Sylvia Bartel
Newton, Kansas 67114
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Marion Co.
Peabody, KS Real Estate
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Property Type 4-Family+/Apartment Condo/Townhouse/Half Duplex Farm Mobile/Modular Patio/Garden Single Family Triplex Twin/Duplex Undeveloped Acreage Vacant Land
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Peabody Schools
Peabody students attend school in the Peabody-Burns Unified School District 398. Total enrollment as of 2015 is 321 for USD 398. Students can participate in a variety of activities including football, track and golf.
Peabody Lifestyle
There is simply no place like Peabody, Kansas. Nestled at the foot of the flint hills, Peabody is Rockwell’s vision come to life. From stunning late Victorian architecture in the central business district, to the immaculate public parks, Peabody has something for everyone. To put it simply… Peabody just feels like home!
Source- City of Peabody-www.peabodyks.com)
Peabody Transportation
Highway US-50 runs through the north side of town. Downtown Wichita is under 45 minutes away and Newton is under 25 minutes from Peabody.
Peabody Local Attractions/Activities
Peabody offer two restaurants, the Coneburg Grill & Pub and Pops Diner. Peabody is home to Gracepoint Church, the Baptist Church and the United Methodist Church.
Peabody Parks
The Peabody City Park is located at the west end of Second Street. The park has playground equipment, picnic areas, the municipal swimming pool, the Jr/Sr High School football field and is home to the annual Fourth of July celebration.
The City Park has an interesting history. The Peabody City Park was first owned by the Marion County Fair Association. The State Fair was held on the grounds in 1885. There was an exhibition hall built with three wings and a race track equal to none other in Kansas. The grandstand would seat 2,000 people. Dining services and food to feed 10,000 people each day were brought from Emporia by train.
Santa Fe Park is located at the South end of Walnut. The park has picnic areas and a gazebo which hosts summer concerts. The park is also home to the Doyle Valley Farmer's Market, held every Saturday from 8:00am to 12:00pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
(Source- City of Peabody-www.peabodyks.com)
Peabody –History
The Wisconsin Colony played a major role in the settlement of Peabody. In the spring of 1870, a group of men in Wisconsin, organized for the purpose of settling in Kansas. Leaders of the alliance were Colonel J. E. Cone, president, William C. Nye, secretary, and C. D. Bradley, general agent. These men, along with M.Birdsall, were the commissioners of the organization. The group planned to settle a tract six miles wide and nine miles in length along both sides of Doyle Creek, which was part of the proposed route for the Santa Fe Railroad. After arriving on the scene, the group enlarged its claim to a tract 12 by 8 miles in size. A surveyor was hired to plat the acreage and show settlers which lands were available in the region named Coneburg, in honor of the company president. The townsite extended from where the present U. S. Highway 50 is on the north end of present day Peabody to Division Street (so named when the street became the dividing line between the two early communities of Coneburg and Peabody.
The Wisconsin Colony formed the Coneburg Town Company on March 31, 1871, and the plat of the town was recorded on April 10th at the United States Land Office in Augusta, Kansas. After surveying the site, the organization soon discovered it was unable to control claim jumping or jurisdiction over the tract. The Wisconsin group quickly splintered because of infighting and a new group spun-off from part of the old.
A legal battle ensued between various segments of the area. By the Congressional Act of March 1867, probate judges were granted the authority to enter townsites but were not authorized to create such areas. On February 23, 1873, the Secretary of the Interior canceled the new Coneburg townsite. The group petitioned to have the case reopened during the winter of 1874-1875 (White 1970: Chapter One). A new hearing occurred in the summer of 1875, in Wichita. The court ruled in favor of the earlier judiciary decision made by Judge I. W. Bouse who had ruled in favor of the Coneburg Company (White 1970: Chapter One). However, this decision was overturned in September 1877 when the Secretary of the Interior affirmed the rights of the North Peabody Town Company. In 1877, the federal government ruled Probate Judge I. W. Bouse had overstepped his authority when he approved the entry of the Coneburg townsite. Bouse ordered the site surveyed, platted, apportioned to the occupants and partly deeded. The federal government saw this ruling as a violation of the law.
The community of Peabody was also created south of North Peabody. For $2,878.97 William and Annie Endicott (of Suffolk, Massachusetts) acquired title on May 6, 1870 from Amos Lawrence for the south-half of Section 4, Township 22, Range 3; the future site of Peabody. On January 12 1871, the Endicotts sold the acreage for $2,700 to Marion schoolteacher Thomas M. Potter. While construction was underway on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line west of Emporia, the directors of the company traveled through the area on an inspection tour six days before a new townsite was filed. Businessmen rushed to the new site. With the Wisconsin Colony land in legal dispute, Potter's clear title on the south-half of section four was seen by town speculators as the most desirable location for a community. Potter's holding was platted, adjoining North Peabody at Division Street. Because of the county surveyors error in measurements, the width of Division Street (the dividing line between Peabody and part of Coneburg that became North Peabody) was 90 feet wide on the east edge of the town and fifteen feet wide on the west edge. Potter, Col Robinson, S. B. Riggs, R. K. Tabor, L. Carson and J. S. Straughen (attorney for Potter) formed the Peabody Town Company. On June 16, 1871, when the charter for incorporation was filed for the Peabody Town Company, Potter and his wife, Mary sold the land to the Peabody Town Company for $6,400. The town was named Peabody in honor of F. H. Peabody of Boston, the railroad's vice president after the directors of the line recommended the railroad be routed south of North Peabody. In 1874, Peabody visited the community named in his honor and agreed to donate the funds necessary to build a library and furnish it with furniture and a collection of books and periodicals if the residents agreed to maintain and support the bequest. The facility was the state's first free public library and is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1901, the structure contained 7,000 volumes. In 1914, a new Carnegie Library Building, also on the National Register of Historic Places, was erected nearby to replace the earlier frame structure.
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Peabody, KS Real Estate Property Information
605 N Walnut
Peabody, KS 66866
3 Beds|1 Full/1 Half Bath
Residential|Single Family OnSite Blt
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Saturday,October 31 2020 [ Issue 5 October/ 2020 ]
Next week, Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine, which produces 90 per cent of world’s rarest pink diamonds is shutting down. Pink diamonds have cast their spell on people for so many years now, a diamond itself is so rare, a pink diamond on top of that, is considered one of Nature’s most beautiful miracles.
Argyle has been running since 1983, and since then it has produced over 865 million carats, making it the world's largest producer of coloured diamonds and the only source of pink diamonds. Now that it’s life cycle has come to an end, the prices of pink diamonds are going to shoot up and it’s demand even more!
In other news, the battle between Tiffany & Co. and LVMH has finally come to an end. The fight was after all about a difference of $500 million! By paying $15.5 billion rather than $16 billion for Tiffany, the combined market share of both companies is well about 17 per cent!
Further to the recentannouncementof two masterpieces created by Feng J, one of the world’s most exciting, contemporary jewellery artist-designers, Phillips proudly unveils additional highlights from theJewels & Jade
Lightbox, the innovative laboratory-grown diamond jewelry company, today announced the official opening of its new US manufacturing facility in Gresham, Oregon and a major partnership withBlue Nile, the largest online fine je
Tiffany and LVMH Modify Merger Price
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the world’s leading luxury products group, and Tiffany & Co., the global luxury jeweler, today announced that they have concluded an agreement modifying certain terms of the
KGK Group won two meritorious titles at JNA Awards 2020
As one of the pioneers in the gems and jewellery industry, KGK Group is renowned for its passion for artistic excellence and commitment to exceptional quality. KGK’s consistent growth, outlined by innovation, has streng
VDB Launches Software as a Service
Virtual Diamond Boutique (VDB), the jewelry industry’s leading technology partner and largest virtual marketplace, announces the launch of Software as a Service (SaaS) in support of jewelers of all types –retailer
Yoram Dvash, IDE President, will not run for third term in elections in December
Yoram Dvash, who has been President of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) for the past five years, announced today that he will not stand for a third term in elections that will be held in December 2020. Dvash said that he wil
Petra revenue increases with growing rough prices
Q1 revenue increased 33% to US$82.0 million (Q1 FY 2020: US$61.6 million) mainly due to the release of inventory carried over from Q4 FY 2020. Although diamond prices increased ca. 21% on a like-for-like basis at the Septembe
GJEPC to organise the first Diamond Studded Jewellery Virtual Buyer-Seller Meet
After the success of the Virtual Buyer-Seller Meets for Loose Diamonds and Plain Gold Jewellery, GJEPC is all geared up for the Diamond Studded Jewellery VBSM from 25th– 28thNovember 2020. Buyers are expected from the U
Dmcc Enhances Ease Of Doing Business In Dubai With New Offer For International Companies
DMCC – the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – has rolled out a company setup offer for businesses worldwide. The offer provides international c


Articles by Michael Brazile, Contributing Editor at Grand Piano Passion™
Michael Brazile has recently added the piano back to his musical life after spending a decade behind the harpsichord. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in musicology from the New England Conservatory, specializing in 17th century French music.
Amateur pianist Michael Brazile plays the Aria from the Bach Goldberg Variations in this original video, and offers advice on how to handle the tempo and repeats. »
Amateur pianist Michael Brazile plays the Bach Invention No. 14 in B-flat Major in this original video, and shares how he approaches tempo and repetition in the two-part invention. »
The Bach French Suite No. 4's Allemande is relatively short, making its contrapuntal demands on the player manageable; get tips on how to play the piece. »
Gain perspectives on interpreting Satie's Gnossienne No. 3, with its flexible sense of rhythm, lack of measure markings, and colorful written indications. »
Learn more about how to play and interpret Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 3, which involves a wide spectrum of dynamic contrasts and leaps with the left hand. »


What tax reforms do 4th District candidates support?
now commitment. 2020 Questions for the candidates. We asked the candidates for the Fourth Congressional District. What is your vision of tax reform? And do you believe wealthier people should carry a heavier burden? The strongest tax reform or tax proposal? Eyes actually say that I have seen has come from Senator Cory Booker and was co sponsored in the House by Congresswoman Diana Preston. It's a Baby Bonds bill. It would increase the inheritance tax, would increase some capital gains taxes and used those to create what's called baby bonds basically three allocation of bonds upon birth to low income Children and then funding those assets until they reached the age of maturity at 18 which they could unlock those assets for use for house housing education, etcetera. This is a bill that would tax the assets of the very wealthy in order to create assets for the lowest income members of our country. It would do a tremendous amount to rectify income inequality and the racial wealth gap that has accumulated over 400 years of systemic racism in this country. On it would do so in a way that I think is deeply progressive and that creates opportunity for all. Just This did come up in Massachusetts just recently with the Millionaire's tax, and I was not for the Millionaire's tax. I don't think that you should have separate rules for, for for people. And I think there's a lot of millionaires that come or people that have money in the state, and they give a lot of money to the state. They give a lot of. They donate a lot of money. We don't want that to start happening. Nor do I think that you should be penalizing people who knows how they made that money. They could have scrimped and saved and, you know, work very, very hard. So we should not be saying to people, Hey, if you work very, very hard, you know we're going to make you pay more money. So e, I'm not for that. I do definitely think that we need some tax reform. We need to be able to. First of all, I think we need to bring the taxes down, especially as we move out of Cove. It we need to bring the taxes down. We are spending more money than we're taking in in this country, and that's not good. But to go and then tax people right now, you know that are in a predicament where they have to put food on their, you know, they feed their kids. That is not the right thing to Dio. That's gonna be the worst thing to do. But we do need to have some tax reform, and we do need to even more than tax reform. We need to have accountability for the programs that we are paying for, especially unfold unfunded programs that perhaps we can't sustain anymore. Check out the commitment 2020 section of the WCVB App or wcvb dot com, for election news and voter re sources.
Candidates for the 4th Congressional District -- Jake Auchincloss and Julie Hall -- share their views on tax policies and reforms.


Cancer Research Grant Proposal
U CAN-CER VIVE Foundation
Powered by Team LaFontaine
U Can-Cer Vive
U Can-Cer Vive Foundation Presents First Contribution at Children’s Hospital of Michigan
Events, Press Release
Contact: Kelley LaFontaine
Highland, MI – December 6, 2016 – U Can-Cer Vive Foundation is presenting its first contribution as a 501c3 to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation on December 7th at 11:00 am at a check signing at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
The $172,000 contribution will provide funding for two research grants that will develop new treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and Neuroblastoma, two difficult to treat childhood cancers. AML represents 20% of pediatric leukemias and 80% of acute adult leukemias. It is responsible for 50% of leukemia deaths of American children each year despite intensive therapies and stem cell transplants. Neuroblastoma is the most common non-brain solid tumor in children, and frequently recurs after treatment.
The first funded grant is Novel Hybrid Drugs for the treatment of AML and Neuroblastoma. This grant will help develop new synthetic dual-acting drugs which will work as hybrids to help treat AML and Neuroblastoma more effectively.* The second funded grant is Novel Immunotherapy for the Treatment of AML. This grant will help develop a new approach to harness a patient’s immune system to attack AML cells.
U Can-Cer Vive is co-chaired by Ryan LaFontaine and Kelley LaFontaine, and is officially a 501c3 foundation since May 2016. The LaFontaine’s created the foundation so they could insure that 100% of the donations have immediate impact on research and treatment efforts that provide relief and comfort to those affected by cancer. The mission of U Can-Cer Vive is “To provide vital funding for cancer research to create a cancer free world.”
U Can-Cer Vive Foundation is looking forward to continuing to make a strong impact in our local community by supporting future research grants.
About the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation
Established in 2003, the Foundation is dedicated to advancing the health and healthcare of the children of Michigan. This is accomplished through philanthropic support for pediatric medical education, research, and community benefit programs. The Foundation granted $5.4 million in 2015 for vital pediatric health initiatives. The Foundation is an independent public charity governed by a community board of 29 directors, and is a 501c3 charitable organization. Learn more at www.chmfoundation.org.
About the Children’s Hospital of Michigan www.childrensdmc.org
For nearly 130 years, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan has been dedicated to providing high quality care to children and adolescents in a caring, efficient and family-centered environment. With more than 40 pediatric medical and surgical specialty services, the hospital draws patients from nearly every Michigan County, 39 additional states, and 22 countries, annually and provides the highest level of pediatric specialty care available for children. The hospital is a national leader in cardiology and heart surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, nephrology, and orthopedics. It is ranked as one of America’s best hospitals for children and sees more children than any hospital in the state. Children’s Hospital of Michigan is one of eight hospitals operated by the Detroit Medical Center (DMC).
About U Can-Cer Vive Foundation
www.ucancervive.com
Established officially by Ryan and Kelley LaFontaine in May of 2016 as a 501c3 U Can-Cer Vive is a foundation with the mission to provide vital funding for cancer research to create a cancer free world. We are 100% volunteer driven group with passion to continue to support cancer research and raise awareness towards the fight against cancer. The proceeds raised to support U Can-Cer Vive and its mission are dedicated 100% to this cause.
*Learn more information about these two grants on our website, http://www.ucancervive.com
Connect with U Can-Cer Vive
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ucancervivepoweredbyteamlafontaine/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/ucancervive/
U Can-Cer Vive Give Detroit Challenge
Donate, Events, Foundation
We’re really excited to let you know that we’re a part of the Give Detroit Challenge. It’s a fundraising campaign launched by Hour Detroit where organizations in Southeastern Michigan compete to raise the most money with the top team winning a grand prize cash donation of $20,000.
It started on September 29th at 12pm ET and a total of $50,000 will be given away to organizations in the Challenge. The organization that raises the most will receive a $20,000 donation. And, second through fifth place also get large cash donations ranging from $1,000-$10,000. We’re ready to raise as much money as we can so we can win the $20,000 grand prize donation. We will also be reaching out to support our weekly Bonus Challenges.
Please consider joining our U Can-Cer Vive team as a fundraiser. By setting up a fundraiser for our cause and reaching out to your network of supporters, you can help us make an even bigger impact and get us closer to that grand prize.
It takes less than five minutes to set up a fundraiser. All you have to do is Go Here and click ‘Fundraise for This Campaign.’
Events, Foundation
U Can-Cer Vive 9 & Wine 2016 Update
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support you have given us. We created our own 501c3 for U Can-Cer Vive, powered by Team LaFontaine.
The event was phenomenal and raised a grand net total of $228,000.
U Can-Cer Vive 9 & Wine – Rebelling Against Cancer
U Can-Cer Vive powered by Team LaFontaine raising money to rebel against cancer hippie style!
GOAL: Cancer Free World.
Join our cause by submitting your email address and receive updates, invitations and more!
First Name Last Name Your E-Mail Address


How coronavirus is boosting e
Seydou Sall sprays antiseptic on bags of food freshly deposited by an e-commerce firm at his home in an upmarket quarter of Senegal’s capital Dakar.
In a pattern repeated across the continent, the researcher has turned to online deliveries to get basics such as sugar, milk and coffee during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Home delivery allows me to avoid contact and queues,” he said, explaining that his order is completed in three clicks and that delivery costs just 2,000 CFA francs ($3.3, 3 euros).
Senegal’s government, in common with others around the world, has restricted travel between cities in a bid to curb coronavirus infections, and reduced opening hours for markets and shops.
Despite initial fears the virus would devastate poor African countries, the continent has so far recorded low infection rates compared to virus-stricken Europe and the United States.
African anti-virus efforts have nonetheless dealt a heavy economic blow, with retailers especially hard hit as governments have shut markets and restricted the flow of goods and people.
The sudden change has driven some contagion-wary consumers to use e-commerce platforms.
Sall, for example, uses a new Senegalese platform named Rapidos, which has partnerships with supermarkets, bakeries and pharmacies.
Set up two years ago, the firm is now doing a roaring trade.
“Home deliveries have gone up 90 percent,” said company official Mohamed Badiane, adding that orders for Ramadan essentials such as dates are strong.
Precise data on African e-commerce trade is hard to come by. But officials who spoke to AFP suggested that the coronavirus crisis has been a boon for some online delivery platforms.
‘Explosion of orders’
Africa’s e-commerce giant, Jumia, appears to be one of the companies benefiting from a virus-driven bump in online sales.
The company has struggled with high operating costs, raising questions over its long term viability.
But in an earnings report on Wednesday Jumia said it had seen a “surge in demand” in early March due to coronavirus restrictions, while noting that supply had also been hit in some countries.
Francis Dufay, the firm’s managing director in Ivory Coast, said that there had been an “explosion of orders,” with demand currently three times higher than normal.
A similar dynamic is playing out in the continent’s most developed economy, South Africa.
“There has been a huge surge in demand,” Lynton Peters, a co-founder of the e-commerce firm OneCart, told AFP.
“Over the last couple of months we have seen a 500-percent increase in our business, and we have expanded quite rapidly in order to deal with demand,” he added.
The uptick in online sales follows years of growth in the sector, which has appealed to a young and urban internet-savvy population, and a growing African middle class.
But e-commerce in Africa still lags behind other parts of the world.
Some 21 million people shopped online in 2017 in Africa, according to a United Nations report, accounting for only 2 percent of the world’s total.
Half of those shoppers are also concentrated in just three countries: Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya.
E-commerce has nonetheless grown by 18 percent annually since 2014, the report said, and it is increasingly luring investors.
Many were previously put off by the myriad problems facing would-be e-retailers in Africa, ranging from a lack of street names, to limited internet access and suspicion of online payments.
Amazon, the world’s largest e-retailer, is barely present on the continent.
Local players such as Jumia, however, are adapting business practices to overcome hurdles, such as developing their own fleet of delivery drivers, for example.
– Everyone a chef –
Some e-commerce business owners hope that locking in previously-wary customers might be a silver lining to the coronavirus crisis.
“The fact that people could not go out has increased awareness and curiosity around online shopping and delivery services,” said Jerobeam Pengevally Mwedihanga, who owns an e-grocer in Namibia.
“People have become excited about using delivery services and those who did not know about it now know,” he added.
Successes have not been even, however, and many delivery businesses have struggled to cope with strict anti-virus policies.
Dufay, the Jumia official, said that evening food deliveries had collapsed in Ivory Coast because of a night-time curfew in the country.
Maguelonne Biau, the Ivory Coast managing director of delivery outfit Glovo, also said the curfew had struck a “big blow” to business.
And in another adverse effect, an increase in online deliveries may spell bad news for restaurants.
“Everyone has become a chef,” said Salmi Shigwedha, who owns a local eatery in the capital Windhoek called The Garden Inn.
“Instead of getting home from work too tired to cook, people now actually have time to prepare their own meals,” she added.
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In Japan tea is more than a simple beverage; it is an attitude of mind
The tea ceremony (Chanoyu, which simply means “Way of The Tea”) is of crucial importance in traditional Japanese culture and is characterised by serving and drinking Matcha, a powdered green tea, in a simple and harmonious environment.
Tea, from China, was introduced to Japan in the sixth century by Buddhist monks, who discovered that tea increased the concentration during meditation. For a long time, tea was only grown and consumed by the monks. A formal ceremony was introduced only in the late 12th century by a monk called Eisai. At that time, the valuable tea beverage was also used for medicinal purposes. The custom of drinking Matcha spread among the priests of the temples and the upper classes. In the 16th century, during the Momoyama period, drinking tea became popular among other Japanese society groups, when tea master Sen Rikyu, considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on Japan’s tea ceremony, established a set of teachings that persist through to today.
Sen Rikyu defined four basic principles for the tea ceremony:
WA (harmony)
KEI (respect)
SEI (purity)
JAKU (tranquility)
In addition, it was considered that every single tea ceremony was unique and could not be reproduced.
Accessories to prepare Matcha – tea powder – of the Tea Ceremony
Sweets to eat before drinking Matcha
Accessories for preparation of Matcha (powdered tea for tea ceremony)
Beginning of Ceremony
Prepare the cloth to clean the accessories
Take the Matcha with chashaku (bamboo spoon)
Beat Matcha with Chasen (bamboo whisk)
Serve Matcha in Chawan (Matcha bowl)
Learning the rules of the tea ceremony is demanding and difficult, and also requires knowledge of other traditional arts, especially architecture (tea rooms), landscape gardening and the floral arts.
The tea ceremony commences as follows:
When they arrive, participants pass through a Japanese gate in order to leave behind the worries of their day-to-day activities. They then follow a path to the tea house, which is a simple wooden structure. Before going in, they wash their hands and mouth at a well. The entrance to the tea house is low so that all participants have to enter on their knees (indeed Samurai have to leave their swords out) and by getting on their knees, all people assume equal importance. Shoes are left at the entrance of the structure and once inside, participants sit on the ground waiting for the tea master. Inside the structure, there is always a Tokonoma (corner) with a display of calligraphy and seasonal flowers. The tea ceremony takes place in silence.
See how to prepare Matcha


Ford and VW collaborating to develop Electric and Autonomous Vehicles
Leave a Comment / News / By Mickey Sampson
The partnership of Ford and Volkswagen have been in news since the announcement. On Friday, Ford announced that the collaboration of seven months, between the two companies, would be further expanded and would even include autonomous and electric vehicles on its list.
With the growing technology, electric vehicles have come into view and very soon would even appear in the market. To make a position in the field of electric and autonomous vehicles, Ford and Volkswagen have joined hands. Apparently, Volkswagen is going to invest $2.6 billion in Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup from Pittsburgh which was found by Ford in 2017 and the company had invested $1 billion in the startup then. It has been said that VW would be investing $1 billion in cash and the rest $1.6 billion in the assets which would be used in Argo AI. The after value of the product is being estimated to be $7 billion.
The earlier contract between the two companies, which took place in January, had only pick-up trucks and commercial vehicles in its list but the new contract also includes autonomous as well as electric vehicles which can be a bit risky for the companies. This can be expensive and has a lot of risks but if it becomes successful then it would definitely change the mode of transportation around the globe.
As per the latest news report, Ford and Volkswagen are not the first companies to think about autonomous and electric vehicles; there have been many companies who are working in this field and soon we would be able to see the results. The thing that would make the difference is which company would be able to produce an electric and autonomous vehicle successfully.
This contract would no doubt give Argo AI a global status but it would also give a lot of expectations to the people. Argo was first invented by Uber engineers along with the help from Carnegie Melon University’s robotics lab. The startup has been tested with Ford in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami, and Washington DC and has been well accepted.
The contract would even prove to be beneficial for Ford as it would be able to gain access to VW’s MEB or “Modulare E-Antriebs-Baukasten” platform which can become the basis for producing over 15 million electric vehicles. The platform can be efficiently used to design and build the structure of an electric vehicle. Ford would be using the platform for the above purpose from 2023. If the model for the electric vehicle becomes successful then Ford would be able to sell more than 600,000 electric vehicles in European countries. European countries are the supporters of electric vehicles which can prove to be good for Ford.
It is clearly stated that VW and Ford would have their own autonomous vehicles and would sell them separately in the market but both would be using Argo’s software. Though the technology and data of both the models from the companies are same but some of the features would be different.
With the decrease in the availability of conventional energy sources such as fossil fuels, it has become necessary for us to take help from non-conventional energy sources. This also includes a decrease in the use of fuel-driven vehicles which not only consumes fuel but even causes air pollution. With the arrival of the idea of an electric vehicle, the fuel-driven vehicles would soon come to halt. This contract is a small step in stopping the sale of fuel-driven vehicles and help in conserving the conventional energy sources.


(Redirected from 1989 WS)
1989 World Series (4-0)
Oakland Athletics (99-63, AL) over San Francisco Giants (92-70, NL)
BR 1989 World Series Summary
1.1 Umpires
3 The Games
3.1 Game 1: October 14
3.3 Interrupted by Earthquake
4 History sidenote
5.1 1989 Postseason
"It puts everything into perspective in that baseball is only a game and has pretty much nothing to do with life." - Giants first baseman Will Clark, talking about the earthquake.
While remembered best for the devastating earthquake that interrupted its progression, the 1989 World Series had many other subplots. It was the second straight all-California World Series, and the fourth overall as of 2012 (the others were in 1974, 1988, and 2002). It was the first World Series featuring teams in the same metro area since 1956. It featured one team that had been upset the previous Series and had a chip on its collective shoulder, versus a team that hadn't been to the Fall Classic in nearly three decades. The San Francisco Bay Area had largely been a laughingstock on the baseball frontier since the mid-1970s, but in October 1989, the eyes of a nation were transfixed as the Bay Area trotted out its two teams as combatants for baseball's ultimate prize.
Umpires[edit]
Rich Garcia (AL), Paul Runge (NL), Vic Voltaggio (AL), Dutch Rennert (NL), Al Clark (AL), Eric Gregg (NL)
AL Oakland Athletics (4) vs. NL San Francisco Giants (0)
Time of Game
1 Giants – 0, A’s – 5 October 14 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,385 2:45
3 A’s – 13, Giants – 7 October 27 Candlestick Park (San Francisco) 62,038 3:03
4 A’s – 9, Giants – 6 October 28 Candlestick Park (San Francisco) 62,032 3:07
The Games[edit]
Game 1: October 14[edit]
Oakland 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 X 5 11 1
W: Dave Stewart (1-0) L: Scott Garrelts (0-1)
The Series got underway at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on October 14th. The pitching matchup featured two pitchers coming off fine years: Scott Garrelts for the Giants, a seven-year veteran but a first-year starter, a 14-game winner who captured the National League's ERA title with a 2.28 mark, going up against the menacing, formidable Dave Stewart, a 20-game winner for the third consecutive year, and a runner-up in the American League's Cy Young Award voting.
As the game got underway, things started off bleakly for Stewart. He gloved a weak grounder hit by Robby Thompson in the 1st inning, and promptly threw the ball away, allowing Thompson to reach second and putting the Giants in an early position to strike first blood. Unfortunately for them, Thompson didn't score, and neither did his teammates. After the inauspicious start, Stewart mowed the San Francisco lineup down to the tune of a 5-0 complete-game shutout.
Oakland 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 X 5 7 0
W: Mike Moore (1-0) L: Rick Reuschel (0-1)
The next evening, Oakland rode a four-run 4th inning to a 5-1 victory. Three of those runs came on a home run by Terry Steinbach off 40-year-old Rick "Big Daddy" Reuschel in that fourth frame. Unbeknownst to Steinbach, manager Tony LaRussa had made a pregame prediction that the A's catcher would hit one out against Reuschel, citing that "Big Daddy" was a low-ball pitcher and Steinbach was a low-ball hitter.
Interrupted by Earthquake[edit]
Shortly before the scheduled start of Game 3 on October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, rattling the Bay Area for 15 terrifying, agonizing seconds. Early reports had the magnitude at 6.9, but the final, official reading was 7.1. Due to the destructive nature of this earthquake, and the fact that both teams' cities were affected, the game was postponed, as was the entire Series, for what would turn out to be ten days.
Oakland 2 0 0 2 4 1 0 4 0 13 14 0
San Francisco 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 7 10 3
When the Series did resume, on October 27th, at Candlestick Park, it was greeted by much fanfare, preceeded by a moment of silence. Singers on the field led the crowd of over 60,000 in the singing of San Francisco, while the Giants' pennant was hoisted up the flagpole. The ceremonial first pitches were thrown by the heroes who helped save lives - police, firemen, doctors/nurses, civilians - in the aftermath of the earthquake. Immediately afterward, on the field, the managers and the umpires met to discuss the ground rules that would be employed should an aftershock occur.
The game featured a rematch of starting pitchers from Game 1: Stewart versus Garrelts. As they did in Game One, the Athletics struck early, pushing across two runs on a Dave Henderson double that hit off the top of the chain-link fence in right field. Matt Williams hit a home run in the 2nd inning to cut the Athletics' lead in half. Both teams traded two runs in the 4th, but the A's pulled away in the 5th, tallying four runs on a three-run Canseco homer and a solo shot by Henderson. Oakland added one more in the 6th and four more in the 8th, effectively putting the game away. The Giants, resiliant all year, put up a four spot of their own in the bottom of the 9th but fell well short.
Losing the previous year's World Series in disappointing fashion had left a bitter taste in the A's mouths, but they knew that it would soon dissipate. They had history on their side; no team had ever lost a World Series after being up three games to none.
Oakland 1 3 0 0 3 1 0 1 0 9 12 0
W: Mike Moore (2-0) L: Don Robinson (0-1) S:Dennis Eckersley
In Game 4, Oakland built an 8-0 lead before Kevin Mitchell blasted a two-run home run in the bottom of the 6th. The following inning, the Giants rallied for four more, cutting the A's lead to 8-6. In the top of the 8th, Steinbach drew a bases-loaded walk from Steve Bedrosian to give the Athletics an insurance run. As it would turn out, the A's wouldn't need it. Todd Burns retired the Giants in order in the bottom of the 8th, and Dennis Eckersley set them down in the 9th to seal the deal on Oakland's fourth World Series championship.
History sidenote[edit]
1989 was not the first time the Athletics and Giants franchises met in the World Series. They had clashed three times in the 1900s and 1910s, while the Giants were in New York and the Athletics were in Philadelphia.
In 1905, Christy Mathewson pitched three shutouts as the Giants triumphed four games to one. In 1911, the A's got revenge, beating the Giants four games to two. Just for good measure, the A's defeated the Giants again two years later, in the 1913 World Series.
The Athletics' victory was the 50th triumph for the American League in the history of the World Series.
Related Sites[edit]
Wikipedia article on the Loma Prieta Earthquake
Blog gathering pictures of the A's, Giants, and the Loma Prieta Earthquake
NL Championship Series (4-1) Giants over Cubs
World Series (4-0) Athletics over Giants
AL Championship Series (4-1) Athletics over Blue Jays
Modern Major League Baseball World Series
Pre-1903 Postseason Series
Retrieved from "https://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/index.php?title=1989_World_Series&oldid=757293"
World Series Sweep


The warning signs have been there since the 1970s but in the early 2000s, when the major economies of the world were growing, a number of organisations started to think more seriously about the issue of sustainability.
In 2001 SC Johnson launched its Greenlist, a process of continuous improvement in packaging, waste and chemical composition of its products
In 2005 Ford underwent a materiality exercise that resulted in CO2 reduction commitments being announced in 2007
In 2005 GE launched Ecomagination to focus on cleaner technology solutions
In 2007 M&S launched Plan A, a 100 point plan to make the retailer more environmentally sustainable
These are just a small number of organisations across all sectors to have such commitments. And yet habitat loss around the world has continued and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased.
In short, we are as unsustainable now as a planet, as were when the initiatives above were launched.
To list a few discrepancies: there are children making garments who should be in school, there are wild animals being displaced to make way for crops used in cosmetics, soils are being degraded by chemicals used in agriculture, water courses are being polluted by micro plastics, we create more waste than we know what to do with, and our buildings are still not as energy efficient as they should be.
’Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push—in just the right place—it can be tipped.’ Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point
But what has changed is public opinion. There is now a growing movement of people from all social groups and of all ages who are concerned and voicing their opinions. In 2019 a YouGov poll that has been tracking public opinion since 2010, revealed that Climate Change was now a bigger concern than the Economy, coming third to Brexit and Health but above other issues including Crime, Immigration, Welfare and Education.
In March 2019 it was estimated that 1.4 million young people went ‘on strike’ from schools and colleges to protest about climate change but also the impact of unsustainable business practices that destroy habitats and put plastic into the world.
In October 2018 Walkers Crisps were forced to introduce a recycling scheme for its metallised crisp packets after customers were encouraged to post them back to Walkers, overwhelming Royal Mail. In November 2018 Iceland’s Christmas ad (that was banned from being televised on scientific grounds) became an internet and social media hit for raising awareness of palm oil plantations that are destroying Orangutan habitats. In June 2019 Waitrose launched a package free trial whereby shoppers use their own containers to buy an array of products. In the same month Boots committed to replacing plastic bags with paper after it came under criticism for packaging prescriptions in plastic bags for delivery.
Wherever you look: parents, children, grandparents, customers, employees, voters and shareholders are demanding that the world addresses the various issues that are contributing to an unsustainable and potentially life threatening way of living.
What’s more, these same concerned people have realised that it’s not governments that are exploiting cheap labour, destroying habitats, producing plastics and driving chemical-led intensive farming; it’s businesses.
These same people are your employees or potential employees, they are your customers or potential customers, they are investors and decision makers.
Any organisation that is determined to have a long term future cannot afford to ignore the signals; doing business sustainably, with a positive impact on society and the environment, is the only choice.


Find sources: "Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult is a 1994 American comedy film, and the third and final installment in The Naked Gun film series, which was based on the television series Police Squad!.
Naked Gun 33 1⁄3:
The Final Insult
Robert LoCash
Robert M. Stevens
James R. Symons
The "33 1⁄3" in the title is a reference to the number of revolutions per minute at which long playing (LP) phonograph records play. The film was originally going to be titled The Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: Just for the Record, but was changed after the studio felt that audiences would not get the joke.[2] It was also going to simply be titled The Naked Gun 3: The Final Insult, according to some Christmas 1993 video previews.
Leslie Nielsen returns as Lieutenant Frank Drebin (his original character from Police Squad!), along with Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer Drebin, O. J. Simpson as Officer Nordberg and George Kennedy as Captain Ed Hocken. Newcomers to the series Fred Ward, Anna Nicole Smith, and Kathleen Freeman co-star as a gang of bombers set to blow up the Academy Awards ceremony. Raye Birk reprises his role as the villainous "Pahpshmir" from The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.
This film was O. J. Simpson's final role before the notorious murders of his ex-wife and her companion Ronald Goldman, and his subsequent arrest for them that June and the following year's trial.
4.3 Year-end lists
5 Cameo appearances
6 Related litigation
Frank Drebin has retired from Police Squad and lives a seemingly happy life with his wife, Jane Spencer Drebin. Under the surface, however, Frank is unfulfilled acting as a househusband, and he and Jane attend marriage counseling. Six months after Frank's retirement, he is visited by Ed Hocken and Nordberg, who ask for Frank's help with an investigation. Police Squad has caught wind that infamous bomber Rocco Dillon, who is currently incarcerated, has been hired by terrorists to conduct a major bombing against the United States. Frank remembers Rocco's girlfriend Tanya Peters from an investigation years ago and agrees to help Ed and Nordberg by visiting the clinic where Peters works.
Frank, in disguise, visits the clinic and writes Peters' address on a handkerchief, but loses it before he can give it to Ed and accidentally ends up a repeating sperm donor. Jane comes home to an exhausted Frank and accuses him of doing police work again. Frank lies and swears he is having an affair, but Jane does not believe him and moves out of their house. With nothing else to lose, Frank volunteers to go undercover in prison to befriend Dillon and learn the details of the bombing. Frank is put in Rocco's cell in prison and adopts the name Nick "The Slasher" McGuirk. He wins Rocco's trust after protecting their escape plan from a guard and causing a riot. Rocco and Frank escape through a tunnel out of their cell and are picked up on the outside by Rocco's mother Muriel. At Rocco's hideout, Frank attempts to get information on the bombing out of Rocco and his mother, but they are distrustful of him and refuse to tell him the details.
In the meantime, Jane and her friend Louise are on a road trip together when Jane discovers the handkerchief with Tanya Peters' address on it. Believing Frank was being truthful about the affair, Jane decides to drive cross-country to the address to find Frank. When she arrives, Frank answers the door and must quickly cover for her; he convinces the Dillons that Jane is a random stranger but that they should keep her alive as a hostage. Then Rocco finally reveals his plan to Frank: the bomb is to be set off at the Academy Award ceremony, with the bomb hidden in the envelope with the winner of the Best Picture category and triggered when the card is pulled out.
At the awards ceremony, Frank traps Muriel in the car and sneaks into the show with Jane to search for the bomb. Frank and Jane separate and frantically begin searching for the bomb, with Frank inflicting his usual chaos on stage during the show. While searching for the bomb backstage, Frank encounters Rocco's busty girlfriend Tanya Peters. She attempts to seduce Frank to distract him from searching for the bomb. As she undresses, her shadow on the wall reveals she has a large penis, causing Frank to become sick to his stomach, ultimately vomiting in the tuba of the orchestra. They are unable to find the bomb before the Best Picture winner is to be announced. Frank bursts onto the stage and awkwardly tries to prevent the detonation of the bomb, but ends up in a stalemate with Rocco. Frank manages to drop an electronic sign which takes out Muriel. A desperate Rocco decides to detonate the bomb to follow his mother, but Frank manages to catapult Rocco and the bomb offstage into the catwalks above. Frank snares Rocco with a rubber cable and slings him through the roof of the arena with the bomb pulled out. Rocco crashes into Pahpshmir's private helicopter hovering overhead, and the bomb explodes, killing both. Frank and Jane reaffirm their love under the applause of the awarding audience and viewers worldwide.
Nine months later, Frank and Nordberg rush into the obstetric ward to witness the birth of Frank's child, but run into the wrong delivery room. Seeing that the baby is black, Frank assumes Nordberg is responsible and angrily chases him. Just after they leave, Ed comes out of another hospital room with Jane, who is holding their real baby.
Leslie Nielsen as Lieutenant Frank Drebin
Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer Drebin
George Kennedy as Captain Ed Hocken
O. J. Simpson as Detective Fred Nordberg
Fred Ward as Rocco Dillon
Kathleen Freeman as Muriel
Anna Nicole Smith as Tanya Peters
Ellen Greene as Louise
Ed Williams as Ted Olsen
Raye Birk as Pahpshmir
James Earl Jones as Himself
Olympia Dukakis as Herself
Raquel Welch as Herself
Joe Grifasi as Director
Bill Erwin as Conductor
"Weird Al" Yankovic as Himself
Vanna White as Herself
Pia Zadora as Herself
Mary Lou Retton as Herself
This is the only film in the series to be directed by Peter Segal, rather than David Zucker, who instead received credit for writing the screenplay. Similar to the previous entry in the series, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker did not write the film's script, but both returned as executive producers and received writing credits due to their contributions to Police Squad! and the first film.
Several scenes had been planned for the earlier films but cut out. The opening sequence had been planned for the first film. The scene where Frank and Jane get married, then drive off with Nordberg on the back of the car, was shot for the second film. In the latter, the car being driven is the electric car featured in the second film.
In the opening scene at the train station, the woman with the baby carriage who is assisted by Frank Drebin is played by Susan Breslau, the sister of Jerry and David Zucker.
The dream sequence parodies the train-station shoot-out from the 1987 film The Untouchables, which is itself a homage to the "Odessa Steps" montage in Sergei Eisenstein's famous 1925 silent movie Battleship Potemkin.[3][4]
Director Peter Segal, in addition to playing the producer of Sawdust and Mildew, also has several minor roles in the film (mostly in voiceover):
The voice of the suicide bomber in The Untouchables (1987) parody at the start of the film.
The voice of the K.S.A.D. DJ.
The ADR'ed scream of the inmate escaping prison by pole-vaulting.
The real Phil Donahue, before Frank knocks him out and takes his place.
The voice of the man shouting "Stop the stairs, Joey!" at the Academy Awards.
The film made over $51 million in the United States and Canada[5] and $122 million worldwide.[1] However, this would be the lowest-grossing film of the Naked Gun series. Still, 33 1⁄3 managed to grab the No. 1 weekend box office title in the U.S. during its opening weekend (the other Naked Guns did as well).[6]
Critical responseEdit
Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult received mixed reviews from critics.[7] The film holds a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult can't help but be sporadically funny thanks to Leslie Nielsen's dependably solid work, but it's still a steep comedown from the original."[8]
Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times praised the opening sequence, which parodied The Untouchables, and the climax at the Academy Awards, but felt the middle was uninspired, and that the film overall had too little plotting and relied too much on comedy without the romantic or action elements of the previous films.[9] Others felt that the humor was weak and too similar to that of the previous films. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, the same rating he gave to The Naked Gun 2 1⁄2.[10]
The movie won two Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Supporting Actor for O.J. Simpson and Worst New Star for Anna Nicole Smith.
Year-end listsEdit
10th – David Stupich, The Milwaukee Journal[11]
Honorable mention – Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News[12]
3rd worst – John Hurley, Staten Island Advance[13]
Cameo appearancesEdit
Numerous celebrities have cameo appearances in the film, both in credited and uncredited roles.
As themselves:
Diahann Carroll – uncredited[citation needed]
Shannen Doherty – uncredited[citation needed]
Vic Damone – uncredited[citation needed]
Olympia Dukakis[14]
Morgan Fairchild – uncredited[citation needed]
Elliott Gould[14]
Mariel Hemingway – uncredited[citation needed]
James Earl Jones[14]
Mary Lou Retton[14]
Raquel Welch[14]
Vanna White[14]
"Weird Al" Yankovic[14] (previously appeared in The Naked Gun as himself and in The Naked Gun 2 1⁄2 as the police station thug)
Pia Zadora[14]
As minor characters:
Joe Grifasi as the director of the Academy Awards (previously appeared as the Pier 32 Dockman in The Naked Gun)
Ann B. Davis as "Alice" from The Brady Bunch (credited as playing herself)
Marc Alaimo as the trucker
R. Lee Ermey (The Gunny) as the mess hall guard – uncredited[citation needed]
Bill Erwin as the Orchestra Conductor at the Academy Awards
Julie Strain as the dominatrix
Rosalind Allen as Bobbi the Soap Opera Actress
Earl Boen as Dr. Eisendrath
Robert K. Weiss as Tuba Player
Peter Segal, Robert LoCash and William Kerr as producers of Sawdust and Mildew
Paul Feig as Oscars audience member
Tim Bohn as Waldo
Timothy Watters as Bill Clinton
Eugene Greytak as Pope John Paul II
Randall "Tex" Cobb as Big Hairy Con
Doris Belack as Dr. Roberts
Lois de Banzie as Dr. Kohlzac
Chrissy Bocchino as Mother Teresa[15]
Related litigationEdit
Main article: Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp.
An image used on the promotional poster for the film parodies a famous portrait photograph by Annie Leibovitz which was featured on the August 1991 cover of Vanity Fair magazine. The original photograph showed a pregnant, nude Demi Moore, and the parody photograph showed Leslie Nielsen in a similar pose. Leibovitz sued Paramount for copyright infringement; the Second Circuit deemed the use to be protected under fair use because of its transformative parodic purpose.
^ a b "Worldwide Rentals Beat Domestic Take". Variety. February 13, 1995. p. 28.
^ "Trivia for Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult". IMDb. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
^ "Iconic movie scene: The Untouchables' Union Station shoot-out". Den of Geek. November 16, 2011. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
^ Xan Brooks (February 1, 2008). "Films influenced by Battleship Potemkin". The Guardian. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
^ Box Office Information for Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. Box Office Mojo Retrieved May 9, 2014.
^ Cerone, Daniel (March 22, 1994). "And the Winner Is . . . 'Naked Gun 33⅓'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^ Fox, David J. (March 28, 1994). "Oscar Winners Pick Up at the Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
^ "The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
^ Rainer, Peter (March 18, 1994). "MOVIE REVIEW : The Gags That Hit Mark Are Reason Enough to Get 'Naked'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
^ "Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult". RogerEbert.com. March 18, 1994. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
^ Stupich, David (January 19, 1995). "Even with gore, 'Pulp Fiction' was film experience of the year". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 3.
^ Simon, Jeff (January 1, 1995). "Movies: Once More, with Feeling". The Buffalo News. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
^ Hurley, John (December 30, 1994). "Movie Industry Hit Highs and Lows in '94". Staten Island Advance. p. D11.
^ a b c d e f g h Willistein, Paul (March 18, 1994). "'Naked Gun 33-1/3' So Funny It Shoots Holes in Winter's Depression". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 1, 1994). "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". Entertainment Weekly. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult on IMDb
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult at AllMovie
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult at Box Office Mojo
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult at Rotten Tomatoes
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naked_Gun_33⅓:_The_Final_Insult&oldid=999987624"


Manchester Arndale shoppers to get UK's first look at new Volvo XC60
The new Volvo XC60 will be unveiled in the UK for the first time next week at a Scandinavian-inspired pop-up shop in Manchester's Arndale centre.
From Friday 31st March to Saturday 15th April, customers visiting the shopping centre will get a chance to see Volvo's long-awaited new SUV ahead of anyone else in the UK, before it becomes available in dealerships later this year.
Customers are invited to experience first-hand the look and feel of Volvo's latest premium offering in the comfort of a relaxed, Scandinavian environment while enjoying traditional Swedish Fika* and free WiFi.
The pop-up shop will feature Volvo's new XC60 D5 Inscription in Pine Grey, alongside the firm's recently launched V90 premium estate and XC90 SUV.
Jon Wakefield, Managing Director, Volvo Car UK, said: "The new XC60 is the latest product in Volvo's transformation, and introduces to our best-selling SUV the premium design, advanced connectivity and pioneering safety technology already seen on the successful S90, V90 and XC90.
"We're delighted to be giving Manchester residents the UK's first look at the new XC60. Our pop-up shop will allow customers to explore the car in a relaxed, welcoming environment, which reflects not only the design of our products but also the overall Volvo ownership experience."
Revealed at this year's Geneva Motor Show earlier in March, the new car replaces Volvo's highly successful original XC60, which in the nine years since its launch became the best-selling premium mid-sized SUV in Europe, with nearly a million units sold globally.
The new XC60 is loaded with advanced safety technology, including Steer Assist – a feature added to the ground-breaking City Safety system – and Oncoming Lane Mitigation, which uses Steer Assist to help mitigate head-on collisions, while Volvo's Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) now uses Steer Assist functionality to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions.
The Volvo pop-up shop will be located on the upper mall of the Arndale, opposite H&M and HMV.**
After its introduction in Manchester, a second XC60 will take up residence at Kent's Bluewater shopping centre from Saturday 8th April to Saturday 15th April.
For more information on the new Volvo XC60, please visit www.volvocars.co.uk
* Fika is considered a social institution in Sweden; it means having a break, most often a coffee and sweet treats, with one's colleagues, friends or family. It's more than your usual coffee break – it's a cultural institution.
** The Volvo pop-up shop at Manchester Arndale is open from now until Saturday 15th April, with the new XC60 appearing on Friday 31st March. Opening hours are as follows:
Weekdays: 09:00 – 20:00
More details can be found at www.manchesterarndale.com
Events/Activities, Special Interests, 2018, XC60


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Home › Wineries of Distinction › William Knuttel: A Career of Outstanding Wines
William Knuttel: A Career of Outstanding Wines
Posted on October 6, 2015 by Robert Johnson
“Wines of intensity and finesse.” That’s the slogan embraced by the William Knuttel winery, which somehow manages to meld those seemingly disparate qualities in its various wines.
Veteran California vintner William Knuttel has concentrated on ultra-premium winemaking for the majority of his career. His philosophy has long been to make a wide range of wines in various styles every vintage. Why? Simply because the number of vintages for any winemaker is finite; one gets only so many opportunities to craft great wines.
His wealth of experience has led directly to Knuttel’s adherence to traditional winemaking practices. This results in balanced, elegant wines that pair well with food and have excellent aging potential — the hallmarks of classic wine.
Knuttel’s winemaking journey began at Saintsbury, one of Napa Valley’s most famous estates, where he was winemaker from 1983 to 1996. There, he established that brand as an international leader in high-end Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, made in the Burgundian style. Based on Saintsbury’s success, the way those varieties were produced in California was emulated by countless fellow winemakers.
During his tenure at Saintsbury, Knuttel founded and was owner/winemaker of Tria, producing fine Pinot Noir, Syrah and Zinfandel.
After leaving Saintsbury, Knuttel became Vice President and Winemaker at Chalk Hill Winery, one of Sonoma County’s top estates. From 1996 to 2003, he specialized in making ultra-premium Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.
From 2003 to 2011, Knuttel was Executive Winemaker at Dry Creek Vineyard, where he completely re-honed the styles and quality of that winery’s extensive portfolio, working with second-generation family members who wanted to ensure that the winery remained a family business.
In 2005, Knuttel also was the winemaker for the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, crafting that group’s Heritage Zinfandel. Further demonstrating the diversity of his skills, he also served as President of the California Cabernet Society from 1999 to 2003.
In addition to the William Knuttel wines, Knuttel now is partner and winemaker for two other brands: Ottimino, which produces Zinfandel exclusively from the Sonoma Coast, and Teira, producer of premium Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Merlot.
Wines bearing the William Knuttel label now include Pinot Noir (the 2006 “Clone 777” bottling from Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley was recently featured by Vinesse’s Elevant Society), Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petite Sirah and Chardonnay.
Knuttel works hand in hand with Rex Smith, a talented winemaker who was born and raised on a farm in New Zealand where, at a young age, he became interested in horticulture. Smith attended Massey University in New Zealand, earning a Bachelor of Horticultural Science degree in 1984, majoring in Viticulture and Oenology.
After graduating, he traveled to the Napa Valley to gain hands-on winemaking experience, working for Saintsbury Winery for the following three vintages. It was in the Saintsbury cellars where he discovered his passion for winemaking and met Knuttel for the first time.
Smith subsequently decided to alternate harvests between Napa Valley and the Barossa Valley in South Australia in order to gain more experience. He returned to school to earn his Graduate Diploma in Wine from Roseworthy Agricultural College in Australia before permanently moving to the Napa Valley.
Jobs at The Hess Collection, Cuvaison, Heller Estate, Durney Vineyards and Vine Cliff enabled Smith to gain extensive experience. Then, in 2012, he re-forged his relationship with Knuttel, becoming Winemaker and General Manager for the William Knuttel winery.
Today, Smith manages a crew of five as well as Knuttel’s custom crush clients, and works closely with Knuttel to make a wide range of wines. Together, Knuttel and Smith make a great team, and it shows in each and every bottle they craft — wines of intensity and finesse.
‹ Pretty Labels Are Nice, But Pretty Wines Are Better
The Great Debate: Corks vs. Screw Caps ›
Tagged with: California, Malbec, Napa Valley, Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir, Sonoma, William Knuttel


Hello Halbstarke!
Yankees – Halbstarke (1965)
Lyrics: They race (biduah, biduah) / through the streets / and the alleys / they are deserted / blonde beehives / with bands in the hair / and on the black leather that they wear.
Germany may have been divided, but the post WWII desire for American culture was universal. In the USA, there were rebels without a cause—in the eastern Democratic Republic, and western Federal Republic, of Germany, there were Halbstarke.
Literally translating to “semi-strong,” the term Halbstarke had been around since the early 20th century, when it was used to describe young working-class delinquents. In the ‘50’s and ‘60’s Halbstarke were rebellious “saviors of the culture of the Christian West,” “hooligans,” or “fascists,” depending on who you asked.
In East Germany, no American movies were re-leased in the 1940s and only six American ﬁlms were shown in the course of the 1950s, but […] every day thousands of East Germans, especially young people, crossed the borders to the Western sectors of Berlin where they watched West European and American movies.”—Uta G. Poiger
Inspired by American movies like Rebel without a Cause (1955) and The Wild One (1953), teens in Germany craved the new global youth culture.
httpv://youtu.be/cAZonNCrkfs
From Die Halbstarken (1956)
“Tight pants were a must, and for some it was important to wear the original Levis jeans and not the imitations from the German Woolworth stores. When T-shirts were not yet available in Germany, young men would wear the high backs of undershirts in the front, in order to achieve the high-cut neck.—Uta G. Poiger
It was mostly West German youth, whose spending was bolstered by the new Deutsche Mark, who could afford the right look. Teens in the Federal Republic had 2.3 billion marks available for shopping in 1955, and another 500 million to spend on dancing, drinks and rock and roll.
Bill Haley, one of the first rock and roll musicians, visits Berlin in 1958.
But the “Cola-colonization” of Germany was troubling to both the governments of the East and West. In the Federal Republic of the West, consumption and leisure threatened to overpower political involvement and industrial production.
“I am ten years old. So is our Republic!”
“Access to Western programmes gave Eastern teenagers an important means of immunizing themselves from the effects of official propaganda.”—Mark Fenemore
In the German Democratic Republic of the East, socialists feared that a commercialized youth culture favored “rags to riches” fairytales over the self-sacrifice required for a socialist society.
Soviet tank in Leipzig to put down the East German strikes – June 1953
Both the East and West German experienced political unrest in the post-war era. In the West there were riots in working class neighborhoods after Halbstarken concerts and movies. Some claimed youth modeled their behavior “word for word, picture for picture” after Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
In the East, there was hostility and uprisings in the face of Soviet oppression. Newspapers used anti-American propaganda to fight off the influence of Halbstarken culture, calling West German politicians “fascist spawn” dressed in “Texas tie[s] with picture[s] of nude women.”
Many thanks to Max Nesterak for translation and Ben Van Zee for sources.
images via here, here, here, here, and here.
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What Makes Us Laugh, With Famed Character Actor Jay Brazeau!
by Patricia
Welcome back to WHR Radio Where You Decide!
We are pleased to announce our next special guest host, Jay Brazeau, who will join WHR Sunday July 8, 2012 5 PM Pacific, 8 PM Eastern time to discuss his human interest topic, “The Importance of Laughter” in our lives.
As always, we will do a full post interview follow-up news article featuring our exclusive Jay Brazeau interview including our discussion about his long and distinguished entertainment career spanning thirty-seven years!
The Importance of Laughter:
Laughter is part of the human vocabulary. All members of the human species understand it. Unlike English, French or Spanish, we do not have to learn how to speak it. We were all born with the ability to laugh.
Given the universality of the sound, our ignorance about the purpose and meaning of laughter is remarkable. We somehow laugh at just the right times, without consciously knowing why we do it. Most people think of laughter as a simple response to comedy, or a cathartic mood-lifter.
Robert Provine, Ph.D, of developmental and behavioural psychology at Maryland University, argues that, “laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together. It is a hidden language that we all speak. It is not a learned group reaction but an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes”.
When we laugh, our entire facial expressions are altered and we make sounds. If the experience becomes more powerful, the muscles of the arms, legs and upper body become involved and our breathing pattern is modified. That is a lot going on for an activity we know little about.
Laughter first appears in infants at about three and a half and four months of age, long before we are able to speak. Laughing, like crying is an effective way for a baby to communicate with his or her mother and other caregivers.
According to Provine, “most laughter is not about humor; it is about relationships between people.” To prove his thesis, Provine and several graduate students headed to some local malls to record what happened just before people laughed.
Even the most humorous of the 1,200 comments that preceded laughter weren’t necessarily howlers: “You don’t have to drink, just buy us drinks!” and “Was that before or after I took my clothes off?.” This suggests that the critical stimulus for laughter is another person, not a joke.
We do not decide to laugh at these moments, our brains make that decision for us. It is a social glue that binds our relationships. When we laugh, we feel good. Behaviour psychologists have told us for years that positive reinforcement, or things that make us feel good, are more likely to help us repeat a behaviour. Thus, laughter is often a reward to encourage further positive social behaviour.
Although laughter is a positive behaviour, it can also be negative. There is a difference between laughing with someone and laughing at someone. People who laugh at others may be trying to force them to conform, or force them out of the group.
Laughter is also extremely difficult to control consciously.
Try asking a friend to laugh, for example. Most will tell you, “I can’t laugh on command,” or some similar statement. The effort to laugh on command will be forced or futile. It will take the person many seconds to produce a laugh, if they can do it at all.
This suggests that we cannot deliberately activate the brain’s mechanisms for affective expression. Playfulness, being in a group, and positive emotional tone mark the social settings of most laughs.
Linguist Deborah Tannen described gender difference in speech in her book, “You Just Don’t Understand”. The gender differences in laughter may be even greater. In Provines case studies, he discovered that while both sexes laugh a lot, females laugh more.
In cross-gender conversations, females laughed 126% more than males do, meaning that women tend to do the most laughing while males do the most laugh getting. Men seem to be the instigators of humour across cultures, which begins in early childhood. Most class clowns in school are male. There are also more male comedians than female comedians.
When a group of behavioural psychology students studied personal ads in newspapers throughout the United States, they found that women seek men who make them laugh, and men are eager to comply with this request.
When anthropologist, Karl Grammar and Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt studied spontaneous conversations between mixed-sex pairs of young German adults meeting for the first time, they noted that the more a woman laughed aloud during these encounters, the greater her self-reported interest in the man she was talking to. In the same vein, men were more interested in women who laughed heartily in their presence.
The personal ads and the German study complement an observation from Provine’s field studies: The laughter of the female, not the male, is the critical index of a healthy relationship. Guys can laugh or not, but what matters is that women get their yuks in.
Laughter is self-effacing behavior. Women have used it as an unconscious vocal display of compliance or solidarity with a more socially dominant group member for centuries.
However, the workplace giggles of a young female executive will probably diminish as she ascends the corporate ladder, but she will remain a barrel of laughs when cavorting with old chums. Consider your own workplace. Have you ever encountered a strong leader with a giggle? Someone who laughs a lot, and unconditionally, may be a good team player, but they’ll seldom be a president.
In general, men are more likely to use aggressive and self-defeating humor, and the effects of men’s humor styles seem to have practical consequences. In general, it’s more difficult for women to pull off a comedy routine, whether they are popular entertainers or just ordinary folk. One interesting study of teaching style in college professors showed that students rated male, but not female, professors as more effective when they used humor in the classroom.
Not all laughs are the same. We all recognize a laugh when we hear it, but some are chortles, some chuckles, some guffaws and some snorts. Jo-Anne Bachorowski, PhD, a psychology professor at Vanderbilt University, has begun to expand on Provine’s work by teasing out the differences between varieties of laughs and what those differences might mean.
In a 2001 study published in Psychological Science (Vol. 12, No. 3, pages 252-257) she and her colleagues asked college students to rate 50 taped examples of male and female laughter. The examples ranged from “voiced” laughter with an almost song-like “hahaha” or “hehehe,” to “unvoiced” laughter that sounded more like a snort.
The researchers found that both male and female listeners responded much more positively to the voiced laughter than to the unvoiced laughter: They enjoyed listening to it more, said it sounded friendlier and were more likely to express interest in meeting the laughter.
These positive reactions, Bachorowski says, hint at the evolutionary purpose of laughter. We use laughter, she states, to elicit positive reactions from other people and to communicate to them that we mean them no harm. “Humans rely on cooperative behavior with non-kin to an extent that isn’t seen in other species,” she says. “But humans are also inherently competitive. So the idea is that we had to evolve some means that let others know we feel positively towards them.” Laughter, she says, is that means. But not just any laughter.
She and her colleagues believe that voiced laughter is a much more reliable indicator of a person’s positive mood than unvoiced laughter. In other words, a person laughing “hahaha” probably really is happy and nonaggressive. A snorter, though, you just can’t be sure about. A snort can sound derisive or be seen as a clue that the person may intend you harm.
Finally, the dependency on cultural context can help explain why jokes seldom translate well from culture to culture. The more the joke relies on a frame of reference steeped in the uniqueness of a culture, the less likely it will be to successfully cross borders. In 2002 a study was done to find the funniest joke in the world. The winner was:
“A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm, soothing voice, says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “Okay, now what?”
The classic elements of humor are all here. The initial situation, the set up, the twist and the sudden understanding of the twist, resulting in, apparently, universal laughter. Notice that the context is so broad and independent of a cultural context that anyone, anywhere, should “get it”. There is nothing culturally specific about this joke. But now let’s look at what the winner in the US was: “A man and a friend are playing golf one day at their local golf course. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course. He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. His friend says: “Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You truly are a kind man.” The man then replies: “Yeah, well we were married 35 years.”
The humor in this joke depends on understanding how fanatical some males are about golf, a context familiar in the US, not as familiar in Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe.
“I pointed to two old drunks sitting across the bar from us and told my friend, “That’s us in 10 years”. He said, “That’s a mirror, dummy!” — Jay Brazeau
So laughter, or more specifically, humor is not a one size fits all coping mechanism, and it seems to vary not only by culture but by gender. It’s safe to say that regardless of your gender, your best bet is to use humor to cheer yourself up. Give yourself some inner chuckles. Your wisecracking approach will mean that you’ll be less likely to get into trouble and more likely to cope successfully on those days that life throws some stress your way.
Thanks to Kenn for final staging of the audio and images in this news article and thanks to you for stopping by WormholeRiders News Agency! We look forward to seeing you for our exclusive interview with Jay Brazeau this Sunday 5 PM PST 8 PM EST!
Please feel free to leave a comment here, click an icon below to share this interview with your friends, or you can visit and follow me on Twitter by clicking on my avatar to the right.
ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia)
: 2012 - Jay Brazeau July 08, 2012, Deborah Tannen, Eureka, Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Jay Brazeau, Jo-Anne Bachorowski, Karl Grammar, Maryland University, Psychological Science, Robert Provine, Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, The Guess Who, The Killing, Vanderbilt University, Watchmen, X-Files
: comedy, Deborah Tannen, Eureka, Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Jay Brazeau, Jo-Anne Bachorowski, Karl Grammar, Laughing, Laughter, Maryland University, Psychological Science, Robert Provine, Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, The Guess Who, The Killing, Vanderbi, Vanderbilt University
Kenn Weeks says:
Hello Patricia,
Outstanding feature article on laughter, an inherent component in life made possible by comedy and fine actors such as Jay Brazeau!
Thank you for your hard work!
JAY BRAZEAU says:
Thank you all for the interview. I had a ball. xo Jay
Loved the interview. Thank you. xo Jay
Thank YOU for a wonderful interview last evening. Your talent for making everyone laugh is superb. Including humorous jokes you shared. Your career experience has enlightened and delighted us all!
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Top Military Battles of Ancient Greece
Home > Greek Culture > Ancient Greek Histo… > Top Military Battle…
Written by GreekBoston.com in Ancient Greek History Comments Off on Top Military Battles of Ancient Greece
The Ancient Greeks were known for their intellect and strength of will. Because of its strategic location, they also were susceptible to invaders. When they weren’t fighting off foreigners, they were often at war amongst themselves. There were some battles, however, that stood out more than others. Each battle fought had a special place in history, but some stood out more than others.
Here’s a look at some of the best battles that took place in Ancient Greece:
Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon was a part of the First Persian Invasion where King Darius of Persia attempted to conquer Greece. In this battle, the armies from Marathon and Plaea joined forces to try to fend off the Persians. The battle itself was a victory and it proved to the rest of the world and to the Ancient Greeks that it was possible to defeat the Persian Empire. Not only was this an important battle, but it also formed the basis of the marathon foot races that are so popular today!
The legend of the three hundred Spartan soldiers that managed to hold off the Persian Empire before finally succumbing is one of those takes that has been told for thousands of years. The Spartans devised a brilliant battle strategy that involved trapping the Persian Army inside the pass at Thermopylae. Aside from a secret passageway, there was only one way in and one way out. The Spartans almost won the battle, but they were ultimately betrayed by a fellow Greek, who told the Spartans of a secret way through the pass. Though this battle was an outright loss for the Greeks, it set the tone for the Persian’s eventual defeat. Messengers were able to send word to Athens so that they could assemble their navy.
Battle of Salamis
While the Spartans and Persians were fighting hard at Thermopylae, a messenger managed to send word to the Athenians that the Persians had arrived once again in Greece. After the First Persian Invasion, there are those in Athens who knew they would be back. So, the citizens voted to build and fortify a strong navy in order to beat the Persians when they did return. Ten years after they left, the Persians arrived again to try again to invade Greece. After the Persians defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae, the Athenian Navy was ready. They had devised a brilliant and legendary naval battle plan at Salamis. The Athenian Navy won the day, and ultimately this set the stage for the Greeks to win the war. The Persians left and never came back.
Battle of Aegospotami
The Peloponnesian War pitted two powerful Greek city-states, Sparta and Athens, against each other. While the legendary Athenian Navy defeated the Persians, the entire fleet was nearly destroyed during this battle as part of the Peloponnesian War. It is said that around nine ships managed to escape. The loss at this battle was devastating to the Athenians. They were hungry and suffering and rather continue fighting the Spartans any further during the war, they decided to surrender.
Battle of Chaeronea
Phillip of Macedon started the push to conquer Greece. The Battle of Chaeronea is what started this out for him. It was the first decisive battle in what would be a push to defeat all of the city-states and kingdoms of Greece. Eventually, Phillip would gain control of much of Greece before his death. His defeat of the Greeks helped solidify Greece as one, powerful place, rather than a series of self-governed places. Eventually his son, Alexander, would pick up where he left off because he spread Greece’s influence Easter by conquering prominent places like Persia and India.
There were some memorable battles that took place in Ancient Greece. These are some of the most important.
Categorized in: Ancient Greek History
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Smithery
Innovation and Strategic Design
Interview with Beth Kolko
John V Willshire	on November 10, 2014
As part of the preparation for running the third lab of the Stirling Crucible at the University of Stirling, I spoke to Beth Kolko, Professor of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, about an Experiment called Hackademia, which is “an attempt to infect academic pursuits with a hacker ethos and challenge non-experts to see themselves as potentially significant contributors to innovative technologies.”
It’s not just great as an example of creating new conditions for learning in an academic setting, but also offers some great inspiration for other types of organisation where there’s a need to break down the barriers of ‘expertise’. Here’s what Beth said:
Hackademia had two starting points. The first was my own personal journey as an academic who stumbled into hacker communities around 2005/06, the early days of the maker community. I did that work solely as a non-professional activity, it was what I did in my off-hours. I would think “wow, this is really interesting, it’s an alternative research community”. It was like a third place, not academic or corporate, with its own emergent social and organisational practices.
Part of my interest was that people didn’t have formal expertise or credentials. My PHD is from an English department, but I’m a professor in an Engineering department; this means that all of my technical knowledge has been gained through informal means. Essentially, I studied the internet before it had pictures, and as the technology changed I kept up.
So I was an academic within hacker communities, really interested in how non-experts were gaining technical expertise. It is uncommon for someone at my stage of career to be a novice learner. There was something quite magical about that.
The second piece of the genesis of Hackademia was an undergraduate student I was working with, who was changing her major from social work to our department in Engineering. She said she’d never really thought of herself as someone who’d major in a technological discipline, and then we started talking about gender and technical fields. I said to her “well, I don’t know what makes women, or anyone, who is non-technical feel that they can enter a technical field… but let’s figure it out”.
I advertised for a group of students as an independent study, something they could take and get extra credit for it. You didn’t have to have a technical background to apply. We bought a first generation Makerbot, and I said “We’re going to build it. I don’t know how to do this, but you guys are going to have to figure it out, and you’re going to keep track of how you learn. You will be your own object of study”.
(Hackademia class of Winter 2010 – with honorary member Bre Pettis)
So that was the first ten weeks, and I did it again, and again, and again. Every quarter for the first two years, keeping track of the failures and the successes… there were many more project/experiment failures than successes, but the programme has been very successful.
People had to learn the vocabulary of a new area. We had a room, and we had tools, and at the end of each quarter the room would be a mess. So what I would do is start each new cohort and say “we’re going to clean up, and we’re going to put things away”. It gave everyone the chance to learn the names of things, as we labelled the shelves and the bins that they would go in.
Instead of giving people the vocabulary on a list, it was a functional activity; they were creating the space that they were going to work in so that they would have ownership of that space. The conversation around the activity emerges to introduce vocabulary, which is really important; if you don’t even know the name of something, you can’t go and look it up online.
There was then a series of activities that were designed for success, but also to make people curious. I would always start people out with making an LED blink, by writing a few lines of Arduino code. Then you learn about copying; you can copy other peoples’ code, then refine it yourself. Usually there would be people who knew how to do that, and they would show people who didn’t know how to do it, which showed co-operative learning. Then they moved on to gradually more sophisticated tasks, then they’d finally do their own task.
I’d make them go off-campus, and see what was available in the real world, activities that took them outside their momentary learning community. Everything we did also leveraged online resources. I didn’t teach them anything; I wanted them to get into the habit of navigating the knowledge universe.
We created some data collection sheets, and started a blog about the technical aspects, they wrote reflective autoethnographies of their learning process; we produced a lot of documents. We then did exit interviews at the end of each quarter, with retrospectives of peoples’ experiences. Eventually, we’d put on our academic hats and analyse the data available to us (the autoethnographies, individual journals, and a bunch of other artefacts) and extracted six dimensions of technical learning, around which the Hackademia curriculum is built:
Identity, Motivation, Self-efficacy, Social Capital, Material Technical Practice, and Conception.
They’re built on top of what we know about informal science learning, but tweaked for engineers.
In the university community, we value expertise, and that is the death knell of innovation. If you really want interdisciplinary, transformative inquiry, professors like myself who are ‘experts’ have to learn to talk to people who have different expertise, and overlap these vocabularies and come to some sort of shared understanding.
Thanks to Beth for kindly taking the time to share the Hackdemia experiences with me. You can read more on the Hackademia blog over here, or read the full Hackademia paper that Beth and the team produced for the Participatory Design 2012 conference.
Category: making, people, technology
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now reading: Supreme Court Hearing Should Signal Shift From Baseless Lawsuits to Realistic Climate Solutions
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File
Supreme Court Hearing Should Signal Shift From Baseless Lawsuits to Realistic Climate Solutions
By Guy Caruso
For years, energy manufacturers have helped drive down U.S. carbon emissions by unleashing a flood of home-grown, low-carbon natural gas, reducing America’s carbon footprint even as we use more energy. At the same time, despite emissions reduction progress, a handful of cities and counties including Baltimore, New York City, and Washington, DC among others have sued energy manufacturers in the name of climate change, spurred on by ambitious trial attorneys and imaginative legal theories.
Federal law is clear, though, with the Supreme Court clearly ruling in American Electric Power v. Connecticut in 2011 that it’s EPA’s job to regulate carbon emissions. That’s why trial attorneys have fought so hard to move climate lawsuits to state courts and that’s why a January 19th Supreme Court hearing could be so important. Major energy firms have asked justices to send Baltimore’s climate lawsuit to federal court, creating a potential legal precedent that could effectively sink the climate lawsuit cottage industry.
Let’s be honest. Climate lawsuits aren’t really about climate anyway. For example, while attorneys argue publicly that such lawsuits are about reducing fossil fuel use in the name of climate, their filings seek only damages, not regulation of emissions or other policies that would actually help our climate. And the so-called damages? While cities like Oakland claim billions in climate change damages in legal filings, they sing a different tune in bond offerings, with Oakland officials saying they are “unable to predict” climate change’s impact on the city. The Manufacturers’ Accountability Project examined the motivations driving these lawsuits in a recent report. The report found that University of Oregon School of Law Professor Mary Christina Wood, who is involved in advancing climate lawsuit strategies stated, “Building sea walls and repairing roads won’t do anything to fix our global climate system, but it will drain the profits of the fossil fuel companies.”
It’s not just hypocrisy that’s the problem. Climate lawsuits are actually counterproductive when you consider that energy manufacturers have made great strides in reducing emissions, addressing climate change, and pursuing clean energy technology and innovative solutions. In fact, increased energy supplies are driving climate gains. A new Energy Information Administration report says natural gas hydraulic fracturing and competitive energy markets are to credit for reducing U.S. carbon emissions, not government regulation. A switch from coal to natural gas has accounted for more than half the nation’s emissions reductions since 2010, with energy-related carbon emissions in the U.S. dropping 2.8% last year alone. Energy supplies, not government mandates, are why the International Energy Agency has credited the U.S. for achieving the largest absolute decline in carbon emissions of any nation since 2000.
Another major driver in these climate gains? The very manufacturing sector targeted with lawsuits. American manufacturers have reduced their carbon footprint 21 percent over the past decade while their economic value has increased 18 percent. For example, ExxonMobil is cutting greenhouse gas emissions to support Paris Agreement climate change goals. In December the energy firm announced plans for aggressive reductions in emissions, notably methane, over the next five years to help meet global net zero emissions goals. Chevron is taking action to reduce GHG emissions by about 5 million metric tons per year, while ConocoPhillips, Shell, and BP all have similar plans to use ingenuity and best practices to be part of the climate solution. Working together with industry could be a major path to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The truth is that while climate lawsuits target the energy industry, climate goals can’t be met without major energy companies. As the Progressive Policy Institute has detailed in a recent paper, natural gas is crucial to the deployment of renewables. The unique flexibility of natural gas power plants to turn on and off within minutes creates an indispensable symbiotic relationship with renewables like solar and wind. If the U.S. hopes to have any chance of achieving its climate goals, endangering fossil fuel production is the last thing officials should do. No one knows how long it will take the U.S. to decarbonize its economy, meaning America’s natural gas supplies will have tremendous value into the foreseeable future.
Climate lawsuits are legally flimsy and impractical. These suits are infused with the inherent danger of targeting the very energy manufacturers who are active and leading participants in reducing carbon emissions to lower global temperatures. Instead of taking us farther down this counterproductive path, public officials should seek real solutions instead of more lawsuits. U.S. Supreme Court justices have an important opportunity in January to pull the plug on unhelpful climate lawsuits and allow us all to focus instead on the monumental challenges that face our planet.
Guy F. Caruso is a non-resident senior adviser in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; prior to joining CSIS, he served as administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration from July 2002 to September 2008.


Florida Sex Crime Convicts Won’t Get Automatic Voting Rights Under House Plan
Florida voters last year approved a state Constitution amendment to give people who have been convicted of crimes the right to participate in elections after they serve their punishments. But that amendment leaves out people who have been convicted of murder or a felony sex offense.
Even people with other sex offenses or criminal convictions on their records may not automatically have their voting rights restored, if a plan floated in the state legislature is approved. A House Criminal Justice subcommittee recently cleared a measure to implement Amendment 4, which granted felons “automatic” voting rights. That legislation would exclude people convicted of a wide range of sex crimes from being able to vote.
The legislation would also require convicts to clear up court costs, fees and fines before having their rights restored. That provision has drawn sharp criticism from felon rights groups who say it creates new hurdles to keep former convicts from voting.
“The bill places unconstitutional restrictions on the eligibility to vote for individuals who should have their voting rights restored, as Floridians intended,” the American Civil Liberties Union said after the subcommittee approved the measure. “Among other deficiencies, the bill creates additional financial barriers to voting that were not considered a part of a person’s sentence after receiving sentencing instructions from a judge and conditions the right of people who are eligible to vote on whether or not they can afford to pay fees.”
A total of 64 percent of voters approved Amendment 4 in November. The provision provided that felons who have completed “all terms of their sentence including parole or probation” would automatically get the right to vote restored.
Talk to an Experienced Florida Sex Crimes Lawyer Today
“Sex crimes” is a general term that applies to a wide range of offenses, from sexting to child pornography and rape. These crimes carry significant potential punishments that can have lifelong impacts for everyone involved. That includes long stretches behind bars and steep fines. You may also be required to register publicly as a sex offender. The stigma that comes with that status can make it difficult to find and keep a job.
If you or a loved one has been charged with—or is even suspected of—a sex crime in Florida, it’s vital that you seek the assistance of a seasoned Florida sex crimes lawyer. A lawyer can help build the strongest possible defense in the case. The earlier that you seek legal advice the better chance you have to avoiding a conviction or reducing the charges.
The Florida sex crimes lawyers at Whittel & Melton represent clients throughout the Sunshine State who have been charged with a wide variety of offenses, including sexual assault, rape and child pornography. Our attorneys work tirelessly to fight these charges head on. We have offices throughout the state, including in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Pensacola. Contact us online or call (866) 608-5529 for a free evaluation.
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