Washington State Justices’ Ruling Ignores Election
By Heather Kays
The Washington state Supreme Court on Sept. 4 rule the state’s charter school law as unconstitutional. The justices dug deep to justify their decision, referencing a definition of public schools from a 1909 case, School District 20 vs. Bryan. Instead of citing a particular right spelled out in the U.S. Constitution or Washington state’s constitution, the court based its ruling largely on its own, distinctive interpretation of the term “common schools.”
The ruling essentially claims charter schools are not public schools, which could not be more blatantly false. Charter schools are public schools that have somewhat more autonomy than traditional public schools. Most states now have charter school laws on the books, so Washington’s law was not some kind of weird experiment, but rather right in line with other programs dozens of states and cities have already implemented.
The court ruling is based on the absurd premise that charter schools are not accountable to taxpayers because they are not run by elected school boards. But the state’s 2012 charter law came into being because of a ballot initiative voted on directly by — you guessed it — the taxpayers of Washington state. They gave their approval at that time.
Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are also directly accountable to the parents of the children who attend them. Charter schools typically close within three years if they are not doing a good job. Failing public schools just go on and on, dooming more children to a poor education. The teachers unions and their allies who sued to stop the state’s charter law are forcing those students to remain trapped in their failing schools. Just who is it that’s acting as if they’re not accountable to the taxpayer here?
It was particularly irresponsible for the court to delay making this decision until the school year was about to start, thus leaving hundreds of students in the lurch. Again, just who is it that’s acting as if they’re not accountable here?
Liv Finne, director of education studies at the Washington Policy Center, notes the people of Washington passed the charter school law through the ballot initiative process because they wanted serious educational reform. The court is denying them their right to decide how their schools should be structured.
“Just as schools across Washington open their doors to students, the state Supreme Court placed school reform in serious jeopardy,” Finne said. “For technical reasons, the court struck down the charter school law passed by voters in 2012. The state teachers union — the Washington Education Association, which funded the lawsuit against the charter school law — celebrated the ruling.”
Finne says the state’s teachers unions have undue influence over education policy in Washington. She’s obviously right.
“The ruling has shocked and upset the parents and families of the 1,300 children enrolled in one of Washington’s nine new charter schools,” said Finne. “Questions are now being raised about union influence on the Supreme Court. Public records show seven of the nine Supreme Court judges took maximum contributions from the state teachers union during their election campaigns.”
The technical fixes necessary to correct this ridiculous ruling are simple: either change or remove the term “common schools” from state law or rewrite the definition of the term to include charter schools, which are, as noted earlier, public schools. That just happens to be what the voters of Washington have expressly communicated they want. Since the state’s courts won’t do the right thing for Washington’s children, it’s up to the Legislature to do so.
The court made a disappointing decision in this case, and parents, teachers and taxpayers will all have to stand up and demand more.
[Originally published at the Washington Herald]
Heather Kays
Heather Kays is a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute and former managing editor of School Reform News, a national monthly publication.


News & Awards >
Skelly & Couch projects triumph in RIBA regional awards 2021
The Malthouse, The King's School Canterbury: winner of 3 RIBA South East Awards 2021 © Philip Vile
Skelly & Couch projects feature strongly in this year’s RIBA Regional Awards with five accolades presented by RIBA South East alone.
In addition to a main prize, Tim Ronalds’ The Malthouse at The King’s School in Canterbury scooped two of the special awards for the South East region’s Building of the Year title as well as its 2021 Conservation Award. Earlier this year, the building also won in the Cultural and Religious Buildings £5 million and over category at the AJ’s Retrofit Awards. The state-of-the-art theatre at the Kent independent school was hailed by the judges as an ‘absolute exemplar of how to repurpose an existing building in an imaginative, honest and sensitive way’.
The International College at The King’s School, Canterbury by Walters & Cohen Architects was also honoured with an Award.
Another outstanding Skelly & Couch project, Brighton College School of Science and Sport by OMA, was honoured with a RIBA South East Award.
Continuing the winning streak, the new student residential Dorothy Wadham Building by Allies and Morrison at 400-year old Wadham College was given an award by RIBA South.
And that’s not all. Two further Skelly & Couch projects remain shortlisted for regional RIBA Award schemes yet to be announced.
Cambridge Central Mosque by Marks Barfield features on the RIBA East shortlist, with winners announced on 18 August, while Mountview Academy by Turner Works is on the RIBA London shortlist, with honours announced on 26 August.
All regional award winners will now be considered for the highly prized RIBA National Awards, to be announced on Thursday, 9 September.
The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects later in the year. The Stirling Prize winner will be announced on Thursday, 14 October.
Owing to the pandemic, the 2021 RIBA UK Regional Awards are being selected from the shortlists for the 2020 RIBA Regional Awards.
As a well-known building services engineering company, Skelly & Couch regularly appears in the press and media. We provide updates on our projects, award wins, industry commentary and appointments.
To find out more contact Anna Barlow - Head of PR and Marketing.


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Provenance supports art exhibit
Provenance Properties Cayman Islands, Dart Real Estate’s sole real estate brokerage and the exclusive Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate in the Cayman Islands, is showcasing an outdoor art exhibit in Camana Bay throughout the winter season.
Curated by the National Gallery, the installation includes 10 iconic works from the official “Cayman Islands National Collection” developed by the National Gallery, featuring works that were created over the past four decades. The collection features works by well-known and highly respected local artists, such as Gladwyn “Miss Lassie” Bush, that were created over the past six decades.
“Provenance Properties has a direct connection to the art world through its exclusive affiliation with Christie’s, the world’s leading art auction house, and we believe it’s fitting for us to showcase this collection because art, in its many forms, inspires our business,” said Jackie Doak, Dart’s President Business Development.
Director and chief curator of the National Gallery Natalie Urquhart said the Cayman Islands’ National Collection offers an unparalleled record of the islands’ rich artistic and cultural history.
"At the heart of the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands is the Cayman Islands’ National Collection, samples from which form the basis of this exhibition," she said. “They’re a testament to the country’s vibrant history of art. The National Gallery is delighted to continue its creative partnership with Camana Bay and Provenance Properties through this exhibition of iconic works.”
“The exhibit is beautifully curated,” said Doak, who also explained that Provenance Properties’ approach to curating its own luxury listings portfolio has many similarities to the way a gallery curator might assemble a collection of works. "Our luxury properties are works of art and we value their form and function. We also share in Christie’s high standards by representing some of the world’s most desired properties right here in the Cayman Islands.”
Doak encourages residents and visitors to head to Camana Bay to experience the exhibit, which can be seen along the Paseo, as well as viewing the original works at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands. “Everyone should see it and be reminded that you don’t need to fly to London or New York to experience fine art – it can be found in our own backyard.”
About Provenance Properties Cayman Islands
Provenance Properties is the exclusive Cayman Islands Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate, the sole real estate brokerage for Dart Real Estate and a member of the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association (CIREBA).
Provenance provides access to a large and growing portfolio of private residences, condominiums, hotel residences and land in the Cayman Islands. In addition to premium entry to the Cayman Islands most desirable properties, Provenance leverages the experience and reputation of the region’s premier real estate developer.
For more information, visit provenanceproperties.com, keep up with the latest information on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
About Camana Bay
A destination within a destination, Camana Bay is a vibrant town located in the heart of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory.
Situated on 685 acres between Seven Mile Beach and the North Sound, this mixed-use master-planned community is one of the first examples of New Urbanism in the Caribbean.
Developed by Dart Real Estate, Camana Bay offers more than 650,000 square feet of commercial office and retail space as well as 63 luxury apartments available for long-term lease, and condos, townhomes and duplexes at OLEA, Camana Bay’s first for-sale residential project. The town also offers public spaces for all to enjoy, world-class shopping and dining, as well as family-friendly entertainment, events and attractions.
For more information, visit camanabay.com and keep up with the latest developments on Facebook and follow us on Instagram.
About National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
Established in 1996, the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands (NGCI) is the country’s leading visual arts museum and education centre, charged with promoting and encouraging the appreciation and practice of the visual arts in the Cayman Islands. The mission is achieved through exhibitions, education and outreach programmes, school tours, community festivals, and ongoing research projects. Holding up to six exhibitions annually at our central exhibition space, and satellite venues around Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands, the curatorial team strives to create a balance between exhibitions of quality Caymanian artwork with art from further afield. This is achieved by working with a broad cross-section of artists and ranging from site-specific work to more traditional gallery-based projects. For more information, visit the National Gallery website.
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Maryland Workers’ Compensation: New case on average weekly wage
On Behalf of Cohen, Snyder, Eisenberg & Katzenberg, P.A. | Mar 27, 2018 | Workers' Compensation
When a Maryland employee gets a work-related injury or disease, he or she is eligible for Workers’ Compensation. When the worker is found to be temporarily totally disabled, he or she receives wage replacement benefits equal to two-thirds of average weekly wage.
(The statute caps the weekly benefit at the statewide average weekly wage and applies a different formula for average weekly wages under $50.00.)
At our law firm, we advocate for correct and fair calculation of this figure for our Workers’ Compensation clients.
Important Maryland case
On March 1, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland issued an opinion about calculating average weekly wage. Richard Beavers Construction, Inc. v. Wagstaff concerns a construction worker who was severely injured when he fell through a roof at the worksite after six weeks on the job. He had been hired for full-time work as a lift operator, but had not worked full time in his first six weeks because of bad weather. The employer had instructed him not to work in rain or snow.
The issue became whether his average weekly wage should be based on the first six weeks of work, all of which were less than full time, or whether it should instead be calculated based on what a full-time wage would have been without missing work. These figures were $317.38 and $758.00, respectively.
Reasonable interpretation
The court said that when it interprets a Workers’ Compensation statute or regulation, it looks at its plain or ordinary meaning. However, if the words are not “sufficiently clear,” it should be interpreted to “carry out [the law’s] general purpose.” The Workers’ Compensation Act is “remedial” and uncertainty in meaning should be resolved in favor of the worker.
The court found that average weekly wage also includes a “projection of what an employee would have gone on to earn” but for the injury — that it looks at “loss of earning capacity.”
The court ultimately found that the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission’s decision, after a hearing, that granted benefits based on a full-time average weekly wage of $758.00, was “a reasonable approximation of what he would normally earn in his position.” (A lower court had also affirmed that decision.)
When the issue of average weekly wage is before the Commission at a hearing, it is free to determine the appropriate time period on which to base the calculation, the court said, and the Commission had made no legal error.


Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr.
In recent years, America’s criminal justice system has become the subject of an increasingly urgent debate. Critics have assailed the rise of mass incarceration, emphasizing its disproportionate impact on people of color. As James Forman, Jr., points out, however, the war on crime that began in the 1970s was supported by many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers. In Locking Up Our Own, he seeks to understand why.
Forman shows us that the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office amid a surge in crime and drug addiction. Many prominent black officials, including Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry and federal prosecutor Eric Holder, feared that the gains of the civil rights movement were being undermined by lawlessness―and thus embraced tough-on-crime measures, including longer sentences and aggressive police tactics. In the face of skyrocketing murder rates and the proliferation of open-air drug markets, they believed they had no choice. But the policies they adopted would have devastating consequences for residents of poor black neighborhoods.
A former D.C. public defender, Forman tells riveting stories of politicians, community activists, police officers, defendants, and crime victims. He writes with compassion about individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas―from the men and women he represented in court to officials struggling to respond to a public safety emergency. Locking Up Our Own enriches our understanding of why our society became so punitive and offers important lessons to anyone concerned about the future of race and the criminal justice system in this country.
← History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Restless in L.A. by Robin Finn →


Andrew McDonald takes over as Australia’s full-time coach
by Vishal Bhawani April 13, 2022 April 13, 2022
Andrew McDonald has been named the full-time, all-format head coach of the Australian men’s cricket team, according to Cricket Australia.
Following Justin Langer’s departure in early February, the former Victorian all-rounder had been functioning as an interim replacement. McDonald has been offered a four-year contract after a successful tour of Pakistan, where he oversaw Test and T20I victories.
McDonald earned accolades from Test captain Pat Cummins after leading the squad to a 1-0 series win over Pakitan. During Langer’s four-year stint, McDonald coached Australia on many occasions while the former coach was on leave.
Moreover, the 40-year-old has vast coaching experience having coached Victoria and Melbourne Renegades to domestic and BBL titles respectively. Previously, Andrew has also been head coach of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL.
Following Langer’s resignation, CA used a recruitment consultancy to conduct a global search for a new men’s coach.
Potential candidates were Australia captain Ricky Ponting, former England coach Trevor Bayliss and current Australia women’s coach Matthew Mott.
McDonald, though, was an easy pick due to his popularity among the players and the team’s recent success.
Chief of Cricket Australia (CA) on selecting Andrew McDonald as new head coach
Australia's new men's head coach said he won't hesitate to hand responsibility to assistants in the coming years.https://t.co/7sJ6EklnOL
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) April 13, 2022
On making Andrew as the new coach, CA chief Nick Hockley said
“Andrew has already shown he is an outstanding Head Coach and the vision he outlined for the role during the appointment process was both impressive and exciting, making him our clear choice,”
Hockley further added saying
“We are proud of the way the team played and the respect shown throughout the tour of Pakistan under the leadership of Andrew, Pat [Cummins] and Aaron [Finch] and really pleased Andrew is taking on the role permanently.”
Meanwhile, In a statement, McDonald said he was ‘honoured’ to be given the opportunity. The 4o-year-old expressed his views further saying
“My plan is to build on the growth, depth and experience of the squad while working collectively with the group and across the game,”
“There are many challenges in the short-term which I know excites the leadership group, the players and the staff.
McDonald’s will have a difficult first year in the post, with away Test tours to Sri Lanka and India. Moreover, Andrew McDonald will also be looking forward to Australia’s title defense in the T20 World Cup later this year. It will be interesting to see how the Australian team now approach games under the guidance of a new head coach.
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Juice Bar launches Live Chat
The Juice Bar has launched a new Live Chat service to provide people with easy access to image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) advice online.
The new initiative has been introduced by the Juice Bar a specialist IPED service delivered by the East Riding Partnership, as a convenient, modern, interactive way to help people get support and information from expert staff, and can be accessed on the Juice Bar web page www.ads-uk.org/thejuicebar
The Juice Bar lead Paul Martindale said: “We’re delighted to be introducing Live Chat as an additional way for people to make contact with our service.
“We know that many people access information on IPED’s on-line but much of it is misleading and it can be difficult to separate out the facts. We already offer evening drop-in services, a help line and specialist email address but Live Chat provides a convenient and confidential way to access advice and is good news for people who may find it difficult accessing services due to work or family commitments.”
The Juice Bar’s Live Chat will initially be available Mondays and Wednesdays from 5pm until 7pm, but if people find this useful it will gradually be increased.
Paul added: “It takes great courage to seek help or advice for yourself or a loved one and we know many IPED users are in full time work, so our aim is to make this service as accessible as possible. If we’re not online, people can leave a message and their contact details and we’ll contact them as soon as we’re back online.”
For a confidential chat about drug or alcohol issues please visit The Juice Bar’s Live Chat


FILE – In this photo taken on Oct. 5, 2015 a woman walks by the entrance to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The European Union’s top court…
FILE – In this photo taken on Oct. 5, 2015 a woman walks by the entrance to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The European Union’s top court says Google has to delete search results about people in Europe if they can prove that the information is clearly wrong. People in Europe have the right to ask search engines to delete links to outdated or embarrassing information about themselves, even if it is true, under a principle known as “right to be forgotten.” (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
AP Technology
by: KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Google has to delete search results about people in Europe if they can prove that the information is clearly wrong, the European Union’s top court said Thursday.
The European Court of Justice ruled that search engines must “dereference information” if the person making the request can demonstrate that the material is “manifestly inaccurate.”
People in Europe have the right to ask Google and other search engines to delete links to outdated or embarrassing information about themselves, even if it is true, under a principle known as “right to be forgotten.”
Strict data protection rules in the 27-nation bloc give people the right to control what appears when their name is searched online, but the regulations frequently pit data privacy concerns against the public’s right to know.
Google said it welcomed the decision.
“Since 2014, we’ve worked hard to implement the right to be forgotten in Europe, and to strike a sensible balance between people’s rights of access to information and privacy,” the company said in a statement.
The case stems from a complaint filed in Germany’s highest court by two managers at a group of investment companies who asked Google to remove search results based on their names that linked to articles criticizing the group’s investment model.
They said the articles made false claims. Neither the managers nor the company were identified.
The pair also asked Google to remove thumbnail photos of them that came up in image searches without any context.
Google refused because it didn’t know whether the articles were accurate or not, according to a press summary of the ruling.
The court disagreed, saying that if someone submits relevant and sufficient evidence proving the “manifest inaccuracy” of the information, the search engine must grant the request.
The judges said the right to freedom of expression and information can’t be taken into account if “at the very least, a part — which is not of minor importance — of the information” turns out to be wrong.
To avoid making it too hard to get false results removed, the ruling said a court decision isn’t needed and that people can “provide only evidence that can reasonably be required.”
Google said the links and thumbnails in question in this particular case aren’t available through web and image search anymore. “The content at issue has been offline for a long time,” it said.
Search engines wouldn’t have to investigate the facts of each case to determine whether content is accurate, the court said, because it could amount to extra work that companies would be able get around by proactively removing results.
“This will hopefully push Google and similar Big Tech firms to invest in a sufficiently trained and well-employed workforce capable of handling such requests, instead of outsourcing crucial content curation work to underpaid workers or an unaccountable algorithm,” said Jan Penfrat, senior policy advisor at digital rights group EDRi.
In a previous ruling, the court sided with Google in deciding that the “right to be forgotten” doesn’t apply outside the 27-nation EU. France’s privacy regulator had wanted the rule applied to all of Google’s search engines, even those outside Europe.
Google has deleted 5.25 million weblinks since it started handling “right to be forgotten” requests in 2014, or nearly half of all requests processed, according to the company’s latest transparency report.
When Google receives a takedown request, it doesn’t remove the links from all web searches, just when a person’s name is typed in. It will still show up when other search terms are used.
The best Wisconsin restaurant visited by Guy Fieri: …


News | North Dakota
North Dakota’s gas flaring rate 7 times higher than next-highest state, study finds
North Dakota now captures 95% of natural gas, the vast amount of which comes from oil wells, but still stands out as a major source of flaring, which releases climate-warming methane.
A natural gas flare on an oil well ad burns as the sun sets outside Watford City, North Dakota, in 2016.
By Patrick Springer
BISMARCK — North Dakota is one of five states that together account for 90% of the nation’s flared natural gas and is an “outlier” with flaring intensity that is seven times greater than the next-highest state.
Those are among the findings by consultants Rystad Energy in a study commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund that determined infrastructure capacity limits are by far the greatest cause of flaring gas that can’t be captured and processed.
North Dakota greatly exceeded the other four major flaring states in flaring intensity, the percentage of flared gas as a percent of total produced gas, according to the report.
North Dakota accounted for 35% of the flaring by the group of five leading states — second to Texas, with 41% — but had a flaring intensity of 7.1%, seven times greater than the next-highest state, New Mexico, which flared 1% of the gas it produced in 2021, the Rystad Energy report found.
Flaring in New Mexico was 11% of the total for the five states. Texas, the leading oil and gas state, flared 0.9% of the gas it produced in 2021, the report said. Wyoming flared 0.2% of its natural gas, followed by Colorado with 0.1%.
“It’s a huge source of waste. It’s unconscionable, really. It’s also a huge source of pollution,” Jon Goldstein, the Environmental Defense Fund’s senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs, said of flaring. “That’s a big problem, particularly in North Dakota.”
Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, said the vast majority of natural gas produced in the state is a byproduct of oil wells, making it more difficult to capture.
Elsewhere, most natural gas is produced from natural gas wells, specifically designed to capture the gas for processing, he said.
“I don’t believe that the way they did that analysis is a good method,” Helms said. “The problem is North Dakota is the only one of these five states that the vast majority of our gas comes from oil wells.”
In North Dakota, 65% of natural gas is from oil wells, compared to 10% in Texas, he said. Flaring occurs at oil wells, not natural gas wells, Helms said.
Natural gas is flared at an oil well in Williams County, North Dakota.
Amy Dalrymple / Forum Communications Co.
Still, Helms acknowledged that even if only “associated” gas is taken into account — gas production associated with oil production — North Dakota still tops the list, but at a rate that is closer to 1.5 times the next-highest state, he said.
“I’m not happy being at the highest percentage,” Helms said. “We still have a significant amount of work to do.”
In September, the most recent figures available, North Dakota petroleum producers captured 95% of natural gas — achieving all-time highs both for gas produced and captured. The statewide flared gas volume from August, when 94% of gas was captured, decreased 35,000 cubic feet per day to 156.4 million cubic feet per day, according to state figures.
To further reduce flaring, North Dakota is focusing on four oil fields that lag far below the overall capture rate, ranging from 52% to 87%, Helms said. Three of the four oil fields are located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
“If we can bring those up to the 95%, associated gas capture would fall in line with other states,” Helms said.
Companies are preparing to capture the gas, and Helms anticipates that in a year or so much of the gas on the problematic oil fields will be captured and delivered to the market.
Plans also call for reversing two pipelines, originally designed to carry natural gas from Wyoming to North Dakota, allowing more gas to be exported for processing, Helms said.
Increased pipeline capacity also would allow two or three gas processing plants in North Dakota to expand, adding half a billion cubic feet per day of capacity, he said.
Natural gas processing capacity in North Dakota quadrupled from one billion cubic feet per day in 2013 to four billion cubic feet per day in 2021, which Helms said helped to significantly reduce flaring.
Gas processing infrastructure continues to expand. In a project expected to start construction in 2023, a Canadian company called Cerilon plans to develop a $2.8 billion plant in Williams County that will convert natural gas into liquid fuels. Plans call for the plant to produce 24,000 barrels per day of ultra-low sulfur diesel and other specialty products.
In 2011, flaring peaked in North Dakota, when 36% of natural gas was captured. In 2020, North Dakota, which has 2.4% of the nation’s natural gas reserves, accounted for 24% of total vented and flared natural gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
North Dakota has a goal of capturing 91% of natural gas, a level that in 2018 was reduced from 95% by 2020 when the policy was adopted in 2014.
Today, most major petroleum producers aim to capture 95% to 98% of natural gas, and the state is considering increasing its capture goal, Helms said.
The most productive area of the Oil Patch’s Bakken formation is 80% to 85% developed, prompting oil producers to extend beyond the core, where oil and gas are not as easy to reach, he said.
That will make it more difficult to increase the gas capture rate, Helms said. “It’ll be an interesting challenge,” he said. The industry’s use of horizontal drilling is now extending up to three miles laterally, up from the one mile laterals that once were standard, making drilling more efficient.
“It’s very exciting,” Helms said, but added it will be a challenge to build gas-capturing infrastructure in time to reduce flaring.
The study by the Environmental Defense Fund found that flaring in North Dakota is largely driven by a lack of infrastructure. Infrastructure capacity constraints account for 84% of flaring in North Dakota and 64% in Texas.
North Dakota is one of five states that contributed 90% of total flared volumes in 2021. North Dakota flares an amount similar to Texas, which produces more than nine times as much gas, causing North Dakota's flaring intensity to be much greater than other states.
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. Over a period of 20 years, methane is more than 80 times as potent, pound for pound, as more abundant carbon dioxide.
A recent study has found that flaring isn’t as efficient at destroying methane as commonly assumed, both by industry and government.
Flares burn off excess natural gas from oil well sites.
Joshua Komer/Grand Forks Herald
A team of researchers led by the University of Michigan, in findings published in Science , determined that flaring is the source of five times more pollution than previously thought due to inefficient burning.
Industry and government generally assume flared gas is burned with 98% efficiency, but the researchers found that only 91.1% of methane is destroyed by flaring, due to unlit flares and inefficient combustion.
“This represents a five-fold increase in methane emissions above present assumptions and constitutes 4% to 10% of total U.S. oil and gas methane emissions,” the study found.
The Environmental Protection Agency has published a new, 505-page draft rule on regulating flaring and venting of methane.
The proposal would reduce methane emissions from covered sources by 87% below 2005 levels, according to the EPA.
Lisa DeVille of Mandaree, a member of the Dakota Resource Council, applauded the new methane rule, which she said would help reduce flaring.
“Fort Berthold Reservation, where my family and I live is where the most flaring occurs, in North Dakota – the state with the most flaring!” she said. “Quickly finalizing strong EPA rules will protect communities like mine from the immediate threats from flaring and other oil and gas activities and the threats we already experience because of climate change.”
The proposed rule, which is open to public comments, focuses attention on methane “super emitters,” such as unlit flares or major equipment leaks, an approach Helms said makes sense.
“I think that’s healthy,” he said, adding that North Dakota is taking a similar approach by focusing on the four oil fields that flare at much higher rates.
On the other hand, Helms has concerns with provisions in the rule involving certification of methane emissions that he said conflict with North Dakota law. Emissions measurement is highly technical and requires special training, Helms said.
In the new rule, the EPA is tightening down on routine flaring, but doesn’t go as far as the states of Colorado and New Mexico, Goldstein said. Although an improvement, he said the government should go further in requiring methane emission reductions.
Related Topics: ENERGY AND MININGNORTH DAKOTAENVIRONMENT
Patrick Springer first joined The Forum in 1985. He covers a wide range of subjects including health care, energy and population trends. Email address: pspringer@forumcomm.com
The consumer protection division of the attorney general's office opened an investigation in October of 2021 into Glasser Images and its sudden closure.
By David Olson
The bill’s passage in the House marks the first win for socially conservative lawmakers who have promoted a series of bills aiming to restrict gender expression for LGBTQ residents.
By Jeremy Turley
"They lost everything they owned in the explosion and will have no place to return to when they do get released" from the hospital, according to a sister of one of the victims.
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The North Dakota Development Fund chose O'Leary Ventures to manage the $45 million Wonder Fund North Dakota program
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Sport shorts: Thursday Blue Jay events postponed.


Ryuichi Sakamoto has been an enormously respected artist for decades, starting with his work in the '70s and '80s as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra in his native Japan to his deeply affective, Grammy and Oscar-winning scores for film and within his numerous avant-electronic solo experimentations. Those experimentations...
'This is not entertainment': John Zorn, all over Big Ears
January 26, 2023 - 11:04am
Content warning: This episode contains explicit language.
Trick question: How do you chronicle the creative plenitude of John Zorn? It's a fool's errand, considering his body of work, which at least resists categorization if not the very limits of description. Still, there's copious insight, and no small amount...
January 26, 2023 - 9:13am
As a youngster in rural Pennsylvania, Missy Mazzoli knew she didn't want to become an astronaut or a nurse. Instead, she announced at age 10 that she was a composer — even though she hadn't yet written a note. The adults in her life figured she'd get over it....
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For the third year, Tiny Desk concerts team up with globalFEST for a thrilling online music festival — Tiny Desk meets globalFEST.
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deem spencer, '27'
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Overmono, 'Is U'
In Britain in the late 2000s, Tom Russell and his brother Ed were still forging their identities as dance-music producers — it wasn't until the following decade that they really found themselves: Tom would work in prismatic industrial modes, while Ed found himself part of the thriving post-dubstep scene known...
Tiny Desk meets globalFEST 2023: Dakh Daughters, Khadija El Warzazia, Cui Jian
Senators slam Ticketmaster over bungling of Taylor Swift tickets, question breakup
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Panic! at the Disco is ending after nearly two decades
Panic! at the Disco, the emo-pop band that began in 2004, is ending its run after seven albums and nearly two decades.
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Andy Shauf, 'Telephone'
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Kasien, 'BREATHE (SLOW IT DOWN)'
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Luther DickinsonNewsNews and EventsSouthern Music Collection
An Article by Brenda Germany
“I was just obsessed with the inspiration that art gave me. I’ll be working on it for the rest of life – I’ll always be working on it.” Mississippi Hill Country Blues guitarist and vocalist Luther Dickinson, of the famed North Mississippi Allstars, admittedly has a passion for not only the Blues, but, also, for Ocean Springs artist Walter Anderson’s “Seven Climates of Ocean Springs”. In September 2018, The Southland Music Line had the pleasure of attending Dickinson’s third musical suite in the series based on Walter Anderson’s beautifully detailed paintings of coastal wildlife, nature and inhabitants. Gracing the walls of the Ocean Springs Community Center, this celebrated work is described by Anderson as the “Seven Climates,” in the sense of “a belt of the earth’s surface contained between two given parallels of latitude”- namely Ocean Springs, MS. His lushly, expansive murals conjoin each season with a harmonious planetary body: the Sun, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and the Moon, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Originally born in Tennessee, Luther Dickinson moved with his parents, Mary Dickinson and well-known Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson, to the North Mississippi Hill Country in 1985. There, he and his brother, Cody, cultivated their promising musical talents while listening to Otha Turner’s Fife and Drum Blues band and Junior Kimbrough’s guitar prowess. Making his recording debut at age 14, Luther progressed to work with such outstanding artists as Mojo Nixon, Toy Caldwell (Marshall Tucker Band), Beck, Billy Lee Riley, John Hiatt, George Porter and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band prior to forming the acclaimed North Mississippi Allstars band with his brother. Luther later produced two of Otha Turner’s albums “Everybody Hollerin’ Goat” and “From Senegal to Senatobia” before receiving six Grammy nominations for his own albums.
Luther Dickinson (Sun. Sept. 23, 2018)
Undoubtedly attuned to the theory that each of the seven planets featured in Anderson’s paintings produce their own distinctive tone and in combining together create celestial music, Dickinson draws on his deep musical roots to write each “Season’s” unique composition. He invites fellow musicians to collaborate with him in each year’s performance, taking their inspiration from Anderson’s much-loved work. This year Dickinson united the talents of trombonist Big Sam (Big Sam’s Funky Nation), sousaphonist Kirk Joseph (The Dirty Dozen Brass Band), vocalist and granddaughter of Otha Turner, Sharde “Fifemastor” Thomas (The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band), and, as always, legendary New Orleans drummer Johnny “V” Vidacovich to weave this third spectacular musical tapestry for the “Seven Climates of Ocean Springs”. Also taking part were local favorites Blackwater Brass (including museum Dir. of Development, Corey Christy) and the Rock U2 dance troupe.
In addition to many familiar and original songs in the New Orleans and Hill Country Blues tradition, our audience was treated to a reading of Walter Anderson’s short story detailing the courage of a particular frog in pursuing “the sweetest and most seductive frog voice he had ever heard” in order to be near that beautiful music on the other side of the road. Walter Anderson’s son, John, explained, “Our father didn’t want us to be afraid of the world, so he wrote stories to help us be brave.” To conclude the evening of inspiring and spirited music and dance, Luther and his fellow musicians led the audience in a joyful New Orleans style “Second Line” procession throughout the Community Center to “When the Saints Come Marching In”. Dickinson said of the event, “Everybody there was just so happy and friendly. It was cool seeing families dancing and getting involved. It was beautiful, man.”
From Left: Sharde “Fifemastor” Thomas (The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band), Luther Dickinson, Kirk Joseph (The Dirty Dozen Brass Band), Sammie “Big Sam” Williams (Big Sam’s Funky Nation) and Johnny “V” Vidacovich
The Line would like to thank Walter Anderson Museum Manager, Bea Ketchum and Director of Development, Corey Christy for their kindness and hospitality, and all those who had a part in organizing this wonderful event. We encourage our readers to join us in 2019 to attend the next chapter in this exceptional seven part series combining outstanding music and cherished art.
We now invite you to enjoy two pages of photos taken at event by Stephen Anderson.
Click Here for the Walter Anderson Museum’s official website.
Click Here for Luther Dickinson’s official website.
References: Luther Dickinson quotes – Sun Herald, “Luther Dickinson Finds Inspiration in Walter Anderson, Col. Bruce” by: Jeff Clark, May 03, 2017; Walter Anderson Museum of Art – “Third Annual Performance of Luther Dickinson’s Music Inspired by Walter Anderson’s “Seven Climates of Ocean Springs” August 24, 2018
Big Sam's Funky Nation Blackwater Brass Brenda Germany Corey Christy Gulf Coast Music Scene Johnny Vidacovich Kirk Joseph Mississippi Mississippi Gulf Coast Ocean Springs Sharde “Fifemastor” Thomas Stephen Anderson Photography Walter Anderson Walter Anderson Museum
Hannah McFarland & Friends Live at Callaghan’s


Pixel Scroll 6/26/22 You Read 16 Scrolls, What Do You Get?
(1) SURVIVAL THROUGH STORIES. John Wiswell’s Locus Award acceptance speech is well worth a moment to read: “’That Story Isn’t The Story’ wins the Locus Award for Best Novelette! Plus, my acceptance speech.” at Patreon.
…“That Story Isn’t The Story” is about growing while our trauma lives on inside of us, and while the sources of our trauma continue to live on around us, and often pursue us and belittle us. It’s about surviving by controlling our own stories, and the breath of life that comes from someone believing in you.
I’m certainly sitting here in part because of such believers….
(2) NOT SOMETHING SHE CONSIDERED A PREDICTION. In “Margaret Atwood: The Court Is Making Gilead Real “ the author comments on the draft decision of the ruling that was released this week.
…In the early years of the 1980s, I was fooling around with a novel that explored a future in which the United States had become disunited. Part of it had turned into a theocratic dictatorship based on 17th-century New England Puritan religious tenets and jurisprudence. I set this novel in and around Harvard University—an institution that in the 1980s was renowned for its liberalism, but that had begun three centuries earlier chiefly as a training college for Puritan clergy.
In the fictional theocracy of Gilead, women had very few rights, as in 17th-century New England. The Bible was cherry-picked, with the cherries being interpreted literally. Based on the reproductive arrangements in Genesis—specifically, those of the family of Jacob—the wives of high-ranking patriarchs could have female slaves, or “handmaids,” and those wives could tell their husbands to have children by the handmaids and then claim the children as theirs.
Although I eventually completed this novel and called it The Handmaid’s Tale, I stopped writing it several times, because I considered it too far-fetched. Silly me. Theocratic dictatorships do not lie only in the distant past: There are a number of them on the planet today. What is to prevent the United States from becoming one of them?
For instance: It is now the middle of 2022, and we have just been shown a leaked opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States that would overthrow settled law of 50 years on the grounds that abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution, and is not “deeply rooted” in our “history and tradition.” True enough. The Constitution has nothing to say about women’s reproductive health. But the original document does not mention women at all….
(3) STAKING A CLAIM. Emily Temple offers “A Close Reading of the Best Opening Paragraph of All Time” at Literary Hub. Surprise: it isn’t the first paragraph of Pride and Prejudice.
One hundred and one years ago today, Shirley Jackson was born. During her lifetime, she wrote “The Lottery,” and The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the latter of which features what I consider to be the best first paragraph of all time, or at least of any novel that I have ever read. Here it is:
“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.”
It almost seems like overkill to explain why this paragraph is so wonderful….
(4) PRESENT AT THE CREATION. Here’s Rich Horton’s latest look at potential Hugo winners and nominees from the 1950s — this time, stories published in 1952 (first eligibility year of the Hugos): “Hugo Nomination Recommendations, 1953” from Strange at Ectbatan.
Continuing my project of suggesting potential Hugo nominees (and winners) for the early years of the Hugo — basically, pre-1958. Here’s a look at 1952. This is the year covered by the very first Hugos, from the 11th Worldcon, Philcon II, in Philadelphia, in September 1953. The only Fiction Hugo actually awarded went to Alfred Bester’s novel The Demolished Man. Apparently there were plans to name a Short Fiction winner, but there were insufficient votes….
(5) FANZINES ARCHIVED AT HARVARD. The article doesn’t have that much to say, but that it appears in Harvard Magazine might interest you: “The Geeky Underground”.
BEFORE HE WAS the acclaimed author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury was just another teenage boy with a science-fiction zine. Pronounced “zeen,” these self-published, often-low-budget magazines are staples in subcultures and underground movements—including punk-rock devotees, palindrome-writers, and the riot grrrl feminists of the 1990s—but the medium first got its start in the 1930s, in the bedrooms and basements of devout sci-fi fans. Their zines, which helped launch genre legends like Bradbury and Robert A. Heinlein, were handmade, wacky, and delightful. A single issue might house a hand-drawn comic titled “The Return of the Space Boggle,” a poem about a ghost with dry skin, and an epistle from a teenaged sci-fi author on “the various problems connected with space travel that make it difficult to write up sex properly.”…
(6) SFF NONFICTION. Cora Buhlert’s new Non-Fiction Spotlight introduces us to By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga by Erica Friedman: “Non-Fiction Spotlight: By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga by Erica Friedman”.
Some people claim that the reason that SFF-related non-fiction books have increasingly been crowded out of the Best Related Work category at the Hugos is that there are not enough non-fiction books published every year to fill the Hugo ballot. This is wrong, since there is a wide spectrum of non-fiction books covering every SFF-related subject imaginable released every year. Today’s featured non-fiction book proves how wide that spectrum truly is, because it is a book about the history of lesbian relationships as portrayed in manga and anime.
Therefore I’m thrilled to welcome Erica Friedman, author of By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga to my blog today.
Tell us about your book.
My book is By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga.
Lesbian-themed animation and comics (and related media), known as “Yuri,” is the newest genre of Japanese pop culture. Even though it’s only been acknowledged as a separate genre for a little over a decade, Yuri has a literary and artistic history that can be traced back to the early 20th century. My book is a series of interlocking lectures and essays that trace that history and bring the story of Yuri to the present. I cover key series and creators, as well as the efforts by creators and fans to carve out a space for ourselves in the larger Japanese pop culture fandom.
(7) CROMCAST PODCAST COVERAGE OF HOWARD DAYS. The good folks of The Cromcast have posted yet more recordings of the 2022 Robert E. Howard Days.
“Howard Days 2022 – Part 3 – The Glenn Lord Symposium!”
This recording from Friday, June 10th includes academic papers delivered by Drs. Dierk Guenther, Gabriel Mamola, and James McGlothlin. The panel is moderated by Dr. Jason Ray Carney.
The Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet: “Howard Days 2022 – Part 4 – The Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet!”
This recording is from Friday, June 10th, and is from the Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet. The guest of honor is Fred Malmberg, who shares comments and stories about his years in the gaming industry, as well as the influence of Robert E Howard on the history of gaming. The guest of honor is introduced by Rusty Burke.
Interviews with Howard Days attendants: “Howard Days 2022 – Part 5 – Late Night Conversation at the Pavilion!”
For this recording, Josh and Luke are joined by various attendees for afterhours conversations on Friday, June 10th.
(8) BEYOND GAME OF THRONES. [Item by Cora Buhlert.] The Guardian has a very extensive interview with Emilia Clarke, which is easy to miss, because it was posted in the theatre section rather than the film or TV sections: “Emilia Clarke: ‘The best place in the world is backstage at a theatre’”.
…The actor is no stranger to the divisive power of art – on which more later – but the spare and lean production marks a pronounced change from the jobs she has done since being catapulted into superstardom by Game of Thrones in 2011. Following the phenomenally successful HBO series, in which she portrayed Daenerys Targaryen, Clarke has starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Genisys, played Han Solo’s love interest in Solo: A Star Wars Story and dressed as an elf in Paul Feig’s Emma Thompson-scripted romcom Last Christmas. She has won a Bafta Britannia award and been nominated for numerous Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards; in 2019, she was one of Time’s 100 most influential people….
(9) WOULD THAT BE A TOTAL OF SIX BODIES? Two adaptations of The Three Body Problem are moving forward.
“The Three-Body Problem: New Chinese Trailer, Key Art Poster Released”. Bleeding Cool covers new publicity for the Chinese adapation – see the poster at the link.
The Three-Body Problem by Chinese author Liu Cixin is the Science Fiction trilogy that’s made the biggest splash in the 21st Century, and a TV series adaptation is highly anticipated by fans. Just this week, Chinese studio Tencent released a poster and the second trailer for the Chinese TV adaptation.
…The first trailer for the Chinese version of The Three-Body Problem was released back in November 2021. So far, no premiere date for the series has been announced. Reports on Chinese social media suggest that the series is currently being re-edited to get approval from government censors before a release date can be determined. That means the whole series has been shot….
In the U.S., The Hollywood Reporter named new members of the cast: “Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ Casts Another ‘Game of Thrones’ Alum”.
The drama series adapted from Liu Cixin’s Hugo Award-winning trilogy has added four more actors to its sprawling ensemble, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Jonathan Pryce (The Crown), Rosalind Chao (Better Things), Ben Schnetzer (Y: The Last Man) and Eve Ridley (Peppa Pig) have joined the show….
(10) THIS FILM HAS NO DICK. Den of Geek’s Ryan Britt and the headline writer did not have a meeting of the minds about his post “Blade Runner Became a Sci-fi Classic by Being a Terrible Philip K. Dick Adaptation”.
The title of the 1982 film Blade Runner is taken directly from a book. Well, from two books: the 1979 novella Blade Runner (a movie) by William S. Burroughs, which, in turn, was based on the 1974 novel The Bladerunner by Alan E. Nourse. Both of those books are science fiction stories set in the near future, but have nothing to do with escaped androids. Instead, the movie’s plot is based on the 1968 novel by Philip K. Dick called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It’s tempting to say that Ridley Scott’s science fiction masterpiece took the name Blade Runner and slapped it on a Philip K. Dick story, but the truth is, Blade Runner succeeds because it’s not really an adaptation of anything….
(11) MEMORY LANE.
1963 – [By Cat Eldridge.] So fifty-nine years ago on this evening, like peanut butter and chocolate two great monsters united when King Kong Vs. Godzilla premiered. Really would I kid you? (Well I would and you well know it, but that’s why for a different discussion, isn’t it?)
Not at all surprisingly, this Japanese kaiju film was directed by Ishirō Honda, with the special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Nine years previously, Honda directed and co-wrote Godzilla of which Tsuburaya is considered the co-creator.
The script was Shinichi Sekizawa, mostly known, again not surprisingly, for his work on the Godzilla films but he did some other genre work such as Gulliver’s Travels Beyond the Moon and Jack and the Witch.
It started out as a story outline written by King Kong stop motion animator Willis O’Brien in the early Sixties in which Kong battles a giant Frankenstein Monster. The idea was given to the Tojo film company without his permission and they decided Godzilla would be a bigger draw.
An individual by the name of Merian C. Cooper filed a lawsuit against the film showing here claiming he had exclusive right to the King Kong character in the United States, a claim that the film distributor quickly refuted as it turned out many individuals did.
It had already been the single most popular Godzilla film in Japan before it showed here and remains so to date. It made nearly three million here, not bad considering its tiny budget of four hundred thousand— two men in suits don’t cost much, do they? — so the film made twenty times that in its first run. Monsters rock!
The Hollywood Reporter liked it: “A funny monster picture? That’s what Universal has in “King Kong Versus Godzilla.” Though the New York Times noted “The one real surprise of this cheap reprise of earlier Hollywood and Japanese horror films is the ineptitude of its fakery. When the pair of prehistoric monsters finally get together for their battle royal, the effect is nothing more than a couple of dressed-up stuntmen throwing cardboard rocks at each other.”
Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give a so-so rating of fifty six percent.
(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born June 26, 1904 — Peter Lorre. I think his first foray into genre was in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea film as Comm. Lucius Emery though he was in an Americanized version of Casino Royale as Le Chiffre which was an early Fifties episode of the Climax! series. (James Bond was called Jimmy. Ooh the horror!) Other genre roles were in Tales of Terror as Montresor in “The Black Cat” story, The Raven as Dr. Adolphus Bedlo and The Comedy of Terrors as Felix Grille. (Died 1964.)
Born June 26, 1910 — Elsie Wollheim. She was one of the original Futurians of New York, and assisted them in their publishing efforts, and even published Highpoints, her own one-off fanzine. She married Donald A. Wollheim in 1943. When he started DAW Books in 1972, she was the co-founder, and inherited the company when he died. Their daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) now runs the company along with co-publisher and Sheila E. Gilbert. (Died 1996.)
Born June 26, 1950 — Tom DeFalco, 72. Comic book writer and editor, mainly known for his work at Marvel Comics and in particular on the Spider-Man line. He designed the Spider-Girl character which was his last work at Marvel as he thought he was being typecast as just a Spider-Man line writer. He’s since been working at DC and Archie Comics.
Born June 26, 1965 — Daryl Gregory, 57. He won a Crawford Award for his Pandemonium novel. And his novella We Are All Completely Fine won the World Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. It was also a finalist for the Sturgeon Award. I’m also fond of his writing on the Planet of The Apes series that IDW published.
Born June 26, 1969 — Lev Grossman, 53. Most noted as the author of The Magicians trilogy — The Magicians, The Magician King and The Magician’s Land. Winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. He wrote the screenplay for The Map of Tiny Perfect Things film which was based off his short story of that name. I hear his Magicians trilogy has been made into a series — who’s seen it?
Born June 26, 1969 — Austin Grossman, 53. Twin brother of Lev. And no, he’s not here just because he’s Lev’s twin brother. He’s the author of Soon I Will Be Invincible which is decidedly SF as well as You: A Novel (also called YOU) which was heavily influenced for better or worse by TRON and Crooked, a novel involving the supernatural and Nixon. He’s also a video games designer, some of which such as Clive Barker’s Undying and Tomb Raider: Legend are definitely genre.
Born June 26, 1980 — Jason Schwartzman, 42. He first shows up in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as Gag Halfrunt, Zaphod Beeblebrox’s personal brain care specialist. (Uncredited initially.) He was Ritchie in Bewitched, and voiced Simon Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation. He co-wrote Isle of Dogs alongwith Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, and Kunichi Nomura. I think his best work was voicing Ash Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Born June 26, 1984 — Aubrey Plaza, 38. April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation which at least one Filer has insisted is genre. She voiced Eska in recurring role on The Legend of Korra which is a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. She was in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as Julie Powers. And she was Lenny Busker on Legion.
(13) COMICS SECTION.
Shoe today is about a cat, so of course it belongs in the Scroll.
Funky Winkerbean is about vows from a sacred text – of sorts.
(14) BELLE REVISIONED. “For the Most Complex Heroines in Animation, Look to Japan” says the New York Times.
At a time of widespread debate over the depiction of women in film, the top Japanese animators have long been creating heroines who are more layered and complex than many of their American counterparts. They have faults and weaknesses and tempers as well as strengths and talents. They’re not properties or franchises; they’re characters the filmmakers believe in.
… Because Japanese animated features are made by smaller crews and on smaller budgets than those of major American films, directors can present more personal visions. American studios employ story crews; Hosoda, Hayao Miyazaki, Makoto Shinkai and other auteurs storyboard entire films themselves. Their work isn’t subjected to a gantlet of test audiences, executive approvals or advisory committees….
(15) BOTTOM OF THE BARREL. Slashfilm curates the worst times to come: “Dystopian Sci-Fi Movie Worlds Ranked By How Horrible They’d Be To Live In”.
We love dystopias. There’s something shuddery and intriguing about exploring a world that’s a lot like ours, but there’s something wrong with it. We fall to the allure of it. Sure, this brave new world is terrible, but how cool would it be to survive? Maybe even become a hero? And for many of our favorite dystopian stories, survivability feels possible — at least for a while. These scenarios borrow from today and hold warnings about what tomorrow could be unless we act. We feel prepared by watching them. We feel, for a little while, empowered.
… These stories are about people’s extraordinary efforts to thrive, and sometimes they fail. Let’s explore some of our favorite dystopias and imagine what it would be like to try and live in them.
5. Snowpiercer
Stylistically similar to Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” “Snowpiercer,” directed by Bong Joon-ho, is an adaptation of a French comic that foretells a world of few survivors on a frozen Earth. Society is packed into trains that run ceaselessly across the world. Classism allows the elite to feast on the plight of the poor. If you were trapped in a world like this one, imagine the smell. Even in the forward cars, people smell in closed quarters. Water is at a premium. The stink of the train’s oils and electricity will always be in the air.
As in “Elysium,” there’s a chance you might find yourself among the privileged, but it’s far likelier you’ll be in the cattle cars. Sure, there’s a guy that looks like Chris Evans, but your fate could be as simple as winding up an awful-tasting protein bar for your friends to eat. It’s life, of a sort, but it’s not desirable. The end of the film suggests that the world beyond the train is healing, and someone with a gift for survivalism and the right gear to keep warm might make it — but to do what? It’s going to be decades of hard living and starvation before the first villages thrive.
(16) UP AGAINST THE WALL-E. Proving that sf has plenty of painful futures to go around, this Inverse article is about one film that didn’t even make Slashfilm’s list: “The best post-apocalypse movie of the century reveals a dark debate over humanity’s future”.
… Released by Pixar in 2008, Wall-E was ahead of its time on AI sentience, automation of the workforce, and interstellar travel. But perhaps the movie’s most timely theme is its complicated environmental message.
While the climate crisis isn’t overtly mentioned, it’s probably safe to assume it had a role in turning our planet teeming with life into a barren wasteland devoid of sentient life — save for the garbage-collecting robot known as “Wall-E.” And in the years since, this kind of lifeless apocalyptic setting has become far more common in Hollywood sci-fi movies, reflecting the growing trend of “climate doom” in real life.
But what is “climate doom” and are we really doomed to the future seen in the movie. Or can climate optimism win out and save our planet before we turn it into a gloomy garbage heap a la Wall-E?…
(17) SPLAT. NASA spotted a couple new holes in the Moon, and they know what made them, but not who: “Rocket Impact Site on Moon Seen by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter”. Photo at the link.
Astronomers discovered a rocket body heading toward a lunar collision late last year. Impact occurred March 4, with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later spotting the resulting crater. Surprisingly the crater is actually two craters, an eastern crater (18-meter diameter, about 19.5 yards) superimposed on a western crater (16-meter diameter, about 17.5 yards).
The double crater was unexpected and may indicate that the rocket body had large masses at each end. Typically a spent rocket has mass concentrated at the motor end; the rest of the rocket stage mainly consists of an empty fuel tank. Since the origin of the rocket body remains uncertain, the double nature of the crater may indicate its identity.
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Cora Buhlert, Daniel Dern, Michael J. Walsh, Chris Barkley, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Cora Buhlert.]
This entry was posted in Pixel Scroll and tagged Blade Runner, Cora Buhlert, dystopia, Emilia Clarke, Erica Friedman, Fanzines, Godzilla, John Wiswell, King Kong, Locus Awards, Margaret Atwood, NASA, Rich Horton, The Cromcast, Three-Body Problem by Mike Glyer. Bookmark the permalink.
15 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 6/26/22 You Read 16 Scrolls, What Do You Get?”
Cat Eldridge on June 26, 2022 at 7:12 pm said:
That first paragraph by Jackson is interesting but the entire idea of the best first paragraph is like trying to pick the best ice cream flavor — you simply cannot do it as it is absolutely subjective.
Soon Lee on June 26, 2022 at 7:50 pm said:
De gustibus non est disputandum et alia…
Rich Horton on June 26, 2022 at 8:34 pm said:
@12 — Daryl Gregory has written a ton of wonderful stories, but I’d plump most for his 2017 novel SPOONBENDERS, which was shortlisted for both the World Fantasy and Nebula awards for Best Novel.
Jim Janney on June 26, 2022 at 8:55 pm said:
Meredith Moment: Nancy Springer’s Sea King Trilogy: Madbond, Mindbond, and Godbond is $2.99 at the usual suspects, and American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1960-1966 is $1.99. The latter contains The High Crusade, Way Station, Flowers for Algernon, and what may or may not be the author’s preferred text for And Call Me Conrad
(1) I was not much impressed by The Handmaid’s Tale when it came out, mainly because I was annoyed that Atwood thought she wasn’t writing SF, and because I thought Kate Wilhelm did it all much better and at shorter length in “The Funeral”, but also because I thought the premise was too unrealistic and backward-looking to be interesting. Alas.
(3) The main criterion Ms. Temple outlines, how well does the opening paragraph encapsulate the rest of the book, seems anything but subjective to me.
(10) I’m sorry to hear that android isn’t a cool name. Too bad nobody told poor Mr. Lucas about that. But Ryan Britt nails the main difference: the androids aren’t anyone you want to feel sorry for. Rachel cuts the legs off a spider because she’s bored, and it’s there, and why not? And the earth is either nearly deserted or else heavily overpopulated, because it’s almost the same thing. In many ways the movie is almost a photographic negative of the book.
Joe H. on June 26, 2022 at 9:07 pm said:
12) Before he was in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Peter Lorre was in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And before that (in 1935), he was in Mad Love, which IMDB describes thusly:
In Paris, a demented surgeon’s obsession with a British actress leads him to secretly replace her concert pianist husband’s mangled hands with those of a guillotined murderer with a gift for knife-throwing.
And the poster proclaims: SUITABLE FOR ADULTS ONLY
I think that’s his earliest genre credit, although there are also some I believe German films that don’t have any plot summaries or anything, so I’m not sure if they have any genre elements.
Paul King on June 26, 2022 at 10:36 pm said:
We do this every year. Peter Lorre was in FP1 Fails to Answer (A rather literal translation of the German title) which is definitely genre. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022869/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_100
Eric Simonson on June 26, 2022 at 11:33 pm said:
(12) Aubrey Plaza was also in the wonderful Safety Not Guaranteed.
Todd Dashoff on June 27, 2022 at 2:17 am said:
(12) Aubrey Plaza’s first movie was Safety Not Guaranteed, which depending on how you view the ending, either is or isn’t genre. If it isn’t, it’s certainly close, as it deals with a man inventing a machine to travel in time.
Paul Weimer on June 27, 2022 at 2:27 am said:
Given that Humanity gets off of the planet in Wall-E, that might be considered an optimistic scenario…
I also recall a 80’s Twilight Zone episode where diaspora humans come back to a ruined Earth, and ghosts of their ancestors are involved.
Andrew (not Werdna) on June 27, 2022 at 3:54 am said:
@Todd: You beat me to the reference to Safety Not Guaranteed – a great little film.
rcade on June 27, 2022 at 8:24 am said:
Does anyone know the author on Facebook telling other authors to keep quiet on politics because it’s their job to entertain?
In honor of the documentary I saw yesterday about “Company”:
“Don’t tell Paul that he’s not being Muad’Dib, today!”
jayn on June 27, 2022 at 10:20 am said:
3) Great article. I do disagree with the bit where the author tries to figure out which “Richard Plantagenet” is the one Merricat says she likes, and concludes,
“She could be referring to a number of people, including Richard the Lionheart, but she probably means the third Duke of York, whose claim to the throne (then-occupied by a weak and mentally ill Henry VI) was a primary cause of the Wars of the Roses. In 1460, the English Parliament compromised and declared that Richard would succeed to the throne after Henry VI’s death, but he was killed in battle by the Lancaster forces, and his son wound up becoming king instead.”
Myself, I happen to think that the “Richard Plantagenet” Merricat likes best is Richard III, for…reasons.
bill on June 27, 2022 at 1:38 pm said:
(3) Cat is right about the subjectivity of “best paragraph” rankings. However . . .
“The Haunting of Hill House” clearly has a better first paragraph. For one thing, when reading from “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”, you get to the line “I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise”, and you hit a mental speed bump — does Merricat dislike washing dogs? — that the comma does too little to prevent, and that isn’t resolved until you get to “noise”. You cannot wash noise, but you can dislike it; therefore, she dislikes dogs. Parallel structure works best when the structured items are indeed parallel. The paragraph would be better if that sentence had been recast.*
“The Haunting of Hill House”, though, is as near perfect as prose gets.
OTOH, Jackson was such an excellent stylist that she must have recognized what I’m calling a fault, and had reasons for doing it anyway. I’d love to ask her what she was up to, there.
jayn on June 27, 2022 at 2:33 pm said:
@bill
I think Jackson may have been trying to convey Merricat is both younger mentally than her age, and also is disobliging in her communication to others; you are going to have to work to get clear information out of her, a tendency that continues throughout the novel to its end, when all is revealed.


Viewpoint from Rev Albert Cadmore 09/01/2014
Rev Albert Cadmore
Parish Priest at Horsey and West Somerton
Just a couple of weeks ago, many of us attended Christmas services and, for many of us, the Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914 was on our minds as we recalled the historic football played between opposing soldiers in “No Man’s Land”. As we sang carols, I’m sure many held in mind how carols were sung in the trenches in the stillness of the night the sound travelling across the unusual stillness and peacefulness of that special Christmas night
Every year there seems to be something almost magical about Christmas Eve, as thousands who rarely attend churches at other times attend community carols and “Midnight Mass” services. Christmas is often termed the season of peace and goodwill, and it is amazing to reflect on how peace and goodwill “broke out” so spectacularly amidst the horrors of trench warfare a century ago
Sadly, as we know, that peace did not last, and those soldiers who had met together, played football together, and exchanged gifts with one another, were back at war, killing one another a day or so later, and officers, on both sides, would ensure that no further such truces would occur for the duration of the war
In our everyday lives, and in the lives of our communities and nation, as we set off on our journey of life into a New Year, the warm glow of the season of peace and goodwill can often seem a long way off as conflicts seem so readily to come to prominence again and again
Sadly, “man’s inhumanity towards man”, seems to be an inbuilt aspect of the human condition. Albert Einstein once said, “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding” and, on the same theme, from the Bible, we can read that Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God”. St Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, once stated, “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” There is no doubt that if only such peace could be more widespread and more widely sought, the world would certainly be a better and more peaceful and hopeful place for everyone
As we venture into 2015, my profound hope is that a search for such peace can become an overarching goal for people of all cultures and faiths and nations
Mother Teresa once said, “Peace begins with a smile”. It may seem simplistic, but that’s a guideline we can all follow in our daily lives


Posted: Nov 07, 2016
Nanoshells: Potential catalysts and cradles of life (w/video)
(Nanowerk News) A way to coax simple, inorganic nanoparticles to spontaneously assemble into shells has been discovered, potentially paving the way for more efficient industrial chemical processing, gene delivery and clean-up of chemical contaminants in the environment, researchers say (Nature Chemistry, "Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles into Biomimetic Capsid-Like Nanoshells").
And it explores how life may have started.
“This work brings up the deeper questions linking self assembly and the origin of life,” said Nicholas Kotov, the Joseph B. and Florence V. Cejka Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. “Cells, viruses—all life relies on compartmentalization.”
3D electron microscopy reveals the outer structure of the nanoshells. These nanoshells, which form naturally, could be useful in chemical industry and in medicine. (Image: Zhang Lab, University of Pittsburgh)
Kotov’s team demonstrated the self-assembly of simple nanoparticles into spherical shells about 20 to 50 nanometers across, or about half the diameter of a virus. The nanoparticles are made of cadmium sulfide, a semiconducting material that can be used to make solar cells. To clarify how the self-assembly occurred, Petr Král, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and colleagues made detailed simulations of the self-assembled nanoparticle shells, down to the level of individual atoms.
This high-fidelity modeling takes months to simulate less than a millionth of a second, so the Chicago team could not show the entire one-second process of the shells assembling. Still, they could show that once a shell had formed, the forces on the particles kept it together.
The individual cadmium sulfide particles, roughly shaped like four-sided pyramids, have a negative charge. This causes them to repel one another. But in close quarters, this repulsion is overcome by an attraction between the surfaces: The electrons on each particle run away from one another, creating positively and negatively charged regions on the atoms that are aligned so that the particles attract one another.
A 3D electron microscope image of the nanoshell, cut in half to reveal the inside. These nanoshells, which form naturally, could be useful in chemical industry and in medicine. (Image: Zhang Lab, University of Pittsburgh)
But when many particles come together, the repulsion from the overall negative charge becomes strong enough that despite the close-range attraction, they can’t form a solid sphere—particles on the inside get pushed out. Instead, they form shells. Peijun Zhang, a renowned expert in the shells of viruses and professor of structural biology at the University of Pittsburgh, and her group obtained precise three-dimensional images of the nanoshells with an electron microscope.
In order to cause the shells to form, the team needed to adjust only the pH, making the water moderately basic, which causes the negative charge on the nanoparticles.
“The nanoparticles formed compartments without careful chemical organization. There was no need for peptides, amino acids or any organic molecules,” said Kotov, explaining how the work connects to the origin of life. “If there are particles from rocks, and liquid for mobility, compartments can form.”
Nanoshells could be catalysts, creating shortcuts in industrial chemistry by cutting the energy required to produce useful chemicals or reducing the waste products. The self-assembly mechanism may enable the shells to self-repair if they are damaged by the reactions, a common problem for catalysts. As catalysts, they may also be useful for cleaning up chemical spills.
Take an Orson-Wells-style trip through a nanoshell in this interpretation of electron microscope images. Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles arranged themselves into spherical shells about 10 to 15 nanometers across, or about half the diameter of a small virus. The nanospheres were made at the University of Michigan and sent to the University of Pittsburgh for analysis.
Kotov is particularly interested in their potential for gene delivery, mimicking the natural viral shells currently used. His lab is currently exploring the viability of the nanoshells as capsules for gene therapy, a treatment for cancers and other disorders. The genes must be protected until they reach their target site in the body.
“It is a beautiful system with a lot of interesting science. It is much simpler than the systems of compartments in living organisms, but we can modify it, learn how to control it, and eventually engineer it for applications,” Král said.
As for the origin of life, the nanoparticles leave holes in the shells large enough for small molecules to pass through. Kotov plans to explore whether the shells can catalyze reactions to build organic molecules.
Source: University of Michigan


Posted on June 12, 2015 by Times Gazette
Dog shooting stirs social media
A family dog was shot and killed at a residence on South High Street in Hillsboro last weekend by a neighbor who said he felt threatened by the animal.
The incident has gained considerable attention on social media, particularly on Facebook where most comments question whether the shooting was justified.
Hillsboro Police Chief Todd Whited said Friday that the shooting was investigated and it was determined that the person who shot the dog, which was a Great Dane, was acting within the law.
“That’s how we have to look at it, whether we like it or not,” said Whited.
According to the Ohio Revised Code, when a dog “is chasing or approaching in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack” and a person feels they will be harmed, they are within their rights to shoot the dog.
The dog’s owner, Eric Willis, on Friday said he and Kevin Barreras have been next-door neighbors for about 10 years, but have never spoken.
Willis has Great Danes, and while he said they can be intimidating to some because of their size, they are gentle, he said.
Willis said the dogs are like children to his wife.
And while his yard isn’t fenced, there’s an underground electric fence.
He said he confronted Barreras after his dog was killed, and that the neighbors engaged in a verbal altercation.
On Friday, Barreras told The Times-Gazette that on Saturday, June 6, he was out mowing his yard. He said that he occasionally carries a pistol on him because his neighbor’s dogs are sometimes “threatening.”
As he mowed Saturday, the dog came at him twice, he said. It “scared me,” he said, and he spun his zero-turn mower around so he would be facing the animal. He drew his pistol intending to fire a warning shot, Barreras said, and then the dog “lunged” and he fired.
He said he wasn’t even sure if he hit the dog, but he said it yelped and went down the hill to its own yard.
“It’s not anything I wanted to do,” he said, adding that he never wants to do it again.
According to Whited, Barreras said the Great Dane had been in his yard in the week leading up to the incident and that it had cornered his wife, who fled into their house.
According to Whited, that incident was not reported.
Barreras said he never reported any issues to the police because he “didn’t want to complain.”
The police chief said that any time an issue with a dog occurs, the department suggests that people notify law enforcement so they can handle it, “so it doesn’t escalate to this,” he said.
The police chief said the department has not had any prior complaints on the Great Dane that was killed.
He said the department has consulted with Hillsboro City Prosecutor Fred Beery who said this was a civil matter and could be pursued as such by the dog’s owner.
Whited said the owner of the dog will not be cited for having an unrestrained dangerous animal, even though the prosecutor said such a citation could be issued.
Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd. Jeff Gilliland contributed to this story.
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Delaware Achievers Sept. 21
M&T Bank has named Ryan Craig as branch manager for its branch in Georgetown. He is responsible for business development, branch sales growth, and managing branch personnel. Craig, a graduate of Schenectady County Community College, joined M&T Bank in June as manager of its Seaford branch, and has been working in the financial industry since 2007. He came to M&T Bank from First National Bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he worked as treasury management sales manager.
CNB Shore Bancshares Inc., welcomed Teresa Swartz as an assistant vice president and will be serving customers in Kent and Sussex counties. Swartz, of Clayton, comes with 27 years of experience in the banking industry. She began her banking career in 1987 with the Bank of Illinois as a corporate non-credit processing clerk in Champaign, Illinois. In 1993, she took a position with The First National Bank of Wyoming, where she worked for over 21 years before joining. In her most recent role at First National, she served as assistant vice president and branch manager at the Wyoming Delaware branch. She is a member of the Smyrna-Clayton Rotary club.
Pennoni Associates, an engineering, design and consulting firm in Wilmington, Newark, Milton and West Chester, Pennsylvania, announced Pamela J. Nelson has joined the firm as the director of marketing. Nelson, of Wilmington and a graduate of Drew University, has more than 30 years of marketing experience including 15 years with engineering, environmental and natural resource consulting firms. Her background includes developing marketing processes, overseeing business development programs, implementing online and offline marketing campaigns, managing events, branding and administering customer relationship management databases.
Louis K. Rafetto, of Wilmington, was voted president-elect of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons during the association’s annual meeting in Honolulu. Prior to his election, he served a one-year term as vice president and four years as District II Trustee on the AAOMS board of trustees where he represented the oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Dr. Rafetto, a graduate of Temple University School of Dentistry who completed his oral and maxillofacial surgery residency training at the Medical Center of Delaware, is a diplomat of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery. He maintains a private oral and maxillofacial surgery practice in Wilmington and serves as chairman of the section of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery and also as the director of Implantology and Alveolar Reconstruction at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery and hospital dentistry at Christiana Care Health systems Wilmington. He is chair of the Delaware Institute for Dental Education and Research and a past president of the Delaware Valley Society of Oral and Maxillofacial surgeons. He has also been president of the Delaware State Dental Society and is a member of Health Volunteers Overseas.
Keith Morton has been named executive director of the Parent Information Center of Delaware. Prior to this position, he worked in private business, seamlessly integrating technology with effective service delivery. His work included serving as the operations manager of the City of Atlanta Empowerment Zone and a consultant on a health project for children with special needs. Morton, a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University, is a member of Red Clay Consolidated School District Diversity committee. Marie-Anne Aghazadian, who served as the executive director of the Parent Information Center of Delaware for more than 25 years, is retiring from her position, but will continue to work at PIC in a part-time role to facilitate the center’s leadership transition and to serve on committees and task forces on behalf of the center. The PIC is a nonprofit organization with a mission to advance effective parent engagement in education. It is the state’s designated parent training and information center, a federally funded program mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Send items to Business People, c/o The News Journal, Box 15505, Wilmington, DE 19850; or email business@delawareonline.com (with Business People in the subject line); or fax (302) 324-2849, or call news assistant Ricardo Rodríguez at (302) 324-2351. Individual facial photos may be submitted, but publication or return are not guaranteed.