Mg(C5H7O2)2]、Cyclopentadienyl Magnesium(环戊乙烯合镁)[Mg(C5H5)2]、MagnesiumTrifluoroacetylacetone(三氟乙酰丙酮镁)[Mg(C5H5F3O2)2]。 Specific examples of the raw material supplied from the vaporizer 42 and the gasifier 43 may include Magnesium Dipivaloyl Methane (magnesium dipivaloylmethane) [Mg (C11H19O2) 2], Magnesium Acetylacetone (magnesium acetylacetonate) [of Mg ( C5H7O2) 2], Cyclopentadienyl magnesium (ethylene-co-magnesium-cyclopentyl) [Mg (C5H5) 2], MagnesiumTrifluoroacetylacetone (magnesium trifluoroacetylacetonate) [Mg (C5H5F3O2) 2].
氧气瓶44，用于将作为反应气体的氧气[O2]供给装置本体45。 Oxygen bottles 44, [O2] apparatus main body 45 for supplying oxygen as the reaction gas.
进行热CVD法时：将玻璃衬底47放置在加热部46上，使电介质层朝上，并加热到规定温度(350～400°℃)，同时用排气装置49将反应容器内部减压到规定压力。 When the thermal CVD method: the glass substrate 47 placed on the heating portion 46, facing the dielectric layer, and is heated to a predetermined temperature (350 ~ 400 ° ℃), exhaust means while the reaction vessel was reduced to 49 internal specified pressure.
然后，一面由气化器42或气化器43将用作原始材料的碱土族金属螯合物或环戊乙烯基化合物加热到规定温度(参照以下各表的「气化器温度」栏)，一面从Ar气瓶41a或41b送入Ar气。 Then, one surface 42 of the gasifier or gasifier 43 as the alkaline earth metal chelate or cyclopentyl vinyl compound starting material is heated to a predetermined temperature (refer to "gasifier temperature" column in the following table), Ar gas Ar fed from the side of the cylinder 41a or 41b. 与此同时，还从氧气瓶44流入氧气。 At the same time, also flows into the oxygen from the oxygen cylinder 44.
通过上述操作，使送入装置本体45的金属螯合物或环戊乙烯基化合物与氧气反应，并在玻璃衬底47的电介质层的表面上形成MgO保护层。 By the above operation, the metal chelate fed to the apparatus body 45 or cyclopentyl vinyl compound is reacted with oxygen, and MgO protective layer is formed on a surface of the dielectric layer 47 of the glass substrate.
进行等离子CVD时：以与上述热CVD时基本相同的方式进行，但由加热部46产生的玻璃衬底47的加热温度设定在250～300℃左右，同时用排气装置49减压到1.33kPa左右，并驱动高频电源48，例如，施加例如13.56MHz的高频电场，从而一面在装置本体45内产生等离子体，一面形成MgO保护层。 When the plasma CVD: when the heat CVD to substantially the same manner, but the heating temperature of the glass substrate generated by the heating unit 4647 is set at about 250 ~ 300 ℃, while the exhaust device 49 under reduced pressure to 1.33 about kPa, and drives the RF power supply 48, e.g., applying a high frequency electric field of 13.56MHz, for example, thereby generating a plasma in the side of the apparatus body 45, MgO protective layer formed on one surface.
采用上述热CVD法或等离子CVD法形成的MgO保护层，在用X射线分析法检查结晶结构后，确认为面取向或面取向。 MgO protective layer formed using the above-described thermal CVD method or a plasma CVD method, the method for detecting the X-ray crystal structure analysis, identified as plane orientation or a plane orientation. 与此不同，在用X射线分析法检查结晶结构后，确认以往以真空蒸镀法(EB法)形成的MgO保护层为面取向。 On the other hand, in the crystal structure analysis by X-ray examination confirmed MgO protective layer in a conventional vacuum deposition method (EB method) of plane orientation.
在以CVD法形成MgO保护层的过程中，形成面取向或是面取向，可以通过控制作为反应气体的氧气的流量进行调整。 In the process of forming the MgO protective layer to a CVD method to form a plane orientation or a plane orientation, can be adjusted by controlling the flow rate of oxygen as the reaction gas.
其次，说明用等离子蚀刻法在保护层上形成凹凸的方式。 Next, plasma etching irregularities formed on the protective layer manner.
在装置本体52中，有一个在其上形成有由MgO构成的保护层的衬底53(即在图1中的玻璃衬底11上形成显示电极12a和12b、电介质层13及保护层14后的衬底)，在装置本体52内，可以由排气装置56进行减压，并可以从Ar气瓶51供给Ar气。 In the apparatus body 52, there is a protective layer made of MgO is formed on a substrate 53 (i.e., the display electrodes 12a and 12b, dielectric layer 13 and a protective layer 14 is formed on the glass substrate 11 in FIG. 1 a substrate), in the apparatus main body 52, may be reduced by the exhaust unit 56, and Ar gas may be supplied from the Ar gas cylinder 51. 此外，在装置本体52上，还设有用于产生等离子体的高频电源54及用于照射所产生的离子的偏置电源55。 Further, the apparatus body 52, the bias power supply is also provided for generating an ion plasma high frequency power source 54 for irradiation and the generated 55.
在使用该等离子蚀刻装置时，首先，用排气装置56对反应容器内部进行减压(0.0001333～0.01333kPa)，并从Ar气瓶供入Ar气。 When using the plasma etching apparatus, first, the exhaust device 56 inside the reaction vessel under reduced pressure (0.0001333 ~ 0.01333kPa), and Ar gas was fed from the Ar gas cylinder.
驱动高频电源54，通过施加13.56MHz的高频电场，产生氩等离子体。 Driving high frequency power source 54, by applying a high frequency electric field of 13.56MHz, argon plasma is generated. 然后，驱动偏置电源55而对衬底53施加电压(-200V)，并对Ar离子照射10分钟，从而对MgO保护层的表面进行溅射。 Then, the driving bias power source 55 is applied to the substrate 53 voltage (-200 V), and irradiated with Ar ions for 10 minutes so that the surface of the MgO protective layer is sputtered.
通过这种溅射，即可在MgO保护层的表面上形成棱锥状的凹凸。 By this sputtering, pyramid-shaped projections can be formed on the surface of the MgO protective layer.
另外，通过对溅射时间或施加电压等的调整，可以控制在表面上形成的凹凸的尺寸。 Further, by adjusting sputtering time and the applied voltage or the like, it can control the size of irregularities formed on the surface. 在形成该凹凸时，使所形成的表面粗糙度为30nm～100nm左右，被认为是适当的。 When forming the irregularities formed on the surface roughness of about 30nm ~ 100nm, it is considered appropriate.
通过上述溅射在表面上形成的凹凸呈现出棱锥状的情况，可以用扫描电子显微镜进行确认。 Irregularities formed on the surface by the sputtering exhibits pyramid-shaped case can be confirmed using a scanning electron microscope.
进行了上述处理后的保护层，具有如下所述的特征及效果。 The protective layer is carried out after the above process, having the following features and effects.
(1)由于MgO保护层的结晶结构为面取向或面取向，所以二次电子的发射系数(γ值)大。 (1) Because the crystal structure of the MgO protective layer has a plane orientation or a plane orientation, the coefficient of secondary emission electrons (gamma] value) is large. 因此，有助于降低PDP的驱动电压及提高板的亮度。 This contributes to reduction in driving voltage and increase the brightness of the PDP panel.
(2)由于MgO保护层的表面为棱锥状的凹凸结构，所以放电时电场集中在凸部的顶部，因而将从该顶部发射出更多的电子。 (2) Since the surface of the MgO protective layer is a pyramid-shaped projections of the structure, the discharge electric field is concentrated at the top of the convex portion, and thus more electrons emitted from the top. 因此，容易发生条形辉光放电或第2型辉光放电，且能稳定地发生上述形态的放电。 Thus, prone filamentary glow discharge or the second glow discharge, the above-described aspect and can discharge occurs stably.
并且，当稳定地发生条形辉光放电或第2型辉光放电时，与以往那样的发生第1型辉光放电的情况相比，在局部也能获得高的等离子密度，由此可知在放电空间内可产生更多的紫外线(主要波长为172nm)，因而可以得到高的板的亮度。 And, when the filamentary glow discharge occurs stably or the second glow discharge, as compared with the case of the occurrence of a first type of a conventional glow discharge, can be obtained in a high local plasma density, it can be seen in may be generated in the discharge space more ultraviolet light (main wavelength of 172nm), it is possible to obtain a high luminance panel.
(对辉光放电的形态的说明)这里，说明条形辉光放电及第2型辉光放电。 (Description of the shape of the glow discharge) Here, the bar-type glow discharge and the second glow discharge 2.
关于「条形辉光放电」及「第2型辉光放电」，在放电手册(电气学会平成1年6月1日发行p138)中，有如下说明。 About "filamentary glow discharge" and "second glow discharge", in the discharge manual (Institute of Electrical year Heisei issued June 1 p138), the following instructions.
『在J.Phys.D.Appl.Phys.，Vol.13 p.1886(1970)的论文中，Kekez、Barrault和Craggs说明了放电状态向飞弧、汤姆森放电、第1型辉光放电、第2型辉光放电和弧光放电的转移。 "In the J.Phys.D.Appl.Phys., Vol.13 p.1886 (1970) paper, Kekez, Barrault, and Craggs illustrate the discharge state to flashover, Thomson discharge, the first glow discharge, second glow discharge and arc discharge transition. 』图4是表示在该论文中所阐明的瞬态辉光、弧光转移的电流波形的曲线图。 "FIG. 4 is a graph showing the paper as set forth in transient glow transferred arc current waveform.
第1型辉光放电相当于通常的辉光放电，第2型辉光放电相当于放电能量正在集中供给阳极光柱时的放电。 First glow discharge corresponds to the normal glow discharge, glow discharge corresponds to the second type of discharge is concentrated at the discharge energy supplied to the anode beam.
在图4中，第1型辉光放电，发生在电流值较低且稳定的ta～tc时段，第2型辉光放电，发生在td～te时段。 In FIG. 4, the first glow discharge is caused in the lower current value and stable period ta ~ tc, second glow discharge is caused in the period td ~ te. 条形辉光放电，发生在从第1型辉光放电向第2型辉光放电转移的tc～td时段。 Filamentary glow discharge is caused in the discharge period tc ~ td from the first glow discharge to the second glow transfer. 然后，从第2型辉光放电转入弧光放电。 Then, the second glow discharge into the arc discharge.
与上述第1型辉光放电稳定进行不同，条形辉光放电和第2型辉光放电，电流不稳定，所以向弧光放电转移的可能性高，但如果转移到弧光放电，则放电气体将随着发热而发生热电离，因而这种转移是不希望发生的。 Different stability, stripe type glow discharge and the second glow discharge current is unstable, so a high possibility that the discharge arc transfer, but if the transfer to the arc discharge, the discharge gas with the above-described first glow discharge with the heat generation thermal ionization occurs, so this transfer is undesirable.
可是，以往的PDP中的放电，以第1型辉光放电进行，但在本实施形态中，则认定条形辉光放电或第2型辉光放电也能比较稳定地发生。 However, the conventional PDP, discharge to be first glow discharge, but in the present embodiment, the identified filamentary glow discharge or the second glow discharge can occur relatively stable. 因此，必须预计到应使放电的阳极光柱的电子密度提高，并集中供给能量，从而可以增加紫外线的发射量。 Therefore, it is necessary that the electron density is expected to be a positive column discharge is increased, the supply of energy and focus, thus increasing the amount of ultraviolet rays.
(关于放电气体中的封入压力与发光效率的关系)说明通过将放电气体的封入压力设定为比以往高的106.65～533.28kPa范围而使发光效率提高的原因。 (Relationship between pressure and enclosed in the luminous efficiency of the discharge gas) is illustrated by the enclosed discharge gas pressure is set to be higher than the conventional reasons 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa range of the light emission efficiency is improved.
首先，考虑到如将封入压力设定得高则有利于发生上述条形辉光放电和第2型辉光放电的放电形态，所以，可以举出这一点作为紫外线发射量增加的一个原因。 First, considering the filling pressure is set as will facilitate the discharge of the high aspect bar glow discharge and the second glow discharge occurs, it is possible to include a reason for this increased amount of ultraviolet emission.
其次，可以举出的另一点是，如下文所述，能使紫外线的波长向长波长侧(154nm及173nm)移动。 Next, another point is that there may be mentioned, as described below, can move the UV wavelength to a longer wavelength (154nm and 173nm).
作为PDP的紫外线的发光机理，大致有谐振线和分子线两种。 Ultraviolet light-emitting mechanism of a PDP, generally have two kinds of resonance lines and molecular lines.
以往，由于放电气体的封入压力在66.66kPa以下，所以发自Xe的紫外光主要波长为147nm(Xe原子的谐振线)，但通过将封入压力设定在101.32kPa以上，可以使长波长的173nm(Xe分子的分子线激励波长)的比例增大。 Conventionally, since the discharge gas pressure in the enclosed 66.66kPa or less, from the bottom of the main Xe ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 147nm (resonance line of Xe atoms), but sealed by the pressure was set at 101.32kPa or more, the long wavelength 173nm ratio (molecular beam of Xe molecules excitation wavelength) is increased. 并且，与波长147nm的谐振线相比，能使波长154nm及173nm的分子线的比例增大。 And, compared to the wavelength of the resonance line 147nm, 154nm wavelength can be increased and the proportion of molecular lines of 173nm.
图5是表示当在采用了He-Xe系列放电气体的PDP中封入气体压力变化时所发射的紫外线波长与发光量的关系如何变化的特性图，该图引自「O Plus E No.195 1996年的P.98」。 FIG 5 is a graph showing how the relationship between the amount of light emission in the ultraviolet wavelength when using a series PDP He-Xe discharge gas is sealed gas pressure variation emitted by the change, which is taken from FIG. "O Plus E No.195 1996 P.98 years. "
在该图中，曲线图的波长147nm(谐振线)及波长173nm(分子线)的峰值面积，表示发光量。 In the figure, the wavelength 147nm (resonance line) and a wavelength of 173nm (molecular line) of the peak area of the graph, represents the amount of light emission. 因此，从上述的峰值面积即可知道各波长的相对发光量。 Accordingly, from the peak area to know the relative amount of each light emission wavelengths.
在13.33kPa的压力下，波长147nm(谐振线)的发光量占了大部分，但随着压力的增大，波长173nm(分子线)的发光量比例增加，在66.66kPa的压力下，波长173nm(分子线)的发光量变得大于波长147nm(谐振线)的发光量了。 At a pressure of 13.33kPa, the emission wavelength of 147nm (resonance line) accounted for most, but as the pressure increases, the proportion of the amount of light emission wavelength of 173nm (molecular line) increases, at a pressure of 66.66kPa of 173nm wavelength (molecular beam) of the light emission amount becomes larger than the amount of light emission wavelength of 147nm (resonance line) of the.
如上所述，随着紫外线波长向长波长侧移动，可以取得(1)紫外线发射量增大、及(2)荧光体变换效率提高的效果。 As described above, as the ultraviolet wavelength shifted to the long wavelength side, can be obtained (1) ultraviolet light emission amount increases, and (2) the conversion efficiency of the phosphor is improved. 以下，分别进行说明。 The following were described.
(1)紫外线发射量增大图6是表示Xe的能级和各种反应路径的图。 (1) increasing the amount of ultraviolet rays emitted FIG. 6 shows energy levels and various reactive path of Xe.
当存在于原子内的电子从某个能级向另一能级移动时发射谐振线，所以在Xe的情况下主要发射147nm的紫外线。 Emission resonance line when present in the atomic electrons move from one level to another level, so that in the case of Xe, mainly emits ultraviolet rays of 147nm.
但是，对于谐振线，存在着所谓感应吸收的现象，所以发射出的紫外光的一部分被基态的Xe吸收。 However, the resonance line, the presence of the so-called phenomenon of induced absorption, the Xe emits in the ultraviolet portion of the ground state absorption. 这种现象一般被称作自身吸收。 This phenomenon is generally referred to as self-absorbed.
另一方面，如图6所示，在分子线中，当被激励的2个原子靠近到一定的距离以内时发射紫外线，而2个原子返回基态。 On the other hand, as shown in Figure 6, the line in the molecule, the ultraviolet rays emitted when excited near the two atoms to within a certain distance, the two atoms return to the ground state. 因此，几乎看不到吸收现象。 Therefore, almost invisible absorption phenomena.
为定性地确认上述情况，进行如下的简单理论计算，并与实验结果进行比较。 Is qualitatively confirm the above situation, the following simple theoretical calculation, and compared with the experimental results.
首先，设电子密度为ne、原子密度为n0，则谐振线的发生量(V147)可表示为V147＝a·ne·n0设吸收系数为b(通常为10-6左右)、等离子体长度为l，则吸收量(Vabs)可表示为Vabs＝exp(-b·n·l)另一方面，分子线，通过处于激励状态的Xe原子彼此接近而生成，所以其发生量(V172)为V172＝C·n4+d·n3～C·n4。 First, the electron density is set NE, atom density n0, the generation amount (V147) of the resonant lines may be expressed as V147 = a · ne · n0 disposed absorption coefficient b (typically about 10-6), the length of the plasma l, the absorption (Vabs reaches) can be expressed as Vabs = exp (-b · n · l) On the other hand, molecular lines, by Xe atoms approach each other in the excited state is generated, so the generation amount (V172) of V172 = C · n4 + d · n3 ~ C · n4. 对于分子线几乎不存在吸收，所以，如考虑到几何学的物理散射，则V172＝C·n4-n2/3因此，总紫外线量V为V＝a·ne·n0-c·exp(-b·n·l)+C·n4-n2/3而式中的a、b、c为任意常数。 The molecular absorption lines hardly exists, therefore, such as consideration of the physical scattering geometry, the V172 = C · n4-n2 / 3 Thus, the total amount of ultraviolet V is V = a · ne · n0-c · exp (-b · n · l) + C · n4-n2 / 3 in the formula a, b, c are arbitrary constants.
将与放电气体压力变化对应的谐振线、分子线、总紫外线的计算值以图7的曲线图示出。 Calcd corresponding resonance lines and molecular lines with a total UV will change the discharge gas pressure 7 shows a graph. 从图7可以看到，横轴虽为任意轴，但为了充分显示出分子线的效果，需要一定程度以上的气体压力。 As seen in Figure 7, although the horizontal axis is an arbitrary axis, but in order to sufficiently exhibit the effect of molecular lines, require more than a certain level of gas pressure.
另外，作为放电气体，采用在PDP中通常使用的Ne(95％)-Xe(5％)，通过真空室实验检查了与气体压力对应的紫外线输出，该实验结果，如图7中的符号●所示，示出了与上述理论预侧近似的特性。 Further, as a discharge gas, Ne using generally used in the PDP (95%) - Xe (5%), through the vacuum chamber experiments examined the gas pressure corresponding to the ultraviolet output, this experimental result, the symbol ● shown in FIG. 7 , there is shown the characteristic of the above-described pre-side theoretical approximation.
(2)荧光体变换效率提高图8(a)、(b)、(c)是表示对各色荧光体的激励波长与相对发射效率的关系的特性图。 (2) improve the conversion efficiency of the phosphor of FIG. 8 (a), (b), (c) is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the excitation wavelength of the phosphor of each color and relative emission efficiency. 该图引自「O Plus E No.195 1996年的P.99」。 The figure quoted in "O Plus E No.195 in 1996 P.99."
从该图8可以看出，无论是哪一种颜色的荧光体，长波长173nm的相对发射效率都要比波长147nm的大。 As can be seen from FIG. 8, no matter what kind of color of the phosphor, the emission efficiency of relatively long wavelength of 173nm to be larger than the wavelength of 147nm.
因此，当紫外线波长从147nm(Xe的谐振线)向长波长的173nm(Xe原子的分子线)移动而使长波长的比例增大时，可以显示出荧光体的发光效率也随之增大的趋势。 Therefore, when the proportion of ultraviolet wavelength is increased from 147nm (resonance line of Xe) (molecular beam of Xe atoms) moves to the long wavelength 173nm long wavelength, light emission may exhibit efficiency of the phosphor is also increased trend.
(封入压力、发光效率、及放电电压之间的关系)从上述图7的全紫外线的变化趋势可以作如下的进一步的考察。 (Relationship between the gas pressure is, light emission efficiency, and the discharge voltage) from the changing trend of the whole ultraviolet Figure 7 described above may be further investigated as follows.
当气体压力在53.32～133.32kPa的范围时，紫外线输出随气体压力的增加而增加，但在133.32kPa附近达到饱和状态，紫外线输出几乎不再增加。 The gas pressure in the range of 53.32 ~ 133.32kPa, UV output with increasing gas pressure increased, but when near saturation 133.32kPa, hardly increased UV output.
当接着使气体压力进一步增加时，从186.65kPa附近开始紫外线输出再度增加，并持续增加到超过266.64kPa的附近区域。 Then, when the gas pressure is further increased, once again to increase UV output 186.65kPa from near the beginning, and continues to increase over the 266.64kPa vicinity.
当使气体压力从该区域起进一步增加时，紫外线输出的增加呈现出变得稍微平缓的区域，这可以认为是因为物理散射等造成的影响。 When the gas pressure is further increased from this region exhibits increased UV output becomes somewhat flat area, which can be considered as a physical influence caused by scattering.
另外，在图7中虽未示出，但正如从上述理论式可以预计到的，即使当进一步使气体压力增加而超过该区域时，紫外线输出仍会增加。 Further, although not shown in FIG. 7, but as can be expected from the above theoretical formula, even when the gas pressure is further increased beyond this region, it will increase the UV output.
根据以上的考察，可以将放电气体的最理想的封入压力范围(106.65～533.28kPa)进一步分成4个区域，即106.65～133.32kPa(区域1)、186.65～373.30kPa(区域2)、373.30～533.28kPa(区域3)、266.64～533.28kPa(区域4)。 Ideally enclosed pressure range (106.65 ~ 533.28kPa) According to the above consideration, the discharge gas may be further divided into four regions, i.e. 106.65 ~ 133.32kPa (zone 1), 186.65 ~ 373.30kPa (zone 2), 373.30 ~ 533.28 kPa (zone 3), 266.64 ~ 533.28kPa (zone 4).
就126.65kPa这一数值而言，虽然从原理上说只要超过101.32KPa就能产生效果，但考虑到例如封入时的温度高于室温等制造时的条件，因而从工业的角度出发设定为这一数值。 In terms of 126.65kPa this value, although can be effective as long as more than 101.32KPa, but taking into account, for example, sealed-fitting temperature is higher than room temperature, and other manufacturing conditions, and therefore from the industrial point of view in principle for this set a value.
关于这4个区域，可以考察如下。 About four regions can be investigated as follows.
当只考虑紫外线输出量时，压力最高的区域4当然应认为是最佳的。 When considering only the ultraviolet output, the maximum pressure region 4 it should of course be considered optimal.
另一方面，在PDP中，放电起始电压Vf，可以表示为封入压力P与电极间距离d的乘积[Pd乘积]的函数，并称之为帕邢定律(可参照：电子显示器件，オ-ム社，昭和59年，P113～114)。 On the other hand, in the PDP, the discharge starting voltage Vf, can be expressed as the product [Pd product] was enclosed between the pressure P and the electrode distance d functions, and called Paschen's law (which may refer to: an electronic display device, Bio - Charm Corporation, 1984, P113 ~ 114). 并且，当气体压力升高时，Pd乘积和放电电压有升高的倾向。 Further, when the gas pressure is increased, Pd product and the discharge voltage tends to rise. 这里，如将电极间距离设定得较小则可以抑制Pd乘积，但随着电极间距离d的缩小，将需要更高级的电介质绝缘技术。 Here, as the distance between the electrodes is set smaller Pd product can be suppressed, but with reduced inter-electrode distance d, will need more advanced dielectric isolation techniques.
因此，应考虑到技术难度将按区域1、2、3、4的顺序增加。 Thus, taking into account the technical difficulty will increase the order of the regions 1, 2,.
例如，在图7中，与图中的A相当的PDP，放电起始电压为200V，与图中的B相当的PDP，放电起始电压为450V。 For example, in FIG. 7, the figure A corresponding to the PDP, the discharge starting voltage was 200V, the corresponding figure B the PDP, the discharge starting voltage was 450V.
由此可知，与区域1对应的PDP，放电起始电压大体上在250V以下，因而可以利用现有的PDP的电介质绝缘技术或驱动电路的耐压技术，但在区域3或区域4的PDP的情况下，为了将电极间距离d设定得相当小，就需要高级的技术，因而将导致成本的增加。 It can be seen, the region corresponding to the PDP 1, discharge starting voltage is generally at 250V or less, it is possible to use the conventional PDP electrical medium voltage insulation technology or technology drive circuit, but in the region or area of the PDP 3 of 4 case, in order to inter-electrode distance d is set to be relatively small, it requires advanced technology, which will result in an increase in cost.
(关于放电气体的组成、发光效率及放电电压)如上所述，通过对放电气体的组成采用含有氦[He]、氖[Ne]、氙[Xe]、氩[Ar]的稀有气体混合物并使氙的含量在5体积％以下、氩的含量在0.5体积％以下、氦的含量小于55体积％，则即使是以高压封入时，也能以较低的放电起始电压(250V以下，最好在220V以下)进行驱动。 (Composition of the light-emitting efficiency and discharge voltage on the discharge gas) As described above, by using the composition of the discharge gas containing helium [of He], neon [Ne], xenon [Xe], argon [Ar] and a rare gas mixture xenon content of at most 5 vol%, the content of argon at 0.5% by volume, of helium under 55% by volume, even if the high pressure seal is fashionable, can be (250V or less at a lower discharge starting voltage, preferably in 220V or less) drive.
即，通过采用上述组成的气体，与以往采用组成为Ne(95％)-Xe(5％)或He(95％)-Xe(5％)的气体的情况相比，可以显著地降低放电起始电压。 That is, by employing the gas in the composition, the conventional use of a composition of Ne (95%) - Xe (5%) or He (95%) - where gas is Xe (5%) compared to significantly reduce the discharge from the threshold voltage.
以下，根据实验对这一点进行更为详细的说明。 The following, according to the experiment on this point in more detail.
(实验1：与放电气体组成有关的预备实验)根据本实施形态的PDP进行制作，即将其设定为图9的表中列出的各种放电气体的组成，且改变Pd乘积而将其设定为各种不同的值，并测定了放电起始电压。 (Experiment 1: Experiment preliminary discharge gas composition related) was produced according to the PDP of the present embodiment, which is about to set the composition of a discharge gas of various tables listed in FIG. 9, and to change the setting Pd product set to various values, and the discharge starting voltage was measured.
Pd乘积的设定方式为，将电极间隔d设定为20、40、60、120μm，同时使气体压力P在13.32～333.39kPa范围内变化。 Pd product is set as the mode, the electrode interval d is set to 20,40,60,120μm, while the gas pressure P vary in the range of 13.32 ~ 333.39kPa.
这里，当设定为小的Pd乘积时，主要使用较小的电极间隔d(例如当Pd乘积为1～4时，将电极间隔d设定为20μm、将压力P设定为66.66～333.30kPa左右)，当设定为较大的Pd乘积时，主要使用较大的电极间隔d(60、120μm)，从而设定为各种Pd乘积值。 Here, when Pd product is set to be small, the main use of a smaller electrode spacing d (e.g., when Pd product is 1 to 4, the electrode interval of 20 m is set to d, the pressure P is set to 66.66 ~ 333.30kPa left and right), when Pd product is set large, the main use of larger electrode spacing d (60,120μm), thereby setting the product Pd various values.
图9的曲线图，示出本实验的结果，并表示出Pd乘积与放电起始电压的关系。 FIG 9 is a graph showing the results of this experiment, and shows the relationship between Pd product and the firing voltage.
另外，在图9的表中，还列出对采用了各种气体组成的其Pd乘积为4左右(封入压力为266.64kPa)的PDP的亮度测定值(放电电压为250V左右)。 Further, in the table of FIG. 9 also lists the luminance values thereof measured using a variety of Pd product gas composition is about 4 (enclosed pressure of 266.64kPa) of the PDP (discharge voltage is about 250V).
结果和考察：从图9的表可以看出，He-Xe系列或He-Ne-Xe系列的亮度比Ne-Xe系列高(尤其是He-Ne-Xe系列达到很高的亮度)，因此，当含有能使电子温度提高的He时，在亮度的提高上是有效的。 Results and Discussion: As can be seen from the table of FIG. 9, the luminance series He-Xe or He-Ne-Xe is higher than the series series Ne-Xe (in particular, He-Ne-Xe series to achieve high brightness), and therefore, when the electron temperature is increased to make containing He, the increase in brightness it is effective.
另外，从图9的曲线图还可以看出，He-Xe系列(符号▲)，显示出放电起始电压比Ne-Xe系列(符号◆)高的倾向，因此在实用上不能进入最佳的放电起始电压的区域(220V以下)。 Further, it can be seen from the graph of FIG. 9, He-Xe series (symbol ▲), showing a tendency to discharge starting voltage higher than the Ne-Xe series (symbol ◆), and therefore can not enter in the best practical discharge start voltage region (220V or less).
另一方面，在图9的曲线图中，可以看出，在Ne-Xe系列内添加了0.1％的Ar的气体(符号○)，与He-Xe系列、Ne-Xe系列、或He-Ne-Xe系列相比，因彭宁效应而使放电起始电压降低，因而其曲线通过放电起始电压在220V以下且Pd乘积为3以上的最佳使用区域。 On the other hand, in the graph of FIG. 9, it can be seen, adding 0.1% of Ar gas (the symbol ○) in the series of Ne-Xe, and He-Xe series, series Ne-Xe, or He-Ne -Xe series compared Penning effect due to the discharge starting voltage is decreased, and thus the discharge starting voltage curve at 220V or less and the product Pd of 3 or more optimal use area.
但是，在Ne-Xe系列内添加了0.5％的Ar的气体(符号■)，其放电起始电压没有多大的降低。 However, in the series of Ne-Xe gas Ar was added a 0.5% (symbol ■), which discharge start voltage is not much reduced. 由此可见，为降低放电起始电压，可添加较少量的Ar(0.5％以下)。 Thus, to reduce the discharge start voltage, to add a relatively small amount of Ar (0.5% or less).
在图9中，之所以将Pd乘积为3以上的范围作为最佳的使用区域，是因为目前很难将电极的间隔设定在10μm以下，所以从实用考虑最好将Pd乘积设定在3以上的范围。 In Figure 9, the reason why the Pd product in the range of 3 or more as the best use region, is difficult because the distance between the electrodes is set at 10μm or less, it is considered preferable from a practical Pd product is set at 3 above range.
从上述可知，在将He与Ne-Xe系列混合时，发光效率提高但存在着放电起始电压升高的倾向，如在其中进一步混合Ar，则既可以降低放电电压又能使发光效率得到同等的提高。 From the above, when He and Ne-Xe mixed series, luminous efficiency is improved, but there is a tendency to increase the discharge starting voltage, wherein there is further mixed as Ar, the discharge voltage may be decreased and luminous efficiency can equally It improved. 这里，可以推察出Ar的量只须较少的量即可。 Here, the amount can be pushed observed only a small amount of Ar can.
在本实验中，通过使气体压力P在13.32～333.30kPa的范围内变化而进行了Pd乘积的设定，但即使将气体压力P设定在333.32～533.28kPa的范围内，也仍能得到与图9的曲线图同样的结果。 In this experiment, Pd product and carried out by setting the gas pressure P is varied in the range of 13.32 ~ 333.30kPa, but even if the gas pressure P is set in a range 333.32 ~ 533.28kPa also still obtained the same result graph of FIG. 9.
另外，在Xe的含有率低的范围(10％以下的范围)内，已知Xe的量与发光效率大致存在着成比例的关系，但通过实验已确认，即使是上述各种组成的放电气体，如Xe的量变化，则发光效率也随之而变化。 Further, in the low range containing Xe (10% or less), a known amount of Xe and light emission efficiency substantially proportional relationship exists, it has been experimentally confirmed that, even when the discharge gas is composed of the above as the amount of Xe is changed, the emission efficiency also will vary.
(实验2：He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列气体与Ne-Xe系列气体的比较)PDP的制作方式是，在上述实施形态的PDP中，作为放电气体采用了He(30％)-Ne(67.9％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(0.1％)(称作「放电气体A」)、及Ne(95％)-Xe(5％)(称作「放电气体Z」)，在这两种情况下，将Pd乘积改变和设定为各种不同的值，并测定了放电起始电压。 (Experiment 2: Comparison of He-Ne-Xe-Ar series gas and Ne-Xe series gas) PDP production methods, in the PDP of the above embodiment, the discharge gas using He (30%) - Ne (67.9 %) - Xe (2%) - Ar (0.1%) (referred to as "discharge gas A") and Ne (95%) - Xe (5%) (referred to as "discharge gas Z"), in both case, Pd product is set and changed to various values, and the discharge starting voltage was measured.
Pd乘积的设定，以与上述实验1相同的方式进行，即，将电极间隔d设定为20、40、60、120μm，同时使气体压力P在13.33～333.30kPa范围内变化。 Pd product is set in the same manner as in the above experiment 1, i.e., the electrode interval d is set to 20,40,60,120μm, while the gas pressure P vary in the range of 13.33 ~ 333.30kPa.
图10是表示本实验的结果、即Pd乘积与放电起始电压的关系的曲线图。 FIG 10 shows the results of this experiment, i.e., the product of Pd graph showing the relationship of the discharge start voltage.
从该曲线图可以看出，在放电气体Z的情况下，如果将Pd乘积从12减小到4左右，则可将放电起始电压从450V降低到320V、即降低130V左右。 As can be seen from this graph, in the case of discharge gas Z, if Pd product is reduced from 12 to about 4, the discharge starting voltage can be reduced from 450V to 320V, i.e. reduced by about 130V.
另一方面，可以看出，在放电气体A的情况下，即使Pd乘积同样是12，但与放电气体Z相比，也可将放电起始电压降低130V左右，而如果将Pd乘积从12减小到4左右，可以进一步将放电起始电压降低90V左右。 On the other hand, it can be seen, in the case of discharge gas A, even if Pd product is 12 Also, compared with the discharge gas Z, the firing voltage can be reduced by about 130V, and if Pd product is reduced from 12 small to about 4, the discharge starting voltage can be further reduced by about 90V.
因此，如采用放电气体A，则即使是将封入压力设定得高的情况下，尽管电极间距离d没有多大的减小，也能将放电电压降低到实用的电平。 Thus, using such discharge gas A, even if the filling pressure is set at high, there is not much reduced although the distance d between the electrodes, the discharge voltage can be reduced to a practical level.
通过另外进行的发光效率的比较实验已经确认，当采用放电气体A时，即使是使用比采用放电气体Z时低得多的电压也能实现同等的亮度，当采用放电气体A时，可以获得大约为采用放电气体Z时的1.5倍的发光效率。 Has been confirmed by a comparative experiment performed luminous efficiency Further, when using a discharge gas A, even with the use of a discharge gas Z than a much lower voltage to achieve equivalent brightness, when using a discharge gas A, can be obtained about light-emitting efficiency is 1.5 times the time of discharge gas Z.
可以认为，上述放电气体A的效果，是通过将在实验1中所述的因含有He而使发光效率提高及因添加少量Ar而使放电电压减低两方面结合而获得的。 It is believed that the effect of the discharge gas A, by reducing the voltage in binding due to the presence of both He and the luminous efficiency is improved by the addition of a small amount of Ar in the discharge of the experiment 1 is obtained.
从本实验的结果可以看出，采用He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列混合气体作为放电气体并已确定最好是使Xe的含量在5体积％以下、Ar的含量在0.5体积％以下，对发光效率的提高及放电电压的降低是有效的。 From the results of this experiment, using the He-Ne-Xe-Ar-based mixed gas as discharge gas has been determined, and it is desirable that the content of Xe of 5 volume% or less, the content of Ar 0.5% by volume or less, the light-emitting improve the efficiency and lower the discharge voltage is effective.
在本实验中，通过使气体压力P在13.33～333.30kPa的范围内变化而进行了Pd乘积的设定，但即使将气体压力P设定在333.30～533.28kPa的范围内，也仍能得到与图10的曲线图同样的结果。 In this experiment, Pd product and carried out by setting the gas pressure P is varied in the range of 13.33 ~ 333.30kPa, but even if the gas pressure P is set in a range 333.30 ~ 533.28kPa also still obtained the same result graph 10 of FIG.
(实验3：关于He-Ne-Xe系列气体及He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列气体)PDP的制作方式是，在上述实施形态的PDP(电极间距离d＝40μm)中，作为放电气体采用了He(50％)-Ne(48％)-Xe(2％)、He(50％)-Ne(48％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(0.1％)、He(30％)-Ne(68％)-Xe(2％)、He(30％)-Ne(67.9％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(0.1％)的各种组成的气体，并将Pd乘积改变为各种不同的值。 (Experiment 3: About He-Ne-Xe series gas and a He-Ne-Xe-Ar series gas) PDP production methods, in the PDP in the above-described embodiment (inter-electrode distance d = 40μm), as a discharge gas employed He (50%) - Ne (48%) - Xe (2%), He (50%) - Ne (48%) - Xe (2%) - Ar (0.1%), He (30%) - Ne ( 68%) - Xe (2%), He (30%) - Ne (67.9%) - Xe (2%) - Ar (0.1%) of various gas composition and Pd product change for a variety of value. 然后，对制成的各PDP，测定了亮度及放电起始电压。 Then, each sample PDP was measured for the luminance and the discharge starting voltage.
在图11的表中，对采用了各种组成气体的其Pd乘积为4左右(封入压力为266.64kPa)的PDP列出其亮度的测定值(放电电压为250V)。 In the table of FIG. 11, the use is made of various constituent gases Pd product is about 4 (enclosed pressure of 266.64kPa) lists the measured values of a PDP of luminance (discharge voltage is 250V).
与上述图9的表中对He-Xe系列、Ne-Xe-Ar系列的气体所列出的亮度测定值相比，在图11的表中列出的亮度测定值都呈现出相当高的值。 The table of FIG. 9 as compared to the luminance measurement value series He-Xe, Ne-Xe-Ar gas listed series, luminance evaluation value listed in the table of FIG. 11 emerged relatively high value . 由此可知，采用He-Ne-Xe系列气体及He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列气体，在亮度的提高上是有效的。 It can be seen, the use of He-Ne-Xe gas and a series of He-Ne-Xe-Ar gas series, the increase in brightness is effective.
图11示出放电起始电压的测定结果，是对各组成气体表示出Pd乘积与放电起始电压的关系的曲线图。 Figure 11 shows the measurement results of the discharge starting voltage, a graph showing the relationship of the components shown Pd product gas and the discharge start voltage.
从该曲线图和表可以看出，与He-Ne-Xe系列的放电气体相比，在其中添加少量Ar的放电气体，其放电起始电压降低且亮度也有一定提高。 As can be seen from this graph and table, as compared with the discharge gas He-Ne-Xe series, added thereto a small amount of Ar discharge gas, the discharge starting voltage is decreased and the brightness is slightly improved.
尤其是，如果采用He(30％)-Ne(67.9％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(0.1％)的气体，则不仅亮度较为良好，且如果将Pd乘积设定在0.4～0.8(kPa·cm)左右的范围内(例如，电极间距离d＝60μm、封入压力为133.32kPa)，则可以将放电起始电压降低到实用上最佳的放电起始电压区域(220V以下)。 In particular, if He (30%) - Ne (67.9%) - Xe (2%) - Ar (0.1%) gas, not only relatively good brightness, and if Pd product is set to 0.4 ~ 0.8 (kPa in the range of · cm) or so (e.g., inter-electrode distance d = 60μm, enclosed pressure of 133.32kPa), the discharge starting voltage can be reduced to the optimum discharge starting voltage area (220V or less) practically.
另外，还可以看出，在该气体组成的情况下，在Pd乘积为4左右时，放电起始电压呈现出最小值，所以最好将Pd乘积设定在4(例如，当封入压力为266.64kPa时，电极间距离d＝20μm)左右。 Further, it can be seen, in the case of this gas composition, when Pd product is about four, the firing voltage exhibits the minimum value, it is preferable that Pd product is set to 4 (e.g., when the enclosed pressure of 266.64 kPa, the inter-electrode distance d = 20μm) about.
在本实验中，在各种组成的气体内将Xe的量设定为2％，而当Xe的量设定为10％以下的其他值时，放电起始电压的绝对值虽然改变，但可以得到与图11所示曲线图相同的趋势。 In this experiment, the gas within the various compositions of the amount of Xe is set to 2% when the amount of Xe is set to another value of 10% or less, the absolute value of discharge start voltage changes though, but graph to obtain the same trend shown in FIG. 11.
另外，在本实验中，He的含量设定在50％以下，但从另外进行的实验已知，在上述的He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列的放电气体中，如将He的含量设定在55体积％以上，则存在着使放电电压变得相当高的倾向。 Further, in this experiment, the proportion of He is set at 50%, but further experiments carried out are known, in the above-described He-Ne-Xe-Ar discharge gas series, as the proportion of He is set at 55% by volume or more, there is a considerably high discharge voltage becomes a tendency.
因此，为了降低放电电压，最好将He的含量限定在55体积％以下。 Thus, to reduce the discharge voltage, the proportion of He is preferably 55 vol% or less is defined.
(实验4：He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列气体中的Ar量的实验)为了检查4种混合气体中的氩的最佳量，进行了如下实验，即在He(30％)-Ne((68-X)％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(X％)的气体中，测定当按X＝0.01、0.05、0.1、0.5、1变化时的放电起始电压及发光效率。 (Experiment 4: The experiment of the amount of Ar He-Ne-Xe-Ar series gas) in order to check the optimum amount of argon four kinds of mixed gas, the following experiment was carried out, i.e. in He (30%) - Ne (( 68-X)%) - Xe (2%) - Ar (X%) of the gas, when the measured discharge starting voltage and luminous efficiency by X = 0.01,0.05,0.1,0.5,1 is changed.
发光效率的测定，是使从驱动电路对放电板施加的放电保持电压为Vm，并测定此时流过的电流I，接着用亮度计测定亮度L(设此时的亮度测定面积为S)，并按下列的式1求出发光效率η。 Measurement of the luminescence efficiency, the driving circuit is a discharge panel applied to the voltage Vm of the maintaining discharge, and measuring the current flowing at that time I, followed by the luminance measured with a luminance L (luminance measurement area is provided at this time is S), 1 is determined according to the following formula emission efficiency η.
η＝π·S·L/Vm·I ...(1)图12示出其结果的一例、即将封入压力设定为266.64kPa时的曲线图。 η = π · S · L / Vm · I ... (1) FIG. 12 shows an example of the result, i.e. the pressure is set enclosed graph when 266.64kPa.
从该图可以看出，就发光效率而言，在Ar量为0.1％以下的范围内，基本保持一定，在0.1％～0.5％的范围内，随着Ar量的增加，发光效率缓慢降低，当超过0.5％时，随着Ar量的增加而急剧降低。 As can be seen from this figure, in terms of light emission efficiency, Ar in an amount of 0.1% or less, substantially constant, in the range of 0.1% to 0.5%, with the increase in the amount of Ar, the emission efficiency gradually decreases, when more than 0.5%, with an increase in the amount of Ar drastically reduced.
另一方面，还可以看出，对于放电起始电压，在Ar量为0.1％时，具有最小值，在0.1％～0.5％的范围内，随着Ar量的增加，发光效率逐渐增加，当超过0.5％时，随着Ar量的增加而急剧升高。 On the other hand, can also be seen, the discharge starting voltage, when the proportion of Ar is 0.1%, has a minimum value in the range of 0.1% to 0.5%, with the increase in the amount of Ar, the emission efficiency gradually increased, when when more than 0.5%, with the increase in the amount of Ar sharply increases.
由此可知，Ar量的添加量最好设定在0.5％以下。 This indicates that the addition amount of the amount of Ar is preferably set at 0.5% or less.
对于He量或Xe量改变的情况，图中虽未示出，但即使发光效率或放电起始电压的绝对值改变，也可以得到与图12的曲线图相同的结果。 He or Xe in the case of the amount of change in the amount of, although not shown in FIG., But even the absolute value of the light emission efficiency or changing the discharge start voltage can be obtained with the same graph of FIG. 12 results. 另外，即使将封入压力设定在常压附近，也能获得与上述图12的曲线相同的结果。 Further, even when the filling pressure is set in the vicinity of atmospheric pressure, can be obtained with the above-described graph of FIG. 12 the same result. 另外，即使将封入压力设定在常压附近，也能获得与上述图12的曲线相同的结果。 Further, even when the filling pressure is set in the vicinity of atmospheric pressure, can be obtained with the above-described graph of FIG. 12 the same result.
(实施形态2)图13是本实施形态的交流表面放电型PDP的简略断面图。 (Embodiment 2) FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the AC surface discharge type PDP of the present embodiment.
该PDP，与实施形态1的PDP虽然类似，但在实施形态1中，显示电极设在正面板侧，地址电极设在背面板侧，与此不同，在本实施形态中，地址电极61和显示电极63a、63b，隔着第1电介质层62都设在正面板侧。 That the PDP, and the embodiment the PDP 1, although similar, but in Embodiment 1, the display electrodes provided on the front panel side, address electrodes provided on the back plate side, and this, in the present embodiment, the address electrode 61 and display electrodes 63a, 63b, a first dielectric layer interposed therebetween are provided on the front panel 62 side.
在图13中，为了方便，以断面示出一对显示电极63a、63b，但实际上与图1相同，一对显示电极63a、63b，沿着与地址电极61及间壁30交叉的方向设置。 In FIG. 13, for convenience, in section, illustrating a pair of display electrodes 63a, 63b, but practically the same as in FIG. 1, a pair of display electrodes 63a, 63b, disposed along a direction the address electrodes 61 and the partition wall 30 intersect.
在该PDP中，正面板10按照如下方式制作。 In the PDP, the front panel 10 produced as follows.
正面板10的制作方法可以是，在正面玻璃衬底11上形成地址电极51，并在其上用铅基玻璃形成第1电介质层62。 The method of manufacturing the front panel 10 may be, address electrodes 51 formed on the front glass substrate 11, and forming a first dielectric layer 62 with a lead-based glass thereon. 接着，在第1电介质层62的表面上形成显示电极63a、63b，并从显示电极63之上用铅基玻璃形成第2电介质层64。 Next, the display electrodes 63a, 63b on the surface of the first dielectric layer 62, and forming the second dielectric layer 64 from the top of the display electrode 63 with a lead-based glass. 然后，在第2电介质层64的表面上形成由MgO构成的保护层65。 Then, a protective layer 65 made of MgO on the surface of the second dielectric layer 64.
地址电极61、显示电极63a和63b、电介质层62和63、保护层65的材料和形成方法，与在实施形态1中说明过的相同，在本实施形态中，在保护层65的表面上最好也用等离子蚀刻法形成凹凸。 Address electrodes 61, display electrodes 63a and 63b, the dielectric layers 62 and 63, the material of the protective layer 65 and the formation method, and described in Embodiment 1 is the same, in the present embodiment, the surface of the protective layer 65 is most good irregularities are also formed by plasma etching.
在本实施形态中，通过以与实施形态1同样的方式设定放电气体的组成及封入压力，也可以取得与实施形态1中所述的同样效果。 In the present embodiment, by setting the composition in the same manner as in Embodiment 1 and a discharge gas filling pressure, it can also achieve the same effects as those in the embodiment 1, Fig.
另外，在本实施形态中，由于地址电极61和显示电极63a、63b隔着第1电介质层62设置在正面板侧，所以，即使放电气体的封入压力高时，也能以低的地址电压进行寻址。 Further, in the present embodiment, since the address electrode 61 and display electrodes 63a, 63b via the first dielectric layer 62 is provided on the front panel side, so that, even when the enclosed pressure of the discharge gas is high, can be performed with a low address voltage addressing.
即，当如实施形态1所述使放电空间介于地址电极与显示电极之间时，也可以将帕邢定律应用于定址放电。 That is, when the Embodiment 1 as discharge space interposed between the address electrodes and the display electrodes, Paschen's law may be applied to address discharge. 这里，虽然考虑到当缩小地址电极与显示电极之间的距离时即使在低的地址电压下也能进行稳定的定址放电，但实际上不可能缩小得很多，因此，为了进行稳定的定址放电，如放电气体的封入压力设定得高，则必须提高地址电压。 Here, although taken into consideration when narrowing the distance between the address electrodes and the display electrodes even at a low address voltage can be stable address discharge, but it is practically impossible to close too much, so, in order to perform a stable address discharge, the discharge gas filling pressure is set high, the address voltage must be increased.
与此不同，在本实施形态的PDP的情况下，不是使放电空间介于地址电极61与显示电极63a、63b之间，所以，即使放电气体的封入压力设定得高，也能以低的地址电压进行稳定的寻址。 In contrast to this, in the case of the PDP according to the present embodiment, instead of making the address discharge electrode 61 and the space between the display electrodes 63a, 63b between, so that, even when the discharge gas filling pressure is set high, but also at low address stable address voltage.
图14是本实施形态的另一种交流表面放电型PDP的简略断面图。 FIG 14 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another surface discharge AC type PDP according to the present embodiment.
在上述图13的PDP中，将地址电极61和显示电极63a、63b隔着第1电介质层62设在正面板10侧，但在图14的PDP中，将地址电极71和显示电极73a、73b隔着第1电介质层72设在背面板20侧。 In the PDP in FIG. 13, the address electrodes 61 and display electrodes 63a, 63b via the first dielectric layer 62 is provided on 10 side of the front plate, but in the PDP of FIG. 14, the address electrodes 71 and display electrodes 73a, 73b via a first dielectric layer 72 provided on the back side panel 20.
背面板20的制作方法可以是，在背面玻璃衬底21上形成地址电极71，并在其上用铅基玻璃形成第1电介质层72。 Method for manufacturing back panel 20 may be formed in the address electrodes 71 on the back glass substrate 21, and forming a first dielectric layer 72 with a lead-based glass thereon. 接着，在第1电介质层72的表面上形成显示电极73a、73b，并从显示电极73之上用铅基玻璃形成第2电介质层74。 Next, the display electrodes 73a, 73b on the surface of the first dielectric layer 72, and forming the second dielectric layer 74 from the top of the display electrode 73 with a lead-based glass. 然后，在第2电介质层74的表面上形成由MgO构成的保护层75。 Then, a protective layer 75 made of MgO on the surface of the second dielectric layer 74.
这种PDP，也具有与上述图13的PDP相同的效果。 This PDP, the PDP described above also has the same effect as in FIG. 13.
另外，该PDP，由于将地址电极71和显示电极73a、73b设在背面板侧，所以，在放电空间内发生的可见光，可以从正面射出而不受电极的影响。 Further, the the PDP, since the address electrodes 71 and display electrodes 73a, 73b provided on the back side of the plate, so that the visible light is generated in the discharge space, without being affected by light emitted from the front electrode. 在这一点上，与上述图13的PDP相比，有利于提高亮度。 At this point, compared with the PDP 13 described above, will help improve the brightness.
表1的No.1～6的PDP，是根据实施形态1、2制作的实施例，资料No.1～4的PDP，根据实施形态2的图13制作，资料No.5的PDP，根据实施形态2的图14制作，资料No.6的PDP，则是根据实施形态1制作的。 PDP No.1 ~ 6 Table 1, the embodiment according to Example 1 produced, the information PDP No.1 ~ 4, 13 prepared in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2, the information PDP No.5, according to the embodiment FIG 14 is prepared form 2, information No.6 of the PDP, according to embodiment 1 is produced.
PDP的单元尺寸，适合于42英寸高清晰度电视机用的显示器，其间壁的高度设定为0.08mm、间壁的间隔(单元间距)设定为0.15mm，并将显示电极间的距离d设定为0.05mm。 PDP cell size, 42 inches is suitable for use in high definition television display, the height of the partition wall is set to 0.08mm, the partition wall interval (cell pitch) is set to 0.15mm, and displays the distance d between the electrodes provided as 0.05mm.
电介质层的形成方法是，将70重量％的氧化铅[PbO]、15重量％的氧化硼[B2O3]、15重量％的氧化硅[SiO2]与有机粘合剂(将10％的乙基纤维素溶解在α-萜品醇内制成)混合，并以网板印刷法涂敷该混合而成的组成物，然后在580°下焙烧10分钟，其膜厚设定为20μm。 The method of forming the dielectric layer is 70% by weight of lead oxide [PbO], 15% by weight of boron oxide [B2O3], 15% by weight of silica [of SiO2] and an organic binder (10% ethyl cellulose α- prime dissolved in terpineol made) were mixed and applied to the screen printing composition are mixed, and then calcined at 580 ° for 10 minutes, the film thickness is set to 20μm.
至于保护层的形成方法，用等离子CVD法形成。 As for the method of forming the protective layer by plasma CVD method. 对所形成的MgO保护层的结晶面进行了X射线分析，结果表明为面或面取向。 Crystal plane of the MgO protective layer is formed by X-ray analysis showed that face or a plane orientation.
所封入的放电气体的组成为He(30％)-Ne(67.9％)-Xe(2％)-Ar(0.1％)，如表1的封入压力一栏所示，以66.66～266.64kPa范围的压力封入。 The composition of a discharge gas sealed is He (30%) - Ne (67.9%) - Xe (2%) - Ar (0.1%), as a filling pressure of the column shown in Table 1, in the range of 66.66 ~ 266.64kPa pressure sealed.
对按如上方式制作的No.1～6的PDP，测定了板的亮度和稳定地址电压。 The PDP manufactured by the above manner No.1 ~ 6 measured brightness and stable address voltage plate.
稳定地址电压的测定方法是，一面使地址电压变化，一面观察图象的状态，测定为获得稳定的图象所需的最低地址电压，并将其作为稳定地址电压。 Determination of the address voltage is stabilized, the voltage variation in the address side, while observing the state of the image, measuring the minimum address voltage required to obtain a stable image, and as a stable address voltage.
板的亮度和稳定地址电压的测定结果，如表1所示。 The measurement results of brightness and stable address voltage plate, as shown in Table 1.
结果和考察：当在No.1～4之间比较亮度时，可以看出，与封入压力在常压以下相比，随着将封入压力增加到133.32kPa和266.64kPa，亮度增加。 Results and Discussion: When the comparison between the luminance No.1 ~ 4, it can be seen, compared with the atmospheric pressure or less is sealed, with the increased filling pressure and 133.32kPa 266.64kPa, brightness increases.
当在No.1～4之间比较稳定地址电压时，可以看出，随着封入压力的升高，稳定地址电压虽有若干增加，但与No.6的稳定地址电压相比，No.1～5的稳定地址电压值是相当低的。 When the stable address voltage between No.1 ~ 4, it can be seen, with increasing pressure sealed, although several stable address voltage increases, compared with the stable address voltage No.6, Nos. 1 stable address voltage to 5, is quite low.
上述讨论表明，实施形态2的PDP结构，即使封入压力高时也能有效地压低地址电压。 The foregoing discussion suggests, Embodiment 2 of the PDP structure, even if a high filling pressure can be effectively lowered address voltage.
另外，当比较No.3和No.5的亮度时，可以看出，No.5的亮度稍高一些。 Furthermore, when comparing the No.3 and No.5 brightness, it can be seen, No.5 brightness slightly higher.
(其他事项)本发明，不限定于上述实施形态的PDP，对一般的PDP及气体放电板都能适用。 (Other matters) of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment of the PDP, discharge panel PDP can be applied in general and the gas.
例如，保护层，不限于如上所述的CVD法，也可以用真空蒸镀法形成。 For example, the protective layer is not limited to the CVD method as described above, may be formed by a vacuum deposition method. 此外，玻璃衬底、电介质层、荧光体材料、保护层的成膜方法，也不限定于上述的材料和方法。 Further, a glass substrate, a dielectric layer, a phosphor material, the film formation method of the protective layer is not limited to the above materials and methods. 并且，作为保护层的材料，不只限于MgO，也可以采用在MgO中添加了Ba、Sr、碳氢(CH)等的材料。 Further, as a material of the protective layer, MgO is not limited to, the Ba added to MgO may also be employed, Sr, hydrocarbon (CH) and the like materials.
另外，在上述实施形态中，示出了将荧光体层仅设在背面板侧的例，但也可以设在正面板侧，从而能使亮度得到进一步的提高。 In the above embodiment, the embodiment is shown only the phosphor layer is provided on the back plate side, but may be provided on the front panel side, so that brightness can be further improved.
另外，如果在形成荧光体层的荧光体材料上以几十nm的厚度覆盖由MgO构成的保护层，则可望获得使亮度和发光效率进一步提高的效果。 Further, if a thickness of several tens of nm covered with a protective layer made of MgO on the phosphor material forming the phosphor layer, it is expected to obtain the luminance and luminous efficiency is further improved effect.
另外，在上述实施形态中，示出了在正面玻璃衬底及背面玻璃衬底的任何一方的表面上彼此平行地配置着一对显示电极的例，但对于将显示电极在正面玻璃衬底上和背面玻璃衬底上相对地设置的PDP，也可以按同样的方式实施。 In the above embodiment, there is shown the embodiment are arranged parallel to each other a pair of display electrodes on a surface of either the front glass substrate and a back glass substrate, but the display electrode on the front glass substrate and PDP on the rear surface of the glass substrate oppositely disposed, may also be implemented in the same manner.
另外，在上述实施形态中，示出了将间壁25固定在背面玻璃衬底21上而构成背面板的例，但也可以广泛地应用于将间壁安装在正面板侧的PDP等。 In the above embodiment, the embodiment is shown fixed to the partition wall 25 on the back glass substrate 21 to form the back panel, but may be widely applied to the PDP is mounted on the front panel side of the partition and the like.
另外，关于放电气体的组成，也不限定于上述的Ne-Xe系列、He-Ne-Xe系列、He-Ne-Xe-Ar系列等，在采用氪-氙系列的放电气体(例如Kr(90％)-Xe(10％))、或氪-氖-氙系列的放电气体、并将封入压力设定为106.65～533.28kPa的情况下，也可望获得高亮度、高发光效率。 Further, the composition of the discharge gas is not limited to the above-described series of Ne-Xe, He-Ne-Xe series, He-Ne-Xe-Ar series, in krypton - xenon gas discharge series (e.g. Kr (90 %) - Xe (10%)), krypton, or - Ne - Xe discharge gas range, and the case where the filling pressure is set to 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa is also expected to obtain a high brightness, high luminous efficiency.
进一步，本发明，不限于气体放电板，对于将电极和荧光体层设置在容器中同时形成封入了气体介质的放电空间且随着放电而产生紫外线并由上述荧光体层变换为可见光从而发光的气体放电器件，也可以适用。 Further, the present invention is not limited to a gas discharge panel, for the electrode and a phosphor layer is provided while forming a sealed discharge space a gas medium in a container with the discharge and generating ultraviolet rays by the phosphor layer to emit light is converted to visible light gas discharge means, may be applied.
例如，对于在内表面形成荧光体层的筒状玻璃容器中封入放电气体的荧光灯，本发明也能适用，通过采用其组成如以上实施形态所述的放电气体，可以获得高亮度、高发光效率、低放电电压。 Cylindrical glass containers e.g., for forming the phosphor layer on the inner surface of the fluorescent lamp filled with a discharge gas, the present invention can be applied by using the composition as described above in the form of a discharge gas, a high brightness, high luminous efficiency , a low discharge voltage. 特别是，通过以106.65～533.28kPa范围内的封入压力进行封入，可望取得优良的效果。 In particular, in a sealed enclosed by a pressure in the range of 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa, and is expected to achieve excellent effect.
产业上的可利用性如上所述，在本发明的气体放电板中，通过将气体介质的封入压力设定在比以往高的106.65～533.28kPa的范围内(上述区域1～4的各范围)，与以往相比，可以提高发光效率和板的亮度。 INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, in the gas discharge panel according to the present invention, the pressure of the gas enclosed by the medium in the range higher than the conventional 106.65 ~ 533.28kPa (the range of the respective areas 1 to 4) compared with the conventional, light emission efficiency and brightness can be improved plate.
另外，对封入的气体介质，代替以往的气体组成而采用含有氦、氖、氙、氩的稀有气体混合物，并最好是使氙的含量在5体积％以下、氩的含量在0.5体积％以下、氦的含量小于55体积％，从而可以使发光效率提高，同时能降低放电电压。 In addition, enclosed gaseous medium, in place of the gas composition of the conventional rare gas mixture including helium, neon, xenon, argon and xenon is preferable that the content of 5% by volume or less, that of argon 0.5% by volume or less in the , that of helium under 55% by volume, so that the emission efficiency can be improved, while reducing the discharge voltage.
另外，如果采用将显示电极和地址电极隔着电介质层层叠在正面板或背面板的任何一个的表面上的结构，则即使在封入压力高的情况下，也能以较低的电压进行寻址。 Further, if the display electrode and the address electrode via a dielectric layer on a surface of any positive or rear panel of the structure, even at a high gas pressure is, addressing is performed at a relatively low voltage .
上述的本发明，在减低气体放电板的耗电量上是有效的，尤其是具有使高清晰度用PDP的亮度提高和减低其耗电量的效果。 The present invention described above, power consumption is reduced on the gas discharge panel is effective, in particular with the high-definition PDP with improved brightness and reduced power consumption of its effect.
另外，除气体放电板以外，对包括荧光灯等气体发光器件在内的一般的气体放电管，也具有提高亮度和减低耗电量的效果。 Further, in addition to the gas discharge panel, the general fluorescent lamp comprising a gas emitting device including a gas discharge tube, also has an effect of improving brightness and reducing power consumption.
1.一种气体放电板，在相对设置的一对板之间，形成封入了气体介质的放电空间，同时在上述一对板的相对的面的至少一个面上设置电极和荧光体层，随着放电而产生紫外线并由上述荧光体层变换为可见光从而发光，该气体放电板的特征在于：上述气体介质，是含有氦、氖、氙、氩的稀有气体混合物；在上述气体介质中含有5体积％以下的氙、小于55体积％的氦，0.5体积％以下的氩；上述气体介质的封入压力为101.32～266.64kPa。 A gas discharge panel, between a pair of opposed plates arranged to form a discharge space enclosed gaseous medium, while at least an electrode and a phosphor layer provided on one surface of the pair of opposing surfaces of the plate, with a discharge is generated by the ultraviolet rays the phosphor layer is converted into visible light to emit light, characterized in that the gas discharge panel wherein: the gaseous medium, containing helium, neon, xenon, argon rare gas mixture; 5 contained in the gas medium, % by volume of xenon, less than 55% by volume of helium, argon, 0.5 vol%; gas pressure of the enclosed medium is 101.32 ~ 266.64kPa.
2.根据权利要求1所述的气体放电板，其特征在于：上述电极，包括彼此平行配置的显示电极、及与该显示电极交叉配置的地址电极，上述显示电极和地址电极，隔着第1电介质层层叠在上述一对板的任何一个的表面上。 The gas discharge panel according to claim 1, wherein: the electrodes including a display electrode disposed parallel to each other, and address electrodes arranged to intersect with the display, the display electrode and the address electrode via a first the dielectric layer is laminated on a surface of either of the pair of plates.
3.根据权利要求2所述的气体放电板，其特征在于：上述一对相对配置的板，是正面板和背面板，上述显示电极和地址电极，隔着第1电介质层层叠在上述背面板的表面上。 3. The gas discharge panel of Claim 2, wherein: said pair of oppositely disposed plates, the positive and back panels, the display electrode and the address electrode, a first dielectric layer interposed therebetween stacked on the back plate surface.
4.根据权利要求2所述的气体放电板，其特征在于：上述地址电极、第1电介质层及显示电极，按顺序层叠在上述一对板的任何一个的表面上，上述显示电极的至少一部分由第2电介质层覆盖。 4. The gas discharge panel according to claim 2, wherein: said address electrodes, the first display electrodes and the dielectric layer, stacked in this order on a surface of either of the pair of plates, at least a portion of the display electrode covered by the second dielectric layer.
5.根据权利要求2所述的气体放电板，其特征在于：上述第2电介质层的表面，由以热化学蒸镀法或等离子化学蒸镀法形成的氧化镁层覆盖。 5. The gas discharge panel according to claim 2, wherein: a surface of the second dielectric layer, a magnesium oxide layer is a thermal chemical vapor deposition method or a plasma chemical vapor deposition method is formed to cover.
6.根据权利要求1所述的气体放电板，其特征在于：上述电极，其至少一部分由电介质层覆盖，该电介质层由氧化镁膜覆盖，该氧化镁膜，以热化学蒸镀法或等离子化学蒸镀法形成并具有按面或面取向的结晶结构，且在其表面上有棱锥状的凹凸。 6. The gas discharge panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the electrode, at least a portion thereof covered by a dielectric layer, the dielectric layer is covered with a magnesium oxide film, magnesium oxide film, a thermal chemical vapor deposition or plasma chemical vapor deposition method and forming press having a plane or the plane orientation of the crystal structure and have pyramid-shaped projections on its surface.
7.一种显示装置，它包括：气体放电板，所述气体放电板在相对设置的一对板之间，形成封入了气体介质的放电空间，同时在上述一对板的相对的面的至少一个面上设置电极和荧光体层，随着放电而产生紫外线并由上述荧光体层变换为可见光从而发光；及通过对上述电极施加电压而驱动上述放电板的驱动电路，上述气体介质，是含有氦、氖、氙、氩的稀有气体混合物；在上述气体介质中含有5体积％以下的氙、小于55体积％的氦，0.5体积％以下的氩；上述气体介质的封入压力为101.32～266.64kPa。 A display device, comprising: a gas discharge panel, the gas discharge panel between a pair of opposed plates arranged to form a discharge space enclosed gaseous medium, while the opposing surfaces of the pair of plates of at least a surface of the electrode and the phosphor layer with ultraviolet rays generated by the discharge of the phosphor layer is converted into visible light to emit light; and a driving circuit applying a driving voltage to the electrodes of the discharge plate, the gas medium, containing mixture of rare gases helium, neon, xenon, argon; containing 5% by volume of xenon in the gas medium is less than 55% by volume of helium, argon, 0.5 vol%; gas pressure of the enclosed medium is 101.32 ~ 266.64kPa . | 2019-04-25T20:22:14Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/CN1161815C/en |
I recently spoke at the iTechLaw conference on a panel on software patents, questioning the need for patenting of software.
This blog post is based on a presentation made at the [iTechLaw conference] held on February 5, 2010. The audience consisted of lawyers from various corporations and corporate law firms. As is their wont, most lawyers when dealing with software patents get straight to an analysis of law governing the patenting of computer programmes in India and elsewhere, and seeing whether any loopholes exist and can be exploited to patent software. It was refreshing to see at least some lawyers actually going into questions of the need for patents to cover computer programs. In my presentation, I made a multi-pronged case against software patents: (1) philosophical justification against software patents based on the nature of software; (2) legal case against software patents; (3) practical reasons against software patents.
Through these arguments, it is sought to be shown that patentability of software is not some arcane, technical question of law, but is a real issue that affect the continued production of new software and the everyday life of the coder/hacker/software programmer/engineer as well as consumers of software (which is, I may remind you, everywhere from your pacemaker to your phone). A preamble to the arguments would note that the main question to ask is: **why should we allow for patenting of software**? Answering this question will lead us to ask: **who benefits from patenting of software**. The conclusion that I come to is that patenting of software helps three categories of people: (1) those large software corporations that already have a large number of software patents; (2) those corporations that do not create software, but only trade in patents / sue on the basis of patents ("patent trolls"); (3) patent lawyers. How they don't help small and medium enterprises nor society at large (since they deter, rather than further invention) will be borne out by the rest of these arguments, especially the section on practical reasons against software patents.
Patents are a twenty-year monopoly granted by the State on any invention. An invention has to have at least four characteristics: (0) patentable subject matter; (1) novelty (it has to be new); (2) inventive step / non-obviousness (even if new, it should not be obvious); (3) application to industry. A monopoly over that invention, thus means that if person X has invented something, then I may not use the core parts of that invention ("the essential claims") in my own invention. This prohibition applies even if I have come upon my invention without having known about X's invention. (Thus, independent creation is not a defence to patent infringement. This distinguishes it, for instance, from copyright law in which two people who created the same work independently of each other can both assert copyright.) Patents cover non-abstract ideas/functionality while copyright covers specific expressions of ideas. To clarify: imagine I make a drawing of a particular machine and describe the procedure of making it. Under patent law, no one else can make that particular machine, while under copyright law, no one can copy that drawing.
Even without going into the case against patents _per se_ (lack of independent creation as a defence; lack of 'harm' as a criterion leading to internalization of all positive externalities; lack of effective disclosure and publication; etc.), which has been done much more ably by others like [Bessen & Meurer] (especially in their book [Patent Failure]) and [Boldrin & Levine] (in their book [Against Intellectual Monopoly], the full text of which is available online).
But there is one essentially philosophical argument against software as subject matter of a patent. Software/computer programs ("instructions for a computer"), as any software engineer would tell you, are merely [algorithms] ("an effective method for solving a problem using a finite sequence of instructions") that are meant to be understood by a computer or a human who knows how to read that code.
Algorithms are not patentable subject matter, as they are mere expressions of abstract ideas, and not inventions in themselves. Computer programs, similarly, are abstract ideas. They only stop being abstract ideas when embodied in a machine or a process in which it is the machine/process that is the essential claim and not the software. That machine or process being patented would not grant protection to the software itself, but to the whole machine or process. Thus the abstract part of that machine/process (i.e., the computer program) could be used in any other machine/process, as it it is not the subject matter of the patent. Importantly, just because software is required to operate some machine would then not mean that the machine itself is not patentable, just that the software cannot be patented in guise of patenting a machine.
> (3) The following are not inventions within the meaning of this Act: (k) a mathematical or business method or computer programme (_sic_) _per se_ or algorithms.
As one can see, computer programs are place in the same category as "mathematical methods", "algorithms", and "business methods", hence giving legal validity to the idea propounded in the previous section that computer programs are a kind of algorithms (just as algorithms are a kind of mathematical method).
> (3) The following are not inventions within the meaning of this Act: (k) a computer programme _per se_ other than its technical application to industry or a combination with hardware; (ka) a mathematical method or a business method or algorithms.
Thus, it is clear that the interpretation that "computer programme _per se_" excludes "a computer programme that has technical application to industry" and "a computer programme in combination with hardware" is wrong. By rejecting the 2004 Ordinance wording, Parliament has clearly shown that "technical application to industry" and "combination with hardware" do not make a computer programme patentable subject matter.
Indeed, what exactly is "technical application to industry"? ["Technical"][technical] has various definitions, and a perusal through those definitions would show that barely any computer program can be said not to relate to a technique, not involve "specialized knowledge of applied arts and sciences" (it is code, after all; not everyone can write good algorithms), or not relate to "a practical subject that is organized according to scientific principles" or is "technological". Similarly, all software is, [by definition][software-def], meant to be used in combination with hardware. Thus, it being used in combination with hardware must not, as argued above, give rise to patentability of otherwise unpatentable subject matter category.
In 2008, the Patent Office published a new 'Draft Manual Of Patent Practice And Procedure' in which it sought to allow patenting of certain method claims for software inventions (while earlier the Patent Office objected to method claims, allowing only device claims with hardware components). This Draft Manual was withdrawn from circulation, with Shri N.N. Prasad (then Joint Secretary of DIPP, the department administering the Patent Office) noting that the parts of the Manual on sections 3(d) and 3(k) had generated a lot of controversy, and were _ultra vires_ the scope of the Manual (which could not override the Patent Act). He promised that those parts would be dropped and the Manual would be re-written. A revised draft of the Manual has not yet been released. Thus the interpretation provided in the Draft Manual (which was based heavily on the interpretation of the U.K. courts) cannot not be relied upon as a basis for arguments in favour of the patentability of software in India.
In October 2008, CIS helped organize a [National Public Meeting on Software Patents][npmsp] in which Indian academics, industry, scientists, and FOSS enthusiasts all came to the conclusion that software patents are harmful for [both the industry as well as consumers][sp-article].
This is going to be an attempt at distilling and simplifying some of the main practical arguments against patenting of software.
There are traditionally [four incentives that the patent system caters to][incentives]: (1) incentive to invent; (2) incentive to disclose; (3) incentive to commercialize; and (4) incentive to invent substitutes. Apart from the last, patenting of software does not really aid any of them. Even the last is not achieved when patent gridlocks form, as will be seen below.
Given that computer programs are algorithms, having monopolies over such abstract ideas is detrimental to innovation. Just the metaphors say a lot about software patents: landmines (they cannot be seen/predicted); submarines (they surface out of the blue); gridlocks (because there are so many software patents around the same area of computing, they prevent further innovation in that area, since no program can be written without violating one patent or the other).
Imagine the madness that would have ensued had patents been granted when computer programming was in its infancy. Imagine different methods of sorting (quick sort, bubble sort) that are part of Computer Science 101 had been patented. While those particular instances aren't, similar algorithms, such as data compression algorithms (including the infamous [LZW compression method][lzw]), have been granted patents. Most importantly, even if one codes certain functionality into software independently of the patent holder, that is still violative of the patent. Computer programs being granted patents makes it extremely difficult to create other computer programs that are based on the same abstract ideas. Thus incentives # (1) and (3) are not fulfilled, and indeed, they are harmed. There is no incentive to invent, as one would always be violating one patent or the other. Given that, there is no incentive to commercialize what one has invented, because of fear of patent infringement suits.
Indeed, even the most diligent companies cannot guard themselves against software patents. FFII estimates that a very simple online shopping website [would violate twenty different patents at the very least][webshop]. Microsoft recently lost a case against i4i when i4i surfaced with a patent covering custom XML as implemented in MS Office 2003 and MS Office 2007. As a result Microsoft had to ship patches to its millions of customers, to disable the functionality and bypass that patent. The manufacturers of BlackBerry, the Canadian company Research in Motion, had to shell out [USD 617 million as settlement][RIM-NTP] to NTP over wireless push e-mail, as it was otherwise faced with the possibility of the court shutting down the BlackBerry service in the U.S. This happened despite there being a well-known method of doing so pre-dating the NTP patents. NTP has also filed cases against AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Palm Inc. [Microsoft was also hit by Visto Corporation][visto] over those same NTP patents, which had been licensed to Visto (a startup).
* ####Don't These Cases Show How Software Patents Help Small Companies?
The astute reader might be tempted to ask: are not all of these examples of small companies getting their dues from larger companies? Doesn't all of this show that software patents actually help small and medium enterprises (SMEs)? The answer to that is: no. To see why, we need to note the common thread binding i4i, NTP, and Visto. None of them were, at the time of their lawsuits, actually creating new software, and NTP was an out-and-out "non-practising entity"/"patent holding company" AKA, patent troll. i4i was in the process of closing shop, and Visto had just started up. None of these were actually practising the patent. None of these were producing any other software. Thus, none of these companies had anything to lose by going after big companies. In other words, the likes of Microsoft, RIM, Verizon, AT&T, etc., could not file counter-suits of patent infringement, which is normally what happens when SMEs try to assert patent rights against larger corporations. For every patent that the large corporation violates of the smaller corporation, the smaler corporation would be violating at least ten of the larger corporation's. Software patents are more helpful for software companies as a tool for cross-licensing rather than as a way of earning royalties. Even this does not work as a strategy against patent trolls.
Thus, the assertion that was made at the beginning is borne out: software patents help only patent trolls, large corporations that already have large software patent portfolios, and the lawyers who draft these patents and later argue them out in court.
Twenty years of monopoly rights is outright ludicrous in an industry where the rate of turnover of technology is much faster -- anywhere between two years and five months.
In India, software patents have never been asserted in courts (even though many have been [illegally granted][illegal-sp]), yet the software industry in India is growing in leaps and bounds. Similarly, most of the big (American) giants of the software industry today grew to their stature by using copyright to "protect" their software, and not patents.
As noted above, the code/expression of any software is internationally protected by copyright law. There is no reason to protect the ideas/functionality of that software as well.
When ordinary computer programmers cannot understand what a particular software patent covers (which is the overwhelming case), then the patent is of no use. One of the main incentives of the patent system is to encourage gifted inventors to share their genius with the world. It is not about gifted inventors paying equally gifted lawyers to obfuscate their inventions into gobbledygook so that other gifted inventors can at best hazard a guess as to precisely what is and is not covered by that patent. Thus, this incentive (#2) is not fulfilled by the current system of patents either -- not unless there is a major overhaul of the system. This ties in with the impossibility of ensuring that one is not violating a software patent. If a reasonably smart software developer (who are often working as individuals, and as part of SMEs) cannot quickly ascertain whether one is violating patents, then there is a huge disincentive against developing software in that area at all.
Software patents hinder the development of software and FOSS licences, as the licensee is not allowed to restrict the rights of the sub-licensees over and above the restrictions that the licensee has to observe. Thus, all patent clearances obtained by the licensee must be passed on to the sub-licensees. Thus, patented software, though most countries around the world do not recognize them, are generally not included in the default builds of many FOSS operating systems. This inhabits the general adoption of FOSS, since many of the software patents, even though not enforceable in India, are paid heed to by the software that Indians download, and the MP3 and DivX formats are not enabled by default in standard installations of a Linux OS such as Ubuntu.
Currently, the U.S. patent system is being reviewed at the administrative level, the legislative level, as well as the judicial level. At the judicial level, the question of business method patents (and, by extension, software patents) is before the Supreme Court of the United States of America in the form of [_Bilski v. Kappos_][bilski]. Judge Mayer of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC, which heard _In re Bilksi_) noted that "the patent system has run amok". The Free Software Foundation submitted a most extensive [_amicus curiae_ brief][fsf-amicus] to the U.S. Supreme Court, filled with brilliant analysis of software patents and arguments against the patentability of software that is well worth a read. | 2019-04-21T22:03:54Z | http://blog.narendrasisodiya.com/2010/02/cis-view-arguments-against-software.html |
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FukushimaVoice: What's really going on in Japan A letter to inform foreigners of situations in Japan.
This letter was written in an attempt to convince school officials to cancel annual school trips to Japan where the students in a public Japanese language immersion program participate in cultural exchanges.
I am an osteopathic physician originally from Kyoto. I have been in the US since 1983, attending college and medical school. I am quite fully bilingual in terms of writing and reading.
I am currently involved with this site which collects voluntary narrative case reports from those who have symptoms as a result of the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident.
I have been spending countless hours gathering and researching information regarding what's really going on in Japan since 311. I had to educate myself in what radiation contamination meant as well as the difference between internal and external radiation exposure. In my medical training, I never received much information about radiation.
The Japanese government has been absolutely terrible in how they have managed almost everything since 311. People were not informed of dangers of radiation exposure shortly after 311. As you might recall, it wasn't until May that the government admitted there had been 3 melt-throughs. By then, people had been exposed to radiation.
The concept of internal radiation exposure has been suppressed ever since Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing for political reasons so that atomic weapons development could and would continue. Researchers who studied low-dose radiation contamination had their studies suppressed and unfunded. Organizations such as ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection) and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) have gone along with this. Both promote the use of nuclear power. WHO (World Health Organization) has signed something with IAEA so that they would not interfere with IAEA's official announcements. Those researchers whose work was suppressed are mostly represented in ECRR (European Committee on Radiation Risk), whose general position is that there is no safe level of radiation and that hot particles ingested or inhaled cause internal radiation exposure.
The general consensus even amongst medical personnel who deals with radiation is that people should not have symptoms unless the radiation levels were much higher than what had been seen in Fukushima. I now know this is because what physicians have been taught was based on ICRP standards. I also know this is inaccurate.
The physicians and scientists in Japan are split in deciding what's really harmful to people. However, when you look at who is saying what, you begin to see that those who say high radiation levels are not harmful or people cannot possibly be having symptoms right now have some hidden connections to entities that are pushing nuclear energy.
Also, keep in mind how things work in the Japanese society. Those professors and scientists belonging to institutions often do not have freedom to speak their own minds. Thus very few people have been able to speak out the truth to inform the public about what's really going on.
So in a nutshell, the government does not really seem to care about the well-being of the people there. Otherwise why would they not evacuate Fukushima children? (I have read that it was because there was not enough money.) It is just insane for children to have to wear dosimeters to attend school. Also, the Japanese government's decisions are based on ICRP findings, so that's why people are still allowed to live in areas of high radiation levels including not only Fukushima but also Kanto regions.
The government's standard for radiation levels in food has been set at the level that is reserved for a total nuclear holocaust when nothing would be uncontaminated. That's what has been going on in the last 10 months.
FoodChain In Japan, if the radiation level is below the set standard, the food could be declared "uncontaminated" which is technically not true. Our families and friends in Japan are eating contaminated food, most of them unknowingly because they believe what the government says. Those who are more knowledgeable are watching what they eat, choosing food from the western part of Japan. Even then, it's difficult to avoid contamination. In the name of patriotism, consumption of Fukushima products is encouraged and even considered a virtue. Yokohama was one of the cities which had decided early on to "help out" Fukushima by using their products in school lunches.
School lunches all over seem to be serving things that should be avoided because they are known to show radioactive contamination early on, such as milk and mushrooms.
Hotels and restaurants, and I am sure airline food industry, would tell you that their food is within the safety limits set by the governments. Those limits are simply too high. It's like a Russian roulette. You don't know how much radiation is in what you eat unless you know how much is in each ingredient and prepare meals using such ingredients. This is difficult to accomplish, as ordinary geiger counters cannot measure what's contained in food. In Belarus, there are many regional testing centers where people can take food in for testing before deciding to eat, say, handpicked berries, or homegrown vegetables. There is a few such civilian testing centers in some towns in Japan, but it is not widespread enough for such testing to be a routine daily procedure for everyone.
Also, the label on the fresh food that shows where they were made seems to be forged quite often. Rice produced in Fukushima was snatched up at a cheap price by middlemen to be sold to food industry. Same for Fukushima peaches.
People in Hokkaido and western parts of Japan might not pay attention to what they eat as they think they are safe because they are far from Fukushima. The aerial and soil levels of radiation may be nearly normal in those places. However, in a country like Japan where goods quickly circulate from one end to another, unknowingly contaminated products are on the shelves all over the country. So in this case distance means very little.
You might think a few weeks stay would pose minimal risks, especially when the families and friends seem to be living an ordinary, almost pre-311 life there. I disagree. I can't guarantee this, of course, since nobody really knows what's in the food there anymore, but a few weeks of eating possibly contaminated food could cause enough internal radiation exposure to cause harm. I am not even talking about thyroid cancers and leukemia, although that could certainly happen. Internal radiation contamination means radioactive particles are in the body and remain in the body, emitting radiation at a close proximity to cells and DNA. I have copied an e-mail I sent to someone regarding internal and external radiation exposure at the end.
In Belarus, where the Chernobyl accident had a profound effect, only 10 to 20 % of children are born healthy, even 25 years after the accident. This is because the soil there is contaminated and food grown ends up being contaminated. In Belarus, toddlers might die of heart attacks. Premature aging is seen: children are having the type of illnesses you might see in older adults, such as hypertension, diabetes, cataracts, heart diseases, kidney diseases, etc. Sudden deaths are common. Of course congenital deformity and all kinds of cancers are happening.
It might be difficult to accept all this information when the most of the country seems to be going about in a usual manner. There has been an increase in sudden deaths which are not covered by media. You can see this blog, which is a partial English translation of Kota Kinoshita's blog. He is a journalist who covered the Tokaimura accident, so he knows about the dangers of radiation contamination, and he has been continuously calling for evacuation of Tokyo and Kanto region.
His Japanese blog is here.
It's not just sudden deaths. People are definitely having symptoms. I have seen many stories of bloody noses, cough, sore throat, metallic taste(these radioactive materials are basically heavy metals), fever, fatigue, bruises, skin eruptions, headaches, diarrhea, menstrual irregularities, etc., by people from Tokyo and Kanto area. Some of these have also been reported by those who live in the western parts of Japan.
Also, I would like to mention the reactor #4 at Fukushima Dai-ichi, which is collapsing. A few more strong earthquakes, and that reactor would go. Already the January 1 earthquake seems to have caused some damage, since radiation levels were high on January 2.
This map shows a natural radiation level in each prefecture prior to 311. The unit shown is microsievert/hr.
It is anticipated that the Japanese government will not tell the truth about the danger, once again, until people have been exposed to radiation. When the reactor #4 collapses, that would be an unprecedented event of nuclear fuel rods totally exposed to the air, which would make Kanto and Tohoku regions uninhabitable and greatly pollute the rest of the world.
Please remember that the government's declaration of so-called "cold shutdown" at the end of 2011 was meaningless. Technically speaking, current Fukushima Dai-ichi, with the nuclear fuel melting through the ground, is incapable of being in a state of cold shutdown, as such a process is only attainable when the protection around the fuel is still intact. What they really mean is that the cooling water isn't boiling. However, this would quickly change if there were more damages to the reactors.
Those of us who have been closely watching Fukushima Dai-ichi know it's just a matter of time before the reactor #4 collapses in such an earthquake-prone country as Japan. The government will never forewarn the people there so as not to cause panic.
Another matter to consider is the incineration of debris which might be radioactively contaminated. The government is trying to spread the debris to all regions of the country. Once again, the legal limits set by the government for the radioactive contamination of debris itself has been raised since before 311. If the debris is contaminated, radioactive material will be released in the incineration process. Tokyo has already begun the incineration, and Indeed people have been reporting increased radiation levels. Now that more people own Geiger counters, some have reported spikes in the middle of the night, when the nearby waste management facility might be incinerating them. So-called filters do not catch all the radioactive material released. This link shows which prefecture has accepted the debris.
Lastly, I would like to remind you that the government testing has been limited to iodine and cesium mostly. It is suspected there are more varieties of radioactive material that have been released from Fukushima Dai-ichi. As you might know, plutonium has been detected. If there is cesium, strontium is expected to exist, but testing for strontium is apparently cumbersome and thus not routinely done. This only tells you that you absolutely cannot rely on the "safety standards" set by the government.
I am sorry this was a lengthy e-mail, but the fact is there is so much you need to know to fully comprehend the situation there. I almost guarantee that the people in Japan you are communicating with will disagree with what I wrote here, simply because they have no idea what's going on. It is sometimes easier to see the whole picture from the outside. When you are in the midst of this, you are just trying to do daily routine, not having enough time to surf the net for information gathering. Relying on TV and newspaper will not give you correct information. Also, you don't want to admit that your life is about to be drastically changed due to certain unpleasant facts, and I get an impression that many there simply do not want to know. The truth is the Japanese government should have declared national emergency when those reactors exploded. They should not be silently exposing foreign visitors to radiation.
Everyone needs to learn what internal radiation exposure means.
What you typically hear is that a certain level of radiation is equivalent to a transpacific flight or an X-ray. This entails only the external radiation exposure where rays of radiation pierces through the body, which is what happened to people who were exposed to rays of radiation coming from the atomic bombs. These rays cause breakages in DNA structures. At really high doses, cellular breakages are so severe that people quickly die. So far it is claimed that nobody has died this way from Fukushima Dai-ichi accident, although it is not quite accurate. There are unconfirmed reports of deaths of the workers, such as those 2 workers who stepped in contaminated water in one of the reactor buildings.
A human body would try to correct the damage, but sometimes a mistake happens, which leads to genetic mutations of cells, causing cancers. Keep in mind that this can happen not just with radiation but also with other environmental toxins.
When cells are bombarded with lots of radiation, the body has no time to repair the damage.
Internal radiation exposure is an entirely different matter. This cannot and should not be compared to flights and X-rays. This happens when you inhale or ingest contaminated matter.
This actually happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, too, but the internal radiation exposure was not acknowledged by authorities for political/military reasons.
There was a speech by Dr. Shuntaro Hida, who was a young military doctor in Hiroshima at the time of bombing. He said that the US military told the Japanese government to not acknowledge anybody with who suffered radiation illnesses internally at a lower dose. The United States was trying to develop atomic weapons then, and health consequences from low-dose exposure would be against the international treaty, hindering the weapons development.
The video can be seen here. It’s in Japanese.
Also another Hiroshima survivor, Dr. Shoji Sawada, has been researching the internal radiation exposure.
The Japanese government is going by the standards set by ICRP which is an organization geared towards USING nuclear power.
IAEA is also an organization that promotes "safe" use of nuclear power.
Their purposes are not people's welfare but the development of nuclear power.
Thus the danger of radiation has constantly been underplayed.
What happens when you ingest contaminated food or water or inhale contaminated air is that you put radioactive material inside your body.
In the first video, Marco Kaltofen talks about hot particles. Once you inhale those, it's really difficult to get rid of from the lung tissues. The radioactive material keeps emitting rays of radiation at zero distance to cells.
Cesium mimics potassium chemically. Strontium mimics calcium.
Dr. Yury Bandazhevsky, a Belarussian physician, did autopsies on those who died after the Chernobyl accident and found accumulation of radioactive cesium in almost all organs. Because his research was proving the damage caused by internal radiation contamination, he was arrested for false charges and imprisoned for 7 years and deported. He is in exile in Russia.
Cesium can accumulate anywhere there are muscles such as heart and uterus, and also affect almost all organs as sodium-potassium pumps are ubiquitous. It's also known to accumulate in pancreas, causing or worsening diabetes. Strontium is taken up by tissues such as bones and teeth that ordinarily take up calcium. Blood cells are formed in the bone marrow, so strontium affects formation of new blood. Strontium and uranium are known to bind DNA, emitting radiation right where the genetic material is.
Iodine tablets as radiation pills work by letting thyroid gland take up nonradioactive iodine so that radioactive iodine is not taken up by the body. This only helps with prevention of thyroid cancer.
For your information, the Japanese government isn't testing food or soil for strontium as this is extremely difficult. However, if cesium is detected, you just assume there is strontium there, too.
It's not just thyroid and other cancers or leukemia which results from radiation contamination.
Radiation creates excess free radicals in the body, which in turn go through a chain reaction to cause lipid peroxidation of cells. This destroys cellular membranes of any cells in the body. When the cellular membranes are destroyed, cells lose integrity. Can you see how this would lead to malfunctioning of different types of cells, causing symptoms such as severe nosebleeds, diarrhea, etc.?
So the internal radiation exposure can lead to a wide variety of symptoms, but mainly your immune system is over-worked by trying to deal with the insult.
Actually we ARE exposed to some radiation all the time, as there is naturally occurring radiation from our geological formation. It has been part of the human evolution. Potassium has a certain percentage of radioisotope that occurs naturally. That's why bananas and seaweeds have some radiation. However, human bodies know what to do with the naturally occurring radiation. Our bodies do not absorb them unnecessarily.
Artificial radiation as a result of nuclear fission is a different matter.
Radioactive cesium, strontium, plutonium, etc., only come out of nuclear reactors.
We actually have radioactive cesium in our soil all over the world not only from the past nuclear testing and bombing and also from nuclear reactors.
Theoretically, our body's immune system can handle a little bit of radiation. It would be like you had a mild illness, and if you go and rest the immune system would take care of it. However, if the insult is over the body's threshold, the immune system can't handle it so well. This threshold varies in each individual. That's why some develop symptoms and some don't. Children have lower thresholds. I am told eating contaminated food for a few days might be enough to overload a child's body. Rapidly dividing cells as in developing fetuses and children won't have time to repair the damage to DNA before dividing. This leads to higher likelihood for genetic mutations. These genetic mutations are not only permanent but passed onto their offspring 100%, defying the usual Mendel’s law of genetic transmissions.
I still spend several hours each day looking through some blogs and twitter logs, and I have seen many reports of sudden deaths in teens up to the elderly. There is no way to confirm that those deaths are from radiation, but when many people begin to report more sudden deaths amongst their families and friends, you wonder why. Cardiac arrests, arrhythmia, and brain hemorrhages are being reported as causes of such sudden deaths. There were lots of mycoplasma pneumonia, persistent cough, hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, and bacterial meningitis reported in those who were ill.
It is commonly believed amongst health care professionals that deal with radiation that at "low-dose" of radiation such as what's been detected in Tokyo, people should not have any symptoms.
Well, the danger of radiation is so underplayed that the health care professionals have been given incorrect information. Otherwise they won't be able to use all the medical and dental X-rays.
It’s not just thyroid cancer and leukemia that might result from radiation exposure. I have seen many stories of bloody noses, cough, sore throat, metallic taste (these radioactive materials are basically heavy metals), fever, fatigue, bruises, skin eruptions, headaches, diarrhea, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, menstrual irregularities, etc., by people from Tokyo and Kanto area. Those who report the symptoms to doctors are ridiculed because they should not have any symptoms at the radiation levels they experienced. Doctors in Japan, with an exception of a handful of brave doctors, do not have freedom to diagnose radiation-related illnesses unless the Ministry of Health creates a policy permitting it. Apparently in the socialized medicine they have in Japan, the doctors have to follow the government policy or they will lose their medical licenses.
Just because people live far away from Fukushima and Kanto area, they are not free from any effects.
Because the radioactive material has fallen on the ground, a caution should be taken to prevent any contamination through genital area. This means not sitting on benches, ground, or grasses. It means wearing sanitary napkins all the time to prevent genital contact with any radiation contamination. By the way, there are some brands of sanitary napkins and diapers produced in factories in Fukushima which registered high radiation levels.
If you confer with prospective host families or school officials about these matters, they might tell you that you are over-reacting. They just don't know. A majority of the Japanese have no idea they are facing a nightmare of internal radiation contamination. They likely will not realize it until they begin to experience physical issues. By then it's too late. They might have actually experienced vague symptoms, but they might not have connected them with radiation exposure since the government has wrongly "assured" them everything was okay.
Do you remember when H1N1 flu was going around a few years ago?
That summer many Japanese groups cancelled their trips here even though there was no reason to.
This would be the opposite of that, in a way, except this time the problem is way more serious and less obvious. You can't just do a flu test in this case. I believe if it was the US having the radiation issues Japan is having, the Japanese would cancel the trip instantly.
I think certain risks are inherent in life, and you have to still live your life despite it. You can't just sit at home because you are afraid of car accidents, earthquakes, etc., but no matter what you decide, you should be able to make an informed decision. You need to have correct knowledge of what you are dealing with. Radiation is no joke. You cannot beat the internal radiation contamination. The best prevention is avoidance.
Thankyou so much for taking the time and effort to share this with the people of the world. Governments everywhere play everything down and the people walk blind, we need to speak out and protect fellow man and not fear the Governments.
Thank you for posting news about Fukushima and radiation contamination in Japan. I'm a Japanese living in the U.S. I was wondering about what's going on in Fukushima lately because we hardly hear anything about it. Because of my concerns for my families and friends living in Japan, I started surfing the net and found a Japanese blog that posts the radiation levels in the foods. I was stunned to see the radiation contamination in rice, flour, ice cream, mushrooms, etc., that are sold in stores. More I did the research, more angry I get toward Japanese government and Tepco. I can't believe what is going on over there. They seemed like they changed (raised) the maximum radiation levels in food so that it is legal to sell those contaminated food. The Japanese government hasn't and is not planning to evacuate people, especially kids, who are still living in the highly radiated area. The below video is the meeting held between the Japanese officials and Fukushima people. Those officials seem cold blooded. I got so angry and sad. | 2019-04-26T08:50:44Z | http://fukushimavoice-eng.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-letter-was-written-in-attempt-to.html |
In both cases, the rationale is that it makes you feel good. The “easy win” of completely paying down one debt or the sense of accomplishment of a having a $1,000 cash cushion certainly feels good. Of course, those two measures probably make you feel better than the status quo, i.e., not tackling your debt at all or not having any savings at all. But wouldn’t the average person feel even better if they knew a faster way to get out of debt? Does anyone else find this troublesome? Do the financial gurus view their readers and listeners as a bunch of feeble financial fruitcakes? Is this some sort of personal finance edition of “You Can’t Handle The Truth” with Jack Nicholson / Colonel Jessup?
You can’t handle the truth … about paying down your debt faster!?
Even if our financial gurus believe that we are all so dumb, why don’t they educate us? It is a mathematical certainty that if you have multiple debts then the most efficient way is to use the debt avalanche method, i.e., first repay your debt with the highest interest rate. What about the mathematically inclined people who actually had the right intuition and wanted to use the debt avalanche method? What if they now follow the so-called expert advice and use the snowball method instead after listening to the financial experts? I hope I’m not the only one troubled by that!
But, but, but, … what about the Harvard Study?
I’m glad you asked. The snowball fans now claim that they have the definitive proof of the superiority of their strategy: A study featured in the Harvard Business Review claims that there is empirical evidence that the snowball method is more effective.
Let me start by asserting that whether you’re from Haahvaahd, Haahvaahd Square, or even Haahvaahd Qubed: Your experiment will not invalidate simple arithmetic that shows that the debt avalanche method is more effective.
That’s a really cool and interesting result! But both the snowball and avalanche method concentrate their debt-reduction effort. One concentrates on the lowest balance debt and the other on the highest interest debt. So, the higher motivation for working and paying down debt would apply to both. How this proves that the snowball method beats the avalanche method is a mystery to me.
The ERN family credit card “debt” as of June 8. I should say that we pay off the balance every month, of course, so this more a float rather than credit card debt. PersonalCapital makes it really easy to track your balance, so what’s all this “perception” about?
Well, if someone has, say, $2934.58 in credit card debt and his or her perception of this debt differs from $2934.58, then maybe credit card debt is not the most serious problem in this person’s life. But maybe I’m just too analytical and too much of a quantitative geek to appreciate the need of introducing some mumbo-jumbo perception measure for something that can be measured easily and precisely to the second decimal. But even if you go that route, again (!) the perception of more progress in paying down debt applies to both the snowball and the avalanche method. This is still no evidence of the snowball beating the Avalanche method!
Well, this sounds like that pesky perception measure again. In the lab experiments, there isn’t even a mention of debts with different interest rates. Why would people who use the avalanche method and actually pay down their debt faster then perceive their progress as slower than with the snowball method? This doesn’t make any sense!
If you thought that the insanity of the feel-good advice above is hard to top, you are so wrong. The inefficiency in the snowball method emerges from the interest rate spread between the smallest loan and the highest interest loan. Probably only a few percentage points in most cases. Sometimes the smallest balance may even have the highest interest rate, so there is no harm at all.
Keeping an emergency fund while still carrying credit card debt.
The number one source for this insanely bad advice: Dave Ramsey recommends saving $1,000 in an emergency fund even before paying off credit card debt. Now we are losing money to the tune of the spread between the credit card interest rate and the (after-tax) rate of return in the money market account where we keep the $1,000 emergency fund. This could easily be in the double-digit percentage, say, 16% credit card rate and 1% after-tax return in the money market account.
Let’s still look at the following numerical example. Imagine a person has $2,000 in credit card debt currently charging 16% plus a $1,000 emergency fund. What is the incremental advantage of not following Dave Ramsey’s advice? What happens when we pay down the credit card balance with the $1,000 savings? The numbers are in the table below. Notice that the $12.50 advantage is independent of whether an emergency actually occurs or not. If we don’t have an emergency we save the credit card interest on the $1,000. And if we do have an emergency after a month then, well, we charge it to the credit card and still have a lower balance than Dave Ramsey. It’s a win-win situation!
It’s optimal to use a $1,000 windfall to pay down a high-interest credit card. You outperform the feel-good emergency fund by 1.25% per month, for a staggering 16% annualized risk-free rate of return!
You are now leaving cash on the table, all for the purpose of feeling good. True, it’s only $12.50 per month. But remember, the $12.50 per month is meaningful enough for someone who wants to get out of $2,000 of debt. If you want to spend $12.50 per month to make you feel better, why not use that money to pay down debt faster?
On this blog, we strive to give good advice. Sometimes good advice may not be consistent with what feels right or feels good, whether it’s due to behavioral biases or computational limitations. Sometimes I catch myself “agreeing” with people who propose suboptimal advice, thinking “well, if makes them sleep better at night…” I shouldn’t! I owe it to my readers to point out flaws in the feel-good strategies like the debt snowball. If people continue to feel good about bad advice, then we in the blogging community haven’t done a good enough job to explain some of the shortcomings of widely cited suboptimal strategies. After all, there is no better feeling than getting out of debt faster and building wealth faster!
Sorry for ranting! If you want to leave your own rant, please comment below!
Posted on June 14, 2017 June 14, 2017 by earlyretirementnow.comPosted in Asset AllocationTagged bad advice, debt, finance, interest, investing, personal finance.
The reality is that people know math but they don’t remember it when they’re living their daily lives. The debt avalanche is mathematically optimal but human beings are, on average, not mathematically optimal. They’re fallible, irrational beings who routinely make poor choices – so the best way for someone isn’t always the mathematically optimal way.
Is it feel good? Sure. But that’s not why it’s espoused so often.
If we were all mathematically optimal, credit card debt would not exist in the first place. Who in their right mind would pay 18% on a slice of pizza???
If the right debt reduction plan involved some complicated math problem I could forgive people for not maximizing their decisions 100% of the time. But in this context, all we have to do is to change our simple heuristic from the bad to the optimal.
Also agree, that people are irrational, sometimes stupid. But no person should ever be considered irredeemable. Even though I call the snowball advice irredeemable, I never call the people that. Especially if folks have decided to get their life in order they deserve the correct and rational and optimal advice.
Thanks for the thoughts. The biggest “advantage” touted in the snowball method, paying off the smallest balance first, is purely behavioral/emotional. However – from the perspective of someone working in financial planning – we should instead be changing our behaviors to align with what makes the most sense financially/mathematically. In this case, using the fact that paying the higher interest rate debt first to guide our behavior. Or, for those giving advice, the aim should be to help shape client behavior to what makes the most sense financially. Unfortunately, as you point out, that’s not always the case.
That’s very well said! Instead of reinforcing the bad behavior and educating folks we should encourage the mathematically correct way of paying down debt. Thanks, Evon!
Love this quote. Unfortunately a lot of people would rather pay 18% later than the $1.5 now.
Great point! I personally prefer to keep as little cash/bonds as possible due to the opportunity cost of lower expected returns than equities. But, and this goes back to the sentence in the fist paragraph, not everybody has my kind of risk appetite. If someone has lower risk tolerance they should hold more bonds/cash. Today’s two examples referred to cases where irrespective of risk tolerance a true arbitrage opportunity exists.
Isn’t the point of an emergency fund to avoid a personal liquidity crisis if credit card borrowing is not accessible? Use of a credit card can be terminated by the issuer. This is particularly likely to occur during a general economic downturn. Having an emergency fund of readily accessible cash offers some protection against that risk. Can the cost of concurrent credit card and cash balances be viewed rationally as a form of premium for insurance against a liquidity crisis?
Businesses with sophisticated financial management operate that way. Even when they have revolving lines of credit and ready access to debt markets, they often maintain cash balances greater than their short term needs. They do that because they seek to avoid a liquidity crisis if their access to credit dries up. A number of investors have made significant money by being willing to step-in and fund businesses caught in that kind of crisis that would otherwise be forced into bankruptcy.
Isn’t personal finance the same?
AmateurInvestor, so if you pay down that credit card $1,000 and don’t have that in your emergency fund, you still have $1,000 available in the case of an emergency because you have that liquidity available on the credit card. And you are better off because you have been saving $12.50 every month. In my opinion, comparing a business to a person is comparing apples to oranges because if you were paying your bills on time every month, your credit card company wasn’t shutting down your access to credit on credit cards you already had open. A business, on the other hand, might have all sorts of fancy debt covenant requirements they need to maintain at all times, and if they break said covenants they go into technical defaults on their loans and their access to credit can get shut off completely or reduced significantly. For example, in the 2008 recession, my income was 1/4 of what it was the previous year and sinking asset values made my debt/tangible net worth ratio get all out of whack. I paid all my bills on time and my availability on the few credit cards I had didn’t change. If I were a business, I would have gone into technical default! I think your point is important, however.
Thanks for sharing that! This is more eloquent and detailed than I could have ever written!!!
1: My personal credit card utilization is in the low single digit %, sometimes below 1%. But even for the more indebted nobody can tell me that can’t scrape together another $1,000 of credit line somewhere even if banks are tightening credit. People probably used a ot of creativity to get into this debt, they might use some of that skill in the unlikely event of a) an emergency occurs and b) a 2008-style liquidity crunch happen at the same time.
2: Business vs. Personal: WishICouldSurf wrote a great reply, which I couldn’t have written any better.
This. I read that article recently and felt the same way. No, no no. The math is relatively easy in these two cases. And don’t get me started on ANY Dave Ramsey financial advice. Someone gave me a book from him recently and I while I made a valiant effort, I couldn’t make it past the 3rd chapter.
Amazing how he can have such a following!
I might have to check it out just for a good laugh (likely only nerdy finance ppl think this stuff is funny).
Listened to it. I would have been a lot more critical than they were… but it’s DR’s schtick and I guess he is just sticking with it. My opinion is that DR wants you to find ways to make a lot of money and then spend a lot of it because he assumes ridiculous rates of returns on investments so you don’t have to save quite as much. I guess it makes sense for the masses but his advice isn’t the best because math.
They were very diplomatic, true!
A wise man once said – if you go through life expecting people to be logical, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Not everyone make decision logically. Most of us go with our feeling. That confounded me for years, but now I’ve accepted it. Just do whatever works best for your situation. If feel good advice works, then that’s better than nothing. Or even good advice that you don’t follow.
I don’t personally use the debt snowball, but I still have to disagree with you here. People are not robots so feel good matters. Some people need wins to keep their motivation forward. How that happens is not always optimal mathematically, but payoff is better then nothing.
Playing devil’s advocate, wouldn’t the balances shrinking faster using the avalanche method be a win to keep motivation going forward?
Ha, that’s exactly how I think, too! There is no better motivation than paying down debt faster! Great point!
You rock! Thanks! Just fixed it!
Great points, obviously humans are not very logical creatures. Rather we like to think based on emotions and what feels good, hence the feel good advice. When something is marketed properly, any advice will sell.
The one thing I also find annoying sometimes, is the saying that debt is the root of all evil. Of course, paying off debt is admirable and often necessary. But in our personal case (different tax rules), we don’t have any advantage in paying of our debts over investing it instead. So we pay down the minimum and invest everything we save.
Ha, great point! We have the same pet peeve about “debt is evil”! If used in moderation it’s a very nice tool to hack taxes and personal finance! Couldn’t agree more!
Awesome rant! Thanks for stopping by!!!
2) you won’t call Dave Ramsey’s radio show.
Ramsey is engaging the behavioral issue. Folks who are hurting financially appreciate analgesics and I won’t begrudge them this (provided it’s not a lot of money). Thus give the debtor a quick-win of paying off the a little debt to help stiffen his/her spine to lean into the bigger debt relative rates notwithstanding.
Did I do this? No. But during my avalanche pay-down I grew excited and motivated to pour even more money into debt service as I knocked off mortgages. The snowball leverages this psychological effect to squeeze more debt service out of the snowballee. And more debt service narrows the snowball-minus-avalanche difference further.
What I haven’t done, and would like to see, is a financial basket case with many debts at different rates repaid via snowball versus avalanche pay-down strategies. I suspect that the disadvantage narrows non-linearly with lower rates over shorter time scales.
The behaviour aspect might be the reason he suggests this. For many people, starting with a quick win might be the only way to actually start, regardless of the interest rate. For those people, it is better to start small than do nothing at all.
They gain confidence and might then read more and finally switch to the right mathematical solution.
As I wrote in another response: Then we should redefine what’s a quick win: Make it “Pay off your first x dollars” rather than pay off your first card. How much one has paid off is so easy to track now with PersonalCapital.com!!!
Good post, again! I see the debt snowball the same way I see the “everyone gets a trophy” mentality. I had a bunch of credit card and student loan debt coming out of college years ago, and I felt bad about it until I paid it all off! As a result, I cut expenses, did without some luxuries, worked overtime, and paid it off as fast as I could, which also meant tackling higher interest debt first. As the balance went down, I felt less bad about my debt, rather than good. Since then, I’ve avoided most debt like the plague because I don’t want to feel that way again. I think accepting responsibility for your situation, feeling bad about it, and then taking steps to correct it and avoid it in the future are better than giving yourself a participation trophy so you can feel good every time you take a small step towards paying it off. That’s what works for me, anyhow. I think you need to bifurcate and not let feeling bad about your debt spill over into other parts of your life, and indeed, I still look on that period as a golden era – because with youth and a little imagination, you can still have a great time without spending a lot of money, even with a bunch of debt.
I think you picked a less effective example than you might have. Any aggressively frugal lifestyle that pays down debt will be successful. To me the really horrible advice is borrowing money to buy lots of rental property, buying whole life insurance, buying any kind of annuity, investing in penny stocks, leasing new cars. Of course you are correct, you are obviously an intelligent guy facile with math, but it’s not like the snowball system won’t work at all, it’s just not mathematically optimum. On the other hand I probably wouldn’t have read an article that didn’t have a hook in it. So I have to admit, I enjoyed reading it!
And agree: The snowball method is probably not the worst advice in D.R.’s portfolio, but it seems to be the one that became most mainstream!
Glad you enjoyed today’s post!!!
Yes agree there are other ‘life money’ issues that are totally twatish.
Haha, that’s a good way of putting it! Cheers!
Invest in growth funds with front-end loads via my ELPs to get your 12% per year!
If Dave didn’t give us so much ammo, I don’t know that we’d be talking about him nearly this much. He may be onto something.
Ha, D.R. has blessed us with so much bad advice, we can’t handle that all in one post. The 12% myth and the recommendation of actively managed funds are particularly pernicious!
Myth? The S&P 500 has produced an average annualized nominal return of 12.12% since 1926.
We could have a long discussion on average annual vs CAGR or nominal vs real but what he says “The stock market’s average annual return has been 12%” is accurate.
Even if it is accurate, it is misleading because it implies that your money would grow at 12% annually which is false. Dave Ramsey’s target audience is definitely not the people that would understand the difference between what he is saying and what they think he is saying.
It is completely nonsensical to compute annual returns and then take the arithmetic average. The CAGR is the only way to calculate this.
Example: after 2 years, your stock portfolio is up by 21%. That’s a 10% CAGR, no matter what the path was.
So, Dave Ramsey would call the last example an average +46% equity returns? You’d have to be completely mathematically inept to do that. But maybe he is. Who knows!?
Is stating your mortgage interest rate instead of your APR mathematically inept?
Its not mathematically inept, just a different calculation and different metric. The same applies to average annual and CAGR.
If I ignored all stock market valuation metrics what would my expectation be for next year’s return in the stock market? The average annual return of 12.12%.
If I ignored all facts of life I could assume any average annual return. Why not 18%?
Another great piece of work on your part; a very nice distraction from my vacay!
Not a huge fan of the D.R., but his program is targeting a different segment of the personal finance market than ERN readers. D.R.’s books, FPU, and radio program are focused on the mass market of typical consumers who are pretty much clueless on money matters. I occasionally listen to his radio show to re-acquaint myself with how disconnected my thoughts are from the masses wrt to personal finance. It is rather disquieting how many of his callers are able to ask trivial questions and perceive the D.R.’s responses as insightful; even more perplexing is hearing a caller rationalize (“rational-lies”???) the most insane financial decision. D.R.’s callers are usually not rational, hyper-optimizing homo-economicus by any stretch of the imagination. Just getting them to LBYM and invest for the future is a Herculean (or is it Sisyphean?!?!?) task. He uses the phrase “baby steps” that he co-opted from the movie “What about Bob?” (fully disclosure: DrFIRE rates this movie 3.5 stars and owns this movie on DVD) to make his process seem less daunting. In short, he is solving a psychological problem, not a logical problem. Satisfice (Simon, 1956) is the operative word for D.R., not optimize. Additionally, while there is plenty of what the D.R. proselytizes that is clearly not optimal, it is hard to argue with the results of the marketing machine he has built.
Time to get back to my vacay…As a fellow homo-economicus, utilization of dynamic programming yields that it is optimal to have a Cheeseburger in Paradise! I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes, big kosher pickle and a cold draught beer….(full disclosure: DrFIRE owns the digital version of this album and rates it an 11 out of 10).
Funny that you say this because I do the same. Sometimes when I flip through the channels and I land at Suze Orman I keep watching. She’s also cringe-worthy with her non-rational advice (just as debt-averse as Ramsey) but it’s entertaining at times.
Your defense of the D.R. baby steps is the right response to the wrong problem. There are (personal) finance problems that are too complicated to optimize for the average person. We have to resort to simple heuristics, satisficing, etc.
But the debt snowball is different. The snowball is never superior and most often inferior to the avalanche method. Here the simple heuristic of always using the avalanche is actually optimal. Certifiably! And some people still don’t want to use it. That is really puzzling to me. Hence today’s post!
Anyway, enjoy your well-deserved vacation! Thanks for stopping by!
“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble, it’s the things we do know that just ain’t so.” What is particularly humorous to me about this quote is that it’s author is actually not known with certainty even though it is commonly attributed to Mark Twain.
In short, your metric for superior/inferior ain’t necessary the same as metric used by the crowd that D.R. preaches to. For a person with hyperbolic discounting challenges (homo-consumericus in juxtaposition to homo-economics := Big ERN), focusing on the “reward” of paying off smaller debts first (implicitly defining a “win” as completely paying off a debt) may be what they need to stick with the D.R. baby step 2 versus going back to their old debt-ridden ways. See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22915115 for a neuroscience article along these lines.
Thanks for the links. I totally agree that there is hyperbolic discounting. Otherwise known as permanent procrastination. I’m sure that’s what got most people into their credit card debt mess.
Some of these comments about D.R. remind of one where the caller call in having a linking roof and D. R. said tarp it and save up before breaking out the credit card. Nothing like seeing a band-aid put on one of their biggest investment.
Argh, that’s bad advice! There is a whole bogleheads thread on crazy advice by D.R. but this one is one of the worst I have heard! Thanks for sharing!
While I agree that mathematically a “debt avalanche” method is objectively superior, I think you are discounting the time/mental effort benefits of the debt snowball method. Many people who end up in this kind of debt (high debt load/multiple lines of credit) usually have plenty of stress in their lives. Family, your job, kids, and life in general all result in a demand of limited time and mental effort.
If you can easily eliminate a few low-balance debts, you get to save all the time of worrying about it. No more having to remember if you sent the check in time, if a debt collector will call about the balance, or what your password is for the account.
I think that this is the key to understanding why this method may work for others yet seem ridiculous for you. This link (http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor_p2/) is a horrible, click-bait article that is completely anecdotal and has no scientific backing, yet I think it can still be illustrative of how different a mindset other people come from. What I got out of this was that when you are under this kind of stress, you are mainly just reacting to events. In this situation, I can see how getting a few items permanently off your plate right now can seem better than a slight improvement in long-term economic benefits.
And hence my criticism: Would a balance that disappears faster with the debt avalanche reduce some stress? Why reinforce people false intuition about the “quick wins”? Why not call it a quick win to pay off $1,000?
You are exactly making my point! We should no longer encourage people to chase after false quick wins.
Perhaps I did not convey my point well, but I must disagree that my argument supported your point. I was attempting to show that different types of stress exist and that a reasonable person could weight their stress priority differently. Different weighting will result in plans that make sense for different people.
From my understanding, your argument is that financial benefits are the only thing that matters. Because financial benefits are king, reducing financial stress faster will reduce total stress faster. Therefore the “quick wins” argument makes no sense and the debt avalanche is superior in all cases.
I argue that, for some people, financial stress is only a small piece of their total stress. In particular, I focus on time stress and mental recall stress. Each bill that you pay requires a fixed amount of both time and mental recall. Since people weight their stress differently, a debt snowball may make more sense, because some people value the reduction in required time/mental recall more than their financial gains.
Personally, I agree that the debt avalanche is better for most people. I just disagree with you that there is no rationale for the debt snowball.
But I still think that’s a false choice fallacy: Either the DR way or no debt pay down at all. Why not paying down debt the optimal way, and on top of that explain why it’s optimal and motivate them that way!?
I don’t think this is bad advice per se and mathematically the debt avalanche is probably smarter. However, it also depends on what you mean by “effective.” If you mean effective sticking with and paying off debt I wonder if the debt avalanche is the best. I mean PF is primarily behavioral in nature. Lots of people, unfortunately, live via pathos and not necessarily logos. So I would like, if it is out there, more designs of studies to determine sustainability of both methods.
It occurs to me that there is another aspect that we have not considered when comparing the debt Snowball vs Avalanche. That is risk. Dave Ramsey serves a market that includes a lot of financially marginal people. They got a zillion debts to pay for incidentals and commonly ask how to avoid bankruptcy. They may suffer a reversal and abruptly stop debt service. In such a case paying off the many little debts concentrates the effort of renegotiating debt to those accounts most amenable. And if I halt repayment on all my debts, it won’t matter that I paid 90% of my big high rate loan when I could have serviced several smaller loans 100% otherwise.
The avalanche is the best way but it assumes a smart borrower who isn’t at risk of bouts of stupidity or hard luck.
Ha, good point. Nover thought about it that way! Thanks for stopping by!
I’m with you mate. Compound interest can be your best friend and worst enemy. I used a combined approach with my student loans, because each loan had the same fixed interest rate. So, in my budget, I decided how much could go against my student debt. Then, I made the minimum payment on the loans with the largest balance and all the rest against the loan with the smallest balance. Had one of those loans had a higher interest rate, regardless of balance size, I would have maximised against that one.
You rock, Jeff! And quite amazingly, in your case you were indifferent due to the identical interest rates and you made the extra payments toward the largest (!) balance, so the opposite of what the Harvard Study and Ramsey call the most feel-good strategy. Thanks for sharing!!!
So I’m gonna tackle making an argument for the $1000 emergency fund even though it’s totally sub optimal. And of course the argument is all behavioral.
People who reflexively pull out a credit card (i.e. homo consumicus) to cover bills often have terrible spending habits. They don’t look for things on sale, look for things used, shop around for quotes, try to fix things themselves, ask if they really need it, try to go without for a period of time, ect… When these people suddenly face the constraint of only having a $1000 available they may be forced to implement these habits because A) they don’t have enough money, or B) it hurts to see their hard earned money leave.
Many people in debt don’t weigh the pain of saving money against the pleasure of spending, hence the debt problem in the first place. I really do believe the DR approach helps people rewire their brains which is way more important than strictly the math side of a few percentage points in optimal savings.
Once a person gets their brains wired properly, the emergency fund is, of course, nonsense. A >50% savings rate is the best emergency fund that exists.
Haha, good point. Folks in the FIRE crowd have long ago graduated from the DR school of thought. We do much more serious finance hacking here! | 2019-04-25T09:54:34Z | https://earlyretirementnow.com/2017/06/14/good-advice-vs-feel-good-advice/ |
The Lower Jurassic Toarcian Stage (c. 183–174 Ma) is marked by one of the largest global exogenic carbon-cycle perturbations of the Phanerozoic, which is associated with the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; c. 183 Ma). Climatic and environmental change at the T-OAE is reasonably well constrained in the marine realm, with marine anoxic or euxinic conditions developing locally across both hemispheres, at the same time as the T-OAE negative carbon-isotope excursion. However, high-resolution stratigraphic comparison between different palaeo-ocean basins and with the continental realm can be complicated. Palaeomagnetic reversals can provide a precise and accurate stratigraphic correlation tool between marine and continental sedimentary archives, and even between sedimentary and igneous successions. Here, we present a high-resolution magnetostratigraphic record for the Toarcian Stage in the biostratigraphically complete and expanded Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) Borehole, Cardigan Bay Basin, Wales. This study provides the first geomagnetic polarity reversal scale that is integrated with high-resolution biostratigraphy and carbon-isotope stratigraphy for the entire Toarcian Stage. This stratigraphic framework also provides a new, precise correlation with the basalt lava sequence of the Karoo–Ferrar Large Igneous Province, linking the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary and T-OAE climatic and environmental perturbations directly to this episode of major volcanic activity.
The Toarcian, the final stage of the Early Jurassic, has an estimated duration of 8.3–8.6 myr (2014 Geological Time Scale; Boulila et al. 2014), with the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary dated at c. 183.6 Ma (Pálfy & Smith 2000). The early Toarcian was marked by the widespread development of anoxic or euxinic conditions that led to substantial organic-carbon burial, an event termed the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE). This palaeoceanographic phenomenon is recognized as one of the most intense and geographically extensive events of oceanic redox change and accompanying organic-carbon burial in the Mesozoic (Jenkyns 1985, 1988, 2010). The T-OAE is marked by major changes in global geochemical cycles (e.g. Os, S, Sr), with an apparently rapid c. 7‰ negative shift in marine and terrestrial organic-carbon isotope records and a smaller (3–6‰) negative excursion in carbonate and compound-specific archives (Hesselbo et al. 2000, 2007; Sælen et al. 2000; Schouten et al. 2000; Jenkyns et al. 2002; Cohen et al. 2004; Kemp et al. 2005; Hermoso et al. 2009; Al-Suwaidi et al. 2010, 2016; Gill et al. 2011; Newton et al. 2011; French et al. 2014; Suan et al. 2015; McArthur et al. 2016; Percival et al. 2016; Xu et al. 2017, 2018).
The observed early Toarcian perturbation to the exogenic carbon cycle has been linked to volcanic activity associated with the Karoo–Ferrar Large Igneous Province and associated release of volcanogenic carbon dioxide (CO2), thermogenic methane (CH4) and CO2 from sill intrusion into Gondwanan coals and shales, and biogenic methane from dissociation of sub-seafloor clathrates (Duncan et al. 1997; Hesselbo et al. 2000; Kemp et al. 2005; McElwain et al. 2005; Svensen et al. 2007; Percival et al. 2015). The Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary was also marked by global carbon-cycle change, with a c. 2–3‰ negative carbon-isotope excursion (CIE) in marine carbonate, organic matter and fossil wood (Hesselbo et al. 2007; Littler et al. 2010; Bodin et al. 2016; Percival et al. 2016). An elevated atmospheric pCO2-induced global temperature increase in the ocean–atmosphere system is credited with causing disruption of marine ecosystems as well as enhanced hydrological cycling and continental weathering on land (Cohen et al. 2004; Danise et al. 2013, 2015; Ullmann et al. 2014; Korte et al. 2015; Percival et al. 2016; Rita et al. 2016; Martindale & Aberhan 2017).
Stratigraphic studies of the Toarcian have primarily focused on the lower part of the stage, specifically on the T-OAE interval, utilizing bio- and chemostratigraphy. Magnetostratigraphic study of the Toarcian Stage has been confined to only a few localities. These include the Breggia Gorge in southern Switzerland (Horner & Heller 1983), Thouars and Airvault in France (Galbrun et al. 1988), the Iberian Range and Iznalloz in Spain (Galbrun et al. 1990; Osete et al. 2007; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010), and the Neuquén Basin in Argentina (Iglesia Llanos & Riccardi 2000). Additionally, an extended magnetostratigraphic record, spanning the Pliensbachian to earliest Cretaceous interval, was obtained from the Northern Apennines in Italy (Satolli et al. 2015), but ammonite biostratigraphy is relatively poorly constrained in this succession. Palaeomagnetic data from the lower and middle Toarcian in the Iberian Range were subsequently synthesized (Osete et al. 2007; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010) and adopted for the Geological Time Scale 2012 (GTS2012; Ogg & Hinnov 2012).
Few existing magnetostratigraphic records cover the upper Toarcian. Furthermore, sampling resolution in this interval is commonly relatively low, affected by hiatuses, or the ammonite biostratigraphy is not well defined. The use of magnetostratigraphy for Toarcian stratigraphic correlation has also been relatively restricted because no published record integrates magnetostratigraphy with both (ammonite) biostratigraphy and carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy for the entire Stage. Arguably, the best example of an integrated Toarcian stratigraphy is a high-resolution magnetostratigraphy combined with carbon-, oxygen- and strontium-isotope data in the biostratigraphically well-constrained Almonacid De La Cuba Section in NE Spain (Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010; da Rocha et al. 2016), but these investigations were confined to the Pliensbachian–Toarcian transition. An integrated stratigraphy for the T-OAE interval, using the aforementioned proxies, has not hitherto been presented.
The Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) Borehole, hereafter referred to as Mochras, drilled in the Cardigan Bay Basin, west Wales, UK, recovered a Lower Jurassic succession that combines unusual thickness with relative biostratigraphic completeness (Woodland 1971; Dobson & Whittington 1987; Hesselbo et al. 2013; Copestake & Johnson 2014; Ruhl et al. 2016). The c. 260 m thick Toarcian succession is much thicker than in other coeval European core and outcrop successions, and is generally characterized by periodic alternations between limestone and (marly) mudstone (Hesselbo et al. 2013; Ruhl et al. 2016; Xu et al. 2018). The Toarcian interval of the Mochras core comprises eight ammonite zones and nine ammonite subzones (Page 2003; Copestake & Johnson 2014); the aalensis Zone at the top of the Toarcian is probably truncated in the Mochras core (Ivimey-Cook 1971). The ammonite zones and subzones are referred to as zones and subzones hereafter, and are named by a typifying species name (e.g. the tenuicostatum Zone). Furthermore, five foraminiferal zones are also resolved (Copestake & Johnson 2014).
Carbon-isotope analyses of bulk organic matter show an overall positive excursion of 3–4‰ in δ13CTOC, relative to upper Pliensbachian and upper Toarcian values of −27 to −28‰, which spans the Upper Pliensbachian upper spinatum Zone to Toarcian middle bifrons Zone (Jenkyns & Clayton 1997; Jenkyns et al. 2001; Katz et al. 2005; van de Schootbrugge et al. 2005; Xu et al. 2018). This early Toarcian long-term positive trend in δ13CTOC, presumably linked to the globally significant burial of isotopically depleted organic carbon, is interrupted by the major negative CIE in marine and terrestrial organic matter and marine calcite that typically marks the main phase of the T-OAE. The negative CIE in the Mochras core is recorded as a distinct >7‰ and c. 6.5‰ negative shift in bulk δ13CTOC and δ13CCARB, respectively (Jenkyns & Clayton 1997; Jenkyns 2003; van de Schootbrugge et al. 2005; Xu et al. 2018). A pilot study on the Mochras core proved the feasibility of a magnetic-polarity study on this expanded and bio- and chemostratigraphically well-constrained sedimentary archive (Hesselbo et al. 2013). Here, we present the first high-resolution magnetostratigraphic record for the complete Toarcian Stage and use it to construct an integrated Toarcian stratigraphic framework. The integrated stratigraphic data presented here provide a reference framework for correlation between Toarcian marine and continental sedimentary basins worldwide. This study also allows stratigraphic correlation between the T-OAE and associated climatic and environmental change, and volcanic activity in the Karoo–Ferrar Large Igneous Province.
The sediments recorded in the Toarcian strata of the Mochras core were deposited at a palaeo-latitude of c. 35–40°N, at the southern end of the transcontinental seaway and at the northwestern end of the Tethys Ocean (Fig. 1; Torsvik et al. 2012; Hesselbo et al. 2013; Müller et al. 2016). The Cardigan Bay Basin Jurassic strata are downthrown against the Lower Palaeozoic Welsh Massif along a major normal fault system, comprising the Mochras, Tonfanau and Bala faults at the eastern and southeastern margins of the basin (Tappin et al. 1994). The Mochras Borehole was drilled onshore by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and UCW Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University) from 1967 to 1969, on the coast of Cardigan Bay, in NW Wales (Woodland 1971; Dobson & Whittington 1987; Hesselbo et al. 2013; Copestake & Johnson 2014). The core penetrates the entire Lower Jurassic in the Cardigan Bay Basin (with only the aalensis Zone at the top of the Toarcian probably truncated in the Mochras core), which is underlain by Triassic and overlain, unconformably, by Cenozoic and Quaternary successions. The Lower Jurassic in this borehole has a remarkable thickness of c. 1300 m, much greater than coeval onshore sections in other parts of the UK and continental Europe (see fig. 2 of Ruhl et al. 2016), recording a sustained high sedimentation rate. The relatively homogeneous lithology dominated by argillaceous sediments with alternating muddy limestones, marls and mudstones indicates a relatively open- and deep-marine (hemipelagic) setting (Sellwood & Jenkyns 1975).
Geographical maps. (a) Early Jurassic global palaeogeography, modified after Dera et al. (2011), Korte et al. (2015) and Ruhl et al. (2016). (b) Detail of the area within the red square in (a). The red star indicates the palaeogeographical position of the Mochras Borehole.
Lithologically, the Toarcian in the Mochras core is dominated by metre-scale carbonate-rich mudstone to carbonate-poor mudstone alternations. The falciferum Zone in the succession is generally carbonate-poor and is marked by several distinct, small-scale (100–101 cm) intervals of coarser grained deposits that are rich in macroscopic wood fragments and sedimentary structures such as wave ripples and soft-sediment deformation (Xu et al. 2018). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses on the Toarcian strata in the Mochras core reveal abundant quartz, calcite, chamosite, illite and mica, and illite-rich illite–smectite minerals, together with small amounts of kaolinite, K-feldspar, plagioclase, Fe-dolomite, siderite and pyrite (Xu et al. 2018).
The Mochras slabbed core (in 1 m core-lengths) is stored in boxes at the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK, at normal atmospheric conditions. The Toarcian Stage in the Mochras borehole occurs over the depths of 863.50–601.83 m. The core was drilled vertically, with the bedding dipping gently (of the order of 10°) to the east (Tappin et al. 1994; Hesselbo et al. 2013; see also the Supplementary Material). The core slabs of the Toarcian are reasonably well preserved (c. 96% are present in the archive half of the section), especially in comparison with the Hettangian and Sinemurian intervals, for which material is only patchily available (Hesselbo et al. 2013; Ruhl et al. 2016; Xu et al. 2018). Core samples are not affected by drilling-induced formation of biscuits (see Pearson & Thomas 2015). The diameter of the whole Mochras core ranges from 10 to 15 cm (Woodland 1971). The surface of the Toarcian core slab is c. 10 cm wide. Samples for magnetic-polarity analysis were selected at 2–5 m resolution, spanning the entire Toarcian interval (except that the aalensis Zone is partially truncated owing to unconformity) in the Mochras Borehole, from 601.83 to 863.5 m below surface (mbs). In total, 148 cubes (each 2.3 cm × 2.3 cm × 2.3 cm; ∼12 cm3) were prepared from the core sections, composed predominantly of mudstones with varying concentrations of calcium carbonate.
Measurements of the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) were made using a three-axis 2G cryogenic magnetometer, housed in a magnetically shielded room at the University of Oxford palaeomagnetic laboratory. Specimens were stepwise demagnetized using progressive alternating field (AF) techniques through at least 12 steps (up to a maximum of 100 mT), until they became unstable. The AF technique was used so as to retain the material for geochemical and biostratigraphical analyses that require unaltered samples. Demagnetization results were plotted on orthogonal and stereographic projections; characteristic remanence components were identified using least-squares algorithms (e.g. Kirschvink 1980). Components were considered stable where they were defined by at least three consecutive points on orthogonal projections and had a maximum angular deviation not exceeding 20°.
The NRM intensities of the measured samples ranged from 0.06 to 1.6 mA m−1, with a mean of 0.26 mA m−1. During progressive AF demagnetization three classes of behaviour were identified: Class A, samples for which demagnetization trajectories tended towards the origin, and lines could be fitted to the demagnetization trajectories (65 samples); Class B, samples for which the polarity could be determined, but with very poor line-fits and maximum angular deviation of >30°, so that no inclination was computed (45 samples; NRM intensities were generally very low); Class C, samples that demonstrated unstable behaviour during demagnetization, or where the NRM intensities were too low to provide meaningful demagnetization data (38 samples). Examples of Class A and B behaviour are given in Figure 2. The magnetostratigraphy constructed here is primarily based on data from Class A samples, but the polarities of Class B samples were used as supporting evidence. Because the original Mochras core is azimuthally un-oriented, ‘inclination-only’ statistics (McFadden & Reid 1982) were conducted on the dataset presented herein. Of the 65 samples with Class A behaviour, 36 yield downward-pointing inclinations, which are interpreted as normal polarity given the northern hemisphere location of the sampling site during the Toarcian. These samples yield a mean inclination of +37.0° (α95 = 7.4°; k = 8.48). The remaining 29 samples yield negative inclinations, which are interpreted as reversed polarity, with a mean inclination of −37.7° (α95 = 5.3°; k = 18.17). Normal- and reverse-polarity data thus yield inclinations that are almost identical, and constitute a positive ‘inclination-only’ reversal test. When both polarities are combined we obtain an overall mean inclination of +37.3 (α95 = 5.1°; k = 11.16), suggesting a palaeo-latitude of 21°N. The inclination obtained here is considerably shallower than the expected inclinations of c. +54–59° for Mochras at c. 183 Ma (based on reference palaeo-latitudes of c. 35–40°N; Torsvik et al. 2012; Müller et al. 2016).
Orthogonal vector diagrams illustrating the alternating field (AF) demagnetization of eight typical Class A samples from the Toarcian of the Mochras core between 611.43 and 863.19 m (a–h) in stratigraphic order. Samples a, d, e, g and h are normal polarity (N), and samples b, c and f are reversed polarity (R). The closed and open symbols are projections onto horizontal and vertical planes, respectively.
The location of the Mochras Borehole has probably not been at palaeo-latitudes south of 35°N since the Toarcian, so it is highly improbable that a multi-polarity remagnetization post-dating deposition of the Mochras succession has overprinted the original signal. Instead, the original remanence has probably undergone inclination shallowing owing to compaction of the mudstone, a well-documented phenomenon in sedimentary rocks (Kodama 2012, and references therein). Correction for this inclination shallowing with a flattening factor (f) of 0.6, which is often taken as a standard value, corrects the apparent palaeo-latitude from 21°N to a ‘true’ palaeo-latitude of 33°N (Kodama 2012). An alternative f value of 0.5 corrects the apparent palaeo-latitude from 21°N to 38°N, which is within error of the previously reconstructed palaeo-latitudes for this site. Additionally, this inclination shallowing provides a constraint on the age of magnetization as pre-compaction. Hence, the observed inclination shallowing, together with a positive inclination-only reversal test, supports interpretation of the Mochras core palaeomagnetic records as a primary Early Jurassic remanence.
A magnetic-polarity column for the entire Toarcian Stage (albeit only partly covering the aalensis Zone, which is probably truncated at the top in the Mochras core) has been constructed (Fig. 3). Identified magnetic polarity in more than one consecutive sample (with at least one Class A sample) is marked by a full-width bar, whereas polarity identified by only one sample (one Class A sample with no Class B sample to support) is marked by a half-width bar (Fig. 3).
An integrated synthesis of the stratigraphy of the Toarcian succession in the Mochras Borehole, comprising (ammonite and foraminifer) bio-, carbon-isotope and magnetostratigraphy. The foraminiferal zones are taken from Copestake & Johnson (2014). The inclination values and the magnetostratigraphy column are plotted. The filled black circles represent Class A samples with identified inclinations that form the basis for the construction of the magnetic-polarity record. The dark grey squares represent Class B samples, for which only magnetic polarity was identified; the points at −90° indicate reversed polarity, and the points at 90° indicate normal polarity. The normal-polarity magnetozone is in black and the reversed-polarity magnetozone is in white. The grey zones in the magnetic record indicate magnetozones defined as normal-polarity, only based on (at least two) Class B normal-polarity samples.
Nine normal- and eight reversed-polarity magnetozones were identified and numbered N0–N8 and R0–R7, respectively (Fig. 3). The R0, N4 and N7 magnetozones are based on only one Class A sample and one or two Class B samples as supporting evidence. The N6 magnetozone is a suggestive normal zone based on only Class B samples and inference from the GTS2012. The interval of normal polarity (N0) probably extends down into the Pliensbachian (Fig. 3). A conservative approach was taken when determining the magnetozones R2 and N3. R2 is based on five Class A samples, although there are two single-specimen normal intervals. N3 is based on two Class A normal samples, but separated by one reverse sample.
Magnetostratigraphy of the Mochras Borehole can be correlated with other magnetostratigraphic sequences defined in coeval European successions, including the Breggia Gorge section of southern Switzerland (Horner & Heller 1983) and a number of sections in Spain (Galbrun et al. 1990; Osete et al. 2007; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010). The Spanish sections include the Iznalloz section from the Betic Cordillera (Galbrun et al. 1990), the Sierra Palomera and Ariño sections (Osete et al. 2007) and the Almonacid De La Cuba Section (Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010) from the Iberian Range, central–eastern Spain. The lithology from the Spanish sections is mainly limestone, marl or mudstone (Galbrun et al. 1990; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010).
The Mochras Toarcian succession is thicker, stratigraphically more expanded and better constrained relative to all previously studied successions, and carries a clear magnetic-polarity signal. The ammonite zones and subzones in Mochras are defined using the lowest occurrence of the respective index taxon (e.g. Callomon 1995; Simms et al. 2004). Zones or subzones can be determined with a high degree of accuracy in a laterally extensive, well-exposed and fossiliferous outcrop section. However, in a single borehole, such as Mochras, typically, the lowest occurrence could be stratigraphically higher in the borehole compared with the surrounding rocks. The chance of an individual borehole coring a succession with the true lowest occurrence of any macrofossil is low. This drawback means that stratigraphic correlation of ammonite zone or subzone boundaries in the Mochras Borehole to outcrop sections, such as Peniche, will be somewhat approximate.
The Breggia Gorge and the Iznalloz sections are also relatively biostratigraphically complete, but are each <20 m thick (Horner & Heller 1983; Galbrun et al. 1990), and therefore are stratigraphically condensed relative to the Mochras core. The link between the ammonite biostratigraphic record of Breggia Gorge and the paleomagnetic record of the same section is also not well constrained. Furthermore, biostratigraphic constraints on the upper Toarcian pelagic sediments at Breggia are also relatively poor, and the Iznalloz section is incompletely exposed and subject to poorly characterized structural and/or stratigraphic discontinuities. The composite magnetic-polarity column from the Iberian Range starts within the mirabile Subzone of the tenuicostatum Zone and ends in the illustris Subzone of the variabilis Zone (Osete et al. 2007).
The Almonacid De La Cuba section, however, probably best characterizes the base of the Toarcian Stage among all the existing magnetic-polarity records (Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010; da Rocha et al. 2016). This section records normal magnetic polarity across the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary, followed by a reversed magnetic-polarity zone through most of the mirabile Subzone (Fig. 5; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010). This reversed magnetic-polarity zone probably correlates with the stratigraphically thin T-R0 magnetozone in the Mochras core, based on chemo- and biostratigraphic correlation (Fig. 4; Hesselbo et al. 2007; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010; da Rocha et al. 2016), and has also been recorded in the Iznalloz section (Galbrun et al. 1990). Although ammonite subzones in the tenuicostatum Zone have not yet been defined in the Mochras core, chemo- and magnetostratigraphic correlation between the Mochras, Peniche and the Almonacid De La Cuba successions suggests that the top of the mirabile Subzone equivalent is stratigraphically below c. 861 mbs in the Mochras core (Fig. 4).
Bio-, chemo- and magnetostratigraphic correlation between the Mochras core, the Peniche coastal outcrop (Portugal) and the Almonacid De La Cuba (Spain) successions (dashed lines) across the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary. The grey-shaded stratigraphic interval marks the potential mirabile Subzone in the Mochras core. Pliens., Pliensbachian; mir., mirabile.
Magnetostratigraphic correlations with five uppermost Pliensbachian and Toarcian successions from Europe. A proposed Toarcian magnetostratigraphic polarity timescale (T-MPTS) is shown on the right. The grey zones in the magnetostratigraphic record of the Mochras core indicate magnetozones defined as normal-polarity, only based on (at least two) Class B normal-polarity samples. The vertical scales of the bio- and magnetostratigraphy in all the five sections are proportional to the relative thickness of their ammonite zones or subzones, but not their stratigraphic thickness. The vertical scale for the Geologic Time Scale (GTS) 2012 is proportional to time. Stratigraphy in the proposed T-MPTS follows relative thickness of the Mochras core. aal., aalensis; com., commune; cra., crassum; disp., dispansum; elegant., elegantulum; fal., fallaciosum; fas., fascigerum; fib., fibulatum; hawsk., hawskerense; mir., mirabile; pseu., pseudoradiosa; semicela., semicelatum; semipo., semipolitum; spin., spinatum; sublev., sublevisoni; ten./tenuicost., tenuicostatum; thouars., thouarsense; Pliens, Pliensbachian; Subz., Subzones.
The long normal zone (N1) in the tenuicostatum Zone in the Mochras core is also well documented in the magnetostratigraphic records from Iznalloz, the Iberian Range composite and Almonacid De La Cuba in Spain (Fig. 5; Galbrun et al. 1990; Osete et al. 2007; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010). This normal-polarity (N1) magnetozone extends up to the lowermost serpentinum Zone, followed by a reversed-polarity interval (R1) in the lower exaratum Subzone, starting between 825 and 833 mbs in the Mochras core (Fig. 3).
The R1 magnetic reversal biostratigraphically directly matches the magnetic reversals observed at Iznalloz and in the Iberian Range (Fig. 5). Normal magnetic polarity follows the magnetic-reversal zone R1 throughout the remaining exaratum and lower falciferum subzones (Fig. 2). One sample shows reversed polarity at the exaratum–falciferum subzone boundary, which is therefore marked by a half-width bar. The upper falciferum Subzone is marked by magnetic-polarity reversal (R2), which is matched by coeval reversed magnetic polarity in the Breggia Gorge and Iznalloz sections, and the Iberian Range composite. The Breggia Gorge section contains one more reversed-polarity magnetozone in the middle of the falciferum Zone, which may be coeval with and has been tentatively correlated to the potential reversed interval determined by one Class A sample within the N2 magnetozone in the Mochras core (Fig. 5). This reversal has, however, not been recorded in the Iberian Range composite, and detailed magnetostratigraphic correlation to the Iznalloz section is problematic owing to its less than ideal exposure and patchy stratigraphic characterization (Fig. 5; Galbrun et al. 1990).
The serpentinum–bifrons zonal boundary is, in all studied successions, marked by normal polarity (magnetozone N3 in the Mochras core; Fig. 5). This normal magnetozone is, however, relatively thin in the Mochras core and covers only the lower commune Subzone of the lower bifrons Zone (Fig. 3). The following reversed magnetozone (R3) in the Mochras core starts halfway through the commune Subzone and continues through the fibulatum Subzone and into the upper crassum Subzone (all within the bifrons Zone; Fig. 3). In the Iberian Range, this magnetic reversal is constrained to the bifrons Subzone of the bifrons Zone (Fig. 5). This difference possibly reflects distinct biotic provincialism between different European marine basins, with diachroneity between the ammonite subzone boundaries in the bifrons Zone. The normal-polarity magnetozone (N4) straddles the bifrons–variabilis zonal boundary in the Mochras core and the Breggia Gorge and Iznalloz sections and is tentatively correlated with the short normal-polarity magnetozone in the upper part of the bifrons Zone in the Iberian Range composite (Fig. 5). Minor differences in the biostratigraphic position of the N4 magnetozone in the different European successions possibly also indicate diachroneity for the bifrons–variabilis zonal boundary, or alternatively, may reflect a historical difference in the definition of the base of the variabilis Zone, depending on either the first occurrence of Haugia or the last occurrence of Hildoceras semipolitum/Catacoeloceras spp. (Page 2003).
Magnetostratigraphic correlation of intervals above the bifrons Zone is less precise because of the less well-constrained biostratigraphic correlation between different European ammonite provinces and associated ammonite zonal boundaries. The erbaense and meneghinii zones in the Breggia Gorge section probably equate to the variabilis–thouarsense and the pseudoradiosa–aalensis (levesquei) zones in NW Europe, as recorded in the Mochras core (Page 2003). In the Iznalloz section, the gradata Zone is the equivalent of the NW European variabilis Zone, the fallaciosum Zone is probably partly coeval with the NW European thouarsense Zone, and the reynesi Zone is probably partly coeval with the NW European dispansum Zone (Page 2003). The integrated stratigraphic framework proposed here for the upper Toarcian therefore follows the correlation between the local palaeomagnetic-polarity records, with due consideration of the ammonite biostratigraphy (Fig. 5). The upper Toarcian magnetic-polarity record of the Mochras core closely resembles the GTS2012 composite record. The thickness of the pseudoradiosa Zone in the Mochras core is larger than might be expected if sedimentation rates were constant and the duration of the zone in the GTS2012 were correct (Fig. 5). The precise onset and termination of magnetic-polarity reversals in the different upper Toarcian sedimentary successions, relative to ammonite zonal boundaries, is also not always consistent (Fig. 5). This difference potentially suggests that diachroneity between ammonite zonal boundaries in different biological (ammonite) provinces complicates high-resolution biostratigraphic correlation, not only in the middle, but also in the upper Toarcian. The uppermost subdivision of the Toarcian in the Mochras core, the aalensis Zone, is very thin (c. 3 m) owing to truncation at the top, and no palaeomagnetic samples were analysed. The aalensis Zone in the Iznalloz section is marked by two further palaeomagnetic reversals (Fig. 5; Galbrun et al. 1990; Ogg & Hinnov 2012).
A geomagnetic polarity timescale for the entire Toarcian Stage is proposed based on the new data from the Mochras core, integrated with previously published data (Fig. 5). The mirabile Subzone (tenuicostatum Zone) is marked in the proposed T-MPTS to indicate the position of the R0 magnetozone, based on data from Almonacid De La Cuba (Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010). The base of the R1 magnetozone is placed above the base of the exaratum Subzone, according to the results of the Iznalloz section and the Iberian Range composite (Galbrun et al. 1990; Osete et al. 2007). The R8 and N9 magnetozones in the aalensis Zone, which are not recorded in the Mochras core, are added at the top of the column following the Iznalloz section (Galbrun et al. 1990).
The relative stratigraphic thicknesses of the Toarcian ammonite zones differ between sections, and from those defined in GTS2012. The relative stratigraphic thicknesses of the Toarcian ammonite zones used for the T-MPTS proposed here reflect a combination of the relative stratigraphic thicknesses of the zones in the Mochras core and the data as represented in GTS2012 (Fig. 5). Assuming constant sedimentation rates, the serpentinum and pseudoradiosa zones are relatively longer and the bifrons, variabilis and thouarsense zones are relatively shorter in duration in the Mochras core, compared with GTS2012 (Fig. 5). This difference may suggest either changes in sedimentation rate throughout the Toarcian in the Mochras core or a disproportionate representation of thickness relative to time in GTS2012, resulting from changes in sedimentation rate within, or between, the Iznalloz, Iberian Range and Almonacid De La Cuba sections in Spain. Because the duration of some, especially the middle and upper, Toarcian zones is not yet accurately determined, future integration with astrochronological and geochronological data is required to accurately and precisely constrain the relative and numerical Toarcian timescale.
The carbon-cycle perturbations at the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary and in the early Toarcian have been linked to the Karoo–Ferrar Large Igneous Province and associated release of volcanogenic CO2 and methane from biogenic sources and sub-seafloor clathrates (Duncan et al. 1997; McElwain et al. 2005; Svensen et al. 2007; Percival et al. 2015, 2016). Elevated sedimentary mercury concentrations at the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary and in sedimentary intervals recording the T-OAE further suggested enhanced volcanic activity at these times (Percival et al. 2015, 2016). A temporal link between Karoo–Ferrar basalt emplacement and the T-OAE was previously suggested based on radio-isotopic dating of surface basalts and dykes and sills from this Large Igneous Province, and volcanic ashes interbedded in sedimentary successions with ammonite biostratigraphy (e.g. Sell et al. 2014; Burgess et al. 2015). The precise timing of Karoo–Ferrar volcanism and its relationship to the T-OAE are, however, not well constrained owing to (1) substantial uncertainties on earlier radio-isotopic Ar–Ar ages and (2) poor bio- and chemostratigraphic control on those marine strata that have yielded accurate and precise U–Pb ages from interbedded volcaniclastic deposits.
High-resolution integrated magnetostratigraphic data from the marine realm may potentially be correlated with the geomagnetic polarity record obtained from the Karoo successions of South Africa (Hargreaves et al. 1997). The onset of accumulation of the Karoo volcanic succession was previously correlated with the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary interval at Almonacid De La Cuba, Spain, based on magnetostratigraphy (da Rocha et al. 2016). Bio- and magnetostratigraphic correlation of the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary between the Mochras succession and Almonacid De La Cuba, and subsequent magnetostratigraphic correlation to the Karoo volcanic succession from the Lebombo volcanic rift margin and the Drakensberg Group in northern Lesotho, southern Africa, suggests that the three normal-polarity magnetozones there correspond to the N1 and N2 magnetozones in the Mochras core (Fig. 6; Hargreaves et al. 1997; Riley et al. 2004; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010; da Rocha et al. 2016). The youngest normal-polarity magnetozone in the Lebombo succession, which may correlate with the N2 magnetozone in the Mochras core, is less thick than the preceding normal-polarity magnetozone in the same sequence (Fig. 6). The N1 and N2 normal-polarity zones have a comparable thickness in the Mochras core. This difference may be explained by a combined effect of the changing sedimentation rate at Mochras and the relatively sporadic and variable accumulation rates of the Karoo lava flows.
Magnetostratigraphic correlation between the Mochras core (this study), the Almonacid De La Cuba Section in Spain (Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010) and the Karoo volcanic rocks at Lebombo and northern Lesotho in South Africa (Duncan et al. 1997; Hargreaves et al. 1997; Riley et al. 2004; Comas-Rengifo et al. 2010; Moulin et al. 2017). The lithological column of the Lebombo and northern Lesotho Drakensberg regions from the bottom to the top contains the Mashikiri Nephelinite, the Letaba Picrite, the Sabie River Basalt and Jozini Rhyolite (Hargreaves et al. 1997). The radioisotopic ages from Lebombo are from Riley et al. (2004) and recalculated from Duncan et al. (1997). The stratigraphic levels of the analysed samples are indicated by the arrowed letters A–G (F1 and F2 and G1 and G2 indicate different samples within level F and level G, respectively), with the uncertainty bars representing the age defined by U–Pb and 40Ar/39Ar dating. The high-resolution bulk organic-carbon isotope record (Xu et al. 2018) and the Hg–TOC record (Percival et al. 2015, 2016) from the Mochras core illustrate the carbon-cycle perturbation and the fingerprint of enhanced volcanism at the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary and the T-OAE. a., aalensis; co., commune; cra., crassum; dis., dispansum; exarat., exaratum; falcif., falciferum; fal., fallaciosum; f., fascigerum; fib., fibulatum; hawsk., hawskerense; leves., levesquei; mir., mirabile; pseudorad/pseu., pseudoradiosa; semicelat., semicelatum; tenuicost., tenuicostatum; thoua., thouarsense.
Based on this correlation, emplacement of the Karoo Large Igneous Province had already begun in the late Pliensbachian, and continued until after the T-OAE negative CIE. Basalt emplacement in the Karoo Basin of South Africa might actually have persisted throughout the duration of the early Toarcian overarching positive CIE, which possibly linked to prolonged and large-scale extraction of 13C-depleted carbon from the global ocean–atmosphere system, brought about by elevated atmospheric pCO2 and associated prolonged climatic and oceanographic change at that time. The T-OAE negative CIE, superimposed on the overarching early Toarcian positive CIE, possibly reflects the time of maximum isotopically light carbon injection either directly from Karoo–Ferrar basalt degassing or through additional processes such as thermogenic carbon release from subsurface organic-rich shales, or through the initiation of positive feedback mechanisms in Earth's climate system, with, for example, the release of carbon from seafloor methane clathrates.
A high-resolution magnetostratigraphic record is presented, spanning the complete Toarcian succession of the Mochras Borehole, Wales, and providing a bio- and chemostratigraphically integrated and refined geomagnetic polarity timescale for the Toarcian Stage (T-MPTS). The combined bio- (ammonite, foraminifer), chemo- (carbon-isotope) and magnetostratigraphic framework for the entire Toarcian Stage forms an important reference record for future correlations between global marine, and marine and terrestrial successions. This framework also provides new accurate and precise correlations with the basalt lava sequence of the Karoo Large Igneous Province, linking the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary and T-OAE climatic and environmental perturbations directly to this episode of major volcanic activity.
All authors thank the British Geological Survey (BGS), especially T. Gallagher and S. Renshaw, for allowing access to the Mochras core. C. V. Ullmann is acknowledged for the help with sampling and the general discussion. J.B.R. publishes with the approval of the Executive Director of the British Geological Survey (NERC). This paper is a contribution to IGCP 655 (IUGS-UNESCO): ‘Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event: Impact on marine carbon cycle and ecosystems’, and IGCP 632 (IUGS-UNESCO): ‘Continental Crises of the Jurassic: Major Extinction Events and Environmental Changes within Lacustrine Ecosystems’.
We acknowledge funding from Shell International Exploration & Production B.V., the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) (grant number NE/N018508/1).
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I made this lunar eclipse sequence (six images placed in one frame using Adobe Photoshop) in September 2015, using my Nikkor 400mm f/3.5 lens with a Nikkor 1.4x teleconverter. Even with an effective 560mm focal length, most of the frame was empty.
The web is full of eclipse path maps like this one from NASA. Click it to view it larger.
There is a fair amount of excitement building around the first total eclipse of the sun in the United States in 72 years, on August 21, 2017. Undoubtedly, millions of people will be attempting to view and photograph it, mostly with marginal success using their smartphone cameras.
My wife Abby and I have been planning for this for some time, and expect to include my sister Nicole and her husband Tracey. Our hope is to be in our mother’s home town, Park Hills, Missouri, (known as Flat River for most of her life) on the morning of the eclipse, to stake out a spot from which to witness, and photograph, this event.
Disposable paper eclipse glasses like these are available in ten packs on sites like eBay and Amazon.
Photographing a solar eclipse is challenging. I’ve never photographed, or even seen, one, though Abby and I have photographed several lunar eclipses, and many of the same principals apply.
A coworker of mine has a Sigma 150-500mm and a 200-500mm Nikkor, both good starting points for photographing the upcoming color eclipse.
Firstly, as you will read on most sites about the upcoming eclipse, don’t look directly at the sun, even for a second or two, and even if it is partially eclipsed by the moon. The only time it is safe to look at it with your naked eye is during the totality, when the disk of the sun (the photosphere) is completely covered by the moon.
The weather will play a huge role in viewing this event: read a forecast and try to be someplace with clear skies. Even with planning, there is a chance it might be obscured by clouds.
I bought some disposable eclipse glasses, and have looked directly at the sun with them on. They seem to be effective, although I don’t exactly trust them, so I won’t be staring through them at the sun for more than a second or two.
Though they appear large in the sky compared to stars and planets, the sun and moon actually occupy a very small area of the sky. Filling the frame with these celestial bodies requires either an astronomical telescope or a very long telephoto lens.
When the disk of the sun is visible, normal exposures are not effective without a neutral density filter, in these cases sometimes sold as a solar filter. These act as powerful “sunglasses,” since the photosphere (the surface of the sun) is much brighter than anything on earth.
When the sun is eclipsed by the moon, exposure values are hundreds of times darker than before. Camera settings can go from f/16 at 1/1000th of a second to f/4 at one, two, ten seconds or longer depending on conditions. The most interesting thing to photograph during the totality is the solar corona, which is very faint compared to the photosphere.
Cell phones, point-and-shoot cameras, and cameras with the ever-popular “kit lens” will be unable to fill the frame with anything useful during an eclipse, as we have see time and again during lunar eclipses.
A rock-solid tripod will be indispensable, particularly during totality when exposures will be long.
The ultimate solution to this photographic puzzle would be to use a real (and very expensive) astronomical telescope.
Someone recently told me the best approach of all would be to find a spot, relax, and enjoy the eclipse, then buy a photograph or enjoy all the posts on the web. That’s certainly a valid point of view, but I am a photographer, and feel like I should be shooting this, which I will very much enjoy.
There are maps and other useful information at the Eclipse 2017 web site.
Abby made this 2007 eclipse photo with her 75-300mm lens at 300mm, giving an idea of how small the sun and moon appear even with this long telephoto.
A passel of photographers photographs Antelope Canyon in May 2012.
A friend of mine, who I regard as a very talented photographer, recently asked me for some advice about photographing the American West. Among her destinations was Mesa Arch, a beautiful, easy-to-reach attraction at Canyonlands National Park in Utah, which I have visited many times.
I told her that this feature is classically photographed in the morning, since the sun rises in the opening of the arch, with a beautiful canyon below and mountains in the distance. The light strikes to red wall of the canyon below and causes the underside of the feature to take on deep red hues.
Mesa Arch at Canyonlands is illuminated by handsome morning light in this 2002 image. The light bounces up from canyons below to causing the underside of the arch to take on a deep red. In the distance are the La Sal Mountains.
The only drawback, I told her, is that it’s been “discovered,” so she should expect to see a large number of photographers there at sunrise.
“I really want to see Mesa Arch, but I hate the idea of a lot of photographers because I will feel inferior,” she replied.
Years ago I wrote a piece about how I can sometimes be tempted to get outside my game when I am in the presence of other professional photographers. I’m sure this is true for other professions as well, and why conferences and think tanks are useful for showing us way of doing things we might not see.
The other side of that, of course, is that we don’t want to let the herd mentality take us to what I like to call the “force op,” or forced photo opportunity, in which you let other photographers define you creatively.
I told my friend that the Grand View Point at Canyonlands is “better than the Grand Canyon,” which I think it is for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that there are far fewer visitors.
In some ways, painters and sculptors are freer than photographers because their art starts with vision and imagination, and I admire that.
Also, don’t let anyone’s equipment intimidate you, and even more importantly, don’t let them talk about their equipment to you. If they do, it will be all they talk about, and they will have nothing interesting to say about the art of photography.
Ultimately photography should be about expressing ourselves and sharing our vision of our lives and our worlds, not worrying about how we look when we’re making our images or what others might think about our equipment or skills. When it comes to comparisons, it is certainly worth looking at the work of others, but not with the purpose of copying it. I should serve as inspiration.
Everyone takes pictures now. The only genuine value in them is your vision.
Despite the traditional “best” shot of Mesa Arch being a sunrise shot, my favorite image of it so far is one I made right after sunset. Not only was the light beautiful, but there were no other photographers present, and I feel the image is unique. When you see this image, or another you admire, don’t try to copy it. Ask yourself how you and your creative vision might express it.
I recently sold some older gear to get ahold of this Nikon D700. With 94,325 frames through it when I bought it, it is about halfway through it’s life expectancy. The D700 is larger and heavier than most of my other cameras, and it is a luxury to look through a film-sized viewfinder.
For a couple of decades now, a cacophony of myth and misinformation has stemmed from digital photography regarding sensor size. This all started because professional and advanced amateur digital photography was rooted, for economic reasons, in 35mm film photography.
Not only does the Nikon D700 have a bigger sensor, it has a bigger, and much heavier body.
Driven mostly by the engines of sales and popularity, not necessity or creativity or technical superiority, the 35mm film frame, at 36x24mm, and originally derived from an industrious camera maker wanting to take advantage of surplus film from the burgeoning 1930s motion picture industry, became the standard bearer for image size by the end of the 20th century.
I recently decided to do a little used-for-used sell-and-buy on Ebay to get my hands on a Nikon D700, one of Nikon’s earliest digital cameras equipped with a sensor the size of a 35mm film frame, 36x24mm, sometimes referred to by the misleading name “full frame” because it is the same size as a full frame of film. Nikon calls it “FX,” in contrast to their smaller 24x15mm sensors, which it calls “DX.” 24x15mm sensors are often mistakenly called “cropped” sensors by laymen who don’t fully understand the origins of image size. If it has to have a name, it is most accurately described by its size in millimeters or by the film size closest to it, APS-C (Advanced Photo System type-C).
The lazy-writing web world often calls full frame “FF” in forum posts.
… 50mm @f/1.4, cropped to show the books in the center of the frame. Can you tell me which one is which?
Is an aperture of f/2 on a larger sensor “equivalent” in light gathering capacity to f/1.4 on a smaller sensor? No. I heard this one asserted by Tony and Chelsea Northrup on their YouTube channel, and I couldn’t believe my ears at the time. (They also refer to “ISO” as a name – “Eyesoh,” which it is not). I have no idea how they came to this conclusion, but this and the popularity of their channel has done nothing but muddy the waters on issues like this. Simply put, f number is a fraction describing the ratio between the focal length of a lens and the diameter of the opening. A 50mm f/2, for example, has an opening of 25mm. 50 divided by 2 equals 25. A specific aperture value lets the same amount of light through the lens regardless of what size of film or sensor is on the other side.
Nikon badges all of its 36x24mm sensor cameras with this “FX” badge.
Will a larger sensor give life back to my wide angle lenses? Yes, with some caveats. A 20mm lens that was a mediocre lens on a smaller sensor has now been restored to its film-days glory as an ultra wide lens. While this is certainly nice if you have a bunch of old wide angle lenses, today many manufacturers make very wide angle lenses for smaller sensors. I have several myself, and I am able to get as wide as I need, including ultra-ultra-wide using my 10-17mm fisheye and uncurving it in Photoshop.
I shot this today with my 18-35mm at 18mm on the D700.
I shot this today with my 12-24mm at 12mm on the D300S.
Will my telephoto lenses will be less telephoto-y on a larger sensor? Yes. This is the reason sports and wildlife photographers got away from large and medium format film as soon as 35mm was available: just as larger sensors make wide angles wider, they make telephotos wider, since they are projecting their images onto a larger surface. Many top sports and bird photographers very much prefer 24x15mm sensors for just this reason, and this has been a leading marketing tag for Nikon’s flagship 24x15mm camera, the D500.
These are some of the wide angle lenses my office and I own that will see the light of day more now that I have a 36x24mm sensor. From left to right are the AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8, the AF Nikkor 20mm, the AF Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5, the AF Nikkor 28mm f/2.8, and the Sigma AF 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5.
Are larger sensors better at capturing low-light scenes due to the pixels themselves being larger? Yes. If you compare a 36x24mm sensor against a 24x15mm sensor of the same pixel count, assuming the sensors are of the same era and treated with the same renderings, noise will be lower in the larger sensor. This is true because the pixels themselves, the tiny light-sensing devices inside the integrated circuit in the middle of the camera, are larger, and can gather more light, thus requiring less amplification of the signals they produce. In practice, though, this rule doesn’t hold much water. There are many smaller-sensor cameras that make incredibly low-noise images, and most cameras with larger than “full frame” sensors do not.
Though quite rare, I was able to spot this Nikon D700 “street photographer” on the Plaza in Santa Fe, one place you would expect to see a jillion street photographers. Of note is the not-very-good lens he has mounted on it.
The craving for lower noise at higher ISOs is a symptom of photographers being too lazy to master what matters most, light. Additionally, there is a lot of pretense on the photo forums (like photo.net, which recently changed formats and is now unviewable) about, “wanting to do more street photography.” The truth is that most of time people who make this claim just want to be able to say, “I have this camera and that lens,” and don’t make very many photos. All you have to do to discover this truth is walk the streets and count the photographers: ≈ 0.
Are “multiplier” or “crop factor” numbers useful? No. These numbers are all over the place, and only exist so camera makers can muddy the waters of what you should buy. 1.5x “crop factor” or 2x “multiplier” is only helpful if you go from one format to the other constantly while shooting. A far better way to understand this is to know your camera, and know what does what. For example, suppose your camera is a “four thirds” format (18x13mm). A 14mm is a wide angle lens, and a 200mm is a super-telephoto.
Is it worth it to “upgrade” to a larger sensor? No. Anyone who asks this question isn’t ready to take advantage of the subtle differences offered by a larger sensor, and larger sensors are disproportionally more expensive. If you need a larger sensor, you already know it.
You can see from the brassing and smoothing of the working surfaces of my “new” used Nikon D700 that it’s been put to work. This is how I prefer to buy cameras, since I am going to wear them out myself in short order.
It’s true. I am a “lopper.” I cut off heads.
Abby wears a pair of my red sunglasses, which I use exclusively as a prop.
But but but… where’s the top of her hair!?
Honestly, when people say this, politely walk away. Don’t accept their offers to hire you for their next wedding. They are visionless and uninspired. They expect your images to fit in their cookie cutters.
So why, Richard, did you crop this image the way you did? Simply put, intimacy. We, the viewers, are closer to her, and in particular, we are closer to her eyes. This composition invites you into the moment, like we just looked up and saw her smiling at us. And it works so well.
So if you face this kind of addle criticism, take heart. There are still those of us who understand how images really work.
This is the view out the kitchen window this morning; more snow and cold weather are on the way.
As I might have mentioned before, I am in the process of editing, in my spare moments, the hundreds of images I shot on our October anniversary vacation, A Perfect Ten. Working on these images has been a very satisfying experience, since so many of my jaunts yielded excellent images, most of which I was not able to include in the trip report. I am, however, publishing many of them on my photo blog, and here on the teaching blog.
Editing these images is great fun. I’m sure I will come across many more teaching points as I explore them.
This image was made just above Echo Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, last October. The more I look at it, the more interesting it gets. You can see it bigger by clicking on it. I shot it with my Nikon D7100 and the excellent AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm .
The photographer in the image in this post is using the latter-day technique of shooting from an angle that’s hard to get while looking through a viewfinder.
Looking up or down with a wide angle lens at a ladder, hillside, ski slope, swing set, church, Christmas tree, hiking trail, fountain, radio tower, Ferris wheel… you get the idea … anything that has lines and forms that can be used to invite our viewer into the image… can create very exciting compositions.
This was harder to do in the film days because the framing is just a guess, since the camera is so high or low that we can’t see what it’s seeing. But in the digital era, we can instantly review what we just shot and fit whatever might need to be fixed.
Don’t hesitate to play around with unusual angles and compositions. It can really pay off.
A photographer makes a low-angle shot looking up a ladder at New Mexico’s Taos Pueblo in October 2014.
Photography is a surprisingly complex visual puzzle. In addition to using a lot of numbers, it is rife with its own jargon: the inverse square law, the exposure triangle, circles of confusion, lighting ratios, the rule of thirds, and on and on.
One excellent use for a wide angle lens is to utilize the directional elements of an image, called leading lines, to draw the viewer into the center of an image, as in this November 2012 high school playoff football game.
One thing I see again and again, and hear described and debated, that is directly related to the geometry of photography, is the misuse of wide angle lenses. Many images that make very poor use of wide angle lenses pass through my hands every day. Not only do I see tons of images shot with wide angles that simply fail to fill the frame with a basic subject (like group photos with the group in the middle of a mostly empty frame), I also see wide angle images that fail to grasp the most fundamental concept in photography: storytelling.
The answer is, of course, “that depends.” And it mostly depends on you.
The most important thing you can do with a wide-angle lens – and I can’t emphasize this enough – is use near-far relationships to invite the audience into your image. Without this essential storytelling element, wide angle shots, particularly landscapes, can easily bore the audience.
…same scene, same lens, same exposure, same light, but with a very different result. Essentially, all I did was move.
In the end, the success of your images made with a wide angle or ultra wide angle lens will sink or swim on how you use it. It requires a willingness to give up boring, easy perspectives and work to find ways to tell your story with the lines and angles that are available with these incredible tools.
A tangled tree stands against a clear sky in the countryside near Ryan, Oklahoma, Sunday, January 19, 2014.
The tool of my trade today: the Nikon D3000 with the Tamron 18-250mm.
My wife Abby and I went to her hometown (link) of Ryan, Oklahoma, yesterday. After a nice lunch, she and her family caught up on the latest news about town, while I decided to walk toward the Red River, which is not far, and make some pictures.
The day was clear and warm.
The only DSLR we had with us was Abby’s Nikon D3000, which I like to shoot sometimes because it gives me a better perspective on the cameras I see in the hands of my students. On it was the Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3, a lens about which I have decidedly mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is convenient, but on the other hand, the wide end isn’t quite wide enough. It also suffers optically at the long end.
I passed the barn on the south end of the patch. The sun is shining through a series of small holes in the sheet metal.
I saw several bones, presumable bovine, on the trail.
I didn’t make it as far as the River, but I followed a fence about half a mile into a pasture, where I found some steers grazing. I circled one of the ponds in the vicinity, and while I was at it I startled the steers enough to make them all gallop away to the west.
I moved along the ribbons of cattle trails, which made hiking easier than bushwhacking the rough terrain. I found some bones, which I photographed.
Warm light accentuates the color of the fence I followed west into a pasture. I shot this at 250mm.
These steers were decidedly curious, but so shy they ran away as I got close.
It’s easier to squeeze through a gap in the cattle gate than to actually open it.
I came across a ravine, which I followed for some time. In it were numerous gnarled trees and low brush. Judging from the tracks, the cattle followed the ravine as well.
After an hour chasing the light and the features of the farm, I made my way back to the house.
The point of this post is that you can’t sit in the living room and let your camera collect dust. To make new pictures, you have to explore. The walk I made on this day was easy, fun, and quiet. The light was inviting. The air was clear. And the images I made were all very satisfying.
Back at the house, late afternoon light through blinds helped create this image of some Christmas leftovers. I shot this with my iPhone 5.
Abby’s sister Gail was riding her horse Abe when we called, and didn’t take off her spurs, so I asked if I could photograph her boots. | 2019-04-22T04:06:50Z | http://richardbarron.net/cameras/category/composition/ |
Starting your college can be terrifying and exhilarating. When you know what to expect, you should feel more comfortable. The following article below will help.
Make a checklist of things to pack for any upcoming college course. It is better to go school prepared instead of having to ask Mom and Dad for things you need every week. This is especially something to do if your classes aren’t that is far away.
If you can’t afford college, strongly consider acquiring a loan. College is a place that will help you get a high paying job later, so it should be okay to acquire a little bit of debt for the future rewards.
Spend some time you can studying every day. The more time you devote to college, the more you’ll get out. Doing great in your classes will ensure that you make more money and a better job.
Find the admissions office is located and visit it before choosing a college. This can help you find any school-specific scholarships that might be available to you. Many colleges provide scholarships for their students. Visiting with admissions offer allows you to check out all the available funding that you need.
You can also meet other active college students and workout. You may even find a workout buddies.
Pay your credit card you have in full each month. This will help you from paying interest. While you may find it tempting to buy entertainment items with a credit card, remember that your primary goal at college is to learn. You don’t want to be distracted with financial troubles.
You may find that it doesn’t take much more time! You will save time because you are not having to search for parking. You will also save gas and parking passes. It’s also a great way to be environmentally aware.
You can always try to purchase used textbooks. The cost of new books is very high. If college is already costing you an arm and a leg, you probably need to save all the money you possibly can. Shop your university’s bookstore or online retailers and brick and mortar stores that have used books.
Your professors are a major resource and can help you greatly. Ask questions and offer to help when it is needed.
Pick out classes that you like instead of the ones that people think are very easy. It can rewarding to challenge yourself.You’ll learn more from harder classes and have a better college experience.
Take quality notes in addition to listening to lectures. Taking notes is a great way to keep information in your head. This can help you to remember it much easier when you have to study.
Avoid handing in the first paper you write.You need to have time to properly revise it.Create another draft instead of your paper rather than only proofreading it. Proofread the second version and make it as perfect it. This will help you to turn in the best paper possible.
If you can’t make up your mind between a few potential majors, take the critical starting classes in each department. You will find out more about each as you can get a feel of them.
You have to make a sleep schedule for yourself. You will have a difficult time focusing if you are sleep well.
You are probably less scared of college since reading this article. As you have learned, it is possible for anyone to graduate when armed with the proper tools and right planning. You can use these tips to do your best in college. Wish you the best of luck in college.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to start applying for grant money and scholarships. If you have good funding in place well in advance, you might not need many loans. Come up with a system for monitoring deadlines and be sure to turn in applications as early before deadlines as possible.
Eat a healthy breakfast before a test. Even something small like a container of yogurt or apple can help. Your stomach can be a huge distraction when you from your exam.
Take at least one general education class your first semester. If there is one course that is especially daunting, take it earlier so that you can get into classes you enjoy later on. You don’t want to find yourself the kids when you’re a senior!
You will save money and it doesn’t actually take much longer to get to school by bus. You will save time by not having to hunt for parking space on campus. You won’t spend nearly as much on gas and you won’t have to purchase a parking and fuel. This is also your way to do something for the planet.
Take quality notes while you are in all your classes. Taking notes helps cement the information in your mind as you take it in. This can help you remember more later when you study.
Do not just take classes to find where your interests lie. Get yourself involved with extracurricular activities on campus. Join some clubs and obtain a work-study job. There is usually a multitude of things for you to get into every week. Try something new every week.
Don’t take too many classes at one time. Try to only pick one or two hard classes and take them alongside three easy ones.
It might take a bit of time to establish friendships. You could meet people by showing up early and start to get to know your classmates. You can help students that aren’t aware of whether or not they’re in the right place. This breaks the ice and develop friendships.
Go to other social events during orientation to meet people. A lot of college students do not know anyone and can start to feel lonely. The quicker you begin to make friends, the sooner you can fit in.
Going to college is both exciting and liberating experience for many people.Because you will be responsible for your own schedule, it’s vital that you set some time aside for arriving to class on time and studying.Remember that you are going to college to learn and experience independent living.
Make friends with at least two people from each class. It might be a little uncomfortable to walk up to a complete stranger, but in the end it’s totally worth it. Having a contact in your classes can help you have missed if you are absent from a class or need someone to study with. You may also be able to form a study group with them after class.
Do not rely on notes from someone else’s notes. You could be getting half the information or short cut codes that might not make sense to you.
You can go overseas with children! Many students who are also parents write off study abroad with children. Talk to your college who is in charge of abroad coordinator. While you won’t be able to partake in every international program, some are actually available that will accommodate the student and child together.
No one ever said that college was easy. A lot of people consider college as easy, but it takes a lot of work to be a successful student. Put the advice you have just read to use in order to ease this process, and don’t give up!
No matter if you are a dorm dweller or a commuter, your experience in college will serve as some of the great memories of your life. You should read these hints and tips to live this experience to its fullest.
Make a long list of all the needed or desired tools and supplies before preparing for college. It is better to go school prepared instead of having to call your parents for items each week. This is especially important if home is far from home.
Always have a bottle of water with you. It is essential that you drink enough water. This is particularly crucial if your schedule is crammed with classes and you just do not have the time to hydrate or eat. Drinking water throughout the day will help you stay focused and energized. You can refill water bottle with you at all times and fill it up at a water fountain.
Eat as healthy foods while away at college.Many people gain weight their first semester of college. Make sure you are careful about your eating. Stay away from processed foods and fast food as much as you can. It may be convenient, but doesn’t give you the energy a good meal does.
Learn about the available grants and scholarships that can help with your education. Many people don’t know that can help make college a lot easier. The nice thing about scholarships and your state also offer many grants is that will not have to be paid back.
Your environment may make a difference when you are trying to study. A dorm room is probably not a good place for you can study. A library will always good.If nothing else, try using noise cancelling headphones or a pair of earplugs.
You can save some cash by buying them only when your class has started. You might not even need all of the books. This can be the case for online courses. You can often earn good grades by following online readings and paying attention in your lectures.
There are many ways to fill your time in school, but your focus needs to be on learning. Promise yourself at least one complete study each day. Even if you think you don’t need to study, do it.It gets you cement the behavior into a habit.
Always be aware of the police on campus. This will allow you can get help if you need it. You may never need to use the number, but it is better safe than sorry.
You can get a chance to experience in the field that you are interested in. You can even get an offer of a job from the company you intern with! Your school should have a department to help you secure an internship, as well.
If you can’t decide between two or more majors, take the intro classes to both your first semester. You will find out more about each of those fields so you can get a feel of them.
Pack only the essentials to reduce clutter in a dorm. Dorm rooms are not that spacious and can fill with clutter very quickly. Write out a list of what you need in your dorm room. There are many space-saving storage containers and compact multipurpose dorm room items.
If you have a work study job on campus, try to do good work, even if the job is unrelated to your field of study.
Do you play sports and want to continue being an athlete in college?Contact the coach of the college that you are interested in attending. You might even score an unexpected scholarship!
It matters not where you attend or the age at which you enroll. The college experience is a uniquely exciting time in your life. Students majoring in everything from sports medicine to sociology should take advantage of the advice from this article. Use these tips and enjoy success in college.
College will certainly be one of the most amazing and influential times of your life, but much effort will be required to be successful at it! The piece that follows offers great tips on how you can succeed in college living and making the most of your educational opportunities. Read thoroughly as this advice here is truly priceless!
Be realistic when it comes to your work while in college. Know your natural body clock and adapt your schedule to flow with it the best it can.
Your environment can make all the difference in whether or not your studying is successful. A dorm is the worst place for studying. A library is always be your best bet. If there isn’t anywhere you can go, get yourself some headphones.
Pay your credit card you have in full each month. This keeps you from having to pay penalties such as late fees. You might want to go ahead and spend money on your credit card, but your college goal is to learn. Financial troubles can put you in a very distracting.
You are living by yourself and cleaning. Create a schedule that balances class time, study, relaxation and taking good care of yourself. You can become ill from being too stressed or not eating healthy enough.
Choose electives from each other. Your first year is the time to go out on a limb and try some things that you never would or could have in high school.
Avoid handing in the first paper you write.You need to take the time to redo your paper. Create another draft instead of your paper rather than only proofreading it. You should edit the second draft and make changes. This will ensure that you turn in your paper with confidence.
It will take a while to make friends. Making friends can be as simple as turning up for school a little bit earlier than you might otherwise. You will have the opportunity to assure others who may be just as nervous as you are. This breaks the ice and start a good conversation with others.
It is easier to succeed when those around you are serious about their studies too. You can still have fun with your friends. You can find people that have a balanced approach towards college.
You can study abroad with your kids. Many students who have children believe that it is impossible to participate in study abroad with kids. Talk to the person at your school’s study abroad coordinator. While you won’t be able to partake in every international program, others are indeed able to accept entire families.
Do you want to know how to make your college advice? College is where you go to find out what you hope to spend your life. You will get the most from college years by learning what to expect when you get there.
Always have a bottle of water to class with you. It is vital that you remain hydrated all day long. This is particularly key if you have the time to hydrate or eat. Drinking water will help you stay focused and on-task. You can carry a reusable water from water fountains when necessary.
Eat as healthy foods while away at college.The freshman 15 is a negative impact on your life if you do not eat properly. Make sure to be mindful of your intake. Avoid overconsuming fast foods and pizza on the go. While it may seem like a cheap and quick option, it’ll be detrimental to your education and body.
Learn about grants and scholarships that can help you finance your education.Many students don’t know that can help make college a lot easier. The nice thing about scholarships and grants that will not have to be repaid by you.
Eat breakfast on test in the afternoon. Even something small like a yogurt or piece of fruit is beneficial. Your stomach and its growling will distract you from your exam.
Always pay off your credit card. This will keep you from having to pay penalties such as late fees and interest. While you may wish to use it for entertainment, remember that your primary goal at college is to learn. You don’t want to be distracted with financial issues.
You are not living with someone who can prepare meals for you and making your own food. Create a schedule that balances class time, study time, relaxation and taking good care of yourself. You can become ill from being too stressed or not eating healthy enough.
Don’t simply turn in the first draft of any paper. Allow yourself time to make changes to your paper when necessary. Create another draft of proofing what you wrote. Proofread your second version and perfect as possible. This allows you to turn in your full potential.
Go to social events during your orientation to meet people. A lot of college students do not know anyone on their first day and can start to feel lonely.The sooner you begin to get to know people, the sooner you can fit in.
Do you play sports and want to continue being an athlete in college?Give the college a call and see if you’re able to talk with the coach. This might even help you get an athletic scholarship.
If you’re returning to school and have kids, you might believe you can’t stay on campus. This is not be true.A lot of college campuses offer housing accommodations for families. Most colleges now realize that not every student has just graduated from high school. Ask early about family housing since it fills up early.
You can go overseas with children! Many students who are also parents write off study abroad with kids. Talk to your college who is in charge of abroad coordinator. While you won’t be able to partake in every international program, some are actually available that will accommodate the student and child together.
Many college students live in dorms with roommates to save costs. Remember that your grades can be impacted by your environment. If you find that having roommates distracts you from your studies, stay at home for a better studying environment.
Homesickness is a normal experience for the first time college students. It is just important to acknowledge the homesickness in a healthy way and not let it consume you. You get used to college is an adjustment that you will make and that you will soon begin to love your new lifestyle.
The advice in this piece ought to have offered a bit of useful insight. Take your new knowledge about college and get started on your road to true success. Learn as much as possible before you go out and immerse yourself into this wonderful college experience. | 2019-04-26T06:01:51Z | http://edutron.net/tag/college-students/ |
Invasive aspergillosis (IA) has emerged as an important infection, accounting for 20 to 40% of systemic fungal infections in patients with acute leukemia, 10 to 20% in blood and marrow transplant (BMT) recipients, and 5 to 15% in solid organ transplant recipients. This chapter provides a conceptual framework for the consensus and controversies in primary and salvage therapies for this infection. A large randomized multicenter study comparing the triazole voriconazole (VRC) to amphotericin-deoxycholate (DAMB; given at relatively high doses of 1 to 1.5 mg/kg of body weight/day), followed by other licensed antifungal therapy (mostly lipid formulations of AMB) for patients with lack of response or toxicity, showed a survival advantage in patients randomized to the VRC arm. The modern way of giving AMB-based therapy, especially if a patient is to be committed to weeks or even months of therapy, is with lipid AMB formulations, as these agents have lower nephrotoxicity and infusion related toxicity. Residual cavitary lesions, especially those containing fungus balls, after successful antifungal therapy may cause late exsanguinating hemorrhage or reactivation of infection during subsequent myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Advancements in early diagnosis by CT and the introduction of effective agents have improved response rates of primary antifungal therapy.
Pharmacologic options for salvage therapy of IA with VRC monotherapy.
Factors influencing individualization of therapy in IA.
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8. Caillot, D. 2003. Intravenous itraconazole followed by oral itracona-zole for the treatment of amphotericin B-refractory invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Acta Haematol. 109: 111– 118.
9. Caillot, D.,, O. Casasnovas,, A. Bernard,, J. F. Couaillier,, C. Durand,, B. Cuisenier,, E. Solary,, F. Piard,, T. Petrella,, A. Bonnin,, G. Couil-lault,, M. Dumas, and, H. Guy. 1997. Improved management of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in neutropenic patients using early thoracic computed tomographic scan and surgery. J. Clin. Oncol. 15: 139– 147.
10. Caillot, D.,, A. Thiebaut,, R. Herbrecht,, S. de Botton,, A. Pigneux,, F. Bernard,, J. Larche,, F. Monchecourt,, S. Alfandari, and, L. Mahi. 2007. Liposomal amphotericin B in combination with caspofungin for invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematologic malignancies: a randomized pilot study (Combistrat trial). Cancer 110: 2740– 2746.
11. Chamilos, G., and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2006. Defining the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis. Med. Mycol. 44: S163– S172.
12. Chamilos, G.,, R. E. Lewis, and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2008. Delaying amphotericin B-based front-line therapy significantly increases mortality in hematologic malignancy patients with zygomycosis. Clin. Infect. Dis. 47: 503– 509.
13. Chamilos, G.,, M. Luna,, R. E. Lewis,, G. P. Bodey,, R. Chemaly,, J. J. Tarrand,, A. Safdar,, I. I. Raad, and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2006. Invasive fungal infections in patients with hematologic malignancies in a tertiary care cancer center: an autopsy study over a 15-year period (1989–2003). Haematologica 91: 986– 989.
14. Chamilos, G.,, E. M. Marom,, R. E. Lewis,, M. S. Lionakis, and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2005. Predictors of pulmonary zygomycosis versus invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with cancer. Clin. Infect. Dis. 41: 60– 66.
15. Cornely, O. A.,, J. Maertens,, M. Bresnik,, R. Ebrahimi,, A. J. Ullmann,, E. Bouza,, C. P. Heussel,, O. Lortholary,, C. Rieger,, A. Boehme,, M. Aoun,, H. A. Horst,, A. Thiebaut,, M. Ruhnke,, D. Reichert,, N. Vi-anelli,, S. W. Krause,, E. Olavarria, and, R. Herbrecht. 2007. Lipo-somal amphotericin B as initial therapy for invasive mold infection: a randomized trial comparing a high-loading dose regimen with standard dosing (AmBiLoad trial). Clin. Infect. Dis. 44: 1289– 1297.
16. Denning, D. W.,, P. Ribaud,, N. Milpied,, D. Caillot,, R. Herbrecht,, E. Thiel,, A. Haas,, M. Ruhnke, and, H. Lode. 2002. Efficacy and safety of voriconazole in the treatment of acute invasive aspergillosis. Clin. Infect. Dis. 34: 563– 571.
17. Greene, R. E.,, H. T. Schlamm,, J. W. Oestmann,, P. Stark,, C. Durand,, 0. Lortholary,, J. R. Wingard,, R. Herbrecht,, P. Ribaud,, T. F. Patterson,, P. F. Troke,, D. W. Denning,, J. E. Bennett,, B. E. de Pauw, and, R. H. Rubin. 2007. Imaging findings in acute invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: clinical significance of the halo sign. Clin. Infect. Dis. 44: 373– 379.
18. Groll, A. H.,, S. C. Piscitelli, and, T. J. Walsh. 1998. Clinical pharmacology of systemic antifungal agents: a comprehensive review of agents in clinical use, current investigational compounds, and putative targets for antifungal drug development. Adv. Pharmacol. 44: 343– 500.
19. Hachem, R. Y.,, D. P. Kontoyiannis,, M. R. Boktour,, C. Afif,, C. Cook-sley,, G. P. Bodey,, I. Chatzinikolaou,, C. Perego,, H. M. Kantarjian, and, I. I. Raad. 2004. Aspergillus terreus: an emerging amphotericin B-resistant opportunistic mold in patients with hematologic malignancies. Cancer 101: 1594– 1600.
20. Herbrecht, R.,, D. W. Denning,, T. F. Patterson,, J. E. Bennett,, R. E. Greene,, J. W. Oestmann,, W. V. Kern,, K. A. Marr,, P. Ribaud,, O. Lortholary,, R. Sylvester,, R. H. Rubin,, J. R. Wingard,, P. Stark,, C. Durand,, D. Caillot,, E. Thiel,, P. H. Chandrasekar,, M. R. Hodges,, H. T. Schlamm,, P. F. Troke, and, B. de Pauw. 2002. Voriconazole versus amphotericin B for primary therapy of invasive aspergillosis. N. Engl. J. Med. 347: 408– 415.
21. Hohl, T. M., and, M. Feldmesser. 2007. Aspergillus fumigatus: principles of pathogenesis and host defense. Eukaryot. Cell 6: 1953– 1963.
22. Kontoyiannis, D. P., and, G. P. Bodey. 2002. Invasive aspergillosis in 2002: an update. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 21: 161– 172.
23. Kontoyiannis, D. P.,, R. Hachem,, R. E. Lewis,, G. A. Rivero,, H. A. Torres,, J. Thornby,, R. Champlin,, H. Kantarjian,, G. P. Bodey, and, I. I. Raad. 2003a. Efficacy and toxicity of caspofungin in combination with liposomal amphotericin B as primary or salvage treatment of invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematologic malignancies. Cancer 98: 292– 299.
24. Kontoyiannis, D. P.,, R. E. Lewis,, M. S. Lionakis,, N. D. Albert,, G. S. May, and, I. I. Raad. 2003b. Sequential exposure of Aspergillus fumigatus to itraconazole and caspofungin: evidence of enhanced in vitro activity. Diagn. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 47: 415– 419.
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26. Kontoyiannis, D. P., and, R. E. Lewis. 2004. Toward more effective antifungal therapy: the prospects of combination therapy. Br. J. Haematol. 126: 165– 175.
27. Kontoyiannis, D. P.,, M. S. Lionakis,, R. E. Lewis,, G. Chamilos,, M. Healy,, C. Perego,, A. Safdar,, H. Kantarjian,, R. Champlin,, T. J. Walsh, and, I. I. Raad. 2005. Zygomycosis in a tertiary-care cancer center in the era of Aspergillus-active antifungal therapy: a case-control observational study of 27 recent cases. J. Infect. Dis. 191: 1350– 1360.
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29. Lewis, R. E. 2008. What is the “therapeutic range” for voriconazole? Clin. Infect. Dis. 46: 212– 214.
30. Lewis, R. E.,, G. Liao,, J. Hou,, G. Chamilos,, R. A. Prince, and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2007. A comparative analysis of amphotericin B lipid complex and liposomal amphotericin B kinetics of lung accumulation and fungal clearance in a murine model of acute invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 51: 1253– 1258.
31. Lionakis, M. S.,, R. E. Lewis,, G. Chamilos, and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2005. Aspergillus susceptibility testing in patients with cancer and invasive aspergillosis: difficulties in establishing correlation between in vitro susceptibility data and the outcome of initial amphotericin B therapy. Pharmacotherapy 25: 1174– 1180.
32. Maertens, J.,, I. Raad,, G. Petrikkos,, M. Boogaerts,, D. Selleslag,, F. B. Petersen,, C. A. Sable,, N. A. Kartsonis,, A. Ngai,, A. Taylor,, T. F. Patterson,, D. W. Denning, and, T. J. Walsh. 2004. Efficacy and safety of caspofungin for treatment of invasive aspergillosis in patients refractory to or intolerant of conventional antifungal therapy. Clin. Infect. Dis. 39: 1563– 1571.
33. Marr, K. A.,, S. A. Balajee,, L. McLaughlin,, M. Tabouret,, C. Bentsen, and, T. J. Walsh. 2004a. Detection of galactomannan antigenemia by enzyme immunoassay for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis: variables that affect performance. J. Infect. Dis. 190: 641– 649.
34. Marr, K. A.,, M. Boeckh,, R. A. Carter,, H. W. Kim, and, L. Corey. 2004b. Combination antifungal therapy for invasive aspergillosis. Clin. Infect. Dis. 39: 797– 802.
35. Marr, K. A.,, M. Laverdiere,, A. Gugel, and, W. Leisenring. 2005. Antifungal therapy decreases sensitivity of the Aspergillus galactoman-nan enzyme immunoassay. Clin. Infect. Dis. 40: 1762– 1769.
36. Martino, R.,, R. Parody,, T. Fukuda,, J. Maertens,, K. Theunissen,, A. Ho,, G. J. Mufti,, N. Kroger,, A. R. Zander,, D. Heim,, M. Palu-szewska,, D. Selleslag,, K. Steinerova,, P. Ljungman,, S. Cesaro,, A. Nightnen,, C. Cordonnier,, L. Vazquez,, M. Lopez-Duaerte,, J. Lopez,, R. Cabreara,, M. Rovira,, S. Neuburger,, O. Cornely,, A. E. Hunter,, K. A. Marr,, H. J. Dornbusch, and, H. Einsele. 2006. Impact of the intensity of the prettransplantation conditioning regimen in patients with prior invasive aspergillosis undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a retrospective survey of the Infectious Diseases Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Blood 108: 2928– 2936.
37. Mennink-Kersten, M. A., and, P. E. Verweij. 2006. Non-culture-based diagnostics for opportunistic fungi. Infect. Dis. Clin. North Am. 20: 711– 727.
38. Miceli, M. H.,, J. Maertens,, K. Buve,, M. Grazziutti,, G. Woods,, M. Rahman,, B. Barlogie, and, E. J. Anaissie. 2007. Immune reconsti-tution inflammatory syndrome in cancer patients with pulmonary aspergillosis recovering from neutropenia: proof of principle, de- scription, and clinical and research implications. Cancer 110: 112– 120.
39. Offner, F.,, C. Cordonnier,, P. Ljungman,, H. G. Prentice,, D. Engelhard,, D. De Bacquer,, F. Meunier, and, B. De Pauw. 1998. Impact of previous aspergillosis on the outcome of bone marrow transplantation. Clin. Infect. Dis. 26: 1098– 1103.
40. Ostrosky-Zeichner, L.,, K. A. Marr,, J. H. Rex, and, S. H. Cohen. 2003. Amphotericin B: time for a new “gold standard”. Clin. Infect. Dis. 37: 415– 425.
41. Pascual, A.,, T. Calandra,, S. Bolay,, T. Buclin,, J. Bille, and, O. Mar-chetti. 2007. Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring in patients with invasive mycoses improves safety and efficacy outcomes. Clin. Infect. Dis. 46: 201– 211.
42. Patterson, T. F.,, H. W. Boucher,, R. Herbrecht,, D. W. Denning,, O. Lortholary,, P. Ribaud,, R. H. Rubin,, J. R. Wingard,, B. DePauw,, H. T. Schlamm,, P. Troke, and, J. E. Bennett. 2005. Strategy of following voriconazole versus amphotericin B therapy with other licensed antifungal therapy for primary treatment of invasive aspergillosis: impact of other therapies on outcome. Clin. Infect. Dis. 41: 1448– 1452.
43. Patterson, T. F.,, W. R. Kirkpatrick,, M. White,, J. W. Hiemenz,, J. R. Wingard,, B. Dupont,, M. G. Rinaldi,, D. A. Stevens, and, J. R. Gray-bill. 2000. Invasive aspergillosis: disease spectrum, treatment practices, and outcomes. Medicine 79: 250– 260.
44. Raad, I. I.,, H. A. Hanna,, M. Boktour,, Y. Jiang,, H. Torres,, C. Afif,, D. P. Kontoyiannis, and, R. Y. Hachem. 2008. Novel antifungal agents as salvage therapy for invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematologic malignancies: posaconazole compared with high-dose lipid formulations of amphotericin B alone or in combination with caspofungin. Leukemia 22: 496– 503.
45. Safdar, A.,, G. Rodriguez,, N. Ohmagari,, D. P. Kontoyiannis,, K. V. Rolston,, I. I. Raad, and, R. E. Champlin. 2005. The safety of interferon-gamma-1b therapy for invasive fungal infections after he-matopoietic stem cell transplantation. Cancer 103: 731– 739.
46. Safdar, A.,, G. H. Rodriguez,, B. Lichtiger,, B. F. Dickey,, D. P. Kontoyiannis,, E. J. Freireich,, E. J. Shpall,, I. I. Raad,, H. M. Kantarjian, and, R. E. Champlin. 2006. Recombinant interferon ^1b immune enhancement in 20 patients with hematologic malignancies and systemic opportunistic infections treated with donor granulocyte transfusions. Cancer 106: 2664– 2671.
47. Segal, B. H.,, R. Herbrecht,, D. A. Stevens,, L. Ostrosky-Zeichner,, J. Sobel,, C. Viscoli,, T. J. Walsh,, J. Maertens,, T. F. Patterson,, J. R. Perfect,, B. Dupont,, J. R. Wingard,, T. Calandra,, C. A. Kauffman,, J. R. Graybill,, L. R. Baden,, P. G. Pappas,, J. E. Bennett,, D. P. Kontoyiannis,, C. Cordonnier,, M. A. Viviani,, J. Bille,, N. G. Almyroudis,, L. J. Wheat,, W. Graninger,, E. J. Bow,, S. M. Holland,, B. J. Kullberg,, W. E. Dismukes, and, B. E. De Pauw. 2008. Defining responses to therapy and study outcomes in clinical trials of invasive fungal diseases: Mycoses Study Group and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer consensus criteria. Clin. Infect. Dis. 47: 674– 683.
48. Singh, N.,, A. P. Limaye,, G. Forrest,, N. Safdar,, P. Munoz,, K. Pursell,, S. Houston,, F. Rosso,, J. G. Montoya,, P. Patton,, R. Del Busto,, J. M. Aguado,, R. A. Fisher,, G. B. Klintmalm,, R. Miller,, M. M. Wagener,, R. E. Lewis,, D. P. Kontoyiannis, and, S. Husain. 2006. Combination of voriconazole and caspofungin as primary therapy for invasive aspergillosis in solid organ transplant recipients: a prospective, mul-ticenter, observational study. Transplantation 81: 320– 326.
49. Sipsas, N. V., and, D. P. Kontoyiannis. 2006. Clinical issues regarding relapsing aspergillosis and the efficacy of secondary antifungal prophylaxis in patients with hematological malignancies. Clin. Infect. Dis. 42: 1584– 1591.
50. Steinbach, W. J.,, D. K. Benjamin, Jr.,, D. P. Kontoyiannis,, J. R. Perfect,, I. Lutsar,, K. A. Marr,, M. S. Lionakis,, H. A. Torres,, H. Jafri, and, T. J. Walsh. 2004. Infections due to Aspergillus terreus: a multi-center retrospective analysis of 83 cases. Clin. Infect. Dis. 39: 192– 198.
51. Stevens, D. A., and, J. Y. Lee. 1997. Analysis of compassionate use itraconazole therapy for invasive aspergillosis by the NIAID Mycoses Study Group criteria. Arch. Intern. Med. 157: 1857– 1862.
52. Trifilio, S.,, G. Pennick,, J. Pi,, J. Zook,, M. Golf,, K. Kaniecki,, S. Singhal,, S. Williams,, J. Winter,, M. Tallman,, L. Gordon,, O. Frankfurt,, A. Evens, and, J. Mehta. 2007a. Monitoring plasma voriconazole levels may be necessary to avoid subtherapeutic levels in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Cancer 109: 1532– 1535.
53. Trifilio, S.,, S. Singhal,, S. Williams,, O. Frankfurt,, L. Gordon,, A. Evens,, J. Winter,, M. Tallman,, J. Pi, and, J. Mehta. 2007b. Breakthrough fungal infections after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients on prophylactic voriconazole. Bone Marrow Transplant. 40: 451– 456.
54. Upton, A.,, K. Kirby,, P. Carpenter,, M. Boeckh, and, K. A. Marr. 2007. Invasive aspergillosis following hematopoietic cell transplantation: outcomes and prognostic factors associated with mortality. Clin. Infect. Dis. 44: 531– 540.
55. Verweij, P. E.,, E. Mellado, and, W. J. Melchers. 2007a. Multiple-triazole-resistant aspergillosis. N. Engl. J. Med. 356: 1481– 1483.
56. Verweij, P. E.,, L. van Die, and, J. P. Donnelly. 2007b. Halo sign and improved outcome. Clin. Infect. Dis. 44: 1666– 1667.
57. Walsh, T. J.,, E. J. Anaissie,, D. W. Denning,, R. Herbrecht,, D. P. Kon-toyiannis,, K. A. Marr,, V. A. Morrison,, B. H. Segal,, W. J. Steinbach,, D. A. Stevens,, J. van Burik,, J. R. Wingard, and, T. F. Patterson. 2008. Treatment of aspergillosis: clinical practice guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin. Infect. Dis. 46: 327– 360.
58. Walsh, T. J.,, J. W. Hiemenz,, N. Seible,, J. R. Perfect,, G. Horwith,, L. Lee,, J. L. Silber,, M. J. DiNubile,, A. Reboli,, E. Bow,, J. Lister, and, E. J. Anaissie. 1998. Amphotericin B lipid complex in immunocompromised patients with invasive fungal infections: analysis of safety and efficacy in 556 cases. Clin. Infect. Dis. 26: 1383– 1396.
59. Walsh, T. J.,, I. Raad,, T. F. Patterson,, P. Chandrasekar,, G. R. Don-owitz,, R. Graybill,, R. E. Greene,, R. Hachem,, S. Hadley,, R. Her-brecht,, A. Langston,, A. Louie,, P. Ribaud,, B. H. Segal,, D. A. Stevens,, J. A. van Burik,, C. S. White,, G. Corcoran,, J. Gogate,, G. Krishna,, L. Pedicone,, C. Hardalo, and, J. R. Perfect. 2007. Treatment of invasive aspergillosis with posaconazole in patients who are refractory to or intolerant of conventional therapy: an externally controlled trial. Clin. Infect. Dis. 44: 2– 12.
60. Wheeler, R. T., and, G. R. Fink. 2006. A drug-sensitive genetic network masks fungi from the immune system. PLoS Pathog. 2: e35.
61. Wingard, J. R. 2002. Lipid formulations of amphotericins: are you a lumper or a splitter? Clin. Infect. Dis. 35: 891– 895.
62. Wingard, J. R.,, M. H. White,, E. J. Anaissie,, J. T. Rafalli,, J. L. Goodman, and, A. C. Arieta. 1999. A randomized double blind study of Ambisome and Abelcet in febrile neutropenic patients, abstr. 015. Progr. Abstr. Focus Fungal Infect. IX, San Diego, CA, 18 to 20 March 1999. Imedex, Alpharetta, GA.
63. Woods, G.,, M. H. Miceli,, M. L. Grazziutti,, W. Zhao,, B. Barlogie, and, E. Anaissie. 2007. Serum Aspergillus galactomannan antigen values strongly correlate with outcome of invasive aspergillosis: a study of 56 patients with hematologic cancer. Cancer 110: 830– 834.
64. Yeghen, T.,, C. C. Kibbler,, H. G. Prentice,, L. A. Berger,, R. K. Wal-lesby,, P. H. M. McWhinney,, F. C. Lampe, and, S. Gillespie. 2000. Management of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in hematology patients: a review of 87 consecutive cases at a single institution. Clin. Infect. Dis. 31: 859– 868. | 2019-04-24T06:05:21Z | http://www.asmscience.org/content/book/10.1128/9781555815523.ch37 |
I have always considered autumn to be the season of new beginnings, no matter what the calendar says. Adults come back rejuvenated by their summer vacations to tackle the workplace anew, while kids of all ages anticipate the new school year (either eagerly or with dread). This fall also starts a new chapter in my life as the incoming president of the Altrusa International Club of New York. I suppose you could say that I am eagerly anticipating my new duties…with dread (just kidding!!). I am truly looking forward to the upcoming year and would like to extend a warm welcome to our returning and new members. To our new members, in particular, welcome into the fold and thank you for joining us.
Each member’s reasons for joining Altrusa are as unique as the individual who espouses them, but I am sure that we all believe in the adage that the reward is in the giving and in the sharing. In the recent past, New York Altrusans have undertaken such projects as serving lunch to the homeless and hungry at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen; donating books and clothing (especially pajamas) to children in need in shelters and in the Hour Children program; and donating funds for the purchase of bed nets and solar cookers for distribution in developing countries. The smiles of thanks we have received are our reward. Over the next year, we will continue with similar projects, along with developing some brand-new ones that, hopefully, will spark the interest of current members, while attracting new recruits to our ranks. These new projects, if they are to succeed, will require active and thoughtful collaboration of our membership with prestigious outside organizations.
I do not think I would be remiss in saying that we all recognize the value of teamwork and of increasing our chopsticks (um… our membership), so as to better undertake our good works in both the local and global communities. And, collaboration with outside organizations could only be to the benefit of all parties. So, the plan is, simply, to increase our active projects and embark on outside collaboration to complement our regular dinner meeting roster of speakers, who will continue to give talks on current events and other interesting topics.
In closing, I hope to see everyone at the September meeting at the National Arts Club and start the year off with a bang, and not a whimper. My personal thanks to outgoing president, Catherine Kleszczewski, and last year’s board, as well as to the incoming board for all your support and good wishes.
See you on September 23rd!
Newly-elected Officers were installed at the June Dinner Meeting, along with a new Board of Directors. This list will be in the Club’s Yearbook which will be distributed at the September Dinner Meeting (another reason to attend).
If, however, you want to have this information immediately, see the following list.
The first Dinner Meeting of 2014-15 Altrusa Year will be held at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, at 5:30 pm, on Tuesday, September 23. President Anne Marie Basic wants this dinner to be a “get to know you” meeting with an exchange of ideas and suggestions for the coming year. Yearbooks will be distributed and you can sign up for a Committee. Hopefully, you will all be able to attend.
Back in June, I found myself at a stone wall while I was doing some research on the computer, and thought it would be interesting to see what could be found out about the Altrusa International New York Club’s charter members.
Starting with our most famous member, Eleanor Roosevelt. I’m sure you all know her history. Her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Governor of New York, and 32nd President of the US. She was a tireless worker to improve human condition and the United Nation’s first Chairperson for the Committee on Human Rights. Mrs. Roosevelt joined in the first year and was not considered a charter member.
Of the original charter members, nineteen in all, information was found for only twelve. The first secretary, Vera Bull Hull, was married to an inventor, William C. Hull. As administratrix of his estate in September, 1947, Mrs. Hull filed for a patent on her husband’s invention of an appliance in the form of a footrest (situated at foot of hospital bed) that enabled a patient to exercise his leg muscles while lying in bed. It also had the advantage of lifting the covers off the legs and feet for added comfort.
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth, is well-known to most of us due to her daughters’ novels, “Cheaper By The Dozen” and “Belles on Their Toes,” and the film portrayal by Myrna Loy. She was a well-respected mechanical engineer by profession.
Florence Brobeck wrote best-selling cookbooks and had a weekly column in The New York Times in 1936-37. She was also associate editor of The New York Herald Tribune Women’s Page in the 1940’s.
Elsie Eaves was the first female associate member of The American Society of Civil Engineers and a founding member of the American Association of Cost Engineers, now known as the ACCE.
Gloria Browning was a dressmaker. May Alexander was a dress salesperson. Margaret B. Benson, born in England, was a merchandising clerk. While Grace M. Clarke, also born in England, was a nurse manager. Catherine Fisher was a supervisor for the telephone company, and Elizabeth Phillips was a secretary for the telephone company. Susie W. Smith was a railroad company clerk. Elizabeth R. Wylie, born in Scotland, she was a manager and was married late in life to Dr. Frederick Demarest. Regrettably, I was unable to get the official names of the companies that employed these women nor the names of the educational institutions they attended.
It’s a long shot, but if anyone knows anything more about these women, or the other charter members – Evelyn Hopper, charter President; Eva B. Gage; Frances Massey; Bertha Miller; Cora S. Riefer; Helen Waldo; Jeanette Ware -- please let us know as it would be nice to have this history.
This year’s fundraiser at Belmont Race Track was a lot of fun for all who attended. There was a true air of excitement. While the profits were down about $200 from last year’s fundraiser, it was a successful effort. In fact, the lesser profit had more to do with the fact that Belmont raised their prices but we chose not to pass that on to our loyal attendees.
Shirley Day has sent these hints which you may find very helpful.
The simplest way to slice cherry tomatoes is to place them between to lids and run a knife through all of them at once.
Do you find yourself throwing out hard blocks of brown sugar every time you go to the package? Try storing a few marshmallows in the bag with the brown sugar. Make sure that the bag is airtight.
Don’t have a watering can? Create one by puncturing holes in the top of a used milk bottle.
Add half a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when hard-boiling eggs to make the shells incredibly easy to peel off. To tell if eggs are fresh, immerse them in a bowl of water. Fresh eggs will lie on the bottom, while stale eggs will float to the surface.
Grandchildren are a blessing but the wee ones can’t always keep within the lines or even on the paper. In that case, WD40 can be used to remove crayon marks from any surface!
Store bed sheets inside their pillowcases for easy storage and access. I’ve tried this, not only does it give easy access and storage, it makes an attractive and neat shelf in the linen closet.
Psst! Don’t tell the Container Store, but you can use egg boxes to store delicate Christmas tree decorations.
The Altrusa Club of New York has a website: http://altrusanewyorkcity.tripod.com.
Don’t forget to visit it.
REMEMBER: This is your newsletter. It is only as good as the articles you submit. Thanks to Penny Gardner, Shirley Day, Julie Kleszczewski, Anne Marie Basic, and Jessica Leeds for their help in producing this edition. Audrey Braver, Editor.
Finally, spring is here. It feels like summer! It is time to put away the winter clothes and bring out the summer wardrobe!
First of all, I want to thank everyone on the board and all the members as well! Special thanks to Penny for being on top of our finances, for organizing our reservations at the National Arts Club, and for countless hours of putting together the Treasurer’s report and our biggest fundraiser of the year at Belmont Racetrack; to Audrey, for putting together the directory, newsletter, and for giving me guidance; to Jessica, for hosting wine and cheese events and for her guidance; to Carole Kennedy for hosting and organizing our jewelry workshop, to Julie, my mother, for throwing me into the “lion’s den.” I thank everyone who has not been mentioned here by name. You are and have been an inspiration to me! I want to wish our new board members, especially President-Elect Anne Marie Basic, a successful and uplifting future for our club and for those charities we assist and a thank you especially to our Foundation board members (Thank you, Carole Lancaster, for keeping it together). A big thank you goes to Maureen McGough for taking the time to install our new slate of officers! Maureen, you are a powerhouse!
I repeat. Educate someone about personal finance: a student, a wife (who will someday become a widow or divorced – always a possibility), an unemployed person, a cousin, etc. Some might not want to be taught (Please ask why, because ignorance is NOT bliss in this case!). Send gentle reminders such as sending them stories of financial misfortune or have them check out these websites: www.investopedia.com or www.smckids.com (for kids).This is not a popular topic. No one likes to talk about money. BUT no one likes to eat cat food either!
Another article that I read was in today’s Wall Street Journal (May 12, 2014), “Should Companies Monitor Their Employees’ Social Media?” This seems like common sense, but if any of you have a social media count, you should ask yourself, “Why do you have one?” There have been many articles that list mostly the cons of having such an account. For example, if you announce to your Facebook friends that you will be on vacation for a week, guess what? You might be inviting someone to break into your home, or to live in your house. Ugh! Also, I see people posting pics of themselves at crazy parties, children’s activities. Okay, be aware that you are opening up yourself to potential employers rejecting your job application. Also, there was a story of a mother who actually posted her child’s weekly schedule! Guess what? Her child was kidnapped. I don’t know if the child was ever found.
My point is this: even though some of us feel safe and secure in the land of cyberspace, it should be treated as if we are swimming in the ocean of shark-infested waters. Sometimes there is a false sense of security (i.e. Hackers are able to steal millions of debit and credit card numbers). There are many people out there who are wolves in sheep’s clothing (or they are simply nuts). Be cautious in who you confide in. Caveat emptor.
I feel the urgency to inform and to bring attention to issues that are not so obvious, to things that we don’t want to talk about.
On a lighter note, I have learned a great deal in these last two years. Everyone who has served as club president and our members, both longtime and new, have taught me how to become a better leader. A true leader listens, and is accessible to their board and club members. Throughout history, the most successful leaders were people who see the world in a realistic, sober fashion, and not being a “Pollyanna,” (who has always had their way in life). True leaders have the ability to empathize and to remain calm in a crisis, but find a solution rather than complain and not act. Thank you for this opportunity to serve you!
Be aware, be safe, and have a “MAH-vel – ous” summer everyone!
See you all at our fundraiser at Belmont on Sunday, June 22nd!
The Dinner Meeting that would normally have been held on Tuesday, April 22nd and was to be incorporated into the Friday, April 25th UN Woman’s Project Orange dinner at Audrey Braver’s apartment at 21-55 34th Avenue, Apt 6B, Long Island City.
That dinner was to have celebrated the six month anniversary of UN Project Orange and a small fundraiser for the New York Club.
This year’s racing event will be on Sunday, June 22, 2014. The price of a single ticket is $125.00 each, buy two and the price is reduced to $100.00 each. Buy two, bring a friend. It’s a bargain! In fact invite all your friends. It is a great day, we are in the Turf and Jockey Room with a private betting window, lots of delicious food, a cash bar for drinks and a dessert table. See attached flyer.
Also, there will be a van pickup on Roosevelt Island at 12 noon and return after the races. Contact Audrey Braver, if interested (718-721-4229).
For tickets, contact Penny Gardner at 212-348-1433.
At the March Board Meeting, the Board voted to increase the Membership Dues from $135.00 to $140.00 per person. The Members voted on this increase at the March meeting.
Dues renewal notice is on the last page of this newsletter. Please complete in full. Dues must be paid no later than May 31st to avoid the $30.00 late payment fee.
Please note: Change of Date.
The May Dinner Meeting will be on May 20th, not May 28th, as originally scheduled due to a change in the National Arts Calendar.
District Two Governor, Maureen McGough, will join us and perform the Installation of Officers. This is our last regular meeting of the Altrusa International Club of New York and all members should try their best to attend—especially and most importantly, the newly-elected officers.
Memorial Day is coming up as well as D-Day. So many other events such as the worst tragedy of the US Navy in history: the USS Indianapolis, which delivered the atom bomb. The ship sank on July 30, 1945. Out of 1,197 sailors, 300 went down with the ship. The rest survived only to find themselves in shark-infested waters for about a week. Only 317 men survived. Google it if interested in further details.
Monopoly - I Did Not Know This!
Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses' where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and shelter.
Paper maps had some real drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into mush.
Someone in MI-5 (similar to America's OSS) got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.
By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war. Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany, Italy, France, or where ever Allied POW camps were located. When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!
British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square.
Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war.
The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honored in a public ceremony.
It's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail Free' card!
I realize that many of you are (probably) too young to have any personal connection to WWII (Dec. '41 to Aug. '45), but this is still an interesting bit of history.
Attendees: Catherine Kleszczewski, Audrey Braver, Julie Kleszczewski, Jessica Leeds, Henie Parish.
Excused: Carole Kennedy, Margaret Stadler, Anne Marie Basic, Gwen Ascadi and Penny Gardner.
President Catherine called meeting to order at 6:10 p.m.
The minutes of the March 25 Board Meeting were approved as corrected.
Governor of District Two, Maureen McGough, will be our special guest and install the new officers on May 20, 2014 (third Tuesday not fourth).
June 22, Sunday, is the date of Belmont Raceway fundraiser. Trains leave from Penn Station, Long Island Railroad, twice after 11 a.m. and once at 4 p.m. and at the conclusion of the races.
Carole Kennedy has organized a Jewelry Workshop on May 10, 2014, at 11 a.m. A percent of proceeds will be donated to the Altrusa International New York Foundation.
A suggested alternate location for 2014 November and 2015 February meetings to be investigated further is Solera Restaurant that has a private room, on 53rd, between Second and Third Avenues, (www.solerany.com), 212 644 1166, 216 East 53rd Street at Third Avenue.
Meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m.
REMEMBER: This is your newsletter. It is only as good as the articles you submit. Thanks to Catherine Kleszczewski, Penny Gardner, Shirley Day, Julie Kleszczewski for their help in producing this edition. Audrey Braver, Editor.
Belmont is easily accessible via LIRR, bus, or car.
Jewish World Watch—Distributes solar cookers to refugee camps in Iridemi.
It’s springtime, everyone! April Fool! Happy Birthday, Altrusa – April 25th. I hope everyone has filed their taxes already. Nothing like listening to Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1 while writing this to you. (Wow, I wish I had written this piece). Obviously, the spring air has put me into a giddy mood.
Lately, I have been volunteering my time to my son’s music class. I edited parts for my son’s first band piece. Yes, it’s not a common way to volunteer, I admit. But, it is certainly much more constructive than selling cupcakes at a table in the cafeteria (unless baking is one’s livelihood). If you are an expert in a particular craft (painting, jewelry-making, investing, computers, etc.) even if it’s not main stream, then you should share it with the world.
Years ago (last century), I was accepted but decided not to attend the University of Southern California’s Film Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. It was an incredible opportunity to learn from the best film composers in the business. Instead, my first priority was to become a mother. Like many women, we tend to sacrifice our personal goals to attain other goals which rely on timing (i.e. biological clocks). We women do not have control of the calendar in this respect.
Well, good came from that decision. Not only do I have two beautiful children, but also they compose music! So, you can say the amount of composers in our family has tripled! This is a repeated theme in many of my messages as your president: teach what you know. Because you never know who will benefit. If your passion is writing, teaching or giving guidance in a particular field, then it’s a possibility that that person might wish to become a writer or teach someone in their family or community what you just taught them. That type of volunteering is what helps make the world a better place, thus giving back to one’s community.
Happy Earth Day! April 22nd.
This month the Dinner Meeting which would normally be held on April 22nd has been postponed and incorporated into the April 25th Un Woman’s Project Orange dinner at Audrey Braver’s apartment at 21-55 34th Avenue, Apt 6B, Long Island City.
UN-Women’s Project Orange encourages everyone to wear orange on the 25th day of each month to draw attention to the universal problem of violence against women. April 25th is the six-month anniversary of Project Orange. The New York Altrusa International Club has chosen to have an Orange Dinner as their way to celebrate the six month anniversary. All the food will be orange in color or accented with orange, e.g., macaroni and cheese, and salad with orange slices, etc.
The dinner will be potluck; everyone is encouraged to bring some kind of “orange” food. This will be a fund raiser so the cost will be a $25.00 donation for each of us; $30.00 if you don’t bring food.
We have already had offers of table cloth, napkins, paper plates. The macaroni and cheese is covered, as is the salad. Please call Audrey at: 718-721-4229 to make reservations and for directions to her apartment and what you will bring.
This year’s racing even will be on Sunday, June 22, 2014. The price of a single ticket is $125.00 each, buy two and the price is reduced to $100.00 each. Buy two, bring a friend. It’s a bargain! In fact invite all your friends. It is a great day, we are in the Turf and Jockey Room with a private betting window, lots of delicious food, a cash bar for drinks and a dessert table.
For tickets, contact Penny Gardner at 212-3348-1433.
Minutes from the previous board meeting had been distribute, corrected and approved via email. Several of the board members express unhappiness over this process and hope the board will go back to the former procedure.
Treasurer’s report: Penny Gardner recommended the dues for 2014-15 membership be raised by $5.00 from the current dues of $135.00. Also raise the late fee $5.00. Jessica Leeds made the motion to increase the dues and late fee, Carole Kennedy seconded the motion. Motion carried. The dues for 2014-15 will be $140.00 and $30.00 for late fee. Dues are due May 31, 2014. Penny Gardner discussed the contract with the National Arts Club for the dinner meetings. It is expected that the cost of the dinner will increase but Penny has not been informed by the National Arts Club at this date. The Club may need to raise the price of the dinners for the members. Dates for the dinner meetings at the National Arts Club for the coming season are as follows: September 23rd, October 28th, January 27th, March 24th, and May 19th. Another venue will be found for the dinner meetings November 18th, February 24th. The April dinner meeting will be cancelled so members can attend the District Meeting in April. The New York Club is responsible for activity at the District Meeting.
Audrey Braver discussed the Orange Dinner schedule for April 25th. The event will be held at Audrey Braver’s home, beginning at 6 pm, members will contribute food in the orange theme. This is to support the UN awareness campaign on violence against women. It is possible the Altrusa International President Ilona Kerby will be in NYC and will attend.
At the May 20th meeting, the District Governor Maureen McGough will attend and install the new officers and directors.
Belmont “Day at the Races” tickets are available for sale.
published only once a year and that issue will be devoted to the International Convention.
was given to the club’s representative to share with the club.
residents of Safe Harbor, a shelter for battered women.
After dinner on Friday night, the Capital City ASTRA club ran a Bingo game which is always fun. The Awards Banquet on Saturday night was exciting. The New York club received three club awards—second place for both the Eleanor Pettersen Awards for Membership Growth in number of members and by percentage; and second place for the Nina Fay Calhoun International Relations Award for our Project Orange; and Julie Kleszczewski and Jessica Leeds shared top place for the Sponsorship Award with six new members. Catherine Kleszczewski received recognition for Presidential Excellence. At the end of the evening, the catering and wait staff were invited to take a bow and receive their tips for the Conference service. Then the staff returned their tips to Altrusa as a donation. This was a first since I’ve been going to Conferences.
While the Richmond Club was host and the membership certainly worked hard to make this a great conference, kudos go to Tammy Boyd who supervised everything and raised troubleshooting to an art form. Whatever glitsch was thrown at her, she rose to the challenge. Thank you, Tammy.
REMEMBER: This is your newsletter. It is only as good as the articles you submit. Thanks to Catherine Klescszewski, Jessica Leeds, Penny Gardner for their help in producing this edition. Audrey Braver, Editor.
Happy February weather! As one newspaper put it,” S’no more!” That groundhog wasn’t kidding!
So many events have occurred: Super Bowl Sunday – it wasn’t a game, it was a massacre! Groundhog Day on the same day as the Super Bowl (that cute, furry little critter! Leave Phil alone!); death of an actor from my generation, Philip Seymour Hoffmann. He was only 46, and a father of three children ages 5, 7 and 10; death of Shirley Temple Black, actress and UN Ambassador, age 85. She lit up the lives of millions during the Great Depression with her cheerful talent, innocence and grace.
February 9, 2014 marked the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles performing on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York (aka “The British Invasion!”), in front of a U.S. audience. I can’t help think that all of those screaming teenage fans are now in their 60s!
On another light note, there’s the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. All of the Olympians from every nation are amazing – so many stories, so many words of inspiration. Russia’s Police Choir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P08B_lBUL0E really caught my attention.(Oo La La!) Besides, rooting for the USA, I am rooting for the Jamaican bobsled team!
Should I discuss the influence of Washington and Lincoln since President’s Day is coming up? Beside the fact that February is Black History Month, Rosa Parks birthday was on February 4th.
Even though the holidays are over, I feel as though life has been nonstop. I mean look at all the events that have already occurred before Valentine’s Day! The bottom line is: life goes on. In our minds and hearts, we know that life isn’t always fair or beautiful. There are troglodytes (please remember this word for our meeting in February. Spelling counts, ladies.) in this world, but still…hopefully we can all experience the beauty of life and give that to others in need. Making small gestures such as giving food or saying a “hello” can brighten someone’s spirit. When our spirit is lighter, we can succeed and love so much more.
At the January dinner meeting, we selected our representatives to the District II Conference. Audrey Braver and Abaynesh Asrat are the delegates, and Henie Parish and Julie Kleszczewski are the alternates. Remember this Conference is not just for delegates. It is for all members. Richmond, VA, is an historically rich city, well worth the visit.
We should all think about attending, if not this year, certainly next year when our Area (I) is the host. Location will be Washington, DC--lots to do in DC. We will also need volunteers to help with the various phases of the conference. So, please, start your planning now—2015 is less than a year away.
The South Central Pennsylvania Altrusa Club is taking orders for their divine Peanut Butter, Coconut, Butter Cream and PB Krispie Easter eggs. Cost is $12/dozen, or $15/dozen for special orders, e.g., white chocolate, bittersweet or milk chocolate. Order forms will be available at the Dinner Meeting. Please note the NY Club will not be selling them this year.
The following comments have been attributed to Andy Rooney, our apologies if this is not the correct attribution.
That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.
That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile..
That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
Attendees: Catherine Kleszczewski; Audrey Braver, Penny Gardner; Carole Kennedy, Julie Kleszczewski and Jessica Leeds, Henie Parish.
Excused: Anne Marie Basic, Margaret Stadler.
President Catherine called meeting to order at 5:20 p.m.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Jessica Leeds moved and Carole Kennedy seconded a motion to approve the minutes that were approved.
Treasurer’s report: $5,347.22 in our regular bank account.
A successful Wine and Cheese Event was held Thursday, January 9, 2014, at Jessica’s. Those attending were new members: Connie DiBenedetto, Jacqueline Feldman, and their guest, Mary Kreiger, plus guests, Mary Beth Cornell (She will arrive late.), and Liz Voss.
Carole Kennedy will hold another jewelry workshop (two weeks prior to Mother’s Day) May 9, at 11 a.m. , $35 an hour, $70 for two hours at 1160 Broadway (27th Street). Catherine K. will send an EVITE at least two weeks in advance.
The January 28 Program will feature Carol Smolenski, Executive Director of ECPAT.
An Orange luncheon was suggested as a fundraiser at Audrey's house on April 25, Friday, 6 p.m. Directions to follow. (Menu will consist of all orange food). Cost is $25. Two dollars to paint two fingernails orange. Carole Kennedy will announce.
Speaker for dinner meeting, woman real estate in Manhattan. (Jessica suggested her as a speaker.) Speaker for March: possibly Anne Marie Carlson, Chair of DPI/NGO Executive Committee. Speaker for April ... working on it and maybe at the Hungarian Literary Club. Anne-Marie Basic working on May.
Need two delegates to District Conference April 11-13. Audrey offered to be a delegate. We also need two alternates.
Maureen McGough, Governor, will be our speaker, Tuesday, February 25, at our dinner meeting at the Hungarian Literary Society (79th Street between First and Second Avenue). We are considering the Hungarian Literary Society for our April 22 meeting. Henie suggested that her brother, a city planner, as a speaker for April 22, 2014.
Nominating Committee: Three volunteers are to be appointed at our January, 2014, meeting and nominees to be elected at our April meeting.
Our District Conference will be held on April 11-13 (Friday - Sunday, Palm Sunday) in Richmond, Virginia.
Our Day at the Races will be held at the Belmont Raceway on June 22, 2014. They offer new menu selections, a pasta station in addition to passing appetizers. Penny presented the flyer for the Belmont for suggestions from the board.
Two Conference that will be held in Georgetown, Washington D.C . No date has been set as yet.
Meeting adjourned at 5:56 p.m.
At the dinner meeting on January 28, Audrey Braver and Abaynesh Asrat were selected as delegates to the District Two Conference in Richmond, VA, beginning April 10, 2014. Julie Kleszczewski and Henie Parish were selected as alternate delegates.
REMEMBER: This is your newsletter. It is only as good as the articles you submit. Thanks to Catherine Kleszczewski, Shirley Day, Jessica Leeds, Julie Kleszczewski, Penny Gardner for their help in producing this edition. Audrey Braver, Editor.
I hope everyone has had a happy new year so far. A new year gives us an opportunity to regroup; and to think how we can make a positive difference.
Lately, I have been reading and watching biographies and interviews of famous and successful people. One of the things that they all have in common was their drive for having quality content, and not so much focus on procedure. I think, at times, we all want to do the right thing and follow protocol of what other clubs and/or companies are doing. However, sometimes, the larger the company, the more confusion there is. For example, why did all of these companies such as Enron, JP Morgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs (to name a few), get themselves into financial trouble? The short answer is their accounting practices, but, of course, it is more complicated than that. Google to find the answer.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday approaches, let us remember his legacy. From time to time, I often think about MLK, Jr. as well as Nelson Mandela, and all the positive energy that they had. (When you have a chance, please watch the movie, “Invicus.” It’s a must-see!) Without them, this world would be a much different place. On that note, please invite a friend or colleague to one of our dinner meetings.
Let us celebrate our cultural diversity!
Our speaker speaker is Carol Smolenski, the Executive Director and one of the founders of ECPAT-USA, has been working in the field of children’s rights for eighteen years. She is a long-time nationally recognized leader working to stop the commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
This is a most important topic and I’m sure you will find it both interesting and stimulating. Don’t forget to make your reservations with Penny Gardner, 212-348-1433.
We received a thoughtful thank you note from Yvette, Director of Volunteer Services for the two quilts we donated. We visited the VA Hospital the Saturday before Christmas … There was a snowstorm which delayed my friend. But we finally made it about 4:30 p.m.! One quilt is a bold design using recycled maroon curtains, gingham sheets and other fabrics of the tied quilt we made. This was given to a gentleman whose home is in Pennsylvania so he had very few visits. He was so happy! Our maroon and gingham surprise was the icing on the cake for he was returning home in the morning! The other as you know was composed of beautiful tiny triangles framed in pale green. This quilt was given to a totally thrilled female veteran who worked in the battle zone as a medic.
In case you didn’t receive the District Service Bulletin, below is information about the District Two Conference, April 11-13, 2014, in Richmond, VA.
The Fifty-eighth Annual District Two Conference will be hosted by the Richmond club at the Holiday Inn Airport, Sandston, VA April 10 - 13, 2014. Conference Chair Tammy Boyd and Co-Chair Cindi Jennings have been working hard to plan an exciting, growth-producing experience for us. Our International Representative will be International President Ilona Kerby who is a member of the Longview-Kelso, WA Club in District Twelve. We are honored to have Ilona attending our Conference as it will be her first Conference in her position as International President. Let’s welcome her and show her how District Two presents the most rewarding and informative Conference! Ilona is stressing the importance of growing Altrusa – every Club increasing their membership by one new member. How proud District Two would be to know that we are doing so by having our new members attend Conference! I would like to see the First Timers Session packed! Stress to Club members the camaraderie we experience with our sisters and brothers in Altrusa Service, the networking and leadership training provided through workshops, and the heartfelt joy experienced by participating in our service projects.
There will be two general sessions – one on Friday and one on Saturday -- and it is imperative that each Club sends its allotted delegates and alternates as this is where the business of the District takes place. So many times members ask “what does District do for us?” Come to Conference and find out! There will be training for Club Presidents and Club Treasurers; an opportunity to meet International President Ilona Kerby and participate in her all-session workshop; an Astra Workshop; town hall session for sharing club service projects; an Area meeting session to discuss Fall Workshops; opportunities to be updated on International and District objectives; and all-session workshops from a guest speaker on Friday who works in A Domestic Violence Safe House and on Saturday whose specialty is in Leadership and Career Transitions. The District Board and members of Altrusa International of Richmond, VA look forward to seeing many Altrusans at Conference.
Names of Delegate(s) and Alternates(s) from each club must be reported on the enclosed form to the District Secretary. There are NO credential cards to give to your delegates(s) or alternates(s). Delegates and alternates are determined sixty (60) days prior to District Conference pursuant to Club Bylaws. Each club in good standing that has an Active and Active Retired membership of 20 members shall be entitled to one delegate and one alternate. For each additional 20 members or portion thereof, a club shall be entitled to 1 additional delegate and alternate. The District Treasurer will review with the District Secretary and notify you of any discrepancies. Send attached form by 3/1/14 to: District Two Secretary Tammy Boyd, 117 McCauley Pkwy, Aylett, VA 23009.
Please let me know if you need a Registration form.
Clelia was generous enough to write about her recent vacation and submit it to the Altrusagram. It is, as always, entertaining.
For years I had been dreaming of doing a cruise on the scenic Danube. None of my friends was interested and time was passing. Then one day I talked about this plan to a friend in Brazil and the moment I mentioned Danube, her eyes sparkled. I had found a companion and Edilah and I went on a cruise in October of 2013.
The Danube has always been the main route to connect west Europe to the Black Sea. But this river had large rock formations and swift waters that represented sizeable obstacles. Charlemagne had dreamed of a canal creating a continuous waterway linking hundreds of inland ports and such a canal was finally built and finished in 1992, making our cruise possible. We went through 67 locks !
We sailed mostly at night, but also some mornings and every day we were in a different town. Sometimes it was a large city like Vienna, in Austria, or Nuremberg and Cologne, in Germany. But we also stopped in medieval towns and charming villages such as Bratislava, in Slovakia, Melk (famous for its magnificent baroque abbey), in Austria, and Passau (city of three rivers), Regensburg (a very well preserved medieval city), Bamberg (with its smoked beer), Wurzburg (a baroque town that is a center of production of wines, mostly white) and Wertheim (famous for its blown glass artifacts), in Germany.
It was wonderful to enjoy a cup of tea watching baroque and grandiose castles, fabulous churches and monasteries pass by on both sides of the river. The famous Melk Abbey and the magnificent St. Stephan cathedral of Passau can be seen and photographed from the ship. Sometimes one village was very close to another, but other times all we saw was beautiful green or yellow plantations on terraced land.
Before arriving at Amsterdam we spent one day in Kinderduck, on the Rhine. This town has Holland’s largest assemblage of wind mills, 19 of them, built at the beginning of the 18th century.
We did not stay in Amsterdam. We went from the port straight to the airport, thus ending a fabulous river cruise, a dream that finally became a wonderful reality.
The Board Meeting was held on Monday, January 6, 2014, at Jessica Leeds’ apartment.
Attendees: Catherine Kleszczewski; Audrey Braver, Penny Gardner; Carole Kennedy, Julie Kleszczewski and Jessica Leeds Henie Parish.
President Catherine called meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved as corrected. Carole Kennedy moved and Audrey Braver seconded a motion to accept the minutes that were approved by consensus.
Old Business: A Wine and Cheese Event will be held Thursday, January 9, 2014 at Jessica’s. Those attending: new members: Connie, Jacqueline and their guest, Mary Kreiger plus guests, MaryBeth Cornell (late), and Liz Voss.
Carole Kennedy will hold another jewelry workshop (two weeks prior to Mother’s Day) May 9, 11 a.m. , $35 an hour, $70, two hours. 1160 Broadway @ 27th Street. Catherine will send an EVITE at least two weeks in advance.
New Business: Maureen McGough, District Two Governor, will be our speaker, Tuesday, February 25, Tuesday, at our closed dinner meeting (no guests) at a different location.
Nominating Committee: Three members will be appointed at our January 2014 meeting for the Nominating Committee to select nominees for Club Officers. Elections will be held at our April meeting.
The District Two Conference will be held on April 11-13 (Friday - Sunday, Palm Sunday) in Richmond, Virginia.
Our Day at the Races will be held at the Belmont Raceway on June 22, 2014. They offer a new menu selections, new pasta selections in addition to passing appetizers.
Meeting adjourned at 7:09 p.m.
At a recent luncheon, we were discussing the aging process. This discussion was prompted by the fact that two members of our group were in Rehab and not able to join us that day. So, I thought I would share some thoughts about getting old. Our younger members will benefit from this article--just wait a decade or two.
And that, my friend, is the definition of 'OLD'!
Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman: “And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?” the reporter asked.
I’ve sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation. I can hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends.
But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.
but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school.
REMEMBER: This is your newsletter. It is only as good as the articles you submit. Thanks to Catherine Kleszczewski, Julie Klescszewski, Penny Gardner for their help in producing this edition. Audrey Braver, Editor.
This is a time to remember and renew our promise to ourselves: to be productive and thoughtful members of society. It’s important to think about why we do what we do. I am in the middle of reading the book, “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. He states that 40% of all the things that we do is by habit, not necessarily because we want to do it or by free will. He also explains how we can change our habits.
Look into yourself and ask, “Is this what I want to do with my life?” Maybe you are thinking, “Why does that matter? I have lived most of my life already.” Well, I have news for you: It’s never too late to do what you want to do. For example, as a college student, I remember listening to Pearl Bailey at a benefit in Washington, DC. At the age of 71, she graduated from college with a Bachelor’s in Religion. She said she was a French Major, but she switched to Religion because she thought it was easier to understand God than it was to understand French. People laughed at that statement. What stayed with me from that day was that Pearl had the courage to go back to school to earn her undergraduate degree. She didn’t let age stop her. Another example, after a 14-year hiatus, I am composing music again. It’s a little bit of a learning curve because technology and methods in this area have changed, but it’s for the better.
Why is Catherine writing about all of this? What I am trying to tell you is to WAKE UP. Expand yourselves: think of new ideas for possible projects and programs. Think about what you can do to help others, and help our Altrusa club grow. When you share Altrusa with a friend or someone who you think is nice, you are actually helping the community. Many hands make light work. And why do we like helping others? One reason is because it makes us feel good about ourselves. Wouldn’t we want our friends to feel good about themselves as well? When you give to the community, you are, in fact, giving to yourself.
Whether it is created and hidden from the world, or never created at all, but hidden in our brains, it is depriving the world. The same goes for education. For every person in the world who cannot read or write, they are crippling our society. For example, there are many diseases out there that no known cure has been found. One of those uneducated individuals could possibly find the answer, or be the next Marie Curie, the next Da Vinci if they pursue an education.
I am thankful for many people in my life and for the things that I have in place, but there are so many things that we can do to improve our lives, directly and indirectly. If you can’t find the time or have the strength to help, then assisting monetarily or mentoring someone who you think would benefit would be a great help.
One type of charity which is often overlooked is the arts. One such arts organization is HERE. They have a website: www.HERE.org. It is worth a visit to see the various arts projects they support. I made my donation to help support the creation and production of a new opera, called Scarlet Ibis, composed by Stefan Weisman and libretto by David Cote. Their work will be premiered in January 2015.
If you think that it’s frivolous to give to arts, then I would like you to do an experiment: Try to live without music and art for one day, and see what happens. Can’t do it, right? To do this, there would be no TV, no books, no newspapers, no looking at the walls in your home, no internet, etc. Music is everywhere. You get my point.
Looking forward to seeing you all at our next dinner meeting on November 19.
The person responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday was a woman by the name of Sarah Hale. She was a mother of five. Over a 37-year period, she wrote letters to the U.S. President. Finally, in 1860, President Abraham Lincoln said “yes” and Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
Sarah Hale also wrote the song, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Some “food” for thought.
a renowned surgeon, perform the operation. As he was about to get the anesthesia, he asked to speak to his son.
“Don't be nervous, son; do your best, and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me, your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife...."
A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop.
The surgeon was there, waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike.
The mechanic shouted across the garage, "Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?"
The surgeon a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, "So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, fix 'em, put 'em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?"
The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic... "Try doing it with the engine running."
Please Note: The November Dinner Meeting is scheduled for November 19, and not November 26 as originally planned. Our speaker will be Dr. Glen Chalmers from Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. He will give us an update on their outstanding program and their trials and tribulations in view of today’s economic situation. I’m sure all club members will find his presentation most enlightening.
The Reverend Glenn B. Chalmers—has been the Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles and Executive Director of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen since May of 2009. He was Executive Director of Cathedral Shelter of Chicago from 1997-2009, Rector of Grace Episcopal Church of Lawrence, Mass from 1990-97, Director of Program Development of Episcopal City Mission in Boston, MA, from 1998-90, and Vicar of Grace Episcopal Church in Elizabeth, NJ, from 1982-1988. He received his D. Min. in 2008 from the Graduate Theological Foundation, his M.S.W. in 1982 from Rutgers University and a M. Div. in Applied Ministries from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1980.
Rev. Chalmers and Shirley, a volunteer at the Soup Kitchen.
Don’t forget you must make a reservation with Penny Gardner, 212-348-1433, by November 11th for the dinner meeting on the 19th.
Below are a selection of interesting facts that you probably didn’t know but will find a handy solution in certain situations.
Most aluminum foil boxes have press-in tabs that secure the roll in place, so you don’t have worry about it flying out every time you rip off a sheet.
Chinese takeout containers are actually made to fold out into plates. The containers actually are meant to unfold into a makeshift plate, which you can easily reassemble into a box for storing leftovers.
Greek yogurt containers are meant to be folded in half. Chances are you’ve been scooping the toppings with your spoon onto the yogurt. But, have you realized, the topping holder folds over, so you can pour the toppings DIRECTLY ON TOP?
Soda can tabs double as straw holders. Turn the tab around so that it acts as holder that can stop the straw from raising out of the can as the soda fizzes.
Attendees: Catherine Kleszczewski; Audrey Braver, Penny Gardner; Gwen Acsadi, Carole Kennedy; Julie Kleszczewski.
Excused: Anne Marie Basic; Jessica Leeds, Henie Parish, Margaret Stadler.
President Catherine called meeting to order at 6:17 p.m.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
Old Business: Jewelry Workshop: Nov. 16, 2013, 11 a.m. Deadline RSVP: November 7, 2013. $35, first hour. It can be extended for another hour for $35 at 1160 Broadway @ 27th Street. Catherine will send an EVITE.
New Business: All clubs who have Altrusa International, Inc., in their charter must change their name to remove “inc” after International. Example our name should be Altrusa International of New York, Inc., because each club must now be incorporated. Deadline is December 31, 2013.
Carol will look into a site for February Meeting.
Great Decisions Program is being offered beginning Thursday, January 30, 2014, 5:30 p.m. at the Harvard Club (44th Street) and costs $50 for six to eight sessions. The rest of the meetings will be held bimonthly thereafter. If interested, please contact [email protected].
The Dinner Meeting which would normally have been held on April 22nd and was postponed to be incorporated into the April 25th Un Woman’s Project Orange dinner at Audrey Braver’s apartment at 21-55 34th Avenue, Apt 6B, Long Island City, was cancelled for lack of participation.
Not only was that dinner to have celebrated the six month anniversary of UN Project Orange, it was also a much-needed fundraiser for the New York Club.
at Jewelry Workshop fundraiser! Thanks Carole Kennedy! | 2019-04-20T20:39:31Z | http://altrusanewyorkcity.tripod.com/id1.html |
Extended pain relief via high frequency spinal cord modulation, and associated systems and methods. A method for treating a patient in accordance with a particular embodiment includes selecting a neural modulation site to include at least one of a dorsal root entry zone and dorsal horn of the patient's spinal cord, and selecting parameters of a neural modulation signal to reduce patient pain for a period of time after ceasing delivery of the signals, the period of time being at least one tenth of one second.
1. A method for establishing patient treatment parameters, comprising: selecting a neural modulation site to include at least one of a dorsal root entry zone and dorsal horn of a spinal cord of the patient; and selecting parameters of a neural modulation signal to address a patient indication for a period of time after at least reducing an intensity of the signals, the period of time being at least one tenth of one second.
The is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/163,149, filed Jan. 24, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/308,436, filed on Nov. 30, 2011, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/418,379, filed on Nov. 30, 2010, each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1A is a partially schematic illustration of an implantable spinal cord modulation system positioned at the spine to deliver therapeutic signals in accordance with several embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 1B is a partially schematic, cross-sectional illustration of a patient's spine, illustrating representative locations for implanted lead bodies in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.
FIG. 2A is a graph illustrating representative patient VAS scores as a function of time for multiple patients receiving therapy in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.
FIG. 2B is a graph illustrating normalized pain scores for the patients identified in FIG. 2A, during an initial post-trial period.
FIG. 3 is a partially schematic, isometric illustration of an animal spinal cord segment and associated nerve structures, used to demonstrate techniques in accordance with the present disclosure.
FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating stimulus and response characteristics as a function of time for an animal receiving noxious electrical stimulation in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
FIGS. 5A-5E illustrate response data for an animal receiving noxious electrical stimulation and therapy in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
FIGS. 6A-6F illustrate animal response data for animals receiving noxious pinch stimuli in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure.
FIG. 7 is a graphical illustration comparing modulation amplitude effects for standard SCS with those for the presently disclosed technology.
The present technology is directed generally to spinal cord modulation and associated systems and methods for inhibiting or otherwise reducing pain via waveforms with high frequency elements or components (e.g., portions having high fundamental frequencies), generally with reduced or eliminated side effects. Such side effects can include unwanted motor stimulation or blocking, and/or interference with sensory functions other than the targeted pain, and/or patient proprioception. Several embodiments continue to provide pain relief for at least some period of time after the spinal cord modulation signals have ceased. Specific details of certain embodiments of the disclosure are described below with reference to methods for modulating one or more target neural populations (e.g., nerves) or sites of a patient, and associated implantable structures for providing the modulation. The following sections also describe physiological mechanisms by which it is expected that methods in accordance with certain embodiments achieve the observed results. Some embodiments can have configurations, components or procedures different than those described in this section, and other embodiments may eliminate particular components or procedures. A person of ordinary skill in the relevant art, therefore, will understand that the disclosure may include other embodiments with additional elements, and/or may include other embodiments without several of the features shown and described below with reference to FIGS. 1A-7.
In general terms, aspects of many of the following embodiments are directed to producing a therapeutic effect that includes pain reduction in the patient. The therapeutic effect can be produced by inhibiting, suppressing, downregulating, blocking, preventing, or otherwise modulating the activity of the affected neural population. In many embodiments of the presently disclosed techniques, therapy-induced paresthesia is not a prerequisite to achieving pain reduction, unlike standard SCS techniques. It is also expected that the techniques described below with reference to FIGS. 1A-7 can produce longer lasting results than can existing spinal cord stimulation therapies. In particular, these techniques can produce results that persist after the modulation signal ceases. Accordingly, these techniques can use less power than existing techniques because they need not require delivering modulation signals continuously to obtain a beneficial effect.
Several aspects of the technology are embodied in computing devices, e.g., programmed/programmable pulse generators, controllers and/or other devices. The computing devices on which the described technology can be implemented may include one or more central processing units, memory, input devices (e.g., input ports), output devices (e.g., display devices), storage devices, and network devices (e.g., network interfaces). The memory and storage devices are computer-readable media that may store instructions that implement the technology. In many embodiments, the computer readable media are tangible media. In other embodiments, the data structures and message structures may be stored or transmitted via an intangible data transmission medium, such as a signal on a communications link. Various suitable communications links may be used, including but not limited to a local area network and/or a wide-area network.
FIG. 1A schematically illustrates a representative patient system 100 for providing relief from chronic pain and/or other conditions, arranged relative to the general anatomy of a patient's spinal cord 191. The overall patient system 100 can include a signal delivery system 110, which may be implanted within a patient 190, typically at or near the patient's midline 189, and coupled to a pulse generator 121. The signal delivery system 110 can provide therapeutic electrical signals to the patient during operation. In a representative example, the signal delivery system 110 includes a signal delivery device 111 that carries features for delivering therapy to the patient 190 after implantation. The pulse generator 121 can be connected directly to the signal delivery device 111, or it can be coupled to the signal delivery device 111 via a signal link 113 (e.g., an extension). In a further representative embodiment, the signal delivery device 111 can include an elongated lead or lead body 112. As used herein, the terms "lead" and "lead body" include any of a number of suitable substrates and/or support members that carry devices for providing therapy signals to the patient 190. For example, the lead 112 can include one or more electrodes or electrical contacts that direct electrical signals into the patient's tissue, such as to provide for patient relief. In other embodiments, the signal delivery device 111 can include structures other than a lead body (e.g., a paddle) that also direct electrical signals and/or other types of signals to the patient 190.
The pulse generator 121 can transmit signals (e.g., electrical signals) to the signal delivery device 111 that up-regulate (e.g., stimulate or excite) and/or down-regulate (e.g., block or suppress) target nerves. As used herein, and unless otherwise noted, the terms "modulate" and "modulation" refer generally to signals that have either type of the foregoing effects on the target nerves. The pulse generator 121 can include a machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) medium containing instructions for generating and transmitting suitable therapy signals. The pulse generator 121 and/or other elements of the system 100 can include one or more processors 122, memories 123 and/or input/output devices. Accordingly, the process of providing modulation signals, providing guidance information for locating the signal delivery device 111, and/or executing other associated functions can be performed by computer-executable instructions contained by computer-readable media located at the pulse generator 121 and/or other system components. The pulse generator 121 can include multiple portions, elements, and/or subsystems (e.g., for directing signals in accordance with multiple signal delivery parameters), carried in a single housing, as shown in FIG. 1A, or in multiple housings.
FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional illustration of the spinal cord 191 and an adjacent vertebra 195 (based generally on information from Crossman and Neary, "Neuroanatomy," 1995 (published by Churchill Livingstone)), along with multiple signal delivery devices 111 (shown as signal delivery devices 111a-111d) implanted at representative locations. For purposes of illustration, multiple signal delivery devices 111 are shown in FIG. 1B implanted in a single patient. In actual use, any given patient will likely receive fewer than all the signal delivery devices 111 shown in FIG. 1B.
The spinal cord 191 is situated within a vertebral foramen 188, between a ventrally located ventral body 196 and a dorsally located transverse process 198 and spinous process 197. Arrows V and D identify the ventral and dorsal directions, respectively. The spinal cord 191 itself is located within the dura mater 199, which also surrounds portions of the nerves exiting the spinal cord 191, including the ventral roots 192, dorsal roots 193 and dorsal root ganglia 194. The dorsal roots 193 enter the spinal cord 191 at the dorsal root entry zone 187, and communicate with dorsal horn neurons located at the dorsal horn 186. In one embodiment, a single first signal delivery device 111a is positioned within the vertebral foramen 188, at or approximately at the spinal cord midline 189. In another embodiment, two second signal delivery devices 111b are positioned just off the spinal cord midline 189 (e.g., about 1 mm. offset) in opposing lateral directions so that the two signal delivery devices 111b are spaced apart from each other by about 2 mm. In still further embodiments, a single signal delivery device or pairs of signal delivery devices can be positioned at other locations, e.g., toward the outer edge of the dorsal root entry zone 187 as shown by a third signal delivery device 111c, or at the dorsal root ganglia 194, as shown by a fourth signal delivery device 111d. As will be described in further detail later, it is believed that high frequency modulation at or near the dorsal root entry zone 187, and/or at or near the dorsal horn 186 can produce effective patient pain relief, without paresthesia, without adverse sensory or motor effects, and in a manner that persists after the modulation ceases.
Nevro Corporation, the assignee of the present application, has conducted several in-human clinical studies during which multiple patients were treated with the techniques, systems and devices that are disclosed herein. Nevro also commissioned animal studies focusing on mechanisms of action for the newly developed techniques. The human clinical studies are described immediately below and the animal studies are discussed thereafter.
FIG. 2A is a graph illustrating results from patients who received therapy in accordance with the presently disclosed technology to treat chronic low back pain. In general, the therapy included high-frequency modulation at the patient's spinal cord, typically between vertebral levels T9 and T12 (inclusive), at an average location of mid T-10. The modulation signals were applied at a frequency of about 10 kHz, and at current amplitudes of from about 2.5 mA to about 3 mA. Pulse widths were about 35 psec., at 100% duty cycle. Further details of representative modulation parameters are included in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/765,747, filed on Apr. 22, 2010 and incorporated herein by reference. To the extent the foregoing and/or any other materials incorporated herein by reference conflict with the present disclosure, the present disclosure controls.
The graph shown in FIG. 2A illustrates visual analog scale ("VAS") scores for seven representative patients as a function of time during a clinical study. Individual lines for each patient are indicated with circled numbers in FIG. 2A, and the average is indicated by the circled letter "A". The VAS pain scale ranges from zero (corresponding to no sensed pain) to 10 (corresponding to unbearable pain). At the far left of FIG. 2A are VAS scores taken at a baseline point in time 145, corresponding to the patients' pain levels before receiving any high frequency modulation therapy. During a trial period 140, the patients received a high frequency modulation therapy in accordance with the foregoing parameters and the patients' VAS scores dropped significantly up to an end of trial point 146. In addition, many patients readily reduced or eliminated their intake of pain medications, despite the narcotic characteristics of these medications. During an initial post-trial period 141 (lasting, in this case, four days), the patients' VAS scores increased on average after the high frequency modulation therapy has been halted. The rate at which pain returned after the end of the trial period varied among patients, however, as will be discussed in further detail later. Following the four-day initial post-trial period 141 was an interim period 142 that lasted from about 45 days to about 80 days (depending on the patient), with the average being about 62 days. After the interim period 142, a four-day pre-IPG period 143 commenced ending at an IPG point 144. At the IPG point 144, the patients were implanted with an implantable pulse generator 121, generally similar to that described above with reference to FIG. 1A.
SCS techniques, which typically produce effects lasting only milliseconds after the electrical signal ceases. In still further embodiments, it is expected that at least some of the lasting effect described above can be obtained by reducing the intensity (e.g., the current amplitude) of the therapy signal, without ceasing the signal altogether. In at least some embodiments (whether the signal intensity is reduced to zero or to a non-zero value), it is expected that a long enough modulation period can produce a neuroplastic or other change that can last indefinitely, to permanently reduce or eliminate patient pain.
An expected benefit of the persistence or long term effect described above is that it can reduce the need to deliver the therapy signals continuously. Instead, the signals can be delivered intermittently without significantly affecting pain relief. This arrangement can reduce power consumption, thus extending the life of an implanted battery or other power system. It is expected that the power can be cycled according to schedules other than the one explicitly shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B (e.g., other than two weeks on and up to one day off before a significant pain recurrence). The following discussion describes expected potential mechanisms of action by which the presently disclosed therapy operates, including expected mechanisms by which the presently disclosed therapy produces effects persisting after electrical modulation signals have ceased.
FIG. 3 is a partially schematic, isometric view of a portion of an animal spinal cord 391 illustrative of a study that was performed on a rat model to illustrate the principles described herein. Accordingly, in this particular embodiment, the illustrated spinal cord 391 is that of a rat. During this study, a noxious electrical stimulation 370 was applied to the rat's hind paw 384. Afferent pain signals triggered by the noxious stimulation 370 traveled along a peripheral nerve 385 to the dorsal root ganglion 394 and then to the dorsal root 393 at the L5 vertebral level. The dorsal root 393 joins the spinal cord 391 at the dorsal root entry zone 387, and transmits afferent signals to a dorsal horn neuron 383 located at the dorsal horn 386. The dorsal horn neuron 383 includes a wide dynamic range ("WDR") cell. An extracellular microelectrode 371 recorded signals transmitted by the dorsal horn neuron 383 to the rat's brain, in response to the noxious stimulation 370 received at the hind paw 384. A therapeutic modulation signal 326 was applied at the dorsal root entry zone 387, proximate to the dorsal horn 386.
FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating neural signal amplitude as a function of time, measured by the recording electrode 371 described above with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 4 identifies the noxious stimulation 370 itself, the dorsal horn neuron's response to A-fiber inputs 372, and the dorsal horn neuron's response to C-fiber inputs 373. The larger A-fibers trigger an earlier response at the dorsal horn neuron than do the smaller C-fibers. Both responses are triggered by the same noxious stimulus 370. The rat's pain response is indicated by downward amplitude spikes. The foregoing response is a typical response to a noxious stimulus, absent pain modulation therapy.
FIGS. 5A-5E illustrate the dorsal horn neuron response to ongoing noxious stimuli as the applied therapy signal was altered. The signal applied to each rat was applied at a constant frequency, which varied from rat to rat over a range of from about 3 kHz to about 100 kHz. The response data (which were obtained from nine rats) were relatively insensitive to frequency over this range. During the course of this study, the noxious stimuli were provided repeatedly at a constant rate of one stimulus per second over an approximately five-minute period. At the outset of the five-minute period, the therapy signal was turned off, resulting in a baseline response 574a shown in FIG. 5A, and then gradually increased as shown in FIG. 5B, to a maximum intensity shown in FIG. 5C. During the period shown in FIG. 5D, the intensity of the therapy signal was reduced, and in FIG. 5E, the therapy signal was turned off. Consistent with the data shown in FIG. 4, the rat's pain response is indicated by downward spikes. The baseline response 574a has a relatively large number of spikes, and the number of spikes begins to reduce as the intensity of the modulation signal is increased (see response 574b in FIG. 5B). At the maximum therapy signal intensity, the number of spikes has been reduced to nearly zero as indicated by response 574c in FIG. 5C. As the therapy signal intensity is then reduced, the spikes begin to return (see response 574d, FIG. 5D), and when the modulation signal is turned off, the spikes continue to return (see response 574e, FIG. 5E). Significantly, the number of spikes shown in FIG. 5E (10-20 seconds after the therapy has been turned off) is not as great as the number of spikes generated in the baseline response 574a shown in FIG. 5A. These data are accordingly consistent with the human trial data described above with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B, which indicated a beneficial effect lasting beyond the cessation of the therapy signal. These data also differ significantly from results obtained from similar studies conducted with standard SCS. Notably, dorsal horn recordings during standard SCS treatments do not indicate a reduction in amplitude spikes.
FIGS. 6A-6F illustrate animal response data in a rat model to a different noxious stimulus; in particular, a pinch stimulus 670. The pinch stimulus is a mechanical pinch (rather than an electrical stimulus) at the rat's hindpaw. In each succeeding figure in the series of FIGS. 6A-6F, the amplitude of the therapy signal was increased. The levels to which the signal amplitude was increased were significantly higher than for the human study simply due to a cruder (e.g., less efficient) coupling between the signal delivery electrode and the target neural population. The vertical axis of each Figure indicates the number of spikes (e.g., the spike-shaped inputs 372, 373 shown in FIG. 3) per bin; that is, the number of spikes occurring during a given time period. In the particular embodiment shown in FIGS. 6A-6F, each bin has a duration of 0.2 second, so that there are a total of five bins per second, or 10 bins during each two-second period. The pinch stimulus 670 lasts for three to five seconds in each of FIGS. 6A-6F. In FIG. 6A, the baseline response 674a indicates a large number of spikes per bin extending over the duration of the pinch stimulus 670. As shown in FIGS. 6B-6F, the number of spikes per bin decreases, as indicated by responses 674b-674f, respectively. In the final Figure in this series (FIG. 6F), the response 674f is insignificant or nearly insignificant when compared with the baseline response 674a shown in FIG. 6A.
Returning now to FIG. 3, it is expected (without being bound by theory) that the therapy signals act to reduce pain via one or both of two mechanisms: (1) by reducing neural transmissions entering the spinal cord at the dorsal root 393 and/or the dorsal root entry zone 387, and/or (2) by reducing neural activity at the dorsal horn 386 itself. It is further expected that the therapy signals described in the context of the rat model shown in FIG. 3 operate in a similar manner on the corresponding structures of the human anatomy, e.g., those shown in FIG. 1B. In particular, it is generally known that chronic pain patients may be in a state of prolonged sensory sensitization at both the nociceptive afferent neurons (e.g., the peripheral nerve 385 and the associated dorsal root 393) and at higher order neural systems (e.g., the dorsal horn neuron 383). It is also known that the dorsal horn neurons 383 (e.g., the WDR cells) are sensitized in chronic pain states. The noxious stimuli applied during the animal studies can result in an acute "windup" of the WDR cells (e.g., to a hyperactive state). In accordance with mechanism (1) above, it is believed that the therapy signals applied using the current technology operate to reduce pain by reducing, suppressing, and/or attenuating the afferent nociceptive inputs delivered to the WDR cells 383, as it is expected that these inputs, unless attenuated, can be responsible for the sensitized state of the WDR cells 383. In accordance with mechanism (2) above, it is expected that the presently disclosed therapy can act directly on the WDR cells 383 to desensitize these cells. In particular, the patients selected to receive the therapy described above with reference to FIGS. 2A-2B included patients whose pain was not correlated with peripheral stimuli. In other words, these patients had hypersensitive WDR cells 383 independent of whether signals were transmitted to the WDR cells 383 via peripheral nerve inputs or not. These patients, along with the other treated patients, experienced the significant pain reductions described above. Accordingly, it is believed that the disclosed therapy can operate directly on the WDR cells 383 to reduce the activity level of hyperactive WDR cells 383, and/or can reduce incoming afferent signals from the peripheral nerve 385 and dorsal root 393. It is further believed that the effect of the presently disclosed therapy on peripheral inputs may produce short term pain relief, and the effect on the WDR cells may produce longer term pain relief. Whether the reduced output of the WDR cells results from mechanism (1), mechanism (2), or both, it is further expected that the high frequency characteristics of the therapeutic signals produce the observed results. In addition, embodiments of the presently disclosed therapy produce pain reduction without the side effects generally associated with standard SCS, as discussed further in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/765,747, filed on Apr. 22, 2010, previously incorporated herein by reference. These and other advantages associated with embodiments of the presently disclosed technology are described further below.
Certain of the foregoing embodiments can produce one or more of a variety of advantages, for the patient and/or the practitioner, when compared with standard SCS therapies. Some of these benefits were described above. For example, the patient can receive beneficial effects from the modulation therapy after the modulation signal has ceased. In addition, the patient can receive effective pain relief without simultaneous paresthesia, without simultaneous patient-detectable disruptions to normal sensory signals along the spinal cord, and/or without simultaneous patient-detectable disruptions to normal motor signals along the spinal cord. In particular embodiments, while the therapy may create some effect on normal motor and/or sensory signals, the effect is below a level that the patient can reliably detect intrinsically, e.g., without the aid of external assistance via instruments or other devices. Accordingly, the patient's levels of motor signaling and other sensory signaling (other than signaling associated with the target pain) can be maintained at pre-treatment levels. For example, the patient can experience a significant pain reduction that is largely independent of the patient's movement and position. In particular, the patient can assume a variety of positions and/or undertake a variety of movements associated with activities of daily living and/or other activities, without the need to adjust the parameters in accordance with which the therapy is applied to the patient (e.g., the signal amplitude). This result can greatly simplify the patient's life and reduce the effort required by the patient to experience pain relief while engaging in a variety of activities. This result can also provide an improved lifestyle for patients who experience pain during sleep.
Even for patients who receive a therapeutic benefit from changes in signal amplitude, the foregoing therapy can provide advantages. For example, such patients can choose from a limited number of programs (e.g., two or three) each with a different amplitude and/or other signal delivery parameter, to address some or all of the patient's pain. In one such example, the patient activates one program before sleeping and another after waking. In another such example, the patient activates one program before sleeping, a second program after waking, and a third program before engaging in particular activities that would otherwise cause pain. This reduced set of patient options can greatly simplify the patient's ability to easily manage pain, without reducing (and in fact, increasing) the circumstances under which the therapy effectively addresses pain. In any embodiments that include multiple programs, the patient's workload can be further reduced by automatically detecting a change in patient circumstance, and automatically identifying and delivering the appropriate therapy regimen. Additional details of such techniques and associated systems are disclosed in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/703,683, incorporated herein by reference.
Another observation from the clinical studies described above is that the amplitude "window" between the onset of effective therapy and the onset of pain or discomfort is relatively broad, and in particular, broader than it is for standard SCS treatment. For example, during standard SCS treatment, the patient typically experiences a pain reduction at a particular amplitude, and begins experiencing pain from the therapeutic signal (which may have a sudden onset, as described above) at from about 1.2 to about 1.6 times that amplitude. This corresponds to an average dynamic range of about 1.4. In addition, patients receiving standard SCS stimulation typically wish to receive the stimulation at close to the pain onset level because the therapy is often most effective at that level. Accordingly, patient preferences may further reduce the effective dynamic range. By contrast, therapy in accordance with the presently disclosed technology resulted in patients obtaining pain relief at 1 mA or less, and not encountering pain or muscle capture until the applied signal had an amplitude of 4 mA, and in some cases up to about 5 mA, 6 mA, or 8 mA, corresponding to a much larger dynamic range (e.g., larger than 1.6 or 60% in some embodiments, or larger than 100% in other embodiments). Even at the forgoing amplitude levels, the pain experienced by the patients was significantly less than that associated with standard SCS pain onset. An expected advantage of this result is that the patient and practitioner can have significantly wider latitude in selecting an appropriate therapy amplitude with the presently disclosed methodology than with standard SCS methodologies. For example, the practitioner can increase the signal amplitude in an effort to affect more (e.g., deeper) fibers at the spinal cord, without triggering unwanted side effects. The existence of a wider amplitude window may also contribute to the relative insensitivity of the presently disclosed therapy to changes in patient posture and/or activity. For example, if the relative position between the implanted lead and the target neural population changes as the patient moves, the effective strength of the signal when it reaches the target neural population may also change. When the target neural population is insensitive to a wider range of signal strengths, this effect can in turn allow greater patient range of motion without triggering undesirable side effects.
FIG. 7 illustrates a graph 700 identifying amplitude as a function of frequency for conventional SCS and for therapy in accordance with embodiments of the presently disclosed technology. Threshold amplitude level 701 indicates generally the minimum amplitude necessary to achieve a therapeutic effect, e.g., pain reduction. A first region 702 corresponds to amplitudes, as a function of frequency, for which the patient senses paresthesia induced by the therapy, pain induced by the therapy, and/or uncomfortable or undesired muscle stimulation induced by the therapy. As shown in FIG. 7, at conventional SCS frequencies, the first region 702 extends below the threshold amplitude level 701. Accordingly, a second region 703 indicates that the patient undergoing conventional SCS therapy typically detects paresthesia, other sensory effects, and/or undesirable motor effects below the amplitude necessary to achieve a therapeutic effect. One or more of these side effects are also present at amplitudes above the threshold amplitude level 701 required to achieve the therapeutic effect. By contrast, at frequencies associated with the presently disclosed technology, a "window" 704 exists between the threshold amplitude level 701 and the first region 702. Accordingly, the patient can receive therapeutic benefits at amplitudes above the threshold amplitude level 701, and below the amplitude at which the patient may experience undesirable side effects (e.g., paresthesia, sensory effects and/or motor effects).
Yet another expected benefit of providing therapy in accordance with the presently disclosed parameters is that the practitioner need not implant the lead with the same level of precision as is typically required for standard SCS lead placement. For example, while at least some of the foregoing results were obtained for patients having two leads (one positioned on either side of the spinal cord midline), it is expected that patients will receive the same or generally similar pain relief with only a single lead placed at the midline. Accordingly, the practitioner may need to implant only one lead, rather than two. It is still further expected that the patient may receive pain relief on one side of the body when the lead is positioned offset from the spinal cord midline in the opposite direction. Thus, even if the patient has bilateral pain, e.g., with pain worse on one side than the other, the patient's pain can be addressed with a single implanted lead. Still further, it is expected that the lead position can vary laterally from the anatomical and/or physiological spinal cord midline to a position 3-5 mm. away from the spinal cord midline (e.g., out to the dorsal root entry zone or DREZ). The foregoing identifiers of the midline may differ, but the expectation is that the foregoing range is effective for both anatomical and physiological identifications of the midline, e.g., as a result of the robust nature of the present therapy. Yet further, it is expected that the lead (or more particularly, the active contact or contacts on the lead) can be positioned at any of a variety of axial locations in a range of about T8-T12 in one embodiment, and a range of one to two vertebral bodies within T8-T12 in another embodiment, while still providing effective treatment for low back pain. Accordingly, the practitioner's selected implant site need not be identified or located as precisely as it is for standard SCS procedures (axially and/or laterally), while still producing significant patient benefits. In particular, the practitioner can locate the active contacts within the foregoing ranges without adjusting the contact positions in an effort to increase treatment efficacy and/or patient comfort. In addition, in particular embodiments, contacts at the foregoing locations can be the only active contacts delivering therapy to the patient. The foregoing features, alone or in combination, can reduce the amount of time required to implant the lead, and can give the practitioner greater flexibility when implanting the lead. For example, if the patient has scar tissue or another impediment at a preferred implant site, the practitioner can locate the lead elsewhere and still obtain beneficial results.
The foregoing effect(s) can extend not only to the mapping procedure conducted at the practitioner's facility, but also to the subsequent trial period. In particular, patients receiving standard SCS treatment typically spend a week after receiving a lead implant during which they adjust the amplitude applied to the lead in an attempt to establish suitable amplitudes for any of a variety of patient positions and patient activities. Because embodiments of the presently disclosed therapy are relatively insensitive to patient position and activity level, the need for this trial and error period can be reduced or eliminated.
Still another expected benefit associated with embodiments of the presently disclosed treatment is that the treatment may be less susceptible to patient habituation. In particular, it is expected that in at least some cases, the high frequency signal applied to the patient can produce an asynchronous neural response, as is disclosed in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/362,244, incorporated herein by reference. The asynchronous response may be less likely to produce habituation than a synchronous response, which can result from lower frequency modulation.
Yet another feature of embodiments of the foregoing therapy is that the therapy can be applied without distinguishing between anodic contacts and cathodic contacts. As described in greater detail in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/765,790, incorporated herein by reference, this feature can simplify the process of establishing a therapy regimen for the patient. In addition, due to the high frequency of the waveform, the adjacent tissue may perceive the waveform as a pseudo steady state signal. As a result of either or both of the foregoing effects, tissue adjacent both electrodes may be beneficially affected. This is unlike standard SCS waveforms for which one electrode is consistently cathodic and another is consistently anodic.
In any of the foregoing embodiments, aspects of the therapy provided to the patient may be varied, while still obtaining beneficial results. For example, the location of the lead body (and in particular, the lead body electrodes or contacts) can be varied over the significant lateral and/or axial ranges described above. Other characteristics of the applied signal can also be varied. For example, the signal can be delivered at a frequency of from about 1.5 kHz to about 100 kHz, and in particular embodiments, from about 1.5 kHz to about 50 kHz. In more particular embodiments, the signal can be provided at frequencies of from about 3 kHz to about 20 kHz, or from about 3 kHz to about 15 kHz, or from about 5 kHz to about 15 kHz, or from about 3 kHz to about 10 kHz. The amplitude of the signal can range from about 0.1 mA to about 20 mA in a particular embodiment, and in further particular embodiments, can range from about 0.5 mA to about 10 mA, or about 0.5 mA to about 4 mA, or about 0.5 mA to about 2.5 mA. The amplitude of the applied signal can be ramped up and/or down. In particular embodiments, the amplitude can be increased or set at an initial level to establish a therapeutic effect, and then reduced to a lower level to save power without forsaking efficacy, as is disclosed in pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/264,836, filed Nov. 4, 2008, and incorporated herein by reference. In particular embodiments, the signal amplitude refers to the electrical current level, e.g., for current-controlled systems. In other embodiments, the signal amplitude can refer to the electrical voltage level, e.g., for voltage-controlled systems. The pulse width (e.g., for just the cathodic phase of the pulses) can vary from about 10 microseconds to about 333 microseconds. In further particular embodiments, the pulse width can range from about 25 microseconds to about 166 microseconds, or from about 33 microseconds to about 100 microseconds, or from about 50 microseconds to about 166 microseconds. The specific values selected for the foregoing parameters may vary from patient to patient and/or from indication to indication and/or on the basis of the selected vertebral location. In addition, the methodology may make use of other parameters, in addition to or in lieu of those described above, to monitor and/or control patient therapy. For example, in cases for which the pulse generator includes a constant voltage arrangement rather than a constant current arrangement, the current values described above may be replaced with corresponding voltage values.
In at least some embodiments, it is expected that the foregoing amplitudes will be suprathreshold. It is also expected that, in at least some embodiments, the neural response to the foregoing signals will be asynchronous, as described above. Accordingly, the frequency of the signal can be selected to be higher (e.g., between two and ten times higher) than the refractory period of the target neurons at the patient's spinal cord, which in at least some embodiments is expected to produce an asynchronous response.
Patients can receive multiple signals in accordance with still further embodiments of the disclosure. For example, patients can receive two or more signals, each with different signal delivery parameters. In one particular example, the signals are interleaved with each other. For instance, the patient can receive 5 kHz pulses interleaved with 10 kHz pulses. In other embodiments, patients can receive sequential "packets" of pulses at different frequencies, with each packet having a duration of less than one second, several seconds, several minutes, or longer depending upon the particular patient and indication. | 2019-04-23T14:26:20Z | http://patents.com/us-20160121119.html |
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to develop a Fantasia sequel, the Walt Disney Company revived the idea shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer in 1984. The commercial success of the 1991 home video release of Fantasia convinced Eisner that there was enough public interest and funds for a sequel and he assigned Disney as executive producer. The music for six of the film's eight segments is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. The film includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the 1940 original. Each new segment was produced by combining traditional animation with computer-generated imagery.
Fantasia 2000 premiered on December 17, 1999, at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of a concert tour that also visited London, Paris, Tokyo, and Pasadena, California. The film was released in 75 IMAX theaters worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, marking the first animated feature-length film to be released in the format. Its general release in traditional theaters followed on June 16, 2000. Some critics praised the film while others singled out its uneven quality. Budgeted at about $80–$85 million, the film has earned $90.8 million in gross revenue worldwide.
Symphony No. 5 (first movement) by Ludwig van Beethoven. Abstract patterns and shapes that resemble butterflies in various colorful shades, tints and hues explore a world of light and darkness whilst being pursued by a swarm of black bats. The world is ultimately conquered by light.
Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi. A family of humpback whales are able to fly. The calf is separated from his parents and he becomes trapped in an iceberg. Eventually he finds his way out with his mother's help. The family join a larger pod of whales who fly and frolic through the clouds to emerge into outer space. Introduced by Steve Martin and Itzhak Perlman.
Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. Set in New York City in the 1930s, and designed in the style of Al Hirschfeld's known caricatures of the time, the story follows four individuals, Duke, Joe, Rachel, and John, who wish for a better life. The segment ends with all four getting their wish, though their stories interact with each other's without any of them knowing. Introduced by Quincy Jones with pianist Ralph Grierson.
The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns. "What would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingoes?" A flock of flamingoes tries to force a slapstick member, who enjoys playing with a yo-yo, to engage in the flock's "dull" routines. Introduced by James Earl Jones with animator Eric Goldberg.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Based on the poem "Der Zauberlehrling" by Goethe, the segment is the only one featured in Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. It tells the story of Mickey Mouse, an apprentice of sorcerer Yen Sid who attempts some of his master's magic tricks before knowing how to control them. Introduced by Penn & Teller.
Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward Elgar. Based on the story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis, Donald Duck is Noah's assistant and Daisy Duck is Donald's wife. Donald is given the task of gathering the animals to the Ark and misses, loses, and reunites with Daisy in the process. Introduced by James Levine featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Production began under the working title of Fantasia Continued with a release in 1997. The title changed to Fantasia 1999 followed by Fantasia 2000 to coincide with its theatrical release in 2000. Disney formed its initial running order with half of the Fantasia program and only "three or four new numbers" with the aim of releasing a "semi-new movie". Realizing the idea would not work, he kept three Fantasia segments—The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Nutcracker Suite, and Dance of the Hours—in the program for "quite a while". In the end, Dance of the Hours was dropped and The Nutcracker Suite was replaced by Rhapsody in Blue during the last few months of production following the response from numerous test screenings. Disney kept The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the final program as a homage to Fantasia. The segment underwent digital restoration by Cinesite in Los Angeles. Disney considered using Clair de Lune, a piece originally made for Fantasia that followed two Great white herons flying through the Everglades at night, but thought it was "pretty boring". An idea to have "a nightmare and a dream struggling for a sleeping child's soul" to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff was fully storyboarded, but fell through.
Pines of Rome was the first piece Disney suggested for the film, as well as the first to be animated; designs appeared in the studio's dailies as early as October 1993. Butoy served as director with James Fujii handling the story. The opening to the piece gave Disney the idea of "something flying". Butoy sketched the sequence on yellow Post-it notes. The story originally involved the whales flying around from the perspective of a group of penguins, but the idea was scrapped to make the baby whale a central character. The whales were also set to return to Earth but Butoy said it "never felt quite right", leading to the decision to have them break through a cloud ceiling and enter a different world by the supernova. Butoy created a "musical intensity chart" for the animators to follow which "tracked the ups and downs of the music ... as the music brightens so does the color", and vice versa. He explained that because CGI was in its infancy during development, the first third of the segment was hand drawn using pencil to get a feel of how the whales would move. When the drawings were scanned into the CAPS system, Butoy found the whales were either moving too fast or had less weight to them. The drawings were altered to make the whales slow down and "more believable". The eyes of the whales were drawn by hand, as the desired looks and glances were not fully achievable using CGI. Butoy recalled the challenge of having the water appear and move as naturally as possible; the team decided to write computer code from scratch as traditional animation would have been too time consuming and would have produced undesired results. The code handling the pod of whales was written so the whales would move away if they were to collide and not bump into, overlap, or go through each other. The same technique was used for the stampede scene in The Lion King (1994), which was produced at the same time.
Rhapsody in Blue is the first Fantasia segment with music from an American composer. It originated in 1992 when director and animator Eric Goldberg approached Hirschfeld about the idea of an animated short set to Gershwin's composition in the style of his illustrations. Hirschfeld agreed to serve as artistic consultant and allowed the animators to use and adapt his previous works for the segment. Goldberg's wife Susan was art director. Duke is named after jazz artist Duke Ellington. The bottom of his toothpaste tube reads "NINA", an Easter egg referencing Hirschfeld's newborn daughter Nina. Rachel was designed after the Goldbergs' daughter and John is based on animation historian and author John Culhane and Hirschfeld's caricature of Alexander Woollcott. Goldberg took Hirschfeld's original illustration of Gershwin and animated it to make him play the piano. Featured in the crowd emerging from the hotel are depictions of Brooks Atkinson and Hirschfeld, along with his wife Dolly Haas. The segment was completed two months ahead of schedule. This being noted, the sequence was so chromatically complex that the rendering process using the CAPS system delayed Tarzan.
Piano Concerto No. 2 was directed by Butoy with art director Michael Humphries. It originated in the 1930s when Walt Disney wished to adapt a collection of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales into an animated film. The artists completed a series of preliminary designs based on the stories, including ones for The Steadfast Tin Soldier from 1938 by Bianca Majolie that were stored in the studio's animation research library and used for a 1991 Disney book that retold the story accompanied with the storyboard sketches. When Disney suggested using the Shostakovich piece, Butoy flipped through the book and found the story's structure fit to the music. When Humphries saw the sketches he proceeded to designed the segment with works by Caravaggio and Rembrandt in mind to give the segment a "timeless" feel, while keeping the colors "as romantic as possible" during the scenes when the soldier and ballerina are first getting acquainted. Live action footage of a real ballerina was used as a guide for the toy ballerina's movements. Butoy found the Jack-in-a-box a difficult character to design and animate with its spring base and how he moved with the box. His appearance went through numerous changes, partly due to the lack of reference material available to the team.
The segment marked the first time the Disney studio created a film's main characters entirely from CGI; only backgrounds, secondary, or tertiary characters had been produced using CGI beforehand. Initially Butoy asked Pixar to handle the computer graphics, but CGI artist Steve Goldberg convinced him to let Disney's own team to produce it. The backgrounds were completed by hand. Originally the drain sequence included friendly rats who performed comical gags, but the team found it did not fit the mood of the rest of the segment. The drains became a more scary environment, something that Butoy said was "what the music was telling us to do". Rain animation from Bambi (1942) was scanned into the CAPS system and digitally altered to fit into the segment. The ending was to feature the original ending with the soldier and ballerina melting in the fire, but the music was too upbeat to animate it and was changed. An excerpt of the segment was shown at the 1998 SIGGRAPH conference.
The Carnival of the Animals, Finale was directed by Goldberg; his wife Susan was its art director. The idea originated from animator Joe Grant, one of the two story directors on Fantasia who loved the ostriches in Dance of the Hours. When development for Fantasia 2000 began, Grant suggested the idea of having one of the ostriches play with a yo-yo to the last movement of The Carnival of the Animals. The ostriches were later changed to flamingos as Disney wished to avoid reintroducing characters from the original film and thought flamingos would look more colorful on the screen. Goldberg was partly inspired by co-director Mike Gabriel, who would play with a yo-yo as he took a break from working on Pocahontas (1995). The segment was produced with CGI and 6,000 watercolor paintings on heavy bond paper.
Eisner suggested Pomp and Circumstance as a piece after he attended a graduation and thought its familiarity would be suitable for a Fantasia segment. His idea involved a selection of Disney Villains and heroes in a wedding procession carrying their future children who would then be presented in a ceremony. The animators' preliminary designs depicted a Greco-Roman setting; one of the staff members described the artwork as "an appalling abuse" of the characters. Eisner agreed to drop the story, but insisted that the music be used. After numerous ideas were scrapped due to the difficulty in writing a clear plot, animator and director Francis Glebas came up with the Noah's Ark idea that he titled Donald's Last Roundup! and pitched it thinking it was "laden with comic possibilities".
To close the film, Disney wanted for a piece that was "emotionally equivalent" to the Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria segments that closed Fantasia. Disney chose the The Firebird as the piece to use after "half a dozen" others were scrapped, including Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah by Handel. Disney thought of the idea of the Earth's destruction and renewal after passing Mount St. Helens following its eruption in 1980. French twins Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi from Disney's Paris studio were hired to direct the segment. The Sprite is a Dryad-like creature from Greek mythology. Her form changes six times; she is introduced as a Water Sprite who plants flowers as a Flower Sprite. She becomes a Neutral Sprite where her growth trail stops and an Ash Sprite when the forest has been destroyed. The segment ends with her as a Rain-Wave Sprite, followed by the Grass Sprite. The segment originally ended with the Sprite in the form of a flowing river that rises up into the sky and transforms into a Sun Sprite, but this was abandoned. The antlers on the elk were produced with CGI and placed on top of its body that was drawn traditionally. The segment was produced using Houdini animation software.
The music to The Sorcerer's Apprentice was recorded on January 9, 1938 at Culver Studios, California with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of session musicians. The recording of Rhapsody in Blue used in the film is an edited version of Ferde Grofé's orchestration of the piece performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra with conductor Bruce Broughton. The shortened version was made by cutting 125 bars of piano solo in three different places. A recording of James Levine conducting both pieces with the Philharmonia appears on the film's soundtrack.
Disney felt the need to keep interstitials (bridges) as used in Fantasia to give the viewer a chance to "cleanse their emotional palate" from the previous segment while providing some information about the next one. Don Hahn directed the live action scenes which were designed by Pixote Hunt. Hahn came up with the set and backgrounds while eating lunch; he proceeded to sketch a rough idea of what he imagined on a napkin. He "wanted to show images on shapes like big sails of a clipper ship. They fly in on the wind and form a sort of Stonehenge concert hall in the middle of a vast, empty, imaginary plain".
Hahn recalled some difficulty in finding someone to host the film, so the studio decided to use a group of artists and musicians from various fields of entertainment. The interstitials were filmed in various locations; the orchestra, Jones, Lansbury, and Bronfman were shot in Los Angeles, Perlman and Middler in New York City, and others in Boston, Massachusetts. Each scene was filmed in front of a green screen to allow shots of the orchestra or the set to be placed behind them. The shots of Levine, the artists, and the orchestra were filmed on October 31, 1998. The piano Grierson plays in his scene with Jones is the same one on which he played Rhapsody in Blue for the soundtrack.
Carnegie Hall, where Fantasia 2000 had its premiere.
Fantasia 2000 was officially announced on February 9, 1999 during a Disney presentation at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City which featured a screening of The Carnival of the Animals. The film premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City on December 17, 1999 for three nights as part of a five city concert tour. The animation was presented on a screen above the stage while Levine conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra with a video auto-cue to time the music to the images. Performances followed at the Royal Albert Hall in London on December 21; the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on December 22; the Orchard Hall in Tokyo on December 27; and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on December 31, where Derrick Inouye conducted as part of a black tie $2,000-per-head New Year's Eve event. Each of the seven performances cost over $1 million.
Fantasia 2000 first opened in IMAX theatres for a four-month run from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film shown in the format, with a six channel digital surround sound. A temporary 622-seat theatre costing almost $4 million was built in four weeks for its Los Angeles run as Disney was unable to reach an agreement to show the film exclusively at the city's sole IMAX theatre at the California Science Center. After opening at 75 theaters worldwide, the film grossed over $2.2 million in 54 cinemas in North America in its opening weekend, averaging $41,481 per theater. It set new records for the highest gross for any IMAX engagement and surpassed the highest weekly total for any previously released IMAX film. Its three-day worldwide gross surpassed $3.8 million, setting further records at 18 venues worldwide. Fantasia 2000 grossed a worldwide total of $21.1 million in 30 days, and $64.5 million at the end of its IMAX run.
Fantasia 2000 was first released on VHS and DVD on November 14, 2000, with both featuring a specially made introduction in which Roy gives a history of key Disney productions and what innovations they brought. While it was available as a single-disc DVD, a three-disc set titled The Fantasia Anthology was released that included a digital copy of the film, a restored print of Fantasia to commemorate its 60th anniversary, and a third disc containing bonus features. On November 30, 2010, the film was issued for DVD and Blu-ray in a single and two-disc set with Fantasia and a four-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo pack. The Blu-ray transfer presents the film in 1080p high-definition video with 7.1 surround sound and DTS-HD Master Audio. The film has been withdrawn from release after its return to the "Disney Vault" moratorium on April 30, 2011. In January 2015, the film became available on Netflix.
Fantasia 2000 holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Its consensus reads: "It provides an entertaining experience for adults and children alike". On Metacritic, the film has a metascore of 59/100. Entertainment Weekly gave a "B-" rating; its reviewer, Bruce Fretts, called Symphony No. 5 "maddeningly abstract", Piano Concerto No. 2 "charmingly traditional", and thought Rhapsody in Blue fit well to the music, but Pomp and Circumstance "inexplicably inspires biblical kitsch". The review ends with a criticism of the inadequate quality of The Sorcerer's Apprentice on the IMAX screen. For Variety magazine, Todd McCarthy pointed out that while the original felt too long and formal, its "enjoyable follow-up is, at 75 minutes, simply too breezy and lightweight". He summarized the film "like a light buffet of tasty morsels rather than a full and satisfying meal".
In his December 1999 review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of three stars out of four. He described some of the animation, such as Firebird Suite, his favorite segment, as "powerful" though others, like the dance of the abstract triangles in Symphony No. 5, "a little pedestrian". He admired Rhapsody in Blue and its interlocking stories, pointing out its style was reminiscent of the Madeline picture books by Ludwig Bemelmans. He thought Pines of Rome presented itself well in the IMAX format and found the Piano Concerto No. 2 played "wonderfully as a self-contained film". He found The Sorcerer's Apprentice to be "not as visually sharp as the rest of the film". He nonetheless described the film on the whole as "splendid entertainment". Film critic Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film "often has the feel of a giant corporate promotion whose stars are there simply to hawk the company's wares" while noting the film "is not especially innovative in its look or subject matter." Firebird Suite was his favorite segment which left "a lasting impression of the beauty, terror, and unpredictability of the natural world". He found The Sorcerer's Apprentice fit well with the rest of the film and the battle in Symphony No. 5 too abbreviated to amount to much. He found the segment with the whales failed in that the images "quickly become redundant". He found Rhapsody in Blue to be the second-best in the film with its witty, hyper kinetic evocation of the melting pot with sharply defined characters. He found the segment with the flamingos cute and the one with the tin soldier to be romantic. James Berardinelli found the film to be of uneven quality. He felt Symphony No. 5 was "dull and uninspired", the yo-yoing flamingos "wasteful", and the New York City-based story of Rhapsody in Blue interesting but out of place in this particular movie. He found the story of the tin soldier to successfully mix its music with "top-notch animation" and "an emotionally rewarding story". He felt the Firebird section was "visually ingenious", and Pomp and Circumstance the most light-hearted episode and the one with the most appeal to children, in an otherwise adult-oriented film. To him The Sorcerer's Apprentice was an enduring classic.
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↑ Zager, Michael (2012). Music Production: For Producers, Composers, Arrangers, and Students.
↑ Noxon, Christopher (December 7, 1999). "L.A. Imax Says No, So Disney Builds Its Own Huge Screen". Los Angeles Times.
↑ "News Beat - 'Fantasia' B.O. fantastic". New York Daily News. January 5, 2000. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
↑ "'Fantasia/2000' smashes house records at IMAX theaters worldwide in its opening weekend". Business Wire. January 3, 2000. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
↑ "'Fantasia/2000' orchestrates nearly $4 million in just three days at 75 IMAX theaters worldwide". Business Wire. January 4, 2000. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
↑ "Fantasia/2000 soars past the $21 million mark in just one month of release at 75 venues worldwide". Business Wire. January 30, 2000. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
↑ Watson, Pernell (May 26, 2000). "Fantasia/2000' coming to regular theatres soon". Daily Press. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
↑ Natale, Richard (June 19, 2000). "Audiences Dig 'Shaft,' but June Business Isn't Right On". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
↑ Bramburger, Bradley (January 8, 2000). "Classical: Keeping Score". Billboard: 33. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
↑ "Top Classical Albums". Billboard: 37. July 8, 2000. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
↑ "Child's Play: 'Thomas' Film Soundtrack on Track". Billboard: 71. July 15, 2000. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
↑ Perigard, Mark (November 12, 2000). "ON DVD; Disc additions enhance 'Fantasia' celebration". Boston Herald. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
↑ "Fantasia & Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition". Ultimate Disney/DVDizzy. September 1, 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
↑ "Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 2 Movie Collection Special Edition". Disney DVD. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
↑ "Fantasia 2000 - Rotten Tomatoes". Retrieved January 20, 2013.
↑ Fretts, Bruce (January 14, 2000). "Fantasia 2000". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
↑ McCarthy, Bruce (December 22, 1999). "Review: 'Fantasia 2000'". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
↑ Parkinson, David. "Fantasia 2000". Empire. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
↑ Sibley, Brian (June 2000). "Fantasia 2000". BFI: Sight & Sound. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
↑ "Legacy: 28th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2000)". International Animated Film Society. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
↑ "And the nominees are...". Ocala Star-Banner. p. 5D. Retrieved May 7, 2012. | 2019-04-24T22:27:41Z | https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Fantasia_2000.html |
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More information about Top Race .
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Holy Stone - In this mode, the front is whichever way the pilot is facing. No smelling. Waterproof and wind-resistant: Even in Rainy and Windy day, it can work well. Portable and convenient: it can be folded up and taken outdoor. Simply slide the screen into the goggles for FPV piloting & racing, or swap it back to the controller for recreational flying.
Unleash your inner drone racer. Durable & well made:durable, the anchors are superb, and high visibility, portable, you can unleash your FPV drone racer at any place. Portable gates freestyle cube is the easiest goal to get playing quickly - Enjoy your drone obstacle course racing in any place & any time!
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Long playing time: the rc object launcher drone accessory can operate up to 2 hours on 1 charge and the transmitter works at a distance of 180 feet so you can fly high over your kids and dump over them the included water balloonsable, Remote Transmitter, Parachute and water balloons to start you off with the fun.
. What's included: drone clip, batteries for Remote and Device, Clip Fastener, usb charging cable, Remote Transmitter, Parachute and water balloons to start you off with the fun. | 2019-04-18T21:02:46Z | http://pickrightly.com/drone-racing-obstacle-course-easy-to-build-racing-drone-kit-create-your-own-drone-racing-league-suitable-drone-games-for-kid-or-adults-amazon-exclusive/ |
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How delightful is your confession, and how magnificent is your praise. Glory and honor, power and dominion, majesty and might, to the only True Elohim – and unto our Redeemer from heaven! Praise unto Yehoshua for His indescribable gift. The angels in heaven are rejoicing in your declaration of faith, beloved, and I am too!
I was prepared to continue writing at our previously established level, but now I am free to fully express my heart and the fullness of Scripture, without the fear of alienating you. As fellow partakers in the glory of Elohim, with The Holy Spirit now abiding within both our hearts, I am free to speak as if unto Elohim Himself. And with Yehoshua now seated at the throne of your heart, I am confident that His love for you, and through you, will become more evident as the days go by.
And thank you for your expressions of thankfulness. As a sinner, however, redeemed by The Blood of The Lamb, I am unworthy of your accolades. To quote another brother, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, I give to you in the name of Yehoshua ha Mashiach of Nazareth” (Acts 3:6 ENB). Thank you though, above all, for your prayers.
Now that grace has been received into your life, and now that you have declared your faith and acceptance of Yehoshua as Messiah and Master, we can discuss matters of growth and maturity; matters of faithful obedience. You have moved beyond the stage of a seeker, and have become one desiring Discipleship. And your Discipleship is no less significant in Elohim’s sight than that of James, John, Peter, Paul, or the rest of the first century Disciples.
From the original twelve Disciples, and from the later addition of Paul and Barnabas, we quickly learn that Discipleship is not an event. (Look at Paul’s testimony, for example, in Galatians 1:11-24). Our lives, just like theirs, and the disciplines we strive to acquire, are a process. Every Disciple of Yehoshua must recognize that only by abiding in Him, can we attain the fullness of His plans for us. It would be magnificent if we could open the Bible, read the Word of Elohim, and know every teaching, intent, nuance and desire of Elohim’s heart. It would be wonderful if we could fall on our face before Him and request knowledge, understanding, discernment, insight and wisdom, in their totality, and have these abilities instantly at our disposal. Unfortunately, Elohim does not work this way. What our Father will do though, is permit us to gain in all of these areas through the study of His Word, and through the experiences and processes of life. When we study His Word, seeking knowledge with all our heart, He imparts knowledge at a digestible and maintainable pace. While the pace will differ for each child, the end result remains constant: Growing unto Yehoshua.
I have always maintained that the discipleship process, and the acquiring of Scriptural knowledge, can be likened to the construction of a brick building. First, a firm and solid foundation is essential. Our foundation is Yehoshua ha Mashiach. Then, once the foundation is established, a little mortar gets placed and the first brick is set. The mortar is always the Word of Elohim, because His Word is what holds everything we know together. The brick is a piece of wisdom, knowledge, insight or understanding, and as mortar gets spread (As the Word is studied and learned), more bricks are set (We grow in our comprehension – and application), and the process of growth (discipleship) continues throughout our life. The Holy Spirit, by the way, is the Plumb Line – He always keeps everything in check, if we trust and rely upon Him.
Just like brick building construction though, the first course must be set before the second course may begin. Sure, walls may have tiers at different levels, like a stairway, but the first brick must be set before another can be placed upon it. If you seriously consider the lives of the Old Covenant Disciples (yes, they were Disciples) and if you study the Apostles and Disciples of the New Covenant, you will discover that they all suffered through tremendous periods of learning and growth. They all had to go through the process of setting aside the worldly, in order to attain full reverence unto Elohim. Such is our quest.
Along with an awareness of spiritual warfare, therefore, we must gain an awareness of the realities of discipleship, because as we identify and fight the forces of evil in the heavenlies thru our prayers, and as we set aside that which may interfere with our walk (like I did with smoking*), Elohim will nurture our growth, and compel us along His chosen path for us. Elohim wants us to know what we are fighting for, and what the basic spiritual requirements, responsibilities and rewards of faithful service are. Just like those who have gone before us, Elohim wants for each of us to be everything we would like to be. And in knowing the realities of Discipleship, we begin adding bricks to our building – which as we already know, reach to the very throne of heaven.
*(And please know, my friend, that I am in no way dictating that every disciple of Yehoshua must give-up the smoking of cigarettes, cigars or pipes… Each disciple is called to walk according to the path assigned. My path required that I surrender this thing that held sway over me).
“All authority is given Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and The Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20 ENB). (This, by the way, is referred to as “The Great Commission”).
“In much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18 ENB).
We were created to glorify Elohim. In every generation, Elohim has raised up His chosen ones, insuring a remnant that do not bow to Baal. As Disciples of Yehoshua in this generation, therefore, the mantle now passes to us. The manner and intensity in which we glorify Elohim magnifies as we draw near to Him, and our responsibility increases as He reveals Himself to us. We are to devote our lives to praise, prayer and performance, because He is our purpose and our goal; “For to live is Messiah”.
The Word of Elohim is direct. The promises are not meant for everyone.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born again, they cannot see the kingdom of Elohim” (John 3:3 ENB).
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of The Spirit, they cannot enter into the kingdom of Elohim” (John 3:5 ENB).
“Seek YEHOWAH, all you humble of the earth who have done His judgments; seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of YEHOWAH’S anger” (Zephaniyeh 2:3 ENB).
“Speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all ways into Him, who is the head, Messiah” (Ephesians 4:15 ENB).
“In this are manifest the children of Elohim and the children of the devil: whoever does not righteousness is not of Elohim, neither are they who love not their brother” (1 John 3:10 ENB).
A Disciple of Yehoshua ha Mashiach must be born-again! But why is that necessary, what precisely does that mean, and how is it accomplished? The necessity of being “Born-Again” is found in two powerfully connected passages within Genesis, and one from the Gospel of John, because once analyzed, these three verses speak reams to us.
Before the fall in the Garden of Eden, when man was originally created, we find the Holy Word saying, “And Elohim created man in His image, in the image of Elohim He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27 ENB). After the fall, however, we now find the following being said, “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth” (Genesis 5:3 ENB).
The moment an individual acknowledges Elohim as their creator, comparing their sinful state to His majestic holiness, and in that moment believes in their cleansing through the shed blood of Yehoshua ha Mashiach; in that moment in which that person bows in recognition of Elohim’s sovereignty and dominion, and humbly cries out to Yehoshua, “Master, save me,” as did Peter (Matthew 14:29 ENB), in the realization that they are doomed without Him, and then determine to dedicate their lives to the faithful obedience of His Mastership; in the moment they claim Him as their personal Messiah, Master and King, in that moment, they are spiritually Born-Again unto Elohim.
Born-Again in the image and likeness of our Elohim once again!
I believe that once we are Born-Again, Elohim commands us to follow His example of immersion baptism. The passages in the concordance present irrefutable evidence in support of this. In teaching an immersion baptism though, I am not advocating legalism or ritualism. Understanding Elohim lies in the fact that Elohim is Spirit, and His requirements are Spiritual. While we may not understand His workings, we must concede that, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says YEHOWAH” (Isaiyeh 55:8 ENB). Sometimes we need to take the Word of Elohim at face value, when understood in the proper context, and by faith, do whatever He desires. For some, baptism will be that step of faith, while for others; water immersion will be a natural expression of their desire to follow Him.
The Bible is not a collection of stories and fables, but Words of salvation, life, fulfillment, joy and eternal happiness. Each Word of Scripture must be examined, digested and reacted upon for His glory. Unless we seek Elohim in the pages of His revelation, we will never know Him, but once we find Him; once we know His desires, we must act upon what we have learned in order to please Him. Following Yehoshua in immersion baptism is one of those areas that please Him.
Righteousness is a faithful life of right living, but attainment of these things is no simple matter. In order to teach faith, Elohim causes our circumstances to be such that we must figuratively walk on water. If humility is lacking, our Father will place His child in a humbling circumstance until the lesson of humility is learned. Patience is taught in impatient situations. Whatever disciplines are lacking, Elohim wisely uses opposing circumstances, of ever-increasing degrees, to produce the desired result, so that we may, “Grow up in all ways into Him, who is the head, Messiah” (Ephesians 4:15 ENB). The Disciple must be committed to these realities, and should not only expect a gradual and progressive change in their life, but desire one as well. This is fruit brought about through discipline!
Immediately after becoming a Disciple, events transpired that resulted in my being unemployed. Although I did everything required to find a job, Elohim had other plans. In between resume’s and networking, I studied the Word of Elohim. A week turned into months and employment was not found. Miraculously, our financial needs were met, but pressure steadily grew. As the studies continued, our fellowship at the church we were attending intensified. Some members of this Ekklesia were dynamic leaders of the community, both political and business, and from their example, Elohim began teaching me how to be a Disciple in the workplace. After reading, “The Christian Employee”, by Robert Maddox, it seemed as if I had received my diploma, and the door of opportunity flew open. The lessons Elohim had been teaching me throughout the period of unemployment prepared me for a return to the workplace as His representative.
The fullness of His miracle did not occur for another four months though, and we still marvel at His workings in our lives at that time. We relocated to the city with the new job, and while we rented a house, our desire was to purchase a home for use in our new ministry. We had very little capital, and when we discussed our situation with the realtor’s, they laughed, telling us we would never find what we were looking for. We believed, however, that this was the Masters will for us, so we continued praying and searching. Eventually we found a young realtor of faith who, although he thought we were insane, acknowledged the reality of faith in our lives, and together we searched.
After an especially depressing period, our new realtor phoned with the news that he had found a listing he was certain met our needs. Miraculously, it fit our budget too. Around 9:00 PM, excited but skeptical, we drove to see the house. Immediately upon entering the front door, we knew we were home. Elohim worked through our faith to provide a job and the home, and while neither search was easy, He was always reassuring us. Faith is learned under circumstances requiring faithful living.
And then there is love, the last basic Requirement of a PRAISER. Do you remember reading, “Elohim is love” (1 John 4:8 ENB)? Throughout these letters I have attempted to point you toward the truth about love. Love of Elohim; Love for Elohim; Love of the truth; Love for our neighbors and enemies alike; Love for the brethren; and Love of justice and mercy. All of these aspects of love have been presented throughout these writings. Elohim is a great many things, dear friend, but compared to what this world believes, Elohim is much more. Our joy, as Disciples of Yehoshua, is to share His love, for His glory! The primary proofs of Discipleship are found in our love for one another, and in His discipline in our lives. Search His Word, and you will confirm this truth!
“Let your manner be without covetousness, content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you’, so that we can boldly say, ‘Yehoshua is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me'” (Hebrews 13:5-6 ENB)?
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so shall you be My disciples” (John 15:7-8 ENB).
“For the eyes of YEHOWAH run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9 ENB).
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 ENB).
In the first two passages quoted as assurances, we are given what at first glance might be considered a contradiction. On one hand we are told to be content, while on the other, we are instructed to ask for whatever we want. These verses are frequently quoted out of context and used to mislead the undisciplined. The positive thinking guru’s of our age want us to believe we need only think happy, peppy, perky, positive thoughts, and whatever we seek or desire will be given us. This is a lie!
The false teaching of the positive thinkers is clearly addressed elsewhere, where Elohim said, “You ask and receive not, because you ask badly; so that you may consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers and adulteresses, do you know not that friendship with the world is enmity with Elohim” (James 4:3 ENB)?
The John 15 passage clearly teaches that asking must be linked to the glorification of Elohim, in the witness of His Son and His Kingdom, and in the proving of Discipleship. A true Disciple is not merely seeking personal gain, but asks in accordance with the will of Elohim, for the fulfillment of a need to the ministry. The assurances given in the verse from Hebrews relates to our own personal circumstances, because while we may not have all we want, we will always have what we need.
We received fulfillment to our request for a home, because we were sincere in our desire to use that home for ministry. We also wanted to be wise stewards. As Disciples, we need to be content in whatever situation we find ourselves, knowing that Elohim is in control. Is this easy? NOT AT ALL!
The assurances we are given, however, are that Elohim will be a Helper to those whose heart is His, and that He will always be with us. I could go on at this point, telling how He is present, willing and able to come to our aid. Hours could be spent telling of events in which He taught me something I was striving to understand. Or how He responded one day as I was driving down a rural road, crying for reassurance, because of the battle I was involved in, when a balloon bearing the message, “I LOVE YOU,” hovered in the path of my car. I could talk of spiritual, financial and physical miracles in and through my life, and in the lives of countless brothers and sisters, but I will not. The assurances given to His Disciples are awesome, and we must remember, “If Elohim is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:31-32 ENB)?
“All Scripture is inspired by Elohim, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the people of Elohim may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ENB).
“Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your Name, O YEHOWAH, Elohim of hosts” (Jeremiyeh 15:16 ENB).
“But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true, and is not a lie; and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him” (1 John 2:27 ENB).
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to think anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from Elohim, Who also made us able servants of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of The Spirit; for the letter kills, but The Holy Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6 ENB).
The Bible contains the revelation of Elohim to humanity. It teaches about our relationship to and with Him, and about our relationship to the rest of mankind, and our environment. Within the pages of His revealed Word He has presented us with everything He knew that we needed to know pertaining to Him, ourselves and the cosmos. His Word is not a complete revelation of all things, because He allows for our growth, and for the investigation of His creation. But, He has told us what pleases and displeases Him, as well as what He desires from us. We have been told what to expect if we abide in Him, and also what to expect if we abide outside of His will. We are given judicial, environmental, historical and spiritual information, as well as the data necessary to live a magnificent and Elohim magnifying life here on earth – if we choose to listen. The Bible teaches Yehoshua from Genesis to Revelation; Yehoshua, Messiah, Redeemer, Head and Provider; Yehoshua, Master and Elohim; Yehoshua, Creator, Glory, Majesty, Power, Dominion and Might! We must stop ignoring Elohim’s revelations.
Our instructions are in the pages of the Bible, but let me tell you how this works. If you read the Bible from cover to cover you will glean an understanding of some few things. As you reopen your Bible and read His Word a second time, the gleaning increases. Subsequent voyages through Elohim’s Word accumulate data in an almost geometric progression. This is the brick building process we discussed earlier. The cornerstone and foundation of our understanding, however, must be perfectly set, or everything that follows is out of square. The cornerstone of understanding Scripture is Yehoshua. Once He is properly in place in your heart, the construction of the building –YOU, His Ekklesia, begins. The Holy Spirit will also be in place in your life, ensuring that the construction proceeds one trowel of mortar and one brick at a time; ensuring that everything remains square. That is how the Word of Elohim works in our life, and that is how we grow in our knowledge of Him and His truth.
An easy test to the principle of building blocks is to read one of the Books of the Bible – daily – for a week. Seven passes through the same book, reading the entire book every day. Try it with the Book of Hebrews. I assure you, the seventh reading at the end of the week, will reveal facts missed on the first six passes. Our instructions are in His Word, and we need to search for them as if for gold.
“By this all mankind will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ENB).
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32 ENB).
“If you are without discipline, of which all are partakers, then you are bastards, and not children” (Hebrews 12:8 ENB).
“Amen, amen, I say to you, those who believe in Me, the works that I do shall they do also; and greater works than these shall they do; because I go to My Father” (John 14:12 ENB).
Although the command has been issued to, “Love your enemies and bless those who curse you” (Matthew 5:44 ENB), the command given to love one another in John 13:35 is different. In John 13, Yehoshua is speaking about love of the brethren; about loving those who believe and labor for Him, as we do. The bond between members of the same body is special, and we who are the EKKLESIA are one body in Messiah. We are cleansed and forgiven, by and through His Blood, and we are freely loved. Therefore, we are free to love one another. The manner in which we esteem the brethren is a sign of our discipleship to the world, because it is unique. And, according to Scripture, the world will see Yehoshua through us, as they witness our love for one another… How awesome is that?
Additionally, truthfulness must always be present in the life of a Disciple of Yehoshua. The world is spinning headlong into the pits of depravity, but the child of Elohim must maintain His truthful witness. The light cannot be hidden, nor can it be blurred by the sin of deceit and lies.
It is amazing how, whenever the faithful assemble, testimonies flow about the discipline realized at the hand of our Master. I have never met a brother or sister in Yehoshua, who has not received instruction and discipline, at the hand of our Messiah, and who then has not been used for the furtherance of His kingdom.
has already done for us on the cross!
will ever add to His already perfect sacrifice.
While Elohim has work for us to do, Faith + 0 = Salvation!
I pray that the eyes of the EKKLESIA would be opened to the harvest, and that we would really see the absolute pain, suffering, agony and death surrounding us. We have received grace and mercy from Elohim, and we have learned about the water of life. We have found freedom, liberty and abundance through Yehoshua, but if this is so, how can we so flippantly deny this deliverance to those who are dying about us? The task confronting us is immense, difficult, marvelously fulfilling and tremendously rewarding, but we are told, “For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yehoshua for good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 ENB). Some time soon I will write again on this issue of works. For now though, please know that Elohim has plans for you, and that if you permit, He wants to use you in His work.
“If anyone will come after Me, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save their life will lose it; but whoever will lose their life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25 ENB).
“Blessed are you when people defame you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12 ENB).
“So likewise, whoever there is of you that does not forsake all that they have; they cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33 ENB).
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul said, “I am crucified with Messiah; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Messiah lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of Elohim, who loves me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20 ENB). In speaking of the loss of his worldly possessions, Paul added that he would, “count them but dung so that I may gain Messiah” (Philippians 3:8 ENB). We must all adopt this attitude (expanded upon in Luke 12:33 and 18:18-30). Many faithful brethren have been permitted to accumulate vast wealth in order to serve Elohim with that wealth, but the Master will require these from us personally some day, and we must be prepared to abandon all for Him. Anything less is idolatry!
In understanding true humility, a Disciple will learn to relate to Yehanan the Baptizer (John the Baptist) when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30 ENB). Refer back to our letter on humility, if you will, because you will see that every Disciple of Yehoshua ultimately comes to know that we have died in Him when we accept Him as Messiah and Master. Our death comes daily as we strive, in The Holy Spirit, to set aside our ambitions and goals, and institute His will for us. While we are born-again the moment we accept His sacrifice for our sins, we grow unto Him in a procession of surrenderings. Humility is displayed in the fullness of our surrendering.
Please keep our past letters in mind, dear friend, because I attempted to set a solid foundation for the discipleship process within those notes. And within those letters I emphatically stated that not all are gifted the same. Each of us is given different talents and abilities. And, we discussed the fact that Elohim will never test us beyond what we are able to endure. The matters I am presenting to you today will be stressful to many, because being a PRAISER is not simple. The fact of these matters though, is that SOME may never be asked to surrender much of anything, while OTHERS may be asked to surrender all. Elohim knows our hearts, and Elohim will NEVER ask us to do anything that we are unable to endure.
These things all fall under the banner of the Mastership of Yehoshua, and it is His Mastership that is the primary factor missing in most Bible studies and discipleship courses today. It almost appears that His suffering on our behalf is acceptable, while submission to His dominion is to be rejected. He suffered for us, but to many, it is unimaginable to even consider that He might expect us to suffer in any way, shape, or form – for His glory, honor and praise… How conceited and self-centered is that?
Inasmuch as He is our Master though, preparation must be made in our hearts, minds and souls to submit our will, our belongings, our ambitions and our plans unto Him – should He require those things from us. He is our Master, and He may have works prepared for us that are truly unique, and that truly require sacrifice on our part.
“If you would seek El in the morning, and make your supplication to the Almighty; if you are pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosper. Though your beginning was small, yet your end will increase greatly” (Job 8:5-7 ENB).
“Those who have My commandments and keep them, those are they who love Me; and those who love Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love them, and will disclose Myself to them” (John 14:21 ENB).
“To those who overcome, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of Elohim” (Revelation 2:7 ENB).
“Those that overcome will not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:11 ENB).
“To those that overcome, I will give to eat some of the hidden manna, and will give them a white stone, and in the new stone a new name written, which nobody knows except the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17 ENB).
“And those who overcome, and keep My deeds until the end, to them will I give power over the nations; And they will rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to pieces; even as I received from My Father; and I will give them the morning star” (Revelation 2:26-28 ENB).
“Those who overcome will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not blot out their name from the book of life, but I will confess their names before My Father, and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5 ENB).
“Those who overcome, I will make a pillar in the temple of My El, and they will go out from it no more; and I will write upon them the name of My El, and the name of the city of My El, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My Elohim, and My new name” (Revelation 3:12 ENB).
“Those who overcome, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21 ENB).
“And this is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true El, and Yehoshua ha Mashiach Whom You have sent” (John 17:3 ENB).
Elohim desires us! Elohim wishes to bestow more upon us than we could ever imagine. Thousands of promises are given in His Word regarding our present and eternal lives, but we need to remember that only by His grace can we know and believe upon Yehoshua as our Master and Messiah. So, by His grace we see, and by His grace we receive, and by His grace we find forgiveness. What our Heavenly Father is offering humanity, through His Messiah, is the fullness of His kingdom – in exchange for our love and faithful obedience! In Yehoshua, Elohim is offering us life beyond our wildest imaginings!
While Elohim deserves our devotion, without Him having to pay further for that devotion, He nevertheless paid the ultimate price for us. And, while we do not deserve a morsel from His table, He nevertheless is offering us everything within His kingdom – freely. In exchange, He simply requests our faith and obedience.
In Isaiyeh 14:12-17, and in Ezekiel 28:11-19, a snapshot is given to us of Satan. We are told of the splendor, majesty and power that were given to him by Elohim. Satan was freely given everything a soul could ever imagine or desire, including tremendous beauty. Satan wanted more! He wanted more, but he never understood the responsibility or price of the power, authority and majesty that he sought, or the humility required of a truly great ruler. In our sinful state, Elohim is teaching us what we need to know to inherit His kingdom, and in humility, His PRAISERS will inherit the kingdom of Elohim.
Old Covenant: Psalms 27:1-3, 46 (all), 56 (all); Isaiyeh 8:12-13, 41:1-16, 43:1-7, 54:4-17; Ezekiel 2:1-7.
Old Covenant: Genesis 16 (all), 17:15-21, 18:1-15, 21:1-7; Psalms 37.
New Covenant: Matthew 9:2-7, 11:27-30, 16:13-17, 22:41-45, 26:63-66; Mark 2:5-11, 5:19, 14:61-62, 15:2; Luke 1:26-38, 8:26-39, 22:66-70; John 3:16-21; 4:25-26, 5:37, 6 (all), 8 (all), 10 (all), 11:25-26, 12:44-50, 13:12-20, 14:6, 14:9-11, 15 (all), 17:6; Acts 2:36; Romans 1:4; Colossians 1:13-20, 2:9; Hebrews 1:3-9, 3:6, 4:14, 5:8-10, 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-21; 1 John 2:22-23, 4:2-3, 4:15, 5:1; Revelation (all), see: 1:4-8, a:17-18, 22:12-16. | 2019-04-23T22:23:58Z | http://exaltednamebible.com/the-letters-of-faith/letter-11-discipleship-our-objective/ |
Poverty Got You Down? Call in the Guard.
For his part, Mayor Rahm Emaunuel wants to continue to focus on “the four P’s – policing, parenting, prevention and penalties” as solutions to the problem. Considering the probable effects of His Honor’s war on children and teachers, they’re likely to need a lot more of the policing and penalties part of that equation in the near future.
I would humbly suggest that someone ought to begin focusing on the most important “P-Factor” relating to violence in our cities: POVERTY.
Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, Cedric Johnson, Martha Biondi and Barbara Ransby take a look at the true roots of urban violence in their panel discussion presented at the Socialism 2013 Conference: Poverty Pulls the Trigger.
Click here for the MP3 Download from We Are Many.
Those of us who are comfortable – and by that, I mean we who live in a decent home, have enough to eat, have access to medical care when we need it, who can offer a good education to our children, who are kept relatively safe and have a sense of stability and continuity in our lives – are able to enjoy our comforts only because of a system that subjects millions of other people in our country and around the globe to violence, illness, poverty, hunger, insecurity and despair each and every day.
To acknowledge this is the beginning.
Last week, I posted an update on Facebook noting that Congressional critics and the news media are fundamentally asking the wrong questions about Benghazi. Though it is obvious that the GOP’s focus on the “scandal” represents the worst sort of partisan opportunism – there is, I believe, another story here. It’s not a story about security at the compound, or the military response to the attacks, or what may have been said on television afterward. It’s a story about our government’s complicity to (and culpability for) the attacks themselves.
There is an excellent essay out today from Bill Van Auken that unpacks the situation in great detail.
In its intervention in Libya, Washington utilized Al Qaeda-linked fighters as a proxy ground force in the war to topple the secular regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, arming and advising them and using them to follow up the massive US-NATO bombing campaign. Christopher Stevens was very much the point man in this relationship, having carefully studied the Islamist opponents of Gaddafi before the launching of the war for regime-change. He was deployed in April 2011 to Benghazi, where he coordinated the arming, funding and training of the so-called rebels, elements previously denounced by the US as terrorists and, in some cases, abducted, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA.
So all of the reported “confusion” within the State Department and the Intelligence Community in the wake of the attacks is complete and utter nonsense, as is the portrayal of their interactions as simple bureaucratic interagency bickering. They knew from the very beginning what had happened – that their own assets were involved. The purpose of all the frantic scrambling and deception after the fact was to conceal our government’s relationships with their supposed Al-Qaeda terrorist enemies. There is simply no other way it all makes sense.
The circus sideshow being orchestrated by the GOP is not merely cynical political maneuvering. It misses the point. It helps to conceal from public view the true nature of the events at Benghazi, and ensures that there will be no discussion of the more serious and important issues involved.
READ MORE: Benghazi and the deepening crisis of the Obama administration – WSWS.
Yesterday 350 prominent economists issued a statement urging our lawmakers and the Obama Administration to focus on jobs and economic growth, not the budget deficit. I suspect that their plea will be largely ignored, unless we, the people, take responsibility for our own future and rise up in opposition to austerity.
Here is part of what the economists wrote.
The U.S. economy, once in free-fall toward a new depression, has begun to recover. But we are still mired in a prolonged slump marked by mass unemployment, rising poverty, and declining wages. And the fragile recovery is threatened by obsessive concern with cutting deficits that has infected both parties.
As even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recognizes, it is long term unemployment, not excessive deficits or debt, that is now inflicting the greatest human toll and economic damage. Polls show that voters agree joblessness and a bad economy are much higher priorities than deficits.
Yet too many in Washington are fixated on cutting public spending to balance the budget, not on how to put people back to work and get our economy going. There is no theory of economics that explains how we can deflate our way to recovery. Businesses are not basing investment decisions on how much Congress cuts the debt in 2023. As Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and Greece have shown, inflicting austerity on a weak economy leads to deeper recession, rising unemployment and increasing misery.
Indeed, reports this morning indicate that a second recession has already hit the Eurozone.
Please share this information widely. I’ll continue to post more on what we’re facing (and how to resist) in the coming days and weeks. Please comment or email with your own ideas and links to share as well.
Read the Economists’ Full Statement: Jobs and Growth, Not Austerity – Campaign for America’s Future.
P.S. The image above depicts firefighters in protest over budget cuts at Thessalonika, Greece on September 8th, 2012.
Some words become so overused or misused that they become practically meaningless. “Fascist” seems to be one of those words. If you perform a Web search, you’ll discover nearly twenty-million results, ranging from historical information relating to the Fascist governments of Italy, Germany and others during the first half of the Twentieth Century, to current wild-eyed conspiracy theory, to polemics on the right condemning “eco-fascists,” “feminazis” and such.
I’ve posted some thoughts and resources about this subject here in the past. I believe that Fascist tendencies are real (and perhaps even ascendent) in American political life today. The threat they pose to justice and freedom cannot be overstated. Therefore, it is important to understand what Fascism really is, to recognize it when one sees it, and to oppose it with all of our will and resources.
First of all, here is what Fascism is not. Fascism is not simply any ideology that seeks to pressure or coerce or impose compliance. It is not ever a leftist, or Liberal ideology. Fascism should not be conflated with authoritarianism (although authoritarianism is certainly a central aspect). Fascism does not merely mean oppression, intolerance, bullying or totalitarianism.
So Fascism is, first and foremost, nationalistic in the extreme. It is also racist, authoritarian, regimented and coercive. Fascism stands opposed to liberty, equality and international solidarity – the classic hallmarks of Liberal Democracy (and the ideals of The Enlightenment).
Laurence W. Britt did a thorough study of Fascist regimes for a novel he wrote about right-wing extremists coming to power in the United States. He outlined the fourteen common characteristics of Fascism in Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. I would encourage you to read the entire article as published in Free Enquiry. Here are the bullet points.
Here is how I summarized the basic framework of Fascism in an earlier post.
The core Fascist values are nationalism, Anti-Marxism, and a profound disgust for Liberal Democracy.
Fascists glorify the past, before the country was “debased” by foreigners, homosexuals, minority religions and the like. Fascists see themselves as a reaction to those who are a threat to “our way of life,” and they identify (and attack, sometimes literally) these scapegoats.
The movement (and the state) is organized around corporatism and largely serves corporate interests.
Violence against external and internal “enemies” is encouraged to the point of glorification. Wars, torture, executions, assassinations and the use of excessive force by the police are welcomed in the battle to “protect us.” There is an obsession with militarism, and likewise with crime and punishment. There is a flexible attitude toward basic human rights and the rule of law, if infringements are seen as helping the cause.
There is utter disdain for (and there are attacks made on) labor unions, intellectuals and the arts.
This sounds all too familiar, yes?
What can we do to fight against Fascism? As is the case with so many issues in life, the first step is to recognize the problem. It’s important that we see things for what they are, and call them by their proper names. When we see people coalescing around a nationalistic philosophy which denigrates the arts and intellect, which glorifies militarism, which uses religion to justify discrimination against homosexuals and Muslims, which seeks to scapegoat immigrants and the poor, which attacks organized labor, which serves the wealthy and the corporations – that is Fascism, plain and simple. We should call it that, and we should debunk the oft-asserted notion that such a philosophy is equally valid to others. The history of the last century has shown us again and again what happens when this insidious ideology is allowed to take root.
We should also miss no opportunity to stand up for freedom, equality and solidarity. We must support those who are the victims of Fascist rhetoric. This means speaking up for human rights, equality and justice for all – for homosexuals, for immigrants, for minority races and religions, for the captives in our burgeoning prison system, for the poor and the dispossessed. We must support our labor unions when they come under attack in the name of “fiscal restraint” and must guard against the infringement of the right to organize. We must defend and support artists and intellectuals, in both the marketplace and in academia. We must oppose the idea that uninformed opinions and specious arguments are valid and are equal with fact-based, well informed and well reasoned ones. We must boycott and otherwise oppose the moneyed and corporate interests in favor of the small, the local and the economically oppressed.
Perhaps more than anything else, we must gather together with others of good will in our local communities to build relationships of trust and commitment, dedicated to the values and practice of democracy, justice and cooperation.
If this sounds like a tall order, that’s because it is. I have come to believe that it is now a matter of survival, not just for our liberties, but for human life on the good Earth.
James Waterman Wise once said that Fascism would come to America “wrapped up in the American flag and heralded as a plea for liberty and preservation of The Constitution.” It would appear that such an ideology has, indeed, come – and very much as he predicted.
Fascism, Anyone? – Laurence W. Britt, Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 23, Number 2.
The super-rich of The Earth had at least twenty-one trillion dollars hidden away in secret tax shelters at the end of 2010, according to a report just released by the Tax Justice Network. The number may be as high as $32 trillion – nearly half of the entire Gross World Product.
There may be as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets held offshore by high net worth individuals (HNWIs). according to our report The Price of Offshore Revisited, which is thought to be the most detailed and rigorous study ever made of financial assets held in offshore financial centres and secrecy structures.
We consider these numbers to be conservative. This is only financial wealth and excludes a welter of real estate, yachts and other non-fianncial assets owned via offshore structures.
This $32 trillion amounts to more than $4500 for every man, woman and child on the planet that has been squirreled away and not subject to taxation.
Less than 100,000 individuals accounted for nearly $10 trillion of the offshore wealth.
The report shows that when hidden wealth is taken into account, many so-called “debtor nations” are actually wealthy – but their wealth is being imprisoned offshore by the elites and bankers.
The Tax Justice Network is an independent organization launched in the British Houses of Parliament in March of 2003. It is dedicated to high-level research, analysis and advocacy in the field of tax and regulation.
I received an email today from someone looking for information on political hot-button issues, and in pulling together links for her, I ran across a fact-check page from the American Immigration Council. Although the typical specious anti-immigrant argument is that unauthorized immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy – taking jobs away from citizens and consuming tax-funded social services, education and health care without contributing to their funding – according to the AIC nothing could be further from the truth.
Households headed by unauthorized immigrants paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, according to estimates prepared for the IPC by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy.
If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from the United States, the country would lose $551.6 billion in economic activity, $245 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and approximately 2.8 million jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a 2008 report by the Perryman Group.
A 2010 report from the IPC and Center for American Progress estimates that deporting all unauthorized immigrants from the country and somehow “sealing the border” to future unauthorized immigration would reduce U.S. GDP by 1.46% annually—or $2.6 trillion in lost GDP over 10 years. Moreover, the U.S. economy would shed large numbers of jobs.
So, if that is the case, why do so many Americans remain stubbornly anti-immigrant? One can only attribute it to ignorance, racism and the influence of groups and politicians with Fascist leanings. In fact, animosity toward immigrants (whether authorized or not) is a classic hallmark of Fascism. As noted before on this Weblog, Fascists glorify the past, before the country was “debased” by foreigners, homosexuals, minority religions and the like. They see themselves as a reaction to those who are a threat to “our way of life,” and they identify (and attack, sometimes literally) these scapegoats.
There is, of course, a broader set of questions that a thinking person of conscience might ask with regard to immigration. In addition to the economic considerations, let us not forget the issues of justice and solidarity involved here. After all, the Holy Family were immigrants, fleeing their home suddenly just before the slaughter of the innocents. Would the Republicans deport Jesus, Mary and Joseph?
We might also ask, once again, why it is acceptable for corporations to move jobs across borders wherever and whenever they wish, and yet it is not acceptable for workers to cross borders for jobs.
Some issues are complex and difficult to parse. This one is not.
Quit the Church? Thanks, but no thanks. [E. J. Dionne, Jr. | Commonweal] – Recently, a group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post cast as an “open letter to ‘liberal’ and ‘nominal’ Catholics.” Its headline commanded: “It’s Time to Quit the Catholic Church.” I’m sorry to inform the FFRF that I am declining its invitation to quit. They may not see the Gospel as a liberating document, but I do, and I can’t ignore the good done in the name of Christ by the sisters, priests, brothers and laypeople who have devoted their lives to the poor and the marginalized.
Brian’s Comment: I had much the same reaction as Dionne when I first saw the letter from the FFRF. Granted, it is sometimes hard to be a free-thinking Catholic these days, but the Faith is not merely the institutions and the Church is not merely the hierarchy. Our Catholic Faith belongs to me and to my family as much as it does to the bishops, to the Vatican or to any of the Right-Wing bigots to whom I may be offering the sign of peace this weekend. | 2019-04-18T13:03:47Z | http://noebie.net/categories/commentary/page/2/ |
1Center for Human Immunobiology, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA.
3Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
4Institute of Cellular Medicine, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom.
5Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
6Section of Experimental Haematology, Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
7Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom.
8Division of Allergy and Immunology, Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, Children’s National Health System, Washington, DC, USA.
9Laboratory of Molecular Growth Regulation, Program in Genomics of Differentiation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
10Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
11Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
12Division of Hematopathology, Department of Pathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
13The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
14Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
15Department of Paediatric Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
16Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
17Dan L Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
Address correspondence to: Jordan S. Orange, Center for Human Immunobiology, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, FC330 1102 Bates Avenue, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. Phone: 832.824.1319; E-mail: [email protected].
J Clin Invest. 2017;127(1):306–320. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI86276.
NK cell deficiency (NKD) is an inborn or primary immunodeficiency causing susceptibility to severe and often fatal viral infection and malignancy (1–5). NKD can be classified as classical, arising from profound or complete absence of the NK cell population or major subsets of peripheral NK cells, or functional, arising from impaired NK cell function with normal peripheral NK cell counts (5, 6). There are presently 2 genetically defined causes of classical (MCM4, GATA2) and 1 of functional NKD (FCGR3A) (2–4, 7–9).
Human NK cell development results in generation of distinct phenotypic and functional subsets found in peripheral blood: namely the CD56bright and CD56dim subsets. While identified primarily by the density of CD56 on the cell surface, these subsets include the coordinated expression of cell surface and intracellular markers that reflect each subset’s unique function. CD56bright NK cells are considered immunomodulatory and are described phenotypically as CD16−/loCD57−perforinlo, CD117+, CD62Lhi, and CD94/NKG2A+. While they constitute the minority of NK cells in peripheral blood, they represent the dominant population in secondary lymphoid tissue (10, 11). CD56dim NK cells, which constitute more than 90% of peripheral blood NKs, are CD56dimCD16hiperforinhiCD57+/− killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor+ (KIR+), and are the primary mediators of NK cell–mediated cytotoxicity. The relationship between the subsets is not completely understood, but both in vivo and ex vivo evidence in humans suggests that the CD56bright subset is a developmental precursor of CD56dim, and it is hypothesized that secondary lymphoid tissue serves as a site of NK cell terminal differentiation that is required for acquisition of cytotoxic function (12–15).
Specific loss of NK cells or NK cell subsets as occurs in classical NKD is rare but has been reported. Homozygous MCM4 mutation causes adrenal insufficiency, decreased numbers of circulating NK cells, and impaired terminal maturation, likely as a result of chromosomal aberrations and impaired proliferation of the CD56bright subset (2, 3). These patients show distinctive loss of the CD56dim subset and correlative relative increase in the CD56bright subset (2). In contrast, GATA2 mutations result in specific loss of CD56bright NK cells and decreased frequency of NK cells overall in circulating blood. While GATA2 patients have CD56dim NK cells that vary in number, they are largely nonfunctional, and affected patients develop severe herpesvirus and papillomavirus infections (4). NKD has also been reported in 1 isolated case of a child with a mutation in RTEL1, encoding regulator of telomere elongation helicase, although NK cell subsets were not examined in this case (16, 17).
Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8; also known as interferon consensus binding protein, ICSBP) is a member of the IRF family of transcription factors that help shape the inflammatory response, particularly to viral infections. These transcription factors are also becoming increasingly recognized for their roles in human hematopoiesis through rare, naturally occurring germline mutations.
Mutations of IRF8 in mice and humans cause cellular deficiency ranging from severe defects of monocyte and DC production with marked myeloproliferation to more subtle alterations of specific DC subsets with normal leukocyte counts (18–20). Gene dosage and mutation site–specific effects have been observed, suggesting that the level of IRF8 activity is critical to normal immune cell development and function. In addition to developmental aberrations, mature cell function is affected as exemplified by defects in macrophage function (21). In humans, heterozygous IRF8 T80A mutations have been identified as a cause of primary immunodeficiency leading to specific loss of the CD11c+CD1c+ circulating DC subset (19). K108E mutations of IRF8 have an even more profound impact, leading to the loss of DCs as well as monocytes (19).
Before recent advances in genomic sequencing technology, NKD was reported in a number of pediatric cases. Perhaps the most renowned was an isolated case of NKD and viral susceptibility ultimately proven as resulting from a GATA2 mutation (4, 22). The original NKD case, however, was reported in 1982 as a familial, non–X-linked susceptibility to EBV infection that led to the death of 2 affected siblings and ongoing illness in a third (1). Here we report that biallelic mutations in IRF8 cause intrinsic NKD with decreased NK cell number, decreased frequency of the CD56dim subset, and accompanying susceptibility to viral and mycobacterial infection. In doing so we define and characterize IRF8 mutations in this original, unsolved family with NKD and identify NKD in 2 unrelated patients with biallelic IRF8 mutations. These data identify IRF8 as a critical regulator of NK cell terminal maturation and define a novel cause of a rare human inborn NK cell developmental defect.
Patients and clinical history. The index case proband (II.2) presented with a history of sinopulmonary infections during childhood and severe infectious mononucleosis at age 22 years requiring prolonged hospitalization (1). Born to non-consanguineous parents, his brother (II.6) died at age 16 years of multiple organ failure following severe EBV mononucleosis, and his sister (II.5) died at age 38 years due to progressive pulmonary disease. She also had prolonged hospitalization at age 17 years for severe EBV mononucleosis. Both siblings had lymphadenopathy and bronchiectasis beginning in childhood. Notably, the 3 siblings’ EBV-related illnesses occurred in separate calendar years. A fourth sibling (brother, II.3) had EBV mononucleosis at age 21 years at the same time as the proband, but had a typical course of illness and did not require hospitalization. The unusual nature of disease and clinical presentation in the proband prompted immunological evaluation and was described as a novel, non–X-linked immune deficiency leading to susceptibility to EBV disease associated with a deficiency of NK cell cytotoxicity (1). Since the original description, the patient has continued to have fairly regular, recurrent episodes of sinusitis and has mucosal changes consistent with recurrent and chronic disease as well as presumably respiratory viral infections. He has no evidence of bronchiectasis or lymphadenopathy. T cell and B cell counts have been consistently normal, and immunoglobulins are present in normal quantities and quality. His surviving brother (II.3), mother (I.1), children (III.1–3), and nephew (III.4) have unremarkable medical histories. Other unrelated patients are summarized in Table 1.
Genetics. The 1982 description of the proband’s family is without follow-up until now and did not include any genetic or genomic analysis. Thus, whole exome sequencing of genomic DNA was performed using blood samples collected from the proband; his son, mother, and surviving brother; and the son of the brother (Figure 1A). Excellent average per-base coverage was observed for all samples (proband, 105X; mother, 124X; brother, 116X; son, 114X; fraternal nephew, 90X). The exome data suggested disease-related segregation of mutations in IRF8 (NM_002163:c.602C>T, 39 variant reads of 112 total in the proband; NM_002163:c.671C>T, 44 variant of 72 total proband reads) predicted by conceptual translation to result in amino acid changes p.A201V and p.P224L, respectively. Of those mutations predicted to be damaging by SIFT, PolyPhen, LRT, and MutationTaster algorithms, few aside from IRF8 were expressed highly in immune cells, particularly NK cells (see Supplemental Table 1 for list of variants identified by whole exome sequencing; supplemental material available online with this article; doi:10.1172/JCI86276DS1). Sanger sequencing of IRF8 in the proband’s sons and daughter confirmed the presence of both alleles in his children and the absence of either variant in his wife (Figure 1B and Supplemental Figure 1). The P224L variant was present in his mother, and the A201V variant was present in a surviving brother. Therefore, IRF8 mutations were confirmed with familial segregation in accordance with Mendelian expectations. In addition, the P224L mutation was confirmed from paraffin-embedded tissue from the patient’s deceased sister (Supplemental Figure 1); degradation of the DNA extracted from the same sample did not permit amplification and sequencing of the A201V mutation. The P224L mutation is reported 5 times in the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) database (allelic frequency of 4.4 × 10–5) with no homozygous cases. The A201V mutation is present at an allelic frequency of 0.002515 with no homozygotes. Likewise, within the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics database of over 6,000 exomes, no homozygous or compound heterozygous cases of IRF8 variants are found (23). Both mutations map to exon 7, in the region of IRF8 known as the IRF association domain (Figure 1C).
Linkage analysis of IRF8 compound heterozygous mutations in familial NKD and genetic confirmation of mutation. (A) Pedigree of affected family. Roman numerals indicate generations. Arrow points to proband. Shown are amino acid variants in IRF8 as detected by whole exome sequencing. Asterisk indicates variant confirmed by Sanger sequencing. (B) Confirmation of proband’s IRF8 variants by Sanger sequencing. (C) Schematic of human IRF8 showing affected residues found within the IRF association domain. (D) Protein expression of IRF8 in EBV-transformed patient B cell line (maroon, solid line) relative to normal control (blue, dashed line). Isotype control is shown in black. Shown is 1 representative experiment from 3 independent repeats. (E) Western blot of IRF8 (48 kDa) in healthy donor (HD) or patient (Pt) lymphoblastoid cell lines with actin (42 kDa) as a loading control. Shown is 1 representative experiment from 3 independent repeats. (F) Nuclear localization of IRF8 in patient (Pt) or control (Ctrl) B cell lines or healthy donor NK cells. Cells were fixed and stained for IRF8 (eFluor 710, red) followed by counterstaining with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 10 μm. Shown is 1 representative experiment from 3 independent repeats.
Evaluation of the patient’s protein expression by flow cytometry in lymphoblastoid cell lines showed normal levels of expression (Figure 1D), and Western blot analysis of IRF8 from patient EBV-transformed B cell lines confirmed protein expression at the expected molecular weight of full-length protein, as did healthy donor (Figure 1E; see complete unedited blots in the supplemental material). The only previously reported homozygous mutation in IRF8, K108E, was shown to impair nuclear translocation of IRF8 in transfected cells (21). To determine whether the novel compound heterozygous alleles found in our proband prevent the nuclear recruitment of IRF8, we evaluated the patient B cell line by imaging flow cytometry. In the absence of stimulation, IRF8 was detected in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus of patient and control B cell lines. This was also observed for healthy donor NK cells, with colocalization between DAPI and IRF8 as calculated by similarity score (24) of 3.4 for patient cells, 2.2 for control B cells, and 2.2 for primary human NK cells (median values) (Figure 1F). Stimulation with IL-15 did not increase localization of IRF8 in primary human NK cells (similarity score 2.2, not shown). Together these data confirm novel compound heterozygous mutations in IRF8 that do not abrogate protein expression or nuclear localization.
Biallelic IRF8 mutation leads to impaired NK cell cytotoxic function. To specifically test the effect of biallelic mutations on NK cell cytotoxicity, we performed standard 51Cr release assays. As previously described, the proband has consistently low NK cell functional activity against the prototypical K562 target (ref. 1 and Figure 2A). The proband’s cytotoxic function was evaluated multiple times during a 10-year time interval and consistently showed profoundly decreased activity relative to normal controls with specific lysis (at maximal effector-to-target ratio) that was 0% and 31% of normal control levels (Figure 2B). The patient’s children, carriers of the P224L or A201V mutations, had slightly decreased but normal cytotoxic function, as did his nephew and mother (Figure 2, A and C, and not shown). Unrelated carriers of the A201V mutation from a separate family of a different nationality similarly had normal NK cell cytotoxic function (Figure 2C), despite having late onset of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial disease (Table 1). Other heterozygous patients (G139S/WT, A179/WT, T96M/WT) also had normal NK cell function despite the presence of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial infection (Figure 2C and Table 1). To determine whether decreased NK cell lytic function in the proband was due to low NK cell frequency within the lymphocyte population, cytotoxicity assays using purified NK cells were performed, and showed significantly decreased lysis of targets (Figure 2D), suggesting that an intrinsic defect in NK cell cytotoxic function underlies the stably decreased impairment observed. Therefore, the compound heterozygous A201V/P224L mutation results in low/absent NK cell cytotoxic function, an effect that is repeatedly observed over extended time and likely accounts for the proband’s profound susceptibility to viral disease.
NK cell functional deficiency specifically occurs in IRF8 compound-heterozygous patient and is stable over time. NK cell cytotoxicity was evaluated by standard 51Cr release assay against K562 targets. (A) Shown is a representative assay including our proband (A201V/P224L), his healthy brother (A201V/WT), and his healthy son (P224L/WT). The gray filled area represents the range of 10 healthy donors. ***P < 0.0001, Student’s unpaired t test against mean of all healthy donors. Patient data are representative of 6 independent repeats. (B) The proband’s NKD is stable over time as assessed by 51Cr release assay against K562 targets. Shown is relative specific lysis by patient NK cells at the highest effector-to-target ratio (dashed line, circles) compared with corresponding healthy donor control (solid line, squares) at dates from 2004 to 2012 (x axis). (C) 51Cr release assay of unrelated A201V/WT (daughter of proband or unrelated as indicated), P224L/WT (son of proband), G139S/WT, A179V/WT, and T96M/WT patients (circles). The gray filled area represents the range of 10 normal donors. Each condition was performed in triplicate and is shown as the mean. (D) 51Cr release assay of freshly isolated purified patient (circles) and healthy donor (squares) NK cells against K562 target cells. Shown is 1 representative of 2 independent experiments with each condition performed in triplicate.
Biallelic IRF8 mutation results in decreased NK cell number and impaired NK cell terminal differentiation. We next functionally examined NK cells from probands with 2 different combinations of compound heterozygous and a homozygous (i.e., biallelic) variant allele: A201V/P224L, R83C/R291Q, and homozygous K108E. Human NK cells in peripheral blood fall largely within 2 dominant subsets with unique phenotypic and functional signatures. High density of CD56 and the presence of CD94/NKG2A, CD117, and CD62L on the cell surface classify the CD56bright subset phenotypically. These cells are considered the most potent cytokine producers upon stimulation, primarily of TNF-α and IFN-γ. The CD56dim subset is characterized by markers of terminal differentiation such as CD57, activating and inhibitory KIRs, and CD16, and is thought to be derived from the CD56bright subset (13). In addition, CD56dim NK cells express large quantities of perforin and granzymes; they are specialized for contact-mediated target cell lysis.
Consistently over the time of evaluation (>10 years) the patient had decreased frequency and absolute number of CD56+CD3− NK cells within the lymphocyte population (1.7%–6.0% vs. 4.6%–13.7% in healthy controls) (Figure 3, A–C, and Table 1). Evaluation of the phenotypic subsets within peripheral blood showed a relative paucity of the CD56dim subset in the patient, accompanied by an overrepresentation of the CD56bright subset. From our initial evaluation in 2004 and at all subsequent times evaluated, patient 1’s CD56bright subset was between 30% and 40% (27.9%–40.3%) of the NK cell population, in contrast to controls, which fell within the previously described range (4.1%–8.4%) (Figure 3, A–C, and ref. 25). Evaluation of heterozygous A201V/WT subjects (both unrelated and related) showed normal frequencies of both NK cells within the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) population (13.9%) and CD56bright NK cells (3.7%). Further, evaluation of other heterozygous individuals (T96M/WT, G139S/WT, A179V/WT) showed frequencies of NK cells and CD56bright NK cells consistent with normal controls (Figure 3, B–D). In contrast, the R83C/R291Q and the homozygous K108E patient had low overall numbers of NK cells (3.9% and 5.4%, respectively) and a significantly expanded CD56bright population consistent with our proband (65.8% and 72.7%; Figure 3, B–D). Therefore, compound heterozygous or homozygous mutations in IRF8 selectively result in aberrant generation of the terminally mature subsets of NK cells and a decreased frequency of NK cells within the lymphocyte population.
Stable impairment in NK cell terminal differentiation in patients with biallelic IRF8 mutations. NK cell phenotype was evaluated by multiparametric FACS phenotyping. (A) Representative FACS plot of healthy donor control (WT/WT) and our proband (A201V/P224L). Lymphocytes were gated on FSC/SSC. Data shown are representative of 6 independent repeats. (B) Stable NKD (left) and increased CD56bright population (right) in our proband shown over time (dashed line) with healthy donor shown as reference (solid line) at multiple dates from 2004 to 2015 (x axis). Single time point analysis of A201V/WT (unrelated, open diamond), A179V/WT (open triangle), an unrelated R83C/R291Q compound-heterozygous patient (solid inverted triangle), and a K108E/K108E patient (solid diamond) is also shown. (C) Percentage of CD56+CD3− NK cells within the lymphocyte gate is shown for 4 normal controls, our proband at 4 independent time points, 3 unrelated heterozygous IRF8 mutation patients, an unrelated compound-heterozygous patient, and a K108E/K108E patient. (D) Percentage of CD56bright NK cells within the NK cell compartment is shown for the cohort described in C. (E) FACS phenotyping of heterozygous, compound-heterozygous, and homozygous IRF8 patients. For intracellular staining, mononuclear cells were stimulated (S) with PMA and ionomycin in the presence of brefeldin A or incubated without stimulation (U) before fixation, permeabilization, and detection of intracellular effector molecules. (F) Expression of IFN-γ (after PMA/ionomycin stimulation) and perforin and CD16 in unstimulated NK cells from patients and healthy donors gated on CD56dim and CD56bright subsets. Shown is mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments for perforin and CD16 in healthy donor and A201V/P224L patient; a single experiment is shown for the K108E/K108E patient and IFN-γ detection from all subjects. *P < 0.05 by unpaired Student’s t test. (G) Cytokine secretion from healthy donor (HD) or A201V/P224L patient (Pt) detected by cytokine bead array from PBMCs stimulated for 4 hours by nonautologous EBV-transformed B cells in lytic cycle.
Because of the patient’s consistently low NK cell cytotoxic function and abnormal NK cell subset distribution, we performed multiparametric flow cytometric immune phenotyping of NK cell subsets, including intracellular cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α as well as perforin and granzymes. We evaluated the patient, his clinically unaffected single-heterozygous family members, an unrelated heterozygous A201V/WT patient with pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial infection, a heterozygous T96M/WT patient, an unrelated compound-heterozygous patient (R83C/R291Q), and a homozygous K108E patient (Table 1).
Multiparametric flow cytometric analysis of the proband’s lymphocytes showed that NK cell markers were consistent with the expanded CD56bright subset but otherwise showed no aberrant expression of markers of activation, inhibition, or granzyme B (Figure 3E). Despite decreased representation of the CD56dim subset, markers of NK cell terminal differentiation and memory (CD57, NKG2C) were expressed, as were activating receptors (NKG2D) and inhibitory receptors (NKG2A). Interestingly, however, our proband had consistently low levels of perforin at multiple time points tested, as did the homozygous K108E patient (Figure 3E). Upon stimulation, the proband, as well as those patients with compound heterozygous variants in IRF8, expressed normal or higher than normal levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α measured both as percentage of the population expressing cytokine and on a per-cell basis (Figure 3E and not shown). The production of IFN-γ was comparable between patient and control CD56bright NK cells, which are generally the most potent producers of IFN; however, the patient CD56dim NK cells had increased IFN-γ production relative to control. This accounted for the increase in IFN-γ production in his NK cells when considered as a total population (Figure 3F). The patient with K108E/K108E mutations had impaired IFN-γ production upon stimulation from both NK cell subsets, potentially underscoring the different effects of the different mutations on immune function even in the context of similar NK cell phenotype. The observed decrease in perforin expression in our patient with A201V/P224L mutations and the patient with homozygous K108E mutations was confined to the CD56dim subset, the primary cytolytic effectors. CD16 (FcγRIIIA) was expressed at normal levels on CD56bright and CD56dim NK cells from the patients with A201V/P224L and R83C/R291Q mutations (Figure 3, E and F). Low expression of CD16 on NK cells from the K108E patient was restricted to the CD56dim NK cell subset (Figure 3F).
Given the important role that cytokine production plays in the control of the viral immune response and previously described DC deficiency in patients with IRF8 mutations, we sought to determine whether cytokine production in the context of costimulation by accessory cells was impaired in our patient. To do so, we incubated PBMCs from healthy donor or patient with a nonautologous EBV-transformed B cell line that had been induced to lytic cycle. Secreted cytokines (IL-12p40, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-10) were measured by flow cytometric bead array. As suggested by the intracellular flow cytometry data, the coculture-induced production of IFN-γ and TNF-α was not impaired in the patient, and, similarly to that observed in cytokine-stimulated NK cells, the production of IFN-γ in these cocultures was increased (Figure 3G). Interestingly, elevated secretion of both IL-12 and IL-10 was also observed from patient cells.
As IRF8 serves a previously identified role in DC development and IRF8 deficiency has been shown to lead to a variable loss or absence of DC subsets, we performed phenotypic analysis of monocyte and DC populations. A subtle deficiency of plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDCs) and CD141+ DCs was observed in the index patient relative to heterozygous family members and a wild-type control (Supplemental Figure 2). These differences were within the scope of those previously ascribed to human IRF8 mutations and were not as severe as those observed in the patient with homozygous K108E mutation (19).
Our findings, however, suggested a novel NK cell phenotype of arrested terminal maturation in the presence of biallelic IRF8 mutations. To further determine the role of IRF8 in NK cell maturation, we performed phenotypic analysis of NK cells from Irf8–/–, Irf8+/–, and Irf8+/+ mice by flow cytometry. While murine NK cells do not express CD56, and not all transcription factor functions are evolutionarily conserved between human and murine NK cells, the developmental stages of murine NK cells can be stratified according to expression of CD27 and CD11b (Mac-1) (26). As previously reported (27–29), Irf8–/– mice had significant splenomegaly and lymphocytosis, leading to increased absolute NK cell number in both spleen (14 × 106 ± 5.7 × 106) and blood (1.2 × 106 ± 0.7 × 106) relative to that of Irf8+/+ controls (spleen 2.5 × 106 ± 1.2 × 106, blood 0.89 × 106 ± 0.6 × 106). Despite this, as seen in Figure 4, NK cells from blood and spleen of Irf8–/–, but not Irf8+/–, mice had an increased frequency of immature Mac-1loCD27hi NK cells (22.5% ± 2.7%) within the NK cell population when compared with wild-type controls (9.7% ± 1.8%). This was also reflected by absolute numbers of these subsets (blood 0.45 × 106 ± 0.4 × 106, spleen 3.6 × 106 ± 1.9 × 106) when compared with wild-type controls (blood 0.36 × 106 ± 0.5 × 106, spleen 0.31 × 106 ± 0.3 × 106). Conversely, Irf8–/– mice had decreased frequency of mature Mac-1hiCD27lo NK cells (48.3% ± 3.9%) compared with wild-type controls (64.3% ± 3.9%). This was despite increased absolute cell number (blood 1 × 106 ± 0.6 × 106, spleen 5.7 × 106 ± 2.1 × 106) compared with controls (blood 0.7 × 106 ± 0.5 × 106, spleen 1.4 × 106 ± 0.6 × 106). Together, these demonstrate impairment in terminal maturation in mice with homozygous, but not heterozygous, Irf8 loss-of-function mutations, suggesting an important parallel to our patients with biallelic IRF8 mutations and increased frequency of immature NK cells.
Irf8–/– mice have a block in terminal NK cell maturation. Spleen and blood from Irf8–/–, Irf8+/– littermates, and Irf8+/+ controls were analyzed by flow cytometry for markers of NK cell differentiation. (A) Representative FACS of spleen (top) and blood (bottom) from the same mouse. Cells were gated on single cells, then NK1.1+CD3−. (B) Pooled spleen and blood from 4–6 mice per condition are shown. Data shown are mean ± SD. *P < 0.05 by Student’s unpaired t test.
IRF8 is required for human NK cell development in a cell-intrinsic manner. Given the broad expression of IRF8 within immune cell populations, we sought to determine whether the observed effect on NK cell function was due to NK cell–intrinsic mechanisms or representative of the need for other immune or nonimmune cell types in NK cell development. Thus, we evaluated the ability of patient CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to generate NK cells in isolation. HSCs were sorted from our proband’s peripheral blood and incubated on OP9-DL1 stromal cells for 28 days in the presence of IL-7, FLT3L, c-Kit, and IL-15, as this in vitro experimental system has been previously demonstrated to promote NK cell development (14, 30, 31). As shown in Figure 5A, patient NK cells derived from CD34+ HSCs were largely CD56bright (76% vs. 19.7% from healthy donor control). The mean fluorescence intensity of CD56 was significantly higher on patient cells versus the normal control (224 vs. 112 in healthy donor) (Figure 5B), consistent with immaturity and incomplete maturation. In addition, while healthy donor–derived cells acquired CD16 (58%), the patient-derived cells had decreased CD16 expression yet retained CD94, a phenotype that is reflective of an immature state. These results show that the role for IRF8 is cell intrinsic and that IRF8 is functioning directly in the generation of appropriate and mature NK cell subsets during development.
Impairment in terminal NK cell differentiation is NK cell intrinsic. CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells were sorted from the proband and a healthy control, and NK cells were generated by coculture with OP9-DL1 stromal cells for 35 days. Cells were harvested and analyzed in parallel with freshly isolated PBMCs from the proband or the same healthy donor. (A) In vitro–generated NK cells from healthy donor (left, WT/WT) or our proband (right, A201V/P224L) were analyzed by FACS for CD56 expression and CD16 (top) and CD94 (bottom) expression. (B) Histogram showing mean fluorescence intensity of CD56 expression on in vitro–derived NK cells from healthy donor (gray histogram) or patient 1 (empty histogram).
IRF8 is expressed in human NK cell subsets and is upregulated upon IL-15 stimulation. Expression of IRF8 in human NK cell developmental subsets has not been previously determined. We performed real-time PCR and intracellular flow cytometry to evaluate the expression of IRF8 in human NK cell developmental subsets. While human peripheral blood contains only the CD56bright and CD56dim NK cell subsets, we used human tonsil as a source of developing NK cells and evaluated these cells based on known markers of differentiation (stages 1–5) (32). As shown in Figure 6A, healthy human donors expressed IRF8 in all developmental subsets as measured by intracellular flow cytometry. Interestingly, expression was highest in stage 1 (CD34+) NK cell precursors; however, all developmental subsets isolated from tonsil, as well as those from peripheral blood, expressed significant quantities of IRF8. Further, stimulation of primary human NK cells with IL-15 for as few as 6 hours resulted in an upregulation of IRF8 as measured by quantitative PCR (qPCR) (3-fold; Figure 6B) and flow cytometry (1.3-fold; Figure 6, C and D). Therefore, IRF8 is expressed in human NK cells and is responsive to IL-15 stimulation. This observation is consistent with a critical role for IRF8 during NK cell development.
IRF8 is expressed in all NK cell developmental subsets and is upregulated upon IL-15 stimulation. (A) NK cell developmental subsets were isolated from tonsil as described in Methods, and IRF8 was detected by intracellular flow cytometry. Shown is 1 representative experiment from 3 independent experiments from 3 normal donors. FMO, fluorescence minus one; PB, peripheral blood. (B) NK cells were incubated for 6 hours with 10 ng/ml of IL-15 or vehicle control, and then RNA was extracted and qPCR performed as described in Methods. ***P < 0.001 by Student’s t test. Shown are the means of 3 independent experiments performed on 3 donors, each done in quadruplicate. (C) NK cells were stimulated as in B and subjected to flow cytometric analysis as in A. Dashed line, IL-15 stimulated; solid line dark histogram, unstimulated; solid line light histogram unstained. (D) Shown is the mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments. *P < 0.05 by unpaired Student’s t test. MFI, mean fluorescence intensity.
IRF8 is required for NK cell expression of transcription factors and NK cell effector molecules. Previously reported homozygous K108E mutations in IRF8 lead to impaired synthesis of IL-12 due to abrogated IRF1-dependent transcription of the IL12B gene (19). To determine whether the mutations in our proband affected functional binding of IRF8 with cofactors IRF1 and PU.1, we performed luciferase assays with each allelic variant (WT, A201V, and P224L). As seen in Figure 7A, neither of our patient’s variants affected transcriptional activity dependent on PU.1 or IRF1. This is consistent with the observation that DC development was only partially affected in the patient and contrasts with biallelic K108E mutation, in which transactivation with IRF1 was severely impaired and monocytes and DCs were absent (19). Collectively, this underscores the variability of mutational impact on the DC phenotype. To determine the effect that the IRF8 mutations have on human NK cell function, we performed NanoString gene expression analysis (Human Immunology v2 gene set) on isolated NK cells from our proband, his family members, and 3 healthy donor controls. We identified 403 genes with a greater than 1.5-fold up- or downregulation in the patient relative to all 3 healthy donors (Supplemental Table 2). These included 18 of particular relevance to NK cell development, cytotoxicity, or homeostasis (Figure 7B), including transcription factors NFIL3, IKZF2, TBX21, EOMES, and STAT5A/B. Differentially expressed effector molecules and cell surface receptors included PRF1, GZMA, GZMB, CCR7, CD27, CD2, HAVCR2, and KLRG1. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis of all genes differentially up- or downregulated more than 5-fold revealed transcription factors, growth factors, kinases, and transmembrane receptors (Figure 7C). To provide additional evidence that the genes differentially expressed in NK cells might be direct transcriptional targets of the mutant IRF8 proteins, we compared genes that consistently had an absolute fold change of ≥2 with published ChIP sequencing data (33). This analysis revealed a significant overlap of differentially expressed genes with loci associated with 1 or more IRF8 peaks (Supplemental Table 3). There was no preferential association of up- or downregulated transcripts with the presence of IRF8 binding. To further biologically validate differential expression of potential direct targets, we focused on NFIL3 and PRDM1, where IRF8 binding was observed in the study by Langlais et al. (33) (Supplemental Table 3), and IRF4, which also has evidence of IRF8 binding by ChIP sequencing (34). We performed qPCR on healthy donor– or patient-derived B cell lines and found decreased expression of each in the patient relative to 3 healthy donors (Figure 7D). Re-expression of WT IRF8 protein in the patient B cell line rescued the expression of IRF4 and PRDM1 and partially rescued expression of NFIL3. Therefore, biallelic IRF8 deficiency results in decreased expression of human NK cell transcriptional regulators and effector molecules as well as genes not previously associated with NK cell regulation. Complementation of the patient B cell line with WT IRF8 restores expression of these, demonstrating a direct effect of compound heterozygous A201V/P224L mutations on the expected IRF8-mediated gene expression profile.
Deregulation of multiple genes in A201V/P224L IRF8 patient NK cells. (A) Promoter assays were performed in HeLa cells with WT or mutant alleles as indicated. Mutant and WT IRF8 showed indistinguishable regulation of PU.1- and IRF1-dependent genes. Results are displayed as fold increase relative to cells cotransfected with the empty vector. These data are derived from triplicate samples and are displayed as the mean ± SD. Data were analyzed using Student’s unpaired t test (**P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). (B) Selected NK cell genes up- or downregulated in IRF8 A201V/P224L patient and heterozygous family members identified by NanoString gene expression analysis. (C) Selected immune genes classified by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis that are up- or downregulated more than 3-fold in the A201V/P224L patient relative to all 3 healthy donors (total NK cells). (D) Expression of selected genes validated by qPCR of B cell lines from 2 healthy donors (HD), patient (Pt), or patient cells stably transfected with WT IRF8 (Pt+IRF8). Mean ± SD of 1 representative experiment of 4 (performed in quadruplicate) is shown normalized to the mean of HD. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.0001 by ordinary 1-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons.
Genetic causes of aberrations in NK cell development are exceedingly rare but confer familial susceptibility to disease, particularly viral infection. Here we identify a novel human NK cell developmental defect and cause of NKD due to biallelic mutation in the IRF8 gene. Interestingly, while homozygous and heterozygous IRF8 mutations lead to a spectrum of DC deficiency ranging from mild to severe, biallelic variants in our patient and 2 additional unrelated patients result in NKD as a result of a block in terminal maturation. In our patient this phenotype occurs in the context of normal activation of PU.1 and IRF1, underscoring the varying impact of IRF8 mutations.
Our proband was originally diagnosed in 1980 and reported in 1982 with the first case of non–X-linked susceptibility to EBV as a result of NKD (1), and as such is within the first reported cohort of patients with NKD. Having the unique opportunity to study the 1 surviving affected patient from this family longitudinally has underscored the stability of the NK cell phenotype, namely decreased NK cell number with a paucity of CD56dim NK cells and interrupted maturation.
The IRF family plays a well-documented role in inflammation, and these transcription factors are also becoming increasingly recognized for their importance in hematopoietic development (35, 36). In particular, a critical requirement for IRF8 in DC development is described in mice with both hypomorphic and knockout mutations of IRF8, as well as previously described patients with heterozygous and homozygous mutations (19). Patients with homozygous K108E mutation are close in phenotype to the knockout mouse, with severe deficits of monocytes and DCs and a myeloproliferative disorder (29, 37–39). This homozygous mutation in the DNA-binding domain of IRF8 abrogates nuclear translocation but not protein expression, leading to impaired function and defective IL-12, IFN-γ, and TNF-α production (21). In contrast, the spontaneous heterozygous T80A mutation leads to specific loss of the CD1c+ compartment of CD11c+ DCs but retention of CD141+ DCs, monocytes, and CD123+ plasmacytoid DCs (19). Relative to disease caused by autosomal recessive K108E mutation, the T80A heterozygous mutation leads to a less severe clinical course. IL-12 production, but not type I IFN, is affected. In both cases, both B and T cell numbers are largely normal; however, CD25hiFoxP3+ Treg numbers are decreased in patients with K108E mutation (39).
The mechanism for the differential impact of IRF8 mutations on DC and NK cell homeostasis remains unclear. Gene dosage and mutation site–specific effects are commonly observed in transcriptions factors such as IRF8 that are regulated by superenhancer structures (40). As opposed to A201V/P224L, the K108E mutation is unable to activate IRF1- and PU.1-dependent transcription and, in the biallelic state, is associated with monocyte and DC deficiency and a very marked distortion of NK cell development in the ratio of CD56bright to CD56dim cells. The patient described here with A201V/P224L mutation has an NK phenotype with only subtle DC deficiency, in keeping with the ability of the 2 variants to activate transcription with PU.1 and IRF1. As these processes are required for DC development and function, these data suggest that additional IRF8-dependent mechanisms are required for normal NK cell homeostasis.
While all of our patient’s surviving single-heterozygous family members have unremarkable medical history, an unrelated patient with heterozygous A201V/WT mutation of IRF8 and late-onset pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial infection was identified, although a role for this IRF8 change in her disease state is unclear. The late onset of disease in an unrelated patient with A201V mutation suggests the relatively mild impact of this variant and that careful monitoring of heretofore clinically unaffected heterozygous family members may be prudent.
The apparent requirement for IRF8 in an NK cell–intrinsic manner, as we show using in vitro differentiation experiments, points to a direct role in the generation of appropriately distributed CD56bright and CD56dim NK cells and the subsequent acquisition of effector function. As with GATA2 mutations, it is intriguing that perturbation of development that allows for the presence of CD56dim NK cells in peripheral blood nevertheless significantly affects the function of these cells. The profound disease in our patient and the consistent absence of NK cell cytotoxic function as a result of this developmental block speak to the strict regulation of this process and support a model in which CD56bright cells are the precursors of CD56dim. The impaired terminal maturation of NK cells from Irf8–/–, but not Irf8+/–, mice suggests a conserved requirement for IRF8 in the final stages of NK cell development and supports a linear relationship between the subsets. As with GATA2 mutations, CD56+CD3+ T cells are present in our patient, often at higher frequencies than in normal controls.
IRF8 is known to play a role in both cell fate decision and functional control of viral infection. IRFs are well-described downstream mediators of TLR signaling, and IRF8 mediates TLR9 signaling through TRAF6 and NF-κB (41, 42). Production of IFN-γ and TNF-α was normal in our patient in NK cells stimulated by PMA/ionomycin or EBV-transformed B cells, suggesting that disruption of cytokine production was not the primary mechanism of viral susceptibility in our patient. Elevated levels of IFN-γ (both intracellular and secreted in response to stimuli) were measured from our patient at multiple times of assessment. While the clinical significance of this is unclear, it may be related to PRDM1 downregulation (detected by gene expression array and qPCR of patient B cell lines), as PRDM1 has been previously shown to directly bind and negatively regulate the IFN-γ locus in human NK cells (43). In contrast, as previously reported in PBMCs (19), K108E/K108E NK cells did not produce IFN-γ in response to stimulation, suggesting that the differential effect of the mutations on IRF1 activation may include differing effects on IFN-γ production in NK cells. In primary NK cells or NK-92 cell lines, cytokine stimulation increases levels of nuclear IRF8 and increased binding to DNA (43, 44). In CD8+ T cells, common γ chain signaling in combination with CD3 cross-linking results in increased IRF8 expression in concert with JAK/STAT signaling and leads to differentiation of CD8+ effectors from naive precursors. Deletion of IRF8 results in decreased, but not absent, T lymphocyte cytotoxicity, and it is hypothesized that presentation of γc cytokine, namely IL-15, in combination with antigen by neighboring DCs could drive CD8+ differentiation (45). IL-15 is unique among cytokines in its absolute requirement for NK cell development and homeostasis in both mice and humans (46, 47). Therefore, the positioning of IRF8 in this critical signaling pathway speaks to its importance in generating mature, functional human NK cells, and the significant downregulation of JAK3 and STAT5A and -B in our patient relative to 3 healthy donors supports this hypothesis.
While we show that the NK cell developmental defect is intrinsic, an additional model for the requirement of IRF8 in NK cell development and function would be through the trans-presentation of IL-15 by DCs, which would potentially make the loss of DCs and functional defect of NK cells in IRF8 patients particularly damaging. Our data support a link between IL-15, IRF8, and NK cell development, as we show that IL-15 increases IRF8 protein expression in as few as 6 hours in ex vivo NK cells. This observation suggests a need for the IL-15–induced proliferation of CD56bright NK cells in the generation of the CD56dim subset, as proposed in the report of MCM4 deficiency, the only other reported immune deficiency to result in this distinctive NK cell phenotype (2). This concept was originally proposed by Lutz et al. after they showed that CD56bright NK cells undergo significantly greater proliferation than the CD56dim subset (48). In addition, FLT3L-mediated development of DCs is dependent on IRF8 signaling, and FLT3L-deficient mice have decreased NK cell number and impaired NK cell development (49). Therefore, our data could suggest a similar requirement for IRF8 in FLT3L-mediated signaling in NK cells.
While a direct role for IRF8 in NK cell development has not been described, IRF2-deficient mice have reduced NK cell number and, as a result, impaired NK cell cytotoxic function (50, 51). Further, IRF2-deficient bone marrow is enriched for immature NK cells (selective loss of the CD11bhiDX5hi subset) with higher rates of apoptosis and decreased sensitivity to IL-15, a defect that is cell intrinsic (51). Whether the loss of CD56dim NK cells in IRF8 deficiency is a result of accelerated apoptosis of this subset, as is the case for IRF2 mice, or a result of impairment in the transition from CD56bright to CD56dim, remains to be seen. While IRF1-deficient mice also have decreased NK cell number and function, IRF1 is required for IL-15 production by bone marrow stromal cells, and the NKD in these mice is due to the loss of IL-15 in the niche (52).
IRF8 plays a role in lineage commitment, particularly of DCs and B cells, and can substitute for the highly related factor IRF4 in some circumstances (18, 40, 53, 54). Both IRF4 and IRF8 have the capacity to act as either transcriptional activators or repressors but require other lineage-specific transcription factors as binding partners to achieve the appropriate outcome. For example, IRF4/IRF8 can interact with PU.1 or SPI-B at cis-regulatory regions termed Ets-IRF composite elements (EICEs) in B cells, DCs, and macrophages. While PU.1 is not required for NK cell development, PU.1-deficient NK cells in mice showed reduced proliferation both at baseline and in response to IL-12 and IL-2 (55). However, PU.1 is difficult to detect in mature NK cells and is hypothesized to be required exclusively for lineage commitment (56). While EICEs are fairly well characterized, genetic approaches in T cells and DCs have recently revealed novel motifs recognized by IRF4/IRF8, such as AP-1–IRF composite elements bound by BATF-IRF complexes (57, 58). Given the normal regulation of PU.1 and IRF1 elements by our patient’s IRF8 variants, work is currently underway to identify novel binding partners of IRF8 in NK cells.
Recent high-resolution analysis of the ontology of both mouse and human ILC and NK cell lineages shows IRF8 highly expressed specifically in NK cells and, in the case of human cells, intraepithelial ILC1s (59, 60). Our gene expression analysis of purified NK cells suggests that IRF8 plays a direct role in the regulation of NK cell genes required for maturation and function of human NK cells. These include NFIL3 (encoding E4BP4), PRDM1 (encoding BLIMP-1), TBX21 (encoding T-bet), and IKZF2 (encoding HELIOS), all previously shown to be required for mature NK cell generation and/or homeostasis (43, 61–66). E4bp4–/– mice fail to generate even immature NK cell precursors, indicating a very early blockade in development, and E4BP4 is considered a master regulator of NK cell fate (61, 64, 65). The previously demonstrated gene dosage effect of E4BP4 suggests that repression but not absence of NFIL3, as seen in our patient, may lead to decreased mature NK cell numbers while not completely abrogating development (61), and placing NFIL3 downstream of IRF8 would be consistent with previous reports showing normal IRF8 expression in Nfil3–/– mice (67). Similarly, Tbx21–/– mice fail to generate mature NK cells and T-bet expression increases with NK cell maturation, with T-bet highly expressed in the CD56dim NK cell subset (62, 68). Both PRDM1 and HELIOS tune NK cell responsiveness; PRDM1 is a transcriptional repressor that binds directly to TNF and IFNG loci to regulate cytokine secretion in human NK cells (43) and is bound directly by IRF8 in B cells and macrophages (34), whereas HELIOS regulation is a mechanism of modulation of NK cell activity mediated through NKp46 ligation (69). Finally, the NK cell defect observed in our patient may be attributable to the significant downregulation of STAT5a and STAT5b, in concert with JAK3 and perforin. This signaling axis has been shown to be critical for NK cell survival and function, and STAT5b regulates NK cell cytolytic activity by binding directly to the perforin promoter (70, 71). Collectively, our data suggest that IRF8 may be playing a role in both NK cell lineage commitment and effector responses, which is in keeping with the functional and developmental defects observed in NK cells from patients with biallelic IRF8 mutations.
In summary, we have defined a novel NKD and primary immunodeficiency that occurs specifically as a result of biallelic mutations in IRF8 encoding the transcription factor IRF8. These alterations result in impaired NK cell function, decreased NK cell number, and loss of the CD56dim subset of human NK cells, reflecting impaired NK cell terminal maturation also observed in Irf8–/–, but not Irf8+/–, mice. Immunodeficiency occurring in association with IRF8 mutation is likely to involve defects of NK cells in addition to previously described loss of monocytes, DCs, and macrophage function. These findings define a novel, critical role for IRF8 function in NK cell development, extending the previously described range of phenotypes associated with IRF8 mutation in humans and identifying IRF8 mutation as the fourth genetic explanation for classical NKD leading to aberrant NK cell development and association with susceptibility to viral disease.
Human NK cell preparation and target cell lines. PBMCs were isolated by density centrifugation over Ficoll-Paque lymphocyte isolation medium according to the manufacturer’s protocol (Amersham). For enrichment of NK cells for qPCR analysis, whole blood was incubated with RosetteSep (STEMCELL Technologies) before density centrifugation. For isolation of cells from tonsils, tissue was obtained from routine tonsillectomies and mechanically separated by passing through a 40-μm strainer prior to isolation of secondary lymphoid cells by density centrifugation. Human K562 target cells were used for 51Cr release assays and maintained in supplemented RPMI media as previously described (72). K562 cells were acquired from American Type Culture Collection and routinely confirmed to be mycoplasma negative.
Murine NK cell phenotyping. Irf8–/– mice were generated as described previously (29) and were a gift from Keiko Ozato (NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). Male and female mice between 9 and 12 weeks of age were euthanized upon arrival in accordance with Baylor College of Medicine’s animal care guidelines. Spleens were removed and single-cell suspensions prepared by mechanical separation and density centrifugation as previously described (73). Blood was obtained by heart puncture immediately following euthanasia. All cells were maintained in PBS/2% FCS at 4°C throughout the staining procedure. Cells were stained for viability with LIVE/DEAD cell staining kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Thermo Fisher). Rat anti-mouse Fc Block (Becton Dickinson) was added for 10 minutes on ice, and then fluorophore-conjugated specific antibodies against extracellular markers were added for 30 minutes (antibodies listed in Supplemental Table 4). Cells were washed once in 2% FCS/PBS, then fixed in a final concentration of 1% paraformaldehyde. Cells were acquired and data analyzed as described for human flow cytometry and immune phenotyping.
Generation of lymphoblastoid cell lines. Lymphoblastoid cell lines were generated from patient PBMCs by addition of EBV supernatant as previously described (74). Briefly, PBMCs were transduced with a B95-8 EBV supernatant and cultured in RPMI medium with 10% FBS, 2 mM glutamine, and 1 μg/ml cyclosporin A. Cell lines were confirmed mycoplasma negative before their use in experiments.
NK cell functional assays. Standard 51Cr release assays were performed in round-bottomed plates against K562 target cells as previously described (75).
Flow cytometry and immune phenotyping. Fluorophore-conjugated antibodies used for multiparametric flow cytometry analysis of patient PBMCs are listed in Supplemental Table 4. Where indicated, stimulation for the detection of intracellular cytokines was by PMA/ionomycin for 4 hours in the presence of brefeldin A followed by fixation and permeabilization with BD Cytofix/Cytoperm. For intracellular staining of IRF8 by flow cytometry, cells were permeabilized using the FoxP3 transcription buffer staining kit (eBioscience) followed by incubation with IRF8 eFluor 710 (clone V3GYWCH, eBioscience). Flow cytometry was acquired on a BD Fortessa configured for 14 colors. All analysis was done in FlowJo X (Tree Star). Positive populations were identified as those with fluorescence greater than that of isotype or fluorescence-minus-one controls. Cytokine bead arrays were performed with custom BD Biosciences CBA Flex Sets using IL-12, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-10 probes. PBMCs (2 × 106) were incubated for 4 hours with 105 EBV-transformed B cells previously induced to lytic cycle with 200 ng/ml phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. Data were analyzed with FlowJo X (Tree Star), and statistical analysis was performed and graphed using Prism 6.0 software (GraphPad Software).
Imaging flow cytometry. Cells were fixed and permeabilized using FoxP3 transcription buffer (eBioscience) followed by incubation with IRF8 eFluor 710 (clone V3GYWCH, eBioscience) and DAPI. Samples were acquired on an ImageStream MkII (EMD Millipore) with a ×40 objective. Spectral compensation was applied using single-stained controls. Images were processed and exported using IDEAS software (EMD Millipore). Similarity score was calculated in IDEAS as a measure of colocalization.
Western blotting. Lymphoblastoid cell lines (3 × 105) from patient or healthy donor were lysed, separated by 4%–10% SDS-PAGE gel, then transferred to nitrocellulose membrane, and blocked with skim milk. IRF8 was detected with anti-ICSBP (clone C-19, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and actin with anti-actin (catalog A2066, Sigma-Aldrich) followed by goat anti-rabbit IRDye 700 secondary antibody. Proteins were detected on a LiCor Odyssey.
Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. RNA was extracted from enriched NK cells or secondary lymphoid cells (SLC) using DirectZol (Genesee Scientific) or RNeasy (Qiagen), and cDNA was made using VILO (Invitrogen). IRF8, PRDM1, NFIL3, and IRF4 were amplified on a Roche Light Cycler by Taqman gene expression array. GAPDH was used to normalize expression for each sample. Each condition was performed in quadruplicate. Analysis was performed with Roche Light Cycler software and exported to Excel before graphing with Prism 6.0 (GraphPad software).
Genetic analyses. Genomic DNA was extracted from EDTA-preserved nonheparinized blood samples using the Gentra PureGene Blood Kit (Qiagen). Whole exome sequencing was conducted as previously described (23). Briefly, exonic portions of genomic DNA fragments were captured in solution using custom VCrome probes (NimbleGen). Resulting DNA was sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 2500 equipment. Data processing and variant annotation were performed per standard pipeline analyses. Variants were evaluated using both recessive and dominant models. Bioinformatic filters were placed using a minor allelic frequency less than 0.005 in recessive models within the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics (18), ESP5400, 1000 Genomes, and ExAC databases. Potential recessive variants were also excluded if present in the ExAC database with a homozygote or hemizygote count of 10 or greater. For compound heterozygous analyses, variants were excluded if both variants were present in the maternal exome or in the exome of the unaffected brother. For autosomal dominant model analyses, variants were excluded with minor allelic frequencies greater than 0.001 in the same databases and if present in the ExAC database with an allele count greater than 5. Variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing; primers were constructed using Primer3 (http://biotools.umassmed.edu/bioapps/primer3_www.cgi), and amplified DNA constructs were sequenced by the Baylor DNA Sequencing Core Facility. Sequences were visualized using 4Peaks software (Nucleobytes). For the deceased sister, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded gallbladder tissue slices were retrieved from the Pathology Department at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA). DNA was extracted by the Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center for Sanger sequencing.
In vitro NK cell differentiation. CD34+ precursors were isolated from peripheral blood of the patient or healthy donor and highly purified by fluorescence-based cell sorting. Following purification, cells were incubated on mitotically inactivated OP9-DL1 stromal cells (a gift from J.C. Zúñiga-Pflücker, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) in media containing 5 ng/ml IL-3, 20 ng/ml IL-7, 10 ng/ml FLT3L, and 10 ng/ml IL-15 for 4 weeks. After culture, cells were phenotyped by FACS in parallel with control cells from a healthy donor.
RNA isolation and gene expression analysis. NK cells were isolated by FACS sorting to greater than 95% purity following enrichment by RosetteSep negative selection (STEMCELL Technologies). Fifty to a hundred nanograms of RNA was analyzed with the Human Immunology v2 probe set using a NanoString nCounter. Background correction was done using the mean of 8 negative control probes. Normalization was performed by calculation of the geometric mean of positive controls and content normalization parameters (15 housekeeping genes). Data processing was performed using nSolver software, and data were exported to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis for further analyses. Genes up- and downregulated greater than 1.5-fold in samples relative to the mean of all 3 healthy donor controls were considered significant.
Luciferase assays. Constructs encoding WT human IRF8 or allelic variants A201V and P224L were generated in the pIRES2-EGFP expression vector (Clontech). These were cotransfected with vectors encoding IRF1 or PU.1 and reporter luciferase vectors harboring interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE) or EICE motifs and quantified using the Promega dual luciferase assay system. Details of the PSMB8 and TAPASIN promoter luciferase vectors have been described previously (76).
Statistics. Statistical analysis was performed using Prism 6.0 (GraphPad Software). Unpaired 2-tailed Student’s t test was used to compare data sets. Ordinary 1-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test was performed for multiple comparisons. For all data shown, error bars denote SD. A P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Study approval. All studies were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki with the written and informed consent of all participants under the guidance of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, NIH, University of Newcastle, and Baylor College of Medicine Institutional Review Boards. Animal studies were performed in accordance with the Baylor College of Medicine and NIH Animal Care Committees.
The study was conceptualized by EMM, JRL, and JSO. Methodology was developed by EMM, VB, GMD, MC, SMH, M.A. Caligiuri, JRL, RAG, SP, and JSO. Investigation was performed by EMM, MDK, IKC, DFL, SNJ, DMM, ASP, ZCA, TNC, JTG, SP, LSA, GDH, JBS, MHS, LBW, DTL, ST, M.A. Care, SM, AGF, and EPS. EMM and JSO wrote the original draft of the manuscript. EMM, JRL, VB, MC, GMD, MDK, and JSO reviewed and edited the manuscript. Funding acquisition was by JSO and JRL. Clinical care was provided by JSO, SMH, SS, MDK, AJC. Resources were provided by KO.
The authors thank all the patients and their families, particularly the proband’s, for their engagement in this study. The authors also thank Linda Monaco-Shawver for technical assistance. This project was supported by the Genomic and RNA Profiling Core at Baylor College of Medicine and the expert assistance of the core director, Lisa D. White, and Mylinh Bernardi. This work was supported by NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grants R01AI067946 and R01 AI120989 to JSO, the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, and NIH (National Human Genome Research Institute/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) grant U54HG006542 to the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics.
DFL’s present address is: Allergic Disease Associates, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
EPS’s present address is: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
GDH’s present address is: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Conflict of interest: J.R.Lupski has stock ownership in 23andMe, is a paid consultant for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, has stock options in Lasergen, Inc. is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Baylor Genetics, and is a co-inventor on multiple United States and European patents related to molecular diagnostics for inherited neuropathies, eye diseases, and bacterial genomic fingerprinting (5294533; 5306616; 5523217; 5599920; 5667968; 5780223; 6132954; 6713300; 7141420; 7189511; 7192579; 7273698; 7537899; 8129353; 9365899; 0424473; 0610396; 0989805). The Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine derives revenue from the chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) and clinical exome sequencing offered in Baylor Genetics (BMGL: http://www.bmgl.com/BMGL/Default.aspx).
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I am a very happily married woman, who is totally blessed with an amazing husband, two strong and loving sons, and their wives, who are each a wonderful addition to our family. Faith has always been important to me. My husband and I would never have the marriage we have today if God was not the foundation of our marriage.
I am a cradle Catholic, and received twelve years of Catholic Education. My parents made sure to take my sisters and me to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. One of my sisters is quadriplegic, and “back in the day”, disabled people didn’t get out much. That led to Masses in our home, and some “Charismatic” Catholic functions (which I did not understand). We also said an occasional rosary as a family.
As I grew in faith, I wanted nothing to do with the rosary. I believed that a person should pray straight to Jesus, that it was blasphemy to pray to the Blessed Mother. That belief would change drastically…about a year and a half ago, my faith started to deepen as never before.
In the Spring of 2012, my husband and I happened to drive past a group of about 25 people, who were praying, at the Pro Life 40 Days for Life, at a local abortion clinic. I wanted to quietly show our support. As we were getting closer to the group (who were standing in an oval shape on a grassy area), I could feel the Holy Spirit so strong that it made me cry. The spirit was so intense that it felt like a wall of love. I saw a woman holding a sign that stated “I regret my abortion”, and I felt great admiration for her courage and deep empathy for her pain. I continued to feel the Spirit while we drove past the group, and then once we passed them, it disappeared. I looked over at my husband, and he had tears in his eyes…he felt the Spirit too. I realized that they were praying the rosary, and it was the Holy Spirit around them; they were standing on Holy Ground.
A little while went by, and I wasn’t even thinking of the event at 40 Days for Life. I was trying to figure out what I could do for Lent that would be meaningful. I was literally PULLED and DRAWN to pray the rosary. It was like I had no choice…I started to say the rosary almost every day. (Remember how I had previously avoided the rosary?) To make a long story short, I have been praying the rosary almost daily ever since, for the conversion of sinners, and for the hearts and souls of the people the Holy Spirit whispers to me every day. The meditations and prayers have increased my faith immensely – our Blessed Mother has led me closer to Her Son. My relationship with Jesus is more intense than ever, and I look forward to the revelation of each new day, to bring us even closer.
Relationships have always been my life’s focus. I truly believe that the love of Jesus is shared through the people we interact with every day, starting with immediate family, and then branching out all the way to the people we may casually pass on the street.
The ability to feel a person’s inner struggles comes easily to me. Often times, I actually feel a person’s pain or conflict. Up until recently, this ability to take on people’s emotions left me very confused. My mood would swing from feeling happiness in my day-to-day life, and all of a sudden, would change to extreme anger or sadness. I did not understand I was picking up the emotions and spirits from others. Now I realize the empathy that comes naturally to me, is a gift from God. This gift allows me to know when someone is in need.
I just discovered your blog and you are very inspirational! Your stories are written from the heart and are entertaining as well as spiritual and informative. Thank you so much for posting how God is working in your life. I pray that God will continue to grow and bless you!
Thanks, Abby, for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment. I believe we all have a story to share to touch and uplift eachother, and share the love of Jesus. I LOVE your blog…very honest and heartfelt sharing of your journey with Christ. May God hold you in the palm of His hand and continue to bless you and your family.
Thanks for stopping by and like our roll with it Wednesday 😀. You are welcome to stop back anytime 😀 God bless you!
My pleasure! I love to share things that touch my heart. Blessings to you!
I read your blog post about your experience with God’s angel and agree, God sends His angels to protect His children. Something happened to me that can only be explained as intervention from an angel of God.
Lyn, I think it is so important to know each others’ stories. I would love to hear yours. Blessings to you!
Thanks for your visit at Wings of the Dawn and for your encouragement there. I appreciate your sharing a part of your life and walk with Jesus here. God bless you.
It is wonderful getting to know new friends through the sharing of life stories/journeys. I feel that God is blessing me immensely….each day I am filled with inspiration and love through so many different, unique perspectives. The commonality is the search for Christ’s peace and love in our lives, in order to share it with others. May God bless you, too!
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and liking my post. I hope it was of encouragement and blessing to you!
I am really encouraged by your blog and it’s name for it speaks volumes, especially regarding Christ. Many blessings to you as you continue to encourage others!
So sorry it took so long to respond. Thank you for your kind words. May God continue to guide and bless you!
Just wanted to say thank you so much for coming by my blog, and to ask you if you might be able to possibly come back and re-read this post. I added something to the next to the last paragraph that I think is very important to my point.
Thanks so much for letting me know about the add to your post. Such powerful words about God’s healing love. Love and blessings your way!
Just wanted to stop by and thank you for “liking” my latest post, which, apparently, you read before I had finished posting it! 🙂 Ain’t WordPress amazing? 🙂 Thanks, again.
Loved your post. God should fill our entire hearts and lives, not just a little “God” space that we “squeeze in”.
Your story is so inspiring. Thanks for sharing. Isn’t it wonderful how much prayer can enhance our lives with the Holy Spirit! Love reading your blog. So blessed to have found it!
Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind words. Yes, it is amazing how the Holy Spirit directs us and fills us with His love, when we invite Him in. Have a blessed day.
Hannah, thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment. I look forward to getting to know you:-) May God carry you and bless you and your family.
Hi Bernadette! Thanks for stopping by and following me on Reflections From the Heart and on my Twitter! I read some of your material as well and have reciprocated 🙂 I am now one of your fans. Blessings!
I look forward to getting to know you through your posts:-) May God bless you!
So sorry, I didn’t mean to toot my own horn. I just remember a new follower who had searched for it told me this and I couldn’t find the comment on any of my blogs. (So I’ll keep searching) Thanks for letting me know.
Bernadette, I love that name. I am just so excite to read that you read the book of Sister Patricia of Called by Joy. Thank you for reading the book! Blessings to you and yours. Perpetua.
Do you know that the gravatar I am using and the eyes on my header is St. Bernadette?
Yes, I thought so but wasn’t sure:-). I am reading “Bernadette Speaks” by Rene Laurentin now. I thought your picture looked like the one on the cover of my book.
Do you have a special devotion or interest in Saint Bernadette?
I am so sorry it has taken me this long to respond. Thank you for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. It was totally unexpected, and really humbles me.
After much thought, I decided against accepting awards. Although, it is an honor, I am focusing on writing what the Lord inspires me to write, written in the way that He guides me to.
I enloy reading your blog, and look forward to getting to know you more through your posts.
Thanks for dropping by my blog. I was inspired with what I have read so far. I hope you will continue sharing your heart and faith with the world. Let’s continue to Know Him and Make Him Known.
One never knows what power that a kind word or gesture will have….
I had 8 years of Catholic education and my family said the rosary together every night (my poor knees on the hardwood floor).
You are so right…we usually do not see the power and effect of our kindnesses done in love.
Hi Lorrie, I am happy you stopped by, too! It is wonderful to know someone who understands what this gift feels like. I’ve had it for my whole life too, but like you, did not understand. About two years ago, I was finally enlightened, and am also learning to distinguish what is “mine” and what I am picking up from someone. And that “someone” may be in a different location, or I can pick it up through writing. Are you also very good at reading body language? I never was aware before, that I am constantly reading body language. It is second nature to me.
I would love to get to know you, and I may have some info that would be helpful to you:-) I look forward to reading your posts.
Oh Bernadette. ..that is so wonderful for you to offer! Yes…I read body language too. From a very young age I could walk in to a room and know exactly what is going on. I can tell when people don’t like each other even if they pretend really well. I also get energy from reading and from loved ones out of state.
It can all be very confusing sometimes. I think I now understand that throughout my life there were times I would suddenly get so sad…and I wouldn’t know why.
I fought this…or just didn’t understand it most of my life…but I am embracing it now…and it feels much better!!!
Thank you so much for your kindness 🙂 I’m so happy to meet you!!
Thank you again for hearing the cry of my heart and reaching out. I am doing much better, mostly thanks to your encouragement and insight. I shall never forget your kindness!
So happy to hear you are doing better. Don’t ever hesitate to contact me if you’d just like to talk, or if there is something you may need:-) I will keep you in my prayers.
Isn’t it amazing how God uses all of our experiences to build His kingdom? We are all interconnected!
I have left a comment on your Post about forgiveness blmaluso and yes I often speak to Jesus and my Abba Father and I feel compassion for those who are hurting and I also stand up for God’s Truth, including the evil of Abortion, not because I have to but because I want to, I Love Him.
The Scripture tells us we have one Intercessor, Jesus Christ, He is the only person who was sinless.
I would appreciate blmaluso if you would please share the Scriptures that confirm we are to pray to those who are dead to have our sins forgiven, like Mary and those that the Roman Catholic Church called Saints, which is what we all are in Christ Jesus and where does it confirm repetitious prayers are acceptable like when you use the Rosemary.
It is not Love or kindness to allow others to believe and teach error.
Just to clarify if you are making fun of the rosary…it is a rosary, not the rosemary.
No blmaluso, I was not making fun, I think using the rosemary is very sad, it has no Scriptural foundation, in Truth it opposes it . I’m Dyslectic and often spell words wrong, it’s something I have lived with all my life, I also can’t write in detail without the Lord’s leading and with being a cracked vessel I’m thankful He is the Super Glue and what He fixes never comes unstuck.
I have never claimed to pray to Saints or Our Blessed Mother for forgiveness of sins. Only the Lord can forgive our sins, and our salvation is found in and through Jesus.
http://www.rosary-center.org/howto.htm#loaded Make sure to click on the mysteries…Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious to see what the meditations are.
The Rosary is a meditation on the life of Jesus. When I pray the rosary, I ask Mary to pray for me, and also to lead me closer to Jesus, her son. I also pray for the conversion of sinners; for the opening of eyes, ears and hearts to Jesus’ saving love and peace.
Be very careful of what you believe and “teach” regarding Church error. I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to guide you and lead you on your journey to Him.
Anne, thank you for your comment. I know you are speaking from your heart, although your “knowledge” is misdirected and misinformed. When I have a few moments to answer more in detail, I will answer your concerns about the Catholic Church.
That being said, I will not debate back and forth the validity of the only Church that was started by Jesus himself. All other churches are man made, being led by different “leaders” or led by the people themselves. Why would I trust someone other than Jesus who entrusted the Church to Peter? Why would I trust your interpretation, instead of putting my faith in a Church that traces back to The Lord Himself?
If you are truly searching for THE TRUTH and not just throwing daggers, please look up some Scott Hahn books about the Mass, and other aspects of the Catholic Faith. You can check out my Books page if you are interested in learning about the Catholic faith, instead of perpetuating what you believe the Church is.
Again, thank you for reading, and thank you for your comment. I will keep you in my prayers.
Bernadette, yes I like your real name much better than blmaluso, but it probably has meaning for you like Freedomborn does for me. I also believe that you feel you are right but your About message is all about feelings, there is no Scriptural confirmation for what you have been taught by your Church, in regards to Mary, the Rosary and other untruths, what you believe it only based on man’s own fleshy understanding and what they have propagated sadly for many years.
I too believe in God’s Universal Church, not meaning the Roman Catholic Church, as we know they were established later but God’s Church, which is World wide and includes people from every Country and Denomination as well as house Churches etc because it’s of the Heart, it’s not made of bricks and mortar or the traditions of men.
Something that is often misquoted by Catholics, is Jesus was saying that God’s Church would be built on what Peter said not on Peter “Jesus is the Rock ” (see below) and He is The Head of God’s Church, not a man and we are the Body of Christ and so was Peter and so is the Pope and when we pray in the Spirit and in Unity (Matthew 18:18-19) (Ephesians 6:17-19 – Acts 1:13-15 – Matthew 16:19 ) as you can see by these Scriptures our prayers are answered. But the Unity God wants is not based on man’s fleshy understanding, reasoning or logic but on His Truth.
Deuteronomy 32:3-5 Because I will publish the Name of the LORD, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of Truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.
1 Corinthians 10:3-5 And did all eat the same Spiritual meat; And did all drink the same Spiritual drink: for they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Something that is very important is we are to ask for and believe you have God’s wisdom and empowering by The Holy Spirit or we will continue to Trust in fleshy, or worldly understanding and remain in darkness, it’s a choice!
Anne, before I write to address some of your questions and accusations, I pray that the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, ears and hearts to each other in love. I ask that The Lord fills our hearts with His love, wisdom and understanding, and that we are open to His truth. I pray in the name of Jesus that we are used as vessels of his love and his direction.
I will address the Catholic Faith first. As I shared with you before, if you would like to learn the truth of the Catholic Church, please check out Scott Hahn. He has written many very informative, scripture based books on the subject. He also shared your questions and concerns regarding the Catholic Faith. “The Supper of the Lamb” would be very beneficial for you to read. Again, it is based in scripture.
It truly makes me sad that you are under such misconception and error regarding the Catholic Church. I understand where you are coming from…I had many of the same issues and questions for a few years. Until my heart filled up with the mercy and love of Jesus, and he opened my eyes of faith. My relationship with Jesus becomes more intimate every day, in a way I never even could have fathomed. The Catholic Faith allows me countless ways to journey with him and worship my Father in heaven. The key is the relationship we form to him, and how, when we are united with him, he fills our hearts with an overflowing love that spills out to all souls in need of conversions…the souls that need Him.
Even when I was riddled with questions and confusion regarding the Catholic Church, one thing kept me from leaving…..that is the Real Presence. (Catholic Church is the only Church that institutes The Holy Eucharist) Yes, the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and I am privileged to be called to His banquet that He sets before us at the Mass.
I will not turn down the invitation to be one with Jesus.
I for one will not argue with Jesus and His gift to us to PARTAKE in the Last Supper with my Lord. Jesus was sacrificed ONCE for our salvation, and we offer that sacrifice at the Mass. What a privilege.
It seems that the spoken part by the angel Gabriel starts off with a greeting – “Hail” in some translations “Greetings” in others. I suppose it depends on what the translator was comfortable with and who is the target audience for each specific translation. According to Dictionary.com “hail” (in this sense) is a term that is used as a greeting for someone, sometimes signifying importance of that person.
Mary is ‘most blessed among women’ and ‘highly favored’ by God. How many other people in Scripture have received such designations – none.
Mary is considered of such high favor with God and Elizabeth recognizes that she is special only because of Jesus. Mary was chosen to bear Jesus by God, so God singled her out from all other women on the planet. Elizabeth recognized that she was bearing the son of God and so recognized that she was special.
The core of Catholicism is Jesus, not Mary. We ask Mary to pray for us and she LEADS us to Jesus. From personal experience, this is exactly what happened in my life. I always believed, but I did not have a relationship with Jesus. Since I have been meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, my relationship with Jesus has become more intimate.
We cannot simply neglect Mary. She plays an integral role in the redemption of the world. She said yes, Jesus was born and we were redeemed (by Jesus of course). One cannot simply talk about Jesus without being grateful to his mother. God did not choose to just place Jesus on earth as He could have; he chose for Jesus to have a real mother, and his mother is Mary. Also, if God is our heavenly father, and Jesus is his son and our brother, wouldn’t that make Jesus’ mother OUR MOTHER too? Wouldn’t she love us and want what’s best for us, which would be to lead us to Jesus?
The Hail Mary is not a prayer of worship, but it is a recitation of Scripture and then asking her to pray for us to God; much like asking our other Christian brothers and sisters to pray for us.
You say I base my faith on feelings. No, my faith is a gift from God. I will NEVER deny the all-consuming love I am surrounded and filled with because the Holy Spirit lives within my heart.
http://www.scotthahn.com/mary.html Information and answers to questions regarding the role of Mary and where she stands in the Catholic Faith.
Again Anne, my faith is a gift from God, and I choose to be a part of the one True Catholic Church on earth…that was instituted by Jesus himself. It is your choice to accept these truths or not. Although we are sisters in Christ, I do not choose to follow your interpretation of the scripture of what you believe truth is. Jesus instituted The Church so that we would not be left to fend for ourselves here on earth.
I am joy filled that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, and stand firm on His Word. Be sure to keep your eyes, ears and heart open to The Holy Spirit’s whispers. You have all these “feelings” about the Catholic Faith because of misconceptions you have about what Catholics truly believe. You did not come across my blog site by accident. Make sure to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, and read some of Scott Hahn’s books. You will find more books, if you are searching for answers to your questions, on my favorite books page.
If you would like to continue our discussion, you may email me at [email protected]. I do not wish to cause unnecessary division that would harm relationships between brothers and sisters in Christ.
I have removed your latest post, for there are so many errors and misconceptions that I do not want them to even be seen on my site. Much confusion.
In my previous post I asked that our conversations be private, and you did not respect my request. After reading your last post, I ask that you do some of the reading by Scott Hahn that I suggested before contacting me. That would tell me that you are interested in actually having your questions answered rather than just slinging mud.
I pray that the Lord keeps you in his care.
Praying the rosary has changed my life…and also the lives of the people I have been praying for…it would be very hard for me NOT to share!!!
I have struggled with praying the rosary at times (I used to find it more like a chore than a prayer), but I’ve lately been praying it while driving and have been finding it to be very fruitful.
As you read, I am a cradle Catholic. However, in the last few years my faith has been strengthened in a way I could never have even imagined. It’s like my eyes and heart have been opened to the sheer beauty and depth of the Catholic faith…and all the ways The Catholic Church offers us to grow closer to Jesus. The more I learn, the more my spirit is filled with love, and the knowledge that there is so much MORE to learn and grasp:-) Praise the Lord and all His wondrous works!
Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you would like for me to refer books/CDs/movies, etc. I also try to keep some media/info on hand, and will mail to you if requested. My email is [email protected] if you would wish to contact me.
May God bless you on your journey. I will pray for you!
My goodness. I can really relate to you, especially in the sensitivity/empathy. It’s a burden at times, feeling all those emotions; but, as we both know, it’s a treasure to be able to sit along side a friend in need and help lighten the load of sorrow. Being a loving witness to both joy and pain – it is a gift from God. Only he can sustain it. On my own, I’ll run it right into the ground (as I did for decades). But under the control of the Spirit, it is my most treasured blessing.
I’m glad you found my blog. I hope we stay connected.
Lori, for so many years I just assumed everyone could “feel” what I feel. Actually, up until a few years ago I did not understand it at all. Looking back, I have been blessed with this “gift” since I was very young. I could feel the spirit and mood of the day from my father and became very sensitive to it. So many other memories through the years that I experienced without knowing what I was experiencing. Does that make sense???
Now, because I’ve learned to listen to what the Spirit shows me, I can pray (and sometimes intervene).
I’m glad we share this experience and can encourage each other.
Thank you for choosing to follow my blog. May ever day draw you closer to and more like Jesus in every way. May God bless your family and your blog richly.
Thank you, Tom. May God continue to bless you and all those your heart touches.
Hi Bernadette, thank you for reading and following my blog! Nice to meet you!
Hi Bernadette, thanks for liking Beauty Sleeps Inside at my Angie Mc’s Reblog Love https://angiemcreblogs.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/beauty-sleeps-inside/ .
I’m always glad to meet friends who love Mama Mary; what’s not to love?!
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment:-) I truly appreciate it. I also look forward to reading more of your posts.
Beautiful story, you are evangelising one person at a time. I try to say the Rosary too everyday. I do it through the relevant radio app. God bless you, Terri.
Terri, thank you for your kind words of support:-) May God bless you, one day at a time!
Hello, I read about your faith path and right away thought about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I had taken an inventory of my Gifts of the HS last year and found it to be truly telling. Please check out the Charism of Mercy. It sounds like what your are talking about, feeling others pain and wanting to soothe it. http://www.maineholyspirit.org/charisms.html explains it briefly. It sounds like you could have some other charisms along with it. Ask your Church if they have The Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory by Sherry Weddell. Blessings to you.
Thanks so much for leaving such a thoughtful comment. Also, I love the list of Charisms….thank you! Yes, mercy is probably the very strongest for me, and there are more, including Discernment of Spirits. May God especially bless you today!
I am totally feeling your heart because it is very reflective of what God has also deposited in me. I think what makes the difference is what we do with the heart of God when he reveals it to us and your writing does express much of his love. Thank you also that you know that faith without works is dead so continue to help and make a difference in the life of others.
Simon, You are already on my prayer list. I don’t argue with the devil, however, I pray that the Lord will open your eyes to The Truth. I will not expose my readers to your spewing of darkness. Did I ever say I did not love you? Although I do not know you, you have been created in the Image Of God. It is sad to me that you do not accept this Truth.
“Many times, someone needs to know that ‘somebody loves me’ before they can accept that ‘God loves me’.” I completely agree! So very well said. Thank you for showing some of that love to me by stopping by my blog and liking one of my posts. What a blessing!
May God bless you and carry you through this dry time. I am also experiencing this. I will pray for you while I am praying the rosary. I honestly believe that God is closest to us, and working through us in a greater way when we are not FEELING it. Love has nothing to do with feelings. It’s wonderful when we have those warm and reassuring feelings, however, our love for God is a decision, and He will never abandon us. And we have His Mother to comfort and guide us, and His Spirit to work through us and fill us with true joy. | 2019-04-18T15:21:16Z | https://somebodylovesmeblog.wordpress.com/about/ |
Are missing anything? if you hear about an event and would like to support your local brewery or business, feel free to contact us.
We're hosting our second annual Fierce Ladies Beer Fest, a craft-beer fest featuring women-brewed beers!
The fierce ladies from all over Washington state breweries dedicated International Womxn's Day to brew up a batch of beer with the YCH Pink Boots Society Hop Blend featuring Loral, Mosaic, Simcoe, Sabro, and Glacier hops!
The beers and the festival will benefit Pink Boots Society, an organization that assists, inspires and encourages women beer industry professionals to advance their careers through education.
Tickets are $27 for 10 tokens (4oz pours in a commemorative glass to take home with you!).
This is an ALL-GENDER event, everyone is welcome to come celebrate some awesome brews from some awesome ladies. We are kid- and dog-friendly, but you do have to be 21+ to partake in the drinking.
Stay tuned for a list of participating breweries and more info!
An annual event to commemorate the week we moved into our new space - ELEVEN YEARS AGO! Once again we're turning over all SIXTEEN front taps to them!
On Saturday, May 11, 2019, To celebrate Seattle Beer Week and raise money for Seattle Children's hospital, Peach & the Pig and Wicked Good Grinders go head to head in a Star Wars themed intergalactic battle for the best cheese sandwich. The 501st Legion and The Rebel Legion will come outfitted as your favorite Star Wars characters to aid fundraising efforts. New to this year’s event is axe throwing. PNW AXE Throwing Company will be there with their axe throwing trailer to host a open session as well as a “Axe Saber” throwing competition. All of the money raised from the “Axe Saber”competition will go to Seattle Children’s. Also a portion of every Cheese War ticket sold will benefit Seattle Children's Hospital.
- A $5 donation for Seattle Children's Hospital.
Come support a great cause and enjoy this cheesy event!
Outdoor Odysseys Sea Kayaking is partnering with award winning Wander Brewing of Bellingham for a multi-day adventure of kayaking, wildlife viewing, and pairing locally crafted beers with delicious camp cuisine; spend three days paddling the San Juan Islands and two nights enjoying local craft beers as our expertly guided sea-kayaking tour by day becomes a waterfront tasting room by night.
The head brewers from Wander will be paddling with us out to Jones Island and setting up a waterfront tasting room of their classic Wanderale, our guide-favorite Dog Lost Pilsner, and hopefully some new summer brews, while you relax on the beach keeping your eyes peeled for orcas, humpbacks, seals, bald eagles and more.
Outdoor Odysseys provides all the kayaking gear, camp equipment, and gourmet meals thoughtfully prepared from local and organic ingredients; all you need to bring are your personal items, love of craft beer, and a sense of adventure.
Outdoor Odysseys Sea Kayaking is partnering with award winning Fremont Brewing of Seattle for a multi-day adventure of kayaking, wildlife viewing, and pairing locally crafted beers with delicious camp cuisine; spend three days paddling the San Juan Islands and two nights enjoying local craft beers as our expertly guided sea-kayaking tour by day becomes a waterfront tasting room by night. Fremont’s head brewers will be loading up our kayaks with cans and crowlers of fan favorites like the Universal Pale Ale, seasonal Summer Ale, and the ModPod - which honors our three pods of Southern Resident orca whales, who might even swim past the west side of the island as you lounge on the beach drinking their namesake IPA.
Friday, April 19th, Gruff Brewing and Atwood Ales celebrate the release of their collaboration ale, “Assistant to the Regional Manager". A Belgian-style saison made with estate-grown beets, the release celebrates two of Whatcom County's two smallest breweries coming together. As Atwood Ales recalls it the conversation started when Atwood Ales volunteered their golden beets, grown on their farm near Blaine, Washington. The result is a beer that imparts earthy notes, inter-played with the soft breadiness provided by the malts, and a balanced bitterness throughout.
Look for this to be released at Gruff Brewing's taproom, just down the street from Boundary Bay Brewing Company & Bistro.
While you're there, enjoy "The Office"-themed trivia for $1 per person (with a maximum of 6 per team), a costume contest, and of course "Assistant to the Regional Manager" on draft. Everything starts at 6 pm with the release of Assistant to the Regional Manager, followed by trivia at 7 pm.
Gruff Brewing is located at 104 E Maple St #101, Bellingham, WA 98225. For more information visit https://www.gruff-brewing.com/.
When describing the origins of a business it can be easy to list the details while losing sight of the excitement that led to them. You can say something about how Gruff Brewing was started in a garage in 2013 by three friends who were born and raised in Bellingham Washington. You can go further into the details by talking about how those same three friends spent their childhood winters plowing through the powder at Mt. Baker together, and spent summers exploring the Pacific Northwest and skating every piece of fresh pavement they could find. But those details don’t describe the excitement that led three childhood friends to spend every free moment they had brewing beer together, the joy of sharing a new creation with friends in a soaking wet garage with the doors open on a frigid February afternoon, or the hope that others will enjoy their beer as much as they’ve enjoyed making it.
Established in 2016 in rural, northwest Washington State, our small, family farm grows ingredients for the on-site brewery where we produce unique ales inspired by French and Belgian farmhouse brewing traditions.
We start with local ingredients: water from our local aquifer; malt from less than 50 miles away in the Skagit Valley; and our estate-grown hops. Then, we add other ingredients sourced from our own farm; gathered and foraged from the peripheries of our property; or purchased from local organic farmers, producers and processors. Finally, we ferment at ambient temperatures, in open tanks, with expressive yeast strains, before packaging and bottle conditioning the vast majority of our beers. Our beers are meant to represent some aspect of time and place, with the ingredients, seasons, weather, microbes and our brewer all having both intentional and spontaneous influences on the flavors of our beers.
Our unique, bottle conditioned and draft farmhouse ales are available throughout western Washington and in limited quantities in British Columbia and Florida.
The Olympic Club Brewfest is back, and it’s a two day event again this year! We're kicking things off on Friday night, so join us to start sampling over 40 handcrafted beers and ciders from McMenamins and guests from the Pacific Northwest, and let the good times roll right into Saturday night.
Take the train! We've partnered with Amtrak Cascades so you could be whisked right to the stop next to the Fest. Look for flyers with Amtrak 2-for-1 vouchers with a code circulated throughout McMenamins.
While our rooms are sold out, we’ve teamed up with the nearby Holiday Inn Express & Suites. Enjoy the Olympic Club’s annual Brewfest and leave the driving to us! Brewfest room rates are based on double occupancy using the promo code OBF. Each reservation comes with 2 tickets to Brewfest, 2 Brewfest glasses and a complimentary shuttle ride to and from Brewfest. It will be $20/person for each person over double occupancy. Make sure to call 360-740-1800.
Co-founder of BR549 and three-time Grammy nominee Gary Bennettgrew up in Texas and Washington State. He received his first guitar and wrote his first songs at eight-years-old. He played bass in a local, traveling country gospel band when he was 16.
He worked as a timber cutter before playing in Portland country bands full time at 25-years-old. He moved to Nashville in 1993 and met Chuck Mead to start BR549. The band travelled the world many times over while recording five albums on Arista Records.
Besides earning 3 Grammy nods, Gary has appeared on countless TV shows such as Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Nashville TV and more. In 2013 Gary returned to the Pacific NW, bought the home he was raised in and started the Coattail Riders.
Shawn O'Connor grew up in Kelso, Washington and began playing guitar at age 10. He's been a regular on the Portland music scene for over 20-years.
He's worked with Nicolette Larsen, Bobby Bare, Little Jimmy Dickens, Joni Harms and has shared the stage with Randy Travis, Blackhawk, Diamond Rio, Lonestar and Mark Collie to name a few.
Rudi Spain bass player worked with such notable Portland bands as Buckboard and has been on the Portland music scene for over 30-years.
Celebrating women in brewing by drinking beer brewed by women!
SEATTLE --- Building on the popularity of the Ballard Brewed Winter Beer Festival, the eleven breweries that comprise the Ballard Brewery District have once again joined forces to raise money forBellwether Housing, Seattle’s largest private, nonprofit affordable housing provider.
On Saturday, April 13, Bad Jimmy’s, Hales Ales Brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Lucky Envelope Brewing, Maritime Pacific Brewing Company, NW Peaks Brewery, Obec Brewing, Peddler Brewing, Populuxe Brewing, Reuben’s Brews and Stoup Brewing will come together under one roof, Hale’s Palladium, to pour tastings of their Spring beers and ales. Each will bring two beers,one of which will be released for the first time that day.
Due to popular demand (the Ballard Brewed Winter Beer Festival sold out!), the breweries have chosen to add a second session to the event.
Session one will run from 2 – 4:00 PM and feature music by Honey Mustard.
Session two will run from 5 – 7:00 PM and feature music by the Tall Boys.
Food will be available for purchase at both sessions from Chavoya’s Hot Dogs and Big Mario’s Pizza.
Advance tickets now available at Eventbrite.
Bellwether Housing builds and manages affordable housing that makes opportunity accessible to people of diverse backgrounds. We envision communities where people of all incomes and backgrounds share in the opportunity and prosperity of our region. Bellwether has developed, owned and operated housing for low-income individuals, families, seniors and households transitioning out of homelessness since 1980 --in total, 2,100 units in 32 buildings throughout Seattle serving 3200 people.
The Ballard Brewery District in Seattle is home to eleven craft brewing establishments all within walking distance to one another. Each brewery has a unique and eclectic vibe. From IPA’s to saisons, cask brews to pale ales, blondes to browns, the District has a beer bounty sure to appeal to every beer lover.
Bale Breaker is turning 6! Join us as we celebrate our birthday and let you in on a little something special—and when we say special, we're talking rainbows and glitter and garland and lots and lots of serotonin. We're talking the Imagination Station.
The Imagination Station is our psychedelic playground. It’s a funky, free place where just about the only thing that’s taken seriously is our craft and quality—everything else is fun and games and exploration. A mimosa glitter beer? Why not? We’ve done crazier.
Come for the Glitter Princess Birthday Brüt IPA, stay for the face-painting, balloon animals, and rainbow everything. At The Imagination Station, anything goes. If you can dream it, we’ll at least let you try to do it.
We’re ready to surprise you—so come on over, bring a friend, try something weird, and hop on into the Imagination Station.
This Saturday, 2 days before Federal and State Tax filings are due, Seattle’s Maritime Pacific Brewing Company invites you to take a before April 15th. As Ballard's oldest continually operating brewery, Maritime Pacific Brewing Company will host a dock sale from noon to 4 pm featuring limited-edition bottled beers sold side-by-side with some of your favorites. While you're there, don't forget to stop into the brewery's Jolly Roger Taproom to scarf down Jolly Royal Beef or Veggie Sliders or a pint of their latest IPA or classic beers.
Seeking clarification on what was for sale, the brewery sent this list which includes 12-ounce and 22-ounce cases.
We here at the Latona Pub have been celebrating Earth Day with a variety of keg walking and sponsorship events for the last 10 years. The goal of our celebration is to raise awareness of our environment, both urban and natural. By remembering how our actions affect the planet, we set out to help some fantastic organizations that work on environmental issues, and remind ourselves what we can individually do to protect our cherished resources.
The core of our celebration is delivering beer to the Latona by non-motorized, emission-free means. We live in a unique place where world class beer is merely a walk, sail, or cycle trip away from a plethora of diverse and innovative breweries. For a full week, our entire tap list comes from these non-motorized deliveries—the longest trek this year will be from Rogue Issaquah, as organized by one of our pub regulars, Miles Boucher.
To locally demonstrate an alternative to fossil fuel delivery, we will also walk multiple kegs via hand truck from south Seattle, Greenwood, Magnolia, Fremont, Ballard, Northgate, the U-District, and Lake City. This year, our walks begin on the 13th from Georgetown, followed by a walk on the 14th from Greenwood. On Monday the 15th, we'll be walking from the U-District, where this tradition began 10 years ago.
Wednesday, the 17th, we'll be touring the Ballard brew scene with the Highball String Band fiddling along the route, in a walk supported by Feet First, an organization dedicated to improving the urban walking experience in Seattle. We'll be hosting our annual benefit for them at the Latona the same night at 7pm, with live music and a live auction.
Finally, we'll roll through Lake City on the 19th for our final trek to the Latona.
On Saturday, April 20th at 7pm, we'll be throwing an Earth Day celebration benefitting our friends at the Brewshed Alliance, who work tirelessly to protect the watersheds that are essential to producing the wonderful beer we drink. Then, on Monday, April 22nd at 7pm, we'll be hosting the Northwest Bee Association, the Snohomish Bee Company, and Save Our Wild Salmon for an educational night about bee conservation, with musician Andy Coe taking the stage at 6:30pm.
Our Earth Week keg walks have even spread to Tacoma, where our friends at the Edison City Alehouse will be organizing non-motorized deliveries of their own and will also be holding an event benefitting ForeverGreen Trails on Saturday the 20th.
The Latona strives to be a place not only to discuss the future of the planet, but also to foster a discussion about the steps we can all take to affect change. We welcome you to join us during the week to celebrate our planet and highlight these important issues.
Come celebrate our 8th Anniversary with us on April 12th! Starting at 4pm we will be tapping Snow Creek Kolsch and after that Two Lions will be playing. We hope to see you there!
From Session IPAs to Triple IPAs,and all hops in between!
In honor of Skagit Beer Week, Farmstrong, Bastion, Chuckanut, Garden Path, and Anacortes are doing a joint brewers night at the following locations. Come meet brewers and owners of a collection of Skagit Valley brewer’s each with a unique style to showcase. Have flights curated and described by all members, get to know our staff, and possibly win swag.
"Going Under the Knife Night", a benefit for American Brain Tumor Association at Ounces.
Hi friends, Laurel here, owner of Ounces! Hoping you'll join me and our brewery friends to help raise money for a cause very personal to me. I was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and will be going under the knife (hence the name, lol) on April 3rd to have it removed.
Before the surgery, I'd love for you to come have beer with me and help raise a bunch of money for brain tumor research!
Here's how the fundraiser works: We've partnered with 13 of our brewery friends to raise funds for the American Brain Tumor Association (or ABTA). For 1 night only, both us and the 13 breweries will be tapping up a specific beer and donating $1 of every pint sold (us at Ounces and each of the breweries at their respective taprooms).
So on Thursday, 3/28... head to Ounces or one of the below breweries and lets all drink beer for a good cause!
Next month, on the 23rd of March, Populuxe Brewing will celebrate their 6th year in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. Inspired by retro game shows, the brewery will entertain you with unique prize contests, limited-edition beers, and even a friendly game of Family Feud between nearby Reuben's Brews and Populuxe Brewing.
From the beginning, the first 20 customers will receive a free commemorative t-shirt with purchase, before being entertained by Betty Wetter. At 5 pm, guests will have a chance to parody the Price is Right, estimating the costs of various with the winner getting a prize. Then at 7:30, teams of four will face off in a mock game of Family Feud, before being entertained as breweries Populuxe and Reuben's Brews compete for best brewery in a special round of the 'Feud.
If you're interested in being a contestant during the party, you can visit Populuxe's Facebook or Instagram page in the coming weeks.
Besides games, Populuxe Brewing will releases three unique India Pale Ales and one sour. Breaking it down, here are the beers.
Finally, the brewery encourages you to leave the cooking to guest food truck, Peasant Food Manifesto, as they serve up TV dinner-inspired recipes with varying prices.
Populuxe Brewing Company is located at 826 NW 49th Street in Seattle, Washington and Retro Game Show Night is sponsored by Verity Credit Union.
Populuxe Brewing was founded in 2012 by husband-and-wife team Peter Charbonnier and Amy Besunder. The brewery offers a variety of rotating taps including IPAs, CDAs, saisons, sours, brown ales and more, and features Ballard’s largest beer garden and an arcade. Populuxe Brewing won Washington’s Small Brewery of the Year award for 2018.
Event is 21+ with valid ID. Please RSVP, however RSVP does not guarantee entry as this is a public event. The venue is a short walk from the Washington State Convention Center and Emerald City Comic Con. We hope to see you there!
This is the first installation of a monthly professional comedy show at the Aslan Depot! We've got world class comedians dropping by to entertain you for just $10!
Our March show is especially exciting because we have comedy from LA-based Portland native Caitlin Weierhauser! Caitlin Weierhauser won Portland Helium Comedy Club’s Funniest Person Competition and was voted Favorite Comedian in the Willamette Week Readers Poll in 2017, they placed in the Top 5 Funniest in 2016. Caitlin came in top 3 at Big Sky Comedy Fest, and has performed for Bridgetown Comedy Festival (2015, 2016, 2017), Bumbershoot, Pickathon, All Jane Comedy Fest, and you can see them in Season 2 of The Benefits of Gusbandry on Amazon Prime!
- Erin Ingle! A Seattle favorite that has performed on Comedy Central Roast Battle.
-Chase Mayers! AKA the Louisiana Slow Burn, Chase recently won Best of the Fest at the Burbank Comedy Festival.
-Travis Nelson! A WWU alumnus and full time comedian now based out of Seattle, Travis recently made the finals of the World Series of Comedy.
Washington Breweries throughout the state are throwing open their doors and letting the public stream in! Stop by our brewery, where you can chat with the brewers and try a sample of their handcrafted brew. You can also get a tour of the brewery and a few stamps for your McMenamins Passport.
Bring your 64-oz. growler and fill it with any McMenamins beer for $9 on this day only! | 2019-04-23T08:01:58Z | https://www.northwestbeerguide.com/calendar?category=Washington |
Court decisions in Italy are not considered a source of law, since courts are supposed to apply existing legislation. However, case law precedents play an important role in shaping Italian employment law.
Legislative Decree No. 81 of 15 June 2015, aimed at regulating systematically the different types of employment contracts (fixed-term contracts, staff leasing, apprenticeships, etc).
Many issues related to employment relationships are governed by the national collective bargaining agreement (CBA) applied by the employer, as well as by those agreements that are signed with trade unions at company level.
The Italian Constitution guarantees equal treatment of all citizens and expressly forbids any kind of discrimination based on birth, race, gender, religion, ideology or any other personal or social circumstance.
Furthermore, direct and indirect discrimination are prohibited. Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favourably because of one of the prohibited grounds. Indirect discrimination is where an apparently neutral provision, criterion, practice, agreement or conduct would have a disparate impact on one of the protected classes.
It is also unlawful to harass a person, violate his or her dignity or create a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment because the person is a member of a protected class. Similarly, sexual harassment is prohibited.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Policies is responsible for labour, employment and labour protection policies, the adequacy of the social security system and social policy.
The National Labour Inspectorate (INL) is in charge of carrying out inspections at workplaces and operates throughout the national territory (with the various Territorial Labour Inspectorates), and ensures the implementation of all labour laws and regulations, including health and safety, treatment of disabled employees, etc.
The National Institute of Social Security (INPS) is the social security body, which insures almost the totality of dependent workers in the private sector and, recently, also those in the public sector.
The National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) is a public entity safeguarding workers against physical injuries and occupational diseases.
Employment tribunals are public bodies that have jurisdiction over disputes between employers and employees (or claims regarding commercial agencies and independent contractors). Generally speaking, their decisions are appealable to the Court of Appeal, while appeal judgments can be challenged in front of the Supreme Court.
Section 39 of the Italian Constitution provides the freedom to form or to join a trade union. Accordingly, trade unions are considered as unincorporated associations that do not need any authorisation or any registration to be recognised.
Section 14 of the Workers’ Statute also provides that workers have the right to set up trade unions, join them and take part in union activities within the workplace.
participated in the bargaining process concerning the collective agreement (at any level) applied by the company, even if they did not execute it.
The main union organisations within the workplace are the Rappresentanze Sindacali Aziendali (RSA) and the Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie (RSU). The main difference between the two is their composition: the RSA is appointed by the relevant unions, and the RSU directly by the workforce.
Legislative Decree No. 113 of 22 June 2012 has implemented Directive 2009/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on the establishment of European works councils.
Works councils have specific powers and rights provided by the law. Collective bargaining agreements may provide additional powers.
co-determination - in order to use monitoring systems that indirectly monitor, or could be used to monitor, the working activities of employees, the employer must follow a specified procedure of co-determination with the employees’ representative.
Section 8 of the Workers’ Statute prevents the employer from investigating, during the employment relationship or for the purposes of hiring, the political, religious or trade union opinions of a prospective employee, as well as facts that are not relevant to evaluate his or her professional aptitudes. There is no difference if an employer conducts its own checks or hires a third party (the same restrictions would apply also to recruitment agencies and other accredited private entities, according to section 10 of Law No. 276/2003).
According to section 5 of the Workers’ Statute, the employer cannot directly check the physical suitability of an applicant. However, before entering into an employment contract with an individual, employers can give medical tests to verify the applicant’s physical capability to perform the duties required for the job, and refuse to hire an applicant that does not submit to the examination.
Employers can also test for drug and alcohol use or addiction, if the employees’ duties involve risks to the security, safety and health of third parties, and refuse to hire an applicant that does not submit to the examination.
Discrimination in general is always prohibited. According to article 16 of the Workers’ Statute, it is prohibited to offer more favourable economic treatment only to a specific group of workers based on the discriminatory grounds described in article 15.
However, some laws provide for ‘positive action’ that must be taken against discrimination, such as the mandatory hiring of disabled employees or employees belonging to the so called ‘protected categories’ (eg, widows, widowers or orphans due to accident at work or war).
As a general rule, there is no obligation for the employment contract to be in writing. However, the written form is required for the validity of certain contracts or covenants (eg, fixed-term employment contracts, non-competition agreements or probationary period clauses) or in relation to the burden of proof (eg, in case of agreements with temporary workers). In any event, the employer must provide, in writing, the employee with certain mandatory information (eg, the identity of the parties, place of work, starting date, duration and probationary period, if any) within 30 days of the beginning of the employment relationship.
Over the years changes to legislation have gradually simplified the formal requirements for hiring fixed-term employees in Italy. According to Legislative Decree No. 81/2015, an employee can be hired on a fixed-term basis, provided that the maximum duration of the contract(s) does not exceed 36 months, including renewals (up to five). The duration clause must be signed in writing.
The 36-month limit can be derogated from under the terms of a CBA.
If the employee is rehired within 10 days of the expiry date of the previous fixed-term contract whose duration was not more than six months, or within 20 days of the expiry date of the previous fixed-term contract whose duration was more than six months, the next contract will be deemed to be an indefinite or open-ended contract (unless otherwise provided for under the applicable CBA).
The number of employees who are employed under fixed-term contracts cannot exceed 20 per cent of the total number of permanent employees of the employer as at 1 January each year (this can be derogated from by the applicable national CBA or by company-level CBAs).
by employers that failed to draft a risk assessment document in accordance with Legislative Decree No. 81 of 9 April 2008.
The maximum duration of the probation period is set out in the applicable collective agreement and varies depending on the level of the employee. In any event the maximum duration cannot exceed six months.
According to the Italian Civil Code, an independent contractor performs a job or a service for consideration, without being under the employer’s control and without being integrated in the employer’s business, while an employee performs an intellectual or manual work activity within the company, under the management and the control of the employer in exchange for a certain salary.
As of 1 January 2016, the rules concerning employment subordinate contracts apply to the consultancy in case of independent workers that provide services that are performed in a manner that is exclusively personal and continuous, and the execution of which is organised by the employer with regards to timing and place of work.
Agency contracts are regulated by Legislative Decree No. 81 of 15 June 2015. Agencies that supply agency workers to user companies must be expressly authorised by the Italian authorities.
Agency employees are entitled to the same ‘basic working and employment conditions’ as comparable employees directly recruited by the user.
The supply of agency employees may be either for a fixed term or for an indefinite period.
Temporary fixed-term contracts can be entered into within the quantitative limits set forth by the CBA applied by the user company.
The number of agency employees who are supplied for an indefinite period to work in a company cannot exceed the threshold of 20 per cent of the number of regular permanent employees working in the same company on 1 January of the year in which the agency employees were engaged.
Users are jointly liable with the employment agency for the payment of agency workers.
Italy’s immigration system varies depending on whether or not the worker is a EU national.
As far as EU nationals are concerned, there are no numerical limitations and they are not subject to specific immigration procedures.
Non-EU nationals intending to work in Italy must obtain a work permit. In this regard, each year the Italian authority sets quotas for the maximum number of regular work permits that may be applied for by foreign nationals from outside the EU. However, highly skilled personnel and other personnel (eg, translators, interpreters, university professors and journalists) can apply to work in Italy irrespective of these quotas, subject to an ‘extra quotas’ procedure.
salaried employees who are regularly paid by employers (either individuals or organisations) that reside or are headquartered abroad, and from whom they receive their salary directly and in cases where the employees are temporarily transferred from foreign countries to work with individuals or organisations, be they Italian or foreign, residing in Italy, for the purposes of performing, in Italian territory, specific services in the framework of contracts executed between the above-mentioned individuals or organisations residing abroad in accordance with the provisions of section 1655 of the Italian Civil Code, as well as international laws and European Union provisions.
Spouses are entitled to work in Italy without having to obtain their own work permit, provided that the family relationship can be proved with official documents.
Italian employers should check that the employee has a work permit. Where an employer employs personnel without a work permit it may be subject to administrative sanctions of up to €5,000 per employee and imprisonment for a period of three months to five years (section 22 of the Legislative Decree No. 286 of 25 July 1998, ‘the Immigration Act’).
A labour market test is not required in Italy.
Normal working hours are 40 hours per week calculated over a period of four months.
Collective agreements may require fewer hours referring to the normal working hours and may also raise the calculation period up to six months, or 12 months in case of objective or technical reasons, or reasons inherent to the organisation of work specified in the collective agreements.
The average working hours cannot in any case exceed 48 hours, including overtime, in each period of seven days.
Employees are entitled to a daily rest of at least 11 continuous hours every 24 hours, between the end of one working day and the start of the next. The number of hours worked per day may not exceed 13, unless the collective agreement or individual company agreement establishes a different working pattern for the day. In all cases, however, the rest between working days must be respected.
An employee cannot opt out of such restrictions or limitations.
All work exceeding the normal working hours is considered overtime. Some employees are exempted from statutory hour restrictions, including high-level white-collar employees (the quadri) and executives (the dirigenti), as well as certain kinds of sales staff such as commercial travellers (viaggiatori e piazzisti).
Section 5 of Legislative Decree No. 66 of 8 April 2003 provides that the use of overtime must be limited, and usually it is voluntary. The collective agreement typically provides the conditions for performing overtime work. If collective agreements do not cover when overtime can be required, it is allowed only with the consent of the employee, and for a maximum of 250 hours per year.
Overtime shall be paid with an extra remuneration as set out by the collective agreement. The collective agreement may set forth that, alternatively or in addition to such extra remuneration, the employees have compensatory rest time.
The right to overtime pay falls into the category of ‘unavailable rights’. Therefore, in an employment contract this cannot be waived by the employee. For waivers of unavailable rights, see question 46.
The minimum length of paid vacation is four weeks per year. The applicable national collective bargaining agreement may provide for a longer vacation.
The four-week period can be used for almost two consecutive weeks at the employee’s request, and the other two weeks (or the remaining higher period provided by the applicable national collective bargaining agreement) have to be used within the 18 months starting from the end of the accrued year.
Employees are also entitled to 11 days off as public holidays. Almost all national collective bargaining agreements provide for a supplementary holiday, the Patron Saint’s day.
The accrual of annual leave is connected to the effective work. In fact, annual leave accrues during the period provided for by the law while the employee carries out the working activity, but also during absences that the law or the CBA provide should be considered as a working period (eg, maternity leave).
According to Italian labour law, in case of sickness, an employee is entitled to keep his or her job position for a certain period of time that varies accordingly to each collective agreement and generally lasts almost 180 days in the space of one year (the periodo di comporto). This period is a suspension of the employee’s contractual obligation to carry out his or her working activity.
During this period, employees may be entitled to receive their full salary. A portion of the salary is paid by the INPS, and a national collective bargaining agreement may require the employer to pay the remaining portion. National collective bargaining agreements provide the length of such period and the rate of salary to be paid. They may also require that the protected period is included in calculations of length of service for seniority.
Maternity leave: workers are entitled to five months (usually two months before and three months after birth). During maternity employees have right to an indemnity from the INPS (80 per cent of salary); however, almost all CBAs provide the obligation for the employer to pay the remaining 20 per cent.
Paternity leave: employees are currently entitled to four days of compulsory paternity leave, plus one additional day of optional paternity leave to be taken in place of the mother during her maternity leave.
at certain income conditions that vary each year, during the first eight years from childbirth, for the periods of parental leave exceeding the first six months and up to 10 months.
There is no right to indemnity if the parental leave is taken when the child is aged between eight and 12 years old.
Marriage: any employee, except during the trial period, is entitled to special paid leave in case of marriage. The duration of the leave is 15 days. Almost all applicable national collective bargaining agreements provide for 15 days of paid vacation.
Disabled employees or leave for assistance to disabled relatives: disabled employees or relatives of a disabled person have the right to paid leave, which in general is three days per month.
The other main circumstances giving the right to leave of absence are the following: medical leave for specific reasons (eg, drug-addicted workers, blood donors); political offices; serious personal reasons; and study or training leave.
An employee’s service seniority may give the right to some benefits (eg, the right to additional holidays). However, most benefits (such as complementary insurance, pension plan, etc) are provided by the CBA for specific categories of employees (in particular, managers and top managers).
Part-time employees are entitled to receive the same treatment as is provided by the applicable CBA or company collective agreement for full-time employees that are at the same contractual level, as defined by the applicable CBA itself. Part-time employees also have priority rights when it comes to full-time vacancies at the employer (for the performance of the same duties or duties at the same level pursuant to the CBA) in circumstances where the employment relationship was originally full-time and then it changed to part-time.
Fixed-term employees are entitled to receive the same treatment as employees who are on open-ended or indefinite contracts of employment at the same contractual level under the applicable CBA or company collective agreement, as defined by the CBA itself. In addition, if a fixed-term employee has worked for an employer for more than six months (even if under different fixed-term contracts) he or she has the right to be given priority for a permanent position for 12 months after the end of the fixed-term contract if the employer is hiring employees to carry out the same work activities as the fixed-term employee, provided he or she has indicated his or her intention to benefit from such a right in writing within six months of the end of the fixed-term contract.
In the private sector, there is no general obligation to publish information on pay or other details about employees or the general workforce. However, some exceptions are provided for listed companies. In particular, the board of directors (or the supervisory board) of listed companies must publicly disclose an annual report on the remuneration of general managers and executives with strategic responsibilities.
In addition, the law provides for some obligations to inform the unions or staff representatives (eg, staff representative bodies are entitled to be informed by employers with more than 100 workers every two years about male/female equal treatments - Law Decree No. 198 of 11 April 2006, section 46). The CBA may provide similar obligations on salary treatments and other matters having an impact on the general workforce.
have a specific duration, which shall not exceed three years (five years for executives, ie, dirigenti).
In order to assess the validity of a non-competition covenant, it is necessary to ascertain whether the combination of its terms, extents and conditions prevents or not the employee from finding other employment or violates the employee’s right to preserve his or her professionalism.
There are no specific provisions on covenant not to solicit (customers, employees or suppliers) or deal (customers), thus the parties can freely agree their content. However, it is debatable whether the above statutory requirements would also apply to the non-soliciting covenant.
The employer shall not pay the salary but the compensation specifically agreed in the non-compete covenant. The law does not provide for a specific amount of the consideration, and case law requires that the compensation is ‘congruous’, having regard to restrictions imposed on the employee’s professionalism and his or her right to work. Therefore, the compensation has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, in the light of the other terms agreed (ie, duration, scope, geographical extent and the skills and experience of the employee).
According to section 2049 of the Italian Civil Code, the employer is liable for acts unlawfully committed by its employees. Pursuant to case law, the duties performed by the employee should have made possible the commission of the damage to the third party.
income over €75,000: 43 per cent.
In addition, the employer and the employee should pay social security contributions. The amount depends on the classification of the company and the employee’s level.
The contributions are entirely paid by the employer to the INPS. The employer withholds the percentage due by the employee from his or her salary.
inventions made outside the scope of the duties assigned to the employee but related directly to the business of the employer or made with use of data or means, of whatsoever nature, of the employer (‘occasional inventions’): the employer has an optional right to use the invention or purchase the patent and should recognise to the inventor a licence fee or a price for the sale of the invention, deducting any amount for the aid received by the employee from the employer.
With respect to trade secrets, there are specific rules set forth by Legislative Decree No. 30 of 10 February 2005.
the personnel who have control over it implement measures to restrict its access.
There are no specific rules dealing with confidential information. Confidential information is usually specified by the employer and the employee within the employment contract or within internal policy rules.
In addition, rules can be drawn from articles 1175 and 1375 of the Italian Civil Code regarding bona fide execution of the contract and article 2105 of the Italian Civil Code regarding the employment relationship and the prohibition to disclose the company’s information by the employee.
Data protection issues in Italy are regulated by Legislative Decree No. 196 of 30 June 2003, commonly known as the Italian Data Protection Code (DPC). This brings together all the various laws, codes and regulations relating to data protection that have been created since 1996.
Data protection legislation must apply jointly with the employment laws set out in the Workers’ Statute. According to section 4 of the Workers’ Statute, the instruments and equipment that are potentially able also to monitor employees are permitted only to the extent they are required for organisational, productive or safety reasons or for the safeguarding of company assets, and provided that their use is agreed with the works council or most representative trade unions or authorised by the Labour Office, depending on the specific case. The provisions specify that such rules do not apply (thus no agreement or authorisation is needed) to the instruments and equipment used by employees for performing the activity (eg, laptop or mobile phone) or to devices that are used by the employer to register employees’ access and attendance at the workplace. In addition, the data and the information collected through such instruments and equipment can be used for all purposes related to the employment relationship, provided that the employees have been adequately informed on how instruments can be used and how the controls can be carried out, in compliance with data protection legislation.
From a privacy perspective, the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) issued some provisions (‘Guidelines applying to the use of email and the internet in the employment contest’) requiring data processors to define internal policy for the use of internet, email and IT equipment and, in general, internal procedures for data protection purposes.
The employer should inform employees in advance and unambiguously about any processing operations that may concern them in connection with possible controls. In particular, employers are required to provide in the ‘Guidelines applying to the use of email and the internet in the employment contest’ information and instructions on the appropriate use of the IT devices supplied and relevant controls (eg, monitoring), if there are any. More specifically, employers must inform their employees on what type of tools are being used, as well as whether and to what extent controls are carried out.
Paragraph 1 of section 2112 of the Italian Civil Code states that in the event of ‘a transfer of an undertaking, the employment relationship continues with the transferee and the employee maintains all the rights deriving from the employment’. Therefore, by operation of law, all employees attached to the business (or part thereof) subject to the transfer automatically transfer to the transferee.
In addition, the transfer is not a valid reason for dismissal. Therefore, the transferor cannot dismiss the employees on the grounds of the transfer (ie, the dismissal will be considered null and void and the employment relationship will continue with the transferee). Any dismissal made in connection with the transfer will be considered null and void unless there is a productive and organisational reason justifying the dismissal that entails changes to the workforce (restructuring resulting in job losses). Similarly, the transfer does not prevent an employee from being dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
As far as individual dismissals are concerned, Italian labour law provides two different kinds of dismissal: dismissal for ‘just cause’ and dismissal for ‘justified reason’.
According to section 2119 of the Italian Civil Code, a permanent employment contract can be immediately terminated without giving any notice or payment in lieu of notice for gross misconduct committed by the employee (defined by Italian law as ‘just cause’). In particular, section 2119 provides that each of the contracting parties may withdraw without any notice if a cause occurs that does not allow the continuation of the employment relationship (even on a provisional basis).
‘objective’, ie, a reason concerning the production or the organisation of the working activity in the enterprise.
A dismissal for ‘subjective’ or ‘objective’ reasons does not give the employer the right to terminate the employment contract without notice.
Laws No. 604 of 15 July 1966 and No. 108 of 11 May 1990 exclude ‘justified reason’ for the dismissal of dirigenti. To protect executives against dismissals, almost all CBAs for executives require that their dismissals need to be ‘fair’. As a general rule, according to the Supreme Court’s decisions, an executive’s dismissal is considered fair only when it is not based on false, arbitrary, discriminatory or non-existent reasons.
Under Italian law the notice period - which is provided only in cases of dismissal with justified reason - varies depending on the CBA applied by the employer and on the seniority and level of the employee.
The employer can provide pay in lieu of notice.
The employer can dismiss an employee without notice or payment in lieu of notice in the event of ‘just cause’, meaning a cause that does not allow the continuation of the employment relationship (even on a provisional basis).
the pro-rata amount of the supplementary monthly salary (if any).
immediately following the receipt by the employee of the justification letter.
The employer must communicate in advance its intention to proceed with individual dismissal to the Labour Office of the employee’s workplace, copying the same employee and explaining the reasons for the termination. This procedure applies only to the dismissal of employees (not having the role of dirigenti) hired before 7 March 2015 and employed by companies having 61 or more employees in the whole Italian territory, or 16 or more employees in a single business unit or in more business units within the same municipality (Comune). Within seven days of the receipt of the above communication, the Labour Office summons the parties before the Conciliation Office for a meeting in which the parties will attempt to reach an agreement. The procedure will terminate by and not later than 20 days starting from the day in which the Labour Office sent the communication of summoning.
Should the parties not reach an agreement or, in any case, after seven days have elapsed without any summoning communication by the Labour Office, the employer can serve the dismissal.
For collective dismissal procedures, see question 42.
Employees are entitled to specific protection in case of null and void or unfair dismissal.
dismissal null and void according to other mandatory law provisions (eg, pregnancy, maternity leave, etc).
The above protection applies to all employees regardless of the level, the date of hiring and the size of the employer.
For other types of dismissal, the sanctions vary depending on the type of dismissal, the size of the employer (there is greater protection for employees in ‘large companies’, ie, employers having over 60 employees in the whole Italian territory or over 15 in a single business unit or in several business units within the same Comune), the date of hiring and his or her level.
pay the dismissed employee an indemnity ranging from 2.5 to six months’ gross salary.
It is up to the employer to choose between rehiring the employee and paying the indemnity.
The above sanctions apply only to employees hired before 7 March 2015. For employees hired after that date, the only sanction is the payment of an indemnity equal to one month’s salary per year of service, with a minimum of two and a maximum of six months’ salary.
Similarly, for employees in large companies the consequences also vary depending on the date of hiring.
(ii) the contested behaviour could have been sanctioned with a conservative measure according to the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
In this case, the employee has the right to be reinstated, and the employer has to pay him or her the unpaid salary for the period between the date of the dismissal and the date of the effective reinstatement with a maximum of 12 months of salary. The employee will also have the right to choose the 15 months’ salary indemnity in lieu of reinstatement.
Should the judge ascertain that the ‘justified subjective reason’ or the ‘just cause’ does not occur for different reasons than those set out at points (i) and (ii) above, the employee is entitled to a payment of an allowance ranging from a minimum of 12 months’ salary to a maximum of 24 months’ salary.
Employees have the right to be reinstated only in a specific case of disciplinary dismissal (ie, dismissal for ‘just cause’ and for ‘justified subjective reason’), when it is proved that the ‘material fact’ upon which the dismissal was based did not occur. The reinstatement should be implemented together with an indemnity equal to the salary from the date of dismissal until the reinstatement with a cap of 12 months’ salary. As above, the employee also has the right to choose the indemnity in lieu of reinstatement.
In all other cases, the employee will only be entitled to monetary compensation equivalent to two months’ salary per year of service (minimum four months’ salary, maximum 24 months’ salary).
The sanctions for unlawful individual dismissal vary depending on the date of hiring and the size of the employer.
Small companies would be ordered to rehire the employee or pay him or her an indemnity ranging from 2.5 to six months’ salary above mentioned (it is up to the employer to choose between rehiring the employee and paying the indemnity).
As far as large companies are concerned, the employee has the right to be reinstated in the event that the fact on which the termination was based is ‘manifestly groundless’ (in addition, an indemnity for the remuneration lost, with a 12-month cap, is due). In all other cases, the employee is entitled to a payment of an allowance ranging from a minimum of 12 months’ salary to a maximum of 24 months’ salary.
Employees in large companies do not have any right to be reinstated, being entitled only to increasing monetary compensation (two months’ salary per year of service, with a minimum of four and maximum of 24 months). Employees in small companies would be entitled to an indemnity equal to one month’s salary per year of service, with a minimum of two and a maximum of six months’ salary.
As a residual measure, in the event of non-compliance with procedural requirements required by the law for disciplinary dismissals and individual redundancy indicated above (see question 40), the employee would be entitled to a payment of an indemnity, which varies depending on the size of the employer and the date of hiring.
Small companies would be ordered to rehire the employee with a new employment contract or, alternatively, pay him or her an indemnity ranging from 2.5 to six months’ salary. In this regard, this sanction would be applicable only to employees hired before 7 March 2015, while to employees hired after that date the indemnity will be equal to 0.5 month’s salary for each year of service with a minimum of one and a maximum of six months’ salary.
is equivalent to one month’s salary for each year of service (subject to a minimum of two and a maximum of 12 months’ salary) for employees hired after 7 March 2015.
Should the judge ascertain that the dismissal is also unlawful for other reasons (and not only for the violation of formal requirements), the other sanctions indicated above will be applied depending on the type of dismissal.
Law No. 223 of 23 July 1991 provides that in the event that the employer does not comply with all the steps set forth in the procedure for collective dismissals, the employer shall pay the employee an indemnity ranging between a minimum of 12 months’ salary to a maximum of 24 months’ salary.
pay the employee an indemnity equal to the salary due between the date of the dismissal and the date of the effective reinstatement, with a maximum of 12 months of salary.
Employees shall be entitled only to the monetary compensation above mentioned (two months’ salary per year of service seniority, from a minimum of four to a maximum of 24 months’ salary), with the right to reinstatement limited to the dismissal being communicated orally.
Specifically, monetary compensation will also be the only remedy in the event that the employer does not comply with the criteria governing the selection of employees to be made redundant.
If the dismissal is judged to be unfair, an executive is entitled to a supplementary indemnity payment provided by the applicable national collective bargaining agreement, ranging from a minimum to a maximum number of months of salary.
Law No. 161 of 30 October 2014 has introduced specific sanctions for unlawful dismissal in cases of collective redundancy. In particular, in the event the dismissal of the executive is in breach of either the procedure or the selection criteria, the employer shall pay him or her an indemnity ranging from 12 to 24 months’ salary, ‘unless the national collective bargaining agreements provide different provisions on the amount of said indemnity’.
Employees hired on a fixed-term basis cannot be dismissed before the expiry of the term except for just cause. The employee is otherwise entitled to the payment of the salary until that date.
women: according to section 5, paragraph 2 of Law No. 223/1991, the employer must ensure that it does not make a disproportionate number of women redundant. In particular, ‘an enterprise cannot make redundant a percentage of women higher than the percentage of women employed in the job categories concerned’.
The procedure provided by the law lasts for a maximum of 75 days.
It is possible that a national CBA may provide a previous and additional consultation to be implemented before the one provided by the law.
The employer should notify staff representatives and the relevant (external) trade unions of the decision to proceed to collective dismissal. If there are no staff representatives, the notification has to be sent to the most representative trade unions of the sector on a national level. If there is no existing works council, there is no obligation on the company to organise elections for one.
The same notification also has to be sent to the competent Labour Office.
Dismissals may be served within a period of 120 days from the conclusion of the procedure unless the parties have agreed a longer term.
The collective dismissal procedure also applies to dirigenti (who were previously excluded from the application of the procedure).
If the company and the trade unions do not reach an agreement within the maximum length of the procedure (75 days), or if they reach an agreement during the procedure, the employer is allowed to proceed with the dismissals.
The selection of employees to be dismissed must follow the criteria provided by the agreement reached during the procedure or, in the event of a negative outcome of the procedure, the employer must follow the criteria provided for by the law (family conditions, length of service, technical, productive or organisational matters).
Generally, employees assert labour and employment claims on an individual basis. However, it may occur that a group of employees bring one single claim against the employer in order to ascertain the same right (eg, the right to payment of a bonus arising from the company’s collective agreement).
In addition, certain particular labour claims can be filed by ‘collective actors’ (eg, a trade union can bring a claim for anti-union behaviour; and the Counsellor for Equal Opportunities can bring a claim in the event of collective discrimination in the workplace).
Italian legislation allows employers to dismiss employees that have reached the retirement requirements, but there is no obligation to do so (unless for certain exceptions in the public sector).
The old age pension requirement in 2018 is 66 years and seven months for men and women, with a minimum of 20 years of contributions. However, for large companies the possibility to dismiss an employee that has decided (and agreed with the employer, according to case law) to continue to work despite the achievement of the old age pension requirement would be applicable only once the employee turns 70 years old (this age limit is subject to change owing to developments in life expectancy).
before an arbitration court specifically appointed on the parties’ accord.
In principle, arbitration is optional, so each party has the right to bring an ordinary action before the competent labour court.
The employee can lawfully waive statutory and contractual rights to potential employment claims. However, according to section 2113 of the Italian Civil Code, where the subject matter of waivers and settlements concern the individual’s employment rights arising from mandatory provisions of law (such as the right to challenge the termination) or collective agreements or arrangements concerning the employment relationship, such waivers will be invalid unless the agreement is signed before a competent body (trade union, labour council or labour court). If not signed before such bodies, the waivers and settlements shall be null and void and the employee can challenge them within six months from either the date of termination of employment or the date of the waiver or settlement if agreed post-termination of employment.
The employer does not have to offer the employee financial consideration in exchange for agreeing to enter into the agreement, or in order to obtain an effective waiver of claims or withdrawal from litigation that has commenced. However, this is very common in practice as an incentive to obtain the employee’s consent to the agreement.
It is worth noting that employees hired after 7 March 2015 benefit from a ‘quick settlement procedure’ introduced by the Legislative Decree No. 23/2015. In particular, the quick settlement agreement consists of an offer by the employer to the employee, made within 60 days from the date of the dismissal, to pay compensation equal to one month’s salary per year of service, with a minimum of two and a maximum of 18 months compensation (for small companies the indemnity is reduced to a half and the maximum is six months’ salary).
This indemnity is not subject to tax or social security contributions and will be immediately paid by the employer via a ‘cash cheque’. If the offer is accepted by the employee, all rights to object to his or her dismissal will be waived. In the same settlement agreement, the parties could also decide to waive all rights in relation to the employment relationship, but any amount granted for such waivers will be subject to ordinary taxation and social security contributions as provided for under Italian law.
Depending on the type of claim, an employee’s claim must be brought within a period of time that may vary from five to 10 years.
Specific rules apply in the event of termination: in this case the employee must challenge the dismissal in writing within 60 days of its communication and must then bring the claim to court within 180 days.
Recently, a new law (Law No. 179/2017) has entered into force and regulated whistleblowing obligations and protections of employees adopting the organisational model (set out by the Legislative Decree No. 231, 8 June 2001), namely, the model that should be adopted in order to be exempt from administrative or criminal liability (the model is tailored to the company in light of the specific risks arising from its activities, aimed at preventing the commission of criminal offences provided for under Legislative Decree No. 231/2001).
These include, for example, crimes against the public administration, computer crimes, crimes of fraud in trade, corporate crimes, crimes of insider trading and market manipulation, crimes of manslaughter and serious or very serious bodily injury, breaches of accident-prevention and occupational health and safety rules, receiving, laundering and using stolen money, goods or utilities, crimes in infringement of copyright and the crime of inducement not to make statements or to make false statements to a judicial authority, or environmental crimes.
provide specific sanctions concerning fraud or gross negligence against any individuals who breach the above-mentioned protection measures; this also applies to any whistleblower who reports false information.
The employee can report any retaliation or discrimination to the National Labour Inspectorate (this can also be carried out through a union representative), and any dismissal, change of duties or any other measure adopted by the employer towards the whistleblower for discriminatory or retaliatory reasons will be null and void. | 2019-04-24T20:29:33Z | https://gettingthedealthrough.com/area/18/jurisdiction/15/labour-employment-italy/ |
In our opinion had experienced the out and out quackery of Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, his use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS)in what can only be described as a publication of Fraud or Quackery of medical science, and does no true medical science test (with a blood test, x-ray, urine test, etc.) or applied scientific procedures, Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS) must use it to prove diagnosis of these “conditions” or “disorders” which are nothing more than in actually “labels” he puts on people, why because he does not use true medical science test (with a blood test, x-ray, urine test, etc.) or applied scientific procedures, he has no equipment in his offce to do these test, or any lab contracted to do them. Also, claims of Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, prescribing dangerous Psychotropic medications based on the claims of a chemical imbalance in your brains chemistry, but this is not the scientific or medical facts at all.
1 Kelly Patricia O’Meara, Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills That Kill (AuthorHouse, 2006), pp. 47–48, citing Jonathan Leo paper, “The Biology of Mental Illness,” 2004.
Claims of a chemical imbalance in your brain’s chemistry by Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, is just in another fraud ploy in getting you on these (these drugs do include Adderall, Antidepressants, which include the SSRI Class of drugs) Psychotropic drugs so he can make you an addict to these Psychotropic drugs so he can keep you coming back for you Psychotropic drug hit, and he can keep collecting office fees for no other reason to feed his greed for wealth, and his policy of spending only five minutes with each patient for more profit (he should be spending and hour with each patient in “talk therapy”, he would like you to think his nurse practitioner can provide this “talk therapy”, but in actually their training is limited and the harm they can do is very great, due to this lack of training, and personal issues they bring in with them that harms the patient and their careers, children, families, and marriages).
Promenade physicians as Dr. Mercola, Dr. Hayman, and Dr. Drew respected and nationally known physicians have come out against this form of medical quackery and the casual prescribing of Psychotropic medications including their “cocktails” of medications (more than one Psychotropic medications prescribed together at the same time, creating a more toxic combination in the body) (these drugs do include Adderall, Antidepressants, which include the SSRI Class of drugs), and in our experience this is how Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, operates, and treats his patients.
The situation of the Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, not only prescribing ADDERALL (a Schedule II controlled substance) is the new name for a Dextroamphetamine/Amphetamine composite medication, and as we will see a deadly drug that has been pulled off the market in Canada after regulators linked the drug to 20 sudden deaths and 12 strokes. Fourteen of the deaths and two of the 12 strokes were in children, and does he tell his patient about all these risks no. Yet, Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, still prescribes this deadly drug by itself, but also combines the chance of a deadly reaction by including ADDERALL in a “cocktail” (a combination which is known to be lethal if the drugs combined react to each other) One patient went toDr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, for “Stress” he ended up with one of Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, deadly cocktails of ADDERALL, XANIX, and LEXAPRO. The patients immediately had severe reactions to this deadly “cocktail”. He complained to Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas,and Sharon Walters RN, Bedford, Texas, his nurse about chest pains, and feeling generally in bad health, Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, and Sharon Walters RN, Bedford, Texas, ignored his complaints and acted totally unconcerned, the patient ended up at his general practitioner with severe chest pain, and was treated by his general practitioner. After seeing another doctor on the first visit the patient was imediately taken off the ADDERALL, and XANIX, after some time he was tested for ADD and did not have it, and was finally taken off the LEXAPRO, after seeing a detox doctor to rid the patient of the toxins left in his body by Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas,”cocktail” the patient was told there was nothing wrong with the patient in the first place, and Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, and Sharon Walters RN, Bedford, Texas, gave him the medications just to sell drugs for the drug companies who pay him.
Woman’s Husband Stabs himself because of Cathal Grant’s Cattle Call Medical Practice 5 Minute Medical Consultation.
GENERALLY AVOID: Several case reports suggest that serotonin reuptake inhibitors may potentiate the pharmacologic response to sympathomimetic agents. The exact mechanism of interaction is unclear. In one case report, a patient experienced jitteriness, racing thoughts, stomach cramps, dry eyes, palpitations, tremors, and restlessness following a single dose of phentermine ingested approximately a week after she had discontinued fluoxetine. Because of the long half-life of fluoxetine and its metabolite, an interaction with fluoxetine is possible. Similar toxic reactions have been reported when fluoxetine was used concomitantly with amphetamine or phenylpropanolamine. Additionally, some sympathomimetic agents such as amphetamines may possess serotonergic activity and should generally not be administered with serotonin reuptake inhibitors because of the additive risk of serotonin syndrome, which is a rare but serious and potentially fatal condition thought to result from hyperstimulation of brainstem 5-HT1A and 2A receptors. The interaction was suspected in a patient treated with dexamphetamine who developed symptoms consistent with the serotonin syndrome approximately 2 weeks after the addition of venlafaxine. The medications were discontinued and the patient was given cyproheptadine for suspected serotonin syndrome, whereupon symptoms promptly resolved. A second episode occurred when dexamphetamine was subsequently resumed and citalopram added. The patient improved following cessation of citalopram on his own, and residual symptoms were successfully treated with cyproheptadine.
MANAGEMENT: In general, amphetamines and other sympathomimetic appetite suppressants should not be combined with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Close monitoring for enhanced sympathomimetic effects and possible serotonin syndrome is recommended if these agents must be used together. Symptoms of the serotonin syndrome may include mental status changes such as irritability, altered consciousness, confusion, hallucinations, and coma; autonomic dysfunction such as tachycardia, hyperthermia, diaphoresis, shivering, blood pressure lability, and mydriasis; neuromuscular abnormalities such as hyperreflexia, myoclonus, tremor, rigidity, and ataxia; and gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
MONITOR: Fluoxetine may increase plasma alprazolam concentrations, decrease alprazolam clearance, and increase the elimination half-life of alprazolam. The mechanism may be related to inhibition of CYP450 3A4 microsomal drug metabolism. This combination may impair psychomotor performance and reports have suggested that the risk of cardiac toxicity such as bradycardia may be increased.
MANAGEMENT: If fluoxetine and alprazolam must be used together, close observation is recommended for increased adverse effects. Patients should be warned about excessive drowsiness and potential adverse effects on their psychomotor and driving skills.
Adderall XR (amphetamine/dextroamphetamine) interacts with more than 200 other drugs.
Prozac (fluoxetine) interacts with more than 400 other drugs.
Xanax (alprazolam) interacts with more than 300 other drugs.
In general Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, prescribed a “deadly cocktail”, without any concern for the patient’s life, and then ignored when issues described occurred, and in our opinion all for his personal greed for wealth (five minutes with Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, and you are out the door with a drug if you need it or not), and to get a credit with the drug companies for prescribing their drugs, and all of this deadly cocktail was based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS) in what can only be described as a publication of Fraud or Quackery of medical science, and does no true medical science test (with a blood test, x-ray, urine test, etc.) or applied scientific procedures, a fact that Cathal Grant does not want to get out, about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS) it a fraud of medical science, and is nothing but a book of “labels“ to put on patients so he can prescribe drugs and charge them and his insurance company for , and get them hooked on these medications, so he can get more money from offices visits, but it really seems he does not care if he kills his patients with his deadly “cocktails”.
Notice Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas is paid by Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Cephalon, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer to push their drug in our opinion it is clear what Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas is doing, prescribing drug if you need them or not. Dr. Cathal P Grant MD, Bedford, Texas, has taken $94,045 from drug companies in 2009-2011.
Minneapolis, MN: It wasn’t until Susan’s brother passed away from a heart attack that she discovered he had been taking Adderall, a drug that has been linked to heart attack, stroke and cardiac arrest. She has no idea why he was prescribed Adderall, but she is hopeful that an attorney will help her find some answers.
Even though a new study indicates that there is no evidence of Adderall heart problems, the jury is still out regarding the link between ADHD medications like Adderall and heart risks. Susan (not her real name) is convinced that her brother would still be alive today if he wasn’t taking 90mg of Adderall daily, which is an extremely high dosage.
“My brother, Gary, was only 64 years old when he passed away in September 2010,” Susan says. “My sister and I, and even his neighbor, noticed his unusual behavior that started about 18 months before he died,” says Susan. “He was a big guy and a Vietnam veteran—in fact he wrote a book about his war experiences and was set up for a book signing just before he died—but he lost so much weight and was so ‘out of it,’ we just couldn’t figure it out.
“Just before he died my sister and I visited him and his wife in Arizona. One night we were all going out for dinner and Gary was so wasted he couldn’t even walk. He didn’t drink alcohol (although he used to be a light drinker) and he certainly didn’t take drugs. But we believe that this prescription drug, Adderall, was a lot more dangerous than alcohol and illegal drugs combined. I talked to his neighbor and he said Gary was always like that—wasted.
“I remember commenting about his weight loss. ‘You are getting so skinny, what is happening to you?’ I asked him. ‘Yeah, I recently went to a high school reunion and people asked me if I had a terminal disease,’ he replied, laughing.
“There was another incident I remember. The last summer before Gary died I called him around midday. ‘I’m in slug mode,’ he said, without even the energy to talk. It was like he had been drugged. This wasn’t like Gary at all, he was always an early riser; he usually had coffee made and the newspaper read by 6am.
“The chief of police and the medical examiner took Gary’s body out of the house and a few days later his wife showed me three bottles of Adderall. Two were empty and one was half full. He was taking 90mg a day and he had already had a heart attack. I knew Gary was on beta blockers for his heart; he also told me that his heart condition was under control. His death certificate said the cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia and the secondary cause was coronary artery disease.
“I wrote a complaint to the chief of police. He responded to my complaint, saying the medical examiner would investigate his medical records and I will get a full report. But I never got a report and Adderall wasn’t even mentioned. It seemed to me that the medical examiner chose to ignore it, possibly because I mentioned a medical malpractice suit.
“I called Gary’s doctor to find out why he was prescribed Adderall. He was getting treated through the VA clinic but the Adderall was from a private practice physician—Gary’s first wife told me that this doctor was known as a ‘pill pusher.’ I didn’t get any answers from either doctor.
ADDERALL (a Schedule II controlled substance) is the new name for a Dextroamphetamine/Amphetamine composite medication that has been around for more than 30 years. This formula was also used in a medication known as Obetrol, made in the past by Rexar and developed for weight loss. As a medication for ADHD, Adderall was approved for unrestricted use for treatment of ADHD by the FDA in March 1996.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires the following “black box” warning on all amphetamines, including Adderall and Adderall XR, which means that medical studies indicate these drugs carry a significant risk of serious, or even life-threatening, adverse effects.
AMPHETAMINES HAVE A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE. ADMINISTRATION OF AMPHETAMINES FOR PROLONGED PERIODS OF TIME MAY LEAD TO DRUG DEPENDENCE AND MUST BE AVOIDED. PARTICULAR ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SUBJECTS OBTAINING AMPHETAMINES FOR NONTHERAPEUTIC USE OR DISTRIBUTION TO OTHERS, AND THE DRUGS SHOULD BE PRESCRIBED OR DISPENSED SPARINGLY. MISUSE OF AMPHETAMINE MAY CAUSE SUDDEN DEATH AND SERIOUS CARDIOVASCULAR ADVERSE EVENTS.
ABOVE: FDA black box warning label means that medical studies indicate the drug carries a significant risk of serious or even life-threatening adverse effects.
In small doses amphetamines can banish tiredness and make the user feel alert and refreshed. However, the burst of energy comes at a price. A “speed crash” always follows the high and may leave the person feeling nauseous, irritable, depressed and extremely exhausted.
Amphetamines have been extensively abused. Extreme psychological dependence and severe social disability have resulted. Abuse of amphetamines may cause a sudden heart attack even in those with no signs of heart disease.
The onset of amphetamine-induced anxiety disorder can occur during amphetamine use or withdrawal, according to best-selling psychiatry text, Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry citing American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders “Amphetamine, as with cocaine, can induce symptoms similar to those seen in obsessive disorder, panic disorder, and phobic disorders,” states Synopsis of Psychiatry.
It is possible to build up a tolerance to amphetamines, which means the person using the drug needs to take larger doses to achieve the same effect. Over time, the body might come to depend on amphetamines just to function normally. The person craves the drug and their psychological dependence makes them panic if access is denied, even temporarily. Withdrawal symptoms can include tiredness, panic attacks, crankiness, extreme hunger, depression and nightmares. Some people experience a pattern of “binge crash” characterized by using continuously for several days without sleep, followed by a period of heavy sleeping.
Drug Enforcement Administration, US Department of Justice. “Amphetamines,” Drugs of Abuse Publication. National Drug Intelligence Center, 2005 ed.: www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/abuse.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, Health Alerts, “Heart Attack: Symptoms and Remedies”: www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/symptoms_remedies/heart_attack/83-1.html#3 (2008).
In my opinion from experience tells of the condition that Cathal Grant refuses to acknowledge with his patients or treat this side effect of the drugs he is prescribing the condition Akathisia, Cathal Grant will not do anything about this condition, so he can keep his patients hooked on the drugs he prescribes, keeping his patients addicted to the drugs he prescribes, no matter what violent behavior his patients exhibit he does nothing.
Previous PostIn my opinion Dr. Mercola proves the fraud of Cathal Grant’s practice when he says “The MOST Effective Treatment for Depression Isn’t Drugs… But You’ll Never Hear That From Your Psychiatrist” as we have experienced especially someone like Cathal Grant who wants to get you hooked on these drugs all for his personal greed.Next PostIn my opinion Asks, you to sign the Petition to have the United States Government investigate for Medical Scientific proof and stop the publishing of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DMS), and Dr. Mercola and others gives you good reasons to sign it. | 2019-04-20T03:14:11Z | http://www.inmyopinionfreespeech.us/in-our-opinion-boycott-him/in-my-opinion-the-drug-that-cathal-grant-prescribes-for-add-and-adhd-adderall-here-is-another-case-of-death-by-this-drug-a-woman-says-i-blame-adderall-for-my-brothers-death-will-cathal-grant/ |
Five years in the making, Jeff Greinke’s newest release BEFORE SUNRISE explores the more acoustical side of the ambient / impressionist territory of the electronic music genre. This new work, the third Greinke title on the Spotted Peccary Music label, is a logical progression from his previous releases, painting abstract landscapes and emotive expressions with ample use of acoustic instruments such as piano, cello, viola, clarinets and vibraphone, along with electronic elements of sampled textures and synthesizers. The expansive palette of these rich timbres bring a fresh perspective to this highly nuanced contemporary electro-acoustic sound. Spanning genres of modern classical, electronic, and ambient, BEFORE SUNRISE is always evolving, flowing pastorally throughout a predominately non-linear structure. These improvisations and compositions sway to-and-fro, effortlessly creating an authentic, organic quality to the musical experience. Evocative recording techniques, like capturing the incidentals of string and bowed instruments, conjure a lonely, desolate, melancholy terrain. Greinke adds, “my music and creative process is inspired by my visual, aural, and sensual (particularly meteorological) experiences of the world around me.” Due to this inspiration, the eight tracks that comprise this new album are mostly void of any clear rhythmic component and yet pace gracefully, almost floating majestically with Greinke’s intention and direction. Highly layered and textural, BEFORE SUNRISE is impressively spacious with an abundance of subtle detail, while evoking a remarkably somber and visual sense of place.
An exquisitely nuanced collection of ambient chamber music, Before Sunrise blurs the lines between classical and electronic genres in the most striking manner imaginable. Jeff Greinke’s been crafting music and releasing recordings for decades, and the sensibility the sound sculptor, artist, and designer has refined over the course of that production period is evident in every fibre of the recording’s being.
A project like Greinke’s that pairs live musicians with electronic textures and embeds their playing within soundscape structures can produce a result where the contributions of the acoustic players feels grafted onto the backdrops crafted by the electronic artist. Not so here: Before Sunrise sees the two components integrated seamlessly, with all elements working in tandem to achieve specific ends. No account of the fifty-seven-minute release would be complete without acknowledging those who so splendidly augment Greinke’s keyboards, electronics, and samples, even if their contributions appear on only half of the album’s eight pieces: string players Paris Hurley, Alex Guy, Austin Larkin, and Dylan Rieck; trumpeter Lesli Dalaba, woodwinds players James DeJoie, and Greg Campbell on French horn, vibraphone, and hand drum.
Establishing the album’s tone, Greinke builds a multi-dimensional meditative space using vibraphone, bass clarinet, strings, samples, and electronics in “High Flyers of the Night Sky,” its sense of mystery nurtured with masterful patience by the composer. Amidst the thrum of insects and the low-pitched utterances of the bass clarinet, the trumpet’s sparse declamations call to mind the similarly lonely sound of the horn in Ives’s The Unanswered Question. Such an association aside, the material exemplifies the meticulousness with which Greinke assembles his elements into painterly wholes.
Track titles aren’t without a programmatic dimension, but even if generic titles had been used the pieces would still be strongly evocative. Strings figure prominently in the arrangement of “Slow Train on an Open Plain,” lending the piece an elegiac character that very much conveys qualities of loneliness and desolation. By comparison, the combination of muted trumpet, hand drum, clarinet, and electronics gives “The River” a somewhat exotic, even Fourth World character that suggests affinities with the music of Jon Hassell or David Toop.
With respect to the solo productions, “Night Watch” is Greinke in deep Eno mode, the atmospheric ambient soundscape powerfully suggestive of a nocturnal harbour setting when the only sounds intermingling are those of wind and water. Using acoustic piano as the front-line instrument in the peaceful, New Age-styled reverie “Rain, Then Snow” adds a wholly different dimension to the recording, as does the prominent role accorded DeJoie’s flute in the slow-motion title piece, a move that deepens the quiet grandeur of a twelve-minute moodscape that in its closing minutes approaches the profound stillness of an Arvo Pärt composition.
Nuance and sensitivity extend not only to the material itself but to the recording approach Greinke applied to the project. By design, the string instruments were recorded in such a way that the extra-musical sounds that naturally arise during performance, such as the sound of a bow moving across the strings, would be retained. In the composer’s own words, “I instructed the musicians not to shy away from squeaks and scrapes that sometimes happen while playing such instruments … I find that those sounds evoke a lonely, abandoned landscape that appeals to me.” The result is music obviously rich in texture and mood but music rich in humanity, too.
An artist cannot really be represented by a single release, but rather is suggested through an accumulation of work. Throughout his lengthy and varied career Jeff Greinke has gone through an evolution – or maybe, because of its length and so many interesting twists and turns, this aspect of his life may be better described as a convolution. While his earlier albums searched through the rubble of the unconscious, Before Sunrise(57’20”) switches from the cerebral to the specific. With the rigorous organization of the interplay of texture, melody and harmony, and stemming from a developed instinct, he organizes Ambient forms to give his creativity a lucid expression. As usual, Greinke approached the task of producing Before Sunrise with a point of view all his own. Due to the presence of cello, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, flute, French horn, violin and viola this release may be thought to fall in the category of Ambient Chamber Music – and certainly, if you like this sort of thing, then you will not be disappointed. But Greinke has always been a musical outsider – not even faintly trying to get inside – and so these eight tracks do retain that feel and integrity to one degree or another. Some sections of Before Sunrise flow like a spiritual quest for life’s meaning, while others celebrate the outlaw life this remote genre of music may support. As the unwinding ribbon of notes from a violin bend plaintively, droning strings support a melodious narration. Further in a wooded wild place materializes, where we wait, under stars, in the cool of night, well in advance of the first sign of dawn. Thickening under a solemn atmosphere, we may feel a nocturnal presence – like something impending. Possessing the capacity to inspire contradictory responses, it is often very gorgeous – this strange and beautiful wayward place of sound. After all these years, decades of making records, Greinke still asks for nothing more than our quiet attention. There is something radical about that, and about such stubborn faith in one’s work – and in us.
Before Sunrise’ marks the 20th solo album for ambient artist Jeff Greinke, not counting his collaborations. It’s a shame that a number of them are out of print, although there have been some reissues. I first experienced Greinke’s work in the late ’80s to early ’90s and so am familiar with only a handful of his recordings. What I liked about them is that they seemed dark and arcane at the time; not dark in a Robert Rich or Lustmord sort of way, but less conventional ambient than what others in the genre seemed to be doing then. If you’ve been out of touch with Greinke’s music as well, you will find that it has evolved into something quite different, yet not without retaining the flavor and texture Greinke is known for. Greinke’s crepuscular vision of ‘Before Sunrise’ is a rich tapestry of acoustic instruments played by guest players (Greg Campbell- French horn, vibraphone, hand drum; Lesli Dalaba- trumpet; James DeJoie- clarinets, saxophones, flutes; Alex Guy- viola; Paris Hurley- violin; Austin Larkin- viola, violin; Dylan Rieck- cello) combined with Greinke’s signature electro-acoustic atmospheres and keyboard improvs. It’s an impressionistic kind of ambient, fairly well removed from the New Age melodic ambient you might expect to hear with orchestral instruments combined with synthesizers. This is a pretty deep work with a number of moods and soundscapes explored over the course of 8 tracks in 57 minutes; everything from rumbling darkness to splinters of moonlight piercing through a many-layered forest of sound, to sparkly fairy lights. By its nature, ‘Before Sunrise’ has an aura of melancholy mystery to it that always seems to be evolving. It is almost hard to believe that the music has been largely improvised as the instrumental coordination is so stellar that it often seems as though there had to have been some rather complex arrangements in places. The layering of atmospheres is extraordinary in its richness, yet nothing is buried. Rather than overtake Greinke’s atmospheres, the acoustic instruments enhance it and add their own piquancy to what is already a pretty heady stew. ‘Before Sunrise’ is a trip well worth taking, and is intriguing enough to warrant multiple replays.
He’s been actively recording music since the early 80s, with well over two dozen releases to his credit, yet probably not as prolific as some others in the floating ambient subgenre, but his creations are clearly different, embracing acoustic instrumentation as a fundamental part of his electronic based sound, thereby often making his music a hybrid of chamber styles and ambient electronics. I’ve not heard every release, in fact probably only around ten of them throughout the years, but they all seem to follow along in that general direction. Before Sunrise makes good on all of his previous endeavors, seeming to be a very natural progression along a somewhat expected trajectory. Each of the eight tracks of varying length stay around long enough to make an impressionistic statement without wearing down the listener with endless or unnecessary repetition or extension. The nine-minute opener, “High Flyers of the Night Sky,” is probably one of the most purely floating and subtle electronic amont them all, but even there, among the gentle keyboard sounds and textures, we hear strong melodies emerging from the drones in the darkness, flanked by baritone sax from guest player James DeJoie, french horn from Greg Campbell, trumpet from Lesli Dalaba, and soothing violin from Austin Larkin, such that by the end of the piece we are treated to a truly colorful and mystical kaleidoscope of light and shadows. “Slow Train on an Open Plain” is a perfect title for the follow-up track that emerges out of the shadow of the first, here more string-driven with violin, viola and cello, with french horn driving the main melody punctuated by beautiful piano ornamentation. “Under Falling Stars” is a piece that proceeds with a stong melodic looping cycle, it’s all Greinke here with no guest players, using a wide variety of keyboard sounds together with samples of acoustic instruments. The perfectly titled “Mountains and Clouds” evokes a moving stillness bathed in fog, a sound that Greinke has been perfecting over several decades, the changes within this beautiful six-minute piece move at a truly glacial pace. The 12-minute closing title track evokes the sounds and feelings of night, with flute, horn, baritone sax, and violin floating through the electronic textures and piano accents, like the shapes of muted colors and subtle powers emerging from the fringes of darkness. Make no mistake, this is relaxing music, be it a ticket to slumberland or a way to start your day without stress. Another excellent release from a master of organic structures.
Mixed by Jeff Greinke except tracks 1 and 3 mixed by Doug Haire and Jeff Greinke.
Recorded at Wavelab, Tucson, Arizona (engineer: Chris Schultz); Another Room, Tucson, Arizona (engineer: Jeff Greinke); and Jack Straw, Seattle, Washington (engineer: Doug Haire).
Cover and insert photography by Isabel Amorous (except photo of Will Clipman copyright Gabriel Ayala).
The time runs fast, already four years have passed since Jeff Greinke’s “Virga” album, released on Lotuspike. For all that time I didn’t hear anything about this extraordinary artist, who is based in Tucson, Arizona. So the more surprised I was when “Scenes From A Train” CD crossed my radars via Hypnos Forum (thanks “Immersion” for the hint!!!). Yes, this release went by quite unnoticed within broader ambient community, it’s a pity, because it deserves much bigger exposure even if it’s not rooted to Jeff’s older, more spookier ambient/dark ambient soundworlds. “Scenes From A Train” CD rather follows footsteps of his rhythmed, jazzy-infused side project Land. Released in June 2013 on UK label Infectious Music, Jeff Greinke is supported on this album by the long list of guests (there is no less than 13 of them!!!). Among them some which were part of above mentioned Land project.
Filigree musicianship is heard all over this entertaining sonic escapade. Richly flavored textures, merging warmer scenic vistas with lots of acoustic instrumentation and cascading from funky jazzy rhythms through weirdly tribal fields to sorrowful cinematic subtleties. Appealingly moving jazzy-funk/tribal pace of the opening title track “Scenes From A Train” immediately sets the atmosphere of a picturesque railroad travel. Bowed string mastery excels on sadly expressive piece, “The Beautiful Storm”, while the next one, “Valley And Ridge” shifts back to rhythmed rails, where sparkling percussive tinkles with gentle clackers and shakers beautifully interact with the variety of bowed strings and wind instruments. Catchy laid-back train-like pace is achieved, while mingling with warmly inviting window’s horizons. Pure beauty!!! Breathtakingly evocative mixture of trumpet, clarinet and viola leads “The Milky Way”. Few dramatic crescendos sneak in throughout this stunningly expressive track. Small amount of exquisite Middle East fragrance is thrown in too (evoking unforgettable “Ngaio Gamelan”…). Deeply immersing cinematic realms are fully unfolded, more please!!! An ultimate Hall of Fame composition!!! Jazzy and tribal ingredients are again bridged in “Strange Birds”, a piece driven by percussive downtempos, piano, cello and wind instruments. Hauntingly sculpted!!! “Haboob” keeps on the distinctive route with all the guitar and acoustic mastery, heavier post-rock infusions are featured in this oddly unique piece. Fortunately, aptly titled “Night Train” returns quickly to relaxing tribal mood surrounded by the interactions of trombone, clarinet, horn and distant dronescapes. Very nice!!! The album ends with “Autumn Moon”, which features leisurely embracing and rhythmically stirring texture, augmented by velvety tinkles and female wordless ethereal chants. A truly enthralling finale!!!
“Scenes From A Train” album offers an all-inclusive, highly distinguishing travelogue experience, presented by challenging creativity of each participant. Jeff Greinke has teamed with many virtuoso performers, who have delivered to this recording their soul and spirit. Aural bliss awaits here, definitely!!! Excuse me for not mentioning any names of the guests in this review (plus mixing and mastering engineers), but it’s the music that speaks for themselves and I didn’t want to leave someone out. And I award extra points also for the visuals, the 4-panel digipak comes with additional 8-page booklet, precisely displaying the theme and dedication of each performer. The old Jeff Greinke is gone, that’s for sure (at least on this album), but “Scenes From A Train” CD is a really big one as well, welcome back, Maestro!!!
Virga is the eighteenth release from Jeff Greinke, whose respected career as a musician, composer, performer and sound-sculptor spans 25 years. With a discography that includes album titles like Weather From Another Planet, Cities In Fog, Big Weather, Changing Skies, Moving Climates, and Before The Storm to name a few, it’s clear that Greinke draws great inspiration from the atmospheric conditions of his environment. “This music is informed by my visual surroundings, primarily the landscapes, big skies and weather of the desert Southwest,” confirms Greinke, who currently resides in Tucson, Arizona, where the Virga phenomenon is common during the monsoon season.
The music on Virga takes shape as strata of slow moving melodies stream their way through expansive atmospherics and pastoral passages of ambient chamber music, highlighted by cello, trumpet and piano on many selections; all drifting together to construct complex harmonic musical skyscapes. The cumulative result is a collection of vast, textural, cinematic, and melodic compositions with a strong sense of mood and place that gently evolve and drift… like the clouds themselves.
To these ears, Virga, the latest offering from Jeff Greinke, is a stunning soundtrack in search of the touching, beautiful, meaningful film to which it should rightfully belong. A neo-classical work edged with ambient expressions, Virga is emotionally packed and gorgeously constructed. It’s engaging from the first spattering of here-comes-the-rain notes in the opening title track and proceeds to just get deeper and more interesting from there. Greinke has always composed with a strong cinematic flair and that, along with his stated intent to capture the feel of the environment as a storm approaches, carries clearly through all the pieces on Virga. In “The Wake,” Greinke conjures darkening skies in a slow-moving, somber tone. I love the Asian-flavored edge at work in “East Facing Slope.” (Similarly, I enjoyed that same feel in “Moving to Malaysia” from Winter Light.) There’s a strong Mark Isham quality to the track–think Tibet–that makes it the musical equivalent of staring into a Japanese pen-and-ink drawing or watching the colors darken on a mountainside as weather rolls in. “Before the Storm” deftly captures its titular image as woodwinds swirl like gathering clouds and distantly rumbling bass notes carry the blue-black threat of hard rain. “Contrails” is suitably light in tone, with wispy piano notes and high synth strings describing washed-blue skies and the return of the sun. By contrast, its followup track, “Partial Light,” imparts an edge of drama with an abundance of minor chords, long-held notes and phrases that ease down the scale in short steps, all with a gentle rush of wind beneath it. There’s a pure and gentle romance to the stilted structure of “Old Friends” that quite honestly threatens to move me to tears. Greinke’s master craftsmanship is on display here, track after track. Every piece of work here is rich and full, landscapes completely described in intimate detail while still leaving space for you to create your own mental pictures. This is a disk you’ll return to often to re-explore, and it will easily stand up to the scrutiny. For its depth and beauty, Virga is a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.
Jeff Greinke (joined on several tracks by cellist Christiana Morgan and trumpet player Lesli Dalaba) continues to evolve his music away from his more abstract and textural ambient beginnings, choosing to explore a more melodic neo-classical minimalist landscape on Virga, his latest CD and, from where I stand, one of the best recordings of his long career. While some cuts are less overtly “soundtrackish” than his previous CD, venturing into ambient soundscape territory, I believe that the overriding musical presence here is still closer to that of Winter Light and, to a lesser but still noticeable degree, Wide View, than it is to past works such as In Another Place, Places of Motility and Cities in Fog.
I’m well aware that some of Greinke’s long-time fans are somewhat discouraged by this new direction he is headed in, and they are entitled to that opinion of course. However, baring the obvious statement that an artist must answer the call of his/her muse if he/she is to be true to his/her musical self, I think this new direction represents a greater depth of emotion, a more complex (certainly not less so) approach to the music itself, and resonates on a more direct (i.e. less abstract) level than purer “ambient” pieces ever could. Of course, that’s only my personal opinion.
Not everything on Virga is confined to the neo-classical minimalist description from above, though. The opening title track features a rapid tempo piano theme played out against swirling keyboards, descending in a lush crescendo of sorts. “night flyers” opens amidst a nocturnal chorus of synthesized creatures set against shimmering synthesizers and a plaintive echoed piano. As he did on Winter Light‘s “Moving to Malaysia” and “Under the Pagoda,” Greinke again displays his affinity for Asian musical influences on “east facing slope” with gently plucked koto and delicate bell tones, joined by Morgan’s sonorous cello and Dalaba’s trumpet. “contrails” flows on airy layers of keyboards underneath echoed piano and the track could easily be classified as spacemusic especially when a particularly warm analog-ish sounding synthesizer is brought into focus.
In the end, Virga is less “passive” yet also more ambient, at times, than Winter Light may have been perceived, but it’s a subtle distinction for the most part. If you, like me, love this new direction that Jeff Greinke is headed in, you will greatly enjoy delving into the many pleasures of Virga, walking down its paths of beauty tinted with wonder married to despair, and serenity clouded by mystery. By the way, it goes without saying that since this is a Lotuspike release, and mastered by Ben Cox, the sound is tremendous, rife with nuance and finely captured detail and expertly mixed and engineered from every perspective. | 2019-04-18T18:44:22Z | http://www.jeffgreinke.com/ |
Pyrazinamide (PZA) plays a unique role in the treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in both first- and second-line regimens. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and molecular characterization of PZA resistance among MDR-TB isolates collected in Chongqing municipality.
A total of 133 MDR-TB isolates were collected from the smear-positive tuberculosis patients who were registered at local TB dispensaries of Chongqing. PZA susceptibility testing was determined with a Bactec MGIT 960 system. In addition, the genes conferring for PZA resistance were screened by DNA sequencing.
Of these 133 MDR-TB isolates, 83 (62.4%) were determined as PZA-resistant by MGIT 960. In addition, streptomycin- (83.1% vs. 56.0%, P < 0.01), ofloxacin- (51.8% vs. 18.0%, P < 0.01), kanamycin- (22.9% vs. 2.0%, P < 0.01), amikacin- (18.1% vs. 2.0%, P = 0.01), capromycin-resistance (12.0% vs. 2.0%, P = 0.05), were more frequently observed among PZA-resistant isolates compared with PZA-susceptible isolates. Sequence analysis revealed that 73 out of 83 (88.0%) MDR strains harbored a mutation located in the pncA gene, including 55 (75.3%, 55/73) of single nucleotide substitutions and 18 (24.7%, 18/73) of frameshift mutation, while no genetic mutation associated with PZA resistance was found in the rpsA gene. The pncA expression of strains harboring substitution from A to G at position −11 in the promoter region of pncA was significantly lower than that of H37Rv (P < 0.01).
In conclusion, our data have demonstrated that the analysis of the pncA gene rather than rpsA gene provides rapid and accurate information regarding PZA susceptibility for MDR-TB isolates in Chongqing. In addition, loss of pncA expression caused by promoter mutation confers PZA resistance in MDR-TB isolates.
Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a major concern hampering global tuberculosis control efforts [1, 2]. According to new estimates from World Health Organization (WHO), there were around 0.48 million new cases of MDR-TB cases, and approximately 0.19 million deaths from MDR-TB worldwide in 2014 (WHO, 2015). Only behind India, China has the second burden of MDR-TB globally, with 52, 000 prevalent MDR-TB cases annually (WHO, 2015). A recent national survey of drug-resistant tuberculosis in China revealed that 5.7% of new TB cases and 25.6% of previously treated cases were MDR-TB, respectively, which were higher than the global average rates . Given its high rate of treatment failure, the epidemic of MDR-TB constitutes a serious public health problem in China [3, 4].
Pyrazinamide (PZA) is one of cornerstone first-line anti-tuberculosis agents that is also commonly used as essential component in the therapeutic treatment of MDR-TB [5, 6]. As the prodrug, PZA requires conversion into its active form pyrazinoic acid (POA) by the enzyme pyrazinamidase (PZase). PZase is encoded by the 561-nucleotide pncA gene. Loss of PZase activity cause by genetic mutations in the pncA gene is the main mechanism of resistance to PZA in M. tuberculosis . Several recent literatures have reported that several PZA-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates harbored the mutations in the promoter of pncA gene, indicating these alternations may result in PZA resistance by influencing the expression of pncA [7–9]. In addition to pncA, another gene named rpsA, which encodes the 30S ribosomal protein S1, has been demonstrated to confer PZA resistance by structural alternation of POA binding . To date, the contribution of the rpsA mutations conferring PZA resistance is controversial, which requires more experimental evidences to elucidate the role of rpsA as a PZA resistance mechanism .
Chongqing is the largest municipality in the southwestern China . Due to the underdeveloped setting, Chongqing is considered as a hotspot for both TB and MDR-TB in China . However, limited data is available for the prevalence and molecular characteristics of PZA resistance in M. tuberculosis isolates, especially MDR-TB. In this study, our main goal was to investigate the prevalence of PZA resistance among MDR-TB isolates collected in Chongqing municipality. We also sought to analyze the mutant profiles of MDR-TB isolates conferring PZA resistance in this area.
All smear-positive tuberculosis patients who were registered at local TB dispensaries between November 2014 and February 2016 were enrolled in this study. Information was obtained from patient’s medical record. Two sputum samples were obtained from each smear-positive patient for culturing in the county-level laboratories. After 4–8 weeks of incubation, cultures with growing colonies on Löwenstein-Jensen (L-J) medium were sent to the Chongqing Tuberculosis Control Institute for further drug susceptibility testing. Re-treated cases were defined as patients having previously received more than one month of anti-TB treatment.
Drug susceptibility testing (DST) was performed with the proportional method recommended by WHO [3, 13]. The concentrations of drugs in L-J medium were as follows: isoniazid (INH), 0.2 μg/ml; rifampicin (RIF), 40 μg/ml; ethambutol (EMB), 2 μg/ml; streptomycin (SM), 4 μg/ml; ofloxacin (OFLX), 2 μg/ml; kanamycin (KAN), 30 μg/ml; amikacin (AMK), 30 μg/ml; capromycin (CAP), 40 μg/ml; and protionamide (PTO), 40 μg/ml and p-aminosalicylic acid (PAS) 1 μg/ml . A strain was declared resistant to an antimicrobial agent when the growth rate exceeded 1% compared with the control. In addition, PZA susceptibility testing was determined with a Bactec MGIT 960 system according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The critical concentration of PZA in the liquid medium was 100 μg/ml . The MDR-TB strains were defined as those resistant to both isoniazid and rifampicin. In addition, XDR-TB was defined as MDR-TB resistant to any member of the quinolone family and at least one of the remaining second-line anti-TB injectable drugs .
Genomic DNA was extracted from freshly cultured bacteria as previously described . Briefly, the harvested bacteria from the surface of L-J medium were suspended in 500 μl Tris-EDTA (TE) buffer and heated in a 95 °C water bath for 30 min. The crude DNA was used as template for amplification. The fragments of pncA and rpsA were amplified with the following primers: pncA-F 5′-AACAGTTCATCCCGGTTC-3′ and pncA-R 5′-GCGTCATGGACCCTATATC-3′; rpsA-F 5′-CGGAGCAACCCAACAATA-3′ and rpsA-R 5′-GTGGACAGCAACGACTTC-3′, respectively . The 50 μL PCR mixture was prepared as follows: 25 μl 2 × GoldStar MasterMix (CWBio, Beijing, China), 5 μL of DNA template, and 0.2 μM of each primer set. PCR parameters for amplification were 5 min at 94 °C followed by 35 cycles of 94 °C for 1 min, 58 °C for 1 min, 72 °C for 1 min and a final extension of 72 °C for 5 min. PCR products were sent to Tsingke company for sequencing. All sequence data were aligned with pncA and rpsA of reference strain H37Rv (ATCC) using BioEdit (version 7.1.3.0) software.
Bacteria were harvested from L-J medium after inoculation for 4 weeks. The total RNA was isolated following a standard Trizol RNA extraction protocol supplied by Invitrogen (Invitrogen, Life Technologies, USA) . Followed by treatment with DNaseI (Invitrogen, Life Technologies, USA), the reverse transcription was carried out using SuperScriptIII RT kit (Invitrogen, Life Technologies, USA). The relative expression level of pncA gene was detected by QRT-PCR in a 20 μl system containing 10 μL of 2 × UltraSYBR Mixture (CWBio, Beijing, China), 2 μL of cDNA template, and 0.2 μM of each primer set (pncA-QF 5′-GAAGCGGCGGACTACCATC-3′ and pncA-QR 5′-AGTGGCGTGCCGTTCTCG-3′). PolyA was set as the internal control in respective PCR experiments .
Chi square test was used to evaluate the associations among multiple categorical variables, and the statistical results were summarized with odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All calculations were performed in SPSS 13.0 (SPSS Inc., USA). Differences with a P value less than 0.05 were declared statistically significant.
A total of 133 (10.8%) of 1236 clinical isolates were identified as MDR-TB, including 38 (28.6%) pre-XDR and 17 (12.8%) XDR. Overall, 80 (60.2%) strains were isolated from male patients and 53 (39.8%) from female patients. The average age of the patients was 46.6 years (range 19–76 years). In addition, 36.8% of isolates were from new cases, and 63.2% from re-treated cases. Out of the 133 MDR isolates tested, 97 (72.9%) were resistant to SM, 40 (30.1%) to EMB, 52 (39.1%) to OFLX, 20 (15.0%) to KAN, 16 (12.0%) to AMK, 11 (8.3%) to CAP and 15 (11.3%) to PAS (Table 1).
As shown in Table 1, 83 (62.4%) isolates were determined as PZA-resistant by MGIT, while the other 50 (37.6%) were susceptible to PZA. In regard to the distribution of MDR-TB cases treatment history, the percentage of re-treated MDR-TB patients in the PZA-resistant group was significantly higher than in the PZA-susceptible group (odd ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.26[1.55–6.82], P < 0.01). In contrast, our data revealed no statistically significant difference between the PZA-resistant and PZA-susceptible group in gender and age (P > 0.05).
We further analyzed the resistance profiles of other drugs among PZA-resistant and PZA-susceptible M. tuberculosis strains. Statistical analysis revealed that SM- (83.1% vs. 56.0%, P < 0.01), OFLX- (51.8% vs. 18.0%, P < 0.01), KAN- (22.9% vs. 2.0%, P < 0.01), AMK- (18.1% vs. 2.0%, P = 0.01), CAP-resistance (12.0% vs. 2.0%, P = 0.05), pre-XDR (36.1% vs. 16.0%, P < 0.02) and XDR (19.3% vs. 2.0%, P < 0.01) were more frequently observed among PZA-resistant isolates compared with PZA-susceptible isolates, while no difference was identified between EMB-resistant and EMB-susceptible strains (31.3% vs. 28.0%, P = 0.69) (Table 1).
A total of 73 out of 83 (88.0%) MDR strains harbored a mutation located in the pncA gene, including 55 (75.3%, 55/73) of single nucleotide substitutions and 18 (24.7%, 18/73) of frameshift mutation. As summarized in Table 2, we observed great mutant diversity in pncA gene, and there were 48 different mutant types conferring PZA resistance among MDR strains in Chongqing. The most prevalent mutation associated with PZA resistance was found in codon 132 of pncA (12.3%, 9/73), resulting in the amino aicd substitution of Gly to Asp. As the second affected codon, five isolates had a mutation in codon 62 (6.8%, 5/73). Notably, the third frequent mutation was the nucleotide substitution from A to G at position −11 in the promoter region of pncA, accounting for 5.4% of mutant isolates. We also found that 4 PZA-susceptible isolates carried a genetic mutation in pncA, including 2 strains in codon 62, one in codon 67 and one in codon 154 (Table 3). In addition, no genetic mutation associated with PZA resistance was found in the rpsA gene in this study.
We analyzed the performance of pncA mutations for predicting PZA susceptibility. When setting the phenotypic PZA susceptibility as a gold standard, we found that detection of mutations in pncA gene exhibited a sensitivity of 88.0% (95% CI, 80.9%–95.0%) and a specificity of 92.0% (95% CI, 84.5%–99.5%) (Table 4).
We further explore whether the substitution at position −11 affected the expression level of pncA. As shown in Fig. 1, compared with reference strain H37Rv, the relative expression level of pncA in MDR87, MDR88, MDR114 and MDR126 carried the substitution at position −11 were 0.25 fold, 0.19 fold, 0.36 fold and 0.22 fold, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that the pncA expression of strains harboring promoter mutation at position −11 was significantly lower than that of H37Rv (P < 0.01).
PZA plays a unique role in the treatment for MDR-TB in both first- and second-line regimens [19, 20]. The prevalence of PZA among MDR-TB thus is a determining factor for initiation of PZA in the therapy regimens for these refractory patients . Here, our data demonstrated that 62.4% of MDR-TB exhibited resistance against PZA in Chongqing, which was similar to a recent literature from Beijing (57.7%) , while higher than those from Zhejiang (43.1%) , Shanghai (38.5%) , United States (38.0%) , and Thailand (49.0%) . The high prevalence of PZA resistance among MDR-TB patients from our report indicates that Chongqing is a hotspot of PZA resistance in China. In our study, more than 60% MDR patients received previous anti-TB therapy with PZA, which is significantly higher than the average national level (21.8%) . Hence, we speculate that the high proportion of PZA resistance may be contributed to the high rate of re-treated TB patients. The serious issue on PZA resistance highlights the diminished role of PZA in the treatment for MDR-TB in this setting with high MDR-TB burden. Prior to the use of PZA for treatment of MDR-TB cases, it is essential to perform in vitro susceptibility testing against PZA to formulate a suitable regimen .
Another important finding from our observation was that we observed that there were high correlation between PZA resistance and several other drugs’ resistance, including OFLX, second-line injectable drugs, and PAS. Similar to our findings, a recent report from Alame-Emane and colleagues has revealed that PZA resistance in M. tuberculosis arises after RIF and fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistance . Genetic mutations constitute the most important mechanism conferring drug resistance in M. tuberculosis . Exposure to bacterial species to antimicrobial agents, including RIF, FQ and the aminoglycosides, induces the production of oxygen radicals, thereby conferring high frequency mutagenesis [25–27]. Considering long duration of anti-TB treatment, we hypothesize that MDR bacteria will harbor more genetic mutations induced by prolonged exposure to these drugs, which may be responsible for the potential cross resistance between PZA and other drugs in our study.
In vitro susceptibility against PZA is essential for proper management of MDR-TB with regimen containing PZA . However, phenotypic DST for PZA is not routinely performed due to the requirement of harshly acidic environment . Molecular method based on detecting the mutations in pncA and rpsA serves as an alternative to predict the PZA susceptibility in M. tuberculosis . In this study, our data demonstrated that genetic alternations in pncA confer 88.0% of PZA resistance among MDR-TB in Chongqing. A number of studies have demonstrated a diverse prevalence of pncA mutation among PZA resistant isolates in different regions, ranging from 45.7% in Brazil , 70.6% in Iran , 75.0% in Thailand , 78.0% in Zhejiang , 84.6% in Southern China , and 94.1% in Sweden . Hence, pncA mutations may differ from one geographic region to another. In addition, we found that pncA mutations exhibited great diversity, and the most frequent mutant type in codon 142 only accounted for approximate 12% of PZA resistant isolates, which was also different from reports from other regions [8, 9]. Given the diversity of pncA mutations within more than 500-bp long segment, DNA sequencing of the entire pncA is more effective for verification of PZA resistance rather than the routine methods by covering the mutant hotspots.
In addition, the third frequent mutation identified in this study was located at position −11 of the pncA promoter region. In line with our observation, numerous literatures have observed this mutant type in PZA-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates [31, 32]. We found that this substitution at position −11 was associated with low level of pncA expression, which was also consistent to the observation from Sheen et al. . The anti-TB activity of PZA depends on the transformation to POA by PZAse, which is encoded by pncA gene. The loss of pncA transcriptional level may result in the relative low PZAse activity, which is further associated with the phenotypic PZA resistance. Our results suggest that the promoter region of pncA is recommended to be included in the sequence analysis of pncA gene.
We acknowledge several limitations of this study. First, the small sample size is a major limitation of our report. And all the strains collected from one region also reduce their representativeness and thereby constrict the generalizability of findings. Further wider sampling will give more credence to this study. Second, although the primary data of this study suggest that loss of pncA expression caused by promoter mutation confers PZA resistance in MDR-TB isolates, we could give no biochemical or transgenic substantiation of this statement. Therefore, there is an urgent need to confirm our findings with more experimental evidences in the future. Third, the high diversity of pncA mutations in MTB-TB isolates from Chongqing underscores previous findings that there is no clear hotspot for pncA mutations , and several novel mutations in pncA gene were found for first time among PZA-resistant isolates. Despite being highly correlated with the loss of PZA susceptibility, further experiments will be carried out to clarify the potential contributions of these mutations to PZA resistance. Nevertheless, our report firstly described the molecular characteristics of PZA resistance among MDR-TB isolates from Southern China, which provides important hints to diagnose PZA resistance and help guide therapy with PZA for MDR-TB patients in this region with high MDR-TB burden.
In conclusion, our data have demonstrated that the analysis of the pncA gene rather than rpsA gene provides rapid and accurate information regarding PZA susceptibility for MDR-TB isolates in Chongqing. In addition, loss of pncA expression caused by promoter mutation confers PZA resistance in MDR-TB isolates. Considering the high degree of diversity of pncA gene mutations, DNA sequencing of the entire pncA is more effective for verification of PZA resistance rather than the routine methods by covering the mutant hotspots. The high prevalence of PZA resistance among MDR highlights the diminished role of PZA in the treatment for MDR-TB in this setting with high TB burden.
We would like to thank the staffs from the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory for their technical support.
This study was supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (2014CB744403).
Conceived and designed the experiments: YP, DZ, JL, YL. Performed the experiments: YP, DZ, HZ, JS. YH, JL. Analyzed the data: YP, DZ, JL, YL. Wrote the paper: YP, DZ, JL, YL. All authors contributed to the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Chongqing Tuberculosis Control Institute. Patients enrolled in this study provided the signed Informed Consent form. | 2019-04-20T22:56:04Z | https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-017-2761-6 |
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Machine translated chapter 682 of Invincible Conqueror light novel.
Master?! Jia Liang and four Zhou Family clan disciple(s) entirely Tijing stagnate, looks to kneel in Sheng Yue elderly front Lin Pinghai inconceivable. A their mind blank, nobody believes that at present this looks like a beggar, skinny . Moreover the face is thick-skinned, even formerly the people thought that Sheng Yue elderly of slightly crazy can be Lin Pinghai Master unexpectedly! Who is Lin Pinghai? But Lin Pinghai Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder! They had not heard that Lin Pinghai has Master! Let alone they, followed that two Direct Disciple that Lin Pinghai came are also ignorant, they have not listened to their Master to say Lin Pinghai had the matter of Master! Actually was not Lin Pinghai does not want to tell them, but was Sheng Yue elderly once the strict order he did not permit to say before others one matter, had not acknowledged that Lin Pinghai was his Honorary Disciple! However, Sheng Yue elderly, although did not acknowledge that Lin Pinghai is his Honorary Disciple, however in Lin Pinghai, actually has revered at heart to recognize Sheng Yue elderly for the master. Because, if no direction of Sheng Yue elderly, he is impossible to have the technique of present Concocting Pills, will be impossible becomes the Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder. A piece startled stagnates when Jia Liang and the others, is inconceivable, one group of people have welled up from main hall large gate. Jia Liang and the others looked. This looked that Jia Liang and the others are frightens the complexion to become known. Comes person Alchemy Grandmaster Association Chairman Chen Ye and Alchemy Grandmaster Association elders. Chen Ye and a Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder has flooded into the main hall completely, Chen Ye and the others were angry-looking, after flooding into the main hall. Suddenly sees to kneel there Lin Pinghai, completely one dull, when they see clearly the Sheng Yue elderly appearance, all person one faces are all excited.
Chen Ye was the same with formerly Lin Pinghai, the anxious step arrived in front of Sheng Yue elderly, has knelt, kowtowed saying: „Master!” Jia Liang also has the Direct Disciple whole body of Lin Pinghai to shake suddenly, looks to kneel there Chen Ye dull. The Alchemy Grandmaster Association elders who however then, coming in had half also quickly to kneel in front of Sheng Yue elderly, kowtowed to say respectfully: „Master!” Master! Jia Liang and the others only think that top of the head Divine Thunder is intermittent. At this time. The remaining other half Alchemy Grandmaster Association elders arrive at around the Sheng Yue elderly surface. All respectfully good a big ritual, shouts: „Has seen Sheng Yue Senior Elder!” Senior Elder! This is Old Man unexpectedly their Alchemy Grandmaster Association legend one of three Senior Elder?! Moreover is Sheng Yue Senior Elder of heads of three Senior Elder! Jia Liang and the others is a face shock, is hard to believe that looks at Sheng Yue elderly. At this time, buried Lin Yanhan under opposite street construction ruins to awake to transfer. Struggled to crawl from the ruins. The hissing anger exclaimed: „Old Man. I must make you die, death!” Lin Yanhan just crawled, brain slightly sticks. Has not seen clearly in the main hall the situation, he roars, this looks to the main hall. When he sees to kneel to bend down that dense a piece of Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder in front of Sheng Yue elderly, stayed, but to this time, he for a while had not responded that at present the scene means anything. Sheng Yue elderly looked coldly at kneels to bend down in oneself front Lin Pinghai, said: „Is this good son who you teach?” The Lin Pinghai whole body trembles cold, all kowtows to say panic-stricken: „Master, including him does not know that your elderly status, offends you, but also asked your elderly to forgive him not dead.” Kowtows again and again the plea.
Chen Ye and an elder do not dare to open the mouth. Master?! Lin Yanhan sees oneself father to call Sheng Yue elderly is Master, crisis kowtows unceasingly, at this time finally sobered thoroughly, both eyes is panic-stricken, face unmanned color. Sheng Yue elderly cold sound said to Lin Pinghai: „Looks in you are in my half Honorary Disciple share, you think that he can live now? However, the capital crime may exempt, but the suffering is difficult to run away, you know how should do?” Lin Pinghai kowtows again and again, said knows that thanked Master, then he personally orders, detained first Lin Yanhan, shut in the Alchemy Grandmaster Association dungeon, at the appointed time pressed following crime of heavy fine Lin Yanhan defying superiors again. The Sheng Yue elderly tight complexion was then looser, has selected nodded, to Lin Pinghai, Chen Ye and other humanity: „You get up.” Although in his heart bothersome fire, but Lin Pinghai, Chen Ye and the others now the status is different, like this kneels in the Alchemy Grandmaster Association headquarters main hall is inappropriate. Lin Pinghai, Chen Ye and the others are then respectful the name is, has stood. Sheng Yue elderly finger of Huang Xiaolong said: „He called Huang Xiaolong, is Direct Disciple that I received, you came to call yellow Senior Brother .” Direct Disciple! Chen Ye, Lin Pinghai and other People startled look to Huang Xiaolong. They know Sheng Yue elderly accepts disciple strict, by their intelligence , can only be received by Sheng Yue elderly is half Honorary Disciple. Now this young man unexpectedly! However, in their hearts, although was shocked, but actually nobody does not dare to care the Sheng Yue elderly words, all hurries to call yellow Senior Brother to Huang Xiaolong! Moreover the manner is sincere, does not have the color of least bit being perfunctory. Some other is not considered as that Sheng Yue elderly Honorary Disciple male Chairman old also calls with Huang Xiaolong, on during the face the smiling face is bright respectful.
Because past Sheng Yue elderly received Huang Xiaolong for the matter of disciple, only then Black Tortoise Palace Lord Feng Yang and Black Tortoise Academy audiences Supreme Elder testimony, has not made widely known, more than 20 years, Chen Ye, Lin Pinghai and the others have stayed in Pill King City, year to year Concocting Pills, therefore does not know that in the past Sheng Yue elderly received Huang Xiaolong in the gold dragon peak for the matter of disciple. As for Huang Xiaolong is Black Tortoise Palace Lord Feng Yang Direct Disciple another status, naturally does not know. However, sees Alchemy Grandmaster Association Chairman Chen Ye and the others to call is in itself Senior Brother , Huang Xiaolong relies on again, many slightly are helpless. Sees the Huang Xiaolong helpless manner, nearby Sheng Yue elderly look slightly takes pleasure in others'misfortunes. Finally, Huang Xiaolong inspected the matter of Concocting Pills master naturally is, when Chen Ye and Lin Pinghai and other elder through Jia Liangkou in knows that Huang Xiaolong does not need to use the cauldron furnace, then refined after the ordinary ordinary Spirit Medicine medicine Holy Class Spirit Pill did not have stars pill, Chen Ye and the others were shocked, unanimously decided to give the status of Huang Xiaolong Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder. Actually, Concocting Pills level, so long as achieves the boundary of High Grade Concocting Pills big grandmaster, through the inspection, then can promote for the elder, due to the Sheng Yue elderly reason, therefore, Huang Xiaolong exempts the procedure that inspected again. Naturally, since Alchemy Grandmaster Association was established, Huang Xiaolong is also first directly directly promotes from the Concocting Pills master for the elder. Sheng Yue elderly promoted Huang Xiaolong regarding Chen Ye and the others is the decision of Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder, has not said anything, in his opinion, at the Huang Xiaolong Concocting Pills level, works as an elder to be also indisputable. Afterward, Chen Ye invited Sheng Yue elderly respectfully, Huang Xiaolong and Shi Xiaofei three people goes to his mansion to rest. After seeing Sheng Yue elderly complies, Chen Ye this Alchemy Grandmaster Association Chairman happiness reveals in speech and appearance. In the Huang Xiaolong three people go to the Chen Ye mansion, Huang Xiaolong inspects the matter of Concocting Pills master in the Alchemy Grandmaster Association headquarters, passed on.
Master Jia Liang and four Zhou Family clan disciples entirely Tijing stagnate, looks to kneel in Sheng Yue elderly front Lin Pinghai inconceivable. A their mind blank, nobody believes that at present this looks like a beggar, skinny . Moreover the face is thickskinned, even formerly the people thought that Sheng Yue elderly of slightly crazy can be Lin Pinghai Master unexpectedly Who is Lin Pinghai But Lin Pinghai Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder They had not heard that Lin Pinghai has Master Let alone they, followed that two Direct Disciple that Lin Pinghai came are also ignorant, they have not listened to their Master to say Lin Pinghai had the matter of Master Actually was not Lin Pinghai does not want to tell them, but was Sheng Yue elderly once the strict order he did not permit to say before others one matter, had not acknowledged that Lin Pinghai was his Honorary Disciple However, Sheng Yue elderly, although did not acknowledge that Lin Pinghai is his Honorary Disciple, however in Lin Pinghai, actually has revered at heart to recognize Sheng Yue elderly for the master. Because, if no direction of Sheng Yue elderly, he is impossible to have the technique of present Concocting Pills, will be impossible becomes the Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder. A piece startled stagnates when Jia Liang and the others, is inconceivable, one group of people have welled up from main hall large gate. Jia Liang and the others looked. This looked that Jia Liang and the others are frightens the complexion to become known. Comes person Alchemy Grandmaster Association Chairman Chen Ye and Alchemy Grandmaster Association elders. Chen Ye and a Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder has flooded into the main hall completely, Chen Ye and the others were angrylooking, after flooding into the main hall. Suddenly sees to kneel there Lin Pinghai, completely one dull, when they see clearly the Sheng Yue elderly appearance, all person one faces are all excited. Chen Ye was the same with formerly Lin Pinghai, the anxious step arrived in front of Sheng Yue elderly, has knelt, kowtowed saying Master Jia Liang also has the Direct Disciple whole body of Lin Pinghai to shake suddenly, looks to kneel there Chen Ye dull. The Alchemy Grandmaster Association elders who however then, coming in had half also quickly to kneel in front of Sheng Yue elderly, kowtowed to say respectfully Master Master Jia Liang and the others only think that top of the head Divine Thunder is intermittent. At this time. The remaining other half Alchemy Grandmaster Association elders arrive at around the Sheng Yue elderly surface. All respectfully good a big ritual, shouts Has seen Sheng Yue Senior Elder Senior Elder This is Old Man unexpectedly their Alchemy Grandmaster Association legend one of three Senior Elder Moreover is Sheng Yue Senior Elder of heads of three Senior Elder Jia Liang and the others is a face shock, is hard to believe that looks at Sheng Yue elderly. At this time, buried Lin Yanhan under opposite street construction ruins to awake to transfer. Struggled to crawl from the ruins. The hissing anger exclaimed Old Man. I must make you die, death Lin Yanhan just crawled, brain slightly sticks. Has not seen clearly in the main hall the situation, he roars, this looks to the main hall. When he sees to kneel to bend down that dense a piece of Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder in front of Sheng Yue elderly, stayed, but to this time, he for a while had not responded that at present the scene means anything. Sheng Yue elderly looked coldly at kneels to bend down in oneself front Lin Pinghai, said Is this good son who you teach The Lin Pinghai whole body trembles cold, all kowtows to say panicstricken Master, including him does not know that your elderly status, offends you, but also asked your elderly to forgive him not dead. Kowtows again and again the plea. Chen Ye and an elder do not dare to open the mouth. Master Lin Yanhan sees oneself father to call Sheng Yue elderly is Master, crisis kowtows unceasingly, at this time finally sobered thoroughly, both eyes is panicstricken, face unmanned color. Sheng Yue elderly cold sound said to Lin Pinghai Looks in you are in my half Honorary Disciple share, you think that he can live now However, the capital crime may exempt, but the suffering is difficult to run away, you know how should do Lin Pinghai kowtows again and again, said knows that thanked Master, then he personally orders, detained first Lin Yanhan, shut in the Alchemy Grandmaster Association dungeon, at the appointed time pressed following crime of heavy fine Lin Yanhan defying superiors again. The Sheng Yue elderly tight complexion was then looser, has selected nodded, to Lin Pinghai, Chen Ye and other humanity You get up. Although in his heart bothersome fire, but Lin Pinghai, Chen Ye and the others now the status is different, like this kneels in the Alchemy Grandmaster Association headquarters main hall is inappropriate. Lin Pinghai, Chen Ye and the others are then respectful the name is, has stood. Sheng Yue elderly finger of Huang Xiaolong said He called Huang Xiaolong, is Direct Disciple that I received, you came to call yellow Senior Brother . Direct Disciple Chen Ye, Lin Pinghai and other People startled look to Huang Xiaolong. They know Sheng Yue elderly accepts disciple strict, by their intelligence , can only be received by Sheng Yue elderly is half Honorary Disciple. Now this young man unexpectedly However, in their hearts, although was shocked, but actually nobody does not dare to care the Sheng Yue elderly words, all hurries to call yellow Senior Brother to Huang Xiaolong Moreover the manner is sincere, does not have the color of least bit being perfunctory. Some other is not considered as that Sheng Yue elderly Honorary Disciple male Chairman old also calls with Huang Xiaolong, on during the face the smiling face is bright respectful. Because past Sheng Yue elderly received Huang Xiaolong for the matter of disciple, only then Black Tortoise Palace Lord Feng Yang and Black Tortoise Academy audiences Supreme Elder testimony, has not made widely known, more than 20 years, Chen Ye, Lin Pinghai and the others have stayed in Pill King City, year to year Concocting Pills, therefore does not know that in the past Sheng Yue elderly received Huang Xiaolong in the gold dragon peak for the matter of disciple. As for Huang Xiaolong is Black Tortoise Palace Lord Feng Yang Direct Disciple another status, naturally does not know. However, sees Alchemy Grandmaster Association Chairman Chen Ye and the others to call is in itself Senior Brother , Huang Xiaolong relies on again, many slightly are helpless. Sees the Huang Xiaolong helpless manner, nearby Sheng Yue elderly look slightly takes pleasure in othersmisfortunes. Finally, Huang Xiaolong inspected the matter of Concocting Pills master naturally is, when Chen Ye and Lin Pinghai and other elder through Jia Liangkou in knows that Huang Xiaolong does not need to use the cauldron furnace, then refined after the ordinary ordinary Spirit Medicine medicine Holy Class Spirit Pill did not have stars pill, Chen Ye and the others were shocked, unanimously decided to give the status of Huang Xiaolong Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder. Actually, Concocting Pills level, so long as achieves the boundary of High Grade Concocting Pills big grandmaster, through the inspection, then can promote for the elder, due to the Sheng Yue elderly reason, therefore, Huang Xiaolong exempts the procedure that inspected again. Naturally, since Alchemy Grandmaster Association was established, Huang Xiaolong is also first directly directly promotes from the Concocting Pills master for the elder. Sheng Yue elderly promoted Huang Xiaolong regarding Chen Ye and the others is the decision of Alchemy Grandmaster Association elder, has not said anything, in his opinion, at the Huang Xiaolong Concocting Pills level, works as an elder to be also indisputable. Afterward, Chen Ye invited Sheng Yue elderly respectfully, Huang Xiaolong and Shi Xiaofei three people goes to his mansion to rest. After seeing Sheng Yue elderly complies, Chen Ye this Alchemy Grandmaster Association Chairman happiness reveals in speech and appearance. In the Huang Xiaolong three people go to the Chen Ye mansion, Huang Xiaolong inspects the matter of Concocting Pills master in the Alchemy Grandmaster Association headquarters, passed on. | 2019-04-19T05:09:39Z | http://www.machinenoveltranslation.com/invincible-conqueror/volume-7/chapter-682 |
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a United States federally chartered corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined benefit pension plans, provide timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits, and keep pension insurance premiums at the lowest level necessary to carry out its operations. Subject to other statutory limitations, PBGC's single-employer insurance program pays pension benefits up to the maximum guaranteed benefit set by law to participants who retire at 65 ($67,295 a year as of 2018). The benefits payable to insured retirees who start their benefits at ages other than 65 or elect survivor coverage are adjusted to be equivalent in value. The maximum monthly guarantee for the multiemployer program is far lower and more complicated ($12,870 a year as of 2017 for a participant with 30 years of credited service).
In fiscal year 2018 PBGC added 58 more failed single-employer plans, bringing its inventory to 4,919 plans, and paid $5.8 billion in benefits to 861,000 retirees in those plans. That year, PBGC also paid $151 million in financial assistance to 81 multiemployer pension plans on behalf of 62,300 retirees. The agency has a total of $164 billion in obligations and $112 billion in assets for an overall deficit of $51 billion, an improvement of $25 billion since the prior year. The multiemployer program has a deficit of $53.9 billion and the single employer program a surplus of $2.4 billion.
PBGC pays monthly retirement benefits to more than 800,000 retirees in nearly 5,000 terminated single-employer defined benefit pension plans. Including those who have not yet retired and participants in multiemployer plans receiving financial assistance, PBGC is responsible for the current and future pensions of about 1.5 million people and insures the pensions of more than 35 million participants in ongoing plans.
The single-employer program protects 30 million workers and retirees in 22,000 pension plans. The multiemployer program protects 10 million workers and retirees in 1,400 pension plans. Multiemployer plans are set up by collectively bargained agreements involving more than one unrelated employer, generally in one industry.
An employer can voluntarily ask to close its single-employer pension plan in either a standard or distress termination. In a standard termination, the plan must have enough money to pay all accrued benefits, whether vested or not, before the plan can end. After workers receive promised benefits, in the form of a lump sum payment or an insurance company annuity, PBGC's guarantee ends. More than 140,000 plans have gone through PBGC's standard termination process between 1975 and 2016. In a distress termination, where the plan does not have enough money to pay all benefits, the employer must prove severe financial distress – for instance the likelihood that continuing the plan would force the company to shut down. PBGC will pay guaranteed benefits, usually covering a large part of total earned benefits, and make strong efforts to recover funds from the employer.
In addition, PBGC may seek to terminate a single-employer plan without the employer's consent to protect the interests of workers, the plan or PBGC's insurance fund. PBGC must act to terminate a plan that cannot pay current benefits.
For multiemployer pension plans that are unable to pay guaranteed benefits when due, PBGC will provide financial assistance to the plan, usually a loan, so that retirees continue receiving their benefits.
Terminations are covered under Title IV of ERISA.
When a plan sponsor chooses to terminate their pension plan through the standard termination process, arrangements must be made to distribute benefits to each participant. When participants cannot be located or otherwise are not responsive, the termination process is delayed. Since 1996 sponsors of terminating insured single-employer defined benefit (DB) plans have the option to transfer the benefits for their "missing participants" to the PBGC or to purchase annuities from insurance companies and notify PBGC of the details. In 2018 PBGC expanded the Missing Participants Program (MPP) making it available to terminating defined contribution (DC) plans, multiemployer defined benefit plans and certain single-employer DB plans not covered by Title IV of ERISA.
Pension plans that are qualified under the U.S. tax code pay yearly insurance premiums to the PBGC based on the number of participants in the plan and the funded status of the plan.
The variable-rate premium, which is $30 per $1,000 of unfunded vested benefits for 2016, will continue to be indexed for inflation, but will increase by an additional $3 for 2017, $4 for 2018, and $4 for 2019.
The maximum pension benefit guaranteed by PBGC is set by law and adjusted yearly. For plans that end in 2019, workers who retire at age 65 can receive up to $5,607.95 per month (or $67,295 per year) under PBGC's insurance program for single-employer plans.
Benefit payments starting at ages other than 65 are adjusted actuarially, which means the maximum guaranteed benefit is lower for those who retire early or when there is a benefit for a survivor, and higher for those who retire after age 65. Additionally, the PBGC will not fully guarantee benefit improvements that were adopted within the five-year period prior to a plan's termination or benefits that are not payable over a retiree's lifetime.
Other limitations also apply to supplemental benefits in excess of normal retirement benefits, benefit increases within the last five years before a plan's termination, and benefits earned after a plan sponsor's bankruptcy.
For the multiemployer plans, the amount guaranteed is based on years of service. For plans that terminate after December 21, 2000, the PBGC insures 100 percent of the first $11 monthly payment per year of service and 75 percent of the next $33 monthly payment per year of service. For example, if a participant works 20 years in a plan that promises $19 per month per year of service, the PBGC guarantee would be $340 per month.
Multiemployer plans that terminated after 1980 but before December 21, 2000, had a maximum guarantee limit of 100 percent of the first $5 of the monthly benefit accrual rate and 75 percent of the next $15.
PBGC is headed by a Director, who reports to a board of directors consisting of the Secretaries of Labor, Commerce and Treasury, with the Secretary of Labor as chairman.
Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the Director of the PBGC is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Under prior law, PBGC's Board Chairman appointed an "Executive Director" who was not subject to confirmation.
Thomas Reeder was confirmed as director by the Senate on October 8, 2015. Prior to joining PBGC, Reeder served as benefits tax counsel in the Office of Tax Policy at Treasury.
In May, 2018 President Trump nominated Gordon Hartogensis to be PBGC's next director. The Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination in November. Because the nomination was not approved by the full Senate before the end of its term in December 2018, the president will have to submit a new nomination in 2019.
Several large legacy airlines have filed for bankruptcy reorganization in an attempt to renegotiate terms of pension liabilities. These debtors have asked the bankruptcy court to approve the termination of their old defined benefit plans insured by the PBGC. Although the PBGC resisted these requests, ultimately it assumed the plans.
The PBGC would like minimum required contributions to insured defined benefit pension plans be considered "administrative expenses" in bankruptcy, thereby obtaining priority treatment ahead of the unsecured creditors. The PBGC has generally lost on this argument, sometimes resulting in a benefit to general unsecured creditors.
In National Labor Relations Bd. v. Bildisco, 465 U.S. 513 (1984), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Bankruptcy Code section 365(a) "includes within it collective-bargaining agreements subject to the National Labor Relations Act, and that the Bankruptcy Court may approve rejection of such contracts by the debtor-in-possession upon an appropriate showing." The ruling came in spite of arguments that the employer should not use bankruptcy to breach contractual promises to make pension payments resulting from collective bargaining.
General bankruptcy principles hold that executory contracts are avoidable in practice, because neither party has fulfilled its part of the bargain and thus breach by either party only gives rise to expectation damages. Damages awards after commencement of a bankruptcy filing results in claims that take after more senior creditors. They are relegated to the status of general creditors because while breach would occur after filing of the bankruptcy petition, the contract was entered into before the filing. If a creditor is a general unsecured creditor and there is not enough money, they usually are not paid; so as a matter of practical economics, if the downturn in a company's fortunes which resulted in bankruptcy makes the performance of an executory contract less valuable than its breach, the rational company would breach. There would be no negative monetary consequences of such breach because there would be no money left for the other contract party to take because in practice general unsecured creditors are left with nothing.
(f) No provision of this title shall be construed to permit a trustee to unilaterally terminate or alter any provisions of a collective bargaining agreement prior to compliance with the provisions of this section.
According to commentator Nicholas Brannick, "Despite the appearance of protection for the PBGC's interest in the event of termination, the Bankruptcy Code frequently strips the PBGC of the protection provided under ERISA. Under ERISA, termination liability may arise on the date of termination, but the lien that protects the PBGC's interest in that liability must be perfected [to be protected in bankruptcy]." The retention of title as a security interest, the creation of lien, or any other direct or indirect mode of disposing of or parting with property or an interest in property is a "transfer" for purposes of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (see 11 U.S.C. § 101(54)). Some transfers may be avoidable by the bankruptcy trustee under various Code provisions. Further, under ordinary principles of bankruptcy law, a lien or other security interest that is unperfected (i.e., a lien that is not valid against parties other than the debtor) at the time of case commencement is generally unenforceable against a bankruptcy trustee. Once the bankruptcy case has commenced, the law generally stays any act to attempt to perfect a lien that was not perfected prior to case commencement (see 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(4)). Thus, the PBGC with a lien that has not yet been perfected at the time of case commencement may find itself in the same position as the general unsecured creditors.
PBGC has published the Pension Insurance Data Book since 1996 to present detailed statistics for the single-employer and multiemployer plans that the agency insures.
The single-employer section gives all data and statics on single-employer programs.
Section S-3 through S-19 are the claims tables. These tables show all of the claims brought by single-employer DB plans to PBGC.
Section S-20 through S-29 are the payment table. These tables show how much PBGC is paying out every year in insurance protection.
Section S-30 through S-38 are the insured tables. These tables show how many participants are insured under the PBGC.
Section S-40 through S-43 are the premium tables. These tables show how much premiums insured pension plans are paying.
Section S-44 though S-52 show the underfunded Plans, overfunded Plans, and the funding ratios by NAIC business code, state, and participant count.
The multiemployer section, the M section, follows a similar organization.
The method for calculating the "variable-rate" PBGC premium is changed.
If PBGC takes over a terminated plan, the guarantee of employees' pension benefits is frozen as of the date of the plan sponsor's bankruptcy filing, which may be months or years before the plan terminates.
The PBGC's guarantee of pension benefits that become payable on a plant shutdown is limited if the shutdown occurred within five years of the bankruptcy filing.
The complicated rules that govern the PBGC's pension guarantee for business owners are simplified.
If PBGC takes over a terminated plan, the plan sponsor is required to pay a "termination premium" of $1,250 per participant per year for three years.
One reason Congress enacted ERISA was "to prevent the 'great personal tragedy' suffered by employees whose vested benefits are not paid when pension plans are terminated." When a defined benefit plan is properly funded by its sponsor, its assets should be approximately equal to its liability, and any shortfall (including benefit improvements) should be amortized in a relatively short period of time. Before ERISA, employers and willing unions could agree to increase benefits with little thought to how to pay for them. A classic case of the unfortunate consequences of an underfunded pension plan is the 1963 shutdown of Studebaker automobile operations in South Bend, Indiana, in which 4,500 workers lost 85% of their vested benefits. One of ERISA's stated intentions was to minimize underfunding in defined benefit plans.
Defined contribution plans, by contrast and by definition, are always "fully funded" so Congress saw no need to provide insurance protection for participants in defined contribution plans. The Enron scandal in 2001 demonstrated one potential problem with defined contribution plans: the company had strongly encouraged its workers to invest their 401(k) plans in their employer itself, violating primary investment guidelines about diversification. When Enron went bankrupt, many workers lost not only their jobs but also most of the value of their retirement savings. Congress inserted trust law fiduciary liability upon employers that did not prudently diversify plan assets to avoid the chance of large losses inside Section 404 of ERISA, but it is unclear whether such fiduciary liability applies to trustees of plans in which participants direct the investment of their own accounts.
^ When the PBGC takes over an insolvent pension plan, it becomes a general creditor of the plan sponsor.
^ "President Ford Signing ERISA of 1974", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, February 25, 2011.
^ "Maximum Monthly Guarantee Tables", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, October 22, 2018.
^ "Multiemployer Insurance Program Facts ", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, May 11, 2017.
^ "PBGC Annual Report 2018", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, November 15, 2018.
^ "2018 Annual Report" (PDF). Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
^ "2016 Pension Insurance Data Tables | Table S-3", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, July 18 ,2018.
^ "PBGC Expands Missing Participants Program to Terminated 401(k) and Other Plans ", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, December 21, 2017.
^ "Premium Rates, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
^ "What PBGC Guarantees". Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
^ "W. Thomas Reeder Jr. Sworn in as PBGC Director", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
^ Brill, Emily (January 9, 2019). "McConnell's In-Law Sees Time Run Out on PBGC Nomination". Law360.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
^ Brannick, Nicholas (2004). "At the Crossroads of Three Codes: How Employers Are Using ERISA, the Tax Code, and Bankruptcy to Evade Their Pension Obligations". Ohio State Law Journal. 65 (6): 1606. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ "Trends and Statistics on Plans", Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, February 25, 2011.
^ "Fact Sheet: The Pension Protection Act of 2006: Ensuring Greater Retirement Security for American Workers". The White House. August 17, 2006. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
^ a b Nachman Corp. v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 446 U.S. 359 (1980). | 2019-04-24T16:33:30Z | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pension_Benefit_Guaranty_Corporation |
ESPOO, Finland, 28th December, 2016 – Picosun Oy, the leading supplier of advanced industrial ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) solutions, reports winning more than 20 new customers in China for its ALD systems since December 2015.
Amongst these customers are many of China’s leading companies in LEDs, III-V semiconductors, and new energy. Thanks to the high technical level of PICOSUN™ ALD equipment and the excellent customer support, Picosun has become the supplier of choice for ALD technology in China.
Chinese semiconductor manufacturing and the number of planned fabs in the country are booming, making China the new key market for semiconductor processing equipment. This is the most excellent news considering Picosun’s prominent position as the advanced ALD solutions provider. Collaboration with the leading Chinese research institutes is further supporting Picosun’s sprint in the market.
“We are extremely happy with the development of our ALD business in China. Our achievements are based on solid ALD knowhow, high-level support and proprietary designs, which give the best value for our Chinese customers and ensure our steady progress in the Chinese market. We are committed to our customer satisfaction by providing the newest and the best ALD solutions and systems in the market,” states Mr. Xiaopeng Wu, CEO of Picosun China.
However, Applied Materials has reported strong revenue in Selective Etch and Olympa ALD (>USD 230M) Possibly they have some advanced Spatial ALD technology up the sleeve also for OLED encapsulation.
Tight supply of a critical piece of OLED equipment from Canon Tokki will limit OLED production in 2017 and impact Applied Material's sales of supplemental equipment.
Applied Materials also is facing strong competition as its deposition technology is being supplanted by Atomic Layer Deposition at Samsung Electronics and LG Display.
As much as $1 billion in display equipment from Applied Materials could be cancelled in 2017.
The ELVESS OLED mass production system. Source: Canon Tokki Corp.
The ALD for Industry workshop is coming up in Dresden 17-18th of January 2017 organizes by EFDS and ALD Lab Saxony - IHM TU Dresden & Frauhhofer IKTS with support from NaMLab, von Ardenne and Globalfoundries and very many sponsors from the ALD industry!
Beneq reports that their equipment has been used in the creation of record-breaking black silicon solar cells, and we have over the years been involved in many projects developing high power solar cells. Lately, we have been working mostly with rear surface passivation of solar cells.
PERC solar cells are a type of high efficiency solar cells where the electron gain of the cell is improved with a passivating film on the rear side of the cell structure. The complete term is Passivated Emitter Rear Cell. The PERC manufacturing technology has become more mature and cost effective, and PERC cells are now causing a buzz in the industry.
In a recent article, 20.8% industrial PERC solar cell: ALD Al2O3 rear surface passivation, efficiency loss mechanisms analysis and roadmap to 24%, which was published in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, the authors present a cost-efficient PERC roadmap at industrial level. In the paper, key processes of ozone based ALD Al2O3 rear surface passivation are presented, resulting in 20.8% PERC cells made with an industrial process. The equipment used in the study was Beneq’s P800 industrial ALD reactor.
Beneq is a leading supplier of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) equipment and thin film coating services. Beneq equipment and thin film experience is used for example for improving the performance and durability of electronics, optics and solar cells, and protecting materials humidity and corrosion, as well as in many emerging thin film applications.
We employ a wide range of professionals as well as work tightly with for example sales agents and distributors. We offer a possibility to be part of an ambitious team of professionals and a chance to work in a company doing truly international business. At Beneq you can utilize your competences and learn more every day!
Usually, most of people want to make their costly articles and valuable electric devices more unique and more outstanding. In order to meet these requirements, ALD technology could provide goods with higher quality and more functions like anti-tarnishing, anti-wear and anti-biotic effects as well as more conspicuous colors by thin film interference phenomena. NCD, a next generation technology leader of solar cell, display and semiconductor manufacturing systems, demonstrated several precise color coatings on various samples with multi laminating metal oxide thin films prepared by atomic layer deposition.
The Essential Macleod software was used to estimate various color coating results, and most full visible range of colors could be obtained by controlling thicknesses of metal oxides with their light interferences and reflections. The various structures of five nano-laminated thin films of Al2O3 and TiO2 were designed in advance and the evaluated colors corresponded well with the simulated color spectrum results.
The parts of a watch band that were coated at a low growth temperature of 100°C using Lucida series ALD, show different, bright, warm, metallic and mirror-like colors of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red, that are presenting nearly full rainbow colors.
The back cover of a smart phone deposited by ALD shows the decorative red color with incident angles at 0° and gold one with incident angle at 90°. Also the colors are changed with various view angles, because the relative thicknesses of the layers are varied with the incident angles of light and then the light waves traveling through the thicknesses characterize their own colors matching the wave lengths.
ALD technology is a great method to provide various functions like anti-tarnishing, anti-wear and anti-bacterial effects as well as tailed decorative coatings on very complicated figures like 3D objects at low temperatures and the dominant film quality without particles and pinholes and also the application of ALD decorative coating has huge markets such as automotive, electronics, jewelry, medical device, sporting goods, watch and other advanced coating products. Even though there are these many advantages and potentials of ALD decorative coatings, ALD technology has not been well industrialized until now because of its low productivity and high product cost. However, NCD has developed the highest throughput and the largest-area ALD technology such as Lucida GS and GD Series ALD, so enables to easily provide remarkable ALD systems for economic decorative mass production coatings for customers who want to make their products to be outstanding and different.
Jul 21, 2016 ... NCD has just contracted with Chinese DMEGC to supply solar cell manufacturing equipment which would produces over 100MW.
Aug 9, 2016 ... NCD CO., LTD. NCD CO., LTD .... NCD to deliver Lucida GD series ALD system for OLE... Ultra-High Aspect Ratio InP Junctionless FinFETs b.
Apr 12, 2016 ... Check out the video in the supplemntary information linked below! The Al2O3 was deposited using a LUCIDA D100 ALD reactor form NCD.
Registartion Opens 2 January 2017 and the registration fee includes admission to the conference Monday 12 June to Wednesday 14 June, conference material, lunch, coffee/tea breaks, welcome mixer Sunday 11 June, pub night on Monday 12 June and conference dinner on Tuesday 13 June.
More details on the introduction of Co for Cu BEOL can be found in this article by Applied Materials published in Semicondtuctor Engineering [LINK].
According to news released by Umicore: Umicore is the first company in the world to have introduced a Sustainable Procurement Framework for Cobalt and is the first to obtain external validation for its ethical procurement approach in this area. It aims to minimize the risk of any connection between the cobalt in its supply chain – and subsequently that of its customers – and human rights abuses or unethical business practices. The framework builds on the specific approach to sustainable and ethical cobalt sourcing that Umicore introduced in 2004. Since then it has evolved to address specific risks linked to unethical mining practices, such as child labour and poor health and safety conditions.
Why is a Sustainable Procurement Framework for Cobalt important?
Cobalt is classified as a so called conflict resource and these are natural resources extracted in a conflict zone and sold to perpetuate the fighting. In the case of Cobalt that is the ever ongoing conflict in Congo.
According to USGS 2016 Cobalt fact sheet the total identified world terrestrial cobalt resources are about 25 million tons. The vast majority of these resources are in sediment hosted stratiform copper deposits in Congo (Kinshasa) and Zambia ; nickel-bearing laterite deposits in Australia and nearby island countries and Cuba; and magmatic nickel-copper sulfide deposits hosted in mafic and ultramafic rocks in Australia, Canada, Russia, and the United States.
Besides the the Semiconductor industry and According to USGS : Cobalt is a metal used in numerous diverse commercial, industrial, and military applications, many of which are strategic and critical. On a global basis, the leading use of cobalt is in rechargeable battery electrodes. Superalloys, which are used to make parts for gas turbine engines, are another major use for cobalt. Cobalt is also used to make airbags in automobiles; catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries; cemented carbides (also called hardmetals) and diamond tools; corrosion- and wear-resistant alloys; drying agents for paints, varnishes, and inks; dyes and pigments; ground coats for porcelain enamels; high-speed steels; magnetic recording media; magnets; and steel-belted radial tires.
Semiconductor industry analyst and CEO of VLSIresearch Inc., G. Dan Hutcheson published a video assessment of the Producer® Selectra™ etch system Applied introduced in June.
Summary: "Applied Materials' new Producer® Selectra™ Etcher is reviewed. It's billed as a Radically Different Etch Technology. Does it stand up to the claims? It this video, we examine why it really is radically different from a technical standpoint and is arguably the most innovative new etcher to be introduced since the early 1980s. The focus is on these questions: Why is Applied's Selectra important? What problems do Applied's Selectra attempt to solve? Does it enables next generation devices?"
Here is an interview with Prabu Raja, group vice president, fellow at Applied Materials and general manager for the Patterning and Packaging Group at Applied Materials, by Mark Lapedus at Semiconductor Engineering.
Abstract submission is open for ALD 2017 and the Abstract Deadline is February 17, 2017. The conference will take place Saturday, July 15-Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at the Sheraton Downtown Denver in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Previously this year there have been a number of rumors that OLED display manufacturers will start using ALD barriers in production of next generation smartphone display. Now recent reports suggest that LG Display will start supplying foldable OLED displays for tablet sized smartphones (see tweet below) that can be folded to a typical smartphone format. Until now there has been no reports on ALD barriers for this one but one can assume that it is a good opportunity for ALD to be developed for these type of extreme display applications.
ETN News Reports : It is confirmed that LG Display has partnered up with Apple and google and is developing ‘out-foldable’ displays for Smartphones. It is going to start mass-producing them in 2018 and supply them to Apple, Google, and Microsoft. It is predicted that Samsung Display and LG Display will compete against each other in order to grab upper hands in markets for foldable displays.
According to an industry on the 15th, LG Display is currently developing out-foldable panels for Smartphones. Unlike how Samsung Display is working with Samsung Electronics’ Wireless Business Department, LG Display is developing foldable devices with outside businesses such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
The joint EuroCVD - Baltic ALD 2017 in Sweden has got a fantastic interest form the industry with respect to sponsoring and exhibition so far.never seen before for the individual conferences. We hope that also all you highly devoted researchers submit awesome abstracts until 10th of January 2017.
Abstracts will only be accepted though the online abstract submission system, which will be available on November 10, 2016. The deadline for submission is January 10, 2017.
The extended abstract can be up to 2 A4 pages, and must follow the extended abstract template available below for download. Please download the template here (Word .docx format). Save the completed extended abstract as a .pdf for submission. Note: only .pdf files will be accepted in the online submission process.
"ALE has been lurking in the shadows for some time"
Following IEDM 2016 in San Fransisco - Here is a very nice overview of the leading ALE equipment supplier status and applications for FinFET & Gate-All-Around Transistors, 3DNAND, DRAM, Multiple Patterning by Jeff Dorsch, technology editor at Semiconductor Engineering.
"ALE has been lurking in the shadows for some time. It was first patented in 1988, but even today it is not needed for many etch applications. Its key role is in 3D NAND flash memory devices, where high-selectivity etching is needed for the high-aspect ratios with the hard masks, along with the channel formation and the staircase contact."
Having recently started ALE research myself working with Plasway Technologies GmbH and Lund Nano Lab on some really cool stuff, it is a big mystery why the ALD OEMs does not move into this field. It can only be explained by that plasma processing is very difficult - a lot of Voodoo! To start with you need wafer bias, which many PEALD chambers does not have and secondly ceramic chamber parts for plasma facing parts. Finally, reactive ion etching operates at much lower pressure and ALD OEMs does not typically integrate turbo pumps to their chambers.
Here is a new paper on atmospheric Spatial ALD from Kevin Musselman and co-workers at University of Waterloo in Canada. According to information at The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology web: "Musselman helped pioneer the use of atmospheric pressure spatial atomic layer deposition (AP-SALD) thin films in optoelectronic devices. He used these films to address key questions in the field of energy conversion and to develop new optoelectronic devices. Musselman produced thin films of metal oxide alloys with tunable optoelectronic properties with which he probed loss mechanisms in colloidal quantum dot solar cells, ‘hybrid’ polymer-oxide solar cells and light emitting diodes, and all-oxide solar cells. These metal oxide films were also used to produce new, colour-pure “hybrid” organometal halide perovskite light-emitting diodes."
Recently a network for Early Career Investigators (ECIs) has been formed within HERALD to help young ALD scientists to establish themselves and to stimulate collaborations. Our first event will take place at the joint EuroCVD-BalticALD conference, which will be held in Linköping, Sweden on June 11-14, 2017. At this conference there will be a section at the Tuesday poster session where the posters of ECIs will be grouped together, such that we can meet each other and discuss our work. Moreover, there will be a dinner for members of the ECI network on Wednesday evening (June 14) with time for more informal interaction.
To sign up for this event, please submit an abstract at http://www.eurocvd-balticald2017.se/, and in the abstract submission system, tick the box “Abstract for the HERALD ECI poster session”. The poster can be a short overview of you and the projects you are working on, or a more conventional conference contribution. Even if you intend to give an oral presentation at the conference, we would appreciate it if you can also submit an abstract for the HERALD ECI poster section to introduce yourself to the network. The abstract deadline is January 10, 2017. Please register for the dinner by sending an email to [email protected], and send any questions regarding the EuroCVD-BalticALD conference and the HERALD ECI poster session to [email protected].
If you would not be able to join us in Linköping, but would like to be informed about other HERALD ECI events, please contact us using [email protected].
The HERALD ECI committee is looking forward to your participation.
At ALD Lab Saxony we have excellent previous experience with employing the RASIRC technology for dry hydrogen peroxide delivery in High-k ALD processes for PV and Logic applications. That is why we are very happy to announce that RASIRC from San Diego, California will be sponsoring, attending and exhibiting at ALD for Industry 17-18th of January in Dresden Germany. This is an excellent opportunity to meet RASIRC and learn about their latest product release for safe and effective delivery of hydrazine for Atomic Level Processing. Please find the product fact sheet below.
RASIRC BRUTE® Hydrazine - Laboratory Version is specifically designed for universities and research institutes in development of Atomic Layer Deposition and Etch (ALD and ALE) processes with compressed thermal budgets. Hydrazine molecules can enable low temperature metal nitridation, opening up many potential avenues for advancements in High Aspect Ratio (HAR) and three dimensional structures grown via ALD and ALE.
“This new vaporizer package should enable researchers to investigate low temperature thermal nitride processes without a large budget.” - Jeff Spiegelman President and CEO of RASIRC.
Scientists working with TiNx, TaNx, SiNx, WNx, Platinum, Palladium, Cobalt or other new materials can benefit from using BRUTE Hydrazine. Additional benefits may be found from the generation of radical hydrogen and limited etching and surface cleaning effects.
BRUTE Hydrazine delivers water-free hydrazine gas (N2H4) to process in a controlled, repeatable manner. Preloaded in a non-volatile solvent, the Brute Hydrazine chemistry is packaged in a single use vaporizer (Figure 1) with metal seals, making hydrazine gas simple to connect and deliver.
Plasma and ammonia-based methods fail to meet next generation process requirements for lower thermal budgets and ability to act deep within high aspect ratio or 3D structures.
BRUTE Hydrazine solves these problems.
BRUTE Hydrazine provides a stable, reliable flow of anhydrous hydrazine gas from a liquid source in a metal sealed vaporizer (Figure 1). The liquid source combines anhydrous hydrazine and a proprietary non-volatile solvent, significantly increasing the flashpoint. This makes the chemistry safer to handle than anhydrous hydrazine. To deliver hydrazine gas to process, vacuum is applied to the BRUTE Hydrazine vaporizer to evaporate liquid BRUTE Hydrazine to pure hydrazine, leaving the non-volatile solvent behind. The Theoretical Vapor Pressure Curve of BRUTE Hydrazine is given in Figure 2.
To place an order for 50ml BRUTE Hydrazine contact RASIRC at [email protected] and order P/N: 100784.
RASIRC specializes in products that generate and deliver gas to fabrication processes. Each unit is a dynamic gas plant in a box - converting common liquid chemistries into safer and more reliable gas flow for most processes. First to generate ultra-high purity (UHP) steam from de-ionized water, RASIRC technology can now also deliver hydrogen peroxide gas and hydrazine gas in controlled, repeatable concentrations. RASIRC gas delivery systems, humidifiers, and closed loop humidification systems are critical for many applications in semiconductor, photovoltaic, pharmaceutical, medical, biological, fuel cell, and power industries. | 2019-04-26T05:56:28Z | http://www.blog.baldengineering.com/2016/ |
Before we dive into insight about what precisely a salve is and what it is used for, we should talk about topicals. The topicals are cannabis-implanted balms, oils and moisturizers that are absorbed through skin for restricted alleviation of soreness, pain and irritation. In rundown, they are natural and powerful skin and health care items that can relieve anything from muscle soreness to dermatitis without any psychoactive impacts.
Salves, balms, oils, tinctures, butters, lotions, creams, moisturizers, these are the terms usually used in the cannabis commercial market. With the end goal of this article we will talk about what a salve is, the manner by which they are made, what conditions they treat, how they work as well as the distinction between CBD oil and CBD salve.
There's probably going to be a great deal of perplexity out there with regards to understanding the rundown of the topical cannabis alternatives that are accessible on the internet as well as on the racks of cannabis dispensaries. That is the reason we chose the time had come to clarify as completely as possible all that you want to know about the CBD salves.
With the fundamental information and a little research, you will find that learning the lingo as well as separating between this cannabis-related things isn't as daunting as it seems.
Numerous recreational users and medical patients are attached to topically directed cannabis for a few reasons, yet particularly because of the restricted pain relief with the discomfort it gives them. Know about what CBD salve is and what are its advantages, uses and everything that you want to know about it.
Topical cannabis arrangements have really been used for centuries, and have been linked to ancient Europe and Egypt, where they were used for the disinfectant, anti-infection as well as pain easing properties to treat skin infections, bacterial diseases, localized pain and foot inflammation. Unfortunately, the modern society has a habit for evading the home grown customs of the forefathers, however as medicinal cannabis’s fame is expanding, so we’re currently observing the re-emerging of topical applications.
The vast majority use the CBD salves to get the helpful advantages of cannabis, without the psychoactive symptoms that are found in different techniques of delivery. Actually, the CBD salves contain less than the required 0.3% lawful limit of THC.
As to CBD lotions and CBD creams, the main contrast amongst them and the salves, ointments or balms is that moisturizers and creams make use of a small amount of water along with the moisturizing agents in the bases; balms and salves just use the fatty oils along with the wax as a base, without water. Obviously, this account for a distinction in the consistency more than anything else, the actual useful contrasts, which we will discuss about in later, lie more in particular fixings used as well as the quantity of CBD that is present in salve.
CBD salves are used for the localized pain relief with the discomfort, tension, inflammation and muscle soreness. At the point when the salve is rubbed into the skin, it can treat the conditions specifically underneath the skin. For instance, the individuals who suffer from joint inflammation can apply the cream directly to the affected areas to reduce swelling.
How CBD salve is prepared?
For the wax part of base, the natural beeswax is the most well-known and common choice. In the event that you have never taken care of beeswax, it is a sort of sticky, thick, hard substance that must be dissolved down to have any kind of smoothness.
Vegetable waxes such as Candelilla wax that originates from the leaves of Mexico-local Candelilla plant and works well as well, but is most commonly used in the items that are intended to be purely vegan. In many cases, pure bees wax is normally a better choice.
The oil segment of base is the fraction that is in charge of "conveying" the drug in the salve. Whereas various distinctive oils could be used to prepare the CBD salves, the coconut oil has turn out to be the best choice till now, fundamentally on account of its high substance of the fatty acids. The more amount of fatty acids oil has, the more CBD it’ll possibly have the capacity to convey.
In order to infuse oil with the functionally active CBD, cannabis plant is grounded up into the fine bits but not in to powder, and after that it is steeped for a few hours at 200+ Fahrenheit in oil. The warmth decarboxylates cannabidiol into its active atomic form, and soon thereafter the fatty acids in oil could latch onto it.
When the oil is mixed with active CBD, it is then simply blended in (generally alongside some other fundamental oils such as Vitamin E) with melted wax to prepare salve. All the CBD salves ought to have the separated rundown of fixings on the container in which they come in, therefore when you are browsing around for alternatives watch out for which wax was used, which oil base is added, and so on. And furthermore, in case you are not sure from where the CBD is really originating from, simply contact the maker and inquire them about the details. Most of the brands make use of hemp seed oil as cannabidiol source (mechanical hemp is stacked with CBD), yet a many others use the hemp-infused olive or coconut oils also.
How CBD is consumed relies upon the method of administration. Regardless of whether CBD is ingested, breathed in, arranged under the tongue, or applied to the skin plays an imperative part in the uptake of the compound. We could easily see that how CBD that is ingested or infused into the body is consumed either through the digestive system or circulatory system however how does applying CBD to the skin interpret at the cellular level?
While the CBD is applied directly to skin never reach the circulation system, it could be retained through the skin's surface to associate with the nearby cannabinoid receptors. In reality, the skin is an amazingly active as well as utilitarian organ that acts as the helpful atomic vessel and rushes to absorb the lipid-based oils, for example, the ones that are used in the CBD salves.
When you apply the CBD salve topically, the cannabinoid-conveying lipids in oil base are transported crosswise over the skin cell layers, and soon thereafter the CBD starts its healing, remedial machanism on encompassing the cell as well as the tissue layers. This is the reason behind why the salves are the best method to treat the conditions, for example, skin conditions, for example, dermatitis and psoriasis, as you can apply the salve straightforwardly onto the affected region and start the treatment at the source of pain.
On a more physiological level, the CBD works by collaborating with the body's own particular endocannabinoid system known as ECS. The endocannabinoid system is thought to assume a critical part in the safe reaction of our skin. A vile resistant reaction might bring about irritation and this is the reason CBD apparently acts as anti- inflammatory for the inflammation related skin conditions. The ECS comprises of a system of naturally occurring cannabinoid or cannabinoids receptors that assistance control as well as maintain among some other things such as pain, skin sensitivity, irritation, memory, appetite along with immune response.
What the researchers have to say about ECS?
As indicated by the Dr. Tamas Biro, the chief of immunology at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, with respect to the particular nearness of the ECS in skin cells, it is expressed that dermal layers are " for sure equipped for creating endocannabinoids," and calls attention to the probability that "most, if not all, skin capacities are controlled to a specific degree by the neighborhood skin ECS."
Folium Bioscience's, Dr. Raj Gupta has additionally moved down this idea by expressing that "on the grounds that the skin has its own particular endocannabinoid system, simply the shallow application of CBD could be great."
How to use CBD salve?
In the first place wash the zone with the water and soap to evacuate any oil build up, excess dirt or already applied creams or salves. Doing as such will guarantee that there aren't any boundaries between the treatment and the skin, and will make the best condition for the absorption.
For the grown-ups, generously massage the salve on the affected region and let it absorb in the skin for a few minutes previously covering with garments or the bandages so it doesn't rub off. Make sure to observe the zone for any bad reactions such as redness, irritation, rashes, soreness, or knocks.
For the youngsters and elderly, their skin is thinner, so apply the slave in small amount.
Once you have applied, the Salve could take somewhere in the range of 1 to 48 hours to give relief, contingent upon the dosage, how frequently it is used as well as the seriousness of your condition.
While the CBD oil appears to offer healing advantages when ingested in any manner, for a few sorts of skin conditions, chronic pain, and other localized issues, direct skin application is the best choice since it enables the clients to go directly to the source. The direct application could likewise work speedier as it doesn't need to travel through digestive system first. The CBD salves are therefore the ideal choice for the conditions, like, inflammation, arthritic joint pain and the chronic skin conditions such as dermatitis and psoriasis. Anyway orally ingested types of CBD are more suitable for the conditions like nervousness, depression immune system illness.
There has been a ton of research done into the advantages of CBD in people. Actually, a research was published by a Dr from The University of Debrecen name Dr Brio last year, exhibiting how CBD applications acted as the pain relief and even diminished inflammation in the arthritic joint pain. The investigation went onto clarify that immediate use of CBD to the skin could possibly ease the pain related to arthritis.
What's more there has been broad research done on the restorative and healing impacts of CBD salves on the skin-particular ailments such dermatitis and psoriasis. They’ve likewise been known to have useful impacts for brief inconveniences such as wounds, burns, skin infection, rashes and general muscle soreness.
A similar report went ahead to praise the healing impacts of cannabinoids on "skincentric tangible capacities" such as general pain and tingle. Dr Brio brought up that the ECS likely controls skin aggravation. This finding was based on the aftereffects of a CBD administration research that he along with his group did on human skin cells developing in the Petri dish. They found that when an irritation or inflammatory challenge assaults the skin, it seemed like ECS would battle against it.
Different positives of using the topical CBD salves are that the client feels relief immediately without waiting for the impacts to kick in when contrasted with the consuming edibles. Moreover, since clients don't feel high from the topical CBD salves, they are able to continue with their routine and experience the pain relief anytime and anywhere. The topical technique is just used on skin. In this manner, it doesn't enter the body's circulatory system. Rather, it breaks the skin and the muscular barrier to give individuals with the localized pain lessening.
Generally speaking, the cannabis plant has an assortment of noteworthy purposes. Each compound and part of the plant conveys numerous positive advantages to the suffering people, which is one principle motivation behind why cannabis is used so broadly. Moreover, the leaves, the flower buds, and the trichomes are parts of the plant that are frequently used to make topical items. Unfortunately, as of now, there is no proof that demonstrates how topical cannabis items could deliver migraine and headache relief, however that will change with time.
Instead of ingesting CBD oils orally, which will influence the entire body and could take up to 2 hours or more to completely encounter the impacts, CBD salve is absorbed specifically into the affected zone by rubbing the treatment straightforwardly onto the affected skin zones for quicker and more focused impacts.
Since the salves are applied specifically at the source and don't need to travel through digestive system or experience numerous phases of ingestion and utilization, they work significantly quicker and have faster acting impacts as compared to the CBD oils.
The impacts of CBD salve can be seen very quickly while some orally-controlled oils might take well more than an hour to completely effect.
What to consider when looking for best CBD salve?
These days, individuals don't need to smoke cannabis to receive the rewards. The critical thing to recall with regards to CBD salve is that it is consumed through the skin and they won't get you high or even somewhat hummed so far as that is concerned.
In the event that you were doubtful to use hemp or other CBD-related items out of stress that you would get 'stoned', there is no need to be feared or tensed! The greater part of the CBD-containing items is derived from the industrial hemp and not from marijuana. Despite the fact that the two plants both have a place with the same organic class and species, hemp is the CBD-substantial strain of the cannabis that contains nearly no traces of THC, the compound that has is in charge of euphoric and has psychoactive properties, mind alerting highs.
As dependably as it may, it is critical to remember that while broad research has been done on the CBD salves as well as on its different advantages, they don't generally have precisely the same effect on everybody. Direct your own research, experiment with the various measurements and even with the different items to figure out which is suitable for you and your condition.
Ultimately, dependably practice caution when obtaining CBD salves or some other cannabis topical items. While there are various items available, there are additionally a bunch of absolutely false duds out there, 'fakes', maybe. Simply a year ago, the FDA issued cautioning letters to a few organizations for assembling "CBD items" that contained virtually none of the active cannabinoids.
CBD salves as well as the cannabis topicals are as yet a new item, however without any doubt we will see an exponential increment in the consideration paid to them in the mainstream dermatology over the next couple of years.
Are there any side effects of CBD salve?
There are no inborn symptoms of the CBD salve. All things considered, in the event that you have extremely sensitive skin, you might be oversensitive to a portion of the fixings, similar to beeswax, vitamin E oil or olive oil. In any case, truly, those fixings are useful for your skin, so it is far-fetched that you will have any issues.
That second one is the significant concern. In case you are taking a heart pharmaceutical, for instance, adding CBD to the blend will totally negate all the advantages that the heart drug brings to the table. Make sure to consult your specialist before ingesting any CBD item.
However, you are not going to eat the CBD salve, isn't that so? You are simply going to rub it on the skin. All things considered, you don't have anything to stress over. You won't feel any symptoms from CBD slave.
Instead of consuming the cannabis through vaping or smoking, you can use the topicals! In the event that you or somebody you know is battling with the localized pain in the certain area or areas of the body then the topical CBD salve would be an awesome technique to try out. Individuals who might be beginners to the cannabis as well as individuals who are hoping to feel relief from discomfort without feeling high should think about experimenting with the topical cannabis products, particularly CBD salve.
Not only the topical cannabis products are powerful, but they’re non-addictive, natural, advantageous as well as simple to use. Is there any reason left that why you wouldn't have any desire to give it a shot as well as prescribe it to a relative or friend needing limited relief from the pain? | 2019-04-22T12:59:46Z | https://uk.formulaswiss.com/blogs/cbd/the-complete-guide-to-cbd-salves-creams-and-balms |
Despite suffering significant losses, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) has morphed from a regional group into a covert global network, with a weakened yet enduring core in Iraq and Syria, the head of United Nations counter-terrorism told the Security Council today.
Presenting the Secretary-General’s report (document S/2018/770), Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General in the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism said the group’s evolution from a proto-State structure into a covert network has made it more difficult to detect and analyse because its financial-management functions have gone underground. ISIL/Da’esh is still able to channel funds across borders and continues to expand in Afghanistan, projecting a growing threat into Central Asia, he added.
Stressing that United Nations counter-terrorism bodies have prioritized their responses to the return and relocation of foreign terrorist fighters, he called for greater international cooperation, better sharing of information, efforts to improve capacity, as well as advanced countermeasures matching the sophisticated technological methods used by terrorists.
Also briefing the Council were MichAle Coninsx, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, and Joana Cook, Senior Research Fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, at King’s College, London, both of whom underscored the importance of collective efforts.
Ms. Coninsx pointed out that, since the adoption of resolution 2178 (2014), the emphasis has shifted to fighters relocating or returning to their countries of origin or nationality, or to third countries. Over the past six months, Member States and United Nations entities have developed innovative ways to address the threat through the use of advanced passenger information, name records systems, as well as biometrics, she added.
Ms. Cook said her research findings demonstrated that 41,490 foreign citizens across 80 countries have become affiliated with Da’esh. One in four Da’esh fighters are women and minors � unprecedented numbers for a terrorist organization, she added. We believe this to be a vast underestimation based on current gaps in data. She said the group reached out to women through targeted and gendered recruitment, leveraging the sense of purpose and belonging offered by the caliphate. The international community now has the opportunity to incorporate such data into efforts to counter violent extremism, she emphasized.
In the ensuing dialogue, delegates decried the continuing ability of ISIL/Da’esh, despite its losses, to take advantage of ungoverned spaces and weak States. The United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs noted that the root causes of the group’s emergence have yet to be resolved, stressing the need to do more to support peace and reconciliation in Iraq and to reach a political solution in Syria.
The representative of the United States described ISIL as a resilient enemy, saying her country is working with partners to help rebuild in Iraq and Syria, restoring electricity and other services, and thereby allowing 150,000 Syrians to return to Raqqa. Where force is necessary, the United States will deepen its partnerships with countries fighting terrorism, she pledged.
On that point, the Russian Federation’s representative underlined that all counter-terrorism efforts must be carried out with full respect for the sovereignty of States in which such crimes are alleged to have been committed. The Russian Federation is cooperating in such efforts within Syria, with the full consent of that country’s Government, he emphasized, while calling attention to blatant violations of the arms embargo against ISIL fighters there.
Kuwait’s delegate commended United Nations efforts to engage technology companies in limiting Internet use for terrorist purposes, while Poland’s representative advocated focusing on identifying and addressing abuse of new payment modalities to finance terrorism, notably in countries where they are unregulated. States must fulfil their obligations to freeze the assets of all entities on the ISIL/Da’esh and Al-Qaida sanctions list, he stressed.
France’s delegate cited the development of pluralist, inclusive solutions in Iraq and Syria � with the goal of ending impunity for sexual slavery perpetrated against the Yazidi people � as another critical imperative.
Also speaking today were representatives of Bolivia, Netherlands, Peru, China, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Ethiopia, CAte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea.
The meeting began at 3:05 p.m. and ended at 5:20 p.m.
VLADIMIR VORONKOV, Under-Secretary-General in the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, presented the Secretary-General’s seventh report on the threat posed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), outlining a strategic-level threat assessment and an update on United Nations in support of counter terrorism efforts by Member States. Touching on highlights of the report (document S/2018/770), he said that the so-called ISIL/Da’esh caliphate has been in headlong retreat in Syria since its defeat at the end of 2017. Its membership, estimated at more than 20,000 in those countries, is split evenly between Iraq and Syria, with some fighters fully engaged militarily and others concealed in sympathetic communities and urban areas. The group’s leadership has also decentralized to mitigate further losses, and is thus likely to survive in the two countries in the medium term, due to the ongoing conflict and complex stabilization challenges.
However, there were significant numbers of ISIL/Da’esh-affiliated fighters in Afghanistan, South-East Asia, West Africa, Libya, and to a lesser extent in Sinai, Yemen, Somalia and the Sahel, he said, describing the complex challenge posed by returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters. While their flow into Iraq and Syria has come to a halt, the rising threat from ISIL’s global network will be diverse and hard to predict, he emphasized, warning, moreover, that the group’s evolution from a proto-State structure into a covert network poses new challenges. ISIL/Da’esh finances in the Middle East, for example, are more difficult to detect and analyse because its financial management functions have gone underground. Following structural changes, ISIL is still able to channel funds across borders, often through intermediate countries, he said.
ISIL’s influence around the world continues through its affiliates and intermediaries, he continued, recalling that the ISIL-linked Jammah Ansharut Daulah network in Indonesia launched a series of May suicide bombings that demonstrated a disturbing precedent of using families in perpetrating such violence. He also expressed concern about the high volume of commercially encrypted messages in Europe and the radicalization in prisons. The international community must renew their efforts to effectively counter the rapidly evolving and transnational threat from ISIL, he stressed.
He went on to state that the United Nations system is working to staunch the financing of terrorism and organized crime, while addressing border management, law enforcement, international judicial cooperation, prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration, in addition to both countering terrorist narratives and engaging communities. Counter-terrorism bodies have prioritized their responses to the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighter, he said, noting that the Foreign Terrorist Fighters Capacity Building Implementation Plan � steered by the Counter-Terrorism Office and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate � has been streamlined to reflect the priorities identified in resolution 2396 (2017).
More broadly, international cooperation, sharing information and building capacity were critical, he said, underlining that the sophisticated methods employed by terrorists require similarly advanced counter-measures. Describing his 14-15 August visit to Afghanistan, recounted his participation in a conference organized by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and his meeting with victims of terrorism. In Kabul, he held consultations with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, among other senior officials, who emphasized the need to consider counter-terrorism efforts in the context of Afghanistan’s peace and reconciliation process. They all proposed that Kabul host a high-level conference in 2019, he added, noting that the permanent Council members had expressed initial interest in that idea.
MICHA�LE CONINSX, Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, said that, since the September 2014 adoption of Security Council resolution 2178 � which focuses on preventing foreign terrorist fighters from travelling to conflict zones, the emphasis has shifted to fighters who relocate or return to their countries of origin or nationality, or to third countries. The number of returning and relocating fighters is therefore not as high as feared by some, but it still poses a range of challenges, including the difficulty of assessing risks associated with their relocation, as well as evidentiary and jurisdictional challenges to prosecuting them. She noted that a significant number of fighters have entered national criminal justice systems, placing new demands on prisons and raising the risk of in-prison radicalization.
There is need for greater efforts to address such issues as prison capacity and security, she emphasized, while warning that States also face the potential risks posed by the forthcoming release of imprisoned foreign terrorist fighters. They may re-engage in terrorist activities, she said, noting that many States are uncertain about the effectiveness of monitoring tools developed for such individuals. Many such fighters have been given relatively short sentences, and may not have had sufficient opportunities to undergo rehabilitation and reintegration before their release. Over the past six months, Member States and United Nations entities continue to develop innovative ways to address the threat, including the use of advanced passenger information and name records systems, as well as biometrics. The United Nations system, including the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate and the Office of Counter-Terrorism, continues to strengthen its coordination and coherence in assessing implementation gaps, identifying good practices and delivering the necessary technical assistance to Member States, she emphasized.
JOANA COOK, Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, King’s College, London, briefed Council members on a report she recently co-authored with Gina Vale, focusing on the strategic, tactical and operational engagement by ISIL/Da’esh of women and minors. The problem is particularly critical in relation to that jihadist group, but is increasingly reflected in others, she said, emphasizing that it requires immediate and urgent engagement. She said that her research findings demonstrated � for the first time and with evidence � that some 41,490 foreign citizens across 80 countries became affiliated with Da’esh. Some 13 per cent of them are women and 12 per cent are minors, meaning that 1 in 4 Da’esh fighters are women and minors � unprecedented numbers for a terrorist organization. We believe this to be a vast underestimation based on current gaps in data, she said, noting that of the 80 countries reviewed, only 26 publicly provide reliable figures on both women and minors. We still do not have a full understanding of the scale and scope of this concern.
She said her research figures exclude women and minors prevented from travelling to Iraq and Syria, as well as local women and minors within the conflict zone who may have become affiliated with Da’esh � whether willingly or coercively. Many women are drawn to Da’esh because it presents itself as an ideologically pure State-building project, she said, recalling that the group held and administered territory between 2014 and late 2017, giving women an opportunity � a perceived stake � as well as a sense of purpose in building its proto-State. In addition, many of the diverse women Da’esh attracted expressed feelings of discrimination, oppression and disenfranchisement in the communities they left behind. The group reached out to women through targeted and gendered recruitment efforts in its multilingual propaganda, utilising language and imagery that spotlighted women’s rights, empowerment and the sense of purpose and belonging offered by the caliphate.
She went on to note that ISIL/Da’esh also promised services ranging from free health care and education to marriage arrangements, among others. It sought to promote the recruitment of minors within and beyond its territory, with the aim of raising cubs as future fighters and ideological guardians, while training boys in particular to engage in violence. Young people drawn to Da’esh were also recruited through diverse methods and held varied roles. While the fall of the physical caliphate represented a significant turning point, it was probably not the end of the group’s relevance or activities, but only a period of evolution. Some 20 per cent of Da’esh fighters have returned to their home countries, but only a small percentage appears to be women and minors, she noted, adding: Women are poised to play an important role in carrying forward the ideology and legacy of Da’esh. Expressing concern that they may pass the ideology on to their children, she said that while some minors traumatized by the group’s violence have engaged in suicide attacks, many youth and women are unlikely to become security threats. The international community now has the opportunity to incorporate such data into its efforts to counter violent extremism, as well as military, criminal justice, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, she said.
JEREMY HUNT, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom and Council President for August, speaking in his national capacity, emphasized: Da’esh has not been vanquished and the root causes of its emergence have yet to be resolved. Indeed, the group is evolving into a covert terrorist network, taking advantage of ungoverned spaces and weak States, he said, noting that its terrorists do not require central direction. Some 900 of its members with links to the United Kingdom have joined the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, he added, stressing that the response should involve continuing military operations. As a member of the anti-terrorism coalition, the United Kingdom led in the area of strategic communications against Da’esh, he said, noting that his country’s Government has committed Pound 20 million to combat the threat in 2018. Advocating a renewed focus on the root causes of ISIL’s emergence, he said that means doing more to support peace and reconciliation in Iraq and a political solution in Syria. Recalling the adoption of resolution 2309 (2016), the first such text on aviation security, he said the Council should consider further action against terrorist use of the Internet for propaganda and fundraising. For its part, the United Kingdom aimed to identify anyone at risk for radicalization, he said. Having refined its prevent programme, it would share its experience with others, he added.
NIKKI R. HALEY (United States) noted her country’s rallying of a 77-member global coalition to defeat ISIS. Working together, it helped Iraq declare its territory liberated from ISIL, and drove the group from much of its territory in Syria and Iraq. They are a resilient enemy, she said. We do not want to give ISIL room to regroup. The United States is working with its partners to help victims rebuild in Iraq and Syria, while restoring electricity and other services and thereby allowing 150,000 Syrians to return to Raqqa. That effort will continue thanks to $300 million in new stabilizing funds, she noted. However, ISIL’s ideology has taken root in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Libya, Somalia and Sinai, she said, underlining the importance of denying the group safe haven. In addition, Al Qaida leaders are still plotting attacks, notably in Syria and Yemen, and the United States has led the way in negotiating resolution 2396 (2017), intended to set the highest standards for disrupting the travel of foreign terrorist fighters. She emphasized the importance of watch lists and biometrics in that context, while advocating full use of sanctions regimes. Where force is necessary, the United States will deepen its partnerships with countries fighting terrorism, she pledged.
SACHA SERGIO LLORENTTY SOLA�Z (Bolivia) expressed concern that terrorist groups continue to employ various recruitment means and narratives while improving their online coordination. Emphasizing that religion or nationality must never be correlated with terrorism, or considered in counter-terrorism programmes, he said the return of foreign terrorist fighters to their home countries was a major international challenge. Such fighters do not appear all of a sudden, but instead were influenced by such factors as poverty and vulnerability. In that regard, he called for efforts to address all root causes of extremism, including regime-change policies and foreign interventions. Spotlighting the links between terrorist groups and transnational criminal organizations, he said money laundering on the latter’s part helped to finance terrorist groups and allowed them to evade State control. Both counter-terrorism and prevention mechanisms must be pursued in full respect for the sovereignty and independence of States, he said, underlining that all parties must act with urgency in that regard.
ANNE GUEGUEN (France) warned that, despite the loss of its territorial foothold, Da’esh had transformed into a global underground network, reflecting its ability to adapt continually. Calling for scaled-up international efforts to prevent the resurgence of Da’esh, she said the development of pluralist, inclusive solutions in Iraq and Syria � with the goal of ending impunity for such crimes as the sexual slavery perpetrated against the Yazidi people, among others � is another critical imperative, as is the fight against terrorist financing. Financial and legal frameworks, as well as cooperation with the private sector, should be continuously fine-tuned and enhanced. Calling for efforts to combat the online activities still being conducted by terrorist groups, she said the relocation and return of foreign terrorist fighters, meanwhile, will require greater efforts to track and monitor at-risk individuals, in addition to stronger cooperation and sharing of information.
KAREL JAN GUSTAAF VAN OOSTEROM (Netherlands) said that, as ISIL morphs into a covert network, it is necessary to invest in financial intelligence and public private partnerships to counter the terrorist group’s financing. As ISIL strengthens its affiliates around the world, the emphasis must be on prevention and the resilience of local communities, he said, adding that there is also a need to detect the return or relocation of ISIL fighters. The Netherlands and the United States have collected good practices to address the challenges posed by the returning families of foreign terrorist fighters, especially practical guidelines to deal with women and children, he stated, emphasizing that ISIL fighters must be held accountable for their heinous actions.
FRANCISCO TENYA (Peru) said ISIL/Da’esh sought to use the Internet and social networks to encourage and mobilize its followers to carry out attacks, as well as to recruit resources and members. Peru advocated strengthening policies to promote critical thinking in cyberspace, he said. Citing the threat posed by returning foreign terrorist fighters, he stressed the need for comprehensive criminal justice strategies that respect human rights, due process and the gender perspective. However, States must not overlook the role of prisons when foreign terrorist fighters enter judicial systems. On financing, he urged States to strengthen financial intelligence systems and monitor the use of funds by terrorists. Peru welcomed the progress made by the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011, he said, welcoming also the appointment of an Ombudsperson for the Al-Qaida and ISIL/Da’esh sanctions committee.
BADER ABDULLAH N. M. ALMUNAYEKH (Kuwait) said that, despite the diminishing threat of Da’esh in Iraq and Syria, the group continues to threaten international peace and security, having transformed from a regional entity into a covert global network whose finances are difficult to trace. Returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters pose a threat to their home countries and third States alike, due to their military field expertise, he noted, advocating the exchange of relevant information. Additionally, with terrorists using social networks, States must take measures to combat the spread of their ideology, he emphasized, while commending United Nations efforts to engage technology companies in limiting Internet use for terrorist purposes. He urged States to take advantage of United Nations programmes, recalling in that context that the ministerial meeting of the coalition against Da’esh, hosted by Kuwait in February to formulate anti terrorism, was the first of its kind since the defeat of Da’esh in Iraq.
WU HAITAO (China) cited the tragic recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Syria, emphasizing that the international community must embark on a common and integrated strategy in accordance with the new and evolving characteristics of terrorism. States must adhere to a unified standard, while ensuring full respect for the sovereignty and leadership of the countries concerned, and abiding by the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. Priority should be accorded to political solutions and development, he said, emphasizing the need to refrain from linking terrorism with any particular ethnic or religious groups, and to endeavour to build a new type of international relations based on dialogue. In addition, he urged countries to enhance the sharing of information, and to work together in combating online terrorist recruitment and other activities, including by developing strong cybersecurity policies and blocking terrorist organizations from spreading their narratives online.
JOANNA WRONECKA (Poland), acknowledging that Governments bear the primary responsibility for addressing the terrorist threat, encouraged support for the additional engagement of international, religious and civil society organizations, as well as academia and the private sector. The fight against terrorism must be carried out in accordance with international human rights standards while addressing root causes, she emphasized. Poland advocated a focus on preventing ISIL/Da’esh attacks while addressing abuse of payment modalities to finance terrorism, notably in countries where such systems are unregulated. Furthermore, States must strengthen their financial intelligence and fulfil their obligations to freeze the assets of all entities on the ISIL/Da’esh and Al-Qaida sanctions list. Ensuring accountability and non-recurrence means stepping up the collection and sharing of data, she said, emphasizing also the importance of countering terrorist narratives and engaging communities, especially since women and girls are vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and sexual violence at the hands of terrorists.
KAIRAT UMAROV (Kazakhstan) described changing terrorist tactics as low-cost localized terrorism. He said the weakening of ISIL/Da’esh has led to reorientation of the group’s supporters into an autonomous jihad in their places of residence, as well as the increased use of improvised explosive devices and drones in suicide attacks. Exacerbating such tactics is the return of foreign terrorist fighters equipped with skills in mine and explosive warfare, as well as military operations in urban areas, he noted. The greatest such threat in Central Asia is from the largest terrorist groups in northern Afghanistan, who, driven from Iraq, see the South Asian country as a springboard for the creation of a world caliphate, and hence, for the expansion of the so-called Wilayat Khorasan. That group comprises foreign terrorist fighters, as well as former members of the Taliban, East Turkestan Islamic Movement and other groups, he said. Furthermore, the authority of Al-Qaida and its regional branches is growing, and includes Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Al-Qaida in the Indian Sub-continent. Kazakhstan advocated halting drug trafficking and the illegal trade in natural resources, sharing best practices, enhancing the exchange of biometric information on terrorists, exchanging best practices on supressing terrorist ideas on the Internet, and proactive measures to counter self-radicalization.
CARL ORRENIUS SKAU (Sweden) highlighted national efforts to counter terrorism, including the establishment of the Swedish Centre to Prevent Violent Extremism in early 2018 to support municipal counter-terrorism activities. In addition, localities have now appointed coordinators to engage in the prevention of violent extremism. Sweden’s Ombudsman for Children presented a report on children’s direct and indirect involvement in violent extremism earlier in 2018, he said, noting that the document underscores the need to listen more to children’s experiences. Municipalities are now implementing recommendations issued by social services about ways to deal with returnees and their families, he said.
MAHLET HAILU (Ethiopia) emphasized that it is wise not to go overboard and declare victory over terror. The threat is, and will continue to be, a major challenge, especially in light of the transformation of ISIL/Da’esh from a territorial entity to a covert network. Meanwhile, the activities of the group’s regional affiliates and the threat posed by returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters also remain serious. Noting the heavy impact of terrorism and violent extremism on Africa, she expressed concern that affiliates and sympathizers of ISIL and Al-Qaida continue to pose serious threats to peace and security in the north and west of the continent, the Sahel region and East Africa. The Al-Qaida affiliated Al-Shabaab group remains a potent threat in the Horn of Africa, a region also witnessing the emergence of ISIL affiliates operating in Somalia. Meanwhile, ISIL in Libya represents a threat to that country and the wider region, she said, emphasizing that restoring peace and stability in Libya, Mali and the Lake Chad Basin is critical to denying safe haven to terrorist groups. It will be critical to enhance the region’s capacity to counter terrorism, she stressed, spotlighting also the need to get the management of security right in Somalia as security leadership transitions from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to the Somali forces.
KACOU HOUADJA LA�ON ADOM (CAte d’Ivoire) said that despite military and strategic setbacks, Da’esh continues to threaten global peace and security, morphing into a nebula of affiliates who are leveraging information and communications technologies, making it all the more difficult to combat recruitment and dissemination of the group’s propaganda. He expressed concern that many Da’esh affiliates are active in Somalia, the Sahel, West Africa, Egypt and Libya, the latter hosting 3,000 to 4,000 terrorist fighters. Citing the increasingly sophisticated armed attacks by terrorists, which obstructed the free movement of goods and people, he underscored the importance of allocating funds to combat that asymmetric threat, while calling for solidarity and cooperation among all stakeholders, and for strengthening national and regional capacities.
JOB OBIANG ESONO MBENGONO (Equatorial Guinea) said the transformation of Da’esh into a covert network was facilitated by local affiliates, women and youth, as well as the deplorable tactic of suicide attacks. Meanwhile, the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, as well as links with criminal networks, are being seen across various regions of the African continent. Describing mass displacement and the ongoing crisis in Libya as among the factors driving such challenges, he called for stronger cooperation between the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate and the Office of Counter-terrorism, while reiterating the need to respect national sovereignty in all counter-terrorism efforts. Equally critical are efforts to stamp out safe havens and blind spots in the fight against terrorism and to identify regions and States in which the implementation of counter-terrorism resolutions remains limited. Emphasizing the need to address the root causes of terrorism, he called for more investment in sustainable and equitable development, as well as peacebuilding.
VASSILY A. NEBENZYA (Russian Federation) said that while ISIL’s Tower of Babel has fallen to pieces, its leadership is now finding new sources of financing and logistical support. Terrorists are striving to invest in such legal sectors as tourism, agriculture, pharmacology and construction, while also working to take control of narcotic flows from Afghanistan. Noting that the Secretary General’s report demonstrates the Syrian army’s success in combating ISIL, with more than 400 towns and cities liberated, he nevertheless warned that sleeper cells still pose a threat, adding that there is evidence of the group’s increasing activities in provinces bordering Central Asian States. Calling for accountability on the part of any actor providing direct or indirect support to terrorist fighters � and for all counter-terrorism process to be conducted with full respect for the sovereignty of States in which such crimes are alleged to have been committed � he said the Russian Federation is cooperating in such efforts on Syrian soil, with the full consent of the that country’s Government. He also spotlighted blatant violations of the arms embargo against ISIL fighters in that country, saying there was mounting evidence of arms shipments from abroad and even support from some Member States.
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Thinking about vulnerability and thinking about it together on this occasion are both notoriously difficult things to do. Is our thinking about vulnerability together a merely contingent fact, or is there something about vulnerability that becomes understandable only when we understand it as social relation? Does vulnerability not implicate us as social creatures who are vulnerable in relation to one another and vulnerable also by virtue of the social structures and institutions, ecological networks, and biopolitical regulations on which we depend for our persistence and well-being?
It seems that to speak about this topic requires speaking about the resistance to speaking about this topic. There are those who worry that vulnerability, if it becomes a theme or a problem for thinking, will be asserted as a primary existential condition, ontological and constitutive, and that this sort of foundationalism will founder on the same rocky shores as have others, such as the ethics of care or maternal thinking. Does a turn to vulnerability seek to reintroduce into public discourse those particular modalities of thinking and valuing? Is it smuggling in discounted paradigms for reconsideration?
The resistance to vulnerability is also sometimes based on political grounds. After all, if women or minorities seek to establish themselves as vulnerable, do they unwittingly or wittingly seek to establish a protected status, subject to a paternalistic set of powers that must safeguard the vulnerable—that is, those presumed to be weak and in need of protection? Does the discourse of vulnerability discount the political agency of the subjugated? So one question that emerges from any such discussion is whether the discourse on vulnerability shores up paternalistic power, relegating the condition of vulnerability to those who suffer discrimination, exploitation, or violence. What about the power of those who are oppressed? And what about the vulnerability of paternalistic institutions themselves? After all, if they can be contested, brought down, or rebuilt on egalitarian grounds, then paternalism is vulnerable to a dismantling of its power. And when this dismantling is undertaken by subjugated peoples, do they not establish themselves as something other than, or more than, vulnerable? Indeed, do we want to say that they overcome their vulnerability at such moments, which is to assume that vulnerability is negated when it converts into agency? Or is vulnerability still there, now assuming a different form?
Finally, there are political objections to dominant groups who claim to be vulnerable. In California, when white people were losing their status as a majority, some of them claimed that they were a vulnerable population. Colonial states have lamented their vulnerability to attack by those they colonize and sought general sympathy on the basis of that claim. Some men have complained that feminism has made them into a vulnerable population and that they are now targeted for discrimination. Various European national identities now claim to be under attack by new immigrant communities. We can see that the term vulnerable has a way of shifting, and since we may not like some or even many of the shifts it makes, we may find ourselves awkwardly opposed to vulnerability. Of course, that is a rather funny thing to say, since we might conjecture that any amount of opposition to vulnerability does not exactly defeat its operation in our bodily and social lives.
When we oppose vulnerability as a political term, is it because we would like to see ourselves as agentic or think that better political consequences will follow if we are that way? If we oppose vulnerability in the name of agency, does that imply that we prefer to see ourselves as acting instead of being acted upon? And how might we then describe those regions of both aesthetics and ethics that consider that our receptivity is bound up with our responsiveness, that we are acted upon by what we also act upon at the same time? Does the opposition to vulnerability also imperil a host of related terms of responsiveness, including impressionability, susceptibility, injurability, openness, indignation, outrage, and even resistance? If nothing acts upon me against my will or without my advanced knowledge, then there is only sovereignty, the posture of control over the property that I have and that I am, a seemingly sturdy and self-centered form of the thinking I that cloaks those fault lines in the self that cannot be overcome. What form of politics is supported by this adamant disavowal?
So perhaps I have made some preliminary headway into thinking about the resistance to vulnerability. There is a dual relation to resistance that helps us understand what we mean by vulnerability. On the one hand, there is a resistance to vulnerability that takes both psychic and political dimensions; on the other hand, vulnerability changes its meaning when it becomes understood as part of the practice of political resistance.1 There are, I argue, forms of political resistance that rely fundamentally on the mobilization of vulnerability, and these are very different from political notions that establish agency as the opposite of vulnerability—that is, as something that requires or induces the vanquishing of vulnerability, or its full conversion into its ostensible opposite.
Quite apart from the psychological resistance to vulnerability, there are legitimate political criticisms of some of the appropriations of vulnerability, most notably, (a) paternalism and the reification of certain populations as definitionally “vulnerable”—a move that risks making lack of power into an enduring condition for those populations and (b) the cynical inversion of relations of power, such that those who are dominant claim to be unacceptably vulnerable to those who seek equality, democracy, the end of colonialism, or reparation for past injuries. In my view, it will not do to embrace vulnerability or get in touch with our feelings or bare our fault lines as if that would launch a new mode of authenticity or inaugurate a new order of moral values. I am not in favor of such a move, since it would continue to locate vulnerability as the opposite of agency and to identify agency with sovereign modes of defensiveness. It ratifies the logic that understands the two as mutually exclusive and restrictively defined within that binary frame. Rather, I am proposing that once we see how vulnerability enters into agency, then our understanding of both terms can change. This change can happen if we reflect on forms of political resistance that depend upon the mobilization of vulnerability.
Vulnerability, however, is not a subjective disposition but a relation to a field of objects, forces, and passions that impinge upon or affect us in some way. As a way of being related to what is not me and not fully masterable, vulnerability is a kind of relationship that belongs to that ambiguous region in which receptivity and responsiveness are not clearly separable from each other, and not distinguished as separate moments in a sequence.
I am aware that I have used resistance in at least two ways: first, as the resistance to vulnerability that characterizes thinking that models itself on mastery; second, as a social and political form that is informed by vulnerability and is therefore not one of its opposites. Vulnerability is neither fully passive nor fully active but operates in a middle region if not a middle voice (White). I think about those practices of deliberate exposure to police or military violence in which bodies, put on the line, either receive blows or seek to stop violence as living blockades or barriers. In such practices of nonviolent resistance, we can come to understand bodily vulnerability as something that is actually marshaled or mobilized for the purpose of resistance. Such a claim is controversial, since this exposure can seem allied with self-destruction, but what interests me is the kind of nonviolent resistance that mobilizes vulnerability in order to assert existence, the right to public space, and equality and to oppose police, security, and military violence. We may think that these are isolated moments when a group decides in advance to produce a blockade or to link arms in order to lay claim to public space or to resist being removed by the police. And that is surely true, as it was in Berkeley in 2011, when a group of students and faculty members were assaulted by campus police as they were practicing nonviolent protest (Asimov and Berton). But consider as well that for women and transgendered people in many places in the world who wish to walk the street at night in safety, the moment of appearing on the street involves a deliberate risk of exposure to force. Groups who gather without permits and without weapons to oppose privatization and rally for democracy, as we saw in Gezi Park in Istanbul in June 2013, are actively taking that risk. Such groups may have no legal and police protection, but they are not for that reason reduced to some sort of bare life. There is no sovereign power jettisoning the subject outside the domain of the political as such; rather, there is a renewal of popular sovereignty outside and against the terms of state sovereignty and police power, one that involves a concerted and corporeal form of exposure and resistance.
An image widely circulated on the Internet has been called “Woman in Red Dress,” and it became a rallying point for the resistance to police brutality in Gezi Park in June 2013. In this picture, Ceyda Sungur, a research assistant at Istanbul Technical University, is being pepper-sprayed by police in full riot gear. The image is a difficult one, to be sure. It is an act of brute force leveled against a woman in a red, cotton dress holding a canvas bag. She looks precisely like someone trying to enjoy a summer day in the park, but she has arrived to be part of the rally. She does not walk deliberately into harm’s way, but when the pepper spray comes at her, she stands firm, looking away to protect her eyes. The image is effective: a woman, unarmed and manifestly vulnerable, offsets the brutality of the police. I am reminded that there are at least two films called The Woman in Red. In the 1984 Gene Wilder version, the woman in red is passing over a grate on the street as the wind funnels upward to lift her skirts and mess her hair, leaving her looking sexually ravaged—a clear reference to the image of Marilyn Monroe in a white dress in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch. The Gezi Park image, however, is not a site of obsessive focus: the pepper spray that messes up the woman’s hair and blows her dress indicts the police use of sexual attack and gender violence. It is important to remember that among those who gathered in Gezi Park to protect the public status of those grounds against state-led efforts at privatization were not only lesbian, gay, and transgender people, who had quite rarely been able to gather in a public space with the solidarity of a broader movement, but also women insisting on their right to walk the streets at night without harassment and the threat of sexual assault.
In the image, the woman remains uncannily firm as the spray is unleashed against her. She does not run, flee, or fall but remains in place. Remaining in place has marked a number of the actions in Gezi as groups refused to move or formed human barricades—the example of the standing man, for instance (“‘Standing Man’”). Although the iconic dimension of the photo seems to rely on the subordinate and sexualized status of the woman in red, I want to suggest that we are seeing a form of deliberate exposure that mobilizes vulnerability in a practice of resistance that belongs to a direct democracy movement. By “deliberate,” I do not mean that the woman is staging this scene. She is in fact suffering an unwanted assault; but in suffering it, she stands firm and thereby exposes the force unleashed against her. Note that her exposure is not only to the pepper spray but also to the camera recording the event, which operates as an iconic corporeal vector through which that local violence is relayed into a global visual field. She does not initiate what happens but, like so many others, improvises when it happens. Does the improvising diminish the violence by showing that there is nevertheless a form of agency at work here? I think not. Like many nonviolent actions, the power or capacity to take the blow without returning it in kind serves not only as an embodied critique of violence but also as an exercise of the right to stand one’s ground in concert with others, to claim or reclaim public space as public, and to mobilize vulnerability—for example, by redeploying the iconic charge of the image for global media. The agency here belongs to the camera, the crowd, and the bodies in place. It is effective precisely because the situation is unwanted and unwilled. The woman figured has not brought the assault on herself, but she does enter into a scene of ongoing assault to resist it. At one level, it indeed seems that brutality was unleased upon her as she walked in the park with her canvas bag and red dress. It is equally true that she was already part of the movement, having joined the assembly and exercised those everyday freedoms that belong to a public park: strolling, baring one’s arms to the warm sun, even wearing red, the color of the Turkish national flag. Wearing red, she seizes the iconicity of the national—and perhaps lets it resonate with Hollywood and with the political reach of the camera more generally—to oppose the state. The camera is part of the movement, providing testimony and archive, entering the image into the circuit of media distribution that establishes the local events as global and exposes the injustice.
Vulnerability, then, can emerge in resistance movements and direct democracy as a deliberate mobilization of bodily exposure. “Mobilization of bodily exposure” is an embarrassing phrase, but it challenges the notions that vulnerability is identified with victimization alone and that the deliberate use of vulnerability constitutes a form of agency that overcomes injurability.
I suggested above that we are dealing with two senses of resistance here: resistance to vulnerability that belongs to certain projects of thought and certain formations of politics organized by sovereign mastery; resistance to unjust and violent regimes that mobilizes vulnerability as part of its own exercise of power. I have now tried to suggest that the body is exposed both to police force and to photographic capture, and on some occasions (not all) photographic journalism still has the power to exploit and reverse visual icons of sexualized violence. The scene of vulnerability is not a subjective feature of the human, nor is it an existential condition. It names a set of relations between sensate beings and the field of objects, organizations, life processes, and institutions that make livable life possible. These relations invariably involve degrees and modalities of receptivity and responsiveness that, working together, do not precisely form a sequence. In political life, it often seems that some injustice happens and that then there is a response, but it may be that the response is happening as the injustice occurs. This simultaneity gives us another way to think about historical events, action, passion, and forms of resistance. Without being able to think about vulnerability, we cannot think about resistance, and by thinking about resistance, we are already under way, dismantling the resistance to vulnerability in order precisely to resist.
Asimov, Nanette, and Justin Berton. “UC Campus Police Move in on Student Protesters.” SFGate. Hearst Communications, 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Rose, Jacqueline. The Last Resistance. London: Verso, 2007. Print.
“‘Standing Man’ Goes Viral, Inspires Silent Protests in Turkey.” NBC News. NBCNews.com, 18 June 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. Photoblog.
White, Hayden. “Writing in the Middle Voice.” The Fiction of Narrative: Essays on History, Literature, and Theory, 1957–2007. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2010. 255–62. Print.
The Woman in Red. Dir. Gene Wilder. Orion Pictures, 1984. Film.
Judith Butler is Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Visiting Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. A version of this paper was presented at the 2014 MLA convention in Chicago. | 2019-04-21T16:07:02Z | https://profession.mla.org/vulnerability-and-resistance/ |
One fails as a scientist if one cannot not replace a name such as ‘Pluto’ with increasingly accurate properties of what we now call the dwarf planet Pluto. But this has never been the case in the arts. We do not understand a painting by Picasso by discovering an ever-lengthening list of true facts about it. The goal of art is not to create paraphraseable imagery, but to create something to which no paraphrase ever does justice.
I agree that great Art produces something whose imagery is not paraphraseable, "something to which no paraphrase ever does justice" but I doubt this is the goal of Art, but rather the effect of a great work of Art. Art to my mind can never be understood by a simple list of facts, but I think that's in part because what we experience in such works as such is not fully paraphraseable, there's always more that can be said or is felt.
Great works of art exert power that is not diminished over time, power that goes beyond the normative bounds of any observer. I think this is only possible if force of these works reaches certain objective truths about the world that, if we have sufficient knowledge and emotion, can't be avoided because their power consists in their spontaneous ability to continue to generate new or deeper thoughts, newer more meaningful narratives in observers.
What do you think the goal of a work is?
Art is simply a social trait that enables one to acquire resources, mates and friends - which is why we do most of the weird social things we do.
To make us better people. To communicate quality.
If this is your understanding, Cavacava, can you explain why art is not paraphrasable?
As much a something as anything else.
I don't think artworks provide discursive explanations of what they are. The aesthetic effect we experience from certain works of art describe a spectrum of experience which is not amenable to discursive explanation because it expands beyond our typical conceptualization of the subject by opening new ground and expanding our conception of what the subject entails . The experience of art , the aesthetic effect is lost in any attempt at interpretation of what is experienced. If there is no remainder, nothing left out of the explanation then what is explained is not a work of art.
Art as expression creates narratives which intersect with existing narratives either negatively or positively, the movement is dialectical. It is only by negation of existing meanings in art that new meanings can be experienced, and our notions can be expanded. Kandinsky's abstractions are not based on representations of the exterior world, they are interpretations of an interior world of feelings/values/meanings, which sets him apart from other abstract artists such as Picasso or Mondrian.
I don't think that great works of art are simply things, rather I think they pull things out of simple material existence into processes, or ways of experiencing which if you can catch their vibe separates them from other experiences.
The "goal" depends. The conscious goal of the artist? Sometime's there isn't one. The metaphysical telos of art in general? Big shoes to fill, no? I like what Berdyaev said about art, paraphrasing: "art wants to create actual being, but fails." Art has the divine creative urge, to create being itself. Laughable or controversial, maybe, but real.
Even for myself, my motives for making art depend. I will say, in leu of the Witty quote I just posted to the TPF Quote Cabinet, that the music I've made that I found to be the most personally satisfying and cathartic was the work that was the most personal and honest, as cliche as that is. The personal goal, for me, of making music is to go deeper and deeper, both into myself as I evolve (or devolve), and also into the medium that I have available to me. To explore my own being concurrently with exploring the medium, and to explore how the two interact, and how they interact with the world. All of this is a product of the world around me; the world and the life I find myself in dictate how I respond to the medium, and to what extent I can go into myself to pull a piece of myself out and transform it into something.
I can understand how art if understood as semblance fails to create actual being, that's why Plato kicked the imitative arts out of his Republic, but if an artist composes a song with lyrics and melody, a work of art, doesn't that song have actual being?
and does not remain a glove without a hand.
Yes "If you are unwilling to know what you are, your writing is a form of deceit." and yes, "All of this is a product of the world around me; the world and the life I find myself in dictate how I respond to the medium, and to what extent I can go into myself to pull a piece of myself out and transform it into something"
Kandinsky and Wittgenstein seem to bring ethics into the goal of art, the duty that one owes to one's art as one of its devout practitioners. So then perhaps a goal of art is to produce ethically authentic works, that further our understanding of truth because they can enable observers to experience a facet of the artist's self which is consciously or unconsciously transformed and presented in the work of art.
An artist's job is to give the seed of inspiration what it needs to come into this world. Once the baby has arrived, the artist gives it up to the world to go out and find independent life in other souls.
I like your analogy, Do you think that inspiration is independent of the artist that becomes inspired; that perhaps the artist's insight is already shared in the artist's community and that the artist through his/her sensitivity and skill enables a synthesis of existing ideas which are presented in a novel manner in the work of art.
Yes, it appears as something independent. On reflection, it's apparent that an artist's time and place are part of the medium in a way. It puts an interesting slant on "artistic community" to think about artists who worked alone throughout their lives. The ones I know of all happen to be women: Vivian Maier, Emily Dickinson, and Hilma Klint are some that I think of as biggies who were loners.
It's interesting to compare Hilma Klint to Kandinsky.
I don't know that much about Hilma Klint, however looking at her works, all those circles, reminds me of all those squares Mondrian painted.
Kandinsky wrote a theory of his work published in 1912 "Concerning The Spiritual In Art"
Unlike most abstract artists Kandinsky did not look to nature or the universe for inspiration, he looked inside himself and gave expression to his interior feelings, emotions, what he suggests is the pure or essential pictorial plane, and he did this by means of the figurative, the external, which for him is the non-essential plane.
They may have worked alone, but no one can fully isolate themselves from society, they have to be raised by someone, go to school and learn. Yes they can become eccentric, and perhaps by in being so isolated they can see further and clearer than those who are so fully enmeshed in society that it is impossible for them to have such a point of view.
True. Would you say the meaning of a piece of art is public in the same way the meaning of a statement is?
There are cultures where that's how art is understood. A Chinese watercolor painting can be clearly translated into words.
Science explores the universe and things in it.
Art does not explore itself, that's the consumption of art (some art is surely self-exploratory, however), like science it tends to explore the universe and things in it.
Some art may be hard to paraphrase, but its meaning has finite strokes. No, study of a single Picasso does not reveal ever increasing detail because the Picasso itself is a limited study of something else.
If we're forced to compare art to science, it's hard to speak to its "goals" as the goals of scientific endeavors are varied (it is not merely the pursuit of knowledge). Likewise the goals of artistic endeavors are many.
A scientific work yields descriptive and predictive power over the physical world by making rigidly defined and testable statements in procedural fashions. Artistic works can also yield descriptive and predictive power over things in the physical world, but they tend to do so without the organization, consensus, and rigidity which science demands as prerequisite.
Good science describes relationships that are hard to reduce.
Good art says things which are hard to paraphrase.
I think good art is indeed good because it "says something" that is difficult to compress or is very specific. In the case of Picasso, by distorting and removing so much, what remains is brought into greater focus.. Good art reveals, and it does so with ineffable style by using clever compositions of imprecise language.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how many words can a Picasso fetch?
In high school I had a very talented art teacher who showed us his magnum opus which was a hyper-realistic painting of an old row boat tied to a dock. It was so realistic that I could not distinguish it from a photograph. Here was a work of art completed with more organization and rigidity than most other artworks, but he was almost ashamed of it and now I can gather why: it said little to nothing of value or intrigue. It was a painting imbued with skill beyond what I can fathom, and really that was the only remarkable thing about it. It's language was too precise. A grainy black and white photograph would have stated more.
What reveals more about the world and is harder to paraphrase, a photograph of a person or Picasso's portrait of them? In describing the photo, we would have a long list of details, and in describing the Picasso we might also need to list all the details which have been intentionally warped and omitted. It's kind of paradoxical that a photograph contains more information than a painting, generally (Picasso could probably have done what he did working from photographs to begin with) but a good painting even from a photograph can mean so much more. Photos tend to contain more data, but good art simplifies to magnify, making them more interesting and meaningful.
Science is the same way though: we observe vastly mixed phenomenon and try and bring fundamental parts and relationships into focus. Science seeks to highlight by simplifying and magnifying.
A painting is generally more interesting than a photo because the painting makes commentary. The commentary of the painting might be contained in the photograph but discerning it would require the lens of the artist (additional data perhaps).
So to conclude, good art says more with less. It trims detail into a kind of negative space where it becomes ambiguous, and what remains therefore becomes the object of focus. Often times we do not have suitable language for the things artworks communicate. The beauty of life, the curves of nature, the hubris of man. Such specific and contextual (lacking better terms) concepts and experiences are sometimes most efficiently expressed through a non-verbal medium, and if a work of art efficiently communicates a perception or notion I find worthy or interesting, I'll call it good art.
But I'm reluctant to discount prose; A picture can be worth a thousand words but a well written book can be worth thousands and thousands of pictures.
I am not sure I understand here. Is it because he is imitative in the way Plato suggests in the Republic or do you mean that Picasso always founds new ways of presenting what he had previously presented.
Yes, I wanted to bring that up, I don't agree with Harman that there is a finite interpretation, in fact I would strenuously argue against any finite limit, as long as there are humans there will be arguments about what is the correct way to interpret. I think the reason why masterpieces are masterpieces is because they continue to strongly affect their observers.
What reveals more about the world and is harder to paraphrase, a photograph of a person or Picasso's portrait of them?
The photo and the portrait are both mimetic, in a photo time is frozen as it presents a reality which as you indicate presents much more detail and more information. Yet it is still a simplified reality, since it presents a 3D object in 2D. The portrait distorts her face providing an overt commentary (to use your word) prior to any interpretation. Simplifying it as you suggest. While the figurative elements in the artwork may be simpler than the photo, the art work presents a much deeper view of the character in the portrait. It goes beyond the surface to the invisible in a way that is very difficult to replicate using a camera.
So then perhaps a goal of art is the communication of a way of understanding/experiencing by means of simplification and stylizing of its object.
What I mean to say is that a single painting or work of art might be analogous to a single scientific detail like "dwarf" in "dwarf planet". Comparing science to the study of a single artwork instead of the on-going body and process as a whole seemed vastly unfair in the analogy. The additional context makes it clear that its point was not to produce this effect, but I think my objection might be down to the authors somewhat loose usage of the terms art and philosophy (Do we define art/philosophy by specific products? By their processes? Their goals?). As he reassures us though, the issue is of mere taxonomy.
This definition resonates very strongly with what I consider to be good art. In addition to this, art which invents complexity which is not there in the first place (instead of simplifying and focusing), the dreaded abstract art, tends to say nothing at all by obfuscating and randomly distorting until all tangible meaning is lost. Anti-art.
I see now that Harman doesn't claim that art is not paraphrasable. He merely says that art may be created that "no paraphrase ever does justice."
Quoted in my opening post and you quoted in your response to me.
I didn't deny this only that I don't think it is art's goal.
You said art's goal is to "To communicate feeling/value/meaning.", and I wonder how such a goal differentiates it from other human endeavors which also attempt to communicate feeling/value/meaning?
So the butcher, the baker, the cobbler, the culter, the chef...don't have an aesthetic?
Isn’t the aesthetic of an artwork something different? It serves no utility, unlike the work of the other artisans you mention, Cava.
Yes, that's my point. What's your answer ND?
Sorry missed the utility part...does the whole exist for the benefit of the parts or do the parts exist for the benefit of the whole, where is the utility?
I don't have an answer, necessarily, in regards to the artisan. I suppose the "whole" of a loaf of ["whole-wheat"] bread is the nutrition and sustenance. Some parts of that are the flavor and texture, and the aesthetic of what the loaf looks like. Is it a cheap mass-produced loaf from the supermarket? Is it a fancy, expensive artisan loaf with perfect little crevices and colors? Was it an imperfectly shaped loaf made at home by someone who loves you? These are all aesthetic considerations of the loaf. Is that what you're getting at? If so, I'd say the parts serve the whole, when it comes to the utilitarian artisan. The parts still have value in themselves, though.
But it's not clear to me when it comes to a painting, or a piece of music. What is the "whole" here? I don't know. The artwork doesn't have a clear utility (nutrition). Nutrition of the spirit, maybe? An attempt to create "actual being" that fails?
By the way, I don't think I responded to your response to me, sorry. I'm too lazy to drag up the Berdyaev quote, but my understanding is that by actual being (that was a paraphrase), he meant Being, capital B, in a philosophical sense. I interpret it as the creative urge as a literal urge to create Being in the way the divine ("God") created being (thats the worldview Berdyaev is working from). And that urge is always a failure. I should drag up the quote because it's hard to wrangle with.
The word ''art'' is very vague but I think art is a medium of expression. The message may be everything under the sun and the medium too has a similar range.
What you want to say and how you want to say it.
These are all aesthetic considerations of the loaf. Is that what you're getting at? If so, I'd say the parts serve the whole, when it comes to the utilitarian artisan. The parts still have value in themselves, though.
I agree that "the parts serve the whole", that the parts are the means to an end, that their utility is only realized by the whole or end. In a similar way, water, yeast and flour are essential parts for making a loaf of bread. These parts at the immanent level of composition are purposeful. These parts, again similar to a loaf of bread, are transformed in the process of composition into a whole which is categorically different from the parts.
At the level of the whole, a loaf of bread sustains life, utility at this level is different from the composition utility that made it, yet it retains some of the essential characteristics of what and how it was made (almost like a dialectic). A work of art does not have the same kind of utility as a loaf of bread. We can compare loaves of bread for texture, moistness, aroma, flavor and so on, as well as how or if it sustains our body. A work of art also can be described in the terms of color, hue, saturation, or cadence, pitch, meter...but in the case of art what is sustained, broadened, or enhanced is our spirit..."Nutrition of the spirit"
The oldest works of art are estimated at around 40000 years old preserved in caves in various parts of the world. The most famous are at Lascaux in France, but they are also in Indonesia. Many of these paintings are fabulously stylized. I especially like the hand stencils that appear in these caves.
It is almost like they are waving at us, 'we were here'.
So, yes art is a medium of expression and expression is an essential characteristic of man from the get go. Understanding this "vague" term is the challenge. That challenge goes beyond, painting, music, sculpture...into our virtual world, where new concepts (or transformation of existing concepts) of what comprise art art are emerging.
They may or may not. Art is just a concept, and as such it can be applied to practically anything. Framing something as art is like an invitation to view a subject in a new or aesthetic way, where we might appreciate what has been previously taken for granted, see new or renewed meaning, or perhaps generally expand our conception of a subject (as I think you mentioned).
I'd say it's going beyond the rational but practical rationality is actually rather irrational, I'm beginning to understand.
I encountered a new set of notions out of the post-modern camp a few days ago (i guess it's not all bad!) which describes the essence of art almost exactly as you've formulated it.
Russian "Defamiliarization" (ostranenie), German "Distancing Effect" (Verfremdungseffekt), and Derrida's "Difference" (Différance).
It takes what is real by virtue of familiarity and presents it in an unfamiliar, magnified, or distorted way, thereby causing new perceptions and perspectives to emerge in the consumer.
This may not be the precise definition covering all "art", but it's a good start toward defining "good art".
A good work of art is designed to induce a reaction within the individuals who observe it. You can love or hate the work art. The induced reaction is important. Art is a way to trigger the unconscious mind of the audience.
The creative energy for the art, comes from the unconscious mind of the artist. The good artist builds a bridge between his unconscious mind, and the unconscious minds of his audience. The unconscious minds of the great artists, anticipate the future, and can convey this vision to others though the art; unconscious bridge to the future.
For example, art during the industrial revolution, changed from photographic clarity, to the fuzziness of impressionist art. This change paralleled the shift in culture away from the historical farm life, based on centuries of pastoral repetition, to unprecedented factory life. The industrial revolution had an impact on human nature, making things fuzzy. The art movement anticipated this change.
Abstract art, which came next, anticipated other changes in culture, made by theory like relativity and uncertainty, where cause and affect became distorted; determinate versus indeterminate. The artists unconsciously sensed and/or anticipated the change, and helped make it conscious.
Idol worship has a connection to the unconscious art affect. The golden calf was a good work of art, that had power over some people, due to its unconscious induction affect. The ancients would project the induced feelings, as coming from the work of art; god in the art. The induced affect was inside them all the time. The art made it conscious. A new car has an art affect, in the sense it induces a feeling of importance.
One modern artist from the 1950's. who was prophetic of now was Escher. He has a work of art called Relativity. In this work of art, there are people climbing staircases at all angles. If you look at any particular staircase, the reference appears fine, by itself. However, if you look at the bigger picture, all the references cannot exist at the same time.
The trick behinds this affect is connected to creating an illusion of 3-D, using 2-D; flat paper. A 3-D illusion can exist in 2-D, but it will not exist in actual 3-D. I can draw a ball on a flat piece of paper to look 3-D. But it you touch it with your finger you can feel it is flat. It can fool the eye but not touch.
Logic is based on cause and affect, which is 2-D (x,y). Logic can create spatial illusions which look 3-D to the eye, but which do not exist in 3-D. One such affect is connected to special relativity. Einstein defined three parameters in special relativity; relativistic distance, time and mass. However, most of physics only uses space-time and ignores relativistic mass. This downgrade from 3-D to 2-D, allows 3-D illusions in 2-D. If you include mass; energy balance, the illusions are easier to see.
If it is so, why does art play that role? Why is art the way it is?
The same way and role that the peacock's feather plays. It encourages mates to choose them because it shows fitness.
Art is everywhere, even if it is not called art. The new 2018 summer clothing styles are a type of art. This is art you wear. Good art induces an emotional reaction. New clothes induce positive feelings. Designer clothes give the best buzz. The former is individual and the latter is collective.
The golden calf affect; god in the art, can induce unconscious projection, so one feels better if surrounded by the god in the clothes. The tribal hunter will wear the skin of his prey, to acquire the spirit of the animal; golden calf affect. The skin is not a god, but a trigger to what is inside of us.
The reason this affects works is the unconscious mind is the original instinctive mind. Modern humans have become unnatural due to willpower and choice. There is a sense or need to return to its roots. Art brings us there, while culture swings the pendulum the other way. Fashion needs to reboot constantly to trigger the feelings since they are temporary.
Some art brings the individual back to their roots for a short time, while other art brings the herd back, or warns the herd that there are hazards to instinct, ahead.
Shoes are a common female art induction. Shoes fit on the feet, which touch the earth. Shoes are connected to natural instinct; of the earth. The problem is the golden calf induction is not permanent, but needs to be rebooted constantly; new shoes, since culture pulls women the other way, away from natural instinct. The shoe girl is often the cultural girl, not the natural girl. She has more unconscious potential for the trigger. | 2019-04-23T04:09:00Z | https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/3399/the-goal-of-art |
Erstes Mockup. Herr Grah bestellte ein Zifferblatt mit wilder Patina, eine Option, die ausserhalb des Customizer angefordert werden kann.
Die Uhr ist wirklich toll, auch wenn bei der wild patina die Vorstellungen von mir doch eher etwas blauer waren, bin ich glücklich. Es ist ein Unikat und daher einfach anders wie die auf der Homepage zu sehenden Bilder.
Die Verarbeitung ist wirklich fantastisch und als Qualitäts-Ingenieur bei Porsche kann man das wirklich beurteilen. Da fasziniert einen jeder neuerliche Blick auf die Uhr mit Ihren fast nicht erkennbaren Bearbeitungsspuren, Fugen und Übergängen. Das kann man erst richtig nachvollziehen wenn man es in Echt vor sich hat.
Und die Gravur ist perfekt.
Richten Sie bitte allen bei Ochs und Junior meinen Dank für Ihre tolle Arbeit aus. Und einen besonderen Dank an Dr. Oechslin für Sein Genie und das er noch viele geniale Ideen ausbrütet.
Grüße aus dem Schwabenland nach Luzern und wir freuen uns wenn wir die Uhr mal bei Ihnen vorbei bringen.
UNITED KINGDOM—My journey began long before ochs und junior existed, in 1999. I discovered the ski region of Hoch-Ybrig, the Druesberghütte, and each month over the winter their „Vollmond“ Fondue evenings. A couple of years later I purchased my first moon phase watch in Einsiedeln.
In 2016 I read an article in Quill & Pad and was immediately drawn to the simplicity and mathematical accuracy of the ochs und junior moon phase: I knew then that I would one day own one.
When I first contacted Beat, I think in 2017, it was purely on an inquisitive basis: I was keen to understand the epicyclic gear train calculations. Ludwig’s calculation was willingly provided and the urge to own this watch was becoming stronger. However, I still had a nagging question as to how the precise mathematical calculation manifested itself into the moon phase being presented on a disc which rotates once every 12 hours (through 6.0954°). A little time spent with an excel spreadsheet and everything became suddenly clear. It was that „light-bulb“ moment, and the brilliant elegance of Ludwig’s design became apparent. From month to lunar month, there are tiny variations in the depiction of the full moon, no more (and frequently much less) than -3°/+3° either side of the 6 o’clock position…and the width of the 15th date dot, at the 6 o’clock position: precisely 6° – perfect. From here there was no turning back: I had to own this watch!
I visited Beat at the OJ workshop in early May to discuss the design of my watch. The customizer is a great tool, and the many high resolution images on the website provide further insight into how your watch will appear. But nothing compares with holding these watches in your hand and seeing the effect of the sunlight on the patinated dial and discs. Besides, you get to meet Beat and try out the excellent expresso!
We discussed my initial design, which changed slightly as I had originally thought I would need to achieve a contrast with grey patinated discs and a blue patinated dial. Nothing was too much trouble for Beat, and there was always an example available to hold and view: I settled on blue patination throughout which looked fantastic in natural light. Every question was eagerly answered, including an explanation of the ingenious mechanism by which the moon disc is held firm during the 10 hours or so each 12 when the central finger is not located in the gear train.
And then came the little smile from Beat, when I made my ’special‘ request: to have three milled markers added, two on the dial 6° apart at the 6 o’clock position, and one on the moon disc at the precise point of the full moon. The geek in me wants to be able to observe the tiny variations referred to above each month at full moon. Of course this could be accommodated: each watch is manufactured to order and is unique, just like each customer!
And so the journey continued, Peter Cantieni’s CAD diagram arrived in my inbox, the three unique markers would be milled at the narrowest possible width of just 0.15mm, allowing visualization of the tiny variations of the Full Moon position each month.
And as I left the workshop, I couldn’t resist asking about Ludwig’s current projects…my lips are sealed!
COLORADO—I have always wondered why certain people are so fascinated by mechanical timepieces. I know for me it started when I was really young and my grandfather collected mechanical clocks. I also remember not really understanding him when he would talk about how they worked or how each one was different. It wasn’t until later in life that I started to really understand what he was saying and how he felt. And I probably didn’t fully appreciate it until I dissembled and reassembled my first movement.
I own a small watch company so I am very picky about what I add to my private collection. I chose an ochs und junior timepiece for many reasons. I tend to like simple, clean designs and appreciate the engineering involved in making something complex more simple. I also feel that ochs und junior watches excel at blending the various design elements of the watch in harmony. The design flows seamlessly from the titanium case to the brushed dial and hands all the way through to the unique sturgeon strap. The highlight being how the light plays off the brushed dial.
I also appreciate the unique and uncommon nature of watches from some smaller companies. The customer service with ochs und junior and the communication while designing and building the watch was a real pleasure. Mr. Weinmann was very responsive and easy to communicate with.
Dr. Oechslin’s history in both horology and watchmaking speaks for itself and this was a very big part of why I chose one of their timepieces. I think that history shows in all aspects of the company.
I will proudly wear my ochs und junior annual calendar knowing that the same passion I have for mechanical timepieces is also shared by the people who helped me build such a special and unique watch.
LOS GATOS, CA—After learning about ochs und junior, in particular the moon phase, it took me about five seconds to decide I wanted one. In my own business, I always try to find simple solutions to complex problems, and ochs und junior clearly shares that ethos to an extreme degree.
Committing to buy one of their watches wasn’t easy. Spending that much money on something I couldn’t even see until after I’d bought it was an exercise in trust I wasn’t sure I could manage. Once the decision to buy had been made, I was left with the far more difficult task of designing what I actually wanted. To that end, I sent at least one email per day for a month to Beat. Sometimes I’d make small changes, and still other times I’d make simply insane requests. No matter what I suggested, Beat would show me a mock up or reign me back into reality, sometimes both. What I learned from that process is that ochs und junior is incredibly willing to try new things. For instance, I don’t really care for seconds hands on watches, but I recognize their necessity on a moon phase. I asked if they could mill an impossibly fine, almost invisible line into the seconds disk, something that I wouldn’t see unless I was looking for it. Of all the customization I wanted, this was the one aspect I was least sure could be accomplished in a way that met my expectation. I was shown a picture of the bare brass piece, and my apprehension only grew. When my watch arrived, the seconds disk was the first thing I checked, and it was perfect. The final product is better than what I’d first imagined, and it makes me smile every time I look at it.
Along that theme, the pictures on the website and in reviews in no way do justice to the quality of these watches. Looking at mine, it feels like it’s something completely different with every change in angle or lighting. The grain in the patinated brass can sit cold and unyielding, then, with the slightest flick of the wrist, explode light and color. For a watch that presents as plain on a computer screen, it has more depth and facets than any other that I have seen in person. Many of the reviews talk about the raw nature of the cases because of the visible machining marks. That sounds nice in print, but it’s an incomplete appraisal. In the metal, the markings are as precise and crisp as any Côtes de Genève, only more unique and subtle. While it’s certainly a different type of finishing, to call it unfinished is to miss the point.
All of my other watches came with some degree of buyer’s remorse or maybe Catholic guilt after I’d brought them home. This is my first watch that feels wholly right and justified, which I credit to the team’s ability to build something that is as perfect a representation of me as is likely possible.
CALIFORNIA—It is significantly more difficult to design a simple solution than a complex one.
I work in Internet infrastructure for Google, so I deal with very large-scale critical systems on a daily basis. In my line of business the first solutions that come to mind for engineering problems are typically the most complex ones – it takes a lot of engineering brilliance and experience from our teams to be able to deconstruct down to a simple solution.
After dealing with 15 years of operational challenges I’ve come to know that having more moving parts means more things that can go wrong. For the stability and reliability of the system it is incredibly important to reduce the number of dependencies and subsystems.
I was fascinated to come across a watch company where their master watch maker has the same design philosophy – simplicity.
Wearing an ochs und junior timepiece is a constant reminder for me to strive for higher reliability in the systems I work with.
ANNAPOLIS, USA—For me, the main attraction of the watch is that one of the great horological minds of our time has placed within reach a far more precise timepiece – in terms of the accuracy of the moon-phase display – than any other watch. I can afford this extraordinary precision thanks purely to the simplicity of the design. By extension, the dial’s visual simplicity also has a practical effect: I am able to learn what the date is without the need to read a number. In this age of digits, it is an innovation of an old-fashioned sort, and it gives me joy.
Then there are of course the aesthetic rewards of simplicity. The dial is brilliant: with its subtle date spiral, and the “horse shoe” that shows not only the sun-reflected moon but also the dark side. I find it satisfying that the watch has a couple of complications, and offers them while refusing to give up an iota of clarity. The result is a watch that tells me the time at a glance, even when I am not wearing reading glasses, and representing also my own choices and ideas, is unique and uniquely mine.
In addition to ox-strength horology, there was also the role you played, Beat, on that crystal-clear summer’s day in Lucerne that made getting this watch special. You asked all the right questions, listened to my vision, and improved it by suggesting the sun dot at twelve o’clock should be not just gold but polished, sunny gold. You had earlier arranged for me to have a little extra time in Lucerne, and after lunch you made sure I knew how to get to the wounded lion and to the glorious panorama. You gave me a memorable day!
THE NETHERLANDS—My moon phase is still something special. It represents for me many things.
It reminds me to use my creativity and to value all what excels in simplicity. No matter how big or small, the understanding that simple is most of the time the hardest and requires understanding of the complexity at first, is very useful in my daily work as a consultant in the field of organizational development.
LOS ANGELES, USA—ochs und junior highlights the best of this industry. They are a brand that has a clear ethos and sticks to it. Everything is natural and cohesive. It is a watch with integrity. This allows it to simultaneously be successful as a piece of art, design, mechanical engineering and horology. To own an ochs und junior is to stand up for things being done the way they ought to be. Plus they know how to make a proper espresso!
PORTUGAL—When I discovered ochs und junior, what struck me the most, apart from Ludwig Oechslin’s genius and ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’, was the possibility of having a say in ‘my’ watch.
So when in the first mail I asked about the possibility of having one made in bronze I was surprised at getting a call from Beat within a few minutes, telling me they had had the material in stock for a few weeks and were just waiting for the first customer to ask for it.
What a coincidence and what fun being able to choose the design to my liking!
That’s really half of the fun, the other one is using it. And this is one, which will certainly stay until I pass it along to another generation.
WOLFSBURG, DEUTSCHLAND—Meine Liebe zu Euren Uhren wurde 2010 geboren, als ich zufällig in einer Uhrenzeitung auf Euch gestoßen bin. Zu der Zeit war ich noch großer Freund und Sammler klassischer Uhren. Angekündigt war damals die Mese, die mich mit ihrem puristischen Design und dem unglaublichen Kalender sofort in ihren Bann gezogen hat. Die Korrespondenz, aber auch die Besuche in Luzern – damals noch nicht im Ochsenloft – haben ihr übriges getan. Entschieden habe ich mich für die ganz puristische Version in Silber mit Zeigern und Zifferblatt aus Weissgold.
Das ist nun über 5 Jahre her und ich habe die Entscheidung nie bereut. Gefreut hatte ich mich von Anfang an auf die zu erwartende Patina des Silbergehäuses – und tatsächlich, das Gehäuse entwickelt eine wunderschöne Patina in den geschützteren Bereichen in Verbindung mit Hochglanzstellen. Nach wie vor ist die Uhr ein Traum und ein Schmuckstück.
Im Laufe der Jahre durfte ich dann noch den ganz besonderen Service in Anspruch nehmen – die ursprünglich in Titan ausgeführten Teile (Krone und Schließe) wurden nach und nach gegen silberne Teile getauscht, so dass die Uhr heute komplett stimmig und rund ist. Abgesehen davon konnten wir diese Gelegenheiten immer mit sehr netten Besuchen – bereits im Ochsenloft dann – in Luzern verbinden.
THE NETHERLANDS—For me ochs und junior is more than just a watch company. The design philosophy is also a source of inspiration for my daily business life. Both the challenge to make a function work with as few parts as possible and the way Ludwig finds a different way to show various instances of time again and again. So simple, even for a child. After I told my daughter on the 7th of June that her birthday would be at the 25th dot, she started to count the dots and was a bit disappointed that it would take 18 more nights. But it gave her a much better idea of the time span than a digital date would have provided. In the online maps where I try to visualise traffic congestion and traffic accidents, I try to show as little as possible, but enough to tell the right story. In that approach I recognize a little part of the ochs und junior philosophy of creating beautiful, yet simple timepieces.
CALIFORNIA, USA—Ich sammle authentische, mechanische Uhren und finde deshalb die augenblickliche Retro-Manie peinlich. Ebenso wie die überladenen bzw. skelettierten Zifferblätter. Dann entdeckte ich die ochs und junior mit einem visuell faszinierenden Ganzjahreskalender – das Zifferblatt könnte auch eine abstrakte Grafik sein – und der Möglichkeit, mit dem Online-Konfigurator mir meine ganz persönliche Uhr zu gestalten. Kein Geheimnis: Ich liebe Farben, und zusammen mit der weichen Anmutung des Sterlingsilbers machen das warme Gelb und das frische Blau die Uhr einfach cool – wer immer sie sieht, sagt: ‚WOW SHOW ME!‘, und geht mit einem Lächeln weiter.
NEW YORK, USA—Ludwig Oechslin might just be the greatest watchmaker you’ve never heard of, and his ochs und junior line of handmade timepieces might just create an entirely new segment of ‘anti-luxury’ watches. Devoid of the ‘complications for complications sake’ mantra that has permeated the Swiss watch industry over the past decade, the Lucerne-based horologist offers the full range of Pantone colors for the watch’s dial and hands, giving customers numerous options. Coupling bespoke design with the brilliant functional simplicity of cogs and wheels (instead of the more volatile levers and switches), ochs und junior sets a new standard for both customization and technical precision. I was so impressed by what Oechslin offers that when I wanted to celebrate five years covering the watch industry, I did so with an ochs und junior timepiece. As an expression of gratitude to our audience, HODINKEE gave the watch to one of our readers; we selected a timepiece that represented not only ourselves, but what we thought was the very best that this industry could do. As someone who owns watches from dozens of manufactures in a range of vintages and price points, I can say there isn’t a single more satisfying timepiece to wear than an ochs und junior – it makes you feel like, for once, you’re part of the solution, not the problem. | 2019-04-23T18:22:55Z | https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/de/referenzen/ |
Ovi was Nokia’s aces, trumphs and everything put together. Ovi which means “Doors” in Finish was an ambitious plan to open the doors of branded Nokia services to the Nokia users. Unfortunately that never happened. Nokia has now announced that it will phase out the Ovi brand eventually by 2012 in favour of a single Nokia brand, Nokia services. The transition begins with new devices being launched this July, August. Although Nokia has not specified which countries will see the rebranding first, it is expected that North American and European markets will see the new Nokia brand first, completing across all countries and services by the end of 2012. The services roadmap continue unaltered. This is one of a long list of changes for Nokia and an admission that the Ovi brand never really worked ever since 2007 when it launched the Ovi brand. As of April 2011 there were exactly 5.0 million downloads every day, also 158 developers reached over 1 million downloads for their Applications.
This is the first bold move by CMO Jerri DeVard and an admission of the fact that Ovi brand has failed. This also marks a clear shift in Nokia’s strategy and puts focus on Nokia brand, reducing consumer confusion as Microsoft partnership grows. This transition is expected to last into 2012 and was pretty much inevitable in the wake of Nokia’s hookup with Microsoft earlier this year. Part of that agreement was for Nokia software, Maps in particular, to be made available in other Windows Phone devices and across Microsoft’s range of services, so it makes sense for Nokia to literally put its name on its wares.
The timeline of Ovi with key events around it.
X3: Nokia’s mid tier Silver Bullet?
Nokia’s efforts to come up with “Game Changers” and “iPhone Challengers” have been a study in what-not-to-do in the device-consumer space. The N97, The N900 and now the N8* have not been upto the mark to challenge the rapid strides made by iPhone and Android in the last 2 years.
(*: I had done an hour with the N8 and its touch interface was seriously a few miles behind the Moto Milestone/Droid Interface).
Having lost a considerable room at the top, Nokia is getting more and more aggressive at defending its position if strength: The Mid End. With that in mind (it seems), Nokia has now announced the X3, a series 40 device, which is a combination of a resistive touch and unusual key pad, 5MP Camera, 3G and WiFi. It is powered by a ARM processor that can do a 400 MHz to 600 MHz processing. It comes bundled with email, Social networking, Ovi Music and is seemingly handicapped by absence of GPS and Flash. It definitely looks neat and slim at 9.6mm.
Nokia’s introduction of touch screen control to series 40 devices mirrors its approach with S60. The thought on combining the context key (Hot keys) and navi-key interactions as touch controls don’t cut ice with the high end Multimedia devices and smartphones. The S60 marriage with the Context-key and Navi Key touch controls and its resulting tacky performance was one of the key reasons for Nokia’s slide in the smartphone segment. The decision to implement touch support to Series 40 was overdue, given moves by competitors in the mid end.
Touch(= Context key + Navi Key) may be a first “touch” experience for many million consumers in the developing nations in Afro-Asia. This is mass that Nokia is looking to cater to with this device, but then the white Box Chinese manufacturers are already planning Full touch devices for this segment. These are the low cost Android phones that Huawei is talking about. If Huawei were to get its act right, then it would mean that it would be a few steps ahead of Nokia in terms of taking the “Touch” to the consumer. Also Companies like LG and Samsung are in their fourth generation, giving them the stability and maturity that can come with the iterative design processes. Nokia’s resistive screens and “Touch” experience may be ill-equipped to take the pressure from the mounting competition.
Bottomline: Nokia needs S40 Full touch (and QWERTY) devices to protect its market share in its traditional mid-tier stronghold. The X3 is not exactly the best start, but it heralds Nokia moving into Touch devices for the mid tier Seris 40. One can only Hope that Nokia’s next in roadmap devices are better than the X3 in terms of Touch experience. Nokia desperately needs to hold onto to its mid tier market shares and can ill-afford to lose these segments, given its already weakened position in high end segments.
Nokia is feeling the heat all over. It now has closed down in North American stores in Chicago and New York and one of its two London stores across the pond. It is also shifting its Sao Paolo store in Brazil. Not only in its brick and mortar form, but also with its online Ovi store, Nokia seems to have hit a breaker. Nokia’s case is quite paradoxical to Apple which has tasted success in both forms of the stores: Online as well as Brick and Mortar. A beleagured Nokia faces competition from RIM, Apple, Palm, Moto and Samsung in the Smartphone space; is threatened by OEM imports in emergingmarkets and its software services platform never really took off. Once a stock market darling, Nokia’s shares have fallen 20% since September even as the broader market has rallied.
Nokia launched the Ovi Store in May/June 2009 clearly challenge the Apple Dominance on Apps. However 5 months after an otherwise lukewarm launch, Ovi has stats on its side, but these pale infront of the Apple Juggernaut.
• Ovi Mail has more than 3 million subscribers, and carriers like the push email because it boosts data usage. Nokia has signed over 20 partners for a carrier version of Ovi Mail.
• Downloads of apps on the Ovi Store are growing 70 percent per month, and every registered Ovi user has downloaded eight apps on average.
• The number of users downloading apps is going up 50 percent every month.
• The Ovi suite – which also includes music and mapping services – now has 80m active users, up from 54m in August.
George Linardos, head of products at Nokia’s media group, said on 8th December 2009 that Ovi Store had been outpaced by Apple after complaints on stability and reliability. He also admitted that the chorus of complaints from end-users were driving the next version, noting that his company has “screens up in [their] offices running Twitter feeds [of gripes] all day long.” In fact, he likened the act to “sitting there and getting punched in the face.” So while the first coming of Ovi was beaten comprehensively unable to compete with the Apple Apps store, a second coming of Ovi has been planned in Spring 2010. New features will include in-application payments, a redesigned user interface that makes apps easier to discover, and faster operation. Longer-term, Ovi Store will include recommendations based on friends’ app purchases and more localised content.
In its second coming, the company wants to localize the Ovi Store for 20 countries by the end of the first quarter of 2010. Localization can mean instant success. In India, for example, Nokia’s music download service is becoming popular mostly because many people don’t have PCs and are using their phones to download music. Similar trends are being observed in Brazil and Mexico. Nokia believes the success of its Ovi Store and services is going to come from its traditional strongholds: Europe, Latin America and Asia. Ovi’s big opportunity is overseas — outside of the U.S. However, while US is not on the focus geographies list, it is also important for Nokia to maintain a mind share in US so that they are abreast of the best apps and platforms and are exposed to the most advanced development eco-system globally.
On Ovi, Nokia need’s to get all their ducks lined up, including hardware, software and services. At the moment, none of those are working properly. One hopes that Ovi gets it right this time because second chances are rare, and there are no third chances.
As the App Store has matured, so has the need to come up with more sophisticated ways to profit from it. Simply having a great application is not enough. The App Store’s success — as much a surprise to Apple as it has been to competitors — has given rise to a new digital ecosystem. Today, hundreds of software aspirants, from individuals tinkering in their bedrooms late at night to established companies looking for lucrative new revenue streams, are jumping into the App Store fray.And smart-phone manufacturers across the board are trying to make their platforms more attractive and lucrative to bring in the kind of creativity and enthusiasm that Apple has.
It’s easy to see why: Analysts estimate that Apps store generates as much as a billion dollars a year in revenue for Apple and its developers.
However the question increasingly being asked by analysts world-over is “Is it about 20,000 apps or 200,000 apps or is it about changing those 20,000 apps and their deep integration and how they interrelate to one another?” With Apple adding the numbers up briskly, the view about Apps is now beginning to shift. Palm and Research in Motion, say they don’t need an avalanche of applications to compete.
It is much more interesting to change the applications and changing the user experience and really unlocking the promise and the money and revenue opportunity for the ecosystem. Thus the story is changing from too many apps to a limited number of meaningful apps: Apps which integrate into the user’s activities and lives and are used as a necessity.
Most phones will end up being smart-phones. There will be more services and new ways to monetize and more consumption. Growth is a given; it’s just a question of who is going to innovate in the right way to drive that value proposition to capture that growth.
Microsoft, which analysts have criticized for its sluggish approach to the smartphone market, also says it is emphasizing quality for the application store it introduced in October, Windows Marketplace for Mobile.“Our strategy is to look holistically at how we can provide the best all-around user experience,” says Victoria Grady, director of mobile strategy at Microsoft. The Marketplace now has more than 800 apps.
Many developers and analysts think Google’s mobile operating system, most recently placed in the Motorola Droid, may evolve into the fiercest competitor to the iPhone.
Android unique applications are no longer limited to a single device. The growing number of Android-powered phones available on multiple wireless carriers increases the financial opportunity for developers. An year back, Android just had 1 handset which has now increase to close to dozen. Android volumes are going up at a tremendous pace, and the developer ecosystem is seeing that.
Unlike Apple, Google has eschewed a review process, allowing any developer to publish an application to the Android Marketplace, its version of the App Store, instantly. About 14,000 applications are available for Android-powered smartphones.
Apple has another strong advantage: the iPhone offers developers a uniform, standard platform. When, a developer creates an application for the iPhone, he knows how it’s going to run exactly as you tested it on every single model. The same isn’t true for the rest of the smartphones, which have varying screen sizes, processor speeds and form factors.
HOWEVER the competitive landscape shapes up, the App Store phenomenon shows no signs of slowing. IDC, a technology research firm, predicts that the number of iPhone apps will triple next year, fueled by the growing popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices. Along the way, analysts say, the App Store will continue to upend the architecture of the smartphone business and threaten competitors that don’t have vibrant and extensive offerings.
This changes the way the smartphone industry operates. Each handset company would come up with its latest iterations and maybe have the hottest device of the season or not. With apps in the equation, all that changes. It goes from being a product cycle game to a platform game.
Barely 15 day s after i had written about Nokia’s dual OS strategy, It turns out that Maemo is not so big news from Nokia.
Nokia has gone through a rough patch over the last 18 months or so. It has lost heavily in the smartphone space to Apple, RIM and Google; and its overall numbers tumbled down in 2009. Ovi store was a lukewarm fare. However, it seemed to be making a comeback of sorts with interesting applications such as Nokia Money and Lifetools in the Mid end and Maemo devices in the smartphone segment. N900 got a great response as Nokia moved away from the Symbian platform for the first time after failure with its N97.N900 boasts some impressive specs for a smartphone-type device, and includes a touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, media playback and more. While the N900 is a bit of a niche play and doesn’t have the largest addressable market, it’s an important step for Nokia to take in regaining some much-needed momentum in the world market for smartphones. The N900 was thought to be not only the Nokia flagship, but also a learning platform for Nokia and its Maemo line up.
In this regard, Nokia’s decision to launch only one Maemo based device in 2010 is bewildering. Nokia is committed to the Symbian platform as its “smartphone platform of choice”. Symbian S60 — is outdated and clunky. Maemo looked to be a solid step in the right direction, at least from a usability standpoint.The one Maemo-device announcement was thus a let down, dashing hopes of a slew of high-end, Linux-based phones from the mobile manufacturer.The Symbian Foundation has been working hard to reboot Symbian as a platform, but so far developments has been slow, and no devices have been announced with support for the latest Symbian versions.
Either Nokia plans to take over the world with just a handset update per year like Apple does or it believes Symbian still has some life left and will continue churning out S60 and the upcoming Symbian Foundation OS based phones by the dozen. The only manufacturer for whom this “one device a year strategy” has worked very well is Apple. 2010 would be a busy smartphone year with the supposed Apple 3.1 being readied for release and Android getting mainstream. Putting a large bet on Symbian S60 can significantly risk the Nokia portfolio. There is an opinion that even one Maemo phone would be enough – if it’s an iPhone killer. To flip it around, if Nokia’s 2010 Maemo and Symbian devices return average results, they would get dangerously sidelined in the smartphone space. That would also mean being left out of the consideration space of the developer community.
That’s a bad idea, Nokia.
Nokia’s acquisition of Dopplr: Whither business sense?
Nokia has been on an acquisition spree lately. Celity, Bit-Side, Plum and now Dopplr. One hear’s about the acquisition of Palm a well. That’s been on air for some-time now and we still don’t seem to have any definite answer on that.
The purchase price is said to be between €10 million and €15 million. The site has never grown to huge usage, but its core users are passionate about Dopplr. This is in contrast to Tripit, which has a larger audience and caters to the same socialize-while-you-travel idea.
The problem with this idea seems to be that, it belonged as part of something bigger, not as a standalone site. There is too much social capital that is required for yet another “community” website. One single purpose did not warrant another log on, another bit of data input. The idea was nicely executed, however, but not compelling enough on its own. The flip of this is that Dopplr may add up to Nokia’s world well and would get the threshold volume it always lagged.
Interestingly, in 2008, Nokia purchased Plazes – another location-based service with social networking roots. Plazes offers users the opportunity to share locations and activities with friends while geotagging the sites they like. Dopplr serves a similar purpose; however, friends are meant to meet up while traveling.
If this sounds familiar it’s because services like Foursquare and most recently Gowalla have gotten iPhone users into the habit of checking in and leaving tips at their favorite haunts and watering holes.
With Plazes in 2008 and Dopplr in 2009, both serving the same purpose, I wonder how Nokia has visioned its advance in Travel social networking. Admittedly, it does seem to have little of any worth in two acquisitions of same nature without doing much on the first one.
Over the last year and half, Nokia Scrip price has yo-yo’ed from $ 40 to $ 8 given the slump in the market and demand, its own performance in the smartphone market and its decision to change tacks from device orientedness to internet services focussed approach. Yesterday Nokia declared its 1Q, 2009 results and though a drop in numbers was in line of expectations, a 90% drop in profits was beyond expectations. This was Nokia’s worst quarterly profit in more than a decade. Profits declined to 122 million euros (US$160.7 million), from 1.2 billion euros (US$1.6 billion) a year earlier. Sales fell 27 percent. Nokia sold 93 million phones in the first quarter, 3 million more than analysts had anticipated, the ASP of the phones fell sharply to $85 from $93 in the fourth quarter. Nokia’s Devices & Services unit saw net sales decline 33 percent year-on-year to 6.2 billion euros (US$8.2 billion). Nokia remains the largest mobile-device maker in the world with a market share of 37 percent in this year’s first quarter. However, that’s down from 39 percent in the year-ago period. Nokia expects industry sales to continue to decline this year, estimating a 10 percent overall slide from 2008. Nokia’s sales were mostly based out of the Asia Pacific, followed by Europe and then Americas.
However, these bleak numbers seem to have come with silver lining as far as Nokia is concerned and while this is the worst quarter for Nokia on record, it does look like they have bottomed out and the only way from here is upwards.
Considering that in Q1, 2009, Nokia’s North American numbers actually grew by 30% and was the only Nokia region to register growth, the AT&T tie up on E 71 can be a big winner.
There seems to be traction on the Economy Smartphone 5800 Xpress Music, with 2.6 million units already shipped. The phone is popular in China, India and other developing countries given its price and feature attractiveness.
Amongst other strong signs of recovery is the fact that it has retained its 37% market share, and has in fact gained in strength in China and India, whereby Motorola and Sony Ericsson are flopping out. Nokia’s impressive offensive at the low end will make sure that market shares are stable and increasing for sometime.
With N97 Nokia looks to get back at the technology leaders platform, a mantle it has lost to Apple and RIM in the recent times.
Nokia expects industry mobile-device volumes in the second quarter to be at about the same level or up slightly. The company also expects its market share in the second quarter to increase.
The news that sparked a Wall Street rally on Nokia’s stock was the company’s prediction that the decline in the first two quarters this year would be worse than in the second half of the year. What’s more, the company is targeting an increase in market share for the year.
The two aspects, which are slight out of sync in Nokia at this time are its Netbooks foray and The flight @ Ovi, which will need to be accessed independently. The indicators at this point of time may not favour Nokia, but it certainly looks like Future Bright for Nokia.
Ovi is Nokia’s door (Literally in Finnish) to the high end internet and convergence enabled consumers. Over a year and a half, Nokia has been building its Ovi brand. On 16th February, 2009, Nokia announced Ovi Application store, a virtual store front where developers can develop applications and consumers can easily download them. N 97 will be the first device to sport the Ovi Aps store when it goes to sale in June 2009! The Store will be available on its S40 and S 60 platform devices. Nokia intends to pep up the offering by tracking downloads and suggesting applications to users, which may be of their interest.
Apple and Google are “there”, Nokia, RIM, Palm will get there soon. Microsoft is also designing something on these lines.
While Ovi Apps Store (OAS) has the advantage of a captive base of Nokia’s consumers, which it can choose to exploit well, there are some formidable challenges that OAS faces.
The first challenge obviously is a “me too” positioning important from a perspective of “being available” to its consumers. Having the store was not really a innovation novelty as much as having a store to offer 3rd party applications. iPhone and Google have established themselves fairly well in the application space and the next three entries will be (RIM, Nokia, Pearl) will only fragment the market to feed their consumers!
The happening place in terms of application and their developments is really the North American market and Nokia doesnot have a good representation out there. This is slightly stiffling as Android and iPhone are getting ahead in the same context.
Nokia can tap into the base of developers in Europe and South East Asia. However, the market for applications and downloading is not so great in South Asia. Thus, cutting edge applications can have longer acceptance periods.
One significant advantage that Nokia brings to the table is the robustness and stability of its Symbian platform.
There is a lot of work that is happening on Android and Microsoft platforms. While Microsoft is distinctly seen as “pro enterprise”, Android is seen as “pro consumer”. Apple is .. “apple”. Symbian has not generated as much interest in terms of work lately as a Android or a iPhone has.
Nokia already has a the largest community of developers (3.5 million). So there will not be any dearth of Ideas!
However, with low acceptance of applications in Nokia dominated markets, the same application developers may get higher returns in the Android, Microsoft or iPhone stores.
The first 6 months after launch is going to be important for Ovi. This is because, there will be a lot of applications, which will be source copied from the Apple store and Android store. The developers will expect a quick buck. Making a fast buck will depend on the ability of Ovi and the consumer acceptance of the Symbian store. That may shape the developer perception of the Ovi store!
Microsoft, Google and Ovi: The Error list!
Less than 2 days back, i had blogged about the fallibilities of the super corportaions: Microsoft and Google. http://technologyandtelecom.blogspot.com/2009/02/even-invincible-and-infallible.html. Interestingly enough Nokia’s foray into online services and application, Ovi has fallen into the list of goofers! This happened when a recent server crash lost all unsynched data on Ovi. This unsynched data is dated from January 23rd 2009 to Febrauary 9th, 2009. This means any data uploaded by the consumer from 23rd Janaury 2009 onwards would not have been saved.
Ovi is Nokia’s foray into internet services through the Nokia devices. Apart From Nokia’s Ovi, Apple’s Mobileme and Microsoft’s My Phone service (to debut) use the cloud to store data uploaded by the customer! While the number of affected users is limited, because of Ovi’s small userbase, it is worth questioning what would happen if for some reason a Facebook would have such a failure.
The conclusion here for the user is: Dont trust the cloud for everything. It is also wise to have a back up local hard disk for your data. | 2019-04-24T11:46:44Z | https://ronnie05.wordpress.com/tag/ovi/ |
KIPUSHI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN), and Lars-Eric Johansson, Chief Executive Officer, today announced the receipt of a new, independent, Mineral Resource estimate for the company’s historic, high-grade, Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-lead-silver mine. Kipushi is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Gécamines, the state-owned mining company.
The zinc grade of Kipushi’s Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources in the Big Zinc Zone is more than twice as high as the world’s next-highest-grade zinc project, independently ranked by Wood Mackenzie, an international industry research and consulting group, based on contained zinc (Figure 1).
Kipushi’s copper-rich Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contained in the adjacent Fault Zone, Fault Zone Splay and Série Récurrente Zone total an additional 1.63 million tonnes at grades of 4.01% copper, 2.87% zinc and 22 g/t silver, at a 1.5% copper cut-off, containing 144 million pounds of copper.Copper-rich Inferred Mineral Resources in these zones total an additional 1.64 million tonnes at grades of 3.30% copper, 6.97% zinc and 19 g/t silver.
Ivanhoe’s exploration program has demonstrated that zinc and copper mineralization of the Kipushi system remains open laterally and at depth.Results recently received from hole KPU081, drilled on section line 6S, confirm high-grade copper-zinc mineralization at depth. KPU081 intersected 60.5 metres (21.7 metres true thickness) grading 2.6% copper, 36.2% zinc, 19 g/t silver and 204 g/t germanium to a depth of 1,763 metres. Included in this interval was an intersection from 580.9 metres to 591.3 metres (3.8 metres true thickness) grading 56.3% zinc, 0.5% copper, 12 g/t silver and 397 g/t germanium.
“This independent estimate of Kipushi’s Mineral Resources has exceeded our expectations. We are convinced that significant additional Mineral Resources can be delineated at Kipushi,” said Mr. Friedland.
The Kipushi Mine is on the Central African Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) southern Haut-Katanga province, one of Africa’s major mining hubs. The mine, which began operations in 1924, is located approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital, Lubumbashi, and less than one kilometre from the DRC-Zambia border. Ivanhoe holds a 68% interest in Kipushi and the state-owned mining company, Gécamines, holds the remaining 32% interest.
The mineralization at Kipushi comprises sulphide replacement bodies within the Kakontwe Sub-Group dolomites and Série Récurrente Sub-Group dolomitic shales of the Nguba Group. Two zones of zinc-rich mineralization occur (the Big Zinc Zone and the Southern Zinc Zone) adjacent to the copper-rich Fault Zone mineralization. The Fault Zone strikes north-northeast to south-southwest and dips approximately 70° to the west. The Big Zinc forms an irregular, steeply-dipping pipe-like body in the immediate footwall to the Fault Zone, the Southern Zinc runs along the footwall of the Fault Zone between -1,150-metre and -1,300-metre levels. A second zone of copper-rich mineralization occurs in the Série Récurrente, which strikes from east to west, is sub-vertical and plunges steeply to the west. Where the Fault Zone and Série Récurrente meet, mineralization tends to be enhanced in a sub-zone known as the Nord Riche. A sub-vertical, copper-zinc-germanium-rich sulphide zone occurs as a splay from the Fault Zone at depth toward the southwest, and has been named the Fault Zone Splay. Significant concentrations of lead, silver, cobalt and germanium occur in variable amounts in all zones.
Germanium is a high-tech metal used in light-emitting diodes (LED), fibre-optic networks, infrared night vision systems and solar cell applications. The metal currently is trading at approximately US$1,200 a kilogram.
The new Mineral Resource estimate was prepared in accordance with the 2014 CIM definition standards, incorporated by reference into Canadian National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Ivanhoe is preparing a NI 43-101-compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment for Kipushi.
The MSA Mineral Resource estimate was based on the results of 84 drill holes completed at Kipushi by Ivanhoe Mines and an additional 107 historical holes drilled by Gécamines. Mineral Resource estimates were completed below the -1,150-metre-level on the Big Zinc Zone, Southern Zinc Zone, Fault Zone and Série Récurrente Zone. The Mineral Resources were categorized either as zinc-rich resources or copper-rich resources, depending on the most abundant metal. The Big Zinc and Southern Zinc zones have been tabulated using zinc cut-offs and are shown in Table 1; the Fault Zone, the Fault Zone Splay and Série Récurrente Zone have been tabulated using copper cut-offs and are shown in Table 2.
Figure 1: Top 20 zinc projects by contained zinc.
Source: Wood Mackenzie. Note: All tonnes and metal grades of individual metals used in the equivalency calculation of the above mentioned projects (except for Kipushi) are based on public disclosure and have been compiled by Wood Mackenzie. All metal grades have been converted by Wood Mackenzie to a zinc equivalent grade at price assumptions of US$1.01/lb zinc, US$2.86/lb copper, US$0.91/lb lead, US$12.37/lb cobalt, US$1,201/oz gold, US$17/oz silver and US$2,000/kg germanium.
The cut-off grade calculation was based on the following assumptions: zinc price of 1.02 USD/lb, mining cost of 50 USD/tonne, processing cost of 10 USD/tonne, G&A and holding cost of 10 USD/tonne, transport of 55% Zn concentrate at 375 USD/tonne, 90% zinc recovery and 85% payable zinc.
The cut-off grade calculation was based on the following assumptions: copper price of 2.97 USD/lb, mining cost of 50 USD/tonne, processing cost of 10 USD/tonne, G&A and holding cost of 10 USD/tonne, 90% copper recovery and 96% payable copper.
To demonstrate the sensitivity of the resources to cut-off grade, MSA tabulated the zinc-rich zones using a number of cut-off grades as shown in Table 3 (Measured and Indicated) and Table 4 (Inferred) respectively.
The Measured and Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource for the copper-rich bodies has been tabulated using a number of cut-off grades as shown in Tables 5 and 6 respectively.
The Mineral Resource has been declared from approximately 1,150 metres below surface, extensive mining having historically taken place in the levels above. Although exploration potential, including pillars and remnants, exists above the -1,150-metre level, this has not been closely examined during the current phase of exploration activity and was not included in the model for reporting of the Mineral Resource. The maximum depth of the Mineral Resource of 1,810 metres below surface is dictated by the extent of drilling. The Mineral Resource plunges toward the DRC-Zambia border and therefore has been constrained to the area considered to be within the DRC.
Final drill results from underground exploration confirm expansion of the Big Zinc Zone and Fault Zone and demonstrate that the mineralized zones are still open.
KPU079 drilled on section line 6S intersected 11.8 metres of mixed massive sulphide, (4.2 metres true thickness) grading 4.0% copper, 16.5% zinc, 6 g/t silver and 61 g/t germanium. At 1,825 metres below surface this remains the deepest intersection to date from the Kipushi Project.
KPU081 drilled on section line 6S intersected Big Zinc sphalerite from 289.6 metres to 308.1 metres grading 39.8% zinc, 0.3% copper and 80 g/t germanium and from 361.8 metres to 373.2 metres grading 47.8% zinc, 0.2% copper and 58 g/t germanium. The hole continued to a Fault Zone Splay intersection of 60.5 metres (21.7 metres true thickness) grading 2.6% copper, 36.2% zinc, 19 g/t silver and 204 g/t germanium to a depth of 1,763 metres. Included in this interval was an intersection from 580.9 metres to 591.3 metres (3.8 metres true thickness) grading 56.3% zinc, 0.5% copper, 12 g/t silver and 397 g/t germanium.
KPU095 drilled on section line 6S intersected 46.8 metres of Big Zinc massive sphalerite grading 43.0% zinc, 0.4% copper and 59 g/t germanium. A second Fault Zone interval intersected 21.9 metres (6.0 metres true thickness) of massive chalcopyrite grading 14.5% copper, 7.0% zinc and 58 g/t silver.
Table 7: Summary of recent assay results by Ivanhoe Mines at Kipushi (part 1).
Note: Kipushi FZ = Kipushi Fault Zone; NR = Nord Riche, BZ = Big Zinc, FZS = Splay of Fault Zone at depth. True thickness not calculated for irregular replacement mineralized zones.
Table 8: Summary of recent assay results by Ivanhoe Mines at Kipushi (part 2).
Note: FZ=Kipushi Fault Zone; NR = Nord Riche, BZ = Big Zinc, FZS = Splay off Fault Zone at depth. True thickness not calculated for irregular replacement mineralized zones.
Figure 2: Schematic Kipushi cross-section showing mine infrastructure, the Big Zinc and Kipushi Fault zones.
Figure 3: Plan of the 1,272-metre level with drill sections, showing schematically the location of the mineralized zones and infrastructure in the Cascades side of the mine. The Big Zinc is interpreted to plunge steeply to the southwest.
Figure 4: Schematic showing Big Zinc Mineral Resource outline and recent Big Zinc and Fault Zone Splay intercepts in drill holes KPU079 and KPU081.
Figure 5: Schematic longitudinal section looking northwest, showing Big Zinc Mineral Resource outline and Fault Zone and Fault Zone Splay copper intercepts in recent drill holes.
Figure 6: Section Line 6S looking northeast, showing new intersections of copper and zinc mineralization.
In December 2015, Ivanhoe achieved a major milestone in its upgrading of Kipushi’s underground infrastructure when the water level in Shaft 5 was pumped below the mine’s main pumping station situated at 1,210 metres underground.
Mr. Friedland noted that since Ivanhoe assumed responsibility at Kipushi, significant progress has been made in rehabilitating the surface and underground infrastructure at Kipushi. The dewatering program, implemented by Ivanhoe in late 2011, has been successful and the water levels are now being maintained below Kipushi’s main pumping station on the 1,210-metre level. Three new, high-capacity Grifo pumps have been purchased and will be installed at the main pumping station alongside the five existing high-capacity Sulzer pumps that are being refurbished. The expected cost of the upgrade and refurbishment of the main pumping station is expected to be approximately US$3.8 million. The new Grifo pumps are expected to be commissioned in the third quarter of this year and, in conjunction with the refurbished Sulzer pumps, will provide sufficient pumping capacity to keep the entire mine dewatered with a 100% pumping redundancy.
Figure 7: Two of three new high-volume Grifo pumps to be installed at the main pumping station 1,210 metres below surface.
Figure 8: One of five existing high-capacity Sulzer pumps in the main pumping station that will be refurbished.
Figure 9: Pumping station, part of the underground infrastructure upgrading.
Figure 10: Shaft 5 hoisting winder.
Figure 11:New winder control centre at Shaft 5.
Originally named the Prince Léopold Mine, Kipushi was a high-grade, underground, zinc-copper mine in the Central African Copperbelt, adjacent to the town of Kipushi and approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi. Approximately 60 million tonnes grading 11% zinc and 7% copper were mined between 1924 and 1993, producing a total of 6.6 million tonnes of zinc and 4.0 million tonnes of copper. The mine also produced 12,673 tonnes of lead and approximately 278 tonnes of germanium between 1956 and 1978.
Gécamines discovered the Big Zinc Zone before 1993 and the deposit remains unmined. Since March 2014, Ivanhoe has run an underground exploration program with the intention of confirming the historical Gecamines drilling of the Big Zinc and allowing a new current Mineral Resource to be defined. Concurrently, Ivanhoe has been looking to expand resources both along strike and at depth on both the Big Zinc Zone and the Fault Zone.
The Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by Mr. J. C. Witley (BSc Hons, MSc (Eng)) of the MSA Group. Mr. Witley is a member in good standing with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and has the appropriate relevant qualifications and experience to be considered an independent Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Witley has approved the disclosure of technical information on Mineral Resources contained in this news release and has verified the technical data related thereto.
Ivanhoe Mines maintains a comprehensive chain of custody and QA-QC program on assays from its Kipushi Project. Half-sawn core was processed either at its preparation laboratory in Kamoa, DRC or its exploration preparation laboratory in Kolwezi, DRC. Prepared samples then are shipped to Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) Laboratories in Australia for external assay. Industry-standard certified reference materials and blanks are inserted into the sample stream prior to dispatch to BVM. Ivanhoe Mines’ QA-QC program has been set up in consultation with MSA Group (Pty.) Ltd., of Johannesburg.
The Kamoa copper discovery in a previously unknown extension of the Central African Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s southern Lualaba province. In March 2015, members of the Ivanhoe Mines exploration team received the prestigious Thayer Lindsley Award from the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada for the Kamoa copper discovery, recognized as the year’s top international mineral discovery. On December 8, 2015, Ivanhoe and China’s Zijin Mining Group completed a landmark agreement to co-develop the world-scale Kamoa discovery.
Statements in this release that constitute forward-looking statements or information include, but are not limited to statements regarding the potential for the delineation of additional mineral resources; statements regarding expected timing and costs of US$3.8 million for installing and refurbishing the pumps at the main 1,210-metre level pumping station; and statements regarding filing a Technical Report in respect of the current Mineral Resource estimate within 45 days of this news release. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by Ivanhoe Mines’ management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believe are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements including, but not limited to, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements also include those described under the heading “Risk Factors” in the company’s most recently filed MD&A as well as in the most recent Annual Information Form filed by Ivanhoe Mines. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.
This press release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on, among other things: (i) fluctuations in zinc, copper, or other mineral prices; (ii) results of drilling; (iii) results of metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) changes to proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licences. | 2019-04-22T08:27:31Z | https://ivanhoemines.com/cn/news/2016/ivanhoe-mines-reports-independent-mineral-resource-estimate-for-its-historic-kipushi-mine-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo/ |
The ethics of physician-patient confidentiality is often fraught with contradictions. Privacy boundaries are not always clear, and patients can leave an interaction with their physicians feeling uncomfortable about the security of their private medical information. The best way to meet confidentiality and privacy management expectations that patients have may not be readily apparent. Without realizing it, a physician may communicate a patient's information in ways that are inconsistent with that person's perceptions of how his/her medical information should be treated. A proposed model is presented as a tool for physicians to better serve the privacy and confidentiality needs of their patients. This model depends on the communication privacy management (CPM) perspective that emerged from a 35-year research program investigating how people regulate and control information they consider private and confidential. A physician's use of this model enables the ability to establish a confidentiality pledge that can address issues in understanding the best way to communicate about privacy management with patients and more likely overcome potential negative outcomes.
Communication privacy management (CPM), is a theoretically driven perspective derived from a 35-year social-behavioral research program investigating how people manage private information.7,9 In this report, the CPM perspective is applied to better understand the basis for ethical predicaments in confidentiality between patients and physicians. Briefly, CPM argues that managing privacy and confidentiality means navigating between the need for autonomy and the need for connectedness with others. Navigating is necessary because people want to take others into their confidence (granting access), yet desire to keep a measure of autonomy and privacy (resulting in concealing or protecting information). CPM uses a privacy boundary metaphor representing where private information is located and identifies how the privacy management system operates.
Privacy ownership refers to the fact that people believe their private information belongs to them and they own the right to control access to that information. When "original" owners grant access, they create authorized co-owners or confidants who are expected to act responsibly by fulfilling the original owner's expectations for third-party access. Physicians are granted authorized co-ownership or guardian status by patients so that they can administer medical care.
Privacy control defines the system that regulates access and protection of privacy boundaries surrounding information considered personal and within an individual's jurisdiction to regulate. Privacy control is enacted through using privacy rules that regulate access and protection; for example, a patient might say, "I talk only to my doctor about my HIV status and no one else."
Privacy rules are developed on the basis of motivations, assessments of risks and benefits, orientations toward privacy, and situational demands. Thus, needing to trust a physician to gain health care can motivate a patient to reveal information. For the patient, granting access likely includes judging risks and benefits of allowing complete or partial access. Nevertheless, when the patient discloses information, the physician becomes an authorized co-owner or guardian and, with that, comes an implied expectation that the physician will "care" for the information in the way the patient expects. If these expectations about responsible treatment of the information are violated, privacy turbulence results in the physician-patient relationship.
Whereas the physician's confidant role is professionally, ethically, and legally guided, it is also determined by the interface of the physician's own privacy rules—about maintaining personal and professional boundaries—with individual patient privacy rules. Stemming from professional training, physicians develop their own set of privacy rules and management strategies to regulate their emotions and personal information.11,12 Physicians learn ways to keep their feelings within their own privacy boundary and under their own control. By using an effective privacy regulation process, physicians are able to protect their own privacy while maintaining a professional physician-patient boundary in the name of objectivity. Having a clear sense of demarcation between the personal and professional is necessary and can afford a physician the ability to better serve in the role of confidant for patients.
Both patients and physicians encounter privacy management predicaments. When physicians make inappropriate or unrelated personal disclosures to patients, the patient may feel baffled about the confidant's role a physician is playing. A study found that more often than would be expected, primary care physicians tend to disclose unsolicited and contextually irrelevant personal information to their patients.14 McDaniel et al14 found that 85% of primary care physicians made such disclosures that had little to do with the patients' cases. Interestingly, this research also shows that after physicians disclosed, patients did not necessarily turn the conversation back to the reason they were seeking medical care; nor did the physicians. Furthermore, patients did not find that the physician's disclosure was helpful in any way.
Receiving disclosures of a personal nature from physicians may put the patient in an awkward position. There is an embedded expectation of responsibility for the patient as the physician's confidant. Consequently, unless the disclosure is contextually relevant to the patient's case or can potentially be used therapeutically, a physician's personal disclosure can compromise the ability to establish a professional trusting relationship with the patient.6 For example, if physicians reveal their personal marital problems when listening to a patient's description of medical issues affecting his/her marriage, the patient might feel compelled to comfort the physician.15 In these situations, an implicit confidentiality promise that patients often assume between themselves and physicians becomes reversed and the patient is the confidant with implied responsibilities to the physician.
However, disclosures reinforcing concepts that focus on taking the perspective of the patient can have a powerful impact on how privacy boundaries are regulated. Reinforcing concepts such as normalcy (eg, "Your concerns are not uncommon; many of my pregnant patients have the same fears"), empathy (eg, "I share your frustration that we have not been able to adequately manage your pain, but we are committed to finding a solution"), and encouraging hope (eg, "I know quitting smoking is difficult because I've done it, and I believe when you are ready, you will too") can facilitate effective disclosure for the physician, maintain a useful relationship, and positively influence health outcomes.
Considering these issues speaks to the importance of locating expectations about managing confidentiality and reflecting on how role shifting can disrupt the patient's assumptions about physician behavior when in a confidential medical relationship.12,14 Explicitly inquiring about the patient's expectations concerning how private and confidential information will be managed sets the path to increasing trustworthiness and the ability to actively attend to the patient's desires for privacy management. Doing so also helps to guard against the possibility of mistaking where the borders are between the professional and the personal boundaries.
s this report transitions into presenting a confidentiality negotiation system, it is important to make note of the position on privacy taken in this article as compared to the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).16 Whereas HIPAA is geared toward providing legal parameters, this essay goes beyond the borders of biomedical intent stipulated by the act. Instead, the argument here focuses on learning how people talk and interpret messages in building relationships concerning regulating their confidential private information.
Physicians and patients operate on a different set of assumptions about how the health care system works. For physicians, navigating in the health care system is part of their daily routine. Physicians rely on the admission process and paperwork to outline requests for private information that, for them, is normative. Patients understand they must provide access to their private medical information, but they have less experience with this system than do the physicians. Furthermore, patients uniformly do not believe all their private information somehow belongs to and should be shared with the physician.15 The incommensurate experiences that the patient and physician may have illustrate underlying issues that can result in miscommunication and violated expectations for privacy management. The outcome can lead to what CPM refers to as "privacy turbulence." Because of these miscommunications, trust may be damaged and difficult to restore.
Physicians must be equipped with effective ways to overcome barriers and to negotiate useful privacy decisions. Through training, physicians can improve their understanding of the patient's privacy orientation and learn new ways of negotiating an agreed-on set of privacy rules to better serve the patient's needs. The five-point model and case study application discussed in the next section illustrate key aspects of confidentiality negotiations, with the goal of establishing a CPM confidentiality pledge. This model is geared to quickly identify the main points of discussion for physician-patient interaction about confidentiality. Obviously, the length of time invested depends on an individual physician's needs and desires regarding the extent of implementing the model.
A confidentiality pledge advocates that patients and physicians openly discuss the ways patients want their information treated. Constructing this pledge seems best used in an initial face-to-face interaction with the patient as the physician is becoming familiar with the case. In this way, going forward from this initial encounter, the physician is illustrating a level of care and concern for the patient's wishes regarding information considered private. Doing so creates a heightened sense of trust for the patient. Likewise, the pledge also raises awareness of where there are privacy boundary lines for both physician and patient, thus thwarting breaches of confidentiality that can lead to negative outcomes in patient care. A patient's reluctance to engage in conversations about protection of his/her confidentiality may clue the physician into the level of trust or lack thereof that a patient is feeling. In addition, not wanting to share private information may signal other potential problems that could be related to the patient's condition. Considering these possibilities likely helps the physician recognize more attention is needed to unearth the reasons a patient feels reluctant. The basic model can serve as a template to pursue a more in-depth discussion if necessary.
The proposed model gives a clear and concise vision of how to address these problems before they become obstacles, thereby increasing the potential for beneficial patient care.17 As Table 1 illustrates, using the CPM Confidentiality Negotiation System to develop a confidentiality pledge can be achieved with a five-point model that asks who, what, where, when, and how.7 This model shows how to discern ways in which patients define the disclosed medical information as confidential. In addition, it identifies where the borders are located in patients' privacy boundaries surrounding confidential information and aids in judging the level of needed control that patients want over their information. Furthermore, the model sets parameters for areas most likely to concern confidential information, namely, seeking permission to tell information, and creating informational co-owners or shareholders (eg, clinicians, team members and other personnel, family members, and friends). The model also identifies circumstances in which the patient and physician negotiate protection of and access to information, including how, when, and why information might be protected or granted access. Doing so communicates an understanding of rights of ownership (in personal, not necessarily legal terms), granting the ability to exercise control over the information when someone else (eg, the physician) is given license to make the decision on the patient's behalf.
Table 2 provides a teaching hospital's case study analysis to illustrate how a physician might negotiate a confidentiality pledge with patients. This case illustrates the way a physician could open the door for patients to express concerns or expectations they have, by describing practices and policies of sharing patient information among medical staff. In turn, patients are invited, through conversations with the physician, to articulate boundaries for information they do or do not want shared with others, such as certain family members. Likewise, physicians are able to get a better understanding by inviting patients to voice expectations and confirm an understanding of how their information should be managed. These conversations help frame an agreement about the expectations for confidentiality that align physician-patient understandings of how personal and confidential information is handled. By opening the discussion to patients' questions, concerns, amendments, and issues surrounding how best to treat confidential information, the physician prevents the possibility of ethical questions in the future. Physicians can proactively address these matters, decreasing the potential for patients' surprises and anger about how their information is shared.
confidentiality pledge with patients can produce a clear and efficient mutual understanding between the physician and patient for how private and confidential information is handled and delivered.7 Thus, documentation of a negotiated written agreement identifying how the patients believe their information should be managed and the information they define as confidential generates a confidentiality pledge. The general scope of that pledge can easily be integrated into the physician's medical history discussion during an initial visit with the patient. In today's world of electronic medical records, such a pledge may more likely be used if it were found early in the record, perhaps in the problem list, associated with the demographic information or with other documents such as a do-not-resuscitate order.
An examination of the way that a physician's role as confidant is defined captures the relational complexity of decision making where a patient's privacy management is concerned. Accordingly, when physicians and patients jointly articulate privacy management expectations and negotiate a mutually agreed-on set of privacy rules for patient information, it sets clear parameters. In addition, doing so may also make physicians mindful about their own privacy boundary management with patients. Use of the model to establish a confidentiality pledge can help solve some implicit problems in understanding how to communicate about privacy management with patients and can overcome potential negative outcomes.
1. Braunack-Mayer AJ, Mulligan EC. Sharing patient information between professionals: confidentiality and ethics. Med J Aust 2003 Mar 17;178(6):277-9.
4. Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. Principles of Biomedical Ethics (6th edition). New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2009.
5. Petronio S, Lewis SS. Medical disclosure in oncology: Families, patients, and providers. In: Miller-Day M (Ed), Family communication and health transitions. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc; 2010. p 269-96.
6. Petronio S, Reierson J. Regulating the privacy of confidentiality: grasping the complexities through communication privacy management theory. In: Afifi T, Afifi W (Eds). Uncertainty, information management, and disclosure decisions: Theories and applications. New York, NY: Routledge; 2009. p 365-83.
7. Petronio S. Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press; 2002. | 2019-04-21T02:23:43Z | http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/issues/2012/fall/4905-privacy-management.html |
Congress needs to address the failures of credit reporting.They also need to put teeth into privacy laws and enact stiff fines for breaches.
Almost a year and a half later, almost nothing has changed. Authorities have neither sanctioned Equifax nor addressed the deeper industry-wide flaws that the incident exposed. It’s an omission that Congress must correct.
Equifax and its two main competitors, Experian and TransUnion, provide a valuable service. Their databases grease the wheels of commerce, allowing banks, employers and government agencies to quickly and easily check almost anyone’s identity and credit history. Yet their interests don’t always align with the public good. The people whose information they maintain are not their primary customers, so the firms lack an adequate incentive to ensure privacy and security, and to fix errors that can severely complicate lives. Breaches and bad data can even benefit them, helping sell products such as credit monitoring to frightened consumers.
Place the burden of proof on companies in consumer disputes. If they can’t demonstrate that the information in question is correct, they should remove it.
Make security freezes the default option, by requiring the companies to release personal information only with a consumer’s express consent.
Over the years, authorities have tried to adjust the incentives. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires “reasonable” efforts to keep information accurate and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands — and empowers consumers to sue for damages. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act gave the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau broad powers to supervise the largest credit-reporting companies. A 2015 settlement with state attorneys general requires the companies to deal with disputed information more effectively, and aims to curb the common practice of hard-selling paid services to people seeking to correct their credit reports.
Yet there’s been little real progress. In the last three months of 2018, consumers submitted almost 27,000 credit-reporting complaints to the CFPB, up from fewer than 11,000 two years earlier, before the Equifax hack. Granted, this is only a small fraction of the more than 200 million people with credit reports, and various factors — such as greater awareness — could contribute to the increase. But it certainly doesn’t suggest things are improving.
The Equifax case is especially discouraging. After its security failures exposed millions to identity theft, the company responded with a glitchy website and an offer of “free” credit monitoring — a service of dubious value, given that it alerts consumers only after their identity has been stolen. It fell to Congress to demand a basic concession from the industry: free security “freezes,” which allow consumers to prevent new accounts from being opened in their name. The Trump administration has shown little interest in further action. A joint investigation by the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission has yet to yield results.
Democratic legislators — including Senator Jack Reed and Representative Maxine Waters, the new head of the House Financial Services Committee — have introduced bills that would make many of these changes. All that remains is to get them to the president’s desk.
It’s unacceptable for credit-reporting companies to pose a threat, or even merely be a nuisance, to millions of people who never chose to do business with them. They must show that they can take responsibility for personal data, rather than leaving the task to consumers or charging for the service. They seem to need a firmer nudge, and Congress should provide it.
Heads up, it will not get easier.
We foresee the emergence of a class of attacks known as ‘DeepAttacks’, which use AI-generated content to evade AI security controls. In 2018, the team observed many examples where researchers used adversarial AI algorithms to fool humans. Examples include the fake Obama video created by Buzzfeed where President Obama is seen delivering fake sentences, in a convincing fashion.
We have also seen examples of adversarial AI deliberately confounding the smartest object detection algorithms, such as fooling an algorithm into thinking that a stop sign was a 45-mph speed limit sign.
In 2019, we expect to see DeepAttacks deployed more commonly in an attempt to evade both human detection and smart defenses.
The trend toward smart devices will be so pronounced in the coming years that it will become difficult to buy appliances or home electronics that are not connected to the internet.
Avast research has shown that security is often an afterthought in the manufacturing of these devices. While the big name smart devices often do come with embedded security options, some producers skimp on security either to keep costs low for consumers or because they are not experts in security. Considering a smart home is only as secure as its weakest link, this is a mistake. History tends to repeat itself, so we can expect to see IoT malware evolve and become more sophisticated and dangerous, similar to how PC and mobile malware developed.
Routers have proven to be a simple and fertile target for a growing wave of attacks. Not only have we seen an increase in router-based malware in 2018, but also changes in the characteristics of those attacks.
In 2019, we expect to see the increased hijacking of routers used to steal banking credentials, for example, where an infected router injects a malicious HTML frame to specific web pages when displayed on mobile. This new element could ask mobile users to install a new banking app, for instance, and this malicious app will then capture authentication messages. Routers will continue to be used as targets of an attack, not just to run malicious scripts or spy on users, but also as an intermediate link in chain attacks.
In 2019, well known tactics such as advertising, phishing and fake apps will continue to dominate the mobile threat landscape. In 2018, we tracked and flagged countless fake apps using our apklab.io platform. Some were even found on the Google Play Store. Fake apps are the zombies in mobile security, becoming so ubiquitous that they barely even make the headlines as new fake apps pop up to take the place of the ones already flagged for removal. They will continue to persist as a trend in 2019, exacerbated by fake versions of popular app brands doing their rounds on the Google Play Store.
In 2018, the return of banking Trojans was also particularly pronounced on the mobile side, growing 150 percent year-on-year, from three percent to over seven percent of all detections we see worldwide. While perhaps not a big shift in terms of the overall volume, we believe that cybercriminals are finding banking to be a more reliable way to make money than cryptomining.
These trends form part of Avast’s annual Threat Report. To download the full report please click here.
US cellphone networks have promised – again – that they will stop selling records of their subscribers’ whereabouts to anyone willing to cough up cash.
While there is money to be made and no law preventing it, it is a virtual certainty that AT&T and others will figure out a way to profit from selling their customers’ private data. Last time around, FCC boss Ajit Pai refused to investigate the matter, and while there has been no response from Pai on the renewed calls for an investigation thanks to the partial US government shutdown, it is a virtual certainly that he will continue his pro-telco agenda and stay away from the issue.
Meanwhile, pressure grows in Congress to introduce a privacy law – an American version of Europe’s GDPR – especially in the light of abuses by Facebook and others. But that process is very far from certain given that many of the companies that benefit most from selling user data are also some of the most powerful and generous lobbyists in Washington DC.
Just maybe, I am not saying for sure, but just maybe, that reason for such stupidity is the companies like Marriot are hiring too many newbies to save money and ignoring the more senior members of the IT community. Or maybe that there is no real hard financial penalties for breaches. Maybe both.
But the real story here is not only Marriot, but the continued onslaught from China. No surprise.
WASHINGTON — Marriott International said on Friday that the biggest hacking of personal information in history was not quite as big as first feared, but for the first time conceded that its Starwood hotel unit did not encrypt the passport numbers for roughly five million guests. Those passport numbers were lost in an attack that many outside experts believe was carried out by Chinese intelligence agencies.
What made the Starwood attack different was the presence of passport numbers, which could make it far easier for an intelligence service to track people who cross borders. That is particularly important in this case: In December, The New York Times reported that the attack was part of a Chinese intelligence gathering effort that, reaching back to 2014, also hacked American health insurers and the Office of Personnel Management, which keeps security clearance files on millions of Americans.
Taken together, the attack appeared to be part of a broader effort by China’s Ministry of State Security to compile a huge database of Americans and others with sensitive government or industry positions — including where they worked, the names of their colleagues, foreign contacts and friends, and where they travel.
“Big data is the new wave for counterintelligence,” James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity expert who runs the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said last month.
One top official of the Chinese Ministry of State Security was arrested in Belgium late last year and extradited to the United States on charges of playing a central role in the hacking of American defense-related firms, and others were identified in a Justice Department indictment in December. But those cases were unrelated to the Marriott attack, which the F.B.I. is still investigating.
The Marriott investigation has revealed a new vulnerability in hotel systems: What happens to passport data when a customer makes a reservation or checks into a hotel, usually abroad, and hands over a passport to the desk clerk. Marriott said for the first time that 5.25 million passport numbers were kept in the Starwood system in plain, unencrypted data files — meaning they were easily read by anyone inside the reservation system. An additional 20.3 million passport numbers were kept in encrypted files, which would require a master encryption key to read. It is unclear how many of those involved American passports, and how many come from other countries.
Marriott said for the first time that 5.25 million passport numbers were kept in the Starwood system in plain, unencrypted data files — meaning they were easily read by anyone inside the reservation system.
It was not immediately clear why some numbers were encrypted and others were not — other than that hotels in each country, and sometimes each property, had different protocols for handling the passport information. Intelligence experts note that American intelligence agencies often seek the passport numbers of foreigners they are tracking outside the United States, which may explain why the United States government has not insisted on stronger encryption of passport data worldwide.
The State Department issued a statement last month telling passport holders not to panic, because the number alone would not enable someone to create a fake passport. Marriott has said it would pay for a new passport for anyone whose passport information, hacked from their systems, was found to be involved in a fraud. But that was something of a corporate sleight of hand, since it provided no coverage for guests who wanted a new passport simply because their data had been taken by foreign spies.
So far the company has ducked addressing that issue by saying it has no evidence about who the attackers were, and the United States has not formally accused China in the case. But private cyberintelligence groups that have looked at the breach have seen strong parallels with the other, Chinese-related attacks underway at the time. The company’s president and chief executive, Arne Sorenson, has not answered questions about the hacking in public, and Marriott said he was traveling and declined a request from The Times to talk about hacking.
The company also said that about 8.6 million credit and debit cards were “involved” in the incident, but those are all encrypted — and all but 354,000 cards had expired by September 2018, when the hacking, which went on for years, was discovered.
So far, there are no known cases in which stolen passport or credit card information was found in fraudulent transactions. But to cyberattack investigators, that is just another sign that the hacking was conducted by intelligence agencies, not criminals. The agencies would want to use the data for their own purposes — building databases and tracking government or industrial surveillance targets — rather than exploiting the data for economic profit.
Idiots, And the U.S. and State Governments are just as culpable. We need very strong laws that mandate extremely stiff penalties for breaches.
It found that many girls spend far more time using social media than boys, and also that they are much more likely to display signs of depression linked to their interaction on platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook.
“Girls, it seems, are struggling with these aspects of their lives more than boys, in some cases considerably so,” said Prof Yvonne Kelly, from University College London, who led the team behind the findings.
The results prompted renewed concern about the rapidly accumulating evidence that many more girls and young women exhibit a range of mental health problems than boys and young men, and about the damage these can cause, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
The study is based on interviews with almost 11,000 14-year-olds who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study, a major research project into children’s lives.
Google’s owner, Alphabet, has seen an effective tax rate in the single digits on non-US profits for more than a decade.
Google moved €19.9bn ($22.7bn) through a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in 2017, as part of an arrangement that allows it to reduce its foreign tax bill, according to documents filed at the Dutch chamber of commerce.
The amount channelled through Google Netherlands Holdings BV was about €4bn more than in 2016, the documents, filed on 21 December, showed.
For more than a decade the arrangement has allowed Google’s owner, Alphabet, to enjoy an effective tax rate in the single digits on its non-US profits, about a quarter of the average tax rate in its overseas markets.
The subsidiary in the Netherlands is used to shift revenue from royalties earned outside the US to Google Ireland Holdings, an affiliate based in Bermuda, where companies pay no income tax.
Google Netherlands Holdings BV paid €3.4m in taxes in the Netherlands in 2017, the documents showed, on a gross profit of €13.6m.
Last spring, soon after Facebook acknowledged that the data of tens of millions of its users had improperly been obtained by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, a top enforcement official at the Federal Trade Commission drafted a memo about the prospect of disciplining the social network.
Lawmakers, consumer advocates and even former commission officials were clamoring for tough action against Facebook, arguing that it had violated an earlier F.T.C. consent decree barring it from misleading users about how their information was shared.
But the enforcement official, James A. Kohm, took a different view. In a previously undisclosed memo in March, Mr. Kohm — echoing Facebook’s own argument — cautioned that Facebook was not responsible for the consulting firm’s reported abuses. The social network seemed to have taken reasonable steps to address the problem, he wrote, according to someone who read the memo, and most likely had not broken its promises to the F.T.C.
“They have been asleep at the switch,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat and ranking member of the subcommittee charged with overseeing the agency.
The Cambridge Analytica data leak set off a reckoning for Facebook and a far-reaching debate about the tech industry, which has collected more information about more people than almost any other in history. At the same time, the F.T.C., which is investigating Facebook, is under growing attack for what critics say is a systemic failure to police Silicon Valley’s giants and their enormous appetite for personal data.
Almost alone among industrialized nations, the United States has no basic consumer privacy law. The F.T.C. serves as the country’s de facto privacy regulator, relying on more limited rules against deceptive trade practices to investigate Google, Twitter and other tech firms accused of misleading people about how their information is used.
But many in Washington view the agency as a watchdog that too rarely bites. In more than 40 interviews, former and current F.T.C. officials, lawmakers, Capitol Hill staff members, and consumer advocates said that as evidence of abuses has piled up against tech companies, the F.T.C. has been too cautious. Now, as the Trump administration and Congress debate whether to expand the agency and its authority over privacy violations, the Facebook inquiry looms as a referendum on the F.T.C.’s future.
Long Overdue: It is time for the US to develop strong data privacy along the lines of the EU GDPR ( General Data Protection Regulation). It is also time for US “Netizens” to demand strong data privacy protect laws with extremely stiff penalties for non compliance.
Among the other 100s of reasons, it is time to stop using Facebook.
A police officer on the late shift in an Ohio town recently received an unusual call from Facebook.
Earlier that day, a local woman wrote a Facebook post saying she was walking home and intended to kill herself when she got there, according to a police report on the case. Facebook called to warn the Police Department about the suicide threat.
“In the last year, we’ve helped first responders quickly reach around 3,500 people globally who needed help,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a November post about the efforts.
Yes you read that right. “Facebook said that, for privacy reasons, it did not track the outcomes of its calls to the police.” B.S. — how about formal clinical trials like the rest of the medical world? Their algorithm should get FDA approval first at a minimum.
“In this climate in which trust in Facebook is really eroding, it concerns me that Facebook is just saying, ‘Trust us here,’” said Mr. Marks, a fellow at Yale Law School and New York University School of Law.
Right – Trust Facebook? Never. I submit the real reason that miscreant Zuckerberg is doing this is that it is now well known that a plausible link exists between increased social media use and depression and suicide. Just say no to Facebook. | 2019-04-20T22:40:18Z | https://blog.l4networks.com/2019/01/ |
The Audi A4 with the B8 codename is definitely a popular used car. And not only because of the nice interior, the still modern looking exterior or the great Quattro 4wd system (which is in this case still the proper good old system with the Torsen differential and not some clutch imitation which prefers FWD), but also because of the very good price which starts at around 5 000 €.
However, to buy a decent car you will need approximately 9 000 € – at least in Germany, unless you want a petrol engine since in that case you should increase your budget even more.
Besides the regular saloon and the Avant version there is also the A4 Allroad and the A4L.
The practicality improved too – the door storage areas for example are larger, so you can fit a water bottle in each door. The sound insulation of the interior is very good, as well as the build quality, although some owners complained about occasional rattles from the dashboard or doors.
On the other side the standard equipment in this Audi was almost that poor as in the previous model, which means that there really is a big difference between a well-equipped and a poorly equipped car. The most obvious difference are the front headlights which can be either the not that good looking standard headlights or the better looking optional xenon headlight with LED daytime running lights. But the difference is actually not only in the equipment itself but also in the overall ergonomics or the user friendly level. So the optional systems in the interior do improve even the overall ergonomics.
It’s definitely a good idea to check the car properly for rust spots or little rust bubbles. Now, I’m not saying that this A4 is infamous for rust issues, but interestingly there are more than enough cases of rusty front fenders mainly on the before facelift cars used on winter salty roads. This is caused by either the stones which will hit the fender edge, or in a lot of cases the rust will simply start from the inside of the edge. Of course, in many cases it was fixed under the warranty by repainting the fenders or replacing them completely, but the rust can come back even if the fender was repainted.
Surprisingly the fenders are not the only place which can rust, because there are also cases of rust spots on the tailgate – near the tail lights, or on the edges on both the sedan and avant versions. Of course this is not extremely common but it’s still good to keep that in mind.
The good thing is that there are not many minor – annoying issues with the equipment or with the electronics.
-on the other side there are 4 drain tubes in each corner of the panoramic sunroof or the regular sunroof. These drain tubes can be clogged, but also the upper plastic endings of the drain tubes can get a little loose over time creating a gap around the connection which allows the water to leak not just into, but also onto the drain hose and into the interior. By the way the first generation Q7 or the Q5 are also affected by this design flaw. To access these drains you have to remove certain parts of the headliner which is a fun job to do. So if you don’t want to experience this, then avoid cars at least with the panoramic sunroof which has other great features as well: like the occasional various squeaks/rattles while driving on bad quality roads, or it can have sometimes issues with the closing too.
+CHECK for water in trunk area as well – If you have water in the left side of the trunk where the amplifier is located and you have a sedan version without the sunroof, then check if the rear windshield is not letting the water inside since there were a couple of cases when the rear windshield was not fitted properly from the factory. But usually the water can leak in there because of the clogged sunroof rear water drains.
This A4 was available with the standard suspension, with the lowered factory sport suspension or with the electronically adjustable shock absorbers. As always check for all those knocking or clunking noises from the suspension and be prepared that the electronic shocks are obviously more expensive than the regular type.
The good thing is that the suspension components starts to wear out usually just after 200 000 km / 124 000 mi, although the wheel bearings can fail earlier, sometimes even after 50 000 km / 30 000 mi.
+it’s definitely good to check for vibrations from the car itself and from the steering wheel at all speeds-but mainly from 100 km/h / 60 mph. Since there is a bigger chance that cars made to 2009 will have this issue, because they are equipped with smaller bushings in the front lower control arms which can cause these vibrations-mostly if the car has aftermarket wheels or bigger than 18″ wheels. Some owners changed the bigger aftermarket wheels to the smaller genuine wheels and this way they got rid of the vibrations. However cars made from 2010 do have updated lower control arm bushings so they should not be affected by this issue no matter how big wheels are fitted on them.
When it comes to petrol engines the situation is very similar to the VW Passat B6 and B7, so it’s not that good since all of the 4 cylinder engines made to 2011 can have more often problems with the prematurely worn timing chain mechanism or oil consumption.
-In these early engines the timing chain can be easily worn out at around 150 000 km but also before this mileage point, or even before 100 000 km. In this case you will mostly get a short louder rattle at cold start from the engine and if you let it be, then the chain tensioner fails allowing the chain to skip causing: check engine light, fault codes, misfires/rough idle and you will eventually end up with a damaged or a destroyed engine. So it is a good idea to preventively replace the timing chain mechanism after 100 000 km in cars made to 2012, although there should be an extended warranty in the US for the timing chain mechanism of these cars made to 2012 for 10 years or 100 000 mi, so the dealer should completely or partly cover the repair costs if the chain fails.
The timing chain tensioner was redesigned several times, but only cars made from 2013 are equipped with the finally sorted tensioner. And that’s why the very best is to choose a 4 cylinder petrol engine made from 2013. Of course some late 2012 models can have the updated tensioner, but nobody knows if the car really has it unless you check it personally.
Keep in mind that if you are replacing the timing chain mechanism then it’s also important to preventively replace the cam-bridge or camshaft bridge or camshaft bracket in other words. A tiny screen in it can become loose or fall out and either end up somewhere in the oil path, or get stuck between a metallic ball which acts like a valve to control the oil pressure to the camshafts. This can cause oil starvation issues in the cylinder head and lead to premature camshaft wear + other issues which are definitely not good. But actually some say that the metallic ball can even completely fall out as well and cause other serious damage in the engine. Luckily only cars made to 2009 are mostly affected by this, since they have the earliest weak cam bridge. But because the cam-bridge was revised more than 3 times I would replace it also in younger cars with the timing chain.
-Then there is the infamous issue with the excessive oil consumption which affects mainly the 4 cylinder engines made to 2011. The oil consumption is caused by undersized pistons, undersized piston rings and badly designed oil scraper rings – this is basically the area under the piston rings + thanks to the long oil change intervals the badly designed area under the piston rings gets clogged up with carbon. Because all of these reasons the oil will easily enter the combustion chamber and burn with the fuel. If you won’t solve this in time then the oil consumption will get only worse and you will end up with a clogged catalytic converter and destroyed engine in the worst case. To fix this oil consumption in these early engines you have to replace the pistons (-if there is no other damage of course). Although the pistons were replaced a lot of times under warranty + there should be an extended warranty for 8 years / 80 000 mi in the US for this particular issue.
The oil consumption can be at around 1 L / 1 000 or 1 500 km, but it can be much worse as well, like 2 L / 1 000 km.
This is why you should avoid the 4 cylinder petrol engines like the plague in cars made to 2011, unless the pistons and piston rings were replaced not a long time ago and the previous owner changed the oil after max. 10 000 km after fixing the engine.
Cars made from 2012 are basically not affected by the oil consumption, although in rare cases they can also consume smaller or bigger amount of oil.
-Problems with the leaking water pumps are also not uncommon, again in the 4 cylinder petrol engines. The water pump was updated at least twice so be prepared that it can start to leak prematurely mainly on cars made before 2012.
All of the petrol engines are equipped with direct injection, so the well-known carbon build up can be a problem mainly in the 4 cylinder units after approximately 160 000 km. Ignition coils or occasionally the injectors are also things which can fail more often.
Long story short, the latest generation 4 cylinder engines are pretty reliable, specifically the 1.8 TFSI with 170 hp (CJEB engine code) made from the end of 2011 which is equipped with direct and also with regular fuel injection, so it doesn’t have issues with the carbon build up. The last generation 2.0 l TFSI with 225 hp made from 2013 is also reliable but it is equipped with direct injection only, so issues with carbon build up can occur in high mileage cars. And of course choosing a 4 cylinder engine made from at least 2012 is also a good idea.
All the V6 petrol engines are pretty reliable as well, so they don’t really have any extraordinary issues, although there are some cases of higher oil consumption in the Audi S4 versions equipped with the 3.0 TFSI engines.
-The infamous Bosch CP4 high pressure fuel pump can fail mainly in the 2.0 TDI 4 cylinder engines made to 2012, and mostly because of the different fuel used in Eastern Europe or in the US. If it fails it will throw small metal particles in the fuel system, thus destroying the injectors and sometimes these particles will contaminate the fuel tank as well. So in this case the whole or just certain parts of the fuel system including the injectors and the high pressure fuel pump has to be replaced.
This CP4 high pressure fuel pump is simply not made very well and most importantly, it was designed to work with European diesel fuel which has more sulfur in it. The fuel used in the US and in some parts of Eastern EU has lower sulfur level which causes the most problems. So this low sulfur fuel can’t lubricate this fuel pump very well, which will lead to premature failure. This failure is pretty rare in Western Europe and it’s not like extremely common in the US or Eastern Europe, but there are already numerous cases of failures from these two places.
And if you think that only Audi or VW uses this fuel pump then you are wrong, since it’s used in BMW models and in a lot of other modern diesel engine cars too made from approx. 2010. There really isn’t much to do to prevent this issue, but you can at least use high quality fuel, don’t drive with low fuel level, and using good fuel additives designed for modern diesel engines with DPF filters is also advised.
-If you are buying the 2.0 TDI made to 2009 which has around 200 000 km then it’s good to drop the oil pan and check out the oil pump drive for wear since these early engines can be still equipped with not the latest revision of this part.
-The 2.7l and the 3.0l V6 are good engines, but they have these intake manifold flaps which can sometimes fail. In this case you get only a check engine light. The flaps can be stuck, loose or the actuator motor can be faulty. The whole intake manifold part is obviously expensive-around 500€, but you can find repair kits for a much reasonable price.
The injectors can be faulty on all of the diesel engines, but usually just after 200 000 km. In this case you can most of the time notice a couple of signs like the occasional light grey smoke from the exhaust while acceleration or at idle, and also a slightly bouncing idle when the engine is warmed up.
All the engines are equipped with timing chains except the 2.0 l diesel engine.
You should be prepared to replace the chain mechanism after 200 000 km since after this mileage point the tensioner and the chain itself can be worn out in all of the petrol engines. The 4 cylinder petrol engines made to 2012 can have worn chain earlier but I already mentioned that.
The 2.0 l diesel engine has a timing belt. The original interval to change it is at 180 000 km, but it’s a better idea to replace it at around 150 000 km with all the pulleys and the water pump.
This A4 can be equipped with the 6 speed manual gearbox or there are 3 types of automatic transmissions.
-The 6 speed manual is reliable, however check the clutch properly before buying – It should operate smoothly without any kind of strange noises, vibrations or shuddering since there are numerous cases of worn Dual mass flywheel even at around 100 000 or 150 000 km which can, except the already mentioned symptoms, also cause vibration at idle or metallic clattering sounds from the gearbox area. To extend the lifetime of the dual mass flywheel you should always release the clutch calmly rather than releasing it suddenly and never let the engine to operate at low RPM – so make sure that while driving the RPM stays above 1 400 RPM.
-From the automatic transmissions the regular Tiptronic is the most reliable although after 200 000 – 250 000 km you should be prepared to replace the torque converter (bad torque converter – fluctating RPM, slipping, hesitation).
-The Multitronic is a CVT gearbox and it’s much more reliable than in the previous model, which means that it can withstand even more than 200 000 km but only with regular oil changes and with a regular driving style. Without regular oil changes and with more than dynamic driving it can fail after 150 000 km or even before this mileage point.
-And lastly, there is the S–tronic dual clutch gearbox which is again not that reliable, although it shifts really fast so it’s great for dynamic driving. If you experience shuddering, hesitation or not smooth shifting then most probably the mechatronics unit will be faulty since this issue is the most common in these transmissions.
If you are buying a car with the dual clutch S–tronic gearbox then pay attention if the car has a tow hook or not, since the lifetime of the clutches in this particular gearbox can be much shorter if the car was used for towing. On abused cars the issues can occur sometimes even before 100 000 km. To extend the lifetime of this gearbox you should change the oil in it regularly after 40 000 km and avoid hard accelerations from stand still – this way it should withstand 200 000 km without issues.
All of the automatic transmissions have to change gears without shuddering, strange sounds, fluctuating RPM, + they have to be smooth and especially the Multitronic has to be perfectly smooth all the time.
Lastly, check the if the steering remains straight on a straight road. Because cars made from 2011 are equipped with electronic power steering, and there are numerous cases when owners complained about a slight pulling to one side even if the wheel alignment was done properly. This issue was mostly fixed by updating the power steering software, but some owners got a new steering rack under warranty.
Cars made to 2011 are equipped with the conventional hydraulic power steering which is usually ok, but on early cars made to 2010 it’s good to check for shuddering at low speed parking / turning the steering wheel, since they can have issues with this + occasionally check also the power steering fluid level.
To summarize things up: if you want a 4 cylinder petrol engine then the best is to choose a car with the latest 1.8 l TFSI or a car made from 2013, change all the fluids in time, buy only a car with a proper maintenance history, find a good independent specialist and keep at least 2 000 € for the possible repairs, and if you are buying a car which have around 200 000 km or an early 4 cylinder petrol model. then you should keep at least twice as much money.
If you have personal experience with this car or more information about it then you can write it into comments! | 2019-04-21T22:46:28Z | https://differentcarreview.com/2019/03/12/audi-a4-b8-8k-2008-2015/ |
Travel Feature: Golden Door. Plus Wellness Tips + Spa Recipes!
Recently, amidst the chaos, stresses and frenzy of everyday life, I was ordered to pack my bags, kiss my husband and kitty goodbye and escape to a wellness retreat like no other on earth.
Golden Door in Escondido, California.
The Basics. Golden Door is an all-inclusive spa retreat, built on a 377-acre piece of land in southern California. You will find rocky cliffs, vast hiking trails dotted with pomegranate and avocado trees and a large citrus grove out front.
I was thrilled to get a taste of “The Door” for a 3-day session. Most guests stay for the full 7-day week, but 3 and 4 day stays are available. You are assured a perfectly pampered stay because the resort hosts a maximum of 40 guests per week, with a 1:4 guest to staff ratio. Among its rumored VIP guests of past, Oprah, Martha Stewart, Steve Wynn, Barbara Streisand, Julia Roberts and more.
During your stay, you receive not only your luxurious private room with your own garden deck or patio, but you also receive a personalized fitness program, personal trainer sessions, guided hikes, access to a wide array of daily fitness activities including Power Yoga, Zumba classes, aquatic workouts, dance classes and many more. Every week changes, for example, Dancing with the Stars dancer Karina Smirnoff taught dance in 2012 for Dance Week. Inside your room is a week’s worth of clothing, Golden Door skin care and bath products, robes and spa shoes. Minimal packing on your end.
You also receive three healthy (delicious) gourmet meals a day created by Executive Chef Curtis Cooke and his team. Plus plenty of snacks, beverages and appetizers. Your meals are tailored to your dietary needs – or just your likes and dislikes. If you hate eggplant, it will not grace your plate ever!
My vegan diet was perfectly accommodated.
In addition to fitness, cuisine and room accommodations you will also receive daily skin care sessions and massage sessions. From facials and body scrubs to massages and pedicures. You will truly be pampered from head-to-toe during your stay.
I hopped in my car and jetted down the dusty 5 freeway, traveling from LA to San Diego County. It was an easy two hour drive. Finding that hidden golden door entrance was the most challenging part of my drive. Once, twice, three times I drove past the understated gate. But after a few car horns being honked my way as I navigated slowly to "The Door," I finally made my way into the grounds. I descended along the winding, lantern-lined driveway, a grove of citrus trees to my right, ripe with fruit.
I dropped my car off at the valet and was greeted by several wide smiling faces kindly asking me about my journey. I entered the Japanese artwork-adorned reception area and an intoxicating aroma of orange blossom greeted me. Woozy from the transporting fragrance, coupled with dim candle-accented lighting, I plopped down on the comfy couch. I let out a deep breath and tore off my dark sunglasses, just as an opaque porcelain cup of warm tea was handed to me. I checked in, and was given a take-home canvas bag filled with a BPA-free water bottle, my room key and my "fan."
(These “fans” are your new best friend.) Forget your cell phone and just follow the fan. They include your schedule for the day. You do not need to remember a thing, just look at the fan and let “spa brain” take over, clouding all anxious thoughts and blocking any appointment-remembering skills you may have.
Upon arrival, guests meet with a fitness coordinator to plan out their many, many, many class and activity options for the week.
I settled into my chair as a lovely woman pulled out a large (very filed) sheet jam-packed with activities. She went through each activity to discover my preferences. Yoga? Yes. 5am hikes? Sure, why not. (Wait, did I really just agree to hike up a rocky, dusty, giant hill at 5am? Oh my.) Archery? No. Wait, maybe? Journaling? No. Spinning? Sure. Nutrition lecture? Yes please. Dance classes? All of them, yes. Zumba? No. Zumba is great! Ok… (They have everything from a drum-dance-class to a running clinic and even Tap.) Body sculpting? Maybe. Meditation walks? Sure. And on and on.
My eyes as wide as the oranges in the orange grove out front, I meekly squeak out this sentence. "So... if I don't want to do some of the classes on my schedule.. Or sleep in...?" She smiles widely and tells me I can whack that snooze button and stay in bed all day if I'd like. They call it DYOT (do your own thing.) It all depends on your goals for coming to “The Door.” Some come to lose weight, some come to kickstart fitness and healthy eating, some simply come for some R&R and to get away from it all. From ZEN to Zumba, you do as you please.
Then somewhere between deciding if I wanted to take Zumba or tap class and what ‘personality’ of fitness trainer I liked. I must have looked a bit overwhelmed because she said to me something along the lines of, “I think I have a good idea. So since you do not have specific preferences for scheduling, we can just let fate decide. Aka, “The Door Gods.” There is always magic in “The Door!” I nodded my head and liked that plan. Less deciding, more adventuring.
I was then lead on a grounds tour and given some more need-to-know newbie info.
Along my tour I saw the Koi pond..
Sand garden (tiny critters from the forest make footprints sometimes.)..
The amazing Labyrinth. You walk it slowly as a form of meditation. Golden Door's Labyrinth is an exact replica of the Chartres Cathedral floor labyrinth..
Love these fishies. In japan they treat their Koi fish the way we treat our cats and dogs. Pets!..
I was told that the normal day goes like this: Wake around 5am, dress and have a light snack offered in a lounge. 5:30-7:30 AM hike. Return to your room where your breakfast will be waiting for you on a tray along with your schedule “fan” for the rest of the day. (Wait, didn't I just do a two hour hike? More fitness??) Yes! After your breakfast you can enjoy more classes. Yoga, Water aerobics and more. Or not! You choose. Then lunch is around 1pm And more classes after that. And somewhere along the way you are treated to daily facials, scrubs and a daily massage. Then dinner in the dining hall which has a lovely fireplace-adorned lounge for appetizers, and a beautiful fish-filled Koi pond out back.
I was shown the vegetable gardens out back. "Grow your own food" is proudly practiced.
The grounds include tall oak trees, bamboo, curved manicured paths and bridges, rocky waterfalls, a groomed sand garden and candle-lit lanterns everywhere. The large granite lanterns were brought over from Japan. They are shipped in sections and stacked upon arrival. The entire resort is in Japanese style - inspired by Deborah's travels to Japan.
Fun Fact: Have you ever noticed how most paths or bridges in Japan are curved and not straight? This is because some cultures believe that “evil only travels in a straight path.” So it cannot follow you when the path is curved.
Waterfall. Hidden "spots" around every corner..
Back from dinner. I met the other guests and I think 90% of them are return visitors. A few ladies have come 20-50+ times. Wow! Everyone just raves about how much they love this place, so I am more excited than ever. At dinner, little place-cards were set out to indicate vegetarian, vegan and gluten free guests. Easy. Seamless. I was served tofu with red quinoa and veggies like snap peas (grown in the Golden Door garden.) The starter was a soba noodle dish and dessert was fresh blueberry sorbet. A hot pot of green tea, agave and lemon to finish.
After dinner we took the habitual walk up the front road to “knock on the front gate” then back down again. Lastly, we were treated to optional mini massages, before returning to our rooms which had been turned down and prepped for sleep.
As I walked back to my room in the cool, crisp air, I floated along the quiet paths, past the glow-y, twinkling lanterns. Everything was calm. I am already feeling the swoon of the Golden Door take over my spirit and I can't wait to see what sunrise brings. I just set my alarm for 5AM. For the mountain hike that starts at 5:45AM. I hope I make it.
5AM alarm. Yes, I actually got out of bed at this hour! 5:30AM tea and banana. Then off for a 5 mile hike up the mountain. It was lovely watching the dark navy sky turn periwinkle then purple then pink, gold, cream and into a daylight blue. As you hike, you are literally kicking avocados the whole way up, since the hillside is accented with avocado trees. As well as pomegranate trees and a few other fruits. The dusty fall path was accented with gray and beige stones, crumbly rocks and dry brush, with a few peeks of cool green meadow moss along the way. You can walk solo or chat with friends or fellow guests.
The sunlight is so gorgeous hitting the rocky cliffs in the morning air..
Avocado trees line the hiking trails..
The hike ended around 7:30AM. In my real life, I wouldn’t even be out of bed yet. Breakfast in my room was very welcome, as I found I was quite hungry. Fresh fruit, nuts and hot tea. Soy milk. Light, but filling.
After breakfast I was off to start my first day of activities. First up, my personal trainer introduction. I met with a bubbly young trainer with blond hair and bright sparkly eyes. She was in a pink jacket and gave me a big smile. We did a thirty minute chat on my fitness goals, problems, classes I don’t want to miss, etc. She was great. She showed me a stretch on a “foam roller” that I will be doing at home for sure.
Next I, reluctantly, went to Spin class. I was pleasantly surprised in how much I enjoyed it! A superb instructor can make all the difference in any fitness class. Plus, I was sweating! Next up was Power Yoga. This was a great way to calm my mind and meditate on my body and how it was feeling.
Then I went back to my room for a hot bath. After that was lunch. I had a grilled veggie and vegan cheese (yes it was really vegan) sandwich on a homemade focaccia-style grain bread. Some pesto oil on the side and creamy cauliflower puree soup. Fresh oranges from the orange grove too. Served with lemon-infused water that was incredibly refreshing. I was happy to sit poolside, under the warm sunshine and lush surroundings and engage in some light-hearted chatter with a bubbly group of ladies. Everyone is in a friendly, cheerful mood. I think it is impossible to be anything but calm and happy here.
After lunch I did a “posture improvement” class. Another excellent instructor. The staff is so amazing it is really hard to describe the warmth, skill and helpfulness each one of them communicates during your stay.
Then back to my room for my first in-room massage. Amazing. I went from tense and tired to a warm puddle of relaxed mush.
Then at 4pm my activity card said: 4pm: Relax. So that is what I did.
Dinner. The starter salad was kale, avocado, pine nuts and radishes. All my faves! The entrée was a spicy chickpea stew with plenty of veggies and some couscous as well. Really soothing. Dessert was a banana-pear tasting vegan gluten-free cake. I was so pleased to find so many guests with special diets and meal preferences. Some had much longer dietary guideline lists than me.
After dinner was the highlight of my entire GD adventure. Deborah Szekay presented a small, informal chat all about wellness, life and more. She is 90 years old! And amazing!
Deborah and I. Love this Wellness Warrior (WW is her newest project!)..
After the chat I gave her a hug and grabbed a snapshot with her. She is such a lovely woman and I wish you could all sit down and hear her speak. A few things I learned from her..
1) Three things for wellness: 1) respect the body. 2) oxygen / exercise and movement. 3) Food / nutrition.
2) Have a habit of silence.
3) In the morning do three things before you get out of bed. 1) wiggle. Feel your body and become aware of it. 2) breathe. 3) shout “good morning!” Send that positive energy out into the world and believe in it.
4) As you age, moving from “the big house” to “the small condo” can contribute to aging. If you are moving less, and have less “stuff” to do you will not be using your body, allowing the muscles to move and oxygen to enter the body and brain. If you do downsize, be sure to make up that loss of movement through plenty of added activities and exercise.
5) On meat and animal suffering. Deborah described how animals have mood chemicals too. Just think of your cat or dog when you come home to greet them. They get giddy and bliss-filled. Happy endorphins and hormones. The same goes for sadness and stress. Animals’ bodies produce stress hormones just as we do.
“Meat is tainted by the suffering of animals.” Meaning that when the animals lived, the severe stress and unhappiness they experienced “tainted” their flesh. Thus, eating a living creature that lived a life of pain and stress is passing on something unwell to your own body. She then admitted that there has been no study on her theory, but she is very passionate about believing that there is something to it.
Oh, and she also said “cows have dignity.” ..Oh boy do I love her.
Day Three. My alarm went off at 5AM. Somehow all the fullness I felt from dinner last night (good fullness!) has disappeared and I knew my body must have been working overtime while I slept to re-fuel from my active day. I felt super sleepy and almost hit that snooze button. But instead, I pulled on my hiking shoes and jetted out into the dark morning to the lounge where coffee/tea and fruit is served before the dawn hikes. I grabbed a banana and some green tea. The sky was a beautiful deep ocean blue, the sun slowly pulling itself above the distant ocean and trekking its way up the hillside, leaving fuzzy splatters of pink, gold and orange.
..uh-oh, now I’m speaking in metaphor and quotes. This Golden Door Spa-ness is really seeping into my brain. They call it “SPA brain.” I totally have it. I can’t remember to check my blackberry or what is next on the schedule, but funny enough all the important stuff milling through my head is so clear and rich. The buttons on my camera, the blinking light on my cell phone and the fuzzy glow of my iPad screen – they all look so foreign and cold to me right now. The warmth of smiles, the crisp forest breeze and the quiet sound of a distant waterfall creating music is what feels much more familiar and welcoming. Healing and calming.
The simple things that we take for granted – like a hot bath, steamy tea or coffee, the first bite of a freshly cut orange or strawberry – these things resonate in such vivid colors, tastes, temperatures and textures to me here. Why ruin this feeling of bliss by checking my cell phone.
As I write this, I can even feel a difference in the way my thoughts move through my head. While on day one I was rigidly charting my day, scribbling down what I did and saw and ate, today my thoughts are like flowing water. They flow. And that reminds me of the quote from yesterday’s hike..
“Nature never rushes, but it always gets the job done.” ..not the exact quote, I’ll blame it on spa-brain. But you get the idea.
9PM Another day passed. It was pure bliss.
I tried Zumba for the first time and LOVED it. The instructor was so fun and talented. I think I will have sore facial muscles from smiling and giggling so much during that class. My trainer showed me some super strength training and stretching techniques to combat my heavy computer and camera use.
Lunch was Portobello enchiladas with beans and veggies. Vegan. Iced tea and a vegan oat cookie too. Perfection.
The “ahhh” portion of my day included another amazing massage, a pedicure, herbal wrap and deep cleansing facial. Every staff member is exquisite in their skill.
Dinner tonight was beets and greens with crushed pistachios. Then my entrée was a sort of brothy Moroccan stew with capers, kalamata olives, golden raisins (they love golden raisins here!) and a slightly spicy tomato broth. I also tasted some lemon, maybe? It was divine. Topped with large chunks of herb-crusted tofu and fresh pine nuts. Dessert was the famous “chocolate avocado pudding.” (recipe link below!) It had sliced almonds, cherry syrup and soaked dried cherries over top.
I also finally tried the “fresh ginger” tea everyone kept raving about. The recipe is simple (I was told) just some ginger blended with water in a Vitamix and strained. Then that ginger extract is used to make a sort of tea. Not sure if it is lightly sweetened or not, but it was good. I added some lemon to mine.
Chef Cooke gets five golden stars from me when it comes to the cuisine. And he takes your feedback and requests VERY seriously. All you have to do is speak up.
Finally, by the end of my second full day, I have learned one thing. In the words of a guest. “At The Door, you just ASK.” (And it happens.) True. True. True.
After a very fun evening activity of card-making, it was off to bed.
Back to reality. I skipped the hike today since I wanted to get a few more photos in the morning. Just after sunrise I strolled around the quiet citrus grove out front. I spotted a little brown bunny hopping along one of the paths. I adore the wildlife all around me here.
And then over to my favorite spot: the Koi Pond. I could sit and watch those fish swim and play for hours, the waterfall babbling in the background, a soft breeze sweeping over the manicured grass, granite lanterns sitting tall, and quiet rooms all around.
I was amazed at how much peace and quiet there is to be found here. With so many staff members you would think you would see them walking around more. But it is so nice to walk those long wooden halls in complete tranquility – rarely seeing staff or even other guests.
I received my departure items – a freshly baked loaf of bread (how cool!) And a few more goodies to send me on my way. Including Golden Door facial and bath care products.
Your exit ceremony at Golden Door is one of magic. You are warmly shuffled out the door feeling as light as air. You even receive a to-go lunch packed to your dietary preferences. As I walked by a few fitness staff members they gave me giant bear hugs when they learned I was leaving. A bottle of water was handed to me on my way out as well.
Take-Home Lunch. It was SO nice to eat after my long drive home!..
When I first entered the door I was expecting to be wowed at first glance. But in truth, that is not how it works here. The magic of this place takes time to sweep over you. And the end of your first day all the expectations and stress you had when you entered have vanished. So if you are lucky enough to visit Golden Door, do not rush the bliss. Just wait and it WILL come. Sometimes it takes time to shed your anxieties from the outside world.
1. Follow the sun. Wake earlier, sleep earlier.
2. Make tea-drinking a habit! After meals and late-afternoon tea times help to warm, hydrate, calm hunger cravings and ease digestion. Not to mention the many tea antioxidants available to you.
3. Try new things when it comes to exercise. And have fun with fitness. From Zumba to tap dancing – fitness CAN be fun.
4. Eat slowly. And dine when you eat. Practice mindfulness with each bite.
5. Embrace your adventurous spirit in all you do. Fear nothing. Try everything.
6. Fruit. Veggies. Fruit. Veggies. Add them to your meals, snacks and eat them all day long. They are the healthiest foods on earth! Dig in.
7. Just MOVE. Whether you are taking out the garbage or taking a cardio class. Find time in your day to move the amazing body you were given. Get that heart moving and oxygen flowing. Moving more WILL give you more energy and improve your mood and metabolism. Just move, move, move.
Thank you Golden Door for hosting me as a 3-night stay guest. Note, this is not a sponsored post. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Anti-Golgi complex antibodies (AGAs) are primarily associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome. Here we report on the immunoreactivity of AGAs against five Golgi autoantigens (giantin, golgin-245, golgin-160, golgin-95/GM130, and golgin-97) and provide data from epitope mapping on the most common Golgi autoantigen, namely giantin. A total of 80 human sera containing AGAs, as defined by indirect immunofluorescence on HEp-2 cells, were analyzed by ELISA using recombinant autoantigens and immunoprecipitation. The proportion of AGA sera that reacted with the five Golgi autoantigens was correlated with the molecular mass of the Golgi antigens. Autoantibodies to giantin, the largest Golgi autoantigen, were the predominant AGAs, being found in 50% of the AGA sera. Epitope mapping of giantin was performed using six recombinant fragments spanning the entire protein. Antigiantin-positive sera with low titer autoantibodies recognized epitopes in the carboxyl-terminal fragments that are proximal to the Golgi membrane, whereas higher titer sera exhibited strong reactivity to amino-terminal and central domains that are likely to extend from the Golgi membrane into the cytoplasm. Our working hypothesis is that aberrantly expressed Golgi complex autoantigens may be released into the immune system when cells undergo lysis. By virtue of a carboxyl-terminal transmembrane domain, giantin is likely to be more stably associated with the cytoplasmic face of the Golgi complex than are other golgins, which are peripheral proteins. The stable association of giantin with the putative released Golgi complex may contribute to its preferential autoantigenicity.
The Golgi complex is an elaborate cytoplasmic organelle that has a prominent function in the processing, transporting, and sorting of intracellular proteins subsequent to their synthesis in the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Structurally, the Golgi complex is localized in the perinuclear region of most mammalian cells and is characterized by stacks of membrane-bound cisternae, as well as by functionally distinct trans-Golgi and cis-Golgi networks . Interestingly, several Golgi proteins have been reported to be targets of the autoimmune response, even though they are localized to the cytoplasmic face of Golgi membranes, a site that is presumed to be privileged in that it is protected from immune surveillance. Autoantibodies directed against the Golgi complex were first identified in the serum of a Sjögren's syndrome patient with lymphoma . Several isolated reports have described anti-Golgi complex antibodies (AGAs) in other systemic autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) , rheumatoid arthritis , mixed connective tissue disease , and Wegener's granulomatosis . AGAs were also found in 10% of patients with HIV infection and 35.7% of HIV carriers ; however, in the more recent report by Massabki and coworkers , AGAs were not found in 100 HIV-infected patients.
Within the past several years, our laboratories and others have cloned and identified several novel Golgi autoantigens. This has been achieved primarily by expression cloning using human autoantibody probes. These Golgi autoantigens are referred to as giantin/macrogolgin/GCP372, golgin-245/p230, golgin-160/GCP170, golgin-95/GM130, golgin-97, and golgin-67, with their names based in part on their molecular weights as estimated from SDS-PAGE under denaturing conditions [7, 10–13]. A common feature of this family of Golgi autoantigens is that they all have coiled-coil domains throughout the entire protein except for short nonhelical regions at the amino-terminus and carboxyl-terminus . Golgin-245 was localized to the trans-Golgi compartment , whereas GM130 has been reported to be localized to the the cis-Golgi compartment . It has been also reported that several golgins, such as golgin-245 and golgin-97, are attached to Golgi membranes through a GRIP domain in the carboxyl-termini . In contrast to other Golgi autoantigens, giantin has a single transmembrane domain in the carboxyl-terminus . A second common feature among the Golgi autoantigens is that biochemical evidence and immunoelectron microscopy data show that they are peripheral or transmembrane (giantin) proteins on the cytoplasmic face of the Golgi complex. The implication is that these Golgi autoantigens may have common biochemical characteristics and functions that make them preferred autoimmune targets among the approximately 100 Golgi complex proteins described to date . A third common feature among the Golgi autoantigens is that none of these macromolecules are localized to apoptotic blebs ; in fact, immunofluorescence analysis showed that the Golgi complex was altered and developed distinctive characteristics during apoptosis and necrosis .
It is striking that human autoimmune responses are selective for these proteins that are rich in coiled-coil motifs and that reside on the cytoplasmic face of the Golgi complex. How this family of coiled-coil proteins becomes autoimmune targets remains to be determined. One possible explanation is that these Golgi proteins may be recognized as surface structures on the organelle that is exposed to the immune system in aberrant disease states associated with unregulated cell death (apoptosis and necrosis) resulting from injury or infection, and defective clearance of dying cells.
Although it is known that AGAs are associated with some autoimmune diseases or viral infections, the prevalence of AGAs and their fine specificity have not been reported. Immunoblotting and immunoprecipitation studies have shown that AGAs reacted with a number of cellular proteins . AGAs are generally considered to be rare autoantibodies; however, Bizzaro and coworkers suggested that the presence of AGAs in high titer in the absence of a clear clinical manifestation may constitute an early sign of systemic autoimmune diseases. Here, we present data on the reactivity of AGAs against known Golgi autoantigens by ELISA using five recombinant proteins. Because antigiantin autoantibodies were found to be the most common reactivity in AGAs, epitope mapping was performed using six overlapping recombinant fragments of giantin.
Human putative AGA sera and normal control sera were obtained from the laboratory serum bank and Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory at the University of Calgary, Canada. Some AGA sera were also provided by Drs R L Humbel (Luxembourg), Kiyomitsu Miyachi (Keigu Clinic, Yokohama, Japan), and Carlos A von Mühlen (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil). All sera were provided as anonymous samples and were stored at -80°C until use. The reactivity to Golgi complex in all AGA sera was confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) microscopy on HEp-2 cells (Immuno Concepts Inc., Sacramento, CA, USA). Double staining was performed using the human sera (1 : 100 dilution) and rabbit antigiantin antiserum (1 : 500 dilution) as a marker of the Golgi complex . The secondary antibodies were Alexa Fluor® 488 conjugated goat antihuman IgG reagents and Alexa Fluor® 568 conjugated goat antirabbit IgG reagents (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA) used at a dilution of 1 : 400. Nuclei were counterstained with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole. By using this approach, a total of 80 sera exhibited specific staining of the Golgi complex.
Recombinant human Golgi autoantigens were produced using the expression plasmid pET28 system in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3; Novagen, Madison, WI, USA) as previously described . Recombinant proteins of golgin-245 (amino acids 811–2083) , golgin-160 (amino acids 787–1348) , golgin-95/GM130 (amino acids 370–990) , and golgin-97 (amino acids 1–767) were subcloned into pET28 vectors for the expression of recombinant bacterial proteins. Six overlapping fragments P1–P6 representing the full-length giantin cDNA (GenBank accession number NM_004487) were generated for epitope mapping analysis. Two fragments (P1 and P2) were obtained by expression cloning from a random-primed lambda phage cDNA library generated from human T24 cells using an antigiantin-specific human serum. Three fragments were obtained from an available expression sequence tag clone (P3, GenBank accession number N_76853; P4, GenBank accession number BG_567238; P5, GenBank accession number AI_458639). One fragment (P6) was cloned from reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction synthesis using total RNA purified from HeLa cells. All six fragments of overlapping recombinant proteins cDNAs were inserted into pET28 expression vector and introduced into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Sequencing was conducted in both directions using custom primers. Bacterial pellets were suspended in 6 M guanidinium hydrochloride containing buffer, and the recombinant proteins were purified by nickel column chromatography according to manufacturer's instructions (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA). The concentration of the purified recombinant proteins was measured by a Protein DC Assay Kit (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) and these samples were stored at -80°C until they were required for subsequent experiments.
The ELISA protocol described by Rubin was used with some modifications. In brief, Ni column affinity purified recombinant proteins were diluted in phosphate-buffered saline to a final concentration of 1 μg/ml and then coated on Immulon 2 microtiter plates (Dynatech Laboratories, Alexandria, VA, USA). Human sera were diluted 1 : 1000 and then incubated in the antigen-coated wells. Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat antihuman IgG (CALTAG Laboratories, San Francisco, CA, USA) was used at 1 : 5000 dilution and the substrate 2,2'-azinobis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline) sulfonic acid was added as the detection reagent. Each sample was analyzed in duplicate and the average optical density (OD) at 405 nm with a substrate development time of 15–45 min was used for data analysis. The cutoff value designating a positive reaction was the mean OD of 12 normal sera +3 standard deviations (SDs).
HeLa cells (ATCC, Rockville, MD, USA) were metabolically labeled overnight with [35S]-methionine (Trans 35S-label; ICN), as described previously [11, 12]. Cell extracts were harvested in a lysis buffer containing 1% NP-40, 50 mmol/l Tris.HCl, pH 7.5 and 150 mmol/l NaCl, and supplemented with Complete™ protease inhibitor cocktail (Boehringer Mannheim, Indianapolis, IN, USA). Soluble fractions were used as substrate for immunoprecipitation reactions by combining 100 μl 10% protein A-Sepharose beads (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA), 10 μl human serum, 500 μl NET2 buffer (50 mmol/l Tris-HCl, 150 mmol/l NaCl, 5 mmol/l EDTA, 0.5% Nonidet P-40, 0.5% deoxycholic acid, 0.1% SDS, 0.02% sodium azide, pH 7.4), and 50–100 μl labeled cell extract. After 1 hour of incubation at 8°C, the Sepharose beads were washed five times in NET2. Proteins were eluted in 20 μl sample buffer and analyzed by 10% gel SDS-PAGE , followed by autoradiography.
Affinity purified recombinant proteins were loaded on 12.5% SDS-PAGE gels (4 μg/lane), separated by electrophoresis, and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes using a Semi-Dry Trans-Blot apparatus (Bio-Rad), as described previously . Human sera containing antigiantin antibodies were used at dilutions of 1 : 100 to 1 : 500. Detection of bound antibodies was achieved using horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat antihuman IgG antibody (CALTAG Laboratories), used at 1 : 5000 dilution, in combination with enhanced chemiluminescence (Super Signal; PIERCE Products, Rockford, IL, USA).
Reactivity to Golgi complex antigens in all sera was confirmed by IIF, and all sera exhibited a specific staining pattern against Golgi complex structures as determined by colocalization with rabbit antibodies to giantin (Fig. 1). This approach yielded 80 human AGA sera that were used to investigate the prevalence of autoantibodies to five individual Golgi autoantigens represented by purified recombinant proteins in an ELISA and by immunoprecipitation using extracts from [35S]-methionine labeled HeLa cells (Fig. 2). The number of positive sera and frequency of reactivity of the 80 human AGA sera are summarized in Table 1. The most common Golgi complex autoantigen target was giantin (40/80 [50%]) and the second most common target was golgin-245 (19/80 [24%]). The lowest frequency reactivity (3.8%) was to golgin-97, and 25 AGA sera (31.3%) did not react with any of the five Golgi autoantigens used in the present study. Interestingly, the frequency of AGA sera reactive with the five Golgi autoantigens was numerically correlated with the molecular masses of the native Golgi autoantigens (Table 1), and the number of positive sera that reacted with giantin was remarkably higher than those for other golgins. The confirmation by immunoprecipitation was important because some of the Golgi autoantigens used as substrate in the ELISA did not represent full-length proteins and we were concerned that reactivity to these five Golgi autoantigens may be underestimated by ELISA alone. Among the 25 AGA sera that were negative for the five Golgi autoantigens, there were no predominant reactivities other than the five Golgi autoantigens described, even though the immunoprecipitation assay showed unidentified bands that were recognized by many of these sera.
Immunofluorescence colocalization of putative human anti-Golgi complex antibody (AGA) sera with rabbit antigiantin antibody to confirm specificity to the Golgi complex. (a) A representative human serum exhibiting staining specific to the Golgi complex in HEp-2 cells colocalizes with (b) characteristic staining by rabbit antigiantin antibody (arrows). (c) A serum with diffuse nuclear and cytoplasmic staining unrelated to the Golgi complex as demonstrated by (d) lack of costaining with rabbit antigiantin antibody.
Representative data from the immunoprecipitation analysis of anti-Golgi complex antibody (AGA) using extracts from HeLa cells metabolically labeled with [35S]-methionine for 16 hours. Lane 1, normal human serum; lanes 2–5, AGA sera. Lanes 2 and 3 show sera with primarily antibody to golgin-160 (g160) and giantin, respectively. Lane 4 shows a serum with antibodies to giantin and golgin-97 (g97). Lane 5 shows a serum with antibodies to giantin, golgin-245 (g245), gm130, and an unknown protein (arrowhead) migrated at approximately 90 kDa. Lane 6 shows a serum with strong reactivity to golgin-245 and weaker reactivity to several unidentified lower molecular weight proteins (*).
A total of 80 sera were studied.
We then determined whether there were specific correlations between any of the five specific AGAs with another AGA. None of the sera had AGAs to four or more of these five Golgi autoantigens. There were 6, 15, and 34 sera with antibodies to three, two, and one of the five Golgi autoantigens, respectively. Among the six sera with antibodies to three of the five antigens, four sera had antigiantin, antigolgin-245 and antigolgin-160, which were the three most common antibodies detected; one serum had antigiantin, antigolgin-245 and antigolgin-95/GM130 (Fig. 2, lane 5); and the remaining serum had antigiantin, antigolgin-245, and antigolgin-97. Among the 15 sera with antibodies to two of the five antigens, five had antigiantin and antigolgin-245, two had antigiantin and antigolgin-160, two had antigiantin and anti-GM130, two had antigiantin and antigolgin-97, two had antigolgin-245 and antigolgin-160, and two had antigolgin-245 and anti-GM130 (Table 2). No specific correlations were observed between the two most abundant antibodies, namely antigiantin and antigolgin-245. For example, among the 19 AGA sera positive for antibody to golgin-245, 11 (57.9%) were positive and 8 (42.1%) were negative for antigiantin antibody. Among the 40 AGA sera positive for antibody to giantin, 11 (27.5%) were positive and 29 (72.5%) were negative for antigolgin-245. Although the number of sera that bound golgin-160, GM130, and golgin-97 were relatively small, it was interesting that sera with these three autoantibodies did not overlap. In other words, sera positive for antigolgin-160 were negative for antibody to GM130 and golgin-97, and sera positive for anti-GM130 were negative for antigolgin-97 (Table 2).
To examine the relative distribution of epitopes in giantin, we performed mapping using six overlapping partial length constructs of recombinant giantin. Expression vectors for the recombinant proteins P1–P6 were constructed to cover the full-length of giantin (amino acids 1–3259), with the exception of the 38 amino acids at the amino-terminus (Fig. 3). Forty sera containing antigiantin antibody were analyzed using ELISA (Fig. 4, Table 3). Based on reactivity to the P1–P6 peptides, we provisionally divided the positive sera into low-positive and high-positive groups. Low-positive was defined as OD values between the mean OD of normal sera plus 3–15 SDs, whereas high-positive was defined as the OD greater than the mean OD of normal sera plus 15 SDs. Giantin is known to be bound on the cytoplasmic face of the Golgi complex via its single carboxyl-terminal transmembrane domain, and the amino-terminal and the central domains extend into the cytoplasm [24, 25].
Physical map of giantin cDNA fragments used in epitope analysis. The open box denotes the open reading frame. P1–P6 represent overlapping segments expressed as recombinant proteins, together spanning almost the full length of giantin. The P1 fragment differs from the published sequence and represents an alternatively mRNA spliced product. (b) Coiled-coil domains of giantin, golgin-245, golgin-160, golgin-95/GM130, and golgin-97. Each macromolecule is depicted showing the coiled-coil regions, as predicted by the COILS program . A transmembrane (TM) hydrophobic region of 20–22 amino acids at the carboxyl-terminus is postulated to be responsible for anchoring giantin to Golgi membrane, with the molecule extending to the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic domains of giantin are responsible for interaction with other Golgi proteins GM130 and p115.
A total of 40 antigiantin positive human sera were analyzed for reactivity in ELISA. Cutoff value for a positive reaction: the mean optical density (OD) of normal human sera +3 standard deviations (SDs). Low-positive: the OD between the mean of normal sera +3 SDs to +15 SDs. High-positive: OD greater than the mean of normal sera +15 SDs. aa, amino acids.
Reactivity of human antigiantin positive sera against six overlapping giantin fragments. A total of 40 antigiantin positive sera were analyzed by ELISA. Black squares represent optical density (OD) values for each individual serum. Dotted lines represent cutoff values for the low-positive group (between the mean OD of normal sera plus 3–15 standard deviations [SDs]), and dashed lines represent cutoff values for the high-positive group (greater than mean OD of normal sera +15 SDs).
None of antigiantin positive sera showed high positive reactivity to P5 or P6 peptides; however, the highest proportion of antibody reactivity (22/40 [55%]) was to P6, which includes the carboxyl-terminus and the transmembrane signal sequence. P5, which is proximal to the transmembrane domain and the cytoplasmic face of the Golgi membrane, also exhibited higher antibody frequency than those for other fragments more distal to the transmembrane domain (P1–P4). In contrast to anti-P5 and anti-P6, some AGA sera had antibodies to the distal fragments P1–P4 exhibiting high-positive reactivity, but the overall frequency of antibody to these fragments was relatively low (Fig. 4 and Table 3). All of the antigiantin sera reacted with one or more of the giantin subfragments used for epitope mapping. There were no specific correlations between P1–P4 high-positive sera (Fig. 4) and another coexisting AGA; among the P1–P4 high-positive sera, only one serum had coexisting antigolgin-160 and a second serum had coexisting anti-GM130. Taken together, these data suggest that the major epitopes of giantin are located in the carboxyl-terminal domain, including the transmembrane signal sequence. However, the epitopes localized in the distal amino-terminus or central domains of giantin can generate stronger autoimmune responses than can the epitopes in the transmembrane region.
In the present study we investigated the frequency of autoantibodies to specific Golgi complex autoantigens in a cohort of human sera containing AGAs as defined by IIF. The most frequent target autoantigen was giantin. Autoepitopes of giantin span across the entire protein, but the most frequent reactivity was located in the carboxyl-terminal fragments P5 and P6. These data are consistent with the earlier report by Seelig and coworkers describing a diverse spectrum of AGAs that recognized different recombinant fragments in a smaller cohort of AGA sera. In contrast to antibodies to giantin, the least common AGAs were those directed at golgin-97, which also has the lowest molecular mass among the group of Golgi complex autoantigens included in the present study. The proportion of antibody to giantin was more than 10-fold greater than that to golgin-97.
To understand the mechanism of Golgi autoantibody production, it is important to consider why giantin has a greater frequency of reactivity than do other golgins. Differences between giantin and other golgins include the following: giantin is the highest molecular weight Golgi protein and contains a greater number of coiled-coil domain units than other golgins (Fig. 3b); and only giantin possesses a transmembrane domain, which may ensure its tight association with the Golgi complex.
Although we showed that the majority of sera that react with the Golgi complex in an IIF assay react with known Golgi autoantigens, 25 out of 80 (31.3%) AGA sera did not recognize any of the five Golgi autoantigens examined in this study. The data suggest that these sera react with other Golgi autoantigens. A candidate Golgi autoantigen is GMAP-210, a reported cis-Golgi network associated protein that also contains characteristic coiled-coil domains . Among the 80 AGA sera, our immunoprecipitation data revealed three sera with a common band at approximately 210 kDa that might represent GMAP-210; however, because we did not have the cDNA for GMAP-210 and the frequency of this putative anti-GMAP-210 antibody was low, we did not confirm these data using independent methods. Two other Golgi proteins that may be candidate autoantigens include golgin-84, an 84 kDa transmembrane Golgi protein ; and βI Sigma spectrin, a 220 kDa protein that is associated with Golgi complex and vesicles . However, our immunoprecipitation data did not yield any bands consistent with these Golgi complex candidate autoantigens. We did not include other known Golgi autoantigens such as golgin-67 and p115 because the frequencies of these autoantibodies are known to be low. Thus, our data support the notions that the five selected Golgi autoantigens are the most prevalent in AGA sera and that giantin is the most common Golgi autoantigen recognized in AGA sera.
Coiled-coil domain units may enhance selection as autoantibody targets?
The Golgi autoantigens identified to date are related because they have similar overall secondary structures, as evidenced by extensive coiled-coil rod domains in the central region and small non-coiled-coil or globular domains at both the carboxyl-terminus and amino-terminus . The cumulative length of coiled-coil domains are thus directly proportional to the molecular mass of the Golgi autoantigens (Fig. 3b). For example, giantin clearly has more coiled-coil units than does golgin-97.
The human autoimmune response to Golgi autoantigens appears to be highly specific because many AGA sera react with only one (34/80 [42.5%]) or two (15/80 [18.8%]) of the five autoantigens. The specificity of the autoimmune response is demonstrated in the present study. For example, 23 of the 40 antigiantin positive sera reacted with giantin without coexisting autoantibodies to other five golgins. The lack of correlation with the frequency of antibody, as shown in Table 2, is consistent with the conclusion that it is unlikely that the immune response is merely directed at cross-reactive coiled-coils in these self-proteins. It is interesting to note that large (approximately 100 kDa or greater) coiled-coil rich proteins were noted in many non-Golgi cytoplasmic organelles, including endosomal protein EEA1 and CLIP-170 , and the centrosomal proteins pericentrin , ninein , and Cep250 and Cep110 . The mitotic organelles are also known to be associated with large coiled-coil rich autoantigens, including the mitotic apparatus proteins NuMA [35, 36] and centromere-associated protein CENP-E and CENP-F . It is noteworthy that we did not observe coexisting autoantibodies to these other coiled-coil rich organelles in our study of these AGA sera. These endosome, centrosome, and mitotic apparatus associated autoantigens are, like the golgins, proteins with high molecular masses and high content of coiled-coil domains. The combination of these two physical features in autoantigen may promote the induction and production of autoimmune antibody in certain disease states. As discussed above, this may have general significance in other autoantigens other than those associated with the Golgi complex.
Another possible reason why giantin has a high frequency of reactivity among the Golgi autoantigens is that giantin is a somewhat unique Golgi complex autoantigen in that it possesses a transmembrane domain. It is not clear why and how the immune system is able to recognize or target these proteins because it is generally thought that the immune system is not exposed to intact intracellular self-antigens. One possible explanation is that they may be surface structures represented on cytoplasmic organelles that are recognized as foreign by the immune system in aberrant disease states associated with unregulated cell death (apoptosis or necrosis) resulting from injury or infection. A variety of autoantigens are cleaved into signature fragments during apoptosis and necrosis . The emerging view is that the modified forms of autoantigens generated during cell death might stimulate autoantibody responses if presented to the immune system in a proinflammatory context . We and others previously reported that distinct cleavage fragments of Golgi autoantigens were generated during apoptosis and necrosis, and we also observed that, compared with other golgins, giantin is readily cleaved into multiple fragments during apoptosis [19, 41]. Furthermore, we observed that the Golgi complex itself was also fragmented during apoptosis and necrosis . It is interesting to note that, unlike 60 kDa SS-A/Ro and some other autoantigens targeted by autoantibodies from Sjogren's syndrome and SLE sera , golgins do not appear to be expressed on membranous apoptotic blebs . One explanation for this apparent paradox may be the unique nature of the trans-membrane domain of giantin and the GRIP domain of other golgins that allow the presentation of these Golgi membrane-stabilized antigens to the immune system independently of apoptotic blebs. It is possible that giantin is more stably associated with the remaining Golgi surface membrane than other golgins by virtue of its transmembrane domain when cells undergo cell death. Because the cleaved Golgi autoantigens are antigenic [19, 41], they may play a role in sustaining autoantibody production in certain autoimmune disease states.
Our work and that of other investigators have shown that coiled-coil rich Golgi proteins are the predominant targets of human anti-Golgi autoantibodies. Here we showed that the most common Golgi autoantigen was giantin. Our data suggest at least two possible explanations for the production of human AGAs. One is that high molecular mass proteins with high content of coiled-coils induce heightened autoimmune responses. The other is that Golgi autoantigens may be recognized as surface structures on cytoplasmic organelles that are released to the immune system when cells undergo cell lysis. Giantin is likely to be more stably associated with remnants of Golgi fragments than other Golgi peripheral proteins, because only giantin has a transmembrane domain.
This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants AI39645 and AI47859 (EKLC), and Canadian Institutes for Health Research Grant MOP-38034 (MJF). | 2019-04-23T02:03:28Z | https://arthritis-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/ar1035 |
The Groom’s Room at Abigail’s Collection strives to provide a high level of customer service and a unique menswear shopping experience. A huge thank you to everyone for their kind thank you cards, letters, business award nominations and customer recommendations.
We were completely thrilled this year when we won '2016 UK Menswear Retailer of the Year' at The Wedding Industry Awards. We also proudly won the regional title for this and both titles in 2015 too. This is just a handful of the totally amazing comments that were made by our customers during the online voting process. We simply cannot explain in words how much it means to us to have read these (and the entire thirty pages of incredible voter feedback), we are hugely grateful.
It is very moving to know that we have made such a great impression on so many. THANK YOU to everyone who voted for us.
A1 Service and an A1 Team! Huge thanks again to Rob for all your help, guidance and patience.
Absolutely fantastic service, great communication, great atmosphere in the shop, made all our family and friends feel very welcome and important. A wedding can be stressful enough with all the organising involved, we didn’t once worry about the organisation of the grooms suit, two best men or seven users – 100% perfect on the day. Since my experience with this shop I have recommended Grooms Room at Abigails Collection on more than one occasion and will continue to do so with no hesitation. Thanks again!
An all round great service offered by The Grooms Room. Made me, my best man and ushers all feel welcome. Professional yet approachable and adaptable. Couldn’t have asked for more from the service being offered.
Brilliant service – warm, friendly welcoming atmosphere. Was not pressured to do anything I was not keen on Good quality suits, myself and my groomsmen all looked very smart.
Excellent service they were able to order in to match the exact colour of our bridesmaid dress, and as I wanted to keep my suit a surprise from my wife they were advisory and offered suggestions that were really helpful.
Excellent service, Rob was on hand at all times to cater to our needs and dealt excellently with my mum who was the unofficial wedding planner.
Fabulous quality suits. All of my party were thoroughly looked after by a very professional team.
Friendly and helpful staff. Relaxing atmosphere in the Grooms Room where you and your party and can sit back and have a drink and take your time which is needed for the vast selection on offer. Overall an enjoyable experience.
From the moment we stepped in through the door we were made to feel very welcome. The service was friendly and professional from start to finish. Rob’s attention to detail was excellent and with his assistance, he helped create an outfit to fit perfectly with our wedding day. We cannot thank them enough.
Have already recommended and would recommend at the drop of a (Grooms) hat! After the received services we welt like we’d gained a trustworthy friend. Unfortunately such good levels of service are not as common anymore and this was refreshing!!!
Have recommended The Grooms Room to several people with highest compliments. Abigail, Rob and the team’s attention to detail always made you feel like their most valued and special customer. They took time to make sure that the men and boys at the wedding were ignored or side lined but as special as myself and the bridesmaids. They recommended the idea of evening tails for the men on our new years wedding to make them stand out from our black tie guests. The detail of the colour match on the cravats and waistcoats was an amazing touch to ensure the bridal party felt like one great big family – this was brilliant. I know all the boys, and dads had a great time trying the suits on too! They no longer felt they were missing out on the champagne girly days! All too often the boys got left out at weddings and the grooms room ensured this was not the case. Before and after the wedding – winter of course ((!!) we had snow – and to make sure we did not worry about picking suits up or returning them late the team stayed in contact. I could not recommend them more highly for everything they did for us. It was a pleasure recommending them to friends who got engaged after us.
I had already got my bridesmaid, wedding and MOB dress by the time we went to the Grooms Room. My husband loved it. They were able to match the suits perfectly to the bridesmaids dresses. They are so flexible and the quality of the suits really are fantastic. I thought the range of choice was extremely good. They did not have a tie in the correct colour to match the bridesmaid dresses for our pageboy and although we were only hiring it they got it made in our wedding colour at no additional charge. It is these small touches that make it so easy and stress free. Definitely the best range around. All the groomsmen loved getting their suits fitted at The Groom’s Room at Abigails Collection.
I had decided to opt for a bespoke suit for my wedding, instead of other options, such as morning wear, and found Rob at the grooms room, very good indeed. From our initial consultation when I chose the fabrics, through choosing the design and the fittings, he was professional, knowledgeable, and warm and friendly throughout. His knowledge and experience of tailoring was amazing and came through in our discussions, whilst all the time telling me it was my suit and it was mine to design how I wanted, though he wouldn’t let me walk down the aisle looking like a clown! my groomsmen as well as the father of the bride, all hired lounge suits from rob at the grooms room, and he ensured we all complimented each other, so on the day we all really did look amazing, Rob also suggested some lovely little touches and showed that they went the extra mile for their clients.
I was so pleased we choose The Groom’s Room at Abigails to provide my wedding suits, Rob and his staff were so helpful and went out of their way to provide the suits I wanted on my wedding day. They were everything I expected.
I would definitely recommend The Grooms Room at Abigail’s and in fact have done to a couple of my friends that are getting married next year. We were so happy with the service and the friendly welcome and always felt at ease. They made the whole process effortless and enjoyable and attention to detail is excellent. The staff treat you as individuals and make you feel that you and your wedding are soooo important.
Incredibly helpful throughout the entire process. Rob was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable at the wedding fair, which encouraged us to pay him a visit. All the suits were fab and great value for money, with the groom’s suit being free! The store is a great environment to be in as well.
Made to feel very welcome, excellent customer service. My wife to be was very fussy about the colour scheme and The Groom’s Room did everything they could to match the bridesmaids. Really liked the way we were all treated it made it a better experience for all the men involved. Would highly recommend Abigail’s to future grooms.
My husband and I found the the staff friendly and helpful. We hired five 3 piece suits from them and there was not a problem with a single one, which hearing tales from other brides is rare. They are very knowledgable and have a great selection. My husband felt comfortable and looked after throughout the whole process.
My wedding plans were very difficult as my father who was giving me away sadly died a few months before my wedding, I was dreading the fitting as my father should have been there, however it was a very pleasant experience and they were obviously understanding but also helped me feel excited about my day. They also got my two boys to wear full suits and ties something which I have never managed before or after! The groom looked lovely and they managed to get him to match my colour scheme and be happy about it. They were very professional and just really nice people which made all the difference.
Outstanding customer service, so much guidance, support and advice on what is a very special day! Could not have wished for more. Beautiful suits, the men looked fantastic. We cannot thank the grooms room enough.
Really can’t thank Rob and his team at Abigail’s Collection enough their service is legendary in my group of friends all of whom are now married that mainly all used Abigail’s due to their quality of service not only on the fittings but the very first meeting with Rob is brilliant and so much time is taken to ensure your really happy with everything. Also the quality of the suits were fantastic I hired 8 or seven as mine was free they were all fantastic and on the day we wanted to pick them up we had everyone come in and try them on before they took them away to ensure they fitted perfectly. Every one of our whims was taken in their stride. All I can say is they were fantastic.
Really friendly and helpful staff with lots of patience, as I was getting married in Italy during the summer they supplied me with a great light weight suit. Everything was no trouble for them, even sorting out getting ties made to match the colour of the bridesmaids dresses. Their service was so good I went back to get sorted with tux for a black tie event.
Rob an the team were great from start to finish, they catered to our every need and went the extra mile too. On the day of the wedding myself and the best man/ushers received many nice comments about the quality and detailing of the suits we had chosen. I will always recommend Abigail’s to anyone I know getting married.
Rob and Charlie gave us excellent service and provided us with high quality suits and accessories. Everyone commented on how smart we looked – I still don’t know how they managed to get the shoes we hired to look as shiny as they did!
Rob and his team in the Grooms Room were great. They were very helpful in advising us on various different styles of suits and colours. Rob made my husband and all of the ushers feel at ease and made the process enjoyable rather than a chore! They were able to help my husband find trousers to fit, which we have struggled with in the past due to his shape. My husband has since used the Grooms Room for a friend’s wedding and the service is still outstanding.
Rob and his team were brilliant with all the groomsmen, especially our little page boy. All the suits fitted beautifully, and the service was unbeatable!
Rob and his team were fantastic, friendly and professional from start to finish always ready with great service and a great atmosphere. Everything from the grooms men were catered for, colours were matched exactly to bridesmaids we were even able to get a waistcoat made for an extra tall best man!!! We were always kept informed and the customer service was excellent.
Rob and his team were very helpful to us throughout the process. For a groom they can find it all a bit daunting, especially my husband but they are made to feel welcome. I believe Abigail’s think of everything and they even make the little ones feel special as well, brilliant company and recommended already.
Rob at Abigails was so helpful, the shop is beautiful and there are even things to entice the boys!! The standard of service was incredible, one of our best men is 6’8″ tall so finding clothes and suits for him is usually a challenge but it was never an issue with Rob, he organised specialist sizing in the suits we chose without a problem. I have recommended Abigail’s Collection to all my friends, I bought my dress with the help of Abi from there and all of our wedding party suits with the help of Rob, no other wedding shops in the local area even came close for customer service and standard of the actual suits or dresses. AMAZING Abi and Rob Rock!!!!!
Rob at The Grooms Room is fantastic guy. He managed to fit my father in law via email as he lives in New Zealand. The suit fitted perfectly on the day. Great premises, hospitality and knowledge.
Rob at the Grooms Room was an absolute pleasure to work with, the surroundings where the meetings and fittings take place are cool and contemporary and just feels right, the selection is vast and colourful which grabs the attention from the start and you know you are in good hands from the first moment. I had an initial meeting with Rob and my now wife to where we went through a number of different styles of suits including materials, colours and designs and helped me decide which suited me best with regards to my style and ideas. He had a one to one with my wife where they went through colour combinations for cravats and waistcoats which would complement the bridal colours and also the different types of materials that were available to get that specific colour match. My wife said that Rob’s knowledge of all the colours and materials he worked with was quite sublime and gave some really great insights that helped with our final decision. When I visited again with the groom party which was a total of 10 men we all had a great few hours there. Rob’s attention to detail when remembering names and sizes is impeccable and he is extremely passionate in making sure that you do not leave the fitting room until the suit fits you perfectly. This is demonstrated in showing each member of the groom party exactly how the suit should look, fit and feel. I have visited many suit hire shops in the past for other friends weddings but this experience is on a completely different plain, I have since recommended friends to Rob on 3 separate occasions and they have all had an equally successful time. I visited one of the other finalists in this category first and I can safely say that they were not at the level that Rob and the Grooms Room are at, quite simply the best and as far as I can see by quite some way too.
Such a brilliant service! My husband was very impressed!
The Groom’s Room offers great service and the staff are all really nice chaps!
The Grooms room at Abigail’s are incredible! We had quite a large amount of people to fit who ranged in age from 1-55 and Rob made the whole thing really smooth and easy for us. My hubby really didn’t know what he wanted to wear and Rob gave us so many options and genuinely gave us nothing to worry about. They were also really flexible with appointment times for fitting the groomsmen. They were admirably patient with our one-year-old page boys (one of whom screamed the place down each time we tried to go near him with a tape measure!!). Hand-on-heart I would recommend The Grooms Room at Abigail’s Collection to anyone who is getting married- their service is truly amazing.
The Grooms Room gives you an extra special service but for no extra cost. You feel confident that they would resolve any issues if they arose.
The Grooms room is very flexible, relaxed, friendly, helpful and they have a great range of products. The assistance you receive is way above and beyond what you would normally expect. They go the extra mile to ensure you are happy with every last detail! Everyone went above and beyond to help us.
The Grooms Room provided the wedding party with excellent modern suits at a great price. The service is outstanding, Rob and his team really help us with the fitting and styles available.
The Grooms room was fantastic Rob and the team blew the socks off the competition. I tried other shops but the Grooms Room was well above them at every point. The service is fantastic and the products amazing.
The Grooms Room were thoroughly professional. The quality of their suits were far superior to any suppliers we had tried previously. They made the experience fun and enjoyable, and we had absolute confidence in them, and they didn’t disappoint. We would be more than happy to go back to them and use their service again.
The level of personal service, attention to detail and professionalism is of the highest order. They cared about what we wanted and recognised how we felt, and helped make our day a fantastic wonderful experience.
The service before the wedding was fantastic. The grooms party had 3 appointments with Rob the tailor and each time we was made to feel very welcome and dealt with expertly. I would definitely recommend to friends and family needing formal hire.
The Service given was absolutely top notch, the whole experience was so personal and took a lot of stress out of the day. I have recommended The Grooms room at Abigail’s Collection to other grooms and they have all been knocked out by the service levels. From the moment you first set foot in the building you are looked after and nothing is too much. You are made to feel like your custom truly matters.
The service received from Rob and the team at Abigail’s was exemplary. We were always treated very well even when we turned up mob handed with the kids too.
The service was excellent and all staff very friendly and helpful. Great atmosphere to put you at ease and to enjoy the experience and lovely premises.
The staff at Abigail’s are fantastic, polite and very helpful. The atmosphere in store is lovely and they treat you well both brides and groom, this added to the whole wedding planning experience and more importantly choosing the right dress and suits!
The staff were friendly, helpful and knowledgable, and the service was the best we’d had. The individual rooms were great as it meant more people could come without the store feeling cramped. The choice of suits was great, and we ordered all our wedding outfits from here. A set time slot was allocated for suit fittings which meant you didn’t feel rushed, and they catered well for a party member who could not attend the fittings and the suit still fitted perfectly. We have recommended Abigails to a number of people who have all thanked us for it, saying how good they were.
The team at The Groom’s Room at Abigail’s Collection are so friendly and helpful, we got married in Mauritius and hired a lovely lightweight suit for my husband which looked fantastic, I can’t fault them at all and would recommend them to anyone.
The whole process was excellent and Rob the owner makes the experience fun, and was happy to take time letting you try on all the different options and making suggestions.
They were really helpful and made the whole occasion go very easy in a relaxed atmosphere. Rob and his team were excellent and I would definitely recommend them to friends.
We initially intended on hiring our suits from Moss Bros but after a passing look at The Grooms Room following a bridal consultation we made an appointment. Rob was very welcoming and thorough in detailing the service they offered. We expressed a particular interest in a suit they didn’t hold in store but Rob ensured it was available in Pauls size at our appointment. We ended up hiring 4 suits in total. We were made to feel welcome & comfortable and nothing was too much trouble….even when we wanted to view all 400+ cufflinks we weren’t hurried. All the suits we hired were clean as were the shoes that came with them.
We visited a number of suit hire places in Colchester before I was told about The Groom’s Room at Abigail’s. We didn’t have an appointment but were immediately accommodated and made welcome. As soon as we met Rob my father-in-law and I knew that this was a step above the rest. Rob and the team knew were incredibly well turned out and knew so much about the suits and other items they had available, every piece was spot on, great quality and no more expensive that the other places we’d visited. We even hired the shoes and Rob organised some engraved cufflinks for me to give as thank-you gifts to my best man & ushers, all very well priced and ready to collect with the suits & shoes. It was a really pleasant atmosphere and made it so much easier being able to meet up in the evening. ….We’ve been to 7 weddings in the last 2 years! And I have experienced absolutely appalling service from the like of other Menswear shops with ill-fitting suits, dirty establishments, the wrong items and colours how these places survive I’ll never know. I wish that all businesses realised the importance of a 1st class customer experience, The Groom’s Room at Abigail’s certainly do and I’m sure they’ll continue to prosper as a result of it.
When we first went to The Groom’s Room at Abigails in Colchester for a meeting we were made to feel at home and then spent almost 3 hours with Rob going through what we wanted and how we wanted it. We weren’t disappointed because the suits were amazing and we all looked great thanx to abigails and our wedding wouldn’t have been as great as it was without them. There was 11 of us for our suit fitting and Rob and his staff made it feel like we had been friends with them for years. On a more personal note being a large man Rob was careful not to divulge people’s sizes and how big the suit would be and I was grateful of that as it can get a bit embarrassing when you’re big. | 2019-04-19T14:40:20Z | https://www.thegroomsroomessex.co.uk/customer-reviews |
"We can strongly recommend the MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement times and broad application range"
"Our recent research is focused on the molecular basis of herbicide resistance and exploiting new target sites of herbicide, such as PPI of AHAS. Via MST, we measured the Protein-Protein interaction, that have been difficult to detect and quantify with ITC because of instability of the protein and very little heat changes of our samples. The MST technology can be used as a complementary technology to the traditional methods in these fields. We can strongly recommend the MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement times and broad application range in the field of molecule interaction studies."
"Via MST, we measured interactions, that have been difficult to detect and quantify with other interaction technologies"
"Our recent research is focused on the critical pathogenic protein & complex from pathogenic microbes and the Protein structure-functional basis for some endogenous disease. Via MST, we measured the Protein-DNA interaction, that have been difficult to detect and quantify with other standard biomolecule interaction technologies (like SPR and ITC) because of the conformation/immobilization-sensitive and very little heat changes of our samples. MST technology can be used as a complementary technology to the traditional methods in these fields. We can strongly recommend MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement times and broad application range for molecule-interaction studies."
"MST technology turns out to be an excellent way to determine such weak interactions between small fragments and protein"
"We are interested in applying computational fragment-based strategy to identify lead compounds to block protein-protein interactions in RAS pathway. Generally, the identified fragments are weak binders with binding affinities ranging from millimolar to micromolar. For such weak interactions, it is difficult to set up reliable biochemical assays or binding assays using ITC or SPR techniques. Fortunately, MST technology turns out to be an excellent way to determine such weak interactions between small fragments and protein in our system of interest. We efficiently and reliably performed our experimental binding measurement using minimum amount of protein and fragments.
We are also interested in studying the regulation mechanism of a nuclear hormone receptor, which plays fundamental role in homeostasis and metabolism. The nuclear hormone receptor can be modified by an important enzyme to regulate the expression of specific genes and cause certain metabolic disease. We wanted to measure the binding affinity between these two proteins. Interestingly, this interaction is extremely difficult for the standard binding affinity measurement approach, with no exothermal or endothermal signals using ITC. While using MST technology, we have successfully detected this interaction. We strongly recommend MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement time, and very high sensitivity."
"We strongly recommend MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement time and very wide application range."
"Part of our research focus on the protein structural-function basis for iron metabolism of pathogenic microorganisms. We measured the dissociated constant for periplasmic binding protein and siderophore through MST technology. Because siderophore is extremely insoluble, it's difficult for us to complete that task via other methods such as ITC and SPR. We strongly recommend MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement time and very wide application range."
Our lab focuses on the importance for telomere and telomerase to maintain the integrity of genomes and the stability of chromosomes. Large amount of proteins and protein complexes are involved in epigenetics, which play essential rotes in controlling many cellular events. We are employing MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) in determining the interactions of proteins/protein complexes to ssDNA/RNA. It's easier to measure the protein-protein or protein-nucleic acid interaction, especially for those sensitive samples, that has been difficult to detect and quantify with ITC or SPR. We benefited from the low sarnple consumption, the fast measurements, the broad application range and the possibility to choose the buffer freely, resulting in highly reproducible data. We strongly recommend MST technology for its low material consumption, short measurement times and very high sensitivity.
"We are very pleased with the low material consumption, short measurement times and broad application range of MST."
"MST is straightforward and fits well in our technology portfolio"
"We are interested in the biophysical properties of soluble and membrane bound biomolecules and are using MST to measure binding affinities and complex formation. MST is straightforward and fits well in our technology portfolio to cover a broad spectrum of synthetic biomolecules including proteins, peptides and nucleic acids"
"Using this technology we obtained very convincing data that were in agreement with results obtained using other technologies"
"Our research is based on the development of small molecular compound based on or derived from linear peptides that have successfully been tested in animal models for inhibition of tumour angiogenesis and/or metastasis. These compounds are promising candidates to enter in clinical studies in the near future. We recently used NanoTemper Technologies' Microscale Thermophoresis to characterize the affinity of our compounds to their targets. Using this technology we obtained very convincing data that were in agreement with results obtained using other technologies like Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). We appreciated the relatively short time for the time to establish the assay compared to alternative methods to measure protein affinities as well as the comparatively low amounts of protein consumption. We conclude that this new technology gives rise to reliable quantitative affinity data."
"We cannot think of any technique other than MST that would allow studying this cooperative binding to such detail"
"Our work focuses on the structure and function of proteins involved in signal transmission in the synaptic cleft. Upon arrival of an action potential in the synapse, ion channels open resulting in an increase in cytoplasmic calcium. This increase in calcium concentration is sensed by synaptotagmin-1 which mediates exocytosis of synaptic vesicles and release of neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft. The precise mechanism of action of synaptotagmin-1 is unknown, but involves both binding to calcium and to the phospholipid PIP2 in the plasma membrane. In our MST studies, we used the technology to precisely quantify the cooperativity of PIP2 and calcium binding. PIP2-binding to synaptotagmin-1 resulted in a 40-fold higher affinity for calcium, and this result is of fundamental importance for our understanding of neuronal exocytosis. Given (i) the relatively high affinity of synaptotagmin-1 for both PIP2 and calcium, (ii) the low solubility of PIP2 and (iii) that synaptotagmin-1 is prone to aggregate at high protein concentrations, we cannot think of any technique other than MST that would allow studying this cooperative binding to such detail. Moreover, due to the very high sensitivity of MST, we estimate that the same amount of synaptotagmin-1 suffices to record about 10,000 times more calcium binding curves with MST compared to NMR or ITC."
"Using MST, we determined the binding affinities of a wild-type protein and 11 mutants in a half day"
"We develop new high throughput molecular biology methods and use them to study enzymes of biological and medical interest. For example, we are testing permutations of influenza-influenza and influenza-host proteins, with the aim of defining expressible, crystallisable protein complexes that should provide insights into virus-host cell interactions. In this context, MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) is an extremely valuable tool to assess and quantify interactions. In one study using MST, we determined the binding affinities of a wild-type protein and 11 mutants in a half day; this would have been impossible with other techniques.
We are using the Monolith NT.115 in our daily research work and we are very satisfied by the data obtained with this novel biophysical method. In addition, we appreciate the support and the competence from the NanoTemper Technologies Company."
"MST has proven an ideal way for cell biologists in our institute to quantify interactions"
"One major focus of research in our institute is the dynamic organization of the microtubule cytoskeleton. An important approach for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying tubulin assembly and microtubule motility has been the establishment of in vitro biochemical assays using purified components. Often, fluorescent microscopy, employing tagged or labeled microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) and motors, is used to study tubulin assembly and microtubule based motility.
We use Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) to investigate and quantify the interactions of these motors and MAPs with both un-assembled tubulin subunits as well as polymerized microtubules.
Previously, we have employed size exclusion chromatography, sucrose gradient sedimentation and immuno-precipitation to detect but not quantify these interactions as the necessary instrumentation was unavailable. MST has proven an ideal way for cell biologists in our institute to quantify interactions as, in most cases, the fluorescently tagged protein preparation is already available and, most importantly, only a limited amount of sample is required.
A second research focus in our institute is the assembly and dynamics of cell membranes, in particular, endosomes. We have started using MST to quality control the loading and exchange of guanine nucleotides on Rab5 protein, a small GTPase and a key regulator of endosome assembly. In this case, MST is used to monitor the nucleotide dependent association of Rab5 with proteo-lipid vesicles."
"We appreciate that the interactions are investigated free in solution"
"The MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) technology is a good complement to other biophysical techniques we are applying in the lab to investigate receptor proteins involved in inflammatory response. However, MST provides additional benefits since we are interested in elucidating interactions in close-to-native conditions: thus, we appreciate that the interactions are investigated free in solution and can be studied even in cell lysate. We are using MST for a number of different interactions, mainly to investigate protein-protein interactions but also to study protein-DNA interactions and protein binding to ions.
MST is a novel technique which is not related to any other established biophysical methods thus providing independent insights into biomolecular interactions. It is very easy to use with low time and material consumption."
"The speed of the assay and low sample consumption has allowed us to quickly identify the critical residues"
"Our recent research has focussed on the interactions of proteins involved in the Hedgehog signalling pathway. We have used MST to develop a binding assay with fluorescently labelled peptide and unlabelled protein. The speed of the assay and low sample consumption has allowed us to quickly identify the critical residues in the binding site by rapidly screening a series of mutated proteins. Furthermore, the assay can easily be adapted to screen peptides and small molecules for competitive binding."
"This method is particularly useful to perform low affinity binding measurements using low amounts of proteins."
My group focuses on the molecular mechanisms of action of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) and Cell Adhesion Molecules (CAMs) in development and tumor progression. We have shown that the activation of RTKs relies not only on the binding of the ligand but also on the collaboration with CAMs such as CD44. We measured the binding of several growth factors to CD44 using the NanoTemper Technologies' Microscale Thermophoresis. Using this technology we obtained very convincing data that were in agreement with results obtained using other technologies like Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). This method is particularly useful to perform low affinity binding measurements using low amounts of proteins. We are extremely satisfied with the quantitative data obtained with this new technology.
"We are using the Monolith NT.115 in our daily research work and we are very satisfied by the data obtained"
"We use an integrative structural biology approach to study the regulation of gene expression by nuclear receptors. In this context, Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) is an extremely valuable tool to assess and quantify ligand-receptor, cofactor-receptor and nucleic acid-receptor interactions. By using MST, we determined the binding affinities of wild-type and mutant coregulator constructs for a homodimeric nuclear receptor that were in very nice agreement with those measured with isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). However, in addition to ITC, MST allowed us to examine a range of concentration ratios between the two binding partners that could not be reached with ITC and to demonstrate the existence of allosteric control in the binding of the coregulator to the homodimeric nuclear receptor. We are using the Monolith NT.115 in our daily research work and we are very satisfied by the data obtained with this novel biophysical method. In addition, we appreciate the support and the competence from the NanoTemper Technologies Company."
"It has proved a valuable tool for characterising small molecule-protein and protein-protein interactions"
"We routinely assess interaction affinity for both small molecule and biologics projects, with NanoTemper Technologies' Microscale Thermophoresis being the most recent addition to the pool of instruments we use to carry out these measurements. It has proved a valuable tool for characterising small molecule-protein and protein-protein interactions, as well as for the study of protein aggregation concentration determination. There is very good agreement with other technologies such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC), and we are particularly appreciative of this new technology because of the extremely low protein consumption and relatively short time required for the assay setup. NanoTemper customer support has been a key factor in enabling us to familiarise ourselves with the new technology. We would like to deploy increasing numbers of applications based on MST technologies and continue to interact with NanoTemper Technologies Company, a dynamic, scientifically driven company."
"It allows us much better analysis of the GPCR with their small-molecule ligands."
"We are interested in molecular architectures especially to stabilize and analyze challenging smell receptors that belong to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCR is a super-family of receptors linked to many diseases. We want to measure the interactions of smell receptors with odorant that are very low molecular weight ligands. In the past that has been extremely difficult to detect and quantify other common molecular interaction technologies including SPR, and nearly impossible to use ITC for odorant-binding measurement because of the conformation and immobilization-sensitivities, or difficult and costly to obtain sufficient amount of receptors. The MST technology is a superb technology, it not only is label-free, hence reducing the measuring artifacts, but it also is surface-free that provides true measurement of finest molecular interactions. Thus it allows us much better analysis of the GPCR with their small-molecule ligands. We strongly recommend MST technology for its low material consumption (a few micrograms in a few microliters), short measurement times, inexpensive consumables, and broad application range in all molecule-interaction study."
"this fast and easy to use method provides a highly welcome alternative to the radioactive enzyme assay"
"Access to accurate information on fragment Kd, binding mode and aggregation behaviour of compounds enable informed decision making."
"Together with Nanotemper Technologies we have optimized microscale thermophoresis for fragment screening applications which are difficult to access with standard technologies. Access to accurate information on fragment Kd, binding mode and aggregation behaviour of compounds enable informed decision making. Together with a proprietary fragment collection, this technology forms now the core of the CRELUX fragment based drug discovery service offerings. "
"We can definitely recommend MST for obtaining robust quantitative affinity data"
"The work of our group gave rise to the novel concept that under certain conditions matrix components may act as endogenous "danger" signals, which are recognized by innate immunity receptors, and are capable to trigger an inflammatory response reaction. We are using MST to measure the interactions of endogenous and in vitro mutagenized proteoglycans of the extracellular matrix with their receptors and are very satisfied with the results obtained so far. The affinities are consistent with the biological readouts and confirm previous results gained with immunprecipitation and binding assays. MST is a new technology we can definitely recommend for obtaining robust quantitative affinity data."
"With the MST technology we were able to measure the interaction of membrane vesicles"
"Membrane interaction and fusion plays a fundamental role in many cellular processes such as intracellular trafficking, fertilization, tissue formation or viral infection. With the new MST technology we were able to measure the interaction of membrane vesicles, mediated by coiled coil-forming peptides. The technology requires only little sample material and is enabling for this type of experiments"
"It enables us to ask questions that we could not address before"
"We are studying the processing of microRNA precursors In Drosophila and are using MST to measure the binding of nucleolytic Enzymes and their specificity factors to RNA substrates. The small amount of protein sample needed and the much faster measuring time compared with e.g. gel-shift assays are particular strengths of this new technique. It enables us to ask questions that we could not address before."
"MST provides us with a unique tool to validate lead inhibitors"
"We are studying the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction processes involving Rho GTPases and are developing small molecule inhibitors and other strategies that interfere with specific Rho protein functions in leukemia, lymphoma and lung cancer We are very enthusiastic about MST as it quickly enabled us to measure protein:protein and protein:small molecule interactions that have been difficult to detect and quantify with standard biomolecule interaction technologies in the past years. MST provides us with a unique tool to validate the lead inhibitors that bind to specific sites of Rho GTPases or their regulators/effectors "
"MST is very useful for my lab since it allows to measure interactions in solution"
"We are interested in understanding the interactions between cells and organisms by investigating the role of polysaccharides exposed on cell surfaces and secreted polysaccharide signal molecules. We are applying MST to determine structural requirements for recognition of complex polysaccharides and the role of ligand-receptor interactions in the relationships between different cells and organisms.
MST is very useful for my lab since it allows to measure interactions in solution even in complex samples of membrane proteins. Also the small amount of sample material needed and the broad range of applications are very advantageous."
"MST is simple to use and was quickly established in our lab."
"Our lab is developing diagnostic tools based on protein biochips and is studying the basic mechanisms underlying herpes virus infections" We are using MST for elucidating the function of viral proteins and its interaction with other viral and host cell proteins. MST is simple to use and was quickly established in our lab. In particular we do appreciate the low instrument, consumables and maintenance costs associated with this new technology"
"The MST technology is easy to use and a good alternative to our standard enzymatic assays"
We are interested in the basic mechanisms in epigenetics which define and maintain the histone code and are using MST to measure the binding of “reader”-proteins to modified histone peptides as well as the activity and inhibition of “writer” enzymes including kinases, demethylases and methylases.
"MST really is opening up the easy determination of some Kd's that were hard to get to with other methods"
"MST turned out to be an extremely useful method in our lab to determine binding constants."
"My lab focuses on the elucidation of the structure and function of membrane proteins. This topic includes the investigation of protein-protein and protein-substrate interactions. We are employing MST in binding studies of membrane sensors to their transducers as well as soluble transcription factors to DNA. We also plan for investigations of receptor - ligand interactions with this exciting new technique. MST turned out to be an extremely useful method in our lab to determine binding constants. It is advantageous that the fast and handy experiments require only few amounts of protein."
"MST is a big step forward towards quantitative biochemistry"
"Our lab focuses on the mechanisms and organization of DNA packaging inside the cell nucleus. We study the biochemical properties of molecular machines, the chromatin remodelers that regulate DNA accessibility and switch between 'on' and 'off' states of genes. We are using MST for studying the activity of chromatin remodeling enzymes and to quantify their affinities towards DNA, RNA and other proteins. MST is a big step forward towards quantitative biochemistry. MST is simple to use and was quickly established in our lab. It is a good alternative to the traditional electrophoretic mobility shift assays".
Binding of the geldanamycin derivative 17 DMAG to Hsp90 measured with fluorescence label and label free.
Application Note NT-MO-001 - HSP90 DMAG V003 For proper folding, many proteins involved in signal transduction pathways, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis depend upon the ATP dependent molecular chaperone Hsp90. Consequently Hsp90 turned out to be an attractive target for cancer therapeutics. In this study we demonstrate the binding of the geldanamycin derivative 17 DMAG to Hsp90 using Microscale Thermophoresis (MST). The study also highlights the high content information of the MST measurements as one important benefit of Microscale Thermophoresis.
The analysis of protein-protein interactions plays an important role in understanding many biological processes. Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) permits a robust and fast analysis of protein-protein interactions even in highly complex biological liquids. Here we have investigated the binding of TEM1 β - Lactamase to BLIP (β - Lactamase Inhibitory Protein) using Microscale Thermophoresis. The experiments were performed as in 50% mammalian cell lysate, as well as in standard buffer. The TEM1-BLIP system is very well characterized by various biophysical methods, such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR).The role of residue substitutions at the interface of the proteins was easily studied using TEM1 and BLIP mutants. Dissociation constants (Kd) determined for TEM1 and BLIP show an excellent agreement with previously published data.
Application Note NT-MO-030 - High affinity Protein-RNA interactions Recent advances in genome engineering technologies based on the RNA-guided CRISPR endonuclease Cas9 are enabling systematic manipulation of genome function in a variety of organisms, ranging from bacteria and archaea to humans. Cas9 is guided to specific locations within a genome by a short RNA search string. Since genome editing leads to permanent modifications within a genome, the targeting specificity of Cas9 nucleases is of particular importance, especially for clinical application and gene editing.
Application Note NT-MO-002 - Liposomes_SNARE SNARE protein complexes play a key role in membrane fusion processes, e.g. the fusion of synaptic vesicles with the pre-synaptic plasma membrane in response to elevated Ca2+ levels. This study aimed to demonstrate the use of Microscale Thermophoresis for the detection of protein-protein interaction in more complex assay systems like in this case the interaction of membrane proteins embedded into liposomes.
Application Note NT-MO-004 - Determination of thermodynamic parameters In current drug discovery efforts, hits arediscovered by conventional high-throughput or fragment screening campaigns. Hits derived from these screening campaigns belong to various chemical scaffolds. These ones, or the winners are then progressed through extensive anditerative lead optimization cycles, that aim at improving the affinity towards the target, selectivity alongside physicochemical DMPK and ADME properties. According to Ferenczy et al. (2010) a large portionof the unfavorable properties of leads results fromthe optimization process itself, especially through increasing affintiy by adding lipophilicity. This is true for HTS and fragment hits, where the current medicinal chemistry practice drives the candidate molecules to the edge of the Lipinski zone. It seems to be much more straight forward to increase lipophilicity and complexity of leads in an entropy-driven optimization than improve specific interactions that result in an enthalpy-driven optimization. Therefore Ferenczy et al. suggest a guideline that monitors the binding free energy early on in the drug discovery process, and use this information for the ranking of compoundseries.
The concept of double stranded DNA forming triple helical complexes with a third strand of nucleic acids via so called Hoogsteen-hydrogen bonds has been well established for the last 50 years. However, the topic reentered the big stage with recent publications pointing to an existence of these structures in vivo, highlighting their putative role in chromatin organization and transcriptional regulation in a non-coding RNA mediated context.In this study we characterize the formation of such complexes in vitro, using MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST). The study also highlights the high content information of the MST measurements as one important benefit of MicroScale Thermophoresis.
Abstract: Antibody affinities play an important role in diagnostic, basic research and medical applications. Conventional antibodies are composed of two heavy and two light chains. Both chains contribute to binding of the antigen by their variable domains. In addition to conventional antibodies, llamas produce functional heavy chain antibodies that lack light chains and interact with antigens solely via the variable domain of the heavy chain, designated VHH. Recombinant VHHs are also called single domain antibodies or Nanobodies because of their size in the nm range. In this study we compared the binding of Nanobodies and Nanobody-Fc fusion proteins to human CD38 using Microscale Thermophoresis (MST). This study highlights the potential of MST-Technology in affinity determination of antibody-antigen interactions.
Application Note NT-MO-013 - invitro_synthesized_proteins Nowadays, especially through the advent of systems biology, and the ability to generate predictive models, it is even more important to transform biology from a qualitative to a quantitative science. Interactions between proteins not only need to be identified, but their equilibrium rate constants need to be determined as well. Here we describe a very elegant and simple system to obtain quantitative data for protein-protein interactions using cell-free protein biosynthesis in combination with Microscale Thermophoresis. We have been able to characterize the interaction of Calmodulin with Ca2+ as well as its ligand M13 straight in the in vitro synthesis reaction. Furthermore, we are demonstrating the generic applicability of this approach with another set of proteins, an Antibody fragment and Cyclophilin A. All this work has been done without tedious expression and prior purification of the interacting proteins.
Application Note NT-MO-027 - Antibody Drug Conjugates_Synthon_app Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have been recognized as a promising new class of therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. In the generation of ADCs, cytotoxic small molecules are covalently attached to therapeutic antibodies thereby increasing their tumor cell killing capability. We have performed MicroScale Thermophoresis experiments to determine the Kd values for the interaction between fluorescently labeled antibody-drug conjugate (SYD985) and an anti-toxin (drug) antibody in phosphate buffer as well in human plasma. The data show that MicroScale Thermophoresis is a powerful tool for the study of antibody-antigen interactions in standard buffers as well as complex bioliquids.
Application Note NT-MO-031 - Antibody labeling Site-specific conjugation of a dye to antibodies is useful for producing highly homogeneous material for use in downstream affinity experiments. This application note describes a labeling procedure that combines the selective reduction of antibody interchain disulfides and their labeling with maleimide-based chemistry. Different antibodies conjugated by this approach yield high-quality MST affinity data for interactions with both antigens as well as Fc receptors. | 2019-04-21T00:43:38Z | http://nanotemper-technologies.com.cn/product/detial61.html |
One of the most distinctive things about Chaco, compared to other prehistoric settlements in the northern Southwest, is its stability and longevity. While most earlier (and, for that matter, later) villages were apparently only occupied for one or two generations, Chaco was a major center for at least 300 years, and may have been occupied at a lower level of population for another hundred or so years after the end of its regional centrality. Despite the apparent importance of this fact, however, it has received curiously little explicit attention in the scholarly literature on Chaco. This is probably because the stability of Chaco is easy to see but very difficult to explain. Any explanation will necessarily have to exist within a particular interpretation of what Chaco was, and given the enormous amount of dispute over that and the number of competing theories it’s hardly surprising that Chaco specialists have spent most of their time coming up with theories and arguing with each other, which has left little time for using those theories to specifically address the issue of stability. That is, all theories that have been proposed to explain Chaco contain implicit explanations for its stability, but explications of those theories very rarely address stability explicitly.
To some extent the explanation for Chaco’s stability depends on the exact nature of the Chaco system and the role of Chaco itself within it, which is a topic of considerable dispute among archaeologists, but there are also some more general factors that probably played a role in the unusual stability of Chaco.
The most important is probably the environment. The details are still a bit unclear, but it does seem from extensive research on the ancient climate that the rise of Chaco coincided with a period of unusually wet conditions that made farming more productive and reliable than it had been before in the arid Southwest. This would have made the accumulation of agricultural surplus easier than it had been before, which would in turn have increased the power and prestige of areas that were able to accumulate surpluses. This still doesn’t explain why Chaco specifically became so large and important for so long, since it’s not in a very productive agricultural area even by southwestern standards, but it may in part have just been a matter of fortuitous circumstance: Chaco happened to be where people were starting to gather, after leaving their earlier settlements elsewhere, when conditions improved and they were able to stay there longer than had been possible in other places before.
Another important factor was probably trade. Chaco isn’t in a very good place to farm, but it is located in a strategic position between the productive agricultural areas further north and the mountainous areas further south, each of which may have produced things the other may have needed. It’s not clear how much trade there was in things like agricultural products, which are rather difficult to transport over long distances without pack animals, but there was certainly a considerable amount of trade in pottery and valuable goods like turquoise, and Chaco is particularly known for the amount of material found there that originated elsewhere. Some theories have posited that Chaco was a center for redistribution of goods, but there isn’t much direct evidence for this and it’s hard to determine how much stuff passed through Chaco on the way to somewhere else (because that stuff wouldn’t have left any evidence of ever having been at Chaco). What is clear, though, is that whether or not substantial amounts of trade goods passed through Chaco, an enormous amount of important material came into Chaco and stayed there. Turquoise is the best known example, but there were a lot of other things too, including exotic goods like copper bells and macaws brought up from Mexico.
Whether from agricultural surplus or from trade, then, or possibly from both, Chaco was clearly a very wealthy place at its height, and it was probably that wealth that allowed it to last so long when other settlements had been so transient. Favorable environmental conditions probably played a role in the ability of Chaco to accrue that wealth, but not necessarily in a straightforward way. There may also have been other political, cultural, or religious factors that contributed to Chaco’s staying power. One thing that’s interesting to note is that while Chaco did last a long time, its end seems to have come pretty rapidly. Large-scale construction seems to have ended abruptly around AD 1130, and while a reduced population does seem to have remained in (or possibly returned to) the canyon until 1250 or so, the bulk of the population seems to have left for other settlements that ended up being occupied for much shorter periods. That is, Chaco was occupied much longer than earlier settlements, but also much longer than most later settlements. The fact that environmental conditions seem to have deteriorated as much at the end of the Chacoan era as they had improved at the beginning reinforces the impression that there’s some sort of relationship there.
What Does It Mean to Be Navajo?
The Park Service’s finding that the Navajos are “affiliated” with Chaco under NAGPRA is based on the fact that the Gambler story exists, not the idea that it’s true. While there may or may not be a kernel of historical truth to the story, the versions that have been recorded all contain enormous amounts of material that is clearly and obviously mythical. However, the consistency of the accounts, and the strong association with Chaco Canyon and specific locations within it that they tend to share, imply a level of connection to Chaco shared by all Navajos that (along with other traditions) the NPS found sufficient to support a finding of affiliation.
John Stein and Taft Blackhorse, however, are claiming that the Gambler story actually is true. That’s the crazy part. While, again, there may or may not be some truth hidden somewhere in the story, the specific interpretations they use and the conclusions they present are almost certainly wrong. They’re starting from a widespread tradition that most Navajos probably believe in some sense, interpreting it in an idiosyncratic way, using that interpretation to shape the way they understand and present the archaeological fieldwork they do, and ending up with an account of southwestern prehistory that hardly anyone finds credible.
It is true, as I just mentioned, that most traditional Navajos probably do believe that some version of the Gambler story is true. This doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that they or the Navajo Nation in its official capacity believe the version that John and Taft are presenting. That version is unusual, at least the way they present it, in focusing on the presence of Navajos and downplaying the presence of Puebloans, even though they do admit that presence. Most versions of the story that have been recorded present most of the characters in the story as Pueblo, with the Navajos certainly being present but in a more subsidiary role. I don’t know if John and Taft ever explicitly argue that most of the characters in the story are Navajo, but that’s certainly the implication of the way they present their theories and contrast them with the archaeological consensus that the Chacoans were all Pueblo.
Leaving aside the whole issue of the Gambler story, however, there are a lot of other Navajo traditions involving Navajo connections to Anasazi sites, including Chaco, that are nowhere near as crazy as what John and Taft are saying. These mostly involve the origin stories of specific clans, some of which claim Anasazi ancestry and refer to origins at specific ancient sites, and others of which do not claim Anasazi ancestry but do refer to contact between the early members of the clan and various Anasazi groups. These traditions don’t get as much attention as the flashier stories like the Gambler one, partly because they are traditionally not supposed to be told to outsiders at all. If Navajo oral traditions can be used as evidence of Navajo connections to Anasazi sites, which I would say is still an open question, these are the traditions that are likely to be most reliable. The Navajo Nation’s official position, and the Park Service’s finding of affiliation, rely on these traditions at least as much as on the Gambler story in supporting claims of Navajo affiliation to Chaco.
Therefore, while Keith’s article is certainly interesting and well-done, it really only skirts the edges of the major issue of cultural affiliation. Claims of Navajo affiliation with Chaco and other Anasazi sites do rest pretty much exclusively on oral tradition, but they don’t rest at all on the speculative theories John Stein and Taft Blackhorse have built out of that tradition.
That’s basically the argument I was making in the last post. I recognize that so far, both in that post and in this one, I’ve just been asserting all this without backing it up beyond vague reference to published sources. That might do in an academic context, but here we’re talking about journalism, so I figure it’s incumbent upon me to support what I’m saying with some quotes.
“Cultural affiliation” means that there is a relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced historically or prehistorically between a present day Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and an identifiable earlier group.
A finding of cultural affiliation should be based upon an overall evaluation of the totality of the circumstances and evidence pertaining to the connection between the claimant and the material being claimed and should not be precluded solely because of some gaps in the record.
cultural patrimony must be established by using the following types of evidence: Geographical, kinship, biological, archeological, anthropological, linguistic, folklore, oral tradition, historical, or other relevant information or expert opinion.
Lineal descent of a present-day individual from an earlier individual and cultural affiliation of a present-day Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization to human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony must be established by a preponderance of the evidence. Claimants do not have to establish cultural affiliation with scientific certainty.
The effect of these standards is to make it considerably easier for claimants to establish cultural affiliation, which is a reasonable thing to do given that a lot of tribes would have a hard time finding enough documentation to conclusively prove a connection to an ancestral site. When it comes to Chaco these standards still seem to advantage the Pueblos more than the Navajos, but they leave enough room for a plausible claim that a “preponderance of the evidence” suggests that the Navajos have “a relationship of shared group identity” with the Chacoans. Note that it’s a bit vague on how “group” is to be interpreted. Does it mean the Navajos have to show that the Navajo Nation as a whole is the lineal descendant of the political or cultural unit represented by Chaco? It could be read that way, but the explanations of the standard of proof seem to imply that there are other ways to read it that are to be preferred.
expert opinion, geographical, historical, kinship, linguistic, and oral tradition sources were considered in determining the cultural affiliation of the above listed human remains and associated funerary objects.
That sounds about right, given the NPS guidelines I quoted above. So what conclusions did these criteria lead to?
Anthropological literature supports the view of many Puebloan communities that the San Juan region, which includes Chaco Culture NHP, belongs to their common ancestral cultural heritage. Archeological evidence indicates that Puebloan people were in Chaco Canyon since at least the Basketmaker period (ca. A.D. 1) and, therefore, supports the affiliation of the above mentioned human remains and associated funerary objects with many modern Puebloan communities. Continuities in architecture, ceramics, agricultural practices, food-processing technology, and rituals from Chaco Canyon’s prehistoric settlements, present-day Pueblos, and Hopi Tribe bolster claims of cultural affiliation by these communities. Furthermore, anthropological research indicates that many Puebloan peoples have additional bases for claiming cultural affiliation with the ancient residents of Chaco Canyon due to clan migrations, intermarriage, and the regrouping of communities over time. Linguistic evidence also suggests that modern Keresan speakers (Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Laguna, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, and Zia) originally occupied Chaco Canyon. Additionally, oral traditions specifically link the Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna, Zia, and Zuni, as well as the Hopi Tribe, to Chaco Canyon. Furthermore, the Pueblos of Cochiti, Isleta, San Felipe, Santa Ana, and Santo Domingo have oral traditions that refer to “White House” as an ancestral place. Some anthropologists maintain that White House was located in Chaco Canyon. Tribal cultural specialists offered expert opinion to support the cultural affiliation of the Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Laguna, Nambe, Picturis, Poaque, San Felipe, San Juan, Sandia, Santa Ana, Taos, Tesuque, Zia and Zuni, and the Hopi the Tribe, to Chaco Canyon. Similar expert testimony provided by the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, Pueblo of Jemez, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo indicated that these three communities are not culturally affiliated with Chaco Canyon.
Makes sense. As I noted above, the guidelines definitely suggest that the Pueblos would have a strong claim to affiliation based on cultural continuity. The three groups that apparently claimed not to be affiliated are interesting too. The Jicarilla Apaches were in southeastern Colorado at the time of European contact, so it’s hardly surprising that they don’t have any connection to Chaco. Ysleta del Sur is a community near El Paso, Texas descended from Southern Tiwa and Piro people from the Rio Grande valley who accompanied the Spanish when they retreated from New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. It’s a little odd that they wouldn’t claim affiliation but Isleta and Sandia, descended from the Southern Tiwas who stayed in New Mexico after the Revolt, would, but it’s not hard to imagine circumstances under which they would decide they don’t have anything to do with Chaco, which is quite distant from El Paso. The most interesting of the three is Jemez. Alone of all the New Mexico Pueblos, they seem to have actually argued that they don’t have any affiliation with Chaco despite being geographically closer to it than most. Jemez is one of the most conservative Pueblos and one of the ones least inclined to reveal anything about its traditions to outsiders, so it’s likely that the story behind this will remain untold. It’s certainly puzzling, though.
In addition to the above listed Pueblos and the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation was found to be culturally affiliated with the ancient residents of Chaco Canyon based upon similar sources of evidence. Anthropological sources indicate extensive intermarriage between Navajo and Puebloan peoples occurred, and that the Navajo have traditional ties to the natural and cultural resources of Chaco Canyon. Additionally, Pueblo cultural traits have been incorporated into Navajo cosmogony, ritual, and secular practices. Historical evidence places the Navajo occupation of Chaco Canyon to at least the early 1700s until 1947. It is also known that after the Pueblo revolt of 1680, refugees from the Pueblos of Jemez, Santa Clara, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Cochiti, and Zuni joined the Navajo and were incorporated into their clan system. During the same period, the Hopi of Awatovi joined the Navajo in the Chinle area. Geographically, Chaco Canyon is within the four sacred mountains that define Dinetah territory, and within the area of Navajo aboriginal use lands established by the Indian Claims Commission. Oral traditions also link the Navajo to sites within Chaco Canyon such as Fajada Butte, Pueblo Alto, Pueblo Bonito, and Wijiji, as well as to the Chacoan sites of Kin Ya’a and Aztec. Finally, Navajo cultural specialists have also provided expert opinion affirming their cultural ties to Chaco Canyon. Navajo oral traditions link the Navajo people to sites within Chaco Canyon, and stories describe their ancestors interacting with the “Great Gambler” in Chaco Canyon when Puebloan people occupied the area.
Today, of course, it’s pretty easy to say who is and who isn’t Navajo. The Navajo Nation is a federally recognized tribe with a defined list of members. Politically, then, being Navajo just means being a member of the Navajo Nation. Culturally it’s also pretty easy to determine what it means to be Navajo today. Traditional Navajo culture has been in decline for the past few decades as younger Navajos become more assimilated to mainstream American culture, but most of its key components are still in place to varying degrees, especially among older generations and in more rural parts of the reservation. This culture and its elements are quite easily distinguished from other indigenous cultures in the Southwest. Navajo society is unique among southwestern tribes in being based on a pastoral sheep-herding economy, and many of its other distinctive characteristics originate in that economic system, including the importance of weaving and the settlement pattern based on scattered, highly mobile extended family residential units living in distinctive dwellings known as “hogans” and very low population density. Other aspects of Navajo society, such as the ceremonial system and the kinship system based on matrilineal clans, are shared with various other tribes, but the combination of all these features is distinctively Navajo.
It’s thought that the ancestors of the modern Navajo didn’t even enter the Four Corners until about the 1500s, almost 300 years after Chaco was abandoned. Archaeologists believe the Navajo adopted some Pueblo traits after their arrival in the Southwest. Following the Pueblo Revolt against the Spaniards in 1680, some Pueblo groups sought refuge with the Navajo. The two groups intermarried and their cultures became entwined to a certain extent.
Stein and Blackhorse concede Navajo legends aren’t well represented in the archaeological record, but they counter by pointing out that there is a dearth of data on Navajo sites in general before the 1700s. So the Navajo say that plenty of earlier sites may be there; they just haven’t been found yet. But that is no longer true.
The massive Fruitland gas-drilling project that’s been underway since the late 1980s just outside Farmington, New Mexico, has uncovered thousands of new Navajo sites. Richard Wilshusen, now an adjunct curator at the University of Colorado’s Natural History Museum in Boulder, was part of a research team investigating hundreds of these sites in the 1990s. In a forthcoming study, he argues that a wealth of new archaeological data, combined with other lines of evidence, show that the Navajo didn’t emerge as a distinct cultural group until between 1600 and 1650, at least 100 years after scholars once thought.
Okay, so here we’ve got Athapaskan-speakers living in wikiups entering the Southwest in the fifteenth century, and dividing into Navajo and (Plains) Apache a couple hundred years later. But where is Wilshusen getting these dates?
Out of thousands of sites identified during the Fruitland project, hundreds have been radiocarbon and tree-ring dated. Wilshusen is able to use these dates to trace the development of Navajo culture. He notes an “architectural shift afoot” by 1600, when residential structures became bigger. The most striking changes after 1650, he says, are the clustering of residential timber structures called forked-stick hogans, and the appearance of fortresslike pueblitos and a new polychrome pottery. It’s at this point, Wilshusen concludes, that the Navajo emerged as a distinct group.
You know what would have been really, really helpful here? A mention of what the earliest dates actually are. Does Wilshusen actually have radiocarbon or tree-ring dates for wikiups in the 1400s? He presumably does have dates for the 1500s and the 1600s, since he notes a change “around 1600” involving the emergence of forked-stick hogans, pueblitos and pottery. In any case, regardless of when these dates start, we do seem to have an answer here to what “Navajo” means in the early seventeenth century: forked-stick hogans, etc. This complex of traits does seem to be clearly ancestral to the “Athapaskan” elements of eighteenth-century Navajo culture, so fair enough. This does seem relevant to the question of Navajo ethnogenesis.
Does it have anything to do with Navajo connections to the Anasazi, though? Well, no. Wilshusen may or may not be right about when and where the Navajo became “Navajo” and whether the Gathering of the Clans reflects this period (and there is actually quite a bit of evidence from Navajo oral history that is compatible with his ideas, as Keith notes), but the evidence he presents has nothing at all to do with anything that happened before 1450. Even if he does have dates on wikiups from the late fifteenth century, that doesn’t say anything about when Athapaskan-speaking people entered the Southwest. He seems to think it does, but it doesn’t.
Why not? Well, one way to trace a migration in the archaeological record would be to look for similar sites, plausibly reflecting a single cultural group, over the area covered by the presumed migration, with earlier-dated sites occurring closer to the origin point and later-dated sites occurring closer to the end point. In this context, that might mean wikiups starting in Canada with dates around, I don’t know, maybe 1300, and a trail of similar wikiups further and further south, ending up on the San Juan in 1450.
That’s not what Wilshusen has, though. He’s only looking at one small area, at the end of the presumed migration route. He sees wikiups appearing at 1450 (apparently) and presumes that, since there aren’t any earlier ones in the area, that this represents the appearance of this group in the Southwest. And maybe it does. But he doesn’t have any evidence that it does. What if the Athapaskans had just been hanging out in, say, Utah for a few hundred years, then moved into New Mexico? What if they had actually been in New Mexico for a few hundred years, and their wikiups from before 1450 just haven’t survived, being inherently flimsy (as Wilshusen himself says, these things are hard to see archaeologically)? What if they only started living in wikiups in 1450 and had been in the same area but living in some other sort of dwelling before that? What if they had, say, been living in pueblos?
Now, I want to make it clear that I’m not arguing that any of these other explanations is correct. I don’t have any particular reason to think that. My point is just that Wilshusen doesn’t have any evidence for his argument either. And this is the crucial thing about the perennial question of the Athapaskan arrival in the Southwest: There just isn’t any evidence to show when or how it happened. That’s what John and Taft mean when they talk about a dearth of Navajo sites early on, and nothing Rich Wilshusen has found changes it. Migrations are just inherently difficult to see in the archaeological record.
The key word in Keith’s discussion of Wilshusen’s work is “distinct.” It occurs several times (look back up at the block quotes above to see it). That is, what Wilshusen is saying is that the Navajo only became a distinct culture group between 1600 and 1650. But they, or their ancestors, existed before then. They just weren’t “Navajo” yet. But what does that mean? We’ve already established that it doesn’t mean what it means now. Wilshusen is arguing that it refers to a specific set of cultural traits that distinguished the Navajos from other Apaches. The only clear-cut continuity that I can see is the use of an Athapaskan language. So before 1600, there weren’t “Navajos” in the Southwest, but there were Athapaskan-speaking groups whose descendants would become the Navajos. And we still don’t know how long they had been there.
For the Navajo, their relationship with the Anasazi is complex, and not all ceremonialists agree on its history or nature. It nonetheless is a critical component of Navajo ceremonialism and thus, according to Navajo tradition, is not to be openly discussed. Although this stricture obtains among Navajo people, it is much more stringent with respect to conversation on the matter between Navajos and non-Navajos: non-Navajos are simply not privy to this information (in anything other than general summaries) in any context.To relate the history carelessly in an essay such as this, or indeed in any context, diminishes the power of the narrative, and thereby diminishes the core of Navajo belief and culture.
are friendly and at other times hostile; sometimes people have intermarried and exchanged ceremonial knowledge, and at other times these interactions have been frowned on. Culture and interethnic or interclan relations are understood to be mutable.
the coalition of what became identified as the Navajo.
This is what the “Gathering of the Clans” means. It’s not so much a single event at a single, identifiable place and time, but a process of accretion, with various groups of diverse origins joining together over a long period of time to become the people we know today as Navajo. Some of these were presumably Athapaskan-speakers whose legacy was the Navajo language. Others came from the various historic Pueblos, and often maintained the name of their place of origin, and their legacy may have been agriculture, weaving, sheep, and ceremonial traditions. Yet others, the way Warburton and Begay tell it, may have come directly from the now-ruined Anasazi pueblos.
We want to stress that ‘‘Navajo culture and identity,’’ like all culture and identity, is an evolutionary process; that is, Navajo did not always equate to Gobernador Polychrome, hogans, or any other traits used by archaeologists today to define Navajo.
Quite right. Cultures change, and “ethnicity” is not necessarily deducible from material culture.
Many archaeologists are tied to a trait list that they believe defines ‘‘Navajo’’ sites, and even the most open-minded archaeologists and ethnographers have thus far been unwilling to recognize or accept ‘‘non-Navajo’’ Navajo traits.
With respect to architecture, if Navajos were highly mobile during this time, we should not expect to find hogans. Ephemeral brush structures would have been their shelter, and these would not be preserved in the archaeological record.
We assert that the ethnic divisions and boundaries drawn theoretically by archaeologists do not hold up in the same way in practice. The practical reality in the Southwest for centuries has been an intermingling of peoples, through competition, religious ceremonies, intermarriage, and economic necessity.
Archaeologists study material culture. That’s what they do. Archaeological theories of ethnicity, therefore, tend to be based heavily on material culture and collections of traits. Ethnography and ethnohistory, however, have clearly shown that material culture doesn’t necessarily correspond to ethnicity. Different ethnic groups can have similar physical lifestyles but quite different languages, religious practices, or other aspects of culture that set them apart from each other. Similarly, groups can practice very different lifestyle but share other aspects of culture that they may consider more important in defining their identities. And all of this is in constant flux, particularly in the Southwest. The Navajo are, in fact, practically a paradigm case of the malleability of culture and ethnicity. The “traditional” Navajo lifestyle that now seems so timeless is actually very recent in origin, and understanding what, if anything, it meant to be “Navajo” before that is basically guesswork whether it’s based on material culture or oral history.
may better explain the archaeological data concerning demographics and abandonment.
They’re talking here both about including oral history in archaeological interpretation and about keeping an open mind about possible contact between the Navajos and the Anasazi. Throughout their article they have presented a sober, serious case for both of these. This is, to put it mildly, not the Stein/Blackhorse approach.
So where does this leave us? Are Warburton and Begay right about Navajo-Anasazi contacts? Probably not, but they certainly could be. Are Stein and Blackhorse right? No, their theories are still crazy for all sorts of reasons. Were (some of) the Chacoans Navajo? Not in the modern sense, certainly. Did any of the Chacoans speak Athapaskan languages? Probably not, but there’s not actually any way to tell based on the data we have now. Are (some of) the Navajos today descended from the Chacoans? Yes. Is the Navajo Nation right to claim to be culturally affiliated with the Chacoans? Hard to say. What does it mean to be Navajo? Everything and nothing. It all depends on how you look at it.
After a longer interlude than I was intending (it turns out graduate school is a lot of work!), I have more to say on Keith Kloor’s Chaco article. I have two major criticisms of it, and while they’re closely related, I think it will be easier for me to express them clearly if I put them in separate posts. Thus, this post talks about one issue, and a later post will talk about the other, which I think is probably more important.
The issue I want to address here has to do with one of the major themes Keith uses to structure the article: identity. He puts the controversial theories espoused by John Stein and Taft Blackhorse about the relationship between the Chacoans and the Navajos in the context of recent disputes between the Navajos and other tribes, especially the Hopis, over Navajo claims to cultural affiliation with many of the archaeological sites in the Southwest that archaeologists generally identify as being ancestral to the Pueblos but not to the Navajos. This is definitely a major issue, although I think it probably has more to do with contemporary intertribal politics than with issues of cultural identity.
So the claim here seems to be that the Pueblos and the Navajos both claim to be the descendants of the Chacoans, and the archaeologists, judging from the evidence they have accumulated through their research, side with the Pueblos against the Navajos. If you look carefully at the article, though, this isn’t really what it says is going on. Probably the best way to think about this is to ask who is claiming what about who the Chacoans were and who their descendants are.
The position of the Pueblos, especially the Hopis, is clear: the Chacoans were Puebloans, and their descendants are the modern Pueblos. All the Pueblos claim some connection, although some are more specific and forceful about their claims than others. Most archaeologists basically agree, although they are rather vague about the specifics. The Park Service, through its decision designating the Navajos as one of the tribes with an “ancestral affiliation” with Chaco, is claiming some sort of connection involving descent, although again the specifics are vague. The only people claiming a really strong and specific connection between Chaco and the Navajos are John Stein and Taft Blackhorse. They say that the Chacoans were Navajo, although they acknowledge that Puebloans were involved too, and that the modern Navajos are therefore directly connected to Chaco by virtue of being the descendants of the people there. The implication is that they speak for the Navajos in general, and that the Navajos therefore make the same claim. But do they?
Well, yes and no. The answer to the question “Do the Navajos claim to be descended from the Chacoans?” really comes down to two more questions: “Which Navajos? Which Chacoans?” The Navajos are a diverse people with a population of about 300,000 divided into about sixty clans, each of which has its own origin story. Some of these stories clearly claim that the clan was originally Anasazi and joined the Navajos at some point, and a few name specifically Chacoan sites as part of the story. So members of those clans, assuming they believe the origin stories, certainly believe themselves to be descended from the Anasazi or from the Chacoans specifically. Some clans derive from quite recent migrations of people from various Pueblos within historic times, so if the Pueblos are considered descendants of the Chacoans members of those Navajo clans must also be so considered. Even below the clan level, many Navajos today are descended from women (usually) who were captured in raids on Pueblos in the nineteenth century, or from other sorts of individual-level intermarriage events in the very recent past (i.e., involving specific, named individuals from the Pueblos). In one sense, then, “the Navajos” certainly claim descent from the Chacoans, and at least some do so in a way that even the most skeptical southwestern archaeologist would accept.
That isn’t all of the Navajos, though. Plenty of clans don’t claim any Pueblo or Anasazi connections, and many members of those clans would probably not claim to be directly, personally descended from the Chacoans. There are still the more general traditions about contact between the Navajos and the Anasazi, some of which, like the Gambler story, mention Chaco specifically, so even if there isn’t a relationship of direct descent, most traditional Navajos probably still believe that they have a close connection to Chaco based on their oral traditions.
This is where Taft Blackhorse comes in. Keith describes Taft’s theories as “straight out of Navajo oral history,” which they are, but Navajo oral history is a complicated, multifarious thing, and there is no one canonical version of any of the stories. Note that the clan traditions I mentioned above mostly don’t fit Taft’s theories: they generally posit a sharp distinction between “Anasazi” or “Pueblo” and “Navajo,” with the clan starting out as one and ending up as the other. Even just sticking to the Gambler story, several versions have been recorded by anthropologists over the past hundred and thirty or so years, and while they all bear many similarities in their overall structure, they also differ considerably in both details and tone. To give a concrete example, the version recorded by Washington Matthews in the 1880s differs from Taft’s version not in the overall sequence of events, but in the way it presents them. While in Taft’s version the Gambler and most of the people he enslaves are implied to be Navajo, granting that there were also some Puebloans around, in Matthews’s version the Navajos show up at Chaco only after the Gambler has been there for some time and successfully enslaved many of the Pueblos. They witness him enslave the people of “Blue House” (usually identified with Wijiji), then cooperate with a variety of animal spirits to overthrow him by outgambling him. In this version, which is interesting and which I will discuss at greater length at some point, the cultural distinction between Pueblo and Navajo is clear, although both groups are present, and this is typical of most Navajo traditions about the Anasazi, as discussed in an important paper on this issue which I will talk about more in my next post on Keith’s article.
I’m not saying Keith got anything wrong, exactly, in the way he wrote the article (well, except for one thing). In general, what he says is accurate as far as it goes. The problem, though, is that he seems to want it to go further than it really does. There certainly are complicated and contentious issues about identity and history surrounding Navajo claims to affiliation with Anasazi sites, but John and Taft aren’t really central to them in the way that Keith implies. While he is quite right in noting that they are very far out on the fringe of archaeological thought, it’s important to note that they’re pretty far out on the fringe of Navajo thought too. There certainly are Navajos who agree with their theories, at least in part, but I doubt there are very many who buy the whole thing. There are too many other traditions out there, and they can be interpreted in too many ways. If there is a problem with Keith’s article in this respect, it’s in the lack of other Navajo perspectives. Taft is the only Navajo quoted or even mentioned by name in the piece. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s important not to take him as a representative of the Navajos as a whole. He doesn’t speak for the Navajos. No one person can speak for the Navajos.
But who are the Navajos? What does it even mean to be “Navajo”? That’s a crucial question, but one that will have to wait for the next post. | 2019-04-20T16:43:58Z | https://gamblershouse.wordpress.com/2009/11/ |
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. she has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is -but she knows she needs to survive. But as Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home - until one day, her mysterious past comes back to haunt her.
Olive’s father has a sadness so big that she imagines it as an enormous elephant following him around. Every day Olive sees the elephant, and every day she wishes it would go. With the help of Grandad and her best friend, Arthur, Olive sets out to chase the elephant away. But how can Olive move something so big?
What would you do if you woke up in a strange place? If your whole life changed in an instant and you had no idea what was going on?
Twins Kensy and Max Grey’s lives are turned upside down when they are whisked off to London and discover their parents are missing. As the situation unfolds, so many bizarre grannies on their street, the coded messages they keep finding and the feeling that. All around them, aldults are keeping secrets ... Things can never go back to the way they were, but the twins are determined to uncover the truth.
Author Tim Harris will be visiting our school for Book Week next Term!
The children are startled when they first enter the CENTRAL Central Intelligence Building as the walls magically appear and disappear. They should have paid attention to how they first looked when they entered and the marble reflected green onto their face - bilious (about to vomit or sick looking) as this is definitely the theme of the next three chapters.
How ironic is that! Charles Wallace has reminded Calvin of the warnings made to them but he fails to see that his attempt to go inside the man with red eye’s mind is leaving the others behind. He tries to fight but eventually is completely overcome by the power of IT - whatever or whoever that is!
Meg and Calvin have no choice but to go with Charles Wallace, knowing full well that he is hypnotised or overcome by IT. As Charles Wallace eats his turkey, Meg and Calvin question the man with red eyes, or the Prime Coordinator. This is the author’s opportunity to provide more information about Camatotz, and what the children can eventually expect will happen to Earth if IT has anything to do with it.
Madeleine L’Engle explains that anyone who becomes sick is killed (“We let no one suffer. It is so much kinder simply to annihilate anyone who is ill....Rather than endure such discomfort they are simply put to sleep.” Pg166). She also explains how the walls have been opened into doors and made into lifts by simply ‘rearranging the atoms’. Talking through Charles Wallace, IT tries to convince Meg and Calvin of the benefits of relaxing and giving into IT by appealing to Meg’s troubles at home for being different, and telling Calvin the only reason he doesn’t have any conflict is because he pretends he isn’t different. They argue that although the Earth isn’t perfect they know what happiness is, something that is not allowed on Camatotz. IT’s final message to the children is through the little boy they encountered earlier, who is now being punished in a cell with invisible walls with pain each time he bounces his ball out of rhythm.
Of course this horrible vision of the little boy in pain is followed immediately by Meg’s joy at finally seeing her father, trapped in the transparent column. Meg’s persistence really brought her power in this Chapter. She tries to physically knock IT out of Charles Wallace and when that fails she continues to deny his claims that going into IT will help her father. At the same time Calvin uses Mrs Who’s words to try to get Charles to push IT out of him and while they were struggling against one another inside Charles’ body this was Calvin and Meg’s chance to get to Mr Murry using Mrs Who’s spectacles. Charles Wallace’s anger at them taking the glasses out makes it clear that they are a very powerful force. Of course that is right and they allow Meg to travel from the outside to the inside to her father. But instead of being able to solve everything, her Father is unable to make the real Charles Wallace overcome IT and they are all lead down to the disembodied brain.
One thing that bothers me about these chapters is that Charles Wallace has, what seems to be, the same ability as IT to go into people’s minds, but he is the one who is controlled by IT but Meg and Calvin aren’t. How do they manage to resist IT when Charles Wallace has been overcome? Charles Wallace even says to Meg to just relax - to me, this means that Calvin and her aren’t easily controlled? What do you think? Do you have a theory on why Meg and Calvin still have free will whilst Charles Wallace has been hypnotised?
Chapter 10 to the end!
We have come to the end of the book! The last three chapters create the climax with the final understanding that Meg is, and always has been the chosen one- the one who must overcome IT with love. Up until this point, however, Meg has been so angry that it is hard to believe that she is able to work out that all they really needed to fight with was love.
“We look not at the things which are what you would call seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. But the things which are not seen are eternal” (pg 225). Temporal is temporary, like most ‘things’ but feelings, which are not seen, last forever.
In the last chapter it is this, along with Mrs Which’s final conversation with Meg- that her only weapon is something that IT does not have, that allows Meg to come to the understanding that love is enough to conquer darkness.
I believe that this is the main message of this book- that Meg’s life has been full of darkness and ill-feeling because she is different, but the idea that love can conquer all of that is wonderful. This is also strengthened by the final reunion of the whole family, all full of love and happiness. Do you agree with my idea that conquering the dark thing was a symbol for Meg conquering the dark feelings inside of her?
Now that we have finished the book, what is your overall feeling about it? Would you recommend it to others? Who was your favourite character and why? What was your favourite part? If you could change something, what would it be?
How will each of these help Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace find Mr Murry? What is the danger? What or who will they be meeting?
Meg is clearly displeased as her faults get her IN TO trouble all the time so she doesn’t know how they could ever be used for good. I think that her impatience will probably be one of the things that will help her overcome whatever they come up against.
It is difficult to know what ‘the resilience of childhood’ means for Charles Wallace. I think that perhaps because he is so young, if something really terrible happens he is young enough to not remember it or for it to have little impact on him.
Why do you think everyone on Camazotz seems to do everything in the same rhythm like robots? Are they being controlled in some way? They are scared of something or someone. Why?
This becomes even more dangerous and strange when Charles Wallace realises that he can’t get in to their minds. When they finally speak to the boy they realise that they will only get answers by going to the CENTRAL central intelligence.
The great adventure finally begins and impatient Meg believes she is finally going to see her beloved Father again. What she doesn’t know is that she is also going to see the most dreadful, evil darkness that is trying to take over the world.
Without warning, the three Mrs ‘tesser’ or ‘wrinkle’ Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace through space and time to another galaxy, landing on Uriel to catch their breath and explain some of the reasons behind their secrecy. Charles Wallace’s ability to ‘know’ or read minds makes him protective of Meg and Calvin because they are not getting much of an explanation for any of the things that are happening to them. It is difficult to remember that Charles Wallace is only a toddler because he speaks so well and he stands up to the Mrs for his sister and friend.
Mrs Whatsit’s transformation into her natural winged, “marble white body with powerful flanks, something like a horse but at the same time completely unlike a horse...” was a powerful explanation to the children that there were things that were difficult to explain- that they would have to be shown to understand. When she whisks the children away on her back we are shown another very clear connection between Charles Wallace and these other creatures. When Meg asks Mrs Whatsit to translate the beautiful song they are singing Mrs Whatsit tells Charles Wallace, “...You can let yourself go now. You don’t have to hold back...” telling us that he is definitely connected to far more than just humans and that his special talents extend further than mind reading. Although he is clearly a very extraordinary boy, Charles Wallace is just as horribly affected by the dark thing they are shown. They can all feel the evil in this terrible shadow. For the first time, Meg makes the connection between this evil and her Father’s disappearance, “The dark Thing we saw, “ she said. “Is that what my father is fighting?”.
I’d love to see your comments on how you would feel if you were taken through a tesser. The description of Meg’s flattened out body as the Mrs took them through the 2-dimensional world reminds me of the paper doll books that my Mum used to buy me when I was little. You could push the paper doll figures out and then push out all sorts of clothes and accessories to dress them. I imagined Meg looking like one of those paper dolls and being able to fold this way and that!
I think this chapter should be called Yin and Yang. It is quite clear that Meg and Calvin are two pieces to a puzzle, like the Chinese idea that opposites can actually work together to be stronger than the individual parts. Calvin is so certain that everything is going to be wonderful and Meg expects the worst. Calvin is clever with words, Meg is best at Maths. They are like two perfect opposing pieces. Often, in books, two opposing forces provide balance to the story. I’m wondering if this is the case here, if Meg and Calvin have to use their strengths separately but also have to use their strengths AND weaknesses together to overcome something terrible.
Mrs Murry’s conversation with Meg also provides some of an explanation for the three Mrs. When they are discussing Charles Wallace’s and the idea that he is not like anyone else- that he is ‘new’, Mrs Murry says,”...but people are more than just the way they look. Charles Wallace’s difference isn’t physical. It’s an essence.” It’s not really until I re-read this chapter that I made this connection but I think that it’s important as it also helps us to understand the three Mrs because they are not really physical in the way the humans are but they are an essence of different beings.
Chapter 2 saw us learn more about Meg's family with a brief introduction into the twins' role in the family as the protectors. We also learnt more about Charles Wallace and his special ability to "know things" about Meg and Mum when he 'focuses' on them.
Chapter 2 introduced a couple of new characters as well - Calvin O'Keefe and Mrs Who. Calvin is somewhat of a misfit in his family as well. He is scientifically clever and we learn that he is like Charles Wallace - he can feel things and hear things, "Sometimes I get a feeling about things. You might call it a compulsion."..."When I get this feeling, this compulsion, I always do what it tells me. I can't explain where it comes from or how I get it, and it doesn't happen very often. But I obey it. And this afternoon I had this feeling that I must come over to the haunted house...". Charles Wallace confirms that he and Calvin are the same, "Mother's all right. She's not one of us. But she's all right" but also confuses Meg at the same time by saying that Meg has it tough because "She's not really one thing or the other." We're beginning to get this sense of uniqueness about the children and the purpose of them being at the haunted house with the three Mrs.
There is clearly magic or some other form of witchcraft going on at the haunted house when the children observe that there is a fire under the pot but no smoke coming out of the chimney. Like the children we expect to meet Mrs Whatsit again but are introduced to Mrs Who instead. Mrs Who speaks in English, as well as many other languages, and often recites sayings or poetry in those languages to make her point. She confirms that Calvin has come to the haunted house with a purpose, and it is implied that it was Mrs Whatsit who magically called him to the haunted house. Mrs Who also hints at an upcoming journey for all of them and insists that the children go home and get a good rest and feed before they are called for this mysterious adventure.
What does Mrs Who mean when she says "it's getting near time?" and how or what does she know about Mr Murry?
Who's idea was it to get Calvin involved and why? What does he add to the story?
What does Calvin mean when he says, "I've never even seen your house, and I have the funniest feeling that for the first time in my life I'm going home."?
This Term our Book Club chose "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle for our weekly Book Club adventure.
As I am writing this, we have already raced through the first five chapters and our next meeting, on Thursday 14th June will see us discuss Chapters 6 and 7. We have also invited students from around the world to participate in our discussions through this blog and look forward to hearing their ideas, thoughts and feelings about each book that we unravel.
Due to our progress so far with "A Wrinkle in Time' we have outlined our chapter discussions to date in this first post but will begin posting weekly from now on. Feel free to comment on any of the Chapters/discussions to date and let us now how old you are and where you are on the map.
I haven't seen the Disney movie version of this book - I wanted to wait until I had read it. I like to be able to visualise the characters and settings before I see someone else's interpretation of them. Some of our Book Clubbers have seen the movie but have been sworn to secrecy - no spoilers allowed!
We started off with the very stormy beginning to chapter 1 where we were introduced to Meg and her family. It was very clear that they were no usual family and that Meg was going through a tough time for a number of reasons.
Meg's father had gone away for work and had not been heard from for a long time and people in their small town had started gossiping about his disappearance. Meg is very close to her father so she is confused because she can't understand why he hasn't contacted them. Meg feels alone and strange, so different from the rest of her family.
Her teacher doesn't make her feel any better, either, "School. School was all wrong. She'd been dropped down to the lowest section in her grade. That morning one of her teachers had said crossly, "Really, Meg, I don't understand how a child with parents as brilliant as yours are supposed to be can be such a poor student. If you don't manage to do a little better you'll have to stay back next year." This adds to Meg's self-loathing: "I don't want him to grow up to be dumb like me" and "Maybe if I weren't so repulsive-looking - maybe if I were pretty like you - ". We get the sense that Meg is really struggling just to be a kid.
We also meet Charles Wallace, the youngest Murry child, Mrs Murry, the beautiful and brilliant scientist and Mrs Whatsit, the strange, oddly dressed neighbour, who arrived at their kitchen door in the middle of a raging storm. Charles Wallace is clearly a very unusual, gifted child: "How right he [Father] had been about that, though he himself had left before Charles Wallace began to speak, suddenly, with none of the usual baby preliminaries, using entire sentences. How proud he would have been!" and we see him directing much of the action in the kitchen during this hurricane-like night.
During Book Club we discussed how there seemed to be a hint of Charles Wallace's ability to know exactly what others were thinking, and after meeting Mrs Whatsit, that he and her were alike in some way. This Chapter closes with another hint that Mrs Whatsit knows far too much about the Murry family for someone who they barely know, when she says to Mrs Murry that there is such a thing as a tesseract.
Which character would you be friends with and why?
What do you think a tesseract is?
Find three tricky words and look them up in the dictionary. Post them in the comments with their meaning.
Marisa (from blog) This is Mary a teresact is some sort of way you travel?
Marisa (from blog) I would want to be friends with meg because I could comfort her when she needs it.
I am the Teacher Librarian/Literacy Specialist at an independent Catholic Junior School in Sydney, Australia.
Our Book Club is for students in Years 2-6 and we meet once each week during the NSW School Terms.
Each Term we select a new book to read, discuss and critique. | 2019-04-26T08:43:09Z | https://mrscosentino.weebly.com/book-club/archives/06-2018 |
It is simple. I am a fan of apps that do one thing very well. Mailshake fits the bill because it does cold email outreach really really well. It is very easy to use, very intuitive. No unnecessary bells and whistles.
And even with this simplicity, their feature to personalize emails for every user is phenomenal. Gives you complete control and makes cold email tasks less time-consuming.
- a central list for all the contacts that have been added as part of the campaign.
We started using Mailshake for Cold emails. And now we also use it to send nurture emails to our prospects. We love the ability to personalize email messages. You define a template email cadence and then go through each recipient and personalize their message. It is simple and effective.
"Send cold emails with ease"
Mailshake is amazing for our business. We already had a list of a few hundred potentially interested clients that we collected from our landing page. We could have imported them into MailChimp or MailerLite, but that would be overkill. Plus we only needed a plain text email and preferred doing a drip campaign. It was so easy to put everything into an excel spreadsheet, upload it to Mailshake, and get emails sent instantly. Plus it works straight out of Gmail!
Mailshake could add another email provider on top of Gmail. Gmail limits you to about 500 emails a day, so if you need to send more than that, you're out of luck.
We have been able to reach and follow up with hundreds of interested individuals and have gained leads that we were able to convert into deals. Email is ancient, but at the same time the future!
Hey Monqiue, thanks for your feedback. Most of our customers utilize Gsuite, because as you said Gmail limits you to 500 a day. Gsuite limits you to 2000 per email account, but we've found that number to be ~1100 a day. If you have multiple Gsuite accounts connected to Mailshake you can send thousands of emails per day. Congratulations on your lead conversions from email! Keep it up.
"A Company Who Cares about your success almost as much as you!"
I was sceptical at first. Thinking no this is just another platform for me to spam connection. But after using it once I was blown away by the results. I had an average campaign, that yielded some good results. But what was more amazing, the fact that one of the team members spent the time to create a video reviewing my campaign and gave me some great help!
At first, it took me a little bit to understand, as any platform does. Their customer onboarding took care of that really quickly.
Leads, we need more leads. (As does everyone).
Even if our campaign failed (Which is didn't) I would still recommend this service. Because one of the team will jump on and help you become successful. For the price, we pay we don't deserve any attention. But the team doesn't care if you pay 1,000 a month of barely anything they are always there to help out!
"Wouldn’t use any other option"
The ease of use and design.
Their support, I asked them a couple of questions and they got back to me quickly.
Before using mailshake I was using separate tools for my email marketing and it was all fine at the beginning, but when campaigns and lists start to pile up, it was really hard to keep track of what’s going on. With mailshake I know exactly where in the process each email I send is at any moment, and it gives me real time feedback on my campaign and suggestions when I’m composing my emails !
Simplicity and Zapier integrations, they are absolute game changers. Mailshake is efficient way to reach out to your potential backlink vendors.
I love the design, simplicity and intuitiveness. Their educational courses are on-point, and I strongly suggest you take advantage of them early.
Pricing is a bit steep, especially for startup businesses. The value is there, but in the first few months of learning how to utilize it, there is awful much money wasted. Especially complex for busy entrepreneurs that are tackling multiple projects at the same time.
There is a learning curve to making this work, that goes beyond just software features.
Cold emailing for the sake of backlinking. It really streamlines that backlink acquisition for the SEOs. If you are an SEO that does outreach, you will definitively get the benefit of using Mailshake.
Zapier integration will also prove to be quite effective, and can allow you to merge your sign up forms and your email marketing campaigns.
Sequences can help you stay on top of your link providers on auto-pilot.
Ease of use, multi-user access, great reporting and interface. It is very easy to use and train staff in the software. The whole design is simple, extremely friendly with all the tools I need.
Most important is the deliverability and open rates on email. A lot of this is down to the quality of the list, but I have no issues as it connects directly to my legit google business account to send.
About the platform, really hard pressed to find anything, I think the limitations and price are very fair. Being very nitpicky, I would like to see some pre-formatted campaign reporting or summary notifications in the future, and further integration with other platforms.
I would recommend this software any day of the week, though it is smaller than alternatives, is simply worth it for the best ease of use and interface alone. It makes it so easy to train new staff, enabling you to automate and scale your projects!
Being able to schedule and automate sequences in other time zones is huge. Absolute godsend software. It completely takes the pain away from my team having to worry about the delivery method. We can very quickly build an outreach project or re-engagement with this tool.
"I'm in love with Mailshake"
Mailshake is amazing. We are using it for outbound email and getting outstanding open rates and reply rates. We also use it for emails to users during the trial period of the product - I love how it automatically pauses people when they have replied to a message. The link tracking that points to a subdomain is an amazing feature too.
I wish that it would pause not just drips but also new emails when someone replied. I also wish it was easier to pause all the contacts at one company and generally manage outbound to different contacts at one company.
It's by far the best cold outreach software there is. Hands down.
Mailshake is our go-to tool for outbound cold email as well as converting trial customers down the funnel.
"A simple but effective tool"
Perfectly set up tool that never whacks you. I used to work with the other cold outreach tools, and they all had one feature: lots of functions, and not a single works properly.
Mailshake does not have an automated email scraper, but it does a great job in setting up the campaigns.
Inability to edit the templates outside of the campaign, and integration with Zapier sometimes makes me sad. I'd better make the direct integration with the Google Sheets via API.
Research the ways to create the email lists and check their Cold Outreach Academy, that will give you very valuable insights and highlight the possible mistakes.
"Simple, easy, and has room for improvements"
What I like best about Mailshake is its simplicity and ease of use.
What I dislike is oddly partly what I like best about it. The simplicity is just too simple for my needs, sometimes but thankfully, I've noticed some upgrades/improvements on the platform. I just hope we can save our own templates instead of duplicating campaigns. There is also an issue I keep experiencing with message format where I duplicate a campaign and always need to correct the format of the messages. Also the need to check on what email account the campaign is to be sent from AFTER setting it up can be easily missed. It all gets time consuming.
If you have a huge list of emails/recipients and using Gmail, Mailshake is limited.
Sending campaigns, reaching out to hundreds of potential leads and current clients is made easy.
"best for cold outreach "
Mailshake uses our google accounts for sending the emails which is the best feature of the tool. Its advanced autoresponder gives the ease to schedule 3-4 or 5 follow ups in a single campaign. Recently they had added new email templates and more advanced features to launch a successful campaign. with its analytics, you can put your eye on every small fluctuation in your campaigns.
As there is nothing much to dislike, but sometimes your campaign automatically paused. most of the time its very time consuming to validate the whole configurations to restart the campaigns. apart from this issue rest is fantastic.
the biggest problem with cold outreach is getting the response on your email but with follow-up schedule of Mailshake make the cold outreach easy.
"Simple and usable with few trade-offs for functionality"
Ease of setting up messages and editable messages in very personalised campaigns.
The look'n'feel of the interface is very clean, actions are obvious and easy to follow.
List cleaning service built-in makes this easy.
So far, there is no 'recurring' trigger (time based) for repeated emails. I am looking to set this up via Zapier or IFTTT. It's not unusual, most competitors don't have it either.
Try it, get the pro version and use it with a team.
Servicing clients on follow-through programs: Benefits: Saving time and reliability and repeatability of campaigns.
"Top tool for direct outreach in bulk"
Very minor - would like to see the amount of recipients in each list when uploading multiple. It also would be great if formatting started with the right font size vs having to apply, or maybe a clean-text hrml editor to paste direct code with clear formatting.
Mailshake is the best tool I have used to drive interactions with prospects in the B2B space through SDR or market development services.
"A core essential in our sales and marketing plans"
It's super easy to use. Drag and drop contact list, automatically notify me of recipients who are affected by a separate campaign (And remove them quickly with a click), easy to build templates.
Can't think of anything for now based on the specific purpose of usage we look to achieve.
Review other platforms and make a decision based on your need. However, the potential ROI greatly outweighs the cost. So its a need rather than a want.
"Straightforward platform & great support"
Great support - free review of the campaign.
Great blog, although that could be a bit better, although giving free advice is not their business.
Pricing is very competitive as well.
Tracking link clicks - they provide this feature but then they say this could get negative marking from google but then how do other companies do it. Maybe everyone faces this issue but only these guys are upfront about it.
Give it a shot if you want a straightforward cold emailing platform that works.
"A great tool for your outbound marketing needs!"
I love the fact that I can easily use the old fashion csv file, mail merge it with their easy to use interface then incorporate the data into our CRM.
I don't know how to easily connect with my CRM but will figure it out, at some point.
Try it out on the free version - it's great!
We use it for current customers as it is EASY to customize our messages to customers with this - all text is all we need.
"Mailshake fills a valuable need"
"Great software that cuts out alot of the lugwork"
The main annoyance is that we can only see when someone has viewed an email only once..
it saves so much time from doing it manually,, that was its major benefit for me.
"Automation tool that doesn't automate process"
I use Mailshake for emailing and my experience with it is terrible. First, it is breaking all campaigns (even scheduled), second out of office reply is counted as potential lead so it doesn't send follow-ups to those people. Third thing is that email [email protected] doesn't work, just form that I dug somewhere but that is not the end. On my question why it breaks initial campaign and information that their email is not working I got an answer 'can you tell me when you wrote us since we want to ensure that we answer....' typical support answer but without reply on my problem. I wrote a couple of time since then and I am waiting for 20 days, no answer. So, an automatic tool that doesn't automate a process and without support. I would never go into such an adventure again. Paying for nothing, it doesn\t worth even a penny.
If you want automation tool that is so buggy that processes are not automated and support that is not answering to you (even though you are paying for it) then Mailshake is the great choice for you.
"Easy to use, great simple way to send out email chains"
I love how easy it is to set up rules for different email chains, and track the open and bounce rates.
Nothing - it's been great so far. We love mailshake.
Definitely try out this product if you want to send out sales emails.
Mailshake has given us a way to send out many emails and make them look personalized and professional. It saves our reps a ton of time.
"Just works... and great support"
I like the customize-able fields so that I can speak directly to a bunch of clients or get cozy with new ones.
I use MailShake in conjunction to another Mail service. Because it personalises things so well I make sure I protect my lists on Mailshake and if I send out something that is likely to get me blocked, I use the other service.
What I like the best is the easy use of the software. It makes writing emails more fun & I really enjoy using Mailshake everyday. The customer service is also very good. They are so responsive when getting back to you. The support is there 100%.
What I dislike is honestly nothing at all.
Being able to write, track & improve my emailing.
Easy upload of lists and easy editing of emails.
Inability to edit lists once uploaded but the workaround is to edit the source list and upload it again.
It is the only product I know of that allows you to edit emails in the queue to go before they are sent, and I mean individual emails, not email templates.
Autoresponders are great tools for any business as they can save a huge amount of time and effort.
"Simple & Smart Email Outreach Software"
User interface is simple & intuitive. Takes only minutes to set up a campaign and very easy to track results.
Really don't have any comments here. It's been the top option for email outreach that our team has tried.
Test it out for your next campaign and you'll be hooked.
"Ease of use, great outreach tool"
Easy to use, and produces results. Works with G Suite out of the box, so powerful email.
Not anything. I like that you guys keep improving it.
Outreach and cold emailing has always been a pain, but no longer.
"Still learning the tool, but mail campaigns coming together"
"Easy to send emails - just what we need. "
I love how simple everything is. Mailshake is to the point, clean and efficient. It saves me time and helps me organize my many many emails.
Emailing a ton of people, tracking them, and organizing my lists.
not much really. Maybe find more targeted cold leads. Not able to connect other email providers.
My title says it all. If your a marketing company looking for fresh leads, then MailShake will make it easier for you.
"Best all around cold email tool"
"Great solution for cold emails"
Very easy to use. Good content regarding best practices.
Analytics could be better, some limitations in the email cadences you can create.
My ability to analyze large email drip campaigns and find information such as click rates, opens, and any generated leads all from mailshake.
Mailshakes funtionality when it comes to formatting on the templates.
Reaching a large audience quickly, saving emails from getting bounced/marked as spam, and connecting with leads.
"Best platform for sales outreach"
Can't think of anything to be honest! Mailshake offers great value.
"Great product -- especially for blogger outreach"
The platform is extremely intuitive and easy to "figure out"
Haven't found anything I dislike yet. I have found the system extremely easy to use and very effective.
How helpful everyone is when I have a question. This tool is hands down the best investment I’ve ever made.
"Great simple tool for outreach"
Jump right in! Super easy to setup and create mail campaigns.
Handling email outreach to cold leads.
"Great price, simple and effective software"
I love how simple it is to use. It's great for testing messaging and running different outbound drip campaigns to lists.
Can't think of anything I dislike. Their updates are always awesome.
"Easy to use and effective if utilized properly"
How easy it is to upload emails and send them with a personal touch.
Being able to send lots of messages at once.
"Really good product and amazing customer service"
Not much to be honest, it really is great. I think they should be able to make multiple timezones for different campaigns though.
* We monitor all Mailshake reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. Validated reviews require the user to submit a screenshot of the product containing their user ID, in order to verify a user is an actual user of the product.
Hi there! Are you looking to implement a solution like Mailshake? | 2019-04-22T19:04:39Z | https://www.g2.com/products/mailshake/reviews |
Q2240 Chairman: I did not think I would be the one to have that put-down, Secretary of State. I walked into that pretty unwittingly!
Mr Hoon: I apologise. It was not in any way meant to be a put-down. I simply think that the premise of your question depended on the results of an inquiry that is only just beginning, and given the inquiry, I am not sure it would be wise of me to anticipate its results.
Q2241 Chairman: I thought you used that answer to the earlier questions. Following on from that very successful questionand I think I know the answer but I am still asking itdo you think the war in Iraq has undermined our ability politically to take the sort of pre-emptive actions which the SDR New Chapter identified as likely to be necessary against the threat from international terrorism?
Mr Hoon: No, I do not believe that it has. We have made clear that in dealing with threats to the people of the United Kingdom, it is necessary to take action against those threats where they arise and not simply wait for them to manifest themselves in the United Kingdom itself. In a sense, operations in Afghanistan were an illustration of that, and the operations there, which continue, have not only destroyed the training camps that were previously available to Al-Qaeda, but they have also disrupted significantly their command and control and their communications. That continues to be operationally necessary, but it is a very good illustration, I think, Chairman, of precisely the point that you were making.
Chairman: We look forward to seeing what recommendations the Committee of Inquiry makes to minimise the risk of any failures, if failures there were, in intelligence.
Q2242 Mr Havard: Much of the discussion, obviously, in Westminster village is all about the things that happen in Westminster village, but I am interested in what intelligence and what advice was given to operational commanders on the ground from all of this, presumably expecting to go into a situation of present danger and a threat and all the rest of it on the basis of the intelligence assessment. We know you did not have "Jones the Spy", which is a bit of a problem in Iraq, because you could not grade a lot of the intelligence, but we have heard stories that this is the most photographed country in the world, yet when troops engaged, the maps were wrong, and boys were drawing things on bits of paper and swapping them around. There were serious problems with basic intelligence and information. What I would like to know therefore is what in fact was said to the troops and the operational commanders. Were they expecting the weapons of mass destruction to come via a boy with a bag on his back pretending to be a shepherd rather than it being a ballistic missile? In other words, I would like to know the advice about the asymmetric threat but also the direct military threat. What advice did they get?
Mr Hoon: Troops were prepared to deal with a number of potential threats in the way in which weapons of mass destruction might have been deployed. I am sure all of us can recall some early television clips of missiles coming into deployed forces in Kuwait and people making the appropriate response by getting into their chemical protection suits. It was a very vivid image at the start of the conflict.
Q2243 Mr Havard: Is that because they did not know?
Mr Hoon: It happened on a number of occasions. It was clear that those people had been properly briefed to expect a threat from a weapon of mass destruction, and they took appropriate action. I can recall embedded journalists describing that process as their cameraman took the pictures, and we all saw those pictures on our television screens. It indicates that they were properly prepared for that threat. As the operation developed, there were examples, particularly affecting American coalition forces, of attacks of an asymmetric kind. By then I think we were more in control of the territory from which, say, missiles could have been launched.
Q2244 Mr Havard: What you are really describing is they did not know so they tried to protect themselves against anything and everything.
Mr Hoon: That is probably a prudent preparation for any kind of military conflict.
Q2245 Mr Havard: Is that good enough though?
Mr Hoon: I do not understand why you say it was not good enough.
Q2246 Mr Havard: If you are an operational commander on the ground, you would expect you might get a little bit of graded intelligence as to what it is you are facing.
Mr Hoon: I have indicated, I think, the clearest possible example of what they were prepared to deal with and why they did it.
Chairman: We are coming on to this again, Secretary of State, on NBC defence.
Q2247 Mr Havard: My question is actually about embedded officers in the process, and it does follow on, in a sense. What we have learned is we have had embedded officers in Tampa and then in Qatar as part of the planning process, which I think quite clearly was thought to be, in terms of what was described to us as a "bottom up" process, very successful and very helpful, I think, in terms of doing what one of the officers called "We influenced the planning for the better" and I think some of them were afraid of the planning that they saw when they started. They were quite clearly only brought into the planning at certain stages, and I wanted to ask you about the timing of that. We know they were there after 11 September, and they had been there for some time. We are told that they discovered a "no foreigners" planning exercise going on in May 2002, in other words the Americans were excluding everyone, including the Brits, from that process. They were eventually involved in June and July 2002, and they got some authority to then carry on and do some pre-planning. But what they also told us was that what they discovered was that there were two windows for this exercise to happen in, the spring or the autumn. We know the war happened in the spring. You know the suspicion is that the Americans were always going to go in the spring anyway, no matter what the intelligence told them and no matter what the planning was. The question we want to ask is how successful do you think they were in terms of not only the political activities that were involved in the planning but also the operational side of the planning, on matters such as targeting and so on? There are two questions: one is about the military efficiency of these people's involvement and also their political involvement.
Mr Hoon: First of all, they did a tremendous job, and I think I need to distinguish between the regular liaison that takes place between Britain's armed forces and Centcom, not least after Afghanistan, where we again had British officers working very closely with their American counterparts in preparing operations. That cooperation continued, and involvement in the planning of specific operations, obviously, in relation to Iraq, where againI do not actually have the exact numbers but wherever I went in visiting forces, in preparing for the operations, British forces were significantly represented, and whenever I have spoken to either military officers or their political leadership in the Pentagon, there has been great praise for the contribution British forces made, but I would not want to be nationalistic about that, and I am sure you were not being. The development of military planning is a process, and I am pleased that British officers were able to contribute significantly to that, but I do not think necessarily they were any better or any worse than their American counterparts. They did an extremely good job together.
Q2248 Mr Havard: I am critical personally of the question about how they go about picking out targets, and I think the fact that the British were there helped that significantly, because they would have bombed a lot of things that otherwise they did not bomb because there was perhaps more intelligence from our side. It links back to the intelligence process. What I am really interested in is were they influencing that timetable, where they also being incorporated into the process, was this part of a political incorporation process or was it really about military planning for military effect? There is a tension between those two things, and it is quite clear that we are going to have to cooperate with the Americans for a long time in the future. Perhaps you can say something about how you see that moving on from the lessons learned here, how you are safeguarding, in a sense, against the incorporation problem whilst enhancing the real effect that they may have in terms of military planning.
Mr Hoon: On the question of targeting, this was a completely integrated process. The air campaign was about as integrated between the US and the UK as it could be. Indeed, I can recall occasions on which aircraft were in the sky, receiving their orders to take out particular targets, and it depended entirely on which aircraft were available, whether they were US or UK. That demonstrates the level of integration of targeting. So I would not accept that there was any kind of difference in approach between the US and the UK in the planning or preparation or indeed in the execution of that process. As far as the embedding of officers in military planning is concerned, their job is to produce the best military plan available for coalition forces. As I say, I believe that British forces played a significant part in the planning and did a tremendous job.
Q2249 Chairman: Is this likely to be permanent, Secretary of State, or just a series of ad hoc arrangements?
Mr Hoon: I said in answer to the earlier question that there has been regular liaison and exchanges between Centcom, for example, and indeed other American command headquarters, and British forces. I do not think they are ever based on a permanent arrangement as such, but nevertheless, the level of exchange over the years is such that in effect there have always been British officers there, to the best of my knowledge, certainly in my time in this job.
Q2250 Rachel Squire: First Reflections and your Lessons for the Future report highlighted the competing pressures of diplomatic negotiations and military preparations. It is clear that in seeking to avoid undermining the diplomatic phase of the crisis over Iraq, some decisions in respect of military preparations were delayed. Would you consider that it is inevitable that where military operations are just one part of the spectrum of diplomatic and political activity, the need to keep the political processes on track for as long as possible will act as a constraint on military preparations?
Mr Hoon: It could. I do not believe that it did as far as this particular operation is concerned. Inevitably it is my job to ensure on behalf of the armed forces and the Ministry of Defence that there is a consistent approach both to a diplomatic effort as well as to a military effort, and I believe that that consistent approach was carried through.
Q2251 Rachel Squire: You say that you do not believe it did in relation to Operation Telic. Are you really confident that there was no effect of the political diplomatic process on the holding of stocks of military supplies or in being able, for instance, to place orders early enough for matters for urgent operational requirements so as to allow their delivery to be just in time rather than just too late?
Mr Hoon: That is a perfectly proper question, which I will try and deal with. As far as stockholding is concerned, a judgment was madethe Committee has, I think, discussed this in the pastabout the appropriate level of equipment in store immediately available for a rapid reaction in terms of an international crisis. A judgment was made that that should be sufficient to equip the rapid reaction force at around 9,000. Thereafter the judgment was made that urgent operational requirements and the process of supplying those extra pieces of equipment would require sufficient time in order to be able to put a larger force into the field. That judgment, as I indicated in my introductory remarks, perhaps required some updating in the light of the kind of operation that we have just carried out in Iraq, which is why I have decided that there shall be larger stocks immediately available. That is in the light of the lessons that we have learned from this operation. As the NAO, I think, makes clear in its conclusions, there is always a balance to be struck between having equipment available immediately, given the cost of that, as against the process that we went through in relation to making sure that our troops were sufficiently equipped to conduct military operations in Iraq. It is a balance. It is a judgment. I judged that the previous level was not sufficient, but it could be the caseand I well recall this when I was first appointedthat we end up not using stock because it becomes time-expired and the money is thereby wasted. One of my early jobs was to close down various warehouses full of spare parts for equipment that had gone out of service and that had never been used. I have a responsibility not only to the taxpayer but also to the armed forces to make sure that we spend scarce resources as effectively as possible, and destroying stock that has never been used because it is no longer relevant is not something that I think is necessarily the best use of those scarce resources, either from the point of view of the taxpayer or, crucially, from the point of view of the armed forces, because I could have spent that money on something more useful as far as they were concerned. It is a judgment; it is a balance. We have got to get that judgment and balance right. My view is that we did what was necessary in Iraq, but perhaps learning the lessons that we hold larger stocks for the future than we did at the time. Those judgments evolve in the light of experience.
Q2252 Rachel Squire: Can I then ask you whether, in terms of learning those lessons, there was any consideration of whether international political processes could impact on the urgent delivery of supplies and equipment that had actually been manufactured outside the UK.
Mr Hoon: I do not think we had a particular problem on this occasion, but there will be plenty of people in this room that can recall the difficulties that we had on previous occasions in securing ammunition from particular countries. I had probably better not name those countries, to be diplomatic, but I think everyone knows what I am talking about. Obviously, the reliability of supplies is crucial, and that is again something that has to be taken into account as part of this process.
Q2253 Chairman: We are just trying to remember. Switzerland and Belgium. Apologies to any Belgians and Swiss.
Mr Hoon: So much for diplomacy, Chairman!
Chairman: I was never skilled in that, Secretary of State.
Q2254 Mr Blunt: Secretary of State, before following up on issues about equipment, can I just say that I spent two and a half years as a special advisor to one of your predecessors, and I have a vivid memory of reading a cutting from the Sun in Warsaw about a story about a Wren who had gone AWOL and was causing some concern, Wrens having just been introduced to the ships. It would be extraordinary, given the sensitivity to the press of the administration that you represent that your cuttings service is not being sent out to your private office on a daily basis when you are overseas. Not now, but could you please investigate and confirm that your private office received the cuttings service in question on those dates that you were away in Warsaw and Ukraine?
Mr Hoon: I will certainly investigate that.
Q2255 Mr Blunt: Let me begin with something that I hope we all agree on. I want to declare my interest as the son and grandson of two senior military logisticians, who I think would have taken huge pleasure from the unprecedented achievement in modern military logistics, which you described in your opening statement as heroic, in getting the equipment out to the Gulf for Gulf War II. Would they be right to take huge pride in that achievement, if they were still alive, and would they also be right in saying that the scale of their achievementsincluding all the civilian agencies involvedexceeded everyone's reasonable expectations?
Mr Hoon: I am grateful for that observation, because it is my view that the logisticians have not always been accorded the praise that I think they rightly deserve. They tend to be people who are rather taken for granted in the process, and I must say I was particularly impressed when I went to exercise Saif Sareea.
Q2256 Mr Blunt: I fear we do not have very long, so "yes" will do.
Mr Hoon: It is important that I answer the question. I recall going there towards the end of the exercise and at that stage there was the process beginning of getting the equipment and people back to the United Kingdom, and I must say that was a remarkable effort and, as you have properly said, this was something which was duplicated in our operations in Iraq this time.
Q2257 Mr Blunt: Therefore, Secretary of State, it is correct that the failures of supply that have been identified by the NAO are actually rather more to do with the strategic issue of the timetable to which the logisticians were working than any lower order issues such as efficiency in the supply chain about asset tracking that you are talking about. You have talked about the sheer volume of matériel that the logistic chain is having to deal with in a very short space of time. You, as Defence Secretary, were responsible for the timetable. Is that correct?
Mr Hoon: Yes, but if the implication of that is that there should have been more time, then I am sure your father and grandfather would have recognised as the logisticians that they were that the time is the time that you have available, and the job of a logistician is to ensure that the equipment is moved from, in this case, mostly the United Kingdom to theatre in the time that is available. That is the job they did, and that is why they did it so heroically.
Q2258 Mr Blunt: The point is, Secretary of State, that you were responsible for the timetable by the political decision that you took as Secretary of State for Defence for when preparations could begin. Could you turn to the chronology in your First Reflections document on page 73, the second booklet: Operations in Iraq: Lessons for the Future. As far as you are aware, the chronology is accurate?
Q2259 Mr Blunt: There are no dates in this chronology that the MoD appears to regard as significant between 17 December 1999 and 12 September 2002.
Mr Hoon: I am sorry. That is a completely open-ended question. I would be much happier if you were rather more precise as to what you mean by that. | 2019-04-19T08:20:03Z | https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmdfence/57/4020503.htm |
Operating Tip: Run or Search and Pounce?
If you're considering putting in your first tower this spring or summer, it's definitely not too early to begin the project. As a large station investment, first steps include determining what your goals are, and having a good idea of the antennas you'll be putting up, since that determines tower ratings. Depending on where you live, Amateur Radio towers may be regulated by building codes, municipal codes, homeowner associations, or CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions). It's best to understand what you can and can't do before you start. Talk with other Amateurs in your local radio club, use radio club resources, the ARRL website and resources, and tower-specific mailing lists. Always verify information to make sure it's current and applicable to your situation.
If you worked all 83 ARRL/RAC sections during the CW or Phone November Sweepstakes, and haven't ordered your Clean Sweep mug, you've got a few days left. The last day to order a 2016 November Sweepstakes mug is January 31. Mugs will be shipped in April 2017. The price for the keepsake mug is $15 each (including postage and handling) and orders should be sent to Clean Sweep Mugs, ARRL Contest Branch, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111. Send a paper copy of the first page of your Cabrillo file and indicate how many mugs you are ordering along with your check. Participation pins are also available, see the Sweepstakes website for more information.
The Southeastern VHF Society Conference, April 28-29, 2017 is soliciting your papers and presentations on "technical and operational aspects of VHF, UHF and Microwave weak signal Amateur Radio." Suggested areas of interest include contesting! "The deadline for the submission of papers and presentations is March 13, 2017. Papers and presentations are being handled by Jim Worsham, W4KXY. If you plan to submit a paper or presentation please contact Jim ASAP at [email protected]"
Jeff, WK6I, requests any anecdotes, stories, and pictures regarding the 2017 ARRL RTTY Roundup be sent to him via [email protected] if you have not already posted them to 3830scores or submitted them with your log.
NAQP Logs are now due five days after the contest. NAQP SSB logs from last weekend's contest are due on January 27.
CQ 160 Meter Contest logs are also due five days after the contest.
The Frankford Radio Club has been in operation since 1927!
Dave, N3RD, and Bill, WY3A, reminded me that FRC is the Frankford Radio Club. Bill sent along the logo to prove it.
Dave, K3ZJ, points out that "PVRC's contribution to WRTC 2018 is two tents in memory of all of PVRC's SKs, and one separate tent in memory of W3AU, W3GRF, & W4KFC."
N8SS, K9YC, and N0AX all wrote in to discourage any non-standard or shortened exchanges.
N7WA and K7WA both agree that the ARRL HF101 slide presentation referenced in the last issue was worked on by N0AX and K7WA.
Don, AE5K, points out that the BITX40's VFO chip is the Phase Locked Loop SiS5351.
A number of readers wanted to know which contests applied the N-QSO rule in the adjudication of contests. It's up to the sponsors to determine when it's appropriate to apply scoring criteria in addition to those published in the rules. This has occurred when there was cause to believe that some competitors were not provided accurate contact information by the stations that they worked, such as during WRTC 2006. Pre-flight checking of logs by applying the N-QSO rule can also identify logs that are different than their cohort and may require extra attention when scored using the contest rules. In WRTC 2014, final top scores and standings were affected by the inability to verify during the judging timeframe that a multiplier only worked by a single top team was valid.
Team Competition - The maximum team size is now five members to encourage activity and allow small teams to be competitive.
Multipliers - The list of multipliers is now congruent with that of the NAQP.
The next CW Sprint is scheduled for February 5, 2017. These NCJ Sprint rule changes do NOT apply to the Phone Sprint, which is sponsored by a different entity.
Electronics industry analysts are predicting that 3.5mm headphone jacks will increasingly be disappearing from high-end cellular phones and other consumer electronics over the next year. The trend, which started to be mainstream with the Apple iPhone 7, is accelerating. Many devices already have Bluetooth wireless circuitry, and eliminating the 3.5mm jack cuts production costs and a potential source of a mechanical problem. Removing the hole in the case makes it easier to fluid-proof devices as well. With the retail prices of Bluetooth audio modules in the sub $10 range, we'll likely be seeing wireless audio capability built into our ham gear. Suitable audio latency is a headset characterstic to verify before using any CW application.
Jim, K8ARY, enjoys entering the ARRL RTTY Roundup because of his experience with mechanical teletype machines: "I was a teletype mechanic in a previous life. Now I just tinker with the beasts and get on the air with a machine when possible. There has been some discussion on Greenkeys (an electronic mailing list dedicated to mechanical TTYs - Ed.) about having a 'machine' category during a RTTY event. QSOs take a bit longer to complete as there is no automated exchange. I am wonder if this is something that might be of interest to other RTTY contesters? The Greenkeys participants are interested in some type of acknowledgment for the TTY machines. As a group, we are trying to extend the longevity of the machines that still exist."
Donations to WRTC 2018 will be matched dollar for dollar by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club Matching Gift program, but only until February 28, 2017. Up to $500 will be matched. See this article for details.
Five states may have "right to repair" laws on their books later this year, which would compel manufacturers to make information and parts available for the repair of consumer products. Bills in Nebraska, Minnesota, New York, and Massachusetts have already been introduced. Kansas will likely be next. Wyoming is considering a right to repair law restricted to agricultural equipment, as farmers are finding that they are unable to repair the equipment they depend on for their livelihood.
Cans: headphones. It is said it originated from British slang, potentially among BBC employees.
Steve, N2IC, reports that the NAQP CW Score Database has been updated to include the August 2016 CW NAQP results.
WRTC 2018 announces that the first Sponsored WRTC 2018 Team will be led by Rick, N6XI. Rick has been entering radio contests for over fifty years, and was a WRTC competitor in 2010. Additional sponsored team opportunities are available, see the WRTC 2018 website for more information.
Run, or Search and Pounce? In general, it really is all about the rate, making the most number of points per minute. Logging programs can provide information to help make decisions on how to operate moment to moment, but you also have to know the scoring rules. For example, if you've made 400 contacts worth 2 points each so far, and have 27 multipliers, you'll have 21600 points. Here's one way to predict your next hour: Assume conditions stay the same. If your logging program is telling you that your hourly rate is 60, and the band doesn't change, and the mix of multipliers remains the same at about 4 per hour, you might expect to add 7520 points to your score, or about 125 points per minute during the next hour. At the time of prediction, one multiplier is worth 800 points, or about 6.4 minutes of rate. If you can find and work more than one multiplier every 6 minutes, you should consider S&P. Otherwise, run. The catch is that there are other variables, and conditions do change. There may not be enough multipliers available to support working one every 6 minutes. A higher rate may be available on this band or another band. Multipliers may be available now that won't be available later. The reasonable strategy? Know what you and your station are capable of to inform your decisions. Run on one VFO, find multipliers on the other. Only work multiplier stations on that second VFO until you're assured that there are no multipliers to work. Evaluate what you are doing at frequent intervals.
Joe, K8JP, suggests using 20 lb paper instead of dollar bills to clean a contact, as dollar bills can be dirty. "I have strips of paper cut for this. I keep a small bottle of alcohol on my desk to dip the strips of paper into for stubborn dirt pieces."
The fourth edition of the "Agilent Impedance Measurement Handbook" is available, and it provides guidance on how to make accurate measurements under various conditions. As automated measurements become more the norm, the handbook also points out how to recognize and avoid inaccurate measurement results.
The Boy's Life website recently featured a how-to article on building a crystal radio. The design uses a wound coil and germanium diode driving a telephone handset. The telephone handset may be the most difficult component to find.
Ward, N0AX, rediscovered this lament while reading "The History of the ARRL": "In March, 1916...Almost the entire interest of amateur radio of this period seems to have been in the development and improvement of operating practices and technique. Technical interest had fallen largely by the wayside, insofar as the typical amateur was concerned. There we routine arguments about the relative efficacy of high and low spark tones, and some discussion about the proper circuits and operating voltages to be used with audions, but the pervading spirit was one of complete complacency with regard to the technical status of the art." Not much has changed since then, eh, OM?
When good coax goes bad, it's often due to water ingress. DX Engineering has published a technical tip showing how to use a combination of rubber splicing tape and vinyl tape to make weatherproof coax connectors.
The Flexradio folks have shared an application note regarding grounding in the shack. Single point grounding and the differences between RF and electrical grounding are among some of the topics discussed.
Try this one simple trick to improve your station and your contest scores over time: Invite someone else over to operate your station for an entire contest. Even if you don't have time to tidy up the shack to make your operating position less distracting and more efficient for yourself, chances are you'll likely do that for a guest. By having to explaining your station layout, band change procedures, rotator and rig controls, chances are you'll think of a way to streamline things. If all of that goes well, here's something that could be really difficult: Invite constructive feedback from your guest(s) on what they think can be improved. Improvements that benefit your guests will also help you attain higher scores. And isn't that what it's about?
CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jan 25, 1300z to Jan 25, 1400z, Jan 25, 1900z to Jan 25, 2000z, Jan 26, 0300z to Jan 26, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 28.
NCCC RTTY Sprint, Jan 27, 0145z to Jan 27, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 29.
QRP Fox Hunt, Jan 27, 0200z to Jan 27, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: February 2.
NCCC Sprint Ladder, Jan 27, 0230z to Jan 27, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 29.
CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW, Jan 27, 2200z to Jan 29, 2200z; CW; Bands: 160m Only; W/VE: RST + (state/province), DX: RST + CQ Zone; Logs due: February 3.
Montana QSO Party, Jan 28, 0000z to Jan 29, 0000z; CW, Phone, Digital; Bands: 160 to 70cm; MT: RS(T) + county, non-MT: RS(T) + (state/province/"DX"); Logs due: February 4.
REF Contest, CW, Jan 28, 0600z to Jan 29, 1800z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; French: RST + Department/Prefix, non-French: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: February 13.
BARTG RTTY Sprint, Jan 28, 1200z to Jan 29, 1200z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Serial No. (no signal report); Logs due: February 5.
UBA DX Contest, SSB, Jan 28, 1300z to Jan 29, 1300z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; ON: RST + Serial No. + province, non-ON: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: February 12.
Winter Field Day, Jan 28, 1900z to Jan 29, 1900z; Any; Bands: All, except WARC; Category + ARRL Section (or DX); Logs due: March 1.
QRP Fox Hunt, Feb 1, 0200z to Feb 1, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 26.
Phone Fray, Feb 1, 0230z to Feb 1, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 27.
CWops Mini-CWT Test, Feb 1, 1300z to Feb 1, 1400z, Feb 1, 1900z to Feb 1, 2000z, Feb 2, 0300z to Feb 2, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 28.
UKEICC 80m Contest, Feb 1, 2000z to Feb 1, 2100z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; 4-Character grid square; Logs due: January 25.
NRAU 10m Activity Contest, Feb 2, 1800z to Feb 2, 1900z (CW), Feb 2, 1900z to Feb 2, 2000z (SSB), Feb 2, 2000z to Feb 2, 2100z (FM), Feb 2, 2100z to Feb 2, 2200z (Dig); CW, SSB, FM, Digital; Bands: 10m Only; RS(T) + 6-character grid square; Logs due: February 16.
NCCC RTTY Sprint, Feb 3, 0145z to Feb 3, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 29.
QRP Fox Hunt, Feb 3, 0200z to Feb 3, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 26.
NCCC Sprint Ladder, Feb 3, 0230z to Feb 3, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 29.
YLRL YL-OM Contest, Feb 3, 1400z to Feb 5, 0200z; CW/Digital, SSB; Bands: All; QSO No. + RS(T) + (section/province/country); Logs due: March 5.
Vermont QSO Party, Feb 4, 0000z to Feb 6, 0000z; All; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, VHF/UHF; VT: RS(T) + County, non-VT W/VE: RS(T) + (state/province), DX: RS(T); Logs due: March 5.
Triathlon DX Contest, Feb 4, 0000z to Feb 4, 0759z (CW), Feb 4, 0800z to Feb 4, 1559z (SSB), Feb 4, 1600z to Feb 4, 2359z (RTTY); CW, SSB, RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: February 28.
10-10 Int. Winter Contest, SSB, Feb 4, 0001z to Feb 5, 2359z; Phone; Bands: 10m Only; 10-10 Member: Name + 10-10 number + (state/province/country), Non-Member: Name + 0 + (state/province/country); Logs due: February 20.
F9AA Cup, CW, Feb 4, 1200z to Feb 5, 1200z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 2m; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: March 6.
Black Sea Cup International, Feb 4, 1200z to Feb 5, 1159z; CW, SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; HQ: RS(T) + club/org abbreviation, Black Sea Countries: RS(T) + ITU Zone No., BSCC Members: RS(T) + "BS" + club number, Others: RS(T) + ITU Zone No.; Logs due: February 15.
FYBO Winter QRP Sprint, Feb 4, 1400z to Feb 5, 0000z; CW, SSB, Digital; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS(T) + (state/province/country)+ name + power out + temperature(F); Logs due: March 5.
Minnesota QSO Party, Feb 4, 1400z to Feb 5, 0000z; CW (CW/RTTY/PSK), Phone (FM/SSB); Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; MN: Name + County, W/VE: Name + (state/province), DX: Name; Logs due: March 15.
British Columbia QSO Party, Feb 4, 1600z to Feb 5, 0400z; CW, SSB, Digital; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; BC: RS(T) + District, non-BC: RS(T) + (state/province/"DX"); Logs due: March 7.
AGCW Straight Key Party, Feb 4, 1600z to Feb 4, 1900z; CW; Bands: 40m Only; AGCW: RST + Serial No. + "/" + Class + "/" + Name + "/" + Age; Logs due: February 28.
FISTS Winter Slow Speed Sprint, Feb 4, 1700z to Feb 4, 2100z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; FISTS: RST + (state/province/country) + first name + FISTS No., non-FISTS: RST + (state/province/country) + first name + power; Logs due: March 5.
Mexico RTTY International Contest, Feb 4, 1800z to Feb 5, 1759z; RTTY Only; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; XE: RST + State, non-XE: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: March 8.
North American Sprint, CW, Feb 5, 0000z to Feb 5, 0400z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; [other station's call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name] + [your state/province/country]; Logs due: February 10.
RSGB 80m Club Championship, SSB, Feb 6, 2000z to Feb 6, 2130z; SSB; Bands: 80m Only; RS + Serial No.; Logs due: February 13.
ARS Spartan Sprint, Feb 7, 0200z to Feb 7, 0400z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + Power; Logs due: February 9.
QRP Fox Hunt, Feb 8, 0200z to Feb 8, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 26.
Phone Fray, Feb 8, 0230z to Feb 8, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 27.
CWops Mini-CWT Test, Feb 8, 1300z to Feb 8, 1400z, Feb 8, 1900z to Feb 8, 2000z, Feb 9, 0300z to Feb 9, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 28.
See NCCC Sprint Ladder, Vermont QSO Party above. | 2019-04-20T06:59:55Z | http://www.arrl.org/contest-update-issues?issue=2017-01-25 |
The DNA methyltransferase Dnmt3a suppresses tumorigenesis in models of leukemia and lung cancer. Conversely, deregulation of Dnmt3b is thought to generally promote tumorigenesis. However, the role of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in many types of cancer remains undefined. Here, we show that Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are dispensable for homeostasis of the murine epidermis. However, loss of Dnmt3a-but not Dnmt3b-increases the number of carcinogen-induced squamous tumors, without affecting tumor progression. Only upon combined deletion of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, squamous carcinomas become more aggressive and metastatic. Mechanistically, Dnmt3a promotes the expression of epidermal differentiation genes by interacting with their enhancers and inhibits the expression of lipid metabolism genes, including PPAR-γ, by directly methylating their promoters. Importantly, inhibition of PPAR-γ partially prevents the increase in tumorigenesis upon deletion of Dnmt3a. Altogether, we demonstrate that Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b protect the epidermis from tumorigenesis and that squamous carcinomas are sensitive to inhibition of PPAR-γ.
Most of the cells in our body contain the same DNA. However, our bodies are made of many different types of cell, such as nerve cells or skin cells, which perform very different jobs. In each cell type only certain sets of genes encoded by the DNA are active. Proteins known as epigenetic regulators are responsible for producing the different patterns of gene activity. If epigenetic regulators are switched on or off at the wrong time, they can contribute to ageing and diseases such as cancer.
Enzymes known as DNA methyltransferases are one group of epigenetic regulators. DNA methyltransferases control the activity of genes by adding small chemical groups known as methyl groups to the DNA. Two of these enzymes – known as Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b – are important during development to help cells mature and specialize into different types. Mice that lack both of these enzymes either die as embryos or just after birth. Furthermore, these enzymes are mutated or less active in some skin cancers and various other human cancers.
Here, Rinaldi et al. investigated the role these enzymes play in adult mice. The experiments show that under ordinary laboratory conditions, mutant mice that lacked Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b were as healthy as normal mice. However, when the mice were exposed to chemicals that promote tumor growth, which mimics skin exposure to UV light, the mutant mice developed many more skin tumors than the normal mice. Furthermore, the tumors in the mutant mice were more likely to form secondary tumors in the lung. Rinaldi et al. found that Dnmt3a reduced the production of a protein called PPAR-γ, which helps to break down some types of fat molecules. Treating the mutant mice with a drug that inhibits PPAR-γ activity slowed the growth of the tumors.
Overall, these experiments show a new way in which DNA methyltransferases act in adult animals. Future research will investigate whether drugs that inhibit the breakdown of fats could help to treat cancers in which the Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b proteins are mutated or less active.
DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that regulates several aspects of gene expression, such as long-term gene silencing, transcriptional elongation, and maintenance of genomic stability (Allis and Jenuwein, 2016; Avgustinova and Benitah, 2016; Rinaldi and Benitah, 2015). It is found throughout the vertebrate genome and is deposited by DNA methyltransferases on the fifth position of cytosine (5-mC), predominantly at CpG dinucleotides. The role of DNA methylation in establishing different cell fates during embryogenesis is fairly well understood. However, if and how DNA methylation is necessary to stably maintain the identity of adult stem cells, and how this process is disrupted during oncogenic transformation, is under intense investigation (Shen and Laird, 2013).
Three DNA methyltransferases are encoded in the vertebrate genome. Dnmt1 is predominantly associated with the maintenance of DNA methylation following cell division due to its high affinity for hemimethylated DNA. Consequently, depletion of Dnmt1 leads to a significant reduction of the global levels of 5-mC (Li et al., 1992; Lei et al., 1996). Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are de novo DNA methyltransferases that establish genome-wide DNA methylation during mammalian embryogenesis and adult stem cell homeostasis (Okano et al., 1999). In mouse embryonic stem cells, the combined loss of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b leads to the progressive loss of DNA methylation, suggesting that these enzymes are additionally involved in maintaining 5-mC levels (Chen et al., 2003).
Recently, progress has been made in identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying the biological functions of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b by studying their genome-wide localization. For instance, Dnmt3b associates with and methylates the gene bodies of actively transcribed genes in murine embryonic SCs and human embryonic carcinoma cells (Baubec et al., 2015; Jin et al., 2012; Morselli et al., 2015). Likewise, it has been proposed that gene body methylation is responsible of most of the transcriptional changes underlying the ability of Dnmt3a to promote neural SCs differentiation, and in protecting the lung epithelium from tumor progression (Wu et al., 2010; Gao et al., 2011).
We have recently reported that Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are required for the self-renewal of human keratinocyte progenitors, whereas Dnmt3a is also required for their proper differentiation (Rinaldi et al., 2016). Mechanistically, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b bind to and promote the activity of enhancers in both human epidermal progenitors and differentiated keratinocytes (although Dnmt3a having a stronger affinity for enhancers in differentiated keratinocytes). Interestingly, both proteins preferentially associate to super-enhancers rather than typical enhancers. Nonetheless, they differ in their mechanism of action, since Dnmt3a (together with Tet2) is essential to maintain high levels of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) at the center of its target enhancers, while Dnmt3b promotes 5-mC along the body of the enhancer. These regulatory regions dictate the transcription of essential genes necessary for epidermal stem cell identity and maintenance, such as FOS, ITGA6, TP63, and KRT5. Similar to its role in mouse ES cells, Dnmt3b also binds to and methylates the gene bodies of these genes to reinforce their expression (Rinaldi et al., 2016). Dnmt3a also associates to the enhancers regulating the expression of genes such as IVL, LOR, FLG2, and KRT1 which drive the differentiation of SCs into mature keratinocytes (Rinaldi et al., 2016). Interestingly, DNA methylation at active enhancers has also been recently reported in normal and cancer-derived human colon, mammary and prostate epithelial cells (Charlet et al., 2016).
However, to date, no in vivo studies have investigated the roles of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in adult epidermal function and malignant transformation. Using mouse models carrying an epidermis-specific ablation of either Dnmt3a or Dnmt3b, or both, we demonstrate that Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are dispensable for skin homeostasis. However, Dnmt3a has a critical role in suppressing carcinogen-induced squamous tumor initiation, but not progression, while both Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b concertedly prevent tumor progression.
We first studied the pattern of expression of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b during epidermal development, and in adulthood. At E14.5, Dnmt3a was expressed in the entire Keratin-14+ compartment comprising the basal layer of the embryonic epidermis and the hair placodes (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A). At P0, all Keratin-14+ basal cells were positive for Dnmt3a with the exception of the highly proliferative hair follicle bulb cells (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A–B). By the time animals reached adulthood, Dnmt3a levels remained high in the hair follicle bulge where most hair follicle stem cells reside (Solanas and Benitah, 2013), and decreased in the interfollicular epidermis, although some basal IFE cells expressed high levels (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A–D). On the other hand, we were not capable of detecting Dnmt3b by immunofluorescence staining in sections of developing or adult mouse epidermis (not shown), suggesting that Dnmt3b is expressed at low levels (Challen et al., 2014). In fact, RNA-seq data confirmed that Dnmt3a was enriched almost fivefold as compared to Dnmt3b in adult basal IFE keratinocytes (Figure 1—figure supplement 1C). However, Dnmt1, the main DNA methyltransferase, was the most abundant DNA methyltransferase, both in interfollicular epidermis and in hair follicle bulge cells (Figure 1—figure supplement 1C).
To gain insight to the roles of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in epidermal tissue function, we generated epidermis-specific conditional knockout (cKO) mice by crossing animals containing the Dnmt3a or Dnmt3b gene flanked by loxP sites with animals carrying the Keratin14-CRE-ROSA26-YFP-cassette (hereafter referred to as Dnmt3a/3b-cKO) (Gao et al., 2011). Surprisingly, neither Dnmt3a- nor Dnmt3b-cKO displayed noteworthy epidermal phenotypical differences as compared to their wild-type littermates at different postnatal ages (Figure 1—figure supplement 1D–E and Figure 2—figure supplement 1A). Likewise, despite its strong expression in hair follicle stem cells, the loss of Dnmt3a did not result in evident changes in hair follicle cycling and pelage growth (Figure 1—figure supplement 1E–F).
Deregulation of DNA methylation can alter gene expression, leading to tumor suppressor silencing or oncogene activation (Witte et al., 2014), and mutation/deregulation of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b has been observed in several tumor types (Leppert and Matarazzo, 2014; Subramaniam et al., 2014). Recently, Dnmt3a has attracted much attention, as it is one of the most frequently mutated genes in cancer (Kim et al., 2013), especially in acute myeloid leukemia (Garg et al., 2015; Ley et al., 2010). In fact, a loss-of-function mutation of Dnmt3a is one of the earliest mutations that occurs in human acute myeloid leukemia (Shlush et al., 2014). Importantly, these mutations are functional since knock-in mice that model it develop a range of severe myeloid and lymphoid malignancies (Challen et al., 2011; Mayle et al., 2015). In addition, HSCs harboring inactivating mutations of Dnmt3a are clonally selected in ageing humans (Shlush et al., 2014). However, much less is known about how deregulation of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b affect tumorigenesis in epithelial tissues.
To elucidate the roles of Dnmt3a and Dnm3b in skin tumorigenesis, we first generated tumors from the epidermis using the chemically induced carcinogenesis protocol based on DMBA/TPA (Ewing et al., 1988). The first epidermal squamous malignancies appeared significantly sooner in Dnmt3a-cKO than in their wild-type littermates, after only 2 months from the first DMBA treatment, indicating that Dnmt3a acts as a barrier against tumor initiation (Figure 1A,B). Dnmt3a-cKO animals also showed a significant increase in tumor burden, with an average of 17 tumors per animal compared to three tumors per wild-type animal after 6 months of initiating the experiment (Figure 1C and Figure 1—source data 1).
Dnmt3a loss shortens the onset of carcinogen-induced skin neoplasia, and increases tumor burden.
(A) Representative pictures of wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO animals after 5 months of treatment with DMBA/TPA. Graph in panel A represents the percentage of animals WT (n = 6) or Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 6) that entered into anagen after 2 weeks of treatment of DMBA/TPA, p=0.02, Chi-Square test. (B) Time of appearance, expressed in percentages of skin tumors on wild-type or Dnmt3a-cKO animals, p=0.005. (C) Number of skin tumors after 3 or 6 months of DMBA/TPA treatment, p=0.001 and p=0.0007. (D) Representative images (hematoxylin/eosin staining) of different subtypes of skin tumors. (E) Histopathological analysis of the different subsets of skin tumors that appeared after DMBA/TPA treatment of wild-type or Dnmt3a-cKO animals.
Although Dnmt3a-cKO animals showed a strong increase in tumor initiation and burden, they developed the same percentage of squamous cell carcinomas than wild-type mice (Figure 1D,E). Indeed, a detailed histological analysis of the tumors collected from Dnmt3a-cKO and wild-type animals indicated that Dnmt3a-cKO mice developed the same percentage of benign tumors, such as keratoacanthomas and papillomas, as well as of malignant invasive papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) (Figure 1E). Dnmt3a-cKO mice only developed an increase in the percentage of sebaceous adenomas (Figure 1E). No metastases were scored in any of the animals, as expected using this protocol in mice with a C57/Bl6 genetic background (Sundberg et al., 1997). Altogether, these results indicate that loss of Dnmt3a dramatically increases initiation of epidermal squamous tumors without affecting their malignant progression, and slightly skews the histology of tumors towards the sebaceous lineage.
Dnmt3a suppresses K-Ras-driven lung tumor progression, whereas Dnmt3b is pro-tumorigenic in APC-deficient colorectal adenomas (Gao et al., 2011; Lin et al., 2006). Hence, we next tested whether Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b also exert opposing effects regarding tumorigenesis in the epidermis. Interestingly, there were no differences between wild-type and Dnmt3b-cKO mice with respect to either the timing of tumor initiation or tumor burden upon treatment with DMBA/TPA (Figure 2A-right panel). There were no significant changes in the histological appearance of the tumors, or the number of basal cells proliferating or undergoing apoptosis, between Dnmt3b-cKO and the wild-type controls (Figure 2—figure supplement 2 and Figure 2—figure supplement 3A–B).
Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b double cKO animals develop more aggressive tumors than wild-type, Dnmt3a-cKO and Dnmt3b-cKO mice.
(A) Left, representative images (hematoxylin/eosin staining) of skin tumors isolated from wild type and Dnmt3b-cKO littermates after 6 months of DMBA/TPA treatment. Right, time of appearance of tumors shown as percentages in wild-type and Dnmt3b-cKO animals, and number of skin tumors after 3 or 6 months of DMBA/TPA treatment. (B) Left, representative images (hematoxylin/eosin staining) of skin tumors isolated from wild type and Dnmt3a/Dnmt3b DcKO littermates after 6 months of DMBA/TPA treatment. Right, time of appearance of tumors represented as percentages in wild-type and Dnmt3a/Dnmt3b DcKO animals, and number of skin tumors after 3 or 6 months of treatment with DMBA/TPA. (C–D) Number of tumors (left) and time of appearance (right) expressed as percentages, in wild type, Dnmt3a-cKO and DcKO animals after 6 months of DMBA/TPA treatment. (E) Histopathological analysis of the different subsets of skin tumors that appeared after DMBA/TPA treatment of wild type or DcKO animals. (F) Representative images of metastatic nodules identified only in a percentage (33%) of the lungs of DcKO animals, scale bar = 100 μm.
To assess whether Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b potentially play redundant roles during tumorigenesis, we also induced tumors using the DMBA/TPA protocol in animals carrying an epidermis-specific deletion for both Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in combination (DcKO). Strikingly, although DcKO animals had a severe depletion of DNA methylation in their epidermises, they formed a morphologically normal skin with all its appendages and did not develop any epidermal abnormality even up to 70 weeks of age (Figure 2—figure supplement 4A–B). This strongly suggests that de novo DNA methylation is dispensable for the long-term homeostasis of undamaged epidermis. However, when subjected to tumorigenesis, DcKO animals displayed a significantly shortened latency and significant higher tumor burden than wild-type mice (Figure 2B–F). Although these differences were similar to the ones observed in single Dnmt3a-cKO mice (Figure 2C–D), DcKO mice formed aggressive squamous cell carcinomas at a higher frequency as compared to the single cKOs of Dnmt3a or Dnmt3b (Figure 2E). In addition, metastatic nodules in the lungs were observed in 30% of DcKO animals, but in none of the wild-type, Dnmt3a-cKO, or Dnmt3b-cKO animals (Figure 2F). Recent reports show that epidermal squamous cell carcinomas that harbor cells undergoing epithelial to mesenchymal transitions are more metastatic than those that remain predominantly epithelial in nature (Latil et al., 2017; da Silva-Diz et al. 2016). Interestingly, DcKO tumors contained large areas with spindle-shaped cells that expressed lower levels of the epithelial markers E-Cadherin and Keratin14, compared to the wild type and to Dnmt3a-cKO tumors (Figure 2E, and Figure 2—figure supplement 5). These cells also expressed the mesenchymal marker Vimentin (Figure 2—figure supplement 6A–C). Importantly, these cells that had undergone a mesenchymal transition were still YFP+, thus deriving from the K14+ origin of the tumor (Figure 2—figure supplement 6).
Taken together, these results indicate that Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are dispensable for epidermal homeostasis, and that Dnmt3a, but not Dnmt3b, suppresses skin squamous tumor initiation. However, both Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b repress the malignant transformation of epidermal cells into aggressive squamous cell carcinomas.
We next wanted to characterize the molecular mechanisms that might underlie the tumor-suppressive function of Dnmt3a in the epidermis. To this end, we isolated by FACS-based cell sorting the basal integrin α6bright tumor cells from four wild-type and eight Dnmt3a-cKO tumors, and performed whole-genome transcriptome profiling by RNA-seq (Figure 3A). It is important to note that our mouse pathologists scored these tumors as squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and that ADFP (Perilipin-2) expressing sebaceous adenomas were not included in this transcriptome study (Figure 3—figure supplement 1A–C).
Deletion of Dnmt3a results in increased tumor heterogeneity, and upregulation of genes related to lipid metabolism.
(A) Schematic representation of FACS sorting strategy to isolate both RNA and DNA from Itga6pos cells within the tumors. (B) Heatmaps representing gene expression (rlog transformed values) of the 391 differentially expressed genes between wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO sorted tumor cells. (C) Two-dimensional principal-component analysis (PCA) of RNA-seq samples from wild-type (n = 4) and Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 8) Itga6bright sorted tumor cells. (D) Gene ontology analysis using Genomatix Online Software of the 114 downregulated and 277 upregulated genes in Dnmt3a-cKO tumors, divided by biological processes and over-represented signal transduction pathways. (E) Immunofluorescence staining for Krt14 and PPAR-γ of skin tumors from wildtype and Dnmt3a-cKO animals.
The PCA analysis of the RNA-seq samples showed that the four wild-type tumors clustered together, indicating that overall their transcriptomes were defined by common genes (Figure 3B,C). In contrast, the transcriptomes of Dnmt3a-cKO tumors were substantially more heterogeneous, suggesting that the loss of Dnmt3a could result in the deregulation of numerous different pathways in cancer cells, or that in the context of Dnmt3a loss, different cell of origins (i.e. basal IFE cells, hair follicle stem cells, or Lrig+ stem cells) might be more prone to generate more transcriptionally divergent tumors. Nevertheless, 391 genes were consistently differentially expressed between wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO tumors, of which 114 were downregulated and 277 were upregulated in the latter (Supplementary file 1). The downregulated genes were mainly associated with apoptosis, suggesting that loss of Dnmt3a promotes cell survival and protects against programmed cell death (Figure 3D); consequently, TUNEL and active Caspase3 staining confirmed that Dnmt3a-cKO tumors had fewer apoptotic cells as compared to wild-type tumors (Figure 3—figure supplement 2A–B and Figure 3—figure supplement 2—Source data 1). Dnmt3a-cKO tumors also expressed higher levels of several genes involved in cell proliferation (Figure 3D). Interestingly, proliferation was only significantly increased in pre-cancerous DMBA/TPA-treated Dnmt3a-cKO epidermis (Figure 3—figure supplement 3A–B), while no differences in proliferation were evident between the homeostatic epidermis and tumors of wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO mice (Figure 3—figure supplement 3A–B). Altogether, this suggests that the loss of Dnmt3a endows pre-cancerous mutant basal cells with a survival and proliferative advantage, which could account for the increased number of tumors these mice develop. However, once tumors are formed, they progress with the same kinetics as wild-type tumors (Figure 3—figure supplement 3C and Figure 3—figure supplement 4—Source data 1).
Gene ontology (GO) analysis of the 277 genes that were upregulated in Dnmt3a-cKO basal tumor cells highlighted two principal pathways that were over-represented in all eight Dnmt3a-cKO tumors: Wnt signaling (including ligands and receptors), and more predominantly, lipid metabolism (Figure 3D). Interestingly, recent reports have associated an increase in lipid metabolism with increased tumorigenesis of chronic myeloid leukemia, as well as colorectal, liver, oral, and breast cancer (Beyaz et al., 2016; Ma et al., 2016; Camarda et al., 2016; Ye et al., 2016; Corbet et al., 2016; Schug et al., 2015; Pascual et al., 2017; Wahl et al., 2017; Bensaad et al., 2014; Luo and Puigserver, 2016). A number of genes associated with fatty acid and lipid metabolism were upregulated in Dnmt3a-cKO tumors (Figure 3D, Supplementary file 1). Among these, the most upregulated ones encoded the key pro-adipogenic transcription factors PPAR-α and PPAR-γ, which promote adipocyte differentiation and the expression of genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, and which are not expressed in homeostatic epidermal cells (Fajas et al., 2001). The role of these transcription factors in cancer is still poorly understood, although they tend to be upregulated in many types of human tumors (Fajas et al., 2001). Importantly, PPAR-γ was upregulated at the RNA and protein levels in all the Dnmt3a-cKO sequenced tumors (Figure 3E and Figure 3—figure supplement 4A–B). Interestingly, the expression of PPAR-γ has been extensively reported to be under epigenetic control by repressive mechanisms such as H3K9 methylation and DNA methylation (Wang et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2013).
To further dissect the early molecular changes that might result in the tumor-suppressing role of Dnmt3a in the epidermis, we did a short (6-week long) DMBA/TPA carcinogenesis treatment (Figure 4A). We then FACS-isolated Itga6brightCD34neg cells, consisting mostly of epidermal basal cells (IFE), and hair follicle stem cells (Bulge; Itga6brightCD34pos) from pre-cancerous back skin of wild-type or Dnmt3a-cKO animals for RNA-seq analysis (Supplementary file 2). After this short DMBA/TPA treatment, most of the upregulated genes in epidermal cells (IFE) were already predominantly linked to lipid metabolism and cell proliferation, whereas they related mostly to cell proliferation, and Wnt signaling in bulge stem cells (Figure 4—figure supplement 1A–B). Interestingly, we did not observe a diminished expression of genes regulating apoptosis, as we did in tumor cells. Hence, these results suggest that most of the transcriptome changes observed in tumors upon deletion of Dnmt3a occur early, and that the transition from the pre-cancerous epithelium to tumor growth occurs subsequently by bypassing apoptosis.
Dnmt3a binds a subset of enhancers in tumor cells.
(A) Schematic representation of a short treatment of DMBA/TPA in wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO animals. (B) Genomic localizations of Dnmt3a determined by ChIP-seq of Dnmt3a in epidermal cells isolated from wild-type animals after 6 weeks of DMBA/TPA treatment. (C) Gene ontology analysis of the 363 H3K27ac-enriched regions (located at least 4 kb away from the TSS) also bound by Dnmt3a in isolated epidermis from wild-type animals after 6 weeks of DMBA/TPA. (D) Screenshot of enhancers bound by Dnmt3a in DMBA/TPA-treated skin in the FOS locus. All tracks are normalized to the number of mapped reads.
Dnmt3a is responsible for establishing and maintaining the levels of both 5-mC and 5-hmC around enhancers and promoters (Colquitt et al., 2014; Yang et al., 2016). In addition, Dnmt3a directly methylates the center of its target enhancers resulting in their subsequent hydroxymethylation via Tet2 in human epidermal keratinocytes (Rinaldi et al., 2016). To study which targets are regulated directly by Dnmt3a during transformation of murine epidermis, we performed ChIP-Seq for Dnmt3a in DMBA/TPA-treated pre-cancerous back skin epidermises from wild-type or Dnmt3a-cKO animals (Figure 4A). We also compared the ChIP-seq data obtained with MeDIP-seq and hMeDIP-seq performed on FACS-sorted tumor cells. The profiles of MeDIP-seq and hMeDIP-seq around regulatory regions (transcription start sites (TSS) and enhancers) agreed with published data (Figure 5—figure supplement 1A), and the CG content in our MeDIP-seq/hMeDIP-seq was highly enriched as compared to the input, both of which are measures of good quality data (Figure 5—figure supplement 1B).
We detected 16,483 genomic locations bound by Dnmt3a in wild-type animals, but only 64 in Dnmt3a-cKO, confirming the specificity of the Dnmt3a antibody (Figure 4B and Supplementary file 3). Of the bound regions in the wild-type epidermis, more than 20% corresponded to intergenic regions (Figure 4B). ChIP-Seq for H3K27ac using the same samples allowed us to identify 3097 intergenic regions enriched for H3K27ac that corresponded to active enhancers, 10% of which were bound by Dnmt3a in wild-type cells (Figure 4A–C, Supplementary file 3). Interestingly, proximity-based analysis revealed that the active enhancers bound by Dnmt3a predominantly corresponded to genes essential for keratinocyte differentiation and transcriptional regulation, such as Evpl (encoding for Envoplakin), Ppl (encoding for Periplakin), Fos, Myc, Cebpa, and Fosl2 (Figure 4C–D), similarly to what we have previously reported in human epidermal keratinocytes (Rinaldi et al., 2016).
The active enhancers bound by Dnmt3a contained higher levels of DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation than those not bound by it (Figure 5A,C). Importantly, loss of Dnmt3a significantly reduced their DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation (Figure 5A,C). Intriguingly, a significant reduction in DNA methylation also occurred in enhancers not bound by Dnmt3a, albeit to a statistically significantly lesser extent than those directly targeted by Dnmt3a in wild-type cells (Figure 5A,B). Upon deletion of Dnmt3a, DNA hydroxymethylation was also significantly reduced in its target enhancers, and to a lesser extent in non-Dnmt3a-bound enhancers (Figure 5C). However, the ratio of 5-hmC levels at enhancers bound by Dnmt3a between wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO epidermal cells is significantly higher as compared to the ratio of 5-hmC levels between the enhancers that are not normally bound by Dnmt3a (Figure 5D). This indicates that the presence of Dnmt3a correlates with significantly higher 5-hmC levels, likely because Dnmt3a provides 5-mC as a substrate for generating 5-hmC, as we have previously shown in human keratinocytes (Rinaldi et al., 2016).
Depletion of Dnmt3a leads to loss of DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation around its target enhancers.
(A) Relative methylation score (CpG count) measured around 363 enhancers bound by Dnmt3a (–5 kb, +5 kb) from independent biological replicates of FACS sorted tumor cells from wild type (n = 2) and Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 2) (p<2.2 × 10−16). (B) Relative methylation score (CpG count) measured around 2734 enhancers not bound by Dnmt3a (–5 kb, +5 kb) from independent biological replicates of FACS-sorted tumor cells from wild-type (n = 2) and Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 2) animals (p=2.374e−5). (C) Global levels of 5-hmC at enhancer center (–2Kb, + 2 Kb) were quantified using HOMER software in independent biological replicates of FACS sorted tumor cells from wild-type (n = 2) and Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 2) mice at enhancers bound or not by Dnmt3a. (D) Ratio between the 5-hmC levels at enhancers bound or not by Dnmt3a in wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO tumor cells.
In addition to active enhancers, a significant proportion (19%) of the enriched regions for Dnmt3a corresponded to promoters/TSSs (Figure 4B and Supplement file 3). To understand if Dnmt3a was methylating these promoters, we overlaid the Dnmt3a ChIP-seq with the MeDIP-seq data. Notably, the promoters bound by Dnmt3a showed a strong and statistically significant loss of DNA methylation around the corresponding TSS (Figure 6A). The levels of DNA methylation were not significantly changed at promoters not bound by Dnmt3a (Figure 6B). Of note, Dnmt3a-target TSSs were not enriched for 5-hMC (not shown). The loss of DNA methylation at the promoters/TSSs bound by Dnmt3a was also accompanied by a general increase in the transcription of these genes, measured by RNA-seq in the tumors (Figure 6C). Altogether, these data suggest that Dnmt3a directly represses the expression of a specific subset of genes by methylating their promoters/TSSs.
Dnmt3a binds and methylates a subset of promoters of genes involved in lipid metabolism in DMBA/TPA-treated epidermal cells.
(A) Relative methylation score (CpG count) measured around active and silenced promoters bound by Dnmt3a (–5 kb, +5 kb) from independent biological replicates of FACS-sorted tumor cells from wild type (n = 2) and Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 2) animals. (B) Relative methylation score (CpG count) measured around promoters not bound by Dnmt3a (–5 kb, +5 kb) from independent biological replicates of FACS-sorted tumor cells from wild-type (n = 2) and Dnmt3a-cKO (n = 2) animals (p=0.104). (C) CPM (Counts por Million) values of genes bound at the TSS by Dnmt3a in DMBA skin tumors from wild-type or Dnmt3a-cKO animals. (D) Gene ontology analysis, using Enrichr online software, of the 3521 genes bound at their promoter by Dnmt3a. (E) Screenshot of PPAR-γ gene, with all tracks normalized. (F) Normalized methylation score measured around TSS of Ppar-γ (–1 kb to +1 kb) bound by Dnmt3a. (G) CPM (Counts por Million) values of PPAR-γ measured by RNA-seq in sorted Itga6bright cells from DMBA/TPA-treated IFE and from DMBA skin tumors in wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO mice. (H) Immunofluorescence staining for Krt14 and PPAR-γ of DMBA/TPA-treated skin and skin tumors from wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO animals.
Interestingly, a GO analysis of the promoters bound by Dnmt3a indicated that they regulated the expression of genes predominantly involved in cell proliferation and lipid metabolism, consistent with our RNA-seq results (Figure 6D and Supplement file 3). Interestingly, Dnmt3a bound the promoters of Ppar-α and Ppar-γ in wild-type but not Dnmt3a-cKO epidermis (Figure 6E and Supplement file 3). Furthermore, 5-mC levels were lower in the TSS of the PPAR-γ gene in Dnmt3a-cKO as compared to wild-type tumors, indicating a DNA methylation-dependent mechanism of transcriptional repression (Figure 6F).
Consistent with a transcriptional derepression of the locus following loss of DNA methylation, PPAR-γ mRNA and protein levels were upregulated both in pre-cancerous interfollicular epidermis and in tumors lacking Dnmt3a, suggesting that the upregulation of PPAR-γ is acquired at the pre-cancerous stage, even before overt tumors appear (Figure 6G,H and Figure 6—source data 1).
We next tested whether the increase in the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism was required for the earlier onset of tumorigenesis and increased tumor burden in Dnmt3a-cKO mice. To this end, wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO mice were subjected to the DMBA/TPA skin carcinogenesis protocol, but were separated into two cohorts, one treated topically with a PPAR-γ chemical inhibitor in combination with DMBA/TPA, and the other with the vehicle (Figure 7A-diagram) (Sahu et al., 2012; Grabacka et al., 2006). Interestingly, inhibition of PPAR-γ significantly delayed the onset of tumor appearance in Dnmt3a-cKO mice, and reduced the number of tumors developed by the Dnmt3a-cKO (Figure 7B–C and Figure 7—source data 1). However, the average size of the tumors was not affected by the inhibition of PPAR-γ (Figure 7D). Thus, inhibition of PPAR-γ could be a potential new therapy for cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas harboring low levels of Dnmt3a.
PPAR-γ inhibition revert the tumor initiation phenotype of the Dnmt3a-cKO.
(A) Schematic representation of the DMBA/TPA orthotopic treatment together PPAR-γ inhibitor (Sigma GW9662) treatment onto wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO animals. (B) Time of appearance, expressed in percentages of skin tumors on wild-type or Dnmt3a-cKO animals (vehicle and GW9662 treated): p=0.008, Chi-Square Test. (C) Number of skin tumors after 3 months of DMBA/TPA treatment plus GW9662 treatment, p=0.007 (Unpaired T-Test). (D) Tumors sizes expressed in millimeters (mm) after 3 months of DMBA/TPA plus GW9662 treatment.
At last, using public available data from four different studies we determined that the expression of Dnmt3a is significantly reduced in squamous cell carcinomas and actinic keratosis, the premalignant stage of squamous tumors, compared to human healthy epidermis (Figure 7—figure supplement 1 and Figure 7—figure supplement 1—Source data 1).
Dnmt3a modifies cytosine at CpG dinucleotides and is responsible for the proper differentiation of murine hematopoietic stem cells and murine neural stem cells (Challen et al., 2011; Mayle et al., 2015; Shlush et al., 2014). Recently, we and others have shown in human epidermal keratinocytes and murine olfactory sensory neurons, respectively, that Dnmt3a regulates gene expression by cooperating with Tet to maintain high levels of 5-hmC at enhancers (Colquitt et al., 2014; Rinaldi et al., 2016). Importantly, Dnmt3a is not only frequently mutated in human tumors (Kim et al., 2013) but is perhaps one of the first mutations to occur during tumorigenesis (Shlush et al., 2014). Using knockout mouse models, we now have demonstrated that Dnmt3a is also tumor-suppressive toward carcinogen-induced epidermal squamous neoplasia. Its loss not only accelerated the onset of tumors, but also increased tumor burden. However, once formed, Dnmt3a-deficient tumors grew, and progressed to carcinomas with the same kinetics and proportions, respectively, as their wild-type counterparts. Recent works have shown that the absence of Dnmt3a or Tet2 in hematopoietic stem cells predisposes to leukemia formation (Yang et al., 2016; Rasmussen et al., 2015), but that restoring the expression of Dnmt3a after the leukemia had developed did not revert the phenotype (Yang et al., 2016). That said, the role of Dnmt3a in tumorigenesis is tissue specific, since in the lung it does not affect tumor initiation but rather tumor progression (Gao et al., 2011). Interestingly, in the work of Gao et al., most of the changes in gene expression in Dnmt3a-depleted cells were attributed to alterations in gene body methylation, rather than at promoters. Conversely, in our model, we see significant changes at regulatory elements (i.e. promoters and enhancers) that lead to changes in gene expression in Dnmt3a-depleted epidermal tumors.
Our results, together with accumulating evidence from other groups, demonstrates a clear relationship between the levels of Dnmt3a–Tet–5-hmC and tumorigenesis: the inactivation of this axis in adult stem cells predisposes them to tumor initiation. Interestingly, a global reduction of 5-hmC is a hallmark of several cancer types, including squamous cell carcinoma, and is often correlated with poor prognosis (Zhang et al., 2016; Liao et al., 2016; Shi et al., 2016; Ficz and Gribben, 2014; Lian et al., 2012). Our results indicate that Dnmt3a drives the DNA-methylation, and subsequent hydroxymethylation, of a subset of enhancers that regulate the expression of genes involved differentiation. Conversely, Dnmt3a binds to, and DNA methylates, the promoters of cell proliferation and lipid metabolism genes to repress their expression. Interestingly, however, deletion of Dnmt3a does not result in changes in the specification of the different keratinocyte lineages in the skin (epidermis, hair follicles, and sebaceous glands), nor their homeostasis in adulthood. What is more, even the combined deletion of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, albeit significantly reducing overall DNA methylation levels, did not result in any skin phenotype even in aged mice. On the other hand, we have recently shown that Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are necessary for the self-renewal and differentiation of primary human keratinocytes (Rinaldi et al., 2016). This apparent contradiction in the phenotypes observed might be due to the fact that our work with human keratinocytes relied on culturing the cells, which was recently shown in murine skin keratinocytes to induce a wound healing damaged-like reversible state that affects their epigenome and transcriptome (Adam et al., 2015). Thus, in vivo deletion of Dnmt3a might not be sufficient to alter the homeostasis of undamaged skin, but renders the epidermis more susceptible to situations of damage. Accordingly, the epidermis of Dnmt3a-cKO mice responded to the treatment of DMBA/TPA in a much more pronounced manner. This effect might not be specific to Dnmt3a. For instance, Dnmt1 is the DNA methyltransferase most highly expressed in epidermal cells and is responsible for about 70% of DNA methylation levels (Li et al., 1992). Its depletion causes a strong loss of self-renewal of primary human basal keratinocytes (Sen et al., 2010). However, its loss in murine epidermis leads to a mild increase in proliferation, and to a partial alopecia, only in very aged mice (Li et al., 2012). Intriguingly, these results also suggest that Dnmt1 and Dnmt3a/3b exert different functions in epidermal homeostasis, although future work will be required to study these putative differences in depth.
Notwithstanding the differences between in vivo and ex vivo studies, our results show that the genomic localization of Dnmt3a is very similar between intact murine keratinocytes and cultured human keratinocytes. Besides its localization at active enhancers of genes involved in epidermal differentiation, Dnmt3a also bound to, and methylated, promoters of genes that regulate cell proliferation and lipid metabolism to repress their expression. Among these genes, were the master regulators of lipid metabolism and adipogenesis PPAR-α and PPAR-γ. Interestingly, a number of recent studies have highlighted the importance of a persistent lipid metabolism in promoting tumor transformation, and tumor metastasis in colorectal, liver, breast and oral squamous carcinomas, as well as for enhancing chemoresistance of leukemia stem cells (Pascual et al., 2017; Ma et al., 2016; Beyaz et al., 2016; Ye et al., 2016). The upregulation of these transcription factors upon deregulation of Dnmt3a might predispose the epidermis to develop more tumors, suggesting that an intriguing mechanistic link between lipid metabolism and the epigenetic regulation of tissue homeostasis through DNA methylation, might exist. A recent large clinical association study has already pointed to this by establishing a correlation between the expression of obesity-related genes and changes in the content of DNA methylation (Wahl et al., 2017). Importantly, our results show that PPAR-γ is partially responsible for promoting tumorigenesis in Dnmt3a-deficient epidermis, which considering that human skin tumors express lower levels of Dnmt3a, might provide us with a new therapeutic antitumor avenue against squamous cell carcinomas.
The work with mice was approved by the Ethical Committee for Animal Experimentation (CEEA) of the Scientific Park of Barcelona (PCB), and the Government of Catalunya. Inbred male or female Dnmt3a flox/flox (C57/Bl6) backcrossed to Krt14-CRE-YFP (C57/Bl6) for six to nine generations were used for all animal experiments. Chemically-induced skin carcinogenesis was performed as previously described (Nassar et al., 2015; Abel et al., 2009), with a slight modification to yield high-frequency SCCs in the C57/Bl6 genetic background. Briefly, the back skin of 8-week-old mice—at which time hair follicles are in their resting phase (telogen)—was shaved and treated with the mutagen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA; 200 µl of 0.25 mg/ml solution in acetone) and the pro-inflammatory and pro-proliferation agent 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA; 200 µl of 0.02 mg/ml solution in acetone) once weekly for 6 weeks. Specifically, DMBA was given on Monday and TPA always on the Friday of the same week. For short DMBA experiments, animals were sacrificed and back skins were processed 3 days after the sixth TPA application. For tumor formation studies, treatment continued twice weekly with TPA (200 µl of 20 µg/ml solution in acetone) for up to 20 weeks, or until the largest tumor of each mouse reached 1.5 mm diameter, at which point animals were sacrificed. In total, 12 wild type and 15 Dnmt3a-cKO tumors from 6 and 8 mice, respectively, were included for tumor analyses.
The chemically-induced skin carcinogenesis was performed as previously described above (Nassar et al., 2015; Abel et al., 2009). We used the chemical 2-Chloro-5-nitro-N-phenylbenzamide (Sigma Aldrich: GW9662) described as potent PPAR- γ inhibitor. Briefly, the shaved dorsal epidermis of wild-type and Dnmt3a-cKO mice was treated twice a week topically with 200 µl of 100 nmoles of GW9662 solubilized in acetone. We applied the PPAR-γ inhibitor together with the first DMBA treatment, and subsequently administered it at every DMBA or TPA treatment. The PPAR-γ inhibitor was applied always 2 min before every administration of DMBA or TPA (Sahu et al., 2012; Grabacka et al., 2006).
To isolate pre-cancerous epidermal cells following short DMBA/TPA treatment, back skins were dissected and processed to single-cell suspensions as previously described (Jensen et al., 2010). To purify tumor cells, DMBA/TPA-induced SCCs were mechanically dissociated using a McIlwain Tissue Chopper (The Mickle Laboratory Engineering Co. LTD). Minced tumor tissue was digested under agitation in serum-free EMEM medium without calcium containing 2.5 mg/ml Collagenase I (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Missouri), and 0.75 mg/ml trypsin (Life Technologies) for 90 min at 37°C. Cells were pelleted, suspended in 1–2 ml of 0.25% pre-warmed trypsin/EDTA (Life Technologies) containing 100 µg/ml (Aldrich) per tumor, and incubated at 37°C for 2 min. Trypsin was inactivated by adding EMEM without calcium containing 10% chelated FBS. Cells were washed twice in PBS and filtered sequentially through 100 µm and 40 µm cell strainers.
For ChIP-seq, single-cell suspensions were cross-linked for 10 min at room temperature with 1% formaldehyde (methanol-free; Thermofisher, 28906) and quenched for 5 min to a final concentration of 0.125M of glycine. Cells were washed 2× with cold PBS and frozen at –80°C.
For flow cytometry analysis, epidermal or tumor cells were re-suspended at 1 × 107 cells/ml in PBS and labeled with CD49f-PE (clone NKI-GoH3, 1:200, AbD Serotec) and CD34-biotin (clone RAM34, 1:50, eBioscience) followed by streptavidin-APC (1:400, BD Biosciences). Tumor cell suspensions were additionally labeled with lineage-BV605 (CD31, clone 390; CD45, clone 30-F11; TER119, clone TER119; all 1:100) (Biolegend) to exclude stromal cell contamination. Both epidermal and tumor cells were positive for YFP due to the presence of the Rosa26-YFP allele in the mice.
Tumor cells (YFPbright/lineageneg cells), pre-cancerous epidermis of interfollicular epidermis (YFPpos/CD49fhigh/CD34neg cells), and bulge hair follicle stem cells (YFPbright/CD49fhigh/CD34pos cells) were FACS-sorted using a BD FACSAria Fusion flow cytometer (BD Biosciences). Approximately, 3–20 × 104 cells were sorted and lysed in 1 ml of TRIzol for RNA and DNA isolation. After adding 200 µl chloroform, samples were vortexed for 30 s and then centrifuged at 12,000 g to separate the RNA-containing supernatant from the organic phase. RNA was precipitated with 1× volume of isopropanol, washed twice with 70% ethanol, and then used for library preparation. The interphase of the TRIzol solution (after removal of the supernatant) was precipitated adding 1× volume of isopropanol, centrifuged for 1 hr at 4°C at 13,000 g, washed twice with ethanol, and digested overnight at 55°C with proteinase K (10 mg/ml) in TE 1× buffer. The following day, digested material was incubated 1 hr at 37°C with RNase A and purified using a conventional phenol/chloroform separation. The DNA pellet was quantified, and DNA was used for library preparation for MeDIP-seq and hMeDIP-seq experiments.
Purified genomic DNA (250 ng) from tumor cells was sonicated to obtain fragments of 300–700 bp. Adaptors from the NEBNext Ultra DNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina were added to the fragmented DNA. DNA was denatured for 10 min at 99°C and cooled to avoid re-annealing. Fragmented DNA was incubated overnight with 1 µg of antibodies (5-methylcytosine, Abcam cat. # ab10805; 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, Active Motif, cat. # 39769, RRID: AB_10013602) previously cross-linked with 15 µl of Dynabeads Protein A (Life Technologies). Immunocomplexes were recovered using 8 µl for 2 hr. The following morning, DNA was washed three times for 10 min each, and purified DNA was extracted using QIAquick MinElute (Qiagen). Amplified libraries were prepared using NEBNext Ultra DNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina (E7370L) following the manufacturer's instructions.
The libraries of total RNA from wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO tumors was prepared using the TruSeqStranded Total Sample Preparation kit (Illumina Inc.) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Each library was sequenced using TruSeq SBS Kit v3-HS, in paired end-mode with the read length 2 × 76 bp. A minimal of 137 million paired-end reads was generated for each sample run in one sequencing lane on HiSeq2000 (Illumina, Inc) following the manufacturer’s protocol. Images analysis, base calling, and quality scoring of the run were processed using the manufacturer’s software Real-Time Analysis (RTA 1.13.48) and followed by generation of FASTQ sequence files by CASAVA.
RNA-seq datasets were pre-processed by removing both low-quality bases from the 3′- ends of the reads and adapter sequences using Trimmomatic (version 0.33) (Bolger et al., 2014). The trimmed reads were aligned to the mouse genome (UCSC mm10) using TopHat (version 2.0.13) (Trapnell et al., 2009), with default parameters and –g 5. Gene and transcript expression levels were quantified with HTSeq (version 0.6.1p1) (Anders et al., 2015). From the raw counts, counts per million (cpm) and fragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped reads (fpkm) values were calculated. Differential expression analysis was performed using DESeq2 (Love et al., 2014) using a q-value cutoff of 0.05 and a fold-change cutoff of 1.5 to identify differentially expressed genes.
ChIP was performed as previously described (Morey et al., 2012). Briefly, frozen pelleted were lysed in 1 ml ChIP buffer (150 mM NaCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl, 5 mM EDTA, 1% SDS, 0.5 mM DTT, and 1% Triton X-100) and sonicated for 30 min in a Bioruptor Pico (Diagenode). DNA fragments were de-crosslinked overnight at 65°C and checked with a bioanalyzer. After a DNA check, chromatin was diluted 1:5 with ChIP buffer with no SDS (150 mM NaCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl, 5 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM DTT, and 1% Triton X-100). Immunoprecipitation experiments for transcription factors used 30 µg of chromatin, and those for H3K27ac, 3 µg of chromatin. Antibodies (10 µg for Dnmt3a and 3 µg for H3K27ac) were incubated overnight with the chromatin in ChIP buffer. Immunocomplexes were recovered with 40 µl of protein A bead slurry (Healthcare, cat. # 17-5280-01). Immunoprecipitated material was washed three times with low-salt buffer (50 mM HEPES pH 7.5, 140 mM NaCl, 1% Triton) and 1× with high-salt buffer (50 mM HEPES pH 7.5, 500 mM NaCl, 1% Triton). DNA complexes were de-crosslinked at 65°C overnight, and DNA was then eluted in 50 µl of water using the PCR purification kit (QIAGEN). Antibodies used for ChIP were Dnmt3a (SantaCruz H-295; RRID: AB_2093990) and H3K27ac (Merck Millipore, cat. # 07–360; RRID: AB_310550). Libraries for sequencing were prepared using NEBNext Ultra DNA Library Prep Kit from Illumina (E7370L) following the manufacturer's instructions.
ChIP-seq datasets were aligned to the mouse genome build mm10 using BowTie (version 1.0.1) (Langmead et al., 2009); the parameters used were –k 1, –m 1, and –n 2. UCSC browser tracks (Kent et al., 2002) were created from the mapped bam file after converting it to bedGraph (normalized to 10 million reads) and subsequently bigWig format. Peak calling of Dnmt3A to determine regions of ChIP-seq enrichment over the background was done with the MACS version 1.4.1. Peaks of the methylation and hydroxymethylation datasets were determined similarly. For histone marks, MACS version two was used with parameters –broad, -q 0.01, and –g mm. ChIP-seq peaks were annotated using the annotatePeaks.pl script of the HOMER suite (version 4.6) (Heinz et al., 2010) using the UCSC mm10 annotation. The coverage depths of different ChIP-seq experiments at specified regions were also calculated using the annotatePeaks.pl script. This generated a normalized coverage value of different sequencing experiments at equally spaced bins spanning the region of interest. Bin size was set to 1 bp.
For the differential regulation analysis of MeDIP-seq data with replicates, common peaks were first determined among the replicates of the wild type and KO samples separately. A consensus peakset was then created from the two common peaksets, and the read counts were calculated for all the peaks of the consensus peakset. DESeq2 (Love et al., 2014) was applied to calculate the differentially bound peaks using an adjusted p value of < 0.05.
RRID: AB_2093990), anti-PPAR-γ (1:100 Santa Cruz, sc-7196: RRID: AB_654710), and anti-keratin 14 (1:500, Biolegend SIG-3476: RRID:AB_10718041); secondary antibodies were anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 488 (RRID: AB_141708) and anti-mouse Alexa Fluor 647 (1:500, Molecular Probes; RRID: AB_162542). For immunofluorescence staining anti-5-Methylcytosine (1:100, Abcam10805, clone 33D3: RRID: AB_442823), sections (after deparaffinization and before Triton incubation) were incubated for 15 min with 2N HCL to further denature DNA. Adipophilin (ADFP, ab37516, 1:100 dilution; RRID: AB_722641). Tunel Staining was performed using the Promega DeadEnd Tunel System following the manufacturer's instructions. Pictures were acquired using a Leica TCS SP5 confocal microscope.
To compare tumor burden between genotypes, we used a T-Test with 95% confidence. To compare free tumor survival differences and anagen entry differences, we used a Chi-Square test. To compare Relative Methylation Score (RMS) levels and to compare normalized 5-hmC levels between wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO sorted tumor cells we used a paired Wilcoxon Test. The same paired-Wilcoxon test was used to measure differences in RNA expression.
Skin and tumor sections were stained after deparaffinization with KI67 (Abcam ab15580; RRID: AB_443209) for 60 min. After two washes, section were incubated with Power Vision Rabbit (InmunoLogic) for 45 min. Positive staining was revealed using a chromogen DAB for 5 min (Dako). Counterstain for hematoxylin was incubated for 3 min (Dako).
Stained sections were scanned using a high-resolution NanoZoomer 2.0 HT (Hamamatsu). KI67-positive nuclei in the interfollicular epidermis were measured using the TMarker software (Schüffler et al., 2013). Positive and negative nuclei for the staining were trained using the color deconvolution plugin and quantified using the cancer nucleus classification plugin. The total number of positive nuclei was normalized to the total number of nuclei in the area considered. Unpaired parametric T-test was used to measure statistical difference among groups and genotypes.
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Molecular and Cellular Biology 23:5594–5605.
Journal of Molecular Endocrinology 27:1–9.
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APMIS : Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica, Et Immunologica Scandinavica 121:85–94.
New England Journal of Medicine 363:2424–2433.
Journal of Investigative Dermatology 132:2681–2690.
Molecular and Cellular Biology 26:2976–2983.
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Thank you for submitting your article "Dnmt3a associates with promoters and enhancers to protect epidermal stem cells from cancer" for consideration by eLife. Your article has been reviewed by three peer reviewers, one of whom is a member of our Board of Reviewing Editors, and the evaluation has been overseen by Fiona Watt as the Senior Editor. The reviewers have opted to remain anonymous.
The reviewers agreed that understanding the role of Dnmt3a/b in skin carcinogenesis is an interesting and unresolved question. In particular, the authors convincingly and thoroughly show that loss of Dnmt3a in keratinocytes promotes increased tumorigenesis after DMBA treatment, which is intriguing. Transcriptional profiling and ChIP-seq data reveal genes altered by Dnmt3a.
1) The reviewers all raised concerns regarding the functional link between Dnmt and gene regulation in tumorigenesis. While the authors link the function to the suppression of PPAR and a lipid-type program, there are no functional data in the manuscript in support of this claim and, as mentioned below, this might be linked to a sebaceous tumor phenotype. Functional analysis of Dnmt targets is needed to extend this manuscript to more fully understand how Dnmt impacts tumor progression.
2) In Figure 1A, they authors show that hairs regrow faster after DMBA treatment in Dnmt3a cKO mice. The authors suggested that "Dnmt3a might act as a break to maintain hair follicles in a dormant state". This potentially interesting phenotype has not been studied in detail and this information as it is might be a bit distracting.
3) It is clear that DNA methylation can affect non-transcriptional mechanisms such as genome stability and DNA repair mechanisms, and there are no studies presented to assess non-transcriptional effects of DNA methylation on tumorigenesis. Have the authors looked at mutation frequency and/or genomic stability in these tumors?
4) The authors argue that Dnmt3a selectively affects tumor initiation rather than tumor progression. These claims are questionable. Tumor initiation, which is difficult to study, refers to the first oncogenic conversion of a normal cell. In this study, the authors make these claims based on the macroscopic detection of tumors which could entirely depend on an effect on tumor progression. DMBA causes h-ras mutations and such tumors are highly sensitive to the presence of h-ras, indicating that this is the key initiation mechanism in the DMBA/TPA model. Did the authors observe an increase in h-ras mutations after DMBA application? Did the authors observe a difference in the repair of such mutations? Are skin tumors caused by activated k-ras also affected by Dnmt3a or is the effect specific to DMBA-induced tumors? In any case, to claim an effect on tumor initiation in epidermal stem cells, the authors would need to study earlier steps in tumorigenesis.
5) In the studies (Figure 3) where the authors isolated alpha6-high cells from WT and Dnmt3a-/- tumors for gene expression studies, it would be important to include images of the histology of each tumor as supplemental information. How did they ensure that all tumors were of the same type? Also, since the Dnmt3a tumors progress much faster, how can the authors rule out that the differences relate to different stages of tumorigenesis rather than different genotypes?
6) The findings of increased PPAR-γ and linked genes suggest the possibility that the authors may be detecting differentiation along the sebaceous lineage in these tumors. This is actually supported by the data indicating that a higher proportion of such tumors are found in the Dnmt3a ko mice. Again, having overview images of each of the tumors with staining for sebaceous markers would be helpful to rule this possibility out.
7) The characterization of apoptosis and link to Dnmt3a should be improved. Does Dnmt3a act after DNA damage and increase the number of cells undergoing apoptosis following DMBA? The authors should check for active caspase 3 after DMBA and show more convincing Tunel staining. The Tunel staining data (now as Figure 3—figure supplement 1) should be quantified with statistics, and also it would be important to make sure that the same types of tumors are compared across genotypes.
8) The initiation of hair wave domains after hair removal in second anagen is highly variable and 6 mice (as in Figure 1A) is probably not sufficient to conclude that there is a difference between genotypes. Perhaps smaller domains were initiated and missed. When did the WT mice exhibit anagen patches? Plotting the time of first anagen patch might be more convincing (also this is not a major point in the paper).
9) The differences in gene expression reported in Figure 6C may be significant because of the high number of genes included in the comparison, but these differences are very small and not likely to be biologically important. Also, the differences in DNA methylation reported in Figure 6A are very small.
10) In the title and throughout the manuscript the authors refer to the study of epidermal stem cells. Cultured human keratinocytes under low calcium conditions cannot be accurately referred to as "stem cells". Furthermore, the stem cells within epidermal tumors would need to be studied in more detail to substantiate the claim that epidermal stem cells are particularly affected by Dnmt function. In Figure 4 alpha6+/CD34 is used as marker of interfollicular epithelial cells, which likely includes non-stem hair follicle keratinocytes.
11) The characterization of epidermal differentiation should be performed more carefully. Are the suprabasal epidermal layers normal in these mouse mutants? If deletion of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b singly or in combination has little effect on epidermal differentiation during development, and epidermal homeostasis, indicating that these enzymes are dispensable for adult epidermal stem cell function, this finding would be an important one to emphasize in the manuscript. The findings in the current study are much more plausible and in line with previous studies suggesting that reversible DNA methylation does not seem to have a prominent role in gene regulation in normal tissues (it has clear roles in irreversible silencing such as imprinting, X-inactivation, transposon silencing, irreversible promoter silencing, but a role in re gene regulation has been difficult to demonstrate outside cell culture; see for example Bestor et al., PNAS 2015). There is very little data supporting the idea that methylation and demethylation are important regulators of cellular differentiation during embryonic development; the current manuscript is consistent with this view and contradicts the authors' recently published study. The authors need to discuss the divergence in their two studies more clearly and mention this key finding in the Abstract.
We agree that providing functional analysis of Dnmt3a targets, in particular PPARg, would improve the mechanistic insight of our manuscript.
First, we would like to point out that we believe that the upregulation of lipid metabolism genes we observed is not a consequence of the higher incidence of sebaceous tumors in Dnmt3a-cKO mice. Although Dnmt3a-cKO mice develop more sebaceous adenomas than wild type mice, we made sure that this type of tumor was not used for any of the mechanistic studies included in our work. We apologize for not making this clear in the first version of our manuscript. To highlight this, we now have included a new figure (Figure 3—figure supplement 1) containing the histology of each tumor used of the RNA-sequencing studies, which was performed by our mouse pathologist to make sure that none was scored as a sebaceous adenoma. We have also performed immunostaining to detect the expression of ADFP to show that none of the tumors studied expressed this sebaceous marker (also included in Figure 3—figure supplement 1). In addition, we now include as Figure 3—figure supplement 4, the immunostaining to detect the expression of PPARg in each sample, showing that Dnmt3-cKO tumors (scored as squamous cell carcinomas, and not sebaceous adenomas) show high expression of PPARg. Furthermore, the RNA-seq data obtained from the short-term treatment with DMBA-TPA shows that basal IFE cells in Dnmt3a-cKO mice already start to express high levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism (including PPARg, as also shown in Figure 6H) without any sebocyte differentiation.
Regarding the mechanistic studies: since we do not have PPARg conditional knockout mice available in our lab, we decided to use a well-characterized inhibitor of PPARg to address this issue. We repeated the DMBA-TPA chemical carcinogenesis protocol in wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO mice, and divided the mice into two cohorts, one treated with the PPARg inhibitor, and the other one with the vehicle. As shown in Figure 7, inhibition of PPARg significantly delayed the time of tumor appearance, and reduced the number of tumors, in Dnmt3a-cKO mice. Interestingly, the size of the tumors was not affected by inhibition of PPARg, suggesting that this TF is necessary for the early onset of tumorigenesis, but not for the growth of tumors once they are formed. These results therefore suggest that inhibition of PPARg could be considered as a new possible therapy for skin squamous cell carcinomas.
We would like to thank you for making this interesting suggestion, which we believe has significantly enhanced the quality of our work.
We agree that this observation could distract the readers from the primary message of our work, which is to describe the role of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in skin tumorigenesis. We have therefore decided to remove panel A from Figure 1, and to study this interesting phenotype in more detail in the future.
We believe this is a very interesting question. There are several publications suggesting that the epigenetic landscape of chromatin can have a major influence in the mutational load of tumors (for instance, Schuster-Böckler B and Lehner B. Chromatin organization is a major influence on regional mutation rates in human cancer cells. Nature 2012). However, these studies are correlative and do not provide any functional data. In this sense, before we reply directly to the issue raised above, we would like to point out that we have been developing for the last 4 years a large project designed to specifically determine whether the chromatin landscape (i.e. presence or absence of different chromatin modifications, and whether the chromatin is more accessible or closed) affects the mutational frequency and types of mutations in tumors. We have performed whole exome sequencing, ATAC-seq, and ChIP-seq of several chromatin marks in different mouse models in which we have deleted a specific epigenetic regulator, to precisely determine whether altering different chromatin marks has any effect over the regional mutation rates, types of mutations, and number and type of driver mutations, in DMBA/TPA-induced cutaneous carcinoma. This ongoing project has resulted in a vast amount of results, with really interesting but also quite complex conclusions. We therefore believe this analysis is beyond the scope of this current study, as it constitutes a story by itself. Because of the complexity of the analyses and results, adding just some of the data to this manuscript would not be sufficient to explain if and how epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, shape the mutational landscape of tumors.
We have studied whether deletion of Dnmt3a results in increased genomic instability by looking at the DNA content in precancerous epidermis. To do so, we treated for six weeks three wild type and three Dnmt3a-cKO mice with DMBA/TPA. We then analyzed by FACS the DNA content in proliferative (Edu+) and non-proliferative (Edu-) Itga6brightCD34pos and Itga6brightCD34neg cells. Notably, we did not observe any significant change in the DNA content between Dnmt3a-cKO and wild type cells, suggesting that aneuploidy, or other signs of genomic instability, do not occur upon deletion of Dnmt3a in the epidermis (Author response images 1 and 2).
We also confirmed that the expression and localization of γ-H2AX, a marker of DNA double- strand breaks and general genomic damage, were the same in wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO tumors.
We took advantage of the high quality of our RNA-sequencing to start to understand if loss of Dnmt3a alters the mutational landscape in skin tumors. We obtained between 70-110 million reads per tumor; moreover, the reads were 125 nucleotides long, 2.5X more than the conventional 50 nucleotides; and also the sequencing was pair-ended. Importantly, we calculated that each nucleotide was covered in an average depth of 150-250x in each tumor (Author response image 3).
Although we do not know at the moment whether this change has any influence on the differences in the timing and number of tumors that Dnmt3a-cKO mice develop, we believe there might be a mechanistic explanation for it. Cytosine is one of the most-unstable bases, as it often spontaneously deaminates into Uracil (Gallinari et al., 1996). 5-methylcytosine also undergoes deamination, even more often than the native form, but instead it naturally mutates into Thymine instead of Uracil. In mammals Thymine-DNA glycosylase (TDG) is the enzyme primarily responsible for repairing the spontaneous deamination of 5-MethylCytosine, as part of the Base Excision Repair (BER) mechanism. TDG recognizes the 5mC>T mutation, excises the damaged base, and subsequently initiates the process to restore the native Cytosine (Jacobs et al., 2012). Interestingly, TDG interacts with many factors such as CBP/p300, ERα, but most importantly, with Dnmt3a (Li et al., 2006). In fact, the interaction with Dnmt3a positively regulates the glycosylase activity of TDG. Recent works have underscored the strong relationship between the DNA methylation machinery and the enzymatic activity of TDG (Cortellino et al., 2012; Dalton et al., 2013; Shen et al., 2013; Muller et al., 2014). Thus, altogether we believe that the depletion of Dnmt3a leads to an impairment of the activity of TDG glycosylase, resulting in the defective repair of 5mC>T mutations.
Although exome sequencing of Dnmt3a-cKO HSCs and leukemias has been published, the raw data is not available (or we have not been able to find it). Thus, unfortunately, we have not been able to compare our data with theirs to determine whether this difference in C-T mutations is generally associated to the loss of Dnmt3a (Mayle et al., 2015; Celik et al., 2015). In any case, and to conclude, we therefore believe that loss of Dnmt3a does affect the mutational landscape of DMBA/TPA-driven tumors. However, studying if and how these differences impact tumorigenesis is turning out to be very complex and is part of a large separate study in our lab (as mentioned above); hence, we believe that addressing this issue is beyond the scope of this current study.
4) The authors argue that Dnmt3a selectively affects tumor initiation rather than tumor progression. These claims are questionable. Tumor initiation, which is difficult to study, refers to the first oncogenic conversion of a normal cell. In this study, the authors make these claims based on the macroscopic detection of tumors which could entirely depend on an effect on tumor progression. DMBA causes h-ras mutations and such tumors are highly sensitive to the presence of h-ras, indicating that this is the key initiation mechanism in the DMBA/TPA model. Did the authors observe an increase in h-ras mutations after DMBA application? Did the authors observe a difference in the repair of such mutations?
These are very interesting questions and issues. Regarding the concept of tumor initiation versus tumor progression, we referred to differences in tumor initiation as the difference in the number of tumors that grow (or initiate) in Dnmt3a-cKO mice compared to wild type mice. On the other hand, we used the term progression to describe the transition from a benign lesion to a carcinoma. We believe these definitions are commonly accepted in the cancer field. According to these definitions, although Dnmt3a-cKO mice develop/initiate more tumors, they show the same proportion of benign and malignant lesions. Hence, loss of Dnmt3a does not favor this malignant conversion (progression) of squamous neoplasias.
However, as the reviewers point out, Dnmt3a-cKO mice might develop (or initiate) more tumors due to an increase in the percentage of cells mutated in Ras. In order to determine this, we would need to perform whole-exome sequencing of sorted epithelial tumor cells from a reasonably large cohort of wild type and KO tumors (for our other ongoing studies on the influence of chromatin on mutations we are sequencing at least 20 tumors per genotype). However, using the RNA-seq data included in the manuscript, and applying the GATK software described above, we could analyze mutations in HRAS and NRAS genes. As expected, we found mutations in HRAS and NRAS in wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO tumor cells. However, and being aware that the number of samples sequenced precludes reaching definitive conclusions, the percentage of mutations in H-RAS and N-RAS was not increased upon loss of Dnmt3a (Author response image 6). In addition, the sites of mutations were the same between wild type and KO tumors in HRAS (T > A mutation), and NRAS (A >G mutations). Importantly, the HRAS mutations spotted by our analysis in Dnmt3a-cKO mice are precisely the same T>A mutation resulting in the activating Q61L transition, shown in two recent articles from the Blanpain and Balmain laboratories (Nassar et al., 2015 and McCreery et al., 2015).
Are skin tumors caused by activated k-ras also affected by Dnmt3a or is the effect specific to DMBA-induced tumors?
In any case, to claim an effect on tumor initiation in epidermal stem cells, the authors would need to study earlier steps in tumorigenesis.
As mentioned above, we think that our results are compatible with the conclusion that Dnmt3a-cKO mice initiate more tumors earlier than wild type mice. We believe this accurately describes the phenotype. Hence, we are not sure why this conclusion is not considered valid. We are however open to discussing any suggestion to perhaps more accurately describe our results.
Regarding tumor initiation, we believe we have in fact tried to provide some insights into the early steps of tumorigenesis with the short-term treatments of DMBA/TPA (showed in Figure 4 and Figure 4—figure supplement 1). We have shown that the loss of Dnmt3a increases cell proliferation and the expression of lipid metabolism genes early after treatment with DMBA/TPA (Figure 3—figure supplement 2). However, we also show that, once formed, Dnmt3a- cKO tumors do not show increased cell proliferation compared to wild type tumors (Figure 1). Interestingly, a very similar conclusion has been reached by another work recently published by the laboratory of Margaret Goodell (Yang et al., 2016), where the authors state: “The inability to slow the leukemia by re-expression of DNMT3A suggests that DNMT3A loss is important for leukemia initiation but less so for maintenance”.
We have now included the histology for each tumor analyzed for gene expression as the new Figure 3—figure supplement 3. It is important to note that our mouse pathologist (Neus Prats, who is an author in the manuscript) performed the histological characterization of each tumor in a blind manner. In addition, we have now included the measurements of the time difference between tumor appearance and tumor collection for each mouse, showing the Dnmt3a-cKO tumors, although appearing before, do not progress faster than wild type tumors (new Figure 3—figure supplement 4C). The animals were sacrificed for humane reasons when the biggest tumor reached 1.5cm (as described into the methods section), but the average time between tumor appearance and this endpoint was the same between wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO tumors.
We agree this was an important issue that we should have clarified better in our first version of the manuscript. First, our mouse pathologist did not score any of the tumors used for RNA- seq (or any subsequent analysis) as a sebaceous adenoma. We have also now included in the new Figure 3—figure supplement 3, the results of the immunofluorescence staining for the sebaceous gland marker Adipophilin (ADFP), for each of the sequenced tumors. We did not observe any protein expression of ADFP in any of the 12 tumors sent for sequencing. Accordingly, ADFP was not differentially expressed at the mRNA level in Dnmt3a-cKO tumors compared to wild type lesions based on our RNA-seq analysis. As a positive control, we stained for ADFP in a sebaceous adenoma, which was not sent for sequencing. We would also like to note that sebaceous adenomas are generally small and quite different macroscopically from squamous cell carcinomas, so we could easily discriminate them when collecting the tumors for FACS sorting and subsequent analyses.
At last, we have also included in the new Figure 3—figure supplement 4 the expression analysis of PPAR-γ by immunofluorescence in all the 12 sequenced tumors that our pathologist scored as squamous cell carcinomas. We observed that PPAR-γ is consistently higher in all the 8 Dnmt3a KO tumors compared to the 4 wild type tumors, both at the RNA level (measured by RNA-seq) and also at the protein level. In addition, PPAR-γ is increased, upon Dnmt3a deletion, in the interfollicular epidermis after the short term DMBA/TPA treatment previous to any tumor formation, suggesting that the PPAR-γ is an early event not associated to a general sebocyte differentiation.
In conclusion, we believe we now provide new conclusive data indicating that deletion of Dnmt3a results in a stronger expression of lipid metabolism genes prior to tumor initiation, that persists in squamous cell carcinomas.
To properly quantify the changes in apoptosis in the Dnmt3a-cKO mice, we have stained and quantified, in all the sequenced tumors, for TUNEL and active Caspase-3. The results show a statistically significant decrease of apoptosis in Dnmt3a-cKO tumors compared to wild type lesions. These results are now included in the new Figure 3—figure supplement 2.
We agree with the reviewers that is not a major point of our work, and that perhaps we need to study this phenotype in more detail and with more mice. Therefore, we have decided to remove these results from the manuscript.
We respectfully disagree that the differences we show might not be biologically relevant. The changes in gene expression that occur upon deletion of Dnmt3a do in fact have a strong biological consequence regarding the timing and number of tumors that mice develop upon DMBA/TPA treatment. However, we would like to point out that the main reason we performed these analyses was to determine whether binding of Dnmt3a to promoters affected in any way the expression of the bound genes. In order to better show this, we have divided the Dnmt3a-target genes (as determined by our ChIP-seq data) based on binding strength; that is, we have separated them into the top 10%, 20%, 50% genes whose promoters are most strongly bound by Dnmt3a. Interestingly, the top 10-20% genes most strongly bound by Dnmt3a showed a stronger upregulation in their mRNA expression upon deletion of Dnmt3a compared to the top 50% of genes bound by Dnmt3a, or to all bound genes (Author response image 7). We believe these results therefore indicate that binding of Dnmt3a to promoters, correlates mostly with a downregulation of the expression of those target genes. Upon deletion of Dnmt3a, the average expression of those genes increases.
We also believe that the new data we have added showing that inhibition of PPAR-γ partially prevents the positive effects of the deletion of Dnmt3a over tumorigenesis in fact indicates that the differences in gene expression that we have observed are biologically relevant.
In order to verify this, we have performed a comparative clonogenic assay of cells isolated from the bulge and the IFE of wild type and Dnmt3a-cKO mice. As it can be observed in Author response image 8, Dnmt3a-cKO keratinocytes (irrespective of whether they come from the bulge or the basal IFE) show a significantly impaired clonogenic potential, just as we had previously reported in Rinaldi et al., for Dnmt3a-depleted primary human keratinocytes. Hence we believe that deletion of Dnmt3a renders primary basal keratinocytes more sensitive to situations of stress.
However, we would like to point out that previous work from the laboratory of Margaret Goodell has shown that deletion of Dnmt3a does result in changes in gene expression in adult murine hematopoietic cells. It is true that these differences result in mild differentiation phenotypes (that are mostly apparent when HSCs are serially transplanted into irradiated mice). But it is equally true that these mice end up developing leukemia, which is a clear alteration of tissue homeostasis (a phenotype that is exacerbated upon the combined deletion of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b). Hence, we think that the statement: “…that reversible DNA methylation does not seem to have a prominent role in gene regulation in normal tissues (it has clear roles in irreversible silencing such as imprinting, X-inactivation, transposon silencing, irreversible promoter silencing, but a role in re gene regulation has been difficult to demonstrate outside cell culture”; is perhaps too strong, and that more in depth studies are needed to determine the exact role of these proteins, and importantly of DNA methylation, in the differentiation of different tissues. For instance we do not know if Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b compensate each other upon conditional deletion in tissues during embryonic development. Would their inducible deletion during adulthood result in the same phenotype? Perhaps the recently identified Dnmt3c, although specific to germ cells, could also compensate for the combined loss of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in somatic tissues. In addition, our results suggest that Dnmt1 is capable by itself to maintain some degree of DNA methylation in the long term in the absence of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b. In fact, our manuscript contains some evidence supporting this last point. With our K14-Cre line, we have deleted Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b in the embryonic epidermis approximately at E13.5. However, when we looked at DNA methylation in old mice (over 70 weeks of age) with the combined deletion of Dnmt3a/Dnmt3b, we could still see some residual methylation present (Figure 2—figure supplement 4B). Hence, we would like to avoid concluding that DNA methylation/demethylation is completely dispensable for epidermal homeostasis, since with our KO models we have not completely eliminated DNA methylation from the epidermis.
The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Development (MINECO), and the Institute supported this project in the laboratory of SAB for Research in Biomedicine (IRB-Barcelona). IRB Barcelona is the recipient of a Severo Ochoa Award of Excellence from MINECO (Government of Spain). We are very grateful to the laboratories of Rudolph Jaenisch and Rafii Ahmed for providing us the Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b flox/flox animals. LR was sponsored by La Caixa International PhD fellowship. We thank all the core facilities at the IRB-Barcelona for their assistance in our work, and Veronica Raker for editing the manuscript. The raw data for every dataset included in the manuscript can be found at GEO (GSE87412).
Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the European Union. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (CEEA) protocols (SAB-13-1522) of the Scientific Parc of Barcelona (PCB). The protocol was approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the Government of Catalunya.
© 2017, Rinaldi et al. | 2019-04-18T12:54:08Z | https://elifesciences.org/articles/21697 |
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E5.
Transcriptional activation of heat shock genes is a reversible and multistep process involving conversion of inactive heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) monomers into heat shock element (HSE)-binding homotrimers, hyperphosphorylation, and further modifications that induce full transcriptional competence. HSF1 is controlled by multiple regulatory mechanisms, including suppression by additional cellular factors, physical interactions with HSP70, and integration into different cellular signaling cascades. However, the signaling mechanisms by which cells respond to stress and control the HSF1 activation-deactivation pathway are not known. Here we demonstrate that HSP90, a cellular chaperone known to regulate several signal transduction molecules and transcription factors, functions in the regulation of HSF1. The existence of HSF1-HSP90 heterocomplexes was shown by coimmunoprecipitation of HSP90 with HSF1 from unshocked and heat-shocked nuclear extracts, recognition of HSF1-HSE complexes in vitro by using HSP90 antibodies (Abs), and recognition of HSF1 in vivo by HSP90 Abs microinjected directly into oocyte nuclei. The functional impact of HSP90-HSF1 interactions was analyzed by using two strategies: direct nuclear injection of HSP90 Abs and treatment of cells with geldanamycin (GA), an agent that specifically blocks the chaperoning activity of HSP90. Both HSP90 Abs and GA delayed the disassembly of HSF1 trimers during recovery from heat shock and specifically inhibited heat-induced transcription from a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter construct under control of the hsp70 promoter. HSP90 Abs activated HSE binding in the absence of heat shock, an effect that could be reversed by subsequent injection of purified HSP90. GA did not activate HSE binding under nonshock conditions but increased the quantity of HSE binding induced by heat shock. On the basis of these findings and the known properties of HSP90, we propose a new regulatory model in which HSP90 participates in modulating HSF1 at different points along the activation-deactivation pathway, influencing the interconversion between monomeric and trimeric conformations as well as transcriptional activation. We also put forth the hypothesis that HSP90 links HSF1 to cellular signaling molecules coordinating the stress response.
Cells respond to heat and other forms of stress by upregulating expression of a family of highly conserved heat shock proteins (HSPs) which function under both normal and stressful conditions as molecular chaperones mediating the folding, assembly, translocation, and degradation of proteins (reviewed in references 25 and 34). In eukaryotes, stress-induced expression of HSPs is regulated primarily by heat shock transcription factor HSF1, which acts through heat shock regulatory elements (HSEs) found in the promoters of HSP genes (33, 73). Under nonstress conditions, HSF1 exists as a repressed non-DNA-binding monomer (16, 53, 75), and the activation-deactivation pathway of HSF1 in metazoan cells involves several independently regulated steps (reviewed in references40 and 73). Different forms of cellular stress trigger the rapid conversion of HSF1 from inert monomers to homotrimers, and this first step is accompanied by increased HSE-binding affinity (4, 53, 55, 66, 70). Detailed mutagenic analyses have suggested that HSF1 monomers are stabilized by intramolecular interactions between several hydrophobic heptad repeats and that activation during stress involves the disruption of these intramolecular interactions, leading to formation of intermolecular coiled coils with other HSF1 monomers (16, 55, 66, 75). Thus, the suppression of HSE-binding activity under normal conditions is regulated at least in part by hydrophobic sequences within HSF1, although other regions of the molecule have also been implicated in this regulation (48). Once it has trimerized, HSF1 undergoes additional modifications to upregulate transcriptional activity which appear to be regulated independently of trimerization and DNA binding (21, 59, 76). The final step of HSF1 regulation is deactivation or attenuation. Upon removal of stress, HSF1 dissociates into monomers and ceases to activate transcription (11, 44,52).
It has become clear that HSF1 is subject to complex regulation under both normal and stress conditions. First, a simple model in which HSF1 is regulated by temperature alone is contradicted by observations thathsp genes are switched on by multiple unrelated stresses and that HSF1 molecules expressed in heterologous systems are reprogrammed according to the appropriate physiological temperatures of the host cells (8, 11, 30, 53). It therefore appears that HSF1 is under negative regulation by unknown cellular factors. Second, HSF1 has been shown to be phosphorylated by several different signal transduction molecules; for example, heat-induced activation of HSF1 was enhanced by phorbol ester treatment of human erythroleukemia cells, and thus HSF1 is apparently targeted by protein kinase C (26). HSF1 has also been shown to be phosphorylated by ERK1, linking HSF1 to the Ras signaling pathway (29). The constitutive phosphorylation on serine and threonine residues and inducible hyperphosphorylation in response to stress also suggested that HSF1 is modulated by cellular kinases and/or phosphatases (4,30, 55). Although definitive correlations between different phosphorylation states and specific HSF1 activities have not been established (12, 31, 46, 72), recent evidence suggests that hyperphosphorylation could function both to increase transactivation potential and to delay the dissociation of trimers (74).
In addition to phosphorylation and suppression by cellular factors, it has been hypothesized that HSPs themselves, particularly HSP70, could function as part of an autoregulatory mechanism by which cells detect stress and regulate HSF1 (39). This idea is substantiated by a number of experimental observations with various cell types: activated expression of other HSPs after mutation of thehsp70 gene in yeast (9), continued transcription of hsp70 genes during recovery in cells blocked for HSP accumulation by treatment with translational inhibitors (13), and activation of hsp genes in response to artificially increased nuclear concentrations of denatured proteins (2, 37). It has been shown that physical interactions between HSP70 and HSF1 occur both in vitro and in vivo, but these appear to be unstable, and thus the stoichiometric relationships of these complexes have not been determined (1, 3, 5, 39, 47, 53,70). In addition, different studies have shown that direct overexpression of HSP70 in cultured cells either reduced the level of HSF1 activation during induction (5, 41) or increased the rate of HSF1 deactivation (41, 54), and so the precise influence of HSP70 on oligomerization steps of the HSF1 activation-deactivation have not been fully elucidated. More recently, HSP70 has been shown to repress HSF1 through direct interaction with the transactivation domain (61); therefore, the primary autoregulatory role of HSP70 appears to be downregulation of HSF1-mediated transcription.
Another well-characterized HSP, HSP90, functions as the core of several chaperone heterocomplexes that contain different assortments of noncovalently linked proteins, including HSP70 (18). Numerous studies have established that HSP90 is required for higher-order folding of certain signal transduction molecules and transcription factors (reviewed in references 7 and28) and that HSP90 functions in the later stages of protein folding after the formation of extensive secondary structure (35, 62, 63). HSP90 is thought not to be a general chaperone but rather to interact with and modulate the activity of various specific substrates, including hypoxia-inducible factor α (20), MyoD (58), steroid hormone receptors (50), the pp60v-src kinase (10), casein kinase II (15), and eIF-2α kinase (69).
Together, the known chaperone function and substrate specificity of HSP90, the conformational changes associated with HSF1 oligomerization, apparent integration of HSF1 into different signal transduction cascades, and a previous report describing an interaction between immobilized HSP90 and HSF from HeLa cell nuclear extracts (42) prompted us to consider HSP90 as a potential modulator of HSF1 activity. Further, HSF1 has recently been shown to assemble HSP90 and other chaperones common to the progesterone receptor assembly pathway in vitro (43). Here we investigated the potential autoregulatory role of HSP90 by using Xenopus oocytes. Results of coimmunoprecipitation and antibody recognition experiments provide clear evidence of a physical association in vivo between HSP90 and HSF1. Impairment of HSP90 function either by microinjected antibodies or by the specific binding agent geldanamycin (GA) resulted in a significant delay in HSF1 trimer disassembly during recovery and a marked reduction in heat-induced transcription from thehsp70 promoter. In addition, microinjected HSP90 antibodies (Abs) caused the activation of HSE-binding activity in the absence of heat shock, an effect which could be reversed by subsequent injection of exogenous HSP90. Together these observations support a new regulatory model in which formation of a heterocomplex between HSP90 and HSF1 plays a key role in modulating different steps of the HSF1 activation-deactivation pathway.
Oocyte manipulations, stress treatments, and microinjection. Xenopus laevis frogs were purchased from Xenopus I (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Ovary portions were surgically removed from adult female frogs, and follicle cells were removed from oocytes by treatment in calcium-free OR2 (45) buffer (82.5 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM KCl, 1 mM MgCl2, 1 mM NaH2PO4, 5 mM HEPES [pH 7.8], 10 mg of streptomycin sulfate per liter, 10 mg of benzyl penicillin per liter) containing 2 mg of collagenase (type II; Sigma) per ml for 2 to 3 h at 18°C. Oocytes were washed extensively and allowed to recover overnight in OR2 containing 1 mM CaCl2at 18°C, and only stage VI oocytes were selected for experiments. Nuclei were obtained under OR2 by scoring animal hemispheres with a needle and gently squeezing the equatorial region with watchmaker’s forceps. In some experiments, oocytes were incubated either in OR2 containing 10 μg of GA (a gift of the Developmental Therapeutics Program, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.) per ml dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or in OR2 with 1:250 (vol/vol) DMSO for 2 h at 18°C, rinsed, and then exposed to heat shock treatments. In all experiments, a minimum of 20 oocytes was used for each sample.
Plasmid constructs used for microinjection experiments were the human cytomegalovirus (CMV)-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and theXenopus hsp70-CAT clones (kindly provided by Alan Wolffe, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.), which were previously described (32). Following defolliculation, oocytes were incubated for several hours at 18°C, after which healthy oocytes were selected and injected into nuclei with 20 nl of a solution containing 2 ng of either CMV-CAT or hsp70-CAT plasmid per μl (40 pg) by using a Narashige IM 300 microinjector. After incubation overnight at 18°C, oocytes were subjected to heat shock or GA treatments and then incubated for an additional 12 h at 18°C, washed in OR2, and assayed for CAT activity.
For Ab microinjection experiments, Abs were diluted (1:1) in sterile H2O immediately prior to microinjection. In experiments in which the effects of HSP90 Abs on induced transcription were measured, Ab solutions (15 nl) were injected directly into the nuclei of oocytes containing reporter constructs (injected 12 h previously). Oocytes were then incubated for 30 min at 18°C, heat shocked, and then incubated for a further 12 h to allow for CAT expression. In experiments to measure the effects of HSP90, HSF1, or YY1 Abs on HSF1 binding, Abs were injected into (previously uninjected) oocyte nuclei. Injected oocytes were allowed to recover for 30 min at 18°C and then incubated at a control temperature (18°C) or heat shocked at 33°C. Protein extracts were then prepared for gel mobility shift analyses and immunoblotting. HSP90 polyclonal Abs (PAbs) and purified bovine HSP90 were gifts of R. Matts, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater; anti-HSP90 monoclonal Ab (MAb) (SPA 830) was purchased from StressGen, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; HSF1 PAbs (55) were a gift of K. Sarge, University of Kentucky, Lexington; and anti-Ying Yang 1 (anti-YY1) transcription factor PAbs were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Protein extracts and gel mobility shift assays.Protein extracts were prepared by homogenizing oocytes in buffer C (50 mM Tris-Cl [pH 7.9], 20% glycerol, 50 mM KCl, 0.1 mM EDTA, 2 mM dithiothreitol, 10 μg of aprotinin per ml, and 10 μg of leupeptin per ml) (14) in a Dounce homogenizer (10 μl/oocyte). Homogenates were transferred to Eppendorf tubes and spun for 5 min at 15,000 × g (4°C). The resultant supernatants were placed in a fresh tube and then immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C.
DNA mobility shift assays were performed by using HSE oligonucleotide probes as previously described (19). DNA-binding reaction mixtures contained 10 μl of extract (one oocyte equivalent by volume, or 20 μg of soluble protein). The relative amounts of protein in all samples were confirmed by Bradford assays, and extract volumes were adjusted so that equal protein concentrations were added to each binding reaction mixture. Binding reactions were performed with 1 μg of poly(dI-dC)–10 mM Tris (pH 7.8)–50 mM NaCl–1 mM EDTA–0.5 mM dithiothreitol–5% glycerol in a final volume of 20 μl. Reaction mixtures were incubated on ice for 20 min and immediately loaded onto 5% nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels containing 6.7 mM Tris-Cl (pH 7.5), 1 mM EDTA, and 3.3 mM sodium acetate. Gels were electrophoresed for 2.5 h at 150 V, dried, and exposed to autoradiography with X-ray film (XAR; Kodak). In vitro Ab recognition experiments were performed by adding Abs directly in DNA-binding reaction mixtures or by mixing Abs with oocyte extracts for 20 min on ice prior to DNA-binding reactions.
Immunoblotting and immunoprecipitations.Protein extracts were fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) (10% acrylamide) and electroblotted onto polyvinylidene difluoride membranes, and the blots were blocked (for 2 h at room temperature) in TBST (20 mM Tris-Cl [pH 7.6], 137 mM NaCl, 0.1% [vol/vol] Tween 20) containing 5% milk powder. Abs were diluted in TBST with 2.5% milk (1:5,000 for anti-HSP90 PAb), and blots were incubated in primary antibody for 2 h at room temperature. Blots were washed in TBST and incubated with secondary Ab (horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G; Bio-Rad) diluted 1:10,000 in TBST and 2.5% milk for 2 h at room temperature. Blots were washed, and proteins were visualized by chemiluminescence (Renaissance system; Dupont NEN) and autoradiography with X-ray film (XAR; Kodak).
Immunoprecipitations were performed by the method described by Firestone and Winguth (17). Nuclei from nonshocked and heat-shocked (30 min, 33°C) oocytes were isolated as described above, and in each assay eight nuclei were subjected to immunoprecipitation with anti-mouse HSF1 PAb (55) or anti-YY1 transcription factor PAb (Santa Cruz Biotechnology).
CAT assays.CAT assays were performed with one oocyte equivalent of whole-cell extract from uninjected or microinjected oocytes as previously described (49). A pool of at least 20 microinjected oocytes was used for each experimental treatment. The acetylated products were separated by thin-layer chromatography and visualized by autoradiography.
Detection of HSP90 in immune complexes with HSF1.In this study we used the Xenopus oocyte model system to examine the potential role of the HSP90 chaperone in modulating the activities of HSF1. We have previously shown that endogenous HSF1 is a nuclear protein in Xenopus oocytes both before and after heat shock (36). Accordingly, we reasoned that endogenous HSP90 must be present in oocyte nuclei in order for HSP90-HSF1 interactions to occur in vivo. To test this, oocytes were manually enucleated and the subcellular distribution of HSP90 was determined by immunoblotting (Fig. 1A). In this assay, total protein from intact oocytes was compared directly to protein in a single large oocyte nucleus and in the cytoplasm of the same cell. Although the majority of HSP90 appeared to reside in the cytoplasm, HSP90 was clearly detectable in the nuclear compartments of both unshocked and heat shocked oocytes. Relatively equal quantities of HSP90 were detected in nuclei isolated from oocytes before and after heat shock, demonstrating that the nucleocytoplasmic distribution of HSP90 was not significantly affected by the heat stress conditions used in this experiment (33°C for 2 h). Heat shock did not result in a detectable increase in the total cellular levels of HSP90. This is in agreement with previous observations demonstrating that HSP synthesis is not significantly induced by heat shock in the single-cellXenopus oocyte (27).
Identification of HSP90-HSF1 heterocomplexes inXenopus oocyte nuclei. (A) Immunoblot showing subcellular distribution of HSP90. Oocytes were incubated at a nonshock (NS) temperature (18°C) or heat shocked (HS) at 33°C for 2 h, and proteins from single intact oocytes or from the nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions were separated by SDS-PAGE along with purified bovine HSP90 as a control. HSP90 was detected with an HSP90 PAb. The positions of molecular mass standards are shown on the left. (B) Coimmunoprecipitation of HSF1 and HSP90 from oocyte nuclei. HSF1 and YY1 were immunoprecipitated with rabbit anti-mouse HSF1 PAb (55) or YY1 PAb (Santa Cruz). Nuclear extracts were isolated from nonshocked or heat-shocked (33°C for 1 h) oocytes. Immunoprecipitated material was subjected to SDS-PAGE and transferred to nitrocellulose, and the blot was probed with HSP90 and HSF1 Abs as indicated.
In order to determine if in vivo HSP90-HSF1 interactions could be detected in vivo, HSF1 was immunoprecipitated from unshocked or heat-shocked oocyte nuclei by using HSF1 PAbs (anti-mouse HSF1 antiserum) (55), and the immunoprecipitated material was examined for the presence of HSP90 by immunoblotting (Fig. 1B). HSP90 was present in the HSF1-immunoprecipitated material from both nonshocked and heat-shocked nuclei, suggesting a physical association between HSP90 and HSF1. Identical quantities of HSP90 were detected before and after heat shock, indicating that HSP90 associates equally well with inactive HSF1 monomers or stress-activated HSF1 trimers. Control experiments show that the HSF1 PAbs used in these experiments do not cross-react with endogenous Xenopus or purified bovine HSP90 on immunoblots (data not shown). Also, as shown in Fig.1B, HSP90 was not detected in control immunoprecipitations with PAbs against YY1 (60), which is a relatively abundant transcription factor in Xenopus oocytes (36a).
HSP90 Abs recognize heat-activated HSF1 in vivo and in vitro.While coimmunoprecipitation of HSP90 and HSF1 suggested a physical interaction between these proteins, additional evidence was required to substantiate the existence of HSP90-HSF1 heterocomplexes. In the following series of experiments, we tested the ability of HSP90 Abs to recognize activated DNA-binding HSF1 trimers. HSP90 Abs were mixed with aliquots of unshocked or heat-shocked oocyte extracts prior to DNA-binding reactions with radiolabeled HSE probes, and the effect on the migration of HSF1-HSE complexes was analyzed in gel mobility supershift assays (Fig. 2). Heat-induced HSF1 complexes were clearly supershifted by an HSP90 MAb and were disrupted by HSP90 PAbs, although in comparison to the HSP90 MAb, a relatively large amount of antiserum was required for this effect. The results of these experiments were identical for each antibody when HSP90 MAbs or PAbs were mixed directly into DNA-binding reaction mixtures without preincubation (data not shown). We attributed the retardation or disruption of heat-induced HSE bandshifts observed in these assays to specific antibody recognition of HSP90 in direct association with HSF1 trimers. This interpretation is consistent with the coimmunoprecipitation of HSP90 and HSF1 (Fig. 1). The disruption of HSE binding by HSP90 PAbs, while differing somewhat from the clear supershift by the MAb, was similar to the results of supershift experiments with HSF1 PAbs (see Fig. 4B) (19). It is likely that recognition of multiple epitopes by PAbs present in HSP90 antiserum interfered with HSP90-dependent DNA-binding activities of HSF1.
Recognition of the heat shock-activated DNA-binding form of HSF1 in gel mobility shift assays by HSP90 Abs. Aliquots of nonshocked (NS) or heat-shocked (HS) oocyte extracts were mixed with HSP90 MAb or PAbs (antiserum) and incubated for 30 min prior to DNA-binding reactions with a 32P-labeled HSE probe, and the migration of HSF1-HSE complexes was analyzed in gel mobility shift assays. Lanes in which extracts were not mixed with antibodies are indicated (−), and the final antibody dilutions in the extract incubations are indicated above the panel. Positions of the nonspecific binding activity (ns) and heat-induced (HSF1) and supershifted (HSF1 + ab) complexes are indicated.
We next determined if the physical association between HSP90 and HSF1 implied by in vitro supershift experiments could be detected in vivo. A series of experiments in which HSP90 was targeted by direct introduction of HSP90 Abs into oocyte nuclei was performed. It was important, however, to first evaluate the efficacy of the Ab injection technique. Initial experiments were aimed at determining the stability of injected Abs during heat shock, as well as any quantitative effects that Ab injection might have on endogenous HSP90 levels. Following nuclear microinjection of HSP90 MAb, oocytes were allowed to recover for 1 h at 18°C and then were further incubated under nonshock or heat shock conditions (18 or 33°C for 2 h). Cell homogenates were then examined for the presence of anti-HSP90 MAbs by immunoblotting; in this experiment injected Abs were recognized by the secondary Ab used to detect endogenous HSP90 (Fig.3A). The results show that both the quantity and apparent molecular sizes of microinjected MAbs were similar before and after heat shock and also that HSP90 levels were not affected by the presence of MAbs. Thus, it appeared that this technique could effectively be used to target or sequester HSP90 into immune complexes in vivo without affecting total HSP90 concentrations.
HSP90 interacts with HSF1 in vivo. (A) Immunoblot of nonshocked (NS) and heat-shocked (33°C, 2 h) oocytes that were either uninjected or microinjected with HSP90 MAb. HSP90 was detected with HSP90 primary Ab, and injected HSP90 Ab was detected with the secondary antibody (as described in Materials and Methods). Endogenous oocyte HSP90 and injected HSP90 MAbs present in extracts are indicated on the right. The positions of molecular mass standards are indicated on the left. (B) The migration of HSF1-HSE complexes was analyzed by gel mobility shift assay of uninjected or HSP90 MAb-injected oocytes that were not shocked (NS) or heat shocked (HS) at 33°C for the times indicated. The heat-activated HSF-HSE (HSF1) and HSP90 Ab-supershifted (HSF1+ab) complexes are indicated on the right. ns, nonspecific binding activity. (C) An experiment similar to that for panel B was performed with HSP90 antiserum (pAb).
The effect of microinjected HSP90 Abs on the DNA-binding activity of HSF1 was analyzed both before and after heat shock. HSP90 MAbs significantly retarded the mobility of heat shock-induced HSF1-HSE complexes (Fig. 3B). The relative amounts of induced HSF1 were similar in both uninjected and HSP90 MAb-injected oocytes, indicating that these antibodies did not suppress trimerization or the DNA-binding activity of HSF1. Supershift of heat shock-induced HSF1-HSE complexes was not observed after injection of HSP90 PAbs (Fig. 3C), but this was not surprising, since the maximum volume of antiserum that could be injected into oocyte nuclei was much less than the amount required to disrupt HSF1-HSE bandshifts in vitro (Fig. 2). Despite the differences between the effects of HSP90 MAb and PAbs seen in these experiments, the overall results of Ab injections are consistent with our interpretations of immunoprecipitation and in vitro gel supershift experiments and provide further evidence that HSP90 associates with HSF1 in vivo.
HSP90 associates with HSF1 in vivo.In control experiments we also tested the effects of microinjected HSF1 Abs on HSF1 in vivo. We have previously shown that anti-mouse HSF1 PAbs (55) supershift or obliterate stress-activated HSF1 complexes in oocyte extracts in vitro (19). Similar to the results of in vitro gel supershifts, direct nuclear injection of HSF1 antiserum appeared to completely inhibit the formation of HSF1-HSE complexes in response to heat shock (Fig. 4B). We could not, however, distinguish between the possibility that HSF1 Abs actually bound to and inhibited the trimerization of inactive HSF1 monomers prior to heat shock and the possibility that HSF1 Ab-supershifted complexes were simply not detectable in these gel shift assays. The results of control experiments also showed that heat shock-induced HSF1-HSE complexes were not affected by sham nuclear injection of H2O or nuclear injection of Abs against the transcription factor YY1 (Fig. 4B), indicating that the supershift of heat-induced HSF1-HSE complexes by microinjected HSP90 Abs was attributable to specific effects on HSP90 in vivo.
HSP90 Abs activate the HSE-binding activity of HSF1 under nonstress conditions. (A) Left, gel mobility shift assay of uninjected oocytes (−) and HSP90 Ab-injected oocytes (MAb or PAb) that were incubated at nonshock temperatures (NS) or heat shocked for 1 h (HS). The positions of heat-activated or Ab-activated HSF1-HSE complexes (HSF1) and HSP90 Ab-supershifted complexes (HSF1 + ab) are indicated. Right, gel mobility shift assay showing the effects of coinjected bovine HSP90 on the formation of HSF1-HSE complexes. In the third lane (+HSP90), 50 ng of purified bovine HSP90 was injected into oocytes 2 h after injection of HSP90 PAbs, and extracts were made following incubation at a nonshock temperature for a further 1 h. ns, nonspecific binding. (B) Bottom, gel mobility shift assay of oocytes injected with PAbs against YY1 (Santa Cruz; see Materials and Methods). Top, comparison of the activation of HSF1 in uninjected (uninj) and sham-injected (H2O) or HSF1 antiserum-injected (HSF1 PAb) (55) oocytes. (C) Recognition of HSF1 by microinjected HSP90 Abs occurred in vivo. A gel mobility shift assay was performed with uninjected (−) or HSP90 MAb-injected oocytes. In some lanes, HSP90 MAb or purified bovine HSP90 was added to extracts as indicated below the panel. HSP90 (1 μg) was added to Ab-injected oocytes at the time of homogenization (fifth lane from left), and HSP90 MAb or protein (1 μg) was added to uninjected heat-shocked oocyte extracts just prior to DNA-binding reactions (seventh and eighth lanes from left).
HSP90 Abs induce HSE binding in the absence of heat shock.In the mobility gel shift assay with the results shown in Fig. 3B, HSF1-HSE complexes were not observed in unshocked oocytes after nuclear injection of an HSP90 MAb; however, in repeated experiments HSF1 appeared to be induced by the same MAb in the absence of heat shock (Fig. 4A). Similar heat shock-independent activation was also observed in experiments with microinjected PAbs in HSP90 antiserum (Fig. 3C and4A). Thus, it appeared that injection of HSP90 Abs mimicked the effects of heat shock in eliciting the DNA-binding activity of HSF1. The mobility of HSF1-HSE complexes induced by injected HSP90 Abs in unshocked oocytes did not appear to be supershifted but was similar to that of the heat-induced complexes in uninjected cells (Fig. 3C and4A). This suggested that Ab-induced activation may have been the result of Ab interaction with HSP90 not in direct contact with HSF1.
Several control experiments were performed to determine if the activation of HSF1 under nonshock conditions by microinjected HSP90 Abs was attributable to specific effects on HSP90 in vivo. First, induction of HSE binding by HSP90 Abs could be reversed by subsequent injection of 50 ng of purified HSP90 (Fig. 4A). Second, sham injection or the nuclear presence of YY1 or HSF1 Abs did not induce HSE binding in the absence of heat shock (Fig. 4B). Thus, HSF1 activation by HSP90 Abs was not due to stress caused by the injection procedure and/or the presence of nonspecific antibodies alone but rather was a result of specific Ab interactions with HSP90 in vivo. Since injected HSP90 Abs probably inhibit or disrupt HSP90 function in vivo, these results indicate that HSP90 participates in repression of trimerization, or maintaining the monomeric state of HSF1, under nonshock conditions. We also found that gel supershifts of activated HSF1-HSE complexes by HSP90 MAb added in vitro could be quenched or inhibited by the addition of excess purified HSP90 (1 μg/oocyte) to DNA-binding reaction mixtures (Fig. 4C). Addition of the same quantity of excess HSP90 to heat-shocked oocytes immediately upon homogenization did not suppress the supershift of HSF1-HSE complexes by injected HSP90 MAb (Fig. 4C). We therefore conclude that the effects on HSF1-HSE complexes observed after microinjection of HSP90 MAbs were the result of Ab interactions occurring in vivo.
Nuclear injection of HSP90 Abs delays attenuation of HSF1-binding activity.Taken together, the established role of HSP90 as a protein-folding chaperone targeting specific cellular substrates, the known structural changes associated with HSF1 oligomerization, and the results here of immunoprecipitation and antibody recognition experiments demonstrating association between HSP90 and HSF1 and activation of HSF1 by microinjected HSP90 Abs suggested that HSP90 could function as a modulator of HSF1 activity. To examine this further, we analyzed the effects of microinjected HSP90 Abs on the DNA-binding properties of HSF1 during the deactivation phase of the heat shock response. Since HSF1-HSE complexes persist indefinitely throughout prolonged heat shock treatments of oocytes (19), we could not monitor HSF1 deactivation during continuous stress. Instead, we compared attenuation of HSE binding in uninjected and HSP90 Ab-injected oocytes recovering at 18°C from a 33°C heat shock. As shown in Fig. 5, microinjected HSP90 MAbs caused a significant delay in the attenuation of HSE-binding activity relative to that for uninjected controls. The result of this experiment suggested that disruption of the chaperoning ability of HSP90 in vivo decreased the rate of HSF1 trimer disassembly. Thus, it appears that, in addition to suppressing trimerization, HSP90 also plays a role in the conformational changes required for the reverse step of HSF1 trimerization.
HSP90 Abs delay the deactivation of HSF1 in vivo. Uninjected or HSP90 MAb-injected oocytes were subjected to a heat shock at 33°C for 1 h (HS) and then allowed to recover at 18°C for the periods of time indicated, and the HSE-binding activity of HSF1 was analyzed by gel mobility shift assay. Both heat-induced and supershifted complexes are indicated as HSF1 at the left. ns, nonspecific binding activity.
HSP90 Abs inhibit HSF1-mediated transcription fromhsp70 promoter.The transcriptional activation domain of HSF1 is regulated independently of trimerization, and it has been hypothesized that full induction requires additional conformational changes (21, 59, 76). We postulated that HSP90-HSF1 interactions might also have a functional impact on heat-inducible transcription. To investigate this possibility, we measured the effect of HSP90 Abs on heat-inducible expression fromhsp70-CAT reporter constructs. Nuclear injection of HSP90 Abs resulted in a significant reduction of heat-induced CAT activity (Fig. 6A). The negative effect on HSF1-mediated CAT expression implied that binding of Abs to HSP90 in vivo could disrupt transactivation by HSF1 under heat shock conditions. In order to rule out the possibility that injected HSP90 Abs had a general inhibitory effect on transcription and/or CAT, parallel experiments were performed with CMV-CAT reporter constructs (Fig. 6A). The results show that expression from the CMV promoter was not affected by anti-HSP90. In additional control experiments, we assessed the effects of HSF1 Abs on heat shock-induced expression ofhsp70-CAT. The results show that CAT activity was downregulated by HSF1 antiserum (Fig. 6B), and, as was the case for HSP90 MAbs, expression from the CMV promoter was not affected by HSF1 antiserum. Thus, the negative effects of both HSP90 and HSF1 Abs appeared to be specific to HSF1. On the basis of these expression assays, we suggest that HSP90 Ab interactions with HSF1-HSP90 heterocomplexes in vivo hindered or inhibited physical changes to HSF1 required for the acquisition of full transcriptional competence in response to heat shock. We have not ruled out the possibility that the inhibitory effect of injected Abs was exerted through interaction with uncomplexed HSP90 molecules. It is also possible that HSP90 must dissociate from HSF1 trimers before transcriptional activation, and therefore Abs may have sterically inhibited conformational changes to the HSF1 activation domain.
Microinjected HSP90 Abs inhibit the heat-induced transcriptional activity of HSF1. (A) CAT assay of oocytes microinjected with hsp70-CAT (left) or CMV-CAT (right). Oocytes were injected with HSP90 MAb 1 h before heat shock (33°C for 1 h) treatment (HS), and the expression from each promoter was compared directly to that in similarly treated oocytes without injected Ab. Each experiment was repeated at least five times with different batches of oocytes, yielding similar results. The positions of unacetylated (Cm) and acetylated (Ac) forms of [14C,]chloramphenicol are indicated on the left of each panel. Background CAT activity of non-plasmid-injected oocytes is shown in the right panel (cont). NS, no heat shock. (B) CAT assay of oocytes microinjected with reporters as described above. HSF1 PAbs were injected into oocyte nuclei essentially as described above for HSP90 Ab.
Effect of GA on the DNA-binding and transcriptional activities of HSF1.In order to rule out potential artifacts of microinjected Abs, we examined the role of HSP90 in regulating HSF1 activities by an alternative method involving treatment of cells with GA. GA is a fungal benzoquinoid ansamycin known to block HSP90 function (65,71). GA binds specifically to HSP90 at the ATP-binding domain (22, 51, 67) and prevents HSP90-mediated renaturation of proteins (24, 56, 68). GA has been shown to inhibit the HSP90-dependent activities of numerous proteins, including the glucocorticoid receptor and pp60v-src(71), the Src family kinase p56lck(23), Raf kinase (57), and progesterone receptor (65).
Oocytes were incubated in medium supplemented with GA (10 μg/ml) for 2 h, and the DNA-binding activity of HSF1 was analyzed by gel shift assay with labeled HSE. As shown in Fig.7A, GA treatment alone did not activate HSF1. We did not observe HSF1 induction by GA at nonshock temperatures even after extended exposure of up to several hours or after acute exposure to GA concentrations as high as 100 μg/ml (data not shown). The failure of GA to induce HSE binding in the absence of heat shock indicated that GA inhibition of HSP90 in vivo was not sufficient to bring about HSF1 trimerization. In heat shock experiments, however, GA treatment (10 μg/ml) for 2 h prior to a heat shock of 30°C for 30 min caused a significant increase in the induced levels of HSF1-HSE complexes relative to those for identically stressed controls (Fig.7A). Elevated levels of HSE-binding activity were observed at several different points during the induction phase, from between 5 min and 1 h of heat shock.
(GA) enhances the heat-inducible HSE-binding activity of HSF1 and delays deactivation during recovery. (A) Oocytes were incubated for 2 h in the presence of 10 μg of GA (G) per ml or in DMSO (D) or left untreated (U) prior to heat shock at 30°C for the times indicated. The HSE-binding activities of HSF1 were then compared by gel mobility shift assay. (B) Gel mobility shift assay of oocytes that were treated with GA or DMSO as described above, heat shocked at 33°C for 1 h and then allowed to recover at 18°C for the periods of time indicated. The positions of activated HSF1 and nonspecific (ns) bands are indicated at the left of each panel.
Enhanced activation of HSF1 in GA-treated oocytes could have been attributed to a synergistic effect of heat shock in combination with GA or to a shift in the oligomerization equilibrium towards formation of HSF1 trimers caused by GA inhibition of HSP90-mediated dissociation. In an attempt to distinguish between these possibilities, we examined the effect of GA on the DNA-binding properties of HSF1 during the deactivation phase of the heat shock response. The results of recovery experiments consistently showed that deactivation of HSF1 was delayed in GA-treated oocytes relative to that in untreated controls (Fig. 7B). It is important to note that even after severe heat treatments, HSE binding of endogenous HSF1 in oocytes returns to control levels within 5 to 15 min of recovery (19). Thus, GA disruption of the chaperoning activity of HSP90 in vivo appears to decrease the rate of HSF1 trimer disassembly. The results of recovery experiments with GA were similar to those of HSP90 Ab injections, and together these data imply that HSP90 functions in controlling the conformational changes associated with conversion of HSF1 from trimers to monomers. From these experiments, however, we cannot be certain whether GA and HSP90 Abs exerted their effects directly by inhibiting the function of HSP90 molecules in complex with HSF1 or indirectly by inhibiting the function of HSP90 molecules not stably complexed with HSF1.
We next used GA to examine the functional significance of HSP90-HSF1 interactions for heat-inducible transcription. Expression from microinjected hsp70-CAT reporter constructs in untreated and GA-treated oocytes under nonshock and heat shock conditions was compared (Fig. 8). The results show that heat-induced CAT activity was significantly reduced in GA-treated oocytes relative to that in untreated controls. Thus, inhibition of HSF1-mediated CAT expression by GA mimicked the results with microinjected HSP90 Abs. Expression was unaffected by GA in parallel experiments with microinjected CMV-CAT reporter constructs (Fig. 8), thus ruling out the possibility that GA had a general inhibitory effect on transcription and/or CAT activity in oocytes. The results of expression experiments using both microinjected Abs and GA strongly suggest that HSP90 functions in regulating conformational changes to the transcriptional activation domain of HSF1.
GA inhibits the heat-induced transcriptional activity of HSF1. CAT activities of CMV-CAT- or hsp70-CAT-injected oocytes that were either untreated or treated with GA (10 μg/ml, 2 h) prior to incubation at 18°C (NS) or heat shock (HS) (33°C for 2 h) were compared. Each experiment was repeated at least five times with different batches of oocytes, yielding similar results. The positions of unacetylated (Cm) and acetylated (Ac) forms of [14C]chloramphenicol are indicated on the left.
HSF1 is one of the most intensely studied eukaryotic transcription factors. Numerous reports have described the functional domains and intrinsic properties of HSF1 molecules from different organisms, the changes in oligomerization and phosphorylation states, interactions with HSP70, and HSF1 activation by disparate stress signals. Despite knowledge of these events, however, the precise mechanisms by which cells regulate HSF1 are yet to be defined. This study is an important step towards understanding HSF1 regulation. It had previously been postulated, on the basis of HSP90-HSF1 heterocomplex formation in vitro, that HSP90 could modulate HSF1 activity (42, 43), an idea that has not been confirmed before this work. The results of this analysis, using novel experimental approaches made possible by theXenopus oocyte model system, clearly establish a physical association between HSP90 and endogenous HSF1 in vivo and provide evidence that HSP90 functions to modulate oligomerization and possibly the inducible transcriptional activity of HSF1.
The existence of HSP90-HSF1 heterocomplexes is corroborated by several independent lines of evidence, including the detection of HSP90 in HSF1 Ab-immunoprecipitated material from both heat-shocked and control cells, HSP90 Ab-directed induction of HSE-binding activity, HSP90 Ab-directed supershifts of heat-activated HSF1 both in vitro and in vivo, and the delayed deactivation of HSF1-binding activity after disruption of HSP90 with GA or microinjected Abs. Results showing HSP90 Ab induction of HSF1 in the absence of heat shock and delayed deactivation of HSF1 after targeting of HSP90 in vivo suggest that HSP90 contributes to the conformational changes required for suppression of trimerization as well as disassembly of HSF1 trimers. Furthermore, independent experiments with microinjected HSP90 Abs and cell treatments with GA show specific effects on heat-induced transcriptional activity of HSF1. Although we have not directly confirmed the universality of these findings, we assume that HSP90-HSF1 interactions and the apparent regulatory role of HSP90 are not unique to Xenopus oocytes; in fact, the likelihood that HSP90-HSF complexes must exist in other cells is strengthened by the evolutionary conservation of these molecules and previous reports of HSP90-HSF interactions in human cell extracts or reticulocyte lysates (42,43). Also of note is the recent observation by Farkas et al. (16) of a 94-kDa protein species copurifying with bacterially expressed HSF1; our results lead us to suggest that this could have been HSP90.
Based on the evidence presented here and the previously reported properties of both HSF1 and HSP90 molecules, we propose a regulatory model in which HSP90 functions as an HSF1-specific chaperone at different points along the activation-deactivation pathway: maintenance of the monomeric conformation under nonstress conditions, induction of transactivation potential, and disassembly of trimers to a non-DNA-binding state following stress (Fig.9). The model predicts that HSP90 is associated with HSF1 at different points along the activation-deactivation pathway and exerts its regulatory effects directly through interactions with HSF1. The model also predicts that, in addition to coordinating the dynamic changes in HSF1 oligomerization, HSP90 could function in the unmasking of the transcriptional activation domain. Previous studies have shown that the carboxy-terminal transcriptional activator domain is regulated independently of oligomerization (21, 31, 46, 59, 76). The effects on HSF1-dependent transcription of GA and microinjected HSP90 Abs suggest that this step could be regulated at least in part by complexed HSP90. It must be emphasized that the current model does not exclude the involvement of HSP70 in controlling HSF1 activities. Rather, it is more likely that HSP70 and HSP90 act coordinately in this regard. The idea of cooperative and/or coordinate regulation of HSF1 by both HSPs is congruent with the previous identification of HSP70 and HSP90 in large chaperone complexes (63, 64), with the ability of HSF1 to assemble HSP90 along with HSP70 and several components of the cytoplasmic molecular chaperone machinery, and with the recent demonstration that HSP70 binds to the activation domain and negatively regulates transcription (61).
Model of HSF1 regulation by HSP90. Our data indicate that HSP90 interacts with the inactive monomeric and active trimeric forms of HSF1 and could be involved in regulating the interconversion between these forms (A and C). Both HSP90 Abs and GA delay trimer disassembly and inhibit heat-induced transcription of HSF1 (D). These observations suggest a role for HSP90 in modulation of the transcriptional activation domain (B) or that HSP90 dissociation from trimers is required for transcriptional competence. We also hypothesize that HSP90 could link HSF1 to cellular signaling molecules (B). Details of HSF1 structure are not shown, although the shape change from a circle to an ellipse is intended to indicate conformational changes associated with trimerization. No data are presented for the one-to-one stoichiometric relationship between HSP90 and HSF1, which is shown only for simplicity. Although HSP70 is not represented here, we do not imply its absence of involvement in any of these processes.
Apart from providing a mechanistic framework in which the HSF1-regulatory function of HSP90 could be explained, the model shown in Fig. 9 describes a hypothetical mechanism by which HSF1 could be linked to disparate signaling pathways. We put forth the hypothesis that HSP90 functions as an integral part of the cellular stress detection machinery, tethering HSF1 to cell signaling molecules. We suggest that this could occur through transient or reiterative interactions between HSP90-HSF1 heterocomplexes and other HSP90-associated cellular kinases or other regulatory molecules. Alternatively, HSF1 could assemble with HSP90 and other molecules into large heteromeric complexes; however, to our knowledge these have not been detected in vivo through biochemical approaches. Our proposal of interactions between HSP90 molecules simultaneously in complex with HSF1 and cellular signaling molecules provides a plausible mechanism by which signaling molecules that participate in regulating the cellular stress activation-deactivation pathway could be specifically presented to HSF1. The formation of HSP90 homodimers (38) is consistent with this idea.
Specific recognition of HSF1-HSE complexes by using HSP90 Abs was demonstrated both in vivo (Abs injected into oocyte nuclei) and in vitro (Abs added to DNA-binding reactions mixtures). Also, both active and inactive forms of HSF1 coimmunoprecipitated with HSP90 from heat-shocked and unshocked nuclear extracts. These results are consistent with the previous findings showing an interaction between immobilized HSP90 and HSF in nuclear extracts of unshocked HeLa cells (42) and between HSP90 and bacterially expressed HSF1 in a cell-free reticulocyte lysate assembly system (43), but they are in contrast to results of other studies in which HSF1-HSP90 interactions were not detected by immunoprecipitation (53) or supershift analyses (5); it is possible that such discrepancies could be accounted for by the use of different Abs. The simplest interpretation of our results is that a subset of nuclear HSP90 molecules exist in heterocomplexes with inactive HSF1 monomers and remain associated with trimers. Coimmunoprecipitation of equal quantities of HSP90 under both nonshock and heat shock conditions implies that HSP90-HSF1 heterocomplex formation is independent of the oligomeric state of HSF1. What remains to be determined is the relative affinity between HSP90 and HSF1 monomers and trimers and the stoichiometric relationship between these molecules. Also of interest is whether HSP90 remains associated with HSF1 throughout activation and deactivation or whether HSP90 interacts reiteratively and transiently with HSF1 at each step in the pathway.
Induction of the HSE-binding activities of HSF1 under nonshock conditions after nuclear injection of HSP90 Abs, although not after GA treatment, leads us to hypothesize that HSP90 participates as a molecular chaperone in the folding of HSF1 monomers, either to establish the formation of intramolecular hydrophobic interactions of inactive HSF1 monomers, or to maintain the monomeric conformation. Interestingly, the HSP90 Ab-induced HSE-binding activity in unshocked oocytes did not appear to be supershifted, suggesting that this heat shock-independent activation could have been the result of Ab interaction with uncomplexed HSP90. Why did HSP90 Abs but not GA induce HSF1 in unstressed cells? Presumably, the binding of Abs to certain epitopes was sufficient to inhibit the apparent HSP90-mediated repression of HSF1, either directly through interactions with molecules in HSF1-HSP90 heterocomplexes or indirectly through interactions with HSP90 not complexed with HSF1. The fact that GA treatments failed to activate HSF1 does not necessarily contradict a potential role for HSP90 in the folding or repression of HSF1 monomers. GA binds the ATP-binding domain of HSP90 and is hypothesized to inhibit substrate release or lead to substrate degradation (22, 24, 51, 56, 67,68), effects that would not inexorably lead to trimerization.
Although the functional implications of an interaction between HSP90 and inactive monomers is still unclear, recovery experiments indicated a clear relationship between HSP90 and the disassembly of HSF1 trimers. Both GA treatments and nuclear injection of HSP90 Abs significantly delayed deactivation of HSF1 during recovery from heat shock. A number of potential mechanisms by which HSP90 might modulate reversion of HSF1 oligomerization could be considered. One is that HSP90 acts to stabilize the trimeric conformation of HSF1 and must be released prior to conversion to the monomeric form and deactivation of HSE binding. Alternatively, HSP90 could remain complexed with HSF1 throughout the disassembly process and act to mediate the conformational and folding changes associated with conversion of homotrimers to monomers. In either case, the delay in HSF1 deactivation by GA is probably due to inhibition of the ATPase activity of HSP90, but the mechanism by which HSP90 Abs inhibited HSP90 function in vivo is not known. It was interesting that HSP90 Ab-induced HSF1-HSE complexes detected in gel mobility shift assays were not supershifted. Consequently, we have not ruled out the possibility that GA or HSP90 Abs could have exerted their effects indirectly by affecting the chaperone activity of HSP90 molecules not in complex with HSF1.
Another key finding of this study is the repression of heat-inducible transcription after targeting HSP90 in vivo. It is very unlikely that this transcriptional repression of HSF1 was artifactual, since it was reproduced by two independent methods, microinjection of HSP90 Abs and cell treatments with GA. The results imply that physical binding of HSP90 by injected Abs or disruption of its ATPase domain by GA somehow blocked the conformational changes to the transactivation domain of HSF1. Therefore, we suggest, but have yet not confirmed, that the chaperoning function of HSP90 may be directly involved in this step of the activation pathway. This function would be entirely consistent with the known chaperoning role of HSP90 with other cellular proteins and transcription factors such as MyoD (58). Similar to the case for the delay of deactivation by HSP90 antibodies or GA, we have not yet determined whether these agents inhibited transcription directly through perturbing the function of HSP90 molecules complexed with HSF1 or indirectly through interactions with the uncomplexed pool of HSP90. Furthermore, additional factors such as HSP70 (61) or various signal transduction molecules could be involved in regulating the transcriptional activation domain.
There were two apparent contradictions in the results of expression experiments: (i) under heat shock conditions, GA treatment enhanced the HSE-binding activity of HSF1 while reducing transcriptional activity, and (ii) under nonshock conditions, HSP90 Ab injection induced HSE binding but not a corresponding increase in HSF1-mediated transcription from the HSP70 promoter. It could be argued that these results reflect the independent regulation of (i) trimerization and DNA binding and (ii) transactivation (21, 59, 76). In fact, the DNA-binding and transcriptional activities of HSF1 are also uncoupled inXenopus oocytes (6).
Rather than a direct role for HSP90 in regulating transcriptional competence of HSF1, the observations of repression by GA and HSP90 Abs could indicate that dissociation of HSP90 from trimers is a necessary precondition for transcriptional activation. In this case, reduced transcriptional activity caused by HSP90 Abs or GA could have been the result of inhibition of HSP90 release and steric blocking of modifications to the transcriptional activation domain. It is possible that in our experiments with oocytes, these agents acted to stabilize a transcriptionally incompetent intermediate in the activation pathway. Regardless of the interpretations of these experiments, however, it is clear that HSP90 is involved in the transcriptional activation of HSF1. The precise details of this role will probably require more knowledge of the stoichiometric relationships between these two proteins throughout the activation-deactivation pathway.
In conclusion, the data presented here provide the first clear evidence in support of a role for HSP90 in the regulation of HSF1. This study raises a number of key questions. For example, what is the molecular basis for HSP90-HSF1 interactions, and what are the dynamics of HSP90-HSF1 interactions throughout the stress response? Do ATP hydrolysis and HSF1 hyperphosphorylation affect the physical association between these molecules, or does HSP90 actually coordinate HSF1 phosphorylation through interactions with other factors? Do HSP70 and HSP90 cooperate in modulating HSF1 activities, and are other molecules involved? It will be interesting to unravel the precise roles of HSP90 in coordinating the physical changes associated with induction of HSF1 by stress and to determine if HSP90 plays a role in the signaling pathways used to sense stress and coordinate the appropriate changes in cellular activities.
This work was supported by a research grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada to N.O., a postdoctoral fellowship from the Health Services Utilization Research Council of Saskatchewan to A.A., and a PGSA scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to S.B.
We thank S. Hartson and R. Matts for purified HSP90 protein and antiserum; A. Wolffe for hsp70-CAT and CMV-CAT constructs; K. Sarge and R. Morimoto for HSF1 antiserum; A. Hnatov, J. Davies, and J. Xavier for technical assistance; and P. Mercier for critical reading of the manuscript.
A. Ali and S. Bharadwaj contributed equally to this paper.
Returned for modification 10 May 1998.
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Discussion in 'GMC Jam' started by Alice, Aug 1, 2016.
I played 10 entries, and that's all I can do right now. Here are my reviews.
This was the funnest entry I played. Level 6 had a HUGE difficulty spike, but I still had a lot of fun! Graphics were OK, mostly just circles, the environments felt really nice.Sometimes the view wouldn't cooperate the way I wanted it to. The enemies were either very stupid, or very much wanted you dead. They gave a good challenge though! The minimap was nice! Even though I never really looked at it. (Unless I was standing still) This game was great! I had a lot of fun!
This entry was pretty fun, very unforgiving gameplay however. I felt some of the hitboxes were a little tough to get around, and some of the AI timings were very... hard to get around. It was hard to control, not a fan of mouse controls in general for this type of game, would have preferred arrow keys, or better yet "WASD" control. Graphics were superb! I liked them a lot! The ending was a pretty nasty sucker punch, I'll tell you that! But it was good because of that, in my opinion. Great job!
First thing's first, I dislike mouse controls. I died on numerous accounts of clicking off of the screen. There might have been a fullscreen option, but I didn't check. The graphics were terrific! The animations were nice, there was a few graphical glitches where I had to "guess" the level until I died, then it'd load graphically. The gameplay wasn't bad, some of the levels were a tad hard. Overall, it was okay. Good job!
-Very fun. Actually wouldn't mind seeing a little more.
-Gorgeous presentation. Music, Graphics, and text effects.
-The only game that really had a story.
-I'm assuming devlog means "Development log". I didn't follow any of those.
All 10 games. Rated by how fun I thought it was.
-I found this one very fun. Level 6 was a difficulty spike the size of a mountain.
-Very hard to control. Sucker punch ending. Fun.
-I had trouble with the mouse. The graphics and animations were terrific.
-Very slow walking speed. I thought the game was really funny.
-The controls should have been on the "WASD". I loved the voice work at the end, and the "good" ending.
-The game crashed when I was able to go "up". The graphics were very nice. Cool text effects.
-Seizure inducing lighting effects. Very simple to the point gameplay.
-Slightly clunkly feeling. Controls did their job. Had some fun.
-Painfully slow gameplay. The concept isn't bad though.
-The game crashed whenever I pressed "Enter" (couldn't get past the first menu). I was unable to play it. I tried it after I patched it. Maybe there's another patch?
That's all I got. Sorry I didn't have time for more.
rui.rosario and Alice like this.
It's an interesting puzzle platformer game, using the corpses of the deceased and their abilities to reach the end of each level.
Why do I get Undertale vibes from this game?
I'm a little sad to see that there is no ending programmed into the game but that's just about the only thing I can complain about.
I was happy to find a short, and perhaps humorous, story when not expecting one. Although I wish there'd been a little less text and more audioable or visual ques, I can understand that timeconstraints and the small size of the game made it a better call to tell the player through text messages and objectives.
It's a good if slightly confusing bullet hell game.
Either I'm having really bad luck or this game hates me.
I'm not sure what kind of constructive advice I could give, it is a nice idea but it feels unfinished.
No idea what this game is really about, simple puzzle game.
I can see that this was supposed to be story & puzzle driven, and it is, but aside from one quick playthrough I feel no interest in playing it again.
It feels kinda rushed, like too much of the developpment time was taken by either drawing or programming.
In all honesty, I'm not exactly sure as to what you aimed towards.
I really like the arcade style of this game, although sadly I don't have time to play it to the end.
1. There's no explaination about the controls, at all.
Had to trial & error a bit to figure them out. I recommend at least a readme file to come with it.
I mean, yeah. I liked it and really enjoyed the game but I wish there'd been more content, a continuation of the story.
But I can understand, time constraints makes it difficult to finish in time so this might've been the better choice.
Well, it kept me playing past the time restrictions I estimated.
I gave it another 7-9 minutes, backtracking my steps to find the missing one before I had to give up and move on to the next game on the list.
So, without going into detail on the story, it is intriguing and kept me thinking. I'll only say that everything isn't as it seemed at first.
Music/ambient sound - Could loop a bit better, it cuts of at the end before looping sometimes and is quite noticeable in the machine zone.
Walking sound - Could be a bit refined I think, walking on grass sounded a bit off as if I trampled on something akin to dry plastick grass. Not to mention when walking on metal, it's as if the character is occassionally skipping forward instead of walking.
Collision detecting - When standing still and rotating on the spot I noticed that the players collision hitbox was actually offset from the center of the rotation, meaning that if I stood by the edge of a platform and decided to turn around on the spot I'd suddenly find myself having stepped off the platform by rotating the player.
Otherwise I really enjoyed it.
Ok, this game kept me preoccupied for a while. It reminds me quite a bit of roleplay during Cluedo, a murder mystery where you have to find the suspect to win the game.
I love the premise you set up, it works entirely well with the Theme and gives the player an idea of what their role will be in the game.
Aside from the fact that I couldn't find a story, or anything relating to the theme during the time I played, it was a nice game which soon made me want to quote an old favourite game character from Red Alert 2.
A platformer with "zombies" as enemies.
Nothing to complain about, gonna play further once I get the time.
I'm not quite sure about this game, had to figure out the controls on my own and all, but it is an interesting "evolution" game.
This rucked some of my old memories, really liked the idea behind it.
Of course, I couldn't kill that last survivor.
He asked me nicely, he had a small flicker of hope, he will live on until his time has come.
A topdown defense/lone survivor game with "building" elements added to it.
Once again the theme have caused there to be zombies, which annoys me, as the main enemy.
The game itself looks great, it handles nicely and I really like how dark it is in the unlit areas.
Sadly the one lone soundtrack I heard makes me wish for a larger selection or at the very least a change of tempo every now and then, especially once the zombies break through into the main room where the player is.
Ok, I'll be honest here. I half expected a troll game for some reason but this was a rather nice shooter.
Don't have much to say other then that.
Ok, so the Jamplayer couldn't launch this game for some reason, but I managed to play it anyway.
I liked it, though I wish there were more maps I could play on.
That one map does get a little boring after a while.
The art is nice, the feeling of being alone on an alien planet is conveyed quite well.
I can't find a story other then what is visible during gameplay, that is, what I can puzzle together from seeing the environment.
Getting caught by the enemies however seem a bit bugged, I managed to escape once on what I later found out was the verge of death.
But I kept bugging back and forth on either side of the monsters every time they caught me and it was difficult to figure out just what was going on, and I have no idea how I survived the first time.
Other then that it's enjoyable.
Short but well done, got nothing else to say.
That music is quite catchy.
Despite initial trouble due to advancing through the text messages too quickly and pressing a debug button for it, I managed to play through the game and finish it.
Interesting use of theme and pleasant as a shooter, though I would like to have a slightly bigger field of view with the way the camera handles.
Anyway, it's a fascinating idea to build around and it makes for a story on its own although perhaps not the most sane one.
Got some issues with the window but it was already mentioned in the Readme file so other then that I got nothing.
Overall good but it gets a bit repetetive after a while.
Ok, interesting and nice platform shooter.
That one single music soundtrack became rather annoying after a while though, some more variation would be nice.
I liked this one, partly due to the pleasant surprise of a story when the readme file gave me a "No story" vibe.
While the game itself could do better graphical wise (I'm not complaining about stick figures here, only the lack of animation. Particulary for the dragon.) it was rather nice and simple, a bit like a game I'd expect to find on a flash site a few years ago.
Not much more I can say at the moment, I enjoyed it.
It's a cute little game but it feels repetetive after the 4th day and kind of unfinished.
There were hints of a story but I was too busy figuring out the controls and killing the hordes of enemies suddenly charging me to read it.
It also didn't help that it was a pure white text against a bright background which made it a bit more difficult to read as well as the speed it moved in.
Some kind of Readme file with both the story and a control scheme would be nice, especially if the game is going to start up like that.
Well, from what little I could play it was nice.
I also noticed that I could just spam attacks and "turns" by holding down the button, might've caused the error but I'm not sure.
Old School style platformer. Short, simple and slightly difficult if one isn't used to old games.
Something is either blocking this game or it didn't download properly, I'll look into it later if given time.
got nothing to say on this one.
Enjoyable & good use of theme.
Well, I found a few things to be annoying but otherwise it was okay.
Collisions are a bit chunky, there were many times when I jumped up to land on the edge of a platform and simply got stuck either in a wall or on the edge itself.
Ok, I'll admit that it's an interesting/creative take on the theme.
It's a nice puzzle platformer and an interesting idea, though sadly there's only one level and it feels a bit unfinished with those tile blocks and that one singular background throughout the level.
A decent reaction type game.
It didn't hold my interest very long but from what I saw it was fairly good.
Umm, I'm not sure what to make of this one.
First of all, that is not quite the theme. It's a try to work around it but not truly THE theme.
Secondly, I feel kinda limited in my movement as I can barely jump 1 block and even then only if I'm really lucky.
The idea behind the mechanics might be good but it would need a little more work and perhaps be better explained to the player.
This game isn't appealing to me, Sorry.
Well, I guess it was rather good.
Didn't play too far so I haven't unlocked the whole story or finished the game yet but it was rather nice for as far as I played.
I don't have much to say other then that it was nice to solve some puzzles for once and actually use my head instead of muscle memory.
Time based logic puzzle game.
Hmm, I found the game to be interesting at least.
I'm not sure if there's anything I can really point on, except maybe being stuck in a corner and continiusly smashed.
The M, rui.rosario, Alice and 3 others like this.
LADIES AND GENTLEFOLK; I MANAGED 30 GAMES DESPITE 14 HOUR SHIFTS, SCHOOL STARTING AGAIN AND MOVING.
not that anyone really cares too much, but at least I can sway the vote a bit, even a little, because 1/31st is a very small offset and I can rest easy knowing that my first place vote matters 15 times as much as the votes I didn't give out: That's something!
Without further ado, (or whatever the phrase is): here are my top 30!
Genius. Pure blooded genius. And I'm not talking about the equation for life either, just overall genius.
Fun gameplay, kicking music, wacky animation, and entertaining concept. well done.
Great concept, very lovely graphic design, a bit clunky to control but I really really love the concept and the great execution.
The game opened. I saw a DOS bootup. I was intrigued. Then the metal started and a skeleton appeared. I was all but ready to call it a day and award you first place. heck: I even started the game again just to listen to the awesome song.
The game itself is simple, entertaining and while silly is exactly what I wanted from this competition without ever knowing it. You get this score based on awesomeness alone and the incredible replayability of a game that really shouldn't have any based on the mechanics. Well done.
Very heartwarming. I liked just walking around and chatting a bit: the atmosphere was soothing and while it was short I liked this game.
I feel we need more games about crushing things with hammers. A short but solid entry with an eeary athmosphere.
Music: solid. Action: fast. but unfortunatly it was a bit hard to control and wasn't exactly a looker.
While I appriciate the concept that went into this, there really isn't much to view here. Trough the bitcrushed graphics and button-mashing to solve the puzzles I couldn't really pay attention to the script that was judging me fin vague hints that didn't explain too much.
A very interesting artstyle. pretty, a bit slow to repeat all dialogoue when you mess up and die, and guesstimating where the rebound will land gets a bit hectic and uninteresting. Otherwise a very cool entry.
I'm extremely facinateded by this game. the concept it represents and how it is represented is a very classic "solve the murder" mystery you might find in a newsletter. I loved the game and while it isn't a winner I think the concept is fantastic!
didn't see much theme in it, or at least didn't play long enough for it to become clear. I know "Nobody can hear you in space", but some sound would have made a world of difference.
I'm sorry, but a silent platformer which doesn't handle properly isn't really my cup of tea. Avoiding the zombies was, at best, a hinderence to the game and often at times near impossible.
after digging for a while, nuking my people several times, cutting a few trees and being dead all the time I realized.... I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing and it isn't immenently clear how to do it. The concept is there and it's a fun little sandbox for a bit, but lack focused direction.
What we have here is simply the greatest piece of voice acting I have heard in a Jam game. It was clever, entertaining, looked great, script was refreshing: I'd half expect this to be a "real" game being offered for sale. One caviate I found was that in fullscreen it wasn't clear how to exit the game. I know it's hell, but I'd like to leave. Great job!
Ahhh, the quarter-annual Meta-Jam game. Lovely.
The game was very fun, albeit balancing was a tad off. After a few levels you could mostly just bulldoze over everything. Soon the "COMBO" announcement was blocking my view of the game making it hard to dodge bullets.
It's astonishing that Grim Reaper, keeper of souls, harbringer of eternal peace and master of death is perplexed by a ledge higher than half a meter. Joke aside; the game was entertaining. Simple, cute, mobile-esque. It was in lack of some minor polish, but otherwise a good entry.
A very interesting idea. The game might have benefited from more variety as it quickly got stale, but overall with some polish and more engaging gameplay it could be a great game. Picking up items would have been nice as well, I often pressed wrong buttons by accident.
lovely concept, but it's fairly slow to progress.
My Dragon Pal and I destroyed everyone in a minute and a half. that was good fun.
Interesting concept, but fairly simple. not much to do after a bit.
Very simple, bit crowded with enemies, not much to be done after the 100th kill.
The giant "YOU ARE DEAD" raining down is a bit on the nose. the content wasn't really there: the entire experience consisted of holding down the left arrow key and waiting until you got to the meaning while saying sorry to everything you met. Might have needed a bit more substance to it.
after getting past the slighty disturbing setting (I don't like parasitic insects) I found that while the gameplay is quite enjoyable it's fairly simple and does not engage the player enough. After a while you get stuck on "Where is that god-damed last worm?!".
For future projects: remember that dark gray foreground is not very visible on light gray background. gameplay was a little slow for my taste. I appriciate the somber mood. collision boxes were a bit wonky at times.
I don't mean to be rude, but is the music randomly generated? It seems to often go out of tempo with itself or have many instance playing at the same time. combat works fine, but is a bit stiff. The hammer range is a few cm too short meaning that monsters have an easy time to get to you while you are swinging. Artstyle is georgeus. repeating the same intro every time I die gets a bit boring though. Also, turns out defeating pogo monsters with 1 health = impossible.
The scaling effect is quite lovely, but otherwise I didn't find much enjoyment of the game as it was fairly rough around the edges and simple.
The game is very cute, soundtrack adorable, but it just isn't my cup of tea. It runs a bit slow (gameplay wise) for my taste.
It seems that it isn't possible shooting mummies from the side. A shame.
aside from the clunky hitbox detection the game could have used polish, it felt a bit stale in a while.
The concept was brilliant: and something I always admire people doing as it is hard to do well and requires a bit of bravery. however beside the clever angle there really isn't much to this game. it's mostly walking around, searching for letters, and seeing what others found. It is a few coats of polishes away from a full set.
Interesting design, but inconsistent mechanics. In the first level I had a blink ability and small pea shooter and then I had just a missle; and it wasn't entirely clear why. The theme was rather vague.
dadio, Alice, Detective Pixel and 1 other person like this.
I knew I'd like this one. I love everything about it. The only criticism I can give is that some parts in the beginning felt like they were just a tad too slow with introducing new mechanics or new situations. Also, it could have been even better if there were some more puzzling situations that took more effort to figure out. But, the truth is you did incredible work, and I'm having to try pretty hard to find things that could've been improved upon. Also, it's not like I'm only saying it's awesome soley because the game's graphics are nice and juicy, but it's because the mechanics are solid and the story is interesting., and the world design and mechanics makes a lot of sense, given the circumstances. Everything works together for a brilliant little game.
Exceptional fun. If only there was a proper ending as opposed to just coming to an empty area with nothing but the HUD and background. Even a message popping up saying. something like,"Sorry, the developers ran out of time, so this is the end. Just press ESC." You guys did awesome though. Love the colors, the music is good, the weapons are varied and interesting, the creature design is cool, etc., etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Such quaint feels were had. And the final challenge was actually challenging enough to be satisfied with winning.
Pre-comment note: You might want to use your browser's "find" feature (usually ctrl+f)) and type in your game's name to more easily find what I said about your game. I commented on EVERY game and tried my best to be critical in a constructive way, though for some I definitely failed on this. Sorry if anything seems to harsh. In any case, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED.
Hmm, nothing comes to mind for comments on this one, but it does seem fairly creative with the mechanics, so that's cool.
I'm sorry to be so harsh, but it just didn't interest me. I wanted more "game" in the game. More interactivitiy.
Awesome game, feels fairly polished, despite the 4 bugs I personally encountered. The art style is very nice, and there are some nice "feeling" moments even. A really pleasant experience and the game managed to draw me into the world, making me care about things that happened in it. I wouldn't mind playing a full length game in this world. Well done.
This was surprisingly enjoyable. Your sister makes awesome music. I played through the game twice. The second time around, I turned off sounds and left the music on. The gameplay is fun. Even though it's sort of a typical zombie shooter, it's good.
Really unique and awesome. I was experiencing some strange problems with drawing, not having the screen clear properly and also not drawing some levels, which is a pretty bad glitch. Without that issue, this would be perfect. It's a nice challenge, has the perfect amount of content for a jam game, imho, and it appears to have an end (I almost beat the final part, but had to give up for the sake of trying other games. I'll come back to beat it another day). The concept and mechanics are genius. Awesome work.
Very simple, super "filthy casual" friendly. There's not much to do and sometimes you can get blank spots in the text where there should be a word generated, but overall it's a fun little idea that was executed pretty well.
The gameplay wasn't all that fun for me, but it was very nice and smooth.
Seemed like a bit of a mess, to be honest. Felt like I didn't have the control I should. The graphics were pretty cool though.
Definitely unique from the other entries. It's kind of fun to attack everyone..... I'm a horrible person when gaming.
The theme isn't expressed very clearly. The concept and gameplay are okay. Nice job with the level design.
The mechanics are pretty broken in the word puzzles.
The text in the beginning is far too slow. I was dying for a skip button. I encountered a glitch on one playthrough where I was hit and got pushed out of the room's boundaries. I could not get back in to the room. Had to restart the game. The bullet hell mechanics are done nicely, it's all pretty smooth, the graphics are nice and the game style is fairly interesting and the music along with the art made me want to party, so it must mean I was having a good time.
I would've rated this super high if it weren't broken. You get to that one room, the skull appears and you can't kill it or get past it. Then if you die, the skull is still there, just very... seperated. And still I am blocked by this 'you shall not pass' situation. Nevertheless, the game is glorious and plays on my nostalgia very impressively.
The abilities you get are chosen well. The platforming aspect was a bit too unrefined. Pretty nice use of graphics.
Unfortunately, the lag kills any hope for this game. I have a pretty high end gaming PC that runs most anything currently on the market at full settings with little to no trouble. It would be beneficial to for you to learn the cause (if you haven't already) to avoid the problem in future games. I'm sorry if this is too harsh, but no game should ever lag like this; it's just unacceptable. Therefore, I feel it's only right to give this a low rating, despite what awesome content it may contain, this issue is so big that it overshadows it all.
Runs very smoothly, when walking on metal I felt like I was playing a Zelda game and it made me really nostalgic for OoT, MM, and TP. The world is big, which is cool, but it's also not cool, because there is too little variation spread over too much space. It would've been better to keep the world smaller. Just because you can do something (like making a large world), it does not mean you should. The notes are written pretty well though, sparking an interest to figure out the whole story. Though it did not interest me enough to find them all, because I got bored, due to the world size and its general emptiness. Overall, a very nice accomplishment for a game made in 72 hours.
Pretty interesting idea. The humor is definitely the high point of the game; some great humor in there.
Pretty cool. A little hard to see stuff. Deliciously dusty.
Honestly, I have to be in the mood for a game like this and I just wasn't at all at any point during the game jam, and even more so because of feeling rushed due to all the entries and my goal of playing them all, and this kind of game requires analysis. Still, it's a good concept. It felt a little cluttered though. Perhaps I'll come back and play this one more thoroughly another time.
Fun and definitely gets challenging, though I did feel like I didn't quite have the control I should have over my ship.
On a random note, has anyone ever played Zone 66 for DOS? If you liked this, you might like that game. A good chunk of my childhood went to that wonderful game.
It does present a little challenge trying to figure out how to make the zombies move and fall, but it's quite rough around the edges. But congrats on actually having a playable game done in time, and the level design is actually pretty well done in terms of making it a puzzle to solve (it's an action puzzle, ofc). Each situation requires some different movements to lure and dodge around the zombies. You actually did this very well. Many people make the mistake of repeating puzzling aspects of games without changing it up enough to require the player to do something new, but instead they just repeat something that requires the exact solution as a past puzzle, and that's not good game design, as it presents no challenge and it's just mindless filler. So whether you planned this or if it was just happy coincidence, a job well done on that aspect.
This game really needed to give the player some kind of reward and/or incentive for keeping everyone alive for as long as possible. The problem is that there is no reason to stay alive for any length of time, yet the game mechanics are built as if there is reason to. It would have been better to have the player last a certain amount of time in order to progress. And further stages would require that more and more people stay alive and for a longer amount of time. Something like that would have made it a lot more fun. Still, I enjoyed it a bit.
Despite my low rating, it is hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it wouldn't be fair at all to rate this very well, as it obviously didn't get as much time and effort put into it as most other entries, nor does it have any gameplay, and this is a GAME jam, after all. Despite the simplicity of the art, the drawings give off a great wacky toony character. Well done, and thank you for the laugh.
I played it through and it's a really great entry. Nice style in many regards. The game's got a surprising amount of character. The way the music works throughout the game is definitely worth noting, as it is awesome. Of course, I wasn't aware of what the music does until I read about it and played it again, and I heard how it adds new stuff. It's actually one of the professional tricks of handling game music, intertwining it with the game to create a better gaming experience, so I was very impressed by this. I know a little about this, as I produce music myself, and I've had the privledge of learning a few things from some experienced people.
My only sadness was when I got stuck in a wall once, but I just used R to reset the level. Not a big deal. This game is a gem.
To be fair, I couldn't play this with anyone to see how it plays with two people, but I did get stuck inside a guy when my controlled guy got bigger, and it's also obviously quite incomplete. That said, it does have a certain charm to it.
Gameplay-wise, nothing really stands out, except that it plays well and it's enjoyable. You did good. I like how the reaper sort of creates a narrative, sort of. Props for voice acting. The game feels pretty well-polished.
This ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would be. A zombie shooter is a bit unimaginative, yet the gameplay is still loads of fun. THe balance and difficulty escaIation is pretty good too. Not overly hard to win, but also not so easy that it's no challenge at all. Nice work.
I played twice and the most friends I got was 113 for a score of 6100 I think. The game is a bit buggy. I somehow made an officer glitch out and become unkillable and other times I blasted people through the floor and the fell into the deep endless abyss. How far you get is also a little too dependant on the luck of the draw. Sometimes you get a hill and the other side has a ton of officers and it's nearly impossible to survive that. Still, the game was a lot of fun. Miniguns (or whatever the correct term is) are always a joy. Well done, and thank you for the experience.
Nice game, but oddly enough, it struggled to hold my interest, and it is not without bugs either. I was able to make a dead member enter a dungeon. A ladder can be placed in unreachable positions in the dungeons (discovered by hugging the wall, making a full circle; double checked, triple checked - there was no way in and death was inevitable). Honestly though, it's really well made. I don't know why I didn't enjoy it more. It just gave me a feeling that it was lacking in some important way, even though it is quite nicely featured. Not sure. The text is hilarious and clever in many cases though and I really enjoyed that.
Seems like it was too ambitious of a project to go for in under 72 hours, so it's really rough around the edges and gameplay isn't as it should be. Obviously full of potential for a fun game though (and I saw that this was continuing in development, so that's pretty cool).
I got up to 1000 points without any difficuklty and didn't see it getting much harder, so I decided to end it by angering the customers, giving the wrong order to them and ignoring them. It was oddly entertaining to watch a customer become enraged due to being ignored. Overall, a nice entry.
Pretty fun horizontal shooter with a fair amount of content. Well done. I had a top ranking score, until I didn't.... dang, people really went to town.
Fun to play for a bit. It really needed mouse sensitivity settings though, or maybe it's just that the code should be different for that aspect of the game. It was way too low and my mouse has 3 settings, and even on the highest (i.e. fastest movement) it was just barely okay, but I still couldn't turn as fast as I wanted to. In every other game I've played - GameMaker games included - I've had far more range available and I was easily able to get the sensitivity I needed. The lighting in the game is pretty cool, btw. Overall, quite nice. Well done. Props for the voxel usage.
The biggest issue with this game is that your bullets often don't hit the enemies. What's up with that? Also, there is way too much to collect and it gets tiresome fast. The music sets a pretty good mood and the graphics are good though. Honestly, I would've ranked this much higher if the mechanics worked better, but it just felt a little too broken and it gets boring fast with the collecting.
Pretty nice but maybe just slightly too short and it is a tad clunky. It's also possible to die and win at the same time, though it just continues to the next level. The art is quite nice.
Got to level 6 and had to give up due to wasting tons of time playing it over and over again, taking on the challenge. I'd play more, but I've got more jam games to play before the voting deadline. But I shall return to this game and I WILL claim my victory.
But yeah, awesome concept and gameplay. Very fun and definitely challenging. I love this.
Really unique idea and pretty enjoyable to play, and some good humor. A job well done.
Impressive work. It doesn't feel like it's missing anything and it's quite fun to blast buildings and ships away. It's quite polished as well. I was not able to beat it (I'm not sure there is an ending?), but what I saw of the game was really good.
Truthfully, I didn't enjoy this, but don't be downhearted. You completed your game in time for the jam. Not everyone can say the same. Well done.
A bit too unimaginative and incomplete feeling and traversing the stairways takes a little too long. Nevertheless, the game was still a little fun for a while.
Not extremely fun, but still fun. The art is nice. Difficulty is good.
I didn't have time to find out if there is an ending that doesn't end in death, but it's an interesting concept and presented pretty well.
Really fun! The hitbox for the drone is a bit annoyingly big, but that's really my only gripe. The graphics are really good and they have some character. Even when lacking sound and music, I'm impressed! Nice work!
Nice way to look at "everybody is dead", but unfortuantely the game just wasn't fun for me at all; it wasn't challenging, etc. I like the message of the game though. Technology is awesome, but people are everything.
Pretty much a Snake clone. I didn't feel like it was a very good use of the theme, though it plays fairly well and it's somewhat enjoyable.
My goodness but it is fun to light things on fire. If you hadn't of put the reference to the video in the readme, I would've mistaken this for being inspired by Trogdor. BURNINATING THE PEASANTS!! AND THE THATCHED ROOF COTTAGEEEEEESSSSS!!!!
Not having enough control over the weapon makes it all up to luck whether you kill them or not. I understand it's incomplete, but it's missing some pretty important things like this. Still, it does have potential.
Feels pretty rough around the edges. The weapons all appear to function too similarly to each other. The hexagonal grid usage and overall layout is pretty cool though.
I found myself reacting multiples times with "WTH is this?" So it was interesting and sort of fun in that way I guess.
Gameplay isn't bad, but it's not super interesting or extremely fun to play either. Turning the guys is a cool feature though, and the graphics aren't half bad.
Oops, got to level 7 then died due to being too tired from playing too many jam games. So I can't speak for the ending (I'll have to beat it another day), but this game was really enjoyable. My biggest gripe is that the shots should've been a different color to make them easier to discern from the parasites. More than once, I found myself hitting a shot because I thought it was a parasite to eat. The graphics are pretty good, btw.
Pretty rough around the edges, but it seems fairly large scale for being made in under 72 hours, so it's understandable. And I say it "seems" fairly large because I didn't get to finish it, so I don't really know. I found the large amount of info boxes to be annoying. Major props for trying for a Metroid-like though. Er, I guess that's what this is? Sorry, I didn't get far enough to really know if that's accurate or not. I just got the higher jump, then ran off the side of the map and had to quit because I couldn't come back.
I feel like I'm being harsh, but it really just doesn't stack up against many other entries. I must also note that the pressure plates are very hard to see. The ending was a little interesting, but it still felt too lacking. However, it is an awesome thing that if you run the game again after the ending, you get that message adn the game closes. Very good idea there. I loved that a lot.
Nice little game. Would have been even better if it had randomly-generated content to change the puzzles, but I expect that would've taken too much time. Nice art style, btw.
In all honestly, the hitboxes are not good. The animations do not do something that is part of their basic job, which is to let the player know what is actually happening through the visual. Despite these things being really rough, the game is still kinda fun and presents a good enough challenge to make it interesting.
Sorry, the gameplay isn't all that enjoyable to me, and it's impossible to win, and there is no score, meaning the player really gets no reward for anything they do. It would have been a lot more enjoyable with a score that you can try to beat each play, especially since it's impossible to win. That said, the toonish graphics are pretty awesome. Nice work on that.
Awesome. This actually presented a challenge and some pretty good mechanics. I kind of cheated the system though and pushed bodies off of the edge of the screen, as I discovered it would cause the guys to run scared toward the opposing side as soon as they entered the screen, heh heh. I loved the ending fight too. Uh, but I played it a second time and wanted to quit before finishing and realized that there is no quit, so I had to alt-tab out. A proper means of exiting a game is definitely something that should not be overlooked. But yeah, really fun little game.
The graphical style was very fitting and moody.
The random generation is kind of neat, though there isn't enough to the core gameplay to make me want to play it multiple times, even if the world will be different next time. Even though you said to not mind the bugs, I can't help it, I got stuck in the sides of blocks a number of times (though I was always able to get out super easily), and the landing is honestly handled quite noobishly and/or lazily, but I expect you just had to zip through some things to focus on others, so I understand. I really like how you did those "locked" box things that require you to get a certain amount of souls to open, btw. The music may be old, but it's not that bad. Overall, a nice game. I enjoyed this more than I think I should have. I must really like the satisfiaction of collecting things when there's a percentage left shown and stuff, or maybe it just reminded me of Seiklus and brought back some of that nostalgia, or perhaps it was a little of both.
Ugh, I only scored 34492, but just tried it once. I guess I'm used to rhythm games maintaining speed. To be absolutely honest, I thought it was just okay. I think I made the mistake of expecting it to be a little different when looking at the posts made during the jam. Aw well, it's still pretty good, and the graphics have nice style and character.
Feels far too unpolished. The gameplay suffers so much from this that it's not really even fun to play for me. Sorry for being so harsh. That said, kudos to you for doing all the photography and recording nature sounds. It shows you have some creativity and can think more outside of the box.
Very nice, very casual. I did expereince a bug that froze the game on two occasions, but had trouble reproducing it after those two times. Besides that, the game ran solid and felt really nice. Kinda wish there was "right" and "wrong" answers or something, though, because it sort of feels pointless. Still, all the graphics and sounds go very well together and the ending is quite clever. Major thumbs up for a great ending.
Hah, gave up on the desert level. Interesting mechanics, but maybe a tad too hard. Could've given the player more time to think. It's not too bad if it weren't for the things that totally kill you and make you start all over if you don't find the necessary combo.
Love the 8-bit feeling and old school Zelda vibe and just the NES feels in general (not sure if it was inspired by anything like this, but just saying that's what it reminded me of personally), but it feels like some of the mechanics drag the game down. It would've been better to make it shorter.
Ragdoll physics are ALWAYS a pleasure. Always. I did occasionally experience the bodies being thrown right after picking them up, even though I didn't press the button again. But yeah, ragdoll stuff is so fun. Why is it so fun?
Simple idea, excecuted well enough, though I would have liked to see the difficulty escalate a little better. The graphics are interesting. Nice work.
I'm sorry, but this one is definitely lacking. Bullets sometimes don't hit enemies when they should, passing straight through them (and yes, I understand the hit box is more toward their feet; I'm not talking about the bullets that pass behind them). Also, the great number of close walls make it annoying trying to shoot enemies, especially for horizontal halls where you can't really see anything, due to the perspective. Enemies spawn in walls and they get stuck. It's not all that enjoyable to play. But, on the bright side, the graphics aren't half bad and the game feels really smooth.
Short and fairly sweet. I really like the graphical style.
Not really fun to me, but kudos for trying something different.
It may not have been executed well, but the concept was actually pretty good. Points for creativity.
It's fairly fun, though it's confusing knowing why you can't shoot sometimes (??) and what pick-up items do what. Also, the explosions are a bit harsh-sounding. It is quite satisfying blowing a lot of guys up at once via a chained explosion. I love explosions.
Oops, almost beat it, then hit reset by accident because I was multi-tasking and I apparently failed at it...... no time to do it all over again for now, but I'm sure I'l come back to play it all the way through later, because I really like it.
Too bad there wasn't an "are you sure?" prompt when hitting reset, though I'm not saying it's the fault of the game... well, actually, you did put the back button in the lower left corner sometimes, then right after pressing back, the reset button would be where the back button previously was and then the back button is at the top left, so that honestly is a menu design flaw. But yeah it was mostly my fault. I understand that. Just saying the back button should remain consistent.
Oh yeah, did I mention that I love this game? Wonderful puzzles, even though many of them are too easy and can be solved in too many ways. But that's to be expected with so much content in so little time. Spectacular job guys. I like the humorous text as well.
Wow, gotta think quick. I got 303 points on first try, and second try I got 396. On my last try when doing final reviews of the games, I got 697. Not sure if that's all the great, but I had a surprisng amount of fun with this, so that's cool.
The story told by the signs kept me interested. The biggest killer of this game is the slooooooowww movement. I found myself especially bored when walking distances were long. The slow movement unfortuantely really sucked a lot of the fun out of it, making it more of a chore than a game. But I really enjoyed the puzzle aspects of it and overall it was enjoyable. I played the entire thing.
I love you for the pool of acid giving me superpowers. The game is pretty solid. I only experienced small oddities with the physics. It was fun to shoot acid at the alien monster whatever-they-are things. I like how parts of the game have a sort of cinematic vibe.
Wow, barely made the post in time! Everyone did awesome and it was a ton of fun to play all the games you guys made. I already can't wait for the next jam! And I'm determined to complete a game next time too.
The M, rui.rosario and TehPilot like this. | 2019-04-23T13:02:40Z | https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/the-post-apocalyptic-gmc-jam-1-voting-topic.3706/page-2 |
Ok so for this month's events I decided to try something a little different and I would love for you to come along and let me know how it works out! I am really excited about these changes and think that if they work out as well as my last great idea (my stamping class!!) then we might be on to something huge!
So let me tell you about what I have in mind for this coming month of September. Since the kids are heading back to school I figured now would be a great time to try a new event called "Coffee & Cards" where we get together on the 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of the month and we put together really cute cards. Now this event will be a live event through Facebook so you will be able to join in and work on the same project as me even if you do not live near me!!! This is a great time to learn new techniques, to mingle with other crafters, and to simply enjoy this fine art, all while building up your card stash.
Sounds like fun right?!! I am so excited about this.
Do you wanna see what cards we are working on this month?
These cards are from our Workshop Your Way kit which we will be sharing this month to make the kit even more affordable!! These beautiful cards are embossed, edged, and of course made from our brand new color of the year, Blush!! Oh yeah and they use our awesome "Cats & Bats" seasonal line which is what September is all about.
For only $7.00 you can have this kit shipped right to your door. The kit includes everything you need to make four of these beautiful cards. The best part is that shipping is included!
I will go through and prepare all of the images and cutting so all you have to do is create and embellish! Oh yeah and mingle...or not...it's totally up to you.
Plus since I am paying for you can share more for less. Buy 2 kits and receive a discount or if you want to buy a dozen and earn a free stamp set make sure to head on over here.
Also this month, since I love teaching you guys awesome techniques, I am also going to host a Virtual Class on Mini Albums!! I love making these hard covered books and warn you that they can become addicting. This class will be called "Friday Scraps" and will be offered through our online classroom. It's a free course offered to anyone who purchases a "Scrapbooking" Kit from me in the month of September. CTMH has all sorts of brand new paper lines and I would love to offer anyone who purchases a kit from me the option to see how easy it is to turn it into a whole album!!
Some of our new lines include Falling For You, Silver & Gold, and Cats & Bats. Then of course we have our annual paper lines that have just been revamped, like the beautiful Enchantment line. Please make sure to get paper packs as well as embellishments if purchasing from our non-bundled annual lines, like Enchantment. If you need help deciding which paper fits your theme the best reach out to me and I'll be glad to help.
I will be sticking to our September theme and making my album using the "Cats & Bats Scrapbooking Kit". These kits are so perfect for mini albums because you know everything is going to match. So grab your favorite kit and a few items from your stash like adhesive, chipboard or heavy cardstock, and any paper punches you may have - oh yea and don't forget your themed stashed embellishments!! and meet us over in the classroom for #fabulousFridayfun!
Oh yeah and if you are the type of crafter that LOVES classes and learning new techniques but you just have WAY TOO many supplies to run out and purchase another full kit... no worries because you can still come and enjoy our "Friday Scraps" at a reduced price. If this sounds like you then E-mail me for more information.
Also remember that anyone who makes a $25+ purchase through a class or through my online CTMH store will be entered onto our Hostess list and one step closer to free rewards!
I live in the NorthEast of the US, you know where we really get into Halloween!! And since Aug. is already upon us I have decided to dust off all of my Halloween papers, stamps, and embellishments and get to work on making all of my Fall/Halloween stuff.
Seriously I mean check out the way that the stamped Jack-O-Latern pops right off from the background!
This card was made using some serious layers. I cut and matted each patterned paper with a solid color, in this case I used purple. Then I inked around all of the edges to give the card more of a "worn" look. The "treat" sentiment is from a small Halloween Bingo card I had in my stash which I just stuck behind one of the layers. I found that bat in a bag of decorative stickers from a dollar store.
The stamp is an image, found here, that I simply stamped in white ink and then white heat embossed it. When I was happy with the image I fussy cut it out and added it to the card front. I love the stitched mouth of this image and how the embossing makes those eyes really stand out.
Thanks for stopping in today. I hope you enjoyed my festive card!
If you missed Day 1 of this wonderful Extravaganza party make sure to head back over and check out the fabulous video. You can click here to see it. This swap was filled with fabulous Autumn goodies ranging from a banner to tags and cards...which is what today's post is all about.
These tags were made as part of an overall project which turned out to be similar to a loaded envelop. The tags were all made using a variation of the same supplies, buttons, paper, and sentiments. For those fun sentiments I decided to cut out from a sticker word book and keep the white backing in tack.
All of the projects made for this swap were made using the same items. I used a 6"x6" Autumn themed paper pack as well as a 12"x12" sheet of paper from another paper pad. Using the same paper made the huge laundry list of items in this kit a lot more manageable. I also have started sorting my extra pieces into themes which helps to keep them organized (*More on organization in an upcoming class.) A lot of the larger shaped embellishments were created using my Cricut, or free-hand drawn. You will notice that the big leaf on the memorydex cad below matches the banner that I showed you on Monday.
The memorydex cards were shown in a previous blog post found here. In this post I tell you all about my love for these little cards and encourage you to try them out. Here they are again just because they became part of this swap bag.
This was a large project but I found it to be very fun and super rewarding. Putting everything together at the end and looking back at what I had spent so many nights creating was really amazing. I know that sometimes I craft too much (is that a thing?!!) and can easily forget the project I worked on last week.
Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed and were inspired. If you are interested in taking part in the Halloween Extravaganza then make sure to head on over and sign up. Also make sure to come on back tomorrow for a really fun tutorial.
I am so excited to be posting on this lovely Monday! Today I have a really fun project to share with you that will actually be taking up a good portion of the week. As many of you know I am part of a couple different swap groups on Facebook and for one of them we were challenged to make an Autumn Extravaganza package which included a laundry list of hand made items ranging from a pocket letter to altered clothespins. Well I have finally finished this large project and wanted to share everything I made with you guys.
Here is a video showing off everything in the package.
That's a lot of stuff right?!! So let's break it down into smaller projects, just in case you get a little inspired.
First things first the presentation is where it's at. I used a CTMH bag along with an easy hand made banner across the top. I am also planning on adding my swap partners name with some stickers and maybe a couple of more smaller embellishments. This bag holds all of the goodies together.
First up are all clothespins that I altered in one way or another. The top two are actually left over from an Autumn Embellishment swap where I had to make embellishments for my partner. The rest just come from piecing flowers together and attaching them to a mini clothespin using a glue dot. These little embellishments are awesome, very easy to make, and work well for a little added touch to any project. I decided to package them up by adding them to my package of additional goodies.
So what good is a swap without some extra added goodies?!! I had this wonderful kraft pocket in my stash and thought it would be the perfect place for added goodies. Now a lot of people over think the whole adding extra goodies to their swap when it's really pretty simple....we all end up with left over pieces after we make our project, right?? Well the only thing you need to do is simply add those "leftovers" to a baggie and pass them along to your swap partner. Pretty easy right. This step is not necessary, but trust me your partner will LOVE the added thought!
I think this creates a really fun "opening piece."
I kept the whole project very simple by using the same papers and embellishments all the way through. Everything was made using stuff from my stash and just mixing and matching things I already had on hand.
Here is a closer look at the banner. Again very simple and easy but also really fun. I used some more of those mini clothespins along with a leaf image from my Cricut Library. I offset the patterned leaf which is slightly smaller than the background leaf and then I added a black 3-D letter to spell out "Autumn."
I hope you enjoyed this part of my project. Make sure to come back on Wed. to take a closer look at the MemoryDex cards and the tags that I made. Then on Thursday I will share a tutorial on the flip book and finish out the week on Friday with the Pocket Letter.
Oh yeah and that beautiful stamped floral background is hand-made!! Awesome right! Talk about stretching your stamps even farther.
As far as the rest of the image. I colored in that lovely stamp in using alcohol markers. I then layered her onto some patterned paper.
I have a whole bunch of ribbon and buttons in my stash so I just dug until I found similar colors to the card's overall scheme. I tied some twine into the buttons to give them more of a polished "sewn on" look and placed them on the card using my "triangle rule- two close, one across."
Now if you follow me over on my Facebook Fanpage then you would know that I went live last week with that awesome "background stamping" technique. This is such an easy way to create beautiful backgrounds using supplies that you already have on hand. You can create full backgrounds, partial backgrounds, and even peek-a-boo backgrounds using this technique...you also can use any size stamp....talk about getting the most out of your supplies!!
Guess what?! Bugaboo Stamps just happens to be our CK prize sponsor for the week!! That's right one lucky challenge winner will receive 4 images from Bugaboo Stamps as a prize for submitting the best "card for a child" in this week's challenge.
To see some more beautiful designs using digital stamps, or to be entered to win 4 free images from Bugaboo stamps come on over to Creative Knockouts and play along.
To see the Whimsy Paper Line that I used for the card you can check out my CTMH store found here. This line comes with 24 different designs so you can mix and match to make a number of different designs and themes. Plus don't forget that if you make a purchase through my store I will e-mail you any matching tutorials so you can make even more beautiful designs!
I know it's early, but in all reality we only have 2 Months to go before it's Halloween time and if you are like me then the Fall is your most absolute favorite season ever!! So of course I had to pre-season the Fall Season and come out with some of my first Halloween Projects of the year. This card is a MemoryDex card and if you have never heard of them then you are truely missing out on one of the newest PaperCrafting trends. MemoryDex Cards are all the range right now and I am going to show you how easy these cards can be.
These little Memorydex Cards is a new spin on an old fashion office accessory!! Created by Heidi Swapp these little "Rolodex" style cards are hitting the crafting world like a storm. Crafter's are using these cards for recipes, as address books, and even as photo albums!! Here take a peek at some others I have created.
If you love this idea as much as I do then feel free to come on over and share some of your projects on my Facebook Fan-page, we always love inspiring others. Thanks for stopping by today and as always Happy Crafting!
Hi Guys! Thanks for stopping in today and checking out my newest project. Today is my day to design for the fabulous "Just For Fun" blog. I love the stamps that JFF offers and feel like it is the perfect compliment to my "sometimes too posh" CTMH stamps. JFF puts tons of detail into their design and often incorporates those awesome independent designs, like their stamptangle line. Also, did you know that Just For Fun has stamps that come in sets, just like the outline/detail set I used today.
This project was super simple to put together, once I had the sketch picked out. Since the sketch used multiple papers I decided to use paper from the same exact paper line. Picking you paper out of the same line makes mixing and matching very easy because it's guaranteed to match every time. Once all the paper was laid out I simply stamped the beautiful image onto Vellum paper then I fussy cut it out. I finished off the card by adding four gems to the bottom strip and then curling the top corner.
Again this stamp is part of a set which includes both the inner detailed stamp as well as the outline stamp making it super simple and fun to layer or build upon. For example I could have added color to the background of this stamp by stamping the outline image onto some orange (or even patterned) card stock. I would then add this layer to the bottom of the vellum and attach the two in the center. I could also stamp the outline image onto pattern paper and just use that as my focal point. There are so many options when you are working with stamp sets and they are kind of like choosing paper from the same pack, you always know they can be mixed up and matched perfectly every time.
Did you guys have a chance to check out my newest course, Stamping 101?? This was a wonderful course for new and intermediate stampers and the best news is that it was completely FREE!! I LOVE free and I LOVE passing along my savings to you. Aside from being awesome this course also got great reviews from those who joined me live for it!
During this course I showed off my ultimate “spend AND splurge” lists for what you need to get started and to continue stamping. I also showed you how to start stamping with those same tools as well as how to clean and take care of your new products. Lastly, I came on and showed you a whole bunch of really cool tips and tricks to help make those stamps worth your money.
I have decided to keep this course up and running and to allow everyone who missed it the chance to go back and watch all those same videos and tips at their own pace on their own time. So if you are looking to learn some new stamping techniques or perhaps you have been wanting to learn for a while and just have no clue where to start then come on over and join us here.
One of my friends sent me a pocket letter that was made up of these adorable little card toppers. I know she's pretty much a genius for coming up with this idea. Of course I could not wait to put them onto cards and make some fabulous and easy cards in no time, which is exactly what I wanted to share with you today. However, with my super busy schedule I was only able to make one, so think of this as a sneak peak of what's to come.
That awesome sunflower card topper came from the PL and that background paper came from my stash which made pulling this card together super easy. All of the card toppers match and feature those wonderful flowers along with that awesome yellow and black background. They all have slightly different sentiments ranging from "Hello" to "Get Well" which was a great idea since I cane now make a batch of similar cards that all vary slightly. The flowers, and some of the sentiments, are heat embosses which adds to the beauty of them and helps to keep the cards simple yet elegant.
Well I hope you enjoyed my project today. Please make sure to subscribe to the blog so you don't miss out on the rest of the batch. If you decided to try this fabulous idea make sure to post your link below. I would love to come by and check it out.
Thanks for stopping in and Happy Crafting!
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In November, John Marshall Law School held the 62nd Annual Intellectual Property Conference of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, IL. This year, the conference covered developments in patent, trade secrets, antitrust, trademarks, copyrights, IP management and in-house counsel practice, entertainment, and information technology and privacy law. And IPWatchdog’s Gene Quinn was there.
Law lives in the past, […] that’s its strength, but science and the new technologies are the future. A reliable and predictable patent law is more necessary than ever, for technology is a much larger part of our industrial product than ever. The recent Supreme Court attention to patent cases reflects their importance to the nation. The balances are not simple, the fresh balances among creativity, business risk, competition, trade, the creation of new knowledge, the production of industrial capital, and fairness, justice. There is no room in the United States for second best. You and we, lawyers and judges, share this responsibility.
We asked a group of individuals to share with us what they felt was a key message that they took from the conference this year. Following are comments from several attendees of the conference.
The John Marshall Law School IP Conference attracted numerous leaders of the IP community that are focused on solving the various legal issues facing us today.
With regard to the Conference, I must point out that I agree wholeheartedly with Judge Newman, that patents are essential to the development of our technology and a strong patent system is what has made the quantum leap in the US economy a reality. This will continue provided we do not limit the legal parameters of our IP world. As is well established by economists, a strong economy in developed and developing countries is fostered by a recognition that a legal system that protects innovation creates an environment allowing more cutting edge products to be marketed in medicine, artificial intelligence, medical devices, computers and other disciplines.
As we discussed at the conference, I am concerned that the law has not been able to keep pace with innovation in our technological world. For example, the US Supreme Court has had and continues to have dialectic legal tensions with the Federal Circuit. Where the Federal Circuit has been trying to rationalize and nationalize patent law per its statutory mandate, the Supreme Court has been proceeding in the alternate path, for instance in their decisions such as Alice and Mayo among others. If this path continues, it will negatively impact our patent laws and diminish our competitive global standing by limiting innovation and technology. It is critical that we assure that our statutes and case law lead rather than lag behind our patent system. The alternative is a stagnant economy, which should be unacceptable to all.
Daryl Lim and his colleagues at John Marshall Law School have once again demonstrated that they are in the top tier of law school IP programs. On November 1st and 2nd, Daryl masterminded a multi-segment program, the first segment on November 1st involving an IP Roundtable consisting of three panels covering the Section 101 universe. The participants in this first day’s sessions included the best and the brightest in the IP profession who shed much light on the problems created by the Supreme Court’s Section 101 jurisprudence. An outgrowth of those first day’s sessions will be the formation of a relatively small Ad Hoc Section 101 Committee whose task will be to try to bridge the gap between the diverse Section 101 views and suggest potential solutions to the problem.
The second day’s program on November 2nd opened with a thought-provoking keynote speech by Federal Circuit Judge Polly Newman, followed by a full day of separate panel discussions involving current developments in patent law, IP and antitrust law, copyright law, trademark law, music and entertainment law, trade secret law, and IP and piracy law. Given the high quality of the participants, the discussions covered the waterfront of cutting edge thinking on diverse and important IP topics. Together with the first day’s program, the success of this educational venture was guaranteed.
I believe that continued clashes among the courts of nations around the world will feed uncertainty regarding SEPs and FRAND in the foreseeable future. We have seen direct conflicts, particularly with Huawei v. Samsung in China’s Intermediate Peoples Court in Shenzhen and the Northern District of CA. In Unwired Planet the English judge has also suggested the courts have the authority to set rates and rule on matters of worldwide concern, ignoring national jurisdiction. In addition to these early shots fired in the conflict, the European Commission has adopted SEP guidelines that may or may not be similar to those desired by China, Korea, India and other countries. To further fuel conflict, countries such as India, China, and Korea may be interested in some aspects of SEP patents, such as excessive royalties, more than others, while the US and Europe may focus on willingness of licensees and licensing practice. China’s secretary-general of the Mobile China Alliance has said “The smartphone patents were dominated by foreign telecom firms including Qualcomm Inc, Ericsson AB and Nokia Oyj in the past, and China has no right of speech in this sector.” They will want a voice going forward as new standards such as 5G are developed.
The complexities and challenges presented by 35 USC 101 and the USSupCt’s Alice decision were explored by a lively , intense panel of knowledgeable law professors and practitioners, in the context of various historical and recent decisions and the anticipated imminent USPTO proposal of a new framework on the subject. In sum, a strong consensus agreed that the state of play of Alice issues was not viable, that the Court seemed incapable of fixing the situation that it has created, that the Federal Circuit was similarly adrift, that Congress had no resolution on the immediate horizon, and that there is a hopeful expectation that that Office proposal will present a real start to a more – readily applied and understood mechanism that will affect a fair and clear application of 101 in the immediate future.
The Annual IP Conference was once again an event not to be missed whether you are a dedicated IP practitioner or a house counsel whose role includes IP and privacy. The new “Meet the Press” type of format used for the plenary sessions ensured a lively and informative discussion on the key IP areas. As an in-house attorney, I found them worthwhile to attend in order help keep up with key trends. However, I always find the afternoon breakout sessions particularly relevant to my role. The breakout sessions provide a more intimate setting and an opportunity to really engaged with the panelists. There is always at least one afternoon track that is particularly responsive to the interests of in-house counsel. I just wish I could clone myself to attend simultaneous sessions.
The Annual Intellectual Property Conference of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, IL, has been an outstanding opportunity to meet expert speakers from all fields of practice, often with opposing but balanced views – making it impossible to miss. As Judge Newman pointed out during the event, only the exchange of ideas can promote innovation and economic growth. As a litigation attorney, it is paramount for me to understand how courts in the US, UK, DE, and others are dealing with the challenging interface between Antitrust and IP law, choosing between competing narratives will influence innovation across multiple industries. I tried to provide my contribution by sharing my concern that foreign decisions may be misrepresented in developing countries, where antitrust agencies may “misuse” competition law to undermine IP rights to protect “national champions”.
I had the pleasure and honor to participate in John Marshall Law School’s IP Conference this year. I thought the level of discussion and participation in all the panels was stellar, both as a participant and as an audience member. In particular, I thought the 101 discussion with thought leaders in academia, business and policy (including the indefatigable Judge Newman) was thought provoking and useful. It is clear from these discussions that for any legislation to “fix” 101 to move forward it will have to be multi-faceted and clearly include issues that all sides are concerned about, so that everyone will be invested in its success.
The JMLS IP conference brings together academics, government and practitioners in a morning session rapid fire tour through the years critical IP issues. The afternoon sessions follow an interactive format exploring specific issues in greater detail. These sessions really enable a richer understanding of the topic and are also a lot of fun.
I greatly enjoyed attending the 62nd Annual JMLS IP Conference, and participating in the session on patentable subject matter. My main takeaway from that session is that, while most everyone agrees that it makes sense to exclude laws of nature and products of nature from the scope of patentable subject matter, because the social benefits from conferring patent protection on such fundamental “building blocks” would exceed the social costs, there’s still a lot of disagreement over how far this exclusion should extend. Sure, the law of gravity is a fundamental building block and hence unpatentable–but is an isolated DNA sequence, or a diagnostic method based on a naturally-occurring correlation, one of these necessarily-unpatentable building blocks too? The Supreme Court thinks so, but it’s not at all clear to me what that intuition is based on; and the risk of inadvertently discouraging investment in developing new diagnostics and naturally-derived products may be substantial. That said, there are potential efficiencies in having a tool for screening out potentially weak patents on a motion to dismiss, where possible; the question then is whether the downside is too great.
Senior Partner and Founder, PacTech Law, P.C.
As usual, the JMLS Conference was a great success. It brought together a fantastic collection of international IP thought leaders and practitioners, with a perfectly coordinated agenda. I will definitely look forward to another great event in 2019.
I recently participated as a speaker in The John Marshall Law School 62nd Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference in Chicago, Illinois. When Daryl Lim, John Marshall’s Director, Center for Intellectual Property, asked that I participate on a copyright panel for the conference, I assumed it would be similar to every other speaking opportunity I have had. I was wrong. This conference had the most impressive roster of speakers – 90 in all – on various topics ranging from patents, copyrights, trademarks, antitrust, IT and privacy, and the format was an engaging, enlightening and lively discussion on each of the topics. The audience was involved in the discussions, and the speakers were able to showcase their breadth of knowledge on so many IP-related topics, both old and cutting edge. It was an amazing opportunity to network and learn. It was an honor to be part of this conference.
Irrespective of the specific subject matters discussed at the Conference, my biggest take-away was that its format, being really set for conversations – among panellists and participants, all of which were thought leaders in the IP world –, made a true difference to the “usual” conference format of lengthy presentations.
This format allowed for some really great discussions. My main focus lies with patents, so particularly the discussions evolving around patentability (section 101), the intersection of patents and antitrust as well as global IP developments were of significant interest. What became apparent once more is that what is needed most in the IP world is judicial reliability. A further take-away was that harmonisation in IP does not always have to take the legislative route, but that harmonisation by way of national courts and judges exchanging their views is sometimes at least equally effective. In this regard, from an outsider’s perspective it may be helpful in the section 101 discussions to also take into consideration how other jurisdictions and institutions such as the EPO deal with patentability.
Utmostly impressive – one is inclined to say “as usual”, but that would not express how outstanding it is – was Judge Newman’s inspirational talk about the relevance of the IP system to today’s economies and societies, and her plea to get involved in ensuring its protection.
The conference was excellent. I caught up on some areas where I don’t practice extensively these days, namely trademarks and copyrights. The panels were interesting and informative. I especially enjoyed hearing about recent and ongoing cases. I also got some great diverse perspectives form practitioners on a range of issues. In the patent area, I heard some diverse perspectives on 101 issues and some interesting proposals for “addressing” 101. I also got an update on patent damages and other recent patent law changes. Adam Kelly did a great job moderating the patent litigation panel I sat on.
In the vein of networking, I ran into a number of practitioners I had not connected with in some time. I also made some new acquaintances, including some IP practitioners early in their careers. As an aside, I got several recommendations for things to do in Hong Kong from three different people over lunch. I left for a visit to Hong Kong just after the conference.
The conference was the consummate example of a refreshing civil discourse addressing academic and practical solutions to fixing several current issues facing intellectual property law. Attendees who represented diverse viewpoints—academia, the judiciary, corporate, U.S. government, and private practice—came together to discuss some very difficult, but important issues. From those discussions, I am sincerely optimistic for the future of intellectual property.
Alice O. Martin, Ph.D., J.D.
What a marvelous opportunity to get immersed in a full day of all aspects of Intellectual Property law, beginning with the inspirational, historical perspective from Judge Pauline Newman. The take-away message I absorbed from the Judge was that protection of valuable intellectual property is still important, hurdles and glitches will be smoothed out, so keep thinking and working! It was a real pep talk!
The following morning Plenary Session panels were lively and allowed us to hear various experts with varying views on patent, antitrust, copyright and trademark law. The panel moderator kept the interactions lively and informative.
Because of concurrent sessions in the afternoon, I only heard the patent sequence. It was particularly satisfying to have discussions during the breaks with law students. Updates on the law – in particular regarding patent eligibility, were helpful. At the end of the conference, I was grateful that the organization prowess of JMLS Professor Darryl Lim, and Chairman of the IP Advisory Board, Don Dunner resulted in such a worthwhile conference.
The JMLS Conference, in both its private roundtable session and in the public session the next day, illustrated the two principal messages evident to anyone paying attention over the past several years. The first is that U.S. patent law, particularly with regard to what is eligible for patenting, has been seriously and negatively affected by recent Supreme Court decisions (and the Court shows no indication it is willing to revisit these decisions no matter what). The second is that there is no consensus regarding what needs to be done to correct the situation. The conference permitted practitioners, judges, government policymakers, business representatives, and legal academics to provide their perspectives. Insofar as this enlightened participants from each group to better understand various stakeholders’ concerns the conference was an unqualified success. There was much less success in coming to a better understanding of how to do what most agree needs to be done, recalibrate U.S. patent law to have eligibility requirements more in line with other industrialized countries. Of course, it is unlikely that any of the participants had any expectation that a solution to the eligibility problem would be found, and in that no one was disappointed.
Member, Leydig, Volt & Mayer, Ltd.
In terms of overall quality, the 62nd Annual Conference was the best I have attended. The morning plenary sessions featured a range of topics, presented in a manner accessible to specialists and generalists alike.
The afternoon sessions drilled down further—there were no less than three copyright panels discussing trends in this specialty with essentially no substantive overlap. I was honored to moderate the final copyright panel focusing on music and entertainment, featuring conversations among six highly regarded practitioners, academics, policy advocates and business professionals.
Outstanding faculty, truly a learning environment.
The John Marshall Law School Annual Intellectual Property Conference is one of the most valuable that I attend and look forward to each year. Directors from its Center for Intellectual Property, Information, and Privacy Law do an incredible job bringing together thought leaders from a variety of sectors, including academic, private practice, judicial, and overall public interest. This year they introduced a new lively moderated discussion format among panelists, which elicited both useful practice points and insight on upcoming trends and pending cases. I enjoyed interacting with fellow panelists and the opportunity to compare opinions and learn about their practical experience and research. I will definitely attend again and highly recommend the conference to anyone interested in staying abreast of IP developments.
As a first time attendee, I was impressed by the scale of this conference and how it attracts not just from our Midwest legal community but scholars and attorneys from all over the nation and the world. Although I had mostly administrative duties to attend to during the morning sessions, I was happy to be able to sit-in on some of the afternoon panels in the “session A” room. I especially enjoyed the copyright law panel’s discussion the 5 Pointz graffiti case and the continuing struggle of American ideas of property rights with V.A.R.A. Additionally, I thought Jacqueline Charlesworth’s insight during the music law panel into the behind-the-scenes reality of writing and passing the Music Modernization Act was a real highlight of the afternoon.
I had the pleasure of being a student volunteer and attendee at the 61st and 62nd John Marshall Law School Annual Intellectual Property Conferences. Both conferences included a variety of Intellectual Property experts ranging from government, academia, and private practice. As a student, it was a great opportunity to further develop classroom materials and discussions in an entirely unique manner. The wide array of discussion topics and legal professionals at both conferences allowed me to learn about specific topics of interest and to expand my professional network. Learning and understanding a variety of perspectives from Intellectual Property experts was an important stepping stone in building a better and stronger future. For example, the discussion on IT & Privacy made me realize how important it is to learn about and understand reasonable cybersecurity and digital identity, especially at the rate technology is advancing – how we currently handle these particular areas on a legal level will drastically impact our daily lives in the future.
The conference served as a wonderful stage for discussions on IP law. It bravely envisioned the future of the IP regime, confronted new challenges, and suggested innovative solutions. The conference was also a meeting point for practitioners, judges, academic professors, students, and representatives from the relevant industries. There was a high level of innovative discourse during the conference. For example, many creative new legal copyright tools were discussed as part of the copyright plenary session in which I participated. Associate Register of Copyrights Catherine Rowland introduced a new tool of small claims. It gives inventors and creators who cannot afford expensive litigation access to justice. The panel also discussed other contemporary copyright issues, including copyright trolling.
Wow. Legislating from the bench is a good thing.
One thing that I don’t think many people realize is that patent law is affected by the low interest rates.
Consider that companies like Tesla are funded primarily through the stock market. So what we have is the stock market is acting like funds. You don’t need patents nearly as much in this case.
The only sure way to return America to #1 in patented innovation is to abolish 101 entirely.
102, 103, and 112 will (continue to) do the job just fine.
And bless Judge Newman’s heart.
She knows of what she speaks.
All, except that of actual inventors.
Yeah, Adam, how’s the view from the techoristocrat’s luxury suite? Such an easy ride in the greased-rail, kangaroo-court based regime you’re enjoying the illicit fruits of, there – is this not the truth of this whole sordid matter?
Will these lordlings never learn? The original and Constitutional notion is SUPPOSED to be that of PROVIDING an INCENTIVE for taking on the DIFFICULT RISKS of INVENTION.
Unless and until ACTUAL, REAL LIFE INVENTORS are also considered to be so-called “stakeholders” in this domain, we will continue to treated with disdain and outright contempt.
That the judge-attorney-legislator overclass continues to congratulate itself at such a gathering when this ‘house’ (domain) is already largely burnt down from the perspective of knowledgeable inventors, displays a cognitive dissonance so extreme as to beggar any notion of intelligence among its participants.
Frankly, to an inventor of a talent sufficient to make world-improving, seminal, ‘cornerstone’ inventions, this is the babble of jackasses. Do any of these august self-congratulating participants even dare admit what rubbish this navel-gazing all is, at this point?
Where is John Adams’ sterling statement of clarity regarding American jurisprudence: “Ours is a Nation of Laws, not Men” ?
Are they even aware of, let alone observant about, Justice Potter’s infamous “…but I know it when I see it”?
How is it that U.S. patent law has become degenerate enough to be meaningfully expressed in terms of cases regarding obscenity?
And, lest any of you esquires and lordlings take personal offense to my well-founded criticism here: Is the present state of affairs for all but the wealthiest IP pirates and thieves, not truly OBSCENE?
>>Where is John Adams’ sterling statement of clarity regarding American jurisprudence: “Ours is a Nation of Laws, not Men” ?
The laws in the US ended when so many were created and when most laws are based on giant balancing tests that allow a fact finder to decide whatever they want.
Let call it like it is; We know how Google greased Obama in order to move in Michelle Lee to bring in the AIA Act and then introduce the PTAB so companies like Google and Apple that no longer had to pay for a IP licences. They Created the Boogeyman “Patent Troll” to get their agenda pushed through. Small inventors have been fleeced by the elites. NO coincidence Silicon Valley are trading at record highs since the introduction of the AIA Act back in 2011. Its funny how much money you can make when you can cut people (Inventors) out of the pie. Its disgraceful. No surprise America fell from 1st in the global patent ranking to 12th. There is little incentive to invent as patents are nothing more then “government franchises” that hold no power up against the elites like Google and Apple. Not sure Mr. Iancu can do much as the SCOTUS is in bed with the Silicon Valley Elites and own the House and the Senate. What a great Plutocracy America is. | 2019-04-24T17:25:31Z | https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2018/12/06/future-our-hands/id=103681/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Ipwatchdog+%28IPWatchdog.com%29 |
and without gossip a quarrel dies down.
so a quarrelsome person fuels a dispute.
Gossip is disruptive talk and it soon becomes corrosive to us. It’s seductive yet destructive.
Gossip—by nature—is in reference to someone other than the people engaged in either speaking or listening to the gossip. It’s seductive and destructive because it’s passing on personal, intimate, or sensational information about someone else at their expense.
Think of how many TV shows, IG and FB posts, print and online magazines—across all forms of media—focus on inside scoops and dirt about celebrities, athletes, or even ordinary people. It’s mass voyeurism—a prying observer who is usually seeking the sordid or the scandalous.
Why are we so consumed with knowing all this personal information about everybody else?
Perhaps it’s a bit of FOMO. Somehow, missing out on what others may know matters to us. But think how long you or I have lived without knowing whatever it is we think we’re missing out on. In the end, it’s extraneous info—useless and unnecessary.
I think the reason we’re seduced by gossip goes deeper than that. It’s a lot darker and more destructive. Consider what these few verses tell us.
Without gossip a quarrel dies down. Just as a fire needs combustible material (wood) to keep burning, gossip fuels quarrels and stirs up strife and grief. Gossip can be defined as a rumor or report.
Every time there’s breaking news all sorts of rumors and reports begin to circulate. Often, they’re unsubstantiated but they keep cropping up and circulating even after the truth dispels them. Some people still say the holocaust or the 9-11 terror attacks were hoaxes. But then, some people still think the earth is flat.
A quarrelsome person is no different. Long after an argument is settled or dismissed, a quarrelsome person finds a way to keep it going. This is seen everyday on news talk shows—regardless of your political bent—on the Twitter-sphere, not to mention FaceBook…sigh.
We would all do well to heed this admonition.
Perhaps the darkest side of gossip is when it’s …swallowed greedily … into a person’s innermost being. This unneeded and destructive personal info gets buried in our hearts and corrupts us.
It will cause us to see certain people in a bad light—destroying them in our eyes and corrupting us like cancer eating away at whatever is good and healthy in us.
Why do we want to find fault or place blame? Somehow we’re deceived into thinking it makes us better than others. It doesn’t. It never will. When we put others down, it doesn’t elevate us, it does the opposite. But we’ve been doing this since the beginning of time.
What can we do to stop swallowing this verbal junk food?
It’s obvious what we need to do about generating gossip and quarrels. Shut our mouths. Just. Don’t. Pass. It. On. It’s really that simple. And, oh yeah—love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends (Prov 17:9 NIV).
The reason we’re seduced by gossip goes deeper and is darker and more destructive than just a few words. It’s passed on at the expense of others and corrupts us like cancer eating away at whatever is good and healthy in us.
If you find it too easy to listen to gossip and pass it on, ask God’s help to repent of this. Ask the Lord to help you shut your ears to gossip and quarreling, and to shun such corrosive and destructive thoughts and words.
so a hastily spoken curse does not come to rest.
or you will be like him.
Opposites are not absolute and they’re not mutually exclusive, that is, they don’t offset or cancel each other out.
Black and white are opposites but aren’t of equal strength, nor are they a perfect balance in the color spectrum. Black is an absence of visible light, while white is the presence of all visible wavelengths of light.
Darkness as a quality of black—the absence of light—does not absorb or destroy light. Light disburses and shines in the midst of darkness, as displayed in a nighttime sky full of stars. The light penetrates the darkness.
It’s a common thought that opposites either cancel one another or are held in some perfect balance in nature. But this is not true. Spring declares this in the cycle of seasons, as do vegetation and life from seeds buried in the ground.
Good does not exist in a perfect balance with evil. At times, it may seem as if evil is stronger than good. But goodness will overcome evil. This is the theme of redemption—the existence of evil will come to an end. It is overcome by God’s goodness.
Those who trust in God—true believers—have this hope in their hearts (Heb 6:19) and we are exhorted to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21). the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a testimony of this. Death is overcome by life.
Evil is overcome and subdued by God’s goodness. Light is greater than darkness. Faith in God is trust—a confidence in God who is the source of light and goodness and life itself.
This is why we don’t need to fear curses nor be bound by superstition. When someone expresses a curse on us, it only has power if we allow it to be stronger than God in our mind and heart.
A hastily spoken curse has no power. Or, as it says in another version—it’s without cause.
An illustration of this is found with Balaam the prophet who could not pronounce a curse on the Jewish people. Although paid to do so, he couldn’t unless the Lord originated it (Num 23:8).
We are not to fear the curses or threats or insults of others. The Lord whom we trust is greater than those people and their words. We need to fear God who has power over our lives for eternity rather than the evil of people (Matt 10:28).
Just as swallows and sparrows never seem to rest but dart and flutter and fly around—so are words spoken against us. Don’t take them to heart. Don’t allow them to nest in your mind. Trust in the truth of God—the One whom you trust above all.
This brings us to what seems to be contradictory statements. Do we answer a fool with their own stupidity and foolishness or not? Which is it? It depends.
The point of this paradoxical proverb is the need for discernment. An awareness and wisdom for the situation. At times, it’s best not to answer someone’s foolish talk, even when it’s directed at us. But sometimes foolishness needs to be confronted with the truth.
How can we know which to do when? There is no trustworthy formula or grid to figure this out. No set answers. We need discernment and wisdom. We need to be aware of the situation and alert to what the Spirit of God stirs in our heart and mind (Matt 10:16-20).
The one thing we don’t want to do is react. We are not to be driven by dogma nor controlled by our emotions. I see this too often in social media and it accomplishes nothing good. Here is where discernment needs to lead to discretion.
The noise of the world around us can get loud. And so are the voices competing for our attention. Everyone seems to have an opinion and feels entitled to express it. But at what cost? And what value does it really hold?
The short of it is this—people of faith are not at the mercy of the world’s whimsical wisdom because we can draw from the source of true wisdom, God’s wisdom. So let us live accordingly—guided by the Lord’s wisdom with discernment and discretion.
Evil and foolishness are overcome by God’s goodness and truth. When we rest in the wisdom of God and rely on His Spirit, we can learn when and when not to answer the voices of those around us. We can live as a living testimony of His goodness.
When you find yourself plagued with harsh words, ask the Lord to direct you in His Word—the Bible—to counter them with the truth. When confronted with foolishness, pray for discernment and wisdom and discretion.
and searching for honor is not honorable.Hebrew meaning of this line uncertain.
We live in a binary world. Consider how pervasive computers are—huge main frames, desktops, laptops, and handhelds. They all work off a sequence of zeros and ones.
Ok, it’s not quite that simple. A programmer may use different ways to configure things—different programing language or code—but it boils down to manipulating a sequence of zeros and ones to execute some action.
Think of the countless decisions you make in a day. Most decisions are yes–no, either–or. Others weigh the pros and cons of a decision. Still binary. And there’s the classic—Are you a glass half-full or half-empty person?
Why is life in this world so binary? I track it back to the decision in the garden to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Even that decision was a choice between—Do we continue to trust God or believe this clever talking serpent?
They chose the second option. They chose the lie.
What does all this have to do with these two verses? Each of us struggle to find the somewhat neutral ground of contentment between too much or too little.
Why is this so difficult? Because our self—our ego—our basic nature—never seems to be satisfied. This leaves us open to making poor decisions, pursuing empty promises, or drifting along through life.
Both proverbs are explained with simple illustrations of comparison.
We know what it’s like to have too much of a good thing. It’s not good. In an earlier verse (Prov 25:16), we’re told eating too much honey makes a person nauseous.
You know the feeling of eating more than you should because it tastes so good—a 2nd or 3rd helping or a rich dessert after a big meal. This applies to more than eating. It’s great to get some sun but too much will make you sick or sunburned or both.
We all want and need honor and respect. The opposite would be shame or contempt. No one enjoys shame or contempt.
When others honor and respect us, it’s a good thing. But when we pursue our own honor or glory, it’s despised by others and tends to bring embarrassment, shame, and disrespect on us.
It’s not hard to imagine an ancient walled city with broken walls. You’ve either seen it in photos, movies, or digital games. If not, recall the story of ancient Jericho’s walls tumbling down after Israel’s army marched around it for seven days (Josh 6:20).
It would also be similar to the destruction a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake brings. Imagine being in a house where the walls and roof are blown away or broken down leaving you vulnerable to the elements, wild animals, or scavengers and looters.
This is the picture of someone who lacks self-control. We’ve seen what this brings in the life of others and perhaps in our own life.
A lack of discipline leads to many problems—over-eating, over-spending, little to no exercise, too little sleep, and so on. A lack of self-control can lead to things like addictions, broken relationships, excessive worries, poor health, and on and on.
How can we escape the back and forth struggle between too much or too little? Contentment comes with trusting the Lord. Trusting Him instead of our self. We need help with who we are and how we’re wired internally.
Later, in the New Testament book of Galatians, the apostle Paul speaks of this struggle (Gal 5:16-18). He goes on to say the evidence of relying on our self is obvious (Gal 5:19-20) but when we rely on the Lord—His Spirit in us—we gain self-control and a lot more (Gal 5:22-23).
The book of Proverbs is intended to help someone gain wisdom and develop self-discipline. This isn’t about self-improvement or self-reliance but entrusting our self, our decisions, and our deepest needs to the Lord.
Contentment comes with trusting the Lord rather than our self. We don’t need to improve nor rely on ourselves but entrust our decisions, deepest needs, and life to the Lord daily.
When you find yourself caught in the tension between too much and too little, call out to God in prayer. Ask His help with decisions before you make them. He knows your deepest needs, so look to Him as your source of honor and respect—He knows you better than any person on earth.
Polarized. This is the common and current description of American society. Where various groups of people are pitted against each other as archenemies. But the sense of polarization among people or within a culture is nothing new.
Perhaps the news media, the internet, and social media heighten our awareness of it. Even contribute to it. And, some of the reactionary rhetoric fans the flames higher than needed.
But enemies—perceived or real— have existed since the beginning.
The serpent in the garden of Paradise was no friend to God or the first humans (Gen 3:14-15). It appears Cain viewed is brother Abel as an enemy of sorts. Cain perceived God honored his brother over him, so he killed him.
Some people become our enemies because of nationalism, jealousy, economics, politics, religion, ambitions, and a variety of other reasons. These enemies can be real. They want to harm us, even destroy us.
Other people we perceive as enemies. Perhaps for one of the previous reasons given but more often it’s because of personal slights, insecurities on our part, or a difference of opinion.
During the anti-war, anti-nuke protests and love-ins of the sixties, a popular slogan was—Make love, not war!
Maybe in our polarized times we can start a new slogan to depolarize things—Make friends, not enemies!
Both slogans may seem idealistic and naive but they echo similar conduct esteemed in preschool and kindergarten. Not only were we encouraged to share toys and such, but when some conflict erupted we were challenged to “say you’re sorry” and shake hands or hug.
Again, maybe this seems too naive and idealistic but this is the intent of these verses in Proverbs. The idea is to turn an enemy into a friend or at least defuse or deflect the animosity of an enemy.
Taken literally, this doesn’t seem to be an effective way to make a friend of your enemy. But there’s at least a couple of thoughts on this.
Taken literally, the inference is one person lending their “enemy” burning coals to start a cooking fire with much less effort. They would place the burning coals in a pot carried on the head of the other person.
But figuratively and most likely, it refers to the effect of a person’s kindness to an enemy. It brings a sense of conviction, perhaps shame for the enemy’s spiteful attitude.
Jesus referred to this in His sermons on the mount in Matthew (Matt 5:43-48) and on the plain in Luke (Luke 6:27-31). This is tied to the Golden Rule to—do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and to the merciful nature of God.
I’ve learned the effectiveness of this approach first hand from my wife. She’s done this many times with me when I’m in one of my antagonistic moods.
I’ve watched her successful use of this same strategy with feuding children, disgruntled staff, and quarrelsome people in our ministry in the US and abroad.
This is a simple way to turn enemies into friends or at least defuse their combative attitude.
But, it’s also difficult. What makes it difficult is our part. It requires us to be peacemakers—to humble ourselves, choose reconciliation instead of revenge, and trust in the Lord to honor our effort.
So, feed your enemy when he or she is hungry. It they’re thirsty, give them some refreshing water.
Be a peacemaker. It’s one of the ways we show ourselves to be true children of God (Matt 5:9).
Who knows, we just might bring some depolarization to the world around us.
God’s people are called to be peacemakers—to do our best to defuse and deflect antagonism from others. It requires humility and choosing to trust in God.
Are there people who have slighted or wronged you? People you dislike because of their opinions, or what they stand for or who they are? Then, ask the Lord to help you see them with His eyes and to help change your heart to become a peacemaker.
What makes something valuable? Is it scarcity? This is the prevailing and popular belief. But scarcity creates a temporary value not a lasting value.
Lasting value has worth because of intrinsic qualities. Qualities that endure cultural fluctuations, people’s opinions, and time.
Words are valuable when they have an enduring sense of worth. What’s spoken or written isn’t dependent on their situational context or timing.
We live in a day and age when words—written or spoken—have little value. They’re neither scarce nor worthwhile.
An advertising slogan goes, what happens here (said city), stays here. If only this were true about what’s spoken and written on the internet! What gets posted online lingers on long after its initial arrival and eruption in the public forum and can’t be extracted or erased.
How do words become valuable?
How can words become valuable? They need to have intrinsic and enduring worth. Valuable words are true regardless of their situation or time. Truth—pure truth—endures. Its value lives on because it’s untainted.
A precious metal gains value when impurities are removed from it. This requires intense heat and sifting out the dross that collects on the metal’s molten surface—what’s common, corruptive, and invaluable.
When a precious metal such as gold or silver is purified, it becomes mirror-like in its molten state and reflects the image of whoever looks into it, such as the one who refines it.
The purity of the silver sets off the purity and beauty of the golden apples. The pure silver frames the gold in a refined and reflective way.
If we want to speak or write valuable words, they need to be true and free of impurities.
So, if we want to speak valuable words then our hearts need to be pure. Our motive and intent for saying something needs to be pure—free from bias, malice, jealousy, or other such things.
First, the truth of God needs to be valuable to us—as if it were a precious metal or jewel. Then God’s word of truth needs to find an abiding place in our hearts. We need to treasure it.eLikewise, the truth needs to be prominent in our minds and on our tongues. This requires reading and speaking the truth of God so it impacts and refines our thinking.
When we love the truth it will become evident to others. Even truthful and constructive criticism—though hard to hear—will be welcomed for its value.
But keep in mind—only God is able to purify our hearts. He is the master Refiner of hearts (Mal 3:2-3) And God’s Spirit brings to life and reveals the truth of God to us (John 16:13).
When the Lord does His work in us and we reflect Him to others through our life—our words will become valuable when spoken at the right time.
The truth of God needs to be valuable to us and abide in our hearts, and be prominent in our minds and on our tongues. We need to treasure it.
If you know your words aren’t always beautiful and valuable to you and others, or don’t reflect and honor God, ask the Lord to give you an understanding of the value of His truth. Then ask God to help you love the truth in a new and fresh way. | 2019-04-26T14:39:50Z | https://www.word-strong.com/devos/category/Wisdom |
Select a dresser for your youngster’s room after measuring the space available. For a large room, choose broad dressers like an armoire or dressers with numerous drawers. If you have a modest space, choose a vertical dresser in neutral shades like white or beige. When choosing a dresser for your youngster, ensure that it does not have any sharp edges. Choose infant furnishings with rounded edges. You can also baby-proof sharp edges with tape or padded cushions.
The color scheme of your paint works ought to not be neglected, since your kids bedroom sets ought to blend well with it. Probably not, which is why you want to try to get it right, right from the start. Now, if you want to ensure that you are getting the finest value for your money and that you are getting to pick from the greatest option, you are going to want to shop around online.
Below are a couple of things to think about before shopping for a bedspread and a bedroom set for your bedroom. A large space like the master bedroom offers you a lot of scope for utilizing bedroom sets that include everything. Pick a bedroom set that is inclusive of a bed, dresser and a nightstand to complete the look of your bedroom.
If you are wanting to create and transform your bed room into a fresh new look and appeal the very best and simplest location to begin is with new bedding linens. The more preferred colors are strong colors as they can blend into the bed room decoration much easier than numerous patterned fabrics. Bedding produces can provide you a remarkable variety of different blends of fabrics and different designs to fit anybody’s budget varying from duvets and comforters to chenille bedspreads and different bed quilts. Bedroom bedding strategies need to constantly begin with a spending plan and choose the bedding set that finest matches your needs. Bedding business will provide you a selection of latest trends that will improve or even update your bed room decoration.
This kind of antique chest with caddy moulded top, was out of fashion by the end 1740s. So the chest can dated accurately to the mid 1740s. By the middle of the eighteen century, mahogany chests were to be seen in many more homes. Normally at this time they would have overhanging mouldings and brass swan neck deals with. Much better antique chests produced more important spaces in your home would have four long finished drawers, instead of the more common 2 little drawers over 3 or four long drawers. Extra functions that contribute to the desirability of an antique chest, would be a brushing / writing slide and potentially a fitted top drawer.
Leather sectional sofa is another vital and the majority of reputable type of sofas normally put din your houses in the living room. These sofas are great in their quality and performance. Leather sofas have much better quality when compare to others. Individuals constantly want sofas that have versatility and fantastic looking. Lots of people want those sofas that will remain longer period of time. Leather is most popular and well established piece of sofas there are different shapes available in the market of this sofa. When you’re going to market to purchase this leather sectional sofa then you have to kept in mind the area of your space so that you can purchase pieces according to the area and location. Leather sofas are normally positioned inside your house not outside in the garden. Some people do positioned them in the garden but it’s not offer fairly aim to them.
There are numerous choices available to select from when it comes to bedspreads. While the bedspread has in numerous means been supplanted by the comforter, many individuals are uncovering the simpleness of the bedspread and finding that it works just as well, if not much better, in their bedrooms. This renewed interest has caused a broad range of colors and textures for bedspreads that were reasonably uncommon even ten years back.
Today, lots of sofa beds, which are likewise referred to as convertibles, are designed completely differently. The springs made use of to sign up with the bed to the sofa frame are lightweight yet strong. Some springs are made from titanium, which is a strong and dependable metal. If you are planning to make use of the bed portion of your sofa bed regularly, it is rewarding to buy the very best quality sofa bed your money can purchase. Even if you will certainly not be making use of the bed portion except on occasion, selecting a strong sofa that provides exceptional support for your back and seat will certainly pay off in the long run. This doesn’t indicate you have to invest a small fortune on a high quality sofa bed. Take the time to do some due diligence study. Do not ignore manufacturers who make use of words inexpensive considering that this does not always indicate absence of quality. Watch for sales at price cut warehouses that may have a high quality design on sale since the design has been terminated. Likewise be sure to inspect the Internet for web-only price cuts that can add up to significant savings.
The leather recliner has ended up being a trendy option from time immemorial. This specific piece of leather ottoman melbourne has moved throughout the world. It is likewise practical to match it from the ottoman foot rest for total comfort. Recliners will certainly likewise be understood to alleviate tension considering that it may be adjusted into the contours of the body. They can be furnished with a reclining system which provides the owner the option to modify the required positioning which is preferred for them.
Double ottoman beds are best assortment of ottoman storage bed that is made of faux leather that integrates function and style with very best quality. Furthermore it has got superior gas lift system designed under bed which easily raises the complete cavity base and sprung slatted base. It delivers large storage area which is perfect to shop clothing and bedding. They’re accessible at really reasonable rates on on line furniture stores which offer you extremely modern and chic looking ottoman beds. They’re offered in a broad assortment of designs which makes your bed room appearance stylish yet classy in sophistication and style.
Before you decide to buy a bunk bed mattress or twin mattress you should know that these 2 differ in depth, they are available in a wide range of materials, it is essential to choose the right depth for the upper bunk, and you should consider your spending plan, choices and the quality and construction of the product. Sleep is a vital part of everyone’s life and this makes your option of a bed an important factor to consider. If you are considering buying a bunk bed for yourself or for your children, you should very carefully review your choices so you will have the ability to select the very best bunk beds to fit your needs. You should likewise discover the distinctions between a bunk bed mattress and a twin mattress. Bunk bed mattresses and twin bed mattresses differ in depth. Bunk bed mattresses and twin bed mattress are basically the exact same size except for their depth. Twin bed mattresses are usually much deeper compared with bunk beds. Depending on the type, twin bed mattresses generally determine around 7 and a half inches deep to 12 inches deep. Bunk beds, on the other hand, just determine about 6-7 inches in depth.
Skin partnerships can be leather or fabric. Stools may happen in the soft tissues of the species. Nevertheless, the leather is resilient and trendy. As an example, if you do not want to be overwhelmed, which is easier, the requirements to acquire the hidden facts, to keep. In addition, the designs and products, it is essential to check the other functions of the bed. As an example, you need to choose what others do on a regular sofa and security. The tables are in the market are various, it is essential to comprehend that just the very best.
Excellent covers are important for your chairs and your futon. Futon covers are great for each futon and they offer not just style, however protection. You will want to ensure that the bed mattress of the futon is protected, and including some futon covers is just things to do that. Of course safeguarding your chairs is very important too, so chair slipcovers are a great way to keep your chairs well protected. Not just will the chair slipcovers offer protection, however they can totally change the look of your chairs as well, totally altering the way your bed room looks.
You can find a range of chesterfield furnishings in the market. Chesterfield Suites, wing chairs, club chairs and couches are the most offered chesterfield furnishings. Chesterfield furnishings from UK, Canada and USA are the most popular ones in the industry. You might put chesterfield furnishings anywhere in your house. Conversely, the presence of chesterfield furnishings in your office will give your office an entirely new feel. The use of antique chesterfield sofas is common with attorneys, physicians and business people. It is tough to make out genuine furnishings from the fake ones. However, we need to be smart sufficient to not fall in a trap. When looking for an antique chesterfield sofa it’s an advantage to understand the materials made use of to make the chesterfield furnishings. The kind and quality of wood made use of, the fabrics etc can play a vital duty to identify how long the furnishings is going to last. Antique Chesterfield sofas can be a genuine bliss and are therefore costly. An antique chesterfield sofa will cost over 3000 dollars.
Loveseats are little larger than chairs and smaller sized in size than sofa chairs. There are wide ranges of designs available that come as material loveseats along with microfiber loveseats. Loveseats made from microfiber materials are being widely chosen by people viewing as the least maintenance that it requires. These loveseats can be quickly cleaned with a light cleaning agent and even with a clean wet fabric. The microfiber material has the ability to sustain its strength and longevity to longer years. The most fascinating thing about loveseats is that they are such distinct furnishings item that can look modern along with classic at the same time. Little variation in their designing can make them appear even more fascinating.
If you are searching for lift chair recliner to buy, the variety of suppliers may amaze you. Moreover, there are numerous variations of chairs like these. Each of which has different design, design and reclining capability. You may get puzzled with the reclining capability due to the fact that these have three different types. The reclining types are 2, three and boundless variety of reclining positions. Here are the information of each type to offer you an idea how they vary from each other. A chair that has 2 reclining position can recline for as much as an angle of 45 degrees. This type of chair would allow the user to recline it in an angle of 0 to 45 degrees depending upon his or her needs. If you were seated in the chair, the 45-degree angle would be enough to put you back in a standing position without straining your back or knee.
While the majority of bed skirts are designed to match the material and pattern of your sheets and comforter you are free of cost to experiment. You can mix and match a skirt to achieve the appearance you prefer in your bedroom. Strong colors can be joined flowered patterns, prints or bold designs. The option is all approximately you, but no issue exactly what you select you can be sure that your bed will at last job a completed and classy style when you add ruffled skirts as an added touch.
I believe your best choices for buying the frames is to try to find those made of wood and/or metal. These are both sturdy and trustworthy. Wooden, broadly, is a much more long lasting product and will most likely last a lot longer than your kids will even use their beds. But steel is far less costly and that’s certainly something that should be taken into account. After all, how lengthy do you wish to have this kind of sleeping arraignment after your children mature and leave your house? Depending on their age and gender, you can browse for some novelty themed sets for you children. Perhaps your boys would such as a baseball or NASCAR themed bed. And obviously there are numerous themes created specifically for your girls too. There are a lot of choices out there for you when it comes time to in fact make mind up to purchase your futon beds. Just do your study online and plan your buy extremely carefully. You may not truly just conserve area, however cash too.
Futon mattresses had metal frames and wooden ones and are trustworthy and strong. Futon bed mattress can likewise be used as a couch as they can be placed in an upright position. In this way you get rid of area associated problems likewise. You just was required to set your futon bed mattress when you are ready to go to bed. The futon bed mattress are created in such a means that one or two individuals can sleep comfortably in one bed mattress. Anyone can pay for the Futon slipcovers and bed mattress which are relatively low-cost. The futon can likewise be fixed instantly at no extra cost as it features a guarantee. You can likewise buy chairs that can match the futon. You can likewise however the futon slipcover which can cover the bed mattress and safeguard it from dust and dirt. You can have a well embellished space by selecting matching pillows too.
For centuries black wood chest of drawers has actually been a preferred for housewives from all over the world. This mainly since of their unmatchable stunning appearance however their severe longevity and hardness are likewise hugely accountable for their popularity. These are the kind of leather ottoman melbourne that people purchase only when in a life time and an excellent quality wood chest can be expected to serve your family for generations. Though Oak is constantly the very best option however you can likewise choose less expensive mango wood chest of drawers.
If you are preparing to purchase new furniture pieces for your newly renovated home, it is usually recommended that you start on big pieces first. When it come to the living-room, sofas are the very first products you can purchase since their types and designs will influence the whole appearance of this part of our home. The sofa is considered as the centerpiece of the living-room not only since it is the largest furniture piece however since it is the one frequently utilized in this part of our home. Hence, in selecting sofas, the design and comfort it can offer are the 2 most important factors to think about. Luckily, there are now a number of types of sofa to choose when looking for the ideal furniture for your new house.
If you desire an ottoman bench, you aren t limited to one size, color, or style. A growing number of individuals are ending up being thinking about purchasing these products, so there are plenty of alternatives out there. If you like leather, then choose from numerous wonderful leather alternatives for your ottoman bench. That isn t the most popular type of ottoman bench, though. Normally, individuals choose softer furniture for their accent products. Because these products will certainly not be made use of in seating the majority of the time, they will certainly be there for appearances. Leather does not look nearly as great simply sitting there as fabric furniture might look. Normally, the ottoman bench is a big product that can seat approximately two individuals. Unlike its smaller ottoman counterpart that attaches to a little chair, this accent product is suggested to accommodate even more than a single person. Because of its large size, you will certainly need imaginative when finding out a good place to put it. Ottoman benches are normally discovered in large hallways to the front of a house. Other households decide to include the ottoman bench as a part of its living room furniture. This is alright as long as it is simply an extra piece and not the actual couch.
The mirror has actually been a brilliant addition in the modern period. A tactically placed mirror can truly improve not only the appearance of the room but can likewise give you an impression of a larger space. Integrating the features of a mirror with the storage and arranging abilities of a jewelry armoire has actually made this piece of furniture very versatile.
Reclining chairs were identified to be unique and were not typically seen in home furnishings stores. These chairs when were owned entirely by rich inviduals and health resorts owners simply due to the fact that they formerly were actually expensive. However those days are gone. Due to the fact that of the intensifying demand of such chairs, any individual can see them in nearly all the finest home furnishings stores everywhere you go. Producers also have actually made the recliners less costly for all to relish the rewards of wellness and comfort that includes it. With all the existing choice of products that recliners are made from, the most typical of all are certainly the recliners crafted from leather. The products made use of in such a recliner chair are gentle yet strong, providing you not only intensive support but could also go on for years. The flexible type material renders this chair most helpful to supply you with comfort and ease for 100 % rest. For this reason such a type is picked and much more popular than material covered ones which are frequently utilized for other furnishings items like sofas and couches. Without a doubt, buying a leather recliner does not simply provide you the benefit of having a sophisticated furnishings piece but even getting yourself a good selection for relaxation.
Did you identified that excellent recliner chairs have a life of a minimum of 10 years? Yes, it holds true. These chairs are long lasting assets that have to be purchased after exercising severe care on all facets. Among these is to pick a reliable service provider that provides maximum flexibility to its consumers. Many of us today leverage the Internet to buy online and benefit from shipment at doorstep. The service provider should have appropriate centers to make prompt shipment of recliner chairs. The service provider should assure to reimburse your complete money in case of failure to deliver the products within the agreed duration.
You may not understand that there are also futon beds that have inner coil springs like the traditional mattress. Because of problems that have actually been raised with sleeping on metal springs, some featured air coils too. About that metal spring concern, some professionals in fields of alternative recovery and energetic medicine suggest that the metal in beds influence how our energetic bodies reset and impacts our sleep. They suggest sleeping on only fabric materials, cotton, wool, or other foams, etc. and wood. There are numerous natural bed mattresses as they are called that have a wood slat system of support. These will certainly wind up costing you a lot more, we’ll talk about in the futon bed costs section below.
Ethereal, as it is a noise and undisturbed sleep on a well-kempt bedding could possibly contribute much in your life and make it essential component of great and healthy living. The ambience ought to force you to slip under the bedding sheets and get you an excellent evening’s sleep.
Do People Make These Simple Errors With Ottomans?
If you deal with aching muscles after a tough days work then you should need a massage recliner chair, these are exceptional for alleviating those muscles while sat viewing tv or reading a book in the reclined position. You can get devices to choose your chairs like a footrest ottoman this helps discover, that perfect position for your body to unwind, there are storage areas you can purchase to contribute to your chair to hold your TELEVISION remote or smart phone. Some chairs you can purchase will certainly currently have these features consisted of in the price, you will certainly need to check before you purchase what you will certainly get with your recliner chair. You will certainly discover that this type of chair will certainly be at the top end of the market due to the ergonomic and technical design involved with massage chairs, but once you have used your massage chair you will certainly discover that paying that bit additional deserves it. | 2019-04-26T07:05:27Z | http://www.superbfurnishings.com/ottomans/leather-ottoman-melbourne/ |
I’ve just been talking to the head of programming for Anticipation. I shall now send you email.
does the hugo awards have any criteria for choosing the best short story winner? i mean aside from the votes coming from anyone else, don’t they have list of criteria like is the work shows universality, sincerity, etc….
The criteria is that it has to be a work of SF/F published during the relevant period, and that the members of WSFS have to vote for it. That is all. There are no other criteria.
Did J Michael Straczynski even win a Hugo for Babylon 5?
Yes, in 1996 and 1997. I understand (although I’ve not seen it myself) that one of the Hugo trophies actually appears in an episode sitting on a shelf.
When and where are the awards for this year?
The 2009 Hugo Awards will be at the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention, Anticipation, which will be August 6-10, 2009 in Montreal, Canada. The Hugo Award Ceremony is currently scheduled for the evening of Saturday, August 9.
Hello, my name is Mr. Shannon LeJuan Clements and I am the proud author of The Star Explorer: The Discovery. How are you doiong today? Fine I hope. The reason why I am contacting you is because I wanted to know if a person has to be present in order to be nominated or win a Hugo award. Please respond.
No, you do not need to be present at any event or be a member of the World Science Fiction Convention to be nominated or to win a Hugo Awards. The nominations are made by and the final results decided by the members of the annual Worldcon, but anyone can be nominated or win an award.
which the rights and rules of publishing could be there?
Why are you letting one of your judges vote on a bunch of shows they haven’t seen?
I’m a registered member of Anticipation, the 67th annual World Science Fiction Convention; as such, I’m one of the people voting on the Hugo Awards.
One of the categories is “Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)”; the problem is that I don’t have a TV, and so I haven’t seen any of the nominees.
So tell me, goons: which of these nominees deserves to have my vote for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) of 2008, and why? Bear in mind, this is a ranked vote — that is, I’m going to vote for what I (you) think is the best, the second best, and so on up to the sixth best — so put them in some kind of order.
and the classic “No Award”, which quite simply means that none of the nominees deserves to win. Even if you rank “No Award” first, the others should be ranked as well.
The vote deadline is 23:59 EST, July 3; let the arguments begin.
…. and I have voted.
Thank you for your opinions; I did indeed use them as a (partial) basis for how to vote.
There are no specific rules for that situation, other than that you should not refer to a work or person as a “nominee” unless that work or person appeared on the final ballot.
The Hugo Awards are a popular vote award. The only requirement for having a vote is that you become a member of the World Science Fiction Society by joining the current year’s Worldcon. You do not have to be honest or diligent, and indeed it would be impossible to enforce such a requirement.
In this particular case the person you describe has at least made an effort to judge the quality of the works. But anyone could vote without seeing/reading the nominees and we would never know. We assume, however, that with hundreds of people eligible to vote, the honest and diligent efforts of the majority will drown out the actions of any “bad apples”.
Done; however, because the original (but wrong) answer is sufficiently old, I struck out our mistaken answer but left the struck-through information visible so that anyone coming back later would understand that we had made a correction nearly a year later.
Why was there no winner in 1977?
In the 1977 Hugo Awards, there was no winner in the category Best Dramatic Presentation because the voters selected “No Award” as the winner. Under WSFS rules, “No Award” always appears on the ballot, and if it wins, no Hugo Award is presented in that category.
There were Hugo Awards in the other categories in 1997.
Any word on the list of other things that were nominated for Hugos this year, but didn’t make the top five?
Read our post announcing the results, which was posted shortly after the ceremony. Note that at the bottom of the announcement are links to the voting breakdowns and nomination information.
Hello. I have a question about last year’s nominations. I am aware that my novel, “Solfleet: The Timeshift Saga, The Call of Duty, Book One of the Excalibur Trilogy” received nominatons–in two catagories I believe. As it turned out, it was not eligible. I understand and that’s okay, but I was wondering if you could let me know how many total nominations it received, just to satisfy my curiosity? I’d prefer an answer by e-mail if possible. Thanks.
Examining the 2008 Hugo Award Nominations data, I cannot find your work listed. This means that the work did not receive sufficient nomination votes to place 15th or higher. Worldcons are only obliged to disclose placements down to 15th, although they may go lower if they so choose (this year’s Worldcon did so). Therefore, I’m afraid we don’t have an answer to your question other than “fewer than 19 nominations,” that being what it took to make the top 15.
I know that the Hugo Award is given for the best science fiction,horror,fantasy etc. I would rather the award be given for science fiction only. A few years ago the Hugo was awarded to one of the Harry Potter novels & this year to The Graveyard Book.Regardless of how well written or acclaimed these books are,they are written for children/young adults. I am aware that adults have read these titles & nominated them for the Hugo Award but I don’t agree that they should be allowed to be nominated for an award that started out as an award for the best science fiction.Every year I look forward to reading the Hugo winner & the nominees.I did read American Gods & it was fantastic(& written for adults) but I will not be reading the Potter novels nor the latest Neil Gaiman Hugo winner.Very disappointed.
You say that certain works “should not be allowed to be nominated.” I take it that you mean someone should decide, “These works aren’t science fiction, and thus should be disqualified.” Is that correct? If so, then who should decide? What would you do if an administrator disqualified a work as “not sufficiently science fictional” that you personally believed to be SF?
Because of the extremely thorny issues involved, it has been the practice of WSFS to allow the members of the organization, through the nominating ballot, to decide that works have enough SF (or F) in them to be eligible. Administrative decisions are limited to publication date and length of work. Decision on a work’s “worthiness” are left up to the members who vote.
You are of course welcome to attend Worldcon and propose changes to how the Awards are administered. There’s no Board of Directors or mysterious “they” you have to persuade. Every person represents him/herself and nobody else. All you have to do is join and participate.
Hi, My name is Graeme Harper, I am a Director and I Directed a DR WHO special titled “THE WATERS OF MARS”.
I was thrilled to have been one of the winners of the HUGO AWARD for this Story but I have never received the award.
As I live in England I imagine there would be some delay in getting it halfway across the world, but it is several months now since the award ceremony took place in Australia 2010, I am dying to have this award on my mantlepiece, has it got lost?
We will forward your comment to the administrators of the 2010 Hugo Awards. Each year’s Worldcon administers the Awards, including the delivery of trophies.
What happened to the question/comments I posted about the semipro magazine award?
I don’t know. It may have been inadvertently eaten by the spam-trap. (We receive dozens, if not hundreds, of spam posts for every real one.) Can you re-post the question? You might want to also send a copy of it to [email protected] to make it less likely to be overlooked. Sorry about that.
Kennie, the short answer is that the Hugos are an award that’s been around for about six decades. They are widely respected in the industry. A large majority of early winners are also considered classics today and receiving a Hugo is often considered a sign that the winning work is a good example of the best the genre has to offer.
The long answer can be found reading and viewing the winning works; this is something many people do. Exploring this website may also be a good idea, we’ll be happy to answer any specific questions to the best of our ability.
My name is Deborah M Pratt and I wanted to know the best way to make the Hugo Society aware of my work. I would like to submit “The Vision Quest” and possibly a short I am shooting based on the world of the books call, “Warrior One”.
I was Co-Executive Producer and Headwriter of a TV series called “Quantum Leap”, I took the last 9 years to write “The Vision Quest”. I opted to self publish to keep the style of and spirit of the content true to what inspired me in the first place. We received over 400,000 thousand hits to the website last year and have garnered readers from across America and as far away as New Zealand, Canada, Europe and South Africa. The response to the book has been powerful because, what is being discovered in this science fantasy is a deep spirituality and new vision.
I am a new member and signed up to attend this August. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to facilitate a place for “The Vision Quest” and warrior One” at the Hugos.
There is no “submission process” for the Hugo Awards. The fuller version of this is in our submitting your work page. The way you get nominated for a Hugo Award is for your work to come to the attention of a sufficient number of the members of the Worldcon who think it worthy of being nominated. There is no judging panel or submission process.
I’m hunting for information about the 1967 Hugo Awards (where STAR TREK won a Hugo.) Where was the convention held? Were there articles written about the winners, etc. ?
Listings for each year’s Awards are on the Hugo History page. Specifically, the 1967 Hugo Awards were presented in New York City (“NyCon 3”). We do not have historical archives of articles written about the Awards.
1967 was only the first time that an episode of Star Trek won a Hugo Award. An episode won the following year as well, and an episode of ST:TNG won in 1993.
Do you have a sense of when the shortlist results will be posted? Is it likely to be in the near future, or is that not yet known? Any specific date when ballot counting can be expected to be completed?
The Hugo Awards (and the World Science Fiction Society and the individual Worldcons that present the Hugo Awards) are not involved with rights management. You might consider contacting the Science Fiction Writers of America; they might be able to connect you with various literary estates.
In the semiprozine rules, one of the possible criteria for qualification is “had an average press run of at least one thousand (1000) copies per issue.” Does this require physical printing, or would 1000 subscribers to an electronic edition be counted as equivalent?
Zine A has no contributors, but has staff.
Zine B has both staff and contributors.
Zine C has contributors, but no staff.
If Zine A pays its staff money, it clearly fulfills the criterion. Likewise, if Zine C pays its contributors money, it fulfills the criterion.
If Zine B pays money to both its staff and its contributors, it clearly fulfills the criterion. But what if it pays money only to its contributors (or only to its staff)?
This is a murky area, but given the history of the category and the works that have been nominated and won, such as Clarkesworld (which doesn’t have paper copies), it is clear that no work is going to be disqualified simply because it doesn’t print paper copies.
Also bear in mind that there are some very significant changes to the Semiprozine category based on the Report of the Special Committee on Semiprozines that were given first passage this the 2011 Worldcon and that will be up for ratification at the 2012 Worldcon. The existing criteria will be completely rewritten, and the issues you raise will be moot.
In practice, the questions are moot anyway, because historically no Hugo Administrator has tried to narrowly apply the criteria. In general, semiprozines have been what the voters pointed at when they nominated.
How many Hugo Awards are given out in a year?
As of 2011, there are 15 Hugo Award categories. The number of categories and their definitions are listed in the constitution of the World Science Fiction Society. The WSFS Constitution as of the start of the 2011 Worldcon is available on the Renovation web site here. The number and definition of categories can be changed by the WSFS Business Meeting (see Changing the Rules for more details). For example, the 2011 WSFS Business Meeting passed an amendment that, if ratified by the 2012 WSFS Business Meeting in Chicago, would add a new category called “Best Fancast,” for podcasts and other serial A/V productions of a fannish nature, separating such works from the existing Best Semiprozine category.
Besides the current 15 permanent categories, Worldcon committees are authorized to add one-shot Additional Categories which are awarded in the same way as the permanent categories.
In or around 1972-74, I remember reading a novella in a book containing Hugo award winnings novella and short stories. This book was purchased through a book club. The story line is one of a post-apocalptic word where religion dictates everything, and mutations are shunned and/or killed. I do not remember the name of the story or even the author; I do remember that the main characters were physic, and the main female characters name was Rosalind; also these characters were rescued from death by a ship from New Zealand. This story, along with Edgar Rice Burroughs, turned me on to sci-fi. Can you help with this?
Why are they called Hugo awards? Who is Hugo?
The Hugo Awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, a seminal figure in the foundation of modern magazine science fiction. See our FAQ for further information.
I’m doing graduate research on fanzines in the 1970s. Do you keep archives of past entry forms? If so, where are they kept and who can I contact to view those archives?
There are no “entry forms” for the Hugo Awards. You do not submit your work for a Hugo Award or enter a contest. We have a two-stage selection process, whereby in the first stage (nominating), members of the Worldcon nominate works for the Hugo Award, and in the second stage (final ballot), the works that received the most nominations are voted upon by the members of Worldcon. For more information about how the process works, see our discussion of the Hugo Award Voting System.
We do not keep an archive of the nominating ballots for the Hugo Awards; however, the Hugo Awards History page for each year lists not just the winner, but also the nominees, and when available (only about the last ten years or so) the “They Also Ran” information listing the other candidates in the top fifteen nominations.
Thank you Kevin for your previous response. I have a quick follow-up question. How long has this two-stage selection process been in place? Is the process you’re currently employing the same one since the inception of the Hugo Awards?
One more thing (sorry, I just remembered this), is the process to add categories and change rules in general also the same historically? Can I infer that the current process as described on this site is the same one used when fanzines were added as a category? Do you know where I can find any sort of information on how/why they were added? Sorry to bother you with all these questions, but they could really help me with my project. Thanks again.
The two-stage process has been in place almost, but not quite, from the beginning of the creation of the Hugo Awards. The first year was a simpler one-stage process where you wrote in your favorite work, with no nominations, and the winner was the work with a plurality of votes. Beginning in 1959, the two-stage nominations/voting process was adopted and has been substantially unchanged since then.
The early Hugo Award categories were decided by the individual Worldcons at their own discretion. Later (after 1963, when the first WSFS Constitution was adopted), the WSFS Constitution included formal rules for the Hugo Awards, with the control over the categories in the hands of the members, not the organizing committees.
Update: Thanks to WSFS scholar Ben Yalow, we now have an article on this site called “A Short History of the Hugo Awards Process,” which I think addresses your questions.
Your FAQ’s say that to be considered a book must be “published”. Are self-published e-books considered as potential nominees or must the publication be through a traditional publisher? I ask this as I only see novels on your list published through TOR, Del Ray, Orbit, etc.
Thank you for a very well put together and informative web site.
“Published” means “published.” It doesn’t mean “printed and distributed by a traditional publisher.” Works are not disqualified because they are (for example) self-published or published in non-print venues. For example, three of the four nominees for Best Short Story in the 2011 Hugo Awards were published electronically, not through “traditional” print magazines.
Works are not disqualified for being published in “non-traditional” formats. However, works have to get enough nominations from the voters to make the ballot, so if the voters don’t nominate such works, the works won’t appear on the ballot.
We’ve added your question and a version of this answer to our Frequently Asked Questions list. Thanks for contributing.
Is there a resource on the site for learning about Hugo-winning minority authors/creators? I am aware of the awards given to Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, and Ted Chiang, but would like to know more still.
We do not include any demographic information such as gender, ethnicity, residency, etc. about any Hugo Award winners. We list the winners’ names.
Has there ever been an african american winner for best novel?
Shamal: We don’t collect demographic details about winners, including race, gender, residence, or anything else about them. We collect the winners’ names. | 2019-04-19T04:26:32Z | http://www.thehugoawards.org/ask-a-question/comment-page-2/?replytocom=9956 |
As Laura Bush explains in the third act of the play, the title “comes from the Family Guy…It’s a costume party and the man in the couple is dressed in a pink dress and pearls and the visitor asks, Who are you dressed as Peter? and Peter says, I’m Laura Bush. Then the woman, who I believe is his wife, and is dressed as a man with a big tire track up her front, says, And I’m the guy she killed. And the visitor says, That’s right, I forgot, Laura Bush killed a guy. And the wife says, Yes, she did. Laura Bush killed a guy. And then Peter says, Laura Bush killed a guy…” But the crux of the play is not really the titular event of Laura Bush’s vehicular homicide (as later explained, vehicular manslaughter was not a crime in Texas when her crash occurred). Really, the show revolves around her experience of both coming of age in Texas and being the most visible woman in the country.
The three-act show begins each act with a monologue about Google’s autofill suggestions when one enters “Laura Bush”. Laura Bush’s Cowboy Cookies (available upon entering the theater) are first, but soon after follows “Laura Bush killed a guy”. This monologue varies slightly between acts, and the reenactment of the car crash which follows similarly varies. In the first act, she is a murderer; the second, a drunk driver; the third, a well-meaning, distracted teenager. Other details of her life also change between acts, such as her first time meeting “Georgie”, her relationship to Mike Douglass (the crash victim), and her behavior as a teenager. What does remain consistent is her veneer of optimism, polished “Southern hospitality”, and her seemingly genuine good intentions. Even the murder was done to please her family.
A solo show requires a great solo performer, and Lisa Hodsoll is above and beyond the best Laura Bush impersonator on New York stages right now (regardless of how much competition she may or may not have). Her measured control of her body and gestures, her perfectly soft Texan accent, all spoke to her ability as someone who had researched, studied and now fully inhabited Laura Bush. Her performance stood out as an accomplishment that alone makes the play worth seeing.
The play itself, on the other hand, lacks an essential energy; like Laura Bush’s car, it achieves high speeds on the ground, but never launches off the ground. Laura Bush’s carefully cultivated facade seems poised to fall from her first moments onstage, but the show never delivers on this promise. Instead, potential energy is built up and never released. The de facto climax of the show is her recounting of 9/11 which, though it is a powerful and effective piece of writing, does not quite deliver the catharsis and freedom that the show needs. For example, Ms. Hodsoll’s choreography rarely took her outside of standing in front of or sitting in the lone chair on stage (her back never touching the back of the chair). Like the extremely limited blocking, and in part because of it, the play remained similarly uptight and staid.
Despite the lack of a much-needed release in the show, there remained a great deal to be praised. Ian Allen’s text for Laura Bush maintained a wonderful balance of lyricism and realism (the prologue, which features a complete appropriation of her recipe for cowboy cookies, is especially exciting), and the technical direction, with projections and spots indicating flashbacks to the actual car crash, was highly professional and effective. But though each element was as skillfully assembled as possible, the overall work was no greater than the sum of its parts. The high quality of each part almost saves the play, but not quite.
Why did Laura Bush kill a guy? The play offers many answers, but does not quite provide a reason to ask the question in the first place. Many do their best to provide such a reason throughout “Laura Bush Killed A Guy”––Ms. Hodsoll perhaps most of all with her bogglingly impressive impersonation. But this effort makes the play’s inability to take flight all the more regrettable. At the end of the day, Laura Bush killed a guy. No more, no less.
After the lineage of the British Royal Family succumb to a tragic end, the UK begin a feverish search to find a lasting heir. They stumble upon a brash-talking American with a flair for the dramatic and a gift for song. Later, our plucky protagonist meets a rival from the English elite who scorns their unconventional ways and then begins a covert plan to incriminate the new monarch. After being assailed by the tabloids for their public blunders and romantic scandal, the newly crowned sovereign struggles with the lasting implications of their unexpected title. Finally, peace is restored when Our Majesty reveals the felonious acts of their enemies and then abdicates the throne, leaving the wise and unflappable helpmeet (who has a tidy, clandestine affiliation to royalty) to assume the position.
This summary above is word for word and beat for beat the plot of the 1991 John Goodman film King Ralph. God Save Queen Pam copies it to the letter, re-imagining the fish-out-of-water comedy as a mad-cap, exaggerated, one dimensional tale resembling a Christmas panto. Buckingham Palace represented with a bed more akin to a freshman twin mattress and characters clad with the merest attempt to distinguishing class and bearing (an Archbishop denoted by a simple purple pageantry sash, for example.) I really wish they had committed to the full tropes of British pantomime (how much more delightfully silly and engaging would it have been to have had the lead be a woman dressed as a boy, to be coerced by the cast to cheer the hero and boo their nemesis) Instead, the musical finds itself at odds between making slim gestures towards more detailed characterization versus being jam-packed with sloppy camp.
Erin Murray Quinlan (the show’s lead, and creator of the its book, music, and lyrics) clearly has done her research as far as depicting the day to day struggles of a Queen. Even her character names show an apt wit and further potential for greater comedy. For example, Pam’s staunchest foe is named Fenella de Dieul (an unsteady performance by Mari Minette Linder, who seeks to straddle the line between broad and naturalistic and accomplishes neither) , which translates to “introverted, cerebral, and easily anxious” and “of God” respectively. All that detail is squandered with a slap-dash script which favors stale pop culture references and quick, easy jokes. Fenella, rather than putting up a pious, genteel front, broadcasts her villainy without an attempt to hide her vainglorious ambition.
The highlights of the musical are Carolyn Light as Col. Eleanor Ainsley (captivating and fully realized in her role) and the scenes between Pam and her not-so-subtle crush, Maj. Jaimie Toben (David Ventura in a disarmingly charming, vulnerable performance). Not the painfully broad moments when she tosses pick-up lines at him with frenzied desperation like a barfly ten minutes away from closing time; the rare opportunities where Quinlan as a playwright, composer, librettist, and actor allows herself to deliver honest, unguarded moments. See this show for the number “Once for Yes” alone, a sincere, utter delight of a song which feels so out of place amongst the slapstick.
Future productions of this musical must consider the following question: does the heart of the story reside in fleshed out, earned humor and characters whose personality consists of far more than a hard-on for Winston Churchill? Or, should the musical run gleefully headlong into precise, flamboyant, stylized camp, removing or altering its more mannered characters (like Ainsley and Toben) as well as more stoic songs “Think of England” and “The Shamrock, the Thistle, and the Rose”. Either choice could produce a wonderful show.
Midsummer Madness is a Success!
The start of the summer this year was rainier and chillier than usual, and because of the rain, the June 22nd opening performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Carroll Park was delayed. For a frightened moment, I considered the thought that the performance might not occur––after all, the show relied on electric lighting barely protected by some trees, and enough of a downpour could prevent the use of those tools altogether. Thankfully, the rain ceased, and the play lit up the park, literally and figuratively.
“Midsummer” is often roughly divided into three threads: that of the lovers, that of the mechanicals, and that of the fairies. This neglects Theseus and Hippolyta, whose military drama occurs entirely offstage and is conveyed to the audience through two brief scenes. Their inclusion is mostly important because it is they who launch the play with a somewhat dark conversation on military conquest, only to be interrupted by Egeus, the frantic father of Hermia. The leads are rapidly introduced by Egeus and in a matter of minutes, we enter the magical forest, controlled by the fairies, where the bulk of the action takes place.
The fairies, who meddle with the lovers and the mechanicals to comic ends, have some of the driest passages of the play, with long conversations about Puck’s exploits and the conflict between Oberon and Titania surrounding an Indian changeling. Regrettably this production did little to solve these problems; the choice to make Oberon into a bellowing tyrant and Titania into a half-blind witch did not help to speed them along. The understandable intent was to add a darker, more ominous element to the play, but the tonal shift was too great to justify as such.
This being said, the acting was uniformly high quality, and was especially remarkable in the attention paid to relatively small characters. Pete McElligott as Theseus and Shaun Bennet Fauntleroy as Hippolyta were true lynchpins of the production, opening and closing the show with a sense of authority and a clearly defined relationship often lacking from portrayals of those characters. Also of note were the mechanicals, especially Brandon Dial as Snug and Justin Gillman as Starveling (doubling as Egeus as well). Their performances in the Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe were incredibly good, and they, among the rest of the mechanicals, established their scenes as ensemble efforts. Another massive standout from the mechanicals was Corey Whelihan as a truly electric Bottom, whose every appearance prompted show-stopping laughter and applause.
Smith Street Stage has been producing Shakespeare in Carroll Park for almost a decade, and their familiarity with the space of the park showed as they used all the area around and behind the audience, especially in the lovers’ quarrel scenes. This was a wonderful touch at times, as when Demetrius (Alex Purcell) would sprint an entire lap around the sizable seating area for the audience. At other times, the technique regrettably masked parts of dialogue from being seen by the entire audience, including the beloved “You bead, you acorn” monologue. The intention was clear and worthwhile, but the execution lacked in practical consideration. Another slight drag on the production was the music direction, which relied largely on pseudo-Elizabethan acoustic instruments instead of a broader palette of sound. Visually, the production was roughly updated to present-day, and so these moments of song were notably out of step with the rest of the show.
“Midsummer” is a difficult play to get wrong, and a difficult play to get right as well. But the element which speaks best to the quality of this production was the number of children in a nearby playground who stopped playing and watched, loudly laughing during Bottom’s best scenes (including one of the longest and best death scenes for Pyramus I have seen) and happily mesmerized by the lovers’ reconciliation. Even with my few criticisms, one cannot ask for more than this from any play, especially Shakespeare. Like the potion of the play, the show enchanted the audience and the kids, some of whom had likely never experienced Shakespeare before. Regardless of experience with “Midsummer” or Shakespeare, the production perfectly satisfied us on our own midsummer night.
Anton Chekhov is one of my favorite playwrights. Thus, I was more than excited to see Ivanov, brought to us by the Cherry Orchard Festival. Yet, my enthusiasm was short- lived because splitting my focus between the translations and the actions on stage was too difficult for me and I was lost much of the time.
The story begins with the audience being told about Ivanov’s money troubles, his sick wife Anna Petrovna, and his deep depression. We are told as an audience that his wife is a Jewish woman who came from a wealthy family, but once she converted to Russian Orthodoxism, she was disowned by her family. Now she is dying of Tuberculosis unbeknownst to her, and Ivanov must take care of her, his debt, and his uncle, the Count, who lives with them. Doctor Lvov, who takes care of Anna is also berating Ivanov for being cruel and short tempered with Anna who he tells Ivanov, is dying of Tuberculosis and must go to Crimea to get better, but he is both unwilling and unable to pay for her treatment. Needing an escape from his troubles, he flees to his friend Lebedev’s house to get some space.
That is not to say that the production is without merit. The cast is clearly talented. It’s a shame that the translations were so quick, that one could not capture what was happening on stage and understand the dialogue at the same time. Unfortunately, I felt like an outsider left in the dark for most of the evening. With better translation techniques, this could have have been a gripping piece of theater. Sadly, we are unable to sustain the energy it takes to divert our attention back and forth from the stage to translations.
There are things in history we should never forget. The Holocaust. Vietnam. Little Rock Arkansas Little Rock by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj provides us an unforgettable musical that shows just how far or not far we have come in ending racism between blacks and whites, This play leaves an indelible mark on you that makes you want to shout out and scream in rage about the senseless violence that the Little Rock nine faced as they tried to integrate into an all white school.
In 1957, President Eisenhower and the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. However, the governor of Arkansas did not agree and failed to provide the military support to enforce the court’s decision. As a result the Little Rock nine went through hell in their attempt to go to school. Finally, President Eisenhower, ordered troops to move into Little Rock to enforce integration and finally the black students were able to attend class, but not without consequence. And the rest they say is history.
The cast is phenomenal. Several members sing a capella and their voices cut to the core bring the audience to tears several times. The struggle and pain that they covey are tangible. Rebekah Brockman is stunning in her turn as Peggy Sue. Watching her journey from an optimistic girl filled with hope for a new world into a woman who realizes the brutality of racism is both palpable and heart breaking. When her dreams get crushed so do ours. Justin Cunningham provides the much needed comic relief that gives us a momentary reprieve from the high pitched tension that feels unending and overwhelming. And why should we get a break? These students did not.
My only slight quibble with this otherwise profound production, is that they keep referring to to the Little Rock nine. This means that there were nine black students who tried to integrate. However, this show only had six actors, playing the nine students. Everytime, the play referred to nine students, we are taken out of the reality of the moment because six does not equal nine. If they spent so much money on this show, why not get three more actors to play the nine students and sustain the reality of this tension filled world that we are in?
That is a minor flaw in this powerful [production. As you can probably tell, I’m riled up by this show. It’s not just part of our past history, it’s still going on today. And with our political administration, how far back are we going to allow this country to slide? I think we should be scared, no terrified! (I have tears in my eyes as I’m writing this) Go see this show in order to never forget their hard won struggle and to make sure we do not let our country regress back into the dark ages. Up stage center there is often an always illuminated door. It’s a door of hope that as a unified people we will walk hand in hand through, a symbol of progress that we need now more than ever!
Plays about plays can be hard and often tricky to understand. However, Theater Breaking Through Barriers does an above average job making this play, The Fourth Wall by A.R. Gurney accessible and timely, in every sense of the words. Though it wavers at times, this is a mostly enjoyable production.
The cast does a fine job bringing this meta heavy production to life. The highlight of the cast is Stephen Drabicki, who plays an eccentric drama professor brought in to solve the ominous riddle of what lies beyond the fourth wall His stylistic choices all add up and brings great comedic life to his scenes. Nicholas Viselli does a fine job as Roger, who is definitely trying to save his marriage.
Unfortunately, there is some over-acting in this play that bogs it down. This play has music in it by Cole Porter. Vaselli and Drabicki have stellar voices, which makes them a delight to listen to. Yet, the vocal talent of the entire cast is not equally matched.
Again, what mostly hurts this production, has nothing to do with a lack of talent on stage. It is the play within a play conundrum which causes some confusion for the audience There are many dated political references that obscure what could be a timely piece of theater. This is no fault of the production team, as they tried to update the script but were thwarted by the Gurney Foundation. Still, the parallels are there, but it’s a shame they can not hit the nail directly on the head.
Still, Theater Breaking Through Barriers does not disappoint. There usage of differently abled artists show just how talented they are. Disability is NOT on display here! Rather, it’s just a group of very capable actors shining due to their incredible prowess as storytellers. They deserve our support and we should give it to them in abundance. This is definitely a piece of theater that matters! | 2019-04-25T17:58:31Z | https://theaterthatmatters.com/2018/06/ |
This outlook is drawn up in line with ACRA’s General Principles of Socioeconomic Indicators Forecasting.
Kazakhstan inflation has stabilized and it is expected to go down to 6.4% by late 2019 and to 6% by 2021. After the seasonal growth in winter, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will return to downslide as early as in spring 2018. Inflation growth rate will slip on the inflation import from Russia and the weak dynamics of real incomes. Inflation drivers will include economic revival and increasing monetary obligations of the National Bank of Kazakhstan (the NBK).
Economic growth will be supported by higher mining output and relatively high prices for oil and metals. From 2017 to 2021, the Kazakhstan economy will grow by 3.2% on average per year (the industry and services sectors will contribute 1.3 pps and 1.1 pps, respectively).
In its 3-year budget proposal, the Government of Kazakhstan expects budget revenues to grow in 2018–2020. The guaranteed transfer is planned for cut down to KZT 2 tln a year (in the last three-year period, the planned cut down was KZT 2.9 tln), while target transfers are to be cancelled. However, such cut down is possible only if the taxation base demonstrates a stable growth.
The balance of payments is prone to substantial payments to investors and growing exports. In the forecast period, the trade balance will stabilize. Payments to non-residents under direct investments make the balance on investment incomes more volatile. If exchange rate shocks and subsequent tenge dropdown are avoided, the current transactions account will be maintained with a deficit on the entire forecast period (by late 2021, the deficit may reach 6%).
1 World Bank methodology, real growth.
3 SC MNE RK means the Statistics Committee of the Ministry of the National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Better oil market conditions (Brent up to 55 USD/bbl in 2017 and up to 57 USD/bbl in 2021) and a sound growth in oil production will strengthen external balances of the country. However, Kazakhstan’s substantial obligations on the income balances does not allow the current transactions account to turn positive.
In the forecast period, the world GDP will continue to grow moderately (from 2017 to 2021, the average annual growth rate will be 1.8-2.5%). The prices for the main export goods of Kazakhstan will be moderately favorable. The OPEC’s decision to extend the oil production cut has balanced the oil market. However, the potential growth in oil shale production will cap the oil price growth in the medium term (within the range of 53-57 USD/bbl). Closure of inefficient production sites in Russia and China will support prices for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Prices for ferrous metals will remain at the level of 2016, the price for non-ferrous metals will grow against the 2016 level.
Kazakhstan is a small open economy (0.18% of the world GDP; the ratio of trade turnover to GDP is 61%4 ). As macroeconomic trends in the country reflect the external prices for the key traded commodities that are now in the limited growth zone, the external price impulse for is positive the economy, but restrained.
In January-August 2017, the shares of the three main trade partners of Kazakhstan (the European Union, China and Russia) in the national foreign trade profile have not decreased. Moreover, the share of the European Union in the Kazakhstan’s exports (Kazakhstan exports 52% of goods to the European Union) and the share of Russia in the Kazakhstan’s import (39% of imported goods) have been growing. In total, three key foreign trade partners account for 73.5% of exports and 74% of imports of Kazakhstan.
ACRA expects that in 2018–2021, the Chinese economy will grow by 4–5.6% a year; the growth rates in the EU and Russia will be in range of 1.6–1.9% and 1.4–1.5%, respectively. Therefore, in 2019–2021, the external demand for Kazakhstan’s commodities will slightly decline.
4 Source: the Statistics Committee of the Ministry of the National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ACRA estimates (data for January-August 2017).
The 2017 payment balance will mostly reflect higher net exports (about plus USD 17 bln for products and minus USD 4 bln for services) and stably high balances of primary incomes, which is caused by payments to non-residents under direct investments.
In 3Q2017, a period of substantial growth in direct investments ended; its peak was in 2–3Q2016. The total of direct investments amounted to USD 12.3 bln. This amount resulted in a negative financial account for 2016 (USD 8.6 bln). The balance of services and the balance of secondary incomes have also impacted, but not overwhelmingly, the current transactions account.
In the forecast period, we see the following key trends in the external sector of the economy: stably high payments on the balances of incomes and a positive and relatively stable net export. In 2017-2021, it will vary within USD 17.5–18.1 bln. Being negative, the trade balance in services will grow up to USD 5.1 bln by 2021. The total goods turnover will grow thanks to goods (37% up) and external services (1.5 times up). Unlike the trade balance, which will stabilize on the short-term horizon, the investment income balance is more volatile due to payments to non-residents under direct investments. ACRA expects that, in the forecast period, the current transactions account will be in the negative area, with the negative balance getting stronger by 2021. The external sector of the Kazakhstan’s economy will be most impacted by the exchange-rate policy and the volumes of direct investments. In its current estimates, ACRA proceeds from the assumption that the floating exchange rate of tenge will not be subject to a change in the forecast period.
See ACRA outlook Russian government to become a net borrower and Kazakhstan government to remain a net creditor in 2018 published July 27, 2017.
See ACRA research Low inflation in Russia to force the government and businesses to seek new forms of flexibility published October 9, 2017.
Until 2021, the Kazakhstan’s macro-economy will not be affected by demographic trends (mere 3% of population is employed in the mining industry, an added value growth driver). In extraction industries, one employee yields 4.7 times more added value than the national average (except extraction industries). Taking into account a heavy dependence of Kazakhstan on the commodities sector, in the midterm, the labor force dynamics will not play such a significant role as in more diversified economies.
Unless a threat of major migration flows arises, the Kazakhstan’s population will grow annually by 260 thousand people on average in the foreseeable future. In 2021, the annual average population of the country will grow up to 19.1–19.2 mln people.
At the same time, regardless of the step-by-step and stable population growth (2014 was the peak year), the economically active population tends to decline slowly. In the midterm, the unemployment rate is forecasted to be lower than the current level. By end-2021, the rate will go down from 4.9% to 4.6%, as growing mining industries drive services sector (63% employees are employed at the tertiary sector5 ) and real personal incomes, which stabilize under a restrained inflation.
5 According to the three-sector theory of Clark-Fisher (quaternary and quinary sectors are excluded because the economy of Kazakhstan may not be categorized as ‘developed post-industrial’).
Real money incomes have continued to fall year-on-year. We expect that by the end of 2017, they will drop by 4–5%. The real income index will be able to enter the plus area only next year and only under more restrained inflation. Decreasing inflationary tendencies and inter-sectoral flows of added value will lead to the fact that by the end of 2021, the aggregate real incomes of the population will grow by 1–2%.
It should be noted that the approved draft national budget for 2018–2020, based on a more conservative vision, will restrain growing real incomes. In ACRA’s opinion, the monetary factors will contribute approximately 50% to inflation. We believe that the NBK’s monetary policy will not result in a decline in the CPI below the official corridor of 5% set for 2018, which will restrain the restoration of real personal incomes.
Since 2016, real salaries, similar to real incomes, have been characterized by a weak negative dynamics. Positive dynamics may arise in 2018, only after the effect of revenues from raw materials is fully embodied. As with the real personal incomes, the near-stagnation dynamics will not exceed 3% yoy.
See ACRA research Recovering prices for non-ferrous metals to boost import substitution in Russia published September 13, 2017.
After a restrained growth in 2015–2016, the industrial sector of Kazakhstan have entered the stage of consistent development. By late 2017, the national industry will gain momentum. The real growth will be 6.3%, driven by the mining industry (8.2% up) and processing capacities (less impressive, 4.5% up). In 2017, the aggregate contribution of the industry sector to the growing GDP amounted to 1.65 pps (the share of mining industry is 1.1 pps).
The increasing production of oil, gas and metal ore has played the most significant role. From 2H2016 to 2017, those industries have shown more than a strong dynamics. It is explained primarily by the low base at the start of 2016, as well as by a relatively favorable price environment. At the same time, in the forecast period, the impetus for growth in the extractive industries will weaken: it will drop to about 5% in the mining segment and to about 4% in the processing segment. The industry will show a 4.6% growth by the end-2021.
The services sector has been showing signs of recovery. The growth of 1.5–2% is most likely. Until 2021, the positive trend will get stronger. The accelerating dynamics in the volume of services will be driven by the restoring real salaries and a subsequent, albeit slow, decline in the unemployment down to 4.7%.
See ACRA research Although a favorable period in the iron & steel industry is running its course, creditworthiness of Russian producers would improve published November 16, 2017.
The agricultural sector of Kazakhstan, which has been in the growth zone since 2013, may also show a slight upswing in the current year. The sector is extremely volatile: standard fluctuations in its yearly dynamics in real terms is almost three times higher than that of real GDP.
In 2017, the construction sector got an additional positive impulse from the projects related to Expo 20176 . Like the transport and communications sector, this segment of the economy is not a basic growth driver and, being dependent on the industrial growth and purchasing power of the population, it will show a restrained growth.
6 Expo is an international exposition, a symbol of industrialization and a site open for technological achievements.
At the end of 2015, Kazakhstan experienced a devaluation shock. By early 2017, the situation had completely stabilized: the inflation rate entered the 6–8% target corridor established by the regulator. The further trajectory of consumer inflation assumes its gradual decrease in 2017 down to an annual average of 7.5%. In subsequent years, the decline will continue — down to 6.9% in 2019 and to 6.5% in 2021.
Slowing down inflation in Russia, which directly affects the food inflation in Kazakhstan, will serve a price stability factor. Inflationary pressure will be stronger with the growing influence of real industrial growth on other sectors of the economy. The most significant slowdown in inflation will occur in 2H2018, after the weaker industrial growth year on year is recognized. The dynamics of many factors (for example, the volume of commodity exports) remains ambiguous from the forecasting viewpoint, as increase in oil exports in excess of the limits set by the OPEC+ agreement largely depends on the political attitude.
Since 2H2016, after the exhaustion of the devaluation shock, the consumer price index in Kazakhstan has been correlating with the dynamics of cash in circulation, lagging behind by two or three calendar quarters. At the same time, the inflation risks are structural and, unless the current structure of consumer inflation change, the CPI will respond sharply to monetary policy: non-food—to a greater degree, food—to a lesser degree. It will react less clearly to changes in the labor costs (first, services, second, food). ACRA is of the opinion that the above is associated with a slow translation of the economic growth into incomes and a potential increase in the exchange rate volatility.
In the forecast period, with a slowing down cooling of inflation, the base rate of the National Bank of Kazakhstan will continue to decline slightly, restraining domestic lending. The regulator will finish the 2017 with the base rate equal to 10–10.25%. By 2018, the rate is projected at 9%.
7 Ln_М0 is a natural logarithm of monetary aggregate М0, which includes cash in circulation.
After almost a year’s break, the National Bank of Kazakhstan intensified its forex interventions in June 2017. In June–October, the volume of interventions reached USD 0.62 bln. Given the intensification of this trend month on month (the largest volumes were in October), the regulator’s opposition to the free floating KZT exchange rate will mean a return to a forcibly maintained exchange rate and an imputed exchange rate imbalance, with stronger dollarization of banking products and melting currency reserves of the NBK.
In 2016–2017, the regulator also increased significantly its obligations under short-term notes (in September, notes circulation exceeded 150% of tenge in circulation). Such policy, in the absence of the government’s forex interventions, would fit well into the stated scenario, but, in the current conditions, it increases uncertainty.
The NBK policy is even more unclear, as the real KZT exchange rate is low against either Russian ruble or a basket of currencies. Since the NBK has not made any official statements about any changes in the regime, the regulator sends ambiguous signals to the currency market.
The 2017 state budget is expected to have a deficit of 3.3%, which implies a 22% growth of revenues (yoy) in nominal terms and a 33% growth of expenditures.
The 2018–2020 state budget is based on the oil price of 45 USD/bbl and the KZT/USD exchange rate of 340. On the one hand, the scenario is quite optimistic: with the oil price of 45 USD/bbl, the above tenge rate can be maintained only under a fixed exchange-rate regime. On the other hand, the scenario is conservative: in ACRA’s opinion, the Urals oil price will fluctuate in the range of 53–56 USD/bbl in the budget period. Therefore, since the free exchange-rate regime is expected to be applied, eventually, the budget may be closed with less deficit.
The key purpose of the national budget policy is to decrease the dependence of the budget on fund transfers from the National Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The 2018–2020 consolidated budget that includes transfers from the National Fund contains plans to reduce guaranteed annual transfers down to KZT 2 tln (in the previous three-year period, the transfer amounted to KZT 2.9 tln) and to cancel special-purpose transfers. Such a conservative budget paradigm suggests that, in the forecast period, a stable economic growth is expected, accompanied with a corresponding expansion of the tax base. The budget also includes expenditures for special state support programs (Nurly Zher8, Nurly Zhol9, 2020 Regional Development Program10, Digital Kazakhstan11), therefore, the budget revenue component is expected to increase significantly. According to ACRA estimates, the Kazakhstan consolidated budget deficit will shrink from 6.4% of GDP in 2018 to 3.7% of GDP in 2021.
8 Nurly Zher is a state housing construction program of Kazakhstan for 2015–2019.
9 Nurly Zhol is a transport and logistics program of Kazakhstan for 2015–2019.
10 2020 Regional Development Program is a plan for territorial and spatial development of the country until 2020, designed by the Ministry of National Economy and implemented in the period from 2015 to 2019.
11 Digital Kazakhstan is a program aimed at formation of a digital eco-system for sustainable economic growth. | 2019-04-26T16:54:30Z | https://acra-ratings.com/research/508 |
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Our Volunteer in Myanmar program offers the unique opportunity to truly feel immersed in a wonderful culture whilst making a difference in a local community that will embrace you as one of their own.
Angella Busacker is a XploreAsia alumni who spent a few months in Myanmar volunteering as an English teacher. The following interview was conducted earlier this year and tells of her experience whilst on the program.
Why did you want to volunteer in Myanmar?
I wanted to go to Myanmar particularly because it had been closed-off to the rest of the world until relatively recently and it’s still quite untouched and wild in many places. I wanted to go there before it becomes overrun by commercialism, western food, and hotel chains.
Having recently emerged from their hermitic existence, the Burmese people are very eager to catch-up with the rest of the world. I felt compelled to help them in this endeavor and teaching English was an ideal option for me given I already had a Master’s Degree in TESOL.
Do you feel your time there had an impact on the people?
Absolutely. I am very proud to say that there are now several Burmese children who can speak a few words of English, can sing a couple of English songs, and have wonderful memories of having a lot of fun learning English through music and movement. (Even my driver, with whom I bonded during our several hours in the car, just sent me an email yesterday saying, “Hello Teacher, we miss you very much” 🙂 🙂 🙂 So yes, there’s no question I had an impact there.
Would you recommend anyone else to do this program and why?
Teaching English to Burmese people (particularly to the little monks, nuns, and children in the countryside) was exceptionally rewarding. They live in extremely basic conditions, have little resources and rarely have the opportunity to be taught be a Western native English speaker so they are extremely appreciative when they have one.
What is so great about teaching in Myanmar?
There were two things that made my teaching experience particularly special. Firstly, the children were absolutely wonderful. They were extremely respectful and well-behaved so I was able to focus my energy on teaching rather than disciplining or maintaining order. They were very eager to learn English and found my presence as a Western teacher such a special event, that they listened to my every word, watched my every movement and engaged fully in every activity.
Secondly, teaching in monasteries and nunneries exposed me to a very special, very important part of Burmese culture which no ordinary tourist is normally privileged to see. I felt honored to have been so welcomed in such culturally and spiritually important places, places far off the beaten path in the countryside while providing a service to the community.
“Hello Sir. Sir, How are you today?” There was that voice again, but this time closer.
It took every ounce of my power to break away from the sight of the gleaming temple towering over me, but finally, like a bug tickling my the top of my skin, those far off words had travelled through my ear canal and into the registration area of my brain.
Someone is talking to me.
“I’m doing quite well,” I think I said.
I don’t remember exactly, but what I do remember was the mischievous smile of the chubby-cheeked monk standing in front of me. He commented on the clarity of my accent, and asked me what I was doing in Myanmar. What am I doing?
Staring at this giant landmark I had seen endless pictures of on travel blogs and newsfeeds? Trying to get over my irking irritation at the lady at the front of the temple who took my shoes out of my hand, and threw them in a locker before telling me about the 2,000 Kyat storage fee? Trying to find a way to pack as much authentic Yangon culture into two days of jetlagged travel as possible?
We continued with the small chat, my thoughts marathoning way ahead of the actual words coming out of my mouth. A suspicious feeling was eating at the back of my brain.
It was clear the monk wanted something, but it was impossible to tell just what it was. A million tripadvisor scams montaged in my head.
The incredible Schwedagon Pagoda, even more beautiful in the evening!
“Am I a teacher?” He asks.
Ok, now we’re getting kind of personal. I’m supposed to be on vacation here, but yes, actually I am a teacher back in Thailand.
There was a flash of excitement in the monk’s eyes. I could feel it coming. The inevitable wind-up, and…pitch!
“Oh that’s wonderful,” I think he might have said.
He produced a card, one for me, and one for Krissy. He told me about his conversational English class, and invited me to go the next day at 9 AM.
“This isn’t a scam is it?” I asked, feeling dirty for even asking a monk that question.
Flash forward to the next morning, we hailed a cab and I greeted the driver with an optimistic grin and a heart full of adventure. Two seconds later we’re beeping and swerving our way through the chaotic mess of roadway that is Yangon.
Reassuringly, about every five minutes our cab driver would study the address on the monk’s business card, and then shake his head. My grin grew wider each time, eventually turning into an uncomfortable cheek-splitting smile I continually flashed at Krissy with the same manic certainty the cab driver insisted he knew the way.
I promise we won’t be human-trafficked today! I smile at Krissy.
One hour of beeps and bumper hugging later, and we had reached a destination. A destination I was fairly certain wasn’t my intended destination.
“There?” I said, looking where the man’s outstretched finger pointed.
He smiled and nodded. I had expected a temple, or a Learn English sign or something, anything but the shoddy and unimpressive house in front of us.
I started to protest, pointing at the business card again, but it was too late. The cab driver reached across me to open the passenger door. He was clearly done with the goose chase.
So Krissy and I hit the street, not sure whether to feel adventurous, scared, or irritated by the fact that we were obviously in the wrong area, with nothing to guide us but a misleading business card.
I look up to see a group of old ladies on the porch staring right at us.
Quick, engage Thai diffusion mechanism!
I smiled as wide as I could, and walked up to them.
Through a song and dance that looked something like disco-directional charades, I was able to get my point across and the kindhearted ladies pointed us off into a new direction.
Well, this is the best we’ve got, and we’ve already come this far.
We walked through stony corridors, past sewing shops, beetlenut huts, and more than few wily street mutts.
We were both feeling a little downtrodden by this time. It was already past nine o’ clock, and we were late for the English class, or scam, or wherever the hell we were going.
I checked the card again, and started paying attention to the addresses on the walls around us. The cab driver had surprisingly gotten us pretty close. The numbers on the walls were just a few off from the address on the card.
The numbers ticked up one by one as we moved down the street, and before long, we found ourselves standing at the gate of a modest temple.
So much for a welcoming party, I thought, tiptoeing into the ghost-like courtyard.
And then the assault happened—four puppies came out of nowhere, viciously jumping up and licking our knees.
It didn’t take long for Krissy to dote on the dogs.
I tried to find someone who could tell me where the conversation class was, but other than a few wide-eyed monk children who spoke zero English, and apparently didn’t understand my hand gestures, there was no one to be found.
After looking a bit like a lost parking lot surveyor, I finally spotted a senior monk. It wasn’t the monk from Schwedagon, but at least it was someone.
Feeling a glimmer of hope, I tried my best to communicate with him.
Fairly certain he didn’t understand anything other than hello, the monk replied.
Then he waved goodbye and shut the door of the small building he was standing in.
Are you kidding me?—was just one of the frustrated phrases that came into my mind at that moment.
I headed towards the gate feeling confused, and cheated.
“Any luck?” Krissy asks, stroking a couple of pups.
Just as I’m about to say, No, I’m a failed adventurer, let’s get the hell out of here and drown our sorrows in a bowl of curry, a group of young men and a monk approach us.
I show the monk the business card, and we chat for a minute in a language of grunts and gestures. I’m beginning to think the monk at Schwedagon was nothing more than some ancient Nat my jetlagged mind had created.
Then this new monk in front of me smiled, and led us to a huge flatbed truck. He motioned to the back.
This is it, I smiled at Krissy. I can hear my grandpa’s overprotective advice flashing like a red alarm in my head—you’re heading straight towards Isis headquarters!
We jumped in the back of the truck, and the vehicle peeled out of the road. It wasn’t long before we were on a major roadway, sliding around the back of the truck-bed like penguins in greased high heels.
Are monk affiliates even allowed to drive this fast? I think, clutching the metal handles.
We flew under large buildings, over bridges, and through dusty streets with vendors walking and hawing every which way. Then I felt the truck come to a screeching halt. We sat parked in front of an unmarked three story building sandwiched in the middle of a packed downtown street.
And what do you know, there was the monk from Schwedagon! He led us into building, and up an elevator that looked like it could have been the set for a horror movie.
Krissy and I walked into the classroom, a long room with a decayed whiteboard at the front, and long wooden benches and tables layering the space. Like a lot of Myanmar, everything had this dusty antique feel to it.
Krissy and I each sat at a separate bench, and it wasn’t long until droves of local Myanmar people sat around us. Even though they were from all different ages and professions, one thing was very clear—these people were desperate to learn English. There must have been over 50 people in the room.
Question after question came, some of the talkers more outgoing than others. We chatted about America, Thailand, my job, their jobs, my favorite things, their favorite things, love… They painted my face in Tannaka powder, gave me a Myanmar name, and wrote a list of foods that I could take to local restaurants.
I asked them about restaurants in the area near the end of the lesson, and a couple of the students agreed to take Krissy and I to a local food shop around the corner. Nothing could have made me happier.
I had gone out on a limb to sample the local food, doing a point and prey at more than enough Myanmar-script menus since I had been in the country, and while some of the dishes had been delish, some had been a pallet challenge.
Now I felt safe with our new tour guides ushering us into the beautiful world of local Myanmar cuisine. We chatted some more about food, dating, and our guide’s love of Eminem’s music.
Feeling full and humbled, Krissy and I paid for the meal and thanked our guides for the amazing experience.
Our new friends offered to take us to Maha Bandula Park, where both the Independence Monument and Sule Pagoda were situated.
We tried our best to politely decline, feeling like we were intruding on their day. But the young guides assured us we were the furthest thing from an unwelcome intrusion. They aspired to work as tour guides, and they warmly welcomed the chance to have us be some of their first tour-goers.
Once again I was flabbergasted with just how motivated these new friends of ours were to learn English. They walked us around the park, and explained the history of the beautiful area. They showed us the sights, and after a while we thanked them and went our separate ways.
The boys asked us to come back and teach another class at the school that night, but we already booked a bus to Inle Lake.
As I stood in the shadow of Independence Monument, feeling the hot sun on my face, I immediately felt a sense of intense gratitude. Admiring the landmarks of Myanmar had been a great experience, sure, but it was but a sliver compared to the immense headfirst dive into the local culture this chance conversation class had afforded me.
I took a deep breath in and embraced the warm blossoming sensation of gratitude spreading through me. Teaching English has allowed me to experience so many amazing opportunities.
It’s easy to lose track of the human nature that unites us all, but its experiences like these that keep me humble, and remind me of the things that are truly important to me in life.
Teaching is one hell of a way to meet the world.
Why I Chose Teach Myanmar?
After traveling the world since 2012 I decided to slow down and stay in one place for a bit longer than usual. As I was traveling with a circus I would always stay in a city for about two months which was long enough to get to know a few people and the area but not long enough to feel settled. Although I loved being on the move and seeing so many new places it seemed like the time to see what it felt like to stay still for a while.
In March of 2015 I quit my job, went home to relax, save up some money, and to plan my next move. After I felt like I was home long enough I booked a flight to Iceland and Germany. I wanted to get into the world again.
Just before I set off I found XploreAsia and decided it was time to truly challenge myself and applied to be an English teacher in Myanmar. To head somewhere I had never been and go in completely alone. While I was traveling for work I was joined by about 120 people each time. Any time I had a vacation there was always someone to take a trip with me. I would always meet solo travellers and find their stories so interesting I knew that I had to give it a shot.
I left Germany after two weeks and headed to Yangon, Myanmar. I still had to go to Thailand to complete my TESOL course but I decided to dip my feet into Myanmar to have an idea of what I would be going back to. As I left the airport a girl from China came up and asked if I wanted to split a cab downtown. Perfect! I had some company for the next hour after a very lonely 24 hours of traveling.
Driving through downtown Yangon was VERY overwhelming! There was nothing that looked familiar. As it got darker I had no idea where I would eat as I couldn’t read any signs!
When I arrived at my hostel there was a small group sitting in the common area talking. They introduced themselves to me and took me out for dinner. They had a local friend who stopped at many street vendors picking up food for us to try. I don’t think I have ever been welcomed into a country so quickly. After dinner we went to the bar street. It was packed with locals all enjoying some music and a relaxing evening. It was shocking how few foreigners there were.
The generosity of the locals is incredible. I have never met such giving, loving and happy people. Everything that happened in those two weeks that I spent in Yangon made it harder and harder to leave but now I couldn’t be more excited to head back to Myanmar. Now that I know I will be placed 16 hours from Yangon I can’t wait to see what this new community is like. Luckily it is only a 4 hour flight to Yangon so I will be visiting often to see the new friends I have made there. Before even stepping into the TESOL course I knew this was the best decision I could have made.
Currently I am in Hua Hin, Thailand taking my TESOL course. The XploreAsia team does a fantastic job to push you into the Thai culture and the unique atmosphere of Hua Hin. One place we were taken during our orientation was Rescue Paws. This organization truly inspired our class. Most of us from Canada and the USA aren’t surrounded by stray dogs. If there is a dog on the street at home you assume it’s a lost dog, you take it to a shelter and they will look after them. The last time I was in Thailand I noticed the abundance of stray dogs, but it just seemed liked it was a normal part of life here. It never crossed my mind to help or try to make a change. Seeing so many different cultures I always made the mistake to just accept what was going on as part of the locals’ life and leave it like that.
Some stray puppies we found near a school in Hua Hin.
Jaco who is the Managing Director of Rescue Paws has an entirely different way to see it. The team that began Rescue Paws knew that stray dogs where a problem and they had to do something to help. By founding Rescue Paws they aimed to spay and neuter as many of these dogs as possible, not to harm the current population but to help it from increasing. His team will take in any dogs they see who are really sick or injured. They will take care of these dogs until they are healthy and then they will put them up for adoption or tag them and release them. Rescue Paws takes care of everything when someone wants to adopt one of their dogs. Everyone in the class started talking about who they wanted to phone at home and convince them about getting a new dog.
Seeing Jaco and his teams love for these animals was amazing. There is a pack of dogs who live near their office which they call the temple dogs. As Jaco walks through the street they all come running to greet him. You can feel he has made a difference in the lives of these dogs. After speaking to Jaco I realized he was very much on the same path as me many years ago. Traveling and then decided to try his hand at teaching. Since he began teaching he has remained in Thailand for 5 years. He has started this incredible organization and inspired many people. He told us of his future plans for Rescue Paws and they only need $5000 to make their next big move to build an adoption centre and more kennels. We have started a crowdfunding campaign for the duration of our TESOL course to see how much money we can raise for them. Please follow the link and make whatever donation you can. https://www.crowdrise.com/helpingrescuepaws If you’re reading this blog you have either been through an XploreAsia TESOL course and met this amazing group or you are thinking of heading this way. If you’re reading this article after I have finished TESOL but you still want to donate to Rescue Paws please do so through their website.
Me during my last trip in Thailand at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. I stayed overnight volunteering to feed and bathe the elephants.
Making this jump has been nothing like what I expected. Thailand is the first country I have come back to since traveling. Usually I get somewhere and I’m always on the move. I need to see and eat as much as I can before I take off. I made it from the islands of Thailand to Chiang Rai in 3 weeks and loved every minute of it! This time I feel like I have spent most of my time just talking to everyone I meet and enjoying listening to their experiences. Everyone I have met have been so welcoming and encouraging. I can’t wait to see how the next few months play out. Meeting the XploreAsia and Rescue Paws team has been an amazing opportunity. Seeing all these people who came over to teach and now just haven’t been able to leave. Knowing how I felt after only two weeks in Myanmar I won’t be surprised if you still find me there in two years!
Sam is from Toronto, Canada. She has been traveling for the past few years through 18 different countries. Now she is very excited to begin her adventure teaching in Myanmar.
Keep up to date with her adventures in Myanmar by signing up for our friendly update reminders! | 2019-04-23T10:20:57Z | https://www.xploreasia.org/category/living-in-myanmar/ |
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guarantees certain properties through the mortgage funding system. If the homeowner decides to default on their payments for any reason, then a repossession occurs if the property is an FHA insured lender. This process is what turns the property into a HUD home.
Because you are purchasing a foreclosure, there is an excellent chance that the condition of the property could be questionable when you submit a bid. You may not have an opportunity to inspect the home before placing a bid on it either, which means you might be going blindly into a property that needs extensive renovation. HUD hires contractors across the United States to help with the cleanup process to reduce this risk, but it is still there nonetheless.
If you decide to move forward with a HUD home, then you will need to have cash available for the purchase or a funded mortgage that you can present. Make sure that you pursue an insured home if you plan to use it as your primary address as these are still eligible for FHA loans. These properties need less than $5,000 in repairs to make them habitable.
1. HUD homes are an option for owner-occupants and investors.
Investors have a chance at these properties too, but they cannot bid on a property until the 16th day that it is listed for sale. Uninsured HUD homes are a little different, allowing for investors to start bidding on the sixth day it is up for sale.
2. There are protections in place to protect owner-occupants from predatory investors.
Investors like the idea of purchasing a HUD home because you can rehab the property, rent it out, or make some profits by flipping it. When the property requires extensive repairs, then the more likely it will make it to the point when an investor can decide to purchase it. Since owner-occupants normally avoid a property with extensive repairs since the rehab process isn’t always inviting, this option can be an effective way to purchase cheap real estate and turn a nice profit.
Some real estate investors might be tempted to pretend to be an owner-occupant when a great HUD home becomes open to the bidding process. The Department frowns upon this action and takes anyone trying to misrepresent their interests seriously. You can receive a fine of up to $250,000 and potential jail time if you lie about your status as an occupant.
3. You can find HUD homes in several different ways.
You can find HUD properties on the government’s authorized website at any time. You can also have a realtor assist with this process by access the MLS. If you know what to watch for in your community, then you will see property signs in the windows of homes that are part of this program as well. Once you determine which properties in your targeted neighborhood are part of this program, then you can pull up its listing to see if it is insured, take a look at any published photos, and decide if it is worth the effort to bid.
4. HUD homes qualify for financing through the traditional mortgage process.
You will want to line up your financing before you start looking for a HUD home because there are strict timelines that you must meet when making a purchase. The Department does not provide financing on its homes, even though many people believe that they do. There are no financing contingencies accepted from investors either. Most insured properties do qualify for a variety of financing methods, including FHA loans, a 203K mortgage, conventional mortgages, private financing, and cash.
If you qualify for an FHA loan when purchasing a HUD home, then you will have mortgage insurance in place to protect the lender in case of default. Some lending products only require a 3.5% down payment, but you can only use a standard FHA loan to purchase an insured HUD property.
5. You do not need to have your deposit ready until your bid is accepted.
All deposits with HUD homes must be in certified funds. If the property in question is valued at $50,000 or less, then you must submit a deposit of $500 in the form of a cashier’s check or a money order. Any homes that are above this valuation will have a maximum deposit amount of $2,000, but not less than $500. The actual amount that you will be asked to put down depends on the current guidelines of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which can change at any time.
Your realtor must confirm the deposit amount with the asset manager for the property. You will want to review the guidelines of this advantage as well. All deposits are due within two days of being notified of a winning bid.
6. It is up to your realtor to bid on the property.
You will not need to worry about the bidding process when you are pursuing a HUD home. Your realtor is responsible for logging into their account with the Department to find the listing of the property you want. They have 15 minutes to complete the bid from the time they login to the system. No one knows how many other bidders are going after the same property, nor do they get to see how much the bids will be. Relying on the experience of your realtor to offer an amount that is competitive, but not over-valued, will help you to secure a good deal.
7. Most HUD homes sell well beneath the asking price.
Across the United States, the average HUD home will usually sell for about 85% of its asking price. Some states see a much higher percentage though, so you will want to speak with your realtor about the options which are available to you. California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois all see their average bid as a percentage of the asking price reach higher than 92% consistently. Because some properties are $200,000 or more and you don’t get to conduct a property inspection and appraisal until after you are the winning bidder, it is imperative that you identify problematic repairs during the walkthrough to ensure that you aren’t paying more than expected to rehabilitate the home.
8. The closing process is different for HUD homes, but not something unreasonable.
When you start the closing process with a HUD home, then there are some changes that you will experience with the process. If you are familiar with investment properties or a foreclosure, then the steps are similar. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will determine the timeline and provide a closing agent to help with the transaction. You typically have 30 days to close on the property once the full contract is submitted by your realtor and HUD accepts it.
If you need to extend your contract and schedule a later closing date, HUD can deny the request and keep your earnest money. They can also charge you to change the date. You will need to pay for title search fees, title insurance, and find your own title company. The actual settlement is straightforward, paying the remaining balance of the sales price with certified funds or financing. Then you get the keys to your new property.
9. There is less competition in the market for the home that you want.
Because the process to purchase a HUD home is more time consuming than other property options, you will discover that there are fewer buyers who are competing with you for a specific piece of real estate. This advantage applies to investors and owner-occupants. That means it is easier to get a great deal on a home if you are in a position to be patient with the buying process. Since all of the properties are on one site for items across the United States, this method of purchasing or investing is exceptionally convenient.
1. Some HUD homes do not qualify for a typical mortgage.
When you start looking at HUD properties in your area, then you may discover that most of them are classified as uninsured homes. This classification occurs because the property requires more than $5,000 in repairs to make it habitable as determined by an inspector contracted by the Department to evaluate the property. These properties are sold in an “as-is” condition, which means they will not qualify for the typical mortgage or an FHA loan.
You will need to look at an FHA 203K loan or a hard money loan if you do not have the cash available to purchase this property outright. HUD will not complete any of the needed repairs, so it is up to you to hire an inspector before bidding on the property.
2. Money for any repairs must go into an escrow account.
Even when you decide to purchase an insured HUD home and intend to live on the property, all of the money for the repairs must be placed into an escrow account before purchasing the home. Buyers are responsible to pay for the repairs noted on the property when they take possession of it. IF the repairs aren’t completed, then you will lose the funds from the escrow repair. Because that can mean you need to have another $5,000 available as part of the closing process, it could be a difficult ask for some home buyers.
3. You must commit to living in a HUD home for at least one year.
HUD classifies an owner-occupant as someone who lives on the property 50% or more of the time. The property cannot become a vacation home for the individual or household making the purchase. Buyers are not permitted to purchase an additional primary residence either. Because you are buying a livable home during the preliminary bidding period, you receive the first shot as an owner-occupant to purchase the property over an investor since this program is meant to encourage ownership, but some properties may not be conducive to occupancy because of their location, structure, or needed repairs.
4. A HUD realtor is necessary to complete the purchasing process.
Most people look for HUD homes on their own time, and there is nothing wrong with that process. You cannot start the purchasing process for the property without a HUD realtor showing you the home, and then bidding on it for you. This process differs from other purchase options where a realtor is optional for the transaction.
You should choose a brokerage that is already approved by HUD because the process to certify can take up to six weeks. Then your realtor can guide you through the deposit that you’ll need to leave (it’s non-refundable), the disclosures on the real estate in question, and a list of the repairs that are necessary.
5. The number of HUD homes in any given state can be quite low.
Although HUD homes were very popular during the subprime lending crisis and a few years after, the number of properties has declined dramatically since. An April 2019 search for all properties listed in Washington State found only 10 options available, with prices ranging from $63,000 to $287,000. Because the bidding period can be short, the total number of available properties can fluctuate dramatically. If you are trying to get into a property immediately, then you may find that there could be zero properties in your targeted neighborhood. With patients, you might be able to find a solid home.
6. Contractors and property inspectors may not catch every needed repair.
When you work with a HUD realtor on a property of interest, a walk-through of the home will get setup so that you can see everything. This event occurs with a contractor and the realtor. Then you prepare the deposit so that you’re not in a rush to have it ready if your bid is accepted. During the walkthrough, it is essential that every element of the home be looked at because a full property inspection can’t be done until you submit a bit on the property. If you can catch egregious errors before putting any money down on the property, then you can move on if the costs seem too high.
7. Your purchase cannot be contingent on the property inspection.
Unlike most other home purchasing contracts, HUD does not allow the home property purchase to be contingent on passing an inspection. You do have 15 days from contract acceptance to conduct an inspection. If you decide to back out on the bid because there are extensive repairs that were not documented as part of the initial listing, then it is up to the Department of Housing and Urban Development as to whether or not you receive your deposit back. It probably isn’t that surprising to hear that most deposits are not refunded in this circumstance, even if the number of repairs is substantially different than what was listed.
8. It can take several days for the local utilities to connect services to the property.
Because some HUD homes are disconnected from the power and natural gas infrastructure of a community for an extensive time, it might take a few days to have the local utilities restore access to these needed services. You will want to contact the local companies before scheduling an appraisal or inspection because both need access to power to complete their findings. There are fees to turn them on, which can sometimes be several hundred dollars. HUD is at their discretion when deciding to pay for it or forcing you to do so.
If your home is in a colder climate and the purchase occurs in early winter to late spring, then you will likely need to pay to de-winterize the house to prevent pipes from freezing as part of the utility process. Should the utility workers detect a leak in the property, then they won’t turn on the needed services – which means you can get the appraisal and inspection finished.
9. The entire purchasing process can take at least 6 weeks to complete.
Assuming that everything works according to plan with your pursuit of a HUD home, it takes the average investor or owner-occupant at least six weeks to close on the property. In the first week, you will need to find and evaluate the real estate that is available in your targeted community. Then you must have financing preapproval and find a qualified realtor. By the third week, you’re going through the walk-through, getting your deposits ready, and budding on the home.
Schedule your property inspection on the fourth week within 15 days of thee accepted contract. The lender will send out an appraiser for non-FHA loans (FHA loans use the appraisal on file). Then you finally get to go to closing.
10. You must have strong financing in place for a successful experience.
Because the HUD process for buying a home can change often, you never really know how much money is necessary for the deposit. You might not be able to get it back, even if you could in previous opportunities. Since there is no way to have contingencies in the contract, you must have strong financing in place before approaching the purchasing process. You cannot wholesale homes through HUD easily and it can be an arduous process, but it is also one that can be quite rewarding.
Don’t be intimidated by the various rules, deadlines, and stipulations that are part of this potential disadvantage. A HUD-approved realtor can guide you through the steps with relative ease. Then work with a lender (if necessary) to get the financing options that are necessary, with many offering up to 75% ARV and 90% LTV when you purchase a property that you really want.
HUD homes can provide you with an incredible investment opportunity. You can also save some money on an insured property if you plan to be an owner-occupant since most will sell for less than their advertised value. Because there are so many different rules to follow, including bid deadlines that you must meet, it is imperative to have an experienced realtor who is familiar with these properties helping you every step of the way.
Depending on where you currently live (or want to live), the number of days that a HUD home stays on the market can be quite short. Florida properties often sell in 17 days. Properties in Texas typically sell in 27 days, while real estate in New York through HUD takes an average of 61 days to sell. You may need to move quickly to secure the property that you want.
The pros and cons of HUD homes are essential to consider because each key point can help you to find the best property for your specific needs. Whether you are an investor or plan to make this real estate your primary residence, you will find that there are some great deals waiting for you out there right now. | 2019-04-20T18:21:36Z | https://vittana.org/19-buying-hud-homes-pros-and-cons |
Today I’m sharing 30 incredible book series for kids (boy and girls ages 8-12). If you have a reluctant reader, a really great series is like magic! If you can find one your child likes, chances are he or she will want to start on the next one as soon as they’ve finished the first. My older boys LOVE series because they go through books so quickly, it’s nice to have three of four more to read. My boys helped me compile this list, which includes some of their very favorite book series from elementary school. As always, if you have any great recommendations for this age group, please leave a comment letting us all know!
NOTE: all photos in this post are linked to Amazon so you can easily find these books if you’d like to buy them (affiliate). But don’t forget to check for these books at your local library. Many libraries have summer reading programs to encourage kids to keep reading.
The Princess Tales (3 book series). Each book in this series is a compilation of fairy tale retellings by Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted. Readers can expect fun and funny new twists on familiar princess tales. Grades 3-5.
The Penderwicks (4 book series). A charming modern classic about four motherless sisters, their absentminded professor father, and their exploits and misadventures. This is one of my favorite kids book series because it’s lighthearted, warm, and just plain fun. Grades 3-6.
The Great Brain (8 book series). J.D.’s older brother Tom is known as “The Great Brain” around town because he’s always conning the other kids into doing his chores or giving them his prized possessions. Set in Utah in the early 1900’s, this book series is full of adventure and mischief and is so much fun! Grades 3-6.
Inkeart (3 book series). Meggie’s father can make books come to life–literally. When he reads aloud from a book called Inkheart the villains appear in his world, while Meggie’s mother gets trapped in theirs. Great book series for kids. Grades 3-7.
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (4 book series). On his 13th birthday Alcatraz receives a bag of sand from his long lost parents, and on the next day his grandfather arrives to tell him why the sand is important and how it will help him defeat the evil librarians, who have taken over society. Great book series for Grades 3-7.
Spirit Animals (8 book series). In the world of Erdas, each 11 year old child must discover if he or she has a spirit animal, a bond between human and beast that brings great power. Four children and their animals must work together to save the world. Grades 3-7.
The Chronicles of Narnia (7 book series). Four bored children stumble through an old wardrobe into a magical land in the midst of an eternal winter. Can they save the friends they make their from the witch who rules the land? This classic series hasn’t lost any of it’s appeal. Grades 4-8.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 book series). Percy’s always had trouble at school, but now that his algebra teacher’s turned into a monster and is trying to kill him things are just getting worse. Soon Percy finds out who he really is and sets out on a quest to the Underworld to prevent a war between the gods. One of the more popular book series for kids to come out in the past 20 years. Grades 4-8.
Ranger’s Apprentice (12 book series). When 15 year old Will is chosen as an apprentice to the mysterious rangers, he doesn’t realize they protect the entire kingdom. And the biggest battle of all is about to arrive. Grade 5-8.
A Wrinkle in Time (5 book series). Meg’s father disappears while doing secret work for the government, and a mysterious strange appears with information for Meg. She travels through space and time with the help of her little brother Charles Wallace and new friend Calvin to try to save her father. Grades 5-8.
Peter and the Starcatchers (5 book series). This fast paced pirate adventure tells the story before the story of Peter Pan, filling in all the questions you never knew you had: where did pixie dust come from and how did Peter get to Neverland in the first place? Lots of swashbuckling action, humor, and a great story. Grades 5-8.
The House with a Clock in it’s Walls (and at least 10 other John Bellairs mysteries). All the Bellairs mysteries are deliciously creepy adventures set in places like haunted castles or mansions with secret passageways, and feature evil wizards, mummies, and more. Spooky and fun! Grades 6-8.
Tripods (3 book series). Huge three legged machines control the earth and nearly everyone on it. 13 year old Will Parker never thought he’d be the one to start the revolution, but that’s what he’s about to do. Grades 6-8.
The Last Apprentice / The Wardstone Chronicles (serie) : the story of a young boy that is chosen to became apprentice of an old man, whose job is to catch every evil creature around (ghosts, witches…) to protect people. Very well writen, very good illustrations (like stamped).
Children are found of this serie, but adults to ! I’m a big fan !
Yea, how about Harry potter? That’s like, an epic series.
Absolutely, and it’s one of our favorite series EVER! The only reason I didn’t include it is that I figured most people have already heard about it already.
Please give Diana Wynne Jones a try. Her books are excellent. The Chrestomanci series (7 books) is about an eccentric enchanter; a kind of Minister of Magic. Howl’s Moving Castle and the two following books are fairy-tale turn-arounds. There are stand alone books too (my favourite of these is Archer’s Goon). Also Eva Ibbotson’s books are truly something special. She writes realistic, historical fiction (like Journey to the River Sea), and magical mayhem (I love ‘Not Just a Witch).
I love the chronicles of Narnia. They are very fin and enjoyable to read,I highly recommend them!
I LOVE the ‘Song of the Lioness’ Quartet by Tamora Pierce.
There is actually a new book in the Princess Academy series! Yay! Love those. . .
The Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull is perfect for this age group. A brother and sister go to visit their grandparents and discover that they are the caretakers of a nature preserve for magical creatures, both good and evil. They discover that someone is trying to loose the evil creatures and take over the world. Can they work together to keep the evil from overtaking the good?
The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane (9 books).
I teach fifth grade and these series rock, bi put most of my students are struggling readers and wouldn’t be able to read these series by themselves.
The Land of Stories series is great for this age and I believe struggling readers (though the books are large) will love them enough to read themselves if a parent reads the first 3 chapters to them. We read together & take turns with every other page.
YES! My daughter loves them!
I want to thank you for these posts. My 4th grade son is a voracious reader, and your list has helped me so much to keep up with his reading habits. Thank you!!!
May I link to your page from my blog, http://www.before3pm.com?
I suggest Susan Cooper’s “The Dark is Rising” series. The plots are riveting, and the addition of time travel is appealing to this grade level.
Thanks for this great list! I would add to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians set the other series by Rick Riordan: The Kane Chronicles, Heroes of Olympus, and Magnus Chase. My 4th grade son has learned so much about mythology (Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse) and just loved all those books. Other favorites are the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger and The Five Kingdoms series by Fablehaven author Brandon Mull.
Check out the database at this website. It is the collection of books curated by the AFrican American girl in search of 1,000 books about black girls. You can check the books based on reading level, and more.
Also my daughters and i have enjoyed books by Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Patricia McKissak, The Pinkneys, Sharon Flake, just to name a few Af-Am authors. I can’t recommend authors of other ethnicities but will be on the lookout for them.
check out hornbook.com and search the blog. I found lists of POC books, especially in Blogs about Black History Month.
How about The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron? This is a 3 book series.
My third grade loves the Frog Princess series. We read together every night and I enjoy them as much as she does.
My 10 year old son loves the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. He loved them more than the Percy Jackson and he liked that series.
My fifth grader loved the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series. There are 3. There are also 2 other series by the same author that wrote Warriors. One is called Seekers, the other is Survivors. My son loved all of them, but Seekers was his favorite.
The Wednesday Tales (3 Book Series) by Jon Berkeley.
I taught 4th grade for many years and 2 series that they always loved were The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (the boys especially loved this one). Thanks for all the great suggestions!!
Yes — my kid loves those. He also loves Story Thieves by James Riley.
I was looking for someone else who would suggest this series. One of our favorites! And if you haven’t, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audiobooks. David Pittu narrates the entire series and does an absolute PHENOMENAL job!!! I can’t say enough about this series!
I suggest the Merits of Mischief series by T.R. Burns. My son who does not like reading, could not put these down. He also enjoyed the Spy School serie by Stuart Gibbs and the Candy Shop wars series by Brandon Mull. He read these all in grade 6. Age 11.
Thanks for the great list. Lots there I don’t know, I must check them out. I would include the Alex rider series, the witch baby series(very funny) and how to train your dragon series too.
Fablehaven series (5 book series). By Brandon Mull. Author of the Spirit Animal Series you listed. Totally awesome!!!! I read them first and am sharing them with my kids now! They love them! What I love is that at the end of the books there are discussion questions you can ask your kids. We’ve had some really good discussions from those questions provided by the author.
The Five Kingdom Series (4 books so far one yet to come). Also by Brandon Mull. Super awesome!!! Dare I say even better than Fablehaven??!!! Dunno but your kids will love them.
I really enjoyed the Beyonders series by Brandon Mull as well. There was one character that freaked me out a little. Ferrin was his name. Totally brilliant and cool concept for a character! But you should find him and read about his particular abilities and judge if you are ok with letting your kid read it.
You definitely have to add Percy Jackson Heros of Olympus (5 books) by Rick Riordin!!! They are even better than the first series of books. It ties in the Roman personas of the Greek Gods and introduces you to another camp of Roman demigods. Of corse Percy and Annabeth are still major players. Awesome!!!!
Kane Chronicals (3 books I believe) by Rick RiordinRiordin as well. About the Egyptian Gods told by a brother and sister who are always making snarky remarks while the other is speaking. Totally hilarious banter. The storyline is amazing.
Basically you can’t go wrong with Brandon Mull or Rick Riordin!!!!
The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley is a hilariously entertaining series! I also enjoyed the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull and the rest of Rick Riordan’s books like several others have suggested.
When my mother bought me the Charlie Bone series, she also got Artemis Fowl. I love them both! Artemis is a brilliant, rich criminal mastermind, but he may be in over his head when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These fairies are armed and dangerous.
My fourth grader loves the Harry Potter series.
My fourth grader loves the Harry Potter series. She says that it’s amazing.
Anything by Stuart Gibbs! We loved the Spy School series, Space Case series & the Last Musketeer series!!
yes, we love these too~ and also the Wingfeather Saga (four books). I have read many of the ones you listed Autumn and loved them as well. Thanks for this list!
These are all wonderful series! One other I think you should add is the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. Next to Harry Potter they are mine and my kids favorites!
My fourth grader read 18 books in the Warriors series. She LOVES that series.
The Pendragon series is a big hit in my sixth grade classroom!
Savvy, Scumble and Switch by Ingrid Law are some of our favorites. It’s about the Beaumont family who have a magical secret. When each member of the family turns 13, they get their “savvy”, their own special supernatural power. The main character in the first book is Mibs Beaumont, is about to turn 13, and with a grandpa who can move mountains, and older brothers who can create storms and spark electricity, she is anxiously awaiting her birthday. The second and third novels are about different members of their extended families. Both my son and daughter enjoyed this series, and we all hope there will be more to come.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is another great series!!!
kids really feels interesting to read..
The ascendance trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen is by far a favorite!
My son loves reading and is starting the 2nd grade. We are already running out of ideas for books to read that are not really scary but are at his reading and interest level. We have read Narnia over the summer so this is a great list of what we can read next!!! YEAH!!!
Bet your son would LOVE the Muzz series, by Jonathan E. Pope. Not too scary and a lot of fun.
My daughter started reading the Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland in 4th grade and it is her very favorite set of books!
The very best book is Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins! My 3rd grader through high schoolers love them. I did too!
Gregor the Overlander is brilliantly written by Suzanne Collins! Perfect for any age! I enjoyed them as much as my 4th grader and high schooler! Adventure story!
Wildwood and A Series of Unfortunate Events are favorites at our house!
If dinosaurs and adventure are what your kids are looking for have them try Edge of Extinction – The Ark Plan by Laura Martin. It has action from the first page. The sequel comes out May 30, 2017.
The Redwsll series by Brian Jacques. Thumping good reads. My grandsons have enjoyed the Little House books so far. Especially Farmer Boy.
I can tell by your list that you will really enjoy these!
I would like to see the Alchemyst series added. A very good series about two twin teenagers who must save the world, or destroy it with the help of wizard Nicholas Flamel.
Save it with Nicholas, or destroy it on accident.
The Unwanteds by Lisa Mcmann is a 7 book must read series!
I also agree with other readers’ suggestions of anything by Brandon Mull or Rick Riordan.
Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland.
Land of Eyon by Patrick Carman.
Oh, and there’s a new 4th book in the Tuesdays in the Castle series!
I just turned thirteen, but when I was twelve I read a book series called Eragon. It is(after Harry Potter) my favorite.
The Land Of Stories is an awesome series that I personally guarantee you will LOVE. I absolutely love the series and wish there were more like it. This is a great read so don’t forget to read it. If you think it sounds boring or something I am positive you will love it. My friend said I should read it so I did. Absolutely a great series and if anyone knows a series like it please inform me so I can read it. The best thing about the Land Of Stories is that it is awesome for all ages no matter if you are in 8th grade or in 3rd grade. I think you will love it! Thanks for reading! I know it was long!
My grandson and I have enjoyed the Unwanted series( 7 books).
Its a cross between Hunger Games and Harry Potter….great books to read.
one of the best book sites hatchet is a great book.
I survived series by Lauren Tarshis. Read every book with my 3rd grader. Have real history with a fictional story. Highly recommend for younger readers.
Aso visit Kids Baby Club it provides the most entertaining and educational video for kids. which includes Nursery Rhymes, chilldren videos and Kids Songs through animated characters. Do watch! it will surely make your kids learning more easy and fun. You will also going to enjoy it with your toddlers. Do not forget to like our page and visit our YouTube Channel.
We stumbled upon the Muzz Series, and my kids (10 and 8yo) absolutely loved them. They are space scavenger hunt stories that the author describes as “Star Wars meets The DiVinci Code… for kids.” Only a two book series so far but I think a 3rd book is in the works. It’s by a new self-published author so not a ton of reviews yet. Anyway, we LOVED them and I think others would, too.
My son is 11 and in 5th grade. I bought him a book that is called “the last kids on earth” and he read it in three days and I bought him the next book. He has NEVER been into reading. Only reads for 30 minutes a day because he has too. I’ve never seen him so excited to read a book. I’m am so excited that he finally found something that he likes.
My 4th grader picked up a Pegasus book, the first one in the series. She was kinda freaked out so I read some. It was very graphic in parts. Like blood splattered on the chandelier described. Definitely not what I would recommend for 8 to 10 which were the recommended ages on the book.
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson is amazing! My 10 year old son insisted I read it, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Also, the sixth Incorrigible book just came out last month. I devoured that series, and I am 36. =) It’s hilarious. There’s a lot of clever humor that children might not pick up on their first reading, but that comes out beautifully to an adult.
Oh, also the Smells Like Dog (Smells like treasure, Smells like pirates) series. Also written by that author is the Imaginary Veterinarians.
If you were to ask people to name the most popular book series of the recent years, most of them will surely name Harry Potter.
Well, I have noted all the book series for my kid.
Well, I have noted all the books.
THis is good to know about such things.
thank you for the awesome book recommendations! I’m a fifth grader and i love to read! Even though i saw this in 2018 i haven’t heard about most the series in the list. thank you again for the AWESOME book series. I plan on reading them ALL!
I am really delighted to glance at this webpage posts which consists of tons of valuable facts, thanks for providing these kinds of information.
I love that you’ve included Ranger’s Apprentice, Percy Jackson, and Charlie Bone. Those and many more on this list were big parts of my childhood. Really great selection here!
dork diaries I don’t really like them but my friend absolutely adores those books and she can’t get on this website so I’m doing it for her.
You should put in more book series about dragons and mythical creatures. | 2019-04-23T00:37:14Z | https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/30-great-book-series-kids-ages-8-12.html |
For the last couple of weeks, cruel person that I am, I’ve more or less banned myself from reading. Ivory Terrors needed finishing, and then more recently, I needed to prepare for the launch – May 1st, this coming Thursday, in case anyone is in danger of forgetting. It’s surprising how much time doing the final read-through and formatting, requesting reviews, and organising a blog tour takes up. When I’m actually writing, other people’s books inspire and motivate me. When I just need to get my head down and get everything perfected and organised, they risk getting in the way. I decided I needed my imagination firmly inside The Cavaliers, and not in someone else’s world.
This self-imposed denial was made rather easier by the fact that my beloved Kindle broke a month or two ago. It’s much simpler to resist the lure of an intriguing novel when getting it involves either leaving the house or waiting a few days for it to be delivered.
But then, my well-intentioned plans were thwarted. Because I realised that Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone No.3) was going to be released on 16th April. And having loved the first two books in the series, and having been waiting for it for ages, and having considered it to be my second most eagerly anticipated book of the year (No. 1 is Ruin is Rising), there was simply no way I wasn’t going to buy it on release day. Conveniently, release day pretty much coincided with the long Easter weekend, so I thought I’d be justified in losing myself in a book. And purchasing myself a shiny new Kindle Paperwhite.
The review is below. In short, it was good, which is lucky, as it’s so long that reading it took up a good proportion of that weekend!
I hugely enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy. If you’re reading this review, I bet you did too, and I bet nothing I could say could put you off buying it. I absolutely couldn’t wait to read it, and on the whole, this final book doesn’t disappoint.
All the old characters make a return, along with some interesting new ones, and both the war-focussed and the romantic plotlines are satisfyingly resolved. This is an extremely long book (I read it on my kindle, but the hardcopy must be around 600 pages), but between the intriguing plot, engaging characters, and strong writing style, it never dragged – though I found it to be slightly less of a page-turner than the previous instalment.
This series has always trod a strange line between YA paranormal romance/urban fantasy, and the sort of full-blown high fantasy that George R Martin would be proud of.For me, the first book fell more into the former category, especially towards the end, while the second book prioritised war and history over forbidden love. This instalment falls somewhere in-between, combining scenes of relatively normal life on earth with full-scale battles in another world.
I enjoy both of those genres, but I prefer this series when it focusses on the latter, and gives the reader strange creatures and conspiracies in other worlds rather than concentrating on the romance between an angel and a (more or less) human girl. For some reason, the relationship between Karou and Akiva doesn’t do much for me. He doesn’t capture my imagination, and they never seem to have much chemistry. Things were better in Book Two, when there was real tension and distance between them and I started to warm to their story, but here, the author seemed to be manufacturing reasons to keep them apart, and it didn’t really capture my imagination. It’s odd, because the relationship between the two supporting characters, Mik and Zuzana, is always both touching and funny, and a new cross-species love affair that sprung up in this book really touched me too.
The more fantastical side of things continued to be very well done. We get more history, more folklore and more of the ongoing war between chimera and angels, along with lots of internal conflicts within the two sides. We finally get to see the Stelians, a different race of angels with a totally different culture and history and different powers. There are all sorts of revelations and drama. With the new ruler of the angels “off-screen” for 95% of the time and the White Wolf dead, it sometimes felt like we were lacking an immediately loathable villain. The latter really made the second book for me, so though I couldn’t regret his well-deserved death, I did miss his effect on the plot. That said, Ziri’s attempts to portray him to keep the army under control and the internal struggles it causes him were some of the highlights of the book. Generally, I really couldn’t fault the fantasy side of things.
From reading some other reviews, I suspect I’m in a minority here, but one of my very favourite aspects was the completely new plot involving a genetics PHD student who has terrifying, literally heart-stopping dreams about the end of the world, in which the apocalypse is her fault, and who is hiding some initially undisclosed secret about herself and her family. The “what on earth is going on here” aspect of this reminded me of the sense of mystery I loved so much in the first book, when you didn’t know why Karou was collecting teeth for monsters. And when the answers were finally revealed, the backstory and revelations it led to were amazing.
Overall, not quite a perfect book, due mainly to the sometimes lacklustre romance, but a really fantastic one all the same, and absolutely worth a read. A fitting end to a great series.
It’s been far too long since I’ve taken part in Top Ten Tuesday, (see http://www.brokeandbookish.com/p/top-ten-tuesday-other-features.html) but I’m excited to have such a good subject to work with this week. I suppose unique books is a little ambiguous, but I’m mainly thinking in terms of structure and style rather than plot. If there’s one thing I really and truly love, it’s books that are written in an unusual way, be it a non-linear narrative, multiple points of view, or something even stranger. Many of my all-time favourite books fall into this category. Of course, if it doesn’t quite work, the result can be awful, but I still respect authors who give it a go.
1) Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell – Five short stories (each written in a wildly different style and genre, and spanning centuries) are interrupted halfway through by the next story. Each protagonist is reading the previous text, may or may not be the reincarnation of the previous hero or heroine, and is interrupted at the same point as the reader. In the second half, the protagonists resume their adventures an their reading, and we work our way back through time and through the story. In between all the cleverness of the mindbending structure is some seriously good writing and several engaging plots. As regular readers may have picked up, if I was forced to pick a favourite book, it’d probably be this one.
2) The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood – Parts of this story is the first person narrative of the eighty-something narrator. Other parts are her reminiscing about her childhood, the famous author sister who killed herself the day WW2 ended, and her unpleasant industrialist husband. Newspaper articles and other documents from the time about the three of them are interspersed. And every few chapters, we get The Blind Assassin itself – the science fiction novel that made the heroine’s sister’s name, which is itself a book within a book. The four (at least – it depends how you count them) aspects work together to tell the full story, and it results in a brilliant mash-up of contemporary, historical and sci-fi literature.
3) Sarum – Edward Rutherford – Sets out to tell the story of 10 000 years of human history via lots of interwoven stories featuring the same families and the same area (Salisbury Plain) over centuries. The scope is jawdropping, and somehow, the author makes you care about almost everyone of the cast of (probably literally) thousands.
4) What a Carve Up – Jonathan Coe – The hero is employed to write a history of the Winshaw Family, a clan of borderline evil aristocrats, by one of their members. Chapters alternate between modern day (well, early nineties) scenes of him researching, writing, obsessing over the eponymous film and being let down by the Government; some flashbacks to his younger years, and the story of each member of the family, told through diary entries, newspapers articles, and various other forms. And then from about two thirds in, the hero and the family meet, and things get very strange. It’s as laugh out loud hilarious, cleverly plotted, and viciously political.
5) Before I Go to Sleep – AJ Watson – I reviewed this only a few weeks ago. The main character wakes up each morning with no memory of the last few decades or real understanding of who she is. The story is told through the diary she has secretly begun to keep, and the fact that she (and therefore the reader) has no idea what is or isn’t true makes for a disorientating experience.
6) Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn – Obviously, this book has been wildly popular recently. For me, it’s not so much the (really rather far-fetched) plot that made me enjoy it, but the clever structure (and some great prose and killer lines). Chapters alternate between Nick’s (the husband) narration, starting with the day of his wife’s disappearance, and Amy’s (the wife) diary entries, dating back from the day the two first met years before, and gradually working up to a few days before her mysterious disappearance. The two storylines didn’t quite mesh, showing what a different perspective two people can have on the same event and keeping me guessing about what was really going on in the main characters’ relationship and what had happened on the day of Amy’s disappearance.
7a) Behind the Scenes at the Museum – Kate Atkinson – A chronological story of a girl growing up in Yorkshire in the sixties and seventies is interspersed with stories of her extended family stretching back to about 1900, and told out of order, so that the full picture only gradually becomes clear.
7b) Life after Life – Kate Atkinson – The above author’s latest book was a bit of a let down to me, though it’s received rave reviews from many people and is certainly both unique and ambitious. The heroine is born, and dies moments later, choked by her umbilical cord. She is born again, and lives for a few months. The book endlessly returns to the scene of the baby being born, and to numerous scenes of her death – as a baby, a toddler, a teen, an adult. From smallpox, accidents, violence, war. It’s never quite clear whether these are reincarnations, parallel lives, or something in between.
8) A Visit From the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan – It may have won the Pulitzer Prize, but I just couldn’t fall in love with this. Certainly written in an unusual way though. It consists of several stories, spanning about fifty years, and each centring around a different character, although each of them have links to some of the others, and one seems to be the key connecting link. The stories are told out of chronological order, which makes for some thought provoking moments, and uses different styles, perhaps most noteworthily, the story told in PowerPoint slide format!
9) Room – Emma Donughue – Not one of my favourites, but certainly unique and memorable. It’s narrated by a five year old boy, who has been imprisoned in a single room ever since he was born to his kidnapped and raped mother. The fact that he believes the room to be the whole world, that he has his own names for things, and that he is utterly innocent about the horrors that are really going on makes for a truly unusual voice.
10) The Lovely Bones – the heroine dies (horribly) in the first chapter, and then narrates the rest of the novel from heaven. A little mawkish in parts, but a pretty clever concept.
It’s once again time for that great Oxford tradition – the Varsity Boat Race. I think I said pretty much everything I wanted to say on the subject last year, but I can’t let the event pass unnoticed on my blog, so here’s last year’s entry again (slightly edited to reflect it not being Easter and there being a different team etc) in all its glory. And now I’m off to the river. Go Oxford!
There’s lots to admire about the Boat Race. It’s one of the few genuinely big ticket amateur sporting events left. Although in practice both teams nowadays often contain a good few people who row for their country and are doing slightly suspect post-grad degrees, in theory I love the idea of normal students training so incredibly hard for their moment of glory, and you still always get a few rowers who genuinely fit that mould. Looking at last year’s Oxford squad, one is a doctor and one is a vicar – in what other sporting event would that happen?
Despite all this, when it comes down to it, what I really love is the tribalism. I want Oxford to win to an extent that borders on the irrational. And that’s just the way I like my sport. As a rule, I love sport, but generally only if I have some personal interest in the outcome. Growing up in Sheffield, everyone was into football. You supported either Sheffield Wednesday or Sheffield United, and you did it wholeheartedly. I was (and indeed still am) firmly in the former camp, because supporting Wednesday was what my family did, going back several generations. On Steel City Derby Days (when the two teams play each other) the city wass like a ghost town. Everyone was watching, at the stadium, in a pub or at home on TV. There is no logical reason to love one group of footballers based in your home town and hate another group of them based in the same place, but there’s something oddly satisfying about doing so. It creates a real sense of belonging. Occasionally, in London, in the middle of a busy street or train, I’ve spotted someone in a Wednesday shirt and I’ve just had to go over and speak to them.
In Sheffield, even the condiments come in team colours!
So a few days ago, I announced that Ivory Terrors is now finished and will be published on the 1st May. As a little celebration, I’ve posted the first chapter (not including the prolgoue, which I’ll explain more about in a few days time) below. Enjoy!
Harriet listened groggily to the voices around her. George’s aristocratic drawl and her mother’s clipped voice were unmistakable, though she struggled to understand what the latter had to do with George’s kidnap attempt. The other voice reminded her of her uncle’s broad Yorkshire tones, but that would make no sense at all.
She tried to force herself into full wakefulness, but couldn’t quite make her eyes open.
Harriet managed to open her eyes for a split second, long enough to tell that she lay in a narrow bed, with George leaning over her. She tried to speak, but George put his finger to her lip then touched his forehead to hers. A blast of mesmerism radiated through her and she blacked out again.
“How long do you think it will be until Augustine realises we’re gone?” In the time that Harriet had been asleep, her mother’s tone had become more panicky.
“From the alarms at the Party, I think he realised before we even made it to Richard’s jet. But don’t worry about that. Another hour and we’ll be at his stronghold, and even Augustine can’t reach us there.” Despite his reassuring words, George sounded faintly hysterical.
Harriet tried to think logically about the situation. She’d been mesmerised into attending the Summer Party against her will. Nick had been turned and had tried to drain her, but she’d turned his mesmerism back on him. Then Rupert had forced her to wake Nick up by threatening Catherine and Katie, at which point, he’d killed Julia.
Beyond that, things got hazier. George had lured her into the woods, and offered her revenge on both the Cavaliers and the Roundheads. She’d thought she could resist him, but when he kissed her, she’d let her guard down, and then he’d mentally knocked her out.
She had no idea what George was planning or where he was taking her. She should have known better than to trust him even for a moment. But why was her mother involved? And who was the third person? She’d never heard a vampire speak like him before.
Harriet understood the individual words, but the context barely made sense. His daughter? Augustine had claimed to be her father, but in her view, she only had one dad, and he’d been dead for years. Yet in her head, he always spoke like the stranger.
Once more she tried to force her eyes open, desperate to see whether the stranger looked like the man pictured in her locket.
“What do you know about this?” Augustine said.
On the surface, the leader of the Cavaliers seemed to be as poised as ever, but Tom could sense the interior breakdown taking place under his calm facade.
Rupert sprawled in a chair, pinned there not by ropes but by the sheer force of Augustine’s will.
Caroline’s turn in the chair came next. One moment, she was clinging to Ben for dear life. The next minute, she sat in the hot seat. Vampires could only be mesmerised by their makers, but in this, as in so many things, the rules clearly didn’t apply to Augustine.
Caroline, usually always so self-assured, started to cry before Augustine even began his interrogation.
With a shrug, he released Caroline and she fell into Ben’s arms. Ben’s willingness to support Caroline after her weeks of absence made Tom smile even through his pain. In his experience, a crisis tended to reunite a couple like nothing else could.
The wood, with all its torches and fairy-lights, blurred for a moment, and then Tom found himself in the chair. Augustine’s powers never failed to astonish him.
“Do you know anything about this?” Far from tiring him, each interrogation seemed to increase the force of Augustine’s power.
Katie dragged her shaking body out of bed. She wanted to sleep for a hundred years, but she had to get up and face the day. She resisted the temptation to run out onto the street, screaming about what she’d seen. The brain that had always plotted for the most prestigious internships and eligible men knew that that would be counterproductive. Go to the police with her hair wild, her make-up undone and her breath smelling of alcohol, and her story would sound like the ramblings of a madwoman. But have a shower, brush her teeth, put on her best interview suit and a subtle string of pearls, and maybe someone would listen.
She forced herself through the old familiar routine of washing and preening, trying to get her story straight in a head that just wanted to break down. She wouldn’t use the term vampires, she wouldn’t. No one would buy that.
She tried to think of the most rational way to put it. She’d been at a party. Some of the guests had bitten some of the others. Some of them had died. She’d been bitten herself, but she’d survived. Julia Jenkinson had died. Sofia Calvinos. She wasn’t sure of the other names.
She downed a strong black coffee that did nothing to quell the tremors that had overtaken her, and then strode out of the door before she could change her mind. In the quad, she hesitated. It would be better if she had someone who could collaborate her story, but who could she ask? Caroline had stood there watching it all. Harriet had all but ordered Julia’s death. And her darling William, the nicest man she’d ever met, had plunged his teeth into her neck. No. She had to do this alone.
The twenty minute walk to the police station seemed to take hours. Aside from the mental trauma, the blood loss had left her physically weak. Once she’d dealt with the police, she might just have to visit the hospital.
When she finally made it, the young desk sergeant gave her a friendly welcome. Between her pretty face, her imposing voice and her obvious wealth, Katie generally expected people to treat her with that sort of respect, but today, his politeness hugely relieved her.
The sergeant’s mouth fell open. He’d clearly been expecting her to report a stolen purse.
Katie nodded and followed him in silence, still debating how to make her story sound sane. Someone fixed her a cup of tea, and then the man from the desk left. He returned a few minutes later with his superior in tow.
“So you say you want to report four murders?” the senior officer asked, staring at her through narrowed eyes as though she were the criminal.
Katie desperately tried to engage the young sergeant in conversation, but he wouldn’t look at her. After a few minutes, the other officer returned, accompanied by a severe middle-aged man, who waved the other two out.
Josh stared at the news website, barely able to comprehend the words his eyes were seeing.
The words swam on the page. His eyes couldn’t focus on anything but the picture of Julia the BBC had selected to accompany the news story. He recognised it as one that he’d taken the previous summer at the ball. They must have copied it from Facebook. She looked beautiful and fragile in equal measure.
He wanted to close the page and pretend that none of this was happening. Instead, he clicked on the video news story.
The presenter’s solemn words drifted over him. He reached into the top drawer of his desk and drew out a letter. When he’d found it in his pigeonhole a few days earlier, he’d considered it as a cry for help from a girl who seriously needed the support he so desperately wanted to give her. Now, it seemed all too prescient.
He forced his attention back to the screen. A striking middle-aged woman with red hair, easily identifiable as Julia’s mother even without the caption underneath, tried her best to answer an interviewer’s questions through her tears.
“It must at least be a comfort to you that she died saving someone else,” the newscaster said.
The camera diplomatically panned away.
Josh looked back and forth between the letter and the computer screen, unsure what to believe. The news report sounded a thousand times more likely than a gang of vampires. And yet, what were the chances of Julia predicting that she’d be murdered on a certain night and then dying in an unrelated incident? Besides, her strange behaviour over the last few weeks took some explaining.
The news report went on and on, almost as if someone wanted to ensure no one had any questions in their mind about how Julia had died.
Rupert appeared on the screen and Josh looked away. At best, Rupert had stolen Julia from him, at worst he’d done something terrible to her mind and probably been responsible for her death. He’d never wanted to hit someone so badly. Rupert looked artfully distressed, his stupid posh face arranged into a tragic frown. His stuck-up voice stumbled over some words as though he could barely control his distress.
Josh had hoped that the filming was live, so he could see Rupert standing in the morning’s bright sunlight, and put aside the ridiculous idea of him being a vampire. There was no such luck. The news crew had clearly filmed his segment last night, soon after Julia’s death.
Josh had seen enough. He slammed down the lid of his laptop before he put a fist through it. He read the last line of the letter for the hundredth time.
Since he’d first heard the news, Josh had been too shocked to cry, but now the tears fell freely. He wanted to crawl into bed and never get back up, but that would be the ultimate betrayal. He’d do what Julia had wanted. He’d speak to Harriet, make her tell him the truth, and then get revenge.
Good news! After a year and a half of frenzied planning, writing, editing, and proofing, I’ve finally finished Ivory Terrors, the third and final instalment of the Cavaliers Series.
It’s 135 000 words long – nearly twice the length of Oxford Blood. And at it’s longest, it was closer to 160 000. I’ve had to do some really quite brutal cutting to make it readable.
Never again will I attack my favourite authors for what I’ve always regarded as cardinal sins – taking ages to produce a sequel or writing a self-indulgently long volume. Because my goodness, it’s tempting. Knowing I will never write another full Cavaliers book (although one thing I’m considering as a future project is a book of historical short stories about different members in different time periods), I wanted to get in all the backstories, all the revelations, and wrap everything up nicely. And I hope that when you read it, you’ll agree that I’ve succeeded.
I was always absolutely clear that the Cavaliers Series was meant to be a trilogy, and one thing I hate above all others is when authors drag series out beyond their intended duration. There may have been some twists along the route, but nearly everything that happens at the end of Ivory Terrors was meant to happen from the start of Oxford Blood – the reviews that wondered why Stephanie couldn’t be mesmerised in the prologue might finally get their answer.
In particular, I’ve really gone to town on Augustine. It started out as a prologue about his turning, and ended up at something like 20 000 words giving most of his life story, across a variety of centuries. As a history graduate, I’ve always tried to infuse the series with a historical flavour, but this is the first time I’ve gone full historical, and I hugely enjoyed it. It was also fun to take a character who has always been a bit of a cipher – almighty leader of the vampires – and imbue him with a personality and a past.
Anyway, I’m now planning to publish the book on May 1st – as readers might remember, May Day is hugely important in Oxford, so it seemed fitting. I’m in the process of setting up a blog tour and some advance reviews – if you have a blog, have read the earlier book, and would like to get involved, please drop me a line.
Finally, thanks to the surprisingly large number of people who’ve emailed me over the last few months to ask when Ivory Terrors would be ready. You’ve simultaneously made me feel horribly guilty that it’s going to be about five months later than originally promised, and yet so utterly happy that there are people who want to read my books that you’ve really inspired me to get it finished.
Now I’ve finally finished, I’m hoping to be able to dedicate more time to my sadly neglected blog. So keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks for soundtracks, a mini-series on the inspiration for my characters, and some Ivory Terrors extracts. And now, despite the fact that its Tuesday and I have work in the morning, I’m off for a Harriet-style glass of midweek champagne.
Blurb below. Put May 1st in your literary diary, and treat yourself to a copy of the most ambitious thing I’ve ever written. | 2019-04-26T03:38:47Z | https://georgianaderwent.com/2014/04/ |
The 1950 Red River Flood was a devastating flood that took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on May 8, 1950. In that year, the Red River flooded the Red River Valley. Winnipeg was ill prepared for such a huge swell of water. Eight dikes gave way and flooded much of the city. Four of eleven bridges were destroyed and nearly 70,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes and businesses. There was one fatality on May 6, 1950, when Lawson Ogg was trapped in a basement where he was fixing a pump when waters rushed through the door of the house and filled the basement. The final tally in damage was over $600 million. The Red River Floodway was later constructed to divert some of the water of the Red River around the city and lower water levels within Winnipeg.
The shaded area on the map shows the extent of the flooding of the Red River and its tributaries. At the peak of the flood more than 550 square miles in the Red River Valley from Emerson to 60 miles north to Greater Winnipeg were flooded. The depth of the flood waters on the farmland was between 2 to 6 feet. The black line is the normal channel of the Red River.
A booklet containing "a series of photographs taken along the Red River from Emerson to Winnipeg during the catastrophic flood of 1950"
Tired flood refugees sleep off their exhaustion on cots in the gymnasium of the YMCA building in Winnipeg. The men were among hundreds evacuated from their southern Manitoba homes, currently ravaged by the flooding Red River.
Tea is served to Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman B. M. Anderson on traffic duty in Wildwood area of flooded Winnipeg. A Red Cross relief worker does the honors.
Volunteer workers atop sandbag loaded trailer being towed by Caterpillar along Main Street in Winnipeg headed for Norwood Bridge.
The evacuation train from St. Norbert to Winnipeg came to a sudden halt last night when a portion of the road bed was washed out by the flooding of the Red River. It sits between two highways here as it awaits help. Some of the flood victims have been removed when this photo was taken.
Carrying refugess from the now flood-stricken town of Emerson, Manitoba, the last train out forges ahead slowly over tracks deep in flood waters. Men ride at front testing with poles to see if the tracks ahead are not washed out.
The roof's dry. So Joe Itzkow paints it while water swirls about the first floor of his home under construction in West Kildonan.
The dike at Wildwood was the first to crumble under the pressure of the river. Bungalows were flooded to the eaves and garages were swept away and became entangled in trees.
Morris residents are slowly coming back to scenes as touching as this - their furniture, clothing, and personal belongings mud-caked, soaked and ruined.
Workmen continue to strengthen the Glenwood Crescent dike.
The Big Pump from Ottawa.
Used to divert flood waters from the storm sewer system.
Soldier resting from holding back the flood waters.
Mrs. Ruby Couch (second from left) scuffles with police who were called to enforce the Flood Control Authority's order that the private sanitorium operated by Mrs. Couch be evacuated in the face of rising water, May 13. At right, Mrs Couch's son, Allan (plaid jacket) is also in the battle.
Stranded by the rising Red River during flight from thier flooded homes, these residents of communities south of Winnipeg make futile attempts to rest in a crowded coach at the St. Norbert Station. Rescue boats later brought them to higher land.
From back of photo: "Water now covers sandbags shown at door of General Steel Wares Building."
From back of photo: "Boats are now landing about 25 feet to left of this picture."
From back of photo: "Taken from top of General Steel Wares Building looking down Victoria St. in front of G.S.W. Building."
From back of photo: "Heavy snow on Thursday May 11th. Flood level rose after this picture taken."
From back of photo: "Truck between General Steel Wares and Crane Building early in the flood."
From back of photo: "From front of General Steel Wares Building towards river. Sandbags in front of building now completely covered".
One of Canada Packers plants in Whittier Park in St. Boniface.
Marion St. east of Canada Packers, facing west.
Water St. just west of off ramp of Provencher Bridge.
In front of Poulin's Exterminators.
Two fishermen from Gimli brought their truck from Riverton, Man., to docks on the river here to pick up their fishing boat and get it past the bridges. They volunteered for Winnipeg's flood fight.
Red Cross girls provide food and coffee for hard working soldiers on the dikes. Sapper George Christie pours water out of his rubber boot while Lesia Stebnicky pours. At left are L/Cpl Lorne Gardiner of the R.C.E. and Marucia Kopychanski.
Crews snadbag the approaches to Norwood Bridge. Note the level of the Red River, and its width, double the normal flow.
Pipers of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders pipe men of the Winnipeg regiment to work on a dike. The Camerons have worked in Glenwood Crescent and on the Maryland Bridge diking.
Soldiers and civilian volunteers labored for weeks to heighten the dikes in the Elm Park area but the Red flood rose steadily.
Here is part of the dike holding back flood water in Glenwood Crescent, Elmwood. Workman continue to strengthen the barricade which follows the crescent of homes.
Volunteer flood workers form a human chain to carry sandbags to a dike protecting St. Boniface Sanatorium in St. Vital.
Water is up to the second storey in these homes in the Elm Park section of St. Vital. High winds dashing waves of water against the houses have added to the flood toll.
Mrs. C. Bleeks sits on a raised platform with her dog, awaiting a boat to take her from her flooded Victoria Crescent home.
Kay Vollet of 381 River St., St. Vital, carts two sandbags in a canoe to the workers in a nearby St. Vital dike.
This photo shows how the overflowing Red and Seine Rivers cut into St. Vital residential areas, forcing the evacuation of it 20,000 residents. The ordered exodus began May 9 by truck, car, DUKW and foot. St. Vital folk were dispersed to summer resort homes, to Manitoba towns, and to relatives elsewhere.
Mayor Elswood Bole of St. Vital, who mobilized dike-builders in the Winnipeg suburb long before the Red River flood reached Winnipeg, is seen here wading through flood water from his home on Kingston Row, April 28.
This old age pensioner who lost his few possesions in the flood, typifies the plight of thousands.
Mother and two pairs of twins set out for Winnipeg Beach after their Rover Street home was flooded.
It may be weeks before this little evacuee sleeps in her own bed again.
Children and pets from flooded town and country formed part of the refugee stream.
Young girl who refused to leave her Assiniboine Avenue home is taken out by police.
Tired young evacuees on train for a beach resort near Winnipeg.
One of evacuated nursing home patients being cared for at St. John House.
Morris family forced to flee flood in horse drawn wagon evacuated to Winnipeg by train.
In a railway mail car parked near the C.P.R. station, Mrs. J. Chase receives her mail from Joyce Taylor while Ethel Stringer makes out a money order. Her Majesty's mail, though on wheels, beats the flood.
M. Houston's family, three boys, two girls (and three dogs), find temporary shelter in a rail boarding car spotted for refugees at Emerson. The Houstons moved from Sioux Lookout, Ont., in March to manage a farm near Emerson.
Horses are stranded on a haystack in "Lake Morris", the vast expanse of flood water stretching across the Red at Morris for more than 20 miles.
A St. Norbert family loads a piano in to a boat while horses with a hay rack stand-by to haul other furniture to safety.
A forlorn pup, stranded by the flood at Emerson, is rescued by boat.
Air view shows Morris, centre of a vast lake which was 20 miles wide acorss the Red. In the inundation of Morris itself, several buildings stood out as landmarks above the flood - the new school (centre foreground) and a grain elevator.
A young gallant of Morris carries Lee Armstrong to safety.
A farmer's tractor leads a horse to safety through the flood along Higway 75 at Letellier, 52 miles from Winnipeg. Lettellier's people stuck out the flood thanks to the dike between the railway and the road. Its population was doubled to 1,000 by district evacuees.
A little St. Boniface boy holds his dog, his sister clings to her doll, while they await for Red Cross officials to evacuate them from their flood threatened home.
In St. Norbert area Lionel Moore, one of a group of newsmen, carries eight-months-old Keith Menzies to safety.
Tourist cabins auto camp shows cabin roofs almost covered in St. Norbert.
The Red River, joined by a tributary, the La Salle River, at St. Norbert, swamped the town eight miles south of Winnipeg. This motorist edges through two feet of water on Highway 75 just south of St. Norbert Bridge.
Forty-four miles south of Winnipeg at St. Jean waters swirl over a Highway 75 bridge.
St. Jean residents crowd a dry part of the highway, while a DUKW leaves on a reconnaissance trip down the valley. Most of St. Jean was evacuated by a relief train.
Though flood water swirled around the ground floor of his new home under construction, Joe Itzkow, of 106 St. Anthony St., West Kildonan, knew the water would eventually go away. So he painted his roof, while waiting to get to other parts of the house.
Around Kildonan Park in West Kildonan the Red River rose far above normal, filling an old creek bed shown in the foreground, now a sizeable stream. Residences in the area were flooded and the waters are seen skirting St. Anges Priory.
One East Kildonan motorist beat the flood when it threatened his car. He slung ropes around it and slipped the ropes over a fork of a tree in his flooded yard. As the flood rises, he lifts the car higher by this "block and tackle." He hopes the tree won't weaken.
This is how Main Street, Morris, looks today after a month of steadily rising siege of flood waters. At least 30 automobiles and trucks, plus farm equipment, are submerged on what was once No. 75 Highway to Emerson. Gales sweeping tides of water have battered homes and sent some careening downstream to destruction.
Combined waters of the Red and Morris rivers in Morris district, lifted in a tide by high winds, washed away the home of Mrs. Henry Wiebe. She is shown here with two of her children, evacuated to Winnipeg before a new refuge was found.
Two power sub-stations on the Red were threatened. Workers haul sandbags on rafts to buttress the Mill St. power station (which serves Winnipeg's business district). A dike break flooded the plant.
In the gale and rain on May 8, police direct traffic through flood water covering Smith at Assiniboine.
Men sandbag the Rover Ave. power station while high pressure pumps keep water moving out of the flooded basement. This plant services thousands of domestic power users in Winnipeg. Both plants were saved.
Volunteers of the Red Cross and other organizations work long shifts at the Winnipeg Auditorium (Red Cross's emergency headquarters). It has become an evacuation centre for about 3000.
Winnipeggers queue up for typhoid inoculation at St. Joseph's hospital, one of the centres where about 50,000 have already taken this preventive action.
A street car plows through a torrent of water in the Polo Park subway on Portage Ave. The backed up Assiniboine is the cause.
Water from Broadway and Colony pours across to Osborne St. toward the Legislative Building. Manitoba's capitol is also threatened by the Assiniboine from the south.
The Amphitheatre at Whitehall and Colony sits in a lake of flood water. It caused cancellation of the annual Shrine Circus.
The flood near the bus garage on Main St. south forced out a whole line of trolley buses. They were lined up on St. Mary's Ave. from Main St. to the Auditorium.
Water Ave. at the approach to Provencher Bridge was appropriately named until Winnipeg built a stone ramp through it to the bridge, restoring traffic.
Emerson where the flood struck first.
No riders at this bus stop in Riverview.
Water stretches for miles from flooded St. Jean.
Air view shows McGillivray Boulevard. Flood waters in foreground, Crescentwood, River Heights in background.
Assiniboine River surges along Wellington Crescent.
Main Street Bridge south end - ambulances evacuate patients from nursing homes.
Outboard motor boat speeds at Luxton Ave. St. Cross St. corner.
Vital Rover Avenue sub-station saved preventing need for total evacuation.
Tree top bombing with hay saves isolated herds of livestock. Hay is here loaded on the plane.
Feed drops to stranded animals.
Navy personnel investigate floating mink pens in St. Vital.
Newsboys made their rounds - in hip waders and in boots.
Coal trucks trapped by river in Fort Rouge coal yard.
Winnipeg milk company stockpiles milk to facilitate deliveries.
Secondary dike built along Tache Avenue in St. Boniface.
King George and King Edward hospitals were evacuated as Riverview dike collapses. An aerial view.
King George and King Edward hospitals were evacuated as Riverview dike collapses.
Point Douglas was inundated and caught this abandoned auto.
Everybody helps. These boys were willing dikers.
Battling to keep Norwood Bridge open.
Kingston Crescent homes are deep in water.
Mud, machines, sandbags and manpower pile up sturdy Lyndale dike.
A Morris man shows how to beat the flood - then he fell.
A bulldozer drives mud between homes to strengthen bulwark.
Water swirls around a St. Vital home.
Assiniboine River backs up onto Wellington Crescent.
Early photo from flooded Morris.
Whittier Park area in St. Boniface.
Dike breaks and 90 minutes later water streches third of a mile. View of Leighton Avenue, East Kildonan.
Army DUKW speeds through Morris with supplies for flooded Emerson.
Dobbin got through - at Norwood Bridge before the flood took over.
From this giant, to the handy man's invention, pumps aided in the battle against the wild, raging torrents and insidious seeping waters. Homes, business concerns and bridges felt the shock.
As water rose in Victoria Crescent.
Boats took over on Morley Avenue.
Debris clogs the Norwood Bridge.
As the Assiniboine River reached Wellington Crescent many fine homes were surrounded by water.
Morris was hard hit by April 25 but a much greater flood was on the way to this Manitoba town.
Here the great Lyndale dike still stands. This barrier turned back all attacks by the waters. Had this dike collapsed many of the homes it protected would have been engulfed in 12 feet of water.
Only one of hundreds of farm homes trapped by high waters.
This buoy tells where the family car is parked beneth the flood waters in Riverview.
C.N. rail line is breached just south of Fort Garry letting flood find way to Red River.
Evacuation by rail from south ended when this train was stalled by flood waters.
Councillor of Morris, one of thousands of volunteer Red Cross workers, rescues lonely cat, trapped for more than a week on top of flooded greenhouse.
Flood nears roofs of Fort Garry farm homes.
Finished and 100% efficent. Vital artery stays open. Bus and cars travel on ramp to Provencher Bridge.
Volunteers by the bus load. Hundreds gather at Free Press every hour.
A solid sandbag barricade holds back the Assiniboine River near the Maryland Bridge.
Second dike thrown up in front of two houses on Glenwood Crescent after first dike fails.
Boats ply the flooded streets looking to salvage what they can. Intersection of Inkster Boulevard (running left to right) and St. Cross Street (running top to bottom), a block north of Luxton School, which was the local emergency boat docking location, hence the concentration of boats in the photo.
Frogmen of the navy, make emergency rescues and do vital underwater work.
City engineering employees do a magnificent job in building a ramp to the Provencher Bridge.
Heigh ho, heigh ho - it's off to work we go - dike workers march off to battle the flood.
Dike serves as catwalk for workers bolstering other dikes.
Volunteer workers toil to strengthen the Lyndale dike.
Landsowne Avenue between Scotia and St. Cross streets.
Civilians and servicemen save the Mill Street sub-station.
Section of Wildwood - one of the hardest hit districts.
Clare Avenue in south-east Riverview district.
Wildwood flooded after the dikes give way.
Riverview, a district of homes and site of Winnipeg's hospitals, was evacuated when the dikes gave way.
The Red River grips the approach to Norwood Bridge. Trucks in background move cautiously.
The soaring Assiniboine River engulfs the Maryland Bridge approach threatening the link.
Sandbags pass along human chain in fight to save southern approach to Maryland Bridge.
Five miles south of Winnipeg on the banks of the Red River, U of M students were finishing their exams when the flood struck. In the foreground of this photo is the swollen river flowing toward the right and curving left in the background. From both directions the water swirled, isolating buildings as staff and students vainly battled in the background. It is estimated damage to the university will exceed $300,000.
Evacuated from their own home - and then ordered to move again - was the fate of these two young ladies. But when "potty" their dog was going along everything was satisfactory.
Volunteer dike builders find show and icy rain bitter foes, but work goes on without halt in doomed Elm Park area.
Mud follows rain and sandbags must be carried nearly fifty yards.
The second vehicle is an ambulance on Eccles Street in Riverview district. Finally they were completely submerged.
Shuttle service is maintained between Winnipeg and St. Boniface as large tractors pull convoys of trucks carrying supplies and flood workers between Main Street bridgehead and Norwood Bridge.
Schoolhouse snags on Elm Park Bridge.
Rupertsland Boulevard looking towards Scotia Street in West Kildonan.
While several vital dikes in other parts of Winnipeg fell before the pressure of the river, the great Lyndale Drive dike in Norwood stood firm. Thousands of sandbags were piled into the bulwark and even into and around homes which formed part of the dike.
Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent made a personal survey of the flood and conferred with H. W. Manning, general chairman of the flood relief fund.
Whittier Park and downtown Winnipeg from the air showed plenty of water.
Even babies were inoculated against typhoid.
An R.C.A.F. helicopter was used to make daily surveys.
Morris feels the creeping flood paralysis after Emerson is over run. Everyone is moving out.
Citizens of Morris move goods and furniture and finally themselves from the path of the swelling river.
A few who stay on in Morris are the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Reporters are stranded in Morris.
In Riverview streets were submerged and this store, like the homes around, surrounded by water.
Houses like this one in Elm Park are surrendered to the water's invasion when the Red River sweeps through the ramparts.
Hundreds of homes like those behind the immense Lyndale dike are kept dry by the labor of thousands of men and use of hundreds of machines.
Hundreds of men from the Royal Canadian Navy, including the fabulous underwater frogmen, "sail" the flood-created lakes in Winnipeg. Sailors in DUKW amphibious vehicles here remove two iron lungs, and the patients who depend upon them for life, to safety from a flood-surrounded municipal hospital in Riverview.
Removing iron lungs from the hospital.
A Navy frogman is lowered into a manhole at Portage and Main to plug conduits and prevent flooding of city's main intersection.
This body of water, off-shoot of a 600 square mile lake of flood water, south of the city, is kept from rolling on to Crescentwood and River Heights residential districts by a six mile sandbag barrier laid along McGillivray Boulevard toward Fort Whyte.
Neatly piled stacks of boards in a city lumber yard are turned into rafts when the Red River spills its banks near Louise Bridge.
Up over its banks and across the boulevards and lawns around Scoita Street in north Winnipeg, the swollen waters ran amuck. Costly homes were flooded, boats plied the tree-bordered avenues, many people were driven out. The damage was heavy.
Homes in Fort Garry, stand shoulder deep in water.
Cats and squirrels took to the trees and so did this car. The ingenious owner rigged pullies to the branches and hoisted the auto out of the torrent's way.
Transportation suffered as waters mounted. Bridges, roads and even railroads were taken over by the flood. The last train from southern Manitoba plowed along without any visible rails.
Part of Wildwood Park, one of Winnipeg's hard-hit suburbs. Here residents, most of them war veterans, fought day and night on the dikes to save their homes. Many young couples were only able to save themselves and their children before the flood waters engulfed their dwellings.
On Leighton Avenue in East Kildonan when the dike there collapsed.
At St. Germain market garden land was swpet under.
Sand-bagged ramp - the only escape route from flooded St. Vital and Norwood. This was required when the Red River backed up the normally tame and tiny Seine River and flooded Marion St.
Someone's home was swept away and lodged against the Elm Park Bridge, causing dangerous damming. Debris piled up and the flow of the river impeded. No time for salvage - keep the torrent free. Army engineers move in and in a few minutes the flood waters move on to cause further havoc downstream. In this photo army engineers place four two-pound charges of "gun-cap" in holes they have cut in the roof. The structure was blown to bits a short time later.
The "gun-cap" charges blow, the house sinks, and the river continues on its terrible course of destruction.
Here the river is marked by lines of trees. It seems to run through a large lake covering St. Norbert in the foreground and spreading far to the east of the river bed.
St. Boniface sanatorium on a dike encloded man made island.
Roofs of homes in Elm Park.
Another Elm Park house engulfed.
Ravenscourt School surrounded by flood.
Matheson Avenue as waters climbed.
From across the international border the flood waters poured, hitting the gateway town of Emerson shown in this photo and badly inundating it.
Flooded homes in Elm Park.
At flood-struck St. Norbert a man climbed into a chair atop a submerged car and basked and read in the sun.
Saving those who can't save themselves.
Rushing flood-swollen Red River swirls and tears at homes in Elm Park. At its peak the current was so strong that even boats could not make contact with houses. | 2019-04-23T12:09:19Z | http://www.manitobaphotos.com/1950.htm |
COMMONWEALTH vs. RONALD BOTELHO, JR.
Bristol. April 21, 2015. – August 10, 2015.
Present: Fecteau, Agnes, & Sullivan, JJ.
Motor Vehicle, Operating under the influence. Hearing-Impaired Person. Intoxication. Evidence, Intoxication, Argument by prosecutor. Practice, Criminal, Defendant’s decision not to testify, Instructions to jury, Argument by prosecutor.
Complaint received and sworn to in the Fall River Division of the District Court Department on July 13, 2012.
The case was tried before Edmund C. Mathers, J.
Paula Lynch for the defendant.
Rachel W. van Deuren, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.
SULLIVAN, J. The defendant, Ronald Botelho, Jr., appeals from his conviction of operating while under the influence of alcohol (OUI), second offense. See G. L. c. 90, § 24(1)(a)(1). At trial the sole issue for the jury was whether the defendant was intoxicated, or whether his conduct and demeanor were the product of a hearing impairment, compounded by the force of a collision. The defendant contends that the trial judge’s inadvertent failure to heed his request to instruct the jury regarding his decision not to testify, coupled with the prosecutor’s closing argument, created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. We reverse.
The Commonwealth’s case was based on the officer’s observations at the scene. The officer testified that the defendant’s speech was slurred, and that he had red and bloodshot eyes, smelled of alcohol, and stumbled when he got out of the vehicle. The officer demonstrated two field sobriety tests; the defendant began to perform each test before the instructions were completed. The officer deemed that the defendant failed the two field sobriety tests both because he stumbled, and because he “wasn’t listening” and failed to follow directions. The defendant was arrested and charged with OUI and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
The defendant’s case was presented through the cross-examination of the arresting officer and the testimony of two experts. The officer testified that he was unaware at the time of the accident that the defendant was hearing impaired, and that he was unfamiliar with the defendant’s normal speech pattern. The defense presented two experts who treated the defendant before the accident, a clinical audiologist who had tested the defendant in 2007 and a hearing instrument specialist who fitted the defendant for hearing aids in 2007 and 2012. Both testified that the defendant suffered from “severe to profound hearing loss” — ninety percent in one ear and sixty-four percent in the other. The hearing loss was accompanied by a speech impairment that caused the defendant’s speech to sound slurred. While the officer testified that he thought the defendant could hear him and that the defendant responded to questions, both experts opined that the defendant would not have been able to hear and understand the officer at the scene of the accident from a distance, such as when being given instructions regarding the field sobriety tests. In addition, the audiologist also testified that the defendant’s hearing loss could have been exacerbated by the collision. The audiologist also testified that the defendant had some reported balance issues prior to the accident and that equilibrium and balance issues frequently accompany hearing loss. Defense counsel also elicited testimony from the officer that the air bag deployed in the defendant’s face, and that a white powder was released when the air bag deployed. This, the defense argued, accounted for the red eyes and an odor on his person and in the vehicle.
The jury returned verdicts of guilty of operating while under the influence and negligent operation of a motor vehicle. The judge granted the defendant’s renewed motion for required finding pursuant to Mass.R.Crim.P. 25(b)(2), as amended, 420 Mass. 1502 (1995), on the charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle and accepted the defendant’s stipulation to the second offense portion of the remaining charge.
Discussion. 1. Instructions. The defendant contends that the judge erred in failing to instruct the jury that they could not draw an adverse inference from the defendant’s election not to testify. The Commonwealth maintains that the burden of proof and presumption of innocence instructions were adequate despite the absence of an adverse inference instruction.
When a defendant requests an instruction regarding his election not to testify, the trial judge must give an instruction that minimizes the risk that the jury will draw an adverse inference from his election. Carter v. Kentucky, 450 U.S. 288, 305 (1981). The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires this protection because “a defendant must pay no court-imposed price for the exercise of his constitutional privilege not to testify. Th[is] penalty [may be] exacted . . . by adverse comment on the defendant’s silence; the penalty may be just as severe when there is no adverse comment, but when the jury is left to roam at large with only its untutored instincts to guide it, to draw from the defendant’s silence broad inferences of guilt. Even without adverse comment, the members of the jury, unless instructed otherwise, may well draw adverse inferences from a defendant’s silence.” Id. at 301.
The defendant submitted a written request for jury instructions regarding his election not to testify. The judge rejected the instructions requested because they were significantly more detailed than the Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court. The judge did, however, agree to give an instruction regarding the defendant’s decision not to testify. Despite this assurance, the judge instructed the jury regarding the burden of proof and the presumption of innocence, but did not give an instruction regarding the defendant’s election not to testify. The defendant did not draw the omission to the judge’s attention. Because the defendant failed to object to the instructions given, “we review to determine whether the alleged error created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.” Commonwealth v. Dussault, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 542, 544 (2008).
In assessing the legal adequacy of the instructions given, we look to the charge as a whole to determine if “the charge satisfied the requirement for an instruction minimizing the danger that the jury will draw an adverse inference from the defendant’s decision not to testify.” Commonwealth v. Gilchrist, 413 Mass. 216, 219 (1992), citing Commonwealth v. Thomas, 400 Mass. 676, 679 (1987).
The instruction given was deficient in two interrelated respects. Although the instruction stated that the defendant did not have to produce any evidence at trial, the instruction did not explicitly communicate the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right not to testify as a witness in his own defense. The instruction also failed to convey to the jury that no adverse inference may be drawn from the defendant’s failure to testify. “[T]he failure to limit the jurors’ speculation on the meaning of . . . silence, when the defendant makes a timely request that a prophylactic instruction be given, exacts an impermissible toll on the full and free exercise of the privilege.” Carter, 450 U.S. at 305.
The Commonwealth argues that the instruction regarding the burden of proof and presumption of innocence were sufficient to convey these principles. This argument was considered and rejected in Carter. “Without question, the Fifth Amendment privilege and the presumption of innocence are closely aligned. But these principles serve different functions, and we cannot say that the jury would not have derived significant additional guidance from the instruction requested.” Id. at 304 (quotation omitted). See Commonwealth v. Torres, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 676, 677 (1984) (reversing for failure to give adverse inference instruction); Commonwealth v. Green, 25 Mass. App. Ct. 751, 753-755 (1988) (concluding justice had not been done where, among other errors, judge failed to give adverse inference instruction).
This case stands in contrast to those relied on by the Commonwealth in which the strength of the instructions regarding the right not to testify ameliorated the omission of an adverse inference instruction. For example, in Gilchrist, supra at 218, the judge instructed the jury that “[t]he Defendant does not have to testify.” The Supreme Judicial Court concluded that the instruction — absent here — adequately “minimiz[ed] the danger the jury [would] draw an adverse inference from the defendant’s decision not to testify.” Id. at 219.
Similarly, in Commonwealth v. Feroli, 407 Mass. 405, 409 (1990), the defendant requested that the judge instruct the jury that no adverse inference could be drawn from the fact that the defendant elected not to testify. The judge instructed that “the defendant ha[d] the absolute right to remain passive and require the Commonwealth to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and in so doing he may elect to participate by way of examination of the evidence presented by the Commonwealth or not elect to participate to that extent.” Id. at 410. The Supreme Judicial Court concluded that while it would have been preferable to include the “‘no adverse inference’ language,” the omission did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice because “the judge emphasized that the defendant’s right not to testify was ‘absolute.’” Ibid.
By contrast, the instruction here did not explicitly state that the defendant had an “absolute” right not to testify. The preliminary instruction included the statement that “the defendant may present evidence in his behalf if he wishes to do so, but he is not obliged to do so.” The final instruction said only that he was not “required to call any witness.” In the absence of an adverse inference instruction, the suggestion that the defendant may present evidence on his behalf opened the door to speculation as to why he had not. “No judge can prevent jurors from speculating about why a defendant stands mute in the face of a criminal accusation, but a judge can, and must, if requested to do so, use the unique power of the jury instruction to reduce that speculation to a minimum.” Carter, 450 U.S. at 303.
2. Prejudice. In determining whether the failure to give an instruction created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice, we consider “(1) whether the Commonwealth presented a strong case against the defendant; (2) whether the error is sufficiently significant in the context of the trial to make plausible an inference that the [jury’s] result might have been otherwise but for the error; and (3) whether it can be inferred from the record that counsel’s failure to object was not simply a reasonable tactical decision.” Dussault, 71 Mass. App. Ct. at 544 (quotations omitted). The defendant requested the instruction, so it is clear from the record that the failure to object was not strategic. We therefore look to the other two factors, the strength of the Commonwealth’s case and the context of the trial.
The evidence of the defendant’s guilt was not overwhelming. Contrast id. at 543-544. No witness saw the accident or saw the defendant driving before the accident. The defendant consistently stated that he had not been drinking. There was no alcohol in the vehicle and no testimony that he had been drinking. The arresting officer testified to many observations consistent with alcohol intoxication, such as slurred speech and poor balance. However, the defendant provided an alternative explanation — profound hearing loss, a speech impairment, and previous balance problems derived from the hearing loss, all compounded by the collision and the deployment of the air bag to the head. The officer also testified that the defendant had red eyes and smelled of alcohol, but cross-examination provided an alternative theory, namely that the chemicals released when the air bag deployed caused the reddened eyes and the odor.
Furthermore, the officer’s assertion that the defendant smelled of alcohol and the defendant’s denials presented a question of credibility for the jury. Where the jury could have been aided in the resolution of a credibility question by the defendant’s testimony, the absence of the requested instruction takes on heightened significance. See Green, 25 Mass. App. Ct. at 753-755.
More importantly, the failure to give the requested instruction was highly significant in the context of the trial. There was a conflict in the evidence regarding the inferences to be drawn from the defendant’s slurred speech. It is difficult to imagine a case in which the jury would have a greater interest in “hearing” the defendant. In this context, the risk that the jury would draw an adverse inference from the failure to testify is particularly high. Any prejudice attendant to the failure to give the instruction was exacerbated in the unique circumstances of this case.
3. Closing argument. The risk of prejudice was compounded by the prosecutor’s closing argument. Arguing that the defendant was in fact intoxicated at the time of the accident, the prosecutor stated, “[t]he issue was is he intoxicated that night. The only testimony you heard from that night was Officer Strong’s.” “[P]rosecutorial comments on the defendant’s silence at times when the defendant is constitutionally entitled to remain silent, such as . . . at trial, are impermissible.” Commonwealth v. Teixera, 396 Mass. 746, 752 (1986). The defendant contends that this statement implicitly suggested to the jury “that the defendant had an affirmative duty to counter the Commonwealth’s evidence against him.” Commonwealth v. Johnson, 463 Mass. 95, 113 (2012). The Commonwealth maintains that this argument was fair comment on the evidence in the context of the trial as a whole.
“Whatever the prosecutor’s intent, if his remarks were reasonably susceptible of being interpreted as a comment on the defendant’s failure to take the stand, they would be improper.” Commonwealth v. Pena, 455 Mass. 1, 19 (2009), citing Commonwealth v. Gouveia, 371 Mass. 566, 571 (1976). See Mass. G. Evid. § 1113(b)(3)(E) (2015) (setting forth what is impermissible in closing arguments in criminal cases). By this standard, the closing argument here was improper. The prosecutor’s use of the word “only” coupled with the twice repeated reference to “that night” served to focus the jury’s attention on the defendant’s failure to testify, since the interactions between the defendant and the arresting officer at the scene that night were the sole basis of the Commonwealth’s case.
The prosecutor’s remarks also exacerbated the prejudice attendant to the judge’s failure to give the adverse inference instruction. Conversely, the absence of an adverse inference instruction also failed to “neutralize any prejudice produced by the prosecutor’s” statement or “mitigate any suggestion of burden shifting that may have arisen.” Johnson, supra at 114. See Pena, supra at 19. Contrast Commonwealth v. Russo, 49 Mass. App. Ct. 579, 583 (2000) (no substantial risk due to closing argument where evidence of guilt was strong and appropriate curative instructions were given); Dussault, 71 Mass. App. Ct. at 545 (evidence overwhelming and no comment on silence in closing argument).
Conclusion. In the circumstances presented, the unfortunate synergy between the failure to give the requested instruction and the prosecutor’s closing argument leads to a plausible inference that the jury’s result might have been otherwise but for the errors. For this reason the judgment is reversed and the verdict is set aside.
The officer asked at the accident scene if the defendant had any medical conditions, and the defendant said, “No.” Medical personnel arrived at the scene, and the defendant declined treatment.
The defendant also maintains that counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the omission of the instruction. Because the analysis of prejudice under an ineffective assistance claim is substantially the same as the analysis of prejudice under the substantial risk of miscarriage of justice standard, we consider the claims together. See Commonwealth v. Lavoie, 464 Mass. 83, 89, cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2356 (2013).
The judge was not limited to the specific language requested by the defendant. See Commonwealth v. Carrion, 407 Mass. 263, 270 (1990); Commonwealth v. Gilchrist, 413 Mass. 216, 218 (1992).
Instruction 3.600 of the Criminal Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court (2009).
The judge also gave a similar instruction in his preliminary instructions to the jury.
In Feroli, supra at 407, the court reviewed the judge’s failure to give the “no adverse inference” instruction under G. L. c. 278, § 33E.
Notably, the Supreme Judicial Court did not approve the instruction given in Feroli. This instruction was approved in Commonwealth v. Powers, 9 Mass. App. Ct. 771 (1980), before the United States Supreme Court decision in Carter. In Feroli, decided after Carter, the court passed on the issue of the propriety of the instruction, and reached a result on the basis that the defendant was not prejudiced.
Earlier in his closing argument, the prosecutor also stated, “his vehicle was driven into a pole, whether it’s because of a mechanical malfunction, which we have no evidence of today. No evidence was introduced regarding that or whether it was because he was under the influence.” This argument was made in response to defense counsel’s closing argument, in which he argued forcefully that the vehicle had been towed by the police and that the Commonwealth had failed to examine the vehicle or the stabilizer. However, the prosecutor’s response was not an explanation why the police did not examine the vehicle. Instead, the argument may be interpreted to suggest that the defendant should have testified to the condition of the vehicle or produced evidence of the condition of the vehicle.
We do not address the remaining claims on appeal as error, if any, is unlikely to be repeated on retrial. | 2019-04-19T17:12:54Z | http://masslegalresources.com/commonwealth-v-botelho-lawyers-weekly-no-11-100-15 |
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It’s a great idea to take proposals from at least three businesses when you are interviewing automotive mobile locksmith services. After receiving all of the proposals, review them carefully, and do not automatically hire the service provider with the lowest offer. You’ll generally get better work from a local automotive locksmith center who charges more. Make certain cost break downs will be submitted by the service provider.
Your local automotive mobile locksmith service becomes a team member and not just a licensed automotive locksmith center when you sign an agreement. Prior to signing anything, make sure to clarify any questions and read everything carefully. Your local home security safe locksmith should never ask for a first payment that is more than half of the total due, because that amount is certainly the accepted industry standard. To get a glimpse into how your automotive locksmith center runs his day-to-day business, arrange to sign the paperwork in his office.
Review every element of your contractual obligation thoroughly before beginning the project and ask if the locksmith is certified both commercial and auto locksmith services. The smallest detail missed at the beginning could result in total disaster later. Whether or not the buyer doesn’t upgrade their service immediately, they’ll be happy to know what is available and likely to return. When up-selling to a buyer, be promotional, but not pushy.
Good automotive mobile locksmith services with integrity are always wanted. Working with a prominent automotive locksmith center could guarantee superior results. However, you should see to it if your home security safe locksmith would exert the required effort for your smaller project. Do not ignore your instincts when you are searching for a great automotive locksmith center.
Cost of automotive mobile locksmith services can be found in a telephone directory or websites. Select a couple of automotive locksmith centers, ask around about them, and have plenty of questions for just about any doubts that you could have. Make sure to include complete financial details and a schedule of payments in a written contract. After selected a home security safe locksmith, let him understand that the work place has to be well kept.
Car Key Replacement – How to Get an Ignition Key Replacement?
Losing an ignition key is quite common especially in big cities. If you happen to have a spare car key at hand, you could definitely spare yourself the headache. Unfortunately, most people do not carry spare keys around and getting locked out or stuck without a car key can be extremely inconvenient and anxiety provoking, especially when caught out in the dark or in bad weather conditions. Car Key Replacement service takes some of that burden off your shoulders and helps you find a replacement key hassle free.
Option 1: Calling a local auto dealership – Many people assume that getting their auto dealership to replace their car key is the best solution. Indeed it makes sense and might seem like a great decision – it is where your vehicle was purchased. Although going with this option to acquire a new car key may seem as the most convenient, it has some major downsides. Aside from having to tow your vehicle to their garage (and pay extra), you will most likely have to wait several days before the car key cutting is done and ready to be picked up. Also, you will have to spend quite a lot of money for this special service since auto dealerships do not specialize in locksmith services. Instead, they usually hire a third party to do the job. In addition to all of these drawbacks, unless your car dealership is located within a walking distance from your home, you will need transportation in order for the new key to be picked up.
Option 2: Calling a local locksmith – Calling a local car locksmith will not only save you time and energy, but money as well. It is important however to make sure the locksmith company you choose to call, offers auto locksmith services such as ignition key replacement for your car model and chip key activation if necessary. Also, make sure they are able to send out a professional auto locksmith over to your location right away so that you do not have to pay extra for towing or wait out in the cold. It is also important to verify that the locksmith you hire is fully certified as well as insured and bonded. Always look for a Best Bureau Business accredited company that you can trust.
Now that you know what to if you ever lose your keys, avoid the inevitable and get yourself a spare car key; you will end up saving money in the long run, plus it is always good to have an additional key somewhere handy.
The technicians can make car keys for almost any vehicle model and carry out on the spot chip key programming for auto keys and car remote control keys.
Are You Looking For An Emergency Locksmith ?
Locks provide security for our homes, businesses and vehicles. But when you accidentally lock yourself on the outside, you might wish for just a moment that locks didn’t exist! It’s time to call a locksmith, but who should you call? Who should you trust to safely open your car or home? Let’s take a look at some “musts” to look for when choosing an emergency locksmith. 24/7 Emergency Locksmith can handle all your locksmith problems.
One of the first things to consider is whether the locksmith is local. Locksmiths that are located in another city may charge more to travel. Local locksmiths generally have an office nearby where you can actually visit when future lock or security needs arise. This enables you to establish a relationship with your local locksmith and build trust. It’s a good idea to find a couple of reputable locksmiths you can trust in your local area. If one’s not available right away when you need emergency locksmith service, you can call on the other and hopefully get your problem resolved immediately. This is very important if you frequently need the services of a locksmith for your business.
Keep in mind that some locksmiths may operate a “mobile” locksmith service. This means they likely operate out of their home and do not have an actual storefront. If this is the case, you might find others who have used their service or research them through the Better Business Bureau or a local consumer protection agency.
Note: If your insurance company or other service provides assistant roadside service, be sure to call them first. This could save you time and money on locksmith services, jump-starts if you have a dead battery, flat tires, towing, and those embarrassing moments when you simply run out of gas.
Be sure to ask the locksmith if he’s insured in case damage occurs. Liability insurance will likely cover any damages that occur while the locksmith is performing the work on your car or home. An insured locksmith may charge slightly more for his services, but you’ll have peace of mind when choosing someone with a professional outlook on his business. Also, confirm pricing before agreeing to the service. Make sure there are no hidden charges, and ask about potential additional charges if the locksmith runs into problems with your lock. Beware if the locksmith tells you immediately that he will need to drill and replace your lock instead of opening it. Professional locksmiths can usually unlock almost any door as long as prior damage doesn’t exist.
Notice the locksmith’s vehicle… whether it is clearly marked with a company name or logo. Also, be wary of someone who doesn’t verify that you are the actual owner or an authorized person to have a car, home or business door unlocked. A reputable locksmith will ask for your identification before performing the work. This protects you and others from break-ins and theft. Once the work has been completed, ask for an itemized invoice that breaks down the labor charges, parts, service fee, etc.
Finding a dependable 24-hour locksmith doesn’t have to be complicated. Prepare in advance for emergency situations. Keep a list of reputable locksmith phone numbers in your wallet or purse at all times. Or bookmark a website directory of local locksmiths so you can access it easily from your laptop or mobile phone when you need it. Set back some extra cash in your emergency funds for locksmiths. You never know when you’ll need one!
If you plan on having a new garage door installed, the recommendation that you will hear the most is to make sure you have professionals do the job for you. Most companies will limit their warranty if you carry out the installation yourself. Even though you may have done similar installation work previously in your life, you may want to read the fine print of any guarantee/warranty. Besides, wouldn’t you feel better knowing that your garage door was installed properly by a company with proven skills? If anything were to go wrong (which it probably will not), does it not feel good knowing that you got things covered.
Installing such a door is complicated enough, and you are going to need somebody to help you if you are going to install it on yourself. It can be down-right frustrating if you plan on installing a garage door on your own.
The next most frustrating thing about these doors is repairing them. Broken spring repair is not easy, in fact, it could be very dangerous. A garage door broken spring is not something to be messing around with if you do not know what you are doing. Let an experienced repairman do what is necessary to get your door operational again.
Garage door springs have a tendency of snapping back at you, causing them to pinch if you are not careful. This is another reason to let somebody with experience in repairing broken door springs do what needs to be done.
When you are choosing a new or a replacement door for the garage there should be careful planning. Remember, homes that have an attached garage must keep in mind that the garage door is the largest entry way into the home, so security MUST be considered an important factor.
Don’t let a defective door in your garage cause you to feel uneasy when you are away or if your asleep. Don’t let something as important as a broken spring repair cause you to leave your garage unattended. If you need a new door for the garage, don’t hesitate, get one as soon as you possibly can.
Choosing the correct door for your garage in regards of its style, design and security, do not forget about the safety features that are included in just about every garage door made. It is important to know how to maintain, operate and adjust (if need be). Operating the garage door correctly will only make your new door last for years to come.
Make sure all members of the household understand how to operate the door correctly. There’s more to know than just knowing how to open and close it.
Every garage door comes with an owner’s manual. Make sure you go over this owner’s manual with the professional installer before he completes the installment. It’s up to you to ask questions.
Anyone with personal property should be concerned about defending it from theft. Homes, businesses and vehicles are all common areas that are often affected by unwanted individuals breaking in and taking your valuables. Luckily, there are ways in which even someone with an average budget can protect their valuables in their homes, businesses and vehicles by calling a commercial locksmith. Local locksmiths are experts in keeping intruders out. Here are some services that you should ask your local smiths about that can be great ways to protect your home, business or vehicle. have a look at Commercial Locksmith Halifax and see what they have to offer.
Our homes are our safe havens. They are where we go to retreat from the daily grind and where we go to spend time with the people who mean the most. Therefore, the last thing that should be on our minds when we’re in our home is our safety, and the safety of our family and belongings. In order to quell your fears, it’s best to call some local locksmiths about how to protect your home. This could range from something as simple as a deadbolt, to something more serious and technologically advanced like a home surveillance system. To choose the right security option for you, you should take in to consideration the size of your home and what exactly your needs are.
No matter what type of business you operate, security is always a good idea. Whether you are concerned about workplace violence or theft, there is a security system that your local locksmiths will be glad to equip your business with. Daily schedules in the business world are often jam-packed so you shouldn’t have to worry about something happening while you’re handling your schedule. A great method of business security is access control. By a commercial locksmith securing doors with card-access technology, he’s streamlining your business’ security. Traditional lock and key services require a locksmith to change the lock every time you experience employee turnover. You can say goodbye to that inconvenience when you opt for access control.
The vehicle is another area that is often targeted by criminals with no regard for personal property. A locksmith would be a great place to start to get your vehicle safe and protected from theft. If you have had your keys stolen, a good locksmith can create “chip” keys for any vehicle. That means that even if you had a remote to gain entrance to your vehicle, you can still get replacement car keys.
In conclusion, there is nothing better than a feeling of total peace and security. So instead of investing in expensive security equipment, why not nip the problem in the bud and call your local locksmiths. They specialize stopping the intruders at the front door. There is no better security system than a good, old fashioned lock and local locksmiths know how to customize those locks to your specific needs and concerns.
As is common with most home maintenance activities, it is wise to have your entire Vaughan gutter cleaning materials you will need prior to beginning. Preferable materials to have in order to properly clean out your gutter system include a ladder, a pair of sturdy gloves, a bucket with a hook, a gutter scoop, and a water hose. However, you are able to clean your gutter system with alternative “tools.” This is explained further below.
Whoever loves his white clothes or loves wearing white or bright and clean shirts would definitely know the pain of keeping them white. He would have to scrub till his last drop of energy and then would have to ensure if the cuffs and the collars are also matching the same white. The pains of washing white clothes on one side, making sure that these white clothes do not get mixed with other fast colored clothes would surely drive any man up the wall. For the same reason, washing machines have been hailed as one of the most helpful appliances. However, whatever brand of washer you buy when you find them making loud noises or not spinning, then its time you call the leaders in washer repair in your area, Washer Repair Vaughan.
LG washing machine repair or Frigidaire are done by many technicians who may or may not be totally aware of the nooks and corners of the machine and would generally try to be rough with the machine just to make sure they begin working. But where rough handling may be able to work and fix the washing machine’s problem but only a trained mechanic would act very professionally and systematically. A technician trained specifically for a brand like GE, Samsung, or Maytag or even Bosch would know where the problem is without much delay. So, while calling up for Repair do not forget to mention your brand and ask them for Bosch washing machine repair or Samsung washer repair so that they come and have a look and work as per the brand’s requirements.
Apart from washing machines, the company also deals with the repair of other appliances like refrigerators, stoves, cook tops and microwave ovens to name a few. Along with offering you Maytag washer repair, they also would be able to offer maintenance for the brand along with your other appliances. Though signing up for these regular maintenance checks is optional, it is highly recommended. The cost for maintenance checks is very nominal and yes, while signing up for these checks you can also go for scheduling these checks so that you can stay at home on those days or ensure that your appointments do not clash. If you would need any GE Washer repair or replacement then they would recommend that too and offer you replacement parts from reputed and matching brands only. If they find that your washer needs a thorough cleaning up or checking up then they might take it and deliver it within time too so that you can return to washing your clothes and keeping your white clothes white!
Auto Locksmith Richmond Hill – What Do They Do?
Auto locksmiths can open your car doors in the event that you forget your car keys inside your car or anywhere else, and you got yourself locked out. Their primary difference from other locksmiths is that they specialize solely on vehicle locksmith services. No matter what time you need them; they will be able to be of service to you, wherever you are. They are fully equipped with all the necessary mechanical and electrical tools to handle the job with speed. Seattle locksmith will be able to break the easiest of vehicular locks whether it is automated or not. They are even able to repair or re-configure all sorts of vehicular lock mechanisms using keys. So if you ever find yourself in the middle of an incident involving a vehicular lockout, getting it fixed by an auto locksmith Richmond Hill will be easier that hiring a tow truck bring it to a shop. Professional automotive locksmiths are always equipped to repair any kind of eccentricity that anyone may have done to your car’s lock system.
Auto Locksmith Seattle is also able to open any of your locked car doors without compromising the integrity of your car system. If your car key has broken off in the door lock and you find that there is no extra key available to be of use. Auto locksmiths is also able to replace and repair your car’s ignition locks no matter how old or new model of car you’re using. They can even manually retrieve your car key that has broken into your car’s ignition or door lock. On another note, if you are in possession of an extremely old car, auto locksmiths will still be able to repair or replace your car’s ignition and door lock by replicating it for you, should the same model be no longer in circulation. Re-keying you car’s door, ignition, and trunk locks, locksmith settle WA can do it all for you.
Because the job of an auto locksmith requires and is very much related to a vehicle’s security, they are able to provide services any time you need them to, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. You may even depend on them doing auto locksmith services on weekends and Holidays too. When choosing, ensure that they provide only the highest quality of service and that they will fit your demands quite nicely. To do this, ask around about the best auto locksmith services available in your area. If you are living within the Seattle area, you might want to try the services of auto locksmith Seattle WA, who will be able to deal with any of your needs at any time, and at a very competitive price. They will also be able to answer your call at the soonest possible time, therefore alleviating any need for you to wait, and giving you access to your property sooner.
While most all emergency locksmith services could make claims regarding their reliability and honesty, do not believe everything you hear. Some locksmiths have a tendency to overcharge for their services, or falsely tell the consumer the project is much more complicated. To avoid being the victim of fraud, you should research each of the automotive locksmith centers you interview thoroughly before making your final decision. The techniques below will assist you in your search for a reliable and trustworthy home safe locksmith like Residential Locksmith Waterloo technician’s.
Prior to resuming the project, analyze the contract completely. Info buried in the fine print can prove to be costly if you do not discover it before the written agreement is signed. Do not hesitate to ask your emergency locksmith service any questions you could have before you sign the contract; it’s his responsibility to address all of your issues. When up-selling to a buyer, be promotional, but not pushy. High-quality emergency locksmith services are in constant high demand. It could often be a great idea to hire a licensed automotive locksmith center who’s in demand. It might be tough to get him to agree to your renovation, as your job may be smaller than what he has a tendency to work on. Use your instincts and good sense to decide on what home safe locksmith is best for your project.
When interviewing emergency locksmith services, always take proposals from at least three companies. When reviewing the proposals, you should not automatically accept the lowest bid. A local automotive locksmith center who proposals higher tends to do better work. See to it your service provider shows the cost break down. It could seem a simple matter to find a skilled emergency locksmith service, but doing so requires great care. Talk with your friends and family; see if anyone could provide a recommendation. Another piece of recommendation is to attend renovation conventions to discover very popular automotive locksmith centers. This could also give you access to many home safe locksmiths prior to you select one.
Industrial Locksmiths are in demand at this time. At first, locksmiths made use of to shell out days in designing keys and locks. Nowadays, locksmiths are more commercial and technical persons. Business Locksmiths are more technical people today these days. They as well as their knowledge will make master pieces from lock and keys. Men and women typically go for this expert named Commercial Locksmith since it offers them comfort. Acquiring your valuables protected by someone that is aware of his occupation completely and do that in a scientific manner is demand of your hour nowadays.
These industrial locksmiths do every little thing doable to meet up the expectation ranges of their shoppers. They operate for days, layout the product and strive for ultimate fulfillment of their consumers. Commercial locksmiths not just make locks and keys. They consider other measures also to protect customer’s residence and valuables. Services like CCTV and alarms are also offered by them.
They also provide companies to guard your motor vehicles from getting stolen. With fast response for your query and instantaneous service, business locksmiths offer the best services to their prospects. With mobile providers obtainable with these industrial locksmiths one can get the reassurance they will need in today’s quickly pace daily life. Suppose you will get locked with your personal workplace or your vehicle keys are inside the car or truck and you also have locked it from outside, these locksmiths can arrive on spot to help you with their mobile companies. Now, you do not have to break open the door of your workplace or crash the window of the motor vehicle to obtain the keys.
People these days are extremely conscious about their enterprises. A good security program talks with regards to the brand worth at the same time. With good installation of CCTV and alarm technique one can focus on the operate instead than around the security of merchandise and workplace. 1 really should constantly ensure that submit getting these safety gadgets installed, they must be replaced or upgraded with time.
Besides this, one particular could also consider some techniques individually to prevent any wrong performing at his work location. One particular need to try and hold light coating of film to the windows. The windows of the office need to not be clear and see by. This will likely enable their workplace from suspicious individuals who attempt to sneak in. Aside from this, alarms ought to be checked appropriately post installation. Also, drills should really be acted to help keep items fresh in employees thoughts.
Business Locksmiths at Locksmith Bradford are skilled people that are eager to help people who want the most effective providers. With assortment of designs and engineering, industrial locksmiths can produce a products as per customer’s demands and fears. Commercial Locksmith Bradford have their office and showrooms . They render their providers across Australia. They may be a contact or an internet query away. With so much to supply, this company requires pride within the type of providers it gives to its shoppers.
You have locks in your house, office, and car; this pretty much makes it important to have a good locksmith at your assistance readily. Why hiring locksmiths is essential? Simply because, you never know when odds might strike; you might accidentally secure yourself out of doors, break the key into the lock of your office, or lock your key inside the vehicle. These are times when you need help of skilled locksmiths, whether be it about car key replacement or any other repairing job, you can be sure of finding best assistance in all such works. Moreover, these professionals’ not just help you get in your home or car when your keys are left inside, but they also ensure that the existing locks are working just fine and also add security checks to keep everything safe and secure.
Ensure you are Working with a Licensed and Insured Professional – Locks ensure safety to your house or office; therefore, make sure to work with professionals who are licensed and insured. This ensures that the task of unlocking your house or office or even car key replacement bolton is in safe hands.
Be Sure about the Kind of Work they Deliver – This is again a priority; unless you are sure about the kind of work that is delivered, it gets tough to hire a professional for the task. A reputed firm or a professional usually specializes in both commercial and residential fields. Additionally, it is also important to ensure that the professional of your choice can take care of all works ranging from key replacement to door repairs.
Inquire about the Rates – Before hiring a professional, it is essential for you to be sure about the rates charged by the locksmiths. While this certainly doesn’t help you to determine the quality of the service offered, but it helps you to choose the professional within budget.
Ensure about the Skills and Knowledge of the Professional – With locksmiths, you must make every effort to be sure about the skills and knowledge of the professionals. It is essential for the locksmith to have proper knowledge with respect to the advanced mechanisms that are in vogue in the market. For instance, if it about door repairs, make sure that the professional has good knowledge about repairing door locks.
Following these steps would ensure that you get to hire the best locksmith at your assistance. The idea is to adopt a safe and pro-active approach when it comes to getting in touch with a locksmith with tasks like car key replacement or door lock repair. Doing the research carefully will always help you to avoid victims and be sure about the safety and security of your belongings.
Sophisticated technological innovation and new age security have entirely redefined the word “24-hour locksmith”. This profession needs a great offer of examine, approach, expertise, and expertise. A specialist locksmith in today’s era does not lack in information and skill on how to recover passwords for complex password-guarded locks and how to fix keyless entry methods. The emergency service furnished by a reliable 24-hour locksmith is the answer to any variety of lockout circumstances.
Why would you need to have a respected 24-hour locksmith? There are a number of distinct sorts of lockout and important breaking scenarios that can transpire that are past our control. You might get locked out of your property in the middle of the evening. You may possibly have left your keys in the ignition slot and you learn that you are locked out of your automobile. You may possibly uncover on your own in a circumstance wherein the keys break and you don’t have a spare. What ever situation you get caught up in, an emergency locksmith is what you want. It’s a very good factor there are 24-hour locksmith firms ready to serve you anytime you will need them. If you don’t have their quantity memorized, you can often do an on-line search or seem via the phone directory to locate the a single closest to wherever you will need their providers.
What can an emergency locksmith do for you? A expert locksmith has the ability and equipment essential to modify the locks at your function location or property, duplicate keys, and retrieve previous password entries when you’ve forgotten them entirely. A locksmith can both set you up with a new password or recover your past password. A skilled and seasoned 24-hour locksmith can even substitute your complete security method.
In situation you get locked out of your automobile, following placing a call, an emergency 24-hour auto locksmith business will dispatch a expert to swiftly aid you open your door and get you safely back on the road. A locksmith is outfitted with the instruments need to have to re-critical your trunk, door, or even the ignition. In scenario of a keyless entry program that operates on transponder chips, an knowledgeable locksmith can effortlessly substitute the technique at a fraction of the price that a vehicle manufacturer would usually cost.
A 24-hour locksmith corporation offers you emergency service you can count on anytime and anyplace. Finding a trustworthy 24-hour locksmith business may possibly be a challenge since there are numerous that you could pick from. Select a locksmith that has a popularity of delivering quality and effective providers.
Did you know that 85% of burglaries take place in metropolitan cities? It is therefore extremely essential that you keep your home and office secured so that you can prevent any random person from intruding into them. Locksmith Halifax is providing this service to Nova Scotia’s largest city. There are a lot of advanced technology locking systems which are available in the present times and their installation and repair is what the locksmiths do. But what then is the requirement of a 24 hour locksmith? Read on to know more.
While you have made it perfectly sure that you and your belongings are safe, there might be times when you either forget your key to the main door somewhere else or simply lock yourself out. What would you do then? This is when the 24 hour locksmith can come to your rescue. They will be available whenever you want them to get you out of all kinds of security related troubles. Whether you are stuck inside or outside your house, these 24 hour locksmiths will always come to your rescue.
Apart from this, they also specialize in installing various kinds of security systems. It is very important that you hire the services of a locksmith for this kind of work so that the security systems are able to work effectively. If you want to become your own locksmith to save a few bucks, chances are that you would be exposing yourself to a far greater loss which could even amount to thousands of dollars.
In case you need to change the key to your lock, these guys would provide you with a new one on the spot. Thereby, you will be saving up on a lot of time and the security of your home and office would be absolutely ensured. If you have lost the keys to your car and need to replace them immediately, you can depend on them entirely.
While choosing a locksmith, you need to make sure that he has a proper license. Apart from the license, he should be experienced and efficient at what he does. A locksmith of good repute is reliable as well as well versed with the latest technology related to security systems.
If you are on the lookout for reliable 24 hour locksmiths, call Halifax xpress Locksmiths. Apart from being 24 hour locksmiths, they also have a wide range of superior quality security related products which they will install as well as repair, if the need be.
1. They can get you into your car or home when you are locked out. Of course, this is often the first thing people think of when they think of calling on locksmith services. If you need into your car or home and don’t have a key, a locksmith can help you out. In addition to getting you into your automobile or residence, they can make you copies of your keys so that hopefully it doesn’t happen again.
2. They can improve on the security of your home. A locksmith can check the locks on your doors and windows to make sure they are secure. They can also install new locks if you decide you want them. Many locksmiths offer a variety of options when it comes to securing your home, so ask about them.
3. They can help you with commercial electronic locks. Locksmiths aren’t just for your personal car or residence. They can help you at your workplace, too. Some locksmiths even offer high tech systems, such as buzzer activation systems and card swipe access systems, making the workplace that much more secure.
4. Locksmiths can also provide security systems to put your mind at ease. This includes high tech security that can alert a central monitoring station to a break-in and even surveillance cameras. Having the right security system in place can help protect your property and the people you care about.
5. One of the best things about locksmiths is that they are available whenever you need them. It doesn’t matter if it is on the weekend or in the middle of the night, a locksmith can come and help you with your lock problem. Some companies don’t even charge extra for nighttime or weekend emergencies.
These are 5 ways that a locksmith in Stoney Creek could easily become your hero. If you are in need of security help or help with a lockoutArticle Search, consider calling your locksmith.
No mater you are a homeowner or a renter, it is necessary that you keep in mind that your home and all property is safe and secure. However, what is the best ways to insure this security? Locksmith St Catharines is a choice above the rest.
The most appropriate and the best solution for this problem is that you hire or contact a person who is professional and experienced in this field like locksmith. Unfortunately, only few people know about the services of these professionals. However, here are some important ways through which you will be able to know that how a locksmith can enhance security of your home and property and how he can save it? Many people know about residential locksmith, which can help you to get in or outside your home when you have locked yourself in or outside your home and have lost the keys. However when you have lost all your keys at once that professional will take cylinder of the lock outside and will decode it or will open its pin. Now from this pin or code that professional will make key for you’re this lock same like the original which you have lost. You can get as many copies of keys as many you want.
Another very important service, which this professional can provide and many people know about this service, is up gradation and replacement of locks. As due to advancement in technology locks and security systems are changing day by day, so a professional locksmith will keep his knowledge and training up to date according to new needs. If you want to save your home and property along with time and money, then its better for you that, you upgrade locks and security system at the time of their replacement when a professional is replacing it. Many people do not know about one most important service of this professional. The service that professional can also install and fix locks, security systems, and hardware related to this fixation and installation. When you are building new home and installation of new locks is the main problem at that time, then this professional can solve your this problem by installing dead bolt. These professionals have all necessary tools, which are helpful in installation of any kind of lock and security system.
Another important service, which a residential locksmith can provide, is the installation of locks and security systems on cabinet wood doors and windows. Main purpose of these locks is to keep people away or outside the cabinet. Like children will remain away from all kind of things and chemical which are in cabinet and are dangerous for them. Similarly, teenagers will also remain away from any kind of liquor. Therefore, in both these condition a professional will install lock and security system on cabinet wood doors, he will also make sure that doorsFind Article, and wood of doors will not damage. These professionals can also work on safe and open places as well because the main purpose of residential locksmith is to help the people who are in trouble in their own homes.
There are some people, no matter what anyone tells them who believe they can do just about anything. They can detail their own car. They can paint their on walls. They can repurpose their own furniture. They even believe they can fix any electrical issue. Of course, there are people who are skilled in many different areas. However, having this ability is extremely rare. In actuality many people are only a jack of several trades and maybe a master of 1 or 2, if any. Having the mentality that you are able to do just about anything without help from a professional is something that can really backfire. Although some people may think that this is a false statement, there are many cases where this can prove true. Locksmith Brantford has seen it before, in fact they have seen it all!
For example, someone could be locked out of their car and decide that they don’t want to pay a locksmith to come and professionally pop the lock in order for them to get inside their car. Instead, they decide that they can do the job just as well as the locksmith can. So, they try to devise a plan to get the car door open. Because they have never done this job before, they conduct a quick internet search to find some tips. They end up finding an idea that advises them to pop the lock using a hanger. So, they struggle with this task for about 30 minutes as they try to complete a job that a locksmith can complete in less than 3 minutes. They eventually realize they will not be able to get the door unlocked.
In the process they also realize that they have caused damage to their car window and some parts of the interior, which was caused by the hanger. This is just one example of how people can end up doing way more harm than good when they try to do a job that they aren’t skilled enough to do. Sometimes, people must realize that some things are well worth the cost. Everything is not going to be free. Some things that are free end up costing more later on.
So, before you or anyone you know tries to become their own professional locksmith, think about how much more harm and damage you could actually be causing. Sometimes, it’s better to pay the price up front than to have to pay it later on up the road.
The next time you find yourself locked out of your home or carFind Article, don’t hesitate to call a professional. It will save you a lot of time and reduce your chances of having a major headache!
Locksmiths are, by nature, genial people. They’re so kind that they’ll drive to your house just to open the door for you. Of course, you have to call them first and tell them you locked yourself out. After you get past that embarrassing moment, you’ll be glad you got to know this friendly, professional technician who is on call 24 hours a day, that is Locksmith Waterdown!
A trained, professional locksmith in Waterdown should be able to do all of the following: install locks, deadbolts, and mechanical (manual) or electronic locking devices; modify and/or repair these devices; re key locks; and produce or program new cards or keys to replace lost items. A locksmith should also be available to respond to emergency calls when customers are locked out of their homes or cars through either forgetfulness or lock malfunction.
Locks are probably the best and most basic security item to start with. “Most basic” these days does not, however, mean easy for would-be thieves to get around. It simply means that they are relatively simple to install as well as cost-effective. A residential locksmith in Waterdown California can come to your home and assess what type of locks are best for your home. They will take into account all points of access to your home and its outbuildings, as well as any interior security needs.
Decorative hardware means anything from cabinet hardware to gate hardware, doorbells, and about a million more things. More often than not, any locksmith in Waterdown will offer decorative hardware to go with your fancy new mortise locks. Decorative hardware, while a seemingly superfluous item on the list of home security items, is just as important as your deadbolts. If you have an excellent deadbolt, but a handle that is easily broken, then it’s possible for an intruder to unlock your deadbolt from the inside. You want high quality materials protecting your home, so why not go ahead and purchase the ones your locksmith suggests?
While a locksmith in Waterdown might not offer home security systems like ADT, they will more than likely sell things like electronic locks, remote control key access, and more. Some commercial locksmiths are equipped to handle even the most advanced systems that incorporate facial-recognition technology or retinal scanners.
Do you have expensive jewelry? Maybe you collect coins, stamps or other small valuables. Even if you just keep crucial papers or work product at home, you want some secure place to hold them. A locksmith in Waterdown can offer you several options for safes. They can install these safes and even crack them if you forget the code or combination! If you have larger valuables, an in-home vault is also a security option.
Most residential locksmiths perform the same functions as commercial locksmiths, that is, they secure property and buildings and the items therein. Commercial locksmiths more often deal with high-tech locks like card-key systems, electronically coded locks, and even biometric locks. But the double-sided padlock is as much a staple of the commercial locksmith as the residential technician. Commercial locksmiths in Waterdown can also perform security assessments of your business, and they can respond in an emergency.
Automotive locksmiths deal with a slightly different set of puzzles at times. Very few cars have plain old lock-and-key systems. At the very least, the locks are remotely controlled and most cars’ computers are programmed not to start the vehicle unless the operator has the correct electronic chip along with the key. Despite some differences with commercial and residential locks, however, Waterdown CA locksmiths can almost always re key, repair, open or replace automotive door and trunk locks and even replace the ignition cylinder.
All of these products and services are available at any local Waterdown Locksmith. Your security system needs to be as up to date as possibleFind Article, to protect your family and your property. What’s the best way to keep you and your loved ones safe? Contact a locksmith in Waterdown; they’ll be right there with you to secure your home so that you never have to worry.
Locksmith’s take security of your home and property very seriously. In fact it’s our number one concern when it comes to professional locksmith services. Always locksmith residential locksmith services can substantially improve the security in and around your house. Services include lock changes, lock change, lock replacement, lock rekeying, security safes, grilles and gates and gates. With always locksmith emergency locksmith service you can assured that they will respond immediately to any emergency and an experienced locksmith will be with you within 30 to 45 minutes, any time of day and help you get back to normal. So if you have locked your keys in your wallet, handbag or case. Wether you need to deal with tenant eviction issues, or seek to maximize the security around your premises – Locksmith Cambridge has the solution.
At always advise you the most suitable products and systems for your business premises, giving you long lasting peace of mind. The locksmith specialize in lock replacement, lock re key, open car for car lockout, open trunk, ignition key replacement, home security options, car key programming, high security lock installation, intercom systems, CCTV, surveillance camera, emergency locksmith, gates installation, garage doors repair, lock out, lock picking and key cutting and any other locksmith services. In addition to bring professional locksmith, as reputation and professional technicians they should also pride themselves on delivering consistently high quality customer service. Automobile needs can be made simple with professional technicians who will able to help you anything from key duplication for lost keys to extraction of broken ignition keys. They can even assist with GM VAT keys, high security vehicle locks and open trunk transponder chip keys.
Some locksmiths possess these skills and other from business relationship with companies or individuals with these specialties. Locksmith may be commercial, mobile, institutional or investigational or may specialize in one aspect of the skill, such as an automotive lock specialist or a safe technician. Many are also security consultants, but not every security consultant has the skills and knowledge of a locksmith. Locksmith is frequently certified in specific skill areas or to a level of skill within the trade. This is separate from certificates of completion of training courses. In determining skill levelsComputer Technology Articles, certification from manufacturers or locksmith association. | 2019-04-21T10:42:42Z | http://www.channel6000.com/page/49/ |
Working with experts in the security field, including the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Jacob Engineering, and Parsons Engineering, B.I.G. Enterprises, Inc.(http://www.bigbooth.com) recently manufactured and delivered a series of bi-level, extreme weather booths to U.S. Canadian border check points. Prior to this recent delivery, similar booths have been delivered to the U.S. Mexican border.
This booth is situated inside a large enclosure where trucks and other vehicles can be inspected thoroughly despite grueling weather. The bi-level booth is unique: it facilitates ground level, visual inspection of vehicles, and gives guards access to upper portions of commercial trucks and containers via an interior stairway leading to an elevated section. Thus, security personnel have a truly a ?top-down? perspective ? a distinct advantage.
When it comes to border security, guard booths and vehicle inspection strategies are a first line of defense. Security personnel, including agents from DHS and CBP, need facilities that allow them to function effectively in harsh climatic conditions, while giving them a physical advantage over potential threats. These security structures and control centers must be fabricated from the best materials, and incorporate correctly-sized HVAC systems for adequate climate management. These booths must be configuration-friendly as they must house monitors, duress buttons, communication and surveillance equipment.
The B.I.G. bi-level units are fully-fabricated and ready to install, they have a high level of ballistics resistance, high-output roof-mounted HVAC systems, backup heat, and heated floor mats for severe winter weather. They also contain an extensive electrical infrastructure. The conduits, junction boxes, and other components support a flexible array of alarm, camera and communication equipment. Pre-wiring makes installation a snap. Punishing environmental conditions are no match for these innovative, bi-level booths.
B.I.G. Enterprises is pleased to add the bi-level, extreme weather booth to its fabrication arsenal. B.I.G. guard shelters meet the exacting demands of regulatory agencies, security directors, and facilities managers.
Since 1963, B.I.G. Enterprises, Inc. of California has engineered and manufactured a comprehensive line of high quality, high-end, prefabricated security and revenue control booths. Their state-of-the-art selection of pre-assembled buildings include guardhouses, cashier booths, portable shelters, and a variety of custom-made kiosks.
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SwingSetMall.com has donated a swing set and accessories to a soup kitchen built by the Emmy award winning ABC television show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The entire set and swing set accessories were delivered to a ranch owned by Jusst Sooup Ministry in Milton, Delaware on August 31st, 2011. Jusst Sooup Ministry donates more than 175 gallons of soup each week out of the kitchen of Dale Dunning.
For the renovation project, other businesses donated television, Internet, phone, and cleaning services for the property. The makeover will be featured on a special Thanksgiving edition of the show, airing Friday, November 18, from 8:00-10:00pm, ET on ABC.
Glenn Stockton, President of SwingSetMall.com, said, ?Our company has grown by selling swing sets and parts to clients around the world. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to donate the complete swing set, not just because of the heartfelt deeds of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, but so children can enjoy their time at the Jusst Sooup Ranch.?
Through its online store, SwingSetMall.com sells over 1,000 products, including various swing set parts. These include slides, climbs, bridges and tunnels, and roofs. Also included in the company?s product line are child-friendly zip lines and accessories such as hand grips, steering wheels, play telescopes and periscopes, as well as monkey bars. Customers can purchase complete sets or buy each piece of swing set hardware separately to create an ideal outdoor experience for kids.
In addition, SwingSetMall.com offers customers a low price guarantee that ensures if buyers find a lower price within 30 days, that cost will be matched, and beat by 10% of the difference. Customers and charitable organizations alike have benefited, and the retailer has even significantly discounted its products to organizations in the past. Visit http://www.swingsetmall.com to learn more about the company and its products.
Founded in 1989, SwingSetMall.com is a family-owned business that sells swing set hardware, parts, and accessories to families, schools, parks, and churches worldwide. It also runs a convenient shopping site with secure payment processing and customer service provided by knowledgeable sales representatives. Shipments are made throughout the U.S. as well as international locations.
About ABC-TV?s ?Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?
The Emmy award winning reality program ?Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,? now in its 9th season, is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. It?s executive-produced by Brady Connell and George Verschoor. David Goldberg is Chairman, Endemol North America. Episodes air Friday nights from 8:00 ? 9:00pm, ET on ABC.
Stio Roofing & Construction (http://www.stioroofingandconstruction.com) has been active in the Crookston, Minnesota area, helping with roof repair and replacement after the severe storms and resulting damage the community suffered on July 23 of this year.
Many homeowners need to have their roofs inspected due to the severity of the storms passing through the area, to assess damage that is not always easily seen. The hail, ranging from marble-sized to larger than golf ball-sized, was accompanied by severe winds and heavy rains in the July storm.
Stio Roofing & Construction has a history of community involvement. In August 2007, Stio was selected and volunteered its services on the Extreme Makeover Home Edition project in Minnetonka, MN. An incredible 5,600 square foot, 7-bedroom, 5-bath new home was built for the Swenson-Lee family there in just one week. This project required tremendous coordination and cooperation, and resulted in a great new home for a very deserving family.
Stio is bringing this same care and dedication to the Crookston area, working closely with local vendors including Northern Lumber Company and the Crookston Building Center and assisting homeowners with their insurance claims to ensure they’re treated fairly.
While insurance providers like State Farm have set up temporary offices in the city, homeowners can benefit from the expertise of a contractor who has experience in working with the insurance companies. Stio Roofing & Construction is helping Crookston homeowners by performing free, thorough inspections of the homeowner’s roof. Then, Stio is working alongside the homeowner or directly with their insurance company to negotiate the claim.
Stio Roofing & Construction has built its stellar reputation in the industry by its overall excellence and customer satisfaction. Stio’s customers give the company consistently high marks in quality, reliability, cost, and overall satisfaction. The company uses the finest materials and provides the highest level of service and workmanship to ensure each roof will protect and add to the value of that home for years to come. Stio provides a written guarantee for the work they perform.
About Stio Roofing and Construction: Stio Roofing & Construction is a Roofing & Siding Insurance Claims Expert, assisting homeowners and communities with all types of roofing, siding, windows, chimney tuck pointing and rebuilding, gutters, downspouts, and custom decks. Stio is a second-generation, family-owned and operated company with more than 25 years of industry experience.
Stio Roofing & Construction is a Bonded and Insured Contractor, Minnesota License #20626947. The company has an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Stio Roofing and Construction is also a member of the Minnesota Association of Exterior Specialists.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is an award-winning reality television series that changes the lives of deserving families in need. BidForMaterials.com is proud to be apart of this rewarding process, which provides home renovations across the nation for families that have faced some sort of significant hardship.
The Lutz family was surprised at the Yankees versus Mets game on June 20th where it was announced that they would be featured on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. During this first build of the upcoming season, which took place in East Setauket, New York, we saw an unbelievable amount of altruism from construction companies across Long Island that led to a successful completion of a new home.
Alure Home Improvements was selected an 8th time as the contractor in charge of the build. Prior to the build, BidForMaterials.com received a material list from Alure with materials that were in need through donation. The registered suppliers in the BidForMaterials.com network were notified of the opportunity to help a family in need. As a registered supplier you have access to the material lists, which included everything from HVAC supplies to roof supplies.
The amount of companies that volunteered was truly inspiring. As a result, BidForMaterials.com acquired donations in the areas of sanitary systems, aggregates, plumbing, granite slabs, porcelain tiles, electric, lumber and landscape lighting for the Lutz family’s new home.
With the building of the house finished and the Lutz family moved in, Extreme Makeover moved on to Baltimore, Maryland, with construction of the local Boys Hope Girls Hope Chapter. BidForMaterials.com (http://www.bidformaterials.com) continued with its work in Baltimore, seeking volunteers and materials, and has moved onto the next location in Houston, Texas. This is truly a life-changing experience, not only for the recipients but for volunteers as well. Please visit BidForMaterials.com if you are interested in joining the effort.
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Four Seasons donated its popular Elegant Living Sun and Stars sunroom and two floor-to-ceiling glass walls for the project to help a deserving family. The homeowners on ABC’s Emmy-award winning “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (now in its eighth season) always have a heartening story. Heroes, community leaders, and a plethora of inspirational families are truly the heart and soul of the show. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition truly knows the meaning of the saying, “Home is where the heart is”.
In this episode, Extreme Makeover moved the existing home and built an entirely new house for Bill, Adair, Peighton and Garrett Grommesh. Bill and Adair’s son Garrett suffers from spin bifida and is confined to a wheelchair. The sunroom Four Seasons Sunrooms donated encloses a swimming pool Garrett can use for year-round year-round physical therapy.
“We are extremely grateful for Four Season’s willingness to contribute to such a wonderful community project. It is because of the generosity from businesses like Four Seasons that ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ is able to continue helping deserving individuals,” Diane Korman, Senior Producer, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” said.
The sunroom provided for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is only one of the more than 30 different models in the company’s most comprehensive line of Patio Rooms, Sunrooms and Conservatories. The company offers thousands of different configurations of year-round glass room additions in framing materials as diverse as aluminum, vinyl and natural wood.
ConservaGlass Select ™ with Stay-Clean Technology excels in all the categories important to homeowners, including maintenance, energy efficiency, safety, strength and longevity. ConservaGlass Select ™ helps keep Four Seasons’ room additions warmer in winter and cooler in summer, and its advanced construction techniques promise a lifetime of outstanding performance and low maintenance.
For extreme applications, ConservaGlass Select™ has R-Values as high as 7.7 in triple-glazed units and are 100% higher than the competition’s standard double-glazed glass, keeping sunrooms warmer in winter.
Relative Heat Gain: ConservaGlass Select ™ Blocks 85% of the Sun’s Solar Heat!
ConservaGlass Select’s™ Relative Heat Gain as low as 29 on some of its triple-glazed glass ensures a sunroom can be effectively cooled in all four seasons. Even its double-glazed roof glass has an outstanding Relative Heat Gain of only 39.
The exterior coatings on ConservaGlass Select™ are not magic, but they’re close to it! Using a patented coating process, invisible, durable and permanent coatings of both silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide are applied to the outside of the glass, permanently keeping the glass cleaner longer.
Four Seasons Sunrooms’ ConservaGlass Select™ is warranted to continue to perform well for a lifetime. ConservaGlass Select™ is covered against any manufacturer’s defect for the lifetime of the Four Seasons Sunroom. This warranty covers not only the original purchaser, but is transferable to future homeowners, ensuring Four Seasons Sunrooms maintain their value for a lifetime.
“The outstanding characteristics of ConservaGlass Select, ensure that Four Seasons Sunrooms can be used in any room application imaginable,” Ruppel said. “From pool enclosures like this one on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, to family rooms, dining rooms, kitchen additions, bedrooms, home gyms and home offices – the applications for a Four Seasons Sunroom are limited only by your imagination”.
Four Seasons manufactures and ships the premier year-round glass room additions, sunrooms, conservatories and patio enclosures; replacement windows and doors; patio covers and carports; screen and porch enclosures; wood and aluminum pergolas; and retractable awnings to over 300 independently owned and operated franchises, dealers and company owned and operated locations worldwide. Four Seasons has been setting the benchmark for quality and innovation at competitive prices other companies aspire to achieve for over 35 years.
The Emmy award winning reality program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” now entering its 8th season, is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. It’s executive-produced by Brady Connell and George Verschoor. David Goldberg is Chairman, Endemol North America. The show airs Sundays from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET on ABC.
NOTE TO EDITORS: High-resolution (300+ dpi) images are available to augment and illustrate this information.
Just minutes away from Florida’s busiest airport, an oasis has emerged for sophisticated corporate travelers who demand the sumptuous luxury of a resort, but don’t want to sacrifice the modern conveniences of a business hotel. The Renaissance Orlando Hotel-Airport (http://www.RenaissanceOrlandoAP.com), having recently completed a multi-million dollar top-to-bottom renovation, provides both – fusing lavish yet sleek furnishings with the newest technologies, allowing guests to escape when they need to, but connect when they have to.
Renovations to the nine-story, 297-room property have already been recognized with Marriott International’s 2007 “Best Renovation of a Renaissance Hotel” and are highlighted by completely redesigned common areas, meeting space and accommodations. These spaces combine contemporary elegance and priceless works of art brushed with bold colors and the modern conveniences business travelers demand to create a stylish and sophisticated ambiance. | 2019-04-20T19:07:31Z | http://orlando-roofing-companies-roofing-orlando-fl-roofing-contractor.com/tag/extreme/ |
Of the roughly $9 million UB Athletics collects from a student athletic fee, 92 percent goes toward servicing the Division I varsity programs and its 535 student-athletes, and just 8 percent goes toward servicing the recreation services available to all 30,000 students.
Marcus Hutchins, who worked for UB recreation for 16 years, recently visited SUNY College at Brockport’s $44 million, 138,000-square-foot student recreation center and had one thought: How can UB not have this?
The center opened in 2012 and includes a state-of-the-art fitness center, weight room, 200-meter running track and courts for basketball, volleyball, badminton, tennis and soccer.
UB – unlike some of its fellow SUNY schools and all of its athletic conference rivals – has no standalone recreation center for its 30,000 students. Instead, the university crams the majority of its recreation services, like fitness and intramural sports, into Alumni Arena, which also houses its Division I varsity programs, and into Clark Hall, a nearly 80-year-old rec building on South Campus.
UB is one of a fraction of universities that does not separate its Division I athletics program and its on-campus recreation into two departments, and lets the athletics department decide how much of the $9 million student athletic fee goes toward D-I athletics and how much goes toward recreation programs. UB does not have a recreation fee.
This past year, the breakdown was simple: 92 percent of the student fee went to the D-I athletics programs, while 8 percent went to recreation services, according to UB’s comprehensive fee website and the athletic department’s 2014-15 athletic fee expenditures.
The money breaks down like this: Recreation services, which are available for all 30,000 students, got $712,069, or $23 per student. The D-I athletics programs, which have 535 student-athletes, got roughly $8.4 million, or $15,700 per player. The football program alone received $1,130,140 from student fees.
And while last school year the athletic department had a $32.1 million budget, which was close to 70 percent subsidized by student fees and direct university support, recreation and intramurals operated with just a $1.8 million budget.
Students insist the numbers tell the story. Clearly, they say, recreation is not a priority for UB Athletics, which has pushed to improve the national exposure of its 20 Division I varsity sports.
UB Athletic Director Allen Greene admits UB’s recreation facilities are inadequate and less sophisticated than those at other SUNY schools. He also acknowledges UB needs a standalone student recreation center. But he insists UB Athletics has done what it can to fund recreation with the lowest athletic fee among the four SUNY university centers and without a standalone rec fee.
Students say the current athletics and recreation model simply doesn’t work. They say there’s not enough fitness equipment and space for students looking for a workout, nor enough courts and fields to accommodate UB’s 32 club teams and 19 intramural sport leagues. They say UB’s main recreational field, Kunz Stadium, has an inadequate turf that is patched with duct tape and leads to dozens of ankle sprains.
Club teams also question the athletics department’s policy of charging additional usage fees when every undergraduate already pays the athletic fee of $267.25 per semester. Athletics charges clubs $54 for an hour in the pool and will implement new fees next year for teams hosting games and tournaments on athletics-owned fields.
Students have begun to push back.
The executive board of the Student Association, UB’s student government that funds 32 sport club teams, has formally proposed that UB separate recreation services from UB Athletics and house it under Student Affairs, as most universities do.
The board proposes a lowered $240.35 athletic fee, and a new $158 recreation fee that it said would allow Student Affairs to build a standalone recreation facility on campus while also improving existing facilities. UB is in talks with SUNY to split the fee, and the SUNY Chancellor will make a final decision this summer.
UB’s recreation dilemma highlights the burden heavily subsidized college athletics can have on other areas of campuses like student recreation, and shows the conflict that can come about when a Division I athletic department has to directly compete for funding and space with student recreation.
Even if SUNY approves the creation of a UB recreation fee, which many expect it to, recreation will still be under the control of athletics. SA President Minahil Khan, who worked with her fellow board members Sean Kaczmarek and Joe Pace to propose a split fee, worries this model will never work, as UB Athletics will always have to prioritize athletics over recreation. She questions why UB, considered the flagship of SUNY, is unable to have adequate recreation for its students.
Students say recreation is a major part of the university experience and adequate recreation services should come standard with a tuition bill.
A 2013 survey of more than 33,000 college students conducted by NIRSA, formerly known as the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, found that 75 percent of college students use their on-campus recreational facilities, programs and services.
The study found benefits, with high percentages of students saying recreation improved things like their personal well-being, stress management and concentration.
It also found that recreation impacted student recruiting and retention, with 68 percent of students saying a campuses’ recreational facility influenced their decision of where to attend college, and 74 percent saying it influenced their decisions to continue attending that college.
Some universities have taken notice.
Stony Brook, a SUNY university center like UB, spent $37.5 million in 2012 to create an 85,000-square-foot recreation center. UB’s fellow Mid-American Conference universities have also invested in their recreational facilities, with Ball State opening a $40 million rec center in 2010 and Bowling Green spending $14.8 million to upgrade its rec center in 2014.
And students have proven they’d be willing to pay for such a facility at UB.
UB worked with a consultant to determine student support for a standalone recreation center in 2002 and 2013 – with 72 percent of students in the latest survey saying they’d pay a $129 to $165 recreation fee per semester to fund recreational enhancements at UB.
“If I’m going to college already and I’m taking out loans to go here, if I have to pay another $150 a semester for recreation, granted I’m biased because I use recreation, people aren’t even going to notice that,” said John Grasso, a junior engineering major and member of UB’s men’s rugby club team.
UB has made some improvements to Clark Hall in recent years, like renovations to its pool and bringing in new equipment for its fitness center, as well as opening a team store in Alumni Arena to generate recreation revenue. But students say minor fixes are not enough.
They say a standalone recreation center is needed. So, if students want and are willing to pay for a recreation facility, why hasn’t it happened yet?
The UB men’s rugby club team does more than what some might expect a club to do.
Two years ago the team moved into the Rugby East Conference of DI-A College Rugby, and plays against varsity programs like Army West Point and Wheeling Jesuit.
SA sports club teams, like men’s rugby and lacrosse that play at the national level, say they’re held back by the state of recreation on campus. The tension was visible, audible and all in one room back in February, as approximately 70 students, mostly SA sport club members, expressed their frustrations with a panel of four athletics administrators in an open forum.
One of students’ main complaints was the lack of space in Alumni Arena, as clubs, intramurals, varsity teams – and sometimes even the basketball teams’ opponents – vie for space in Alumni Arena’s main court and Triple Gym. In Alumni Arena’s main gym, clubs and intramurals must practice on the floor space surrounding the court, as they’re not allowed on the men’s and women’s basketball team’s court.
The men’s lacrosse club said lack of practice time and practice time being moved around by athletics directly affected their preparation and performance this season.
When it comes to UB’s two turf fields, students have major issues with one – Kunz Stadium, which they say has turf that is inadequate and sometimes, unsafe. UB’s other turf field is the football team’s in UB Stadium.
UB Athletics funded a patch up of Kunz’s turf, but students say it hasn't been enough. Truesdell said she’s seen 30 to 40 student ankle sprains on the turf during her two years in SA, and that the problem became so bad she almost began emailing former UB Athletic Director Danny White every time there was an injury.
“Ankle sprains left and right,” Truesdell said.
UB Athletics spent $1 million to redo its football stadium field turf after it was damaged by a winter storm in 2014.
Clubs are also worried about additional fees. UB Athletics charged the water polo club $54 an hour to use the Alumni Arena pool outside of the normal rec swim time,as well as the $30 an hour it must pay for lifeguards. Despite student push back, those fees will increase next year, as the rate will go up to $112 an hour.
“Which is really high for trying to play a game for an hour,” said Ben Harper, president of the water polo club and a junior aerospace engineering major.
A UB Athletics spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Spectrum’s inquires about what those rates would be.
SA funds all of its 130-plus student clubs through a mandatory student activity fee of $104.75 a semester. Sport clubs’ budgets can range from high as men’s rugby’s $18,000 budget, to the swimming club’s $700 budget, depending on the club’s need, participation and status.
Khan said SA pays for clubs’ trainers and insurance through its main $4 million budget line, so the majority of teams’ budgets go to paying league fees and coaching salaries. Most clubs need their members to pay team dues to cover all costs.
She said additional fees for hosting games and tournaments would seriously threaten clubs’ ability to do so, and that UB should want its sport clubs to host tournaments with other schools because it brings recognition.
Concerning the fees, Greene said students have to remember there are maintenance costs, and that any revenue generated through recreation is put back into recreation.
Does ‘big-time’ athletics conflict with recreation?
UB has competed in Division I of the NCAA since the early 90s. The football program reached Division I-AA status in 1993 and reached Football Bowl Subdivision, or Division I-A, in 1999. It was during this build-up that recreation became, according to one former UB recreation employee who asked to not be named, “the stepchild” of athletics in terms of adequate funding.
Division I athletics administrators have to focus on their program, on selling tickets, on NCAA compliance, on generating exposure and above all, on winning. Hence, they automatically care less about providing top-notch recreation.
Hutchins said it’s up to university administrators to tell UB Athletics that recreation is a key part of its operation. Perhaps, he suggested, the university should decide how much of the student athletic fee goes toward recreation. He doesn’t think UB administrators have told athletics not to worry about recreation, but, he said, it’s clear that no one in Capen Hall has insisted that recreation be prioritized as much as athletics.
Several former UB recreation employees who spoke with The Spectrum said they had hoped UB would bring in someone with a recreation and physical education background when hiring its last two athletic directors. Both Greene and his predecessor Danny White had backgrounds mostly in college athletics and fundraising.
“And a major part of this investment is student-athlete scholarships,” Tripathi said.
UB Athletics spent $8,364,393 on student athletic aid for the 397 student-athletes receiving some kind of aid, according to its 2014-15 budget, which The Spectrum obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request. The athletics department used $2,944,794 of student athletic fee toward grant-in-aid, according to its fee expenditures.
UB Athletics has worked hard to be “big-time” these past few years.
White, who left UB in November to become the University of Central Florida’s athletic director, introduced the “New York Bulls Initiative” or NYBI in 2013 to, as he and the department put it, make UB “America’s next big-time college athletic brand.” UB announced the end of NYBI marketing last month and unveiled branding that more closely aligns with a new university-wide branding initiative.
When asked how much the NYBI branding, both implementing and undoing, would cost UB Athletics, Greene said the branding fit right into money already allocated in the budget every year for new fields, courts and jerseys. USA Today reported that some schools use private organizations to fund large-scale branding. UB disclosed documents to USA Today that the UB Foundation, its private foundation that handles millions of dollars in donations, spent more than $142,000 on men’s basketball graphics and Alumni Arena’s new hall of fame wall.
UB Athletics had five team MAC championships the past two seasons during the movement, including the men’s basketball team’s back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
University and athletics administrators like Tripathi and Greene – and pretty much all supporters of college athletics – stress that college athletics bring more attention to the academic aspects of the university, enhance the student experience and bring alumni together.
Yet for programs like UB outside of the Power 5, the richest athletic conferences in the country, striving for “big-time” college athletics comes with a “big-time” subsidy.
UB was second-most subsidized program by percentage (77 percent) in the 12-team MAC from 2010-14, according to data collected by The Huffington Post and The Chronicle of Higher Education. The data looked at 201 public universities that collectively spent more than $10 billion on Division I athletics. UB also received the second-most subsidies in the MAC during that time with $110,591,193. Only Eastern Michigan received more.
UB ranked just ninth, however, in both the amount of money it collected from student fees and the percentage of its budget subsidized by student fees.
About 68 percent – or $22.2 million of UB Athletics’ $32.1 million in revenue came from student fees and direct institutional support from the university, according to the department’s 2014-15 budget. Without student fees and direct institutional support, UB Athletics would have had a loss of $21,946,091 last school year.
John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society at Penn State who worked for the Associated Press for 22 years, said the universities that don’t rely on subsidies are “the Michigans, the Ohio States, the Penn States of the world” that have large TV contracts and ticket sales. According to its budget, UB Athletics made just $1.1 million in ticket sales and $142,500 in media rights, although TV revenue for MAC schools is expected to increase after a new deal with ESPN last year.
“Those are the areas UB isn’t making the kind of money that it needs to make to be self-sustaining,” Affleck said.
The 11 other universities in the MAC, however, all have a standalone recreational facility. Some of the MAC school’s rec centers feature amenities like rock walls, lazy rivers and golf simulators in addition to the traditional amenities like weight rooms and basketball courts.
Other MAC schools have this despite making limited revenue and relying heavily on subsidies. Ten of the 12 programs were at least 69 percent subsidized, according to The Huffington Post and The Chronicle of Higher Education data.
The difference between UB and its 11 conference rivals?
The split between recreation and athletics.
UB is the only MAC program responsible for overseeing its on-campus recreation services. Most universities, like the rest of the MAC, house their recreation services under a department like Student Affairs.
Where does student fee money actually go?
What does the roughly $700,000 of athletic fee money that goes into recreation actually pay for? Mostly student employees.
Ninety-three percent of fee money allocated for recreation pays student personnel like gym monitors, lifeguards, intramural referees and team store employees, according to UB Athletics’ 2014-15 fee expenditures.
The other seven percent, or $45,151, was spent on equipment. No student fee money went toward facility maintenance.
UB students’ money mostly goes toward funding the football team.
Football received $1,130,140 in student fee money last year – the most of any varsity team. That accounted for 15 percent of the team’s budget. Women’s basketball was second with $816,540.
The football program spent the most of any UB team by breaking even with a budget of $7.2 million last year. But nearly 80 percent, or $5.7 million, of its budget came from student fees and direct institutional support from the university. Without support from the university and student fees, the team would have had a deficit of $5.7 million last reporting year.
The team has also historically struggled. Since entering Division I-A in 1999, the football team has had just two winning seasons, including a MAC Championship in 2008.
Although football got the most student money, women’s teams were funded with student fees double that of the men’s teams. The women received $4.8 million compared to men’s $2.4 million. Another $1.1 million of student fees were not designated to any specific team.
Rec center or field house?
In 2014, UB contracted Brailsford and Dunlavey, the same project management firm that consulted on the 2002 survey, to tour current recreational facilities, conduct student focus groups and develop a financial model for improving recreation on campus.
The firm recommended that UB build a $80-million 265,000-square-foot student recreation center on North Campus, spend $16.4 million on renovating Clark Hall and build four outdoor recreation fields. There were also several options as to how those projects would come about, whether through UB or private construction.
It is unclear how, if at all, a standalone recreation center would fit in with UB Athletics’ plan to build a new indoor field house.
UB Athletics has been pushing to build such a facility for the past few years, as it is the only team in the MAC without one. Not having a field house puts its football program at a major disadvantage during the cold winter months, as it must practice outside in UB Stadium or make a nearly half-hour commute to the Buffalo Bills’ field house.
When UB Athletics released its “Facilities Master Plan,” in February of 2014, it included plans for an on-campus field house, tennis center, baseball diamond and field for the soccer programs. It did not include any design for a student recreation center.
Greene said a field house and recreation center should be separate facilities, as he doesn’t know of any sophisticated models that hold both, but that a field house would also help club and intramurals sports, not just the outdoor D-I programs.
Greene said UB Athletics will soon submit a Request For Proposal so a few selected architects can submit their proposal of what a North Campus field house would look like. Greene would not disclose how much money UB Athletics currently has for the project, only saying the department still has money to raise.
UB maintains its commitment to Division I athletics - including football. In recent weeks, students and faculty at Eastern Michigan released a report suggesting the school should drop football and move to a conference that does not require it.
Khan, who will graduate this semester, said she hopes to be able return to campus as an alumna and see a standalone recreation center.
Tom Dinki is the editor in chief and can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @tomdinki. | 2019-04-26T10:35:18Z | https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2016/05/at-ub-recreation-has-paid-the-price-of-heavily-subsidized-college-athletics |
“Prepping and Preparedness 1” is being prepared for about 1 week of disruption.
It’s really pretty easy to be prepared to this extent. That said, and perhaps surprisingly, most people are only prepared for up to 3 days of disruption before they would need to resupply.
If you want to get started prepping and you’re not quite sure how to go about it, I can almost guarantee that once you begin taking action you will become motivated and easily make it to level 2.
If all you do is complete level 1 and 2, you will be set up for most all ‘typical’ disruptions that are most likely to come your way.
What is Level 1 Preparedness?
First, it is NOT preparing for Armageddon, SHTF collapse, or “doom and gloom”.
Instead it is simply preparing for the most common disruptions likely to affect you.
It’s about being just a little bit more self-reliant and self-sufficient.
Like most working people, your day is likely very busy and filled with the stresses of life. This may be especially true if you have kids at home! You may feel like you have little or no extra time to do anything else. Maybe your budget is strained (whose isn’t right?).
HOWEVER, there are very real risks in this modern world and there is a high probability that “something” is going to affect you sooner or later, and you best be prepared.
Preparedness is pretty much like any other insurance. You will exchange some of your money for insurance against a time of disruption – wherein you will be paid back for your troubles. Except in this case you’re actually stocking up with some tangible assets that will be available to you at any time.
No excuses. Get started. This will not cost much of your time or money.
Did you know that without any source of water (this includes the moisture content in your foods) that you will most likely die within 1-week without it? Look it up. It’s true. The good thing is that preparing at level-1 is easy enough in this regard and there are several options available to you that I will be discussing.
The majority of events that may lead to several days or more of disruption have to do with severe weather. This typically affects and relates to a lack of electrical power when your part of the grid goes down from some sort of damage. There are several things to consider in this category so as to minimize your disruption and inconvenience. They include cooking, lights, cell phone, and others. I’ll get you up to speed with solutions.
Injuries happen often when you least expect it. Being ready and equipped with at least a minimal First Aid Kit is part of level-1 preparedness (at home and in your vehicle). For those with unique medical concerns, this must also be addressed for preparedness sake.
When the power is out in your area, that means no ATM’s, credit and debit transactions will not function, and many stores will simply close. However cash will often get you out of a jam. So keeping an amount of cash at home is highly recommended.
A disruption during the cold depths of winter or the hot humid days of summer? Depending on where you live and your own climate, there are ways to mitigate these problems to an extent.
Do you have a fire extinguisher (or more than one??) at home? Do you know what to do if you inadvertently start a grease fire on your stove-top? Do you know the best way to interrupt a burglar in the middle of the night? I will discuss some common-sense tips on safety as part of level-1 preparedness.
There are a number of consumable (throw away) supplies that you should have at home that will help get you through a week without all of the modern conveniences that we’re used to. I will list the basics.
Basic gear such as flashlights, battery pack for charging cell phones and smart devices, special tools to shut off utilities, battery powered radios, and others will be discussed in this category.
Having a minimal set of specific hard documentation and having a plan will make things easier when your disruption occurs. I will explain this in more detail.
I like what you put at the top of the list Ken, “No Excuses”. That is so true. I know people will complain they don’t have the money to spend on extra’s, but hey you don’t need money to turn on your tap and fill several containers with water to store. We all have containers of one sort or another. Are they being used right now? If not, fill some to set aside. If you find you need the container for something else, you can always dump the water or better yet, water some plants. Then you can use the container as you would for whatever.
I completely agree with the no excuses. Buy a bag of rice to start or a bag of beans you can get a 1 lb bag for 1.50. I guarantee everyone has that much to spare. Now you have 1-2 days of food depending on how many people you are trying to feed. Start looking at wants verses needs to see where you can get more money to spend.
Heck, the Ramen Noodle packages are PENNIES.
I know, I know…they’re not that good, they’re heavy in sodium…I know.
But unless you have a serious medical condition, a pack of Ramen Noodles and a few cups of hot water will fill your belly for a meal.
A 12-oz can of pork & beans is less than $1. I have seen people actually throw change away on the parking lot because its not worth their time to bother putting the change away. That thrown-out change could be THE change used to buy a can of pork & beans. If you’re hungry, you’ll pop that top and stick a fork in it. It will fill your belly.
Regarding the food component for your daily and future survival, I strongly recommend that you only consume and store foods you produce or that you obtain from local growers that you know. I feel that this is the area of greatest weakness in our society and therefore our greatest risk of shortages, contamination, and inflation. Even if you are on a very limited budget, buy the most reasonable foods in bulk. They may not be your first food preference but they can save your life.
Everyone should have one large shelf rack and one chest freezer filled with food. You could be snowed in or layed-off from work it’s just common sense. Maybe my grandfathers stories of the Depression make me see things differently.
Good idea to start up with a (first) shelf rack, water on the lowest shelf with support between the bottom of it and the floor so you can load it up.
I have a kind of mini-Walmart in the back pantry. Light items on top– T.P., paper plates etc.
The laid off from work was what got me started prepping (though 30 years ago there wasn’t a name for it). I worked construction so feast in the summer months and famine in the winter. I bought basics like flour,beans,rice canned and boxed goods to store in case we ran short of money in the winter.
I’m looking forward to reading this series, hopefully to prep smarter. When I first started prepping I purchased canned goods, a little at a time and filled my cabinets. However, now, years later, they are still sitting there. I don’t normally eat canned vegetables or meats so most of them have expired. I hate to waste money and food, so hopefully there’s a better way.
Just because the can date is “expired” doesn’t mean that it is bad. Those dates are for retailers to rotate stock and represents more of a best by date. The food is fine to eat just may not be at its peak of taste and appearance. Can goods that are kept in a dry, relatively cool storage area are fine for long after the “expired” date.
Make soup. Once you have your soup base, take some of those drained veggies out of the cans and puree them with an immersion blender stick or a food processor. Add them to the soup base and go from there.
I keep can goods for at least 1 year past the expiration date. We never have any problems with it. We will even buy items past the date, they are often half price. Things like toothpaste and deodorant also have expiration dates. My wife works at a grocery store and we never pay full price for these items. I’m a prepper on a budget, otherwise we wouldn’t have nearly as much.
Level 1 should be a bare minimum for everybody, many times I’ve been glad to have at least that or more. One week goes quickly.
My 2¢ on ‘Excesses’; everyone knows the famous quote involving ‘Excesses’. . So I won’t go there.
Soooo, you don’t have the time, Really?
How much ‘time’ do you sitting watching CRAPO on TV? How about reading ‘Romance Novels’ or whatever? Why not spend a little time learning how to mend a deep wound, starting a camp fire, or fighting off the flu? Knowledge is cheap, often times free. Start by reading some of the Articles here.
“I don’t have the money”, ohhhhh really? How about dumping 90% of those BS electronics and get back to actually talking to each other? “The average cell phone bill is now more than $63 per month or $760 per year as of 2010.” That’s a lot of supplies you could get as ‘insurance’ so your family does not starve to death.
How about, stop wasting so much. “Americans waste an unfathomable amount of food. In fact, according to a Guardian report released this week, roughly 50 percent of all produce in the United States is thrown away—some 60 million tons (or $160 billion) worth of produce annually”. Don’t dump the ‘leftovers’ save them for another meal, or cook less.
No Time and Money are foolish/stupid reasons why ‘NOT’ to be preparing.
Heck, try the time proven method of ‘Use one, Buy two’ it works. How in the world do ya think I ended up with 600 rolls of TP LOLOL. Seriously though, also ‘Store what you eat, Eat what you store’ Get the Articles here and READ and (as Nike would say) Just-Do-It… If not for yourself, for your Family and loved ones; or for me so I don’t have to turn ya away when you have nothing after TSHTF.
If it is the truth, and those fall under what you described, should pay heed. Only they will know.
NRP…..GOOD RANT. Have some good orange spice tea on me.
Where is the chocolate? I have mine in glass canning jars vacuum sealed-jic.
AC..ACDH… Chocolate never lasts long enough to vac seal it !!!!
Than you Sir, always time for a cup of fine tea.
Folks our age recall the toilet paper shortage of 1973. “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson made a joke, saying there was an acute shortage of toilet paper at the stores. Minutes later there was a rush on the stores and the next morning the shelves were bare. Panicked consumers waited in lines for deliveries to be placed on the shelves, emptying the shelves in minutes. Carson was forced to attempt to calm the population the next night, explaining it had just been a joke. Still, it took three weeks for toilet paper inventories to recover.
Don’t remember that one, but I do remember the Gas shortages and the 4-5-6 block lines at the pumps, AND the fights over a gallon of fuel.
Just shows ya what the human brain reverts back to when you simply suggest something.
person will always find time for what is really important to them.” So I guess by watching someone, we will find out what is important to them. Like hoarding TP.
I agree whole heartedly, Hording TP can be an addiction, no different than being on Crack or Meth.
I also know some people that think that prepping is no different than Hording, stick with me here.
Now I truly believe that preparing is something that everyone should be doing to assure their own survival and the well-being of their Loved Ones.
Since I also strongly think that we all should be concerned with the care and future of our families and others around than should we ALL not be at least doing ‘some’ preparing? Or maybe even a little Hording?
To EVERYONE that’s not at least saving a little and trying to get to Level ONE, please do, it’s your life and families lives you may save.
PS; 600 rolls of TP is NOT hording…. I’m just a big azzzzzzzzzzz LOL, Gata have a little fun ya know.
PSS; Abusing Drugs is just all out STUIPD.
I’m somewhere along the 2-3 line. About 4 years ago I tripped over the dog and broke my kneecap into a bunch of pieces. I was off work for 10 months, lost 50% of an already tight income. Anyone that doesn’t have ‘something’ stashed is just plain asking for trouble.
Oh no! Tripped over your dog? 2 1/2 years ago I slipped on the ice and fell down my front steps. I was out of commission for 6 weeks, but I had enough of everything stored and I was fine. My problem was not money (I have Social Security and Medicare) but no ability to get to the store because there was a lake of ice between my front door and my car. Couldn’t get down the front steps or across that ice rink on crutches.
If I had been out of commission for 10 months instead of 6 weeks OR if I had lost my income, I wouldn’t have fared nearly as well as you did. Thank goodness you were prepared!
I was in one of those multiple hinged many straps leg braces for a long time. First session with the therapist had her saying that she not seen a knee that stiff in years and why did he do that?! It was around the 4 month mark that I could bend it just enough to get in my large van and behind the wheel- not that the therapist suggested that I should do it :/ But it got me down the back road to Walmart at least.
Some folks took all that was offered, and when they drove away, they stopped at a dumpster, in the lot, and threw all the fresh vegetables in.
They kept the canned and frozen foods.
All that food would probably have been welcomed by others.
Too much work to cook, I guess.
Our local food pantry won’t take fresh foods; nobody wants them. I had too many vegetables last year, especially squash, but my veggies were unwelcome.
That is a serious shame. I can only imagine how tasty and how much enjoyed the fresh veg would have been.
My aunt lives in a seniors sort of set up..small units all the same, with a garden/yard at the back. She plants her and three other gardens each yr (the others don’t want/can’t manage a garden), and donates most to other individual seniors who cannot manage a garden. She takes the boxes of “whatever” over to individuals, and they are thrilled.
Preparedness can be like Business and Real Estate = Location, Location, Location. Living in a city, or even the suburbs can be fatal in a major preparedness-level emergency.
Try to acquire no less than five acres with your own water and a food storage/pantry (large) area. This way you can grow your own veggies, raise some meat and even do some light duty target practice with the neighbors.
Best of luck and especially blessings to all.
Frozen and unsalted/no salt canned vegetables are a pretty good option. May not be quite as good as fresh, but last well.
I eat the canned foods my wife does not like on my version of lights out weekends or roughing it picnics as my prepping practice for SHTF that may happen. I have a job-in-town and so most of my preps are in the form of canned food from grocery warehouses like Winco in Pacific Northwest.
Labeling and marking date of canning, purchase or manufacture comes second nature as your supplies grow. These days, I write down load data on my boxes of reloaded ammo in addition to date. As your supply shelves grow crowded and heavy, you will reap the benefits of this practice a year or more down the road as it aids in inventory of stores.
If you buy freeze-dried foods in foil/plastic pouches, store these in a metal, rodent proof container as I lost several hundred dollars in freeze dried foods years ago to mice. I keep mine in a new galvanized garbage can with the lid tied in place these days.
Pork and beans plus ramen noodles are the perfect choice for emergency food stash because: When times are good, they will remain untouched because there are other things we would rather eat. When times are bad, they taste good and fill the belly.
Both items were kept in emergency food caches I made in the district I worked in as a ranger. When the food was gone, there was frequently a thank you note left behind. Your tax dollars at work.
Your words are so true, the question is how do ya get through to some people, or do ya even try anymore?
Water is not a big deal with a little forethought and basic planning. We have two Life straws in every BOB and a Swayer in each tactical vest. You can even get some of those nasty tasting water purification pills like the military used. As for boiling water just build or buy a rocket stove. I make them out of a #10 can, 2 #303 cans and a #202 can. The plans are all over youtube and I have made over 50 of them. This can also give you the boiling water you need for FD foods pasta and a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. I once did a demo at a friend’s store in Alto GA. and cooked breakfast for everyone. Eggs,bacon,grits and coffee on a few twigs and sticks as fuel.
I have mostly given up. I am 67and very old school, old Yankee,use it up ware it out, make it do or do without. Today I think I am one of a few who remember these things. Even here in NH old school is dead. Even though I am sure bad times are coming most all just want to eat drink and be mary.kind of hard to have any concerns for them,even tho that’s not how I was raised. Young couple just down the road I have hopes for,guess ones a start. Oh,oldest son hope’s things go bad,he thinks it will be like the wild West just shoot everything up but I have all the guns. Like I said ones a start! | 2019-04-18T16:43:16Z | https://modernsurvivalblog.com/prepping-and-preparedness-1/prepping-and-preparedness-1-overview/ |
When it was introduced, e‐mail was a revolutionary new tool for the exchange of ideas, information, and pleasantries. What once took days to convey could now be relayed in seconds. Eventually e‐mail became a huge part of our working lives, changing the way we do business day‐to‐day. However, while many jobs got much easier, the job of a litigating attorney was about to change drastically. With the prevalence of e‐mail, companies are now producing a deluge of information – information that needs to be preserved, collected, indexed, and produced during the course of discovery.
Luckily, with advances in data storage technology have come similar advancements in the collection of this Electronically Stored Information (“ESI”). Historically, the mere thought of collecting and sifting through 100,000 records was enough to drive an attorney crazy. Now, the processes and protocols are in place to make a similar effort efficient and controllable.
However, while the early recognition by companies of the inherent business value of e‐mail has allowed attorneys, IT personnel, and e‐discovery professionals to stay ahead of this proliferation of data, instant messaging poses greater problems due to its more sudden acceptance as a business tool. What was once reserved for personal communications, is now being used across all industries (in some cases exclusively) as both a supplement and replacement for the more formal e‐mail.
And why shouldn’t it? The ability to share ideas and information in real‐time is an efficient upgrade to the delayed responses we experience even with e‐mail. As a result, counsel must be especially cognizant of this changing landscape, as the slow replacement of e‐mail with instant communications indicates coming changes in e‐discovery law that threaten to catch everyone by surprise. The bottom line is: What are our legal responsibilities from an e‐discovery standpoint in regard to instant communications?
Before developing a plan for dealing with new technologies, it is important to identify the weaknesses the new technology can create in a company’s discovery policies, and the potential exposure those gaps can lead to.
Lack of Control: The first problem to address is an organization’s lack of control over the communications tools that their employees are using. As employees discover new and more useful methods to do their jobs, they are going to be rapidly integrating those tools into their everyday duties. This is of particular concern for high‐tech companies where their employees are likely to be early adopters of new applications and web‐based services. The newer the technology, the more likely it is that the effects of that technology on e‐discovery have yet to be contemplated by the company’s counsel.
Lack of Knowledge: Once a new technology is discovered to have been used, or is being used, by employees, counsel has the ability to better control the type of information that is being relayed via that communication tool as well as how much of that information will be retained. However, it creates a dangerous unknown for counsel in regards to (a) how much data has already been created and stored, (b) where is that data being stored, and (c) what does that information contain?
Threat of Discovery: As will be seen, current court rulings and statutory law are fairly silent on how to specifically deal with the day‐to‐day generation of instant messages. But as we have seen in the past, this does not alleviate companies from the duty to contemplate inevitable changes to the discovery rules, and to put in place policies and protocols that properly deal with the treatment of their data. This becomes especially important in light of the fact that there may be communications being created by, and retained for, their employees which will end up being discoverable. Without instituting a proactive plan immediately, companies run the risk of being required to produce potentially compromising information over which they had no control and of which they were unaware.
Privilege: The greatest risk a company faces related to the use of instant communications by their non‐ attorney employees is a lack of attorney‐client protection. Even as companies and counsel have become better at directing employees to protect their legal discussions by communicating them with an attorney via e‐mail, there are still instances where otherwise privileged conversations are being had sans any kind of request for legal advice. How dangerous, then, will employee conversations about legal matters become now that they are being had via instant messages? Employees who may neglect to loop in counsel on a legal matter from the outset of the conversation will now be having those conversations in the less formal, much more open format of an online chat. Absent a request for, or reflection of, legal advice in a communication, the likelihood of compromising information being relayed will increase significantly.
Breach: Not addressed here in full, but very relevant nonetheless, is the increased threat of security/data breach that arises with each additional piece of software that is introduced to a company’s network. Without a proper vetting of various messaging software, a company’s security may be at the whim of a single employee’s decision.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT LEVEL OF DUTY TO RETAIN IM’S?
Not surprisingly, the amount of information on this is sparse. The question of whether to retain instant messages and text messages has certainly been discussed, but it is not yet being challenged during litigation. The reasoning is most likely two‐fold: (1) Litigants are burdened enough with the collection and review of e‐mail and documents and don’t see the value in combing through chat logs, and (2) parties are loathe to request IM records for fear that they will be required to produce similar records of their own.
If a company is in the financial services industry, then they already know their standard. Per the SEC and NASD, financial services companies must retain their text messages and instant messages for at least three years. However, this requirement is very specific and rare. For any other company, the standard is much more lenient. There is essentially no known duty to preserve instant or text messages if a party does not routinely save those messages and litigation is not anticipated.1 The only decision that may arise for an organization will be when that company does not retain instant messages in the ordinary course of business and a continuing obligation to preserve data arises in connection with pending or anticipated litigation. In that situation, an organization must decide if the pending or anticipated litigation is sufficient so as to require altering the organization’s retention policy to begin retaining those records.
By that standard, and the overwhelming lack of court guidance on the subject, it would seem that counsel should be comfortable advising their corporate clients to not retain instant messages. They may be right to do so, but only under the prevailing thought that e‐mail is the dominant method of communication in the workplace. Unfortunately, recent studies say otherwise. A 2013 survey by Informa Telecoms found that users sent roughly 20 billion instant messages per day – thus overtaking traditional SMS messaging via phone. According to TechNewsWorld, an online technology news publisher, “80 to 90 percent of all companies have some instant messaging use by employees”, with 80% of that activity taking place over external programs.2 As employees make their work easier by incorporating the everyday technologies they are comfortable with, and as software start‐ups continue to create better enterprise IM systems, the replacement of work e‐mail with instant communications is almost inevitable.
The answer to the question of what level of preservation attorneys should be advising for their clients isn’t as simple as it seems. Despite the lack of standards or statutes, it should be clear that as people’s communication habits change, so too will the legal rules governing the preservation of those communications.
1 The Sedona Conference, International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure & Data Protection: Best Practices, Recommendations & Principles for Addressing the Preservation Discovery of Protected Data in U.S. Litigation (2011) 2 Seth A. Northrup & Li Zhu, Let’s Chat About the Legal Risks of Instant Messaging, Corporate Counsel, March 14, 2014.
If you are counsel or corporate management, the idea that information is being created and not controlled has to be a frightening proposition. How much scarier, then, would it be to find out that it is already happening as you read this?
There are already a large number of chat clients available to employees to improve their efficiency. Products such as HipChat and Cisco’s Jabber are already providing enterprise chat solutions for companies, while tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Box are actively working on providing more advanced options.4 But the true leader in the space appears to be Sand Hill Road darling, Slack.com.
One of the fastest growing business applications in history, Slack is a team collaboration tool created and launched in April, 2014. The application is available free to online users, but Slack also offers enterprise solutions that provide customizable settings. They reasonably estimate that by the end of this year, there will be 2‐3 million workers around the world using Slack.5 The question isn’t whether instant messaging is going to replace work e‐mail – the question is whether or not it has already.
A worker’s incentive to switch from e‐mail to an application like Slack is obvious. The application offers persistent chat rooms organized by topic, as well as private groups and messaging. Employees can now discuss, in real‐time, their various projects with only the specific people they need input from. What once involved a multi‐recipient, 15 message e‐mail string, can now be resolved with a five minute chat where workers can share ideas, files, and links. The value created by this efficiency is extensive, but this is a potential nightmare for an eDiscovery professional.
The free version of the application allows you to view up to 10,000 archived messages, however, it also says that “although there are older messages than are shown below, you can’t see them.” This is a clear indicator that every instant message is being retained by Slack servers. So, even where a company has a clear policy to not retain instant messages absent a pending legal matter, employees may have already generated thousands of lines of discoverable content via a third‐party chat client.
3 Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a) advisory committee’s note (2006) – (“Rule 34(a)(1) is intended to be broad enough to cover all current types of computer‐based information, and flexible enough to encompass future changes and developments. References elsewhere in the rules to ‘“electronically stored information”’ should be understood to invoke this expansive approach.”).
4 The enterprise chat software space is replete with options, including Lync, Google Apps, Yahoo, Facebook at Work, Voxer, Instantbird, Yammer, Pie, Let’s Chat, Sharepoint, etc.
5 The investor community has taken notice, and they seem to agree that enterprise chat software is the future of workplace communication. Slack’s initial round of financing netted them $43 million in April, 2014, and was quickly followed up by a $120 million round in October, 2014 (valuation: $1.2 billion). Most recently, Slack garnered a third round of financing for $160 million in April, 2015 (valuation: $2.76 billion).
There is a school of thought that describes instant messages as being the equivalent of an offline communication. But is a real‐time, online chat, the same as an interpersonal conversation, or should it be treated like e‐mail? A good indicator is often whether or not the chat was recorded. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure say that ESI is “any . . . electronically stored information.” With Slack (and similar application) chats being recorded, it stands to reason that courts will be empowered to deem those conversations discoverable, whether directly from the producing party or via a third‐party subpoena/request. Your organization may be sitting on a mountain of producible, highly relevant evidence and not even realize it.
Further complicating matters is the issue of privilege. In eDiscovery, electronic conversations with an attorney or an acting agent of that attorney are rightfully withheld as privileged communications. In fact, most often communications that include an attorney (via cc) or which relay legal advice in some manner are also considered privileged. Such a broad allowance has made it easier for organizations to institute e‐mail policies requiring their employees to include counsel in a communication that raises the need for legal interpretation. Alternatively, employees may be directed to conduct legal inquiries via an offline conversation (in person, phone call, etc.) to solidify the attorney‐client relationship. How, then, is a company to preserve the privilege of a communication via chat? The benefits of instant messaging are that employees can collaborate in real‐time, allowing them to express ideas or questions as they arise, and to get immediate feedback without the delay of e‐mail. The risk, then, is that employees will feel free to discuss potentially damaging legal issues without the presence or feedback of an attorney. Now, combine (1) the data created outside the scope of the corporate retention policy that (2) has been recorded throughout on a third‐party server which (3) is likely to be discoverable pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that (4) was conveyed without the presence of an attorney. The result is the existence of potentially relevant and non‐privileged data over which the company has no control.
This puts tremendous pressure on organizations and their counsel to determine what constitutes reasonable, proportional steps in preservation going forward. As the types and location of data, across internal and external systems, continues to grow, the definition of what is reasonable and proportional will begin to change. If a company is creating 75% of their relevant information via instant message, then a court is likely to determine discovery of that content to be both reasonable and certainly proportional. Without a concerted effort to plan accordingly, organizations and their attorneys run the risk of significant sanctions when their productions come up short.
Luckily, there is good news. First, applications like Slack and its counterparts are often customizable. If using a paid service, an organization can customize retention and archiving preferences to match their policies and protocols, and do so as a reasonable litigation cost. Secondly, eDiscovery professionals, such as BlackStone Discovery, offer solutions that can help organizations rein in and organize any existing information, while creating a detailed plan to control future data.
As data gets strewn across more and more platforms and resources, being able to track and preserve it becomes more difficult. This is especially problematic when employees are creating data via third‐party software. The ideal solution is the implementation of front‐end Information Governance, or “IG.” IG will allow an organization to not only audit and track the information that is currently being generated, but it will also allow for the company to track information created in the past and bring it under the umbrella of their corporate ESI policy. Going forward thereafter, any new tool used to communicate, store, or create information can be mapped to the organization’s network.
The first step is to determine what information is being created that is not being tracked. A BlackStone Discovery IG professional can assist by preparing a detailed data map which identifies all data nodes in the organization, especially those that are operating outside the purview of the company’s ESI policy. By mapping the data to a central location, an organization can be sure that all of the company’s information is being covered by the retention and preservation protocols. Mapping the data sources will also allow for the discovery of new, untracked information during scheduled future audits. This will give an organization not only the peace of mind that their information is under control, but also a detailed and defensible policy should a court ever question their methodology.
Once potential weak spots have been identified, an organization should evaluate the need for instant messaging. Most likely it is too late, and the use of IM software is already entrenched. If the decision is made to use IM for work‐related matters, the company should consult their BlackStone Discovery IG professional to help determine the strengths and weaknesses of a potential enterprise IM system. Such a system should be for work‐related discussions only, with no public messaging feature. It should also be customized to conform to an instant messaging policy, created in conjunction with the IG professional and counsel, meant to govern the use, content, retention, and scheduled, defensible destruction of IMs.
Once all data sources have been identified, and an instant messaging policy has been created to supplement the general ESI records retention policy, the organization should identify previously untracked data. This data can then be brought into conformity with the new records retention policies where it can be analyzed for adherence to expired disposal dates, outstanding legal holds, etc.
The immediate benefits are obvious. Data has been identified and brought under control, allowing the organization to perform an eDiscovery collection with peace of mind. The threat of unknown, incriminating data being produced has been greatly reduced. At the same time, the company has established a defensible framework that they can be confident in should their productions be challenged.
The secondary benefit is that an organization and its counsel can expand the scope of their own discovery requests. With the knowledge that their instant messaging data is properly controlled and preserved, counsel can push for the production of IM chats from the opposition without worrying about the quality of a reciprocal production.
Thomas J. Gersey is an Information Governance and Litigation Readiness (IG|LR) specialist of BlackStone Discovery’s Client Solutions division. Thomas holds a Juris Doctor and a Master of Laws from the University of San Diego School of Law and is admitted to practice in California. | 2019-04-19T08:36:40Z | https://themastersconference.com/news/e-mail-dead |
A method of communicating data in a data grid. The method includes receiving a first search request defined by search criteria of a search query. The method includes communicating the first search request to search for data segments at the first node that match the search criteria. The method includes receiving one or more data segments matching the search criteria. The method includes receiving rebalance information. The method further includes identifying a second node storing rebalance data segments of the plurality of rebalance data segments based on the rebalance information. The method further includes communicating a second search request to search for the rebalance data segments matching the search criteria. The method further includes receiving one or more rebalance data segments matching the search criteria. The method further includes determining search result data using the data segments from the first node and the rebalance data segments from the second node.
The present disclosure pertains to computer systems; more specifically, to changes of topology in a data grid.
Data, such as software programs, information, or other forms of data, has become a resource and asset for many individuals and businesses. A data grid is a distributed database system with increased computing power and storage capacity that can store and manage data across a collection of nodes. Data grids can provide functionalities such as storing, searching, and processing data. As individuals and businesses continue to store, search, and process increasing amounts of data, a size of a data grid may be adjusted as data usage by the businesses and individuals varies.
Traditionally, when performing functionalities such as storing, searching, and processing data, a map/reduce application may be used. The map/reduce application can provide distributed processing for large data sets in a data grid. The map/reduce application can include two phases, a map phase and a reduce phase. In the map phase, a master node can initiate a task such as a query, and divide or map tasks between multiple nodes in the data grid. The nodes that receive the map tasks can execute the map tasks and return results back to the master node. When the master node receives the data, the master node can implement a reduce phase. In the reduce phase, the master node can aggregate the received data and remove duplicate data, e.g., reduce the data results. When the master node has completed the reduce phase, the master node can communicate the reduced data to the querying application.
While the map/reduce application can be used to query data in a data grid, the adjustability of the data grid can be limited. For example, a data grid using the map/reduce application for querying data cannot adjust or adapt to topology changes in the data grid, such as node crashes, nodes joining or leaving the data grid, or balancing of data between the nodes.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of nodes in a data grid according to one embodiment.
FIG. 2 depicts a sequence diagram of a method of performing a query in a data grid when data is rebalanced within a data grid according to one embodiment.
FIG. 3 depicts a sequence diagram of a method of performing a query in a data grid when the topology of the data grid may be changed according to one embodiment.
FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram of a method of determining data results for a query search in a data grid according to one embodiment.
FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of one implementation of a computer system.
Data transfer technologies are described herein.
Data grids can manage distributed data, where the data can be stored across multiple locations and multiple types of storage devices. The data grid can be a collection of nodes, where the nodes can be physical machines, virtual machines, computers, servers, collections of physical machines or virtual machines, and so forth. The nodes can include memories, such as a cache, for storing data.
When a user desires to access data in the data grid, an application can query data stored in the data grid using an iteration process, where the data stored at the nodes in the data grid can be iterated through during the query. As an amount of data in the data grid varies with varying data usage by individuals or businesses, topology changes in the data grid (such as an addition of nodes, removal of nodes, or rebalancing of data in the data grid) can occur. Traditionally, when data is being processed, added, removed, modified, searched, and so forth in a data grid during a query process such as a map/reduce process, a topology change can be difficult. For example, traditionally when the topology of the data grid changes during a query, a master node in the data grid, using a map/reduce process, receives search result data from nodes in the data grid. Because of the topology changes, the master node may be unaware when data may have been added to, removed from, or modified at a node during the query.
In one example, traditionally when a cache entry occurs at a node during an iteration process, the cache entry can be overlooked or sent to the querying application out of order. When data is overlooked, the querying application may not receive an up-to-date data set from the data grid to analyze and/or provide results to a user. Additionally, when data is sent to the querying application out of order, the querying application may erroneously analyze the out of order data and/or report incorrect information to a user. In another example, when the memories of the current nodes in the data grid reach full capacity, a new node may need to be added to the data grid. However, traditionally when the query is being performed, the new node cannot be added until the query is completed. The delay in adding the new node to the data grid during the query can be problematic, as data modifications (such as data writes) can occur during the query and when the memory of the data grid is at full capacity there may be no place to write the new data.
Aspects of the present disclosure address the above noted deficiencies by enabling a topology change of nodes and data rebalancing during an iteration process of a query search. The topology of the nodes can be changed and data can be rebalanced between the nodes to provide a data grid with variable memory capacity and increased data locality. Additionally, rebalance information can be used to track data rebalancing during the iteration process to enable the querying application to receive up-to-date results. An advantage of a variable memory capacity can be to enable addition of nodes to the data grid as the memory capacity of the data grid reaches its limit and a release of nodes from the data grid when the nodes are not being used. An advantage of increased data locality in the data grid can be to increase a speed and efficiency of data accesses and data searches in the data grid.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108 in a distributed data grid 100. The nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108 can include memories, such as caches, for storing data. The nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108 can communicate with the other nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108, respectively, in the data grid 100. In one example, the nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108 can communicate data to the other nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108, respectively, to backup data in the data grid 100. In another example, the nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108 can communicate data to the other nodes 102, 104, 106, and 108, respectively, to rebalance the data in the data grid 100.
A memory at a node can include multiple memory entries, where each memory entry includes a key and a value, i.e. a (key, value) pair. The (key, value) pair can include an identification (ID) value (the key) that is associated with data (the value). For example, the (key, value) pair can be an ID value associated with information about a person, e.g., (ID, Person). The (key, value) pair can be used to perform different functions at nodes in a data grid, such as data reads, data writes, data deletions, and the transferring of data between nodes.
FIG. 2 depicts a sequence diagram of a method 200 of performing a query in a data grid when data is rebalanced within a data grid. Method 200 may be performed by a processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as operations being performed by the MCU), firmware or a combination thereof. In one example, method 200 is performed by a processor, a plurality of processors, a processor core, and/or a plurality of processor cores. Alternatively, other components of a computing system or software executing on the processor may perform some or all of the operations of the method 200.
Referring to FIG. 2, the method 200 can begin by a coordinator at a coordinator node 204 determining what data is stored at the nodes 206, 208, and 210 in the data grid (step 212). The coordinator can be an application installed or registered at the coordinator node 204 that coordinates topology changes in the data grid. In one example, when the nodes in the data grid may initially be empty, the coordinator can direct which node or nodes may receive data and can maintain a list of keys of the key value pairs identifying the location of the data in the data grid. In this example, the coordinator can use the list of keys to determine what data is stored at the nodes 206, 208, and 210. For example, the coordinator can maintain a list of keys indicating that demographic information is stored at nodes 206 and 208, where nodes 206 and 208 store key value pairs of the demographic information. In another example, the coordinator can communicate with the nodes 206, 208, and 210 to request the keys and maintain the list of keys used to determine what data is stored at the nodes 206, 208, and 210.
When the coordinator node 204 determines what data is stored at the nodes 206, 208, and 210, the coordinator can communicate, to an iterator of the iterator node 206, data location information indicating what data is stored at the nodes 206, 208, and 210 (step 214). In one example, the iterator can store the location information in a memory coupled to the iterator. An application 202 can send, to the iterator of the iterator node, an iteration request initiating an iteration process, where the iteration request defines search criteria of a search query (step 216). In one example, the application 202 can be a web application that sends an iteration request to the iterator. In another example, the application 202 can be a remote client that sends the iteration request.
The iterator can determine which nodes in the data grid include data segments that match the search criteria using the data location information received from the coordinator (step 218). In one example, the search criteria can be for demographic information and the iterator can use the data location information to determine that a memory of the node 208 contains data segments for demographic information that may match the search criteria. When the iterator has determined that node 208 contains data segments that match the search criteria, the iterator can send a search request to the node 208 requesting the data segments that match the search criteria (step 220). As the node 208 searches the data segments stored in the memory of node 208, the node 208 can communicate matching data segments to the iterator as the matching data segments may be located or found (e.g., during an iteration process) (step 222). For example, node 208 may be storing 10 data segments that match the search criteria. In this example, when the node 208 finds a first segment (e.g., segment 1) that matches the search criteria, the node 208 can communicate the segment 1 (including a key value pair) to the iterator and continue to search for the remaining 9 matching segments.
During the iteration process, the topology of the data grid may change. In one example, a topology change can be a transfer or relocation of data between nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 (e.g., a rebalancing of the data between the nodes). In another example, a topology change can be a change in a number of nodes in the data grid, e.g., nodes joining or leaving the data grid.
In one example, the topology of the data may be rebalanced to increase data locality. Data locality can be the locating or grouping of data segments at different nodes in the data grid based on usage or access of the data segments in the data grid. For example, when a data grid has consistent data-access patterns (such as accessing the same or similar data for query searches in a data grid), locating frequently accessed data segments at a same node and/or at a node in the data grid that is physically closest to a requesting user or an application can increase data locality. In another example, a data grid can use a consistent hashing function for key-value pair storage to enable the determination of data locality in the data grid. The coordinator in the data grid can use the consistent hashing function to determine where to locate or group data segments in the data grid to increase data locality. In one example, the coordinator in the data grid can communicate with nodes in the data grid and the nodes can communicate data access patterns or data usage to the coordinator. The coordinator can use the consistent hashing function to determine where to locate data segments at the different nodes based on the data access patterns or data usage. Additionally, the coordinator can use the consistent hashing function to sort the keys of the key value pairs and assign similar keys to related data to increase data locality by locating or grouping data segments with similar keys at the same node.
To rebalance the data at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, the coordinator can determine what data segments to locate at the different nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, such as by using the consistent hashing function as discussed in the preceding paragraphs (step 224). When the coordinator has determined what data to locate at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, the coordinator can send a rebalance command to one or more of the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 indicating what data segments the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 are to transfer to other nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, respectively, in the data grid (step 226). For example, the coordinator may determine that to increase data locality, selected data segments can be transferred from node 208 to node 210 (step 228) and other selected data segments can be transferred from node 210 to node 208 (step 230). In one example, the coordinator can unicast the rebalance command to the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 in the data grid that are storing the data segments indicating the data segments to be transferred and the location to transfer the data segments. In another example, the coordinator can broadcast the rebalance command to the nodes 206, 208, and 210 in the data grid indicating the data segments to be transferred and the location to transfer the data segments. In this example, the nodes 206, 208, and 210 can receive the broadcasted rebalance command, and the nodes 206, 208, and 210 can determine when the nodes 206, 208, and 210 are storing the selected data segments. When the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 determine that the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 are storing the selected data segments, the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 can transfer the data segments to the new location (e.g., another node in the data grid). In another example, when the data segments have been transferred by the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 can send a copy of the data segments and maintain the original data at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210.
In one example, when the transferred data segments are received at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, respectively, the initial nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 can receive a confirmation message from the receiving nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 and delete the data segments from the memories of the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210. In another example, when the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 complete a transfer of data segments during a data rebalancing, the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 can send a completion message to the coordinator indicating that the data segments have been transferred. In one example, when the rebalancing has been completed, the coordinator can send a deletion message to the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 in the data grid indicating to the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 to delete the data at the original nodes.
Additionally, the coordinator can send rebalance information to the iterator indicating that data segments have been transferred between nodes 208 and 210 (step 232). When the iterator receives the rebalance information, the iterator can determine what matching data segments have been received from node 208 and what data segments were not received from node 208 (step 234). In one example, a distributed data grid stores data in different segments on different nodes. For example, data stored in the data grid can be divided into 100 data segments and the 100 data segments can be stored at different nodes in the data grid. When nodes in the data grid receive a search request from the iterator, the nodes can send the requested data segments to the iterator.
Each of the data segments sent to the iterator can include information identifying the data segment, such as a key of a key value pair. The iterator can then determine which data segments have been received from the nodes based on the identifying information. For example, the node 208 may store data segments 1-10 and send segments 1-8 before segments 9 and 10 may be moved to the node 210 for rebalancing. When the iterator determines that data segments 1-8 have been received, then the iterator can send a request to the node 210 requesting data segments 9 and 10. When the iteration process begins, the iterator can use the data location information to determine which of the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 are storing which data segments and how many data segments the iterator node should receive from each of the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210 during the iteration process. When the iterator receives less than an anticipated number of data segments from the nodes 206, 208, and/or 210, respectively, then the iterator can determine which of the other nodes the remaining data segments have been moved to in view of the anticipate versus the actual number of data segments received.
For example, the iterator can determine that the matching data segments that were not received from node 208 during the iteration process have been transferred to node 210. When the iterator has determined that the remaining matching data segments have been transferred to node 210, the iterator can send a selected data search command requesting that the node 210 search the data segments received from node 208 to find the remaining matching data segments (step 236). When the node 210 finds the remaining matching data segments, the node 210 can communicate the remaining matching data segments (e.g., rebalance data segments) to the iterator (step 238). In one example, when the iterator has received the search result data from the nodes in the data grid (such as values associated with the keys of a key value pair) the iterator can delete the keys in the memory of the iterator and communicate the values to the querying application 202. The iterator can determine the search result data using the data segments from node 208 and the rebalance data segments from node 210 (step 240). The iterator can communicate the search result data to the application 202 (step 242). An advantage of changing the topology of the data grid during the iteration process can be to increase the efficiency of the data grid, such as by increasing data locality at the nodes in the data grid.
FIG. 3 depicts a sequence diagram of a method 300 of performing a query in a data grid when the topology of the data grid may be changed. Method 300 may be performed by a processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as operations being performed by the MCU), firmware or a combination thereof. In one example, method 300 is performed by a processor, a plurality of processors, a processor core, and/or a plurality of processor cores. Alternatively, other components of a computing system or software executing on the processor may perform some or all of the operations of the method 300.
Referring to FIG. 3, the method 300 is the same as the method discussed in the preceding paragraphs for FIG. 2 through the step of the node 208 communicating matching data segments to the iterator as the matching data segments are found (step 222). The topology of the data grid can change when a new node 310 is added to the data grid (step 324). In one example, when the memory of the data grid (e.g., the aggregate memory of the current nodes in the data grid) may be reaching full capacity, the new node 210 may join the data grid.
When the new node 310 may be added to the data grid, the new node 310 can communicate registration information to the coordinator (step 326). When the new node 310 has been added to the data grid, the coordinator can rebalance the data segments at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 310. To rebalance the data segments at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 310, the coordinator can determine what data segments to relocate at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 310 (step 328). When the coordinator has determined what data segments to relocate at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 310, the coordinator can send a rebalance command to one or more of the nodes 206, 208, and/or 310 indicating what data segments the nodes 206 and/or 208 are to transfer to the other nodes 206, 208, and/or 310, respectively (step 330). For example, the coordinator may determine that to avoid an out of memory (00M) error in the data grid, such as when the memories of the nodes 206 and 208 reach full capacity and cannot receive additional data, selected data can be transferred from node 208 to node 310 (step 332). In another example, to avoid an OOM error, new data segments received at the data grid can be stored at the new node 310.
Additionally, the coordinator can send rebalance information to the iterator indicating that data segments have been transferred or rebalanced between nodes 208 and 310 (step 334). When the iterator has received the rebalance information, the iterator can determine what matching data segments have been received from node 208 and what data segments where not received from node 208 (step 336). The iterator can determine that matching data segments that were not received from the node 208 during the iteration process have been transferred to the new node 310. When the iterator has determined that the remaining matching data segments have been transferred to the new node 310, the iterator can send a selected data search command requesting that the new node 310 search the memory of the new node 310 to find the remaining matching data segments (step 338). When the new node 310 has found the remaining matching data segments, the new node 310 can communicate the remaining matching data segments (e.g., rebalance data segments) to the iterator (step 340). The iterator can determine the search result data using the data segments from node 208 and the rebalance data segments from the new node 310 (step 342). The iterator can communicate the search result data to the application 202 (step 344).
Traditionally, if a topology change occurs during the iteration process, it is uncertain what information was sent to the iterator prior to the rebalancing and all the data must be iterated through again (e.g., the iteration process may be restarted) to avoid duplicate data, out of order data, missing data and so forth. One advantage of changing the topology of the data grid (such as rebalancing the data segments) during the iteration process, as discussed in the preceding paragraphs, can be to increase the efficiency of the data grid by avoiding restarting of the iteration process each time there may be a topology change in the data grid. Another advantage of changing the topology of the data grid (such as rebalancing the data segments) during the iteration process can be to avoid OOM errors by adjusting the data capacity of the data grid during the iteration process.
As a query is performed in a data grid, the topology of the data grid can change when a node fails or crashes. A node may fail or crash for a variety of reasons, such as a disk failure or a process crash. To protect the data at the nodes in a data grid against a node failure, data may be backed up at one or more nodes in the data grid. When a node in the data grid crashes, backup data at one of the other nodes in the data grid can be used. Backup data of the failed node stored at other nodes in the data grid can be searched to compensate for the loss of the failed node.
In one example, the iterator can determine when a node has failed using heart beat messages. In this example, when a node is active and operational, the node can send heartbeat messages to the iterator indicating that the node is active and operational. When the node crashes, the iterator stops receiving the heartbeat messages. When the iterator determines that the node has crashed, the iterator can use the data location information to determine where backup data for the node is stored. The iterator can also determine what data segments were received from the node prior to the node crashing. When the iterator has identified a node with the backup data (e.g., the backup node), the iterator can send a search request to the backup node requesting the backup node send the remaining matching data segments.
In one example, the search criteria can include a filter and a converter that can be used at the nodes 204, 206, and/or 310 to reduce network chattiness and increase a performance of the data grid. The filter can represent an application installed at the nodes 206, 208, and 310 to match requested data criteria from the application 202 with a subset of a data segment at nodes 206, 208, and/or 310. For example, a data segment can include the names and ages of multiple people and the filter can select people with an age above 18 years old. The converter can represent an application to extract information from the subset of the data segments at the nodes 206, 208, and/or 310. For example, the converter can extract information from the subset (e.g., relevant bits) of the filtered data and pass the information to the iterator. For example, a search may be for names of people over 25. In this example, the filter can be used by a node to find information for the people over the age of 25 and the converter can send only the names of people selected by the filter, e.g., the converter can remove the age info from the filtered data before the data may be communicated to the iterator. One advantage of using the filter and the converter can be to reduce network traffic by enabling the nodes 204, 206, and/or 208 to communicate relevant data to the iterator. For example, an amount of data (such as data entries) sent to the iterator can be limited to the relevant data, e.g., the names of the people over 25 years old. In another example, the iterator can communicate a data format for nodes to communicate data to the iterator and the converter can convert a data format of result data to the data format communicated by the iterator. The data format communicated by the iterator can be a data format that is compatible with the iterator and/or the application 202.
FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method 400 of determining data results for a query search in a data grid. Method 400 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as operations being performed by the MCU), firmware or a combination thereof. In one example, method 400 is performed by a processor, a plurality of processors, a processor core, and/or a plurality of processor cores. Alternatively, other components of a computing system or software executing on the processor may perform some or all of the operations of the method 400.
Referring to FIG. 4, the method 400 can begin by receiving, from an application, a first search request defined by search criteria of a search query (block 410). The method can include communicating, to a second node, the first search request to search for data segments at the second node that match the search criteria (block 420). The method can further include receiving, from the second node, one or more data segments matching the search criteria (block 430). The method can further include receiving, from a coordinator, rebalance information in response to the second node transferring a plurality of rebalance data segments to one or more nodes in the data grid, where the rebalance information identifies the one or more nodes storing the plurality of rebalance data segments (block 440). The method can further include identifying, by a processing device, a third node storing rebalance data segments of the plurality of rebalance data segments based on the rebalance information, where the rebalance data segments are data segments transferred from the second node to the third node that match the search criteria and are not part of the data segments received from the second node (block 450). The method can further include communicating to the third node a second search request to search for the rebalance data segments matching the search criteria (block 460). The method can further include receiving, from the third node, one or more rebalance data segments matching the search criteria (block 470). The method can further include determining search result data using the data segments from the second node and the rebalance data segments from the third node (block 480).
In one example, the method can include receiving, from a coordinator, data location information, wherein the data location information indicates where data is located at a plurality of nodes in the data grid and identifying, by the processor, a second node of the plurality of nodes storing data that matches the search criteria. In another example, the method can include communicating, to the application, the search results. In another example, the identify the third node can further include: identifying, by the processor, the data segments received from the second node matching the search criteria; determining, by the processor, data segments not received from the second node; and determining, by the processor, that the data segments not received are stored at the third node based on the rebalance information. In another example, the receiving, the communicating, the identifying, and the determining can occur during the search query. In another example, the first node, the second node, and the third node can be in a data grid. In another example, the rebalance data segments can be transferred from the second node to the third node when the third node joins the data grid during the search query.
FIG. 5 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exemplary form of a computer system 500 within which a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternative implementations, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
The exemplary computer system 500 includes a processing device (processor) 502, a main memory 504 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 506 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 518, which communicate with each other via a bus 530.
Processing device 502 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the processing device 502 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or a processor implementing other instruction sets or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. The processing device 502 may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like. The processing device 502 is configured to execute instructions 526 for performing the operations and steps discussed herein.
The computer system 500 may further include a network interface device 522. The computer system 500 also may include a video display unit 508 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), or a touch screen), an alphanumeric input device 510 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 514 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 516 (e.g., a speaker).
The data storage device 518 may include a machine-readable storage medium 524 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions 526 (e.g., software) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 526 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504 and/or within the processing device 502 during execution thereof by the computer system 500, the main memory 504 and the processing device 502 also constituting computer-readable storage media. The instructions 526 may further be transmitted or received over a network 520 via the network interface device 534.
While the machine-readable storage medium 524 is shown in an exemplary implementation to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical media, and magnetic media.
The words “example” or “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “example' or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the words “example” or “exemplary” is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X includes A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X includes A; X includes B; or X includes both A and B, then “X includes A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Moreover, use of the term “an embodiment” or “one embodiment” or “an implementation” or “one implementation” throughout is not intended to mean the same embodiment or implementation unless described as such.
determine search result data using the data segments from the first node and the rebalance data segments from the second node.
2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processing device to receive, from a coordinator, data location information, wherein the data location information indicates where data is located at a plurality of nodes in the data grid.
3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processing device to communicate, to the application, the search results.
determine, by the processor, that the data segments not received from the first node are stored at the second node based on the rebalance information.
5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the receive, the communicate, the identify, and the determine occur during the search query.
6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first node and the second node are in a data grid.
7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the rebalance data segments are transferred from the first node to the second node when the second node joins the data grid during the search query.
determining search result data using the data segments from the second node and the rebalance data segments from the third node.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving, from a coordinator, data location information, wherein the data location information indicates where data is located at a plurality of nodes in the data grid.
10. The method of claim 8, further comprising communicating, to the application, the search results.
determining, by the processor, that the data segments not received are stored at the third node based on the rebalance information.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving, the communicating, the identifying, and the determining occur during the search query.
13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first node, the second node, and the third node are in a data grid.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the rebalance data segments are transferred from the second node to the third node when the third node joins the data grid during the search query.
determine search result data using the data segments from the second node and the rebalance data segments from the third node.
16. The first node of claim 15, the processor further to receive, from a coordinator, data location information, wherein the data location information indicates where data is located at a plurality of nodes in the data grid.
17. The first node of claim 15, the processor further to communicate, to the application, the search results.
determining, by the processor, data segments not received from the second node; determining, by the processor, that the data segments not received are stored at the third node based on the rebalance information.
19. The first node of claim 15, wherein the receive, the communicate, the identify, and the determine occur during the search query.
20. The first node of claim 15, wherein the first node, the second node, and the third node are in a data grid. | 2019-04-20T15:33:21Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160253386A1/en |
The Chinese are very superstitious when it comes to numbers, they choose telephone numbers, house number, business numbers, car number plates and anything that has numbers in very carefully.
Every month we get to visit many homes and businesses on consultations and it amazes us how far our clients take Feng Shui almost to paranoia, which is not good. If you have bad numbers do not worry about it, as I will show you how to eliminate the inauspicious effects.
A little story, to begin with, last Friday night I was parked outside the cinema waiting to pick up my two boys and as much as I hate to admit it I was listening to BBC Radio 4. I know you always think of the Archers or such like and this is what my Grandma used to listen too, they have some great debates on some nights.
Anyway, this program was about superstition, and one of the interviewers was saying how she was not superstitious but had spent the last 30 years saluting magpies or never walking under ladders or the cracks of pavements. Well, numbers and Feng Shui, are more superstitious Chinese folklore than anything else, do I take it seriously? Yes and no, if I found the perfect Feng Shui house with a good facing direction and it was good for my family but the house number was number 4, I would still buy it although I have to admit I would use the countermeasures listed below.
The main reason these numbers are considered unlucky is that the way the numbers sounds when spoken specially to the Cantonese. An example in western numbers would be the #11 could sound like heaven or #8 sounds like weight or #1 sounds like son, do you see what I mean? So if you have an unlucky #4 and you are from a country other than China. Think of #4 as sounding like “more” which is great.
Let’s say your house number is 2391; you would need to add all of the numbers up until they equal to a single number which in this case would equal to 6.
Let’s say your house number is 395; you would need to add all of the numbers up until they equal to a single number which in this case would equal to 8.
Let’s say your house number is 85 you would need to add all of the numbers up until they equal to a single number which in this case would equal to 4.
If your house number has a 4 in it, I would still suggest putting a circle around the number when it is displayed to weaken the effect.
Here is a general guide for each number and if it is good or bad.
If you own a home or business with a 4 or 13 is to draw a circle around the number, seriously it is that simple. The circle is extremely powerful and encloses the inauspicious effects of a negative number. So if you have a house number 4, a cheap way of curing is to go outside and draw a circle around your number or if you have time and money pop down to your local hardware store and find one of those ceramic door numbers that you can customise with a circle around the number, all this time you were worrying about nothing.
How seriously do we take numbers? I would be over the moon if we found the perfect house with great flying stars and it was #8 or 88, but I would not be put off buying it if it were #4 or 13, I would use the cure as above though or change it to a house name like “rose cottage” etc.
Michael has a car number plate with #88 in it; our fax number has three #8’s our telephone # has double nine, so yes we are superstitious a little but not paranoid about it and using the countermeasures above negate the problem, so please do not waste any energy worrying if your house number is 4 or 13, remember in many European countries #13 is very lucky and in Xuan Kong flying star #4 is a romance star. Also remember how far do you take it, both Michael and I were born in the forth month April, could this be bad? If you divide 8 by 2 it equals 4, you can play with numbers all you like and make them work good or bad.
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I would display the door number in an oval sign as shown on this page.
Hi im bout to buy house num 22. please advice.
Some said add alphabet i.e. 22A or A22. This can make the total to 5..
This would equal to 4 which is an inauspicious number in Feng Shui. To neutralise this, I would display the number in an oval sign as shown on this page.
Hi my house number is 7545 and unit 141 do i add all of these up?
You would add the numbers up separately.
What would be your 1st and 2nd choice?
I would go with either 906, 1806 or 2006.
In case if we go for apartment number 1706 (my partner prefers the layout) is there any way to transform it in to a better/good vibration?
Hi I am from India and my Flat no is 404. I have been facing lot of problems. Please suggest any remedy.
I would display the flat number in an oval sign as shown on the page to dissipate the energy from this number.
Hi, can you please help me? I have my home with block #6 lot#13, is this bad? How can i make it to be a good home? Please help. Thanks a lot.
The number 13 adds up to 4 which is an inauspicious number in numerology. I would suggest displaying your lot number as shown on this page.
My friend’s house number is 4344. according to the expression. it seems that 4 is unlucky numbers. How can she fix this issue? a circle above the address? any other token to be added to the house?
I would recommend displaying the house number in an oval sign to dissipate the negative energy.
I am from Bhutan and am planning to buy a lottery which is been drawn twice every month. So what starting number & ending should I buy. My date of Birth is 1980( Metal Monkey), I am a male and my Kua No. is.2, I would appreciate if you could recommend what is my lucky no.
I calculated six numbers based on your Gua and they are 13-29-6-26-42 and 29.
I’m looking to buy a house, the number is 45. Is this an auspicious number? What does it mean?
The number 45 equals up to 9 which is a good number although the number 4 in your address is not an auspicious number so I would recommend displaying the number in an oval or round sign as shown on this page.
My house is lot 4 blk 14 is this bad?
I would display the number in an oval sign as shown above to neutralise the effects of this number.
Hi, my unit number is 04-08 how to cure it?
I would recommend displaying the unit number in an oval sign as shown above.
We’re thinking of purchasing a pre-owned house that is Blk.10 Lot13 (house #13). We really like the house. Should we go on buying it? Thank you.
It is very hard to advise on a house just by the number. I would display the house number in an oval sign as shown in this page as the two numbers equal up to 4.
For my inquiry. We are planning to purchase a condo unit with num 224 of Tower 3. Is this auspicious to us? My husbands bday is 9/20/74 with Kua num 8. Mine is 01/14/71.
I would recommend displaying the house number in an oval sign similar to the one on this page. Good luck in your new home!
Thank you for your reply, Daniel.
If I may ask for your help with another condo unit num 543. Will this be auspicious for us? We are as well considering this unit.
It is very hard to advise just on the number of the condo although the number 4 is in the number so I would display the unit number in an oval sign as shown on the page.
I’ve been seeing the numbers 8 88 and 888. What can this mean. I’ve been seeing this for 2 years now.
This could be a coincidence or. I find if I am looking at a certain car to buy, I tend to see them everywhere. On the plus side, it could mean good things!
If you are able to, I would display the lot number in an oval sign as shown on this page.
The lot number only? how about the blk?
The block number is not a problem.
I’m afraid I could not find your question; could you please resend it and I’ll get back to you.
I’ve copied the numbers below and if they are good or bad to help you decide your new house block and lot number.
I’m afraid it would require a great deal of work to find the perfect place. It involves looking through all of the floorplans, mapping out the flying stars and much more.
I would recommend going with the one that feels best to you; try to spend some time in each one and see how they feel.
May I ask what is my lucky direction and number to buy a condominium? I’am born on November 20,1966 morning. Thank you.
Could you please tell me your gender and I will be able to tell you your best direction and auspicious numbers.
I would display the house number in an oval sign as shown on this page.
Hi My house number is 14.I faced alot of problems and I Can’t be happy with my family.Whoever came to my house and they keep on said that plz better change our house number.I feel worry about that.So what number can i change ???
I would display the door number in an oval sign as shown on this page. This should be enough to avoid problems.
These would be two separate numbers and would not be anything to worry about.
Hi Daniel, I have a question. I know my sister was talking about th e number 4.my roommates boyfriend just bought a home with the number 34, and offered my roommate and I to rent. I know the 4 usually applies to buying a home, does it apply to renting a room since I don’t own the house. I really would like to save money and can’t necessary not consider it since I can’t afford to buy another place.She also brought up 3-4 like three deaths. It’s been on my mind on occasion.what do you think, is it really bad luck? If, I stay, anyways to prevent it the negativity? Since I’m renting, not too much I can do in the home.
I would not let it worry you too much; if you do move there, I would request that you can place an oval door number sign as shown on this page.
With situations like this, it is always good to weigh up the pros and cons.
Thanks for the reply. I can ask but if they say no..is it really bad?
It’s certainly not the end of the world but I would recommend placing it if you can.
I intend to change my mobile phone number the last one I have adds up to 31 which is 4 and it hasn’t been good for me at all.
Which numbers are best for a mobile phone when added up? Also any numbers to avoid being inside the phone number?
Would greatly appreciate your prompt response.
I’ve copied the numbers below and if they are good or bad to help you decide your next number.
Buying a house we have a choice number 20 and 21 can you let me know which is a better number for fortune and health.
Either of these two numbers are good for a home.
We are planning to get a home :#12-169. It adds up to a 19 which is karmic number? So a little worried. I am born on 31st and my husband is the 25th. Will it be ok?
This would add up to 1 as you add it up to a single number. The number 1 is a good number in numerology so I would not worry about this.
for my house no 44…im doing business at my home pls advice which is better..
I would recommend displaying the house number in an oval or round sign, yes. You can usually buy them premade at hardware stores.
Appreciated if you could advise car plate no with VW 718? I’m considering for my new car plate no. My born date 10July1972. Thank you!
Hi! Is 22nd September 2018 lucky or unlucky day to get married? I`m born on 22nd June (life path no 8). Thank you!
If you can tell me your gender and year, I can check the date on the Tong Shu Almanac.
Yes, thank you! Here are more details: 1978, woman. He is February 9, 1974. Thank you very much!
Saturday 22nd September 2018 is not a good date for marriage, unfortunately.
The best thing you can do is try to start the ceremony between these dates as these are your auspicious times of day to help counteract the Almanac – 03:00 – 04:59, 11:00 – 12:59, 13:00 – 14:59, 15:00 – 20:59, 21:00 – 22:59.
Good luck with your big day, Aleksandra!
I mean getting married next year 2019.
We are trying to pick a wedding date that will be lucky for us both.
Which month and date do you recommend please.
If you could let me know which months you are looking to get married, I will look for the best dates for you both.
my house number is 44. Kindly advise what to do.
I would display your house number in an oval or round sign as shown on the page.
Hi, is lot #17 house #9518 a good number?. Also, another question is you can see the fireplace from the maindoor, is it good or bad?. Thank you!.
The lot number adds to 8 which is good and house number adds to 5 which is fine.
I would try and break up the flow of energy by placing something between the door and fireplace if you can. If the fireplace is very close to the front door, this may not be a problem.
Hello.I take my personalised car number is 1260..is it good?
Your red number equals 9 which is very good in numerology.
Hello Daniel. Thk u.I want to ask you another question. I have another personalised car number is 603..perhaps later will take another number..between the 1603 and 1680.which is the best for abandance and everything?
I would go with 1603 as this equals to 1 which is a good number.
1680 equals up to 4 which is the most inauspicious number in numerology.
either of these two address have good numbers.
I would not personally pay attention to the letters.
You should do what feels right to you as you need to be comfortable although the letters do not fall into numerology in my opinion.
I would recommend block 7, lot 6 as the number 6 is good for numerology.
I hope this helps and good luck in your house search!
I born in 10 January 1987.
I’m going to buy a new car and i have to select a number plate that is lucky and good in overall sales and business and good health. I’m an insurance agent and investment advisor.
Among the SIX numbers below , appreciate your advise which three are the best numbers for me? I will bring this to JPJ to check the number availability.. truly appreciate your help..
The best number plates out of this last are VBV 1611 or VBW 3268; if I had to pick one, I would go with VBV1611.
Good luck with your new car!
Thanks for your advise and guidance Daniel!!
My office unit number is 214, how can I make it nicer to bring more luck?
I would display the office unit number in an oval or round display.
I am very much interested in a house and the number is 258. My mom said it means no fortune. But if we add the digits, it equals to 6. Please advise. Thank you so much for your time.
You always equal the number up to a single digit in numerology and 6 is a good number.
Your auspicious numbers for your date of birth are 10, 12, 23, 24, 35, 47. I would try and avoid 24 and 47 as 4 is an auspicious number. The best number would be 35 for you.
Hi I’m hoping you can help me please. I am thinking of moving into a number 35/8 house and I really like the energy of the place however I read that number 8 houses are not suitable for people born on the 13th and I’m born on the 13th of October. This has really threw me off and I’m paranoid now. Should I invest in a different property?
The number 8 is very good in Feng Shui so I would not worry about this. If you have a good feeling about the house, this is also very important.
Good luck in your new home if you decide to go for it!
Hi Daniel can you help me please I found a property that I really love and the energy of this house is perfect for me or so I thought until I read on a website that number 8 houses are not suitable for people born on the 13th which is my birthdate and the house is a number 35 can you give me any more insight into why it’s unlucky and can I change this?
Hi, Good day! We are planning to buy a new house. Please I need your advice, which is good? Block 4 Lot 13 or Block 4 Lot 15 or Block 4 Lot 5 or Block 4 Lot 6? Thank you..
I would go for any apart from block 4 lot 13.
That will be fine; just be sure to put a circle around the block number if it is on display.
Hi there we have recently brought a block of land its number is 22 and street name is palais- which adds up to 22 using the pythagorean numerology chart. Is this good or bad?
I would display the land number in an oval sign if it is on display anywhere.
Hello, We bought a house august 27, 2016 and the house number is block 4 lot 2? Is this a lucky house? Thank you.
The number 4 is inauspicious in Feng Shui so I would recommend putting a circle around the number if it is displayed to neutralise the number. The number 2 is a good number.
We just bought a house on lot #49 and the street address is 194, i believe facing West. Please advise.
How to cure the lot # since it is not visible.
Thank you so much. I’d greatly appreciate it.
If the lot number is not visible and displayed on your home, I would not worry about it personally. If you wanted to, you could put a red circle around the deed to the home although this is down to personal preference.
Good luck in your new home, Mel!
In numerology, these numbers are fine and nothing to worry about.
I am so glad I found your website.
We are buying a brand new home. The lot # is 49 and the street address is 194. I believe is facing West. Is this bad? And how do I cure the lot # and the street address? I appreciate your help on this.
I would display the lot number in an oval sign to neutralise this number.
If you love the house, I would go for it and display the name in an oval sign!
Hi! Is is okay to buy a house with numbers Block 13 Lot 9 (Facing east)?
It is fine to buy a house with these numbers although I would display the block number in an oval or round sign.
I would not worry about the house number. The number 8 is very good in numerology. I would make sure the new home is clear and free of clutter once you are settled in to attract fresh Qi. If you live in a country with good weather, be sure to keep the windows open as long as security will allow when your first move in.
My house number is 404, which sums up to 8 but has two 4s in it, should i make a red circle around it as well?
Also, I have stuck number 4 at the back of my door, as my life path number is 3, so that 404 + 4=12 and 12 will sum up to 3. Am I doing it the correct eay or need to change something here?
Could you please help me as well?
Of course, what can I help with?
Sorry, I’ve just seen this.
I would still display the house number in an oval sign to avoid problems.
If you are able to, you could draw a circle around the number plate or do it on the back of the plate.
My car number is ,GJ23 H 9310, as per numerology, I am adding only 9310which sums up to 13, ever since i bought it, I have faced lot of problem with it, like major accidents and car break up. I am suppose to follow the number plate rule of my govt. So It’s not possible for me to make a customised name plate with a ring around it. Can you help me provide a solution in this case? I would also want to Thank you fir helping out people so humbly.
I would take the plate off and draw a circle around the back.
Thank you so much for guiding me. But a bit confused, draw a red oval sign behind the plate, in the center , which will not be visible when I hang it back, is that okie?
It is a tricky one but I would try to remove the plate and draw a circle around the back.
I just signed a contract for a house at 107 Continental Dr. Is it good, bad or ugly? Thanks.
The number 107 equals to 8 which is an auspicious number in numerology.
The lot number equals to 4 so I would display this in an oval sign if possible.
How about I bought the house block 9 lot 40. Kindly advise.
I would put a circle around the lot number as the number 4 is inauspicious in numerology.
Hi, my husband & I are looking to buy a house with the number 13606. We have 5 kids. Will this be a good number for our family? Thank you very much in advance!!!!!!
Your house number adds up to 7 which is fine in numerology; it’s not the best number but it wont cause problems. Good luck in your new home, Katie!
Thank you for replying! I really appreciated your time!
Hello, is the number 4148 lucky or unlucky, how do I determine it, Many thanks!!! You provide great information!
The number has 4 in there two which is inauspicious in numerology so I would recommend displaying the number in an oval sign as shown above.
We are looking at an appartment 323 and a half. I automatically wanted to make it a 323.5 = 4 bit it was advertised as 323 1/2 = 2. How would I add these or would I disregard the half 323 = 8?
I would personally class this is 323 which would equal to 8 which is an auspicious number in numerology. If you are in doubt, you could display the apartment number in an oval sign for safe measure.
Thank you so much. You have been so helpful! That was what I was hoping to hear.
I have been made an offer to purchase a flat.House 35 Flat-3B.Please suggest.
The number 35 equals to 8 which is an auspicious number in numerology. The number 3 is also a good number.
Hi, I’m in the work of buying a food business with the number 2000. Is that okay?
The number 2 is a good number in numerology so I would not worry about the number.
Good luck in your venture!
Your house number adds up to 3 which is not a problem in numerology. To add the numbers, you add all three until the get to a single digit although if you have a four in your number, it is best to display the number with a red ring around it.
Just got my license plate number 256. How is that number and should I be adding up the letters to it as well or calculated separately from the numbers? How to calculate the letters? Sorry for many questions.
256 would add up to 4 wouldn’t it?
My answer would be exactly what you said, Mila!
September 10th is a good date for starting a new business. Good luck in your new venture, I hope it all goes well for you!
House number 13 and business 419 is it a bad number?
the number 13 adds up to 4 which is an inauspicious number in numerology and the business number has a 4 in it so I would display both numbers in an oval sign.
Our apartment number is 407, do we just enclose 4 in a circle or entire apartment number? Also I read somewhere about circle being red?
I would display the apartment number in a circular door sign with red around the edge. You can get nice metal ones from most hardware stores.
Hi..i believe in feng shui even I’m not a Chinese it’s because I can see a lot of positivenes there.so I tried to find a way at least I can read in articles or blogs or what ever posted in social media.i was planing to run a little business and now I made it and I did some good luck for start but I didn’t open yet my store because I will wait the date of 8 this January.i was born April 18 1989..thank you for this web.i have some opinions to take..
The last one actually is 48 Pine Hill instead.
This one is also good and happy New Year to you too.
I have been in the process to purchase a new house. The realtor showed me several interesting houses for me to choose from. Which the following is the best choice from the Feng Shui point view and why? Thank you. Happy New Year!
I love the positive names of these roads like Joy MT and mountain view, this is actually important too, 1/9 Sky look and Joy MT are best but the other two are not that bad as road names are good.
I’m thinking about opening a small Korean restaurant. My birthday 06/09/1983 and husband 03/07/1985. My name will be on papers and husband will mainly help in kitchen.
It there a business name numerology that I should considered?
The number 310 adds to 4 which is an inauspicious number so I would display this in a round sign with read around the edge.
Good luck with your restaurant, Amy!
hi! We will be renting a House with address BLOCK 1 LOT 3 . is this ok? or it’s considered as #13 and 1+3=4?
I would not worry about this as these are two separate numbers and 1 is a good number and 3 is ok.
Dear Mr Frank, I bought a condominium unit 5th floor room number 43. I’m an aries and year of the dragon. Thank you.
My apology Mr Michael Hanna for addressing you a wrong name.
The floor number is fine and the room number equals up to 7 which is also fine. If you wanted to, i would display the room number in an oval sign as you have a 4 in the room number although this is not crucial.
We own a house with address B13 L24 P2. We dont have any numbers posted in our gate. Is this a bad address? Thanks.
I can see nothing negative about this address at all.
Hi..just want to ask if nov.24,2017 or nov.25,2017 lucky numbers for ooening a business?
I purchased a home with number 652, lot 175. Do I need a round door sign for it? Thanks.
I would have it with a round door sign.
on feng shui based on floor and it says to avoid the 6th floor for monkey. I am not sure if its best to take it or look for another floor number.
The problem with Feng Shui is that there are so many layers to it and applying all of them when looking for homes to rent or buy is impossible, you will always find a negative.
Personally, this would not worry me at all being on the 6th floor and the apartment number is fine.
I am so sorry to hear about your mum. The combination of numbers is not good at although I doubt it caused this problem. I would place the number in a round display.
301 equals to 4 which is an inauspicious number in Feng Shui so I would recommend displaying the door sign in an oval or round plaque.
Hi we are selling a newly built house number 44, front door is north facing. Can we do anything to improve the number? It adds up to 8, is that any good? Do we need to display the number in a round shape? In what colour please? Any date this year for the sale to go trough that is particularly lucky? 18/11/17? Or 08/01/18? Thank you.
Hi, I would place the number on a round display and as you say look on the positive side that it equals 8. Out of the two dates, the most auspicious day is the 8th January.
Hi my onlineshop total letters is 13 is badluck? & my car plate is oy1666 is it bad luck too? what to do?
These numbers would not worry me and neither should they you.
Hello. We found a house we love but I am concerned about the address 45455 before we make an offer. What do you think?
The address equals to 6 which is an auspicious number although there are two fours in the address so I would recommend displaying the number in an oval door sign.
isnt it 23 which is 5 not 33 which u thought was 6?
Hi can you please tell me is no the 10 good for a shop or not if not what do I have to do .
The number one is an auspicious number so I would not worry about this.
I would display the address in an oval or round door sign to avoid problems with this number.
Hi I’m thinking of setting up a business and the building is number 20.
I’m drawn to the number 7 but believe 8 would be good in business.What would you suggest?
The number 20 is an auspicious number.
& is good but 8 is more auspicious so I would suggest going with your personal choice.
4 is not a good number where Feng Shui numerology is concerned, I’m afraid. The number 474 adds up to 6 which is good so it depends which you look at it. I would decide on personal preference on the car as you can always change the number plate to a personalised one.
I would purchase a round door sign similar to the one displayed on the page as this will fit in well and look good. The presence of the circle is what helps protect rather than it looking aesthetically good.
I’m planning to buy a new house; it is located in Blk 14, lot 24. What is the vibes with the number?
I would display the numbers in a round or oval house sign as shown on the page. The lot number equals up to 6 which is very good although it does also contain 4 which is an inauspicious number so it would be best to display in the rounded sign.
Good luck with your new house, Ron.
My parents just bought a new house number is 22 it is bad or bad.
22 does equal up to 4 which is an inauspicious Feng Shui number. I would recommend displaying the house number in an oval or round door sign as shown on the page.
Wishing your family the best of luck in their new home.
My family just bought a new house the home number is 22. It is good or bad if we sum 2+2=4.
I want to buy a house with number 15 and another house is with number 34, which one is a good one to buy regarding the number.
The number 15 is good with regards to Feng Shui.
The number 34 is not good and I would advise displaying the number in a round door plaque.
Hi, Just wondering, is house number 15 and 34 good to buy according to Feng Shui?. Please reply asap as I don’t want to miss it. Thanks.
Hi Michael. I hope you can help. We are currently living in Europe and will be moving into our rented house No.3511E in USA this November. Will this be a good number for us?
The house number equals up to 1 which is an auspicious number in Feng Shui.
Good luck with your move, Sik.
We are currently choosing a good wedding day for next year 2018.
1. Which day is lucky? March 18 (318), June 18 (618), or Aug 18 (818) ?
2. Also if 8 is a lucky number why is August considered bad luck/ghost month even if its the 8th month?
When selecting a wedding date, you should use the Tong Shu Almanac. If you send me both dates of birth and gender, I will be able to tell you the best date to get married.
We just bought a lot #31 and a house #3217 facing east direction and it’s #4 Can you please give me some advices ? Thank you!
I would use a round or oval door sing in red or black.
Please help me to choose my future car number plates; 299, 300, 302, 311 or 312.
I need an answer in the next 14 hours.
Sorry, I have only just seen your comment.
The best number plates would be 299 and 312 although 299 is the best out of the two.
Your address equals up to 1 when you add them all together which is a good number in numerology.
Hello Michael, my house address is block 20 lot 13, is this good or bad number?
Your lot number adds up to 4 which is an inauspicious number and I would recommend displaying the lot number in a round plaque on your home to negate this.
Yes, I would recommend drawing a round circle around the door number.
Front door of my house has the house number 103 written in red on a white rectangular sticker inside a rectangular border in red..can you please let me know drawing a circle around 103 would help…thank you for helping us out..good bless u..
Hello. My house number is 31B. Is it a good number? Please advise.
Your house number equals to 4 which is an inauspicious number so I would recommend displaying the number in an oval door sign.
Hi is no 54 a good house no.
The house number has a 4 in it which is inauspicious so I would recommend displaying the door number in an oval door plaque to avoid problems.
My house no. is 44. What should I do to counter the bad luck of the no.? Can I add a letter of the alphabet to balance the bad feng shui?
I would recommend displaying the house number in a round door plaque.
Im planning to buy a house.. im choosing between block 4 lot 4 or block 4 lot 6. Which one is better? My husbands birthday is march 1. Do i need to put circle on it? I hope you can help me.
I would say that block 4 lot 6 is the better out of the two based on numerology.
Iam buying a house that is block 13 lot 13 is this a good number?
Your block and lot number equals to 4 which is an inauspicious Feng Shui number. I would recommend display the block and lot number in a round door sign.
I am planning to buy a house with number 7420 which adds up to 4. House seems decent and my family liked it most over other houses we saw. Kindly advise should I buy this house?
One more point house is built on lot 121 which again adds up to 4.
It is hard to advise on a property without seeing it although with regards to the house number, I would display it in a round door sign.
Is a new house number 4448 or 4446 good? Do I need to buy a circle around each number 4 in the sign.
the two numbers are not the best and I would recommend using a round door number sign for the whole number; you do not need to place a circle around each number 4.
Is 138/2 good number in my house.
Your house number equals to 5 which is not the greatest number in numerology although I would recommend using a round door plaque for your home to negate this.
The number 1900 is fine with regards to numerology.
I have just been allocated with a house number 24… much to my distress I have called the local council to see if this can be changed but to no avail. Our house was lot 106.
What do I do? What type of plaque should i use? Can I use the words “twenty four” on the plaque? Our house is North facing.
I would recommend using a round or oval plaque for the door sign to avoid any problems. I would not worry too much about this.
Thank you!!! Also would it be okay to put the round plaque on the letterbox or does it have to be on the door? In red or in black.
Thank you! May I also ask if the plaque can be placed on the letterbox or does it have to be on the door? Further, do the circle and/or numbers have to be in red or black colour?
Just one more question what color should the number and the circle be – red or black?
The sign will be fine in either red or black so this is just down to personal preference.
We saw this house that we really like and the house number is #16. Is this a good number? Thanks so much in advance!
This is a good number in numerology. Good luck with your new home.
The number 16 adds up to 7 which is fine in numerology; it’s not the best number but it won’t cause problems.
hi! I am thinking of buying a lot number 1313. Is it a good number? Thanks!
Your lot number adds up to 8 which is an auspicious number in numerology.
My home number is 28646. Is it ok?
Your home number equals to 8 which is an auspicious number.
I live on the 4th floor of apartment building and my unit number is 425 which adds up to 11, which is auspicious as mentioned above.
Should I put a circle around it bc we are on the 4th floor? Or is there another way to resolve this 4th floor issue? If it is not bad luck pls let me know because I became concerned after reading about the number 4… Thx!!
I would not worry about living on the 4th floor personally. The number four is an inauspicious number but this does not relate to your personal address. I would just put up a circular door number sign for your apartment.
Hi I am picking between 4414 and 4412 for an address. Which is better? Can anything be done about the two fours in the beginning? I am worried about all of the 4’s. Thank you in advance.
Out of the two, 4412 is the better number for the address as this equals up to 2.
The home is a number 26 which equals 8, however it’s front door is NorthEast facing.
I have read that 8 is good, and the number 26(and reversed 62) is not. Would this number need energy correcting?
Would a red or orange door help this direction?
The number 8 is auspicious in numerology and I would say you do not need to correct the energy.
I’m thinking about a restaurant in a shopping plaza, the address is 4790 S Hagadorn Rd Suite #144, good idea or find a different space?
Here is another space 300 Frandor Avenue Suite #444, good idea or find a different space?
4790 equals up to two 20 which is a good complete number in terms of numerology.
Good luck with the restaurant, Amy.
Does the round/oval house sign need to be just plain black/red? The ones that i saw at Home Depot have gold outline to them. Thanks!
The gold outline will be fine to use.
How about if my house address is 434? Is this ok?
I would recommend purchasing a round or oval door sign for your address as this will disipate the effects of having two number 4’s in your address.
Hi Amanda, The sign can be oval shaped as well.
Hi. Would like to ask if 3380 is good number for car plate? Tq.
Looks like a good combination for a number plate.
How about an address with a unit or apt to it?
My address would be 280 Unit #4 – do I need to put a circle around it or should I just avoid at all costs?
I would recommend purchasing a round door sign for your unit to have the number 4 on display.
I am looking a new house with the nomber 45. Is it good or not. Pl suggest me. thank you.
I am looking for a new house with the nomber D -45 or A -10.Is it good or not. Pl suggest me. thank you.
The A-10 is probably the better number.
I brought a house with the number of 23A – 7 where the actual number is 24. Is this a bad number?
i dont know what number to use, i live in a townhouse. my unit numer is 153. but my street house number is 548.
I am staying in the house no is B-177.Is it good or bad. Pl give me the suggestion.
Your house number equals to 6 which is a good number in numerology.
If it (D-45) is not good then what is the remedies. Pl suggest me .
I would just have a circle made around the number, in the UK we have house numbers in circle shapes which are perfect.
Hi Michael. I am considering buying a home with the house # 13440. Is that bad since it has #13 and two #4?
31 is not the best number in numerology as it adds up to 4 which is inauspicious. To resolve this, I would purchase a round door sign for your new home.
Apologies for the late reply. the number adds up to 11 which is considered auspicious in Feng Shui and also good for relationships as it symbolises two people side by side.
Sorry for the late reply, I would place the number is round display, if you read the article here you will find more details and hope it helps you.
I would display the lot number in a round or oval house sign as shown on the page. The lot number adds to 6 which is a very auspicious number although it does also contain 4 which is an inauspicious number so it would be best to display in the rounded sign.
Good luck in your new home, Mae.
Im looking at a house that is numbered 23. Is that fortunate?
The number 23 is not the best number for a house although this can be resolved by using a round door sign on the front of the home to display the number.
The #18 is a great number and would not use a circle.
Hi is 8819 good number?
Yes, this is a good number. There are two eights in the number which is very fortunate.
I am choosing between the two addresses for my dream home.
I would go with Blk 12 lot 9 although you also need to make sure you are happy with the location.
Good luck with your new home, Myaida.
This would be 8 energy and very good.
Either name will be good as you have eight in the name which is very fortunate.
My friend maria referred me here. we bought the same place of apartment but I was given 2 option only.
we are basing only through the main house number.
I would say the first option is the best as the number is good. Also, you should not base an apartment just on the number, you need to feel happy in it yourself. Good luck in your new apartment, Joahnna.
Block 8 lot 141, block 8 lot 137 , block 14 lot 329, block 7 lot 4, block 16 lot 237.
Going by the numbers only, block 8 – lot 137 looks the best but this is only from a numerology point of view.
Wow what a quick reply. Thank you so much. One of the best and concern person.
YOU ARE VERY HELPFUL TO EVERYONE FOR AN IDEA.
Sir Michael, Block 8 lot 137 is the apartment number but as ive checked its on 4th door from the entrance u think it will affect coz its 4th door or no problem because were basing on house number..
Hi sorry to disturb I know I keep emailing you my apology. I Called my agent to check and give me different house number available he message me a new house number just now..
2. BLOCK 7 is not updated on the system there is chance it might not be availble when i go there tom. Can you give me the best number for lot number 8 only.
Our family will appreciate your advice..
I would go for BLOCK 8 LOT 138 first or BLOCK 8 LOT 141 second.
I would go for BLOCK 8 LOT 138.
Most SE Asian would avoid this combination of numbers but mostly due to superstition but it is good to have the 8 in the lot number.
Thank you sir Daniel for your advice.
Should I also use the round door sign for the number 4?
Yes, i would use a round door sign on the #4.
I am thinking of leasing a space for business with a suite # 220. Please let me know if it’s bad.
The number 220 in Feng Shui is fine and i know you may think 2+2 = 4, it does not work like that all is good with this number.
I would probably choose 8899 as this represents today’s and future wealth, enjoy your new car.
We’re trying to buy a house #774. I’ve learned #4 isn’t good, but the sum makes 18. Would You please advice if it’s good or not.
774 is not bad at all and as you say 18 is a positive number and it would be a number i would choose.
Your reply is so much appreceated!!
Hi, not it is not that bad although i would frame the number in a circle.
If you read the article you will see that if you are not sure about a number you should draw a circle around the number. The article gives you some ideas.
We are looking at purchasing a house with an address of 50 or 48. Which number is better?
I have a new house with the number 44. What can I do? My wife is half Chinese.
We like a house, number 41?
Shall we buy or leave?
4 is not good in a house number although the solution is to purchase a round door sign and make sure the number is inside the sign as shown in the picture on this page.
We like a house number 41. Is this a good number?
The number 4 is not a good number although I would not let it put me off my dream home. The remedy to this is to make sure that the house number is presented in a round house sign; this is an easy fix and can be bought at most DIY shops. Good luck with the new home.
We\’re trying to purchase a home that has a block # 6150. Can you please advise if it\’s good.
I truly appreciate you response! Thank You!
I would say that the block number is ok and should not cause problems.
I am looking at a condo 1404. Is it a good number ?
Its not a great number but you can weaken this by placing a circle round the condo number such as a plaque.
Putting a circle round the number tends to neutralise the ill effects and should avoid problems rather than weaken.
Are they good or bad? Appreciate your response.Thank you.
Hi, 88 is considered the most auspicious and 1601 second best, the other two numbers are not great.
I am moving to a flat # 86 is it good or bad ? I am a fire Monkey.
Thank u Michael. Just signed for it today. It felt good going up the elevator and the digitized voice saying 8 when door opens. This will be everytime I reach my floor and double flying stars 8 wait for me at my door facing South 🙂 Happy :).
Or should I say Thank u Daniel ?
Can you please tell me if the number 58, which makes it a 4 number is bad and can we rectify it by putting a circle around it.
Hi Lillian, the number 58 is good, anything with an 8 is good so no remedy is needed.
I would not make any changed with the number, #6 is good.
The number 14 equals up to 5 which is not bad and should not cause any problems. If you are concerned about the 4 in the number, you could buy a door number sign and use a circular sign for each number.
Good luck with the property.
If possible, I would put a circle around the number 4 on your company logo as you suggested. 3429 is considered a good number as it adds up to 9 and I would not worry about this number.
Planning to get house with number 4525 . Is it a good number?
the number 4525 equals to 7 which should not cause problems.
I\’m planning to get a new car and just checking on which car plate is the best (877, 978, 2868, 6828, 6882)?
All numbers work well except for 877.
Just bought a house #669.
Is it a good number?
669 will add up to 3 which is not a bad number although I would purchase a circle door plaque for the front of the home.
We are shopping for a house.
Here are the adress we will visit this week-end.
Please can you tell me the best number?
Now I\’m living in a number 74 and my life is a nightmare and I need to know before to buy a new house.
The best number out of that list is 6391 although this will also come down to the actual home and how it feels for you.
I live in house 4A can you suggest what can I do thanks.
I would purchase a round door number sign for your home and have the number 4 inside the circle plate.
32 is a great number.
Hi can you give details in what respect is 2208 good number .
They are quite good although 28 is slightly better. Personally i would choose the right home rather than worry about the number.
My house number is 2208. Please suggest if it is good or bad?
2208 is a good number and you do not need to make changes at all.
This number is absolutely fine.
I have a house sign # 4 (light gold colour) as small metal (on top of silver metal letter box) plate glued to the left side of s brick fence. What colour (eg, blue, red, etc….) should I circle the sign # 4? Please advise, thanks, Dan.
You should circle the number in either red or black if possible.
Is it best to sell our lot blk.13 lot 4 or placing a number with circle on it will be ok as cure? Planning to build our house by next yr.pls help.thanks.
I would place a the block and lot number in a circle as this remedies any ill effects.
Your home address equals to 8 which is a very auspicious Feng shui number.
Your business license equals to 3 which is not great although it is not one of the worst. When displaying your license number, you can play a circle around it e.g. on invoices etc.
Hi, My wife wrote you about our house number 2474 which you said to put in a circle. Do you mean the entire number goes in one circle or do you mean each of the 4 numbers has its own circle? Thank you!
My house number is 346. Please let me know if it is unlucky since it has number 4.
As you said, the number equals to 4 which is not auspicious; I would place the house number in a round sign outside your home to avoid problems.
The best thing to do is purchase a round door sign for the door number.
Me & my wife are buying a property lot.
We want to know if the number is ok.
Both the block and lot number are good. Good luck with your purchase.
we just brought a Lot , the number is block 20 lot 29, west side. Is this a good number?
We stay in aren\’t end appartment .door no is 301!!! Is it bad??? If so what should we do ??? Over all last three years we are facing a lot of problems:(:(especially fertility related.plz help me.
Thank you so much for your kind reply and help.will do it ASAP.can you suggest some more easy tips to conceive our baby ?? I do have five lucky bamboo sticks (living area) two metal elephant hanging on bedroom door.please help me.
Monkey peanuts are a fantastic Cure to place beside your bed in a bowl for fertility; I would recommend trying this.
Your apartment number equals to 6 which is an auspicious number.
my apartment no is A1-02-03 is it good or bad no? Thanks.
Hi, Planning to buy a house with # 18. How good is the number. I am a born on 20th Feb 1976. Please let me know.
The number 18 is an auspicious number in Feng Shui.
4903 when added together equals to sixteen which is an auspicious number. Good luck with the house purchase!
Thank you so much. I feel so much better. Thank you !!
Hi, I just found out our house has a terrible number. It is 2474. We have lived here for 30 years. Is there a way to cure the bad number?
When you add 2474 together, it equals to seventeen which is an inauspicious number so I would suggest having house number signs made up for your home with a round plaque as shown below as this will weaken the influence of the numbers.
When you add 2474 together, it equals to seventeen which is an inauspicious number so I would suggest having house number sign made up for your home with a round plaque as shown below as this will weaken the influence of the numbers.
well my parents house is 33, my appartment in the number 13 and my office 44.
What do you suggets? I would apreciate your advice.
I would suggest having house number signs made up for the two homes and office with a round plaque as shown below as this will weaken the influence of the numbers.
Hello I am planning to buy and shop; the shop has everything positive besides it\’s number which is number 13. Should I buy this shop?
I\’m afraid that I cannot advise on the shop just on a number alone although when dealing with inauspicious numbers, you should display the number for the shop in a round plaque to weaken the influence of the number.
We are looking a townhome and its really beautiful but what i am worried about is the street number where the townhouse is located is in 4\’th street… The house number though is #125. Do i need to be worried about this street number and what is the cure for it? I cannot out a circle to the street sign….
The house number equals to eight which is very auspicious. I would not worry too much about the street number as the effect will be spread across a lot of homes.
the number two is an auspicious number although the number 4 is inauspicious as it translates roughly to death. with the number 4, if you have a door sign for the lot 4, I would have the number displayed in a circle plaque.
Congratulations on your new home. 2567 will equal to 20 which is auspicious as it is an even number. I hope you have a great life in your new home and make many happy memories with your daughter.
We moved into a house number 160, things feel a bit out of sync professionally. We lived happily in a house adding to 14 previously. Please advise what to do?
We recently moved into a house number 160, things feel a bit out of sync professionally. We lived happily in a house adding to 14 previously. Please advise what to do?
I did a Life Answers Report Numerology reading for the Month of September.
44/8 whats the cure for this? and how to minimise anger?
The fact that this equals to 4 is not a problem, it is more if there is a 4 in the actual number so I would not worry about it Rinku.
I am a Realtor listing a house in an area with a lot of Asian buyers. My clients want to list their property at $484,900. Is the negative effect of the 4s negated by the 8 and 9? Would it be considered a luckier number to list at $484,888?
I would recommend listing the property at £484,888 if possible as like you said, the 8\’s will help negate the effect of the 4\’s.
Thank you for the article above.
I am moving to a new property and the adress is the following: Flat 1, building 705. Would you be able to help me understand the vibration of this number?
the 7 and 5 in your building number add up to 12 which is a good number. 1 is also a good number which means you have a good address.
That\’s great, thank you so much 🙂 I was just worried as all the numbers together (1, 705) added to a four.
Thank you so much for clarifying!
My business number is 157,..which sums 13 = 4…I put the number inside an oval Red color (not a circle). Is it going to work too? The fact that it is an oval line instead of a circle makes any difference?
Apologies but I have only just come across this as it was in the spam folder.
I would try to buy a sign that is a circle for a door number sign if possible as this will be much more effective.
We have recently moved into a appt 404 and a new office A102, things are not working out too well since then, both professionally and personally, worried!
It is impossible to give you detailed advice without seeing the buildings but the best thing you can do is put a circle around the building numbers and you will be amazed at the difference that this will make.
My wife and I are planning to buy an apartment unit 404. We are worried about the number as its double 4. Just want to ask if it is bad luck?
The positve way to look at it is that 4+4=8 which is the most auspicious number to the Chinese. Personally, I wouldn\’t let it put me off.
The positive way to look at it is that 4+4=8 which is the most auspicious number to the Chinese. Personally, I wouldn\’t let it put me off.
I have been living in a rented flat 1228 facing NW for the past 2years. We have had severe relationship problems and finance and health have been erratic. We have to renew in June . If I dont get a better one would drawing a circle around the flat no suffice?
Hello, a co-worker of mine just purchased a home with the address \”144\”. He and his wife are having a house-warming party in a week. What feng shui cure/gift can I give or suggest to help diminish the inauspicious effects?
Will my question be answered? Does this message system work?
i am planning to buy a house… is 4453 or 4463 house no. ok? what should i do? can I put rectangle or oblong in it?
hi we are buying a house number 22 as a rental holiday property near the water can you help with any suggestions?
If it is the number 22 you are worried about, this is not bad at all and nothing is needed.
Since I have moved into this particular apartment 13/4 an inconceivable amount of crisies have occurred in my life and the life of those I am accountable for. I never considered my apt # until i just recently did the math and read about 13/4 house numbers. I was shocked to see descriptions of the horrendous roller coaster ride I am on.
Please I need to know how to get out of this apt. This was to be a temporary residence and yet we have not been able to get our selves out and now feel uncertain of our future. I am worried what will go wrong next. And to note I was NOT superstitious and did not know anything about this 13/4 number until just this past week.
I have a house number 5, street number 9.
I think is by itself is very good [ 5 elements etc], and we know that 9 is good also. Together, im not sure?
What does a house number 1465 mean? I understand 14 isn\’t good, please advice what to do. Thanks.
We are moving in to a house number 62. please advise if it is a good or bad number?
6 and 2 adds to 8 which in Feng Shui, is a fantastic number and with regard to the Five Elements, the number 6 represents metal and the number 2 represents earth which is fortunate as metal enhances earth in the productive cycle.
To put it simply, this is a good number for a home and you should look at this as a positive number. If you wanted to get a number plaque for the home, I would recommend using a good quality slate in rectangular or square shape to compliment this.
my house number is 1589. Kindly advise what to do.
Thinking if buying one of two houses in North Texas one address is 2455 which is a 7 and the other is 553 which is a four worried about my family we have 4 children and these are the best if what if what we can afford will simply putting either address in a circle or maybe an oval help? Thank you for your help!
My house number is 31. Is this a good or bad number. Drawing a circle in this number can help if its not a good number. Thank you.
You may have learnt that 31 is an inauspicious number as the two numbers equal to 4 although you have the elements wood and water from the 3 and 1 which can be very good.
Is the numbers 444 in the prefix of you phone number bad? Please let me know so that I can decide what to do.
I\’m sorry to say but my personal view and the majority of south east Asia would say that this is bad and is not considered a good number. | 2019-04-19T04:21:15Z | https://www.fengshuiweb.co.uk/advice/numerology.htm |
The internet is saturated with articles about why you should be “creative” when it comes to marketing. You’re told over and over again to think “outside the box.” However, very few of these articles actually give you concrete ideas with practical instructions to work from. This is like telling someone to go fishing to feed their family but not teaching them how to fish!
By the time you are done reading this article, you will have several unconventional marketing tactics that will enable you to quickly create a plan of action and start implementing this plan within one week! Best yet, these unconventional marketing tactics will not cost you any money! Yes, they are free!! That’s the beauty of creative gorilla marketing! On the other hand, these free unconventional marketing tactics have been tested in the real world and they can definitely increase your sales and help you garner new loyal clients.
Have you ever wondered where the expression, “think outside the box,” comes from? The history is very interesting and serves as another good example of a very useful tip we gave you in our “Reinvent Your Marketing With Innovative Subtlety” article.
For marketing ideas and inspiration, scan the titles and abstracts of psychology journals! You can check out the new ones as they come out and spend time perusing the archives that go back for decades.
The popular expression, “think outside the box,” originates from a classic psychology experiment performed in the early 1970s that was based on an old puzzle originating in the 1800s. The experiment proved how hard most people find it to break away from established thinking to find solutions that should seem obvious. It also shows how the mind can have mental fences as strong as any physical fences.
The participants were presented with a puzzle called the nine dots puzzle. It was simply three rows of three dots arranged like the squares inside a tick tack toe puzzle. The participants were then told to connect all nine dots using only four straight lines and without lifting their pencils from the paper. These were the only instructions given.
All of the participants began trying to solve the puzzle by drawing four lines within the imaginary square box containing the dots. Only after a long time did twenty percent of the participants realise that they would have to draw OUTSIDE THE BOX in order to solve the puzzle. Most of the participants, the other eighty percent, never solved the puzzle. This is how the expression was coined, you have to “think outside the box” to solve the puzzle. The term was popularised by Mike Vance, a well known motivational speaker.
Of course, after the participants were shown the solution, it seemed obvious to them. In fact, they thought that they SHOULD have thought of it and wondered how they could have missed something so obvious. This type of thinking is what led to follow up experiments in the 1980s that revealed something even more interesting.
In the new experiments, two groups of participants were shown the same nine dot puzzle. One group was given the same instructions as the original experiment. The participants in the second group, however, were also told that the solution to the puzzle would require them to “think outside the box.” Still, however, only twenty-five percent of the second group was able to figure out they needed to draw the lines outside the box to solve the puzzle. This was only a five percent increase from the original experiment!
What have psychologists drawn from this?
Just telling people to “think outside the box” doesn’t mean that most of them can break away from established thinking and actually do so. It doesn’t mean they can come up with unconventional solutions just because they are asked to do so, even when those solutions may seem obvious in retrospect!
That’s why just telling people to “think outside the box” and be creative when devising their marketing strategies doesn’t work for most people.
Most people need more direction than that. They need practical examples and detailed instructions to help them follow through.
Below you will find THREE unconventional marketing tactics that anyone can do… and do for free! Furthermore, these unconventional marketing tactics are almost guaranteed to either increase your sales or steer you to new clients.
Please note, even though you are not being asked to come up with your own “out of the box” ideas, you CAN and SHOULD put your own spin on the three ideas below so you make them your own and tailor fit them to work for your specific business.
We’re going to tell you a “secret” that people who organise community events get let in on as they work in the trenches and attempt to spread the word about the work they are doing.
Most newspapers, and many other print publications, are grossly understaffed and simply do not have enough staff time to write enough articles to fill their papers and publications with engaging material for their readers!
When someone submits a story to them, already written and ready to go, they will very often publish it word for word or with only slight editing!
Yes, it is possible for you to write a story, submit it to newspapers and other print publications, and have a reasonable expectation that it will indeed get printed just as you write it or very close to it!!! In fact, you often end up with a very grateful editor who will be more than happy to accept and print more stories from you in the future!
WOW… sit back, take a deep breath, and let that sink in for a moment!
Think about how this could potentially be used to market your business.
Are your wheels turning now?
Before you get crazy excited and start thinking you can submit press releases containing blatantly hype about your business and expect to get these printed, this is NOT what we are talking about here! You will need to be much more finessed in your approach for this unconventional marketing tactic to work… and work well. However, once you fully understand how to do this, and you try it once or twice, this can be a source of very effective free marketing you can go back to over and over again!
This well never runs dry!
And… it does not cost a cent!
Okay, let’s look at the details on how to make this work.
First, before you do anything else, you need to put yourself in the mindset of the editor. What is he or she looking for in terms of a news story? To answer this, what types of articles are you drawn to in newspapers and other publications? What articles are other people you know drawn to? What type of articles are really memorable? What type of articles make you smile and give you that “feel good” kind of feeling? What titles grab your attention?
The articles you submit need to be of high perceived value to the editor and to the readers of the newspaper. They need to have a good headline, a good hook, a good story, and some interesting details without including so many details they make the reader’s eyes glaze over. Keep in mind that newspaper articles are often read before people finish that first cup of coffee!
The write-up you submit CANNOT be an advertorial masquerading as a story!!
In other words, it cannot be something that a reader would view as thinly disguised advertising. It cannot hype your business in an obvious way.
The article you submit MUST be written in THIRD person, not first person. This is very important so let’s look at an example so you know for certain what we mean.
Let’s suppose that you and some of your staff have volunteered to serve as chaperones for the high school debate team as they compete in an out of town regional debate contest. Suppose the team would not have been able to go without a certain number of chaperones accompanying them due to a school policy and they were having trouble finding enough chaperones. You could write up a short story about trip and how the students did in the debate contest. You could also perhaps add a bit about an extracurricular activity they participated in or other interesting details. You could also include a small bit about how at the last minute, staff from your company, the XYZ Company, filled in as chaperones so the students wouldn’t have to cancel their trip. If you run a business that includes business mentoring, inspirational speaking, or some other related field, you can write a brief blurb about this as well but take care not to make it a blatant ad for your business.
Okay, now that we have a specific example to work with, let’s talk about the difference between first person and third person… and why you should NEVER use first person and ALWAYS use third person in the articles you submit to editors.
You would NOT want to say something like, “We decided to fill in as chaperones when we found out last minute through Facebook the students were going to have to cancel their trip if they couldn’t find three more chaperones. We also felt it was a good match for us because we coach business owners on how to improve their public presentations.” The sample above is written in first person and it would never be accepted by an editor. Words like “we” and “I” are first person and it shows the reader that someone from XYZ Company is writing the article. This makes it SOUND LIKE an advertorial masquerading as a story and no self-respecting editor is going to accept this as written because their readers would not appreciate reading a story that sounds like an ad. Moreover, the vast majority of newspapers simply don’t have enough staff time to devote to revamping your article written in first person into an article written in third person.
Remember… the fact that newspapers don’t have enough staff time is your KEY advantage and the reason this unconventional marketing method works… newspapers and other print publications are notoriously understaffed, and with the limited staff they have, there just isn’t enough hours in the day to fill their newspapers with really good material for their readers. If you serve pre-written engaging material on a silver platter to the editor (and it doesn’t sound like an ad for you business), they can very quickly scan it, approve it, and run with it… and they’ll be grateful for it!
And… you’ll get FREE advertising from it!
Do you see the difference? Do you see how we snuck in a nice plug for your business?
The second version sounds like a third party person wrote the article, not someone trying to hype their own business, but you STILL get free advertising out of it. This is how you should always write articles submitted to newspapers and other publications. Never use the words “we” or “I” unless they are inside a direct quote from someone who is not affiliated with your business.
Remember, if an editor sees immediate value in what you submit, they will often print it verbatim or close to it IF AND ONLY IF IT REQUIRES LITTLE TO NO EDITING.
TIME! There are only so many hours in the day. If they are understaffed, as most newspapers are, they simply don’t have the staff hours to do much more than scan your write-up, approve it (if they see it as valuable to their readers), and print it.
On the other hand, if you save them time by providing something well written, in third person, that only subtly mentions your business in a positive way, you’ll probably make a friend who will print more write-ups for you in the future.
Now, what about other publications?
We’re not talking about national publications. They are a totally different animal with a completely different set of rules. We’re talking about the “freebie papers” and “freebie publications” that you see in the communities your business serves. If you look in the front or back of these, you’ll find the editor’s name and usually an email. If you don’t see an email, call the papers and get one.
Now, let’s talk a bit more about how to finesse this tactic to make it more successful. The approach you take with the editor is key.
You should approach the editors very casually. Do not be formal.
You do NOT want to say you are submitting a story you hope they will publish. This is too formal and sets the wrong tone.
You do NOT want to say you are a writer submitting a story for their consideration. This is also too formal and sounds like you are asking them for something rather than giving them something.
You do NOT want to say you represent XYZ company and you are submitting a story about blah blah. Again, this way too formal and they may even suggest you pay them for an advertorial!!!
I think your readers may find this interesting. Below is a little write-up and I’ve attached a great photo.
Then paste in your write-up in PLAIN TEXT (no bolding, underlining, fancy fonts, no html, etc). It’s important to use plain text so they can simply forward it to the right person who can do a simple copy/paste into their program.
Don’t send the write-up as an attachment because that would take extra steps and time on the editor’s part. You want to get them reading it as soon as they open the email.
If you use a word processor like Word to write your article, save it as PLAIN TEXT before you paste it into the email. This will ensure it doesn’t show up with strange formatting or funny characters in whatever email program the editor is using.
Notice that we didn’t try to “sell” the story in the introduction. You do not need to do this, and in fact, may be a turn off to the editor if you try. Let the write-up speak for itself. Even if it is sensational news, you do not need to say so in your short introduction. The editor will figure this out when he or she scans the write-up…. and it’s very important that THEY reach this conclusion rather than you tell them so.
Be sure to include a captivating but straightforward headline at the top of your write-up.
Do not put the name of the writer or ask for a byline. It will likely be printed with no name or simply “staff.” If you ask for a byline or put a name, your chances of having them actually print it will go way down. Getting published is not the goal here.
Note too that you should keep the introduction very brief, as we did above, so you ensure they can read it in only a few seconds. You don’t need to give them any details in the introduction because the write-up will do that.
If you don’t have a great photo, that’s okay. You can submit a story without one. Don’t just submit a photo for the sake of submitting a photo. In the example given above, a picture of the kids smiling after winning their debate contest or one taken during their debate contest would be great. Local papers LOVE to publish pictures of local kids succeeding because there’s always good sentiment in the community for this and it draws readers in and generates some buzz for the paper too. Pictures of animals and seniors are also very popular.
As tempting as it may be sometimes, you should NOT submit multiple photos. Keep it simple for the editor and submit only one. Remember, you are trying to make this easy peazy for the editor!
If you are not a great writer, get someone else to help you. A poorly written story is not going to get printed. However, that being said, you don’t have to be the world’s best writer to write a newspaper article. Also, even if you are a very good writer, try to get someone else to read your article before you submit it and ask for their honest feedback. A subordinate worker may not be the best choice for this because they may hesitate to tell you the full truth about what they think. Pick someone who has no qualms about being brutally honest. If you have never approached a particular editor before, you may want to get multiple opinions before you submit to them the first time. First impressions really matter here.
Do you sell homemade dog sweaters, raincoats, etc? Why not put together a doggie fashion show with a menagerie of pooches and invite some of your favorite customers, friends, and family. You could also do this in a public space like a park where you’d draw random people in as they pass by. Then you could submit a write-up about doggie fashion show written in first person and simply mention that all the sweaters and raincoats were made by XYZ company! You should be able to get quite a photo out of this one! You might also want to put something in the background with your URL on it so it will show in the photo but be subtle about it or it will look like an ad.
Do you run a vintage clothing shop? You could do a small fashion show featuring different time periods and have the attendees vote on the best costume.
Do you own a plumbing business? Volunteer to give a demonstration on how to fix a running toilet to one of the local civic clubs. Bring a (clean) toilet in and have someone take a great photo from the back showing the crowd and you in the front with the toilet. Now there’s an image people will remember! You could also use a bit of humor in your write-up too for added interest but don’t go overboard.
Do you sell solar panels? Arrange a free solar tour for one of the local PTA groups (parent teacher associations) of some of the homes and or businesses you’ve set up. Get parents and kids alike on the tour. Ask for quotes as people see the solar panels and talk with your customers and then include a couple of the best ones when you do your write-up. Make the write-up more about the advantages of solar and about the tour and just mention your company name as the organiser of the tour and the supplier of the solar panels. You could potentially quote yourself to demonstrate your expertise but don’t make it sound like an ad.
The possibilities are literally endless when it comes to creating your own stories that you can then write-up yourself, get a great photo, and then submit these to the editors of newspapers and other print publications.
This is an unconventional marketing tactic that never stops giving.
This unconventional marketing technique will work great for many service oriented businesses such as accountants, website designers, graphic artists, photographers, musicians for special events, landscapers, seamstresses, or people who provides transportation or runs errands.
Here’s the basic idea. You offer your services for free to one or more of your favorite non-profits with the stipulation that they have to find a certain number of PAID clients for you. The number can vary of course, depending on how much time and work you give them.
The volunteers who serve non-profits tend to be tight knit group. They all know each other, each other’s spouses, each other’s kids, and each other’s friends. They also tend to be well networked into the community and passionate about helping their non-profit succeed. If you can offer one or more non-profits a free service that will help them succeed and fulfill their valuable mission, their volunteers will automatically become a loyal supporter of you, especially if they sense you truly care about their mission. They will also be willing to tap into their EXTENSIVE network to help you if the request is reasonable.
If is perfectly acceptable for you to approach the director or another key person at a non-profit and propose a barter arrangement where you provide a valuable service for them at no charge in exchange for them finding you a certain number of paying clients. So, for example, if you are a musician and they host public fundraising events, you could offer to provide free music at three of their events if they would help you find six paying gigs. If you are a website designer, and they need a new website, or an old website redesigned, you could offer to do this for them at no charge in exchange for them helping you to find three new website clients plus a small “designed and maintained by” link to your homepage at the bottom of their pages.
This is a completely underutilised method of unconventional marketing in part because people are simply afraid to ask for such an arrangement. However, once you do it for the first time, even if you are rejected (they might not need the services you offer), you’ll subsequently find it much easier to do. Further, most non-profits are grateful to get free services because they usually operate on such a tight budget and it means they can put what limited money they have into other much needed places.
This unconventional marketing method is also underutilised because people simply don’t think about doing it. We have gotten so far removed from the interdependent barter based society we once enjoyed in the 1800s. It was a time when people really knew how to help each other out. If a farmer broke his arm, neighboring farmers might plow his field for him and chop wood for his family. People might not have money to pay the doctor but they could make him a nice home cooked meal or fix his wagon wheel for him. There was something really genuine and personal in how a barter society worked and we have definitely lost something special in the largely capitalistic world we now live in. Bartering with non-profits is one way to get some of this back so you may actually get much more than marketing for your business out of the arrangement.
It is important that you pick the non-profit(s) you approach based on an admiration and respect for what they do. Don’t just approach a non-profit with this idea because you think they have the largest network or it’s the closest one to your office or home! You need to be PASSIONATE about their cause. You need to care about the people, animals, or places they serve and genuinely like the approach they take. Bartering is not like exchanging money for services. It happens on a very personal human level. It happens at the level of your heart and soul and their heart and soul you really need to approach it this way.
Let’s look at another specific example on how this could work. Suppose you love animals and there is a “no kill” shelter in your community where you and your family adopted a dog. Your kids always beg to stop by and see the animals when you pass this place. You help out when you can. Your spouse is pestering you about adopting another dog, or maybe a cat. Maybe you have several friends who have also adopted animals from this shelter and you are really impressed with how well they treat the animals with the limited resources they have. They take the dogs on walks. They play with the cats. You’re all in heart and soul! You like them and they like you.
You see they’re having a really hard time adopting out their older dogs and cats and you want to help them improve their adoption rate. You are a photographer, a web designer, and you know a good writer who can write fun and interesting bios for each animal. You offer to design special webpages for their older pets to help them get adopted faster and then maintain these pages. In exchange, you propose that they ask their volunteers to help you find some paying clients. Explain that you’d love to help because you truly support what they do but you also need to support your family with paying clients.
Finally, after years of neglect, left-handed eaters will no longer need to conform to a right-handed eating method when enjoying America’s favorite burger.
The ad then showed a huge graphic of a left-handed Whopper with arrows pointing out all the purported changes they were making to accommodate the left-handed eater. The lower bun was being modified to redistribute the weight so it would balance better in left hand. The sesame seeds were being redistributed in such a way as to reduce how many fell off during eating it left-handed. And… everything was rotated 180 degrees to give a better grip to a left-handed person.
The response was overwhelming! Burger King was stampeded by thousands of left-handed individuals who wanted to try the new burger made just for them and even more right-handed people who wanted to see for themselves what the difference was! Many of them specifically clarified that they wanted a right-handed burger.
Of course it was humorous ad but many people were totally convinced until the next day when burger King announced it had all been a big hoax to celebrate April Fool’s Day. As people laughed about it, Burger King made millions off this unconventional humerous marketing ploy and people are still joking about it today.
You can sell almost anything if you use the right blend of humor.
Do you remember Pet Rocks from the 1970s? People went ape crazy over them for about a year and they were one of the most popular holiday gifs ever.
In case you missed that eye-blinding psychedelic decade, or you were too stoned to remember, we’ll give you the 4-1-1 on Pet Rocks.
Pet rocks were the genius of a Gary Dahl who was the creative director of an advertising agency. He got the idea after hearing people in a bar complaining about their pets. He began to muse that pet rocks don’t need food or water. You don’t have to walk them or pick up their poop! And.. they never die on you! They can be your friend for life.
Pet Rocks sold like hotcakes. In fact, about 1.5 million were sold at around $4.00 a piece, making Gary Dahl a millionaire in less than a year. The rocks only cost him a penny a piece and the packaging and straw was dirt cheap as well so most of the $4.00 was pure profit.
Humor sells — case closed!!
Look for unconventional ways to use humor to market your products and or services. If you are not the type of person that is a natural born humorist, that’s okay. You can be the note taker. Put together a brainstorming group of your friends and family. Tell them they are your “humor consultants” and give them full authority to razz on your products and or services and give you the zaniest ideas they can think of. Bring in samples of your products or lists of your services for inspiration. If you have brochures or other literature, bring those along too. Show your humor consultants your website too.
Just like Gary Dahl had his inspiration while sitting in a bar hanging out with a bunch of people joking about their pets and feeding off each other, the social dynamics of your brainstorming group will generate plenty of humorous ideas for you. We are after all the funniest of the primates with the ability to crack each other up once the group gets going. The key to success is to keep your group happy with plenty of fun delicious food (make your pizza with traditional and weird toppings?), and maybe even make them a bit giddy with some special cocktails. Then let the ideas run wild!
We’d love to get some feedback and hear success stories on how these ideas work out for you! | 2019-04-25T00:48:39Z | https://www.chancehoggan.com/reinvent-your-marketing-with-unconventional-tactics/ |
Requirements elicitation process is important to guarantee the quality of software applications. In software engineering, requirements elicitation process has been taught by means of traditional methods. Games have been used to improve teaching of some issues in software engineering, but elicitation has not been the center of this way of teaching. As a way to deal with problems in requirements elicitation process teaching, we create in this paper "Communication and Traceability Game" and we summarize the results of applying this game to several groups of students.
Keywords:Requirements elicitation process, teaching by games, communication, traceability, active learning.
El proceso de educción de requisitos es importante para garantizar la calidad de las aplicaciones. Este proceso se suele enseñar, en ingeniería de software, empleando métodos tradicionales. Los juegos al interior de la ingeniería de software se vienen usando para mejorar la enseñanza de algunos temas particulares, pero el proceso de educción no se abordó hasta el momento. Como una manera de lidiar con los problemas en la enseñanza del proceso de educción de requisitos, en este artículo se propone el "juego de la comunicación y la trazabilidad" y se compendian los resultados de la aplicación de este juego a varios grupos de estudiantes.
Palabras clave:proceso de educción de requisitos, enseñanza mediante juegos, comunicación, trazabilidad, aprendizaje activo.
Software Engineering is a discipline that applies software development methods in order to improve the quality of the resulting software applications . One of the first stages of software engineering is the requirements elicitation process, which comprises requirements capture and transformation into software specs . Software Engineering teaching has been traditionally made by means of lectures and practical projects, as a way to practice the needed skills for this process . However, requirements elicitation process demands some skills of its practitioners, which are difficult to develop when is taught by traditional means . For example, "communication" issues are almost impossible to teach by means of lectures, due to the fact that they need big amounts of expertise in order to be used in an appropriated way in the requirements elicitation process. Something similar occurs to "traceability" issues, which are complicated even to the most experienced software analysts. Practical projects exhibit contradictions when used for teaching this kind of issues: they need analyst's experience to be properly conducted, but they are conducted in a simulated way by non-experienced students with learning purposes.
Some researchers in several fields of knowledge are proposing the use of games for improving the learning process. For example, in management, games like "beer game" and "beefeater" are proving to be effective tools to simulate the behavior of actors in some environment. In Software Engineering, games like "Problems and programmers" , "Requirements Game" , and "Consistency Game" have been used to teach some of the skills needed by the future software engineers, but they lack the communication and traceability component that is crucial for a good requirements elicitation process.
We create, in this paper, "Communication and Traceability Game", a special game that reinforces teaching of two of the most common problems in requirements elicitation process: requirements traceability and communication among stakeholders.
The structure of the rest of this paper is the following: in Section 2 we describe the notions of requirements elicitation process (focusing on communication, and traceability) and games for teaching, in Section 3 we present previous work in software engineering games, in Section 4 we define "Communication and Traceability Game", in Section 5 we summarize the results of playing the game in several groups of students. Finally, in Sections 6 and 7 we conclude and we present future work.
Software specs are the result of a carefully conducted process. In this process, called "requirements elicitation process", analysts interview stakeholders (people with some concern in the software development process) in order to gather information about the future software application . The gathered information is then translated into several diagrams, which reflect the needs and expectations of the stakeholder. Diagrams are intermediate products of the software development process, and they are representations of the required software application.
Requirements elicitation process exhibit problems like differences in the language of the actors of the process (stakeholders are domain experts while analysts are modeling experts), informal approaches to the information gathering process, and misconceptions of the stakeholder about the software to be constructed . These problems lead to a poor-quality requirements elicitation process, and they need to be solved if you want to build the software that stakeholders need.
According to Pressman (page 511) traceability is the "The ability to trace a design representation or actual programcomponent back to requirements". Traceability problems arise as a consequence of misunderstanding of information during requirements elicitation process and, consequently, can be related to communication issues of such process.
Huizinga showed some of the benefits of using games as a didactic method. Games are funny experiences, Huizinga says, and we can create complete simulated worlds by means of games. Some other researchers proposed games as a way to improve the teaching process. They explore the advantages of games for this process: the simulation of real experiences with safety and reality, with the purpose of reproducing the behavior of actors in the simulated environment, the reinforcement of knowledge by means of vivid experiences, and the power of funny activities to keep the attention of the players.
Traditionally, lectures and practical projects have been the preferred strategies for teaching software engineering . These strategies have proved to be useful to spread concepts and to practice technical skills, but the reinforcement of managerial and team work skills is difficult to achieve with such strategies. Games are non- traditional strategies, and they belong to an "active" way of practicing some skills .
Management is probably the most common source of games for teaching purposes. The "beer game" , for example, as described by Senge, recreates the world of inventory in order to permit simulation of the behavior of several actors belonging to this environment. In the same line of thought, the microworld "beefeater" permits to its practitioners to simulate the environment of rapid-food restaurants.
Related to software engineering, there are few game experiences. The first of such experiences is "Problems and programmers" , a card game for practicing software development issues. Other experiences are "Requirements game" and "Consistency game" , two in-class non- technological games for teaching the first phases of software development.
Despite the efforts ofthese games, communication and traceability are issues still untreated in teaching game experiences.
We try, with this game, to improve the teaching experiences related to requirements elicitation process and, more specifically, related to communication and traceability, two of the most important issues of such process. Next, we define the main features of the game.
The aim behind this game is to correctly finish (and within the lower possible time) a set of artifacts related to the development of a software application. In this case, the artifacts are three use case diagrams, one class diagram, and one graphical user interface. Also, the model behind these artifacts is the well-known youth card game Yu-gi-oh!®. We use this game because is easy to understand by young people, whom are the target practitioners of the game.
Game board: Is a spreadsheet of rows and columns labeled as we show in figure 1. The game board can be built in paper, carton, wood, or any other material.
•Use case diagrams: tokens can be actors, use cases, communication lines, and system boundary lines.
•Class diagram: tokens can be class names, sets of attributes, sets of operations, and association lines.
•Graphical user interface: tokens can be heading lines, monster zone cards, magic zone cards, hand cards, deck zone cards, and cemetery zone cards.
•Artifact specs: Are the finished drawings of the diagrams and the graphical user interface. These drawings are tailored to a board with similar cells to the figure 1. The five available artifacts for this game are shown in figure 2.
•Players are divided into 5-member teams. A captain and a leader must be identified. The rest of the members are recognized as co- workers.
•The physical location of the game must be organized as shown in figure 3. For every cycle of the game, the game director must place one of the artifact specs in the diagram zone. Tokens belonging to all of the diagrams are located into the store, in no particular order. Game board must be located into a desk between the captain and the leader of every team.
•At the beginning of the first cycle, game director puts the first artifact specs in the diagram zone and returns to their position in the game.
•The captains go to the diagram zone to see and memorize the artifact specs. Then, captains return to the desk and inform the leaders about the tokens needed to replicate artifact specs and their labeled positions in the game board. Note that, in the location of the captain, he/ she does not have visual contact with either the game board or the leader. Consequently, all of the instructions must be transmitted by voice. Captain can go to the diagram zone and return to give instructions to the leader whenever they need.
•Simultaneously, leaders give, also by voice, instructions to the co-workers, in order to gather all the needed tokens to finish the specs.
•Co-workers go to the store and take one token per trip. Then, they return to the location of the leader and give him/her the token. This process must be repeated until all of the needed tokens are completed.
•At their positions, captain and leader discuss the position of the tokens by using the labels of the game board cells. When the leader believes that the artifact specs in his/her game board are exactly the same than artifact specs in the diagram zone, he/she calls the game director to verify if this is true. If so, game director register the order of finishing the artifact specs. The cycle of the game ends with the order of all the teams ending this task.
•The game rules are repeated by four more cycles, changing the artifact specs in every cycle. The winner team will be that with the lowest average order to finish all of the artifact specs.
Results of playing "communication andtraceability game"
This game is a simulation of a real requirements elicitation process, because the way players drive the process of finishing the artifacts is similar to the interviews among analysts and stakeholders in order to specify software specs. Here, communication is represented by the information and the instructions that players say to each other. Traceability inside the game is represented by the capability of recognizing the same model on every artifact. As a consequence, the game is designed to reach two goals: prioritizing the importance of communication and understanding the main ideas behind the concept of traceability. The game has been played by two groups of people belonging to the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, as a part of the course "Requirements Engineering". Some of the features of the groups are summarized in table 1. The amount of players is still low (37 people) and the features of the two groups are still so similar, but we expect that this experience can be replicated in several environments to explore the differences with the current players.
(1) Please mention three aspects that you believe are fundamental on requirements elicitation process.
(2) What do you understand when we mention the word "traceability"?
The requests are related to every one of the mentioned goals of the game and they are intended to "measure" the features of the main concepts of the game. In this way, first request points at the importance of communication and the second one points at the understanding of the traceability concept. Answers to the first request are summarized in table 2. From this table, we can deduce the changes in the opinion of the players after the game. For example, the aspect "communication" mentioned as fundamental by 27% of the players before game increased its participation to 68% after the game. This change is probably due to the difficult situation that the players must affront during game, in which they could not freely communicate with their partners in the game and, consequently, they suffered delays in completing the diagrams. "Consistency", the second most mentioned aspect by players before game (30%), felt to 16% of the opinions after the game. This fact does not mean that this aspect has lower importance in requirements elicitation process, but it must be combined with other aspects like "communication". "Problem understanding" and "information clarity", the two most important aspects mentioned by players before game, after the game they were still important, but with a lower participation of the opinions. "Regarding" is a new opinion of the players after the game. This aspect seemed not to be important before the game, but the situations that players must go through the game were sufficiently convinced to suggest this new aspect as important to requirements elicitation process.
The answers to the second request were analyzed by a software engineering professor, in order to assign a grade mark from 1 to 5 depending on the quality of every answer of the players, perceived against the provided definition of traceability. In this context, the design representations are the use case and class diagrams, and the software component is the graphical user interface. Similarly, the requirements are the information and instructions provided by the players during the game. The results were an average grade mark of 1.6 before the game and an average grade mark of 2.7 after the game. This means an increment of 69% in the perceived grade mark assigned by a professor to the traceability definition. Note that grade mark average is still low compared to the upper value (5), but we must remember that the goal of the game is to improve the teaching experiences about requirements elicitation process, not to replace the traditional teaching of this issue.
Communication and traceability are two of the most important concepts of requirements elicitation process. These concepts have been traditionally taught by means of lectures and practical projects, which emphasize on technical skills rather than social and managerial skills. Following collaborative learning trends, common in several fields of knowledge like management, we created in this paper "communication and traceability game" and we applied it to two groups of Requirements Engineering students.
The results of the application of the game are promising because the practitioners of the game have reinforced the importance of communication among participants of the software elicitation process and they have clarified the definition of traceability. Despite of some difficulties experimented during the game application, we conclude that this game can be used as an alternative and "active" learning experience for complementing the traditional way of teaching software engineering.
Some work still has to be done in this area. For example, the way in what we select the main variables and elements of the game was completely subjective, linked to the experience of the author in requirements elicitation processes. Gaming is a good learning strategy to complement traditional teaching, but we need to create a more objective methodology to define the main features of the game, in order to improve the quality of the designed games.
Related to "communication and traceability game", we need to play the game with another type of players, for example people from the software industry, in order to compare the results with more skilled people in requirements elicitation process. It is important to note that this game is currently used in a special project with children called "science garden". The main goal of this project is showing several aspects of science research to children, and software engineering is one of the areas of interest of the project.
I wish to thank the work of three excellent students behind this game: Natalia Gil, Yudi Jiménez, and Hernán Soberón. Their support in conceptualizing and creating the game was crucial to the results of applying this game. This work is founded by the Vicerrectoría de Investigación from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, under the project: "Software Boulevard un juego de estrategia en Web para la enseñanza de competencias de gestión en Ingeniería de Software", Project number 9766. | 2019-04-23T20:46:25Z | http://www.scielo.unal.edu.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-62302010000600021&lng=%20es&nrm=iso |
The introduction of a second IP protocol into the Internet presents many technical issues, and in previous columns we've explored many of the issues related to network engineering and infrastructure. In this column I'd like to head upward in the protocol stack to the rarefied air way up there at the level of the application, and look at how applications are managing to cope with the issue of two IP stacks.
There is a proposal doing the rounds in the IETF for standardising dual stack client connection management called " Happy Eyeballs " [ draft-wing-v6ops-happy-eyeballs-ipv6-01 ]. It proposes taking the essentially sequential behavior of current implementations where they probe for connectivity in one protocol and then the other, and attempting to perform the initial connection (DNS name resolution and TCP connection handshake) in each protocol in parallel, and then proceeding with the fastest connection. In this article I'll look at how browsers on dual stack client systems access dual stack servers, and examine the corner cases when one protocol or the other isn't quite working properly, and how the browser attempts to recover from the error. There is an excellent article on this topic by Emile Aben on the RIPE Labs site (" Hampering Eyeballs "), and I'd here like to build on his work by taking a slightly deeper investigation of the issue and look at how a number of popular web browsers and operating systems cope with accessing dual stack servers, and look in particular at what happens when things don't go as smoothly as one would hope.
A conventional approach to the dual stack environment can be seen if I dust off the cobwebs of my old Windows XP implementation and turn on IPv6.
The time is measured in milliseconds, and the above log shows the elapsed time between each packet event that was generated in attempting to complete the connection. What this shows is a 581ms delay between issuing the query to the DNS for the AAAA resource record for the domain name foo.rd.td.h.labs.apnic.net , and a 4 millisecond delay after receiving the response before issuing a DNS query for the A resource record for the same domain name. This second query takes 299ms to obtain a response. After a further 3ms the application has generated an initial TCP connection packet (a SYN packet) to the IPv6 address. After one Round Trip Time (RTT) interval of 280ms, there is a SYN+ACK packet received in response. My local application sends an ACK packet after a further millisecond and the connection has been established, with a total elapsed time of 1.168 seconds. All these packet traces are performed at the client side of the connection.
What I am interested in here is the time taken from the start of the connection operation, which is when the DNS queries are fired off to the time when, from the client's perspective, TCP is able to complete the initial three-way handshake. In the above example, this connection takes some 1.2 seconds, where some 0.9 seconds are spent performing name resolution using the DNS and 0.3 seconds (or one round trip time) are spent performing the TCP connection setup.
The TCP three-way handshake is a protocol exchange that precedes every TCP connection. The initiator sends an initial TCP packet that has the SYN flag set. The "other end" will respond with a TCP packet that has the SYN and ACK flags set. When the initiator receives the SYN+ACK response it will send an ACK to the "other end" and set the local status of the connection to connected. At this point it is possible for the initiator to send data. The "other end" will enter the connected state when it receives the ACK packet.
Deliberately, with all these examples in this article, the server has been placed some distance away from the client, with an RTT of around 296ms for IPv4 and a slightly faster 280ms RTT for IPv6.
What is going on here is that the operating system has established there are "native" IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces on the clients device, and when it attempts to perform a connection using a domain name, it will query the DNS for both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses.
Even in this first step of the connection, it's pretty clear that this could be slightly faster if Windows XP generated the two DNS queries in parallel. As it stands, Windows XP appears to wait for the completion of the first DNS query before generating the second query.
Actually, as with many things in the DNS, its not so clear that serializing the DNS requests would be all that much faster. To illustrate this, in the example above to resolve the DNS name foo.rd.td.h.labs.apnic.net , the local DNS agent asks its DNS forwarding resolver, who in turn, if this was a clean state start of the forwarding resolver, would first ask the root name servers for the NS records for .net , then it would ask a .net name server for the name servers for .apnic , and so on. It is more likely that the first few steps are not required as these NS records are cached by the local DNS forwarding resolver, and wherever possible, the local cache is used rather than performing a new query on an authoritative name server. Now when there are two back-to-back queries, such as in this case where there is a second query for a different resource record associated with the same DNS name, then the local resolver will not repeat the set of NS record queries, as these are now held in the local cache, and it will simply ask the final authoritative server for the resource record being queried. This is why the first query took 581ms, while the second query was performed in a single round trip time of 299ms. If the two queries were to be performed in parallel the second query would not be able to take advantage of the entire cached state that is collected from the first query, and both queries would likely take a comparable time. In this case, I estimate that parallelising the requests would shave off some 0.3 seconds from the total connection time.
When it has collected the DNS responses, the client then consults its local preference table to determine which protocol to use for the initial connection attempt. As the Windows XP system uses the default set of protocol preferences, it prefers to use IPv6 first, and the connection proceeds using IPv6.
What the end user experiences here is a 22 second pause, while the local system tries three times to connect using IPv6 by resending the initial TCP SYN packet and waiting. The connection attempts are spaced using an exponentially increasing series of backoff timers of 3, 6 and 12 seconds. At the expiration of the third backoff interval, the system then switches over to the other protocol and undertakes a connection attempt using IPv4.
In many complex systems, having two ways to achieve the objective can be leveraged to make the system more robust and faster, but in this case the serialisation works against the user, and when the preferred connection path is not working, the additional 21 second connection delay makes the user experience a far worse service than if the server was just an IPv4-only service. Windows XP's use of a serial view of managing connectivity in a dual stack world is not exactly working to produce a better outcome for the user in such cases.
This is admittedly a pathologically broken example, but it illustrates two major differences in the default behaviour of Mac OS X and Windows XP. The first is that Mac OS X has parallelized the DNS resolution behaviour, rather than performing the DNS queries sequentially. The second difference is that Windows XP uses three connection probes over 21 seconds to conclude that an address is unreachable, while Mac OS X uses 11 connection probes over 75 seconds to reach the same conclusion.
The third difference, which is not explicitly illustrated, is the comparison of these two tests, namely that when there are multiple IPv6 addresses, Windows XP will try to connect using only one IPv6 address before failing over to IPv4, while Mac OS X will probe every IPv6 address using a 75 second probe sequence before flipping over protocol stacks to try IPv4. In the case where IPv6 is non-functional, this can cause excessive delay in connection attempts, such as the 226 seconds encountered here.
Here Max OS X Lion does not seem to do any better than Windows XP, and the 75 seconds taken for each TCP connection attempt, as compared to the Windows XP setting of 21 seconds, makes the user experience far worse when all is not working perfectly in the underlying network.
This was a very simple TCP application, and it has been observed that web browsers often customise their approach in order to strike a good balance between robustness and responsiveness. So lets look at some popular browsers and examine the way in which they handle these situations where the remote dual stack server is impaired in some manner.
Here I'm using a system running the latest version of the MAC OS X operating system, Lion, which is at version 10.7.2. I'll test the most popular web browsers for the Mac, namely Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Chrome, and look at how they handle connections in the Dual Stack world where one protocol is just not responding.
The first browser case I'll look at here is the Safari browser on Mac OS X. Firstly, we connect to a URL where there is a dual stack server with responsive IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
Safari appears to be setting off two parallel connectivity sequences, where there is an IPv4 DNS query and TCP connection, and a parallel IPv6 DNS query and a TCP connection.
It is evident that the first session to provide a completed TCP handshake is used by the browser, while the other connection is terminated with a TCP RST (reset) as soon as it responds with a SYN+ACK.
What is not so clear from this trace is why the Safari system chose to fire off the first SYN in IPv4, even though the DNS response with the IPv6 address arrived first. What is also unclear is why Safari chose to wait for some 270ms between receiving the DNS response to the AAAA query and starting the IPv6 TCP connection. It appears that the system is using a table of RTT intervals associated with each address it has connected to in the recent past and also a "default" RTT for other addresses it has not encountered previously, and it fires off the first connection to the address that has the lowest RTT value. The failover time may also be managed from this RTT estimate, and in this case it may be that the system has an internal estimate that the expected connection time for this IPv4 address is 270ms, and when this time expires the system attempts to connect to the next address, which happens to be the IPv6 address, while leaving the first connection attempt open in case it responds.
Once it has a working connection, it politely resets the other connection.
In this case, the two DNS responses were received in the same millisecond interval, and once again the IPv6 AAAA record response arrived slightly ahead of the A record response. In this case, Safari selected the IPv6 address. Again I am guessing here, but it may be that the system now has a cached value of the IPv4 RTT time of 299ms, and it may have a cached value of the IPv6 RTT of 280ms, or it could be using some lower default estimate of the IPv6 RTT. It appears that Safari is using a sort function on the returned addresses based on some estimated RTT, and selecting the lowest RTT address to try first.
Here there was a delay of 120ms between the two SYN packets, as compared to a wait of 270ms in the previous experiment. This appears to be derived from some revised internal estimate of the expected RTT to the IPv6 destination address, which in this case is unduly optimistic as the actual RTT is 280ms.
I have to comment that, overall, this algorithm is fast! The RTT between the client and the server is 280ms in IPv6 and 299ms in IPv4 and the absolute minimum possible connection time is 579ms assuming a single IPv4 DNS RTT and a single IPv6 connection RTT. Safari's 611ms connection time is extremely efficient.
So that's what happens when everything is working. What happens when Safari is presented with a URL that has a some unresponsive addresses? This second test described here attempts to connect to www.rxxx.td.h.labs.apnic.net , which is configured with three unresponsive IPv6 addresses and a single responsive IPv4 address.
In this test, the AAAA query returned first, and Safari immediately attempted to open a session using the first IPv6 address. Safari now appears to have a default estimate of 270ms for this connection attempt, and upon its expiry it then tries the second IPv6 address, even though the A record response has been received from the DNS in the intervening period. Some 120ms later Safari attempts to connect using the third unresponsive address. A further 300ms later, it then tries to connect using the IPv4 address. The total effort takes 1.3 seconds, and each address is tried only once in Safari.
The behaviour of Safari in OS X Lion is described in a post from an Apple engineer in July of this year . That note refers to the command nettop -n -m route to show the information that is maintained by OS X for each destination route, including the current RTT estimates that are maintained by the system.
Chrome has also been equipped with a version of the "happy eyeballs" Dual Stack connection algorithm, which uses short timers and a relatively fast failover from one protocol to the other.
The first test is again a simple dual stack URL, where both IPv4 and IPv6 are responsive.
What appears to be happening in Chrome is that whichever DNS response arrives first, Chrome appears to select as the preferred protocol and attempts to connect by sending TCP SYN packets. Unlike Safari, Chrome attempts to connect using 2 ports in parallel, and after a 250ms delay, if there has been no SYN ACK in response, it will send a further SYN on a third port. Compared to the ideal connection time of 579ms, a connection of 587ms for IPv6 is extremely efficient, and is the fastest I've seen. It's very quick!
There is a 300ms connection timer that is evidently started upon sending the first SYN, and when this timer expires, Chrome then repeats the sequence of port opening in the other protocol if the first set of open calls have been unresponsive. This way, within 300ms Chrome is able to switch back from an unresponsive IPv6 address to IPv4 address and hopefully complete the connection quickly.
In this case, the total delay to establish the connection is 76.5 seconds, and it included sending 69 SYN packets! A similar 76 second delay is evident when the browser is presented with unresponsive IPv4 and IPv6 addresses coupled with a responding IPv4 address.
Obviously this is an extensive delay, and it would be useful to understand where this delay is coming from.
What appears to be the case is that there is a standard construct in the Mac OS X operating system (and in the FreeBSD operating system, upon which Max OS X has been constructed) that paces out the SYN retransmits according to the tcp_syn_backoff array, to a maximum interval of the value of net.inet.tcp.keepinit milliseconds.
Chrome is fast when there is a problem with one protocol, and will take no more than an additional 300ms to connect in the case where its initial connection attempt uses the unresponsive protocol. However, in more complex cases where there are unresponsive addresses in both protocols, Chrome's use of the host operating system defaults when performing the connection implies that the connection time for these complex cases can take more than 75 seconds on MAC OS X.
How does the latest version of Firefox fare under similar conditions?
Admittedly, this is a deliberately perverse example, where there are three unresponsive IPv6 addresses and one responsive IPv4 address behind this particular URL, but it shows the sequential nature of address processing in Firefox 8.0, where all the IPv6 addresses are probed for net.inet.tcp.keepinit milliseconds (which is set to 75 seconds in my case) before shifting over to probe the IPv4 address. In this case, the connection time is an impressive 226 seconds.
The other difference between Firefox and Chrome is that Firefox starts the connection with two parallel connections, and does not open up a third connection.
There is an additional tuning parameter in Firefox 8.0, where, using the about:config setting, the parameter network.http.fast-fallback-to-IPv4 can be set to true.
completed some 225 seconds ago!
This setting causes Firefox to dispense with the efforts to open two ports in parallel, and instead it looks a lot like the "happy eyeballs" behaviour, where both TCP sessions are opened as soon as there is a DNS response within the context of each protocol. With this setting set to true, Firefox is equally quick in a standard dual stack environment.
However, there appears to be a bug in the implementation where even when one protocol completes the web transaction, the other protocol continues its connection attempt to exhaustion, including the testing of all addresses in the case that the addresses are unresponsive. I was expecting to see the local client shut down the connection attempt on the outstanding connection and send a TCP reset (RST) if the connection has already elicited a SYN+ACK response.
There is a second bug visible here at the end of the connection attempts for an unresponsive protocol. As the packet trace illustrates, Firefox switches over and connects to the other protocol, even though there is no outstanding HTTP task. Once the connection is made, Firefox then appears to have a 5 second timeout and then closes the session and presumably completes the internal task of opening up the second protocol.
This packet trace example also highlights what I would interpret as another implementation bug, this time in the TCP implementation in the Linux server, where a TCP session that is opened but has no traffic will, after 3 seconds in this idle state, send a gratuitous SYN+ACK packet.
The last of the browsers to be tested here is the Opera browser.
Opera appears to try the first IPv6 address with a single port, and if this is unresponsive after the default TCP SYN timeout (75 seconds in my case) then it will try the next IPv6 address, if there is another IPv6 address, or switch to IPv4 and try the first IPv4 address.
To expose this connection behaviour, I'll use a URL that has an unresponsive IPv6 address and two IPv4 addresses, one unresponsive and one reachable address.
What was unexpected to see here were the four final packets, which appear to be Opera initiating a third connection attempt, repeating the previous address, but truncating this after a further 3.3 seconds. What appears to be happening is that Opera has a connection regime that selects only one address from each protocol, and it invokes a conventional connection with these addresses, preferring IPv6 over IPv4. Interestingly, when the IPv4 connection attempt returns failure (after a total elapsed time of some 152 seconds since the start of this entire connection process) Opera then invokes a third connection attempt, reusing the failed IPv4 address! I am not sure why it does not try the second (and in this case working) IPv4 address at this point. Then Opera appears to abort the entire connection process after a further 3 seconds (and four SYN packets). I guess that Opera has a "master" timer of 155 seconds, and if no progress has been made in establishing a connection after 155 seconds, it simply terminates the current connection and reports failure to the user.
In Windows 7 the operating system has a default bias to prefer IPv6 in its local preference tables.
Windows also uses a SYN retransmit timer, where a connection attempt takes up to 21 seconds, using 3 SYN probes, with a backoff timer of 3, 6 and 12 seconds following each SYN probe.
The options for browsers are evidently limited here – either the application can use the operating system default behaviour and experience a 20 second failover to IPv4 when the IPv6 address is unresponsive, or it can fork a second connection context in IPv4 without waiting for the initial connection to timeout. Almost all browsers tested use the first approach, including Explorer 9, Firefox 8, Safari 5 and Opera 11.5. The exceptions are Chrome, which performs a parallel failover connection 300ms after the primary connection, and Firefox 8 with fast failover enabled, which performs a fully parallel connection in both protocols.
I have also performed the same set of tests on Windows XP, and the browsers behave in the same manner. It seems that while many aspects of the system have changed on the evolutionary path from Windows XP through Windows Vista to Windows 7, one of the invariants is the behaviour of the protocol stack on these systems, and the dual stack recovery behaviour is identical, as far as I can tell by these tests.
Lets look at a few of these browsers' connection behaviour in Windows 7 in a bit more detail.
The noted behaviour in Explorer is to attempt to connect on all available IPv6 addresses before failing over to IPv4. In this admittedly pathological bad case of 3 unresponsive IPv6 addresses, the connection time is extended by 57 seconds. In a more conventional situation with a single unresponsive IPv6 address, Explorer will send 3 SYN probes to the IPv6 address with backoff timers of 3, 6 and 12 seconds, then switch over to probe IPv4.
This is very similar to the behaviour of Explorer in so far as it serialises the DNS queries, then serialises the TCP connection attempts. There is one curious artefact here, and that is that the initial connection is made on one port, but after the first SYN timeout of three seconds it is joined by a second parallel port, and both connections then perform a 6 second SYN time out. This strikes me as some form of implementation bug, but whether it's Firefox or Windows at fault here is hard to tell.
When I enable Firefox's network.http.fast-fallback-to-IPv4 the behaviour is switched from sequential to parallel for the TCP connection, but, curiously, the DNS name resolution remains a sequential operation.
This is the Linux behaviour of sending a gratuitous SYN+ACK 3 seconds.
The session startup is performed in parallel, but curiously even when the IPv4 connection successfully completes, the IPv6 stream is still attempting to connect. More curiously, when the IPv6 connection fails, it then falls back to IPv4, and sits idle for 5 seconds before shutting down the session. Also visible here is the Linux server's spurious idle SYN+ACK that appears to be generated after 3 seconds of initial inactivity at the server. This "hanging" connection attempt is not visible to the user, and the user sees a rapid connection and a rapid download, and the "dangling" extra session just trails off in the background. But it would be good to see this obvious implementation bug cleaned up in a future release of this browser.
As with Mac OS X, Chrome in Windows 7 launches 2 connection attempts in IPv6 immediately, and opens a third port after 250ms of inactivity. When 300ms expires, Chrome then switches over to IPv4 and opens two ports immediately, and a third port in another 250ms.
The last system tested here is Linux 2.6. The default behaviour for Linux is to attempt to connect using 5 SYN probes, as compared to 11 SYN probes taking 75 seconds with FreeBSD (and Mac OS X) and 3 probes taking 21 seconds with Windows. With Linux the wait time for each probe is, like Windows, an exponentially increasing set of times, starting at 3 seconds.
This 3 minute failover period is excessive these days, and can be altered by setting the sysctl parameter net.ipv4.tcp_syn_retries to a lower value. It is also possible for the application itself to override this by using a local timer and terminating the connection attempt when the application level timer expires.
Why are the default timeout settings for TCP connections so long?
These days it takes some 350ms for a packet to pass around the entire globe on today's terrestrial fibre networks. Indeed searching for a network path that takes longer than 400ms using entirely terrestrial routes is a challenge and when it occurs, it's often symptomatic of a routing failure rather than the outcome of deliberate network engineering. So why do we see default settings in shipped operating systems with connection timers of 21 seconds, 75 seconds and even 189 seconds? In that 189 seconds that same erstwhile packet could've whizzed around the earth 540 times! Surely its possible to conclude that an address is unresponsive in 1 or 2 seconds, so why impose a 3 minute wait upon the long suffering user?
The challenge for protocol stack engineers is to design a system that is robust under all conditions, and that means that it's necessary for the stack to work reliably under some of the more extreme and challenging situations. Oddly enough, one of the most challenging situations is a dialup modem. The desire for useable speed means that dialup modems attempt to provide extreme payload compression as well as performing the highest level of signal compression it can. The combination can be used to extract a phenomenal 56Kbps out of a 300 baud analogue circuit, but the cost is an imposed delay, and it is not uncommon to see a dialup connection adding some 3 seconds to a round trip measurement. In addition, even 56Kbps of bandwidth is nowhere near enough, and many applications will swamp the connection with traffic, causing instances of sustained packet loss. So when you are engineering a system to be robust over a lossy high delay dialup connection, then an algorithm of 11 probes over 75 seconds starts to sound like a decent strategy, and even 6 probes over 189 seconds may well outlast any transient congestion event on a dialup connection.
So where to set the default? In the best possible case, in the certain knowledge that if the system is ever placed behind a dialup modem, then it simply will not work? Or in the worst case, in the knowledge that most of the network is highly reliable most of the time, and on a high speed connection, these default connection failure timers will be used rarely? Most protocol engineers design their default for the latter and hope that most users will simply not encounter these massive timeouts in their normal use of the network.
I have been waiting for the time when these protocol stacks employ a little more active probing of their environment and adapt their connection timers based on recent experience.
The recent changes to the MAC OS X protocol stack, where the estimated RTT times for each destination are cached and used to optimise the system's connection behaviour, are truly a delight to see. Yes, it probably still needs a little tuning as far as I can tell, but it is a major evolutionary step from the rather primitive blind guesswork that we've used so far in designing protocol behaviour. It appears to make the entire Dual Stack scenario about as painless as possible, even in some of the more pathological cases of partial connectivity.
I won't reproduce the complete set of packet traces for the browsers tested on Linux, but note that Firefox 8.0.1 uses a truncated connection sequence that terminates after 4 retries (a total of 5 probes) and 93 seconds, and when the fast failover option is enabled, performs a fully parallel connection sequence in each protocol. Chrome again uses the 300ms staggering of the two parallel connection attempts, allowing each attempt to run through to the full 189 seconds. Opera will wait for the full 189 seconds before failing over to use IPv4.
The iPhone supports a Dual Stack environment on its WiFi Interface.
On an iOS platform the Safari browser initiates the DNS queries in parallel. The system initially starts an IPv6 session, and after a 721ms timeout it starts a parallel session using IPv4. After a 991ms interval it sends a second SYN probe to the IPv6 address. When the IPv4 SYN probe responds, Safari latches onto this session and completes the HTTP request.
Now lets try this with a URL with three unresponsive IPv6 addresses.
This is somewhat unexpected. Again IPv6 is probed first, and after 718ms a second probe is initiated, but this time it uses the second IPv6 address. After a total of a 907ms timeout, the first probe is resent. After a further 425ms, the third IPv6 address is probed, and after another 131ms, or a total of 1574ms since the initial probe was commenced, it now opens up a probe on IPv4. The browser now has 4 probe sessions active, three in IPv6 and one in IPv4. After 992ms to the second unresponsive IPv6 address, the browser sends a second probe. When the IPv4 SYN generates a SYN+ACK response, curiously, the browser does not immediately send an ACK and close off the IPv6 probes. Instead it waits a further 116ms and, 899ms after the second probe, Safari sends a third probe to the first unresponsive IPv6 address. Only then does it respond to the IPv4 SYN+ACK and start up the fetch.
It seems that Safari uses a 990ms retransmit timer, and attempts to connect on all IPv6 addresses before performing a fallback to IPv4.
So, finally, lets try iOS on a URL where there are 2 addresses in each protocol, and all are unresponsive.
The total time before the connection failure was passed to the application used, was 64.3 seconds. Each address was probed 10 times, with a backoff timer set of 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 seconds between successive SYN probes. What is quite different here was that at 12.8 seconds, 26.1 seconds, 38.9 seconds and 51.9 seconds (approximately at 12 second intervals) the DNS query was repeated. The timing of the backoff algorithm appears to be based on some internal estimate of the RTT of the default route. In this case, it appears that the system has a cached IPv6 default RTT of 130ms and a cached IPv4 RTT of some 700ms. The fallback algorithm appears to be an ordering of addresses by RTT estimate, and each address is added to the probe set upon the expiration of the RTT timer of the pervious address.
This table shows the outcomes of dual stack failover tests for various operating systems and browser combinations. Each cell in this table contains the version of the browser that was tested on this system, the time taken to fail over when the preferred protocol was unresponsive, and the default protocol preference (where 'x' means that the faster connection is preferred).
There is much to be improved in the way in which operating systems and browsers generally handle dual stack situations. The operation of Firefox 8 with fast failover is perhaps the most efficient of all the browsers tested in terms of its ability to optimise its behaviour across all of the operating systems. It's not clear that the 300ms staggering used by Chrome is of any particular value. Noting the predilection for a number of these browsers to open 2 or even 3 parallel ports from the outset, considerations about imposing too high a TCP connection load on the server now appear to have become a mere historical curiosity in the unending search for blindingly fast browser performance. So Chrome's restraint with a 300ms timer is certainly polite, but on the other hand Chrome is the more profligate in terms of parallel connections as it starts off with 3 parallel connections when the RTT is over 250ms. I'd offer the view that Chrome would be faster in the corner cases if it dropped the third port and at the same time dropped the fallback timer from 300ms to 0ms.
Safari and Mac OS X combine to attempt to guess the fastest connection, rather than simply apply a brute force approach of using a parallel connection. Given that it only opens up a single port on startup, its politeness to the server could be considered bordering on being parsimonious, and the additional load imposed by using a fully parallel connection setup in both protocols with a single connection in each protocol would only put it on a level of the default Firefox 8 behaviour. The efforts to cache the RTT estimates and order the connection attempts by increasing RTT are an interesting optimisation, and where different protocols give different RTTs, as in the case here where there was a 20ms difference in the paths in IPv6 and IPv4, Safari managed to learn of this and apply the correct preference, with a little tinkering with v6-only and v4-only URLs in order to prime the cache of stored RTTs. However, Safari also places an RTT time estimate on the "default" route in both IPv4 and IPv6, and uses this internal value to bias its initial connection choice in dual stack scenarios in the absence of specific information. It appears that what is not cached is unresponsive addresses, so while Safari is able to make efficient choices when there is reliable information already gathered, it makes poor choices when one of the addresses returned by the DNS is persistently unresponsive and when its estimate of the RTT to "default" (what ever that may be!) starts to drift.
There is an interesting design compromise as to whether to tightly couple the DNS and TCP connection or whether to embark on connection attempts as soon as the DNS results are returned in each protocol family. The browser wants to optimise two performance parameters, namely the initial connection time from the user's click to the time that the page starts to draw, and of course the total connection time for the entire page download. If the decision was to optimise the initial connection time, then there is much to be said for setting off the two DNS queries in parallel and embarking on the associated TCP connection as soon as the DNS response is received. But if the decision is to optimise the session performance, then the lower RTT will be selected if the browser performs a rendezvous after the DNS query phase and then fires off the opening SYN packets in parallel. If there is an appreciable difference in RTT between the two protocols, then the faster path will complete the TCP connection first.
My choice? Right now Firefox 8 with fast failover enabled appears to offer the best performance on the platforms I've tested when you are after the fastest connection time if you are on a Windows or Linux platform. But you will need to set the fast failover option. Without this set to "true", its dual stack connection behaviour is pretty ordinary. If you are using a Mac then despite some of the erratic outcomes from the RTT tracking function when presented with pathologically broken cases, Safari appears to offer the fastest behaviour in dual stack scenarios.
But what if you happen to love the user interface provided by your favourite browser and don't want to switch? In that case, if you are still after improving connection speeds for unresponsive websites, you may certainly want to look at the SYN retransmit settings if you are on a MAC or a Linux platform and knock the number of retransmits down to a more reasonable 10 seconds in the case of the Mac or to 2 SYN retries in the case of Linux.
I performed these tests using tcpdump on a number of hosts. In setting up these tests I use a number of wildcard DNS domains. (They are wildcarded to override some browser's predilection for caching DNS answers. So any valid DNS string can be used as a prefix here.) Each of these domains has a different behaviour, as shown in the table below.
Hampering Eyeballs - Observations on Two "Happy Eyeballs" Implementations In this article we look at two "Happy Eyeballs" implementations, that aim to reduce degraded user experience as the result of broken dual-stack configurations. We call this degraded user experience "Unhappy Eyeballs". The Chrome web browser implementation seems to succeed in this aim, while Apple's Mac OS X Lion operating system only partially succeeds in avoiding "Unhappy Eyeballs". Furthermore we show that Mac OS X Lion, in combination with the Safari web browser results in "Happy Eyeballs", but leaves well performing native IPv6 capacity unused in roughly half of the cases we measured, a condition we name "Hampering Eyeballs".
As I told you at RIPE63, I also saw the spurious SYN+ACK that Linux servers send, if a client just does a TCP 3-way handshake and doesn't send any other packets.
I dug a little deeper into this and I found that Apache on Linux shows this behaviour while other server software doesn't necessarily. Digging through Apache source code, I found it sets the TCP_DEFER_ACCEPT socket option. A simple test program shows that this behaviour only happens if one sets this option on a listening socket on Linux, but not without this option on Linux. Interesting still is that the use is quite wide spread (how many Apache/Linux servers are there on the Internet?).
Can this be used to measure things that we couldn't measure without knowing about this?
And I would _guess_ that the listener is, by virtue of this option, discarding the initial null ACK and awaiting an ACK with data to "complete" the initial handshake.
If the client sends a conventional ACK with no attached data to complete the initial TCP handshake and then does nothing (as distinct from the conventional behaviour of immediately sending a data segment with a duplicate of the previous ACK) then server says "hmm incomplete handshake" as the initial ACK has been discarded.
If you have tested this, do you still have a test rig handy?
What happens if you open the connection then sleep for 60 seconds then send 1 byte of data? what does the server send? multiple SYN+ACKs? or will it timeout the connection?
Yes, there are a couple of typos in the packet traces where I've put in the wrong DNS trace to the subsequent connection attempt. Good catch.
another comment on the Chrome/Mac OS X Lion experiments. I've also seen cases where, on trying a dualstack host, order of returned DNS record didn't dictate what IP protocol was used to set up the HTTP request, so I don't agree with your assumption that DNS record ordering dictates what protocol is going to be used. Usually IPv6 is tried, but on Mac OS X Lion I've also seen a couple of cases where IPv4 was tried. I think it's some kind of weird interaction between Chrome internal-caching and the reordering of getaddrinfo() results. Reinforces one of the points in my "Hampering Eyeballs" article about this becoming really hard to debug/understand. | 2019-04-20T00:44:30Z | https://labs.ripe.net/Members/gih/dual-stack-esotropia |
COAL: 2001 Chevy Astro – Hold On Tight!
After seeing the “Best Astro Ever” that Paul posted a few days back, I couldn’t help but think of the Astros of my past.
Back in the fall of 2000, my father stumbled upon an excellent deal on an ’89 Astro. It was equipped much like the one shown–2WD, wagon wheels, three rows of seats, dark tinted glass, barn doors with a side slider–only ours was powder blue. It was clean, straight, and available for a mere $900.
We were never ‘minivan people,’ but suddenly, we had a minivan. It joined a 1985 Regal coupe and a 1989 Chevy G20 van in the family fleet.
As minivans go, it was pretty sporty and peppy, with just over 100K miles and a 4.3 V6 under the hood (er, doghouse). But anti-minivan sentiment was running high in those days, and Dad wasn’t content to drive a minivan that was merely “pretty sporty.” So out came the Keystone Klassics. Soon the van was the latest member of the Keystone club, one of six or so vehicles that’d get to wear those mags over the years.
The van provided us with several years’ worth of faithful service, hauling us to and fro without incident–save for one outing.
My mother was never a very good driver. She had a tendency to panic when the going got tough, and her panic reactions were often less than ideal.
On this particular January day, she was accelerating down an on-ramp, preparing to merge onto the freeway. The only other vehicle around was an eighteen wheeler, about a quarter mile back and traveling in the left lane. As she reached the bottom of the ramp, she hit a patch of black ice and began to lose control.
Had she reacted properly, the van might have been put back on course. But instead, she went straight down the list of her panic reactions, and jumped right to the worst of them: closing her eyes and releasing the wheel. Not surprisingly, the situation went from bad to worse in a hurry. By the time she opened her eyes, the van was on its roof.
The big rig’s driver had watched the whole thing unfold, and immediately stopped to provide aid. The Astro’s engine was still running even in its inverted state; he was able to easily open the door and shut it off. My mother then released her safety belt and crawled out, shaken but unharmed. I was amazed at her good fortune.
What was even more amazing was that while she was seven months pregnant at the time, the baby was likewise unharmed. My sister was born two months later, as perfect and wonderful as a baby could be.
Several days later, well after all involved had been given clean bills of health, the van arrived home on a rollback. After a few hours of dent-pulling and a rear end replacement, my father had it back in a roadworthy state once again.
After all the repairs were done, there was just one issue which had Dad stumped: the digital speedometer was reading ridiculously high. I was the first to notice the letters “kph” illuminated; one button press and this wrecked Astro was finally all the way back to its former glory.
Unfortunately, the van would meet an inglorious end a few years later. After my parents divorced, my mother traded it in for well below its value, using the meager credit towards her purchase of a late-’80s Century beater. After all that it went through, I hate to think where it ended up.
Back to the van at hand! I bought it from a small dealer, who had accidentally bought it at an auction and wanted it gone regardless of loss. I scooped it up for a few hundred bucks, and trailered it away (since it was sitting on four flats and had a dead battery).
Upon getting the wreck home and running, I had to figure out what to do about the rubber situation. There was absolutely nothing left of the existing tires. The rims were factory aluminum 5-spokes, and were likewise pretty chewed up. Ugly and useless – time for a change! So I went to my tire rack.
Waiting there was a set of four American Racing wheels with nice, aggressive tires already mounted. They had come on an eighties Chevy conversion van that I’d bought to part out and scrap. Needless to say, I was surprised to find them hiding behind a set of cheap plastic Wal-Mart wheelcovers!
At first I thought they were painted matte black. But copious amounts of scrubbing with water and steel wool revealed that they were actually chrome, each one coated with more brake dust than I previously believed any one wheel could hold.
The back ones fit fine, but the front ones needed a little added clearance. So I carved down the plastic fascia to create the needed elbow room. Ugly? Sure, but who cares – it was cheap, and it was ready to play in the snow!
For winter driving, this little AWD rig with big knobby tires was superb. I couldn’t justify keeping it, having two other four-wheelers in my arsenal already, so I turned it around for a quick buck. But I wouldn’t hesitate to own another.
If these vans were not such death traps I would consider buying one instead of another 94-95 Plymouth Voyager. The Astro/Safari twins are all over South Central Los Angeles and Cayuga Taxi used to have a large fleet of these which makes me wonder if any other cab company bought a lot of these.
Back in 2004 my folks and I were one of the first on the scene for a rollover involving an Astro with some unbelted passengers and a pop up camper trailer that got out of control. No one suffered anything more than a broken arm, but it definitely put a wet blanket on our trip back to New York. That is another (illogical?) reason I rather have nothing to do with these vans.
My grandpa totalled a nearly new Saab 900 Classic on some black ice and for the past twenty or so years he has refused to drive on that section of NY 79.
These are still fairly common as airport taxis in Puerto Rico.
I was there this past March, and still saw quite a few, with newer Siennas and Mopar vans being the other majority.
Panthers are still common too.
Maybe a person shouldn’t drive them into a concrete barrier at 45mph but in the real world looks like they are pretty safe. Black ice is something that no car is good on and rear wheel drive is probably worse then front.
Tell us how these vans are “death traps” please.
Poor crash test result. When one of these gets into a collision with another similarly sized vehicle it always fairs worse from what I have seen.
I prefer the first gen Astro and Safari over the second gen Astro and Safari. I prefer either, over their front wheel drive replacement.
Seems like they hold up in rollovers really well.
Unfortunately, the reason they roll over in the first place is the driver’s inability (or unwillingness) to drive according to their limitations. They’re reckless.
Agreed. The whole Firestone/Explorer thing wasn’t Ford’s fault (okay, it was a little bit), it wasn’t Firestone’s fault (it was a little bit there too), it was the drivers’ collective fault for thinking that their new SUV–essentially a slightly longer, slightly lower Bronco II–could be treated the same as a low-slung sedan.
I agree. I’ve driven many SUVs over the years, and I’ve only crashed one.
I’m firmly convinced that the higher center of gravity on these vehicles — and drivers’ unfamiliarity with the different handling dynamics — are largely the reason why all new vehicles come standard with tire pressure monitoring systems and stability control.
Which is no big deal to me, until someone borrows my 21-year-old pickup, at which point I then feel obligated to remind them of the absence of these techno-nannies, and that keeping the truck firmly planted on the road is solely their responsibility.
…are largely the reason why all new vehicles come standard with tire pressure monitoring systems and stability control.
Their propensity to roll when upset has not only lead to TPMS and stability control, those systems are now required by Federal regulations. SUV’s high beltline, compounded by “wedge” styling has resulted in rear visibility so poor that rear view TV cameras will become mandatory in a couple years.
So what has been the industry’s response to all these safety systems? They make SUVs that are even blinder in the back and more unstable, witness the Chevy Trax, tall, narrow and short. The thing will probably tumble like a circus performer, even with all the technology bandaids.
Both my old Ranger and my current Pathfinder have giant warnings, with graphics, on the sun visor, telling drivers that they are more likely to tip over and to avoid sudden high-speed maneuvers.
Agree 100%. A lot of Jeep CJs went rubber side up because someone swapped a Mustang or Camaro for one and didn’t bother to adjust their driving style.
Very capable snow and ice rigs. A high school friend had one in his family. I believe it led to the family buying more AWD vehicles.
I just went thru a used car buying marathon and some of the experience gained regarding the 4L60e means this van is not on my list. 10 years older with a 700r4 and a 4.3 would make it lots better IMO.
I am sure that it bothers Keith not in the slightest and confess to some envy. Everyone is probably good at something. My field was AC and Heat. With cars I tend to be somewhat stupid and trusting. My current truck is a manual and there is a reason for that.
We’ve a 1998 Safari (RWD) in the family DD fleet since 2001 and it has been pretty reliable. There has been one major issue with the a/c and it is now on its third a/c compressor. Recently it has developed an oil leak on the driver’s side. The oil leaks directly on the exhaust pipe so I get a little bit of smoke. Tomorrow I need to check and see what is causing the problem. I am thinking the oil pressure sender or the oil filter.
Some years ago we would make a 150 mile trip to see my younger daughter who was in college at the time. The road there is a state road with lots of curves and rolling hills. During these drives in the Safari you could definitely tell that it was not comfortable in those road conditions – too much lean. One time we took my 1984 BMW and what a difference that was.
Keith I’ve always been curious as to the reliability of these GM AWD systems used on the Astro/ Safari, the Olds Bravada, and maybe others I am not aware of. Love to hear your comments.
The quality of the interior components of these things (Chev and GM) was bar none, the worst I’ve ever seen in a mini van.
My brother has a 97 astro with 210,000 miles on it. Original transmission. It has been totaled by the insurance company twice. It is rough but refuses to die. These are unique vehicles because they offer a tremendous amount of utility and can haul and tow an amazing amount while still being of manageable size. He is always keeping his eyes out for a newer one but resale value is surprisingly high. GM blew it letting this vehicle wither on the vine because there still is a market for vans like this.
The 2WD Astro and Safari vans used the front suspension directly from our beloved B-Bodies. Literally EVERYTHING was taken from the B-Body, control arms, springs, shocks, sway bar, the steering box and linkages, and front disc brakes. All of it mounted to B-Body subframe of sorts. The vans used the larger 5″ x 5 lug pattern found on the 9C1s and wagons.
GM saw fit to spec these vans with the larger 5/8″ lower ball joint shared with the Limo / Hearse/ Armored upfit package D-Body Cadillac. In mid-1995 GM made a production change to the 9C1, and only the 9C1, to upgrade from the normal B-Body lower ball joint of 9/16″ to the beefier 5/8″ lower ball joint.
Thanks to the vans keeping the 5″ x 5 lug pattern till 2002, this makes the spindle (steering knuckle in GM-speak) a fairly inexpensive part to purchase new or plentiful to source from the junkyards. A nice little upgrade if you’re rebuilding the front end of your ’77-’96 B-Body or related C or D-Body.
After 2002, the all the Astro and Safari vans switched to the 6 lug patter in common with full-sized pickups. The 2WD front suspension stayed the same, but the spindle is totally different unit.
I forgot they offered AWD in these, and I sold them, but we never got an AWD one on the lot down in FL. The AWD in these was the same one that came in the turbocharded S-tuck/SUV. If I ran GMC I would have combined the Syclone/Typhoon turbo 4.3 in an AWD Safari, and then I would have probably been asked to leave.
In FL, awd is unnecessary. But up here in the salt-free pacific NW its the opposite. Youd swear the 2wd version didn’t exist at all. You see these all the time with snowboard racks mounted up, as they’ll mow thru a snowy mountain pass like its not even there.
Oh for sure, I imagine that these with AWD are like an SUV-Minivan.
My mom had one of these back in the early 90s…unfortunately, ours did NOT have Keystone mags! . It was an extended 2wd model. I drove it a few times, actually once down to New Orleans with like 6 of my buddys. It was a very reliable rig, got decent mpgs and while 160 hp sounds laughable now, its amazing how well that 4.3 v6 manhandled such a big box. We also had a fullsize GMC conversion van back in the mid 80s. These were literally 3/4 scale fullsize vans in every way…which I thought was a good thing. Unlike fwd minivans, these were often seen towing bass boats or campers. For a family with some outdoorsy inclinations, these really were a better way than SUVs or CUVs…especially in awd form. Back in the day, the downsize SUVs were often struggling to pull mommy duty. And yet, a good many 2 door XJ Cherokees, 1st gen 4 runners, and 2 door S-10 Blazer/Jimmys were in good hands with guys in my generation who lowered the 2wd versions or went wheeling with the 4x4s. These Astros could do all the grunt work of an SUV but also pull off family duty equally well.
Since I last posted on these I remembered all the things that have gone wrong in the past 12 years. None of it had to do with the drivetrain or the suspension. Those have been rock solid. Except for a cracked plastic intake plenum.
We bought the van from the original owner and it was still under warranty. As soon as the warranty ran out the a/c compressor started leaking and had to be replaced. Then the paint started peeling off the roof and the hood. It looked like a tree shedding off its bark. The leather front seats started to come apart not long after that. Then we found that if you used the cigar lighter it would blow a fuse which immobilized the van. Since then the dash cap over the instrument binnacle has come unglued from the structure below; Half of the lighted buttons on the radio, a/c controls and others stopped working; And the rear bumper cover flew off while the van was in motion. Other things that have gone wrong were the windshield and the rear window (my van has the dutch door option) had to be removed and re-glued. The most annoying has been the frequent loss of a/c due to the thin plastic vacuum tube that goes from the vacuum reservoir to the back of the a/c controller. This little tube becomes brittle and breaks due to engine heat. When that happens all the air is routed to the defrost registers. In 100 degree heat its like no a/c at all. This has happened several times in the past years. The last time I routed the plastic tube inside a vacuum hose for protection. Hope it lasts.
That instrument cluster! Never knew the Astro’s gauges looked like that. I dig it.
I prefer my instrument cluster to have analogue gauges.
The thing that’s always confused me about the Chevy Astro and GMC Safari van is its safety. The NHTSA ranks them as the worst vehicles to have an accident in, but I’ve heard of more people emerging from an accident, suffering only minor injuries. Could it have more to do with the type of accident the van was involved in, or the fact that the occupants were wearing their seat belts?
I’ve been quite surprised how reliable these are. Known two different ones with over 200K miles…both ext versions, one a ’90 or so. That one had faded paint, rode like a buckboard, and interior pieces would fall off in your hands, but it just kept running and running with nothing but maintenance. The second one is owned by a co-worker; I think it’s an ’02 or ’03 and looks immaculate. Absolutely blew my mind when he told me it has close to 250K on it. That 4.3 is a solid motor.
I do also like the scaled-down fullsize styling of the 2nd-gen models. Which is really what these are.
@ tmt: I agree. I’ve never been interested in hot-rodding anyway. If you’re careful with your car rather than reckless, you should be able to make it to your destination safely, which I believe 90% of the drivers want to do. | 2019-04-23T11:51:17Z | http://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2001-chevy-astro-hold-on-tight/ |
Can an outspoken female CFO with no aerospace background put Boeing back on course?
It's not every day that a new CFO flatly contradicts the boss in front of a reporter. Boeing Co. president and chief operating officer Harry Stonecipher had railed against the venerable program-accounting system for airliners. "You have to know the cost of the airplane as you go along the production line: what the wing costs, what every piece of the airplane costs," Stonecipher insisted with obvious frustration. "You cannot reduce the cost of a wing if you don't know where you're starting."
Asked her view, though, Deborah Hopkins disagreed. It's one of the "myths that need to be dispelled" at Boeing, the just-installed senior vice president and finance chief contended. "There's a natural tendency for people to say, 'The problem here is that employees have no idea what an airplane costs,'" she allowed. But well into what she calls "a very deep dive on the issue... I'd say that [program accounting] is not the problem."
As if that assertion weren't brash enough, the 44-year-old newcomer to the aerospace industry--just 17 days into the job--professed in a Wall Street Journal story that she'd like to replace 57-year-old chairman and CEO Phil Condit when he retires. She thereby threw her hat in the ring with those of a dozen or more others who, like all previous chief executives at this bastion of the military-industrial complex, have risen through the ranks and have, of course, been male.
Such chutzpah may sound like a formula for the brand-new Boeing CFO to crash and burn. On the other hand, Debby Hopkins may be just what the company needs. Certainly Condit and Stonecipher, who have run things as a team since the August 1997 acquisition of McDonnell Douglas Corp., say Boeing now requires such bold leadership in a CFO. The job, after all, is to provide the tools so that the legendarily stodgy legion of Boeing managers, for whom finance has always been a remote and mysterious science, can straighten up and fly right.
When Condit introduced Hopkins last December, he said she was chosen for her "successful track record as an agent of change"--not a term used lightly at Boeing--while at Unisys Corp. and later at General Motors Corp.
The stakes at the 83-year-old company have rarely been higher. For the first time ever, Boeing isn't profiting strongly from the upward curve of an airliner delivery cycle. Its $1.1 billion profit last year (all from defense and space operations) represented a total margin of only 2 percent, and followed a shocking 1997 net loss of $178 million. Europe's Airbus Industrie has turned into a formidable competitor. And takeover rumors are even starting to swirl around Boeing.
"It seems that the company has been running out of feet in which to shoot itself," says Bill Sweetman, an expert in military aviation.
"Boeing is ready" for a CFO like Hopkins, says Stonecipher, "because Boeing has a new vision and a new thrust." He sees himself as "a good enforcer" for Condit, as the CEO tries to wrench the company out of the old ways that prevailed when Boeing had no serious rivals.
Stonecipher, the former McDonnell CEO, has been a major critic of the finance department since he joined Boeing, believing that useful information was kept locked away from production-line executives. If finance did sometimes help with requested data, "they helped only after they'd said no four or five times." In Stonecipher's own case, he promised operating managers shortly after he arrived that "you're going to have all the data you need." But when he turned to then-CFO Boyd Givan to supply it, "the data wasn't there," Stonecipher says. Givan took early retirement last September, at age 62, after 32 years at Boeing, leaving Stonecipher as acting CFO until Hopkins came on board.
The 63-year-old Stonecipher, who still publicly describes the old Boeing manner as "arrogant," jokes to his managers that Hopkins will soon become as "tough" as he is, and "you will come to see me as a protective grandfather."
She may already be as tough as he is. Take Hopkins's final interview for the Boeing job last September in Zurich. "It was starting to feel like [Seattle] is really where I'm supposed to go," she says. Then, "I get this call at 11 at night, the night before I'm going to meet Harry Stonecipher." Her 18-year-old son, Patrick, staying with his grandmother in Detroit, had been hit by a car and seriously hurt, although he was out of immediate danger, Hopkins was told. With the next Detroit flight not until mid-morning, and even a corporate plane unable to get her there much quicker, she and Stonecipher agreed that keeping the breakfast appointment would "keep my mind busy" until she could fly to Patrick's bedside.
A Milwaukee native, Debby Hopkins had only a bachelor's degree from Walsh College, in Troy, Michigan, when she took her first finance positions at First National Bank of Detroit and Ford Motor Co. She credits her mother with instilling confidence in her ability to take on any job.
The defining moment of Hopkins's career was her creation of a survival plan for Unisys during its 1991 financial crisis. The then-36-year-old assistant controller was charged with quickly devising an approach that would win over the bankers. "It was a gut-wrenching experience," she says. "These workout bankers get paid to put you under." The experience taught her some lessons. "You realize there's so much potential in us, and you get to trust your instincts," she says.
James Unruh, who was Unisys CEO and Hopkins's mentor during much of her 13-year career there, believes that many finance executives "fall into the trap of focusing too tightly on the narrow definition of the financial role." The best of them, he says, "understand the dynamics of the business," and Hopkins "always embodied that."
Her grasp of business dynamics served her well as Unisys sought to solve its corporate-culture problem, transforming itself from a mainframe maker into a services business that provides systems integration. "There is no more difficult problem in business than cultural change," Unruh says, noting that Boeing has its own massive problems in that regard from acquisitions of McDonnell Douglas and the aerospace unit of Rockwell International Corp.
At Unisys, the entire product was replaced, challenging a workforce accustomed to hardware buyers with the headaches of marketing products to clients bent on negotiating each element of the service contract. Hopkins was, he says, "very quick to understand the difference."
Unruh rewarded her with several operations jobs before she stepped back into finance as corporate controller. She seemed prepared for the CFO slot, and possibly for Unruh's own CEO position. "I was clearly the lady-in-waiting" at 41, she says--when she decided to jump to GM.
The move left a bitter aftertaste for Unruh, now retired from Unisys and a founding principal of Alerion Capital Group LLC, in Scottsdale, Arizona. For one thing, "the timing was bad." For another, Unruh had invested heavily in preparing her for greater things, and "I didn't see GM as offering the same opportunities for growth. I'm not sure anger is the right word," he says, "but I was extremely disappointed."
"He yelled at me; he was just mad," says Hopkins of Unruh's reaction--until he reviewed her reasoning, and later apologized. She agrees that the job she accepted, as GM's general auditor, might have seemed a strange move. "Most people do not aspire to be the general auditor," she observes.
But GM's board members were all global captains of industry, and "in what other role do you get to sit one-on-one with the board members?" Plus, GM had a great track record of moving finance people into operating jobs, which she had desperately wanted. And the job brought her to Detroit, where she could be close to her ailing father.
As it turned out, the auditor job allowed her to deal intimately with a $400 million fraud case, and a host of problems at Adam Opel AG, the German unit of GM. A promotion in 1997 to CFO of European operations gave her insight into GM's most profitable auto business. It was designed as a prelude to an operating role back in the United States, she says. But then along came the Boeing opportunity last fall.
In judging a job's appeal, Hopkins applies what sounds almost like a personal risk-management formula. "You weigh the opportunities and risks," she says, "and what skills you bring to mitigate those risks." While she understood that Boeing was going through difficult times, the GM executive was impressed by Condit's and Stonecipher's willingness to let finance play a pivotal role in the turnaround effort.
The incentives were appealing, too. In addition to a $750,000 signing bonus, she gets a guaranteed $810,000 in salary and bonus her first year, with payments of over $2 million more possible if stock-price and other targets are reached. If she stays until age 62, Hopkins will also have 13 years of additional service tacked on to her retirement plan.
Mainly, though, she was wowed by Boeing itself. "When a company goes through tough times--and for Boeing, there have not been a ton of these--the employees usually start getting demoralized," she says. But here, a strong pro-company feeling continually boosts morale. "There is great pride; they say, 'We build such great products.' And we do."
The best approach, she says, is to build on Boeing's areas of strength. She notes that the C-17 military transport, once a seriously troubled program, won a Malcolm Baldridge quality award last year. "We've got examples of this all over the company," she says. "The challenge is that it's not across the board." But "I can feel the value bulging at the seams in this place, and we haven't found a way to tap into it."
With characteristic fearlessness, Debby Hopkins has used her first months in Seattle to address the profit-starved aerospace giant's problems with deep dives--a favorite expression of hers--even if that means surfacing with some proposals foreign to her bosses. "We used to be able to walk behind and report the results of the business," says Hopkins of the way Boeing's finance department has done business. "Now we must be out in front, identifying the risks."
The centerpiece of her effort: an evaluation of economic profit for every Boeing program. So far, this analysis shows a stunning 25 percent of the company's $13 billion in product-line investments to be value-destroying or break-even. Hopkins calls the estimates of the units' future cash flows, less cost of capital, a "launch-off point" for teaching managers about the concept of shareholder value. Hardly a radical idea--except at Boeing, where "creating a common language, a common methodology, and an idea of what goodness is," as she puts it, qualifies as revolutionary. Before, it was assumed at Boeing that "we can't really benchmark performance," she notes. "Baloney; the shareholders are doing it."
Hopkins has recognized that communicating the new profit discipline is as important as implementing it. Where her predecessors almost never granted media interviews, Hopkins has become a frank and colorful spokesperson for the company, telling analysts and journalists, for example, that any Boeing program would be "fixed or eliminated" if its economic-profit numbers slipped off the screen for long. "This isn't a flavor-of-the-month club," she said as she and Condit conducted a recent telephone press conference. "This has to do with the way we're going to run the business forever."
In another novel gesture for a Boeing CFO, Hopkins is visiting the company's airline customers around the globe. Her mission: to explain to them why Boeing must adhere to a stricter pricing policy. She believes customers need to understand that Boeing's sound fiscal health is in their best interests also. "You can't give them value and go out of business," she says.
Hopkins knows that firming up prices will take work, as air carriers play hardball with Airbus and Boeing. "I promise you," she says, "that finance will have the intestinal fortitude to say no." In fact, last year Boeing lost a big deal with British Airways to Airbus rather than back down on pricing.
On the issue of program accounting--the subject of the disagreement with Stonecipher--Hopkins has found a middle ground. Boeing will keep program accounting, but break out and explain for managers the program-accounting numbers embedded in the airliner unit's financials. It will also provide "discrete" segment cost data that managers can use to keep better track of their progress.
That approach, Hopkins says, emerged from a recent finance-staff brainstorming session. She kicked off the session by saying, "I know we're better than this. People think we're obfuscating the numbers. Give me an idea." When she saw senior manager Kevin Murphy's "eyes light up," she invited his thoughts. He came up with the idea of offering managers both accounting explanations, a suggestion she embraced. Murphy, promoted to director of general accounting since the session, says that Hopkins's leadership offers "a chance to have finance really step up and be part of the solution by helping to add value."
Of course, such innovations are necessary but not sufficient. Hopkins must also take on more-traditional challenges, like increasing the company's conservative 27 percent debt-to-capitalization ratio toward 40 percent. Other finance challenges she sees ahead involve slashing the time it takes to close Boeing's books each quarter from 13 days to 3. She is also trying to make sense of the hodgepodge of information systems at the company. "Having grown up in the information systems business is an advantage for me," she says, noting that the problems are only partly a legacy of Boeing's recent mergers. Some say the Baan enterprise resource planning software has caused difficulties because it is ill-suited to the aerospace business. But Hopkins doubts the IT issue is as simple as the conventional wisdom that "we simply have not designed the right system," she says.
"Drinking from a Fire Hose"
The establishment of the single economic-profit metric will allow managers "to walk into a Boeing facility...know exactly what those charts are going to look like, and read our performance levels." Hopkins doesn't mince words about her disdain for Stern Stewart & Co.'s economic-value-added version of economic profit. "I hate EVA," she says, because it seems designed to let "finance people demonstrate how smart they are. Our goal is to take the magic out of it."
The new CFO relishes the challenge of explaining the metric to the troops herself. A tutorial on return on net assets that she delivered at one managers' meeting won her some early raves, although she was shocked to find how little basic finance the executives understood.
Securities analysts, who had once given up on getting detailed operating information from the secretive company, are likely to be pleased as well, as they were late last year when Boeing began breaking out detailed segment data, and even forecasting future operating profit for units. Says Stonecipher, who was instrumental in revising the financial reports, "There were not 25 people in this company that had seen this data before."
The Boeing president, a long-time engineer and manager for General Electric Co.'s aircraft-engine unit, got his CFO model from GE. "The CFO is your confidant and counselor," he says, adding that he has found Hopkins to fill that role admirably. For her part, she sees herself as a "foil," who helps Stonecipher develop ideas for his chief operating officer role.
Some analysts are cautious about how much she can do for Boeing. "She shows no fear, which is very important, whether you're on the other side of a negotiating table or on the factory floor," says Howard Rubel, of Goldman, Sachs & Co. And she "has the support of all the senior executives at the company to push the collective agenda." Still, he adds, "one has to be careful about deifying anybody, because we're all human."
A Boeing finance-department veteran who asks not to be named notes that Hopkins has been "drinking out of a fire hose" to get up to speed on the aerospace business. But this person is impressed with how quickly Hopkins has won over the finance staff to her mission.
It is by making finance a player in operations that she sees the greatest chance of helping Boeing. There is hardly a corner of the vast company she doesn't want to explore, from additional revenue streams to making the company more visible in Europe through alliances and joint ventures.
"What distinguishes people like Debby is the speed with which they can grasp business problems and take hold of the levers to make things work," says her old mentor, James Unruh. But there is a flip side that may lead to trouble. "I suspect that Debby's biggest challenge will be finding that balance of a healthy level of impatience," he says.
Take her willingness to comment about the CEO job. "You have to be careful what you say, even if you believe it yourself," Unruh says. Other Boeing veterans who might think themselves in line "aren't going to be thrilled by someone who has barely found [her] way to the ladies' room wanting to take over. It would probably have been better not to have said it."
Hopkins makes no apology for her ambition, and says her remark provoked only laughter in chats with Condit and Stonecipher. "I'm this younger-ish woman in a relatively visible spot," she says, "and I'm having fun with it."
Besides, she suggests that a certain controlled impatience can be a positive. It was another lesson learned in her rush to assemble a plan to bring Unisys back from the brink, and it applies at Boeing, too. "You can study yourself into a hole," Hopkins says. "We need to get it pretty close to right, and we can engineer along the way."
Roy Harris is a senior editor at CFO.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Congratulations, GE-Stylea After 27 years at General Electric Co., Harry Stonecipher was prepared to apply some lessons from that finance powerhouse when he became Boeing Co.'s acting CFO last fall. Lesson No. 1: Expect some ribbing from your old compatriots.
"Now I have seen everything!" GE's then-CFO, Dennis Dammerman, said in a note. "Let me know if I can help in the search--as long as it is not for one of our guys!" Dammerman recently became GE vice chairman, and CEO of its GE Capital Services unit.
A former McDonnell Douglas Corp. CEO who came to Boeing as president after their 1997 merger, Stonecipher never held a finance post during his GE years. A physicist by training, he helped develop engines, and headed the huge aircraft-engine business for GE from 1984 to 1987.
Wrote GE chairman Jack Welch in his note to Stonecipher: "CFO??? Question: 2 + 2 = ?" -- R.H.
Selling a record number of jetliners is no fun when margins are paper-thin.
This year at Boeing Co., an historic four-year aircraft production cycle will peak--traditionally, a time when revenues and profits soar. The record 620 Boeing planes to be shipped are three times the number delivered in the "trough" year of 1995. They will gross the company $38 billion.But few in Seattle are cheering. This time around, the profits didn't materialize to go with the land-office business the salespeople produced. Production problems ballooned the cost side of the equation during the ramp-up--actually closing down the 747 and 737 lines completely for a month in 1997--while sharp price competition with Airbus Industrie sapped revenues.
And the economic crisis in the enormous Asian market, the largest for the extremely profitable 747 jumbo jet, has made the slide down the other side of the peak look precipitous indeed. Boeing's expected deliveries of the $170 million planes next year: less than one-third of the previous two years' orders. On top of that come the layoffs, as many as 48,000 of them by the end of the year 2000--once again casting a pall over the Puget Sound area.
Airliners represent 60 percent of Boeing, even after the McDonnell Douglas Corp. acquisition made Boeing the world's largest aerospace company, and buying businesses from Rockwell International Corp. turned it into America's biggest NASA contractor. But 1997's airliner losses dragged Boeing into the red, and last year's paltry $63 million in operating earnings on the commercial business was nearly as embarrassing. Boeing, now much more open about forecasting profit, doesn't have much to forecast. It envisions minuscule margins of between 1 percent and 3 percent this year and next.
What happened to the once-prolific airliner earnings machine? And did CFO Boyd Givan, who was ushered into early retirement last year, have anything to do with it? "It's easy to point a finger," says Charles W. L. Hill, chair of the department of management and organization at the University of Washington's business school, "but what really happened is that they planned for one world, and they got another."
He interprets Boeing's problems in the 1990s as a convergence of global challenges to the old jetliner markets it once dominated, compounded by monumental bad timing. Boeing went through a downsizing cycle in the early 1990s. At the same time, it launched an efficiency-oriented program to reduce its supplier base, and rolled out its all-new 777 jetliner. It also began initiating an ambitious series of information-technology programs throughout the corporation--including the introduction of its Baan enterprise resource planning software--which, together, led to confusion and waste in the early stages.
"Then, all of a sudden," says Hill, "the orders began coming in much faster than anyone had expected," creating "the mother of all ramp-ups" on the production lines. Wooing back those fired employees and lost suppliers was difficult and extremely expensive. But Boeing's ambition seemed unbounded. And when the opportunity to buy McDonnell and the space operations of Rockwell presented itself, Boeing felt it had to jump. And digesting such major operations--especially those of McDonnell, which has never overcome the culture clash from combining the straitlaced St. Louis military-airplane business with the more-entrepreneurial California Douglas airliner business--took its toll.
Meanwhile, Airbus Industrie was coming of age, learning to control costs and steal markets away for a growing family of Airbus products aimed directly at the weak spots in Boeing's own family. Where once Boeing's price set the standard rivals had to match, now airline customers found Airbus offering bargains--and pushed Boeing to match them, sometimes unprofitably. Dealing with McDonnell Douglas's struggling MD-11 program didn't help; Boeing last year decided to phase out the wide-body model.
Hill believes that trying to protect its "God-given 60 percent of the market" led Boeing astray. "If it had held the line on pricing and given up market share," he says, "it would probably be a Wall Street darling right now."
As for the role of ex-CFO Givan, and a Boeing finance department that rarely got involved in strategic thinking, one finance executive says that had always been Boeing's culture. Sharing financial data across the company simply wasn't done, and there was no thought to using data "to give people a line of sight on what they were doing for the company." Adds new CFO Debby Hopkins: "For a long time, Boeing kept making its numbers," even though its line managers lacked the basic financial data by which to measure their performance. Then, when competition forced the managers to boost their units' performance, they found the numbers weren't available, and in any case weren't understood.
"We created a business model," says Hopkins, "where people said, 'I guess that's not my business.'" -- R.H.
How program accounting and discrete costing compare.
Program-accounting numbers are based on an "initial quantity" that allows reasonable cost and revenue averaging assumptions and that reflects Boeing's projections of the existing market for a plane. ( For the 777 aircraft, the quantity was 400.) R&D is expensed as incurred; tooling costs are amortized and absorbed in the cost of sales over the initial quantity.
Elements of both accounting methods will now be reported more widely to production managers, and in external financial statements, under a plan drawn up by CFO Debby Hopkins. --R.H. | 2019-04-21T18:13:40Z | https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/fearless-in-seattle |
See below for an answer to a question(marked with an asterisk) posed in the briefing that required follow up.
* The largest components of the legislation that the President signed on November 6, 2009, the "Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009," were the extension of the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit through April 30, 2010, a $6,500 credit to certain other homebuyers through April 30, 2010 and a provision expanding net operating losses for business taxes. The bill also added 20 weeks of unemployment insurance. The unemployment insurance provision was 10 percent of the gross cost of the bill as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office ($2.4 billion out of $23.9 billion).
MR. GIBBS: Point of order?
MR. GIBBS: Okay. (Laughter.) Is there a parliamentarian for Ben’s point of order?
MR. GIBBS: If there are no objections -- go ahead, I’m sorry.
Q Thank you. The President expressed to Ms. Sherrod his regret. Is it accurate to say that he apologized, personally apologized?
Q Okay. Thank you, the point of order.
MR. GIBBS: Reclaiming your time?
Q -- or to take the new job?
MR. GIBBS: No, look, that was not what the call was about and not what happened on the call. Obviously the President said, as the readout discusses, that she has a unique set of experiences and a unique opportunity to continue using those experiences to help people. That’s what he said to her. And obviously a decision about what she’s going to do is up to her, and I think she is supposed to talk with the Department of Agriculture at some point today.
Q She did accept his apology?
Q Maybe I missed this, but why couldn’t she just have her old job back?
MR. GIBBS: I would point you to USDA in terms of -- they’re handling the jobs discussions with Ms. Sherrod. I would say that -- I think what Secretary Vilsack offered was something that allows her to, again, as the President said, use some unique experiences to help root out what we know is long -- a department that has struggled with discrimination.
MR. GIBBS: I would just say that she’s a -- as April pointed out yesterday -- she’s a plaintiff in the Pigford discrimination case.
Q Did the President invite her to the White House?
Q Is it clear why the President was unable to reach her yesterday? Apparently he tried and -- she’s been all over TV -- why wasn’t she reachable?
MR. GIBBS: It may have been because she was all over TV.
The White House operator tried on at least two occasions last night and was both unable to reach her and unable to leave a voicemail.
Q And last point on that. Is the White House comfortable with the fact that she has been on a lot of television shows?
MR. GIBBS: She’s free to do and say what every other person in the country is free to do and say.
Q I’d like to ask about energy. Senator Kerry said it could be very tough to get the energy bill passed, and there’s been talk that it could be scaled down and become more of a referendum on offshore drilling. I was wondering what response you had to that, and also any comment on what chances do you think there is of getting the bill done?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I would say I think that Senator Reid is -- and Carol Browner and other members of the administration are on the Hill now with Democratic senators to discuss how best to move forward on energy legislation. The President is committed to moving comprehensive energy legislation, understanding, though, that in the environment that we live -- everything takes 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, which means there have to be -- there has to be bipartisan support and bipartisan cooperation for moving forward and getting something done.
I do know there’s discussions about ensuring that increasing oil spill liability is part of legislation and dealing with some of the problems that have been presented as a result of the BP oil spill. And I think those will certainly be in whatever legislation is taken up.
Q Okay, speaking of BP, what are you hearing today in terms of what’s happening with the prospect of the tropical storm, evacuations?
MR. GIBBS: Well, Admiral Allen is going to brief a little bit later on today, and he’ll have more on this, but tropical depression warnings have gone out for the Bahamas and parts of South Florida, as the -- and the President received a briefing, as you all got the readout, in the Situation Room yesterday both about where we are on the cap and that process, as well as the trajectory of the storm potentially leading across Florida and into the Gulf.
The protocols, Admiral Allen sent a letter to BP a day or so ago asking them for their timeline on removing equipment in the Gulf in the event that a storm heads in that area. Right now we have a trajectory that would put it -- put this storm, the intensity with which we obviously don’t yet know, into the Gulf. The protocols that have generally been established by Admiral Allen are if you believe that what are considered gale force winds, so winds in excess of 39 miles an hour, are likely at the site, that preparations should begin 120 hours prior to that event in terms of moving that equipment out of the area.
Obviously the equipment is owned by different companies. So Transocean and BP and others all will make individual decisions as companies about when they would move equipment. I think there’s no doubt that this storm has intensified and decisions will be made probably likely later this afternoon on moving some of that equipment out of there. For instance, the DD3, which is the rig drilling the relief well that is closest to the active well right now, about five feet away from it, is -- that and the Q4000, which was the boat burning the oil recovered through the original cap -- those decisions I’m told will be made about 8:00 tonight about whether or not to move those assets.
Later this afternoon, I think they will have a decision, and I would tune in to Admiral Allen’s briefing for more information on this.
About what we do with the sealing cap during a hurricane. During the briefing yesterday, Secretary Chu and members of the scientific team that have been working on the monitoring, the seismic -- reading the seismic material on the testing, have been encouraged by what they have seen; believe that, as of yesterday, that the well was stable. So he is encouraged by what he’s seen in the testing that has been conducted using the sealing cap.
I think a final decision, again, if the area is evacuated, whether to keep that sealing cap on, is a decision that will be made over the course of the next several hours.
Q Secretary Gates today announced that the Obama administration was lifting a more than decade-long ban on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia’s special forces unit. Human rights groups are outraged by this because the special forces unit has been accused of all sorts of serious crimes. Can you explain why this decision was made?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t have anything on this, Jake. I’d point you over to the Pentagon on that.
MR. GIBBS: He mentioned during the call that he had read the transcript of her interview.
MR. GIBBS: The full transcript of -- I’m sorry, not of her interview, but of her speech.
Q And what did he think? What was his personal reaction to her story?
MR. GIBBS: Look, I don’t remember exactly what he said on the call, but I think they talked about how -- look, we all have -- I think he talked about and -- talked about experiences that he had had and written about in his book that in some ways were similar to the experiences that she has written and talked about as part of that speech.
Q Can you elaborate a little?
MR. GIBBS: That’s literally all that was said about that.
MR. GIBBS: He didn’t -- he just talked about what he’d written in his book. They didn’t -- he didn’t get deeply into that part.
Q Could you just elaborate a little bit on his personal reaction to either reading the transcript of her fuller speech or to the call itself, to actually talking to this woman?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, he thought she was -- look, obviously she’s got a remarkable story. He expressed his apologies for the events of the last several days. Obviously, again, this is a woman who has a unique set of experiences, both before this incident and now.
MR. GIBBS: The memoir. So I think that -- again, he was -- he thought she was very gracious. And I would say, as we did in the readout, the President expressed to Ms. Sherrod that Secretary Vilsack had, he believed, been extremely sincere in his comments yesterday, in his apologies, and believed that he was also equally sincere about the work that he is leading at the Department of Agriculture to ensure that the department’s activities are conducted without discrimination.
MR. GIBBS: I’d point you over to USDA on that. I don’t know if you talked to USDA.
Q Do you know where she is, she is Cheryl Cook?
MR. GIBBS: I assume at the Department of Agriculture. I don’t know where she is.
Q But no plans at this point that you know of to put her forward so she can clear this up what was said?
MR. GIBBS: Dan, again, if you’re interested in talking to the deputy secretary, call the press office at the Department of Agriculture.
Q Okay, wait, I have another question, Robert.
Q -- the USDA not allowing people to talk to her?
MR. GIBBS: Again, contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Q Robert, this was supposed to be a week of focusing on Wall Street reform, the economy, kind an economy week, and there’s this story that’s been dominating the headlines. Any frustration at all politically that the message was lost behind this?
Q Yesterday you said maybe the President would speak on this at some point. Any progress on that? Do you think he will?
Q Is he avoiding speaking on this? Somebody shouted a question earlier in the signing today of unemployment. Is that going to happen in a place with reporters in the room?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know how the bill will be signed. I know the President is anxious to sign it. We have unemployment benefits that you know if you’re -- if you’ve exhausted your state unemployment benefits at 26 weeks, despite the fact that normally through the Recovery Act we extended benefits though the 99th week, people -- 2.5 million people have lost their benefits.
Q Will it be done to still photographers only to avoid questions on this matter?
MR. GIBBS: I honestly don’t know what the coverage is. We’re anxious to get the bill and sign it.
Q It was one year ago today that the President said the Cambridge Police acted “stupidly” in the Henry Louis Gates matter, which kind of obliterated other news for about a week. Is that why the President is not coming out and talking about this publicly?
Q Does he want to avoid that kind of media firestorm so that he can keep his focus on other issues?
Q Could I ask you one other question, a substantive question on unemployment insurance?
MR. GIBBS: You said that. I didn’t.
Q The President -- as opposed to the procedural questions that I ask.
MR. GIBBS: As a point of order -- can you just circle that out of the transcript?
Q The President this morning made the case that there’s a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in the budget, and that there’s been an aggressive effort to go after that. Did the White House try -- at least try to find $34 billion worth of waste, fraud and abuse so that they could pay for this unemployment insurance bill as the Republicans are insisting they do?
MR. GIBBS: As a -- no, this was -- Chip, we had -- I think -- I don’t know if you were here last week when we I think discussed this twice. Unemployment benefits and extending unemployment insurance has and I believe rightfully should be considered emergency spending. We’re in the midst of an economic downturn unlike anything we’ve seen since, as I’ve said in here a thousand times, anything since the late 1920s.
That demands special action. The long-term unemployed are a big part of that 8.5 million jobs that have been lost. This -- it took the Senate four different times just to get to this point. And thankfully we had Republicans like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe that were -- have understood that as they have voted in the past to extend unemployment benefits as emergency spending, unlike some who decided this was a perfect opportunity to play politics; much as there’s a bill on the floor now to cut taxes on small business, which the President greatly supports.
There’s a component of that legislation to extend lending through community banks to small businesses to help create jobs, yet for as many times as most Republicans talk about small business, there’s an effort to block that.
Q But you can get that benefit from unemployment benefits, from passing it. And at the same time, why wouldn’t the President say, okay, guys, this has been going on -- you had months with all these different votes. Why didn’t he call up Orszag and the green eye shade guys and say, go in there, find me $34 billion worth of waste, fraud and abuse; let’s pay for this thing at the same time that we’re getting the benefits of this?
MR. GIBBS: Yes, because, Chip, this is -- the President believes this should be treated, like every President has previously, as emergency spending. And thankfully, the partisan games are over because of the good help of two Republicans.
Q Really? Is that going to continue through Election Day on both sides?
Q You don’t think this is going to be a political football through Election Day?
MR. GIBBS: I’m happy to have that -- I’m happy to make each and every day about whether you’re for people that have lost their jobs having the benefits that they pay for in order to make ends meet when they’ve lost their job. Governing is about choices, Chip, each and every day.
But we talk about the partisan political games. I just said there’s $30 billion to community banks to lend to small businesses to create jobs. I cannot imagine that in a normal time or in a normal year, that would be considered controversial. But welcome to July 2010.
Q Can you -- you’ve now spent a couple of instances with the President talking about this issue with Sherrod. Can you share with us more of his sort of impressions of this week, of what -- sort of this firestorm, the circus atmosphere?
MR. GIBBS: Chuck, we have -- the circus. We have not honestly spent a lot of time talking about that. We were -- I obviously heard part of the call in order to provide a readout for you guys. But we haven’t had a long chance to talk about it.
MR. GIBBS: And in here yesterday.
Q And in here yesterday. Have you shared that with him? Is this his thinking as well?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t -- as I said yesterday, the actions of this administration should be reflected on. I think the actions of the media and our media culture should be reflected on. The statements and the actions of interest groups on each side of this should be reflected on. And I’ve actually gotten a number of emails from reporters that share those reflections.
Q Why did the President -- is there a reason -- you emphasized here and in the readout it was emphasized that he wanted to make sure she knew that Secretary Vilsack’s apology was sincere. Has there been a concern that she thought it wasn’t?
MR. GIBBS: No, I don’t think so. I think -- look, I think most of you all saw what Secretary Vilsack said. I don’t think -- I think the phrase “I’m sorry” probably could or should be said a lot more in this town, and it’s hard to get out sometimes.
I thought what Secretary -- I think it was hard to watch what Secretary Vilsack did and not believe this was coming from the bottom of his heart. And I think the President simply wanted to convey that if there was any doubt in anybody’s mind, and if there was any doubt in her mind, of the sincerity of and the work that Secretary Vilsack has both undertaken and pledged to do, that that -- that both of those were from the bottom of his heart, and they were genuinely sincere.
Q -- that have come to him?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know the answer to that. I know he gets regularly those -- five to 10 of those letters. Let me see if any of those have gone to him.
Q Does the White House have a view about whether it’s appropriate for a mosque to be built near the Ground Zero site in New York?
MR. GIBBS: I think I got this question last week, and didn’t render an opinion on it.
Q So, no, you still don’t have an opinion on it? And just one quick thing on the Sherrod situation, from what the -- from the conversation that you heard, she had said that she didn’t want to just get an apology from the President, she wanted to have a conversation about the issues that all of this sparked. Do you think the conversation they had was sort of a conversation about the issue, the exchange of ideas? Or was it a little more perfunctory? How would you describe it?
MR. GIBBS: I think they had an opportunity to talk about parts of the situation, and, again, the President expressed his regret and expressed that her unique experiences provided her a good opportunity to continue that work, and they talked about, as I said a minute ago, some of the experiences that I think each of them have had.
Ms. Sherrod talked about some of the work that she had done as the head of rural development in Georgia. And that’s when the President said, I think that’s -- there’s an opportunity for you to continue that work if you want to do so.
So I think it was a -- I know the President believed it was a good call.
Q Can I give the text of what he said?
MR. GIBBS: Why don’t you give it to Bill and I’ll be happy to take a look at it.
MR. GIBBS: Well, as I said yesterday, I don’t expect an imminent announcement. Obviously there are several positions that this legislation created. Obviously one of those important jobs are the office -- the consumer bureau. I think, as I said yesterday, that she is somebody who -- look, in many ways, this bureau was borne out of a policy idea that she had. I think she would be somebody who would be obviously terrific at that job, well qualified.
MR. GIBBS: I think we’ve talked about several candidates, people like Michael Barr, who has done terrific work over at the Treasury now.
Q Do you want to get this through before the August recess?
MR. GIBBS: I do not think there’s a scenario in which the Senate will act on this before the August recess.
MR. GIBBS: As soon as we get it, we will -- the President will sign that legislation.
MR. GIBBS: Yes. I assume so.
Q Yes. So since he doesn’t have the power to recover that money, will the White House exert pressure for these executives to give the money back?
MR. GIBBS: I think I’d wait -- I’ll be happy to look at that question tomorrow when we have a -- I think the report he releases comes out tomorrow.
Q You may have addressed this with Laura, but this morning Shirley Sherrod said she wanted to talk to the President about her experiences growing up in the South, the rural parts of America, communicate to him things that she was under the impression he may not have had a sufficient awareness of or personal experience with. Did that go on with the conversation?
MR. GIBBS: Well, Major, I think each and every person brings unique and special experiences from their life. I think we learn most probably from experience. But, again, I think we’ve provided a fair readout of what happened in the call. There was not a long conversation about her life in the South.
Q There was a protest yesterday about the deepwater drilling moratorium. There are some reports that international drilling companies may move some equipment out, taking advantage of this moratorium.
MR. GIBBS: Taking advantage of the moratorium?
Q Well, in that because it can’t be done here, moving equipment elsewhere to where it can be done.
Q Perhaps I could have phrased it differently. Is that -- the concerns expressed by those in the Gulf continue to mount, they’re not abating, there is some indication that drilling platforms that were there may be moved out, and there could be a continued loss of jobs. I know that you’ve weighed this carefully, but does this persistent concern economically there raise any additional reasons to reevaluate the moratorium?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I think the President believes and the administration believe that the moratorium we have in place is there for a very important reason, and that is to ensure that we have a better sense of what is happening and what happened, and to create a regulatory framework that addresses the fact that drilling is happening in places that we don’t have as much experience at.
Five thousand -- I mean, the unique challenges that this accident -- the unique challenges that we’ve run into are because you can’t walk up to a blowout preventer and fix it. You can in shallow-water drilling because, in many ways, that’s -- those are blowout preventers that are on top of the surface.
The President believes that it is important to understand what happened before we start doing this again. He understands the concerns expressed economically. At the same time, those same people express the concerns of what is happening now. And as I’ve said here before, there are -- you hear from, say, the governor of Louisiana discuss the deepwater drilling moratorium right after he talks about how hard is to work with BP. And you have to understand that four of those permits are held by BP. And I think it’s -- I think it sometimes gets hard to match up how exactly you can have both of those emotions going at one time.
The President understands that, but at the same time, his job is to ensure that we’re doing all that we can safely, that we have -- and you saw plans yesterday by oil companies on how to respond, which I think were clearly lacking before those were released.
MR. GIBBS: Yes, oh, yes.
Q Where does this fall on the transparency scale as far as you’re concerned?
MR. GIBBS: I think it’s genuinely on the stupidity part of the transparency scale. (Laughter.) If you want to show a picture of what the room looks like, just take a picture. I mean, I don’t -- I mean, I think you could probably write an entire encyclopedia on some of the mistakes that have been made by the company in trying to do certain things and trying to complicate the simple.
We asked for several days for cameras to be put on at the site, to make that available -- make that footage available. Again, I think the resistance on that, Photoshopping people and screens into photographs, is stupidly complicating the simple.
Q One question quickly on the supplemental, which has to be done by next week before the House is scheduled to go.
MR. GIBBS: To go, right.
Q And am I understanding the White House position on that correctly?
MR. GIBBS: Let me get -- because it moves around a bit with the Senate and the House, let me see if there’s an update on that. I know there was some -- I heard some discussion today that the supplemental might be taken up as -- depending on when the -- when small business was acted on, it could come -- yes, it could come late today or tomorrow.
Q It’s -- well, but does the President -- and in that speech had vowed to take a leadership role in moving society beyond that -- does he believe that any progress has been made on his watch? And has he done any reconsideration of what his own role might be, what he should be doing to further that along?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think -- look, I think we have tried to and made progress on issues that are -- look, I think look at an issue like education. We have tried -- I think you would hear of many civil rights leaders talk about education as a civil rights issue.
I think the progress that we’ve made on -- through initiatives like Race to the Top, which have seen an increase in standards, is something that represents -- well, not maybe the traditional topic that you’re talking about, but a better sense of equality in this country, at least in terms of the education that’s offered to our children.
Look, I don’t think the President was under any illusion that -- and I think has said as such -- that his election alone would change long held views. And I think that we’ll be having discussions on race and have -- and I’m sure there will continue to be differing opinions long after this President has left.
MR. GIBBS: I would actually argue that the -- I don’t necessarily -- first of all, the “Beer Summit” is a great example. I think that’s -- if I’m not mistaken -- a term you guys coined.
Q But you embraced it.
MR. GIBBS: Well, let me say this, let me say this. I don’t -- and Dan had a point. Look, this is something that’s dominated the news. And I was asked -- Chip asked yesterday if this is a teachable moment, is the President the teacher. I don’t think you have to -- I don’t think you have to have a teacher for this to be a teachable moment. I doubt that any of us have gone through the events of the past several days, if you work in this administration, and thinking back to how this was -- how this came to be, it’s conjecture, but my guess is a lot of you all have thought about these issues in a way you might not have thought about last week because it wasn’t at the forefront.
I think it’s these types of experiences that allow us to think through some of these issues and think about them in different ways. I don’t think you necessarily have to -- it’s not a teachable moment in the sense that there’s a classroom setting, but each person has and sees experiences either that they take part in, or that they hear about as part of the news that provide you a chance to look and learn. And maybe what we do is we learn that -- certainly if you listen to the entirety of what Ms. Sherrod was saying you learn about the -- how her experiences changed the way she thinks and the way she acts. And maybe because of that we take the time to think about how we think and how we act.
So I think in that way, you -- while this isn’t a set event or a symposium or a big meeting, it’s still, in and of itself, a moment that I think provides us an opportunity to reflect and change.
Q Robert, can I just follow up? If this is a teachable moment, what is the lesson? Is it about race? Or is it about media and politics?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know that I’d oversimplify it just as something -- I mean, I think it -- I mean, the beauty of a big teachable moment is each person gets to take away from it something different, right.
I mean, look, have I thought about the way all this unfolded? Of course. That the next time I hear about an event like this and a decision that’s made somewhat -- that you stop and ask, did we look at the whole context? Did we look at everything?
I can’t imagine that those same discussions aren’t being had in your newsrooms by both you, your editors, by producers, in saying, next time maybe -- maybe that’s race, maybe that’s media and culture. I don’t -- I think all of it is one -- I think it’s all in one big -- I think it’s all one big thing. I don’t know that -- but, again, I don’t -- I think the great thing is we all get to learn and look back and evaluate the entirety of the situation and pull different things.
I think you can probably pull both, right? I think you can probably pull the lesson that -- I don’t think anybody would doubt and this -- I’m not up here to lecture or scold because I’m -- nobody that has been involved in this whole situation, from the administration’s perspective, is, as I said, isn’t thinking about what has happened. But asking that question, did we see the whole thing; do we know when that story was; do we know what her background is; do we know how the story ends -- I think -- certainly I think stuff like that is helpful and reflective because I think not only is it, do we live in this crazy reality-TV culture, right? Yes, I think that’s part of it, but I also think it was undoubtedly sparked by the fact that it’s a discussion about race and that is something that always garners a lot of attention.
Q May I just follow up, Robert?
Q Robert, can I have just one quick question -- you might have answered this before -- did the President watch the whole video?
Q Of the whole thing?
Q Okay. And when you were listening in or in the room, were you only listening to his part? Or did you hear also -- hear her too?
MR. GIBBS: I could hear both parts.
Q You could hear both parts.
MR. GIBBS: And I don’t even work for CNN. (Laughter.) Sorry, I had to say that.
MR. GIBBS: I think that’s certainly one lesson you’d learn, yes.
MR. GIBBS: I think -- look, I think if I were writing the chapter title, it might be what you just said, “Look Before you Leap.” It might be “Don’t Rush to Judgment,” because that’s all about the fact that conclusions were drawn by all involved based on what we thought was the entirety of and what we now know is a very small part of it.
Q But when he read the whole transcript, I’m wondering if he felt it was -- I mean, it really was almost like a sermon. It was almost Obama-esque. I mean, she had a parable. She talked about how she was tempted to do one thing and learned to do another.
Q I mean, what was his reaction to that?
MR. GIBBS: He did not provide me that reaction, but, again, I’m not doing this in his voice, but I think very much -- I would not disagree with the fact that -- which I think is what makes the story so -- ultimately such a powerful one is that -- and why, quite frankly, you could understand that if you just read part of it or just see part of it, you’d come to a different, albeit completely wrong, conclusion.
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I would -- I’d point you to the Department of Justice that can provide you more on the case that it will argue today.
We cannot -- despite the frustration of folks in Arizona, which is real and which is understandable, you can’t have 50 states creating 50 different -- the potential to create 50 different immigration laws. And that’s the case that the government will argue in court today.
Q Thank you. Is the matter closed, as far as Secretary Vilsack is concerned, or is anyone from the White House likely to speak to him about judgments that he’s making in firing a person based on reading into a two-minute video?
MR. GIBBS: Look, I would point you to what he said yesterday. I think he was pretty clear on how this would change the way he would do things in the future. I thought he was -- I thought that was heartfelt and gracious. I think his words largely speak for themselves on that.
Q Just to follow up. You said earlier the President told Shirley Sherrod that Secretary Vilsack was extremely sincere. Did the President talk to Tom Vilsack?
MR. GIBBS: The President spoke with Secretary Vilsack last night.
Q Was the discussion -- did they talk at all about Vilsack’s tenure? Did he offer to resign?
MR. GIBBS: I know they spoke. I don’t know -- sorry? I don’t know what they talked about.
Q Did he offer to resign?
MR. GIBBS: Not that I’m -- no, not that I’ve been told, no.
MR. GIBBS: And I would say this -- I don’t think there’s any cause for him to do so. I think that Secretary Vilsack is in charge of a department with a history of discrimination. That’s why we’re -- that’s why there was a settlement months ago in a longstanding case on discrimination against black farmers. There have been discrimination against female farmers, Native American farmers. That’s -- this is a department that has struggled with many of the demons that have been struggled with in other parts of our society.
And the Secretary believes and has stated that there is a -- there is and there should be a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination. And I think the President thinks he’s doing good work.
Q But for the sake of argument, the Secretary engaged in discrimination this week when he fired this woman.
MR. GIBBS: And, again, as I said earlier, uttered words not often heard inside the glorious District of Columbia, and that is “I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I acted before I had the full benefit of what had happened.” I don’t -- I think Secretary Vilsack has been clear about the mistakes that he made in -- over the past few days.
MR. GIBBS: No. Again, I would point you largely to what I said yesterday. I think Secretary Geithner has weighed on this today. And I look forward to Chip asking many of those members how that’s going to be paid for.
Q Robert, back on -- a few questions on race and Ms. Sherrod. Do you think that this whole situation, bringing out everything, the discrimination that’s happened in the Department of Agriculture and what’s happening with Ms. Sherrod, do you think that that would push forward the issues of Cobell and Pigford for there to be funding in Congress to happen soon?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I can’t divine what happens in the House and the Senate. I will say this. I think one of the reasons I just gave Steve the answer I did is I don’t think you need this event to tell you that what happened at the department was wrong. The Secretary didn’t settle this case as a result of what had happened here, but as a result of what had happened. He made those decisions long ago.
MR. GIBBS: Well, my guess is a lot more than four deadlines have been missed over the course of 15 years, April. And I daresay that discrimination goes back a lot farther than that period of time. Obviously the House and the Senate are working through a number of issues on this, and the President remains committed to ensuring that that settlement is done.
Q You say “a teachable moment” -- this is a teachable moment, and you don’t necessarily need a teacher, but it’s a heart issue. President Clinton, when he had the conversation on race, talked about the fact that this was a heart issue, and sometimes trying to navigate through heart issues, you may need someone. I mean, it’s taken all this time and we’re still at a point where we’re still dealing with racism and discrimination.
MR. GIBBS: We’re going to be dealing -- look, I think that’s going to happen for a long time, April. It’s not going to -- I don’t -- the President of the United States, regardless of his race, I don’t think would come out here and tell you that as a result of him or his election or his time here that racism and discrimination will end. While I don’t -- I can’t imagine anybody would want to see it continue, this is something that this country has struggled with for a very, very long time and will continue to do so.
MR. GIBBS: But I will say this. I don’t think that anybody can doubt, April, that each day and maybe as a result of this we make a little progress. And I think that in and of itself is probably the most important point.
MR. GIBBS: No, no, let’s be clear. The President -- I hate to be nitpicky, but -- well, it’s in the readout. The readout says that -- I don’t have it in front of me, but that based on the experiences that you have and that -- this is an opportunity to continue to -- if you want to, to continue to work for progress on the issues that you know that are important to you. That’s her decision. That’s something that she will discuss again with the department and will discuss, I assume, if need be, with Secretary Vilsack.
Q But the hope is for her to take that job?
Q You don’t describe that as lobbying?
Q Does he want her to take the job?
Q Yes, is the hope for her to take that job?
Q Is the hope for her to take the job?
MR. GIBBS: I think I just answered that.
Q Robert, Andrew Breitbart has been pretty unrepentant in this instance. Today, he spoke with CBS and he said the administration threw her under the bus. Last night on CNN, Ms. Sherrod suggested that she might consider a libel suit. Do you think that there ought to be consequences for Andrew Breitbart for what he did in this?
MR. GIBBS: I bet there -- both in this town and in many towns across the country, there are very good lawyers.
MR. GIBBS: No, no, no, no. (Laughter.) Look, I said earlier that something that is not uttered in this town and probably not uttered enough is, “I’m sorry and I made a mistake.” Now, everybody has to look in the mirror and live with their own conscience about what was done and what they’ve done to rectify that. This is an individual who has I think on several different occasions come up with different ideas about what the video was or wasn’t supposed to be. And I’ll let news organizations discuss their airing of it and the way they reacted to it. I’m not going to speak for him or for them.
But I think the administration has taken responsibility for its actions. And do I think this episode would be a more teachable moment if he apologized to her? Absolutely.
Sam -- or do you have one more?
Q Yes, one more. You mentioned before that the President talked about his book with Ms. Sherrod. Which part?
MR. GIBBS: No, no, I don’t -- Glenn, they didn’t get that detailed. He simply said that -- I think they both had -- she had talked about and he had written about experiences that in some ways were similar.
MR. GIBBS: Well, I mean, look, I will say that the President has done a number of events on small business. He’s done a number of events on the increase in credit. We discussed yesterday the comments that the Fed Chairman had made, and one of the Fed Chairman’s comments from last week was that we need to get more credit to small business.
We hear a lot of talk on Capitol Hill, rightly so, about helping small business. The Senate will have an opportunity, as I understand it, in a standalone amendment to vote for providing necessary and needed capital to community banks to lend to small businesses in communities all over this country to create jobs.
And I said to Chip earlier that governing is about making choices. It was about choices this week when you had to decide whether you’re for or you’re against extending unemployment benefits for those that have lost their jobs as a result of the greatest economic downturn in our life -- in many of our lifetimes. People had to make a choice about whether they were for the rules that governed Wall Street in September of 2008, or whether we think there ought to be a new set of rules going forward.
And it is likely either later this week or next week, people are going to get to decide whether we should have -- give more capital to small businesses to lend -- or to banks to lend to small businesses to create jobs, or not. They’re very simple choices. They will illuminate many of the choices I think that voters will get an opportunity to make in November.
Q Should we expect to see, I mean, the same kind of visibility and aggressiveness we’ve seen on -- probably not on financial reform, but at least on the unemployment?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I think the President was pretty aggressive on financial reform, I think the President laid out clearly what was at stake in unemployment benefits, and I expect that he’ll do so as we get closer to the vote on small businesses. | 2019-04-21T12:56:38Z | https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/press-briefing-20100722 |
Cities: Capital: Addis Ababa (pop. 3 million, 2010 est.). Other cities — Dire Dawa (379,896), Nazret (189,000), Gondar (229,368), Dessie (133.007), Mekelle (238,852), Bahir Dar (199,568), Jimma (132,000), Awassa (176,267).
Nationality: Noun and adjective — Ethiopian(s).
Annual population growth rate (est.): 2.6%.
Ethnic groups (est.): Oromo 34.5%, Amhara 26.9%, Tigre 6.1%, Somali 6.2%, Sidama 4%, Gurage 2.5%, Wolaita 2.3%, Afar 1.7%, other nationalities 3%.
Religions (est.): Ethiopian Orthodox Christian 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%, Protestant 18.6%, remainder indigenous beliefs.
Languages: Amharic (official), Tigrinya, Arabic, Guaragigna, Oromifa, English, Somali.
Education: Years compulsory: none. Attendance (elementary) — 87.9%. Literacy — 43%.
Health: Infant mortality rate: 77/1,000 live births.
Work force: Agriculture: 80%. Industry and commerce — 20%.
Branches: Executive — president, Council of State, Council of Ministers. Executive power resides with the prime minister. Legislative — bicameral parliament. Judicial — divided into federal and regional courts.
Political parties: Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), and other small parties.
Central government budget (2009-2010): $6.0 billion.
Defense: $341 million (1.14% of GDP FY 2009-2010).
GDP (FY 2009-2010): $29.9 billion.
Annual growth rate (2009-2010): 10.4%.
GDP per capita (2009-2010): $365.
Average inflation rate (FY 2009-2010): 2.8%.
Agriculture (42% of GDP): Products: coffee, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, khat, meat, hides and skins. Cultivated land — 17%.
Industry (13% of GDP): Types: textiles, processed foods, construction, cement, and hydroelectric power.
Trade (2009-2010): Exports: $2.0 billion. Imports — $8.4 billion; plus remittances — official est. $2 billion.
Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan. The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,800 to 3,000 meters (6,000 ft.-10,000 ft.) above sea level, with some mountains reaching 4,620 meters (15,158 ft.). Elevation is generally highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley, which splits the plateau diagonally. A number of rivers cross the plateau — notably the Blue Nile flowing from Lake Tana. The plateau gradually slopes to the lowlands of Ethiopia's neighbors to the west and the Somali-inhabited plains to the southeast.
Ethiopia's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigreans make up more than two-thirds of the population, but there are more than 77 different ethnic groups with their own distinct languages within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members. In general, most of the Christians live in the highlands, while Muslims and adherents of traditional African religions tend to inhabit lowland regions. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is taught in all secondary schools. Amharic is the official language and was the language of primary school instruction but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromifa and Tigrinya.
Hominid bones discovered in eastern Ethiopia dating back 4.4 million years make Ethiopia one of the earliest known locations of human ancestors. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. Herodotus, the Greek historian of the fifth century B.C., describes ancient Ethiopia in his writings. The Old Testament of the Bible records the Queen of Sheba's visit to Jerusalem. According to legend, Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, founded the Ethiopian Empire. Missionaries from Egypt and Syria introduced Christianity in the fourth century A.D. Following the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Ethiopia was gradually cut off from European Christendom. The Portuguese established contact with Ethiopia in 1493, primarily to strengthen their influence over the Indian Ocean and to convert Ethiopia to Roman Catholicism. There followed a century of conflict between pro- and anti-Catholic factions, resulting in the expulsion of all foreign missionaries in the 1630s. This period of bitter religious conflict contributed to hostility toward foreign Christians and Europeans, which persisted into the 20th century and was a factor in Ethiopia's isolation until the mid-19th century.
Under the Emperors Theodore II (1855-68), Johannes IV (1872-89), and Menelik II (1889-1913), the kingdom was consolidated and began to emerge from its medieval isolation. When Menelik II died, his grandson, Lij Iyassu, succeeded to the throne but soon lost support because of his Muslim ties. The Christian nobility deposed him in 1916, and Menelik's daughter, Zewditu, was made empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen (1892-1975), was made regent and successor to the throne. In 1930, after the empress died, the regent, adopting the throne name Haile Selassie, was crowned emperor. His reign was interrupted in 1936 when Italian Fascist forces invaded and occupied Ethiopia. The emperor was forced into exile in England. Five years later, British and Ethiopian forces defeated the Italians, and the emperor returned to the throne.
Following civil unrest, which began in February 1974, the aging Haile Selassie I was deposed on September 12, 1974, by a provisional administrative council of soldiers, known as the Derg ("committee"). The Derg seized power, installing a government that was socialist in name and military in style. It then summarily executed 59 members of the royal family and ministers and generals of the emperor's government; Emperor Haile Selassie I was strangled in the basement of his palace on August 22, 1975.
The Derg's collapse was hastened by droughts, famine, and insurrections, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. In 1989, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other ethnically based opposition movements to form the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled the country for asylum in Zimbabwe, where he still resides.
In July 1991, the EPRDF, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and others established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) comprised of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution. In June 1992, the OLF withdrew from the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition left the government.
In May 1991, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), led by Isaias Afwerki, assumed control of Eritrea and established a provisional government. This provisional government independently administered Eritrea until April 23-25, 1993, when Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-monitored free and fair referendum. Eritrea, with Ethiopia's consent, was declared independent on April 27. The United States recognized its independence the next day.
In Ethiopia, President Meles Zenawi and members of the TGE pledged to oversee the formation of a multi-party democracy. The election for a 547-member constituent assembly was held in June 1994. The assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December 1994. The elections for Ethiopia's first popularly chosen national parliament and regional legislatures were held in May and June 1995. Most opposition parties chose to boycott these elections, ensuring a landslide victory for the EPRDF. International and non-governmental observers concluded that opposition parties would have been able to participate had they chosen to do so. The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was installed in August 1995.
In May 1998, Eritrean forces attacked part of the Ethiopia-Eritrea border region, seizing some Ethiopian-controlled territory. The strike spurred a 2-year war between the neighboring states that cost more than 70,000 lives. On June 18, 2000, Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders signed an Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities and on December 12, 2000, a peace agreement known as the Algiers Agreement.
Opposition candidates won 12 seats in national parliamentary elections in 2000. In controversial national elections in May 2005, the opposition was awarded 170 of 547 seats but claimed fraud; violence ensued. Ethiopian security forces responded and in the process killed more than 200 people, arrested scores of opposition leaders, as well as journalists and human rights advocates, and detained tens of thousands of civilians for up to 3 months in rural detention camps. In December 2005, the government charged 131 opposition, media, and civil society leaders with capital offenses including "outrages against the constitution." Key opposition leaders and almost all of the 131 were pardoned and released from prison 18 months later. The opposition largely boycotted local elections in 2008 with the result that EPRDF won more than 99% of all local seats.
In June 2008, former Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) vice-chairman Birtukan Mideksa was elected the party chairman of the new Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party at its inaugural session in Addis Ababa. In October 2008, the Ethiopian Government arrested more than 100 Oromo leaders, accusing some of being members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). At the end of December 2008, after briefly detaining Birtukan several times during the month, the government re-arrested her, saying that she had violated the conditions of her summer 2007 pardon. Her original sentence of life imprisonment was reinstated and she remained in prison until she was pardoned and released on October 6, 2010.
In April 2009, the Ethiopian Government arrested 40 individuals, mostly Amhara military or ex-military members allegedly affiliated with external opposition party Ginbot 7 for their suspected involvement in a terrorist assassination plot of government leaders. The Ginbot 7 party was founded in May 2008 in the United States by Berhanu Nega, one of the opposition leaders in the 2005 elections, and advocates for change in the government "by any means." In August 2009, the Federal High Court found 13 of the defendants guilty in absentia and one not guilty in absentia. In November 2009, the court found another 27 guilty.
In simultaneous national and regional parliamentary elections in May 2010, the ruling EPRDF won more than 99% of all legislative seats in the country. In a tally of the popular vote, 91.95% voted for EPRDF and affiliate parties, while only 8.05% voted for the opposition countrywide. Election day was peaceful as 89% of registered voters cast ballots, but independent observation of the vote was severely limited. Only European Union and African Union observers were permitted, and they were restricted to the capital and barred from proximity to polling places. Although those few independent observers allowed access to the process did not question the EPRDF victory, there was ample evidence that unsavory government tactics — including intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters — influenced the extent of the victory.
Overall, the 2010 elections were not up to international standards because the environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place. The EPRDF used the advantages of incumbency to restrict political space for opposition candidates and activists. At the local level, thousands of opposition activists complained of EPRDF-sponsored mistreatment ranging from harassment in submitting candidacy forms to beatings by local militia members, and complained further that there was no forum free of EPRDF control to which to present those complaints.
Ethiopia is a federal republic under the 1994 constitution. The executive branch includes a president, Council of State, and Council of Ministers. Executive power resides with the prime minister. There is a bicameral parliament; national legislative elections were held in 2010. The judicial branch comprises federal and regional courts. Following the 2010 elections, there were 152 women in the 547-seat parliament, two female judges on the 11-seat Supreme Court, and three women among the 39 state ministers.
Political parties include the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), Oromo People's Congress (OPC), Arena Tigay for Democracy and Sovereignty, Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP), and other small parties. Suffrage is universal at age 18.
The EPRDF-led government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has promoted a policy of ethnic federalism, devolving significant powers to regional, ethnically based authorities. Ethiopia has nine semi-autonomous administrative regions and two special city administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa), which have the power to raise their own revenues.
Ethiopia maintains an embassy (http://www.ethiopianembassy.org/) in the U.S. at 3506 International Drive, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-364-1200). It also maintains a UN mission in New York and consulates in Los Angeles, Seattle (honorary), and Houston (honorary).
The Ethiopian economy is based on agriculture, which contributes 42% to GDP and more than 80% of exports, and employs 80% of the population. The major agricultural export crop is coffee, providing approximately 26% of Ethiopia's foreign exchange earnings, down from 65% a decade ago because of the slump in coffee prices since the mid-1990s and increases in other exports. Other traditional major agricultural exports are leather, hides and skins, pulses, oilseeds, and the traditional "khat," a leafy narcotic that is chewed. Sugar and gold production has also become important in recent years.
Gold, marble, limestone, and small amounts of tantalum are mined in Ethiopia. Other resources with potential for commercial development include large potash deposits, natural gas, iron ore, and possibly oil and geothermal energy. Although Ethiopia has good hydroelectric resources, which power most of its manufacturing sector, it is totally dependent on imports for oil. A landlocked country, Ethiopia has relied on the port of Djibouti since the 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea. Ethiopia is connected with the port of Djibouti by road. Of the 49,000 kilometers of all-weather roads in Ethiopia, 15% are asphalt. Mountainous terrain and the lack of good roads and sufficient vehicles make land transportation difficult and expensive. Ethiopian Airlines serves 17 domestic airfields and has 60 international destinations.
Dependent on a few vulnerable crops for its foreign exchange earnings and reliant on imported oil, Ethiopia is suffering a severe lack of foreign exchange. The largely subsistence economy is incapable of meeting the budget requirements for drought relief, an ambitious development plan, and indispensable imports such as oil. The gap has largely been covered through foreign assistance inflows.
The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) numbers about 200,000 personnel, which makes it one of the largest militaries in Africa. During the 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea, the ENDF mobilized strength reached approximately 350,000. Since the end of the war, some 150,000 soldiers have been demobilized. With the aid of the U.S. and other countries, the ENDF continues a transition from its roots as a guerrilla army to an all-volunteer professional military organization. Training in peacekeeping operations, professional military education, military training management, counterterrorism operations, and military medicine are among the major programs sponsored by the United States. Ethiopia has one peacekeeping contingent in Liberia. In January 2009, Ethiopian peacekeeping troops began deploying in Darfur. In July 2011, Ethiopian peacekeeping troops began to deploy to Sudan as the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
Ethiopia was relatively isolated from major movements of world politics until Italian invasions in 1895 and 1935. Since World War II, Ethiopia has played an active role in world and African affairs. Ethiopia was a charter member of the United Nations and took part in UN operations in Korea in 1951 and the Congo in 1960. Former Emperor Haile Selassie was a founder of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union (AU), which is headquartered in Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa also hosts the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Ethiopia is also a member of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a Horn of Africa regional grouping.
Although nominally a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, after the 1974 revolution Ethiopia moved into a close relationship with the Soviet Union and its allies and supported their international policies and positions until the change of government in 1991. Today, Ethiopia has good relations with the United States and the West, especially in responding to regional instability and supporting counterterrorism efforts.
Ethiopia's relations with Eritrea have remained tense and unresolved following the brutal 1998-2000 border war. The two countries signed a peace agreement in December 2000. A five-member independent international commission — the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) — issued a decision in April 2002 delimiting the border. In November 2007, the EEBC issued a decision that the border was demarcated based on map coordinates (usual demarcation based on pillars on the ground had not yet occurred due to disagreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea) and disbanded. Ethiopia does not consider the border to be demarcated, though Eritrea does. In July 2008 the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) peacekeeping mission was terminated due to Eritrean restrictions impeding UNMEE's ability to operate. Both countries have stationed approximately 100,000 troops along the border. Both countries insist they will not instigate fighting, but both also remain prepared for any eventuality.
The irredentist claims of the extremist-controlled Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) in Somalia in 2006 posed a security threat to Ethiopia and to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. In December 2006, the TFG requested the assistance of the Ethiopian military to respond to the CIC's growing strength within Somalia. Within a few weeks, the joint Ethiopian-TFG forces routed the CIC from Somalia. Subsequently, Ethiopia stationed troops in Somalia (largely around Mogadishu), awaiting full deployment of the African Union's Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). However, the slow buildup of AMISOM troop levels pushed the Ethiopian Government to announce that its army would withdraw from the country in a matter of weeks. By the end of January 2009, all of its 3,000-4,000 troops had left the country. While Ethiopia does not currently have a military presence in Somalia, it views the ongoing conflict as a key national security concern.
After Ethiopia's revolution, the bilateral relationship began to cool due to the Derg's linkage with international communism and U.S. revulsion at the Derg's human rights abuses. The United States rebuffed Ethiopia's request for increased military assistance to intensify its fight against the Eritrean secessionist movement and to repel the Somali invasion. In July 1980, the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia was recalled at the request of the Ethiopian Government, and the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Embassy in the United States were headed by Charges d'Affaires. The International Security and Development Act of 1985 prohibited all U.S. economic assistance to Ethiopia with the exception of humanitarian disaster and emergency relief.
With the downfall of the Mengistu regime, U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved dramatically. Legislative restrictions on assistance to Ethiopia other than humanitarian assistance were lifted. Diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ambassadorial level in 1992. Total U.S. Government assistance, including food aid, between 2000 and 2010 was $5.056 billion. In FY 2010, the U.S. Government provided $932.6 million in assistance, including more than $451 in food aid.
Today, Ethiopia is an important regional security partner of the United States. U.S. development assistance (http://www.usaid.gov/) to Ethiopia is focused on reducing famine vulnerability, hunger, and poverty and emphasizes economic, governance, and social sector policy reforms. Some military training funds, including training in such issues as the laws of war and observance of human rights, also are provided but are explicitly limited to non-lethal assistance and training.
The address and telephone/fax numbers for the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia are P.O. Box 1014, Entoto Street, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (tel: 251/11/130-6000; fax: 251/11/124-2420). The U.S. Embassy's Washington address is: 2030 Addis Ababa Place, Washington, DC, 20521-2030. Embassy website: (http://ethiopia.usembassy.gov/). | 2019-04-25T11:17:21Z | http://fact.geoba.se/background-page.php?bc=ET |
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A foreboding wind was blowing, and the red, feather-shaped banners whipped about in the breeze. The insignias of the Horde danced wildly on the crimson fields. The dull roar of the Veiled Sea cast a thin curtain of white noise that slightly dampened the proceedings on shore. The sky was a shade of light gray � a thin film of cloud covering the firmament. This theme of color was reflected also in the gray rocks cropping up all around from the gray dusty soil. Hearty, pale green vegetation clung closely to the dull rock, tormented by wind and lack of water. The few shrubby trees were stunted and twisted by the constant sea-gale. A fine briny mist permeated the air, and every time one inhaled, there was a hinted scent and taste of saltwater.
Except for the wind, Shadowprey Village had come to a standstill. Not a soul moved save to breathe. It was in this setting that the Betrayer roughly clasped a wicked, clawed hand around Jeremiah�s chin, squeezing his cheeks into a grotesque contortion. Jeremiah Cross was a twenty-something human of average height and build kneeling on the hard-packed gray sand on the slope of Shadowprey Village. Sweat-drenched brown shaggy hair fell onto mail-clad shoulders. His blue eyes whizzed widely in their sockets.
In his peripheral vision he could see the forms of trolls, tauren, naga and blood elves lying prone, crusted in drying blood. How did it come to this? he wondered briefly. The fearsome hand tightened its grip cruelly, drawing blood as sharp, black claws dug into soft flesh. Jeremiah was forced to look into the face of his captor.
This was by no means the first time that Jeremiah had beheld the face of Illidan Stormrage, but familiarity did nothing to lessen the terrific and visceral effect of that harrowed visage. Demonic wings encircled the two of them in a partial, leathery tent. In the suffocating shadows, Jeremiah could see a thin, dark cloth was bound across his eye sockets, and a glowing fel light emanated through the wisp of cloth from the twin points of where his eyes should have been. His jaw was chiseled and his nose was angular, like any night elf man. Long pointed ears jutted about a foot from his skull and his raven hair was bound only by his dark bandana. Jeremiah could feel the heat of the demon�s blood that coursed through Illidan and could see its effects. Large, jagged horns had erupted from his forehead and curled upward and backward again, and sharp hooves that left prints of flame had replaced his feet. Evil tattoos glowed in unnatural blue-green patterns across his chest and arms.
Jeremiah gulped audibly, but did not waver. He narrowed his eyes, �You�ll have to take it off my dead body, demon. I didn't endure the tortures of your Black Temple only to hand it to you at your request!"
Jeremiah smiled inwardly as his mind went to Durgen. He wondered how his orc friend had fared. Light�s speed to you, he thought. �The orc!� exclaimed Illidan, anger etched onto his face. Thunder pealed nearby. Jeremiah�s stomach sank down to the rocks below him. He couldn�t have read my mind!
His leathery wings rustled as he strode toward Jeremiah, claws outstretched. Jeremiah thought one last prayer to the Light, and thought one last thought about Durgen and his brother. Then he closed his eyes.
You have to turn on Coding for that to work, Saranus.
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 6:04 pm Post subject: It begins!
Entering Ashenvale Forest is like entering a dream. The sensation is similar to being out on a perfectly clear day when a sudden cloud comes and obscures the sun as if from nowhere. Except, in the case of the forest, the feeling was pleasant rather than depressing. The air in the forest wraps around those who enter like a soft covering inducing a feeling of safety and contentment without being stifling, for the forest floor was quite cool under the shade of the leafy boughs.
As the young orc, Durgen strolled along contemplating these pleasant thoughts, his thick hand slipped unconsciously (as it often did during the past few days) into the pocket of his rough leather britches. He rubbed the folded piece of parchment within between his green fingers.
Inexorably, he pulled out the parchment and without thinking, unfolded it and held it up.
It is in these dark times that the assistance of our bravest fighters is most direly needed. It is imperitive that you should follow in the footsteps of your noble ancestors and do your duty to your clan, your country and your people. You shall follow these instructions to the letter, without question and without deviation. The instructions are as follows.
Durgen Tharlak -- you are to travel north following the Gold Road into Ashenvale Forest. In the wood, you must report to the outpost of Splintertree. A room has already been arranged for you in the outpost's inn. The innkeeper will admit you upon seeing the seal to this letter. Upon your arrival, you are to await instructions from an agent who will be in contact with you.
Durgen's hooded eyes scanned this missive without really seeing what was written. He rubbed his fingers on the parchment. Fine parchment. Something orcs usually didn't bother making. It was penned in a fine red ink. Durgen also made a mental note of the outdated old-orcish salutations used in the epistle. The pecularity that he noticed first and still troubled him was the handwriting. The first paragraph and the signature were written in a neat, formalized fashion, yet without unessecary flair. The second paragraph, however was written in an untidy, but legible scrawl.
The parchment, he surmised, was probably of goblin-make seeing as how the humans were not likely to export stationary to their enemies. The most common paper used by the orcs (if they bothered to write at all) was a rough construction made from the woven bark fibers of the spiked trees native to Durotar, and was written on by a bit of charcoal. The parchment indicated that Durgen's particular note came from someone fairly high up in the government.
He could also tell that the note was written by at least two people judging by the two different handwritings. The red ink was also indicative of a high status. Usually, only the very rich could afford ink. The handwriting had puzzled Durgen a good deal over the previous days. Why would someone (probably an official scribe, another rare commodity among the orcs) write a very neat and concise letter to have it interrupted by another writer?
The realization struck Durgen for the first time. He was the first person to have read the letter in its entirety besides the author of the second paragraph. This letter was top secret. Not even the scribes who had written the first paragraph had seen the whole letter.
What this meant, Durgen did not know. All he knew was that this note was extremely important if the secrecy surrounding it was any indication. Durgen was suddenly very glad that he had not shown the letter to anyone back at the Crossroads inn.
All of his thoughts over the past few days were pervaded a slew of unanswereable questions. Why? Why was Durgen chosen for this obviously important quest? Why wasn't he told any details? How did he fit into the scheme of things? When would his questions be answered? The greatest question in his mind, though, was "who?". Who wrote the second paragraph? Who would choose Durgen over anyone else? Who had seen in him the ability to carry out a mission that he himself could not?
And that was how Durgen ended up sauntering along the gray stones of the Ashenvale path.
Placing the letter back in his pocket, Durgen returned to the world around him. He silently reprimanded himself for not coming to Ashenvale before. Tended for melinnia by the mysterious night elves, the trees had grown to immense proportions. Sickness was unknown beneath the cloud-scraping boughs. Neither insect nor pest was known to gnaw on the wood; no worm chewed on the leaves. The girth of the trees is so vast that were the trunk hollowed out, an entire family of orcs could comfortably reside within.
The forest floor was so covered by an intertwining carpet of gnarled roots and fallen leaves that not a single patch of soil was visible from Durgen's vantage point on the pathway.
Through breaks in the canopy above, broken shafts of sunlight filtered down through the leaves onto the ground far, far below. Sporadic eruptions of flora were strewn about the forest, bursting out from the patches of light created by the sunbeams.
Durgen walked along the stone path, an ant among giants. As he wandered, he marvelled at the magnificence of the ancient wood, and caught himself wondering in annoyance how his brethren could possibly mar such incredible beauty by chopping it down.
Lost in thought, Durgen had unknowingly come to a stop in the middle of the road. Snapping out of his reverie, he remembered where he was going.
According to his brief and vague directions, Splintertree Post was north along his current path. The day passed as Durgen continued his northward march. If the canopy of the trees was not so thick, shadows would have begun to lengthen. As the day passed, so did Durgen's comfortable disposition. As evening wrapped the forest in a hazy violet glow, an ominous feeling began to creep over Durgen. Unable to locate the source of the odd sensation, he pushed it from his mind as he continued.
It seemed every square inch of surface area was covered in something living. Durgen started as he realized that he had seen what appeared to be a large mass of moss-covered wood walk into a small pond to his left.
Shaking his head, he remembered tales told by the venerable orcs who were veterans of the Battle of Mount Hyjal--the very trees came to life and fought the demons with Nature's primal fury.
The creature descended into the small pond. The reflection of the boughs far above the surface created a sense of incredible depth. With slow and deliberate movement, the tree-beast lumbered through the water, disturbing its pristine surface. The creature stopped once and turned. Small eyes looked around passing over Durgen and settling on a spot ahead of him on the path. Turning back around, it waded out until the water closed over its and it was lost in a flurry of bubbles. A few seconds later the pond returned to perfect stillness.
Again the feeling swept over him, and this time he knew what it was. Trying not to be too obvious about it, Durgen looked all around him. He thought for a second that he saw a pair of glowing eyes, but when he whipped his head around for a double-take, he saw nothing but a leafy bush in the dusky forest.
Durgen narrowed his eyes and his axe-hand went to his weapon and tightened around the haft. His heartrate quickened.
The peaceful forest by day had suddenly become nightmarishly forboding. A slight tingling of fear began to creep around the edges of Durgen's mind. If something happened to him out here, no one would ever find him. If he shouted for help, he imagined the forest would absorb the sound as it had never been uttered. If he died... he would be utterly lost -- the forest would swallow him.
His morbid thoughts served to speed his pace. He pulled the hood of his travelling cloak over his head. The indistinct sense that he was being watched and followed never left him as he journeyed northward, however nothing yet had happened when he reached a fork in the road.
Durgen wished he had paid more attention to geography lessons in Academy. He had absolutely no idea where he was in the vast reaches of the forest. Because of the thick canopy, he could not even discern the direction he was facing. All he knew was that when he left the Crossroads, he was going north, and he had never left the road.
Finally after about another hour, Durgen came to a fork in the road. The sky was almost completely dark and Durgen could see patches of starry sky above him. He looked to his left and right. Both directions looked exactly the same -- enormous tree after enormous tree. He racked his memory for any indication of the correct path.
Was the Horde influence in Ashenvale centered in the eastern part of the forest? Or was it to the west? Durgen vaguely remembered from his history lessons that the Warsong clan had crashed into the ancient forest from the south and established exstensive lumber harvesting operations. They immediately clashed with the Night Elves and killed their demigod, which led to a certain amount of enmity between the two races.
Durgen finally surmised that, according to reason, the outpost must be to the east, since going westward would inevitably take one further into Night Elf territory. Following his hunch, Durgen took the path that led off to his right. If I don't find the outpost, then I'll just ask someone at one of the lumber camps for directions, Durgen reasoned.
The night was vastly different in Ashenvale from the night in just about any other place. In other places, a full and deep darkness came with the setting of the sun. In Ashenvale, the wood was still aglow somehow. It was by no means bright, in fact it was rather dusky, but the fact remained that it was much lighter under the leaves of the trees than it should have been. Even a full moon could not produce that much light.
As night enveloped him, Durgen's feeling of unease grew to the point to where he thought he saw glowing eyes around every bend and heard whispers behind every tree.
Finally, after what seemed to be several miles of growing paranoia, Durgen saw light and heard voices. It was not the eerie, mystical light of the nighttime woods, but the cheery glow of flames. And the voices were not anonymous whispers, but the hearty laughter of merry voices.
Durgen identified the low rasp of an orc woman and the deep boom of a tauren along with several other orcish voices. A bonfire came crackling into view as Durgen rounded a final hillock. A small group stood chatting around the fire as the sparks flew up among the leaves. They stood close not so much for warmth, Durgen thought, than as to put their backs to the mysterious forest.
Durgen was practically running toward the camp in relief when a large, blunt object struck his temple. Durgen saw stars and then... darkness.
Images swirled before Durgen. He saw orcs for sure, and fire. He heard voices, but could not tell what they were saying. The images became stranger. He saw bear-men and pig-men -- strange creatures that lived on the edge of stories. Then the strange visions faded until Durgen could barely see them; except for one in particular. Durgen saw what he recognized as a night elven man, robed in green and brown, and extending his arms out as if searching for something in the dark. The night elf's eyes landed on Durgen and grew wide with surprise and a little bit of fright. There was another expression on the face too--recognition.
Then, quite suddenly, everything went dark again and Durgen forgot what he had seen.
The next thing he felt was heat on the left side of his face and body. He realized he was conscious, but kept his eyes closed when he heard voices.
"You had to knock him out did you, Gurk?" said a deep voice. There was a grunt that Durgen assumed was the reply. The voice spoke again, "Looks to me like a bit of a runt. Does anyone here know him?"
There was a general murmering of "No"s followed by a short silence. The female orc voice broke it. "I've seen this orc before. I do not think he knows me."
Durgen couldn't help it. He opened his eyes and turned toward the source of the voice. At his feet stood a very formidible-looking orc woman. In any case she was at least a head taller than Durgen, and he had never seen her before in his life. Their eyes met and the woman's eyes grew wide and startled for a split-second before being masked by indifference. Durgen blinked.
"Ah, you've recovered," said a good-natured looking tauren to Durgen's right. "Gurk would apologize, but i think he is incapable." The tauren indicated a very thick, very stupid looking orc who was holding a large wooden mallet. Durgen stood as he rubbed a rising bump on his skull, swaying slightly.
"In Gurk's defense, it was very unwise of you to come running toward us out of a hostile forest like that," said the woman, speaking directly to Durgen for the first time, "You would do well to announce your arrival next time."
Durgen grinned nervously at her. She did not return the smile. The tauren spoke again, breaking the awkward silence "That is true, friend, what the young orc did was unwise, but it is also unwise for his attackers not to introduce themselves." He looked at Durgen and recited, "Throm'ka, warrior. Welcome to our neck of the woods. " He made a wide sweeping gesture with his hands and chuckled dryly. "My name is Saranus. I am currently the captain of the Ashenvale Expeditionary Force, and my colleague here goes by the name of Gurda." He paused for a moment and averted his eyes as he spoke again. "She's an apprentice shaman sent up here for some training."
He quickly changed tack. "This is your first time in the forest." It was a statement, not a question. "A bit spooky the first night, huh?" He gave Durgen a friendly smile and a wink. Durgen felt a little embarassed to be treated this way in front of a group of such obviously hardened warriors. However, none of them seemed to care. He nodded, "Just a bit. I thought that I kept seeing eyes."
"You probably did," Saranus said, "The night elf outrunners hide in the woods and spy on our movements, but I've never heard of them attacking a traveller unprovoked. As far as I'm concerned, they don't serve much of a purpose." He suddenly shouted at the trees. "You hear that! No purpose!" He chuckled. This time it sounded genuine. Gurda smiled slowly for the first time, exposing sharp fangs.
"Ah, well. It takes some getting used to. The woods are filled to the brim with ancient magic, but over time I've come to appreciate the mysteriousness, even if i don't really understand it. Anyway, you didn't come all this way to have an evening chat around a campfire. I assume you want to go to Splintertree."
"Do you know where it is?" Durgen asked.
"Oh, it's less than a mile down the road from here in a ravine north of it."
"Thanks," said Durgen unenthusiatically. He was not looking forward to another trip through the "spooky" woods, regardless of whether his watchers meant him harm. Saranus seemed to know what he was thinking.
"Don't worry, Gurda and I will be coming with you. We can make it in about twenty minutes if we make good time." He said.
"I don't need your protection," said Durgen, a little harsher than he intended, and not really meaning it.
The big bull laughed a deep booming laugh. "I don't doubt it. However, I need to place an order for new cartwheels" He pointed to a delapidated wagon, "And Gurda here has business of her own to attend to at Splintertree. Besides, the inn is a very good source of gossip and information regarding goings-on in the forest. The talk in that bar has saved my hide more than once. And the ale isn't half bad."
"Well, shall we?" asked Durgen. "We shall," growled Gurda.
The trio set off, resuming the ancient paved path. Saranus took the journey as an opportunity to fill Durgen in where his schooling had left off.
As the firelight faded into the forest behind them, Saranus commented on the deplorable state of Durgen's education. The orc and the tauren walked beside one another on the path. Gurda walked a few paces behind them, saying nothing, but listening intently.
"Honestly, they think that they can strap an axe to anyone and make a soldier. They don't (or won't) realize that not everyone is a soldier," Saranus said, "Thrall understood that once. I think he probably still does, but he has to make compromises to keep the clans happy."
Durgen was surprised by this insight. He had never thought of Thrall as anything but the all-powerful warchief.
He continued with his story, "Yeah, Academy wasn't too fun for me. As you can probably tell, I'm not a large orc, so the life of a warrior didn't seem to fit. Shamans have to be able to do magic, again ruling me out. My masters thought for a while that my size would make me a good spy or rogue. It didn't. I'm too clumsy to be stealthy."
Saranus looked intently at Durgen and shook his head, "Those knumbskull beaurocrats in Orgrimmar think they know how to raise our children. If someone doesn't fit into the preconcieved mold of a soldier then they are deemed worthless." He frowned, "Anyway, I think this is the perfect opportunity for a history lesson. Context and perspective are extremely important in a world ruled by mistrust and animosity."
He proceeded to inform Durgen of the state of affairs in the forest. He used a lot of military terms and phrases, some of which Durgen did not understand (he had left Academy early). He felt it would be rude to interrupt so he remained a silent listener. Behind them, Gurda apparently had the same idea -- she hadn't spoken a word.
Of all the various regions of the world, Ashenvale forest remained one of the most hotly contested. In the continuing confilct between the Alliance and the Horde, little headway had been made on any front. The war had lasted for over ten years without either side gaining any sort of advantage over the other. The two factions rarely engaged in open, pitched battle. It was a was a war of misunderstanding, lies, and subversion. It seemed for a while like the leaders wanted peace, but ultimately, but people's intolerance for their enemies far outweighed a hope for peace.
In Ashenvale, skirmishes broke out almost daily between the orcs and the night elves. The sides were so evenly matched that the forest was divided between them. The other races of the forest were forced to its edges to avoid the conflict. A small stream running off of Mount Hyjal known as the Falfarren marked the boundary between the territories. The night elves held everything to the west, and the orcs held everything to the east. The camp where Durgen had met Saranus was about halfway between the Falfarren and Splintertree, the Horde's main base of operations in Ashenvale.
Saranus told Durgen of a terrible but victorious battle (one of the last real battles of the war) where Horde forces finally managed to oust the night elves from their Silverwing Outpost, their last defense on the Horde's side of the Falfarren. Unfortunately,it was a battle inspired by vengeance. A large force of night elves had utterly destroyed a small camp on the western coast known as Zoram'gar. Everyone there was killed. The two outposts were effectively traded via two bloody battles. It was still a stalemate.
That, Saranus said, was the ultimate evil of this war -- the needless, seemingly pointless loss of life.
Splintertree itself was built toward the end of the Third War, just before the Battle of Mount Hyjal. The Warsong clan had crashed into the forest and begun felling the titanic trees to fuel their war effort. They established Splintertree as a forward base in the mysterious woods.
In the aftermath of the great battle, the orcs continued to occupy their posts as well as their lumber operations, much against the will of the night elves (who, at that point held a tenuous peace with the Horde). When this peace crumbled, the night elves and orcs entered into a state of mutual enmity. Then, when the night elves aligned themselves with the Alliance, all hope of a peaceful agreement was lost. Soon, the Alliance and Horde entered a state of open war.
Saranus's purpose in the midst of this was to scout potential locations for new outposts and defensive structures in the forest. So far, they had been mostly unsuccessful -- the camp the trio had just left was the only fruit of the endeavor, and even then, plans for expansion and construction seemed far away. The forest was simply to crowded and full of life to have room for more settlements.
After this, Saranus was quiet, thinking. Durgen's mind wandered as he looked around him. He noticed Gurda walking behind him, silent as a stone. "Awfully quiet aren't you?" he asked with a smile.
Again she did not return it. Durgen's smile faltered, "You haven't said anything," he persisted, "Tell me something about yourself."
"Saranus already told you. I'm a shaman in training. I do not wish to go further into it," she replied shortly.
Saranus chuckled and exchanged a glance with Gurda, "If you really want to know, she's in the forest to commune with spirits or some such nonsense. She's quite new to all this, and I suppose she was sent to me so I could keep an eye on her." His eyes twinkled at her. She glowered at him. In the next second the looks had faded.
Durgen might not have been a genious, but he did know when he was being decieved. Why were they being so secretive about the orc woman? It was decidedly strange that a young shaman would keep her rites of passage a secret. Shamans were almost always very proud of their progress in their training--young shamans always showed off their newly-made totems at every chance. First the letter, now these two people were keeping secrets from him. Durgen dismissed it as a coincidence and shifted his attention back to Saranus, who was relating a harrowing tale about a battle with saytrs encamped to the north.
Finally, the orange glow of firelight could be seen bouncing off the trees and making eerie patterns of shadow and light. As the two orcs and the tauren rounded one last bend, Splintertree came into view.
The light they had seen was produced by a number of torches staked into the ground round the base of a tall watch tower. Durgen could see the huddled forms of orcish guards at the top, crouched against the night.
They stepped off of the ancient pathway onto a path rutted by cartwheels and well worn by a wide variety of feet (and hooves). The path descended into a narrow ravine that ran adjacent to the main road. Durgen looked ahead. In the distance, a few hundred yards away was a tall palisade wall in the middle of which was a small gate. Two more watch towers flanked the gate.
Two guards approached the travellers, and seeing a wave and a nod from Saranus motioned them onward. They descended the shallow slope into the ravine until they reached the gate, at which point, the ground sloped upward again, into the outpost.
Its going well. I really like your description of the forrest. It really does do it just.
As Durgen passed through the gate, he looked with interest at the outpost that was Splintertree. He was almost immediately interrupted by a bent, very ragged looking troll. He held out a small metal pendant attached to a leather cord. "The forest be evil. You'll be wantin' a magic pendant to ward off the evil spirits. Only one gold piece and your troubles will cease."
Durgen stared dumbly for a second. The forest had been rather strange. It could have been evil spirits, he thought. As his hand began to reach for his money pouch, a thick fingered hand grabbed him firmly by the crook of his arm. "They're all fake. Trust me," Saranus whispered into his ear. The troll curled his lip and shoved past them looking for another victim.
Durgen looked around. Suddenly he noticed there were lots of huddled, becloaked forms loitering around the gate. They were all holding what looked like various talismans and trinkets and looking at the trio with hungry looks. "Rubbish. All of it. These peddlers will rob you blind with their circular pieces of tin if you aren't careful. They exploit people's superstitions regarding this confounded forest," Saranus informed him.
"Duly noted," nodded Durgen, "Don't buy the fake trinkets."
Durgen's eyes resumed their original task of exploring their new surroundings. The path they were on sloped upward entering a cave or mine built into the crook of the ravine. To the left and right, steep slopes of rock and earth formed natural walls which converged at the far end at the cave. Thus, the outpost was surrounded on three sides by the cleft, and the remaining gap was spanned by the palisade wall. Enormous trees rose from the lip of the cleft. Their branches stretched out horizontally to form a roof high above the outpost.
Altogether, the post felt rather cozy, due, in part, to the presence of the familiar, crude orcish buildings nestled into the ravine. As he climed the slope, Durgen passed the outpost's wyvern station. The great beasts looked at him with expressions of utter boredom. A rather dumpy orc woman fussed over a wyvern's torn wing, while the particular specimen appeared to be decidedly annoyed.
Durgen quickly identified the inn as the building from which came the raucous laughter and cheery yellow light. He looked longingly at the banner-adorned chimney. He could almost taste the ale. A good, long lie-in would be perfect, he thought wistfully.
He stepped through the threshold and immediatly headed toward the bar, licking his lips. "Not tonight, kid," Gurda said grabbing onto his shoulder, "There are more important matters to attend to." Durgen stared quizzically at the shaman. What was the meaning of this? Durgen had agreed to travel with her and the tauren, but after they arrived... That was surely when they were intended to part ways. Saranus made his way to the bar unimpeded.
"Wha-?" was all Durgen managed to annunciate. "You'll understand in a few moments." said Gurda, "Come with me."
He followed her past the bar (the alluring scents of alcohol and roasted meats filled Durgen's nostrils) and into a cutained-off area. Before passing behind the curtain, he saw Saranus wink at him from his barstool before putting back a tall flagon of mead. Durgen glared jealously at him before being yanked into the partitioned area.
A bent figure sat on a pile of cushions before them, draped by numerous cloaks and blankets. Two wizened hands reached up and pulled back its hood. Durgen started with surprise. Before him sat the oldest tauren crone he had ever seen. Her sunken eyes lifted to meet Durgen's. He wanted to look away but couldn't. There was something compelling about the old tauren that he could not identify from her cracked and brittle hooves to her broken and splintered horns. She clutched a worn, whithered-looking branch with both hands.
"The letter. Bring it to me," She said in a wavering voice. She held out a tremulous hand.
"What? How do you know about my letter?" Durgen asked, "Who told you about it?"
"Does it not say that you will be contacted upon arrival?" She said raising a wrinkled brow.
"Wait. You.. you're my contact?" He asked. He looked at Gurda. She was starting intently at the old creature before them, arms crossed.
"That is correct," said the crone, "Now, show it to me. Please."
Slowly, Durgen reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded parchment. He hesitated for a brief moment, then placed it in her outstretched hand. She scanned it breifly and rubbed the parchment between her bony fingers.
"Ah," She sighed, "So you are the one, then."
Hmm... very interesting. I like, I like. It's all too rare that a WoW-related fanfic catches my attention, but this one has done it for me.
Durgen stood, not knowing what to expect. For what seemed like hours, the old tauren's eyes seemed to stare blankly at empty space. Just as he was opening his mouth to say something, the crone looked back at him. "Tell me, young one. What do you know of your birth?"
The question startled Durgen. What was this about? He was on a mission for the Horde. What did his past have to do with it? He shot a quizzical look at Gurda. She shook her head slowly. Durgen felt very lost.
"Well," He began uncertainly, "I don't know anything about my birth. Actually, I don't know my parents. I was an orphan."
The old one nodded. "Yes, that is what is known to me. In that case, tell me about your childhood."
Another tough question. Durgen hadn't thought about his childhood for many years. He was beginning to feel the early stages of anger. Was this what this whole thing was about? Finding out about his past? It was ridiculous, a complete waste of time, Durgen thought. However, his anger was stifled by a meaningful glance from Gurda. He grimaced before continuing. It was difficult to relate a past to two strangers when he himself was also hearing for the first time in years.
"My first memories, I guess were from the orphanage in Orgrimmar. We slept in hammocks, and didn't have a lot to eat. There wasn't a lot of sympathy for orphans back then. Just keep 'em alive until their old enough to be a soldier." His face hardened, then softened again, "Anyway, one summer, Thrall passed an order declaring that the first week of May would be Children's Week. I remember travelling around with a tauren druid for a week. She said that she was my Friend and I was her Ward. She bought me sweets and took me to a lot of places that I can't really remember. The next year I did the same thing with an orc and his two troll companions. I remember having lots of fun sitting around campfires with them singing and drinking my first ale. Every year after that I always looked forward to Children's Week. I never had as much fun as I did with the orc, but I never regretted going.
"Then, when I was fourteen years old, and it was almost time for that year's Children's Week, my old matron, Burka, came to me while I was lying in my hammock. She was crying, and she told me I had to get up. That someone was here to see me. I was so excited, I barely noticed her tears. I thought my Friend had arrived early and ran to the door. I ran hard into a thick, evil looking orc. I think I must have hurt him because he grabbed me by the neck and took me outside. I tried to apologize, but he just told me to shut up. That he didn't have time for my snivelling. That was the last time I saw the orphanage as a child.
"The big orc brought me to the Academy. And that was where my childhood ended. There were a lot of other boys there my age. Some of them were scared like me, but most of them acted really tough, forming gangs and beating up the outcasts, like me. Training is not a pleasant memory for me. I didn't fit in anywhere, and it didn't seem like I'd be good at anything. Eventually, my masters abandoned me as a lost cause, and I was discharged from the Academy.
"From there I went back to the orphanage. A new woman was in charge, and when I asked for Burka, I was told that she had died. I left pretty depressed and ended up apprenticing at a leatherworker's shop down on the Drag. After that I held a lot of various jobs that didn't last too long. And to make a long story short, that's how I ended up at the Crossroads inn when one day a letter came for me in the mail."
Durgen became quiet for a moment, staring at the floor. The old tauren spoke again. "That is a sad tale young one," she said, "You have suffered many things that you should not have endured. However, I believe that in time, you will realize that your past has made you strong."
Durgen didn't know what she was talking about. Every time he thought about his past he felt decidedly weak and abandoned. "Do you know nothing of your parents?" She asked him. | 2019-04-24T16:42:28Z | http://www.albatrosbits.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40&start=0 |
Nuair a ghlacas leis an ngradam don Bhlag is Fearr A Bhain Úsáid as an nGaeilge i 2009, chanas 'An Poc Ar Buile' don slua. Ní raibh mé ar ais ó shin!
Fuaireas an broisiúr inné le h-aghaidh comórtais liteartha an Oireachtais agus tar éis dom é a scrúdú ó chlúdach go clúdach, thugas faoi ndeara go raibh an chomórtas blagála a cuireadh tús leis trí bliana ó shin ar iarraidh.
Tá cineál díomá orm – ach ní fheadar an bhfuil aon ionadh orm. Bhuaigh mé an chomórtas an chéad bhliain agus bhíos an sásta le sin, dheineas moltóireacht an dara bliain agus ní ró shásúil a bhí an eispearas sin ach an oiread. Ní h-é nár bhuaigh mé an chomórtas ach nár mhothaigh mé go raibh aon spéis á chur sa chomórtas ag muintir an Oireachtais féin Go deimhin, ba bheag an poiblíocht a tugadh do bhuaiteoirí an chomórtais aon bhlian – agus mar sin ní nach íontas nár lean Oifig Ghaeilge DIT leis an urraíocht fhial a bhí ar bun acu ar an gcomórtas.
Rud éigean eile, ní doigh liom go raibh an bhlagáil ar a chompórd i measc na gcomórtas liteardha. Is meán nua go fóill an bhlagáil agus níl a fhios agam an féidir litríocht a thabhairt air go fóill ar aon dul le ficsean. É sin ráite, tá sé chomh bailí blagáil a chur i measc na gcomórtas liteardha is atá sé aistí innealtóireachta, scrioptanna teilifíse nó aistí ar ábhair spioradálta. (san aiste sin moltar don scríobhnóir ós cionn 30,000 focal a chur ar phár – is mór an méid paidreacha é sin agus ní fheadar an léifear choiche é?).
An rud a thuigim le comórtais liteardha an Oireachtais go bhfuil sé nios mó mar gheall ar dhaileadh airgead i measc an chiorcail órga ná mar atá sé faoin ealaíon nó an litríocht ann féin. Ní fheadar arbh fhiú don Oireachtas an t-airgead a chuirtear ar fáil don duaischiste a laghdú go mór agus é sin a chaitheamh ar mhargaíocht ceart a dhéanamh ar na duais-iarrachtaí?
Anocht atá fíor ghradaim bhlagála na tíre á mbronnadh, na Irish Blog Awards, agus tá, a bhuí de mo shean chara ó laethannta Choláiste Íosagáin Conn Ó Múineacháin (Edgecast Media), gradam ann don bhlag is fearr a bhaineann úsáid as an nGaeilge. Tá iGaeilge ar an ngearrliosta ach tá amhras orm go n-eireoidh chomh maith leis is ar eirigh le dhá bhliain anuas nuair arbh é an blag seo a thug an svae leis. Tá blaganna eile ar an ngearrliosta – agus cinn nach iad – tar éis caighdeán na blagadóireachta as Gaeilge a fheabhsú go mór. Léithéidí ‘Grá Faoi Ghruaim’ , Idirlíon.org, Aonghus fánach atá ag déanamh an charghas ar an idirlíon is Dennis lena ‘nótaí imeallacha. Tá Scott de Buitléar i mbun blag spéisiúil freisin, Dialann Scott, agus cá bhfios ach gur ag an scríobhnóir seo a bheidh an bua trathnóna?
I bhfírinne ní miste liom cé a bhuann fhaid is go bhfásann an blagaisféar Ghaelach leis. Níl a dhothain blagadóirí ag baint úsáide as an nGaeilge ar líne agus is cinnte gur sa treo seo a chaithfimíd diriú sa todhchaí. Is maith an rud é go bhfuil an t-aitheantas seo á fháil ag an mblagáil i nGaeilge ó na Irish Blog Awards agus tá creidiúint nach beag ag dul go dtí Damien Mulley, eagraí na ngradam, as a thacaiocht. Ní gá a rá nach bhfuil Damien ag fáil aon chabhair ó Fhoras na Gaeilge (a tharraing siar, gan choinne, ó urraíocht ar ghradaim d’iriseoireacht trí Ghaeilge na micléinn le déanaí dá chuid iarrachtaí!
Ar aon nós, tá fás agus forbairt á bheartú agam ar iGaeilge go luath. Bígí ag faire ar an spás seo….
Foilsiú: 19/03/2011 . igaeilge a d’fhoilsigh. Ranganna: An Ghaeilge, Cultúr. Clibeanna: Irish Blog Awards, Oireachtas na Gaeilge.
Díreach tar éis filleadh ón Oireachtas agus is fiú a rá gur bhain mé sult as – fiú má chreidim go fóill go bhfuil alán rudaí i leith na féile ar cheart a fhorbairt go práinneach faoi mar a bhíos ag rá libh san imlitir dheireannach.
Is é an rud mar gheall ar an Oireachtas go gcasann tú le do cháirde atá ag troid an dea throid i dtrínsí eile – leithéidí Darach O Scolaí a sheol leabhar alainn eile ó Leabhair Breac, Ceadtach Mac Rí na gCor le Maidhc P. O Conaola nó na Deartharacha Fanzini nó muintir Mhic Giolla Bhríde – bhí an chéad albam ó Dhoiminic (in éineacht le Greagoir O Labhruidh) á sheoladh ann, Guailibh a Chéile, dluth dhiosca a dheineann ceiliúradh ar an gceangal laidir idir sinn is ár gcomh Ghaeil trasna Sruth na Maoile. Bhí go leor eile ann, go h-áirithe thíos i bhforhalla an INEC áit go raibh ‘Aonach na Gaeilge’ agus leithéidí Scrabble á dhíol ag Glór na nGael nó BábagoBaby nó An Spailpín Fánach is a chuid t-léinte is eile.
Maidin De Satharn b’é ceann de na príomh ocáidí Seimineár Chonradh na Gaeilge. Abhar an tSeimineáir: An Straitéis 20 Bliain: Reiteach an Scéil? Na cainteoirí: Pádraig O hAoláín, Udarás na Gaeltachta; Muireann Ní Mhoráin (An Chomhairle Um Oideachais Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta/COGG) is Fergal O Cuilinn (Comhluadar). Chuir sé íontas orm, áfach, agus an tAire Ghnóthaí Pobail, Comhionannais agus Gaeltachta, Pat Carey, thíos staighre san óstán céanna, ná raibh seisean ag caint ag an ocáid seo, ós rud é gurb é a sheolfaidh an Straitéis i gceann, deirtear linn, trí sheachtain nó mar sin.
Seans go gcuirfeadh an tAire spéis i rudaí a dúradh ag an Seimineár: Bhí ráiteas amháin a rinne Donncha O hEallaithe a chuir íontas orm féin: Dar le Donncha, niorbh é Colm McCarthy agus an Bhord Snip Nua a mhol go mbainfí feidhm na fiontraíochta den Udarás ach Roinn na Gaeltachta féin. Anois má tá sin fíor, tá go leor ceisteanna le cur, an príomh cheann: cén taobh ar a bhfuil an Roinn sa chluiche seo? Más ar thaobh coilliú an Udaráis atá an Roinn, ar cheart do Ghaeil a bheith ag cosaint na Roinne mar atá leithéidí Guth na Gaeltachta. Gan fiontraíocht a bheith faoi chúram an Udaráis, d’fhagfaí an Ghaeltacht ina thalamh bánaithe mar is cinnte nach lonnódh leithéidí Enterprise Ireland oiread is tionscnamh amháin sa Ghaeltacht. Ní spéis le Fiontar Éireann bailte beaga is ceantair imeallacha.
Mar ar tugadh chun solais anseo den chéad uair roinnt seachtainí ó shin, ní raibh an t-údarás i measc na n-aisínteachtaí forbartha a fuair cuireadh chun cruinnithe ón dTaoiseach. Fiú go raibh Fás ar an liosta in ainneoin go bhfuil sé fógraithe go poiblí go mbeidh áisínteacht nua scileanna ann san Athbhliain. Deirtear linn gur léirigh an tAire ‘dóchas’ nach ngearrfaí buiséad an Udaráis sa Bhuiséad agus é faoi agallamh ar TG4 oíche Déardaoin – ach cad is fiú dóchas an Aire nuair a chuirtear i gcomórtas é leis imeallú shoiléir atá déanta ar UnaG ag an dTaoiseach féin? Beidh le feiceáil teacht na Nollag!
Tá Conradh na Gaeilge chun comhdháil a eagrú ag an Oireachtas chun ‘Straitéis 20 Bliain na Gaeilge’ a phlé.
Go n-éirí go breá leo.
B’fhearr liom go mbeadh ceist eile á plé.
Ceist níos práinní dar liom.
Táimid ar an dé deiridh thuaidh is theas, faoi luí na bíse ag ciorruithe eacnamaíochta, fiacha troma, dífhostaíocht, éagóir agus inimirce.
Ba bhreá liom díospóireacht a bheith ag an Oireachtas faoin saol a bheas ag na Gaeil sa ré barainne atá anois ann.
Shíl mé riamh agus mé ag fás aníos gur Gael-Linn an eiseamláir do gach eagras Gaeilge.
Dream a fuair airgead éigin ón stát ceart go leor ach a bhí dírithe go mór mór ar fhiontair a chur sa tsiúil a shaothródh ioncam don eagras féin – crannchur, díol ceirníní, nuacht-fhíseáin, scannáin, drámaíocht agus go leor eile.
Fiontraíocht an dúshraith a bhí ag an eagras Gaeilge áirithe sin.
Anois, i ré seo na héigeandála eacnamaíochta, caithfidh na heagrais Ghaeilge agus na fiontair Ghaeilge agus na cumainn Ghaelacha agus na hionaid Ghaelacha tabhairt faoina n-atheagrú féin le go mbeadh siad saor ó dheontais stáit.
Nárbh fhiú straitéis 5 bliana a ullmhú chun go mbeadh gach eagras Gaeilge ag cruthú 50% dá n-ioncam iad féin faoin bhliain 2015 seachas iad a bheith ag brath ar dheontais rialtais?
B’fhiú sin a phlé ag an Oireachtas.
Cé gur ceist é ar chóir é a phlé ag an Oireachtas i mbliana – agus ag Oireachtais roimhe seo – tá ceannasaíocht na Gaeilge chomh coimeádach sin nach féidir leo todhchaí gan deontas a shamhlú. Ní doigh liom go mbeidh gá leis an samhalaíocht i bhfad eile mar tá na mictíre anois ag an doras….
Bhí sé d’adh orm casadh le Seán Tadhg O Gairbhí, iar eagarthóir an ‘sean’ Foinse, thíos staighre ón Seimineár agus d’fhiafraigh mé de cad é an cúram a bhí aige na laethannta seo. Is cosúil gur mise an duine deireannach atá ar an eolas nó tá Seán Tadhg anois ag cur comhairle ar an Aire Carey. Sin cara amháin sa chúirt ag lucht gnímh na Gaeilge. Ní raibh an seans agam plé a dhéanamh leis faoina thuairim ar na ‘nuachtáin’ nua i saol na Gaeilge, ó chuir Foras na Gaeilge chun báis Lá Nua agus Foinse (mar a bhí), nó tháinig an Aire ar an láthair.
Táím tar éis corr alt a sholathar do Ghaelscéal le déanaí agus bhí altanna agam i Foinse anuraidh – tacaím le nuachtáin Ghaeilge mar bhunphrionsabal – ach mothaím go bhfuil an plot á chailiúint go fóill ag Gaelscéal go h-áirithe. Is é feile an Oireachtais deireadh seachtaine mór shaol na Gaeilge agus ní raibh tagairt don Oireachtas ar phríomh leathnach an nuachtáín nó fiú san Eagarfhocal. Bhí an eagarfhocal dírithe, den chuid is mó, ar mhasla a ghlac an t-eagarthóir don téarma ‘Irish language enthusiast’ i bpreas ráiteas ó Shinn Féin. Anois níl aon bá agamsa le SF agus is minic ar cháin mé an pháirtí in eagarfhocal nuachtáin – ach seo an rud, is ceist fánach is imeallach é seo le h-ainm nuachtáin, murab ionann agus colúnaí, a cheangal leis. Nuair is eagarthóir nuachtáin thú, tá dualgas ort guth shainiúil a chruthú don nuachtán san eagarfhocal agus, ar uaireannta, d’fhéadfadh sé titim amach go dtrasnódh an rud a dhéarfadh an nuachtán ina ghuth féin agus an rud a dhéarfá id ghuth. Dá mba rud é go raibh an oiread san dúil ag an Eagarthóir an pointe sin a dhéanamh, d’fhéadfadh sé colún a scríobh ar an gceist ach, ar ór ná ar airgead, níor cheart do an eagarfhocal a fhagaint faoi na maslaí a mhothaíonn sé féin. Nó má dheineann sé amhlaidh, bíodh sé cinnte gur ceist níos tabhachtaí atá i gceist ná an lipéad a luaitear le cainteoirí Ghaeilge. Is cainteoir Ghaeilge mé ach, freisin, is ‘Irish language enthusiast’ mé. Más é sin mar a fheiceann domhan an Bhéarla mé, is beag éifeacht a bheidh ag eagarfhocal i nGaelscéal chun an léargas sin a athrú. Ní h-é seo an chéad uair don eagarfhocal i nGaelscéal bheith dirithe ar cheisteanna fánacha is imeallacha – níl sé cúpla seachtain ó shin ó bhí an eagarfhocal ag gearán faoi claonadh a bhí tugtha faoi ndeara aige sna meáin Bhéarla ar nós RTÉ is an Irish Times bheith ag moladh d’fhir óga bheith ag liostáil i bhfórsa choimhthíoch ar nós Arm na Breataine. Ceist é seo a eiríonn mionlach dhaoine tógtha faoi – mionlach de mhionlach – agus is ceist amaideach é le plé in eagarfhocal nuachtán Ghaeilge nuair atá ceisteanna i bhfad Éireann níos giorra den scórnach le plé.
Is cinnte gur scrígh mé féin cúpla eagarfhocal a chuaigh thar fóir le mo linn i Lá/Lá Nua. Ach níor phléigh le ceisteanna fánacha ar bhonn rialta – riamh ar éigean – mar is nós, is cosúil, don eagarfhocal i nGaelscéal. Agus má bhí mo thuairimí féin le craobhscaoileadh agam, dhein mé an obair sin faoi m’ainm féin seachas faoi bhrat an nuachtáin.
Ní thuigim cén fath nach bhfuil lucht bainistíochta an nuachtáín, leithéidí Máire Ní Thuathail is an Connacht Tribune, tar éis comhairle a chur ar an t-é atá ag scríobh na h-eagarfhocail seo smacht de shórt éigean a bheith aige ar a pheann – ar son an nuachtáin agus ar son na Gaeilge.
Ceist eile ar cuireadh orm i gcaitheamh an deireadh seachtaine: Cén sórt díolachán atá ag Gaelscéal? Níl a fhios ag éinne mar ní chreidim go bhfuil an nuachtán cláraithe le ABC – cé gur luaigh an Fhoras é sin mar choinnioll liomsa agus mo chomhleacaithe nuair a rabhmar san iomaíocht don chonradh a bhuaigh Torann na dTonn Teo (comhlacht úinéireachta Gaelscéal). Agus é á cheistiú ar an bpointe seo le déanaí ar An Ghlór Anoir, dúirt Ciaran Dunbar, eagarthóir an nuachtáín, ná raibh na figiúirí ós a chomhair agus é ag caint ach go raibh sé féin agus lucht an nuachtáin is Foras na Gaeilge sásta go raibh na ‘targaidí’ a aontaíodh á aimsiú acu. Ní chreidim focal de. Ní chreidim nach bhfuil a fhios ag eagarthóir nuachtáin an líon cóipeanna a dhíolann an nuachtán ar an meán agus dar liom is eolas é sin ar cheart a roinnt leis an bpobal ós rud é gur airgead phoiblí atá ag maoiniú an nuachtáin. Mo bharúil féin, is é go bhfuil díolachán Gaelscéal thar a bheith lag. Seachas canncráin ar nós mé féin, ní bhionn daoine ag caint faoin ‘scéal’ i nGaelscéal. Fágtar beartanna móra den nuachtán gan díol sa siopaí im chomharsanacht féin. Ar ndóígh is beag margaíocht atá á dhéanamh ar son an nuachtáin. Ní h-é nach bhfuil súáilcí ag an nuachtán – tá colúnaithe maith a dhothain ag scríobh ann, leithéidí Eoghan O Néill agus Páidí O Lionaird is Conn O Múinneacháin – ach níl an nuachtán ag aimsiú an bhuille nó níl fíú i ngiorracht scread ásail do. B’é eagrán na seachtaine seo, eagrán an Oireachtais, an eagrán dheireannach a thógfaidh mise im láímh mura dtugtar comhairle dom go bhfuil feabhas súntasach tagtha air. Mo bharúil féin, go bhfuil sé in am anois stiur cheart a chur ar Gaelscéal ionas nach ndéanfaidh sé staicín aiféise den tuairim gur cheart nuachtán Ghaeilge a bheith ann ar chorr ar bith.
Ní raibh sé i gceist agam dul ar strae mar sin (DAS chuala mé mo chéad eagrán de ‘Ar Strae Sa tSaotharlann’ inné ar mo shlí go Cill Airne – tá clár eolaíochta RnaG, curtha i láthair ag Conn O Muineacháin agus Risteard O Coistealbha, ana thaithneamhach ar fad agus é chomh éagsúil ó ghnath stuif RnaG) – ach ós rud é go bhfuilim ag tracht ar na meáin Ghaeilge agus a gcur chuige don Oireachtas, is fiú a lua gur ábhar mór díomá dom é ná raibh Corn Uí Riada á chraoladh ag TG4 aréir. Tar éis go raibh sé á chraoladh le cúpla bliain anuas – idir 2007 agus 2009 – bhí mé imithe i dtaithí air agus chreideas gur maith ann é – cé go raibh lochtanna is lochtanna súntasacha ar an gcur i láthair. Ba cheart é a dheanamh agus é a dhéanamh i gceart. Tá’s agam go raibh TG4 ag craoladh na Rialacha Idirnáisiúnta idir an tír seo agus an Astráil ó Pháírc an Chrócaig aréir ach, mar phríomh urraí na Sraithe, ná raibh deis ag TG4 a chur in iúl do na h-eagraithe gur cheart am nó dáta an dara chluiche a athrú dá mba rud é go raibh sé ag teacht salach ar chlúdach an staisiún ar an Oireachtas? Is é pobal na Gaeilge sprioc phobal TG4 fiú is go bhfuil ar an staisiún lucht féachana a lorg sa phobal mhór lasmuigh de phobal na Gaeilge. Nior cheart pobal na Gaeilge a fhágáil in áit na leathphingine agus TG4 sa tóir ar an bpobal mhór.
Foilsiú: 31/10/2010 . igaeilge a d’fhoilsigh. Ranganna: An Ghaeilge, Cúrsaí Reatha, Cultúr. Clibeanna: an Roinn Ghnóthaí Pobail Comhionannais agus Gaeltachta, an tAire Pat Carey, Donncha O hEalaithe, Foinse, Gaelsceal, Oireachtas na Gaeilge, TG4, Udarás na Gaeltachta.
Seo chugainn Oireachtas na Samhna – i mbliana, den chéad uair le fada, ní bheidh aon imeachtaí Oireachtais ar bun le linn mí na Samhna de bharr nach gcuirfear tús leis an mhí sin go dtí an Luan – agus tá na sluaite ag druidim le Cill Airne d’fhéile mhór Ghaeilge na bliana seo. Trath go raibh, bhíodh breis is deich lá san Oireachtas ach le h-imeacht na mblianta tá sin laghdaithe go mór. I gCorcaigh na dTonn dhá bhliain ó shin bhí an fhéile ann, le féile a mhair ó Domhnach go Domhnach agus ina raibh féile ealaíon, peil is iomáint, comórtas fichille agus go leor eile. Anois samhlaím nach dtugtar áird ach do na comortais sean nóis, idir amhránaíocht is rínce, is fágtar comórtais eile ar nós na h-agallaimh beirte, na luibíní, na seóanna aonair, na sceitseanna in áit na leathphingine. I bhfirinne is é an t-ól agus an craic an áit a bhfuil an fíor aicsean sna éagráin is déanaí den Oireachtas. An leagan ‘McDonalds’ den Oireachas atá againn anois agus, nach cuma, nó de réir gach tuairisc tá an t-aos og ag baint an taithneamh as.
Beidh mé féin ag an Oireachtas amárach ar feadh seal agus, b’fhéidir, arís ar an Satharn. Chuir mé mo loistín – a d’ioc mé féin as murab ionann agus go leor eile a bhionn ag an Oireachtas ar Junket de short amháin nó eile [m.sh Comhaltaí Fhoras na Gaeilge] – ar ceal inné nó thuigeas nach mbeadh ar mo chumas nó nach mbeadh an fonn orm an deireadh seachaine a chaitheamh ar an bhféile.
Nior mhiste liom cúpla uair a chloig a chaitheamh ann – blaiseadh de chomórtas ar nós na hAmhráin Nua Chumtha nó na Luibíní – agus táim ag iarraidh, gan amhras, cóip de ‘Scrabble’ as Gaeilge a cheannach ó Ghlór na nGael. Ba mhaith liom freisin dluth dhiosca nua Doiminic Mac Giolla Bhríde agus Greagóir O Labhruid (a bheidh á sheoladh ar an Satharn), a cheannach. Ach Club na Féile is an craic sin go léir – ní bheidh mé ann, go raibh maith agat.
Dream eile nach mbeidh ag an Oireachtas, is cosúil, isea Morning Ireland, an clár is mó éisteoirí sa tír. Le seachtain anuas rinneadh an clár a chur i láthair ó Fhéile Opera Loch Garman agus ó Fhéile Snagcheol Chorcaí ach is cosúil nach bhfuil aon áit ar sceideal MI don fhéile ealaíon is fad bhunaithe sa tír. Nuair a chuir mé an cheist ar shuíomh Morning Ireland, dúradh liom ‘we’ll try to cover it in our programme’. Is féidir linn a rá, is dócha, gur seo an rud a bheimís ag súil leis ó RTÉ ach is léargas é seo ar an easpa cumarsáide a dheineann pobal na Gaeilge leis an domhan lasmuigh an oiread is gur cur síos é ar an mbealach a fhéachann mór shruth an Bhéarla orainn.
ALARUM: Timpeall ar 7.40rn ar maidin inniu (Dé hAoine), bhí mír faoin Oireachtas ar Morning Ireland. (beidh sé le h-íoslódáil mar phodchraoladh níos déanaí ar maidin). Nach mise a bhí dána agus amhras a léiriú i leith MI! Ritheann sé liom go bhféadfadh sé tarlú gurb é an cheist a chuir mise a spreag MI chun an mír a dhéanamh. Bhí an cuma air go raibh an mír curtha le chéile go tapaidh – agus d’úsáideadh ceann de na pointí a luaigh mé im cheist – gurb é an tOireachtas an féile ealaíon b’fhaide bhunaithe – chun an mír a chur i láthair. Is cuma, i bhfírinne, ba mhaith ann é mar mhír don Oireachtas chun an rún faoin bhféile seo a scaoileadh leis an bpobal mhór. Ag an am chéanna bheinn ag súil go mbeadh míreanna ar RTÉ News, TV3 is eile trathnóna inniu – an mbeidh? Sin ceist eile.
ALARUM EILE: Tá sé ráite liom, go neamhbhalbh, nach mo idirghuí ar shuíomh Morning Ireland a chinntigh go mbeadh mír ar an Oireachtas ar an gclár sin. B’shin a dúradh liom nuair a fhreastail mé ar an Oireachtas ar feadh cúpla uair a chloig inniu (Dé hAoine). Is cinnte nár mhaith liom an creidiúint a ghoid ón gcomhlacht, Stillwater, a shill allais agus iad ag lorg an mhír ar an seó seo. Ní dócha go raibh idirghabhail iGaeilge ina chonstaic – ach is é an pointe atá ar chúl na pointí sin, dá suaraí iad, a thabhairt chun solais go gcaithfidh gach duine ar suim leo an Oireachtas agus cultúr na Gaeilge a bheith ag tapú gach deis i gconaí chun í a chur ós comhair an phobal is leithne. Is rud í le bheith brodúil aistí – agus ní ar ár leas go mbeidh sí ina rún. Mar sin, maith sibh Cilian is Natasha is eile ag Stillwater. Lean leis an dea obair i ngort na poiblíochta!
Tá an cosúlacht ar an scéal nach bhfuil aon bhuairt ar an Oireachtas faoin easpa seo. Tugann an fhéile a shlua féin leis i gcónaí, cuid de phobal na Gaeilge agus dream suntasach de thaistealaithe ar ‘gravy train’ na Gaeilge. Bhí Ostán an Gleneagle lán go béal ón dtaca seo anuraidh ag lucht an Oireachtais féin agus ní fhéadfadh an ghnathchosmhuintir a shrón a fháil isteach i seomra leapan san ostán sin, is dócha, don bhliain seo chugainn (i gCill Airne arís) agus an bhliain dar gcionn ar ais i Leitir Ceanainn. Ní thuigim faoin spéir cén fath nach féidir an tOireachtas a bheith sa Ghaillimh nó i mBaile Atha Cliath seachas sa dhá chúinne is iargúlta sa tír murach gur ceist éigean faoi na costaisí atá ann.
Sea is canncrán mé. Bím ag gearán. Dhéanfainn féin cur síos orm féin mar an bhuachaillín a thugann faoi ndeara go bhfuil an Impire lomnocht agus a dheireann ós árd é murab ionann agus an ‘Sea-drong’ atá bailithe timpeall ar an Impire agus beo ar gach fhocal uaidh.
An t-aon chúis go mbím ag gearán mar seo mar go bhfuil meas agam ar an Oireachtas. Bhí mé páirteach ann go minic, agus mo mhuintir, agus mo shean mhuintir. Tá súil agam a bheith páirteach ann arís ach tá gá le stopadh leis an gcrapadh leanúnach atá ar bun ag an fhéile agus go ndéanfaí féile mór uileghabhalach di mar a bhí i gCorcaigh agus, i mblianta roimhe sin, i mBéal Feirste. Ba cheart go mbeadh a fhios ag pobal Chill Airne go bhfuil an fhéile ar siúl agus go bhfuil sin le tabhairt faoi ndeara timpeall an bhaile. Ba cheart go mbeadh suaitheantas an Oireachtais le feiscint in áíteanna ar nós an Ghaillimh, Cill Chainnigh, BAC, Ceatharlach is Béal Feirste arís.
Agus rud eile de, fhaid is atáím i mbun an ghearáin, dhá bhliain ó shin nuair a bhíos ag freastal ar an Oireachtas i gCorcaigh, rinne mé forlíónadh ar leith dhá theangach don Evening Echo faoin bhféile agus tuairisciú iomlán gach lá ar feadh seachtaine le linn na féile. Anuas ar sin rinne mé blag le físeáin ar an Oireachtas. Cuireann sé íontas agus díomá orm nach bhfuil a leithéid ar bun ag lucht an Oireachtais féin i gCill Airne i mbliana. Ba cheart do TG4 – agus beidh mé á thogáil seo ag an mBórd nuair a bheidh mé ag freastal ar an gcéad cruinniú – ábhar a thaifeadadh ag an Oireachtas agus a chraoladh ar an staisiún ar feadh na míonna ina dhiaidh. Idir amhráin sean nóis is amhráin nua chumtha, idir agallaimh, lúibiní is scéalta is seóanna aonair, tá an t-ábhar ann. Rinne mé an obair seo dhá bhliain ó shin ar bhonn deonach chun dúshlán a thabhairt do na craoltóírí is don Oireachtas féin – is léir gur shuigh siad ar a dtónacha agus nár ghlac leis an ndúshlán. Léargas é suíomh nua an Oireachtais, atá fós ag caint faoin Oireachtas a bheith ar bun i gCill Airne agus síneadh a bheith curtha leis an spriocam do na chomórtaisí, ar an easpa cumarsáíde seo.
Tá Oireachtas na dTeachtaí Dála, na Seanadóirí agus an Uachtaráin ainmnithe mar gheall ar Oireachtas na Gaeilge. Is é seo an áit chruinnithe do phobal na tíre. Is é tús agus deireadh na bliana é againn. Ba cheart meas dá réir a thabhairt don fhéile agus í a scaoileadh óna laincisí. Scaoil amach an Oireachtas!
Foilsiú: 28/10/2010 . igaeilge a d’fhoilsigh. Ranganna: An Ghaeilge, Cultúr. Clibeanna: Morning Ireland, Oireachtas na Gaeilge, RTÉ. | 2019-04-21T02:49:30Z | https://igaeilge.wordpress.com/tag/oireachtas-na-gaeilge/ |
I was delighted to read in Eureka Street Ruby Hamad’s passionate protest that she and other Muslims should not constantly be called to account for the vicious behaviour of IS. Still less to be stigmatised until unnamed Muslim leaders disowned it. I was disconcerted to see so many Eureka Street readers appeared to agree with the demands against which she protested.
Both Ruby’s complaint and the responses to it reminded me of the attitudes taken to Catholics in an earlier generation. The popular charges against Catholics were honed in the Great War and particularly by the referenda on Conscription. They combined suspicion of anything Irish in the aftermath of the 1916 Uprising and more traditional judgments of Catholics on the basis of their beliefs and practices. The case went something like this.
The Uprising was seen as a traitorous blow to the English war effort which indicated a broader Irish disloyalty to the Crown. Archbishop Mannix’s leadership of the opposition to conscription and his outspoken criticism of the treatment of Ireland by the English Government fuelled further attacks on the patriotism of Australian Catholics, most of whom were of Irish descent. This charge echoed the broader historical attack on Catholics in England that their subjection to the Pope was incompatible with their loyalty to the King. So they and their Bishops were called on to declare their loyalty.
Of course, the fire was also fed with other dried out chestnuts. Catholics, after all, were responsible for the Inquisition, the Crusades, the St Bartholomew Day Massacre, witch burning, the later Falangist regime in Spain, and other Evil Acts. Their leaders were called on to abjure them, too. Totally and repeatedly – no room for muttering about historical context. And of course then there were such Evil Catholic Practices as clerical celibacy practiced publicly on the city streets, clerical tyranny as displayed by a lunatic parish priest in Bandiwallop West, the ringing of the Angelus bells early in the morning, running their own school system and having the temerity to expect that good Australians would tolerate being nursed by Catholic Nuns during the flu epidemic.
And then there was Papal Infallibility, which meant that all Catholics were bound to accept every Papal statement, no matter how taken out of context. Since these included Papal condemnation of charging interest on loans and of democracy, Australian Catholics were also demanded to abjure these statements that subverted the Australian way of life.
And so it went on. This anti-Catholicism as I knew it from family stories, personal experience and reading, was only a ripple from a stone long since thrown into the water. It was not shared by most Australians and was no more than an irritant in daily life that was vanquished every time a Catholic boxer beat up his opponent, Catholic footy clubs thrashed those run by the Masons, and my school team beat the Nobs. Of course, Catholics responded with anti-English and anti-Protestant prejudice, demanding that English non-Catholics agree to returning Our Churches and repent of the wrongs done to Ireland.
It was only later that I worked out what was going on. In times of anxiety some people identified Catholicism and the Irish people in which it was embodied as Evil. They justified that belief by finding texts to which they gave decisive authority that commanded unpatriotic and brutal actions. They then postulated that all Catholics gave those texts the same authority that they themselves gave them, and must be in favour of brutal and unpatriotic attitudes and brutal actions. That allowed them to ostracise individuals and whole communities on the strength of being Catholic. Our stigma could be washed off only when the Pope and Bishops around the world repented again and again of their beliefs and condemned every outrage committed by the Irish or Catholics generally.
I thought then, and think now, that it would have been nice if people chatted with local Catholics and asked us what we believed instead of telling us. But that was not how it worked.
Anti-Catholicism like anti-everything-else, still exists in pockets. Now Anti-Islam is all the go. It works in the same way. People attribute Evil to a religion and to peoples who embody it, confirm their prejudice with selected texts, make these texts central for all Muslims, and hold communities and individuals, whether secular or religious Muslims, accountable for the evil done by other Muslim groups unless they provide them with authoritative disclaimers. All is done from a pulpit high above the people talked about.
So we Micks who remember our own history know what you experience, Ruby. We share your outrage and admire your courage in voicing it. We would have liked to invite you to join the club. But in Australia today you, not we, are the club.
I appreciate that Fr Andy is attempting to assist a fellow writer who feels that she is unjustly tarred with the same brush as the IS Terrorists. However, I feel that Fr. Andy's defence falls a little short of the mark and does not give the respondents' comments to Ms Hamads' article due credit. Several respondents cited the fact that there is a deep concern about persecuted non-Muslims in Majority Muslim States, which cannot in any way be compared with the plight of Muslims in majority non Muslim countries like our own. The Islamic theology towards the fate of the infidel (or kafir) is generally not conciliatory (there is no equivalent of baptism by desire in Islam, whereby in Catholicism, non-Christians can be saved), and therefore persecuted non-Muslims are dependent on the goodwill of moderate Muslims to provide the necessary conciliation. For a respected figure like Ruby to wash her hands of the issue is simply not an option. Also for the record, the Uprising in Ireland was in 1916, not 1915. To compare anti-Islam to anti-Catholicism fails to really hit the mark, and is not comparing apples with apples.
The ink hasn't even dried on our history, Andrew, and we have forgotten it. It really is distressing to note that many of those now vilifying Muslims are the grandchildren of Irish Catholics who once suffered the same treatment. I feel sure they have no idea of what their grandparents had to endure.
It is ridiculous to conflate irrational anti-Catholicism of yesteryear with today’s valid concerns about Islamic violence. Of course the majority of Muslims are peaceful and decent citizens. However over the last two decades 99 per cent of terrorist murders have been committed by Islamic militants in dozens of countries worldwide. In France over 750 Muslim neighbourhoods are now officially designated as no-go zones by the French police, and other European countries have similar problems. It was the heads-in-the-sand politically correct brigades who were responsible for the horrific sexual abuse of children in Rotherham, UK, where about 1400 children were raped and sexually abused over a 16-year period, often by gangs of older men. According to the Jay Report, the authorities constantly underplayed or ignored the problems, and the reason was because of the race and religion of the perpetrators; the majority of perpetrators were Pakistani Muslim men, and the vast majority of their victims were poor working class white girls. This elevation of offence-avoidance above truth occurs because of people wanting to be seen to be tolerant rather than doing what was right. But that is nothing more than the vices of Pride and Cowardice at work.
Ruby Hamad is to be commended. As an Alawi, a member of a group on the islamic State's "exterminate now" hit list, she could quite easily claim she was "different" and join in the hate campaign against what is, basically, a deviation from Sunni Islam. I am surprised, so far, no member of the Saudi ulema has come forward to condemn IS's deviation from orthodoxy and to label them "kafir" (unbelievers). This tells me a lot about the Wahhabi creed of Saudi Arabia and its hierarchy. Perhaps there is a certain ambiguity about this stance? Whether Islam is a religion of peace or a religion of war, the evidence being the early, more "spiritual" suras in the Quran against the later, more "earthy" revelations when the fugitive community was established as the ruling elite in Medina with the Prophet as Imam (Head) of both Church and State combined, is an argument you have to know an awful lot about Islam to participate in. Most ES readers would be right out of their depth here. IS has radically changed the situation. Good, believing Muslims, who are no threat to anyone, like Irfan Yusuf, or heroic opponents of IS and all it stands for, like Jamal Rifi, have spoken. They need to take the lead here as part of the ongoing dialogue.
Good article but I find the last paragraph a bit Polyanna. It shocks me to see repeatedly how many Catholics have forgotten this part of our history.
Andrew, as always this is absolutely brilliant. In many ways, there are strong parallels between antisemitism among Christians for the past 2000 years, Islamophobia in the West since the rise of Islam, and anti-Catholicism in the English-speaking world since the Tudor era. Not being either a Jew, a Muslim, or a Catholic myself, I believe it's up to guys like myself to take the lead in challenging this bigotry, rather than members of the groups who are the objects of the bigotry.
Thank you Andy! I teach English to refugees, most of whom here are Muslim. In conversation a little while ago, one of them from Pakistan said that groups like ISIS and the Taliban claim to be Muslim - But They Are Not! All the ones I know are lovely; but if course, I talk to them!
I think it may be helpful if Muslims condemned terror simply,unequivocally and often, so as to create and confirm a culture of non-acceptance of violence, that may penetrate the minds of their mis-guided youth and the mis-guided critics of Islam.
I too remember those times, as a very young protestant I was appalled then as I am today. Anxiety can be a justification for worry but not for forgetting; the new commandment to love God, to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
This is a painfully apposite article. Through university classes I have worked with many Muslims from many different places. Their faith is reflected in their lives and interactions in multiple and enriching ways. For them to be stigmatised for the actions of a few is unfair and unworthy of us as an immigrant, multicultural society society. Ten years or so ago when some people in classes began criticising Islam in florid terms I found myself saying something like you have said. It is appalling that it still needs to be said. Thank you again. PS I am neither a Catholic nor a Muslim.
A thought-provoking article; well done. A problem of course is that there ARE significant amounts of truth behind many inter-community fears and hostilities, including all those nasty things you mention that the Catholic Church really has done over the years to many, not to mention the heap of nasty things Islam has done including to Christians (and probably to a lesser extent vice-versa).The Irish DID have an up-rising against the British in 1916 , the year of "the Somme" etc (and one suspects with a lot of emotional sympathy among the Australia-Irish generally). So there is very frequently some or even a lot of truth behind "bigoted" feelings and painful personal and inherited psychological wounds that are easily opened up. And the Germans did do some pretty bad things in Belgium in August 1914, including burning down Louvain and its Catholic University. As an aside, Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria who very effectively commanded the German 6th Army, including against Australians, was the hereditary pretender of the Jacobite cause and a very good Catholic...the Brits seemed to miss that in 1914! The point i suppose is that people are complex and the realities of not only their experiences and realities but those of their ancestors have to taken into account in understanding them. And it is important to understand why people react in the way they do.
I feel your historical analogy is more than a little flawed, Fr Andrew, and thus quite invalid. Unlike Catholicism in Ireland under the invasion of Protestant English rule (and the run-off from that in Irish migrant communities in British controlled colonies), the Muslim community in Australia is not living in its homeland, invaded by the Christians and thus moved to murder in defence of their rights and religious heritage. Your argument is the simplest of logical fallacies- non sequiter.
An excellent article, the forc eof which as increased for me by having watched 'Living with the enemy' on SBS last nigh. The onus should not be on the majority of Muslims to 'prove' over and over that they are not terrorists.
Father Hamilton SJ, Anti Catholicism is no mere antiquity of "earlier generations".[Charles Chiniquy.Maria Monk et alii.
Thanks for a timely and cogent reminder that the targets of fear and loathing shift over time. Historical amnesia is rife, as is the refusal of many people, including some who comment in these pages, to see parallels. I have lived long enough to experience the creation of several categories of enemies, and, over time, the eventual incorporation of them into the mainstream, after which too many then join the majority in denigrating and excluding a new 'Other'. I hope more readers will take this history lesson to heart and reflect on their own prejudices. Thanks Andrew.
I understand that when it is suggested to people with "a drinking problem" that they attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous they are advised to "look for the similarities not the differences" in the stories that recovering alcoholics share at meetings. People who have no desire to stop drinking see only the differences not the similarities. Those who do want to stop will recognise their own drinking experiences in the stories told This may not happen right away but eventually the penny will drop. They will admit they too like the speakers are powerless over alcohol and if they want to live happy and productive lives they must stop - completely. My take on Andrew's article is similar to the AA advice. If I can look at the similarities between the way Muslims are being treated in Australia with the way Catholics have been treated in the past, then I might have more identification with their plight and be willing to reach out to them in friendship and understanding. "We fervently wish to have a frank conversation with all people of good will,..., even those who hate the Church, so we can build peace with all" Gaudium et spes..
I've often thought of this parallel between present 'Islam' and past 'Roman Catholicism' in Australia. Islamophobia has the same agenda of collective blame as 'No Popery'. In West Wales when the IRA killed Lord Mountbatten in 1979, the local paper ran the sub-header 'Pope must act now'.
According to the Bible, the first Words God spoke, and thus the First Commandment ever given, were 'Fiat Lux' 'Let there be Light'. Billions of years later the Sun formed, giving off the photons we see as light. Billions of years later again the human mind evolved, and by its light we can see what is needed for all the human race to live in peace and harmony, for the benefit of all concerned. All we have to do is curtail the impediments that block that light and allow it to shine in the dark places of our souls that give birth to the prejudices and intolerance that blight our lives.
We are going through difficult times. It is very important that we stay calm, but we must be vigilant. We are Christians, and we should instruct our selves about the teachings of Islam. Read the Qur'an and Hadith in English, there are many books written by Christian converts from Islam who are experts on the Qur'an. Then we will understand what is wrong with the world. Sadly it may be too late.
Ron Cini gave very sage advice when he wrote that we should read the testimonies of converts from Islam to Christianity. The following youtube video from a former Muslim, "Brother Rachid", makes compelling viewing IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxzOVSMUrGM The video's title is "A Message to President Obama from a former Muslim". The grave problem that many people refuse to face is that the Qu'ran and Hadiths contain multiple passages that can in no way be seen as anything but calls to brutality and violence. The "taken out of context" defence does not wash. The first biography of Mohammed by Ibn Ishaq's tells of him leading battles and ordering his men to decapitate captives. There are no such passages in the New Testament. The twisting of individual verses from the New Testament to justify violence and brutality are obviously not consistent with Christ's words and deeds. He preached love and forgiveness for one's enemies. Even from the cross, he forgave those who put him there, i.e. all of us, the fallen and sinful humanity that we are. This is in stark contrast to the Mohammed who is proclaimed by Islam's religious authorities, both ancient and modern.
Father Hamilton SJ. I would prefer scientific survey research, Australia wide, for assertions that Anti-Islam is "all the go" and other ensuing gratuitous generalizations re Anti Islamicism, among average Aussies today. Yes I suggest this, even as isolated pockets of such exist, and anti terrorist legislation appears being passed very soon through Parliament-eg, re internet terrorist skullduggery.
Great article, ludicrous comments. Commenters want to believe the worst, and have 'researched' their answers from Anti-Islam websites, same tired old arguments get trotted out time and time again. I am appalled at the ignorance, and yes exactly the same sentiments that refused to allow Catholics the same rights, that expected Catholics to become 'white' and unfortunately, the high profile ones have become part of the hideous ruling elite. They betray us as Catholics, they are ignorant of our history, and they have lost that identity that Mannix cemented together. Ironically, it was only by his efforts that we established an educated Catholic class that enabled them to be in a position of power today. I am disgusted with them. I am disgusted at the ignorant rabble making their monstrous comments here, and the overtly racist 'aussies' now making life hell for Muslims. Racists have now emerged from under their rocks to torment Muslims because they have been sanctioned by our leaders.
Andrew I have been thinking the same thing as you have written about for some time. Add also that our religious women wore distinctive clothing, that for many 'Micks' Ned Kelly was a freedom fighter and away we go. Thanks.
Thanks Andrew for reminding us of the anti Catholic prejudice of yesteryear and its anti Protestant response from Catholics. And yes the recent anti Moslem attitudes being stirred up by our politicians is similar. Racism also follows the same pattern as has anti boat people propaganda. There are votes to be got in all of these. The targets are all presented as "evil". Such campaigns always arouse the latent prejudices within each of us. As followers of the man from Nazareth we have to learn to be tolerant understanding and just, recognise what's happening and refuse to be led.
Thank you, John Ryan for introducing me to "Brother Rachid". By mistake I got on to Anti-Islam is the new Anti-Catholic. I will definitely pass on Brother Rachid to as many Christians as possible.
An error in Wikipedia list of converts! Former President of Albania, Ramiz Alia,. as did former notorious president Enver Hoxha [Communist leader of Albania 1944-1985] remained an atheist communist. The latter officially declared Albania an atheist state. While Hoxha forbade and persecuted religion in Albania, destroying Mosques churches murdering priests and bishops, Ramiz Alia, under revolutionary pressure, ushered in anticommunist reforms. [Incidentally, Hoxha died in paranoid dementia in 1985] . In sweet Irony, while only 15 percent of the approximately three million inhabitants are Albanian Catholics, the vast majority are Muslims. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of people cheered the 77-year-old pontiff Francis during his one-day visit. Further the Pope considers Albania “for many countries a model on which they can orient”. Reason for this model is the coexistence of Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox without major conflicts.
St John Paul visited in 1993.
Thank you Margaret King and Father John George for further clarifications on this issue. A special thank you to Father Andrew Hamilton for detailing the malice which has often been used before for political gain (and distraction). It is not mere childish naivety to believe that talking to each other, sharing information and asking questions, will help break down the barriers built by those with vested interests.
If the Catholic Church followed it's mandate seriously - and practiced it - there would be no need for communism and no need for armed uprisings by angry young men (IS) to step in to counteract the forces of greed and imperialism in the world. Thomas Aquinas wrote "Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things."
HH, the church is a vineyard - not a corporation, company or political party. The Pope has called for people to stop the type of divisive language typical in your comments.
"Anti-Catholicism like anti-everything-else, still exists in pockets"[tut tut Fr Hamilton].
"Anti-Catholic assumptions have become deeply rooted among substantial sections of the public. Since the emergence of the new liberal anti-Catholicism in the late 1970s, a whole generation has grown up regarding these opinions as normal and customary, a familiar part of the social landscape for anyone born since about 1970. E.g bishops hate women and gays, priests molest children, and the Church supported the Holocaust: everybody knows that. These prejudices are particularly entrenched in the mass media, so powerfully that they are scarcely even recognized as prejudices. The ideas are in place, ready to be mobilized with very little provocation."
I have picked up the Koran and read the first couple of pages. It goes to great lengths to profess that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God. I have a problem with this anti Christ attitude to the divinity of Christ. Perhaps this is where the problem lies. I am not aware of any other religion that preaches against Christ in its Religious texts, not in the Old testament, in buddist text or hindu texts or any other religious texts.
Regrettably right on the target! About fifteen years ago I first began to teach graduate classes with quite a few students from Muslim countries. Discussions about different policy preferences were sometimes upset by what they heard being said about Islam.
I thought I had heard some of this before. It brought back memories of common abuse hurled at Catholics, usually behind their backs, in the Protestant community in which I grew up.
It was a relief when this nonsense stopped somewhere in the 1960s but dispiriting to see it return, just as virulently inappropriate, but with another target.
As a practising dissenting Protestant in all but religious belief I am delighted that you have called this out. Extremely timely!!
100 years ago, when Catholics were widely described as "idolaters" and traitors owing alleigance to a foreign power (Rome), it would have been inconceivable for a Catholic to become prime minister. We need to tell the story of Catholic (and Protestant) integration, so that young Australian Muslims are not afraid to enter public service and ultimately to take the highest political office in the land.
In an advanced society we have liberty and equality. Most of the worlds violence is caused by people treating other people not as their equals. Freedom must be defended if it comes under threat from political, religious , criminal or commercial tyrants.
False ideas about Islamic teaching are still promulgated in these comments, despite the very sound article by Andrew Hamilton. Islam has no organized "church" and its name is at present being used by various interests. Muslim have to struggle against this.There is plenty of information out there which is not hate speech. John Morrow's book quoted below is one useful starting point.
Morrow. John Andrew. The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with Christians of the World.
Investigate the technique of "clerical honeypots" used by intelligence agencies. | 2019-04-18T10:24:25Z | http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=42018 |
Genetic influences underpinning complex traits are thought to involve multiple quantitative trait loci (QTLs) of small effect size. Detection of such QTL associations requires systematic screening of large numbers of DNA markers within large sample populations. Using pooled DNA on SNP microarrays to screen for allelic frequency differences between groups such as cases and controls (called SNP Microarray and Pooling, or SNP-MaP) has been validated as an efficient solution on both 10 k and 100 k platforms. We demonstrate that this approach can be effectively applied to the truly genomewide Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Array.
In comparisons between five independent DNA pools (N ~200 per pool) on separate Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Array sets, we show that, for SNPs with minor allele frequencies > 0.05, the reliability of the rank order of estimated allele frequencies, assessed as the average correlation between allele frequency estimates across the DNA pools, was 0.948 (average mean difference across the five pools = 0.069). Similarly, validity of the SNP-MaP approach was demonstrated by a rank-order correlation of 0.937 (average mean difference = 0.095) between the average DNA pool allele frequency estimates and the allele frequencies of an independent (CEPH) sample of 60 unrelated individually genotyped subjects.
We conclude that SNP-MaP can be extended for use on the Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Array, providing a cost-effective, reliable and valid initial screen of 500 K SNP microarrays in genomewide association scans.
The post-genomic era signals increased confidence in the possibility of locating quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that underpin the heritability of common complex disorders. However, problems still remain and progress towards reliably detecting QTLs for complex disorders, for which multiple genetic and environmental risk factors are responsible, has been slower than expected . Hypothesis-driven candidate gene studies are important, but with approximately 25,000 genes in the human genome it is often difficult to predict how variation in gene product will affect a particular phenotype. Moreover, it may be a mistake to limit the search for QTLs to the 2% of the genome that codes for proteins, rather than using a genomewide strategy that considers non-coding as well as coding DNA sequences . Linkage designs represent a genomewide approach but are limited to detecting QTLs of relatively large effect size [3, 4]. Association designs are needed to provide genomewide searches for QTLs of small effect size but hundreds of thousands of DNA markers genotyped on samples of thousands of individuals are needed to detect QTLs of small effect size .
Microarrays that permit highly multiplexed genotyping greatly reduce this genotyping burden. Several companies have developed microarrays to meet the need for genomewide association analysis (most notably Affymetrix™ and Illumina™). In each case, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the marker of choice because they are bi-allelic, abundant throughout the genome and relatively stable from generation to generation . Alleles of SNPs close together on a chromosome will be correlated (that is, in linkage disequilibrium) and thus they are also likely to be associated with a QTL in between them, known as indirect association [7, 8].
The number of SNPs required for an indirect genomewide association study depends on several factors, including recombination frequencies, effect size, and sample size. It is estimated however, that approximately 500,000 'randomly chosen' SNPs or approximately 250,000 well-chosen 'tag SNPs', which take into account patterns of linkage disequilibrium, are adequate to capture nearly all common variation in Caucasian, Han Chinese, and Japanese populations [10, 11].
With the advent of microarrays that genotype hundreds of thousands of SNPs, genomewide association studies are becoming a reality. For example, microarrays have been instrumental in genomewide association scans that discovered an intronic SNP in complement factor H (CFH) causing age related macular degeneration , and a non synonymous SNP in IL23R – a gene encoding a subunit of a proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-23 receptor – that confers susceptibility to Crohn's disease . However, these associations involve large effect sizes with odds ratios greater than 3.0; very large samples will be needed to detect smaller QTL effects.
The solution appears simple: Use microarrays to genotype large cohorts for hundreds of thousands of SNPs. However, despite the high throughput of SNP genotyping microarrays and the low cost per genotype, the cost of individually genotyping a sample of even 1000 individuals remains prohibitive outside of large-scale consortia. Until genotyping becomes even cheaper, one solution is to screen the genome using DNA pools on microarrays to nominate SNPs. DNA can be pooled for large samples of cases and controls or the low and high extremes of a quantitative trait and the pooled DNA can be genotyped on SNP microarrays, a method we call SNP M icroarrays a nd DNA P ooling (SNP-MaP). The technique of DNA pooling has been validated using both microsatellites [e.g., [14–17]] and SNPs [e.g., [18–25]] on several genotyping platforms, including the Affymetrix 10 K microarray [26–32], 100 K microarray , and one half of the two-chip 500 K microarray set . The main advantage of DNA pooling is that it provides average allele frequency estimates for a group rather than genotyping each individual in the group and then averaging their allele frequencies statistically. The main limitation is that individual genotypes and haplotypes cannot be extracted because the DNA of individuals is pooled.
The confirmation of previously identified associations with rheumatoid arthritis have demonstrated the feasibility of SNP-MaP case-control study designs for detecting susceptibility alleles to complex diseases . Furthermore, substantive studies have already used pooled DNA across a variety of microarray platforms to detect novel SNP associations. SNP-MaP has been used as an initial screen in the identification of four susceptibility loci for mild mental impairment , 11 SNPs associated with reading ability , and several SNPs, including an intronic SNP from the diacylglycerol kinase eta (DGKH) gene, associated with bipolar disorder . These studies were performed using Affymetrix 10 K, Affymetrix 100 K and Illumina HumanHap550 microarrays, respectively. Moreover, the Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Array set has already been used to allelotype DNA pools in substantive research, implicating a KIBRA-encoding locus in memory performance .
In this report we evaluate the applicability of DNA pools on the first truly genomewide, commercially available genotyping platform, the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip®, which affords significantly greater coverage of all common variation than do 10 K and 100 K arrays . Although already employed in substantive research, three subtle but potentially detrimental changes differentiating the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip® from its validated 10 K and 100 K predecessors, deem validation of the full 500 K set with pooled DNA desirable. These changes are: 1) the introduction of two new restriction digest endonucleases, NspI and StyI; 2) a decrease in feature size from 8 μm to 5 μm; and 3) a reduction from 40 to 24 probes per SNP for 90% of the 500 K microarray.
To ascertain the reliability and validity of genomewide screening using DNA pools, we assayed five previously validated, independent DNA pools (N ~200 independent individuals per pool) separately on Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Array sets. To assess reliability, the allele frequency estimates were compared across the five DNA pools. To assess validity, the average allele frequency estimates across the five pools were compared with a CEPH sample of 60 individuals from the HapMap project previously genotyped using the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip®.
All five DNA pools produced similar detection rates with the 500 K GeneChip®; rates varied from 87.9 to 97.5% for the Sty array and 92.3 to 97.9% for the Nsp array. These detection rates for the 500 K GeneChip® were similar to those from our previous work using pooled DNA on the 10 K and 100 K GeneChip® platforms [29, 32, 33] and only slightly less than for individual genotyping of the reference DNA sample provided by Affymetrix (99.3% for Sty, 98.9% for Nsp).
Rather than deriving separate RAS scores for sense and anti-sense quartets, allele frequencies can be estimated more reliably using a composite measure. Thus, allele frequency estimates were calculated using a modified form of the RAS score algorithm (RASav-all) based upon an average of all quartet measures.
Reliability was assessed by correlating allele frequency estimates across the five DNA pools using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r), as well as calculating their average absolute differences. As can be seen from Table 1, estimates of allele frequency across the 500 K microarray are highly reliable (N = 457,607 – 487,666 SNPs for which 70% of quartet measurements were available). The average correlation among the five DNA pools was 0.956 and their average absolute difference was 0.066.
Reliability of allele frequency estimates in DNA pools for SNPs on the Affymetrix 500 K microarray.
Values are mean Pearson correlation coefficients (r) between the 5 DNA pools using the average of all quartet estimates (RASav-all). 'Worst' and 'Best' refer to the 10 bivariate comparisons between the 5 DNA pools and 'Average' is the average of these 10 correlations. Values in parentheses are mean absolute differences between DNA pools. 'All SNPs' includes all SNPs on the array (including rare and non-polymorphic SNPs) for which 70% of quartet measurements were available (N = 457,607 – 487,666 across both microarrays). 'MAF > .05' only includes SNPs with minor allele frequency greater than .05 (N = 428,179 – 456,241 across both microarrays).
It is possible that these estimates of reliability are inflated by the inclusion of low frequency alleles; particularly in the case of non-polymorphic alleles when all SNPs are considered. To control for this we re-ran these analyses using only SNPs with MAF > .05 (N = 428,179 – 456,241 SNPs). Table 1 indicates similar results for correlations (0.948) and mean differences (0.069).
Because we employ multiple biological replicates (constructed singly) without technical replicates it is difficult to decompose variance attributable to microarray measurement and pooling construction. However, a recent paper using one microarray of the two-microarray Affymetrix 100 K set has estimated that the microarray component of variance is up to seven times greater than that of pool construction (variance due to microarray ≈ .00126 vs. variance due to pool construction ≈ .00018; [see ]). Given the relationship between 500 K and 100 K performance (see below), we would expect to see similar estimates of microarray variance for the 500 K microarray.
To assess validity, we compared our estimates of allele frequencies from pooled DNA with individual genotyping data from an independent sample of 60 CEPH individuals. All the CEPH individuals (as well as Han Chinese, Japanese and Yoruban populations) have been genotyped for SNPs on the Affymetrix 500 K microarray; these data, which have been acquired using multiple genotyping platforms, are available for download from the HapMap project . Considering the small CEPH sample size, Table 2 indicates that the SNP-MaP approach exhibited reasonable validity, reflected by high correlations (0.926 on average for both arrays) and modest mean differences (0.100) between each pool and the CEPH population, with similar results for MAF > .05. We found no difference between array-type (Nspl or Styl) on indices of reliability or validity, regardless of whether all SNPs or just common SNPs (MAF > .05) were included.
Validity of allele frequency estimates in DNA pools for SNPs on the Affymetrix 500 K microarray.
Values are average Pearson correlation coefficients (r) between the allele frequency estimates DNA pool and an independent population (CEPH) of 60 individuals. 'Worst' and 'Best' refer to the 10 bivariate comparisons between the 5 DNA pools and 'Average' is the average of these 10 correlations. Values in parentheses are mean absolute differences. 'All SNPs' includes all SNPs on the array including rare and non-polymorphic SNPs (N = 470,512 – 487,666). 'MAF > .05' only includes SNPs with minor allele frequency greater than .05 (N = 440,401 – 459,418).
As expected, validity was further improved when all five DNA sub-pool estimates were aggregated, supporting the use of multiple DNA sub-pools in SNP-MaP studies . After excluding SNPs whose average minor allele frequency across the five pools was less than .05 or which had fewer than four pools, SNP-MaP estimates correlated 0.937 (mean difference = 0.095) with the CEPH population (N = 412,626 SNPs). Standard errors of the mean (SEM) across at least four replicates were small (approximately 60% of the data exhibited SEMs < 0.025 and 90% of the data exhibited SEMs < 0.045) but were predictive of validity, with smaller variance across replicates indicating greater accuracy. We estimate that with at least 4–5 biological replicate DNA pools, the SNP-MaP method has 80% power to detect allele frequency differences between case and controls on the order of .043 for rarer alleles (.05 < MAF < .10) and .095 for common alleles (.45 < MAF < .5).
After the removal of rare alleles (MAF < .05), the average correlation between the allele frequencies of two simulated biological replicate DNA pools – each containing the individual genotypes of 30 unrelated individually genotyped CEPH individuals – was calculated as 0.959. This provides an expected correlation between two pools containing independent samples and no technical variance (microarray or pool construction). Although the difference between 0.959 and 0.948 (our observed estimates of reliability) is small, with a p-value of 0.01 it is significantly different, however; this significance should be interpreted with caution as this is likely to reflect the sheer immensity of SNPs correlated and does not act as a summary statistic that can be used to quantify case-control allele frequency differences across the microarray.
Because the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip® Mapping Array shares 27,281 probe-sets with the 100 K GeneChip®, we investigated how similar the two platforms performed with the same DNA pools on the same SNPs. Overall, the 500 K platform performed slightly less well than the 100 K platform both in terms of reliability and validity. Using RASav-all, indices of reliability (between DNA pool comparisons) for the 100 K microarray ranged from .958 to .977 (mean = .967), whereas for the 500 K these correlations ranged from .933 to .949 (mean .940). This trend was mirrored in terms of validity when comparisons with the CEPH population were considered (data not shown).
The ability to screen common SNPs for allele frequency differences with DNA pools is now feasible on a genomewide scale using the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip® Mapping Array. We allelotyped five previously validated DNA pools on the 500 K microarray and show high reliability and validity for more than 500,000 SNPs.
It is important to note that estimates of reliability and validity, although high, were lower than those obtained using the 10 K and 100 K platforms . Comparing our previously published results for the 100 K platform versus the present results for the 500 K platform, the average reliability correlation was 0.969 for the 100 K vs. 0.948 for the 100 K (average absolute difference: 0.054 vs. 0.069); the average validity correlation was 0.939 vs. 0.916 (average absolute difference: 0.081 vs. 0.104). A reduction in both feature size and in the number of features per SNP may be accountable for this decline in performance from the 100 K array to the 500 K array. Nonetheless, the performance of the 500 K array is adequate, especially in comparison to the basic sampling variation seen in our artificial pools using the individually genotyped CEPH sample where no measurement error was present. Concerns may arise with Affymetrix's latest release, the SNP array 5.0, which sees all SNPs from the two-chip 500 K set, along with 420,000 additional non-polymorphic probes which may be used to assess copy number variation, contained within a single microarray. As our analysis currently employs mis-match probe data, it remains to be seen if the reduction in the number of features per SNP required for such multiplexing will further reduce the reliability and validity of pooled DNA allele frequency estimates.
Thus, we conclude that allele frequency estimates from DNA pools appear reliable on the 500 K platform as well as 100 K and 10 K platforms to screen for allele frequency differences between groups. Despite the reliability and validity found for pooled DNA, three limitations of this study should be mentioned, which put these results in an even more favourable light. Firstly, in terms of validity, these data are uncorrected for differential hybridisation kinetics, which can result in unequal representations of SNP alleles [27, 31, 33, 41, 42]. This is unimportant for individual genotyping as allele-calling algorithms routinely process – and, in the case of homozygotes, actually benefit from – discordant allele fluorescence values. If DNA pooling is used to estimate absolute allele frequencies, certain estimates will be biased when unequal allelic representation occurs. However, DNA pooling is rarely used to estimate absolute allelic frequencies. DNA pooling is usually used to assess relative differences between groups such as cases and control; previous reports of differential hybridisation indicating that the proportion of SNPs exhibiting differential hybridisation (likely to result in type I and type II errors) is small, suggests all pools are subject to similar technical variation and thus allelic bias. A suitable next step however, is to identify the specific SNPs that exhibit large differential hybridisation and either omit these from subsequent analysis or correct in the appropriate manner [e.g., k correction; see [42, 43]].
Secondly, the CEPH population that we used to determine validity is a relatively small sample, which will have undoubtedly reduced estimates of validity. Thirdly, reliability was assessed as the average difference between just one pool and another, rather than the difference between groups using multiple sub-pools for each group. It is therefore likely that our estimates of reliability are conservative underestimates, as may be inferred by the distribution of small SEMs.
DNA pooling involves several limitations. With DNA pooling it is not possible to extract individual genotypic information to allow analyses of individual differences or haplotypes. In addition, once individuals have been pooled they cannot be 'unpooled', thus tethering tests of allele frequency differences to the phenotype used for pooling . However, these issues are offset by the considerable financial benefits of DNA pooling.
As with individual genotyping, issues of multiple testing and false positive results are critical for genomewide association analyses using SNP microarray. As one might expect, replication has been demonstrated to improve estimates of allele frequency, and therefore may be used to reduce, although by no means eliminate, the dilemma posed by false positive results . Although no consensus has yet been reached as to the fairest method of analysing the enormous volume of data generated by genome-wide studies, especially for identifying QTLs of small effect size, progress with regard to high-throughput microarrays is being made . Regardless of which statistical procedures are agreed upon that demonstrate adequate association, the ultimate criterion for association must be independent replication. The expense of individually genotyping large samples using SNP arrays makes replication of genomewide association scans unlikely. However, because DNA pooling is relatively inexpensive, SNP-MaP strategies will facilitate replication on a genomewide scale.
With results for reliability and validity similar to those previously demonstrated on 10 k and 100 k arrays, we have shown that the SNP-MaP approach can be applied to a 500 k platform. We conclude that the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip® Mapping Array can be used in SNP-MaP studies to provide an efficient, reliable, and valid genomewide screen of allele frequency differences between groups, thus facilitating the detection of SNPs of small effect size.
Five independent pools of DNA were created from a sample of 1028 white Caucasian individuals (538 females and 490 males) randomly selected from a representative community-based sample of more than 14,000 children in the Twins Early Development Study, which we used in a SNP-MaP study of cognitive ability and disability with the 10 K microarray .
DNA samples were extracted from buccal swabs , quantified using a spectrophotometer (260 nm) and diluted to a target concentration of 50 ng/μl. Each sample was subsequently quantified in triplicate using fluorimetry (employing PicoGreen® dsDNA quantitation reagent, Cambridge Bioscience, UK) and samples that were accurately quantified (± 0.5 ng/μl) were accepted for pooling. Each individual's DNA was randomly assigned to one of five DNA pools, thus providing five independent pools with 204–206 individuals. Each individual contributed 79.1 ng of DNA to a DNA pool. Each pool concentration ranged from 13.33 to 13.57 ng/μl.
Because pooled DNA can be used only to estimate allelic frequency, not genotypic frequency, we refer to allelotyping rather than genotyping. Each of the five DNA pools was allelotyped using the GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Array set in accordance with the standard protocol for individual DNA samples (see the GeneChip® Mapping 500 K Assay Manual for full protocol). Each microarray was scanned using the GeneChip® Scanner 3000 with High-Resolution Scanning Upgrade, which was controlled using GeneChip® Operating software (GCOS) v1.4. Cell intensity (.cel) files were analyzed using GTYPE. Each of the five DNA pools was assayed on a separate microarray set; for quality control checks, a reference DNA individual provided by the manufacturer (sample number 100103) was also assayed on a separate microarray set.
Relative Allele Signal (RAS) scores, calculated using the 10 K MPAM Mapping algorithm, have been shown to be reliable and valid indices of allele frequency in pooled DNA [26–32]. Provided by Affymetrix, the GTYPE user's manual contains a full description of the Affymetrix Mapping GeneChip® probe-sets and how they are used to calculate RAS scores. Briefly, a RAS score for each SNP is derived from multiple 'quartet' measures. Quartets contain four 25 bp sequences (probes) with variations on the central base. The central base of the probe-set corresponds to two perfect match (PM) probes and two mismatch (MM) probes for each allele of the SNP, allele A (PMA and MMA) and allele B (PMB and MMB). There is a 90:10 split between 6 and 10 quartet measures per SNP on the 500 K microarray set. These quartets occur either exclusively on the sense or anti-sense strand, or on both strands. The distribution of quartets relative to the SNP site varies from SNP to SNP but can include up to seven quartets up or downstream of the SNP site ('off-sets') including the SNP site itself ('zero offset') on a single strand. After subtracting the average mismatch intensity ( M M ¯ MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8akY=wiFfYdH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj0=OqFfea0dXdd9vqai=hGuQ8kuc9pgc9s8qqaq=dirpe0xb9q8qiLsFr0=vr0=vr0dc8meaabaqaciaacaGaaeqabaqabeGadaaakeaadaqdaaqaaiabd2eanjabd2eanbaaaaa@2F03@ ) from each PM probe, a RAS score for each quartet is generated by calculating the ratio of A to A+B fluorescence values. If M M ¯ MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8akY=wiFfYdH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj0=OqFfea0dXdd9vqai=hGuQ8kuc9pgc9s8qqaq=dirpe0xb9q8qiLsFr0=vr0=vr0dc8meaabaqaciaacaGaaeqabaqabeGadaaakeaadaqdaaqaaiabd2eanjabd2eanbaaaaa@2F03@ > PMA OR M M ¯ MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8akY=wiFfYdH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj0=OqFfea0dXdd9vqai=hGuQ8kuc9pgc9s8qqaq=dirpe0xb9q8qiLsFr0=vr0=vr0dc8meaabaqaciaacaGaaeqabaqabeGadaaakeaadaqdaaqaaiabd2eanjabd2eanbaaaaa@2F03@ > PMB, PM fluorescence values for that allele are set to 0. In such instances ratios produce monomorphic RAS scores. If M M ¯ MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8akY=wiFfYdH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj0=OqFfea0dXdd9vqai=hGuQ8kuc9pgc9s8qqaq=dirpe0xb9q8qiLsFr0=vr0=vr0dc8meaabaqaciaacaGaaeqabaqabeGadaaakeaadaqdaaqaaiabd2eanjabd2eanbaaaaa@2F03@ > PMA AND M M ¯ MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8akY=wiFfYdH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj0=OqFfea0dXdd9vqai=hGuQ8kuc9pgc9s8qqaq=dirpe0xb9q8qiLsFr0=vr0=vr0dc8meaabaqaciaacaGaaeqabaqabeGadaaakeaadaqdaaqaaiabd2eanjabd2eanbaaaaa@2F03@ > PMB, no interpretable signal is obtained (because the denominator is 0). In such instances the quartet was not used in subsequent analyses. Only SNPs that retained at least 70% of their available quartets were used in subsequent analyses (i.e., 5/6 or 7/10 quartets). Approximately 96% of SNPs are retained using this criterion, depending on the successfulness of the assay.
Allele frequency estimates for the 500 K microarray set were calculated manually from the raw probe intensity data exported as a .txt file, for reasons outlined previously . In this study, however, we used a modified version of the RAS score algorithm that is based on an average of all quartet measures (RASav-all) rather than deriving separate RAS scores for sense and anti-sense quartets. The rationale for using RASav-all was twofold: Sense and anti-sense measures should not differ systematically and a composite measure should be more reliable.
Reliability was assessed in relation to the average correlation between the 5 DNA pools across all SNPs. Validity was assessed by comparing average allele frequency estimates across 5 DNA pools to those from the independent sample available from HapMap and NetAffx™ . The sample included 60 unrelated individuals from CEPH trios (30 mothers and 30 fathers) who were genotyped using the Affymetrix 500 K GeneChip® for the HapMap project .
To evaluate the level at which the observed SNP-MaP inter-chip reliability might compare to an ideal individual genotyping scenario, a simulated pooling experiment involving unrelated individuals was conducted using the genotypes of CEPH parents deposited in HapMap. Two independent pools were constructed: one comprising 30 CEPH mothers, the other 30 CEPH fathers. The allele frequencies of the pools were calculated separately and then correlated with each other using SPSS.
Sophia J Docherty, Lee M Butcher contributed equally to this work.
This work was supported in part by the U.K. Medical Research Council grant G0500079, Wellcome Trust grant GR75492, and grant HD49861 from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
SD wrote the manuscript and co-analysed the data. LB ran the microarrays, co-wrote the manuscript and co-analysed the data. LS co-wrote the manuscript and co-analysed the data. RP is principal investigator, conceived and designed the study and co-wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. | 2019-04-19T17:09:17Z | https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2164-8-214 |
1) The ease with which I can make a custom type. I was previously making modules using Christoc, which was fine, but now I specify a content type and make it instantly in the cloud.
2) This is a truly headless CMS, though using it as such takes a bit of setup. By making API calls, I will be able to skip making visualizers and keep my content completely separate from having to make pages.
3) For when I do need to make pages, the visualizers are a nifty way of showing this content - they are using the Shopify Liquid Content templating system which is a fully featured (if at times slightly odd) templating engine.
4) The DNN support is amazing, so different from other CMS' I have used in the past. I have bothered these poor people with so many questions and they have always been great.
These dislikes are temporary, solved by the product maturing to the stage where they allow unwashed peasants like myself into their content by direct API call.
1) Cost of being bleeding edge, I do not have an API key so I cannot use the EVOQ content without a visualizer right now. That ability drops with the 9.1.1 release, due out this week.
2) No inherent way to import content out of the gate. They have an import export tool coming but because of timing I will have to whip up something myself. When I get the key they have an example made with excel that I can use.
3) Minor gripe. I want objects to be able to reference themselves. As an example, if I was building a menu, I do not want a content type for level 1 another for level 2 etc - I want a content type menu-item which can have children of itself. Then I can easily build a menu. As I say, minor gripe but it has made me use the old DDRMenu module instead because I don't want a splattering of Content types for different menu levels.
While I am still in the implementation phase, I am super excited for what this offers. One of AEM's newest boasts is that you can use it headlessly - and I think their methodology is kludgy. Sitecore you would have to make all the services yourself, last time I did so I had to do it using SOAP, blurgh.
We are making a new Angular4 site so I will be using a microservice to pull pure data by url. I can then package it up as json objects, which it needs.
To see some of the things this makes possible, go look at what dnn people are doing internally with it http://www.builtwithdnn.com/ ... tantalizing!
Other than the fact that it is a CMS, there isn't much to like. It is just better than hand-coding.
I suppose because you can add and edit content using their rich-text window, that's something to like. But when you compare it to other CMSs on the market vs the price, that rich-text entry and edit is just a barrier to entry in this segment.
It is very hard to use, and features and capability are always behind the CMS pack, let alone the user interface. It is hard so say what I dislike the most because I dislike almost all of it.
Don't bother with this software unless you have lots of money, like a hard-to-use interface, features that are behind open-source CMS and other paid CMS applications, and want to pay high prices for developers which are very hard to find.
It is the CMS platform for one of the web sites I manage, inherited from the previous manager.
Easy to switch to source code editor. Editor UI makes sense and is easy to understand.
Templates and modules can be cumbersome to work with, compared to other CMS. WYSIWYG editor is finicky.
Take time to weigh the pros and cons of using Evoq Content versus Wordpress. Setup and maintenance is not as intuitive as other CMS options. Themes, plugins, and other add-ons can incur a significant cost compared to other CMS options. The developer community surrounding Evoq Content is not as large as other CMS options.
"fully extensible & Functional enterprise class dotnet based CMS"
1. Very modularized. Easy to build modules and deploy.
2. Most of enterprise CMS features are already built in.
1. Very hardware intensive.. does not work on most of the SHared hosting. Requires VPS hosting. Minimum startup RAM is 1500MB.
1. If you are looking for an opensource Dotnet based CMS, this is the software for you!
4. Since it is a CMS, our customers themselves can maintain their content thus reducing the expenses and time to take an information live.
"Making IT and Marketing Happy"
Our editors range from seasoned programmers to people editing a web page for the first time. Evoq Content gives the editors a straight-forward, simple approach to managing content. The learning curve for the CMS is relatively low. Ease-of-use for the average editor does not come with a trade-off of being weak for the IT team. In short, it is the CMS sweet spot of capabilities and ease of use. When a customization is needed, our IT team is able to implement changes easily to meet our business needs. Our marketing team continues to leverage the built-in tools that are continually expanding.
Finally, our IT team, which is small and kept busy, leverages the Enterprise service to get results as efficiently as possible. The DNN team has been very responsive to suggestions, debugging, and advice. When you are a solo administrator, you will benefit from their expert knowledge.
In DNN Evoq Content 8, the Page Settings URL Management tool is not as resilient as it should be. On several occasions, editors have accidentally created redirect loops.
After you decide to use DNN, the Enterprise service was extremely helpful to getting us up and running. Forums are improving, but being able to address specific issues we encountered within our internal environment was extremely helpful. The Annual Summit meetings are also a great place to learn a lot about the CMS.
Our site is used for external marketing as well as internal communications, Ease-of-use is priority #1 (for the developers and the editors).
"DNN for Managing an IIS Farm"
note: the likelihood of recommendation is dependent upon the size of the environment in question. I have a "leaning" towards DNN being more applicable to smaller, one node(web head), environments. A very capable content management system for smaller environments, for sure.
It's quite easy to manage modules and specific page content. I have to admit, from a systems administrative perspective, I do not manage the content as other departments do, however. I deploy code through DNN and perform basic operations through the DNN portal, in conjunction with deployments, but our marketing team is much more involved in day-to-day management of the DNN content.
From my perspective and past experience, DNN management of a web farm of IIS servers is, to put it simply, a bit buggy. We have had, and still do have, consistent issues with having massive syncing between web heads after making small changes on the DNN portal. These result in negative customer experiences. To DNN supports credit, we have worked quite extensively on this issue, and I need to pick that case up again, as I set it aside some time ago to move onto other "fires".
Dynamic/constantly changing web content. Our marketing team is able to update the site at will, will only small quirks here and there.
"DNN Developer, Designer and Adminsitrator"
As a developer the feature that I like best is the ability to extend the core functionality through the development of custom modules. I have always thought of DNN as much more than a CMS but rather a full web application framework. I also have to mention that I have had nothing but excellent support provided by DNN support - they go above and beyond on a regular basis. And of course, you can't speak about DNN without mentioning the DNN community. The DNN community has traditionally been an incredibly valuable resource regardless if you are just starting out or are a seasoned developer - there's always support to be had from the general community.
Download trial, watch a few inro videos and test it out for yourself. Also, contact the general DNN community through various online forums to see how supportive the community is.
Evoq Content has provides an efficient and flexible platform for managing and publishing content. Our marketing team love the ease at which dynamic content can be published on a regular basis as well as the ease at which static content can be updated when necessary. However, the flexibility in extending the platform, either through the utilization of commercial modules or the development of custom ones, has provided us the biggest benefit.
Evoq is a great one stop CMS for education. The interface is user friendly and even the technical novice can add content quickly. Should an issue arise, Evoq's support team is one of the best in the industry. They are quick, courteous, and responsive. I would highly recommend Evoq if you entity is looking for a efficient and affordable CMS.
The one feature I do not like of the Evoq Content is the Content Manager flyout. If you want to give a user permission to add a new page to the website, you have to give the user full Content Manager rights. This issue is being resolved in version 9.0.
The biggest benefit of Evoq Content is ease of use. For a school district that does not want to have a single point of contact updating all school sites, the ease of use to be able to distribute responsibility is a big plus. And, if you have an in house development team, the software can be further customized to meet any of your needs.
The support staff is what I like best. They are very knowledgeable and helpful. They respond very quickly. Not once have I had an issue that was DNN related that they couldn't fix.
I administrate our site. For the most part everything is very smooth and I don't have to do much. I spend a lot of time working on the server itself, very little time is spent on DNN.
Once you get upgraded the product is stable. However, the process of upgrading can be problematic at times. There have been times during an upgrade where things break. The good thing is the DNN support staff can usually figure out the problem quickly and fix the issue.
This does not really have to do with the DNN product itself but it is something to consider. The following is not true of all third party modules.
When using third party modules be weary. Chances are good you will have problems with them. These modules can cause problems with the DNN software too. On occasion I have run into issues with the third party module's support people not helping fix a problem their module caused. The other issue with the third party modules is the company that develops them will at times just stop development on them so you become reliant upon their module and then it becomes outdated or no longer useable. There have been times that the third party module becomes open source. I have never had any luck with open source modules. So with the thrid party modules when they break you may end up scrambling to find something else to replace them.
We have constant need of changing the content. We are constantly adding new content, editing content or deleting old content. We are constantly changing things. DNN makes all of this easy.
"Powerful, extensible CMS that can come at a cost to performance"
DNN Platform (recently renamed from DNN Community edition) is a very powerful open sourced CMS solution for anyone that is familiar with the .NET stack. Extending the framework through modules is straight forward, skin creation is relatively easy and aided through the use of skin objects, and a healthy user community base to reach out to for guidance or support.
DNN has been becoming slightly more bloated over the years, and uses a lot of system resources on the server side even when idle. It can also be very chatty with the database. The development team has been working as of late to improve the performance and hogging of resources though.
From brochure sites to advanced Web 2.0 applications, we have utilized DNN from every end of the spectrum and its been able to handle everything we've thrown at it so far.
"Best customizable CMS with module development"
1- The method of module development for customizing cms modules and create new modules for add new features to cms.
2- The user experience of management ui and simplicity in working with it.
3- The open source of core platform.
4- Support of develop customizable themes.
1- Lack of training materials for module development provided by dnn or third party communities.
2- Need heavy physical resources.
DNN Evoq give great built in tools for create any type of portal with simplicity if administrate and customize them through module development and large number of people in community.
Thanks for the review, Anas. Regarding your comment about documentation: earlier in 2016, we launched the DNN Documentation Center, a central documentation source for DNN administrators, developers, designers and content managers. You can find it here: http://www.dnnsoftware.com/docs/. Have a visit and let us know what you think - thanks!
"Been a DNN Developer for 3+ years"
I like the built in ability to extend the DNN core. It makes integrating custom development pieces much easier.
There are some pieces that could use some improvement. The standard search is not the greatest, but the ability to integrate 3rd party search options really helps fill in the voids that the core lacks.
I would recommend giving DNN Evoq a serious consideration for your business needs. The flexibility and security that come with the DNN Platform are unmatched by any other CMS.
As a developer, I work with many different business problems for different companies. DNN has been able to accommodate all business problems that I have crossed thus far.
I like the simplicity the best because it makes it incredibly easy to upgrade content.
I dislike the simplicity just as much if not more than I dislike it. The way it is set up does not allow for the use of certain modules that are not approved by their network. It also does not like to always save your work when you finish. Also, when copying and pasting from a word document into the website, it completely messes up the formatting making one go back and spend more time reformatting the text.
It allows for the easier finding and use of our site.
"Content management that offers a plethora of features"
Managing business websites. Some of the benefits are being able to edit, add, and remove content on demand.
"DNN Evoq "The Game Changer""
The DNN Evoq platform has empowered our marketing team to provide agile, real-time, content rich information through our website. This gives us the enviable ability to quickly identify a market need, build, and go live - all without the need for any additional technical support. This flexibility is a complete game-changer!
We've not yet had the chance to install the latest update, so it would be unfair to some note some smaller details around the user interface. From what I've seen in the demo many of those items are addressed, as well as providing a significant leap into a more elegant build environment.
If your marketing team (or other business unit outside of IT) needs to be able to "self-serve" for daily building and content management, I'd highly suggest you look at the DNN Evoq solution. Because we are fortunate to have in-house developers, we were able to really create a deeply branded, custom site. However, many of the off-the-shelf skins offer great options too.
The positive impact on our Key Performance Indicators continues to build. These metrics, along with our site recently being named the Best Education Website in the Internet Advertising Competition, presented by the Web Marketing Association, confirms that our DNN Evoq choice created a strong platform for success.
"DNN/EVOQ integration at Lincare Holdings"
A large amount of support from the community and company. The built in tools sets for authentication, workflow, and change management, were easily integrated with our existing systems. Providing our business units with the ability to make changes in an intuitive web interface increases the speed to market or our new DME products.
We we're initially limited to SPA module development and we're unable to leverage our in house MVC .NET programmers. Then the DNN 8.4.1 update allowed us to integrate our MVC Modules for our National Location finder and custom reorder forms.
Use the DNN blogs and document repositories to find the answer to just about any DNN question.
We have 20+ DBA subsidiary companies that each requires it own brand and marketing platform. DNN/EVOQ allows us to manage the content in one location and provide access for the individual organizations to complete their own updates. We can maintain a separate look and feel for all our companies and still share common content across multiple sites. We have experienced an increase satisfaction in our individual business managers and an increase in overall customer satisfaction.
"King of the CMS mountain, is there anything this platform can't handle?"
I've been using DNN since version 3 and Evoq since about version 5. I've not yet found a an area where I could say, "I wish DNN would do this." I've had to get creative in some instances to provide a solution to a particular problem, but it's never been about what the platform can do, only about how it's used. Out of the box, the core modules are great, but when you add in some from the store or free modules like OpenWebStudio the possibilities are endless in what you can do and it only seems to be getting better with each new version. The community and support network surrounding this product is outstanding.
The price tag for the editions above community can be a bit steep, in my opinion, for the feature set that each version brings. However, for Evoq Content, it seems fair for the outstanding support, access to manuals, and first access to latest stable versions.
Evaluate the community package as well as Evoq. The Community edition will more than likely handle most business needs. For those requiring additional support, Evoq Content is great. You'll pay for the support, but it's worth it to have someone to call if you run into problems.
One of the main issues we had prior to installing the CMS was being understaffed meant not always quickly addressing requests for updated content across several sites. To help with this, DNN provided us with the ability to assign and train Web Admins for each site and help spread the work load. Now individual departments keep their sites up to date in a timelier fashion.
"Perfect CMS with a great market place to download modules"
I like how easy it is to get going with a bunch of templates and modules for every use case you could need. You can also get mobile responsive skins too. We found it very easy to export a template and load into another site, therefore making it easy to make a quick portfolio of websites for the company.
As well as liking the modules, you don't find many that have a great UI on the backend for the admin users who update the content. The licence was a bit of an issue for us because to be able to achieve high availability in the Cloud, you sometimes need to have two instances of your site available and then load balance. However, the licence was per IP address, so if you had two instances of your site, you had to pay for two licences. I am not sure if DNN has fixed this now though.
Start with the light version to get a feel for it, if you like then you can buy the pro version. Also, go to the market place and check some of the modules there before custom building your own. Its possible to buy a really decent module for less than $100 which is likely to have been tested which saves you lots of time and money.
Create a template website and then replicate it many times. Pay for one licence and re-use multiple times. Create single sign on easily. The business I was working at had 50 venues, and didn't want to pay for 50 websites, but instead create a few templates and then cookie cut those.
For me the best thing about DNN is the ease and speed at which I can implement a fully functional web portal that is complete with user/role based security. Also that I can see immediately see what my changes to the site and it's content look like after editing right from the same UI. No need to log out of the back end.
The other OUTSTANDING aspect of DNN is the amazing community of users in the ecosystem. I have been able to go from knowing nothing about the platform to being VERY comfortable in all aspects of it's use, largely due to the willingness of other community members to help and their extensive contributions in the way of documentation and tutorials.
When I first started using DNN back in 2009 there were some security and performance problems that have since been resolved. At this point, I honestly can't think of anything significant I could say in the negative about DNN.
I would STRONGLY recommend the DNN Community Platform to anyone who is looking to develop a serious and professional online presence that requires little to no coding experience. On the other hand, if you are a seasoned developer, you will find the DNN platform offers a very robust foundation to develop and implement your own custom web based applications and modules.
I am a front end web developer (learning to be a back end developer as well) and being able to roll out a fully functional website for my clients in a matter of days rather than weeks or months has greatly improved my bottom line. I am a one man shop a this point and because of DNN I have been able to triple the number of clients I serve without hiring any additional staff.
"Powerful, Convenient and Extensible but Sometimes Frustrating"
Using DNN, I can produce a modern, subscription, website in a weekend. My site will contain an elegant skin, a graphic rotator, the ability for people to register, basic social media functions, a menu that changes as different users log in, a newsletter broadcasting ability, lots of content, pop-up windows, blogs and articles. That's a lot of functionality for free and for someone who is not a professional web developer. You can see an example of such a site at agilethinking.com. This site is built on the free edition of DNN Community supplemented by both free and purchased modules.
In considering DNN, it is important to realize that there is a large community of module developers. There are many free modules available (http://dotnetnuke.codeplex.com/) and a large number of paid ones as well (http://store.dnnsoftware.com/). A bit of web research will enable you to identify the reliable and creative developers whose modules make this platform especially flexible and powerful.
In short, DNN enables you to create a professional, highly interactive site without the need to write code. You can control the look and feel through the skin you use and enhance the functionality through purchased modules.
If you are more technical there are several rapid development tools available that will allow you to create your own custom modules (for example XMod Pro ) and if you are a developer (or hire one) you can code custom modules in C# or Visual Basic.
DNN started out as an open source project but like other open source products now has commercial versions. While the company has made good on its promise to continue developing the Community edition, the support often feels haphazard and spotty. Some bugs persist for a long time.
Some open source products seem to have a more active and welcoming user community than you will find at DNN. Within the DNN community, there is a bias toward developers. If you know how to code and are comfortable with .NET and Microsoft servers you'll be fine. If you, like me, are less technical you may find that some aspects of DNN are frustrating. This is not to suggest that the hurdles are insurmountable but some things you may want to do require you to change files on the server rather than being able to manage them from within DNN.
There is help available. If you are on your own, you can subscribe to DNN Creative or DNN Hero both of which produce instructional videos on a regular basis. A company like Managed.com will install, host and provide excellent service for your DNN site, And there are many consulting companies that will help you as well for a fee.
Despite my frustrations, I have been a loyal DNN user for many years. I am not a developer and want to be able to create powerful and attractive web presences quickly and easily. DNN fills this need.
If you lack technical or web development skills, you will be fine as long as you stick to the basic platform functionality extended by free and purchased modules. You can do a lot. If you have more complex custom needs bordering on needing to create a web application, consider hiring a DNN consultant.
If any of these describe your business you should consider DNN. You have a business which requires a web presence. You are delivering content or need an eCommerce platform. You want users to be able to register and want to show different classes of users the different content. You want to empower some users to create and manage limited content. You want to be able to send out newsletters to users based on their role. You want basic social computing functionality like groups, discussions, voting, a news feed. You want blogs and articles. You want multiple languages.
If you plan to resell a product based on DNN, note that it is licensed using the MIT license which is extremely favorable and places few restrictions on you. This is unusual in the open source community.
I like how easy it is to use. The interface looks good. Building skins is very easy.
Lots of bugs are constantly discovered and added to the product through upgrades. We have used it for many years and have never had a bug free experience.
We provide website content management to a University environment.
"A Solid Performer that Could Use a Bit of a Diet"
It's really easy for our clients to use. Compared to other CMS systems we offer, DNN takes much less training for the client to be up and running making changes to their web site. Also, I like the flexibility of the platform. If we build the site on DNN we can be confident that we'll be able to handle just about any request the client might have in the future.
It's big. There is a lot of complexity to the system and it probably does take a bit more skill to setup than the others. This can also result in slow response times if you don't have it on good hardware and properly configured.
I'd look at this product for flexibility and ease of use for the end user. If you do go this route invest in some knowledge to get it up and running correctly.
We use it as the "platform" for all the web sites and apps that we build.
"DNN framework one of best Web CMS.."
I have worked extensively using DNN Framework to develop customize CMS application using .NET Framework, Silverlight, Visual Studio etc. Its very much flexible to inject customize modules and at the same time taking advantage of existing modules and cross cutting concerns like security, logging etc. It has various interception points where we can add custom aspects as per requirement. The project was a big success in a very short span of time. As a Architect, Designer and developer i recommend everybody to try any DNN framework.
We struggled a lot while upgrading the version of DNN. So backward compatibility can be improved so that the existing modules are not changed to cater new versions.
As a Architect, Designer and developer i recommend everybody to try any DNN framework and take advantage of existing and customized module without wasting time to develop various aspects and cross cutting concerns like security, db connection, logging, alerts and communications.
As we can inject customize modules using C# or VB.net.. It can cater any business problems.
"Powerful development platform in the .net environment"
It is build on the Microsoft environment. If that is where you operate, this is a great environment. The best thing about DNN for me is that it is one website platform that we can make do just about anything. The CMS aspects are fine and the fact that we have access to the full .Net programming environment means that we have the ability to build just about any website or web application on the DNN platform. The primary benefits are having to learn only one platform..
The ability to create custom modules or to purchase 3rd party modules provides all of the functionality that anyone could ever need for a website. Third party skins extend this to designs that can be purchased too.
The admin functions for end users are not the most friendly. Experiences users have not problem at all but the interface is confounding to some new users.
There is some opportunity for confusion between the paid (commercial) versions of the product and the free, open source editions. My experience is almost exclusively with the open sources version. They perform very well. The company proclaims their commitment to the open source platform but their 'for profit' mission sometimes causes confusion among their users.
I have a web development company. Virtually 95% of the websites we have build over the last 4 years have used the DNN platform is a significant way. There is a great deal of functionality that does not need to be recreated or re-integrated for each project. The platform is stable and robust.
"Perfect Application framework to large kind of business solutions"
Complete customization, adaptable module integrations, datadriven solutions.
I've never found a kind of problem that I cannot implement in DNN.
Few "beautyfull" marketing-ready themes. And quite expensive themes in the marketplace.
It's a perfect application framework to bridge CMS and datadriven requirements.
The problem was finding a complete fullstack solution framework to adopt in my agency to deploy any kind of marketing/business solutions to my clients.
DNN is a perfect, powerfull, completly adaptable tool for rapid devolpment any kind of project.
"Spoiled Product By SaaS Monetization Strategy"
Evoq Content makes it painfully easy for someone with an extremely shallow technical skill set to oversee large corporate web assets. There are also many nice controls around user permissions so for larger organizations whom have a stringent process for making content updates it is also a viable solution.
The localization for multi-lingual / multi-national websites is a nice plug & play way to tailor-fit experiences for many cultures.
There are many go-to plugins available which have been rolled into Evoq Content so that you don't have to piece-meal them during configuration.
It insists on hosting on DNN's Windows Azure, which locks you into a re-occuring cost that previous versions did not require and gives you very limited access & control over your own servers. Great for non-technical individuals but a huge disabling factor if you have ANY internal technical staff.
While Evoq Content lowers some technical infrastructure barriers to entry associated with a .NET web application stack, what you have to give up in terms of being able to customize (or even access) the experience, functionality, & code are not worth the cost. If it's exactly what you want - awesome! - otherwise you're going to be fighting up-hill to implement customizations.
As far as extending or customizing any aspect of the Evoq platform it's a fool's errand. There database, file storage structure, & code are obstrificated to an unusable point and there is next to nothing when it comes to documentation.
Evoq Content is setup for performing as a stellar demo to make sales to business teams, establishing re-occuring revenue in the form of hosting & licensing for DNN, & building in the up-selling of software development services to "custom" their product.
If you want to set & forget a large website your business team will mostly be adding static content to - GO FOR IT!
If your technical team owns the website, you have any custom functionality requirements, or want to own what you build - DO NOT BUY!
In the corporate multi-national website the localization & multi-site management were huge benefits from DNN - unfortunately I understand that their licensing policies have changed where you cannot use a single install to management websites on multiple root domains which is a huge barrier to entry for any company managing multiple websites.
"DNN is the best CMS. period. "
I started using DNN since 2009 and also delivered few projects to my clients. The deliverables were landing and micro-sites with forums, e-commerce, etc. I was able to write custom modules with the help of good documentation and community support.
I opted DNN as its very easy to use for non-developers. The expectations that one has by a CMS were met when combined with modifying content, skin and modules whether they are out of the box or custom solutions.
When I started using DNN, I thought the documentation was not covered for all the parts. However, it has evolved a lot since then and now has good docs. It was a open source app before but the only quality learning material I got was by paying to DNNCreative site. It has many videos covering almost everything. I expected all this to be provided by the community itself instead of going to a third party service.
If you are a developer, use your time to go through documents if you want to create some custom modules. Out of the box solution is good anyway as everything is GUI driven, so it is very easy to setup. You will need to spend some time to write something that is not available but before investing time on it, look for the modules available in the store as it may solve your needs.
With addition to a proper landing site and other micro-sites, I had to provide forums, comment support, e-commerce modules that were linked to the APIs of the EPOS system at my client's location. I also added support of CRUD operations related to CRM data. Talking about micro-sites, it was very easy to deliver custom designs for each microsite.
I like that is very simple to use, simple to extend and there are thousands of available modules available to use. Also there is a pretty big community so is easy to find help & support.
The only thing that I dislike is that can be tough to move content from one install to another. I'm mostly thinking in a PREPROD / PROD environment where the users enter some content first and then want to push it to production.
All type of business. As mentioned before, a lot of features coming out of the box, easy to extend, easy to use, and a LOT of modules available to buy and download for free.
The best part of evoq is its awesomely powerful search engine. Many clients assume that a powerful search engine is an out-of-box feature of a CMS (Google ruined them ;) ), without considering the cost behind it. And now they will get it, just as they would like it to be.
Nothing is discomforting, except a few browser issues (it's more like limitations of older browsers).
You need to know if end client is asking for a Ferrari or a Fiat and evaluate evoq accordingly. It might be not the ideal solution for each client, but its worth giving a try (use free trial version).
Providing a powerful CMS with equally powerful search engine. No rocket science, but sometimes its difficult to manage the expectations of end client.
"EVOQ 9.0 brings DNN to the forefront of modern CMS'"
DotNetNuke's Evoq Content 9.0 is a major upgrade from previous DNN verisions, bringing life to an aging CMS. A combination of excellent customer support, extensive yet adaptable module marketplace and user friendly solution interface enables users of various personas/roles to easily visualize, adapt and implement content.
Cost Basis, "Liquid" content needs to be streamlined a little more, More base skins would be nice.
Web Content Management, Website Analytics, Digital Asset Management, Marketing and centralizing a business's programs.
"DNN is our platform of choice for building websites for clients all over the world!"
On-page admin functions and editing.
The ability to create multiple portals on a single DNN instance.
If there's one area where has DNN fallen short, it's ecommerce. But now, thanks to Will Strohl and Hotcakes Commerce, even ecommerce is a pleasure with DNN!
The DNN framework allows us to create custom applications and experiences for a wide variety of use cases and customers with specific business problems. The huge benefits of using DNN that we've realized is the flexibility to create web solutions for just about every scenario you can think of.
I can do any web solution including extranet and intranet solutions. Since it is on top of Microsoft Technologies there are no limits in the customization of the solution at any level.
There are no barriers in the implementation of any UX.
The integration with Telerik is awesome.
It doesn't have advanced options to manage users and pages.
There is no way to share users and roles between portals.
The security and extensibility of the platform allows us to sell solutions build in DNN with confidence. From SMBs all the way up through enterprise level clients, I know that DNN will perform.
As easy as the DNN CMS is to use, the occasional small business still compares it to WordPress in ease-of-use (which is often spawned by their familiarity with WP).
We're able to confidently put solutions together in DNN for our clients that are reliable, easy-to-use, elegant, and which scale to whatever need they have.
Evoq Social, looks smooth and really easy to manage.
I've done an simple test and not really in deep. One think I noticed which should be improved is the API integration.
Create web platform for different company within different requirement, the main think customer ask is the analysis and reporting system, which I found here really good.
Support is very responsive and knowledgeable.
Installation and upgrade process seems a little to complicated compared to other content management systems.
Fluid/Responsive content and better options for layout. We hope to take advantage of the analytics dashboard as well.
"Could be great but it is not."
Overall features, good community, availability of modules and themes.
Performance and user experience. It's too slow and too difficult to manage for the end user.
I can cover almost all business scenarios.
"A grassroots developed CMS System with high security "
The website's security level of access is easy to use and administer.
It's not as easy as to use if you are a wiziwig user. You do need to have some technical skills.
Trying to run an eCommerce site is a bit difficult to use.
DotNetNuke is an excellent competitor to Joomla or Mambo (both typically run on non-Windows OS').
Because it is for Windows, you have less of a free community and more pay for everything (addons, etc.). You also have the overhead of the Windows OS on top of the CMS.
If you are a Windows shop, DotNetNuke is a great CMS, I would not recommend it unless you are a Windows shop, but I am biased towards Linux.
* We monitor all Evoq Content reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. Validated reviews require the user to submit a screenshot of the product containing their user ID, in order to verify a user is an actual user of the product.
Hi there! Are you looking to implement a solution like Evoq Content? | 2019-04-18T23:02:17Z | https://www.g2.com/products/evoq-content/reviews |
In early 1998, John Hancock Funds, a Boston-based financial services firm, was soaring; they'd just reached their highest level of sales ever. But even in the midst of the company's elation over its sales figures, John Savageau, the company's Quality manager, discovered that within its base of 45,000 broker-customers, JHF was losing hundreds of millions of dollars in business to other financial services providers. Savageau had merely asked a senior VP of Sales, "How many brokers stopped doing business with us last quarter?"
"No one had the answer," the manager explains. "Like so many salespeople, they were looking just at new business by dollar volume. We were at our peak, and the dollar figures kept going up; so no one supposed there was a problem. But the first time I ran a lost-customer analysis, we estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales in the second half of 1997. Brokers were simply selling the products of other financial services firms, and we didn't know why."
That's when the company brought in Diane H. Schmalensee, president of Schmalensee Partners, a Chestnut Hill, MA-based consultancy specializing in customer-focused improvement to build long-term relationships. Schmalensee proceeded to help JHF regain more than $30 million in sales from brokers who had been taking business elsewhere. To devise the winback strategy for JHF, she relied on research principles culled from The Loyalty Effect, by Frederick Reichheld (Harvard Business School Press, 1996).
First, the consultancy telephoned brokers, to determine the extent of the problem. "We identified individuals to call, by using JHF databases," recalls consultant Schmalensee. "By comparing historical data, we flagged those brokers whose purchases had dropped off by 80 percent or more; their business was declining, and we needed to know why." What she discovered was that while JHF executives and the company's inside salesforce were focused on their top broker-dealers (who each might buy a million or more dollars' worth of mutual funds per year), they were paying less attention to the thousands of brokers who were placing orders in the $100,000 range.
"We conducted about a hundred interviews - a lot of interviewing for qualitative research," she says. "We represented JHF by saying: 'We really care about your business; what can we do to regain it?' We expected they would report that they were unhappy with JHF service; but we found it was mostly a case of out of sight, out of mind. The company just wasn't staying in touch regularly-and its competition was. The business was walking out the door because of a lack of relationships. That told us that to win back these accounts, JHF would need to attend to relationship building."
Savageau continues: "We needed to start treating lower-level customers as though they were our top-tier customers. Our wholesalers and inside representatives were spending their time talking to the top 20 percent of clients, but in reality there was a billion dollars' worth of opportunity in the lower 80 percent." And according to William Pollock, president of the services consulting firm Strategies For GrowthSM (Westtown, PA), JHF's experience wasn't unique. "Measuring customer satisfaction is widely practiced, but surveying closed and lost accounts generally isn't. There's no more direct source of information than interviewing both current and recently lost customers."
After Schmalensee's research, JHF launched a broker retention-and-winback program that redirected its internal and external sales efforts to more ongoing contact with its customer base. "In the first six months, it paid off handsomely; the return was over 100-fold," she says. "It was immediate, and it was direct."
What was at the core of the success?
"You definitely need a strong database to make this work," says the consultant. In fact, the company is now so interested in seeing how the broker recovery program is paying for itself that, each month, the JHF customer tracking system lists broker-customers whose business is falling. "Now, instead of researchers telephoning the brokers after the fact, the inside sales representatives call customers proactively."
JHF executives and top sales managers even use the "lost customer list" developed from the initial research, when they travel across the country. "We not only continue to win back customers," Savageau says, "some of them are giving us more business than ever. That $33 million in recovered sales is projected to grow to almost $70 million this year. Customer winback is now an active component of our customer support model for all future business."
According to Steve Kraus of the Connecticut-based consumer research firm Yankelovich Partners, "Ninety-two percent of consumers we recently surveyed say they feel more powerful today about what they buy than ever before." Customers are simply less loyal than in the past. They have more choices, better knowledge, and the ability to instantly search the Internet for whatever they may need. In the blink of an eye, they can defect to the vendor next door if they're not happy. So, savvy companies are now exploring ways to combine customer relationship management tools with customer "winback" management strategies. They're using critical data that they cull from their new and existing CRM systems, to find out where they've erred with their customers.
They're blending clever marketing approaches with super-charged customer service, to "regain" customers and lure them back to the fold after defection. And, importantly, they're empowering customer service reps to negotiate with bolting customers at point-of-interaction-before flight takes place. Sometimes that's no easy feat. But winning back lost customers is becoming key to bottom-line success in every industry, from airlines to software.
Dave Munn is President/CEO of the Massachusetts-based Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) - marketing, branding, and sales strategies advisors to the world's leading services organizations. "When customers are bolting or they've fled," Munn advises, "it's critical to make them feel that they're being re-approached with sincerity, and being offered a meaningful solution in a timely fashion. Late, impersonal, and token letters, calls or fixes don't get the job done. Yet we've found that most companies don't offer enough, they don't do it personally, and they take too long to offer an unhappy customer restitution."
Carrie Cornella, VP/Customer Service for the Colorado-based CRM software firm, GoldMine Software Corp, reports that her company's Number One strategy is to find out what unhappy or about-to-flee customers don't like, and then use that information not just to try to keep them on board, but to offer products and services that are better than ever before. "Some of these people end up becoming our most loyal customers. In fact, our best reference accounts are often the ones we've had the most trouble with! That's because we've had a chance to really prove ourselves. Any company can provide product, but we're a team. We believe that how you fix problems is what separates you from everybody else."
To that end, says Cornella, it's vital to make full use of CRM systems. "A large part of our strategy is to track all customer information, maintain a good history of all customer interactions, run reports, and do database mining and incident tracking, so that we can see how the customer may be struggling. The key is not to allow those little problems to build up over time-a lot of little things can eventually cause a big problem. So, yes, we're using customer information to reactively win back customers; but we're also moving from being reactive to being proactive. We're trying to see how we can train or coach customers so that they won't struggle in the first place."
As ITSMA's Munn relates, "That's one reason why the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain is so successful: Management gives every employee a $1,000 'budget' to recover dissatisfied guests. To Ritz-Carlton, the price of an unhappy guest is a lot higher than the cost to offer a free night, a room upgrade, or a bill credit. Companies shouldn't escalate complaints; they should give employees the power to handle them on the spot."
Cornella concurs: Key to preventing customer defections is CSR empowerment, she says. "We want CSRs to make offers and solve customer problems immediately. It's our goal to make sure the customer call never makes it to the manager. After all, the higher up the chain it goes, the longer the problem is unresolved.
So the CSRs are formally trained and empowered to resolve these kinds of issues. We even provide incentives for them to address specific problems while they have the customer still at hand; then, we incent them to add those resolutions to the knowledgebase, or send the customer detailed documentation to solve the problem. Our CSRs can give discounts within certain limits, as well; but if the customer is still unhappy, the contact gets immediately escalated to the VP level. The goal is to keep the customer and not let him get away from you. A lost customer will talk about a bad experience for 18 months - and remember it for 23 years. Do you want him bashing your company for that long?"
Designing the Formal Winback Strategy About a year ago, another CRM software firm, TeleMagic (a division of Sage US Holdings, Dallas), realized that it needed to formalize a customer winback strategy for its customer base. The company's research was indicating that they needed to build better relationships with their customers-even lost customers. But responding to customer needs, and winning customers back when necessary, was complicated, because TeleMagic sells its products exclusively through resellers, or authorized marketing partners (AMPs). So the company designed a "hierarchy of response" to attend to unhappy or bolting customers quickly.
"Now, if there is a problem, the AMP of record is immediately brought in to address any concerns that the customer may have," explains Karen M. Brittain, TeleMagic VP. "When a situation calls for additional on-site support, our resellers work in tandem by consulting with each other on vertical and horizontal markets. In many cases, having an industry-specific consultant, as well as a consultant with departmental expertise, serves to fulfill the clients' requirements."
TeleMagic's winback strategy includes not only the reseller channel, but the highest levels of the company. If necessary, TeleMagic corporate will work with support management and staff to bring back the customer. "Our director of Support Services is available to both the client and the AMP, to assess any situation that arises," Brittain says. "The director determines the course and scope of corporate intervention, and has daily contact with both the client and/or the AMP, to resolve the customer's problem. A formal strategy is then developed for each winback case; and as the strategy develops, it can include communication by phone, in writing, or in person from a member of the executive management team-up to and including the vice president of the company. Our clients have different problems, so each has different needs. The director of Support Services works closely with the client to define those needs, in order to develop the strategy best-suited to resolve the issues at hand."
Regain management experts agree that a formalized strategy-whether broadbased or individualized-is essential in the battle to win back customers. "Each company should have a clearly defined method of saving customers," explains Doubleday Direct's Friege. And at TeleMagic, says Brittain, "We put a special incident tracking system in place to assist escalation of potential problem accounts. Customer service surveys are also conducted with each newly registered user, to identify, early on, any implementation issues that he may be facing. Our formal winback-and-prevent-defection strategy has been in place less than a year, so it's difficult to quantify the impact on our bottom line. But we have seen an increase in the number of positive customer service survey returns as we have adjusted products, policies, and support processes based on the customer feedback."
GoldMine, too, uses numerous surveys to win back straying customers. While the company conducts win/loss surveys after prospective customers have evaluated their software, and conducts random spot surveys of customers to measure and monitor customer satisfaction, special e-mail surveys respond to specific incidents. The results are then sent back to Customer Service, where the data is benchmarked and tracked. "We log those complaints, and run reports," says Cornella. "We take the top 10 complaints of the month and, generally, find two or three issues that customers are complaining about the most. Then we implement a corrective action plan and post it on the website, or in the knowledgebase that we provide to our customers, 24 x 7. Finally, we conduct lost-customer surveys," she explains.
"We survey every single customer company that leaves us and ask them why they left. We contact each company directly, then schedule a call to the customer's management team. We're open and honest if we made a mistake. Together with the customer, as a team, we devise a game plan to tackle the issues. There's constant follow-up on a daily basis. It may go on for two days or two weeks, but the key is continuing the communication. We get many of our lost customers back this way: Now, only about 2 percent leave, and the most common reason is that the company has been acquired, or a corporate decision has been made to change software.
Still, if a client company's maintenance expires, we provide them with customer service for a 30-day grace period. If it has expired for a year, we'll provide a discount on the fee for reinstatement. And if we just plain lose the customer, we still continue to market to them, until they ask us to stop. We send new releases about products, and invitations to events, trade shows, road shows, and our annual user conference. We've won back even some of the diehards this way."
A winback case-in-point was GoldMine's experience with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. "They'd been ready to dump us on a number of occasions," recalls Cornella. "For example, when we migrated from DOS to Windows, it was very painful for our customers, including the Exchange. But we walked the Exchange through the DOS transition by providing technicians dedicated to the migration. The Exchange stayed with us. Then, about a year-and-a-half ago, when they hired a new IT manager (who turned out to be a big supporter of another vendor's software), the memory of our previous commitment helped: The individuals at the Exchange who actually used the software did not want to give us up. But we had to win the manager over. So, we gave him a proposal, created a project plan of on-site implementation and training, and went back several times to conduct a needs analysis. Then we offered a nine-month trial. In the end, we won back the account."
Okay, you've lost some customers. But are those customers worth winning back? And what will they need in order to come back to you?
According to Erin Kinikin, industry analyst with Massachusetts-based Giga Information Group, "Companies are now stepping back from just acting [on winback] and instead, are prioritizing when they should act-and with which customers. Customer churn is watched closely, and the real name of the game is customer value management. Each customer today is a portfolio; companies must provide enough services to keep them, or enough offers to win them back, but still maintain profitability. There are all kinds of eMarketing software to help you make winback offers, but it's the analysis [of the customer data in the CRM systems] that helps you understand the present and future value of each customer. So you get much smarter about which customers you love, which ones you need to serve well, and which ones you may not want to win back at all."
Says Kinikin: "Leading eMarketing software firms (e.g., Rubric, MarketFirst, and Annuncio) allow companies to create e-mail campaigns to a specified set of customers, make personalized offers, bring the customers back to the website using an embedded name, and then track who came back and what each did. This is important, because the more data you can collect on a customer, the more likely you can extend an offer that will have value to him." If necessary, a company can create multi-step campaigns that can be kicked off when the "right" customers haven't bought anything for a period of time. "Marketing or eMarketing programs can push offers specific to those customers' profiles, wait several days, then send a better offer two weeks later. In this way, a company can see which offers and campaigns are effective in bringing customers back to the fold.
Winback campaigns waged in the past," says Kinikin, "would normally take three to six months to reveal the customer need, because of the time it took to send out letters, get responses back, determine an offer, work with the advertising agency or direct-mail firm, and get materials printed and sent out. Now, companies are typically putting out e-mail campaigns in a week and getting feedback in a day, because they can get 80 percent of their e-mail response in the first 24 hours. So now they can make any number of offers in the same time it took previously to simply conduct a winback campaign." All the while, she continues, the company is adding to its knowledgebase, regarding what its customers want, what drove them away, and what will bring them back to the fold.
"And remember," she points out, "traditional [winback] marketing campaigns cost anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million. The response rate is usually only 1 or 2 percent, and the campaigns take so long that information is often irrelevant by the time the responses come in. Today, e-mail response rates are between 10 and 20 percent, depending on how good your list is and how effective your offer is; and the costs are usually nowhere near traditional figures."
Will eCRM and the Web Help? Strategic competitive advantage today lies in what a company "knows" about its customers, and how it can reinvent its products and services to deliver ever-higher levels of customer satisfaction, retention and, yes, winback. By using every division within your organization, say enterprise CRM (ERM) vendors, you can extract critical information, conduct strategic research, and implement customer profiling that anticipates customer needs and wants-and can even win back customers you may be losing. To find out what has alienated your customer, the key is to gather enterprise-wide knowledge, not just "stovepiped" data from a half-dozen CRM tools scattered throughout the organization.
"Customers are tired of repeating information three different times to three different agents," explains Christine Holley, spokesperson for Interactive Intelligence, Inc (Indiana). "What's more, they're now tired of selecting a near-real-time communications medium, such as e-mail, and not hearing back from a company for days or even weeks. In fact, many studies now paint a pretty gloomy picture of Web-based customer service." True, industry analysts have recently revealed that eCommerce service is so dismal, it is the primary reason why two-thirds of Web shoppers leave stocked "carts" and jump off of sites before they purchase. Web merchants are now pondering the dilemma of trying to win back customers they didn't even know they had!
Then, too, traditional CRM tools such as customer interaction systems and field service software, are now being augmented by new-breed Web CRM tools. From Web-based help desks and knowledge bases, to text chat and Web messaging management tools, e-technologies are presenting companies with new ways to communicate with customers. Some companies are now trying to think of ways to utilize those Web tools to help entice lost customers back.
"But I wouldn't use the Web to win back a customer," says Chris Selland, vice president of Customer Relationship Management Strategies for the Yankee Group, a Boston-based IT research and advisory service. "A winback is a very delicate situation. Your best tool is a real, live person. And because a true winback means a good selling job, even if you've got the customer service people on the case, they should bring in a salesperson-not a tool. Always remember: Winback is a very people-intensive process."
Richard Sawyer is a freelance editorial contributor and principal of Richard Sawyer Associates, a Natick, MA-based public relations firm specializing in the service management, CRM, and SFA markets. | 2019-04-26T08:07:02Z | http://s4growth.com/publications/citations/14.cfm |
IN the first century before the Christian era, a fresh impulse was given to the work of the Theosophical Movement by the Adept now known to the world as Jesus the Christ. In the following century Christianity had already separated into two broad divisions, represented on the one side by the followers of Peter, the orthodox Jew, and on the other side by the followers of Paul, the Gnostic "heretic." In the second century the division was still more marked. But now it was between the orthodox Church and the Movement within the Church known as Christian Gnosticism. On one side were ranged the Church Fathers who upheld the worship of a personal God and a personal Christ; on the other, the Gnostic Fathers, who stood for an Absolute Principle instead of a personal God, for the Christos-Principle in place of a personal Christ, for knowledge as opposed to faith.
In the second century began the fierce struggle between principles and personalities which lasted for over three hundred years. This battle assumed three distinct phases. In the second and third centuries the orthodox Church fought the "Heresies" (as the impersonal doctrines were called) by means of Refutations. In the fourth century the Church borrowed the ideas she had been so bitterly opposing, materialized them and metamorphosed them into her own rituals and dogmas. In the fifth century she destroyed all the records of her plagiarism that she could lay her hands on, and inaugurated a thousand years of mental and spiritual darkness from which the world has not yet recovered.
In trying to get a clear picture of second century Christianity, the same method will be pursued as was used in the preceding articles. No single historian will be taken as final authority, but a comparative study will be made of the writings of different historians, ancient and modern, leaving each student free to draw his own deductions.
According to the modern Catholic historian, the Reverend Father George Stebbing, the Church had already triumphed in the second century, although the records of this triumph are very vague. He points to the fact that there are cities in almost every country in Europe claiming an Apostolic origin, "but these claims rest upon a very insecure foundation." Seven Churches are supposed to have been founded in Asia, "but the names of those presiding in them have not come down to us." Although it seems positive that there were many Christians in Spain, Gaul, Germany and Italy, "there is little information that will bear criticism."
Justin Martyr, writing in the second century, is not quite as cautious as this modern Catholic historian. He claims that "there is not a people, whether Greek or barbarian, or any other race of men, among whom prayers are not offered up in the name of a crucified Christ to the Father and Creator of all things." The historian Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, calls Justin's statement a "splendid exaggeration," the rash sally of a devout but careless writer, the measure of whose belief was regulated by that of his desires. Gibbon calls attention to the now well-known historical fact that the inhabitants of Germany and Scythia were completely "pagan" at that time, and that the conversion of such countries as Spain, Armenia and Ethiopia was not attempted with any degree of success until the fourth century.
According to the irreproachable testimony of Origen, the number of Christians in the first two centuries was very inconsiderable. We know, at least, that their achievements made little impression upon the historians of the day. In the compilation of the Augustan Library, part of which was accomplished during the reign of Constantine in the fourth century, there are not six lines relating to the Christians. Plutarch, who spoke with unerring accuracy of every other spiritual and ethical movement, is absolutely silent upon the subject of Christianity. And Dion Cassius, who wrote the history of Rome in eighty volumes during the latter part of the second century, mentions neither Christians nor Christian Churches.
Why this strange silence on the part of historians? Was it because the Christians themselves belonged to the uneducated masses? Was it because of the attitude they assumed toward education and knowledge? According to the testimony of Minucius Felix, Celsus, and Julian, the Christian community was composed of "the dregs of the populace, of peasants and mechanics, of beggars and slaves, the last of whom might sometimes introduce the missionaries into the rich and noble families to which they belonged." Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, published an edict giving freedom to all slaves who would embrace Christianity, and promising a white robe and twenty pieces of gold to all Roman citizens who would profess the Christian faith. As a result of this edict, twenty thousand men, with a proportionate number of women and children, were baptized in the city of Rome alone. This method of procuring converts naturally added nothing to the dignity of the Christian religion, and may have had something to do with the silence of contemporary historians.
"Schoolmasters and professors of literature are in affinity with manifest idolatry and sin."
In the fourth century Eusebius complained against some of the more enlightened who continued their intellectual studies after their conversion to Christianity. He accused them of abandoning the rule of faith in favor of the "subtile precepts of logic," and declared that they were corrupting the simplicity of the Gospels by the refinements of reason.
"We therefore pronounce false every assertion which is contrary to the enlightened rule of faith. Moreover, the Church holds likewise from God the right and the duty to condemn knowledge falsely so-called, lest any man be cheated by philosophy and vain deceit."
This hostile attitude toward knowledge seems to have been confined entirely to the Christians. Before the days of the first Christian Emperor, we can search in vain for any enactment against the acquisition of knowledge, or for any persecution of those who possessed it. Every one was allowed intellectual freedom, and men like Galen, Lucian and Plotinus, who in the Middle Ages would have been burned at the stake, lived in perfect peace and security under the Roman standard, fully protected by the Roman law.
"All these men overlooked or rejected the perfection of the Christian system. Those among them who condescend to mention the Christians consider them only as obstinate and perverse enthusiasts, who exacted an implicit submission to their mysterious doctrines, without being able to produce a single argument that could engage the attention of men of sense and learning."
It must be remembered that this period of history was particularly brilliant. The Roman Empire of that day was filled with minds well-schooled in the philosophy of Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle and Zeno. The religious and philosophical systems of Egypt, Chaldea, Persia and India were known to many scholars. The work of Apollonius had greatly augmented the already existing interest in the philosophies of the Far Fast. Thousands of students were pouring out of the great Schools of Alexandria and Ephesus each year, and all of them were armed with knowledge.
How could men like these accept the idea that the Jews were the only nation to whom God had revealed Himself? Knowing the Scriptures of other nations, how could they acknowledge the Jewish Bible as the only revelation of God? Being fully acquainted with the lives of other great Teachers, how could they accept Jesus as the only one? But some of them could, and did, accept Jesus as the last of a long line of teachers. They recognized that his teachings were only repetitions of ancient ethical precepts, and that the legends surrounding his life were identical with those of his predecessors. Knowing that Truth is universal, and that expressions of Truth had appeared in different lands at different times, they took those universal truths, wove them into the Christian tradition, and presented them to the world as the true spirit of Christianity.
These men tried to show the philosophical basis of Jesus' teachings. They tried to prove that there is a science of the soul as well as a science of the body. They tried to present Christianity in a form which would appeal not only to the untutored mind, but at the same time give the greatest minds their fullest scope. These men were known by many names. The world today calls them the "Christian" Gnostics, but the Church of that day called them Heretics, and the whole history of the second and third centuries of Christianity revolves around the attempts of the Church to refute and destroy their teachings.
The original source from which the Gnostics drew their teachings is known as the Gnosis. The word means knowledge, and refers to the ancient Wisdom-Religion, the secret science of sciences from which all true systems of religion and philosophy have sprung. The Gnosis has always existed, and there have always been the knowers of it: the true Gnostics. These are the great Adepts of history, the Mahatmas, the spiritual Teachers of the race(1).
The true Gnosis was never written down, but was always passed orally from Teacher to pupil. The disciple obtained his knowledge through initiation into the Spiritual Mysteries, of which the ceremonial "Mysteries" were but a type. The teachings were presented to him in the form of symbols, and his knowledge of religion and philosophy depended upon his understanding of symbolism. With this understanding of the symbolical meaning of every religious tenet, no one calling himself a Gnostic was in any danger of accepting the dead-letter text of any religion -- Christian or otherwise.
The Christian Gnostics came into existence during the second century. They were the offshoots and products of the three great Gnostic Schools of that day, Schools which had been in existence for centuries, and which had an important part to play in the Christian religion. The first of these Schools, located in Alexandria, was one of those in which Jesus Himself had studied during his residence in Egypt. The second, the great School of Ephesus, may have been the one in which Paul obtained his initiation into the Gnosis. The third, also situated in Alexandria, was the one which most powerfully influenced the thought of two of the great Gnostic Fathers of the second century -- Basilides and Valentinus.
"These Essenes are called Therapeutae, either because they profess the art of healing superior to that in use in cities (for that only heals bodies, whereas the latter heals our souls as well), or else because they have been schooled by the sacred laws to serve that which is better than the Good, purer than the One and more ancient than the Monad(2)."
A distinction must be made, however, between the Essenes and the Therapeutae. For the former were particularly concerned with the practical side of life, while the latter gave themselves over to a life of contemplation and concerned themselves only with the higher problems of religion and philosophy. Another difference between them is found in the fact that the Essenes often adopted their novices as young boys, while the Therapeutae were composed entirely of men and women who had passed the prime of life, and were ready to withdraw from the world. The Therapeutae, however, must not be considered as a "sect" of the Essenes. They were a School of Esotericists, an inner group within Alexandrian Judaism, as their doctrines plainly show.
"They have the works of ancient authors who were once heads of their School. Taking these as patterns, they imitate the practice of their predecessors."
"A symbol is ever, to him who has eyes for it, some dimmer or clearer revelation of the God-like."
"On this day of the seventh and most powerful of the prismatic days, the adepts of the 'Secret Science' meet as they met thousands of years ago, to become the agents of the occult powers of nature and commune with the invisible world." Isis Unveiled II:419.
"They not only come together every seventh day, but also at the end of the seventh week, for they reverence not only the period of seven days, but also the square of seven, since they know that the seven is pure and ever-virgin."
"They who believe on Christ were called Iessaei (or Essenes) before they were called Christians. These derived their constitution from the significance of the name Iesus (Jesus), which in Hebrew signifies the same as Therapeutae, that is, saviour or physician."
"The ancient Therapeutae were Christians, and their ancient writings were Gospels and Epistles."
Had these early Church Fathers been better students of history, they would have known that the ancient writings of the Therapeutae were not the Christian Gospels and Epistles but, on the contrary, that the Christian Gospels and Epistles were copied from these more ancient works. A study of the Essene doctrines shows the source of many statements found in the New Testament.
The Essenes urged their disciples to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." They exhorted their followers not to lay up treasures upon earth, but to go and sell all that they possessed, and give the money to the poor. They commended those who thirst after righteousness, and laid great stress upon humility of spirit. "Blessed are the pure in heart, the peacemaker and the merciful," they said. When they started out on a journey, they provided themselves with neither gold nor silver, but relied upon hospitality, as do the Buddhist monks today. They swore not at all, but made their communications consist of "Yea, yea; Nay, nay." Their aim was to lead such a life of purity that their bodies would become fitting Temples for the God within.
"There was no need for the observance of the Sabbath before Moses, neither is there now any need of it after Jesus Christ."
"It is the day on which God created the world; and Jesus Christ on the same day arose from the dead."
But in the fourth century, after the first Christian Emperor had ascended the throne, the pagan tradition entered the Church, and Sunday was formally adopted by the Christians as their Holy Day. Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, had belonged to some solar cult. On his coins the words appear: "To the Invincible Sun, my companion and guardian." After his conversion to Christianity he brought his "companion and guardian" into the Church, and decreed that "the venerable day of the Sun should be set aside for the worship of Jesus Christ as Sun-day."
"On this day, which is the first of the Light and the True Sun, we assemble after an interval of six days, and celebrate Holy and Spiritual Sabbath. All things which it was our duty to do on the Sabbath, these have we transferred to the Lord's Day."
The enforced observance of the Sabbath, however, dates only from the year 1678, when Charles II. prohibited "any tradesman, artificer, workman, laborer, or other person to do any exercise on the Lord's Day."
The second great Gnostic School of the second century was located in the city of Ephesus in Syria. It concerned itself mainly with what is now known as the second object of the Theosophical Society: the comparative study of religion and philosophy. In this School the philosophies of ancient India, Chaldea and Persia were taught side by side with those of Plato and Pythagoras, and the teachings of the Buddha were compared with those of the Jewish Kabalists. In the preceding century Apollonius of Tyana had established his own esoteric School in this city, adding its strength to the exoteric work of the College.
The great College of Ephesus was a focus of the universal secret doctrines, and it was from this School that spread much of the Gnosis which clashed so fiercely with the orthodox Church. The men who came out of this School were equipped with knowledge, and therefore were considered as deadly enemies by those who were attempting to rear their religious structure on the foundation of faith.
The third Gnostic group which exerted a powerful influence upon budding Christianity was the sect known as the Ophites, or the Brotherhood of the Serpent. The symbol of the Serpent is an ancient and a sacred one. All through the literature of the past are found records of the veneration in which this symbol was held. Every Scripture of antiquity tells the same story, the visible proof of its universality being found in the serpentine monuments scattered over the face of the globe. The meaning of the Serpent-symbol was threefold: it represented, first, Supreme Wisdom; second, those Perfected Men who are the embodiments of Wisdom; third, the Christos-principle within each man himself: the divine Ego made one with Buddhi(3).
The Ophite system was introduced into Christianity by the Gnostic Fathers, Basilides and Valentinus. But it was soon stamped out, and the Serpent, which in the early days represented the highest Wisdom and the flower of civilization, finally became the symbol of the Devil, or personified evil. When the Gnostics were excommunicated, persecuted and driven out of their native land, they took the esoteric philosophy of the Ophites with them, and it finally became the property of the Druzes of Mount Lebanon.
During the early centuries of the Christian era, the persecuted Gnostics built a monastery in the Syrian hills, which was used by them as a place of refuge. The ruins of this old monastery still stand. But the traveller who visits the remains of this once grand edifice seldom realizes that underneath the crumbling walls there are subterranean chapels, halls and cells which cover an area of ground far greater than that occupied by the building above. According to the testimony of one who has seen them, the beauty of the ancient sculptures, the richness of ornamentation and the magnificence of the gold and silver vessels in this sacred resort are like a "dream of glory." On certain stated occasions, a group of Druzes, consisting of the elders and the initiates of the two highest degrees, make a pilgrimage to this spot. And there, within these subterranean halls, a ceremony takes place. Not a sound, not a glimmer of light betrays to the outside world what is going on within the bosom of the earth. But there, nevertheless, is being enacted one of the ancient Mysteries, and there, among the Druzes of Mount Lebanon, is found one of the last surviving relics of the archaic Wisdom-Religion.
(1) "Race" means the whole Human Race here.
(2) "Monad" is the Unity, the One; when referred to Man, or ourselves, it is the changeless Perceiver. All of this emanates out of the Absolute: the unknown and attributeless ALL.
(3) "Buddhi" means Intuition (or Spiritual Soul). | 2019-04-23T08:49:21Z | http://blavatsky.net/Wisdomworld/setting/thegnostics.html |
For any trader or entrepreneur, the daily grind of reading depressing headlines and perusing a constant stream of data can be physically exhausting and mentally draining. While you may long for a vacation, for most of us, the demands of work are nearly ever-present. However, there is one great way to reset your brain and rejuvenate your spirit: Reading a great book!
No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop bouncing from one great book, and from one genre, to another. A good mixture of fiction, non-fiction, and provocative books are necessary for a well-rounded life.
If you agree, then you’ll appreciate this list of must-read books that you’ll want to add to your list. I understand, you probably have your 2017 reading list planned-out already. Well make room, you won’t regret adding these “un-put-downable” books!
Are you ready to get a glimpse of heaven?
Join Martha Brookhart Halda as she shares her incredible journey to the Other Side. Just be warned, you might not be the same after reading this book.
On a fateful night, Halda was thrown from her vehicle during a horrific car crash. She died not once, but three times. Then she came back. Her life changed forever, and when you read this memoir, you will find out why.
The Fragrance of Angels is filled with love and challenges. It is a tale about physical beauty, emotional upheavals, frustrations beyond compare, as well as spectacular triumphs.
There is also a surprise that I must admit, I never saw coming; it is something Martha realized when she visited Heaven, and you will soon know it, too.
This is a book that will lift you up, bring tears to your eyes, and laughter to your heart. Trust me, The Fragrance of Angels needs to be added to your reading list today.
SO… after reading such a wonderful book review, and being the first book mentioned in her 2017 recommended reading list, I am super excited for all the blessings coming my way this year. I also have a review coming from the Huffington Post. What a dream come true: not many authors receive this kind of coverage.
So… I’m not the best at Blogging, having only written three blogs so far this year.
I guess you’d need to revise that to pathetic at Blogging. However it’s amazing what can happen in a year. Time and life are so precious. I was reminded of this recently as my good friend Lilly was saying goodbye to the love of her life, after only having four or so precious years with him. Tony was by far too young to go, a victim of cancer, but yes Heaven has welcomed him, and because of this, I had another “Life” wake up call.
I needed to review this past year. I quit my job this December 18th….. Who does that? I mean who quits their job in December? Perhaps this is why my brother David calls me his crazy little sister. I bet there are a few more reasons than that!
I had one heck of a year; I switched from the escrow/quality assurance department to the sales department of the timeshare company where I’ve worked for the last 5 years. What was I thinking! While one department “I get” , I was never cut out for the other one. I sat waiting for my tour (my chance to sell and make commission for the day), which never happened. I should have had a tour; I had the sales numbers but no tour? The wheel of agents had been set askew. After my two days off, again nothing. I was never made to be a person who waits and does nothing. I prefer to be active, so “adieu to you”, and in a flash, I was gone.
This morning as I awoke, the feeling of “OH SH-T what did I do?” began to crawl up my spine. I got a text from a girlfriend from high school, Mindy Ramsey, who wanted 7 of my books. They wouldn’t arrive in the mail in time for Christmas; we decided I would deliver them to her mother’s house in Carlsbad (my home town). I figured I’d drive up, drop them off, and be on my way. Thoughts that I’m leaving for San Francisco with my love in the morning and packing needs to happen rang through my head.
When the door opened, I was surprised to see a charming little older lady. This lovely woman was 93, to be exact. I don’t know what I was thinking … but I was expecting a woman about 60… I still had my blonde head from high school, in that blonde moment I was thinking of our mom’s as they were at that time. Dah… Martha, you don’t even have your mother with us any longer. Funny how we can freeze someone to be perpetually at a certain age, or era.
I decided to review 2016. This year, almost to a year from the German version of my book being released, my book debuted here in the USA in English.
Yippy … I can finally read my own book. Happy that I didn’t have to “self publish” at a heavy cost. No I had actually been given (another God gift) the US publishing house of Open Books Press.
Last year in October 2015 my book debuted in German at the Worlds largest book fair, the Frankfurt Messe. I was feeling blessed and happy to join my publishing house ‘Sorriso” as one of their first titles. My book had finally made it to print; yet in German only. I knew I couldn’t read this ancestral language of the Brookhart’s, yet how happy I was my promise to God was now finally completed. I promised to tell and I had, in German at least.
Last month , November “The Fragrance of Angels” was selected as one of the finalist’s for Acorn Publishing Authors Circle Awards. What a privilege. Fingers crossed when they announce the winner in May 2017.
The past six months I was off work for a medical leave, searching for what ailed me. I was informed I have degenerative rheumatoid arthritis in my feet, hands, and worse in my hips… all a residual result of my car accident detailed in “The Fragrance of Angels.” The cure? None. The only one to be offered was a referral to a pain specialist. Well that’s not going to be me. I am happy, No Ecstatic, to say that one of the cures is to Keep Moving. Moving, walking or whatever gets me outside is a treat to me, and moving keeps the stiffness away. The movement, and so many great natural supplements that are waiting to be found by me. This was reminded to me as I spoke with my new cute 93-year-old friend. She broke her leg last year and moves slower now, but she told me about being encouraged at 91 to do a 5K. Can you imagine?
Reviewing more on July 10th, 2016, my book was part of Carlsbad Magazine, which offered a list of the Top 5 Summer reads of Carlsbad locals. I feel so honored to be a part of it! There are so many reasons, not to mention Wendy giving me one of the best compliments I could have asked for, which is, “Halda just tells her story and what she learned, without being preachy.” That was exactly my intent, so it’s wonderful to know that I achieved this.
A gift, truly a gift, found in what could have been viewed as a horrible thing. I’m smiling again as I think how; if we look for ,and most importantly listen, to Gods “taps “ on our shoulders and not wait for his sledgehammer to Hear Him, we will be amazed at all the splendid care He takes over our lives.
We’re all looking for something we can rely on, and love is the source most people need. We are all searching for that unconditional love. Like talks with 93 year old women that we’ve never met before.
I believe the Love that engulfed me was far too great to be judging, that the God I saw, the Divine Energy I met, the pulsating sphere of Total Knowledge, would want us to reflect each year and hopefully we can all see the wonderful gifts he gave us this year.
Merry Christmas, We’ve got a lot to learn but God knows we are worth it.
WOW, am I ecstatic! My first literary review in English, of The Fragrance of Angels, came out in my hometown mag, Carlsbad Magazine. What a wonderful feeling.
Wendy Hinman put together ‘Summer Reads, Carlsbad Style”, with the opening of “stretch out your beach towel with books from local authors,” and what a list she put together. I feel so honored to be a part of it! There are so many reasons and people in this issue that make it feel complete, not to mention that Wendy gave me one of the best compliments I could have asked for, which is, “Halda just tells her story and what she learned without being preachy.” That was exactly my intent, so it’s wonderful to know that I achieved this.
She starts out mentioning the renowned local author Victor Villasenor and how his stories describe recognizable environments, and that it is an encore of sorts for the 2016 reading list. I wrote my book honoring a promise to my father, Ray Brookhart, who Villasenor describes in his memoir Burro Genius (pages 296-297.) My father had been one of Villasenor’s teachers, and Villasenor’s words about my Dad describes him to a ‘T’.
However, there is more to this tale. A Fragrance of Angels stands between the magazine’s covers with friendly faces and names. There was Caulerpa Conquest, written by a new friend, Eric Noel Munoz, which covers the story of an invasive marine seaweed that nearly smothered the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Eric was among the key members of a community and statewide effort to eradicate Caulerpa taxifolia from the lagoon. This book was edited by my honey Robert Yehling, so I have a little more understanding of what a huge accomplishment this effort was.
Next, Shirts & Skins was written by local legend Gregory R. Nelson, Sr. I got to know Greg first at about the age of ten. Greg was like a big brother, a type of counselor of sorts. When he first started out, Greg worked with my dad at The Army Navy Academy and Greg was the cool young guy when I attended summer camp there. The book relates how sports can help create the drive, direction and passion in a man or women, a drive and habit that can later present itself well in business and life. Greg spent years, and many of his philanthropic talents and dollars, raising boys to men at the Carlsbad Boys Club. I also knew him from golfing; we had been members at the same country club. During my coma (detailed in The Fragrance of Angels) he and his stunning wife, Barbie, asked their kids’ youth group to pray for me for the two months I was under. They later told me that my recovery was a beacon of sorts for those kids. I am honored to be in the same summer reads reviews as Greg.
I don’t know author Cynthia Mestad Johnson, but I can’t wait to read her book Legendary Locals of Carlsbad. I’m sure once again to feel at home reading stories of our wonderful town, many of which I may have already heard.
The piece d’resistance, when it comes to being at home, is that the cover story is about longtime good friend Billy Stang. The feature article, also written by Wendy Hinman is titled “Pure Stang Pure Stoke – the last of the great soul surfers.” I have to say Billy is certainly that… A Soul Surfer. It was great fun reading Billy’s story as he describes stories of the mid to late 70’s. Billy discusses how he gave up competition and the life of a professional surfer to stay real and keep his sport about the stoke and joy, not the greed.
I have to say this first literary review could not have been more perfect for me. Everyone in this group of authors did exactly what Billy did — went out and wrote about what we have experienced, not for the cash, but for the pure stoke, the pure joy of life and love. What more do any of us need than that? Enjoy your summer with a good book, a book that can take you anywhere you want to go.
This February 2016 has proven to be a very fantastic month for me. After traveling to Frankfurt, Germany in October for the debut of my book at the Frankfurt Buchmesse, the world’s largest book fair, the flurry had started to settle down. Life was getting back to normal with the grind of learning a new job.
However, on the first week of the month, a box arrived, filled with over 20 copies of Der Duft des Engels, the German version of A Taste of Eternity, published by German publisher sorriso verlag. It was overwhelming when I saw my face in a photo plastered on the wall of the book booth in Germany, but to actually hold my book in my hands? With my picture on the back cover and “author” under it? Well, this blew me away.
Now to top things off, for this magical month, I just signed a Publishing Agreement with Open Books Press to print A Taste of Eternity in English with a release date of September 1. If you’re an author, September 1 is one of the most coveted publishing dates of the year — it’s holiday shopping season, and a time when people start to move toward the holidays themselves… which have a central place in my book. I start the book with “life can be summed up in three words, family, adventure, and perseverance. “ This still holds true for me and it has been with all three that this loving project has been able to come full circle, and allow me to fulfill my promise that I would write this book.
On my 53rd birthday, my crazy streak popped up. Bob had seen it the previous summer, when we bodysurfed 10-foot waves in Carlsbad and marveled about it later on Oceanside Pier, which shook from the waves whose spray hit onlookers’ faces. He also remembered how, when we were in high school, I was one of the few girls to bomb down the steep La Costa hills on a skateboard.
But I jumped. I went for it. Why not? This is my life — and I’m going to live it to the max. I am not afraid of what comes next. I’ve seen it. I look forward to my return.
I continue to be excited and motivated by the visions I received during my near death experience, my Taste of Eternity. I will also keep up my search and understanding about religions and how they are changed from the ways they were originally practiced.
I am a Christian, as in Jesus Christ is my divine teacher. I completely honor other religions and know that the All Powerful, Loving God Energy I met in Heaven would not condemn others for following their religion with the depth of their heart and the example of their actions. My focus is to love and be loved, none of that judging and condemning stuff for me. I know I am far from perfect (isn’t that an understatement), and I tend to over-react when I feel I’m wronged. This whole experience is not one I would ever change, my desire in writing this book has always been to share the incredible love and beauty I know awaits us when we die – we’re not alone as we travel to Heaven. God sends us each an Angel, and He is the one holding us in his arms all the way to Paradise.
Christmas often makes people stop to acknowledge all their blessings. The end of this year 2015, I am doing just that exactly.
October 15th, 2015, I entered the Frankfurt Messe book festival amazed by its size! With nearly 150,000 guests, and close to 40,000 venders working the trades show it was over whelming.
Once entering the correct (one of four) three-story buildings, I wondered how on earth the sorriso-verlag booth would be found. As we, Robert Yehling (aka Bob editor extraordinaire), and I went down the escalator he verbalized just this worry. My heart and mind halted because, with all his trade show experience, this was the last thing I expected to come from his lips. Worried… I started scanning the mass of booths on the floor below; the escalator seemed to move in a slow time warp, my eyes scanned everything. How will we find it in this seemingly endless crowd?
However, I quickly learned that my publisher Karen Christine Angermayer is a master at marketing and doesn’t miss a thing. Her attention to detail is amazing; she had her logo set high smiling out at the crowds from the very top of her booth. That bright yellow smile of sorriso was like a beacon laying a guiding light for me.
As we walked closer to the booth, suddenly I saw my own face smiling back at me. The booth was white, its floor a bright yellow, and a photo of each of the five writers she was debuting was displayed in a large 3’ by 5’ headshot (a models dream) on the wall of the booth. Many writers dream of having their books make it to the European market, some wish that they would be given such presence from the publisher, my dream had now come true.
While in heaven I promised God, my heavenly father, the Divine Energy (too many names to chose only one), that I would share the loving grace that awaits us in Heaven. Once back on earth, after two months in a coma, the first thing I promised my earthly father, Ray F. Brookhart, was that I would write this book, and share the knowledge of the love that awaits us with all people interested in knowing more.
Our trip to Europe was full of wonder… the countryside God Germany and Austria are full of (God given) natural beauty, the likes of which a California girl doesn’t get to see often. We played in the sound of music filled city of Salzberg, enjoyed Mozart street music and so much more. We hiked the wonderful hillside of the Austrian Alps in St. Johanna all the while basking in the beauty of this life we have been give.
Again last week, another Christmas gift, I was blessed with a visit by my publisher Karen Christine Angermayer, and her charming love Pino, they were here from Germany for business.
We met in the coastal town of La Jolla California. While admiring the Pacific Ocean waves, and the many seal’s lounging on the beach.
We talked about sorriso-verlag extending the publishing of Der Duft des Engels to a more International European distribution.
I could not be more blessed, so this year 2015 and I am certainly whole-heartedly counting my blessings. I ‘am grateful for Gods blessings in my life yet again.
It has been a long road, the one that leads to Eternity… and to Germany. I feel so blessed in both cases, and am blessed yet again in the month of October.
It was in October 1999 that I had my Taste of Eternity, which lead to my wanting to write and publish my book about sharing the beauty I know awaits us in Heaven. Three years later in 2002 in October I was blessed, again, to be able to compete in the Dublin Marathon, to also be one of the top fundraisers in the US for the American Diabetes foundation.
Now finally… I am blessed, yet again in the month of October. This time that blessing comes in the form of my book making its debut. The title has changed, the language has changed, but it is going to market at The Frankfurt book fair, the world’s largest book fair. The title has changed from “A Taste of Eternity” to “Der Duft des Engels” which translates to “The Fragrance (or the Scent) of Angels”. So it will be on the wings of Angels that I fly to Frankfurt in 2 days on October 14th, 2015.
There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of authors who wish they would have their book printed in a foreign language, or make it to print at all. I am one of those very lucky few, that not only will achieve this, but it will be to release my first book. I feel like a southern bell making her Debut at the big ball. I want to dance and twirl and sing out loud I’m so pretty, I’m so pretty but really changing the words to I’m so lucky, I’m so lucky. Twirling just the same.
Please don’t think that the coincidence of all these wonders of good fortune happening in October is lost on my blonde California head. I accept that we are not the ones in control of our fates. I do completely believe that these gifts were a blessing from above. While reading a review on the book festival in Publishers Weekly, I had to take pause because there was a paragraph, which spoke directly to me. Now as I pack my bags to fly to Germany for this live time event, I do take pause, and review all the wonders of this life. I wanted to share this with you.
Whether you’re hurrying from meeting to meeting or just wandering the halls, try to pause for a moment to take it all in. Publishing has entered a new era. And the conversation is no longer about print or digital, Kuyper says—it is about meeting the needs of the consumer.
Books create worlds and new ideas. They help to shape our society and its values.
My desire in writing my book A Taste of Eternity is to do just that: I want you to experience (as much as a book will allow) my view of the Love I experienced and which is offered to each of us in Heaven.
Now, I get to do it halfway around the world, when A Taste of Eternity makes its worldwide reveal at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, a.k.a. the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the three largest in the world.
I can’t believe my lucky stars that this is the place of my book’s debut! The Frankfurter Buchmesse takess center stage of Frankfurt every October (October is an auspicious month. My accident that led to my taste of Eternity happened in October 1999, and I completed a 26.2-mile full marathon in Ireland three years later — after being told I would spend my life in a wheelchair). Located on the banks of the river Main, with its skyscrapers intermingling with the historic part of town, it is often jokingly called “Mainhattan”.
The most famous son of the city by far is novelist, playwright, poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was born there in 1749. During his lifetime, Goethe wrote the equivalent of 140 books 400-pages long (a task now fully appreciated). His protégé, Rudolf Steiner, established the education philosophy we know today through the Waldorf Schools. Now, Goethe’s legacy is preserved by the book fair.
The Fair is a vibrant publishing landscape, Dynamic! It’s international, interactive and inspiring. The gathering place for the Who’s Who of publishing — publishers, agents, film producers, booksellers, and authors! It’s clearly the most important marketplace for books, media, rights and licenses worldwide. The industry comes together to create something new.
More than 7,000 exhibitors are expected from over 100 countries. Frankfurter Buchmesse will be home to publishers from Asia, the Arab world, Australia, Canada, France, Greece, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latin America, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scandinavia, Spain, Southeast Europe, Turkey, UK, and the USA. Having my Book debuted there offers the opportunity not only wished for by authors worldwide but hopefully (I pray) will give me an opportunity to expand my network, build bridges into the future, and make new memories and discoveries.
I promised God, and my ‘Pop’s” Ray Brookhart that I would write this book. They asked me to share all the memories I could layout there, describing the Divinity of Heavens Colors on my empty white pages. Feeling guided all the way, God has made this Heaven sent.
When Martha Halda sweeps into a room, people notice — immediately. If you don’t notice her long, rangy presence, then her smile will light you up. Her laughter shakes the edge off the toughest moments, and her closest friends often find themselves on the receiving end of lips, hearts, winks, sun-faces and other emoticons during texting sessions.
There is definitely a playful, childlike side to the author of the riveting new memoir A Taste of Eternity, one that visibly brightens the worlds of others. Imagine the most loving, vivacious, adventurous playmate popping into your house and hauling you outside, only this playmate has kids that are 30 and 27. Her playfulness is a lesson to us all not to take life too seriously; her ability to brighten hearts and souls comes from more than that.
It has been almost sixteen years since Martha’s life ended, revived, ended, revived, ended… and changed forever. On October 8, 1999, a car accident left her for dead… and then took her away. Before the night was over, she had been officially pronounced dead three times. Her ensuing Near Death Experiences (NDEs) brought her face to face with the Divine in a vivid way she recounts in A Taste of Eternity. More importantly, they changed her life, and how to handle its challenges while constantly seeking to bring out the greatness in others — definitely the dance of an angel.
The world is about to share Martha’ s journey. A Taste of Eternity will be published in Fall 2015 by Sorriso Verlag in Germany. It is scheduled to be presented at the prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the world’s five largest. Negotiations continue with American publishers, with a 2016 publishing date.
Now that she’s finished the long process of writing such a poignant memoir, Martha sat down to discuss her journey, and what comes next. As usual, the conversation was spiced with equal parts reflection, wisdom, laughter, and direct honesty.
WJ: Congratulations on finishing A Taste of Eternity. You were at it for quite awhile; must feel in a way like they’ve finally wheeled you out of the delivery room.
Martha Halda: That only takes nine months and a few hours of hard pushing! (laughs). Thank you. When I was in Heaven, I’d promised God I would write about my experiences there, and that was in 1999. A lot has happened since, but finally, I was able to sit down, put one story in front of the other, and get to this point.
WJ: What was the greatest joy — and struggle — you had with this book?
MH: Reliving it. I had difficulty trying to write down feelings and finding words for what I experienced; words became incredibly limiting. I just couldn’t get the stuff down. (At my life review in Heaven), trying to share my soul’s trials and tribulations from hurting someone… not an easy thing, because at some point, we have to admit our mistakes and face your faults. It’s hard to find the correct words. One of the ways around this was, I shared a lot of my review by sharing my story with Study groups, friends, to my love. As a writer, he helped me fine-tune the words. He fortunately — and also unfortunately — got to see me when it was overwhelming, when I smiled with joy, but he also got to see me when a memory came back so strongly I would cry uncontrollably and not be able to explain why.
WJ: The first part of A Taste of Eternity reads like otherworldly writing… because it is. What surprised you most about your Heavenly journey while your body lay on the road?
MH: What surprised me the most… not an easy thing to answer. I was caught off guard that God was not a larger-than-life Herculean figure, full of fire and brimstone, sitting upon a throne. He wasn’t looking to condemn me for all my faults and misdeeds. I had a few of those. This is hard to explain, but he did not have the appearance I expected, and yet I instantly perceived him as The Trinity — Father-Son-Holy Ghost. I do not have “enough words” to describe what I saw and felt. He has no name, no image, I recognized him instantly but still he was merely a sphere, a sphere of energy of the utmost Pure Love – God is Love.
WJ: One of the things we hear about is the ‘life review,’ essentially a high speed playback of our actions, good or bad. Could you describe that experience, and why it became the thematic building block both for A Taste of Eternity and the rest of your life?
MH: I learned that we must treat others the way we want to be treated. Eventually we will feel any hurt we place on others, whether it is intentional or not. I learned no one is better than any other person, not because they run farther, surf better, are more creatively gifted or more financially well off. We are each special in our own way. When our life is done, our relationships and memories are really all we get to take with us to heaven; the rest stays here.
Love and forgiveness are the strongest traits of the soul, because the heart governs the soul. It is a pure expression of God and what a wonderful thing to share. I am never ashamed or feel shy or embarrassed when I express my love for someone. Love is the beauty that gives the color to life, both here and in heaven.
WJ: There might be the most beautiful sentence we’ve seen in a long time. You’ve spoken to groups of some true skeptics, yet when you’ve made comments like this and shared your stories, everyone walks away saying, ‘She really was in heaven.’ But their skepticism was well founded: some NDE stories have proven to be anything but.
MH: You’re right, and that really bothers me. I really want to be careful here, because any experience authentic and profound enough to be written about is something we should look at. However, I don’t understand why anyone would want to willingly and purposefully write a book on NDE if it wasn’t a truthful experience. To write on this subject for me came strictly from my promise to God that “I would tell of his love”. Other than that promise, this would not have been a choice subject. I am sometimes greeted with less than open arms, and sometimes I receive cruel comments like, ‘Oh, so you think you’ve been to Heaven…’ Now that is hurtful.
WJ: One reason people will buy A Taste of Eternity is because their souls yearn for something greater than they experience on earth — and you paint a vivid picture of that ‘something greater’. Why are we so fascinated?
MH: I believe people want to know they matter, that their life wasn’t some fleeting moment with no meaning. They may receive a second chance to correct life screw-ups, and it’s important to know the value of doing so. I felt that was one of my obligations in writing this book. I, for one, want to believe our trials and tribulations are there for some greater good, to use as a marker in our life, or to be there for someone else to learn from.
WJ: That’s a yearning people often don’t share for fear of ridicule — but you’re bringing out into the open.
MH: People have been fascinated by this question for centuries. They just might be more open to showing it now. For centuries, one wouldn’t consider letting anyone know they wondered about the soul’s journey; in many places, this could mean being condemned, or worse.
MH: I can, I shall, I will, dance in the spotlight of God’s love. With that, Martha left — but not before texting out a few hearts, stars, angels and smiling faces. In a sense, heaven-sent. | 2019-04-23T08:45:42Z | https://atasteofeternity.wordpress.com/ |
Hpathy » Editorials » Should We Keep Homeopathy for Homeopaths?
Should We Keep Homeopathy for Homeopaths?
The homeopathic community has always harbored a desire to “prove” homeopathy to allopaths. Perhaps we believed we could win them over and then homeopathy would become part of conventional medicine. But there are problems with this courtship. Pharma maintains a propaganda campaign with doctors from the time they enter medical school through their years of practice. This creates a kind of “information sickness” which closes the door on other perspectives. In homeopathy we know it’s impossible to cure a sickness as long as there is a maintaining cause.
In addition, homeopathy is constantly evolving. Remedies are now sometimes prescribed based on analysis of themes in the periodic table, or the sensation associated with their botanical order. Can you imagine trying to explain that to medical students who are still struggling with the potency issue?
Finally, what would happen to homeopathy if it were co-opted by the establishment? To maximize profits, it would be exploited, made one dimensional, labeled as disease specific and turned into something useless.
Homeopathy is a strange and wonderful mystery. It will always seem absurd to those who are not ready for it, who think mechanistically, who see life as simply an aggregate of chemicals. These people believe in a medical model that accepts death as a side effect. You can recall a drug, but not the people it killed. In the end, you cannot court such people, or win them over without doing harm to homeopathy.
Interview: We chat with Dr. Ortrud Lindemann, homeopath, teacher, author and co-founder of Marenostrum in Spain and Bhaktapur International Homeopathic Clinic in Nepal. Her work has helped spread homeopathy around the world.
Articles: Dr. Henry C. Houghtons (chronic otitis media), Heiki Bishop (anti-homeopathy in Australia), Paul Theriault (meconium proving), Edmund Carleton (varicocele), Elaine Lewis (Tidbits), Alan V. Schmukler (Tips and Secrets), Dr. Saurav Arora (new research in IJHDR), Dr. Aditi Bhatnagar (colicky babies), Zara Bourgeois ( seasonal allergies), Dr. Ajit Kulkarni (holism in healing).
Dr. Tony Pinkus – Groundbreaking research into homeopathic Secretin for children with autism and ASD. A must read!
Robert Medhurst –Part 31 in his important series on research in homeopathy.
Ask the Holistic Vet: Dr. Deva Khalsa answers readers’ veterinary questions. Send your questions!
Dr. M.K. Sahani reviews Hahnemann’s Organon Of Medicine with Word Meanings by Dr. Mahendra Singh & Dr. Subhas Singh.
Dr. Jennifer White reviews The Toxic Relationship Cure by homeopath Jerry Kantor.
Homoeopaths, Homoeo pharmacies, everyone in this field need to give frequent adds through news papers , TV, cinema media etc as it is given by Allopathy system. there is an urgent need of seminars , awareness programmes so that public should know more and more about Homoeopathy, its effectiveness, affordability, easy to take, right from just born babies to very old age people , no side-effects. all -round efforts that too from all those in this field need to devote their time as much as possible for the cause of Homoeopathy to become more and more popular among the public. i have come across many homoeopaths do not spare time to explain to the patients how it works and how it should be taken, about diet and other precautions needs to be taken etc. in one visit if a patient do not get result, will loose faith and his entire family & friends also get influenced and are loosing faith on our system.
personally i spend more time for propagating homoeopathy and its effectiveness. my main motive is to popularise homoeopathy because many miracles have happened in my family circle, i want same way people should develop faith on this system, which is – God given gift to the mankind – Homoeopathy.
Thank you for your comments. It is so important to keep promoting homeopathy to reach people who are open to it and to dispel the false critics. I appreciate your efforts in that regard.
Thank you Pauline. That’s a lovely way to put it!
my comments misinterpreted and misunderstood. it is not an advocation to fit into scientific model. as you aware science is not end to all problems , more the scientific, more confusions , more contradictions, ultimately diseases are taking new turn and becoming incurable in many cases and what is claimed as diseases cured, suppresses one thing by allowing to raise ugly head in other form, there by doing more harm than good. in that perspective creating more and more awareness among the public how good homeopathy can help to suffering humanity, how acute diseases can be effectively harmlessly tackled and can be prevented becoming chronic diseases.
efforts to create more awareness about homoeopathy and its effectiveness, is the need of the hour to save homoeopathy system before further attempt to onslaught this system. ultimately public opinion out of experience is more importance than scientific words war who is superior, who is not.
I sent one comment yesterday, but there was some internet problem and this did not get posted. This is again with regard to the Urticaria problem of my wife and this has been shared earlier. I want to bring to your kind notice about the reoccurance of the urticaria twice for my wife. In the first instance, she was free from her urticaria for about two years after taking allopathy, ayurvedic and finally siddah medicines. When she got admitted last year in the hospital due to swelling over the body, difficulty in walking, pain in the neck, breathing difficulty etc, it was found that her uric acid level was 8 against normal of 4, HB 9 against 12, thyroid TSH of 6 against 2 etc. She was given heavy antibiatics IV, and all allopathy medicines, blood transfusion etc. After getting discharge from hospital, she got this urticaria back. The siddah medicines did not work and homeopathy medicines Cal.Carb,sulphur,puls, hypericum,lyco etc gave good results and she was free from this urticaria and in fact the medicines were stopped.
when she had to go to a Dentist for fitting crown, she was given antibiotic along with pain killers, she got the rashes back last week.
It is seen that this urticaria may be due to the effect of antibiotic and english medicines for her. But it could not be avoided due to the above circumstances.
She was given calc carb 200 , sulphur 200, pulsatilla 200 on the advice of my friend who treated her. But there was violent eruption all over the body yesterday night and rashes could not be controlled even after taking Avil 25mg which could help in earlier times.
I feel the cause for urticaria in her case is due to the antibiotics and english medicines.
I would request you once again to go through this comment and if you feel that calc. carb in higher potencies would relive her problem, (allergy on antibiotics in this case). I will start giving the same. Can we give one dose of calc. carb 1 M and wait for two or three days and see the response. If necessary, I will go for Calc.carb 10 M later followed by Heper sulph.
I hope you would appreciate this.
I will be grateful if you could give your email and cell phone No. It is a great pleasure to be in touch with eminent personalities like you.
Did you try causticum, gelsemium for the Blephraospasm for your better half.
My wife was given cal carb 1 M and carbo veg 200 yesterday. She was free from this rashes on the day time. In the night she had severe itching in the fingers followed by rashes in the body. She applied turmeric powder mixed with curd and there was some relief. Again she had this itching in the fingers and on the thighs in the midnight and her sleep got disturbed. After applying this turmeric powder with curd she could get some relief and started sleeping.
Earlier the cal carb 200 was controlling and she was getting relief from this urticaria.
Any how she will continue the combination of cal carb 1 M and carbo veg on alternate days for this week and let us see how she responds to this treatment.
Thank you for sharing those cases. To us it is an affirmation of the mystery we have been fortunate to share knowledge of. To allopathy it is too strange to allow in.
Thanks for the information and a nice article.
On seeing your information few days in email received, I brought this to the notice of a homeopath who is treating my wife aged 63,for the chronic urticaria for the last 2 weeks. She was suffering from this urticaria for the last four years with a break of two years and again she has this problem from this April onwards.
Several homeo paths treated her with out relief. Finally the present homeopath is treating my wife with great relief.
He gave sulphur 1M – 1 dose,followed by cal carb 1M -1dose the next day and there was 98% improvement in her itching rashes. Then he gave lyco 30,puls 30 ,3 doses daily for the next 2 days. Then he gave nat mur 30, sepia 30, Apis Mel 30 daily for a week.
Lot of improvements for his medicines. But the rashes appear slightly and refuse to go once for all. At this stage,on my discussion with him he gave cal carb 200 -3doses daily . Now it is 4 or days that my wife is very sincerely taking . I can say she has got 99 % relief! but that one percent is still remaining to go.
In your case, it is due to the milk that causes the problem. But in my wife’s case, it is idiopathic and cause could not be found out.
I am a retired railway engineer, having seen the miracle of this homeo medicines have a knowledge in homeopathy and it’s practice. The present homeopath is also my friend working as a computer professional in railways has a great knowledge in homeopathy for more than thirty years.
May I give this carbo veg 200 along with cal carb 200 to my wife taking a guidance from you.
If you suggest, I will try your combination medicine.
As it is , I hope she is nearer to the recovery path.
Thank you for sharing that. Homeopathy is truly a gift to those open to it!
Dear Mr Sundaram, Thanks for your comment and the interest shown. The two medicines administered in my case were specific to milk allergy with which the patient made full recovery till date. Cal Carb along with Carbo Veg can be tried will do no harm and might prove to be curative. However, my suggestion would be to try Calc Carb in higher potencies of 1M and 10 M respectively in single doses and see the result as your wife is almost cured with this medicine which can also be repeated in case of relapse. One more medicine ie Hep Sul works well for allergies which can be tried later if above do not give the desired results. Regards and best wishes to your good-self and family.
Further to my comments, about my wife’s urticaria problem, I will start giving cal carb 1 M. She was cured completely a week back and again she is getting this problem due to taking antibiotics for fitting a crown by the Dental surgeon. May be one of the many reasons for this urticaria.
Before I could see your comments, I started giving cal carb 1 M. I will combine the carbo veg 200 .
As suggested cal carb 1M + carbo veg 200 on alternate days in a week followed by weekly one dose of the above combination for three months. Can I give Nux vomica 200 in the next dose or shall I leave it.
My wife is highly pleased to take homeopathy medicines only and she is confident in getting relief.
In fact I showed your comments to her.
May I suggest that you continue this conversation in the Patient Guidance Forum.
My wife has started taking the combination of calc cab 1 M and carbo veg 200 on alternate days.
She is free from this rashes in the day time , but the rashes appear in the night time.
We will see how far she responds to this medicine.
Now it has become a challenge in this homeopathy treatment.
Further to my previous comments, I wish to bring to your kind notice that urticaria problem has returned to her on two occasions and we suspect that it may be due to taking antibiotics and allopathy medicines.
A week back, she was free from this skin problem and all the medicines were stopped.
But she is again suffering from urticaria . The cal.carb 200 is not able to control.
Only the Avil tablets 25 mg gives some relief.
But she is averse in taking this avil tablets.
As per your suggestion, she will be given cal.carb 1 M.
Hope she will be cured.
I will try the medicines with the higher potencies for my wife.
Thanks for sharing your article to us.
May God bless you and your team .
Thank you Dr Rahman. I’m glad that you find this website rewarding.
It is my belief that people are only convinced about homeopathy by direct experience of its effects. I am conducting a poll on minutus now to see what the source of peoples convictions is. Articles, Arguments and scientific papers unfortunately seem to have little effect in actually convincing someone. For every argument/paper in favor there is one against. It takes personal experience. I have given up debating anyone on the subject in print. I had success convincing one serious “skeptic” by walking into his law office and challenging him to do a proving. He did and he was so amazed by the symptoms he experienced that he dropped his legal attacks on homeopathy. It takes direct personal contact and personal experience to make a difference in this arena.
Hahaha, that was a novel and apparently effective way of handling a skeptic! I agree entirely that we learn with our bodies, an axiom that Piaget stated many years ago. I have yet to find anyone who accepted homeopathy as a result of a study. I’d like to see how your poll comes out. Please stay in touch.
I am going to see if we can find someone living in London who can approach Jimmy Wales, founder of wikipedia, and encourage him to have a personal experience of homeopathy – a proving or simple treatment. Wikipedia is the source of choice for anyone who is new to a concept, like homeopathy. They frequently go there first and get an extremely negative view. If Jimmy Wales could be contacted in the same manner as my lawyer friend we might get the same result. Jimmy has gone on record as explicitly wanting to attack homeopathy.
I have seen many such miracles in Homeopathy when properly diagnosed and given. Not only My family many of fiends / their families have been very much helped with Homeopathy. But I always tried with single remedies. Thanks to system, by which I got good graceful respect from the people/ society whom I treated Never tried combination drugs, which at present blossoming in market with nomenclature of diseases. Are combination drugs [ remedies] really helpful?
we are all well aware, Homoeopathy treatment is individualistic, what suits one, may not exactly fit to another. I too have treated GALL STONE/ KIDNEY STONE problems. one chief executive in wipro, male, aged about 40 yrs approached me with same symptoms as above, i have him Berberis vulgaris I M & Benzoic Acid 1 m combination, his stone related problems within 5 days, he was very happy & he came back to thank me. of course his entire family is under my treatment for varies problems, they are all very happy and have immense faith on homoeopathy system of treatments. he is highly qualified, M Tech from I I T.
another male patient aged 38 years age, scientist who has 100% faith on natural medicines only suddenly developed severe pain and other symptoms as above approached me, i asked him to undergo ABDOMEN ULTRA SOUND SCANNING, 4 to 6 mm multiple stones noticed. i gave him Berberis Q, benzoic 200 and cholesterinum 200 and asked him to watch while passing urine whether he can notice crushed stones coming out, he did notice, within 3 days he was cured and to confirm i asked him to undergo scanning. absolutely cleared, till now he do not have any such problems. his entire family is under my treatment.
more than everything, myself 66 years aged had kidney stones about 7 mm, had severe pain, could not even move , homeo medicines completely cured. but once a while i am taking preventive medicines also.
sorry, there are some grammar and spelling mistakes, excuse me for that.
yes, miracles do happen with homeopathy. Proper selection of medicines is more important. thanks for your article which gives a great insight. | 2019-04-20T04:20:13Z | https://hpathy.com/editorials/should-we-keep-homeopathy-for-homeopaths/ |
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Portable Hanging Dryer – Laundry Hanger – Clip and Dry -16 pieces – Aisen - Clips will not leave marks on clothing. You may find other uses for this, can be used to organize accessories like scarves. Clip and dry is a clothes drying rack that is compact and convenient to use at home or away from home.
EpochAir Drying Hanger, Foldable Clip & Drip Laundry Hanger, 28 Clips - Collapsible and easy storage, easy use, no assembly required. 28 clips provide ample hanging space for underwear, bras, lingerie, hosiery, swimsuits and other fine delicates you don’t want to expose to a machine dryer. Resin clips with non-rusting wire springs, strong and hold up great. Air dry delicates with ease. Adjustable hook allows you to hang it anywhere-clothesline, shower curtain rod, garment rack or shelf. | 2019-04-20T02:21:01Z | https://www.topstorageideas.com/20-most-wanted-laundry-hangers/ |
Ellicott City, the little historic district just two miles from my house where I have been hanging out for decades, was last seen here as a Pokemon mecca. Saturday night it was ripped up by a flash flood that killed two people.
Scene from a video of men forming a chain to rescue a stranded woman from that car, which was washing down the street. Ellicott City is built on a slope rising up from the Patapsco River, and normally when it floods it is because river water is rising up. But this water is flowing downhill toward the river; this is a little tributary called Tiber Creek overflowing its banks because of heavy rains uphill.
But this is down by the Patapsco and it shows that the river also flooded into the town. So the town got slammed from both sides. Wow.
It looks to me like the most significant damage was done to the street and sidewalks, which were catastrophically undermined. Nothing else can really be done until they get Main Street open, since it is pretty much the only way in or out of town, and that is going to be a big, big job. Until this gets repaired, there is going to be a hole in my life, and one of the main routes I use to get anywhere is going to be blocked.
Just back from a very nice hike up Mount Wachusett, a large hill in central Massachusetts. My brother's dogs lead the way up the first stretch, an old farm lane.
Oak trees lining the lane.
Giant windmill one passes partway up.
The spectacular view from the summit. It was so foggy that after blundering into this large clearing we had a hard time finding the clearly marked trail down.
Hemlock grove on the descent. It was lovely. The morning's rain cooled everything off, and we enjoyed the cool and the absence of crowds while only getting drizzled on a little.
I wonder what other promising medical treatments lie buried in the records of 19th-century medicine, shunted aside when exciting new technologies like radiation became available.
Incidentally I am a long-term optimist about cancer. Unlike bacteria, cancers can't adapt to our treatments, so once we find a cure for a particular type it ought to work for a long, long time. Cancer treatments can be honed to strike cells with particular mutations, so unlike treatment for, say, heart disease, or depression, we can fix problems in one area without causing just as many somewhere else. Our knowledge about genes, proteins, and cells continues to grow exponentially. I consider the exciting therapies described in the Times to be the primitive precursors of vastly better techniques to come. I don't see why we can't nearly eliminate cancer deaths within a century.
I'm off on a five-day jaunt to Massachusetts. Not sure how much I will blog while I'm gone. But I'll see everyone when I get back.
County officials across Mississippi are warning of job losses and deep deficits as local jails are being deprived of the state inmates needed to keep them afloat. . . .
As the wave of mass incarceration begins to recede, the Mississippi controversy has local and state officials talking openly about how harmful locking up fewer people up will be for the economy, confirming the suspicions of those who have argued that mass incarceration is not merely a strategy directed at crime prevention.
The basic story is that when its prisons were filled by the crime wave of the 80s and 90s and the draconian sentences put in place to fight it, Mississippi asked counties to expand their jails and make the space available for state prisoners. The counties were payed a fixed rate per prisoner per day. Of course the counties would not have done this unless they expected to earn a profit. For 15 years they did, and for a few counties that became a key part of their revenue. Now the pie is shrinking, as it were, as the number of new inmates falls and their sentences are shortened. So the various players – state prisons, privately operated prisons, and county jails – squabble over the available funds.
So I don't think these county sheriffs are doing anything evil by demanding more prisoners. But I would ask why Mississippi was always able to find the money to lock more people up, but never finds the money for libraries or public schools or public defenders who might have kept some of those men out of jail in the first place. If the money was there to pay for housing prisoners, it ought to still be there for some other state purpose that could employ people as something more useful than prison guards.
Sparrows, ducks and box turtle, in Washington today.
The most metal word of all is burn, followed by cries, veins, eternity, and breathe. The least metal word is particularly, followed by indicated, secretary, committee, and university. What you can infer from this is that the metal English is spoken from a timeless, elemental, and darkly ethereal space, while standard English is unremarkably deskbound. Perhaps this is why we hunger for metal in the first place.
So heavy metal is the opposite of a university committee, particularly the secretary of the committee.
And there it is. But what is it? On the video at the link you can hear these biologists speculating about egg cases, but I've seen enough Star Trek to know dangerous alien life when I see it.
And notice the way this crab moved to defend the orb when the submersible approached. Obviously the orb is controlling it. But then the orb realized that the approach of this robotic craft allowed it a chance to ascend to the surface and take control of more interesting life forms, so it ordered the crab to back off and then allowed itself to be collected as a specimen. Back in the lab, the human scientists say they still haven't figured out what it is, but then since they must be under its control by now that is only what we would expect.
I've forgotten the source and the exact wording, but I was struck yesterday by a quotation I saw printed next to a sudoku puzzle. It said, approximately, "Sometimes I'm amazed by how little attention I give to real world stuff."
This, it seems to me, is one of the defining attributes of contemporary life, at least for people like me. I read fantasy and science fiction, watch superhero movies, and mainly play video games in which I can be a wizard. Some of my other interests are technically real world, but as far as my own life goes they might as well be fantasy: ancient and medieval history, space exploration.
These habits are widespread. I was back in Ellicott City with my son Wednesday night, watching hundreds of people catching virtual Pokemon.The most eagerly awaited work of art of any sort right now is probably the next Game of Thrones novel. There is also a huge amount of stuff in our culture which is real world but not very real, like professional sports and celebrity gossip. And what about music, which remains a mystery despite the explanatory efforts of a legion of evolutionary psychologists? What about art?
This is not really new. Many of the best human minds of the past were taken up with abstruse theology, or the development of elaborate mythic systems. Mathematics was developed to track the stars and planets, for reasons of faith more than anything else.
I don't have anything profound to say about this, I was just struck by the thought that I, and billions of others, prefer to think about almost anything rather than what actually feeds and houses us. For many of us, our minds are too big for our daily needs, so we find other ways to fill them.
Speaking of dragons, my youngest son told me that in the next generation Pokemon game there is going to be a Pokemon called Drampa, which means Grandpa Dragon or Old Man Dragon, and he plans to call me this from now on.
Any “rational” analysis of Trump will fail. (“Rational” in both the “logical utility” and in the “sane” sense.) He is not presenting a logical way for attaining real benefits, nor is he presenting himself as sane.
What he is selling is fear and anger. It is those two emotions, and just the emotions, that his supporters want. They want to be deathly afraid of the world, and they want to use that fear to justify an all-consuming anger. They are not looking for justification for those emotions; they just want the emotions themselves.
If you see his supporters as masses of the frustrated and disenfranchised who are seeking a voice at the table of power, then it makes no sense. Anybody like that would not want to be lied to. They have been lied to too many times by the powerful. Trump is an obvious liar, and he is never going to do what he says is is going to do. Anyone who simply feels betrayed by the political process isn’t about to set themselves up to be betrayed again. Those types will simply stay home on election day like they always do.
There is no point going into who said it, but it was said that “people would rather believe a big lie than a small one.” Once you lie, and once you lie very very big, then you are in constant fear of being found out. The only possible face-saving response is to use the energy of that fear to violently insist that you are right.
Once you stand up in public and say you believe that the Earth is flat, then you simply can’t back down. The fear of ridicule is so great that the only way forward is to be angry at all attackers. That anger then becomes its own validity. It is an addiction, pure and simple. It is an addiction to strong empty feelings. No one believes that the Earth is flat because of any logical argument. They believe that the Earth is flat because the panic that is caused by believing that lie sustains their desired anger. And their anger is all they have and all they want. Believing the lie is a deliberate and calculated act to drum up an overriding state of blind emotion.
Trump’s big lies are the whole point of his appeal.
Hillary’s fault is that she makes small lies (about the e-mails and a lot else). Small lies can be proven to be false, and the small liar shown to be a fool. You can say that you believed her about the e-mails, and then be shown that that small lie was wrong, and then say that she is a scoundrel for fooling you like that.
But if you swallow a big lie, you can’t back down. Any backdown would be such a loss of face, that your identity won’t allow it. You get trapped in a world of fear of discovery and anger at your critics and you can’t get out.
This is related to what I tried to say about Fox News in passing the other day. What is the appeal of anger? Because like this writer I see much of what Fox and Trump are selling as not just partisanship but anger in and of itself.
One model would be that our hypothetical Trump supporter/Fox News follower is unhappy about his or her life, and the direction of the country, and wants someone to blame. By creating some enemy to get angry at, people avoid having to think about what is really wrong, a process that might force some people to admit that they themselves are to blame. But against that it must be admitted that conservatives are in general just as happy or a little happier than liberals. So maybe getting angry and blaming someone else works? Could it be psychologically healthy to have enemies to revile?
I have personally found that it is very bad for me, and I am much happier since I eased up on being angry at my political opponents (and other drivers, rude salespeople, people with bad taste in music, etc.). For me, anger just raises my blood pressure and makes me negative. But maybe it works for somebody.
Most of all, I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; young and old; gay, straight, men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance, under the same proud flag, to this big, bold country that we love. . . .
Greek, 4th Century BCE. In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Hippopotamus head weight, 1549-1296 BCE.
Dog, 664 to 332 BCE.
Jerboas, 1850 to 1640 BCE. These are so cute I would suspect fraud, except that they are in the Met.
Fly, 1500 to 1070 BCE.
Glass fish, 664 to 332 BCE.
Antelope head, Memphis, 525 to 404 BCE.
And another cat, 2nd millennium BCE.
Noonan’s view was a common one. Take, for example, Michael Kelly’s 1993 New York Times Magazine profile, mockingly titled “Saint Hillary.” “Since she discovered, at the age of 14, that for people less fortunate than herself the world could be very cruel, Hillary Rodham Clinton has harbored an ambition so large that it can scarcely be grasped,” Kelly wrote. “She would like to make things right. She is 45 now and she knows that the earnest idealisms of a child of the 1960s may strike some people as naive or trite or grandiose. But she holds to them without any apparent sense of irony or inadequacy.” Kelly’s piece painted Clinton as a moralist, a meddler, a prig.
Few people dislike Hillary Clinton for being too moralistic anymore. In trying to understand the seemingly eternal phenomenon of Hillary hatred, I’ve spoken to people all around America who revile her. I’ve interviewed Trump supporters, conventional conservatives, Bernie Sanders fans, and even a few people who reluctantly voted for Clinton in the Democratic primary but who nevertheless say they can’t stand her. Most of them described a venal cynic. Strikingly, the reasons people commonly give for hating Clinton now are almost the exact opposite of the reasons people gave for hating her in the 1990s. Back then, she was a self-righteous ideologue; now she’s a corrupt tool of the establishment. Back then, she was too rigid; now she’s too flexible. Recently, Morning Consult polled people who don’t like Clinton about the reasons for their distaste. Eighty-four percent agreed with the statement “She changes her positions when it’s politically convenient.” Eighty-two percent consider her “corrupt.” Motives for loathing Clinton have evolved. But the loathing itself has remained constant.
What are we to make of this? Is it that something about Hillary sets people off at an instinctive level, and they then search for any coherent justification? Or is it, as she would have it, that her enemies have been savaging her for decades, for political reasons, creating a bad reputation?
To-morrow being the anniversary of our Nations independence, all patriotic citizens of this great Republic are expected to observe it as a holiday. We desire to be reckoned among this class of patriotic citizens, consequently no paper will be issued from this office to-morrow. The glorious Fourth happens to come in hot weather this year, and we are glad to be able to observe it ‘neath the shade of country forests.
The people of Vicksburg came nearer celebrating the glorious Fourth yesterday than they have done for several years. True, there was no general suspension of business, as indicated by closed doors, but so far as the profits of trade were concerned doors might as well have been closed, for the salesrooms were deserted almost entirely. Everybody was out of town, apparently, enjoying the holiday in some way. Several hundred people attended the Hibernian picnic at Newman’s Grove, and not withstanding the extreme heat, all seemed to enjoy the festivities of the day. The colored population turned out in large force, fully one thousand men of them going down the river on excursion boats to picnic-grounds, yet there were enough of them left in the city to form a very respectable procession of colored Masons, and a very large audience to listen to the oration of Judge J. S. Morris, and to assist in laying the corner-stone of King Solomon’s Church. There was no prolific display of fire-works on the streets, but occasional reports from fire-crackers and large torpedoes could be heard, accompanied now and then by a patriotic cry, “rah for the Fourth of July!” We do not wonder at the lack of patriotic enthusiasm displayed on our streets. No amount of patriotism could have induced any sane man to exert himself very considerably on such a day when the thermometer registered very nearly 100° Farenheit [sic.] in the shade. However, the observance of Independence Day yesterday, slight as some may have thought it, was yet sufficient to indicate the prevalence of a broader National sentiment and a determination to at least partially forget the past which renders the Fourth of July especially distasteful to Vicksburgers, and make it in future “The Day We Celebrate” as much as any other National holiday.
Who knew that Florence held an amazing array of Art Nouveau houses? I mean, who has time in Florence to see anything but the glories of the Renaissance?
But the stile Liberty, as Italians call it, was big in Tuscany, and today I stumbled across this amazing photo set of beautiful houses. Above and top, Villino Lampredi, 1908-1909.
Details. Most of these pictures come from Italian wikipedia, since as I said only locals pay attention to post-Renaissance architecture in Florence.
What Are Young Men Up To?
Who Has a Dangerous Job? | 2019-04-24T17:03:59Z | http://benedante.blogspot.com/2016/07/ |
Australians have been sold the idea that our primary school teachers today have poor literacy standards, not only by popular media but often by politicians and sometimes even by the universities that train our teachers. So how true is it? What evidence is there to support these claims? My colleagues* and I decided to find out.
This blog post is a report on our ongoing research. We haven’t finished yet. Our starting point is a survey of what the profession itself thinks (if you are a primary school teacher you might like to join in). We made a few surprising discoveries just to get to this point.
As Professor Bill Louden pointed out a few years and a few reports ago, there have been over 100 reports on teacher education in the last 40 years.
As a direct result literacy and numeracy testing of preservice teachers ( student teachers) is being rolled out across Australia.
We are particularly interested in the construction of preservice and graduate teachers as lacking in literacy capabilities.
It is not surprising that these comments are not supported with evidence. What we did find surprising is how little evidence has been used to support recommendations in government reports.
We examined academic papers and research reports, government reports and submissions to inquiries, and media commentary.
So let’s go back to that report. The data quoted as evidence are provided through a description of “issues raised” in focus group discussions by participants.
The literacy competency of student teachers was raised as an issue in all focus group discussions. Participants reported that many pre-service teachers lacked the literacy skills required to be effective teachers of reading.
Surely the evidence provided was not just a group of teachers complaining about the quality of pre-service teachers?
Well not entirely. The report also drew on other reports, as well as some small scale studies involving the testing of pre-service teachers’ knowledge of aspects of language use.
One of these sources that is often cited is the Australian Government Report Prepared to Teach.
Yet the lead author of this report, one William Louden, also argued there is a need to investigate the different factors influencing the quality of our preservice teachers.
So after following the trail back to here, we decided to take up Louden’s suggestion and look closely at the different areas discussed around the literacy standards of primary school teachers.
We believe that the factors that influence the quality of pre-service and graduate teachers can be grouped together into four dimensions.
The first dimension relates to the personal literacy capabilities of preservice teachers. Can preservice teachers spell? Can they write? Is it true that “Graduating pre-service teachers’ levels of personal literacy should be equivalent to the top 30 per cent of the population”?
The second dimension relates to preservice and graduate teachers’ knowledge of the English curriculum. They don’t know enough about literature, they don’t know how to assess writing, they don’t know what to include and exclude from their classroom teaching. Hence the increase in packages and programs such as Soundwaves a spelling program that proudly claims, “you don’t need to be a phonemic expert”.
The third dimension relates to preservice and graduate teachers ability to teach, or their pedagogical knowledge about English and literacy. That is, if you don’t know how to teach spelling you can’t teach literacy; teachers who write are good teachers of literacy; teachers who use digital texts such as blogs and websites themselves are experts at using these in classrooms. There are also arguments in the literature about explicit teaching, direct instruction, inquiry based learning, whole language approaches, systemic phonics instruction, etc etc.
A fourth dimension is initial teacher education program’s impact on the above dimensions. So how does the standard of entry to teacher education program impact on graduate teachers’ personal literacy abilities? Does the mode of delivery of teacher education (four year, graduate entry etc) have an impact on graduate teachers’ ability to teach literacy? How does the length and type of professional experience (school based, intense internships) influence preservice teachers’ knowledge of the curriculum?
The content of initial teacher education programs is often hotly disputed as well. Do we teach phonemic awareness? Is there enough practice or too much theory? Who are the best people to teach initial teacher education? Teachers? Researchers?
We have used these four dimensions to construct a survey of members of the teaching profession across Australia.
We aim in this survey to answer the following research question, What are the expectations of the profession about the literacy capabilities of graduate teachers required to deliver high quality, intellectually demanding literacy education?
We envisage the results will provide some empirical data that can replace the anecdotes embedded in current storylines about the capabilities of preservice and graduate teachers.
After this survey our next step will be to discover what primary preservice teachers understand about their own personal literacy skills and their perceptions of their own abilities to teach literacy.
Dr Eileen Honan is a Senior Lecturer in Literacy and English Education at The University of Queensland.
Of course you have heard the argument that teachers do not teach phonics any more and worse, that many early career teachers do not even know how to teach phonics.
So as a teacher of preservice teachers I will start by telling you for at least the past 15 years there has been overwhelming advice from probably hundreds of research projects and inquiries that a comprehensive approach to the teaching of reading should be taken. Rest assured this approach very emphatically includes the explicit teaching of phonics. However phonics are just part of the picture.
that teachers provide systematic, direct and explicit phonics instruction so that children master the essential alphabetic code-breaking skills required for foundational reading proficiency. Equally, that teachers provide an integrated approach to reading that supports the development of oral language, vocabulary, grammar, reading fluency, comprehension and the literacies of new technologies.
While the evidence indicates that some teaching strategies are more effective than others, no one approach of itself can address the complex nature of reading difficulties. An integrated approach requires that teachers have a thorough understanding of a range of effective strategies, as well as knowing when and why to apply them.
Our teaching of literacy education to preservice teachers across Australia is based on this approach.
to write persuasive texts, and narratives, as required by NAPLAN.
to understand the grammatical structures of our language.
to read between the lines so they can infer and interpret hidden meanings in texts.
In the classrooms where we teach Australia’s future teachers we don’t waste time on such nonsense. Instead we spend our time teaching our preservice teachers to teach a range of students using a range of strategies that will work in today’s complex and demanding world.
We teach them about critical literacy, the use of new technologies in literacy classrooms, the importance of grammar, the use of literature, multiple literacies and multimodality, and the importance of teachers doing classroom based research.
Teachers today must be able to cope with a diverse range of abilities and experiences.
Some are newly arrived in Australia. Not only do they not speak English, their parents have limited English, and they have spent so much time in refugee camps they cannot read and write in their own languages either.
It is our job to provide teachers with the skills, knowledge and understanding to develop lessons that help all these children learn to read.
This is not simple work, and cannot be achieved through a ‘magic bullet’ approach.
Though many commercial ‘synthetic phonics’ programs (programs that offer a set way to teach phonics) promise exactly that these days. They are sold as quick fixes to teaching children to read. But mostly they ignore issues related to catering for a wide range of student abilities in one class and are often written by people who have never worked as trained teachers.
I promise you we don’t encourage our nation’s future teachers to grab a program off the shelf in the hope it will work for them. We teach our preservice teachers the elements of ‘systematic, direct and explicit phonics instruction’, but we refuse to endorse, promote or market commercial programs.
That said, many advocates of ‘synthetic phonics’ have links to particular programs that are sold to schools, teachers, and parents.
For example, Dr Norman Swan often reports on problems with current approaches to literacy education in his health report forum on the ABC.
He also endorses programs such as Phonica.
One of the authors of a recent article in The Conversation pushing a synthetic phonics approach is also the developer of materials called spelfabet that she sells to teachers and parents to support this approach. This association was acknowledged by the publisher.
We do this not only because we ourselves are passionately committed to high quality research, but because government accreditation processes for teacher education courses demand it of us. Put simply if we presented ideas packaged in a commercial program as the “right” way to teach reading our courses would not be ( and should not be) accredited as providing quality teacher education.
Standards and Procedures reflect high expectations of initial teacher education. The stakeholders are united in their belief that the teaching profession and the Australian community deserve nothing less. There is an expectation that those entering teaching will be a diverse group of highly literate and numerate individuals with a professional platform from which to develop as high quality teachers.
Our high expectations of the teaching profession stop us from selling commercial programs, or teaching teachers to believe there is one “right” way to teach reading. We believe our children deserve much more.
Acknowledgement – The ideas in this paper were produced in consultation and discussion with members of the Literacy Educators Coalition. For further information about this group please go to their website at http://www.literacyeducators.com.au/.
If we follow the recommendations of the recently released national curriculum review for teaching English we will all soon be pretending we live in 1955. Back then employment was at its peak. There were no unemployed. The White Australia Policy was still operating, and in schools children were learning how to read through working through books like the Queensland Readers.
One of the two ‘subject area specialists’ appointed to provide expert advice to the reviewers is Professor Barry Spurr who holds a personal chair in Poetry and Poetics at The University of Sydney. I want to ignore the controversy over any offensive personal views he may have and look at the specific criticisms he had of the current Literature strand of the national English Curriculum.
One of his recommendations was for a “greater emphasis on dealing with and introducing literature from the Western literary canon, especially poetry” and this has been, unfortunately, accepted by the reviewers.
So what is this literature from the western literary canon that has been so neglected in the current curriculum? According to Professor Spurr English Literature studies must now begin in Foundation Year (with six year olds). It should begin with Middle English lyrics, including Chaucer, and continue to the present, with acknowledgement and experience also of ancient texts from the classical world and of the Bible.
This kind of prescriptive approach to text selection is the focus of the so-called culture wars has previously been focused only on secondary schooling.
The flavoursome vocabulary of the simplest Medieval lyrics and the inventive conceptions of traditional fairy stories, myths and legends (often with strong ethical and psychological messages, as well, as in Aesop’s fables) as well as the nonsense verse of writers like Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear can be savoured by the youngest pupils.
From the early years of schooling, classics of Australian children’s literature must be strongly represented: Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians, The Silver Brumby series by Elyne Mitchell and Norman Lindsay’s Magic Pudding, along with texts that have a similar standing in world literature in English, like Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows and works by such as AA Milne and the brothers Grimm.
There must be sustained teaching of the different kinds of poetry (for example), beginning in the early years with lyrical verse and emphasis on oral qualities of rhythm and rhyme, and poetry as a spoken form. Memorisation and recitation, developing pupils from reading poetry as text to assisting them to concentrate on the sounds and accents of poetry.
Again just to remind you this is referring to the Prep years here – children of six years of age, who are being prepared for a future of technological innovation and a world of work that is at yet unimaginable.
Some would argue that the focus on Professor Spurr’s response as a ‘subject specialist’ shifts our attention away from the Review’s final recommendations which I find unacceptable.
I would argue however that his response provides us with an insight into the mindsets of the reviewers Donnelly and Wiltshire, who after all, chose him to be their font of wisdom on the topic of teaching English in primary and secondary years in Australia in 2014.
In my opinion Professor Spurr seems to be lacking in some basic knowledge of schooling in those years.
Educators today understand they are preparing students for a precarious and unknown future, where the jobs of the future are still in many ways unimaginable.
In the 21st century Australia’s capacity to provide a high quality of life for all will depend on the ability to compete in the global economy on knowledge and innovation.
This quote is from the Melbourne Declaration and it assumes that a curriculum will be developed for an education system where everyone agrees that the way forward for our nation is to think of the future.
So how does an English curriculum help teachers prepare students for this exciting unknown, a future of unimagined possibilities? Many literacy and English educators, and those of us who prepare the future teachers of English and literacy, believe that an English curriculum needs to balance the traditions of the past with the texts of the present in order to help our students explain and prepare for an unknown future.
While the current English curriculum is not perfect, there are a couple of groundbreaking and innovative features that seem to have become lost in the tired fights about phonics and skills and ideological warfare. One of these is the intertwining of three strands of content. So students from Foundation Year right through to Year 10 learn how to use the English Language at the word and sentence level, while at the same time they learn how to write and read whole texts and practice their Literacy skills, and also at the same time engage with the depth and breadth of quality Literature available to them in Australia in 2014.
Yes it is complex and difficult work, and yes many teachers feel overburdened and confused about the decisions that have to be made to make this curriculum work.
But does that mean we abandon it?
Do we have to go back in time and pretend that the reality of the 21st century and the impact of global economic and social policies are not going to affect the children of our future?
– the development of vernacular literacy practices in Papua New Guinea and other nations in the Pacific Island region; – the development of new rhizomatic methodologies in educational research.
George Orwell wrote in 1984, “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” We are in a remarkable policy moment in Australia, where the federal government is playing a strange, schizophrenic pantomime with Christopher Pyne perfectly cast in the role as education ‘reformer’.
It wouldn’t be too fanciful to make comparisons between Orwell’s dystopic vision of a society where history and the present are continuously re-shaped for political expediency and our own current political environment. It seems that each new week brings another ideology-driven announcement that relies on a blind faith in the logic of the market, while simultaneously ignoring the large body of education research.
The construction of this schizoid approach to education of course begins with the double backflip followed by a complete disappearing act on the Gonski school funding reforms. Despite going to the election on a unity ticket, the government has managed to not only reverse its commitment to an equitable school funding model but also to put pressure on the states to find the money themselves from 2017, as part of a broader divestment agenda.
A particularly striking example of doublethink came out in May’s budget, where Pyne announced a deregulation agenda for the higher education sector. He claimed that by removing the cap on fees, it will make studying more affordable and accessible for disadvantaged students because market competition will drive fees down. Never mind that, alongside this, federal government funding of student fees will be reduced and the cost of taking out a loan substantially increased. It was unsurprising that Universities Australia and several individual universities responded with evidence to show that, in fact, students would be much worse off under the proposed changes.
A further budget doublethink moment came from the government continuing to reduce investment in research through the ARC, NHMRC and CSIRO, while making grandiose claims about curing cancer from a new medical endowment fund that would be paid for by a $7 GP co-payment. Again, it was of little surprise when respondents pointed out that those who would be hardest hit were those already most disadvantaged in the community, while calling into question the veracity of the supposedly $20 billion medical endowment fund.
As most fledgling governments do, there are a number of reviews underway. Of interest to educators are the review of the Australian Curriculum and the review of pre-service teacher education. In particular, the choice of Kevin Donnelly to lead the Australian Curriculum review puts a cloud of doubt over the whole exercise, turning it into a farce. Donnelly has long been a heavily vocal detractor of the curriculum and, as a conservative commentator, is most certainly not the un-biased reviewer that he claims to be.
Further, the extraordinarily short timeframe for the review from call for submissions to providing the report to the government (less than 6 months), combined with Pyne’s claims that any changes would be ready for the start of the 2015 school year, make a mockery of the long, consultative and critically-engaged process undertaken in the development of the Australian Curriculum.
The combined announcements of the appointment of John Fleming to the AITSL board and the expansion of the Cape York Direct Instruction program provide us with some indication of where Mr Pyne sees the future for education in Australia. The $22 million expansion of the Cape York Direct Instruction program to other Indigenous schools seems a complete mockery of the government’s commitment to closing the gap when held against the $534 million reduction in funding to Indigenous health and education programs. Many early years learning centres have no guarantee of continued funding beyond this year, yet a top-down, one-size-fits-all, interventionist approach to the teaching of reading English will be forced onto children across the country.
There are multiple concerns with the Direct Instruction approach (see Alan Luke’s post from 7 July) which covers these), particularly in the long-term effects of the program. One worrying concern is that students who learn to read through DI might be very capable at decoding strategies such as ‘sounding out’ words but lack the contextual and semantic knowledge that would help them to understand what they are reading.
One doesn’t need a crystal ball to predict where this is all going. Pyne is on the record claiming that he supports a back-to-the-basics approach to school. Direct Instruction is one part of that picture, where teachers stand out the front of the classroom and lecture students from a pre-scripted program. Students sit quietly in nice straight rows and comply with the instructions to perform reading and writing skill drilling. Never mind that this goes against research that has shown, time and again, that students learn best when they are highly engaged, deeply involved and in control of their own inquiries.
Of course this approach to teaching fits in nicely with the Teach for Australia programme which has also had a $22million increase in its funding. The premise of this programme along with its counterparts in the USA and elsewhere is that teachers don’t require any pedagogical knowledge and that this lack of pedagogical knowledge and skills can be filled through supplying these teachers with pre-prepared packages of materials.
The deep inherent contradictions in these moves by this government are summed up in the introduction to their Studentsfirst website where the first sentence about “teacher quality” is that “the first step to achieving a quality education, which is so critical for the future of young Australians and our nation, is to lift the quality, professionalisation and status of the teaching profession”.
There is no evidence that this government has done anything to take this first step: indeed the doublethink illustrated here is that they have done everything they can do to undermine the status of the profession.
The author would like to thank Dr Stewart Riddle for his thoughtful contributions to this blog post. | 2019-04-18T21:06:51Z | https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?tag=eileen-honan |
This weekend marked a very special milestone on the Dragonfish Path, one worthy of awakening the sleeping Dragonfish Blog. I achieved an major goal for the year by recording an oral history interview with my grandmother before our family Christmas gathering. Part of understanding where I come from is understanding who I come from – and I know my mom’s mom (known as “Ba” in Vietnamese) is full of stories that I’ve never heard.
A few months ago, I sent my grandmother a list of nearly 50 questions, everything from what toys and foods she liked as a child, to how the conflicts in Vietnam affected her life. In a more perfect universe, I would have been able to understand and speak Vietnamese well enough to conduct the interview myself. But in this case, the importance of getting the story surmounted my language hangups and I enlisted the help of my mom as an interviewer. Rather than interrupting their flow to get things translated, I just sat back to bask in the interaction of these two important women in my life, content that I could pick out enough words to know which question they were on, and requesting more elaboration at some points.
The quality of the video is far from professional as I futzed over the background and lighting. Most important was trying to make sure Ba was comfortable, and it seemed most fitting to shoot the video at her kitchen table. And at the end of the day, the main thing is that we captured her story (or at least the parts that she was able to tell in our hour-and-a-half recording session). When I first sent her the questions, Ba had told my mom and aunt she wasn’t sure who would want to listen to her stories. But I think we convinced her how much this would mean to her children and grandchildren, and at the end of the interview, she said she was happy to be able to share something with us in this way.
I hope to work with my mom on the translation and try to stitch it together with video I collected on our family trip to Vietnam with Ba earlier this year. With any luck, I may have something to show for it by the time Ba turns 90 next September…At any rate, the dream of the Dragonfish Path is still alive, and I hope to keep moving forward on it step by step.
One last note on that illustrates the intricacies of the Vietnamese language. There are no simple words for “I” or “you.” Everything is contextual (which means just starting a conversation with someone is rife with pitfalls for the beginning language learner). Before we started the interview, my grandma asked how she should refer to herself. We decided that the more formal “toi” was too impersonal, and so she referred to herself as the more familiar “me” or “mom,” since she was talking to her daughter, my mom.
Today I put on my scientist hat for a decidedly unglamorous task. I spent a number of hours poring over data sheets and referencing them with a database, making changes on the computer where our intern had noted discrepancies between the written and the typed data. There is nothing like tedium to drive you to reflection.
I admit, I can appreciate my share of mindless, repetitive tasks. You can’t beat ‘em for that satisfying feeling of productivity. What else could have powered me through dissecting 1,000+ fish stomachs for my master’s thesis? Even data checking itself is a somewhat comforting and familiar zone, in which I also spent many an hour of grad school. But sometimes, now as then, this kind of work makes it hard for me to keep my eye on the end goal. What’s the point?, I wonder. What’s the value in how I spent my day? How is this work meaningful?
These data I’m wading through are from the village fishing survey project that I helped organize last fall – which has been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I’ve worked on at FISHBIO so far (and which I have yet to write about…). And if I still want to call myself a scientist, I can’t just drop in for all of the “fun” parts of doing research. It can’t all be just hanging out with the fishers, holding workshops, going out on boats, taking pictures of pretty fish, and drinking Beer Lao – as much as I’d like it to be. (I once told someone that my dream of being a science writer was to tag along for all of the hands-on field science, then play with fun ways to communicate it while the scientists wrestled with analyzing the data. “That’s cheating!” he said. Is it?) But I don’t want to just pay lip service to this science, I want to be able to say I really understand it – and mean it. So I have to be willing to dive into the frustrating minutiae of the nitty gritty. It’s part of piecing together a bigger picture that will only be as accurate as every pixel that makes it up – every fish length, every net size, every fishing time.
So now that means trying to make sense of all of the information we asked ten fishermen to collect for three months – and at the most basic starting point, it means making sure we’ve cataloged all of that data as accurately as possible. I’m learning small things along the way: how to decipher Lao handwriting, how to translate the difference between “didn’t catch fish” and “didn’t go fishing,” understanding how fishermen measure the height of their nets in the number of mesh holes, not in meters.
It’s easy to get impatient – how is this leading me toward my goal, down my dragon fish path? I find myself wanting the pay-off now – I want to be an expert, a credible source of information, I want to be making a real difference in conservation and help people understand and care about this complex and fascinating setting that I’m just learning to understand myself. Staring down a few massive binders of datasheets sure forces you to take the long view. I’m trying to learn as much as I can in a new environment, which takes time. I’m building my confidence, which comes with experience, which takes time. I’m still on the path. But I have to pay my dues, and I have to earn it.
Today my Lao coworker was leafing through his dog-eared copy of “Illustrated American Idioms” from 1982 – a gem I found buried in the closet yesterday while trying to make an inventory of our books. It’s quite the slice of American culture – illustrated in the style of ClipArt. Someone has turned it into a coloring book, probably before Sinsamout came to own it. He flipped to the phrase “big fish in a small pond” and asked me what it meant. I said it’s like feeling important in your small village, then coming to the big city, being surrounded by lots of accomplished people, and realizing you don’t really know very much. Naturally, this also introduced the concept of a “small fish in a big pond.” Actually, the book listed the phrase as “big frog in a small pond,” which I had never heard of – so we both learned something.
Well, you can disregard the report in my previous post of this season’s cooler temperatures. After I experienced one day of refreshingly chilly weather, the heat has flipped back on and stayed there. People are remarking that it’s turned warmer earlier than usual this year. “You’ll learn to love an air conditioner,” one friend said. One of the traditions of Lao New Year that I’m looking forward to experiencing next month is people relieving the oppressive heat of April by throwing water on each other. I’ve heard more than one proposition that maybe this practice ought to start a month early this year.
I am still fascinated by the low water level of the Mekong River in the dry season. One product of this recession is I’ve noticed people tending gardens on the exposed land along the river. These riverside gardens are an important seasonal component of Lao culture that cycles with the river. When the water level is high during the rainy season, fishing is in full swing. When the river drops, people plant gardens on the fertile riverbank soil. My FISHBIO colleagues have taken photos of riverside gardens in Lao villages – it was interesting to see some for myself right in the city of Vientiane.
Farming is a very important part of life in Laos, and farming and fishing often go hand in hand. It seems like a lot of people are part farmer, part fisher, depending on the season. Rice is the primary crop in Laos, and other important crops include corn, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, soybeans, and various fruits and vegetables. Coffee is also grown in the southern part of the country. At the organic farmer’s market (where I think it’s more likely to find crops grown locally rather than imported) I’ve seen bananas and many vegetables and herbs, including cucumbers, pumpkins, okra, and leafy greens.
Despite the lack of water, people are still fishing in the cut-off side channels, searching for whatever hapless fish are trapped in what essentially amount to large puddles. I can only guess as to their success. The Mekong is known for its highly variable water flow between the rainy and dry seasons, so I shouldn’t be so surprised by its contraction. But seeing so much dry land is a sight I haven’t quite gotten used to.
Coupled with the heat and the low water is the dust. If it seems dusty here in the capital, I can only imagine how it must be in the villages, with a lack of paved roads and an abundance of red dirt. Lots of plants and trees here look like they’ve received a dusting of cinnamon. When I asked a friend about the haziness of the sky, she thought it was a result of the dust – I suppose that’s a bit more comforting than my smog hypothesis, though my guess is the true cause is probably a mix of both.
Leaving a drought-afflicted state to land in another country’s dry season heightens my constant thirst has me craving rain. I’m thankful to hear California is finally receiving some much-needed rain and snow back home. I’m increasingly reminded how precious water is – especially when you have to drink it from a bottle. But more on that later.
After nearly four months in Laos, then less than three months at home in California, I’ve just arrived back in Vientiane – and am navigating an interesting sensation where my surroundings are both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. This trip isn’t filled with the same novelty of my last one, when everything around me was new. But after hopscotching on to Laos after a vacation in the Philippines, coming back feels decidedly surreal, like it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I’m here. Much is like I remember, some is not.
Part of the change is that I’m experiencing Laos in a new season. My previous trips have been in late summer and fall, and now it’s winter. It’s odd to feel like I could use another layer of clothing or a blanket on the bed – although the temperature flipflops from hot to cold from day to day. I’ve missed the legitimately cold weather of January, and I’ve heard people refer to February as spring, since April brings the scorching feeling of summer. I’ll get to feel it for myself, since I’m planning to stay until mid April to experience Lao New Year. There’s a haziness in the air, and the color looks bleached out of the sky along the horizon – could be that the lack of rain means there’s nothing to wash the city smog away.
In perhaps the biggest change, I was stunned to see the water level of the Mekong River so low. People were walking and playing soccer on wide expanses of sand that I remember being covered with water, and fishing platforms stand high and dry among clumps of exposed vegetation. I felt like it would be nearly possible to walk across to Thailand. It is the dry season, after all – although my coworker thinks that the river is lower now than it used to be, due to dams and water diversions upstream. There are other changes, too: work at the construction site next door to my office grinds on, relentlessly grating and rumbling, as a massive concrete structure rises. Neighborhood puppies have grown into shaggy dogs, some trees have lost their leaves, while others bloom with bright orange flowers I’ve never seen before.
But other things are familiar and the same – the restaurants, the night market, the aerobics class by the river. It’s comforting that I’ve built up a handful of go-to places and favorite spots. I hope these will help me get back into my routine, while I’ll open myself up to new experiences and learning in this latest season.
Laos is undeniably a Buddhist country, as evidenced by the abundance of golden Buddha statues, the monks draped in bright orange robes, and ornate red and gold temples on nearly every corner. But before they were Buddhist, Lao people were, and still are, predominantly animist. As I’ve had it explained to me, animism is essentially the belief that everything has a spirit – from people, to animals, to rivers and mountains and trees. I think that’s a pretty admirable way to look at the world, especially if it makes you more in tune and appreciative of your surroundings.
Of course, at its extreme, this philosophy can foster intense superstition, and I’ve heard that Lao people may be reluctant to walk around at night for fear of spirits or ghosts. This belief system is also at the root of the heartbreaking clash of cultures in the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. From reading that book, I thought animism was limited to the Hmong culture, but elements of it are quite widespread in mainstream Lao society.
The most obvious evidence of this are the little houses seen outside almost every Lao business or residence. At first I thought these little altars were a Buddhist tradition. I wasn’t quite sure how to describe them – an altar? A shrine? The most fitting term I finally came across is “spirit house.” These structures are basically a place to make offerings to the spirit of your home or workplace – essentially, trying to appease it and keep it happy so it doesn’t wreak havoc on your life and fortunes.
My office has a spirit house of its own, and when I finally noticed it, it was clear that it needed some TLC. One hot afternoon, I scrubbed down the moss and mildew – a bit of a delicate operation, since the flaking paint was readily coming off in the process. Once we got it tided up and picked up the garbage that had accumulated around it, Jacque and I made a few small offerings of candles, incense, and fruit to our spirit house. I’ve also seen flowers, drinks, and cigarettes as common offerings.
It turns out we spruced up our spirit house just in time. A few days later, September 4, turned out to be a festival called Boun Hor Khao Padubdin. It seems to be something like “day of the dead.” Sinsamout told us that people would go to the temples early in the morning and make offerings to appease the spirits of the dead who don’t have anyone to pray for them. Vendors sell little offering “care packages” especially for the occasion, wrapped in banana leaves. The banana leaf packets contain nine offerings, including several types of fruit and a cigarette… The local temples had strung up extra flags in preparation for the holiday.
A cat enjoying the offerings.
Jacuqe and I woke up around 5:30 am that day in hopes of seeing something interesting in the morning. But the dark streets were quiet. We came across a few candles burning on the ground alongside offerings at the side of one temple – and a cat who seemed quite content eating the offerings placed at his level. (A spirit incarnate, maybe?) There were more offerings clustered outside the temple gates, little boats with candles flickering beside them. Later that day, Sinsamout brought flowers for our office spirit house and some delicious offerings his mom had made for the occasion – sweet sticky rice and bananas wrapped in banana leaves. Luckily, we got to sample them after they had been offered!
Offerings for our spirit house.
As evening rolled around, Jacque and I heard a steady drumming and chanting coming from one of the temples down the road. We wandered over just in time to witness a beautiful sight – monks finishing a candlelit procession around the temple, with dozens of community members following behind. Sinsamout later told us they walk around the temple three times. People then took their candles to various parts of the temple grounds, setting them and other offerings next to trees and stupas. Everyone then crowded into the temple where the monks chanted and prayed.
Since we walk past the temple pretty much every day, it was gratifying to see it as a hub of activity, and helped me feel like a part of the larger community in our little neighborhood. It felt quite special to observe this traditional practice full of flowers and candlelight, and be able to participate to some small degree. I will have to try to keep our spirit house looking presentable in hopes of good fortune for living and working here!
Our spirit house by candlelight.
Offerings left outside the temple.
The community gathers at our local temple.
Back home, my mom is the smoothie queen. When I’m visiting, the sound of the blender whirring in the late afternoon tips me off that I’ll soon get to sample her latest creation. Smoothies are such a delicious way to beat the heat in Southeast Asia, and they’re obligingly on pretty much every menu. I’m guilty of ordering one with essentially every meal… In Can Tho, Vietnam, I had a favorite spot for mango smoothies. Here, my hands-down favorite is the mango-passion fruit combo – although many places serve it with the passion fruit seeds included, which I’m more ambivalent about.
Jacque and I recently decided to test out the small blender in our kitchen to grind up the selection of tropical fruits we bought at the market. I was surprised when she sliced open a dragonfruit to reveal dripping flesh in garish pink — I’d only ever seen the Dalmatian-esque white- with-black-seeds variety. In any case, the smoothie was an instant winner in the color department! Taste wise, it wasn’t much — the rather bland apple I threw in overpowered the more subtle taste of the tropical fruits, like mangosteen and rambutan. We didn’t quite have the blender screwed on all the way, so the end result was a fun color explosion, reminiscent of a high school chemistry lab.
The second time around, I was going for the gold. I had been on a mission to buy a pineapple at the market, and I got one so ripe that in a matter of days it was turning to juice, whether I liked it or not. So into the blender it went, with some mango and banana for good measure. I’d say it was a winner!
I suppose it’s time I wrote about something other than food. At the end of a long day, it’s hard to wrap my brain around anything too serious. Tonight is no exception – but I figured I could write about the other thing I love to take pictures of: flowers. In Laos, it’s not flowers growing in gardens or yards that catch my eye, but the heaps and heaps of marigolds for sale for people to use as Buddhist offerings. Finally I can post some photos that do justice to how much beauty can be found here.
The sight just fills me with happiness on so many levels – especially seeing the flowers as offerings in the temples and on people’s personal altars and shrines. The color is one of my favorites and the idea of offering the flowers to the Buddha also makes me smile. I was just reading that, while marigolds are native to the Americas, they were introduced to South Asia in the 1500’s or so (at least according to these websites). I’ve definitely seen stunning photos of marigold-draped Buddhas in India. Gold is certainly everywhere when it comes to Buddhism here. Unlike the Tibetan, Chinese, or Vietnamese Buddhist images that I’m more familiar with, in Laos (and I’m guessing Thailand), the Buddhas and temples are all ornately carved, golden, and gleaming. The sight is like being filled with sunshine.
The bright orange that I love is also everywhere in the fabric of monk robes. With so many temples around, monks (or rather, young monks in training) are constantly passing by, often with an umbrella in hand to shade their shaved heads from the sun. Apparently it’s quite common for families to send their sons to become monks just for a few years – they aren’t necessarily becoming monks for life, just a temporary service. I’ve learned that monks aren’t allowed to drive scooters – although apparently it’s ok to ride on the back. Many ride bicycles instead.
I love the fact that our office is right between two large temples. There seems to be a temple every few blocks, and you can usually walk right through them. They often have the best trees in the city. Sinsamout and I cut through two to go to lunch last week and avoided the traffic completely. You can even drive a scooter or car through some of the temples during the day time, although I find that a bit disconcerting. Jacque and I stopped into a larger temple while we were biking around a the other week – since it was a Sunday, many families had come to make offerings and receive blessings from the monks.
The monk “dormitory.” I love the color combinations.
Around 5:45 pm every day, I hear the faint sound of the temple bell ringing next door, low and resonant, almost somber. It reminds me of my stay at a temple in Vietnam. Sinsamout said it’s calling the monks in to pray, and anyone can join to pray or meditate with them. Jacque and I peeked in last week on our way off to aerobics and saw the monks sitting there in rows before a giant statue of the Buddha lit up with spotlights. I will have to make a point to join them at least once before I leave. I could hardly find a better spot for a meditative reflection. | 2019-04-18T11:07:47Z | https://erinloury.com/blog/page/2/ |
"The book was better." Whenever you go see a film adaptation of a beloved text, you could probably put money on the first thing people will say as they file out of the theater. They'll crumple their candy wrappers and slurp the last of their Mountain Dew and shake their heads at the audacity of the screenwriters. "Another piece of literature ruined!" And it's just another casualty of The Studio System. That big, money-grubbing cinema machine, which, unsatisfied with romantic comedy fodder, has seized a beautiful novel and squeezed. In this case, we've gathered here to mourn the untimely adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses (Thornton, 2000). McCarthy’s plot is, for the most part, kept intact throughout the film. Instead, it is the film technique—like close up face shots, hokey music, and clichéd cinematography—that causes the film to become something trite and boring rather than mirroring the lyrical prose of McCarthy’s novel. The film grasps at the conventions of the Western employed by McCarthy, without managing to portray his subtle commentary on the inability of these conventions to apply to the modern American landscape.
Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses presents a changing world and a fading way of life, evoked through the character of John Grady Cole, a young boy trying to maintain the identity of a cowboy. Set in post-WWII Texas, the novel follows John Grady from the ranch he grew up on through the beautiful but threatening Mexican landscape. John Grady represents all the virtues of the traditional Western hero: he is honest, brave, steadfast, hard-working, taciturn, and unnaturally good with horses. However, John Grady’s particular brand of heroism no longer has a relevant role in the world in which he lives. The novel begins with the death of his grandfather, marking the loss of both a family member and a lifestyle. John Grady’s mother, more concerned with her acting career and new boyfriend, has no interest in maintaining the family ranch, while John Grady has no interest in doing anything else. The opening scenes of the novel evoke his deep sense of loss, beginning with John Grady standing over his grandfather’s corpse. McCarthy subtly sets the tone for the novel with this scene, repeatedly emphasizing the unfriendly nature of the world in which our hero must now live: the words “cold” and “dark” are used repeatedly. John Grady stands in the “cold hallway” looking into the “dark glass,” holding his hat “like some supplicant to the darkness,” while the phrase “dark and cold and no wind” is repeated twice. The repetition of these two adjectives creates the impression of a barren world where the only sound is the “ticking of the mantel clock,” marking the unstoppable passage of time (3).
John Grady and Rawlins are doing their best to be cowboys in a modern world, but McCarthy manages to convey how overwhelmingly out of place they are while they remain in America. The physical obstacles they face as they traverse the American landscape represent the intrusion of modern society on the traditional Western landscape. The triteness of much of their speech and the discomfort they sometimes express with their inability to fully live out their ideal of the cowboy lifestyle further emphasizes their inability to live in modern American society.
The movie version of All the Pretty Horses, however, falls far short of the bar set by the novel. Directed by Billy Bob Thornton and starring Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz as the starstruck lovers Alejandra and John Grady, the film attempts to tackle many things: create a plausible Western, create a plausible romance, and, overall, create a plausible and entertaining movie. It fails on almost all fronts, but not because of the poor quality of the storyline, which it retains fairly well. Rather, it is in the film-making methods used by Thornton where McCarthy’s themes are lost. For example, the film opens with grand, panoramic shots of the desert and close-ups of wild horses galloping across the land, while the two heroes lie under the night sky, talking about their belief in heaven. Though Billy Bob Thornton eventually gets around to the shot of John Grady’s dead grandfather, it is only after a few minutes of idyllic shots of the Texas landscape. The overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness that opens the novel is completely obliterated; John Grady comes in from the broad daylight to sit with his grandfather’s corpse, accompanied by their family servant. The audience begins the movie more impressed by the stark beauty of the landscape than by any sense of loss, presented with a movie in the tradition of the most overly-done Western film clichés, as opposed to one reflecting the spirit of McCarthy’s novel.
I think I’m going to move on.
This is still good country.
Yeah. I know it is. But it ain’t my country….
Where is your country? He said.
This statement reaffirms the impression given by the beginning of the book; America can no longer provide the lifestyle John Grady is searching for. He is a remnant of a past time, a boy trying to live out an ideal that possibly never existed. Again, McCarthy mirrors John Grady’s mood with his descriptions of the landscape. As the two boys sit in silence, “the dead moon hung in the west and the long flat shapes of the nightclouds passed before it like a phantom fleet” (298). This ghostly landscape supports the impression that, for John Grady, any potential this land had for him is dead. Death appears in the boys’ conversation as well. Lacey tells John Grady that his father has died and that his nurse, Abuela, is dying. The two boys part, and Lacey watches as John Grady “dropped slowly down the skyline” (300).
For a moment he held out his hands as if to steady himself or as if to bless the ground there or perhaps as if to slow the world that was rushing away and seemed to care nothing for the old or the young or rich or poor or dark or pale or he or she. Nothing for their struggles, nothing for their names. Nothing for the living or the dead.
John Grady has not only lost his grandfather, father, and nurse (who seems to be a more salient maternal figure than his real mother), but his ties to the world, which the passage of time is taking away. The image of the world “rushing away” from him emphasizes the impression that he is a remainder of an older time, out-of-place and alone. John Grady then sets off alone, riding off into the desert. The novel concludes as it began: with death and with John Grady riding out to discover a new land. The essential difference is that now John Grady rides unaccompanied, aware of how alone he is in the world. He cannot ride off into the sunset with his buddy anymore.
The end of the movie, on the other hand, completely ignores these themes of loss. The movie concludes with John Grady riding up to Lacey’s home with their horses. Lacey exclaims, “Damn, bud!” and laughs as he pets his returned horse. The boys stand against a background of a beautiful blue sky and some happy chickens, not in the stark, phantom landscape of McCarthy’s book. For all intents and purposes, the two boys appear to be happily reunited, an ending that, given the violence and suffering they have undergone, is the best one possible. There could not be a more complete subversion of the book’s message: the boys are fulfilling their cowboy roles, and appear at home on Lacey’s ranch. This impression, that John has “come home,” that he belongs, undermines the entire point of McCarthy’s work.
The film similarly misses the point behind the boys “playacting” at being cowboys, or using phrases heard in a John Wayne film or from someone’s grizzled old grandfather still remains in the film. However, the subtext that facet has in the novel is also completely gone. In the book, the hackneyed lines resonate as the boys imitating a life that is dying out; the reader understands that these are somewhat sympathetic and immature characters that are meant to be cheered on—though the search is futile, it is still noble in its intentions. However, in the movie the search simply seems pointless. The viewer doesn’t understand the “why” of the journey; instead, it seems like two boys wanting to ride horses and talk about things they know nothing about to try and seem brave. The flatness created by the lack of subtext translates like "a boy's adventure story that has mistaken itself for an epic, and it rattles around in its own ambitions like a child's head in a 10-gallon hat" (Times). Not only is the sense of loss not resonant in the movie, the whole point of the boys’ journey also seems to have been abandoned. However, some of the disconnect between the book and the movie are not entirely the fault of the screenplay and adaptation: there is a formula, of sorts, to the historical creation of the Western. It is important to understand the history of the Western as a film genre in order to understand, truly, how various traditional tactics used in creating All The Pretty Horses also contributed to the film’s inadequacies.
Within the medium of film, the Western genre is as loved by critics as it is by the average American filmgoer. Because the films were so successful during the early years of cinema, there have been numerous qualities and characteristics that appear in many of the same Westerns. The setting of a Western is both obvious and important. Without an environment that captures the barren, tough, vast beauty of the Western United States, there is no framework in which characters can interact. The characters within the genre regardless of film all have similar qualities that identify these individuals as belonging to the West: the lawless, the helpless, the courageous. Furthermore, the stories in which these characters are placed all follow a common framework of hero versus outlaw that have been perfected by various directors. These directors rose to fame through their respective films that were considered timeless and revolutionary in the world of movies. For example, John Ford had numerous Westerns that won both the hearts of many audiences and several Academy Awards. His films such as Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) complete the holy trinity of Westerns and are lauded as some of the best within the genre. Since many consider Ford to be one of the finest American directors, and the pinnacle of the Western genre, analyzing the similarities between his films will assist in discovering the conventions of this category of movies.
Ford’s Stagecoach is considered by many to be one of the finest Westerns ever made. The film had such a profound impact at home and even abroad, that André Bazín, the famed French film critic, cited Stagecoach as the premier of a Western film and the displayed the complexity of Ford’ style(Grant, 2003)). It is also true that John Ford held a special place in the hearts of many French New Wave directors because of his thematic and visual consistencies between his films. Stagecoach also marked an important distinction from the Westerns that had come before it. It took all the common characteristics from those films and placed them within stories carrying adult themes. The film is the starting point for the “Golden Age” of Western film genre, and has influenced almost all Westerns that come after. Even John Wayne, the staple of the typical Western, had his career launched because of Stagecoach. Another link found amongst Ford’s films and other Westerns are his settings. John Ford made use of the majestic Monument Valley where large cliffs and natural columns made of boulders rose into the air. This setting also found its way into both My Darling Clementine and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Davis, 1997).
My Darling Clementine is considered a favorite among film-enthusiasts but more importantly it supports a lot of the clichés of the genre. For instance, the first sequence even displays Monument Valley in all its glory then panning over to the dirty, weathered cowboy in his black hat. This cliché of the genre dictates the man with the dark attire is in fact the villain of the picture. An even more usual occurrence in the film is the story itself: a strong-willed, moral Wyatt Earpp runs into the town of Tombstone to find lawlessness. With no order, he assumes the role of sheriff. Of course this similar story can be found in other films including another famous release, High Noon (1952) in which Gary Cooper plays a sheriff returning to town in order to defeat a gang of outlaws.
The story of My Darling Clementine shares much with a later Ford Classic, the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Of course John Wayne stars but he is accompanied with another star, James Stewart. Ford still relies on the same setting of Monument Valley, a story telling the tale of a foreign hero, and even a shootout on the main road through town. There have been criticisms about Ford relying onto clichés of the Western film genre, but in fact many just don’t realize that Ford created the clichés himself (Davis, 1997). Because Ford was an auteur and his films so popular, his motifs were filtered through the minds of his audiences and contemporaries with rhythmic resonance. His visions embedded on celluloid have produced the crystal clear distinction of the Western film from to any other genre. Ford mythologized the West to his audiences, furthered its expansive allure, and solidified the grandeur of America and its people.
The conventions and clichés of a Western are recognized amongst most movie-goers. There are certain images and story traits that run through most of the films of the genre and indicate to the viewer that they are in fact watching an American Western. While John Ford was the creator of most of these common visual elements and motifs, he certainly was not the only director to utilize these constructions.
During the time period that the Western was popular, from the early 1900s to late-sixties, their was constant within most of the films: they were all set during a time period, “after the Civil War, to the turn of the Twentieth Century,” and in certain geographical area, “West of the Mississippi River and North of the Rio Grande.” Although there have been Westerns set in the more modern period thanks to adaptations of Cormac McCarthy novels, the genre largely stays within the confines of these temporal and spatial constraints.
Besides the specific time period and geographic location, there are numerous clichés found in the stories of many Westerns. Typically, it is hero versus villain or a situation where a band of outlaws have taken over the town. At this point, the protagonist would ride into the picture, which in and of itself is another typical Western cliché. The Western usually contains a central, strong, and masculine character that stars in the films as the protagonist. The lead cowboy—the John Wayne’s and the Clint Eastwood’s are characters that are larger than life and the audience immediately admires for their courage, brawn, and grit. These typical protagonists embody the ultimate man and are the paragon of masculinity. Each protagonist has a call to duty, and a strong moral standard that causes them to run into a lawless town and save the day as in My Darling Clementine, or return to their own town face past enemies (High Noon), or to avenge the deaths of family members as John Wayne’s character attempts in Stagecoach. The other characters in Westerns are typically static characters as well. The citizens of the oppressed towns are typically family-oriented and weak—unable to defend themselves from the antagonists.
When the protagonist and antagonist finally meet in battle, the town is usually the arena in which the two opposing sides wage battle. The duel occurring in the middle of town is a staple within the genre that creates suspense for the viewer and for the inhabitants of the township. The folk usually flee from the streets to the safety of their homes. Peeking out from doorways and windows, they all try to catch a glimpse of the mayhem.
These Westerns created a lasting impression in the collective consciousness of America, employing iconic imagery and conventions that leant themselves easily to parody. “Parody in film can be defined as comic, exaggerated imitation of a given genre, auteur, or specific film” (Cook 284). This play-on-genre type of film started as early as 1916 with the Western spoof His Bitter Pill (Mack Sennett, 1916), which playfully features a cross-eyed, cowboy hero. In the sixties movies such as Thunderball (Terrence Young, 1965) and Cat Ballou (Elliot Silverstein, 1965) can be credited with keeping the Western spoof alive. However, parody, as a lucrative enterprise, did not become mainstream until Mel Brooks’ 1974 films Blazing Saddles. Blazing Saddles is a parody of the classic Western and tells the story of how a black sheriff saves the western town of Rock Ridge from ruination. It's a perfect example of parody because of its “comic, exaggerated imitation” of the Western genre (Cook 284).
The first thing to understand when analyzing Brooks’ treatment of the “classic Western” is how the Western genre is formulated. Film scholar Douglas Pye pinpoints the necessities of a typical Western plot: you need a hero, a small community, a conflict, weaponry, and interaction with nature (Pye 198). It is all these elements, in one way or another, working together that constitutes a formulaic Western film.
Brooks first parodies the Western hero by making him African American. This is ironic both because there aren’t many black people in traditional Westerns and because the societies depicted in Westerns are typically uneducated and racist (if only latently so). By making the hero, Sheriff Bart, black, Brooks makes the audience question why this is such a ludicrous idea. Brooks also makes a mockery of Western society. When trying to inspire courage in the people of Rockridge, Bart tells them to think of “Randolph Scott” and the townsfolk burst into four-part harmony, singing his name. Randolph Scott was the quintessential Western hero in 1930’s-1960’s cinema (“Randolph”). The joke here is how blindly loyal townspeople in Westerns are to the hero. The conflict in the story is the common Bandits vs. Townsfolk plot, but Brooks parodies the typical band of western criminals by adding Nazis, fighter pilots, bikers, Saudis, and KKK members. The weapons used are also unconventional. Sheriff Bart beats the violent Mongo with a small explosive disguised as a box of candy—ala Bugs Bunny. Also, Brooks makes fun of the “fastest gun in the West” with his character Jim, a washed up gunfighter who shoots so quickly he does not appear to move at all. The last aspect of Pye’s typical Western that Brooks parodies is the role of nature in the film. A prime example of Brooks modifying nature is when Bart and Jim set up a freestanding tollbooth in the middle of the desert to slow their enemies down. Obviously the bandits could just go around the booth, but Brooks is pointing out how malleable Westerns make nature when it comes to the Hero’s schemes. Essentially, Mel Brooks twists just about every element of the classic Western to make his parody of the genre complete.
Blazing Saddles was popular (and funny) twenty-six years before Billy Bob Thornton directed All The Pretty Horses (2000) and yet Thornton plays into every cliche identified by Pye and mocked by Brooks. The hero is not only a white American, but he shows a marked ignorance of the society in which he finds himself. I think this is most apparent in John Grady's conversation with the Mexican characters; he cannot even pronounce the name of his beloved, "Alejandra," properly (*VIDEO*). The villains in the film are the Mexican officials and the man who takes Blevins' horse. While, in the book, there's some ambiguity as to who's at fault and who's right, the film expects the audience to align with John Grady. As far as weapons go, the movie is heavy with guns and knife fights.
Much of this could be traced back to the novel, but the interpretation of the book is unmistakable in the film's score and cinematography.
The movie makes use of these Western conventions, often in the most trite way possible. A common way to make something “Western” is through the use of soundtracks. Various samplings of country, twangy music are used in order to create the feel of an “authentic” setting. These tactics are mostly used in film at transition points between scenes or during an important moment, to make the audience feel a certain way. This music is used to mold the viewer’s opinions of various things in the film; unfortunately, in All the Pretty Horses the music only makes the viewer amused. The music is so clichéd, and so overused, that it almost becomes distracting. The New York Times review stated that the music was "a tasteful blend of mariachi, norteno and western swing (among other things), [and] covers the movie like wall-to-wall carpeting. Once or twice, it would be good to contemplate the vastness of the desert landscape in silence" (Times). Thornton would have done better to have left the music alone completely and to let the shots of the Western landscape speak for themselves; sometimes silence is golden. In fact, it could be argued that no soundtrack would better mirror the feel of the book and the silence of protagonist John Grady. Contrived music does not add another facet here—if anything, it is a huge detractor.
Another huge directorial flop in the construction of the film was the structure of the shots. There are large, big-blue-sky-of-Texas shots, showing the small size of the riders in comparison to the gigantic size of—in ascending order, of course—Texas, America’s West, the world, etc. It is not a bad way to get the point across. It is a good visual correlation of John Grady’s ponderings on the “wildness” of where he is and “the wildness within.” However, this effect is taken too far with close-up screen shots of characters faces. Perhaps intending to imply that these characters are having deep and meaningful thoughts, Thornton just makes things awkward. The close-ups last too long and continue one after another. In some of the more dramatic scenes of the movie they almost have a voyeuristic quality, making the viewer feel like and intruder that has stared a moment too long. This, combined with the "picturesque landscapes and grandiose gestures utterly lacking in narrative momentum or emotional resonance," create a film that seems to exist purely in the visual, evoking little emotion and creating little depth (Times). | 2019-04-22T11:58:42Z | http://essaydocs.org/the-book-was-better.html |
It is my sorrowful task to have to show you that this great sin is very common among three classes of persons. First, it is very common for the ungodly to fall into this error. And thirdly, even the children of God are not always free from this error.
God is very long-suffering to men–this is not the place of judgment. Sinners are not, as a general rule, punished here. Their sentence is reserved until the Day of Judgment. Some people regard every accident as a judgment, but we do not agree with them at all, otherwise we would have to very frequently condemn the innocent. Our Lord has very expressly told us that those upon whom the tower in Siloam fell were not greater sinners than the rest of those who dwelt in Jerusalem at that time. And that the Galileans whom Pilate slew and whose blood he mingled with their sacrifices, were no worse than the other Galileans who went up to the Temple and came away unharmed. [See Sermon #408, Volume 7–ACCIDENTS, NOT PUNISHMENTS, a copy of which Dr. Livingstone carried during his African travels, and on which he wrote, “Very good. D. L.”–Read/download the entire sermon, free of charge, at .] God does sometimes startle the world with His judgments, but not often.This is not the time of judgment–judgment is yet to come. The objective of God in thus keeping His sword sheathed when, oftentimes, we are inclined to think that it might fairly be drawn and used, is to lead those who are thus spared to repentance and salvation. “I will spare them yet a little while longer,” says the long-suffering Lord. And so the trees that only cumber the ground are not hewn down–and the inference that wicked men draw is not that God wishes them to repent and turn to Him–but that He is like themselves.
Wicked men imagine that God is like themselves in the following ways. First, in an insensibility to moral emotion.They do not care whether a thing is right or wrong. To have done right gives them no joy. To have done wrong gives their hardened hearts no pain. Some of them can curse and blaspheme–the words that make a child of God shudder with horror seem to be their usual language. In fact, you cannot now stand in our streets, where there are two or three working men, without hearing such filthy language, much of it utterly unmeaning, that you wonder how their companions can endure it! Yet none of them seem to mind it and they will commit deeds which it would be wrong for me to mention, but when they have committed them, they seem to forget all about them. And they suppose because God does not strike them dead, or punish them immediately for their transgressions, that He is just as impervious to moral emotion as they are–that He never grows angry at sin and that He takes no delight whatever in excellence! How grossly do they mistake God in this supposition! He feels sin most sensitively. To Him it is “exceedingly sinful.” It touches the very apple of His eye. It grieves Him at the heart. It vexes His Holy Spirit. Yet the ungodly think not so.
They also are utterly careless about how they perform their own duties in relation to God and they suppose that Godis equally careless as to the discharge of the office which He sustains. If these ungodly men were made judges, they would neither fear God nor regard man–and they suppose that God, the Judge of All, has no respect for His own moral government, no care for the vindication of His Law–that He lets things go just as they please and will not interfere with men, but will let them act as they like. If they are servants, they are only eye-servants and are not careful to do that which is right. If they are masters, they seek only to do the best they can for themselves. The mass of mankind seldom look round to see the general bearings of a question–they only enquire, “How will this affect me?” Each man joins that party in politics, or that particular club, or goes in for the defense of that particular Act of Parliament which he regards as most likely to advance his own interests. As to the general equity of the whole concern, only a few eclectic spirits will be found who will consider that! And that God should always be a God of equity, that He should look into the motives of men’s actions and especially that He should punish every sinful action, word, thought and act with the utmost scrupulousness as a Judge–all this ungodly men do not understand! They think that God is as loose and lax as they are, that He plays battledore and shuttlecock with moralities and will let men do just as they like, never calling them to account. At least they seem to think that if there should be any account to be rendered to God at the last, it will be a very small matter which will soon be over–and that there is for them no everlasting punishment, no dreadful terrors of the wrath to come!
Ungodly men also seem to imagine that God, like themselves, is easily deceived by appearances. They go to church orto chapel and they seem to think that by doing so, they have wiped off all their old scores. What if they have broken God’s Law in different ways for many years? Have they not been to hear a sermon? Have they not even been to a Prayer Meeting? Have they not repeated, night and morning, a prayer that their mother taught them when they were children? As for sin, they regard that as a small matter. When they are about to die, they can send for some good man to pray with them and so everything can easily be made all right. That is their notion. Ah, but God is not deceived by outward appearances–He looks at the heart and requires that there should be in the heart, purity, a love for the right and a hatred for the wrong, and these beings are never in the heart apart from the new birth which is always accompanied by faith in Jesus Christ!
We have known some go to the length of thinking, or pretending to think, that God was an accomplice in their sins.Because He sat still and did not at once interfere and smite them, they have said, after the commission of a certain sinful action, that Providence seemed to have put them in circumstances where it was necessary for them to do wrong! We have constantly heard men try to make excuse for their sins by reason of the peculiar position or the very remarkable circumstances in which they were placed. Even a murderer has pleaded his necessities as a reason why he felt that he might steal and even kill to supply his needs! Men will actually say that God has put them where they cannot help doing wrong and that “fate” decreed it and God ordained it! And so they seek to shift the blame from themselves. This is indeed thinking and saying that God is like themselves–and it is the height of impudent blasphemy when a man reaches that point! O You pure and holy God who utterly abhors everything that is evil, how far has the sinner gone in sin when, instead of confessing his iniquity with shamefacedness and humiliation, he dares to speak as if You were as sinful as he is!
This condition of heart in which men think that God is like themselves prevents their feeling any reverence for Him. Hence, many of them render to Him no kind of worship, set apart no day especially as His and even ridicule the idea of there being any Lord’s-Day in the week! They have a League of their own for the special purpose of desecrating the day that most of His people regard as His beyond all the other days of the week. This takes away from them all desire to pray to God. They say, “If we pray to Him, what profit shall it be to us?” His Inspired Word is to them no more than any other book–indeed, they even venture to criticize it with a severity which they do not show towards the works of their own poets or historians! They utterly reject both God and His salvation.
This mistaken notion concerning God also keeps sinners from repentance. As long as a man thinks that God is as bad as he is, he will never repent of his sin. It is often the holiness of God that breaks men down under a sense of their own guilt. This mistaken idea of the Character of God also prevents the exercise of faith, for a man cannot have faith in one whose character he does not respect! And if I am wicked enough to drag God down to my level in my estimation of Him, of course I cannot trust Him, for I have enough sense left to enable me to feel that I could not trust Him if He is like myself! If He is, indeed, such as my depraved imagination pictures Him, faith in Him becomes an absurdity and well may the man who thinks this of God say that it is not possible for him to believe in Him! Of course he could not believe in such a god as he sets up in his own imagination! But O, You ever-blessed Jehovah, when we know how holy, pure, good, true and perfect You are–and see how opposite to You we are in every respect, we do, like Job–abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes and we find it easy to put our trust in You! When Your blessed Spirit has opened our eyes to see You, how can we keep from trusting You? When we know You, we must rely upon You! When we see the beauties of everlasting love gleaming in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, every power of our being seems to say, “I must trust in Him and rest in Him alone.” May God bless these words to any ungodly ones who have been thinking that He is like themselves!
II. Now, secondly, I am going to speak of the same sin from another point of view and show you that RETURNING SINNERS OFTEN MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE CONCERNING GOD.
Numbers of persons are kept from peace of mind through mistaken ideas of God. They think that He is like themselves and so they do not receive the Gospel. For instance, it is not the easiest thing in the world to forgive thosewho have trespassed against us. There are some people who find this duty to be one of the hardest that they have to perform. Consequently, when a man with such a disposition as that is conscious of having offended God, he thinks it is quite as hard for God to forgive him as it is for him to forgive his fellow man! And judging God by himself, he says, “Surely He cannot forgive me.” Looking at his innumerable provocations, thinking of the twenty, or perhaps forty, fifty, or 60 years or more in which he has hardened his heart against God, he says to himself, “I could not forgive a man who had held out so long against me, so how is it possible for God to forgive me?” Well might the Lord answer him out of the excellent Glory, “You think that I am like you, but as high as the heavens are above the earth so high are My ways above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts.” I have never found a text which says, “Who is a man like untoyou, that pardons iniquity and passes by transgression?” for that is not characteristic of man! But I do find this text, “Who is a God like unto You, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?"Yes, the Lord loves to forgive! He delights to pardon. His Justice has been fully vindicated by the death of His Son, the Substitute for sinners. That was necessary, for He could not tarnish His Justice even for the sake of His mercy! But now that the righteous Judge sees that the foundations of His moral government will not be shaken by His forgiveness of repenting sinners, He can freely dispense the mercy in which He delights. His mercy endures forever and whoever confesses and forsakes his sin shall find mercy! It is not difficult for God to forgive though it may be difficult for us to do so.
The awakened sinner often imagines that since he would not bestow favors upon the undeserving, therefore God willnot. He hears of the great blessings that are promised in the Word of God to those who believe in Jesus and he says, “This news is too good to be true.” Contrasting his own deserving with the fullness of this Divine promise, he says, “How can I believe this promise? That one surpasses all credence. How can I accept that other one as true?” The best reply is that given by God in our text, “You thought that I was altogether like you.” What if the gift seems so be too great for you to receive? Is it also too great for God to give? What if it seems to be too lavish to be given by one man to another? It is not too lavish to be given by Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords! Like as a king gives–no, like as a God gives, doesHe give unto you! The greatness of the Divine promises, instead of staggering our faith, ought to be the evidence of their truthfulness! Is it reasonable to suppose that God would promise to do only little things for those who trust Him? Oh, judge not so! He “does great things past finding out; yes, and wonders without number.” His mercies are high as Heaven, and wide as the East is from the West!
The convinced sinner is also often troubled with the thought that God cannot mean what He says. “What?” he asks,“can I be pardoned in a moment, be justified in a moment, be saved from Hell and made an heir of Heaven all in a moment?” He thinks it cannot really be so and he thinks so because he often says what he does not mean and he, therefore, thinks that God speaks in the same style. But, Sir, I pray you not to measure God’s corn by your bushel! If youplay with words, Jehovah never does! Has He spoken, and will He not do as He has said? Has He promised and shall it not come to pass?
The sinner next thinks that surely God cannot mean to give him all this mercy freely. He says to himself, “If a manhad offended me, I would expect him to make some reparation before I forgave him. I would look for something at his hands–and is God’s mercy to be given to the undeserving and nothing to be asked of him before it is given? How can that be?” He thinks that God cannot mean it and that the Scriptural declaration concerning the freeness of salvation cannot be meant to be taken literally as it stands. When this invitation sounds in a man’s ears, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” he says, “They are beautiful words, but they cannot apply to me, just as I am, without anything to recommend me.” So he practically thinks that God talks as he does, himself, without meaning what He says. But, verily it is not so, for every promise of God is true and shall be fulfilled to the letter!
This poor convinced sinner next says, “But, surely, you do not mean to say that God will give me all this mercynow.” Yes I do, for He says, “I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Yet, because this sinner has himself been dilly-dallying, and procrastinating and postponing, he thinks that God will act in the same manner and will say to him, “You must wait now–you have waited for your own pleasure, now you may wait for Mine.” But there is nothing in Scripture to warrant such an idea as this! It is only our trying to drag God down to the level of our narrowness and littleness that makes us think so. It is immediate pardon that God delights to give! He speaks and it is done.He commands and it stands fast. There stands the sinner in his rags, filthy from head to foot, degraded and debased–but the command comes from the excellent Glory, “Take away his filthy garments from him,” and they are gone in a moment. “Wash him from his defilement,” and he is at once clean. “Array him in white garments,” and he is so arrayed! “Set a fair miter upon his brow,” and the miter is there! What the Lord does requires no time. We need weeks, months, years, to do what we have so do, but when Christ had even to raise the dead, He did it in a moment! He simply said, “Lazarus, come forth,” and there was Lazarus! He touched the bier on which the dead young man lay–and the young man at once sat up and began to speak! He said to the little maiden, “Talitha cumi,” and she opened her eyes at once and rose from her bed ready to eat the refreshment which the Savior commanded her parents to bring her! O poor Sinners, I pray you do not doubt that the great mercy, the free mercy of Jesus Christ is to be given even now, if your hand is but stretched out to receive it!
I have known some get into their heads the notion that simply to trust in Christ cannot be the right thing for them to do. They say, “Surely, there is a great deal more to do besides that.” Yes, there is much more to do after you havebelieved, but the Gospel command says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” One says, “I will go home and pray.” Another says, “I will read the Scriptures.” And there are some who, in their despair of finding peace, resolve to do nothing at all! Some time ago, a young man who had been greatly concerned about his soul, came to the conclusion that he must be lost–and he determined not to read the Bible, nor to attend a place of worship for 12 months. But this very resolve made him still more wretched and, one day, a Christian woman, to whom he told his feelings, was much grieved at his decision and she said to him, “What a pity it is that you cannot take Jesus Christ!” As he walked home, that remark stuck in his mind, “What a pity it is that you cannot take Jesus Christ!” Is that all we have todo–to take Jesus Christ? Yes, that is all. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved,” comprehends the whole case–and where faith is exercised by us, we are saved. But we think that there must be something behind the promise because we ourselves often keep something behind in our promises, so again the test is true, “You thought that Iwas altogether like you,” but it is not so. If you come just as you are, with all your sin and hardness of heart–and just rest your guilty soul upon the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, resolved that, if you perish, you will perish trusting alone in Him–your heavenly Father will give you a kiss of acceptance, lift the burden from your weary shoulders and send you home in peace! “Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth,” is no lie, no exaggeration, no straining of the truth! Put it to the test, Sinner! God help you to do so and He shall have all the praise!
III. Before I close, I must have a few words with you who love the Lord, for THERE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD WHO MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE. They begin thinking that God is such an one as themselves. Now I am going to find some of you out–I know where you are for I have been that way myself, I am sorry to say.
We also are apt to grow weary of the sad and the sorrowful. “Oh,” says one, “I cannot bear to talk to Mr. So-andSo! He has such a gloomy countenance and he speaks in such dolorous tones.” Another says, “Really, my poor sister quite wears me out. I used to nurse her with a great deal more pleasure than I do now, for I think she has less patience than she used to have.” We get weary of those who cannot cheer us, those whose lives are full of sadness and then we think that God gets as weary of us, but He never does! No, O sad ones, the Lord comforts the mourners and cheers those who are cast down. You especially who are sad on account of sin may rest assured that your sadness and dependency will never weary your God–your friends may get tired of you but your God never will!
We also sometimes forget our promises. In the multiplicity of things that some of us have to do, it is possible that weoccasionally fail to keep our promise and we are very grieved when, quite unintentionally, it so happens. But God never forgets any one of His promises, so let no one of us ever say, “My God has forgotten me.” It cannot be! There never was such a thing as a slip of memory with God. Every promise of His will be kept to the second when it comes due.
We also sometimes find ourselves loath to give to those who ask of us. After we have given to several, we feel that wereally cannot give to everybody who asks us for help. But it is never so with God. If we have gone to Him a hundred times, let us be all the bolder to go to Him again! And if we know that He has been helping a thousand other poor saints like ourselves, or poor sinners, too, let us go to Him again and go right boldly, for His bounty of mercy is not exhausted, nor His store of Grace diminished!
We know, too, dear Friends, that we are often unwise. What man is there on the face of the earth who does not makemistakes? The pope, who is called “infallible,” makes more mistakes than anyone else! We all make mistakes and, therefore, we imagine that God does the same. When we get into a little trouble, we begin to suspect that there is some mistake in the arrangements of Divine Providence. We do not say as much as that–we would be ashamed to say it, especially if anybody heard it–but that is what we think. It seems to us that God has brought us into a difficulty out of which it will not be possible for Him to extricate us. We do not say as much as that, except in our hearts, but, Beloved, when we even think anything like that, we are really imagining that God is such an one as ourselves!
We know also that we are sometimes harsh in our judgments and that we expect more of people than we ought to anddo not make allowances for their infirmities. And we fancy that God is like we are. But to His dear children He is always generous and kind, even as Jesus made allowance for His sleeping disciples when He said, “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.” I think that we sometimes represent God as being even worse than we ourselves are. When I was ill, some little time ago, I found that I could not keep my thoughts fixed upon any subject as I wanted to. When I tried to meditate upon holy themes, my mind rambled because the pain I was suffering quite distracted me. I said to a friend who came to visit me that I wished I could concentrate my thoughts and that I felt as a Christian, I ought to do so. He said, “Well now, if your boy was as ill as you are and he said to you, ‘Father, I cannot think as much about you as I would like to do, my pain is so great,’ you would say, ‘My dear son, I do not expect you to do anything of the kind.’ You would sit down by his bedside and try to comfort him. And you would tell him that while his poor body was so racked with pain, you would not be so unreasonable as to expect him to act in any other way.” I saw at once that my friend was right and then he said to me, “Do you think that you are kinder to your son than God is to us?” If our opinion of God is that He is harsher and sterner to us than we are to our children, it is a very erroneous notion. Some Christian people seem to be afraid to rejoice, yet we love to see our children full of joy, so we may be sure that our heavenly Father loves so see His children happy.
Further, we know that we ourselves are weak and, therefore, we dream that God is also weak. When the furnace ofaffliction is very hot and we feel that we cannot endure its heat, we foolishly think that God cannot uphold us under the fiery trial. If our labor is very hard and we feel that we cannot accomplish it, we are very unwise to dream that God cannot give us all the strength we need for our task. How can we be so foolish as to estimate the Omnipotence of Jehovah by our weakness, for I will not venture to call it strength?
We also know that we constantly change. We are as fickle as the weather–fair today and foul tomorrow–and,therefore, we fancy that God changes as often as we do. Some talk about His loving His children today and hating them tomorrow, but that is not true. Listen to these texts, “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.” “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent.” “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of burning.” Judge not the Lord, then by your fickleness as if He were such an one as yourselves!
The mischief of this mistake on the part of Christians is that we narrow the possibility of our attainments. We thinkthat we cannot overcome sin. We think that we cannot walk in the light as God is in the light. We think that we cannot enjoy abiding fellowship with our Lord. We think that we cannot be holy. And all this is because we only think of what we can do, not of what God can do for us and in us! Now, as far as the poles are asunder should be our estimate of ourselves and our estimate of God. Christ not only says to us, “Without Me you can do nothing,” but also, “All things are possible to him that believes,” to him who thus links himself with the Omnipotence of God.
When we judge the Lord by what we ourselves are, our belief is like that which prevented the Master from doing many mighty works in His own city of Nazareth! May the Lord be pleased to give us a far higher conception of what He really is, for that will enable us to do much more for Him! It is because of this mistaken notion of ours concerning God that we limit our desires, slacken our endeavors, are satisfied to have everything on the pigmy scale when it might be gigantic. We are content with pence when we might have pounds of Grace. We are satisfied with the very imperfect cultivation of a tiny plot of land when the broad acres of God’s bounty lie before us. We win an inch or two of the enemy’s territory and we throw up our caps, and cry, “What mighty conquerors we are!” while whole provinces lie unconquered and whole nations remain ignorant of the Gospel! Then we keep on straitening ourselves more and more, contracting our conceptions and our ideas, the older we grow, till the zealous youth gets to be a “prudent” old man, whose “prudence” consists in chilling everybody he meets, carrying wet blankets to cover up everyone who has a little life in him, snuffing everybody’s candle and generally managing to snuff all the candles out. | 2019-04-22T22:23:40Z | https://www.thekingdomcollective.com/spurgeon/sermon/3119/ |
A sole assembly which includes a heel cradle configured to cradle a heel of a human foot when the human foot is rested within the heel cradle, a rigid upper plate including a first part connected to the heel cradle and a second part located farther from the heel cradle than is the first part, a lower plate including a first part of which is connected to the first part of the upper plate and including a second part which is connected to the second part of the upper plate, an oblong gap located between the upper plate and lower plate and between the first and second parts of the upper and lower plates. A sole assembly including an upper plate and a lower plate stiffer than the upper plate and attached to the upper plate so as to form an oblong gap. Also, a shoe including the sole assembly.
The present invention relates to a device that supports a person's foot, and more specifically, to a shoe sole assembly having a spring mechanism for storing and releasing mechanical energy during the gait cycle.
Footwear has often incorporated various methods of absorbing impact energy generated while a person walks or runs. Specifically, sponges or cushion materials are often used to absorb and dissipate energy throughout the wearer's gait cycle. However, in order to achieve sufficient cushioning, a large amount of cushioning material that substantially covers the entire plantar region of the shoe may be necessary. This creates a thick and heavy sole structure that adds weight to the shoe and prevents air flow to the plantar region of the wearer's foot. Cushion material may also become compacted over time and lose its cushioning effect, and does very little to store energy for use during the gait cycle.
Shoe makers have also created “through-holes” in the cushion material that extend from the lateral to medial sides of the shoe sole in order to reduce the weight of the shoe. However, as these conventional through-holes are typically mere vacancies created in the cushion material, they do not provide effective air flow to the plantar region of the wearer's foot. Moreover, conventional through-holes do not provide a structure for effectively storing mechanical energy.
Various spring elements have been used in footwear in an attempt to store impact energy for use during the gait cycle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,449,878 discloses a spring assembly including a first spring element that extends over a large area of the shoe sole, and a second spring element attached to the first element in a midfoot region but spaced from and opposing the first element in a heel region of the shoe. The opposing first and second spring elements form a tension spring in the heel region of the shoe. However, this spring assembly is complex and requires large and highly resilient components that are too heavy to be of practical use for most shoes, particularly athletic shoes.
While simple and light-weight plastic-type assemblies have been implemented into footwear, these structures have generally been used to provide rigidity to certain regions of the sole and cannot efficiently store and release energy during the gait cycle. For example, U.S. Patent Publication 2003/0005600A1 discloses a plastic shank member embedded in a midfoot region of a shoe sole. The shank member is a substantially rigid sheet of material closed to form an oblong cross sectional shape. Placement of the shank member in the midfoot region of the midsole provides greater rigidity to this area of the midsole so that the forefoot of the midsole is more bendable. However, the shank is not disclosed as a spring element for storing and releasing energy during gait.
Furthermore, the present inventors have recognized that when any type of energy storage device is implemented in footwear, foot placement within the shoe during contact with the ground is important to realizing a spring effect. Moreover, if the foot is improperly placed relative to the energy storage device, the device may interfere with the natural sequence of pressure distribution of the foot during the footstep, thus resulting in foot discomfort. For example, in the heel area, the heel of the foot tends to break contact or at least reduce pressure on the heel portion of the sole of the shoe when the foot is lifted. Accordingly, the heel of the foot may drift within the shoe and not impact the sole of the shoe in the optimum location for cushion effect and energy storage. Conventional shoes have not recognized this importance of heel placement, and thus have not provided comfortable and efficient energy storage mechanisms.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to address at least some of the above described and/or other problems of conventional footwear.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a simple, light-weight footwear spring element for effectively storing and releasing energy during the gait cycle.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a footwear mechanism for effectively positioning the wearer's heel in relation to a sole spring element in order to enhance efficient storage of energy in the spring at impact. Any of these and/or other objects can be provided by a sole assembly according to the present invention.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a sole assembly is disclosed including: a heel cradle configured to cradle a heel of a human foot when the human foot is rested within the heel cradle, a rigid upper plate including a first part connected to the heel cradle and a second part located farther from the heel cradle than is the first part, a lower plate including a first part which is connected to the first part of the upper plate and including a second part which is connected to the second part of the upper plate, an oblong gap located between the upper plate and lower plate and between the first and second parts of the upper and lower plates shaped such that a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a first direction, measured from the first part of the upper plate to the second part of the upper plate, is greater than a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a shoe is disclosed including: an upper portion; and a sole assembly including, a heel cradle configured to cradle a heel of a human foot when the human foot is rested within the heel cradle, a rigid upper plate including a first part connected to the heel cradle and a second part located farther from the heel cradle than is the first part, a lower plate including a first part which is connected to the first part of the upper plate and including a second part which is connected to the second part of the upper plate, an oblong gap located between the upper plate and lower plate and between the first and second parts of the upper and lower plates shaped such that a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a first direction, measured from the first part of the upper plate to the second part of the upper plate, is greater than a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction.
According to another aspect of the invention, a sole assembly is disclosed including: an outsole located on a side of the sole assembly and configured to support the sole assembly, a cushion material located next to the outsole, a means for cradling a heel of a human foot when the human foot is rested within the means for cradling, and a means for storing energy generated during walking connected to the means for cradling.
According to another aspect of the invention, a sole assembly is disclosed including: a rigid upper plate including a first part and a second part and having a first stiffness, a lower plate having a second stiffness greater than the first stiffness and including a first part which is connected to the first part of the upper plate and including a second part which is connected to the second part of the upper plate, an oblong gap located between the upper plate and lower plate and between the first and second parts of the upper and lower plates shaped such that a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a first direction, measured from the first part of the upper plate to the second part of the upper plate, is greater than a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction.
FIG. 14 shows a perspective view of an upper plate and heel cradle according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe incorporating a sole assembly according to one non-limiting embodiment of the present invention. As seen in this figure, the shoe includes an upper 1 attached to a sole assembly 2. The upper is preferably made of durable sheets of non-elastic material such as leather, canvas, synthetic material or any other upper material known to those skilled in the art of shoes. In a preferred embodiment, the upper is a breathable nylon mesh material reinforced with outer layer regions of nylon netting. The upper 1 may be attached to the sole assembly 2 by stitching, adhesion or any other method known in the art.
In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the sole assembly 2 includes a spring mechanism having an upper plate 3 and a lower plate 4 in contact with one another to form a gap 11 through the sole assembly 2. Also included is a heel cradle structure 5, and rear and front cushion materials 6 and 7 respectively. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the rear cushion material 6 includes a through hole 9 that works with the gap 11 to facilitate air flow to the bottom portion of the sole assembly as will be further described below. An outsole 8 is formed on a bottom portion of the cushion materials 6, 7 as will also be discussed below.
FIG. 2 and 3 show a medial and lateral side respectively of the sole assembly 2 shown in FIG. 1. As seen in these figures, the upper plate 3 and a lower plate 4 are connected to one another so as to form an oblong shaped gap 11 that extends as a hole from the lateral to medial side of the sole assembly 2. The upper plate 3 is concave facing downward and extends longitudinally from a heel region to a metatarsal region of the sole assembly 2, while the lower plate 4 is concave facing upward and connects to the upper plate 3 at the heel and metatarsal regions respectively. However, in alternative embodiments the upper and or lower plates may be flat or concave in the opposite direction, and may be further contoured to fit the shape of a human foot. Further the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 may be attached by any of various methods, such as, for example, by adhesive, heat bonding, ultrasonic welding or mechanical connection etc.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, the gap 11 extends approximately 10.5 cm longitudinally along the sole assembly 2, and is approximately 1.2 cm high at a middle point of the gap, however dimensions of the gap vary according to the size of the sole assembly 2, and/or according to the spring effects desired. In one embodiment, the gap is approximately 25-35% of the length of the sole assembly 2. Preferably, the length of the gap (not considering curvature) is from approximately 100 mm to 130 mm, and the height is from approximately 5 mm to 14 mm.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the upper plate 3 is more flexible than the lower plate 4. Specifically, the upper plate 3 has a thickness of approximately 3 mm, and is formed with medial and lateral sidewalls 3 a and 3 b that provide some rigidity to the upper plate 3, while the lower plate 4 is approximately 1.5 mm thick and generally planar along a transverse cross section. However, the upper plate 3 is made of a relatively flexible material such as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), while the bottom plate is made of a stiffer material such as carbon fiber or KEVLAR® (poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide) etc., which have a higher tensile strength and flexural modulus. The present inventors have discovered that the softer TPU used in the upper plate 3, provides a cushioning effect while the more rigid carbon fiber lower plate 4 provides excellent energy storage characteristics. In alternative embodiments, the thickness, structural design and/or the material composition of the plates may be varied to provide upper and lower plates having the same or different stiffness properties. Further the upper and/or lower plate can be designed to have localized stiffness properties as will be further described below.
One benefit of using carbon fiber in the plates, especially the lower plate 4, is that because the carbon fiber is very strong and stiff, the lower plate 4 can provide the desired spring effect with a reduced thickness relative to other materials. Thus, the vertical dimension of gap 11 is increased without increasing the overall height of the sole assembly 2. This increase allows a greater range of travel between the upper plate 3 and the lower plate 4 within a given overall height of the sole assembly 2. In other words, with one or both plates made of a high stiffness material such as carbon fiber, the range of travel between the plates can be maintained while the sole assembly can be made shorter in height than would be possible with other materials.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the heel cradle 5 is integrally formed with the upper plate 3, and the lower plate 4 connects to a middle region of the heel cradle 5. Thus, a portion of the upper plate 3 extends beyond the contact point with the lower plate to form a cantilever portion 5 a, which is contoured to cup or cradle the wearer's heel. As seen by the dashed lines in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rear cushion material 6 overlaps the bottom of the cantilevered portion 5 a in order to provide support for the portion 5 a The heel cradle 5 also includes a substantially flat and flexible strip portion 5 b that is in flush contact with an outer surface of the upper 1 of the shoe to provide comfortable support for the heel, while a more rigid portion 5 c overlaps the strip 5 b and is made integral with the upper plate 4 to provide reinforcement of the strip 5 b.
As best seen in FIG. 4, the rear portion of the heel cradle 5 includes a rigid wall 5 d that is integral with the cantilevered part 5 a and the reinforcing portion 5 c. The wall 5 d provides strong support for the heel at impact during, for example, running. The portions 5 a, 5 c and 5 d of the heel cradle are preferably made of the same material as the upper plate 3. The reinforcing portion 5 c (and strip 5 b beneath it) extend from the rigid wall 5 d along the lateral and medial sidewalls of the upper 1, and are contoured to approach the upper plate 3 as they run forward toward a midfoot region of the sole assembly 2. Thus, side portions of the heel cradle 5 include an opening 18, which can allow some air flow through the upper 1 to the heel region of the shoe interior. In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4 and 14, the heel cradle 5 extends approximately 3.7 cm up the sidewall of the upper 1 at a maximum, and extends approximately 7 cm along the sidewalls from a rear of the upper 1. It is to be understood, however, that the portion of the heel cradle 5 overlapping the upper 1 can have varying dimensions for different size shoes and for different shoe types, as long as the overall heel cradle structure 5 supports the heel to enhance centering of the wearer's heel during use.
The addition of the heel cradle 5 can enhance the effect of the spring mechanism by improving a position of the wearer's heel as the heel of the foot lifts and descends during walking or running. The present inventors have realized that by consistently centering the heel of the foot in relation to the sole assembled, the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 more efficiently store and release energy during gait. Furthermore, proper positioning of the heel allows the sole assembly 2 to smoothly accommodate the natural gait of the wearer and to provide support where needed. To achieve proper positioning of the heel of the foot, the heel cradle 5 is typically added to the shoe on the outside of the upper 1 as shown in FIGS. 1-4; however, the heel cradle 5 may be formed inside or as an integral part of the heel region of the upper 1.
Further in the non-limiting embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-4 and 14, the heel cradle 5 is an integral part of the upper plate 3. One benefit of this arrangement is that the heel cradle 5 not only centers the heel of the foot on the upper plate 3, but flexes as the upper plate 3 flexes. In another non-limiting embodiment, the heel cradle 5 may be a separate component and attached to the upper plate 3 via any of the various joining processes discussed above regarding connecting the plate. Additionally, the heel cradle 5 may be made of a different material than the upper plate 3. Accordingly, the stiffness of the heel cradle 5 may be made different from the plates by changing the material or by changing the dimensions of the heel cradle 5.
As shown in FIG. 14, the heel cradle 5 may include openings on the sides to provide ventilation to the heel region. Additionally, in embodiments where the heel cradle 5 is external to the upper 1, the heel cradle may provide an aesthetically pleasing design. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 14, the area between the openings 18 and above rigid wall 5 d is slightly lower in height than the area above openings 18. This enhances the fit of the heel cradle 5 to the Achilles tendon area of the heel.
As seen in FIGS. 1-4, the rear cushion 6 supports the upper plate 3 and heel cradle 5 in the heel area, and supports the lower plate 4 from the heel to approximately midfoot, while front cushion 7 supports the forefoot. Cushion material 6,7 is preferably made of a resilient, shock-absorbing material such as, for example, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). Rear cushion gap 9 is provided to support the cantilevered portion of the upper plate 3 and heel cradle 5. The presence of the rear cushion gap 9 may improve the flexibility of the heel of the shoe while decreasing the weight of the shoe and improving air flow directly around the heel of the foot as will be further described below. In some non-limiting embodiments, the rear cushion gap 9 may not be present, may be shaped differently than as shown in FIG. 4, or may include multiple smaller gaps.
The rear cushion 6 is coupled to the front cushion material 7 to provide a planar surface for attaching the outsole 8. The outsole 8 is preferably implemented as a layer of deformable rubber material that contacts the ground when the shoe is in use, and preferably includes treads that are designed to grip a variety of ground surfaces. As seen in FIGS. 2-4 the outsole 8 is shown as curved along a contour provided by the sole assembly 2. Such contouring accommodates a natural human gait by providing a smooth flow from heel to toe as the foot twists during walking or running. Details of the outsole 8 are discussed below.
The present inventors have discovered that the sole assembly of the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 1-4 provides a simple and light-weight footwear spring element for effectively storing and releasing energy during the gait cycle. Further the heel cradle can effectively position the wearer's heel in relation to the sole spring element in order to enhance efficient storage of energy in the spring at impact. It is to be understood, however, that the spring mechanism may be used to provide improved spring characteristics without the need for the heel cradle, and the heel cradle can enhance the energy storage and release characteristics of springs other than that shown in FIGS. 1-4. Still further use of the absorbing material 6, 7 can absorb and dissipate impact shock during heel strike, and operate to dampen the spring effect of the spring mechanism of the sole assembly 2.
Specifically, prior to heel impact of the gait cycle when the heel is not in contact with the ground, the heel cradle 5 can provide lateral support for the heel and maintain a substantially center position of the heel on the sole assembly 2. A downward force created from heel contact to the midstance portion of the gait cycle is applied to the upper plate 3. This causes the upper plate 3 to deflect in elastic deformation downward toward the lower plate 4, thus storing the energy of the applied load. This stored energy is then released during the windlass phase of the gait cycle when the foot locks into place and moves from midstance to toe off. This creates a natural propulsion sensation to the wearer. The absorbing material functions to absorb and disperse shock forces in order to cushion the foot during this gait cycle, and can further dampen the spring effect of the spring element to provide a smoother feel.
FIG. 5 shows a bottom surface of a sole assemble in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As seen in this figure, cross-section lines 7-12 are shown to define the cross-section planes of FIGS. 7-12 respectively. As also seen in FIG. 5, the outsole 8 is substantially continuous from the rear to the front of the sole assembly 2. However, in other embodiments, the outsole could be two or more separate parts, e.g., a rear part and a front part separated by a gap or flexion area The outsole 8 includes a tread portion (designated by number 8), which can be made of various tough, flexible materials such as, for example, carbon rubber, and is designed to provide gripping of various surfaces. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the tread portion 8 is implemented as a substantially planar sheet of rubber having serpentine raised edges and grooves that extend in a longitudinal direction.
The tread portion 8 includes a plurality of small holes 8 a therein at a forefoot region of the sole assembly, and a larger hole 8 d extending from the heel to midfoot region of the sole assembly 2. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the tread holes 8 a correspond to holes 8 b in the absorbing material 7 to provide front ventilation holes 8 c in the bottom of the shoe to permit air flow to the forefoot interior of the shoe. Similarly, the hole 8 d corresponds to hole 8 e provided in the rear cushion 6, hole 8 f provided in lower plate 4 and hole 8 g provided in upper plate 3, such that a heel ventilation hole 12 allows air flow to an interior of the shoe. Although the holes are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 as having a teardrop shape, other shapes are possible. Additionally, not all of the upper plate 3, lower plate 4, or rear cushion 6 need to have similarly shaped holes. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 14, the holes may have a mesh or reinforcing structure added.
FIG. 6 shows a top surface of the sole assembly 2 at the interior of the shoe. As seen in this figure, the sole assembly 2 includes an outsole 8 having a front cushion 6 provided at a forefoot region thereof, and a rear cushion 7, lower plate 4 and upper plate 3 sequentially stacked on a heel to mid-foot region of the outsole 8. As also seen in FIG. 6, the ventilation holes 8 b and 12 extend to the interior of the shoe. The ventilation holes 8 c and 12 preferably include a screen or mesh material that permits air flow into the shoe while keeping debris from entering the interior of the shoe. Thus, the sole assembly of FIGS. 5 and 6, is designed to permit substantial air flow from an exterior of the shoe to a plantar region of the wearer's foot. This is further enhanced by the cushion gap 9 in the absorbing material 6 and the gap 11 in the spring mechanism, which allow free flow of air around the heel portion of the shoe and to the ventilation hole 12. Further ventilation holes 8 a and 12 reduce the weight of the sole assembly, while enhancing the performance characteristics of the shoe by guiding the heel to center strike upon impact.
FIGS. 7-12 show various cross sections of the sole assembly of FIGS. 1-6 in accordance with one embodiment. FIG. 7 shows a longitudinal cross section of the sole assembly of FIG. 5. As seen in FIG. 7, the upper plate 3 is formed of TPU depicted by a diagonal cross sectional marking, while the lower plate 4 is formed from carbon fiber depicted by a vertical-horizontal cross sectional marking. Areas 14 and 15 show a contact region of the upper and lower plate at a heel and mid-foot region respectively. Further, the upper and lower plates include a break at this cross section due to the hole 8 g in the upper plate 3 and the hole 8 f in the lower plate 4. As also seen in this figure, the absorbing material 7 at the metatarsal region of the forefoot includes a cavity having a second absorbing or cushioning material 20 provided therein. In one non-limiting embodiment, cushioning material 7 and 20 preferably have different durometer hardness ratings. However, in a preferred embodiment, the cushioning material 7 and 20 are comprised of the same material.
FIG. 8 shows a cross-section of the outsole 8 taken along the section-line as defined in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 8, the first foam material 20 provides a cushion across the metatarsal region of the foot. Below the first foam material 20 is forefoot absorbing material 7 and the outsole 8. In one non-limiting embodiment, the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 do not extend to the cross-section shown in FIG. 8. By not placing the plates in the region of this cross-section, natural flexure at the ball of the foot occurs independently of the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4. In another non-limiting embodiment, the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 are formed such that they are present in the metatarsal region, but are structured to allow flexure at the ball of the foot as needed. It should be noted that the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 may be made longer or shorter depending on the particular needs of the wearer. In some cases, the plates may be made shorter and moved closer to the heel of the sole assembly 2. In other cases, the plates may be moved forward, either by lengthening the plates relative to the length of the sole assembly 2 or by moving the plates themselves forward.
FIG. 9 shows a cross-section of the outsole 8 taken at the section-line as defined in FIG. 5. In this view, the first foam material 20, absorbing material 7, and outsole 8 are present as shown in FIG. 8. However, as section-line of FIG. 9 is closer to the middle of the outsole 8 than section-line of FIG. 8, upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 are shown on the right and left sides of the outsole 8. In this non-limiting embodiment, the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 are Y-shaped or have extended parts on their right and left edges as shown in exemplary FIGS. 13 and 14, which will be discussed further below. Thus, in the cross-section depicted in FIG. 9, only the extended parts appear. The upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 plate make contact in the region of section-line of FIG. 9. As discussed above, the plates may be attached through various methods, including mechanical attachment.
As also by a comparison of FIGS. 8 and 9, the sole assembly 2, upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 are thinner towards a center of the shoe. Alternatively, the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 may have uniform widths as measured horizontally across the shoe. When the widths and thicknesses of the plates are uniform, the plates may easily be formed by simple extrusion. However, in order to enhance response of the plates as a foot travels from heel to toe during a footstep, the plates typically have a varying width (and possibly thickness as discussed below) along their length. In addition to altering the performance of the plates during deflection, such curvature allows the plates to fit beneath the contours of the foot and enhances aesthetic appeal.
FIG. 10 shows a cross-section taken at the line as defined in FIG. 5. In this non-limiting embodiment, the upper plate 3 is shown as having a concave shape pointing upward to form sidewalls 3 a and 3 b which can prevent the foot from slipping from side to side. A comparison of FIGS. 9 and 10 shows that the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 have separated and have formed the beginning areas of the gap 11. Additionally, foam material 6 is shown, which makes up the rear cushion 6 shown in FIGS. 1-4.
FIG. 11 shows a cross-section taken at the section-line as shown in FIG. 5. As this section-line is further back from the front of the shoe than is section-line of FIG. 10, the vertical dimension of gap 11 is larger. Additionally, the concavity of the upper plate 3 has decreased. Finally, FIG. 12 shows a cross-section taken at the section-line as shown in FIG. 5. Although other locations are possible, an optional rear cushion cavity 9 is shown in approximately the center of the shoe. The presence of the rear cushion cavity 9 allows more flexion in the center of the upper plate 3, especially if the upper plate cavity 12 and lower plate cavity 10 are present, and permits air flow as previously described.
Further shown in FIG. 12 are the vertical protrusions 19 present on the upper plate 3. In this embodiment, the vertical protrusions 19 are the remnants of the concave-upward parts of the upper plate 3. However, the vertical protrusions may be formed separately from the concave-upward parts of the upper plate 3. In fact, it is not necessary for any other part of the upper plate 3 to be concave upward in order for the upper plate 3 to include the vertical protrusions 19.
The sole assembly of FIGS. 1-12 has been described as having a neutrally-positioned plate that generally allows for the high-arched, rigid foot-type to apply consistent pressure through the gait cycle and receive the maximum cushioning and spring effect. In this embodiment, the material and thickness of each of the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 is substantially constant and symmetrical across a respective plate to provide little variation in stiffness properties across a respective plate. However, alternative embodiments may be implemented to accommodate different foot types. For example, an asymmetric design to give greater support on the medial (inside) portion of the shoe to better support a medium-arched semi-flexible foot as it pronates inward. Similarly, maximum support on the medial side of the shoe may be needed to support an extremely flexible and low-arched foot type. The medial side material would need to be very stiff and noticeably less flexible, as the general body-type for this kind of foot-type is much larger, thus exerting more pressure on the spring device. The stiffness would eliminate the potential for collapse in the midfoot.
Such asymmetrical levels of stiffness can reduce foot pronation. For example, human feet naturally rotate or roll inward during walking, i.e., the feet pronate. Over-pronation occurs when the arch of a human foot collapses upon weight bearing. Problems associated with over-pronation include soft-tissue inflammation and joint stress. To avoid over-pronation, shoes with augmented arch supports have been designed. However, the augmentation may undesirably add to the overall weight and height of the shoe. Additionally, as the augmentation is typically designed merely to prevent collapse of the arch of the foot, the augmentation does not efficiently store energy during walking or running. Thus, rather than augmenting the arch of a shoe with thicker padding which in turn would increase the weight and height of the shoe, a particular part of the foot such as, for example, the arch area of the foot, may be preferentially supported by altering the stiffness characteristics of the plates, either by changing plate geometry or by changing materials.
FIG. 13 shows a general shape of the upper plate 3 and lower plate 4 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As seen in this figure, the plate 40 includes front wings 42 and a through hole 44, which generally divide the plate 40 into a medial side 46 and lateral side 48 having a boundary indicated by the vertical dashed lines in the figure. In one non-limiting embodiment, a portion or all of the medial side 46 of the plate 40 may be made of stiffer material than a portion of the lateral side 48. For example, part of the medial side of the plate may be fabricated from carbon fiber or other material while the remainder of the plate may be made of relatively more flexible TPU. In one non-limiting embodiment, the carbon fiber may comprise one or more separate inserts 24 attached or placed inside the plate as shown in FIG. 13. The insert 24 may be replaceable to enable one to customize the shoe for a particular wearer or use. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/709792 discloses various methods of measuring a characteristic of the wearer in order to determine a footwear component such as insert 24 suitable for the wearer. This provisional application is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety. In another non-limiting embodiment, the inserts may be integrally formed into the plate during the manufacture of the plate.
Various methods of stiffening particular portions of the plates exist. If the stiffness of the plate depends largely on the number of fibers present in the material, such as it typically does with fiber-glass or carbon fiber materials, the density of the fibers in a part of the plate may be increased or reduced during manufacture to affect the stiffness in a particular area. In yet another non-limiting embodiment, the chemical composition of the plate may be altered in various parts such that the stiffness changes.
Further, the thickness of the plate 40 may be increased on the medial side 46. As the stiffness of a cross-section of a plate is proportional to the cube of the thickness of the plate, even a small change in the thickness of the plate will have a large affect on the overall stiffness of the plate. Thus, grooves, ribs, and plates with gradually varying thicknesses may be used to affect the localized stiffness of the upper plate 3 or lower plate 4 or both. Still further, the medial side may be asymmetrical in shape as shown by the phantom wing extension 50 on the medial side, which may stiffen this area.
As shown in FIG. 13 wings 42 are typically positioned on the medial and lateral sides of the plate 40. In FIG. 14, the wings 42 are shown on the upper plate 3 as slightly tapered protrusions extending toward the toe area. Thus, the wings 42 enhance stability of the sole assembly 2 by stiffening the outer portions of the sole assembly, but add less weight than would a shape in which the area between the wings 42 is filled with material. Accordingly, the stiffness of the metatarsal region can be enhanced with little added material. Wings 42 added to the lower plate 4 achieve similar results. Additionally, the tapering shape of the wings 42 in the vertical direction provides enhanced ability to attach the lower plate 4 and upper plate 3 to the rest of the sole assembly 2, i.e., the taper provides a fillet shape in the connection area.
In addition to asymmetry of the upper and lower plates themselves, the spring assembly may be positioned differently within the sole assembly to accommodate different foot types. For example, moving the spring mechanism forward or back may change a performance characteristic of the sole assembly. For example, a smaller system that is closer to the heel may work better for a mild overpronator. As another example, moving the system forward may create the best forefoot cushioning in a shoe. Still further, material and design variations may be implemented to provide a lower midsole height.
Clearly, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
an oblong gap located between the upper plate and lower plate and between the first and second parts of the upper and lower plates shaped such that a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a first direction, measured from the first part of the upper plate to the second part of the upper plate, is greater than a gap dimension between the upper and lower plates in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction.
2. The sole assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one insert attached to at least one of the upper plate and lower plate.
3. The sole assembly of claim 2, wherein the at least one insert is located in the lower plate.
4. The sole assembly of claim 3, wherein the at least one insert includes a material with a stiffness greater than a stiffness of a material comprising the lower plate.
5. The sole assembly of claim 4, wherein the at least one insert comprises at least one of carbon fiber and poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide.
6. The sole assembly of claim 4, wherein the insert is located nearer to a medial side of the lower plate than to a lateral side.
7. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein the upper plate and lower plate are comprised of different materials.
8. The sole assembly of claim 7, wherein the lower plate comprises carbon fiber.
9. The sole assembly of claim 7, wherein the lower plate comprises poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide.
10. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein the heel cradle comprises a different material than the upper plate.
11. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein the heel cradle and upper plate are a continuous piece of material.
12. The sole assembly of claim 11, wherein the heel cradle is vented.
13. The sole assembly of claim 12, wherein the heel cradle is partially directly supported by the upper plate and partially directly supported by a cushion material.
14. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein the upper plate is asymmetrical about a vertical plane that passes through a center of the heel cradle and a center of a toe of the sole assembly.
15. The sole assembly of claim 14, wherein the lower plate is asymmetrical about a vertical plane that passes through a center of the heel cradle and a center of a toe of the sole assembly.
16. The sole assembly of claim 15, wherein the lower plate has vertical protrusions that support walls of the heel cradle.
17. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein the lower plate includes a cavity.
18. The sole assembly of claim 17, wherein the upper plate includes a cavity at least partially overlapping the cavity of the lower plate.
19. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein a medial side of the lower plate is stiffer than a lateral side of the lower plate.
20. The sole assembly of claim 19, wherein a medial side of the upper plate is stiffer than a lateral side of the upper plate.
21. The sole assembly of claim 1, wherein the thickness of the upper plate varies from a portion of a medial side to a portion of a lateral side.
22. The sole assembly of claim 21, wherein the thickness of the lower plate varies from a portion of a medial side to a portion of a lateral side.
means for storing energy generated during walking connected to the means for cradling.
26. The sole assembly of claim 25, wherein the upper plate and lower plate are comprised of different materials.
27. The sole assembly of claim 26, wherein the upper plate comprises TPU and the lower plate comprises carbon fiber.
28. The sole assembly of claim 26, wherein the upper plate comprises TPU and the lower plate comprises poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide.
29. The sole assembly of claim 26, wherein the upper plate has a greater thickness in the vertical direction than the lower plate.
30. The sole assembly of claim 29, wherein the thickness of the upper plate is 3 mm and the thickness of the lower plate is 1.5 mm.
31. The sole assembly of claim 26, wherein the lower plate includes an insert.
32. The sole assembly of claim 31, wherein the insert is disposed on a medial side of the lower plate and comprises a material having a different stiffness than material of the lower plate.
33. The sole assembly of claim 25, wherein the upper plate and lower plate include wings projecting toward a toe region of the sole assembly.
34. The sole assembly of claim 33, wherein a wing on a medial side of the upper and lower plates is longer than a wing on a lateral side.
35. The sole assembly of claim 25, wherein the lower plate includes a cavity.
36. The sole assembly of claim 35, wherein the upper plate includes a cavity at least partially overlapping the cavity of the lower plate. | 2019-04-24T06:31:11Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070101617A1/en |
The current house band has been on staff since we, Ty Brown, were replaced back in September of ’03. They back up the highly paid headliners and are required to know all the headliners’ material, as well as perform the last set during the week alone. They are an excellent group of players who tour with nationally-known acts on a regular basis. They have done great work for the four-plus years there, having to be proficient in various music styles such as blues (of course), pop, R&B, jazz, country, reggae, and soul. The guys would rehearse early in the mornings despite getting off late at night.
The year for a working local musician goes like this, generally; busy in the spring and summer, not so busy in the early fall, booked solid during the Christmas season, and hibernating in January and February!
At BB’s in Memphis, the year is about the same, except that Memphis in May is a BOOMING time for them. Beale Street is the main tourist attraction in Memphis — Elvis notwithstanding — and BB King’s club is the premier spot on the street.
I’m no business expert, but I know that a club like that establishes its budget around the busy season and lives off the fat in the slow time. I’ve been told that that is how they do it. Landscapers operate the same way. It is (usually) understood that musicians in a house band are employees just like the rest of the staff, and as such, have a set salary. The pay doesn’t fluctuate like gas prices or my blood pressure. It has never been my experience that this has been the case. Until now.
Now, these guys had done nothing to warrant this pay cut, and they should have quit. The hard fact is that the GM was telling the truth. She could bring in some hacks to play five hours for fifty dollars a man or less(!) and the average tourist would not know the difference because they would have no other point of reference and would be so caught up in the whole “Beale Street Experience” that they wouldn’t notice the poor musical quality. Musicians around here don’t stick together, and the union is feckless. There is some bad music on that street sometimes.
I was told that she said that the pay would go back up in the summer, but who’s to say? If they went for this — taking less money and liking it — they will go for anything. If the GM has shown no conscience or loyalty to the band up to this point, why would she be expected to when times “get good” again? All she is concerned with is the bottom line. It is the classic corporate model. Quality suffers while the bosses get richer. Look at all the plastic they put on cars now… But they are ten times more costly to own.
I’ll bet the managers didn’t take a pay cut!
This club can probably go the whole year from what they make from May until Labor Day. I was told by a lower-level manager once when I was in the house band that on a particular Saturday night while we were playing, the club was so packed, the band was so good, that they made 10,000 dollars on food and alcohol in one hour!!
It is funny: The musicians are the reason why these clubs even exist. The musicians are the ones who take thoughts and make them into art. Yet when there is “fat” to be trimmed, the musicians always get cut. Beale Street, BB Kings Club, would be just a restaurant were it not for the live music, and good musicians. But we always get the snotty end of the stick at these times.
I, personally, would have told the GM to go ahead and get some hacks to take the stage. My abilities don’t depend on HER, they depend on those who care to enjoy the ART of good musicianship. Another gig can be found without being insulted in this way. See how long the club would remain the premier spot with some crusty old dude in a orange suit sittin’ on a bucket playing an out-of-tune guitar with four strings on it. If jazz has only a niche audience, in all its elegance, think how small an audience there would be for gutbucket blues 24/7.
The Bible says that for a time the injustices of man seem to go unpunished. The wicked seem to prosper. This may be one of those times, and I must fight to accept it. But I’m not wired like that! I had to at least say something! I can’t stand unfairness. Before you say it, No, BB isn’t involved with the running of these clubs that bear his name.
Tonight (Monday, new year’s eve) I am playing a party. I’d BETTER be! This is the biggest gig night of the year for a musician. My gig will pay me almost six times my normal amount. It is about a forty minute drive from home at a casino in Tunica, Mississippi.
I found out by text message at about 1 AM last night that the 5 o’clock sound check is mandatory. Now, normally, sound checks don’t involve me because I am just the sax player/background singer and I don’t have to set up any amps or pedals or anything. Usually the boss will tell me to just get there about thirty minutes ahead of time to check my mics and everything. I assumed that today would be no different.
My wife hates her job. One of the reasons is that, for example, today she has to work. (She works every Christmas Eve, too.) She gets off at five. I watch Max during the day, and she takes over when she gets home. See where I’m going?
I text messaged the bandleader, who has always been reasonable about stuff like this — even on big gigs, to ask what I was supposed to do about sound check since I had Max and that Kathy didn’t get off till five.
What am I supposed to do? I wrote.
In less than a minute his reply was, That’s not my problem.
So, as far as he knew, my wife would have to leave work early, or I would have to bring the baby with me to sit around and wait for two hours just for me to say, “Check, one two, one two” and come back home and get ready for a gig that won’t start till about 9:30!
Let me inform you here that for the type of gigs I usually do, sound check is a COLOSSAL waste of time. We all knew that if the time was set for five PM, they would not even start running cables until the entire rhythm section was set up. Why did I have to be there at 5? I HATE with a passion having my time manipulated and wasted!
Heck, the boss — whose problem it was not — didn’t even get there until 5:20! When I got there at 4:50 or so, the drummer was the only one there!
Okay, lately, I’ve been mulling and praying over the idea of starting my own band. I have a lonnnng list of grievances with my bandleader, the latest of which is the fact that I went the entire Christmas season without playing ONE Christmas party! This is usually the season to be jolly, pocket-wise! Meanwhile, he has been playing with other bands (he is the bass player in the band), renting out his audio gear, and is going to Singapore next week with a blues singer.
I’m not jealous at all. The thing is that we, his band, have been either sitting at the house, or scraping to find work while all the other bands are booked up. Part of the reason why he gets so much more than I do is because it is his job to deal with the agents and the clients, and to find us work! He expects us to be available when he books a gig, but his incentive to do so has been compromised because he has so many less stressful outlets by which to make money.
When airing my grievances to the other guys (the boss basically blew me off and tried to string me along when I tried to talk to him), they felt that it was my job to take care of mine, and that when it was all boiled down, Bossman was looking after his OWN family.
I always said that I didn’t want to form a band of my own until I got a manager to deal with all the headaches — lateness, drunkenness, drugs, irresponsibility, laziness, skirt-chasing, etc.
I talked to a few guys, none but one of whom plays in the band with me regularly, about the particulars and possibilities of doing this.
“When I get enough cash to make a record, will you work with me on it?
I asked around to get the tenor of the times, so to speak, and a lot of guys wanted to get on board.
The thing is this: Was Bossman’s attitude so cold towards me earlier because he had somehow heard about my possible plans? I was very discreet, but my wife seemed to think that was the case. I felt that since I was not doing him wrong by trying to support myself — without taking any of his guys with me — he had no reason to be upset. Besides, I was only just thinking about it! I wasn’t trying to burn any bridges. The river’s too wide to try to swim back across!
Everyone had told me to play it cool and not to go off, even though he had it coming! I’m terrible at the poker-face.
So it’s 5:30, and everyone was at the venue, but nothing was set up, and the lone sound man was dragging his feet. Setting up a stage this size is an hour job for three or four guys, so having just one didn’t bode well for us, time-wise. And I had to go all the way back home to get dressed.
Most of the other guys had brought their clothes, but, as I tersely related to the foot-dragger, I didn’t assume that I would not be able to return home from a 5 o’clock sound check for a gig that started at freekin’ 9:30! That’s why I didn’t want to go all that way in the first place! I knew they would be piddling around with my time!
He made a smart remark that left me biting a hole in my lip.
The funny thing is this: When the boss saw me, he smiled, said, “What up,” and proceeded to pass out calendars for next year! As if all this down time were just a blip! He was totally oblivious!
If he were planning to pre-emptively fire me, he surely wouldn’t be doing that!
At 6:40, 6: doggone 40, the lead singer walks in cool as iced tea, and nobody raised an eyelash. Now if he could do that, why did I, as far as the bandleader knew, have to get my wife to leave work early and lose money for me to sit around for two hours before any microphones were turned on?!? Why was it so crucial that I be there to stew in my own suppressed anger with nothing to do but watch the “Beverly Hillbillies” marathon backstage on Nick at Nite?
At 6:45, we were ready to check the mics and the instruments. The lead singer’s mic was awful, and the sound man, frustrated by his lack of help, and by our absence of sound check etiquette (everyone was checking stuff all at the same time. I hate that), snapped at us.
This, this set the boss off, and he proceeded to curse the guy out as I walked past them both on my way to the car for the forty minute trip home to eat and change. I thought it was interesting that he went to bat for the guy who showed up an hour and forty minutes late, but left me to fend for myself earlier without even a thought.
All night during the show, he tried to crack jokes with me and make light while I concentrated on being professional, and sang on a mic that wasn’t even on! I couldn’t even be phoney enough to make eye contact with him.
As the lead singer butcherized the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” my decision was being hardened with every beat.
I told Kathy about all of this when I got home.
Happy New Year, dear readers! I love you all. Thanks for indulging me in this endeavor, and for encouraging me. May God bless you as He has blessed me, and may He give you the nervous anticipation and hope that He has given me as we all embark on this new journey called 2008.
Yeah, I play the saxophone. Mostly, right now, I play section stuff in r&b bands doing clubs, occasional casinos, and various parties. I want to front my own band, but with all of the drama that goes on with guys showing up late, getting drunk, forgetting parts, and other musician stuff, I’ve declared that I would not get my own band until I got a manager to deal with all that junk!
I see a lot of stuff. Things that make me laugh, things that make me angry, and things that make me pray! I’ve seen guys do things that I can’t figure out how to clean up enough to write about that would make you fall out laughing.
Curtis plays trumpet with us sometimes, along with Marc. On this night he was playing with the house band, of which he is the leader.
Anyway, Curtis confronts this guy, a part-time bodyguard and full-time drug seller Darryl, I believe he is named, about the cash, and the argument escalates until Darryl, about 6′-4″, 280, draws him outside where his unnamed accomplice sneaks up behind him and knocks him down. (Curtis had slippery-bottomed dress shoes on, and it was drizzling outside.) After they get him down, they proceed to peel his head open with a music stand! All this while the band was onstage! Nobody helped him. A couple of the guys were mad at him about band stuff, and I guess the others were reluctant to maybe get shot. That was real messed up, though, for them to let that happen to him.
Curtis got a concealed weapon permit shortly thereafter. He said that he wasn’t takin no more “A” whuppins!
Apparently the night before, Curtis (A lot of stuff happened to Curtis, but he always lands on his feet. Except for that last time…) was hanging out at the bar. He wasn’t working that night, just hanging. His wallet came up stolen. So, I guess the guy who stole it, not knowing that the guy he stole it from actually WORKS in the place(!), was at the front window bar posing as guess who?! The manager on duty (foolishly?) calls Curtis at home and tells him about it and that the guy is running up charges on his card but not to worry that he has him on ice.
Curtis, I guess, gets this new gun and shoots down to the club. We’re onstage while all this is going on.
So, anyway Curtis gets out of the truck, a Tahoe with big, shiny rims on it, and decides against bringing the gun in. See, the cops set up shop right outside the front door of the club.
Okay, now we’re back to the point at which I see all the blue lights.
So, they got Curtis on the ground, right? And they got guns drawn on him, and feet and knees and stuff on his neck, and they’re shouting and cussing at him, okay? And Curtis was thinking, “I wasn’t gone shoot the guy, I was just gone persuade ‘im. Scare him a little bit.” He didn’t get a chance to say none of that to the cops. Too much aaasphalt in his mouth.
We were almost through with our second of three sets when all this came together, so when we ended the last song, I shot out the side door and ran around to see what had happened. See, a waitress came to the front of the stage and told the lead singer that Curtis had been arrested, and he told ME. So all I knew at that time was that my padnuh (friend) was in the “back seat.” As I approached the car, his girlfriend (I GOTTA tell you about HER!) beseeched me, “Tell him to bee qwiiiiet! Carlos almos’ had him out, but hee won’t quit cussin’ the po-leece out!” Translation: They were about to let him go, but his persistent belligerence negated that possibility.
Curtis said through the tiny crack in the window, with his arms politely behind his back, something like, “Man fornicate these cops! I tole them I had a permit, but they ain’t lissen!” That was probably because cops don’t generally like to be cursed out by gun-toting Black guys. Permit or no permit. If he had just calmly let them slam him to the ground, everything would have been sorted out with only minor cuts and bruises. Better yet, if he had adhered to the law that states that you can’t have a pistol where alcohol is sold and left his gat in the truck, I would have no story to tell.
As it was, Carlos, the manager, was able to get the thief locked up, but unable to keep Curtis from going to jail. It was a CIRCUS! We were back onstage playing “Brick House”(I hate that tune!), or some other drivel, and Curtis was in the back seat of a police car in the front window of the club where he worked, spitting and cursing, and about to go to the BIG house while the actual criminal was in the car next to him chillin! They spent the night in the SAME JAIL!! The folks in the club looked like they were watching a tennis match, heads going back and forth from the band to the front window.
Remind me to tell you about the time one of his women tried to run him over. Or the time Larry, another singer, got mad and walked out while we were playing his intro music… Or the time Bill C. took a deaf groupie to his hotel room and tried to whisper “sweet nothings” to her in the dark! Naw, I can’t figure out how to tie a Christian tail on that one. Peace. | 2019-04-19T21:04:45Z | https://maxdaddy.wordpress.com/category/on-the-job/ |
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