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15 Influential Political Art Pieces
What is political art? Is it different than the art itself and could it be the art beside the politics, as we know the political truth is the ruling mechanism over all aspects of humanity? From its beginnings, art is inseparable from the societies and throughout its history authors always reflected the present moment bringing the artistic truth to the general public. For Plato and Aristotle, mimesis – the act of artistic creation is inseparable from the notion of real world, in which art represents or rather disputes the various models of beauty, truth, and the good within the societal reality.
Hence, position of the art sphere is semi-autonomous, as it is independent field of creation freed from the rules, function and norms, but on the other hand, art world is deeply connected and dependent from artistic production, ways of curating and display as well as socio-economical conditions and political context.
The Realm of Political Art
In times of big political changes, many art and cultural workers choose to reflect the context within their artistic practices and consequently to create politically and socially engaged art. Art could be connected to politics in many different ways, and the field of politically engaged art is rather broad and rich than a homogenous term reducible to political propaganda. There are many strategies to reach the state of political engagement in art and it includes the wide scale of artistic interventions from bare gestures to complex conceptual pieces with direct political engagement intended to factual political changes. But when disputing politically engaged art, we must not forget that art is not and could not be the mere means of political action nor reduced to this specific function; although it could be an active part of activist practice.
Beyond the Aestheticization of the Politics
In the 20th century, the aestheticization of the politics was heavily criticized as a try to conceive regular practices of life and societal behavior as innately artistic, and to introduce politic values to art, by structuring it as an art form in order to normalize emancipatory or revolutionary practices and enclose it to the autonomous field of art. This was the concept first coined by Walter Benjamin and later developed in the thought of Frankfurt School. It was also the philosophical reaction to the appropriation of the art by the Fascist regimes in Europe. In the light of this theory, the polar opposite of these practices of aestheticization would be the term of the politicization of aesthetics – a kind of revolutionary praxis of rethinking the depoliticized field of art production and adding the wider political or rather an emancipatory character to the art work.
Liberation of Art
The main idea behind the liberating art from the corrupting politic movements such as Fascism, Nazism or any other reductive and destructive social agenda, is to reclaim its autonomy once again. For any artistic work is crucial to be free from the function and especially transgressing its subordinate position when art is reduced to the political tool of ruling mechanism. The very act of negation or disagreement with the negative or harmful within the politics is crucial for understanding the core value of political artists and the politically engaged art in whole. As artistic practice is the act of creation, intervention into the body of real world, art, as a form of social action, is a very mighty tool of the political imagination, by (re)presenting the world, not in a sudden, but in some further or better condition.
Political Role of Art
When questioning the role of art today, we must be aware of the illusive borders between art and life, art and media, art and society, as well as art and activism. In so many cases of artist works, it is hard to formulate not just the notion of art but even its position within the society. In contemporary societies, it is important to abandon the romantic visions of art's mission, but at the same time to insist on the constant questioning dominant politics within the art, maintaining and fight for the inherent artistic freedom of speech and expression. The role of political art has always been crucial since it is one of rare uncorrupted forces of emancipatory action and battlefield of the crucial dispute what is and what could be beauty, truth, and the good.
Influential Political Artworks
In the course of art history there are many examples art was the crucial reflection of political context. Moreover, analyzing and disputing the art pieces, we learn about life and circumstances from which we are far away in space or time. The art pieces were critical or undue to the dominant values of its time, we often understood as a political avant-garde, the announcement of the political changes that followed. Here, we would like to present different politically engaged art works, trying to display the wide specter of political action within the field of art, without pitfall of losing the art qualities and becoming the political agenda itself. The selection we made addresses the questions of wars and political conflicts, rise of fascism, revolution and social change, as well as human rights activism, feminism, autonomy of art or various problems of artistic production and work itself. Methodologies, media or artistic strategies are numerous in political art and proving that politically committed artworks and the work of political artists in general is not reducible to propaganda.
Featured images:Norman Rockwell – The Problem We All Live With, 1964; Pablo Picasso – Massacre in Korea, 1950; Dmitri Vrubel – The Kiss, 1990; Banksy – Flower thrower, 2003; Ai Weiwei – With Flowers, 2013; Yoko Ono – Sky Landing, 2016.
Vladimir Tatlin - The Monument to the Third International from 1917
Tatlin's Constructivist tower was planned to be the moving sculpture of the Revolution, the dynamic metaphor of uprising the modernity, revolutionary thinking and the new world order. Besides its monumental and poetic value, the structure should have architectural functions and could have been used for conferences and different governmental functions. Due to economic crash in post-revolutionary Russia, the Monument to the Third International has been never built but its smaller size models are situated in Stockholm, Moscow and Paris.
Featured image: Vladimir Tatlin – The Monument to the Third International, 1917
Diego Rivera - Man at the Crossroads from 1934
Man at the Crossroads was a mural by Diego Rivera in the Rockefeller Center, New York. The process of painting and the life of the fresco painting itself raised a big controversy since Rivera included images of V.I. Lenin and motifs of a Soviet Russian May Day parade on it. Despite protests from artists, Nelson Rockefeller ordered the destruction of this political artwork before it was completed. There are only a few black and white photos of the finished paintings, photographed by the artist himself.
Featured image: Diego Rivera – Man at the Crossroads, 1934, detail
Max Ernst - Europe After the Rain from 1940-42
Europe After the Rain is surrealistic landscape of dystopian Europe after the enormous destruction in Second World War, painted by Max Ernst who was personally affected by the Nazi politics in Germany. The paysage is dominated by pessimist feelings of emotional desolation, physical exhaustion and deep fears, which are rather archetypal concern over the humanity than just actual reflection on war horror.
Featured image: Max Ernst – Europe After the Rain, 1940-1942, detail
Peter Kien - Watercolor of Terezin from 1944
Concentration camps are always considered as the epitome of the war horror. Jewish artist Peter Kien was imprisoned in Terezin, where he used stolen artistic materials to witness the living conditions in the Terezin ghetto. A true example of political art, his artworks transgress the field of art, being one of the most important documents recalling the truth on a concentration camp and the inhuman conditions of inmates. In 1944, the same year he painted the Watercolor of Terezin, Kien was deported in Auschwitz, where being brutally killed at the age of twenty-five.
Featured image: Peter Kien – Watercolor of Terezin c1944, detail via azdaily
Pablo Picasso - Massacre in Korea from 1950
Pablo Picasso was the heavy critic of the American war intervention in Korea, so the painting Massacre in Korea is often considered as one of Picasso's communist works and an example of his political art. The artworks posses strong reflection of one of the first paintings of the new age – Francisco Goya's masterpiece The Third of May 1808 from which it derives the political statement comparing the American forces in North Korea with the imperialistic Napoleon army, Tyrant of Europe. The artist openly depicted civilians killed by anti-communist forces as heroes standing erect and mocked the misshaped firing squad.
Take a time to check more works by Pablo Picasso!
Featured image: Pablo Picasso – Massacre In Korea, 1951, detail via thecahokian
Norman Rockwell - The Problem We All Live With from 1964
Norman Rockwell's painting The Problem We All Live With is directly addressing the racism in America and the universality of the people being affected with this harmful politics. The painting reflects the real fact that the African-American girl was escorted on her way to elementary school by four US marshals, walking in front of the protesters in 1960 at New Orleans. Racist graffiti, limited freedom of movement, racial segregation at schools were the reality of the American south in 1960s so the artist rise a voice against it and made this important and influential political artwork.
Featured image: Norman Rockwell – The Problem We All Live With, 1964, detail
Barbara Kruger - We don't need another hero from 1987
Conceptual artist Barbara Kruger, is best known by subversive design work concerning consumerism, feminism and women identity politics. We don't need another hero in one of the main examples of her reduced agitprop style, with use of black and white photography, red banners and a single bold font, where Kruger reflects the gender roles imposed from the earliest age. This political art piece strongly recall popular 1985 song by Tina Turner, also featured in blockbuster movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Featured image: Barbara Kruger – We don't need another hero, 1987
Guerilla Girls - Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? from 1989
The Guerrilla Girls, an anonymous group of female feminist artists and art-world professionals in 1989 placed the poster illustrating the statistic data that less than 5% of artists included in Modern Art Sections were female, but more than 85% nudes are women. Do women need to be naked to get into the Met. Museum get a big echo in the world of art, since it make people rethink the consequences of exclusively male gaze on women body in the dominant art canon.
Featured image: Guerilla Girls – Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? 1989, detail
Dmitri Vrubel - The Kiss from 1990
The world famous graffiti at the Berlin wall, originally named My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, but also known as The Kiss, The Kiss of Death or the Fraternal Kiss is depiction of a historical kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker at the ceremony of the foundation of the German Democratic Republic. It is interesting that the graffiti was created by Dmitri Vrubel in 1990s after the Berlin wall was down and it reflecting the continuation of the politics from the cold war era in the time of changes.
Featured image: Dmitri Vrubel – The Kiss, 1990, photo detail via disappearingman
Banksy - Flower Thrower from 2003
Flower Thrower is one of the most iconic images of the famous street artist Banksy. The stencil art piece depicts the man, bombing the establishment with flowers. The image is reminiscent of images from the 1960s campus and street riots and it is connected to the Jerusalem gay parade incidents. The name originates from a Poem "Wage Peace" by Judyth Hill, written after the events of 9/11 in 2001.
Find available artworks by Banksy on Widewalls marketplace!
Featured image: Banksy – Flower Thrower, 2003
JR - Face2Face project in Gaza from 2007
In 2007, two street artists JR and Marco organized the largest illegal photography exhibition ever under the project Face 2 Face. At the streets in several Palestinian and Israeli cities, the artists placed the portraits of Israelis and Palestinians as face to face, in large formats. In conflicted zones, this project brings unavoidable identification and humor while looking at series of laughing people separated only by their national and religious affiliation, but united in humanity.
Featured image: JR – Face2Face project in Gaza, 2007, photo
Shepard Fairey - HOPE poster from 2008
The Hope was created in 2008 as grassroots imagery and at the time it said 'progress' but after the Obama's campaign team fancied the work, it was changed to 'hope', and become the unofficial visual of the elections. Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist, illustrator who inscribed the political statement of the expected progress and hope in United States in 2008, within this effective propaganda poster. After many years, it becomes a document on the political positions of the people as well as their unrealized hopes.
Be sure to check out an interesting selection of works by Shepard Fairey!
Featured images: Shepard Fairey – PROGRESS poster, 2008; Shepard Fairey – HOPE poster, 2008
Terry Richardson - Portraits of President Barack Obama from 2012
As a first African-American US president, Barack Obama was the endless source of inspiration for artists, who frequently inscribe their emancipatory politics into his figure. In his series of portraits, Terry Richardson tried the counter strategy – to liberate the celeb face of the president from the symbolic and to fit his appearance into own pop culture aesthetics.
Featured image: Terry Richardson – Barrack Obama, 2012
Ai Weiwei - With Flowers from 2013
With Flowers is a part-protest part-performance art piece of the famous Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, started as a reaction against the confiscation of his passport. The artist placed a bouquet of flowers in the basket of a bicycle in front of his studio in Beijing and action of endured for about 600 days. Ai started the performance on November 13, 2013, more than two years into his confinement.
Featured image: Ai Weiwei – With Flowers, 2013
Yoko Ono - Sky Landing from 2016
Sky Landing in the Garden of the Phoenix in Jackson Park in Chicago is the first permanent installation in Americas by the famous conceptual artist Yoko Ono. Sky Landing is created as a symbolic gesture of peace, harmony and healing. In her concept Yoko stated "I want the sky to land here, to cool it, and make it well again".
Featured image: Yoko Ono – Sky Landing, 2016


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Types of Replacement Heart Valves
If you need to have a heart valve replacement, you have several choices to consider when discussing your heart valve options with your medical professional. The type of valve and surgical approach have an impact on both your short-term recovery and longer-term quality of life.
Replacement valve's durability and performance
The ideal replacement valve offers excellent valve function and works in coordination with the entire circulatory system to protect each part from damage. Your medical professional may refer to this as "excellent hemodynamic performance."
Replacement valve's risks and medication requirements
The ideal replacement valve also offers long-term durability without significantly increasing the risk of dangerous blood clots or bleeds.
*Blood thinner medications can lower your risks of a clot-related stroke or embolism (traveling clot). Clot-risks are higher for people with mechanical valves. On the other hand, blood thinners must be carefully monitored because blood that's too thin will increase the risk of a bleed, which may also become a problem.
Patients and their medical professionals need to choose what is going to be closest to ideal for each patient.
View illustrations of mechanical and tissue valves.
Possible choices include:
Manufactured Mechanical Valve
These valves are made of strong durable materials. They are the most long-lasting type of replacement valve, and most of these manufactured valves will last throughout the remainder of the patients' lifetime.
Patients who receive a manufactured valve will nearly always require a blood thinning medication throughout the remainder of their lives. The blood thinner will keep clots from forming, which is critical for the person with a mechanical valve because clots can lodge in the valve flaps or hinges and cause a malfunction. Clots can also break off and form into an embolism (traveling clot), which may move through the bloodstream and lodge into a vessel where it may eventually lead to problems like heart attack or stroke.
Donor Valve Implantation
A human donor valve is the least common choice and it's most often used for someone who is suffering from an illness that affects the valve, such as infective endocarditis. A donor valve can be expected to last 10-20 years.
Tissue Valve (sometimes called 'bioprosthetic' valves)
Tissue valves are created from animal donors' valves or other animal tissue that's strong and flexible. Tissue valves can last 10-20 years, and usually don't require the long-term use of medication. For a young person with a tissue valve replacement, the need for additional surgery or another valve replacement later in life is highly likely.
For each surgery in which the valve must be replaced, careful considerations should be given to durability and medication options and risks. The good news is that a well-performed operation has a high rate of long-term success. If at all possible, consider going to a healthcare facility with a strong valvular surgery specialty and a good track record in valve surgeries.
You have options when choosing a heart valve. Survivor Robert Epps shares the factors that influenced his own heart valve choice:

subset: commoncrawl


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Pro vs. G.I. Joe
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
To kick off White Sox Charities Week, White Sox Players A.J. Pierzynski, Chris Sale and Matt Thornton participated in Pro vs. G.I Joe at U.S. Cellular Field.
Pro vs. G.I. Joe brings together local wounded veterans and active military members currently deployed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The competition takes place via an online gaming system that allows the players and troops to talk to each other while they compete.
After they finished playing, the players spent time interacting with the troops, signing autographs and listening to stories about the soldier's military experiences.
To learn more about White Sox Charities Week, click here.


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Is U.S. education like the weather? Everyone talks about it but no one can quite figure out how to improve it?
Education theory has changed over the years from the days when students were bolted to their seats and kept their mouths shut amid threats of being sent to the principal's office to today's more relaxed classrooms where students roam freely and say whatever pops into their heads.
Teachers are now taught children learn differently and the different needs of the few need to be accommodated -- no matter what that does to the rest of the class.
The result? The United States appears to be falling further and further behind other industrial countries, especially when it comes to math.
A University of Arkansas study released last week indicates more than two-thirds of school districts are mediocre at best when it comes to math achievement.
The study, published by Education Next, found students in even wealthy suburban districts do relatively poorly compared with their peers in 25 other developed countries and an earlier study found even high-achieving students can't match their foreign counterparts.
"Certainly performance in math is worse than in reading and that is probably because we do not focus our attention on math to the extent that we should," said Paul Peterson, a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance. "We don't pay math teachers any more than other teachers so we're probably getting weaker teachers in math.
"We don't have comprehensive exams when you graduate from high school. Students in other countries are studying in preparation for these exams. … [Foreign] students work harder and perform better. Other countries give families a choice of school and the government pays for it. We don't."
The study, "When the Best is Mediocre," found math achievement by the average student in Beverly Hills, Calif., fell into the 53rd percentile relative to the international comparison group. White Plains, N.Y., is at the 39th percentile; Evanston, Ill., is at the 48th percentile; Montgomery County, Md., is at the 50th percentile, and Fairfax, Va., is at the 49th percentile.
The researchers compared results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress for U.S. students with results from the Program for International Student Assessment administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The study found the average student in Pelham, Mass., is in the 95th percentile and students in Spring Lake, N.J., and Waconda, Kan., are in the 91st. Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago were among the worst performing, falling into the 11th, 12th, 20th and 21st percentiles, respectively.
Of the top 20 performing U.S. districts, seven are charter schools and 13 are in rural communities.
"In four states -- Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and West Virginia -- there is not a single traditional school district with average student achievement in math above the 50th percentile," the study found. "In 17 states, not a single district has average achievement in the upper third relative to the global comparison group. In over half of the states, there are no more than three districts that reach average achievement levels in the upper third."
"I really think we have to understand math is a skill that is crucial in the 21st century," Peterson said. "So many jobs are requiring that ability. We need to recruit people from other countries to fill those jobs because we're not supplying qualified people ourselves."
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced it planned to grant waivers from No Child Left Behind standards that officials said had backfired -- actually leading to the dumbing down of standards so that districts could say they were compliant with performance standards.
"Today, our kids trail too many other countries in math, in science, in reading. Our kids only get one shot at a decent education. They cannot afford to wait any longer … ," Obama said in announcing the waivers.
"So … we'll be giving states more flexibility to meet high standards. Keep in mind, the change we're making is not lowering standards; we're saying we're going to give you more flexibility to meet high standards. We're going to let states, schools and teachers come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future."
Peterson said U.S. students showed substantial gains in math as a result of the No Child law.
"Whether or not the waiver policy of the Obama administration will affect these gains remains to be seen, as it has yet to be implemented," he said.


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Game #67: Nats at Jats pregame
After a lovely day off, which consisted of a great jog along the lakefront and taking in a movie with my wife, I am back at the Rogers Centre — still exhausted and wondering when my body is going to get off West Coast time. Unlike the Jays fans who came out to the ballpark last night, I got to enjoy the beautiful weather. My wife and I saw the dome was closed around game time last night, and she said, "It must be broken." Sure enough. Well, it's open again today for Game 2, which is about to get underway. So here's today's pregame:
Washington (29-38) at Toronto (32-34)
at 1:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre
Today's lineups:
Ronnie Belliard, SS
Felipe Lopez, 2B
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
Dmitri Young, DH
Austin Kearns, RF
Ryan Church, LF
Robert Fick, 1B
Jesus Flores, C
Ryan Langerhans, LF
PITCHING: RHP Levale Speigner
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Matt Stairs, 1B
Troy Glaus, 3B
Frank Thomas, DH
Gregg Zaun, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
John McDonald, SS
PITCHING: RHP Shaun Marcum
NOTES: Not much. The roof is working again, and there's no news yet on RHP Tomo Ohka's status. Toronto has until Monday to sort his situation out, which will likely end in his release. … Zaun was back in the lineup for the second day in a row, even though manager John Gibbons said Friday that he'd probably rest on Saturday. … Jays have gone 12-5 at home since May 11, which is the best home mark over that span in the Majors.
4 Comments
You gotta like the development of Marcum. He is a legit top 3 starter right now. Gives you 6 to 7 every outing and is showing a growing ability to minimzie damage when he scuffles.
This year feels so different than past years when we were waiting for the push to make a real run at the division title or the wild card. The difference: pitching, pitching and pitching.
I think Reid Johnson back in the line up will really help balance the order.
Hoping for a sweep tomorrow!
I am loving the way Marcum is coming into his own – he's the extra arm that propels Toronto from a three to four-arm rotation (including McGowan). Keep up the good work, Marcum!
Marcum and McGowan are both going well. I can't remember when we had a better top 4 in the starting rotation. I like Marcum starting between Burnett and McGowan, giving a different look. Now if Chachin and League can make it back strong and healthy, we could have the best pitching in the American League.
Looks like we got lucky with Burnett, and he'll only miss one start-now that is good news.
Nice to see Wells coming out of his slump. Hopefully the pendulum turns the other for him and he gets super hot for a while.
Does anyone have any idea when Johnson is expected to return?
If this offense gets hot, this team could go on a serious roll and challenge for the wild card-There's 95 games left
Sounds like Johnson will play Monday for our Class A Florida League team. ETA according to JP earlier this week is optimistically during the west coast road trip following our home stand.
Go Towers go!


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New Releases
Marley's Ghost has finished their 9th studio album with legendary producer "Cowboy" Jack Clement. The new release "Ghost Town" is avaible now.
Buy It Here Now
Award winning piper, Jori Chisholm's
Bagpipe Revolution
Read a review of Jori's CD here.
Buy It Here
Ryan Foxley's debut release
Follow the Plow
11/12/2010 Lincoln Assn for the Traditional Arts/ Lincoln, NE
12/17/2010 Freight & Salvage Berkeley CA
1/24/2011 to 1/29/2011 Cowboy Poetry Gathering Elko, NV
Reviews of Ghost Town
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Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — The yuan climbed to a 19-year high on speculation China will step up efforts to arrest a seven- quarter slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
The currency had its biggest gain in six months after the People's Bank of China strengthened its reference rate today by the most since Aug. 22. The central bank injected a record amount of funds into the financial system this week to address a cash squeeze ahead of a weeklong holiday that starts Oct. 1. The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 4.1 per cent in the past two days, buoyed by a report suggesting policy makers plan to unveil measures to support Chinese stocks.
"Funds are flowing back into the market as people bet China will soon act more aggressively to revive growth," said Kenix Lai, a Hong Kong-based foreign-exchange analyst at Bank of East Asia Ltd. "There's always expectations that the government will announce important polices before or at the end of a long holiday. The stock market is also rallying on stimulus bets."
The yuan gained 0.28 per cent to close at 6.2849 per dollar in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. It has strengthened 1.1 per cent this quarter and today touched 6.2835, the strongest level since China unified official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993. The currency can trade as much as 1 per cent on either side of the central bank's daily fixing, which was raised 0.08 per cent today to 6.3410.
U.S. Election
Before today's advance the yuan was headed for an annual decline versus the dollar and renewed appreciation may make Chinese currency policy less of a hot topic in the U.S., where President Barack Obama is seeking a second term in a November election.
Obama, who has said China keeps its currency weak to give its exporters an edge, touted a trade complaint against the Asian nation this month over illegally subsidizing shipment of automobiles and auto parts. Republican candidate Mitt Romney said he would on his first day in the White House tell the Treasury Department to list China as a currency manipulator, paving the way for more duties on Chinese imports. The U.S. ambassador to China, Gary Locke, said Sept. 13 the yuan "is still undervalued."
Twelve-month non-deliverable forwards rose 0.19 per cent to 6.4065 per dollar in Hong Kong, a 1.9 per cent discount to the spot rate in Shanghai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In Hong Kong's offshore market, the yuan gained 0.19 per cent to 6.3010. The onshore exchange rate will end this year at 6.32, according to the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Traders Surprised
"The yuan forwards are strengthening as the onshore spot rose to a record high, which took some investors by surprise," said Banny Lam, a Hong Kong-based chief economist at CCB International Securities Ltd., a unit of China's second-largest bank by market value. "Those investors might have to terminate some short positions," he said, referring to bets China's currency would weaken.
The yuan's rally is being spurred by an expanding supply of dollars. The Federal Reserve announced a third round of asset purchases this month, a policy known as quantitative easing that spurs demand for higher-yielding assets beyond U.S. borders. The yield on China's one-year government debt is 2.82 per cent, compared with 0.16 per cent for similar-maturity Treasuries.
The securities regulator is considering lowering taxes on stock and bond investments, China Securities Journal reported today, citing an unidentified official. Economists predict gross domestic product will increase 7.4 per cent in the three months through September, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey, and that would be the smallest gain since March 2009. Growth slowed in each of the previous six quarters.
"The economy is not doing so well and the government will implement new stimulus although the scale won't be as large as before due to concerns about some bubbles in the property market," said Bruce Yam, a foreign-exchange strategist at Sun Hung Kai Financial Ltd. "The yuan will find it difficult to strengthen beyond 6.25 in the final quarter."
–Editors: James Regan, Amit Prakash
To contact the reporters on this story: Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at [email protected] Fion Li in Hong Kong at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Regan at [email protected]
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CRESTVIEW � Although John Henry "Doc" Holliday is renowned in American history as a Wild West gambler and gunslinger, he also was a dentist. Fittingly, Crestview dentist Dr. Richard Thomas will host a Nov. 8 open house for a permanent exhibit featuring Doc Holliday's dental chair.
CRESTVIEW � Although John Henry "Doc" Holliday is renowned in American history as a Wild West gambler and gunslinger, he also was a dentist.
Fittingly, Crestview dentist Dr. Richard Thomas will host a Nov. 8 open house for a permanent exhibit featuring Doc Holliday's dental chair.
The ornate mid-19th-century dental chair, with its pedal-operated drill, is the pride of Thomas' extensive collection of Wild West antiques.
Thomas didn't reveal how much he paid for the chair, but said he got caught up in the excitement of the online auction in which he bought it.
"I've never been in an auction before," he said. "I should've cut my finger off. For some reason, I kept bidding it up and bidding it up and the next thing it said (was), 'You got it.'"
Thomas also acquired Holliday's appointment "book," a fan of ivory cards on which weekly patient appointments � some still barely legible � were written in pencil and later erased.
Gambler and gunslinger
The exhibit also features late 19th-century playing cards, dice, clay poker chips, a casino card shoe and a leather-topped card table, which spotlight Holliday's gambler personality.
Thomas � whose fascination with the Old West began when he was a child playing cowboys and Indians in Utah � has avidly studied Holliday's colorful life, which mainly included gambling and frequent drinking as his tuberculosis progressed.
Holliday's legend grew after he stood with the Earp brothers � Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan � during the infamous Oct. 26, 1881, "Gunfight at the OK Corral" in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.
An enlarged illustration of the quartet � walking down Tombstone's main street shortly before the battle � appears in a new exhibit room at Thomas's Alabama Street office, as will a bottle of Holliday's favorite beverage, Old Overholt whiskey, and a vintage crystal shot glass.
Thomas and his staff will unveil the exhibit on Nov. 8, the 126th anniversary of Holliday's death.
Dentist and dandy
Thomas praised Holliday as a smart fellow dentist who, he believes, was misunderstood.
"It was hard to tell in those days who was a scoundrel and who wasn't," Thomas said. "He was actually a pretty darned good dentist. He was a real smart guy."
The exhibit room, with velvet-flocked wallpaper, a pressed tin ceiling and period furnishings, reflects Holliday's elegance, Thomas said.
"He was a dandy," Thomas said. "He always dressed to the hilt. He wore an ascot with a diamond or a pearl in it."
Thomas watched in appreciation on Wednesday as contractor Joe Chancey and his wife, Becky, worked on the room to prepare for next week�s unveiling.
"Doc would be impressed with his new office," Thomas said. "I'm thinking, �If this stuff could talk...�
His voice trailed off as he stroked the collection of gambling artifacts.
WHAT: Public unveiling of John Henry "Doc" Holliday's original dentist chair and period artifacts.
WHO: Hosted by Dr. Richard Thomas and Family Dentistry
WHEN: 5-7 p.m. Nov. 8
WHERE: 102 Alabama St., Suite A, Crestview
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.


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Adult Day Care Can Ease Caregiver Stress
September 2013
Adult Day Care Can Ease Caregiver Stress
Caring for a parent or another older adult isn't easy. You may feel overwhelmed and stressed out. If you are yearning for some relief, adult day care may be the solution. Research shows it not only helps those enrolled in such programs, but their caregivers, too.
A respite for you
Nearly 40 percent of American adults are caregivers. These people help a relative or another person who has a physical or mental health condition-without being paid. They may run errands, assist with day-to-day activities, or pay bills. Many juggle these tasks with work and other responsibilities.
On a daily basis, caregivers can face high levels of stress. This chronic stress can lead to health problems such as depression and heart disease. Although support is available, only 12 percent of caregivers use respite care. These services tend to loved ones while providing a much-needed break for caregivers.
A type of respite care, adult day care offers health services and social activities. Depending on the program, it may include meals, physical therapy, and recreational opportunities. Research shows it improves the lives of participating older adults.
Caregivers may benefit from it, too. In one study, researchers followed 121 caregivers over a two-month period. They tracked the stress levels of participants as they cared for an older adult with dementia. Caregivers reported less stress on days when their loved ones attended adult day care.
Much-needed support
Many different adult day care and other such programs are available. Your area agency on aging can help you find programs close to you. Other helpful sources: the National Adult Day Services Association (www.nadsa.org) and the Eldercare Locator website (www.eldercare.gov).
When choosing the best program for you and your loved one, consider the following:
Decide on wants and needs. For example, does your loved one require transportation to and from the facility? How about special care? Are social activities important?
Check for licensing. Note: Not all states require licenses.
Compare costs. Find out what is included in a program's fee.
Talk with other families that use the facility. Their opinions can be useful.
Visit the center and chat with staff. Ask about staff training, including any special experience for your loved one's specific condition.
Test the facility. Assess how you and your loved one feel about the center after you have tried it a few times.
Always talk with your health care provider to find out more information.
Click here for more tips on handling caregiver stress.
Online Resources
Administration on Aging - Eldercare Locator
National Family Caregivers Association
Avoid Caregiver Burnout
Constant stress can lead to caregiver burnout. Warning signs include changes in appetite or sleeping habits, difficulty concentrating, and loss of interest in caring for yourself and your loved one. To help avoid caregiver burnout:
Ask for help. Family and friends are often willing to assist with shopping, cleaning, or other activities.
Join a support group. You may learn valuable caregiving tips.
Make time for yourself. Do something you enjoy a few times a week.
Don't overextend yourself. To-do lists can help prioritize your time.
Stay physically active. Exercise can ease stress and improve your overall health.
Talk with your doctor right away if you feel depressed.
Consider respite care.
March 21, 2017
Adult Day Health Center Participation and Health-Related Quality of Life. E. Schmitt, et al. The Gerontologist. 2010. Vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 531-40., Effects of Adult Day Care on Daily Stress of Caregivers: A Within-Person Approach. S. Zarit, et al. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B. 2011. Vol. 66, no. 5, pp. 538-46.
Reviewed By:
Foster, Sara, RN, MPH


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I was reading you and your brothers writings and found it very interesting. I have been trying to become more conscious and especially more positive. I find this world increasingly bothers me and my thoughts are hostile and negative. I just can't overlook all the inconsiderate people in this world. How do you keep your thoughts positive with inconsiderate people everywhere. There are just so many injustices going on. ~ Chris


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The oldest priest in the Diocese of Scranton died Tuesday, about four months after he celebrated his 101st birthday.
The Rev. Harry Joseph Lewis, who served as a pastor at St. Therese's Church in Wilkes-Barre for 17 years, from 1970 to 1987, will be remembered for his compassion, faith and joyful presence, the Rev. James Paisley said, a pastor at St. Therese's in Kingston Twp in Luzerne County.
"He was known as a priest's priest, someone who was always kind to people and really one with the brotherhood," Father Paisley, 56, said. "Everyone I know remembers him fondly. The characteristics I keep hearing people use to describe him are kind, humble and compassionate."
Born in 1911 in Wilkes-Barre, Father Lewis attended Sacred Heart School and graduated from St. Thomas College -- now the University of Scranton -- before serving in the Army during World War II.
Following his seminary training at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., Father Lewis was ordained into priesthood by the late Bishop William J. Hafey.
Father Lewis served a combined 37 years as assistant pastor and pastor at several churches in the area, including stops at St. Patrick's in Scranton and St. Francis of Assisi in West Hazleton, before retiring on Sept. 9 1987.
He was appointed as pastor emeritus on the same day.
"Father Lewis was a loyal and humble servant of God whose legacy to the faithful of the diocese will long be remembered," Bishop Joseph C. Bambera said in a statement Wednesday night. "Even in his golden years, Father continued to give of himself and in doing so he taught us how to endure suffering and setbacks, always treasuring the gift of life, given by God and accepted graciously in service to others."
Distributed by MCT Information Services
The oldest priest in the Diocese of Scranton dead at 101
The oldest priest in the Diocese of Scranton died Tuesday, about four months after he celebrated his 101st birthday.


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Big data scaling with syslog-ng
Many big data projects run into the 80/20 rule. 80% of resources is spent getting data into their analytic tools and only 20% on analyzing the data. Syslog-ng functions as an universal log ingestion tool which can deliver data from a wide variety of sources to Hadoop, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, and Kafka as well as many others.
Feb 15 2018
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Log Management Solutions - One Identity
Learn how to easily integrate Azure Sentinel into your log-data strategy
Apr 2 2020
44 mins
Craig Finnan, systems engineer/syslog-ng product specialist
To keep our partners and prospective customers up to date with the latest information about log-management technology, syslog-ng hosts an ongoing series of live webcasts. In April, we will cover how to optimize your feed to Azure Sentinel with syslog-ng.
Front-ending SIEMs and integrating on-prem and cloud-based systems are some of the most popular use-cases for syslog-ng.
Join us for this webinar to learn how you can leverage syslog-ng to ship your cloud and on-prem logs to Microsoft Azure Sentinel for analysis.
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Join us for our live webcast which will showcase how you can achieve 1m+ EPS UDP ingestion with a single syslog-ng instance and single UDP listening port using no external load balancer leveraging socket level load balancing.
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Learn how to collect, parse and analyze this data for better security and enhanced visibility into your network performance.
Webcast topics include:
•How to use NetFlow network traffic monitoring for availability, capacity planning and security detection
•Understand the value of vFlow, an open source, high-performance enterprise network flow collector developed by Verizon Digital
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Live Webinar: How to use the syslog-ng PE's new Google Stackdriver destination
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Google Stackdriver is a flexible and convenient way to monitor and manage your cloud-based assets, regardless of where they are located or how they are configured. If your organization is completely in the cloud, has apps on Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services, or if you manage a hybrid environment, Stackdriver is a terrific solution.
Join this live webinar, hosted by syslog-ng's - Craig Finnan, systems engineer and product specialist, to learn how to set up and use the new syslog-ng PE Google Stackdriver destination.
Topics discussed in the webinar include how to:
•Send on-prem log messages collected and processed by syslog-ng PE to GCP
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Bridge the Gap between Cloud and On-premises
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Please join us to explore the various ways syslog-ng can help bridge the gap between the cloud and on-premises resources with custom integrations built using syslog-ng's Python API.
Topics include:
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Register now!
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We can help eliminate your struggle to reliably collect and send your log data to Splunk.
Register for our free webinar to learn how you can easily manage and scale log ingestion across your whole enterprise environment.
In this webinar we will demonstrate:
•syslog-ng Premium Edition's high-performance Splunk HTTP Event Collector (HEC) destination
•How to batch and send messages to multiple Splunk HEC nodes
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Optimize your SIEM with syslog-ng
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Remove data silos and gain full-stack visibility of your IT environment - one syslog-ng server can collect more than half a million log message per second from thousands of log sources.
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Send logs using the Advanced Log Transport Protocol (ALTP)
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Craig Finnan, syslog-ng presales engineer
Attend this webinar to learn how your organization can reliably send and receive log messages via the TCP transport layer.
Never lose log data by using the new Advanced Log Transfer Protocol (ALTP), which is a proprietary transport protocol that prevents message loss – even during connection breaks.
See how syslog-ng Premium Edition leverages this new technology to communicate and manage log messages. Along with features such as flow-control and reliable disk-buffer, it is the best way to prevent log message loss.
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Splunk HEC and syslog-ng deep dive
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Log ingestion to Splunk HEC
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Balázs Scheidler, creator of syslog-ng
Organizations heavily invest in log analytics and event management. That is why many of them consider SPLUNK as a viable solution. Yet that is only half of the solution as analytics are only as good as the data feed into it. Centralized log management technologies enable organizations to collect and distribute log reliability while guaranteeing optimal performance for SPLUNK.
From this 60-minutes webinar session you will learn the benefits of front-ending Splunk with syslog-ng central log management solution.
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High performance log streaming to HDFS with syslog-ng
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István Molnár, Prooduct Marketing Manager and James Bonamico, presales- engineer.
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In our upcoming webinar, we will demonstrate how to directly stream any text-based log into HDFS while keeping a high performance rate using syslog-ng Store Box.
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Logging in docker with syslog-ng
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István Molnár, Product Marketing Manager and Craig Finnan, presales- engineer.
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Thanks to syslog-ng, setting up a centralized log management infrastructure in Docker is as simple as issuing the "docker run" command.
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Balázs Scheidler, the creator of syslog-ng
Parsing a specific log message for one specific use case is usually simple and the tools associated with it are widely understood.
Parsing a broad set of messages for a broad set of use cases is much more complicated. Adding in performance requirements of tens or hundreds of thousands of messages per second only makes things even more difficult to accomplish.
In our upcoming webinar the creator of syslog-ng, Balázs Scheidler, will showcase how to address these challenges with the latest syslog-ng Premium Edition 7.0.9.
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How to get the most out of your syslog-ng installation
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Istvan Molnar, Mario Perozo
Our webinar focuses on how to fine tune syslog-ng for peak performance.
The session will touch on topics such as:
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How can you regain the control of your privileged accounts?
Jun 13 2018
57 mins
Csaba Krasznay, PhD.
Balabit, a One Identity business,will present some shocking research statistics and instructive breach stories involving the misuse of privileged credentials.
Balabit's recent global research showed that 4 in 5 companies were hit by a breach in 2017. In this kind of landscape, with both cyber-attacks and privileged users proliferating simultaneously – and with the GDPR re-framing our relationship with data security – now's the time for IT teams to get better control of their networks.
In our 45-minute webinar session, you'll hear about our key research findings and recommendations to reduce your risks related to privileged accounts. The webinar will be held by Csaba Krasznay, PhD., CISSP,
Security Evangelist and Program Director of Cybersecurity Academy at the National University of Public Service in Hungary.
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How can you ensure that your logging infrastructure is GDPR compliant?
May 17 2018
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Istvan Molnar, John Murdoch
Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how syslog-ng can help your organization fine tune its log management infrastructure to get GDPR compliant.
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Managing privileged access and operations and ensuring GDPR compliance
May 16 2018
46 mins
Istvan Molnar, Ronald Schmid
As GDPR is coming into force on the 25th of May, Balabit, a One Identity business, is launching a webinar session for both existing customers and to organizations facing difficulties in terms of managing privileged user access to personal data storages units.
When it comes to managing privileged access and users there is more to it than preventing unauthorized access to Personal Data. Compliance to the GDPR is heavily dependent on monitoring workflows and ensuring that all processes align with the requirements.
Join us on our 30 minute webinar session where you can find out how to manage privileged access and operations to ensure GDPR compliance with the help of Balabit's Privileged Session Management.
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Agentless Windows logging
Apr 26 2018
57 mins
Istvan Molnar, Craig Finnan
With syslog-ng Premium Edition, you can collect Windows event logs without installing any third party application on your Windows-based computer.
The benefits are obvious:
- You don't need to install any additional application (reducing administrative overhead and possible security risk).
You can manage the subscription from Windows Group Policy (permission, certificates, destination).
- The Windows Event Collector (WEC) acts as a log collector and forwarder tool for the Microsoft Windows platform. Unlike the syslog-ng Agent for Windows, WEC is a standalone tool that does not require installing on the Windows-based host itself. This can be an advantage when your organization's policies restrict or do not allow the installation of third-party tools.
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Log ingestion to Splunk with syslog-ng
Mar 20 2018
49 mins
Istvan Molnar, Richard Hosgood
Splunk is a popular security event search and analysis platform. Many enterprises use syslog-ng to improve the performance and reduce the data load of their Splunk deployment. In a survey of Balabit customers, we found that:
- Half of organizations who send logs to Splunk reduced troubleshooting/forensics time by more than 50% by using syslog-ng
- Organizations using syslog-ng significantly reduced their Splunk data load by filtering out the irrelevant logs
Join our webinar to learn the benefits of using syslog-ng with Splunk.
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Big data scaling with syslog-ng
Feb 15 2018
54 mins
Istvan Molnar, Peter Soproni
Many big data projects run into the 80/20 rule. 80% of resources is spent getting data into their analytic tools and only 20% on analyzing the data. Syslog-ng functions as an universal log ingestion tool which can deliver data from a wide variety of sources to Hadoop, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, and Kafka as well as many others.
Watch now
Streamline your log collection and enhance SIEM efficiency
syslog-ng delivers log data critical to understanding what is happening in your IT environment. Whether it's user activity, performance metrics, Windows Event logs, network traffic or any other type of log data, syslog-ng can collect, process and centralize it in real time, and forward it to your analytics tool. You can remove data silos and gain full-stack visibility of your IT environment.
With syslog-ng, you can build a one-stop log data shop, find the logs you need in seconds and greatly enhance your SIEM efficiency.
For more information, visit syslog-ng.com
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Nikki Sudden at the 100 Club, Oxford Street, London - 17th May 1983 - Photo by Nik Coleman
Following the recently posted introduction to Nikki Sudden's unpublished novel "Albion Sunrise" we've dipped into the tale itself and extracted Chapter 12, "Johnny Thunders".
Albion Sunrise: Chapter 12 - Johnny Thunders
"In the dark-lit surroundings of The Establishment tea-rooms, general bric-a-brac and curio shop, The Bagman has once more taken up the reins and is keenly talking on the same generally much misunderstood subject of pure rock'n'roll. But, we find that he's veered from the purity, albeit it seldom seen, or indeed rarely, if ever, understood by the general populace, of Jerry Lee Lewis and Memphis rockabilly, to fields further from home. Unfortunately by doing so he loses Mr. Dickens. For Mr. Dickens' heart, it must be said, mainly resides in rock and roll's first few timeless years.
"If there's anything to be said on the general feeling of rock'n'roll these days then the first premise that must be assumed is that Johnny Thunders plays the guitar in the same way that Jerry Lee Lewis plays the piano. The way he throws notes out so that they seem to cut through your soul like a hot knife through butter. It could indeed be said that his guitar playing can send shivers right down your spine in a manner akin to a rusty rock'n'roll avalanche."
"Johnny Thunders, Sir?" enquired Mr. Dickens somewhat breathlessly.
"Y'know, man, the one time guitarist with the New York Dolls!"
"Pancake make-up, high heels and rock'n'roll guitars." put in Sukie helpfully.
"No, I'm afraid you've lost me there," answered Mr. Dickens a trifle sadly. "Would I could say I've heard of the gentleman but I'm afraid in all honesty I can't claim that." He nodded his head, "Different generations that's all I can say. I'd dearly love to hear the gentleman though, for if he indeed plays the guitar in the same way that Mr. Lewis plays the piano, he must be a wonderful player."
"He is that," exclaimed The Bagman wildly searching for metaphors to aid his description. "His guitar playing sounds like heaven in a silver spoon. Indeed one note by Johnny Thunders is enough to slice the top of your head right off."
Mr Dickens first blanched and then looked a trifle perturbed at this suggestion. He requested meekly. "But, pray tell me more about this Mr. Thunders to whom you refer."
"Johnny Thunders was the hero of the Dolls and he was the one (along with the drummer, Jerry Nolan) who came back with a band that lived up to all that had gone before. The Heartbreakers were one of the main bands of '76 and '77 and then they too were gone," answered The Bagman shortly.
"Would that be Month Seventy Six and Month Seventy Seven of this counting?" asked Mr. Dickens curiously.
"Time often passes very slowly, that I know. It could in fact be," replied The Bagman, hanging his head in thought for a couple of long seconds, "It could indeed be. Having said which, it's not necessarily so. May'haps it was. It's sometimes difficult to recall. It's often difficult to place the correct age 'pon anything," he looked at Sukie, "Isn't it m'dear?" he asked.*
"I know what you mean 'Bags'," she answered with a smile, "As sure as the King's flag flies high above the town, I know what you mean."
"Anyway," continued The Bagman, "Johnny Thunders continued with a solo career, making some brilliant records, some flawed records albeit intermittently. The best of these was the first album he made, So Alone, but the solo acoustic record from a few years later, Hurt Me is also totally inspired, as indeed is Copy Cats, the album he made with old cohort, Patti Palladin." He turned to Mr. Dickens who was rummaging around on one of the many black shelves that lined every last inch of the walls of The Establishment tea-rooms and remarked to that gentleman. "I think Copy Cats would be right up your street."
The Bagman decided that some further elaboration was necessary. Thus he continued:
"The first time I ever met Johnny Thunders was at a club in Birmingham, up on the top edge of Cortirion. This was when he was still playing with the Heartbreakers (or the Junkies, as they almost became known for a while). It was at a club called Rebeccas. Some time in early 1977, it was. I'd gone along to the soundcheck with my two New York Dolls albums in hand. Cheekily asked one of the road crew if he could put me on the guest list. He'd replied that would be no problem. But, he did say that I shouldn't attempt to get my Dolls albums signed by Johnny or Jerry Nolan as they didn't like being reminded of the past. So I left the records at home and went along to the gig empty handed. After the show I ended up in the dressing room. Johnny spent most of the evening running around after a very attractive blonde girl. Miss Patti, I think her name was.
"He did, however, pause long enough to say hello to me and remark about the Marc Bolan badge I was wearing: 'Hey, I really dig that guy.'
He looked at Sukie with a wistful gaze clouding his eyes. "Badges were rather a Seventies fashion," he said with a sigh.
"I know," she replied sparkily. "But, what happened next?"
"We exchanged some words. I wandered out into the night leaving Johnny to get to know Miss Patti a little better."
His face appeared a little clouded with reminiscence as he continued:
"I saw Johnny around London Town from time to time. We didn't know each other though. I remember one party at this guy's house. The Doctor, he was known as. He roadied for one of the Heartbreakers' contemporaries. Johnny, Jerry and Billy Rath, the bass player, turned up and straight away disappeared into the bathroom. They weren't seen again for most of that evening. I saw the Heartbreakers at the Vortex, at the Music Machine, a bunch of places and loved them each time I saw them.
"If anywhere, it was at the Speakeasy that I came closest to Johnny. The Speakeasy, just round the corner from Portland Place, up on Margaret Street. One night I was in there having a lonely drink. The band on stage were this terrible '70's loser band, name of Slack Alice. One thing this new regime must take the blame for, more than most, is the number of simply appalling bands that it left in it's wake."
A semi-wane smile lit up his face. "Anyway, I ignored them and stuck at the bar. All of a sudden from the stage there came this great guitar sound. Johnny had jumped on stage and was jamming away. He carried the show for half an hour or so before jumping off stage. This was customary behaviour for the baseball kid. Most times I'd end up there over the next few months Johnny would also be there and jump up with just about any band going."
The Bagman paused for a second, and then recommenced his tale: "And then of course there were the legendary Living Dead gigs. I went to most of them. Not all, but most. I remember Johnny coming on with the great Chantays' instrumental, Pipeline, and me thinking it was an original song."
Mr. Dickens indulged himself with a slight chuckle at this point. Although the surf era of music was just at the tail end of his interest, he still knew most of the music of that time well enough. "The Chantays, it was, indeed my good sir," he bubbled enthusiastically.
The Bagman continued, "This was also the first time I was ever to hear Johnny's great new song, Dead Or Alive." He let out a slightly nostalgic sigh, "Anyway, one evening I was hanging there from the ceiling, taking photographs. I think it was the night Sid Vicious attempted to play a few songs before realising his bass wasn't even turned on. Anyway there I am hanging from the ceiling and suddenly big lumps of plaster collapse around my head. I was certain I was about to be thrown out as this angry looking bouncer waded up to me. Luckily he just laughed at the sight before swaggering away again. Leaving me hanging there amid the ruins of what had been a perfectly respectable ceiling before my enthusiasm got the better of me.
"Those gigs by the Living Dead have to be among the best shows I've ever seen in my life. Right up there with T.Rex at the Leas Cliffe Hall Pavilion, Folkestone in '75. With Page and Plant recording their Unplugged show in a studio on the banks of the Fleet a few short years ago. With the Stones at the Brixton Academy on my birthday a year or so back. With Mott The Hoople at Birmingham Top Rank in '72. With David Bowie on the Aladdin Sane Tour.
"Johnny recorded So Alone. Came back to London Town to play a gig at the Lyceum Theatre. I was there at the front same as I was every time he played. I remember being at the Rock On stall in Soho Market a few days later. There I was told a tale of how Johnny had staggered in the day after the Lyceum show with a box of copies of So Alone with him to sell. Realising that he'd just spend the money on drugs the guy from Rock On had refused to buy the albums. Johnny'd been left to stagger on up through Soho to Cheapo Cheapo in Rupert Street to sell the records. Later I went into Cheapo Cheapo and bought quite a few copies for Christmas presents for my brother and friends. Christmas 1978 that was. Cheapo Cheapo had been where I'd first acquired my copies of the New York Dolls albums in 1974. The same copies I have till this day.
"News of Johnny was sparse on the ground through '79 and '80. One elusive photo cropped up in the New Musical Express, that was it. When the gang temporarily broke* up I decided, after a few months of hanging round, kicking my heels in Tintagel and Camelot, that it was time for me to re-establish myself in Soho. Business still needed to be attended to, but things had come to some kind of collapse before that eventuality was realised. Arriving there late one evening I looked in Time Out to find that the Heartbreakers were playing that very night at the Marquee. I headed down there straight away. Nothing could go wrong for me that night. For Johnny it was a slightly different story. The band managed to get through about three numbers before Johnny actually made it onto stage. He looked 'tired' shall I say. 'Tired' definitely. Still it was a good show when all is said and done.
"The next day or so I was sitting in the Two I's Coffee Bar in Old Compton Street, drinking my first White Russian of the day (my favourite drink in the world and incidentally Johnny's too). In walks Johnny and sits down at a table. He starts looking at the menu. I think to myself either I can go and talk to him or I can just sit there and pretend that Johnny Thunders isn't in the building. I decide the former is in order. So up I wander to his table. Johnny is still examining the menu. I ask if it's okay to sit down. He mumbles, 'Yea.' I sit down and start talking. One thing I do remember is when the waitress came to our table she asked Johnny what he'd like. He ordered but said that he was only paying for himself, 'Not for this guy,' motioning towards me. Fair enough, I hadn't started the conversation in order to get a free drink.
"Next night down at the Two I's I bump into Johnny again. He's hanging round upstairs by the dressing room door. I don't think he remembers me from the previous day when he'd been quite stoned. He looks great. 100% rock and roll. Really cool jacket. Kinda striped jacket. That's the main thing I remember. What I choose to say to him amazes myself. I ask if he'd be up for doing an interview for ZigZag magazine. 'Yea, Kris Needs,' he says.* He said sure, that I should call him the next day and gives me his phone number.
"The following day arrives and I call up. Johnny answers the phone, gives me the address, says come on over. I arrive at the flat where Johnny is listlessly watching the day roll by. He enquires if I have any money. I say sure. He asks for £20. I can't see a problem so off we troop. Off down to The Wedge to cop. Johnny leaves me in front of a shop while he disappears round the corner with my money in his hand. While I'm waiting I manage to get some kind of duelling pistol pulled on me. I think to myself 'This is Albion, things like this don't happen here.' I walk off. The would be duellist is obviously not used to behaviour like this. He doesn't follow, shoot me or anything.
Johnny Thunders - Almost Blue (Photo by B P Fallon)
"Johnny reappears. I tell him what happened. He smiles that smile of his. Anyone who ever met him will know exactly what I mean. He says, 'Things like that happen round here, you should be careful.' We take a hansom cab back to the rooms he shares with a nice blonde girl. We proceed to get gently stoned. Johnny taking the lion's share of the smack. Me, I keep on disappearing to the bathroom to throw up. Johnny finds this most amusing. We record some of an interview. If I listen back to it now I sound so young, so naïve. Really I suppose I was. It was also almost the first time I ever interviewed anyone. I can never really think of any questions to ask. With me, an interview becomes more like a conversation.
One thing that struck Johnny about me was my boots. I had this pair of Johnson's Chelsea boots—white leather they were. Johnny had his eyes on these from the start. So we did what was quite a ritual with Johnny over the years. The clothes swopping session. I gave him my white boots and a red and black striped pyjama jacket that I'd taken to wearing.
He responded by giving me a pair of pony skin shoes, a white dress shirt complete with blood stains on the elbows and a beautiful black jacket. The shoes are beautiful, I still have them and all the other clothes Johnny swopped with me. Where the ones I dealt with him ended up I have no idea. Probably they got traded again somewhere along the way. By the way Johnny and I have the same size feet (eight and a half), as does Marc Bolan and as does Bob Dylan. There must be something in there somewhere.
"I called round to see Johnny the next day to conclude the interview and to get high together again. He wasn't my introduction to drugs, but, he was always a good person to take them with. Although he asked me to pay for the first lot (and the second and third) he did reciprocate quite a few times over the years.
"Later that day we went up on the roof of Johnny's apartment building, up above Wardour Street, for a brief photo session. One thing about Johnny, he always did have a great dress sense. He put on this great pair of boots, enwrapped with scarves. Carried a funky old acoustic guitar in his arms. He just looked so cool. Stoned or not. It didn't seem to matter with him. I've always thought that people who are out of it a lot of the time can often have far better dress sense than those who are straight the whole live long day. It's almost as though they don't care less about what the world may think of them. They know from themselves that they look cool and everyone else is wrong. And rightly so."
"The Bagman paused from his monologue. He glanced first at Mr. Dickens and then at Sukie Sundown to see if they were still following him. It was obvious that they were glued to every word coming out of his lips.
"We spent quite a few afternoons together. Johnny trying to explain different chapters of his life to me as we sat together in the apartment. One thing I can always remember is Johnny answering the phone to a friend of his who was planning to come round. 'Pick us up a pack of Lucky's on the way over,' he said down the phone. Lucky Strike cigarettes! I thought it was going to be some strange kind of drug."*
Once again The Bagman paused. He took a sip of his cup of tea and lit another one of his smuggled cigarettes before once again telling his gathered listeners some more tales from the life of the greatest rock and roll guitarist of all time:
"Johnny Thunders dropped out of my life for a year or so. Until Spring, '82, when he made a concerted comeback with a non-stop 8 or 10 date tour of the capital. I went to every show as did my friend The Twangman (this was just prior to us re-forming the Gang). Those were glorious days. Most every night for two or three weeks you could see Johnny Thunders on stage. Some nights he looked well wrecked. Other nights he looked like a sixteen year old kid. Like the night I trekked to the depths of the East Side to see him play. I walked out of the concert walking on air. It was a totally brilliant performance.
"Around that time I saw Johnny a whole lot. Never got that close except for one night at a hilarious show at the Escape Club in my home town one December evening. That was the night when an old woman insisted on jumping on stage with him. 'That's my mother,' he claimed. Who knows, maybe it was! Arriving at the club I'd wandered into the cold and cheerless dressing room to say hello to Johnny. He quickly pulls me to one side, 'Hey Bags, you got any drugs?' he asked. 'I had, but, they're all inside me,' I answered. 'Fair enough,' was his well-considered reply, which swept out from his face with a tired looking smile.
"Anyway that was the night I got my photo taken with Johnny. Conditions for taking any picture in the dimly lit dressing room were far from perfect but a photographer friend persevered and got a great shot of the two of us together. We both look pretty ghostly. It sums up some kind of an era."
The Bagman took another drag of his cigarette and requested a glass of wine. Mr. Dickens scurried off to fetch one for him and for Miss Sundown.
"I take it red wine is all right, Sir," he asked. The Bagman answered in the affirmative with great alacrity. Their host quickly returned with a bottle and two glasses. The glasses were charged, The Bagman took a sip and then went on:
"Next time I encountered Johnny close up was in Dublin, in Eireann, that is, at the TV Club. The gig was promoted by a good friend of mine, Simon Carmody. Simon had asked if I'd like to come along and see Johnny there and at the next night's show in Belfast. The following morning we set off on the drive up to Belfast. A long, uncomfortable journey it was, especially for those of us perched on the outside of the coach for hours on end. The horses had to be changed on about three different occasions.
"As we went through the border the Northern Irish border guard muttered in his thick accent: 'Where are you'se lot from, the Irish Free State?' Well, Simon and the driver were. Johnny was from the New World. Susanne was from the Scandinavia, the Viking Lands. Terry Chimes the drummer was from Albion. Christopher was from Germania, via Paris or somewhere. And Keith Yon the bass player definitely wasn't from Eireann, more like from the former slave provinces of the West Indies than anywhere.
"As our carriage trundled into Belfast Johnny was constantly asking questions about the situation there. In his blue mohair sweater, satin frock coat, black leather trousers and boots he looked totally rock and roll that day. At one point an army platoon swung in front of our coach, muskets pointed straight through the windows at us. Susanne was a little bit frightened by this. Johnny took it all in.
"The gig that night was great. Everything Johnny had asked on the journey that day came out on the stage that night. Everything he'd taken in. His between song comments were just so perfect in war-torn Belfast. As Simon Carmody wrote in an article in Eirrann's Hot Press: 'Johnny was nearly in tears at the devotion of the few hundred punks at the show, determined to show the bright glittering world of freedom and music to them, five encores of Chinese Rocks and Johnny, beautiful, striding out of the hall, past the ranks of soldiers in a long braided military coat, sailor hat, pointy boots and his girl on his arm, unitimidated, delivering, rockin', immaculate...'
"After the show Terri Hooley the mad, one-eyed proprietor of Good Vibrations Records who'd promoted the show took us all to a wonderful restaurant for a slap-up meal. Even though he'd lost money on the evening he was generous to an extreme. Everything Johnny wanted was laid on, no problem whatsoever. And Johnny with a gleam in his eyes kept on asking for more. Taking it almost too far and then circling back to let Terri down gently. You could tell that Johnny was most taken by this Irish madman with his one glass and one normal eye. Johnny, Susanne and the band went to sleep that night in a deep guarded compound hotel. The next day we drove back to Eirrann. Went to the harbour, down to the quays, to see Johnny off. 'See you around, Bags,' he said to me in parting.'"
He turned to his listeners: "Anyway I'd better finish here, there aren't enough hours in this, or any day to spend this way. Unfortunately."
They smiled back at him, sensing the sadness coming from his eyes.
Johnny Thunders 27th December 1983 Stockhom (Photo by Micke Borg)
"Johnny Thunders was four years and four days older than me. Born one July 15th. Both of us Cancer, which apparently means that we don't much like to share our secrets or cares with the World.
"I've always known that Johnny Thunders would out-live each and every one of us." He thought for a few long seconds before continuing:
"One mistake far too many people make in equating Johnny Thunders with being a junkie is that their understanding of the genre doesn't extend that far. I'm not claiming to have that great a knowledge myself, but having dabbled at times throughout the years I do know that it takes a certain determination of effort to look and stay cool despite the follies inherent in the lifestyle. For, whatever you may say or think of Johnny Thunders, he always looked cool. So totally fucking cool. And however out of it he may'haps at times be, he most always plays guitar like a dream. He may not play guitar like Segovia, but, you wouldn't want that anyway, would you? He may be a junkie, but, at least he always keeps it together
"To some people Heroin equals Sex. It's down of course, to individual interpretation. Therefore just because one of your friend's chooses to make his own personal doom out of what can be, at times, a positive experience does not mean that all must be so doomed. I personally take the stuff on occasion because I like it. For no other reasons at all. With me there's no desire to hide behind the opium cloak. And, yes, if you take Keith Richards or Johnny Thunders, Thomas de Quincey, or even William Burroughs as an example heroin can seem very creative indeed. For these were people who despite the inclinations of the drug were able to bend their art around it.
"Unfortunately I have, particularly of late, seen far too many people (including some very close acquaintances) who seem to have given their life over to heroin. Creativity, with them, doesn't enter into it. All they really seem interested in is the daily purchase of the drug. Which seems to me to be the definition of an addict. Which is why I could never be an addict. I can never be bothered with the travail and traipsing around necessary to maintain a habit. I find it fascinating for a few days. Two or three at the most, then I get bored with the wasted time. For, with most junkies the prime interest in the drug is the knocking out of time. So that the day is telescoped into those brief periods when they have to go and score. That becomes the only important action undertaken each day.
"Too many friends of mine seem to have thrown most of their life, including most of their friendships away over the years of addiction. They have to finally give up the poppy when there was no one left for them to borrow money from! They still owe most of their life away. One just has to accept that the time is probably gone forever.
"Despite all this, Johnny Thunders for me, is the best guitarist who's ever lived. Technique, who cares? He plays with his whole body, his complete soul and that's why I say he always keeps it together because no matter how totally and completely lost in his soul he is (and he so often can be), it doesn't really matter, for he can still play the guitar. Whatever condition he may be in, he can still play the guitar. And, if you're a guitar player, that's all that counts in the end, isn't it?
"If there is a heaven up there then surely, one day, Johnny Thunders, the boy from the New World will end up there playing guitar, smoking cigarettes, drinking white russians, getting high. Amen."
Turning to Sukie Sundown, The Bagman laughed suddenly and then remarked, "Imagine Jerry Lee and Johnny on stage together. Both of them just knowing that they were the best. Let the audience in and all you'll end up will be the remains of a few smashed up chairs and tables. Nothing left save for the many and various glories of much famed rock'n'roll. For, with one note, either of them can easily create more pure brilliant and inspirational, nay, soul and heart-rending," and that's a term that's seldom heard these days, "Rock'n'roll than a whole land full of other bands."
"I'm afraid that these days rock and roll belongs to the young people, my dear sir," spoke Mr. Dickens sorrowfully. It wasn't his fault he was getting old, he thought. But, then, his Mr. Lewis was over sixty years of age now and he still played rock and roll with the best of them.
"Who ever tried to con you that rock'n'roll belonged purely to seventeen or eighteen year olds? It surely wasn't ever a seventeen year old," continued The Bagman getting completely pulled into his topic now, "If a cat can play when they're seventeen, they sure as hell should still be able to cut it when they're twenty, thirty, forty or even eighty. What's the real difference? Who cares about age. Just because so many bands lose it when they get older... Oh, it's not the fault of their age. If anything it's just their sad stupidity," complained The Bagman sagely enough.
"Thank you, sir, but if the truth is to be told I don't get out much these days. Save for the occasional concert by Mr. Lewis, I don't really venture far anymore." Mr. Dickens sounded quite woebegone now.
The Bagman continued briskly: "Then there's all this rubbish you keep on reading these days about Jerry Lee Lewis being 'the Johnny Rotten of his day'," he was warming to his subject. "All this typical patronising journalese. Jerry Lee Lewis was the Jerry Lee Lewis of his day. Johnny Rotten hadn't even got enough guts to get married! He never wrote a song like Pumpin' Piano Rock. He never even wrote a song like Rockin' Jerry Lee:
They call me Rockin' Jerry Lee
And I'm the rockingest cat on piano
That you ever did see.
I mean that is poetry. And to think that in '54, Jerry Lee Lewis was making music, as he still is nowadays that is more vital and goddammit, more rebellious and licentious, than anything punk ever did."
"I myself, sir, have heard Mr. Lewis laughing like a madman possessed by the Devil. By whiskey. By the spirit of the Lord. By the light of the moon. As he has sometimes sung himself:
My name is Jerry Lee Lewis
I come from Louisiana
I'm a mean mother-humpa
On this here piano."
Thus Mr. Dickens with a blush or two half glimpsed through the gloom of the tea-rooms passionately gave vent to his innermost thoughts on the subject of Jerry Lee Lewis. Then he pottered off to look for some things as yet unfound. Feeling the lull of the conversation, The Bagman threw in one final, closing thought.
Nikki Sudden at the 100 Club, Oxford Street, London - 17th May 1983 - Photo by Nik Coleman
"I love the way that Jerry Lee takes any old song and turns it around, spins it on it's axis, throws it away and pulls it back until all that's left is the quivering vibrant husk. The piano that once writhed in his hands is left incapable of any other action save for throwing out a thousand desolate and smashed notes. Sending them crashing into your ears. Tearing white and black keys falling to the hands of the Killer."
Sukie, while the discussion had been coming to a close, had been looking round to see what she could see in the dark lightless chambers of the café. She'd espied one or two things of great interest to herself, and, she thought, to her companion. These included a fire-place with a singularly indistinct blaze going on amidst it's precincts. Certainly the fire did little to light up the room, but, still is capable of giving out a warmth and also a comfortable aroma. More interestingly, per'haps, assorted boxed sets of record albums were glimpsed amidst the glow. Each and every one on Bear Family Records, the best re-issue label in the World. The only real light in the room still came from the solitary spluttering tallow candle on the table top.
Ending his search amongst the shelves of his premises Mr. Dickens had finally found what he'd been looking for. To the delight of his guests he first produced a stamped-metal tin full of muffins. These were followed in good turn by a jar of potato pancakes, procured from somewhere in the dark gloom. He then put one of the muffins on a toasting fork before proceeding to stoke up the fire to enable it to give out enough heat for the toasting to take place. "Can I offer you," he began, but, broke off without finishing his sentence for both The Bagman's and Miss Sundown's eyes had fully lit up at the prospect of a hot toasted and griddled tea.
"My good fellow," answered The Bagman, "That is as good a suggestion as any I've heard in a month of Mondays. I'm sure Sukie agrees, don't you m'dear."
"Indeed yes, Jack," replied that seeming paragon of virtue, looking as though butter had never even melted in her mouth, as indeed it seldom had.
Mr. Dickens stokes up the fire, piling more coal upon it, and it emits a mild, not in-offensive heat. He places a kettle full of fresh spring-water from the pump in the yard on it to boil.
"One thing I will say in closing," commented The Bagman before finally laying his subject to rest, " Is that I truly believe that in fifty years time Johnny Thunders will be seen as being just as important a figure in the history of rock'n'roll, what-have-you as Robert Johnson is today."
"Well said, Jack," proclaimed Sukie Sundown before preparing herself for the onslaught of muffins which were at this very second being toasted quite expertly by Mr. Dickens.
The water tumbles from the now boiling kettle quite merrily, sending small clouds of steam jumping and turning through the air. A fresh pot of tea is ready. They sit and drink it whilst waiting for hot food to arrive. Food that has long awaited them for they'd had neither the time, nor indeed the inclination, to eat the day before. Save for that morning's brief breakfast they hadn't eaten anything in the past twenty-four hours. Now provisions would be well appreciated.
Hot buttered cinnamon crumpets are being toasted. Potato pancakes are being cooked by the venerable Mr. Dickens. Proprietor, owner, manager and sole employee of The Establishment tea-rooms, nestling deep in the heart of old London Town. Much loved by many, admired by some and respected by most everyone of his acquaintances. For though, as he said, he doesn't get out so much these days he still retains a large circle of disparate friends. And friendship, like fair play, as he has often been found to hear himself saying, is, whatever any may say, still a jewel.
Then almost too hurriedly, he slipped out of the room, his mind obviously on other things. Miss Sundown and The Bagman were left in the deep languid gloom of the café to touch hands and kiss a couple of times. When Mr. Dickens returned, The Bagman would settle their account and then they would leave. They had business across town that evening and now the Sun was fully down it was time to depart.
And here we must leave this perfect couple, up-at-heel for the moment at least, in this imperfect world. Waiting for the perfect culmination to their late afternoon tea. For it must be remembered that they did not achieve so much as a single second of sleep the previous night due to their assorted, and as yet unrelated exploits. But, before too many pages have passed the tale of those adventures will unfold."
Nikki Sudden
* For further clarification of the restyling of the calendar see page 58. Twelve counts = one year of the old style timespan.
* The Restoration Gang
* Kris Needs was the editor of ZigZag during Johnny's time in London Town.
* Lucky Strike's were available on rare occasions from some of the cigarette smugglers who inhabited each and every one of the streets and back alley-ways of London Town. Most types of cigarettes could be purchased, at a price, from these vendors and purveyors of forbidden tobacco. The only cigarettes officially on sale were the ubiquitous Woodbines, Player's Navy Cut, Black Cat, the revenue from which went directly to the ruling powers. On the East Side of the Wall most everyone smoked Blue Liners, cigarettes made of badly rolled tobacco. It often took a whole box of matches to keep one of these cigarettes alight long enough for a complete smoke.
"Looking At You" by Nikki Sudden


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Paul Thurott at Supersite For Windows has an interesting explanation for why Windows 8 PCs are selling so badly:
They cost too much.
The explosion of netbook sales a few years ago trained consumers to think that they could get Windows PCs for ~$400, Thurott argues. And now that the PC makers are trying to sell new Windows 8 "touch-screen" PCs for twice that much (or more), consumers just think the machines cost too much.
As an example of the lousy PC sales, Thurott cites some recently released NPD data showing just how low the average selling price is these days for Windows-based PCs:
"Windows notebook holiday unit sales dropped 11 percent, on par with Black Friday, and similar to the yearly trend, but revenue trends weakened since Black Friday to end the holiday period down 10.5 percent … . [Average Selling Prices, or ASPs] rose only $2 to $420. Touchscreen notebooks were 4.5 percent of Windows 8 sales with ASPs around $700. Sales of Windows notebooks under $500 fell by 16 percent while notebooks priced above $500 increased 4 percent."
Thurott unpacks a lot of the data in that paragraph, noting that:
- Tablets and smartphones have destroyed the netbook market--sub-$500 PC sales dropped an astounding 16% year over year
- The new "touch-screen" notebooks--the primary use-case for Windows 8--were only 4.5% of Windows 8 sales
Thurott attributes the weak touchscreen sales to the price: The machines cost $700 and up, versus the $420 average price for all Windows notebooks.
Consumers just don't want to pay that much for what they have come to view as a low-end machine, Thurott says,
And Thurott may be right that consumers now equate "Windows" with discount mass-market machines that should only cost $400 or so.
If so, Microsoft and the PC makers will have a struggle on their hands to convince consumers that they should pay much more than that for "premium" machines that are essentially the same.
But there's another important question about "touchscreen" notebooks that hasn't been answered yet:
Do people actually want to "touch" their notebook screens?
I, for one, certainly don't.
I've been using notebooks for 25 years now. I am quite happy with the keyboard and trackpad as the input devices. I can set my hands in one place and barely move them, while doing everything I want to do.
If I had to touch my notebook screen to do anything, meanwhile, I'd have to lift one or both hands up. I'd also probably have to brace the machine with my other hand to stop it from tipping over (there's no support behind it the way there is when you put a tablet on a stand).
I also actively don't want to 'touch' my notebook screen--because I don't want to get greasy fingerprints all over it.
I hate it when people come over and stab their greasy fingers into my notebook screen. The last thing I want is for folks to feel like they are supposed to do that.
It's true: In the early days of the iPhone and iPad, I was nervous about the greasy fingerprints all over those screens, too. But those screens can be quickly wiped clean with a swipe. And "touch" is a key part of the user experience.
Is it possible that a new generation of notebook users will want to touch their screens?
Yes, it's possible.
But I don't.
So even if touch-based Windows notebooks didn't cost nearly twice as much as regular ones, I wouldn't be touching my screen. (And I certainly wouldn't pay up for the ability to do it).
And I'm going to guess that a lot of other folks who have been using notebooks quite happily for years might feel the same way.
So I'll just put that question out there:
Do people really want to touch their notebook screens?
SEE ALSO: Consumer Reports Says The iPhone 5 Is The Worst Of The Top Smartphones


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New rules that require 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on California's roads by 2025 were approved Friday after two days of meetings in Los Angeles by the California Air Resources board.
pdf.: About the Advanced Clean Cars Program
The Advanced Clean Car regulations would require that vehicles emit about 75 percent less smog-producing pollutants and go into full effect by 2025. The standards begin with model year 2017 vehicles, and the ultimate goal of the state is to have 1.4 million zero-emission and plug-in hybrids on California roads by 2025.
The plan comes about three years after California's first-in-the-nation standards for cars and trucks went into effect. Fourteen other states have adopted California's emissions goals, which are usually more stringent than federal standards.
The latest proposals on greenhouse gas emissions were created with federal regulators to match national standards expected to be passed later this year. Earlier this week, federal regulators were in San Francisco to hear public comment on the Obama administration's national fuel economy standards. They would require the average passenger car to reach a 54.5-mph standard by 2025.
Representatives from some of the biggest names in the auto business -- Ford, Chrysler, Nissan and GM -- submitted testimony Thursday during the board's meeting. They worked with the board and federal regulators on the mandates.
Auto dealers have expressed reservations about the plan, which they say might price some consumers out of the market. Electric vehicles and hybrids typically cost more than their petrol-fueled counterparts.
"Consumers do not make purchasing decisions based upon regulatory mandates,'' Jonathan Morrison, of the state dealers' association, told the Associated Press.
The Air Resources Board's research staff says fuel cost savings over the ownership term of the vehicle would make up for the increased price of the vehicle.