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This week in the Election Countdown: New York prepares for the worst from Hurricane Sandy; India puts GM food crops under microscope; CATO Institute Helpfully makes its fake climate report look like actual government climate report; and more.
This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. Over 80 donors have already invested in our efforts to shed light on the dark and seamy corners of finance. Join us and participate via our Tip Jar or read about why we're doing this fundraiser and other ways to donate, such as by check or WePay, on our kickoff post.
The Social Networking Lives Of The Dead Celebrities Forbes
The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories Amazon. From a reader who wisely prefers to remain anonymous.
Street lights turned off in their thousands Telegraph
Geoengineering: Testing the Waters Naomi Klein, New York Times. Um, we already screw around a lot with nature, starting with GMOs. But yes, more scrutiny early is probably better.
India Puts GM Food Crops Under Microscope Common Dreams (Aquifer)
New York prepares for the worst from Sandy MarketWatch. Most people seem pretty blase about the storm, but the flip side is we got the usual bad weather behavior: insanely long lines in grocery stores of people buying water and whatever they regarded as staples (for the record, I stuck my head in a store to verify. But late in the evening, I must confess to having done a bit of extra provisioning. Of course, I told myself I wasn't really losing my cool like everyone else, just saving myself the trouble of schlepping groceries in the rain).
Hurricane Sandy: How utilities are planning for power outages Raw Story. Translation: if there's a mess, it's not because we didn't try harder than last time.
B.C. teen arrested for photographing mall takedown CBC
When the Growth Model Changes, Abandon the Correlations Michael Pettis. Pettis is always worth reading, and this is a particularly good piece.
The renminbi bloc is here: Asia down, the rest of the world to go? VoxEU
House elections spell a Republican story and victory Washington Post
Citizens United Rule Rocks Key 2012 Races Associated Press
Journalism in the Obama age shows the real media bias Glenn Greenwald
Long Wait Times at the Polls Michael Froomkin. See this clip.
CATO INSTITUTE HELPFULLY MAKES ITS FAKE CLIMATE REPORT LOOK LIKE ACTUAL GOVERNMENT CLIMATE REPORT, EXCEPT FAKE Wonkette (Brad DeLong)
Stephanie Kelton Appears on Le Show with Harry Shearer New Economic Perspectives
We've located the reality distortion field, and it's in the consumer's brain ars technica
Barclays slashes bankers' pay by up to half as profits fall Telegraph. Mirabile dictu, this is looking like the old Wall Street! Crappy bonuses if the firm has a bad year. How long do with think this will last?
Hamptons Home Prices Fall as Buyers Seek Cheaper Retreats Bloomberg
Lord Bichard: Old People Need To Work For Their Pensions (Even If They Already Have) Jesse. His name would fit right in a Dickens novel, as would his attitude.
A Part-Time Life, as Hours Shrink and Shift New York Times
When Only $1 Billion Will Do, the Rich Live in a Bubble: Books Bloomberg. Don't read this if you've eaten recently.
The progressive case against Obama Matt Stoller, Salon. Much gnashing of teeth among soi-disant liberals over this piece.
Briefly, we wanted to update you on where Truthout stands this month.
To be brutally honest, Truthout is behind on our fundraising goals for the year. There are a lot of reasons why. We're dealing with broad trends in our industry, trends that have led publications like Vice, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic to make painful cuts. Everyone is feeling the squeeze of inflation. And despite its lasting importance, news readership is declining.
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"You're Richard Brooks, you're Richard Brooks," he kept saying. "I got ideas for stories. I got ideas." He demanded Brooks get him an office. Something about the badgering codger struck him as familiar.
"Are you David Wark Griffith?" Brooks asked, and indeed, standing before him hand out was D.W. Griffith, director of The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance and some 540 other features and one-reelers that dated back to 1908.
"Yes, goddamnit, and I can make contributions!" Griffith told Brooks. "All I want is an office!" Some 40 years after his first film, this is what had become of the man who co-founded United Artists in 1919, the visionary about whom Cecil B. DeMille once said, "He taught us how to photograph thought." He had been reduced to begging for work, and Brooks was eager to oblige. He went to the head of the studio and demanded another office and secretary. The boss asked whom it was for, and Brooks told him.
"Absolutely not," he answered. "He's nothing but a pain in the ass, that old man." Griffith was turned out and thrown away.
"And he started the movie business," says Ron Shelton, writer and director of such films as Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump and Tin Cup and an old friend of Brooks', who once told Shelton this very tale. "Is that an unbelievable story? If D.W. Griffith can't get an office..."
Shelton's voice trails off, as though still flabbergasted and insulted. Over dinners before his death, Brooks used to teach Shelton lots of things--including how disposable the director was and remains in Hollywood. The difference is, back in the '40s there were studio heads to reckon with; today, the studio boss is some bookkeeping dilettante, and he's likely based overseas. Back then, studios were in the movie business; today, studios are small parts of giant multinationals that sell everything from CDs to cable-network programming to elementary-school textbooks--and they're messy parts, at that. Warner Bros. made money for AOL Time Warner last year, and still that company's stock plummets. Last May, AOL Time Warner's stock sold for $58.51; today, it's worth less than half that. "The film division of Warner Brothers is a pain in the ass for AOL Time Warner," Shelton says, with a roaring laugh.
"I can't figure out how anything gets made these days," the writer-director continues. "It's a mind-blower out here, dealing with the new corporatization. The studios, as recently as a few years ago, were run by kinda wonderful, crazy characters who were entrepreneurs and gamblers and larger than life and lived and died by their own whims. Now, it's all so corporate and formulaic that it's very hard to get a picture through that isn't pre-processed and isn't a connect-the-dots kinda thing. That's why you go to these movies and go, 'Why did they make that?'"
Or, why didn't they make that? The 56-year-old Shelton has in his desk three scripts he is dying to get made; that he can't find a studio, big or small, interested in them speaks volumes about the current state of the movie business. If Shelton, a visionary in a world of near-sighted accountants and attorneys playing Thalberg, can't get his pictures made, what hope is there for the bright comer trying to crash the golden gates of a studio system designed to keep out such dreamers?
Next week, MGM's home-video division will release a special-edition DVD of Shelton's directorial debut, Bull Durham, still the best sports film ever made. In 1988, the movie almost didn't get made: Shelton, a former minor-league ballplayer and novice screenwriter (he penned 1983's Under Fire, starring Nick Nolte as a combat photojournalist), shopped the script around to every studio--twice--before finally persuading producer Thom Mount to fork over the meager $7 million he needed. (In the United States, the film grossed $50 million at the box office and $22 million more on video). Shelton also had trouble convincing the money people he had the right cast: Kevin Costner wasn't yet a bankable leading man; Susan Sarandon, who started making movies in 1970, was considered over-the-hill, and Tim Robbins' biggest role to that point had been as the lead in Howard the Duck.
But if Bull Durham was hard to make then, it would be damned near impossible to get greenlit in the current market. Today, the economics wouldn't be right for a major studio to bankroll it--primarily, because sports films do not play well overseas, and foreign sales account for about 70 percent of the budget of any studio-released or studio-financed film that costs more than $8 million.
"Would that movie get made today?" Shelton says. "No, not even close. Bull Durham would be a movie I'd have to make independently. Globalization has affected the movie business, and I'm always about five steps behind. You're starting out saying, 'OK, I have to have a movie that does equally well in Micronesia and Bulgaria and Paraguay.'" He laughs. "I'm the wrong guy for that. It's why Bull Durham almost didn't get made, and that was even when it was a less foreign-driven thing. I remember somebody at the head of Tri-Star saying, 'Well, there's no foreign.' And I said, 'I presume there's not, but at this price, if it's merely in focus and I'm barely competent, and if the script's as good as you think, aren't you covered? You can't really lose here.'"
Shelton might be the wrong guy to hold up as the poster boy for the film industry's ills; he works when he wants and on projects he writes and loves. (Indeed, he turned down a small fortune to direct the just-released Showtime.) In September, MGM/UA will release his seventh film, Dark Blue, an independently produced feature penned by crime novelist James Ellroy, screenwriter David Ayer (Training Day) and Shelton himself. It has all the trappings of an Ellroy book: Set in the days just before four white Los Angeles cops are acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, it's about corruption and redemption as embodied by a dirty cop, played by Kurt Russell, trying to come clean. MGM/UA has bumped the film from April to September, believing Russell will have a shot at an Oscar nomination. Earlier this month, Shelton signed a deal with Revolution Studios, responsible for Black Hawk Down and America's Sweethearts, to co-write and direct another cop thriller that takes place within the confines of the music business.
But what is most notable about Shelton's filmography are the copious blanks, the long gaps between projects--years wasted on projects abandoned by studios without just cause. In between Tin Cup in 1996 and Play it to the Bone three years later, Shelton was to have made a Bob Marley biography called Trenchtown Rock for Warner Bros. He spent six months "for free" hanging out in Jamaica with the Marleys to find out if he was the right guy, then spent a year on the script and another six months in preproduction. But eight weeks before shooting was to begin, while Shelton was casting and securing locations in Kingston, the studio pulled the plug. The reason: On August 30, 1998, Warners released Why Do Fools Fall in Love, the story of overdosed R&B singer Frankie Lymon, and it made a sickly $4 million on opening weekend. The studio believed both movies to be about the same thing--dead black singers--and scrapped Trenchtown Rock lest it suffer the same miserable fate.
"It was so telling, and it was devastating financially, because I'd spent two years on this, and I'd chosen to do it because, geez, at least I'll be doing something they want to do and I want to do," Shelton says. "And I realized at that time there were no relationships with studios anymore. There was no such thing as a filmmaker-studio connection--no family, no tradition, no bond. It was just all corporate bottom line, so once you know that, you just have to deal with that. You have to figure out how to get around it, how to seduce it, how to trick it."
Or perhaps he knew he was really in trouble when he wrote a movie about a dance competition set during the Cuban Revolution--only to have a studio exec ask him, in all seriousness, if the movie really had to be a period piece. Shelton also tried, to no avail, to get his name taken off both The Great White Hype and Blue Chips, for which he wrote screenplays so mangled in transition from page to screen they no longer resembled Shelton's originals. In her review of Under Fire, critic Pauline Kael wrote of Shelton and director Roger Spottiswoode, they "may be appalled, but they're never shocked." Shelton likes to quote that line when talking about the biz and his place in it.
"Here's the odd thing, and it's a strange phenomenon," he says. "You make a Bull Durham out of left field, literally--a movie nobody wants to make and a subject they don't want to make with a cast they don't want to make it with--and it flies. So then you go to make your next one, and everybody wants to tell you how to do it. That seems to be a behavior built into the business, and it's worse now because of the corporate takeovers." He pauses and gathers steam.
"Look, I could make a lot of movies. I just turned down a tennis movie with Reese Witherspoon. Well, Reese Witherspoon's a talented young actress, but I don't wanna make a tennis movie that was a terrible script, and I probably would have been offered three times as much money as I've ever made in my life. Why would I want to do that? It's not like there's no work. It's just that it's hard to make a movie, and I have to believe in it completely when I start. You don't sleep for a year, and I'd rather live or die with a failed movie that I can say is mine than have a big success where I'm crawling out of the theater when the premiere starts."

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Boasting flying dragons, tattooed pirates, hoards of samurais, brawling giants, a shape-shifting sorceress, and mystical monks, you might be surprised to hear 47 Ronin is "based on a true story." But keep in mind it's based on a true story the same way Robin Hood is; it's a folk tale with "true" origins grown very vague and thereby ripe for restructuring for epic adventures. Also like Kevin Costner-fronted Robin Hood, 47 Ronin features a shamed noble who seeks out justice and revenge with the help of a band of rebels who hide in the forests. It's a premise that guarantees an entertaining ride, no matter how uncertain the hand of its director.
Set in 18th century Japan, 47 Ronin follows the quest of the titular shamed samurai, who have been stripped of their rank following the death and dishonor of their master. To avenge him and save his daughter from marrying a manipulative and villainous noble, these 47 Ronin must gather all their strength and conquer a massive army, as well as the malevolent forces of an evil witch.
Despite the title, this feature only gives focus to two Ronin. One, played by Keanu Reeves, is an outsider named Kai, who is despised for his mysterious past and "half-breed" blood. The other is Kuranosuke Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), the group's leader who risks his life, his reputation, and even his family line (his son) to reclaim the honor of his late master.
As you'd hope, this setup allows for numerous fight scenes. Though 47 Ronin is director Carl Rinsch's first feature film, he handles much of these sequences well, generally managing the use of CGI beasts, complicated fight choreography, and fifty-plus characters. Some scenes become cluttered in the cut, and the geography can get muddled. But overall, Rinsch shows a skill for building the tension of a sequence and then paying it off with fight scenes so fluid they contain a mystical musicality. Adding gravity to the film's violence is an on-point sound design that makes its physical blows feel palpable, and truly striking cinematography that makes a handful of moments breathtakingly majestic.
Of course, the cast also deserves credit for the success of the action sequences. Reeves -- as ever -- has a great physicality, and is totally believable as a master warrior who can battle giants and mythical beasts with ease. Where he is less believable is just about every other scene. It's strange that in this English-language film stuffed with Eastern stars, Reeve's dialogue is the one that feels like he's new to the language, stumbling along with a stilted delivery. Thankfully his co-stars pick up the slack, offering more colorful and engrossing performances.
As Reeves' love interest/princess, Kou Shibasaki brings a quiet strength to her role, breathing life into the love story Reeves is too wooden to sell. For his part, Sanada offers a subtle but powerful performance as Oishi, deftly painting him as a man of honor and deep regret. But the scene-stealer, hands down, is Rinko Kikuchi, who clearly had tons of fun playing the shape-shifting witch Mizuki. She slinks through sets like a jungle cat, purring and hissing with the threat of sex and death. She delivers her lines with a biting wit and a cruel smile. Hers is by far the biggest performance in 47 Ronin, and by little coincidence the most fun to watch.
Beyond that, the design of the world is lovely, from the vivid colors to the lush costumes, fantastical creatures, and breathtaking landscapes. Visually, 47 Ronin is downright stunning when its not draped in smoke or inky night, which sadly Rinsch opts for often. The adventure and its action are engaging, and yet the film never comes together as something stupendous. Its parts are greater than the sum of them. The film meanders from one set piece to the next, with Reeves too weak a thread to pull it together, and Rinsch perhaps too inexperienced to give it the driving force and panache it so richly deserves. With a better hand this could have been something glorious and grand. As it is, 47 Ronin is solid B-movie entertainment with a $175 million budget.
Staff writer at CinemaBlend.
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By Nick Venable
By Nick Venable
By Riley Utley


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Eagles to talk to Jay Gruden
One of the Gruden brothers will interview with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Just not the people's choice.
The Eagles are scheduled to meet with Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden on Monday, continuing their slow search to replace Andy Reid.
Owner Jeffrey Lurie, general manager Howie Roseman and president Don Smolenski already have interviewed seven candidates since firing Reid on Dec. 31, and have permission to speak to two other coordinators.
Gruden, the younger brother of Jon Gruden, just finished his second season in Cincinnati. He previously served as an offensive assistant on his brother's staff in Tampa Bay from 2002-08. He also coached several years in the AFL, winning the Arena Bowl title twice.
Jon Gruden, currently an ESPN analyst, has been on top of the fans' wish list long before Reid was fired. He led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title in 2002, beating the Eagles in the NFC championship along the way.
Former Eagles coach Dick Vermeil said this week Jon Gruden would be his choice if the decision was his, but the team hasn't expressed any interest in him or former Steelers coach Bill Cowher.
The Eagles are expected to interview Indianapolis offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. No dates have been set for either.
The Bengals reached the playoffs each of the last two years with Gruden and quarterback Andy Dalton, a second-round pick in 2011. Their offense finished 22nd in total yards and 12th in points this season, and 20th and 18th in those categories in 2011.
The 45-year-old Gruden served two stints as head coach of the Orlando Predators from 1998 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2008. In 2002 and 2003, he was the team's quarterback.
As a player, he was quarterback at Louisville for four seasons, then played six seasons with the Tampa Bay Storm of the AFL.
''I've been a head coach before for a while,'' Gruden told reporters in Arizona after interviewing with the Cardinals on Thursday. ''I know it's a different league and it's not the NFL, but I've handled people and handled organization, handled salary caps, done all the things necessary to be a head coach. I understand the game and I think it would be a good fit.''
The Eagles interviewed former Chicago Bears Lovie Smith on Thursday. They previously met with Atlanta assistants Mike Nolan and Keith Armstrong and Denver offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.
Notre Dame's Brian Kelly met with the Eagles on Tuesday, a day after the Fighting Irish lost 42-14 to Alabama BCS national championship game. Penn State's Bill O'Brien and Oregon's Chip Kelly interviewed with Philadelphia last week, but chose to stay at their schools.


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U.S. stocks are in the red this afternoon, two sessions after the S&P 500 index registered a new all-time high.
They rallied following the release of better-than-expected new home sales data this morning, but failed to break above yesterday's high, and have tumbled into negative territory over the past hour.
Treasuries are getting a boost following a solid auction of 5-year notes this afternoon. They were off to a good start before that, however, and equity indices across Europe closed down today as quickly unfolding developments in the Ukrainian political drama made headlines.
Right now, the S&P 500 is trading at 1843, down 0.1%. 10-year U.S. Treasury futures are up 0.2%, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note is 2.67%, down four basis points from yesterday's close. The German DAX and French CAC 40 were the worst performers in the euro zone, both down 0.4% on the day. The London FTSE 100 closed down 0.5%.
The release of monthly new home sales data at 10 AM ET revealed a 9.6% rise in new home sales in February, well above Wall Street's consensus estimate of a 3.4% decline.
"This goes against the grain of housing softness in other reports, but the caution is that seasonal factors are big," says David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital.
"Still, it is what it is, and the [Treasury] market doesn't seem to care too much."
In Ukraine, there are reports of violence in the pro-Russian region of Crimea. This morning, Russian president Vladimir Putin put Russian combat troops on high alert for a drill, expressing concern for the safety of ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian hryvnia is in freefall and weakness has spilled over into the Russian ruble as well.
But markets around the world are on edge.
"The current run up in all fixed income is being attributed to Russian President Putin's orders for immediate combat readiness of troops in central and western Russia," says Tom Tucci, head of U.S. Treasury trading at CIBC World Markets.
The charts below show moves in various markets. Across the top from left to right are the S&P 500, the U.S. dollar-Japanese yen exchange rate, and the euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate. Across the bottom are gold futures, 10-year U.S. Treasury futures, and December 2015 eurodollar futures.


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Illuminati Utopia On The Steppe
Bayterek tower, based on mythological tree of life
a NWO pyramid of the sun on the steppe
If you know, where exactly is the pyramid photo from, please?
i want to share my testimony of how i become rich and famous today… i was deeply strangled up by poverty and i had no body to help me, and also i search for help from different corners but to no avail… i see people around me getting rich but to me i was so ashamed of my self so i met a man on my way he was very rich and he was a doctor so he told me something and i think over it though out the day so the next day i looked up and i keep repeating what he said to me. " if you want to get rich quick and be famous" you need to cross your heart and do what is in your mind so i tried all i could in other for me to do as he said so later on i told my fellow friend about this same thing then my friend was interested in my suggestions so i decided to look in the internet and i found their number so we decided to contact them and unfortunately we did as they instruct us to do and later they told us to get some requirements and all the rest… so this initiation took us just a week and later on the great fraternity gave us $1,200,000 to start up our lives…. and now am testifying that if in any case you want to join any great fraternity all you need to do is for you to contact them because they are legitimate and they do as what they instructed them to do, so you can as well WhatsApp me +2348106618681 or for more information +1(705)8062021 you can Email: firstname.lastname@example.com...


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Accrediting Commission Upgrades CR's Standing
College of the Redwoods Press Release
Accrediting Commission Removes CR from Show Cause Status
The hard work of CR's employees and Trustees has paid off for the students'
College of the Redwoods was notified by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges on Feb. 13 that it has been removed from Show Cause status.
The ACCJC has now placed CR on Probation, a less serious sanction than Show Cause, allowing the College to demonstrate continued progress on the Commission's standards and eligibility requirements.
CR will fully maintain its accreditation and continue to offer accredited classes and programs that are transferable to other colleges and universities.
"The hard work of the employees and the Board of Trustees of the College of the Redwoods District has paid off for our students and the communities we serve," said CR President/Superintendent Kathy Smith. "I am convinced that after meeting this challenge, CR has become an even stronger college. The Show Cause sanction focused everyone at CR on the issues we faced. We have collaboratively worked to address the Commission's concerns and now CR is in an excellent position to better help our students be successful. We still have work to do and must continue with the plans we've put into place, and I'm confident CR will meet this challenge."
CR Board of Trustees President Colleen Mullery said, "The Board of Trustees is most grateful to the college's administration, faculty, and staff who have worked tirelessly to comply with the accreditation requirements established by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The college exists for our students, and by extension, our communities. The Board of Trustees is committed to do all in its power to ensure that College of the Redwoods will continue to serve its students and the educational needs of our communities."
ACCJC determined that CR has resolved many of the deficiencies that were identified last year. In its recent letter to CR, the Commission indicated the College must now:
Ø Document a funding base, financial resources, and plans for financial development adequate to support student learning programs and services, to improve institutional effectiveness, and assure financial stability.
Ø Reflect a realistic assessment of financial resource availability, development of financial resources, partnerships, and expenditures requirements.
Ø Have sufficient cash flow and reserves to maintain stability, strategies for appropriate risk management, and realistic plans to meet financial emergencies and unforeseen occurrences.
Ø Complete implementation of its strategic hiring plan which analyzes demographic data to address employee equity and diversity.
Ø Continue to develop and implement a comprehensive professional development program.
President Smith said the recommendations regarding fiscal stability are the most important and challenging. "CR has significant work to do over the next six months to a year to become fiscally stable," Smith said. "As president of the institution, I'd like to thank the Board of Trustees, employees, students and community for their support during these challenging times."
CR is required to submit a follow-up report to the ACCJC by Oct. 15, 2013 showing evidence that it has fully addressed the recommendations outlined in the Commission's letter. The report will be followed by a visit of Commission representatives.
Additional information about CR's accreditation status can be found athttp://redwoods.edu/Accreditation/_documents.asp


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Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Illustration from an Earlier Age
One such person is TI list member Joseph Procopio, the founder & co-publisher of Picture This Press/Lost Art Books. Joe asked me to make readers aware of three books his company has published; The Lost Art of E.T. Reed—Prehistoric Peeps...
... The Lost Art of Zim—Cartoons and Caricatures...
... and The Lost Art of Frederick Richardson
Of the three, Richardson's work is the most intriguing to me. I was astounded to read on Joe's website that the artist created these sorts of pieces for publication in the Chicago Daily News in the 1890s. Amazing!
In an interview Joe did with washingtoncitypaper.com he explained that his intentions are "to preserve this cultural heritage by re-introducing these artists to new generations of working artists, historians, and admirers of things beautiful." That's certainly evident in these examples.
Personally, I'll be looking forward to one of Joe's future efforts: The Lost Art of the Racy & Risqué, which will include pieces by Russell Patterson, Frank Godwin, James Montgomery Flagg, Dean Cornwell and many others. That volume will be coming out in a few months, April being the goal, so perhaps we'll get to preview it at a later date.
For anyone still looking for a Christmas gift for the turn-of-the-century-illustration aficionado in their life, Joe's books may be the perfect thing.
Visit Joe's website for details.
* There are several other publishers of late 19th/early 20th century illustration who are members of Today's Inspiration. This week we'll look at some of those publishers and the artists from that era whose work they publish.
12 comments:
Wonderful! Reminds me of Winsor McCay's editorial work.ReplyDelete
I agree that Fredrick Richardson's illustrations are amazing. By the 1960s' there was a variety and blend of techniques.. those illustrations that were more academic and literal, those that were loose and painterly and those that were stylized, decorative and very technique oriented. In some ways early illustration was similar in respect to diversity of approaches. Richardson's first illo posted is decorative, skillfully designed and pattern oriented, yet rendered with accurate elegant drawing. In his second illo. it is far simpler in design, less stylized with strong dramatic black and white tonal patterns. He obviously had very good taste and well honed skills. I am inclined to believe the skills can be learned, practiced and improved, but good taste is much harder to come by. After traveling to many foreign countries, I think taste is culturally oriented for the most part. I have seen the work of very technically competent illustrations, but the work lacked in elegance and sophistication.. they lacked in good taste, and an emotional connection. And, that scenario seems to be even more pronounced in much of today's illustrations.. at least to me.ReplyDelete
Fredrick Richardson came from a different era and a different culture, and it shows up in his illos in a positive way.
Tom Watson
- Charlie Allen9:45 PM
LEIF.....Sounds like you aren't fond of the Art-Deco period in the earlier 1900's up through the 20's. If so, a shame, because there were some fine illustrators and fine work done all through that period. Many or most artists used various B&W techniques....color reproduction was not available, with the exception of book illustrations. N.C. Wyeth was a good example. Like so much illustration of the 20th century, B&W is a lost art in today's world. Thanks for the Richardson TI....excellent, unusual, and educational.ReplyDelete
This looks like a very good series.ReplyDelete
Another series exploring the art of this period is Jim Vadeboncoeur's "Images".
These are expensive but beautifully printed.
Leif, thanks for focusing some well-deseved attention on this new series. I recently became aware of it myself. Joe Procopio seems to genuinely love the field and he takes the time to get the images right.ReplyDelete
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San Francisco is an amazing city. It's got a little something for every one. In terms of city design no other city is quite like it. It's a city of extreme design. Steep narrow roads, skyscrapers, bridges, and beaches. People get lost here just looking at the scenery. It can be an overwhelming experience for sure. People always leave having taken hundreds of pictures and get home wondering if any of them were very memorable.
Photography can be difficult under the best circumstances, when you have a city as beautiful as San Francisco it can be overwhelming and lead to subpar images. The Aperture Academy is here to help. Our team of talented photography instructors is equipped with the knowledge and experience to help people take the mystery out of photography so students can begin to create images that utilize the best the camera has to offer combined with the best the brain can dream up.
We began all classes with an orientation to familiarize our classes with the instructors and allow the instructors to get to know the students, their gear, and most importantly what they want to work on during their day with us. All of our students have a variety of experience behind the lens, and for us to make sure we educate the best we can we need to know what the students want to work on most. Whether it's beginners learning manual settings or more advanced students hoping to use filters to balance exposure, we're here to help and provide the whole experience in a fun atmosphere.
When orientation was complete the class moved out to Baker Beach to work on some images of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bridge is so iconic, it's often hard to get new and different images. The instructors worked with the class to ge the proper exposure, and then fine tuned the lesson with tips on composition and using the lines of the cliffs, and surf to lead the eye through the image. We often talk about these leading lines in our composition discussion as they are very strong ways to control the way a viewer sees an image.
Baker Beach isn't the most scenic location, but it serves us well to get a good start knowing the students gear and experience level before heading to our second stop; Fort Point.
Fort Point is a Civil War era fort located directly under the might Golden Gate Bridge. Once inside this piece of American war history our instructors break the group up into smaller groups and take them to some of their favorite stops inside. The fort is full of great symmetrical hallways and archways that really help to explain composition. When dealing with symmetry it's important to be perfect, or skewed to the point its obviously intentional. In addition to the many compositional possibilities the fort has to offer, there are also a variety of different lighting situations. Whether we're in the artificially lit hallway section that combines filtered outside light with the fluorescent bulbs, the dimly lit powder room, our outside in all natural light. This location is great for teaching a variety of different techniques including white balance. The fort is huge, and has so many possibilities for images that the instructors try to spend only half the time doing group work so they can turn the class loose for the last portion to explore the fort on their own and see some of the nooks and crannies that are too small for a larger group to photograph. While the students explore Brian and Ellie walk the fort answering any questions the students have during their independence.
It's break time in Sausalito after our time in the Fort. The students can grab a bite to eat, or a warm beverage before we set off again. Photography is a demanding endeavor and its surprising how much energy taking photos takes out of you. It's always good to stay hydrated and well fed to keep that energy level up. We go until the light has gone, and it's great to make sure your energy meets the demands!
The sunset stop for the night is Rodeo Beach. We stop the van and make the walk out the beach to the iconic sea stacks that sit just offshore. Though a bit hazy, the sun was hanging low in the sky and casting warm light over the rocks and sand. The goal of this location is to shoot moving water and create dreamy seascapes using the rocky beach as foreground and the sea stacks as a main subject. The tide was out extremely far and it allowed us closer access to the rocks than is normal for this time of year. The class spread out and Ellie and Brian worked with the students on composition and proper filter use with the graduated neutral density filters and polarizers to create dreamy, well balanced images.
It's so fun to watch as the students have those 'AH-HA' moments and start to make sense of the science and math part of the photography experience and allow themselves the joy of being able to create without the stress of wondering if the settings are correct, or WHY they aren't correct!
The class really got some great images at the beach and were giddy as they made the walk back in the dark to the van to set off for one last spot. We like to end our class by giving a preview to our night photography class. We stop high above the city in the Marin Headlands overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and city. The instructors work a bit with the class on the longer exposures, white balances, and apertures needed to properly make night images. These concepts are foreign to many photographers, and although we only touch on it, it's easy to see the lightbulbs begin to go on and students start to see how really endless the opportunities to photograph are in a city like San Francisco.
Even though the possibilites are endless, our class is not it was time to head back to the city and call it a day. A very FULL day full of fun and photography in San Francisco.
Until next time,
Brian, Ellie and the rest of the Aperture Academy Team
P.S. If you'd like to join us at one of our workshops, you can find the schedule/sign up here.
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Today I have already posted two excellent analyses of the (possibly temporary) failure of the USA to submit Iran to its will: one by Alexander Mercouris, the other by Soraya Sepahpour Ulrich. I shall not repeat their very arguments here, mainly because both see this as a conflict between the USA and Iran, whereas I see that as a conflict between Israel and Iran in which Israel attempted, but failed, to get the USA to fight on its behalf. This is also, albeit to a lesser degree, a conflict opposing the House of Saud to Iran, and the KSA is the other big loser here. But first, let us look at the real causes of this confrontation.
First and foremost, I have never accepted the theory that the reason behind this was some kind of Iranian military nuclear program. While there is no doubt that Iran has been trying to master a host of nuclear technologies for many years, and while some of them could conceivable by used for military purposes, I am absolutely convinced that the US Israel Lobby and the Neocons have used this as a pretext to trigger a confrontation between Iran and the USA. Why do I say that? For two reasons:
First, there has never been any real evidence of an Iranian military nuclear program, but even more important is the fact that Iran never had any need for nuclear weapons. A lot of anti-Iranian propaganda is directly predicated on the notion that having nuclear weapons is highly desirable, yields some big advantage, and that all nations would want to acquire them. This is utter nonsense. In reality, possessing a few nuclear devices would only turn these devices into high priority targets for destruction by the USA and/or Israel. And even if, by some miracle, the Iranians managed to hide these devices while deploying them on missiles or aircraft, using any one such device would guarantee a massive retaliation from the Empire. What is the point of having a few nukes when Israel has hundreds? Finally, the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has declared many times that nuclear weapons are forbidden for Iran because they are un-Islamic. But we are so used to being ruled by lying politicians that we have apparently lost the ability to imagine that any leader would actually speak the truth, be guided by his conscience or, even less so, his faith. So we just dismissed it all.
Second, the threat which Iran really poses to Israel (and the KSA) is not a nuclear one – it is a civilizational one. Think of it:
Iran is an Islamic Republic and the only country on the planet which has dared to openly defy both Israel and the USA. Not only that, it also represent a radically different model of Islam than the one of the Saudi Wahabis. Iran is a country which has managed to survive a war unleashed against it by the joint efforts of the USA, the Soviet Union, France and Iraq, which prevailed against the most powerful Baathist ruler of the Middle-East, and which then proceeded to survive economically and politically in spite of decades of crippling sanctions imposed by all the industrialized countries on the planet. Furthermore, and in contrast to all the Arab and Muslim countries out there, Iran is the only one which as always truly supported the Palestinian cause and which has provided crucial backing for the most formidable national liberation movement on the planet: Hezbollah. So yes, Iran is very, very dangerous for Israel and for the Saudis.
This is why since roughly 2002 the usual cabal of US deep state actors, the Neocons, the Israel Lobby, the Israelis themselves and, of course, the Saudis have embarked on a massive campaign to force Iran to its knees and give in to totally ridiculous demands which go way beyond what the NPT mandates (note: while Iran has always been a member in good standing of the NPT, Israel has never accepted to become a member; but then, Israel is not a "rogue state" but the "only democracy in the Middle-East", right?).
Then things began acquiring their own momentum: if the Empire and Israel had decreed that Iran must either comply or be turned into ruins (economically or militarily) then this absolutely must happen. But, of course, it did not. So breaking Iran soon became a goal in itself: to prove that nobody can defy the AngloZionists and survive. Iran, of course, not only survived but prospered. And thanks to the fantastically short-sighted policies of the USA and Israel, Iran actually managed to increase its influence in the region, especially after the US invasion of Iraq. Not only has Iran become a key player in Iraq, but thanks to the "Divine Victory" of Hezbollah against the "invincible Tsahal" in 2006 Iran also became the ally and patron of the only military force in the region to have single-handedly defeated the Zionist state.
As for the Saudis, they are terrified of this Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah coalition which, they believe, is threatening them, and their anti-Shia crusade in Bahrein, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. The Saudis also fear the fact that Iran is the proof that an Islamic state does not have to be a backward, primitive and oppressive regime, but that Islam, modernity and people-power can coexist and be successfully combined (hence the failure of the CIA-backed Iranian elites to overthrown the Islamic Republic during the "Gucci Revolution").
It is therefore not surprising that the Israelis and Saudis are absolutely livid at the agreement negotiated between Iran and the P5+1. For these two countries, the lifting of sanctions against Iran, even combined with the imposition of new, "mini-sanctions", by the USA, represents the failure of over a decade of sustained anti-Iranian efforts.
This is now the 2nd time that Obama has agreed to basically exchange something against nothing: the first time around, Obama had to cancel a US attack against Syria in exchange for the (costly) destruction of utterly useless Syrian chemical weapons, and now Obama is lifting sanctions in exchange for the monitoring of a non-existent Iranian military nuclear program. The Israelis fully understand that, and it is no wonder that they hate Obama with a passion.
I sure hope that I am wrong, but I cannot conceive of the Israelis or Saudis simply accepting this situation. There is no way the Zionist and Wahabi crazies will allow Iran to successfully humiliate them and continue to prosper and grow right in their "back yard" (from their point of view, of course).
In purely military terms, neither Israel nor the KSA have what it takes to successfully attack Iran, nevermind defeating it. The Israelis were not even capable of controlling a minor Lebanese town right across their own border border (Bint Jbeil) even though they tried for 33 day. As for the insanely wealthy Saudis can't even defeat the dirt-poor Houthis in Yemen. If anything, the KSA and Israel are the proof that neither money not expensive high-tech hardware is not what builds a strong military force. Compare them with the Iranians who are the folks who trained Hezbollah! QED.
As for the US armed forces, they are overstretched, over-committed and barely holding on to a few positions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they don't have what it takes to fight Iran either, at least not on the ground. And, let's be honest here, the US armed forces are much better at organizing high-visibility "PR drives" (literally) involving a few APCS and Humvees in the Baltics, the Ukraine and Poland than at fighting a determined enemy. So even if most Presidential candidates now speak about "confronting Russia", the reality is that the US cannot do much more than bombing a country like Serbia, and even that took the full support of NATO air forces and ended up in an abject failure (at least from the purely military point of view).
This is why the Empire will have to turn to its traditional set of dirty tricks: false flags, support for various terrorist groups, subversion of the Islamic Republic by means of the local money elites, sabotage, "human rights" campaigns (à la Neda), support for "gay rights", arming of separatists groups, etc.
But, at least for the time being, this is a huge victory for Iran and and equally huge defeat for Israel: the poor Zionists have now been robbed of not one, but two wars they wanted so badly, and even their "success" in Libya is not enough of a consolation. I can hear the desperate oy vey shouts even from here :-)
Since this is a great day for Iran, I leave you with a beautiful song written by the Iranian rapper Yas in reaction to the release of the US propaganda movie 300 (see the translated lyrics below the video). Enjoy!
The Saker
My Identity
Listen. I want to tell you my intent
They want to erase my identity
The history of the land of the Aryans
Is screaming until we come to it
So now is the time for you to hear
Iran is my land the
The country which after 7000 years
Is still standing
And the hearts of Iranians — still like the sea
Hear this, my fellow Iranian, from YAS
I too for my land stand like a soldier
Hold Iran like a gem in your hand and say
My complaint will burst out like a shot
Let's stand together and sing our anthem
My sisters, my brothers, my fellow Iranians
Iran's civilization is in danger
All of us are soldiers beneath our flag
We won't let anyone spread lies about us
For us Iranians it is our calling
That we wear the symbol of 'Farvahar' around our necks
Our unity against an enemy is the cause of their distress
Iran's name for us is an honor
And our respect for her is like a thorn in eye for those
Who want to injure her
– Like the thirst of a seed [wheat] for water
– Like the dampness of rain, the smell of earth
– Like you, pure eyes, like the feeling of its earth, for you
– My land. Singing for you is in my heart
– Singing of my land, is my feeling
– My love – the earth of this land — Iraaaan.
You want to say that we came from generations of Barbarians?
So take a look then to Takht Jamshid!
You're showing Iran's name in vein
So yours could be written big on a cover of a CD [DVD}?
I'm writing down your intentions in my book
I know why you wrote this film "300"
I know that your heart is made of stone and lead
Instead of using your art to make a culture of peace
In this sensitive air and bad atmosphere
You want to start fishing in murky waters [profiting]
But this I tell you in its original language
Iran will never be spoiled and surrendered
God has given you two eyes to see
Take a look and read the books written by
Saadi and Ibn-e-Sina, Ferdosi, Khayam or Molana Rumi
Always throughout history we were the start [on top]
But now YAS can't sit down quietly
Let Iran's name be marred by a few tricksters
I'll shred your intentions with the "razor of hope"
Who are YOU to speak of the history of Iran?
It was Cyrus The Great that started the peace
Freeing the Jewish from the grip of Babylon
Cyrus The Great wrote the first bill of human rights
That is why I carry my esteem and great pride
For my Iran. The history of my land
For the earth of this land which my body is from
Whatever part of the world you live my fellow Iranian
And till your blood flows through you
Don't allow yourself to be satisfied
That anyone can fool around with your heritage
The history of Iran is my identity
Iran — protecting your name is my good intent


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Articles by David Cades
David M. Cades, M. A. is a fourth year doctoral student at George Mason University in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition pro- gram. His main area of interest is studying the cognitive underpinnings of how people handle being interrupted in dynamic settings such as driving and aviation.
Listen Up: Do Voice Recognition Systems Help Drivers Focus on the Road
The availability of Sync and voice recognition technology in vehicles, although not perfect, enable drivers to interact with their mobile devices in a safer, less distracting manner. [Read More]


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Less than a month after the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5, the folks at Red hat have forged ahead with the next full point revision of RHEL, version 7.0, now available in its first public beta.
Aimed at "architects, system administrators, and dev-ops," RHEL 7's big selling points all tie into major trends in IT that were also singled out in 6.5. Most prominent is expanded support for Linux containers, which allow applications to be set up and run in isolation. If you're thinking Docker is one of the technologies in question, you're spot-on. It's not just because of Docker's exploding popularity generally, either, but because Red Hat itself lent a hand to Docker's revved-up 0.7 release. It only makes sense for it to become a broadly-supported technology in RHEL itself.
Another key addition is performance profiles -- a way to choose an automatic, self-tuning set of behaviors for RHEL. I asked Ron Pacheco, senior manager, platform product management at Red Hat, for some details on this, and he described how RHEL 7 will ship with two performance profiles created "for the most common workloads in RHEL 7." Those profiles are maximum performance ("where tuned profiles are aggregated with other instrumentation and performance monitoring tools") and balanced performance ("which provides a balance between performance and energy savings"); maximum performance is enabled by default.
Two other performance features Pacheco identified in RHEL 7, which appear to be derived from existing work on the Linux kernel, include "numabalance", which "enhances NUMA capabilities and provides automated balancing (effectively supplementing numad)." Another isa modification to the tickless kernel called "Full Dynamic Tick," which "significantly reduces the number of timer interrupts for computational intensive applications workloads such as HPC, KVM, desktop, and mobile apps."
One major change to 7, and one that might turn the heads of those using RHEL for storage management, is switching the default filesystem to XFS, with support for filesystems up to 500TB in size, increased from 100TB.
Red Hat, and Linux generally, have supported the industrial-strength XFS for some time now, and Red Hat mentioned back at its 2013 Red Hat Summit that XFS was -- in the words of Denise Dumas, director of software engineering at Red Hat -- "a better match for our enterprise customers than btrfs seems to be." It doesn't mean that support for ext3/4 or btrfs are being dropped, only that they're not the default choices.
Pachecho described the switch to XFS as a reflection of the way "customers are dealing with a data explosion." Such data growth "requires a scalable, performant filesystem, which is provided by XFS." The best migration path to XFS, he suggested, would be to back up existing data and restore it to XFS.
Other improvements and changes include:
- cross-realm trust can be set up between RHEL and Microsoft Active Directory stores
- hardware event reporting has been consolidated systemwide into a single mechanism, HERM
- VMware guest integration has been bulked up to include Open VM Tools and support for 3D-accelerated graphics drivers
- better random number generation for robust cryptography
- OpenJDK (a Red Hat-led project) is now the default Java runtime
Beta downloads are currently only available for subscribers, but 30-day evaluation subscriptions are also available for those who want to give the beta a whirl.
This story, "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Beta now available," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.


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It's hard to believe that Elvis Week starts next Friday. Festivities kick off on August 9 and continue until Sunday, August 18. That's a long 10-day week, and I'm always interested to see what EPE comes up with to lure fans to come to that early first weekend.
The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest semis and finals in the Graceland Soundstage now seem to be a permanent early fixture of Elvis Week. And last year, Graceland made them even better with the addition of After-Parties on the streets of Elvis Presley's Memphis.
So, this year, the challenge apparently was to schedule something new and appealing during those afternoons. I think they have come up with a winner… ELVIS UNPLUGGED. I saw a long-haired hippy-looking guy named Julio at Elvis Week 2002 do this, and it was a nice change from the full band treatment.
2002 was the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death, so Graceland planned some big-time stuff for the celebration. Including an incredible concert experience in the Pyramid.
The first Elvis in Concert was amazing and a fitting end to the week. I have no idea what they had at the beginning because I came for all the late stuff.
But now EPE has made it worthwhile for the fans to come earlier, which brings us back to:
In 2002, Graceland had little use for Elvis Impersonators. This year, there is hardly a day that doesn't have one or two events starring ETA's. And Graceland presents only the best of them during Elvis Week.
Here is the list of winners of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest.
2007 Shaun Klush
2008 Brandon Bennett
2009 Bill Cherry
2010 Justin Shandor
2011 Cody Ray Slaughter
2012 Ben Portsmouth
2013 Dean Z
2014 Jay Dupuis
2015 David Lee
2016 Dwight Icenhower
2017 Gordon Hendricks
2018 Ben Thompson
The names in bold are the six champions who will participate in the Elvis Unplugged shows this year. Both nights will be hosted by Dean Z, who has been called "the best entertainer in our business," by Jeff Lewis, originator of the After-Parties and a man who has seen them all.
Dean Z will be joined on Saturday night by Jay Dupuis and Shawn Klush.
I have written about Shawn Klush a few times in ElvisBlog. I saw his act at Elvis Week 2002 in the funky New Daisy Theater. It was the last event of a long day and it was called the Elvis Midnight Blues Jam. It is where I saw that fellow Julio do the Elvis unplugged act I mentioned earlier. I don't know where his career went, but Shawn Klush certainly moved on to better things. Five years later he was crowned the first Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist winner, and his career has been on a roll ever since.
For the Sunday night Elvis Unplugged concert there will be four Ultimate ETAs on stage. Dean Z will be joined by Ben Thompson, Cody Ray Slaughter and Dwight Icenhower.
Cody ray Slaughter also has his own show on the first night, Friday August 9. He will be backed by the David Fontana Band.
David Fontana is DJ's son, and of course, that's him on the drums.
Here is Ben Thompson on stage with Jeff Lewis (right), the MC of the After-Parties. Jeff expressed this sentiment about the After-Parties being moved to the Graceland Exhibition Center this year, "Thank God we'll have air conditioning!" Other benefits may be a lot more table seating for the party-goers, and a better dance floor surface. It sounds like it will be a wonderful night-club set-up to me.
The Elvis Unplugged shows will also have air conditioned comfort inside the Guest House Theater. This seems the perfect small venue for a show billed as:
Live Elvis music and personal stories. An intimate acoustic experience among friends sharing music, laughter and fun.
The price of these unplugged concerts is just $25, which seems a bargain for Elvis Tribute Artists of this caliber. The Saturday, August 10 show sold out early, and the Sunday, August 11 will probably be by the time you read this.
If I could pull it off, I would love to be in Memphis on that Saturday night, and go to the Elvis Unplugged concert at 2:00 at the Guest House Theater, The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist finals at 7:00 at the Graceland Soundstage, and the After-Party at 9:00 in the Exhibition Center. What a nice dream, but for some lucky Elvis fans, it will be a reality.
© 2019 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.


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linger is a tribute to eighteenth century and nineteenth century wood type, inspired by the following passage from a Dime Western:
Rosalinda gave a low scream of horror as she saw the Rio Kid and her cousin knee rein their mounts out of the line and rake their flanks with rowels, galloping off up the grade in a cloud of alkali dust until a bend of the road hid them from the sheriff's posse. The masked gunman came to a standing position on the eroded ledge of rock, his serape fluttering about him. "You weel ride back to Santa Barbara weethout stopping once or looking back, Señor Shereeff!" he commanded. "The firs' hombre who pools a gon weel die, sabe usted? Now, andale!"
Type some text here...
From $25 USD


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Watch Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin Episode 26 English Subbed at shahid4u
قصة العرض
Seven teenagers in 1955 have to learn to live together in the same hold in the reformatory of Shio. Confined in a hall where suffering and humiliation are daily, they are waiting for a ray of hope in a dark, incarcerating world. The story follows their life together and how they move on afterwards


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Historic Homes For Sale, Rent or Auction
Advanced Search
- Listings for Rent or Lease-purchase
- Priced at or below 500,000
- located in Meridian, Mississippi
No Listings Found.
At the moment, we have no active listings in this state. But check with these agents who specialize in old houses:
Edna J. Murray
murray land & homes realty
natchez, Mississippi
Sheri Lipsey
prudential southern family&associates realty inc.
columbus, Mississippi
Janelle Good
philip good realty
macon, Mississippi
Pam Powers
powers properties
greenwood, Mississippi
We are the face of the South, and there's always a smile on it!
Randall Saxton
randall saxton real estate, inc.
madison, Mississippi
"We will, we promise."
Robert W Neill Jr
robert w neill, jr, real estate broker
carrollton, Mississippi
Contact us to buy or sell
Lynn Healy
healy realty group, llc
gulfport, Mississippi
When you do what you love... People love what you do...
Brenda Macaluso
coldwell banker cpi
picayune, Mississippi
Quality Customer Service is my Priorty
Jane Lever
keller williams real estate
madison, Mississippi
19 Years of Top production in Madison, Rankin and Hinds County


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Honor the Treaties | The Film
A portrait of photographer Aaron Huey's work on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Featuring Shepard Fairey. See the Cowbird Community Storytelling project here: http://cowbird.com/collection/pineridge/ World premiere opening night ShortsFest, Seattle International Film Festival 2012 **Winner: Best Short Doc, Red Nation Film Festival, 2012** Directed by Eric Becker / www.weareshouting.com/ Produced by Scott Everett Music."Black Chow" by Big Spider's Back: circleintosquare.com/item/memory-man "Mélodrames Télégraphiés (in B major 7th) Part 1" and "I Know That You Don't Like the Future Like I Do" by Brian McBride and "Hægt, kemur ljósið" by Olafur Arnalds Honor the Treaties: www.honorthetreaties.org All photos (c) Aaron Huey / www.aaronhuey.com With Artwork by Shepard Fairey and Ernesto Yerena


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Christie's critics savor his misfortune
Chris Christie is learning that being a Party of One can be pretty lonely when times get tough.
Democrats predictably condemned the New Jersey governor after a bombshell report Wednesday tied one of his top staffers to a burgeoning scandal that's already been dubbed "Bridge-gate." More notable was the dearth of Republicans who rose to Christie's defense — and, privately, the schadenfreude expressed by some of them that a man who's never been shy about taking shots at others was suddenly on the receiving end.
"All these people who feel like he's bullied and he's put them in a horse-collar hold … will feel free to say, 'See, I told you so,'" said one Republican who has worked with Christie.
( QUIZ: How well do you know Chris Christie?)
That sense of glee from detractors "is going to be worse than they anticipate," said the Republican, adding that local critics but also detractors in some of the early presidential states might now feel emboldened to take shots at a man who 24 hours ago was seen by many as the most likely GOP standard-bearer in 2016.
Many of Christie's Republican critics weren't ready to pounce publicly — he's still a powerful governor, and no one knows where the scandal will turn next. But more than a few quietly savored the turnabout of Christie — a man who has attacked both parties with relish, and who's known less for his policy positions than for the sheer force of his singular personality — under attack.
Christie has not been directly implicated, and he said in his statement Wednesday that a staffer had misled him. But the crisis, at the very least, has put at risk Christie's reputation as a no-nonsense executive and leader.
( PHOTOS: Chris Christie's career)
The scandal exploded midmorning Wednesday when The Record (N.J.) reported that a top Christie aide was aware ahead of time about lane closures on the heavily trafficked George Washington Bridge. Critics had alleged the partial closure was political payback for a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse Christie's reelection — and now they had what they saw as powerful evidence in the form of email correspondence subpoenaed by a legislative committee.
Christie had been adamant that none of his staffers was involved in the lane closures.
More than six hours passed before Christie's office released a statement, time the governor spent huddled with top aides to devise a strategy to address the crisis. Inquiring reporters and restive supporters were met with radio silence from his aides. In the meantime, fresh stories were published about the damage caused by the resulting traffic congestion around the city of Fort Lee, where the closures took place.
When Christie finally surfaced with a late afternoon statement, Christie called the conduct unacceptable and vowed, without naming names, that "people will be held responsible."
( Also on POLITICO: Chris Christie: 'People will be held responsible')
But the lengthy delay left people who might be inclined to be helpful with little to say, not wanting to get in front of the governor's own words.
"There's nothing coming out of the governor's office — no statement, no talking points, no anything," said former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, a mentor of Christie who has recently expressed disappointment in how the governor handled a political dispute involving his son, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr.
"When there's a leader, people these days, in modern politics, sort of wait for that," he said a short time before Christie's office emailed a statement to the press. "And they haven't come. So people sort of don't know what to say."
( Also on POLITICO: Scandal imperils Chris Christie's no-nonsense image)
Even Christie supporters were privately dumbstruck that a former prosecutor would find himself at the mercy of legislative subpoenas. They recalled that his office had already gone through a who-what-when scandal involving emails when education official Bret Schundler was fired in 2010 over a flap about a botched application for Race to the Top funds. They wondered aloud about what the next turn of the screw would be.
The details of the bridge incident are complicated and have generally been drowned out by the larger headlines — "scandal," "coverup," "traffic mess."
But the nature of the scandal — a traffic jam that lasted four days — touches one of the most common frustrations of everyday life. That means it could penetrate with voters in a way other negative stories about Christie might not.
Christie has long prided himself on being a one-man band, divorced from the toxic political swamp of Washington and beholden to few party elders. His decision to take on Kean Jr. was an example of that. So was his robust — some said excessive — criticism of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last year over federal relief after Hurricane Sandy.
During his reelection battle, he sought out Democrats far more than he did other Republicans. He painted himself as a truth-teller who would do the right thing no matter which party it offended.
But Christie is also known for his insular circle of advisers. A dearth of dissenting voices in his immediate orbit has long been a criticism of the governor.
"He talks to very few people," Kean told POLITICO.
The Republican who's worked with Christie was more blunt: "Christie doesn't think anyone in the room is as smart as Christie."
As down and out as Christie appears to be at this moment, how Democrats and Republicans respond in the coming weeks carries its own risks. Any allegation against Christie that goes too far or doesn't hold up will be used to discredit the broader case against him. Any number of other officials who lack Christie's political skills have found reports of their demise to be exaggerated.
"Christie himself says he was not involved, which I do not believe he would say if he was, so that is that," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "And I do not believe Americans are going to be surprised that politics has broken out in the political world … or that politics in New Jersey, ain't beanbag."
When the bridge flap first made national headlines after Election Day and questions arose about the role of Christie's appointees to the agency controlling the bridge, it took a full week for Christie's team to respond. The governor then held a grim-faced, answer-every-question news conference about whether his office was involved in the lane closures. The answer, he said, was unequivocal: Of course not.
But that defense collapsed in dramatic fashion on Wednesday. Text messages and emails sent and received by his longtime friend, David Wildstein, one of two Port Authority officials to leave their jobs over the scandal, showed people reveling in the misery of the people affected by the traffic jams. The kids stuck in traffic on school buses because of the lane closures, he wrote in one message, were "children of Buono voters" — a reference to Christie's Democratic opponent in the governor's race, Democrat Barbara Buono.
That line "may turn out to be much more of a threat to Christie's political future than Barbara Buono ever was," Weekly Standard writer William Kristol, an occasional Christie critic, quipped in an email.
Christie's one-paragraph statement that said he was "misled" about staff involvement likely won't go far enough to quell the questions surrounding the mess. What will matter is how he handles it going forward, and what else emerges.
"The core question people have in a crisis is, what kind of person are you?'" said Bruce Haynes, a Republican operative at the political consulting firm Purple Strategies. "Christie's strength is he can answer that by being who he has always been — tough but fair. He's a prosecutor, that's his DNA. If there's wrongdoing, he should find it, punish it, move on to the next thing. That's who he is and has been, and what people will expect of him now and going forward."


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Two years ago, a message was sent to our off world neighbors (here). The response came two ways. One was in the comments section of that video, a conversation that is ongoing (here). Another is a visit, described (here).
Today, some thoughts emerge. The January 1, 2012 video describes us – brilliant beings of light. It invites interaction. Not government sanctioned interaction or contact when we are "worthy". It is an invitation, period. It operates as any other invitation and can be accepted or refused.
What's happened since then? We've woken up on a grand scale. We made a choice to shift this planet ourselves, which is not surprising for a population of Masters. UFO sightings have increased tenfold. UFO landings have not.
That's fine. The invitation still stands. They know where we live. They even know who sent the invite.
We have woken up and thrown off our covers to reveal our sovereignty. We are not meek or subservient, but absolutely brilliant. Any conversation that leaves us waiting or having to perform yet one more thing in order to receive something is not worth having.
Recognize a continuation of the experiment wherever and whenever it shows up. It may spring from an unlikely source, yet the feeling of waiting and unworthiness is unmistakable.
Now I've looked for ships, seen ships and spoken to their inhabitants. It'll be great to meet them and get to know each other. That could happen anytime. There is nothing left to do in order to receive a response to an invitation. Once sent, the ball is clearly in another court.
Do you realize what you've done? The cabal is coming down. Not because someone else from someplace else brought them down, but because you did. You planned it that way. You've succeeded.
There is nothing more powerful than a self aware being. You are lesser than none; a beacon of light. The veil has been thick and obscured your vision. It can be a bit blurry when you first emerge – confusion results. You've mistakenly believed that the light was emanating from some other. Not so. Those are mirrors. The reflection of your light is blinding.
In this time of emergence, carefully evaluate everything. Songs, conversations and actions are reflections of where we are. Anything that empowers and instigates fun and joy without requirement or judgment is growth producing.
It's a tricky moment. We are equal to everyone. Not greater. Not lesser. Equal. Expect as much respect as you offer. Regardless of worlds from which we spring, we are One.
Worldwide disclosure will catapult many events and expose eons of hidden history.
We've been clear on our intent. We've spoken as One. We do not need to speak again. The invite was sent and received.
Why it hasn't been accepted is not clear. Yet one thing is. Any message that informs us there is still something we must do before it is, is just a continuation of slave talk. That experiment is over.
Be ready for the new and expect your wildest dreams. You are beholden to none, whether on or off world.
We are at the threshold of amazing. This demands a willingness to trust yourself, to love without condition and to hold yourself in a place of power. If you've ever heard the expression, "He's more afraid of you than you are of him", consider the idea that it doesn't only apply to wild animals. This delay of contact would seem to imply that it references our off world cousins as well.
Understand the power you hold may be perceived as dangerous or unpredictable. Send only love, acceptance and unity without fear or subservience.
Embrace a world that includes all possibilities for creation and life and that is the world we'll inhabit. This is our intention, our creation, our world.
We are the Ones we've been waiting for.
May 2023


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Missouri governor says he is leaning against right-to-farm constitutional measure on ballot
Gov. Jay Nixon said Tuesday that he is leaning toward opposing an August ballot measure that would insert a right to farm in the Missouri Constitution, ending his silence on the subject.
The farming amendment was referred to the ballot by Missouri's Republican-led Legislature, with the support of some Democrats, and has been officially endorsed by the Missouri Republican State Committee.
The proposed amendment states that the right "to engage in farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state."
Several Democratic officials also are supporting it, including Attorney General Chris Koster, who is to hold an event Wednesday with the group campaigning for the measure.
But Nixon, a Democrat, has remained publicly silent about the measure since he used his constitutional powers to shift the proposed Constitutional Amendment 1 from the November general election to the Aug. 5 primaries. Asked Tuesday about the measure by The Associated Press, Nixon said he believes the state constitution already is pretty long.
"I always have a deferral position of unless I really, really am for it, then I'm not for amending the constitution," Nixon said.
Asked if that means he opposes the right-to-farm amendment, Nixon responded: "I certainly lean that way."
Supporters hope amending the constitution could provide a legal shield against efforts by animal welfare groups to restrict particular farming methods or by organic food advocates to prohibit genetically modified crops.
Opponents contend the proposed constitutional amendment could be cited by corporate farms to try to avoid regulations against pollution and unsanitary conditions.
Nixon said he doesn't think the amendment will have that big of an effect.
"I don't see the underlying problem at the level that proponents say, nor do I see the negatives of it at the same tone that the opponents say," Nixon said.
A separate August ballot proposal asks voters whether to amend the constitution to enhance the existing right to keep and bear arms. It would expand that to cover ammunition and firearms accessories, state that gun rights are "unalienable" and require strict legal scrutiny for any gun-rights restrictions.
Nixon said the U.S. Constitution already contains strong protections for the right to keep and bear arms.
"If they want to add that to the state constitution, I'm fine with that," Nixon said.
Follow David A Lieb at: http://www.twitter.com/DavidALieb


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Some Changes at UNYG.com Website and Blog
To many of our long time readers and also to our newest friends we want you to be aware of few things that you might find as being a little different on this website and blog.
We have been publishing totally free information about Upstate New York Genealogy on the internet since the 1980′s and will continue to do so.
Our main website at www.UNYG.com does not change much as it is structured in categories that remain relatively static but that do contain just an enormous amount of free data for you to use.
What you are reading here is published on the adjacent blog website at www.UNYG.com/blog. You can easily go back and forth between the two websites with the buttons at the top.
All of our content is copyrighted of course, as is anything that is published on the web, however we have never not allowed anyone to republish our data by merely asking for permission and giving proper credit. You must have written permission from this website to reuse any of the content for republishing in any format, digital, images or printed matter.
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To your success in finding those elusive ancestors that are hiding behind a brick wall.


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An interesting revelation about a classic Hugh Morton photograph serendipitously unveiled itself last week while I was writing my previous post on the Good WILLmington Mission, which occurred mid November 1948 and stemmed from a tragic event that occurred during the final days of October of that year. Researching issues of the Wilmington Morning Star on microfilm, I discovered a number of Morton photographs—including the one below in the November 8th edition that I recalled having seen several times before.
The beginning of the caption reads:
IN THE CLOSING MINUTES of the Carolina-William & Mary game Saturday, about the time it was obvious that the Tar Heels could not break the 7-7 tie, here's how the Carolina bench looked. . . .
I made the digital copy you see above from the newspaper microfilm because often it is the easiest way to transcribe long captions when updating image descriptions in the online collection of Morton photographs. With the scan in hand, I returned to the original focus of my digging expedition. Later, a quick check in the online collection located the stadium sideline scene below (without cropping),
. . . but the image had the surprising title "1949 Sugar Bowl: UNC vs. Oklahoma" and its description read:
UNC All America Tailback Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice #22 talks with Head Football Coach Carl Snavely at Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA. Others in the picture: #66 Blocking Back Paul Rizzo, #67 Center Dan Stiegman, and #33 Blocking Back Bobby Weant. The assistant coach to Snavely's left is line coach Max Reed; "board of directors meeting at the final bowl."
Did you catch that? Here was a classic Morton image of Charlie Justice, long associated with his last game with UNC—the 1950 Cotton Bowl played nearly 14 months later—because of its placement the chapter "End of an Era" in Choo Choo: The Charlie Justice Story by Bob Quincy and Julian Scheer published in 1958. In their biography of Justice, Quincy and Sheer's caption reads, "Board of directors meeting at the final bowl." And to compound the confusion, we had a subject heading for the Cotton Bowl, but our description related to the 1949 Sugar Bowl. (Note: I've since corrected the description, title, and subject heading.)
Another known appearance in print of the photograph is the June 19th, 1949 issue of Holiday magazine with the caption:
All American halfback "Choo Choo" Charlie Justice has confab with Coach Carl Snavely. Justice with another year of playing eligibility has already become one of U.N.C.'s grid immortals.
Obviously that publication also predates the 1950 Cotton Bowl.
I passed this discovery on to our contributor Jack Hilliard, who also noted that the player uniforms in this picture are definitely from 1948. He also noticed that Snavely is wearing a dark coat in the William and Mary photograph, but in photographs of the 1949 Sugar Bowl he is wearing a lighter-tone overcoat. So looking more closely at Snavely, I noticed that he is wearing the same tie in both photographs! Maybe it was his favorite game-day tie during 1948, because he is also sports it in a photograph shot after defeating the University of Texas on September 25th, 1948, an undated photograph with Wake Forest coach Peahead Walker, (if you click on those links and use the zoom tool—is that the same sports coat, too?!) and a photograph made just before the 1949 Sugar Bowl.
So with new evidence in hand, we need "Worry, Worry, And More Worry" no more. The "board of directors" photograph has been relocated to its proper place on the "Justice Era" time line.