This road in Lincolnshire has been dubbed one of the most dangerous in the UK
An entire family were killed there in 2013 and it has recently taken the lives of others too
Holly O'Flinn
A road where a number of serious and fatal crashes have taken place has been dubbed one of the most dangerous roads in the UK.
The A18 - from its junction with the A46 near Laceby and its junction with the A16 near Ludborough in East Lindsey - was named in the top ten.
The notoriously dangerous 15km stretch of road has recently seen the death of motorcyclist Alan Critchley.
Police have since called for the junction to be modified after he suffered fatal injuries between Barton Street and Lincoln Gate in Ludborough on May 31.
Alan Critchley died after his motorbike collided with a Renault Clio on the A18 at Ludborough
Coroner calls for action to make junction safer after motorcyclist dies in crash
The latest Road Safety Foundation report has found that the A18 is the ninth most deadly road nationwide.
Between 2013 and 2015, there were 11 fatal or serious crashes on the road, including one death, a stat that represents a drop of six between 2011 and 2013.
In February, Daniel Thomas, 31, was driving on the wrong side of the A18 Barton Street, near Ludborough, north of Louth, in his Seat Leon car when it hit an Iveco HGV.
A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Thomas died from “catastrophic injuries” when the Seat somersaulted following the head-on impact with the lorry.
An inquest heard he had sent text messages to his wife Nikki Thomas telling her he had taken a significant quantity of tablets and he “might as well speed it up”.
In July this year, a lorry crashed into a tree and trapped the driver between Lincoln Gate and Barton Street in Ludborough.
Tragically, five members of the same family, the Cockburns, died on the A18 when their car was involved in a collision on the road in 2013.
Map of dangerous roads
But there are signs that the A18 may be getting safer.
In September 2015 and referring to stats from 2011 and 2013, the Road Safety Foundation listed the A18 as the number one most dangerous road in the country.
'Fantastic' dad of three killed in head-on lorry crash was not wearing a seatbelt
Back then, the single carriageway road was given a risk rating of 209.5, which shows the number of fatal and serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres travelled on the road between 2011-13.
But this new report gives the A18 a risk rating 128.8, which indicates that the road is getting safer over time.
The Road Safety Foundation's new stats show how 55 per cent of crashes on the A18 between 2013-15 involved motorcyclists, while none involved pedestrians or cyclists.
Just over half of the serious crashes happened at junctions, nine per cent were head-on collisions and 27 per cent happened on run-offs.
Nationally, the number of people killed on Britain’s roads increased by four per cent, from 1,730 in 2015 to 1,792 in 2016, the highest annual total since 2011.
An average of 71 people were killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads every day, and 19 per cent of local authority roads by length are high risk or medium-high risk, and as such have "unacceptably high levels of risk".
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The Washington Times, "After the Terrorist Attack: Our Next Test Will Be Drawing Lines of Battle."
An op-ed on the U.S. response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and how the future may play out for the U.S. and its adversaries for The Washington Times.
AUTHOR: Henry Sokolski
After the Terrorist Attack-Our Next Test Will Be Drawing Lines of Batt.... (PDF) 15.38 KB
After the Terrorist Attack
Our next test will be drawing lines of battle
Make no mistake about it. As we prepare to wage war against Osama bin Laden, the next test of U.S. and allied security will not come from terrorism or terrorists, but from other nations. Indeed, Russian, Chinese and terrorists states' reticence to support fully our fight against terrorism today gives us fair warning of what's in store -- an increasing alignment of nations for and against the promotion of liberal democracy. Full recognition of this point requires that we not only be more circumspect about what we do today, but also much bolder and more ambitious in our preparations for the challenge ahead.
In this and in the current fight, a democratic India has no problem offering temporary military staging bases to American special forces, but a dictatorial Pakistan does. NATO and allied nations, meanwhile, as well as the democracies of Latin America, can all back U.S. military action and differ only over what kind of military or economic contribution each should make in support. Russia and China, on the other hand, are more niggardly, publicly denigrating the need to lend any specific assistance. Finally, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, North Korea, Libya, all terrorist states -- those most worried about being hit -- are insistent in denying any responsibility.
Battle lines, in short, are being drawn. States anxious to preserve or promote liberal self-rule understand that cowardly acts of violence against the best of them are attacks against them all. Those states that have misgivings about limited, liberal self-government, meanwhile, are much more willing to wait and see, or to play both sides against the other. Finally, Stalinistic and dictatorial states, along with countries that have succumbed or are succumbing to the tyrannical religious distortions of Islamic radicalism, will hope and work for the ruin of liberal democracies.
This clearly is not the post-Cold War world of the last decade, a period in which the democratic wave seemed inevitable. Back then, the United States believed that all that was necessary to complement liberal trends was international investment and occasional, limited military operations against the world's Haitis, Serbias and Sudans. Now, getting to the end of history seems more arduous. Certainly, whichever way Russia or China go -- democratic or despotic -- can no longer be taken for granted. Nor can the United States continue to deal with tyrannical terrorist states, such as North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, as though they were already contained and developing in our direction. In each case, regime
change for the better is something United States and allied policies now must consciously pursue.
In fact, America cannot hope to wage, much less win, its current war against terrorism unless it is willing to defeat the purposes of the terrorists it is fighting. And these aims are clear: to defeat the world's leading liberal democracy in hopes of promoting an anti-liberal alternative to it. The specific, limited alternative Osama bin Laden and his sympathizers are promoting, of course, is Islamic radicalism for the Middle East. Yet, if we let bin Laden succeed in achieving this, the other enemies of liberal democracy will pile on with additional alternatives of their own. And, make no mistake, the key actors in this rivalry will not be sects but nations, which given our lax past efforts to stem weapons proliferation, will increasingly be armed with strategic warheads and long-range missiles.
Although this new competition will be daunting, it has direct bearing on how we should approach our crisis today. Specifically, we need to make clear that our current battle is not against terrorism per se, but against terrorists and their state supporters, whose aim is to undermine liberal democratic self-rule. Our actions against such terrorism must be tailored to gain the support of democratic and democratic-leaning nations rather than that of illiberal states, like Iran and China, who are unlikely to champion liberal democracy, and will almost certainly encourage us to compromise our principles to keep them on board.
We must reduce the risks of not prevailing against future state supporters of terrorism by redoubling our efforts against strategic weapons proliferation. This not only means getting much more serious about nonproliferation, but also deploying defenses against missiles, which, in these states' hands, might otherwise keep us from acting against them. We should employ public diplomacy now to isolate illiberal sects and states that favor using terror against us or their own people, in order to gain as much advantage as we can for the larger struggle ahead.
Finally, we should keep our military as far from domestic law-enforcement tasks as possible, and be vigilant against domestic authorities violating our essential civil liberties, lest we fail the next test before we pass the first.


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MISD Board Names Lone Finalist for Superintendent
Dr. Angelica Ramsey
January 14, 2021 — The Midland ISD Board of Trustees has named Dr. Angelica Ramsey as their lone finalist to be the district’s next superintendent.
The announcement came Thursday after the board completed its second round of interviews and voted unanimously to name Ramsey.
“We are very excited by what Dr. Ramsey can bring to our district, and we look forward to her joining in our mission to ensure all students are prepared and ready for college or career,” said Rick Davis, Board President.
After receiving interest from numerous candidates, the board narrowed the pool to five, then to three. From there, the board determined Ramsey was the best choice to the lead the district.
“All board members are thoroughly impressed with Dr. Ramsey’s track record of academic improvement, and we feel she will be a great fit not only in our district, but in the Midland community,” Davis said.
Dr. Ramsey is currently the Superintendent of Schools for Pleasant Valley School District in Camarillo, CA. Ramsey has deep ties to Texas: the UTEP graduate spent a decade with Socorro ISD in El Paso.
Dr. Ramsey holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of the Pacific, a Master’s Degree from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Liberty University. Prior to her Superintendency, Ramsey held positions as an Assistant Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer, High School Principal, Assistant Principal, and Teacher.
“I am excited and honored to be joining the Midland ISD team,” said Dr. Ramsey. “I look forward to meeting with and learning from the Board, our students, teachers, staff, and the entire community as we work to build a new era of excellence,” she added.
The board will wait a period of 21 days before voting on the hire. A date has not been set for the vote.
Medical Center Hospital to Fly Texas Flag at Half-Staff in Honor of Employee Who Died of COVID-19 Complications
ODESSA, TEXAS – Medical Center Hospital is flying the Texas Flag at half-staff on
Thursday, January 14, in honor of the MCH employee who died of COVID-19 earlier this
month. Joe Guerra, an EKG Tech who had worked for MCH for more than 32-and-a-half
years, died on January 3 from COVID-19 complications.
“Joe was one of those familiar faces that was synonymous with Medical Center
Hospital,” said Russell Tippin, MCHS President & CEO. “Everyone that worked with him
can speak to how Joe made MCH a better place. He was a hard-working man that loved
his family, his job and his coworkers. This tribute is only but a small fraction of the
recognition Joe deserves for a life dedicated to helping others.”
Ector County Utility District Boil Water Notice JANUARY 14, 2021
Due to a main break causing a loss of system pressure, the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality has required the Ector County Utility District/PWS ID# 0680235
public water system to notify all customers within the area indicated on the attached
map to boil their water prior to consumption (e.g., washing hands/face, brushing teeth,
drinking, etc). Children, seniors, and persons with weakened immune systems are
particularly vulnerable to harmful bacteria, and all customers should follow these
directions).
To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking,
cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use for drinking water or
human consumption purposes. The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil
and then boiled for two minutes.
In lieu of boiling, individuals may purchase bottled water or obtain water from some
other suitable source for drinking water or human consumption purposes.
When it is no longer necessary to boil the water, the public water system officials will
notify customers that the water is safe for drinking water or human consumption
Once the boil water notice is no longer in effect, the public water system will issue a
notice to customers that rescinds the boil water notice in a manner similar to this
Repairs have been completed.
Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially
those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in
apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this
notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.
If you have questions concerning this matter, you may contact ECUD at 432-381-5525,
1039 N. Moss Ave., Odessa, Texas.
STREET CLOSURE
17th Street between Dixie and Walnut will be closed Monday (1/18/2021) through Friday (1/21/2021)
due to the removal and replacement of an existing water main line.
Joyner Brings Passion for Success to School Board Trustee Says All Students Should Be Confident They’ll Be Ready for College,Career
Katie Joyner
January 14, 2021 — For newly elected Katie Joyner, being a member of the Midland ISD Board of Trustees means working to build students’ confidence in their futures.
“Our children deserve schools that are safe and offer amazing academics and equal opportunities for success,” Joyner said. “All MISD alumni should be confident they’ll be ready for their next steps in life because they know they received a great education.”
The district is individually highlighting school board members throughout January as part of School Board Recognition Month, which recognizes the crucial role an elected board of trustees plays in our communities and schools.
Joyner is a Midland native and graduated from Midland High School in 2000, where she was part of the tennis team and yearbook staff. She received her Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003, after which she headed west to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
In Los Angeles, Joyner served as a Drama Development Coordinator for NBC Universal’s Drama Development department, which is focused on creating new slates of fall television shows. She also spent time working on the reality competition show “America’s Next Top Model” for the CW Network. Joyner later worked in Austin for advertising agency T3 and in project management for Veritas 321 Energy Partners in Midland until before starting her family in 2010. She is now a philanthropist and has taught yoga for more than 10 years.
Joyner is actively involved in the community. She is a member of First Presbyterian Church, where she has been a vacation bible study chairwoman. She is president of the Midland Memorial Hospital Forum Board and previously served on the Midland YMCA board. Joyner also has been heavily involved with Bynum School, including service as co-chair for the school’s Smash Tennis Tournament.
Joining the MISD school board is an extension of her passion for the Midland community and its children. “We have to provide children the opportunity to succeed in their pursuit of college, career or military service after graduation,” she said.
Joyner and her husband, Dave, are UT-Austin Texas Exes. They have two daughters: Fay and Willa. Katie’s parents, Bill and Kathy Wallace, still reside in Midland.
District 4 generally extends from east Midland to southwest Midland. “My district is unique in that it covers a very wide stretch of the community, and I’m excited to serve such a diverse group of families and campuses,” Joyner said.
Amber Alert Awareness Day
Governor Abbott has declared January 13th as Amber Alert Awareness Day, in remembrance of the 1996 abduction and subsequent murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas. Amber stands for “America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. The purpose of the Amber Alert Program is to locate and bring home missing children.
OPD has partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (missingkids.org) and the Texas Center for the Missing (centerforthemissing.org) to combat Human Trafficking. The Texas DPS app has an entire section dedicated to Human Trafficking Awareness and the NCMEC provides a “Safety Central” app, which also has several “Child Safety” resources.
COVID-19 MIDLAND/ODESSA
Daily COVID Recap for MCH
Total COVID numbers for MCHS, along with the daily COVID in-house census as of 1:45 p.m.
4759 positives
78 COVID patients in-house, 1 PUIs in-house
22 Critical Care Patients, 8 of those in CCU overflow in WSMP
13 COVID patients vented
27 on 4 Central
3 on 9 Central
1 PUI on 9 Central
COVID patient list includes 3 from Focused Care Odessa, 1 from The Parks Odessa, 2 from Andrews, 1 from Blue Springs, MO, 2 from Crane, 1 from Ft. Stockton, 1 from Lamesa, 1 from McCamey, 2 from Midland, 1 from Pecos, 1 from Pittsburg, TX
11,804 negatives
146 pending
16,709 total tested
6 New COVID-19 Related Deaths
Today, Midland County, the City of Midland and Midland Health confirmed Midland County’s 195th, 196th, 197th, 198th, 199th and 200th COVID-19 related death.
The 195th patient, a female in her 80s with underlying health conditions, was being treated at Midland Memorial Hospital. The patient passed away on January 6, 2021.
The 197th patient, a male in his 80s with underlying health conditions, was being treated at Midland Memorial Hospital. The patient passed away on January 11, 2021.
The 198th patient, a male in his 50s, was being treated at Medical Center Hospital. The patient passed away on January 7, 2021.
Trischitti: Education Must Equip Students for Success
John Trischitti
January 12, 2021 — “Public education is the base for students to achieve potentially anything they want in life.” This mission is at the core of John Trischitti III’s purpose as a trustee on the Midland ISD school board.
The district is individually highlighting school board members throughout January as part of School Board Recognition Month. which recognizes the crucial role an elected board of trustees plays in our communities and schools.
Trischitti joined the board in 2019 as the representative for District 5 and is no stranger to public service. He served as Director of the Midland County Public Libraries from 2011 to 2019 and he spearheaded the establishment of the popular Centennial branch during his tenure. He is currently the Executive Director of the Midland Development Corp., an organization that creates opportunities for businesses and individuals in Midland through economic development activities, outreach, education and support.
Trischitti credits education for setting his course for success after high school and being community-minded. “I am an example of the power that education can have on a life,” he said, adding that part of his work as a trustee is to find solutions to overcome the hurdles families might face that can stifle student growth. “We need to find tools that break the difficult social and economic cycles we sometimes find ourselves in,” he said. “We need to provide the best possible education that equips students for success.”
A Lubbock native, Trischitti graduated from Coronado High School. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wayland Baptist University in 2000 and received his Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas in 2009.
Trischitti is heavily involved in serving Midland and the state. He served on the Texas Library Association Bluebonnet Award selection committee and was a member of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s Library Systems Act Board. He also serves on the city of Midland Airport Board and on the Basin PBS Board of Directors.
Trischitti is a former Texas Librarian of the Year and is a past receipt of the Rosalind Redfern Library Benefactor Award and Midland 20 under 40. He also is a TED Talk presenter on the social impacts of illiteracy and is a frequent speaker and program presenter across the state on children’s literature and best practices on management and leadership.
Trischitti attends Golf Course Road Church of Christ. He has five children: Jay, Olivia, Dean, Charlotte and Paul — all of whom attend MISD schools.
DRB MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS DIGITAL NEWS(011321)-ODESSA PD INVESTIGATING THEFTS AT KENT KWIK January 14, 2021
DRB MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS DIGITAL NEWS(011321)-INTERVIEW WITH JENNY CUDD/PART-2-FINAL January 13, 2021
DRB MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS DIGITAL NEWS(011121A)-ODESSA POLICE INVESTIGATING CELL PHONE THEFT January 12, 2021
DRB MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS DIGITAL NEWS(011121)-INTERVIEW WITH JENNY CUDD/PART-1 January 12, 2021
DRB MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS DIGITAL NEWS(010621B)-ODESSA POLICE INVESTIGATING THEFT AT GRANT DELUXE INN January 7, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVSZGgBjv4w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF5YH_eLy1Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eIqCoJ-W6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7xRckDaKn0&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riiGvLPZbio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avQKPELOiqs
LOS GRANDES DEL DESIERTO-“AMIGA”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJzHceHtZgA
MIDLAND COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gucM47iQDcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PRSVCesvn0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO7Dd0V6c3E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i04ML0r_CGI


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WIN A COOLIBAR RAFFIA BEADED BEACH HAT
Luxury Cayman Villas is proud to announce the launch of Point of View villa in South Sound, Grand Cayman
Luxury Cayman Villas' portfolio is growing with the addition of Point of View, a luxurious oceanfront villa that will be available this summer 2016 for vacation rentals. Located in the tranquil South Sound, Point of View has been fully renovated and...
Kirk Freeport opens new stores
Earlier this year Kirk Freeport opened two new stores in Grand Cayman: the island’s first Breitling Boutique in George Town and a luxury boutique at The Ritz-Carlton which features an official Rolex shop-in-shop. To celebrate the opening of each lo...
Cayman Distributor's HUB provides online connection to Cayman's social scene
Get direct finger on the pulse details of Cayman's Social scene at facebook.com/thehubcayman. Your one-stop-shop for all information on the hottest parties and DJ events, drinks specials, the perfect serve and much more! There is always something g...
Mise en Place entertaining Cayman for over 10 years
Offering catering for private parties, weddings, corporate events and galas. They also provide private chef services for dinner for 2 to 20 guests, so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy your party while they take the guesswork out of the evening. For...
Design Cayman has a busy year ahead
With exciting projects on the drawing board and under construction, from innovative commercial fit-outs to modern family and contemporary luxury ocean front estates Design Cayman has a busy year ahead. They are proud to announce their design for Caym...
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Mr. Jamaica: Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart
Periwinkle: There’s No Place Like Home, Cayman Islands
La Rosa Náutica, Cayman Islands
Bahia & Arvia, A New Lifestyle – Cayman Islands


Share this Story: Ontario Special Investigations Unit investigating the incident
Ontario Special Investigations Unit investigating the incident
Apr 20, 2017 • April 20, 2017 • 1 minute read
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after a police dog bit a suspect during an arrest in Strathroy Thursday.
Middlesex County OPP responded to a report of a theft in progress on Centre Road at 2:20 a.m.
Officers located a 30-year-old man in a nearby field about 4 a.m., the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said.
A police dog bit the man during the arrest. The man was taken to hospital for treatment, the SIU said.
A Sarnia man is charged with break and enter and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
The SIU has assigned three investigators and one forensic investigator to probe the case.
The watchdog is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact the at lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. Video evidence can be uploaded at www.siu.on.ca.
Established in 1990, the SIU investigates cases of civilian death or serious injury involving police and allegations of sexual assault against officers. The agency has the power to lay criminal charges.
Ontario Special Investigations Unit investigating the incident Back to video


Littler Global Guide - United Kingdom - Q4 2019
Leaked Legal Advice Protected Under Privilege, Court of Appeal Holds
Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency
Author: Sophie Vanhegan, Partner
On October 22, 2019, the UK Court of Appeal held that a leaked email, in which in-house counsel told a line manager that the company could use a planned reorganization to dismiss someone with a live grievance, was covered by legal advice privilege and could not be relied upon by the claimant in his disability discrimination and victimization claim. The Court of Appeal held that the email contained advice which employment lawyers give day in and day out where an employer wishes to consider an underperforming employee for redundancy selection. This overturned the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal that this was not privileged because it was advice to act in an underhanded or iniquitous way. This decision is welcome news to in-house and private practice lawyers alike in that it reinforces the principle that the legal advice privilege is not something that can be easily circumvented.
Hidden Reason for Dismissal Can Be Attributed to Employer, Even if Decision Maker Was Unaware of It, Supreme Court Holds
Author: Darren Isaacs, Partner and Deborah Margolis, Associate
On November 27, 2019, the Supreme Court held in a whistleblowing claim that the principal reason for dismissal was a hidden reason that had been concealed from the person who made the decision to dismiss, not the engineered reason of the employee’s line manager (which had been the ostensible reason for the decision-maker’s decision). The employee was therefore dismissed for the hidden reason (which was that the employee had made a protected whistleblowing disclosure under UK law), an automatically unfair reason for dismissal.
Employees Can Claim Third-Party Discrimination Only in Limited Circumstances
Author: Darren Isaacs, Partner and Mark Callaghan, Associate
On October 18, 2019, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) provided useful clarity on the circumstances in which an employee may bring a discrimination claim against their employer for the discriminatory acts of third parties. In this case, the employee, a mental health nurse from a minority ethnic background, was racially assaulted by a patient in circumstances where the employer had failed to prevent and/or protect him against such harassment. The EAT confirmed that an employer will be liable for third-party harassment where the employer has acted (or failed to act) because of the employee’s protected characteristic (and not just failed to act for a nonprotected reason). The employee’s discrimination claim against his employer here failed because the employer’s failings were not themselves connected to the employee’s ethnic background.
Christian Doctor’s Anti-Transgender Views Not Protected, Employment Tribunal Holds
Author: Caroline Baker, Partner
On October 2, 2019, an Employment Tribunal found that a doctor engaged to carry out health assessments for the government’s Department for Work and Pensions was not discriminated against on the grounds of religion or belief by being subjected to disciplinary action for refusing to address transgender patients by their chosen pronoun. While the doctor’s Christianity is protected under the discrimination law, the Tribunal held that the doctor's particular beliefs that God only created men and women and that a person could not choose their gender, and his lack of belief in and conscientious objection to “transgenderism” were views incompatible with human dignity which conflicted with the fundamental rights of others. As a result, such views were not protected religious or philosophical beliefs under UK discrimination law.
Employment Appeal Tribunal: Validity of Defense to Equal Pay Claim
Author: Raoul Parekh, Partner
On October 11, 2019, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that an employer was entitled to rely on a defense that a difference in pay between a female HR director and the rest of the male executive team was justified until a further decision (or failure to decide) on the female employee’s pay occurred. The initial pay differential was justified by the female employee’s lower experience and reduced importance to the business. The first instance tribunal did not have sufficient evidence to conclude that the justification for the pay discrepancy had expired. Employers will welcome the decision as clarifying that the defense to an equal pay claim remains valid until a discriminatory decision is made (or omitted to be made).


Personal Protective Equipment for those who protect us!
Morning Pride Pro Fit Pant NFPA
Morning Pride /Honeywell
36 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 36 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 36 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 36 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 36 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 36 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 38 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 38 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 38 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 38 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 38 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 38 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 40 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 40 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 40 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 40 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 40 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 40 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 42 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 42 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 42 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 42 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 42 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 42 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 44 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 44 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 44 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 44 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 44 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 44 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 46 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 46 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 46 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 46 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 46 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 46 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 48 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 48 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 48 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 48 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 48 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 48 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 50 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 50 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 50 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 50 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 50 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 50 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 52 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 52 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 52 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 52 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 52 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 52 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 54 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 54 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 54 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 54 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 54 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 54 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD 56 / 26 - $1,500.00 USD 56 / 28 - $1,500.00 USD 56 / 30 - $1,500.00 USD 56 / 32 - $1,500.00 USD 56 / 34 - $1,500.00 USD 56 / 36 - $1,500.00 USD
The new Morning Pride® TAILS™ retain the classic features and benefits of the original that you probably wear, but have been re-engineered to provide a better fit, new features, and allow more range of motion and protection.
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Home History A 46,000-year-old bird carcass was found in Siberia
A 46,000-year-old bird carcass was found in Siberia
Image Collected.
Scientists have recently found the body of a 46,000-year-old Horned lark. Because it has been buried under a pile of Siberian snow, the bird’s body has not been so popular for so many years. On the contrary, it has been preserved in such a way that zoologists have been able to recover the bird’s genetic theory from the carcass.
From this it is known that the corpse of this horned lark is the mixed ancestor of the Hund lark, which roams in the Siberian tundra and the steppe meadows of Mongolia today. That’s what Nicholas Dasex, a researcher in the zoology department at Stockholm University in Sweden, said.
Referring to the recent hand lark carcasses, the scientists wrote that hairy mammoths and hairy rhinos once roamed the grasslands of Europe and northern Asia during the last ice age. According to the researchers, this region of Siberia was actually a combination of steppe, tundra, and coniferous forests.
By the end of the last ice age, the region was divided into three parts — tundra in the north, taiga in the middle, and steppe grassland in the south.
From the carcasses of these birds, they can understand how the Horned Lark evolved, scientists think.
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Marquette center Luke Fischer at full strength for team’s European trip
By Raphielle JohnsonAug 8, 2015, 7:00 PM EDT
With one of the nation’s top recruiting classes joining the program this summer, Marquette is a team many believe to be capable of turning things around after a tough 2014-15 campaign. But one of Steve Wojciechowski’s most important players is 7-footer Luke Fischer, who was a key contributor for the Golden Eagles once he became eligible to play following his transfer from Indiana.
Fischer played last season while dealing with a left shoulder that was less than 100 percent, averaging 11.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 24 contests. With the issue having been addressed via offseason surgery, Fischer is back to full strength ahead of the team’s upcoming trip to Italy and Switzerland as noted by the Associated Press earlier this week.
(Henry) Ellenson is fully recovered after breaking his left hand in the Wisconsin high school basketball playoffs in March. He is ready to play overseas, as is junior center Luke Fischer, who is recovered from left shoulder surgery.
“I’m 100 percent,” Fischer said. “No more worries about that. I was always ahead of schedule, which was fantastic. Rehab went by real quick. I never had any worries about it, any issues with it. We’re looking great right now.”
These trips can be incredibly valuable for teams preparing for the upcoming season, especially one as young as Marquette will be in 2015-16. The Golden Eagles don’t have a scholarship senior on the roster, and they’ll have to account for the loss of their leading scorer in guard Matt Carlino as well.
Marquette won’t lack for talent, with players such as Fischer, guard Duane Wilson and freshman forward Henry Ellenson leading the way. But for a group with so many newcomers, having the extra time (in games and practices) to strengthen their chemistry will help them a great deal. Getting to visit two countries many of them have never been to isn’t a bad way to do so either.


Mielke’s senate write-in campaign raises $10,000
Posted on October 7, 2020 by Calley Hair
Remember last month, when we reported that Tom Mielke was eyeing a run for state senate?
Well, in a shocking twist, Tom Mielke is running for state senate.
The Republican launched a write-in campaign in the 18th Legislative District, despite the fact that the 18th is already represented by an incumbent Republican senator.
According to the Public Disclosure Commission, Mielke formally filed his campaign on Sept. 10 and has since raised $10,882.67. His top contributors include himself ($2,882.67), David and Donna Madore ($1,000 each), Ken and Sherrilyn Fisher ($1,000 each), Kenneth and Claudia Peterson ($1,000 each) and Clyde Holland ($1,000).
These are friends in high places — David Madore is a former (and controversial) Clark County councilor and founder of Clark County News. Ken Fisher is the embattled billionaire chairman of Fisher Investments, the single largest private employer in Clark County. Ken Peterson is the wealthy Vancouver investor behind Columbia Ventures Corporation. Clyde Holland is the CEO of Holland Partner Group, the developer building Block 10 and a fourth Vancouvercenter tower downtown.
Mielke previously served four terms as a state representative in the 18th District. After that, he spent two terms as a Clark County councilor before retiring in 2016.
He’s challenging Sen. Ann Rivers, the two-term incumbent.
In a campaign announcement reported by Clark County Today, Mielke said he’s watched Rivers with “complete dismay”:
“In everything from violating her promise to oppose the largest gas tax and tab fee increases in this state’s history, to selling us out on the McCleary budget and then blaming our County Assessor when most of our property taxes exploded, to leading the charge to restart the failed Columbia River Crossing (CRC) with tolls instead of a 3rd crossing, she has failed us.”
For what it’s worth, Rivers is a Republican. She was a Republican when she was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2010 and served as the minority party whip, she was a Republican when she issued the formal Republican response to then-Gov. Christine Gregoire’s State of the State address, she was a Republican when she was elected senator of the 18th District in 2012, and she was a Republican when she was reelected in 2016.
The Clark County Republican Party, however, disagrees. During the party’s July 18 meeting, precinct committee officers formally moved to endorse Rivers’ earlier GOP challenger — John Ley, who’s since been eliminated in the primary election — despite a rule in the CCRP’s bylaws that the group can’t endorse one Republican over another.
According to the minutes from that July meeting, the PCO’s got around that particular rule on the basis that “Ann Rivers does not meet the standards for being a republican.”
It’s unclear how two Republican candidates will impact the outcome of the Nov. 3 election. We can, however, look at the August primary: Ley and Rivers split the Republican vote, and the top ballot-earner was Democrat Rick Bell.
Mielke told me Friday that he’s hoping for a similar outcome. He either wants to win outright, or split the vote and send Bell to Olympia in place of Rivers.
“At least we know how a Democrat votes. A moderate Democrat will do a better job than Ann Rivers,” Mielke asserted.
2020 election clark county republican party State Sen. Ann Rivers Tom Mielke


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Tag Archives: Sean McAllister
Producer Elhum Shakerifar: “How Are We Going to Challenge the Industry’s In-Built Elitism?”
July 3, 2019 Interviewawards, distribution, documentaries, elhum shakerifar, independent production, interviews, producer, Sean McAllister, shubbak, womencarolnahra
Over the last decade producer Elhum Shakerifar has established herself as a vital voice in the world of international documentary, working with a range of directors on highly acclaimed films, including A Syrian Love Story and Almost Heaven. She has won numerous awards including the 2016 BFI Vision award and the 2017 Women in Film & TV’s BBC Factual Award; she was also named one of Screen International’s 2018 #Brit50 Producers on the Rise. As she explains below, Elhum is an outspoken advocate of the need to challenge mainstream narrative and to bring quieter voices to the big screen. I sent Elhum a number of questions about her work – her written answers are printed here in full.
Can you tell me a bit about how you came to be a documentary producer?
I have been making films for about 10 years and came to filmmaking from an unusual journey through Persian literature, photography, anthropology and many years working in a community centre with unaccompanied minors (young refugees who are separated from their families).
The first film I produced was about a long distance runner from the Western Sahara – The Runner (2015) by Saeed Taji Farouky. I actually became involved in the film out of sheer surprise that I didn’t know anything about The Western Sahara, a territory larger than the United Kingdom. It is the last colony in Africa, under Moroccan occupation since 1975. I thought that making a film about a territory most people have never heard of – by design – would be the most challenging part of the equation. But I was wrong – it was showing the finished film that was a bigger problem. We were told informally several times that the film “couldn’t possibly be screened”, some screenings were complicated by complaints from the Moroccan embassy, etc. This first experience already underlined that the biggest challenge is being seen and being understood on your own terms – whether as filmmakers from diverse backgrounds, or filmmakers making work that challenges the mainstream understanding of things, which is dictated by the loudest voices.
Making The Runner was in many ways my baptism of fire. I thought that things should be simpler after all the learning of that experience – how wrong I was! I have since produced films all over the world – in Yemen, in Nepal, in Syria, in Japan, in the UK. They each have their distinct worlds, issues and surprises. The one thing that unites all of my work, I believe, is that I am interested in the quieter voice, the untold side of the story. And sadly, it has not become easier to do that work – which really says something about the world we live in.
How do you decide to take on a project? What do you look for in stories? Can you give some examples?
I only work on films that mean something to me – there needs to be a strong personal reason and drive to getting involved in a film, because that determination will be key in carrying you through from conception to the finish line, from the good days to the bad. The creative process is a vulnerable one, and it is important to know why you are engaging in that space, even if just for yourself.
I would say that I’m a director’s producer – I work with people whose vision I understand, admire and want to bring to fruition. Shared vision and teamwork enables the strongest films to be made – teams make films. And so it is also important to work with people who you can have a cup of tea or an ice cream with and really talk things through, talk things out.
For example, Sean McAllister, who I have now made three films with, had been filming in Syria for some time when we first met. The footage he showed me was unlike anything I had seen coming out of the country, and his relationship with the family was intense, direct, and also complicated – just like human relationships really are. I respected this directness and honesty, and it is something that I value in our relationship as collaborators as well.
How has the documentary industry changed over the years you have been working? Is it easier or more difficult to get your films made? How has distribution changed?
I would say that reality TV and celebrity documentary biopics have all but destroyed the mainstream understanding of documentary, and have certainly changed the dynamic of making non-fiction. The prominence of these films have also made variety in documentary filmmaking styles difficult – the space for creativity, to stray from format and ‘known’ values much more challenging. The space for newer voices to emerge on their own terms is essentially impossible without external support (read: trust fund) to enable years of unpaid and never adequately funded work.
The documentaries I have made to date have all been fairly unknown entities at the start of the process. I enjoy the layered space of the documentary journey, rather than contrived formats where you know what you’re going to do and say from the beginning. In the absence of partners who will get involved early and share a creative risk with you, to really develop documentary work, I would say that no: things are not getting easier.
I feel that we have lost the ability to respect documentary’s value outside of box office and easy to quantify audience numbers – but film is an art form, should it be measured only in these terms?
Finally, I feel that we have lost the ability to respect documentary’s value outside of box office and easy to quantify audience numbers – but film is an art form, should it be measured only in these terms? To my mind, the art of non-fiction filmmaking is in holding a mirror up to the world. There is undeniable value in longitudinal, artistic, unexpected, creative, divergent and diverse approaches. We must see things from different perspectives to better understand the world, but also to challenge ourselves. If we valued the variety of mirrors, of voices and the range that non-fiction can represent – we would be living in a very different world today.
What are the biggest challenges for the films you produce? Do women face particular challenges?
There is a vulnerability to making films that is seldom talked about, and that makes every film into a distinct struggle – creatively and financially. As an independent producer, it is a challenge to take the risk of jumping into a film, time and again – in knowledge that you will be carrying that risk alone for a long time before anyone else shoulders it with you.
My biggest challenge right now is understanding how we are going to challenge the industry’s in-built elitism. How can I keep – ethically, and realistically – producing so called ‘diverse’ filmmakers, in particular people who do not come from an affluent background? How can we possibly expect people with no fall back to take on the level of risk and uncertainty that a documentary requires? How can I ensure that people don’t feel more disempowered by the status quo, when it is exactly these voices that I want to hear? There is some good work being done out there, but I have been struggling with this question a lot recently – I don’t need any more training, accolades or schemes – I need cash funding to pay highly competent people properly.
Let’s not pretend that we don’t live in a patriarchal society, and that the film industry isn’t a sexist and elitist space.
And yes – women face particular challenges, most importantly to my mind, of not being taken seriously. When I first started working in the industry, people always assumed “Elhum” was a man’s name– sometimes to the point of telling me “no, I’m waiting for someone else”. I have been asked on numerous occasions whether I would like for a male colleague to corroborate my decision. I have been asked by Sales Agents whether I am dating filmmakers whose work I produce. I am currently developing work with a male and female co-directing team – nine times out of ten, people pivot to talk to the man to ask questions about the film, regardless of who had been speaking in the first place. The inability to dissociate women’s gender from their work is a burden placed on women by others. There is great work being done and some good spokespeople but let’s not pretend that we don’t live in a patriarchal society, and that the film industry isn’t a sexist and elitist space.
Can you discuss one of the projects you are most proud of, and why?
I am proud of all the films I have produced – the (often long) journeys of making them really are woven into my life, and I sometimes revisit them like I might old photo albums. The people in the films we’ve made become like distant relatives – you share some sort of genetic information and oscillate in and out of contact depending on the order of the world.
A good recent example, however, would be Island by Steven Eastwood. Island follows four individuals to the end of their lives, including one, Alan, who you see breathing until he doesn’t breathe anymore. When I first met Steven, I was already juggling quite a lot and certainly wasn’t planning of getting involved in another film, but the visceral connection I had to his idea of giving an image to death – a reality that we all too often turn away from – was something I had to listen to. I truly believe Island to be a film of distinct, bold beauty. I have seen it countless times, but it still mesmerises me, as if it had its own magnetic field. I am incredibly proud of having produced it, and I am moved every time it is screened. I am proud to know that it is a film that has challenged and helped many people reflect on death and dying – we still receive emails and messages to this effect, particularly from people as they prepare to say goodbye to their loved one, or reflect on the death of someone close. Challenging the silence around death was important to me on a personal level, but I am also proud of the relationships we build with the hospice where the film was shot (Mountbatten, on the Isle of Wight), with the families of the beautiful individuals in the film. We are currently developing pilot toolkits for the film to be used for training NHS junior doctors and nurses – this was a tangential outcome, but really underlines how far a film can travel when a story is told with intent.
How many projects do you have on the go at the moment, and what work of yours can we look forward to seeing soon?
Making creative documentaries is an all encompassing, all consuming reality. Whilst you might develop several ideas at once, I have learnt (the hard way!) that it’s too much to be involved in full production of too many films at once. You never known how long a film might take – A Syrian Love Story ended up being made over six years; Even When I Fall over seven. And once the film is finished – its festival journey, distribution, future…the full span of a film’s life is long. When you make documentaries, you’re also working with real human beings, whose life you have depicted in a moment in time, but the relationship exists far beyond the film. Does your responsibility to that representation ever end?
At the moment, I am developing a few exciting projects with emerging directors Ana Naomi de Sousa and Omar El-Khairy, as well as working on new ideas with Steven Eastwood, and Sean McAllister, which I look forward to sharing more information about in due course. I am currently putting finishing touches on a film called Ayouni by Yasmin Fedda, which reflects on forcible disappearance in Syria through the prism of families searching for their loved ones. We began making the film five years ago, after Father Paolo, the subject of a film we were making at the time, was forcibly disappeared in Raqqa. We still have no concrete or reliable information of Paolo’s fate, though the Italian press have recently been reporting on new evidence that would suggest he was killed shortly after he was disappeared. The film depicts his sister Machi’s search for him, alongside that of Noura Ghazi, lawyer and wife of Syrian Creative Commons developer and hacker Bassel Safadi, who disappeared in 2014.
On the curation side, this July will see the return of Shubbak, the festival of contemporary Arab culture, for which I have once again curated the film programme at the Barbican (it runs 3-7th July) around the thematic of generational change in an exciting programme of films from Algeria to Tunisia, and a focus on Arab-British directors, a hyphenated identity that is rarely discussed in these terms, which is in itself quite interesting.
How do you think the industry will change in the next few years?
I don’t know, but one thing I hope for is greater support for producers. Receiving the BFI Vision Award in 2016 was a game-changer for me – it gave me an insight into what working with a secure overhead could be like, it enabled me to develop new work from scratch and so to champion projects that were too malleable and raw to be pitched to funders before being more fully developed. Essentially: to be supported to take risks. It also positioned me amongst my peers – most of whom work with fiction exclusively – which also gave me a lot of insights into the bigger picture, broader industry. The way that I see it, documentary hardly has a place at the table.
I also think that there is a discussion around mental health that needs to be had in relation to both creative processes, and the industry. I found this recent Filmmaker Magazine article “Disclosed: Producers and Therapists on Dealing with the Stress of a Demanding Profession” painfully pertinent, and have seldom seen this addressed in a meaningful way. There are so many complex questions that need to be discussed, that would challenge the reality of this profession as a particularly lonely and complex space. Should independent producers be supported to be more mobile and visible in a dense and competitive international space? When do you pay for someone’s time – taking part in panels, hosting events, imparting wisdom in other ways? Should there be budget lines for therapy worked into complex projects? Shouldn’t the ‘aftercare’ for subjects of complex films be the responsibility of all film partners, and not just the filmmakers? I could go on. Rebecca Day is doing interesting work in this space, having recently set up Film in Mind and offering tailored therapeutic workshops, support and consultancy.
I know you also do an impressive amount of work outside of producing creative documentaries, including film programming, translation and publishing. What underpins all the work that you do, and does your other work inform your doc producing?
I would say that all my work looks to challenge a mainstream narrative. In the film world, I produce, distribute and curate – but I believe that all of these things are in essence a form of storytelling: deciding which films get seen, and how those films are framed. I crossed into distribution space after producing A Syrian Love Story and realising that if nobody inherently saw the ‘value’ of the film, that we would have to create the conditions for it to be understood – our self-devised release strategy enabled a reach of over two million people in the UK in the month of release alone.
Perhaps the film’s framing and visibility was so important to me because I had spent a decade working in a community centre with young refugees – in the years directly following the invasions of Afghanistan and then Iraq. I think that all the different hats and spaces I’ve occupied – from translating Persian poetry, to producing photography (and even once upon a time, a band!) – have contributed to how I understand the world, and to the work I am doing today.
I produce, distribute and curate – but I believe that all of these things are in essence a form of storytelling: deciding which films get seen, and how those films are framed.
I think there is real value in this kind of cross pollination, and don’t believe that everything needs to necessarily follow a certain pattern or format. I remember walking around Paris’s empty streets on a hot August day (I grew up in Paris), wondering what I should do after school. I was drawn to the postcards outside a bookstore – one was a stunning piece of Arabic calligraphy, in brilliant blue. Its meaning was a saying by Lao Tseu “Le parfait voyageur ne sait pas où il va” – meaning, a good traveller doesn’t know where they are headed. That postcard (by an Iraqi calligrapher called Hassan Massoudy) has been up on my wall ever since. I interpreted it then as having the confidence to not always know the exact answers. This doesn’t mean not having plans or goals, but being open to enjoy the journeys that life takes you on, to see the opportunities as they present themselves. Similarly, Rebecca Solnit has written about getting lost in a way that reminds me of the creative process. (Apart from the fact that I have a terrible sense of direction ) I think it says a lot about why I make the films I make.
You can learn more about Elhum’s work on www.hakawati.co.uk. Shubbak’s film programme runs 3-7th July at Barbican – for more info about the line up, and the whole festival, see https://shubbak.co.uk
Docs You Can Watch Right Now!
May 25, 2018 commentary, reviewsadam gee, BBC, BBC Storyville, Grierson, mark craig, Morgan Matthews, Raw, real stories, Sean McAllister, sheffield doc/fest, sue bourne, The Guardian, youtubecarolnahra
One of my guest speakers pointed out the other day that we average 23 minutes a day searching for something to watch. That adds up to seven years of our lives. Gulp. To make it easier on you, assuming you’re reading this cause you love documentaries, here are some films well worth your time:
I recently interviewed Adam Gee about his original commissioning for the Real Stories channel on Youtube. Here are some of my favourite films that the channel has acquired:
One Killer Punch
I found this programme riveting – not surprising perhaps as it comes from the always outstanding Raw TV.
You can also see the below BMX storyline, which was left out of the original programme, but has gone on to gain many viewers, both through Headway and the Guardian:
Battleship Antarctica
This is an outstanding and overlooked little gem by the very talented Morgan Matthews, and a great example of how observational documentary can lead you to unexpected places.
Mum and Me
As evidenced by her multiple appearances in this blog, I’m a big Sue Bourne fan. Here’s a very personal film she made about her mum:
Meet the Mormons
I found this fascinating – great access, great story, ’nuff said.
Other Real Stories films I recommend are The Drug Trial, My Sister the Geisha (which, admittedly, I worked on back in my development days at Stampede), My Fake Baby, and Fighting the Taliban.
There are a couple Docs on Screens-featured films currently on I-Player: Sean McAllister’s A Syrian Love Story, is available for another twelve days and, for another three weeks Mark Craig’s The Last Man on the Moon.
And I highly recommend Jamie Roberts’ Manchester: The Night of the Bomb (exec produced by Dan Reed), as a gripping, moving and insightful account of the tragedy.
In the last few years I’ve guest lectured for the Grierson Trust’s DocLab, where participants as part of the mentoring programme develop doc ideas. One of the best ideas last year was from Ryan Gregory, who went on to win a new Sheffield Doc/Fest pitch. The film is now up on BBC Three. Below is a short version, with the full film available on the IPlayer:
Lots of good docs on All 4 and Netflix as well, but those will have to wait for another post.
If you live in London and want to dip more into great docs, please sign up for the course I will be teaching at the Crouch End Picturehouse. We’ll be talking about British docs for six Wednesday evenings from mid June.
Sean McAllister on his Syrian Labour of Love
June 4, 2015 Interview, previewsBBC Storyville, BFI, Independent documentary, Sean McAllister, sheffield doc/festcarolnahra
British documentary Sean McAllister is known for launching himself into foreign lands, often in the midst of war, and finding unforgettable personal stories. Whether it’s via a piano player in Baghdad, a postal worker in Japan, Sean’s own “minders” in Iraq, these are stories of ordinary people – though always strong characters – struggling to survive in an often unkind world. Sean’s latest film, A Syrian Love Story, is perhaps his best yet. It begins as a very local story about Amer and Raghda, a couple who met as political prisoners in Syria and went on to have four sons together. When Sean is arrested with footage of them in his camara, the family has to abruptly flee to Lebanon, and the film turns into a larger story about lives in exile. Sean continues to follow them as they struggle to find solid footing, not least in their marriage, whilst watching a deteriorating Syria from afar.
Sean and Bob
I spoke to Sean a few days before the film’s world premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and he explained a bit about the circuitous way the film was made:
It’s been a long time in the making. Is this your longest project?
Yes, it’s a labour of love, isn’t it? It didn’t get commissioned. That’s why it went on and on and on. I suppose the interesting side of it is that I’d given up on it actually. Then Matt Scholes, who graduated from Sheffield University film school, read an interview with me about it, and contacted me and said rather than working in the industry I’d like to edit this material of yours. I said I’ve given up on it – it’s not happening. And he said, well let me just have a look at it. And he went off for three months and started cutting it together and got me excited again. So I went off filming again because of him.
That’s amazing. At what point had you given up on it?
I gave up on it so many times. But the most significant point probably was two years ago, when I finished my Yemen film. I took off from Syria and went to Yemen and made The Reluctant Revolutionary. Nick (Fraser, of BBC Storyville) had sort of wanted a film from Syria. I gave him the Yemen film. I think he felt after the Yemen film and post Arab spring that it wasn’t so interesting to have an Arab spring film again…So he then sent me off to Greece to make a film. So I used the development money in Greece to fly off to Lebanon to film them, with the development money from Greece.
Amer and Bob speak to imprisoned Raghda
There’s no Greece film, huh?
There’s no Greece film. But like at the beginning, when I wanted to go to Syria and couldn’t get Syria commissioned, they sent me to Dubai. So I used the Dubai development to go to Damascus. So where there’s a will there’s a way. At the end of the day Nick saw there was nothing happening in Greece, and I was very passionate about this. And by then it wasn’t Arab spring; it was a different story. The arc of it had changed over the course of five years; it became a story of exile. It became something a bit more unusual because of the time frame. And this was all possible because Matt had got on board to construct the material, so we had stuff to show. And then when the BBC came on board, we pitched to the BFI. It’s perfect for a BFI pitch because they need to see what they’re getting into. And we had certain scenes cut, and they were excited.
The family’s story arc changed thanks to you, probably in a more direct way than has previously happened in your films.
I just came back from the border, screening the film with Raghda, and one of my questions (in preparation for post screening Q&As) was did she blame me for life today? Because I got arrested and they were all thrown into exile….And she laughed and said “I cried when you were arrested, I cried for you. The only people I blame in any of this are the regime.”
A Syrian Love Story has its world premiere screenings 7 and 9 June at Sheffield Doc/Fest. It will then be playing at festivals internationally and following a cinema release will be broadcast on BBC Storyville in early 2016.
Films to Watch at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015
May 7, 2015 festival, previewsautobiographical films, brian hill, documentaries, Joshua Oppenheimer, Parvez Sharma, Sean McAllister, sheffield doc/fest, The Hunting Groundcarolnahra
The Sheffield Doc/Fest programme, which I have been helping to write for some weeks now, is live! Here are a few of my favourites, with more to follow:
A Sinner in Mecca
After releasing his film A Jihad for Love, exploring Islam and homosexuality, Parvez Sharma is a marked man, having been publicly labelled an infidel. But Sharma is unwilling to give up the faith that has been overshadowed by extremists. “Oh Prophet: Is there a place in Islam for sinners like me?” he asks – and decides to go in search of the answer. Leaving his husband behind in New York, he journeys to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage, considered the greatest accomplishment within Islam. With filming forbidden and homosexuality punishable by death, he films surreptitiously on his IPhone. He follows thousands of pilgrims through garbage-filled streets, and from the holiest of sites, the Kaaba, through to the air-conditioned Starbucks 700 metres away. Throughout, Sharma weaves a thoughtful meditation on modern Islam that is also a brave and moving autobiographical documentary.
Carol Nahra
The Hunting Ground
Excited at having landed a place at the University of North Carolina, Annie Clark’s elation evaporated when she was raped before classes began. She is far from alone: studies show that 20% of women will suffer a sexual attack at university. In a masterful, wide-ranging investigation, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering present dozens of testimonials detailing how universities of every shape and size collude to cover up sexual crimes on their campuses, creating an ideal “hunting ground” for serial offenders. Fear of damaging their reputation – and enrolment – drives shocking behaviour throughout the universities, with the fraternity and athletic communities covering up the most grievous assaults. For many victims, the institutional denial proves even more painful than the crime itself. But hope is in sight as Annie and other victims begin to fight back through the courts, hitting universities where it hurts – by threatening their revenue streams.
In this multi-award winning companion piece to The Act of Killing, filmed before its release, Joshua Oppenheimer further explores the terrible legacy of the Indonesian genocide fifty years ago, this time through the lens of one family. Adi was born in 1968, two years after his brother Ramli was slaughtered in front of many eyewitnesses. Now an optometrist, Adi lives with his elderly parents and his children. Not only does he live under the ongoing rules of his brother’s killers, he has to listen to his children regurgitate the propaganda which led to the slaughter, and is still being perpetuated in schools. Adi decides to confront some of the murderers, who are surprised when his questions are more intense than Oppenheimer’s. His breaking of the silence leads to some electrifying scenes, in a film where the beauty of the Indonesian landscape belies the bone chilling horrors carried out there in the name of democracy.
A Syrian Love Story
Amer met Ragda, when both were locked up in a Syrian jail for speaking out against an oppressive regime. Twenty years and four sons later, filmmaker Sean McAllister comes into their lives, as Amer is waiting for Ragda, who has once again been imprisoned. When she is unexpectedly released, the family is overjoyed – they need her, particularly three year-old Bob. McAllister and his subjects’ lives become irrevocably intertwined when McAllister himself is jailed, and footage of the family is confiscated. Amer and Ragda must flee overnight to Lebanon, with nothing but their children. McAllister follows their story over five turbulent years, as they struggle to find their feet as refugees; Ragda in particular can’t bear to be away from Syria in its hour of greatest need. As they watch Syria descend into chaos, they struggle to repair their troubled relationship. A powerful, moving story of family and exile from one of the UK’s most talented independent filmmakers.
The Confessions of Thomas Quick
A loner from an early age, Thomas Quick went on to become Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, openly confessing to the gruesome murders of more than 30 people. Held for decades in a psychiatric institute, Quick’s confessions emerged after years working with a group of touchy feely therapists, convinced that the recovery of memories would cure patients of their criminality. In a country with a low crime rate, the nation watched with horror as Quick’s confessions mounted, accounting for many of the country’s unsolved murders. With testimonials from a range of people whose lives have been dominated by this story – including Quick himself – and dramatic reenactment, Brian Hill weaves a stylish noir thriller that works a treat on the big screen. What appears at first to be a tale of unimaginable evil evolves into something much more layered as Hill digs deep into the motivations behind those working closely with Quick.


Climate reality requires starting at home: Weaning from fossil fuels
PlanetPolicy
Timmons Roberts Thursday, October 11, 2018
Fossil fuels have to go. It didn’t take the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to tell us that: we’ve known it for three decades. But the report makes it clearer than ever: Burning billions of tons of coal, oil, and natural gas is creating a thickening blanket over the Earth, holding in its heat and disrupting all kinds of systems, from oceans temperatures and chemistry to storm patterns, creating heat waves, hurricanes, droughts, and floods.
Timmons Roberts
Former Brookings Expert
Twitter timmonsroberts
Yet societal action has been stymied by fossil fuel industry lobbyists (for example, Americans for Prosperity and Crossroads GPS), their campaign contributions, their successful efforts to change society’s thinking on what governments are for, and their orchestrated amplification of any uncertainty in the scientific literature on the need to get off their product. While unsurprising, the scale and intensity of the effort is impressive. Most insidiously, by undermining peoples’ faith in our government to serve us in the addressing of difficult problems like climate change, the fossil fuel industry and its proxies have made our society not just unsustainable, but also ungovernable.
Activists concerned both about climate change writ large and about local impacts of fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and refining are using an array of strategies.
Yet there is one basic step we can all take to weaken this doomsday industry’s death grip on our culture: stop buying their product.
My family has taken a series of steps to slash our fossil fuel consumption. Some were easy and quick, some were not. In just a few years, though, our usage is just a fraction of what it was. We are not absolutists: our short-term goal is not zero fossil fuels, though we’d like to get there eventually. We see the tremendous concentration of energy in liquid fossil fuels as a great back-up system, a fallback for when the renewables need filling in. For example, we’re keeping our oil furnace and water heater for now, and slowly switching to biofuels made from cooking oil. We bought an all-electric plug-in car, and another plug-in hybrid car, which switches over to gas after its battery has drained. These are useful transition technologies to help us across some of the final steps to decarbonization.
Some first steps have propelled us down this road. First, we focused on reducing energy waste in our 100-year-old New England bungalow. With no insulation besides horsehair plaster and stucco, we had a home energy audit and then hired a company that sealed up cracks and drilled holes between each joist and pumped over a hundred bales of cellulose into the walls. The place was transformed, from a drafty and fairly miserable place to a warm and quiet nest. Our energy bills dropped by half.
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Perhaps the easiest and most impactful step we took was to switch over to “green power,” bought through the grid from a local supplier, Green Energy Consumer Alliance. They have a mixed renewables plan, which uses small hydro and biodigesters, in addition to solar and wind facilities in the region. We went for the 100 percent New England Wind option, to see how much it would cost to have each electron we pull off the grid for our home replaced by an electron somewhere in the region released by a wind turbine. With an offshore wind resource right at hand, my state of Rhode Island could create two or three times its energy needs indefinitely, without pollution. Our buying this electricity has only cost about $20 a month extra, and the margin is tax-deductible.
We are buying substantially more electricity now, since we have leased an all-electric Chevy Bolt, and bought a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (a PHEV), the Mitsubishi Outlander. The Bolt is the future car, with a range of 240 miles that allows us to charge it once or twice a week, from the “Level 2” 220-volt charger box I had installed by the driveway. Plugging the car in when you get home takes about 7 seconds, and you never need to stop at gas stations again.
The plug in hybrid gas Outlander feels like it has one foot in the future and one in the past, using the gas engine for backup after the 22-mile electric range is depleted. Getting the benefit of renewables and the efficiency of the electric engine actually takes more work with the PHEV, since you need to plug it in every night. But this small SUV allows us to have a car to tote the collies, the kids, and substantial stuff.
These electric car options have strongly shifted the pathway to near zero carbon economies. Here in New England, transportation is 40 percent of our carbon emissions, and just a few years ago that number seemed nearly impossible to address. Now we have options—cars that are zippier, cheaper to maintain, and delightfully quiet. Even using normal electricity off the grid, the Bolt gets an equivalent of 113 miles per gallon. Using all local wind power, it’s nearly infinite. The Union of Concerned Scientists did an analysis showing that even with the impacts of mining all that battery material and building the car, it pays off in carbon terms in about 9 months.
We’ve also changed how we heat and cool our house. Someday, we’ll electrify our hot water heater with a tankless unit, and switch to an all-electric air- or ground-sourced heat pump. This and solar panels for the roof are fairly major investments, and it would be good to do them at a time when we’re replacing existing infrastructure, like the furnace or the roof (which is getting old). In the meantime, we’re using our efficient wood stove, which I recognize causes some local air quality issues and is not zero carbon.
Two final areas have to be acknowledged and dealt with: our food system’s carbon intensity, and travel—especially by air. On the latter, I have cut way back on travel to conferences and giving invited talks around the world. I travel by train when possible or beam in by Skype. It’s not the same, and I will keep making a few carefully chosen trips, but this year alone Skype has saved me thousands of air miles.
We’re trying to eat less beef and lamb, which are among the worst foods for the amount of emissions they cause, and we eat vegetarian several days a week. Again, we are not absolutists, and believe that self-denial can lead to backsliding and even political backlash. We’re looking for sustainable levels of action, with the aim of leading satisfying lives that sharply reduce our impacts on the climate.
Individual solutions are not enough—we need to help our employers and churches get off fossil fuels, and push governments to level the playing field so that fossil fuels don’t continue to get massive subsidies. The World Bank calculated those costs at hundreds of billions of dollars, with subsidies shoring up a product that incurs huge societal costs by imperiling our health (asthma, cardio-vascular problems directly result from fossil fuel combustion) and damaging our ecosystems (from drought, sea level rise, and heavy metals deposited downwind of highways and power plants). We’re also supporting groups (also here) who are working on policy options like an economy-wide tax on carbon and providing dividends to residents and funding the kinds of efforts described above. We’re participating in efforts to shape our state and region’s energy policy and what goes on the grid to make electricity. Many of these are efforts to restore balance and transparency to our democratic system, which has become dominated by private interests over public ones. The system must change, it can change, and new legislation and strengthening existing programs will be crucial.
I don’t have numbers on this transformation in our household, but between insulation and biofuels and wood heat, our oil consumption is down by over 50 percent. Our gasoline use is down about 80-90 percent with the EV Bolt and the PHEV Mitsubishi. Our electricity is now 100 wind power, so these are not just Emissions Elsewhere Vehicles (EEVs).
Overall, my family has probably slashed our fossil fuel use by about two-thirds, and we hope to attain near zero carbon energy for our household soon. Through personal and collective action, we can wrest our society back from the fossil fuel industry. Based on the input of thousands of scientific studies, the new IPCC report says we need to. And we must.
The findings, interpretations and conclusions posted on Brookings.edu are solely those of the authors and not of The Brookings Institution, its officers, staff, board, funders, or organizations with which they may have a relationship.
More on Climate Change
Disrupting the waste management industry through technology
Sanjay Patnaik and Michael Allegretti
Education Plus Development
How can we implement education for climate action and climate justice?
Christina Kwauk
On December 8th, 2020, David G. Victor participated in a panel hosted by Boston Review and the Harvard Bookstore discussing climate policy and strategies to address the climate crisis.


NEW SHOTS!
California Buildings
Southern California Landscapes
By The Road
The First Hike
On October 9, 2015, I took delivery of my current camera, the Samsung NX500. I decided to take a hike up in Griffith Park to “break it in” and hike a part of the park I’d not been to before. The hike began at the Old Zoo which was all decked out for evening hay rides for Halloween. The Old Zoo was actually the LA zoo’s second location, the first being in east LA’s Lincoln Park before moving to Griffith Park in the 1920’s and moving from this location to it’s current location about a half mile north in the 1960’s. The hike route went a north and west up the hill to Vista Del Valle Drive(a road that’s been closed to traffic since the early 90’s) and up a short but steep trail(affectionally known as “Cardiac Hill”) to the trail that goes south to Mt. Hollywood. Then the route goes down the east side of Mt. Hollywood to Daunte’s View and down the single track trail down a ridge known as the “Hogback”(it looks like the back of a hog from Glendale). At the bottom of this trail is a bridge over a ravine and then the trail loops around Glendale Peak(it’s more of a hill) to the Helipad. Continuing east to make the short climb to Beacon Hill(they used to have a beacon up there to guide flyers to Glendale’s Grand Central Airport) which is the easternmost mountain in the Santa Monica range.
In addition to me getting a good workout, I really wanted to get a good idea what the camera could do so I kept it in “Manual” mode and manual focus. I think this is a really good way to adapt to a
new DLSR(or mirrorless) camera. The one thing that I failed to take into account with this approach(I was using the camera’s display to focus and set the exposure) is that I was wearing sunglasses and every exposure came out a bit overexposed. Fortunately I was shooting in RAW so it wasn’t a major problem to correct this in Lightroom.
The Hogback Trail
The Hogback trail is only about 1/2 a mile long but can get pretty steep in places(like you see in the picture). After going down this trail, I vowed never to do that again(I’ve hiked up it since then). This whole area burned in the 2007 fire.


What Every Developer Needs to Know About Software Patching
We all make mistakes. Here’s how to fix them.
Tammy Xu
Even the best developers make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes make it into production.
When that happens, they’re hopefully caught by a developer or an external user and brought to the attention of the development team. At that point, it’s time to roll out a patch.
The main difference between a patch and a new version release is that, while new versions tend to ship with product enhancements and new features, software patches are meant to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. For products such as web applications, rolling out a patch can be as simple as pushing updated code to the production environment — but that doesn’t mean the patching process is easy.
To help make software patching as stress-free as it can be, we spoke with experienced developers about some best practices you should keep in mind.
Reminders When Patching Software
Order and priority of patches is important
Test patches in small batches before pushing to a larger group
Keep your users in the loop when rolling out fixes
Remember that patches are a normal part of the development process
The order in which patches are done matters. | Image: Shutterstock
Order Matters When It Comes to Patching
A useful tip to keep in mind before releasing a patch is to consider the issues that can come up when rolling out patches internally within a company. The order in which patches are made can be important.
“The biggest struggle for large-scale enterprises is priority of patches, number of machines and isolated networks,” said Chelsea Brown, CEO of Digital Mom Talk.
Brown consults with companies to locate software vulnerabilities in need of patching. She said the priority of patches matter, because different types of vulnerabilities carry different levels of risk. It’s important to understand which issues to tackle first in order to try to minimize the overall risk.
“When you find a problem, a lot of times it’s not just a one-stop fix — sometimes there’s different levels,” Brown said.
“When you find a problem, a lot of times it’s not just a one-stop fix — sometimes there’s different levels.”
Some bugs are not big concerns, and they can be dealt with later. But a high-priority vulnerability — one that grants unauthorized access to a payment system, for example — requires immediate attention.
“Something that doesn’t affect day-to-day operations and isn’t necessarily going to hurt our bottom line or reputation or customers, it’s put on the lower priority end,” Brown said.
Higher-priority issues should be fixed first because leaving them could give attackers time to compromise a system, which can result in significant damage to the company’s reputation and revenue.
It’s important to take into account not only the technical aspect of the vulnerabilities when deciding the priority, but the business side as well. If certain patches are known to take more time and affect other systems, then the decision of when to patch should take that into account.
“As a security person, I think [the patches] are all vital,” Brown said. “But from a business perspective, there are ones that you need to do first — and there are ones that take a little longer. If you’re a company running Windows servers, Windows updates can take literally three to four hours. For a company to have a system down for three to four hours, that’s very critical.”
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Testing is an important part of patching. | Image: Shutterstock
Be Sure to Test Patches Before Releasing Them
Companies need to understand all the different ways a patch will affect a customer’s system before releasing it. The best way to ensure that is by doing a lot of testing.
Tom DeSot, CIO at Digital Defense, a cybersecurity company that helps clients check for vulnerabilities in their systems, said it’s important to test the changes on a select few machines before pushing them out to a larger group. Within a company, this can be done by rolling out patches to individual machines or certain departments first.
“Typically, you have a lab of computers that are representative of computers on your network used by different divisions with different applications,” DeSot said. “You try to push the updates on those systems, and you’d make sure that it doesn’t cause the system to crash or anything of that nature. Once you validate that the patches are working properly, then you begin pushing them out to the organization at large.”
By approaching it step by step, it’s more likely that issues associated with the patch will get caught early, before they affect a large number of machines. Similarly, companies should test extensively prior to pushing out patches to customers, with a special emphasis on testing that pushes the edge cases of what the application is meant to do.
“They may work in our testing, but we’re testing them for certain types of use,” Brown said. “If a customer gets it and they’re not using it the way that we tested it, a patch could potentially break — and when you send it out to the user, you won’t know that until the user uses it.”
She said it is common for users to contact companies about bugs, only for companies to say that they have never seen that bug before. That kind of situation results from use cases the company hasn’t considered.
It's important to keep users informed. | Image: Shutterstock
Keep Your Users in the Loop
In addition to getting the technical rollout right, Brown said it is also important to notify customers about patches, usually through a written agreement such as a security policy.
“The security policy should have a clause about [how long the company can take to issue] patches, because if a company [has no specified buffer] and a criminal was able to get into it, it opens up the company for potential lawsuits — especially if they suffer a major data breach,” Brown said.
Maya Kaczorowski, a product manager at GitHub, said notifying users of open-source projects can be especially tricky, because it isn’t easy to see who the users of an open-source project are.
“Open-source projects have taken a variety of approaches here, from a security-announcement mailing list to a forum or website,” Kaczorowski said. “Ideally, develop a fix before going public with the vulnerability, but if that’s not yet possible, or if the vulnerability is already public, identify mitigations to help users better protect themselves even without a patch.”
Kaczorowski said it is good practice to have a help file in open-source code repositories that specifies the project’s security reporting and disclosure policy. A critical component of the instructions should be how to reach out to a project’s maintainers about possible vulnerabilities.
For GitHub projects, she suggested using GitHub Security Advisories, which add a project’s vulnerability information to the GitHub Advisory Database that tracks vulnerabilities in GitHub’s open-source projects. The advisory will trigger security alerts and “automatically tell your downstream users about the vulnerability.”
Sometimes, even patches themselves might have bugs. In those cases, once the bug is caught, companies can either roll back the patch or release a new patch that fixes the old one. Brown said the better option is usually to roll out a new patch that either fixes the broken code or renders it “null and void.”
But, most importantly, remember: Patching is a normal and important part of the development process, as long as proper testing is done and customers are informed before patches are rolled out.
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Cultural Comparison: Canadian Ice Hockey vs. American Football, Part VII
Vincent A. @ ELC Research International
David Gordon-MacDonald, the proofreader of the articles, has given a quite interesting suggestion about the origin of Canadian ice hockey, as follows:
Ice hockey started on rinks made on village ponds and icy back yards. It was a community game but also a game played by people who considered themselves, in many cases, rough and ready frontiersmen. So, physicality was always a great part of the game. Hockey has always been a working man’s sport and did not have the early intervention from the educated classes that many other sports had. For instance, the British working man’s game, soccer football, had the first version of its current rules written down by a nobleman, as I recall. That kind of thing never happened in village sport of ice hockey.
It is thought that ice hockey started in Nova Scotia, the Scottish area of Canada in the 19th century as a version of Shinty, a Scottish Highland game with some similarities to field hockey, but played here on ice instead of grass. Shinty sticks are flat on each side and you can see how they could evolve into the modern hockey stick. However, even in Scotland, Shinty was a village game or a game played in communities of Highlanders who migrated to cities.
In fact, the game may have had similar origins to the Irish game of Hurling, as a Celtic warrior’s pastime. Games like Shinty in Scotland and Hurling in Ireland are related to stick-and-ball games used by the Celtic warrior class to keep themselves in shape without actual combat. In Ireland, there are traces of such games going back a couple of thousand years.
There has never been anything academic about either Shinty or ice hockey, unlike in the American collegiate athletics as discussed in this article. Canadian universities, today, have hockey programs, but it always seems like an imperfect fit.
Actually, the author had an experience of watching an ice hockey practice game by the rink, only once. The speed and the impact of the moving players and the puck shot by them, as well as the live sound of scraping off the ice surface, were so intense and powerful, which were totally different from those we could see or hear in the TV. I realize the reason why the ice hockey wins a great popularity in Canada.
But, for the very reason that the ice hockey is a quite attractive sport as such, it would be enjoyable even without a violence in the game. I would be happy if Canadian people realize this. Though the U.S.A. might not have had the model of ice hockey, since there is a good example of American football having been refined from a brutal sport wherein casualties occurred frequently to an advanced sport wherein the violence is well controlled, I believe the Canadian ice hockey had better pursue the modernization modeling after the football. It’s never too late.
Copyright ©2013-2018 Japanese Canadian Community Organization of Victoria
This article is a revision of the article entitled “In-Depth Cultural Comparison, No. 2: Comparing Canada and America; Ice Hockey vs. American Football” printed in Japonism Victoria, vol. 8 no.3, 2013 published by Japanese Canadian Community Organization of Victoria.
Canadian Ice Hockey vs. American Football, Part I <
Canadian Ice Hockey vs. American Football, Part II <
Canadian Ice Hockey vs. American Football, Part III <
Canadian Ice Hockey vs. American Football, Part VI <
Canadian Ice Hockey vs. American Football, Part V <
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