Frances Rubio Honors Her Father's Life While Addressing Caretaking and Mental Health in 'Recording for Dodie'
By WORLD CHANNEL
'The Lookout' is presented as part of Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond.
In 'Recording for Dodie,' filmmaker Frances "Frankie" Rubio (she/they) turns the camera on themself as she copes with caretaking while separated from their father, Eduardo "Dodie" Rubio, who is quarantined at a nursing facility during the pandemic. Through personal narrative and archival home video, she tells their story of father and daughter in a delicate, loving tribute to the quick-witted, kind-hearted man she grew up with. Rubio's father passed away on May 10, 2022 (this interview with Rubio occurred on April 15, 2022).
Rubio also presents a vulnerable portrait of the mental and physical toll caregivers experience day-to-day and over an extended period of time. The film recognizes the millions of unpaid Americans who take on the responsibility of caregiving and how they manage.
"I wanted 'Recording for Dodie' to mostly be about caregivers and the things that they might feel, but it became this sort of love letter to my dad," Rubio said. "It was very much about holding onto the memories of my dad, wanting to honor and appreciate who he was, and is now, and providing a framework of how I felt about this moment."
Rubio spoke with WORLD Channel about their favorite memories of "Dodie," and how, through filmmaking, she can uphold the legacy of compassion and strength he has left behind.
WORLD Channel: As an Asian American filmmaker, what does storytelling mean to you?
Frances Rubio: For so long, Asian Americans have never been seen as part of the American experience. The perpetual idea of Asians being foreign is something that I've experienced in my life. I'm American; I'm also Asian American. I wanted our story to provide empathy and compassion for people who may or may not know the Asian community.
We are often underrepresented, misrepresented, and oftentimes, our stories are simplified. There isn’t enough nuance nor conversation. It's all blanket statements when we think about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in a way that is detrimental to our community. Highlighting our humanity in our stories and our experiences, the commonalities of what we're going through, is what I wanted to share. After never seeing myself and my story [on screen] for my entire life, I finally saw films coming out about the Asian American experience, first-generation and immigrant. I wanted to be part of that.
I had been documenting my experience as a first-generation Asian American caregiver – someone who had moved from New York to Los Angeles, who is the eldest daughter of divorced parents and became a caregiver at a really young age. But it wasn't until my dad got sick that I felt the most alone. I wanted one person in the world to tell me it was going to be okay and that there was a way to talk about the nuance of what that experience was, but I couldn't find anything. I realized the power of storytelling in that moment and decided I was going to dedicate the rest of my life to making more people feel seen, heard, validated and comforted.
Storytelling can encapsulate all these different experiences and intersectionality. I want to tell these stories in a nuanced way; being sick, navigating the healthcare system, dealing with mental health and burnout, struggling with separation – things [almost] everyone can relate to. I truly hope that sharing my story, and what my family went through, provides compassion, empathy and a better understanding of the fact that we are just as American as anyone else.
WC: How does your film preserve your father’s legacy?
FR: To me, family is everything. It's why I do what I do. It was hard to watch the archival [footage], because that's how I remember my dad – this incredibly joyful, silly, deeply caring and sensitive individual. I thought I lost this when my dad got sick, [and while] it’s a different version of my dad now, it’s still very much him in so many ways. Every now and then, I captured him joking and pulling a prank on me and my family.
I feel so lucky that my parents came to America from the Philippines. I think about the struggles of coming to a new country, the sacrifices they made and trying to fit into a society that didn’t necessarily always welcome them. I saw how much my dad wanted to preserve these memories of me and my brother growing up in America – our family, the parties, the graduations, the birthdays and the holidays. As I was going through the archival, I recognized how much I also wanted to do the same.
I wanted to capture who my dad is and highlight the fact that this amazing human being, [with] my mom, did a difficult thing by coming here, building a life, raising kids and doing what they could to build their legacy. I feel privileged that at this age, in my 30s, there is opportunity to share our stories now.
WC: How does your story represent resilience?
FR: One of the hardest things to grapple with was even sharing the story. It was wanting to be vulnerable and showing that our family was going through this. Even now, I'm nervous. But I did want to share that this is happening; some of us are struggling with this, I was struggling [with this] and my heart was breaking. It was also [about] taking the pandemic in stride, one day at a time, not knowing what was going to happen, continuing to document this and trying our best to show that we were there for my dad.
Resiliency is dealing with adversity, persevering and coming out on the other side. My family coming here and dealing with the everyday things an American does and then some, as an immigrant – that feels like 100 percent resiliency. Telling the story and showcasing resiliency allows us to show the adversity we experience and highlights the obstacles and hardships we run into. I hope that we can change the system.
WC: What does your film say about the state of caregiving in America?
FR: There are so many amazing people in my and my dad's life who have been helpful – nurses, doctors, and social workers – and many people who have cared and supported us. As much as there are resources, I also feel like there weren't enough. There's not enough financial support for families to be together or enough options for families to have [their loved ones] be at home. My best case scenario was bringing my dad home, and I was looking into programs and organizations, but there is no available funding or support.
Caregiving has been really difficult, and it was hard to capture the breadth and depth of that experience, because there were many joyful, funny and amazing moments. It's been about managing the realities of what caregiving and being sick in America is like while also seeing that there is still the human spirit of who my dad is.
I want to change the way we think [and talk] about caregiving in America. It's often difficult to talk about certain things within our families, but if we could have open conversations, it would help us prepare for caring for our aging populations and caregiving in general in America.
WC: How were you able to be so vulnerable with your film?
FR: The process of filmmaking was mostly capturing this for myself, first and foremost. I was trying to problem-solve, navigate bills and track COVID at my dad's nursing facility. I was barely understanding what was happening in the world and how my dad got COVID and what that meant. Filming was really difficult, and I felt like I was reliving it over and over again. [But I also had a] group who helped me work through the story and supported me from an emotional standpoint. The fact that they all happened to be Asian women was a joy.
No one knows the things that I was going through. I was feeling guilt, not knowing how to give [my dad] support, letting him know we're here and we care, and that we were trying to find ways to bring him home. I felt like I had to put up a front, to save face, when, really, I wanted to be honest that this is a real struggle that was plaguing me. Talking about my own mental health and my struggles with it feels like a level of vulnerability that terrifies me. I don't want [my family and peers] to see me in this state, which I think is a weakness. [But] I can't just do this behind closed doors and struggle on my own.
The other piece of what scares me about telling this story is that it's my family's story. I’m protective of them, protective of our experience. I worry about what it does to our family name; what it might do to my brother, to my mom, to my dad's side of the family and to my dad. To me, the exchange is bringing down the wall of saving face to hopefully open up the conversation and make change.
WC: What do you want audiences to take away from 'Recording for Dodie'?
FR: I want people to understand the nuances that different people were experiencing during [the COVID-19 pandemic] and to shed a light on one particular experience that came out of it – the story of what my dad means to me and my experience in going through this.
I hope that [my film] can help others who might feel alone or not seen or heard and let them know that they're not alone. That's what I wanted when I became a caregiver, to discuss all the parts that come with it. The guilt, the stress, the moments of joy that we do have with our loved ones; the entire multifaceted experience of caregiving is something I wanted to share. And on top of it, to then share it from a first-generation American experience with immigrant Asian parents.
Frances Rubio's 'Recording for Dodie' is now streaming on the PBS app and WORLD Channel’s YouTube. Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond is presented in partnership with the Asian American Documentary Network and the
Center for Asian American Media.
Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond
Recording for Dodie
A daughter captures the experience of being distanced from her father during the pandemic.
Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: What to Watch on WORLD in May
This Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, watch films on WORLD Channel that channel the inspiring and impactful resilience of the AAPI community is, honoring incredible struggles while recognizing strengths and successes.
Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond: AAPI Filmmakers Explore Identity Through Family and Community
To commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an exclusive, digital-first series will turn the lens on AAPI filmmakers: Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond features seven short films by both emerging and established creators, all focusing on the theme of resilience.
Asian American Pacific Islander Stories
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian American and Pacific Islander community has been plagued by heightened hate. This AAPI Heritage Month, watch films that honor the struggles faced and celebrate the accomplishments of this vibrant community.


Maternal and neonatal care critical
0 September 17, 2021 3:25 PM
Source: Maternal and neonatal care critical | The Herald
Mr Huni
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Health Reporter
Improved maternal and neonatal care has been classified as a critical strategy to reduce the number of women and newborns who die every day due to preventable causes.
Globally, approximately 810 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, while about 6700 newborns also die daily and another two million babies are stillborn.
According to the World Health Organisation, the provision of safe and quality care by health professionals could help avoid such deaths and this can be achieved through the engagement of all stakeholders and the adoption of comprehensive health systems and community-based approaches
Today, Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Patient Safety Day, which is being held under the theme “Safe maternal and newborn care.”
This year’s campaign becomes even more important considering the significant burden of risks and harm women and newborns are exposed to due to unsafe care, compounded by the disruption of essential health services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Radiation exposure could be one of the most harmful things for patients, particularly pregnant women.
Prenatal Radiation Exposure is the exposure of a foetus to radiation, which might occur when a pregnant mother’s abdomen is exposed to radiation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
Radiation Protection Authority of Zimbabwe (RPAZ) corporate communications officer Mr Shingirai Huni said exposure of pregnant women to radiation could be harmful for both the mother and the child and there is need to protect patients from its effects.
He said the organisation had embraced the WHO’s urge to ‘Act now for safe and respectful childbirth!’ as well as the government’s strategic thrust towards improving the quality of life for citizens.
“In fulfilment of the mandate of protecting people and the environment from harmful effects of radiation, RPAZ recognises the need to ensure protection of patients which includes pregnant patients. The possibility of severe health effects depends on the gestational age of the foetus at the time of exposure and the amount of radiation it is exposed to. The health consequences can be severe, even at radiation doses considered too low for the mother. The consequences can include stunted growth, deformities, abnormal brain function, or cancer that may develop sometime later in life,” he said.
He said RPAZ had come up with regulations that specify requirements for protection of patients for diagnostic of therapeutic procedures involving the use of radiation.
The requirements also specify justification and optimization of protection for pregnant patients to ensure safety for both the mother and foetus.
“All the strides are crucial in ensuring patient safety which also includes safety of pregnant patients leading to delivery of healthy babies,” said Mr Huni.
World Patient Safety day was established in 2019 to enhance global understanding of patient safety, increase public engagement in the safety of health care and promote global actions to enhance patient safety and reduce patient harm.
This year’s campaign seeks to raise global awareness on the issues of maternal and newborn safety, particularly during childbirth while engaging multiple stakeholders to adopt effective and innovative strategies to improve maternal and newborn safety.
It will also advocate the adoption of best practices at the point of care to prevent avoidable risks and harm to all women and newborns during childbirth.
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Them 'Bones'... Them 'Bones'... Them Season Four 'Bones' on Blu-ray
Posted Thu Jul 2, 2009 at 11:30 AM PDT by Tom Landy
Fox has revealed specs and details for the high-definition release of the hit drama's fourth season.
'Bones: Season Four' will make its Blu-ray debut on October 6.
The 5-disc set will feature 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 (1.78:1) video, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements set to include three extended episodes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and two featurettes: Androgeny: Playing Haru Tanaka and Squints in training.
You can find the latest specs for 'Bones: Season Four' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under October 6.
Bones: Season 4 (Blu-ray)


Why did Eagles coach Doug Pederson bench Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld vs. Washington?
Delaware News Journal
PHILADELPHIA – Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he was trying to win the game even though he benched quarterback Jalen Hurts for third-stringer Nate Sudfeld in the fourth quarter with the Eagles trailing by three points.
Pederson said he had made the decision before the game that Sudfeld would play at some point in the second half.
He said it had nothing to do with intentionally trying to lose the game. The Eagles lost 20-14 to Washington on Sunday night, finishing their season 4-11-1.
By losing, the Eagles will pick No. 6 overall in the NFL draft. If they had won, they would be picking No. 9.
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"Yes, I was coaching to win," Pederson said, adding that no one from management directed him to pull Hurts. "That was my decision solely. Nate has obviously been here for four years, and I felt he deserved an opportunity to get some snaps."
Still, it seemed rather odd.
If Hurts was surprised in being pulled in a three-point game, he didn't let on.
"I knew Nate’s worked really hard all year," Hurts said. "I think he’s a great player and Coach wanted to give him an opportunity at some point in the game … Me being a competitor, I talk about winning all the time, and that’s what I’m all about. I trust Coach with it. That’s all I can do."
Hurts was 7 of 20 for 72 yards and an interception. He also ran 8 times for 34 yards and two touchdowns, both from 6 yards out.
Hurts' last play was on a 4th-and-goal from the Washington 4 yard line late in the third quarter, the Eagles trailing 17-14. Pederson decided to pass up a 22-yard field goal that would have tied the game to go for the go-ahead touchdown.
"My mindset down there is when you’re that close, just go ahead and continue to stay aggressive and try to score," Pederson said.
Hurts, under pressure from Washington's defensive line, got off a throw to a wide-open Quez Watkins that was just beyond Watkins' reach as he dove for it.
"Just a throw that Jalen would probably like to have back," Pederson said, adding that wasn't the reason why he pulled Hurts.
"I couldn’t get the oomph on it like I wanted to," Hurts said. "A situation like that, you score a touchdown, it’s a throw that I make often."
The next time the Eagles got the ball, Sudfeld was in the game.
Sudfeld was only on the game-day roster in the season opener and on Sunday. He had thrown just 25 career passes coming into Sunday, and he does not fit into the Eagles' longterm plans as a possible starting quarterback.
Sudfeld went 5 of 12 for 32 yards. He threw an interception, lost a fumble on a bad snap and was sacked twice.
Yet there he was, trying to lead the Eagles back from a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
He didn't come close and neither did the Eagles.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
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Should I Watch..? 'Wild Wild West' (1999)
Benjamin Cox
Benjamin is a former volunteer DJ at his local hospital radio station. He has been reviewing films online since 2004.
Poster for "Wild Wild West."
Wild Wild West is an action-comedy western film released in 1999 and is a very loose adaptation of the TV series of the same name that ran from 1965 to 1969. The film stars Will Smith (who also contributed to the film's theme music), Kevin Kline in dual roles, Salma Hayek and Kenneth Branagh and follows two US Government Marshalls who are on the trail of a murderous Confederate general and a wheelchair-bound scientist ready to wreak havoc on the old West. The film was released to a chorus of critics who slammed the film for being idiotic, unentertaining, and significantly different from the original show. Audiences agreed and although the film made over $222 million worldwide, the high budget and lackluster reviews meant that a sequel was dead in the water. Thankfully.
The year is 1869 and US Marshal Artemus Gordon has teamed up with US Army Captain James West in his pursuit of Confederate general and war criminal "Bloodbath" McGrath across the southern states. After failing to capture him at a brothel, President Ulysses S. Grant orders the two men to investigate the disappearance of a number of key scientists which may be linked to a plot by McGrath. Their only clue is the severed head of one of the scientists, which was found wearing a strange metal collar.
Gordon, who is an inventive technical genius, is able to determine that McGrath is involved and working alongside ex-Confederate scientist Dr. Arliss Loveless who is confirmed to a steam-powered wheelchair. Taking their gadget-filled train The Wanderer to New Orleans, West and Gordon are about to discover that Loveless has much bigger plans (and machines) than either man ever dreamed of...
What's to Like?
Seriously, not much. There is an oh-so-short glimpse of Hayek's behind and Levine gives the only performance worth more than the film deserved. That's it - the rest of the picture is the sort of unmitigated failure that Hollywood hopes people like me forget over time. But this is such a colossal misfire that it's actually hard to salvage anything from the wreckage.
You couldn't possibly accuse the film of having no lack of imagination, given how many gadgets and gizmos are on screen. Granted, most of them are useless or only used for a running gag like Kline's pop-up notebook. I'm always wary of screenplays that have multiple writers because, with so many ideas thrown into the mix, the end result is either a significant watering down of the initial premise or a film so chaotic that it's impossible to tell what's going on. Wild Wild West has ideas coming out of its ears but sadly, not a clue about how to make an entertaining and coherent film. This is the sort of film that stops me from losing hope that any of my screenplays will be sold because if this nonsense can get funding, I don't see why I shouldn't. And I like to hope that it makes me more positive as a person.
All the cast members get screwed but none more so than poor Kevin Kline, seen here in the least convincing drag act in movie history.
Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in order to make this movie, a decision he later said was the worst he had ever made in his career.
When the film scooped five prizes at the 2000 Razzies ceremony, star of the TV series Robert Conrad accepted three of the awards in person. It was his way of expressing anger at the movie's lack of loyalty to the show and the quality of the film. Smith later apologized to Conrad for the movie.
Adding to the film's mighty budget was the cost of re-shoots which was intended to inject more humour into the film. Test audiences didn't even know the film was supposed to be a comedy. At a rumoured $170 million, it's still the most expensive film Warner Bros have ever made (at time of writing).
Right, where do I start? The screenplay is appalling with no laughs and no logic behind anything that happens on screen. The cast all appear to be in it for the money, with the exception of Levine who plays the role like the one guy who doesn't get the joke. Branagh is hopelessly miscast, as is poor Kevin Kline whose career never really recovered from this. Smith, while bringing his usual charisma to the screen, never really convinces as a gunslinger and plays the part more like a lady's-man than an actual hero for audiences to get behind.
The effects were adequate but hardly mind-blowing, considering how much was spent on them and director Sonnenfeld makes a real dog's dinner of the production. The story barely has enough juice to last the distance, not that anyone cares about the story because you're too busy wondering why there are giant mechanical spiders in a western. The soundtrack is a bizarre blend of familiar western themes and hip-hop tracks which was no doubt hoping to capitalize on Smith's rapping career. The annoying thing is, I might have actually gotten on board if the script made me care about these characters but it doesn't. It appears on screen, shows us a lot of nonsense, and disappears again without leaving the viewer with any sort of impression other than a sense of bewilderment.
The movie's steampunk leanings are ill-advised and unwelcome. This is supposed to be a western!
Should I Watch?
I'm trying very hard to think of anybody who might actually like this film and other than complete morons and Meccano addicts, this film is best avoided by almost everyone. It's noisy, stupid, and bears no relation to not just the TV show but Westerns in general. There have, of course, been films that are as illogical and meaningless as Wild Wild West but none that have made such a wretched product masquerading as popular entertainment. It's enough to get me reaching for my six-shooter...
Great For: idiots, Meccano addicts, anybody who has never seen a film before or knows what one is.
Not So Great For: fans of the show, children, adults, humanity.
What Else Should I Watch?
Personally, I'd rather watch The Human Centipede or A Serbian Film, either of which is a disgusting spectacle that will leave most viewers (including myself) reaching for a sick bag. Anyone looking for a western is spoilt for choice with classics like High Noon or The Good, The Bad And The Ugly to more modern examples like Tarantino's The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained as well as remakes of The Magnificent Seven and True Grit. All of these are considerably better than this tripe. But then again, so is sand in your underwear.
Will Smith has also made better movies - highlights include Enemy Of The State and I Am Legend which sees Smith play possibly the last man alive in a deserted New York crawling with hungry mutants. Lastly, I wish to do right by Kevin Kline because I felt sorry for him. He is a much better actor than this film deserved and he has an exceptional range but I prefer him as a comedy performer - he was just brilliant in A Fish Called Wanda, playing the psychotic boyfriend of Jamie Lee Curtis to absolute perfection and winning an Oscar for it. If you've not seen it then check it out and purge the memory of this film from your brain. I have.
Capt. James T. West
Marshal Artemus Gordon / President Ulysses S. Grant
Dr Arliss Loveless
Rita Escobar
Miss East
General "Bloodbath" McGrath
* story by Jim & John Thomas, based on the TV show created by Michael Garrison
Barry Sonnenfeld
S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman *
Feels longer than 106 minutes...
Release Date (UK)
Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Western
Razzie Awards
Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple (Smith & Kline), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song
Razzie Award Nominations
Worst Actor (Kline), Worst Supporting Actor (Branagh), Worst Supporting Actress (Hayek), Worst Supporting Actress (Kline dressed as a prostitute)
© 2017 Benjamin Cox
Geography, Nature & Weather
Air Pollutant: Particulate Matter
By Sonal Shrivastava Jan 26, 2023


La Delicata
This sculptural work belongs to the severe style of Greek art, but already at a time, such as the end of the 6th century BC, which is considered a mature phase and prior to what will be in the next century the classical sculptural art par excellence, the period in which works such as Myron's Discobolus or Polykleitos' Doryphorus are created.
But returning to this figure called La Delicata, we are dealing with a work made of marble and that was found in the Acropolis of Athens, along with two other contemporary marbles also of female characters that have been called La Malcarada and la Doncella. Given its origin, this work is currently part of the archaeological collection of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.
La malcarada
These three works, although partially found, allow us to get an idea of what full-body sculptures would be like. And in all three cases it can be seen that they would be taking a slight step with their left foot. Much more restrained to the big steps posed by the kuroi, the male representations of the time.
Also another typical feature of the koré or female figures is that usually her left hand is holding her skirt, at the same time that she moves it to one of her sides, letting the folds of the skirt fall free.dresses. At the same time the right hand is extended forward, in a gesture that would correspond to an offering.
His dresses are usually two pieces. A long tunic that would be very fine, called a chiton, and over it a much stronger mantle is placed, whose name is himation. Generally this cloak is placed over the right shoulder and reaches under the left arm, covering the chest forming a curved diagonal. An elegant composition that gives complexity to the whole.
In fact, it brings a lot of dynamism and also contrasts with the vertical folds of the himation, which are usually very heavy and cover a large part of the figure's trunk. Which makes the subtlety and lightness of the chiton that is capable of revealing the shape of the legs more striking.
This is an interpretation of the whole from pieces of sculptures. And we would still be missing a very important piece of information to be able to imagine them completely, since these works would be completely and heavily painted, as descriptions of the time indicate.
However, there are also some works that have come down to us that are more complete, such as the Kore del peplo, whose posture is very similar to that of La Delicata, but her costume, with a peplo, is an interesting variant.


Government report says Irish countryside under increased pressure
A new report by the Irish Government says that the rural environment is being placed under increased pressure as a result of agricultural intensification, population growth near urban areas, industrial development, rural depopulation in remote areas, afforestation and the growth of the tourism sector.
Published 22nd June 2001
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Rural Environmental Indicators: A Discussion Document on Key Indicators in Ireland, compiled by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), presents 29 key indicators describing the various economic sectors and their impact on the countryside, which is undergoing rapid change as a result of population growth near urban areas, rural depopulation in more remote areas, industrial development, and growth in the tourism and forestry sectors. The rural environment is of special significance in a nation where 42% of the population live in the countryside, a proportion almost unheard of in developed nations, and where it is the key attraction for the booming tourist industry.
The main findings of the report, which will soon be available on the Irish EPA website, are:
changes in agricultural practices over the last few decades have impacted on the environment to a significant degree, with main concerns including the emission of methane and nitrous oxide), detrimental impacts on soil and biodiversity and the increasing incidence of water pollution (see related feature);
in a ‘business as usual’ scenario, Ireland will significantly exceed its international obligations in relation to limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, and has already exceeded them by 5%;
Ireland’s current booming tourism industry is increasingly putting pressure on natural resources and the environment, with the main challenge identified as the need to achieve a wider seasonal and regional distribution to contribute to the sustainable development of the industry;
loss of habitats due to agricultural intensification, building development and afforestation means that Ireland’s natural resources, flora and fauna are coming under increasing pressure; and
most of the current 9% of afforested land consists of coniferous species, which can lower the amenity value of an area and have an intrusive affect on the landscape.
It is intended that the environmental indicators in the report will contribute to the National Spatial Strategy presently under development. Among the reports main recommendations are:
appropriate farm management and nutrient management planning on all farms in order to minimise pollution of rivers and lakes;
full implementation of the National Climate Change Strategy (also see this months feature) in order to control and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases;
integration of all policies sections such as land-use planning, transport, energy and the environment into an integrated rural policy;
careful management and planning of tourism and recreational activities to minimise environmental damage; and
improve the availability of data on biodiversity and natural resources to guide their protection and conservation.
The climate is right for environmental disclosure
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Tag Archives: Alfredo John Ascani
August 17, 2022 Aviation51-2721, 51-2724, Alfredo John Ascani, Browning Aircraft Machine Gun Caliber .50 AN-M3, F-86E-10-NA, FAI, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Fred Ascani, Fred J. Ascani, General Electric J47-GE-13, Mackay Trophy, North American Aviation F-86E Sabre, North American Aviation Inc., Test Pilot, THIS'LL KILL YA, Thompson Trophy, World Record for Speed Over a Closed Circuit of 100 KilometersBryan Swopes
Colonel Fred J. Ascani, United States Air Force
17 August 1951: In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the United States Air Force’s new day fighter, Colonel Fred J. Ascani, Vice Commander, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, had been assigned to take two new North American Aviation F-86E Sabres from the production line at El Segundo, California, to the National Air Races at Detroit, Michigan. He was to attempt a new world speed record.
Colonel Ascani selected F-86E-10-NA 51-2721 and 51-2724. They received bright orange paint to the forward fuselage and the top of the vertical fin. Bold numbers 2 and 4 were painted on their sides.
North American Aviation F-86E-10-NA Sabre 51-2721. (FAI)
Colonel Fred J. Ascani with the Thompson Trophy, 1951. (AP)
Flying Number 2, F-86E 51-2721, Fred Ascani flew a 100-kilometer closed circuit at an average speed of 1,023.04 kilometers per hour (635.69 miles per hour), and set a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Closed Circuit of 100 Kilometers.¹
For his accomplishment, Colonel Ascani was awarded both the Thompson Trophy and the MacKay Trophy.
The North American Aviation F-86 was a single-seat, single-engine day fighter designed by Edgar Schmued and the same team at North American that designed the World War II P-51 Mustang fighter. The Sabre was the first fighter to incorporate swept wings, which improved flight at high subsonic speed by reducing aerodynamic drag and delaying the onset of compressibility effects. The leading edges of the wings and tail surfaces were swept 35° based on captured German technical data and extensive wind tunnel testing.
North American Aviation F-86E-10-NA Sabre 51-2721. (U.S. Air Force)
The F-86E Sabre was an improved F-86A. The most significant change was the incorporation of an “all flying tailplane” in which the entire horizontal tail moved to control the airplane’s pitch. The tailplane pivoted around its rear spar, allowing the leading edge to move up or down 8°. The elevators were mechanically linked to the tailplane and their movement was proportional to the tailplane’s movement. Control was hydraulic, and this provided improved handling at high speeds where compressibility could “freeze” control surfaces. There were systems improvements as well, with “artificial feel” to the hydraulic controls to improve feedback to the pilot and prevent over-controlling. Beginning with Block 10 aircraft, the “V”-shaped windscreen of the earlier models was replaced with an optically flat laminated glass windshield.
Fred Ascani in the cockpit of North American Aviation F-86E-10-NA Sabre 51-2724. (U.S. Air Force)
The F-86E was 37 feet, 6.5 inches (11.443 meters) long with a wingspan of 37 feet, 1.4 inches (11.313 meters) and overall height of 14 feet, 1 inch (4.293 meters). Its empty weight was 10,555 pounds (4,787.7 kilograms) and the maximum takeoff weight was 16,436 pounds (7,455.2 kilograms).
The F-86E was powered by a General Electric J47-GE-13 turbojet engine. The J47 was an axial-flow turbojet with a 12-stage compressor and single stage turbine. The J47-GE-13 was rated at 5,200 pounds of thrust and 6,000 pounds (“wet”). The engine was 12 feet, 0.0 inches (3.658 meters) long, 3 feet, 3.0 inches (0.991 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,525 pounds ( kilograms).
The F-86E Sabre had a maximum speed of 679 miles per hour (1,092.7 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level and 601 miles per hour (967.2 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). Its service ceiling was 47,200 feet (14,386.7 meters).
The F-86E carried 437 gallons (1,654.2 liters) of fuel internally and could carry two 200-gallon (757.1 liter) drop tanks under the wings. Maximum range was 1,022 miles (1,645 kilometers).
The F-86A, E and F Sabres were armed with six Browning AN-M3 .50-caliber aircraft machine guns with 1,602 rounds of ammunition.
6,233 F-86 Sabres were built by North American at Inglewood, California and Columbus Ohio. Another 521 were assembled by Fiat and Mitsubishi. 1,815 CL-13 Sabres were built by Canadair, and 115 CA-26 and CA-27 Sabres by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Australia. Total production for all types and manufacturers was 8,684. North American Aviation built 336 F-86Es and 60 more were built by Canadair (F-86E-6-CAN).
In order to emphasize that Colonel Ascani’s record-setting Sabre was a standard production airplane, it was immediately sent into combat with the 25th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, at Suwon Air Base, Korea. There, it was christened THIS’LL KILL YA. On 3 May 1953, 51-2721 was damaged during a landing accident at Kimpo Air Base, but it was repaired and returned to service.
A group of Allied pilots stand with the FAI World Speed Record holder, North American Aviation F-86E-10-NA Sabre 51-2721, at Suwon Air Base, Korea, circa 1952. Its pilot, Lieutenant Jack L. Price, has named it THIS’LL KILL YA.
¹ FAI Record File Number 10429


Ap blethind History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
From the Celtic land of Wales came the name of Ap blethind. This name initially evolved from the Welsh personal name Blethyn.
Early Origins of the Ap blethind family
The surname Ap blethind was first found in Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych), a historic county in Northeast Wales created by the Laws in Wales Act 1536, where Meredith Ap Blethyn was Prince of North Wales in the 11th century. William the Conqueror seized Prince Meridith's castle at Oswestry in Shropshire after 1066 but he retained his Welsh estates. [1] [2]
"At the Survey we see that King William was Lord of this manor (Mileham), but soon after Alan, son of Flaald, obtained it by the gilt of William the Conqueror; also the castle of Oswaldstrey in Shropshire, which belonged to Meredith ap Blethyn, a Welshman or Briton." [3]
Early History of the Ap blethind family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ap blethind research. Another 137 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1273, 1366, 1391, 1524, 1579, 1601, 1627, 1669, 1590, 1579 and 1590 are included under the topic Early Ap blethind History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Ap blethind Spelling Variations
Welsh surnames are relatively few in number, but they have an inordinately large number of spelling variations. There are many factors that explain the preponderance of Welsh variants, but the earliest is found during the Middle Ages when Welsh surnames came into use. Scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded, which often resulted in a single person's name being inconsistently recorded over his lifetime. The transliteration of Welsh names into English also accounts for many of the spelling variations: the unique Brythonic Celtic language of the Welsh had many sounds the English language was incapable of accurately reproducing. It was also common for members of a same surname to change their names slightly, in order to signify a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations. For all of these reasons, the many spelling variations of particular Welsh names are very important. The surname Ap blethind has occasionally been spelled Blevin, Blevyn, Ap Blethyn, Ap Plethyn, Plethen, Blethin, Blethen, Blevins and many more.
Early Notables of the Ap blethind family (pre 1700)
Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was William Blethyn, (d.1590), Bishop of Llandaff in 1579. He was born in Wales, and educated at Oxford, at either New Inn...
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ap blethind Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Ap blethind family
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many people from Wales joined the general migration to North America in search of land, work, and freedom. These immigrants greatly contributed to the rapid development of the new nations of Canada and the United States. They also added a rich and lasting cultural heritage to their newly adopted societies. Investigation of immigration and passenger lists has revealed a number of people bearing the name Ap blethind: G. Blethen, who arrived in San Francisco in 1851.
^ Page, William (ed), A History of the County of Norfolk. London: Victoria County History, 1906. Print
Ap blethind (Welsh)


What Is an Irish Traveler?
By Brendan Koerner
Sept 24, 20021:17 PM
Madelyne Toogood, the woman accused of beating her 4-year-old daughter in an Indiana parking lot, is an “Irish Traveler.” What’s an Irish Traveler?
Irish Travelers, also known as “White Gypsies,” are members of a nomadic ethnic group of uncertain origin. Scholars often speculate that they are descended from a race of pre-Celtic minstrels and that their ranks were swelled by displaced farmers during Oliver Cromwell’s bloody campaigns of the mid-1600s. Travelers once roamed from town to town in horse-drawn carts, earning their keep by busking and tinsmithing; because of the latter vocation, they were nicknamed “Tinkers,” a word that’s now considered something of a slur.
Modern Travelers in Ireland, who number around 25,000, frequently live in ad-hoc trailer encampments, though some have settled in permanent housing. Though prejudice against Travelers has abated over the years, they are still widely stereotyped as thieves and troublemakers; according to a recent poll, 70 percent of Irish citizens wouldn’t accept a Traveler as a friend. A new law which criminalizes trespassing, thus making it easier for police to shut down encampments, has been criticized by Travelers as an attempt to destroy their culture.
A few Irish Travelers emigrated to America during the Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. Their 7,000-10,000 descendants still speak the secret Traveler language, a dialect alternately known as Shelta, Gammon, or Cant, which includes elements of Irish Gaelic, English, Greek, and Hebrew. They are also devout Roman Catholics who rarely marry outside the group. Their tightknit, insular clans spend the winters in such sunny locales as White Settlement, Texas, and Murphy Village, S.C., then hit the road come spring. Many U.S.-based Irish Travelers, including Toogood’s husband, work as itinerant roofers, pavers, and painters.
Police frequently warn the elderly about home-improvement scams operated by a few Irish Travelers. Wandering contractors have been known to charge gullible customers thousands for “sealants” that are nothing more than watered-down lubricant; the con artists quickly leave town once the check is cashed.
Next question?


The National Children's Chorus (NCC) Launches Opera Division and New VAIL OPERA CAMP Initiative Under the Leadership of Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer
NCC Appoints Johnathan McCullough as Opera Program Director and Dylan F. Thomas as Opera Program Coordinator
National Children's Chorus
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children's Chorus is teaming up with its newly appointed Opera Program Director, GRAMMY®-nominated Johnathan McCullough, to launch the organization's new VAIL OPERA CAMP initiative and Opera Vocal Studies program.
The VAIL OPERA CAMP is an all-encompassing program where the next generation of singers, directors, conductors, stage managers, and designers can go to hone their skills with guidance from faculty and guest artists working at opera houses around the world. This season, the NCC is opening enrollment to grade school and high school students across the country and is actively looking to recruit young artists interested in opera for summer 2023.
This August, all participants will convene in Vail, Colorado, to mount a fully staged opera and learn opera history, stagecraft, design, and acting. The opera camp will offer fellowships in directing/stage management and artistic conducting, building a unique opera company for youth where students ages 10-18 will be able to gain practical experience that can be powerful for their futures as they continue studies in higher education.
For more information about VAIL OPERA CAMP and to set up an audition, please visit https://nationalchildrenschorus.com/opera-camp/ or scan the QR code (https://imgur.com/a/RjFsVt8). Scholarship opportunities are available for all families who qualify. Enrollment is open through April 1, 2023.
In addition to directing NCC's VAIL OPERA CAMP, McCullough and Dylan F. Thomas (Opera Coordinator) will hold courses throughout the year for NCC members, covering a variety of topics, including opera history, acting, performance, and audition techniques.
"It is an honor to appoint GRAMMY® Award-nominee Johnathan McCullough to lead this exciting new program. He is a distinguished NCC alumnus and looks forward to rejoining the organization — this time as a Program Director," said Luke McEndarfer, Artistic Director and CEO.
The opera presented for summer 2023 will be "The Tinker of Tivoli," an original opera pastiche drawn from the works of Gioachino Rossini, including "The Barber of Seville" and "Cinderella." The storyline is adapted from the Grimm Brothers' tale "The Gallant Tailor," by Michael Jacobsen.
The performance will be presented at the AVON Performance Pavilion at the base of the Rocky Mountains on the evening of Aug. 11. The event is free and open to the general public. It will be directed by Johnathan McCullough and conducted by Maestro Allan Laiño.
"I'm very excited to step into this new role directing the opera program of the very chorus that started my love for singing. The NCC is where I was first introduced to classical music, which then led me to pursue my first role with Los Angeles Opera's Opera Camp. There, I discovered my passion for opera, which led to a professional career," said McCullough. "I'm truly thrilled to build an unparalleled resource where students can choose to train in multiple areas of operatic disciplines. I'm also honored to have Dylan F. Thomas, a brilliant director, educator and co-founder of Valley Opera & Performing Arts, on staff throughout the year, leading acting classes for our students in his new role as Opera Program Coordinator."
To access high-definition photos that are freely available for distribution across all media platforms, please refer to this link: https://imgur.com/a/d6wb6wr.
About National Children's Chorus:
The GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children's Chorus, under the leadership of Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, has quickly become one of the world's leading children's choirs. Among the most exciting and fastest-growing music institutions for youth in the nation, the chorus provides its unparalleled training to talented singers locally and abroad, with more than 35 choirs and 1,000 students based in the chapter cities of Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, Dallas and Boston. Now in its second decade, the NCC's groundbreaking Season 2022/23, entitled Resounding Voices, expands on the chorus' recent success, featuring an array of special projects, demonstrating the organization's firm commitment to eclectic programming, new music, world culture and extraordinary collaborations.
About Luke McEndarfer:
Luke McEndarfer is a GRAMMY® Award-winning American conductor and one of the most compelling forces in the choral world today, with a dynamic career shaped by ambitious innovation, artistic creativity and musical excellence. Currently, he serves as Artistic Director, President and CEO of the National Children's Chorus, one of the fastest-growing and most successful youth arts organizations in the United States. His conducting collaborations include work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Youth Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Opera Company, New York City Master Chorale, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet, Opera Parallèle, Kronos String Quartet, and Stephen Petronio Dance Company. Over the years, he has prepared choruses and soloists for Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, James Conlon, Stephen Layton, David Alan Miller, Ibrahim Maalouf, John Rutter, Helmuth Rilling, David Willcocks, Eric Whitacre and the late Paul Salamunovich, among others. To date, his premiere conducting performances include music by Morten Lauridsen, Sharon Farber, James Wright, Stephen Cohn, Thomas Hewitt Jones, Daniel Brewbaker, Sage Lewis, Shawn Kirchner, Paul Gibson, Rufus Wainwright, and Nico Muhly. Visit nationalchildrenschorus.com/team/.
About Johnathan McCullough:
GRAMMY®-nominated baritone and director Johnathan McCullough recently premiered his production of David T. Little's Soldier Songs produced by Opera Philadelphia, which was nominated for an International Opera Award and won the Artistic Creation Prize at the inaugural Opera America Awards for Digital Excellence. The film is currently streaming on the Opera Philadelphia Channel and Marquee TV. He will make his Canadian directing debut this season with the Atelier Lyrique of Opéra de Montréal in a program entitled "Emily," centered around works written by Emily Dickinson, co-created by conductor and pianist Christopher Allen.
He has sung leading roles at Opera Philadelphia, Komische Oper Berlin, English National Opera, Opéra de Lausanne, Portland Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and many more. McCullough was selected by Renée Fleming to participate in the Weill Institute Song Studio at Carnegie Hall where he has also performed in concert. Upcoming singing engagements include Carnegie Hall Citywide Series recital with pianist Carol Wong; the baritone soloist in Britten's "War Requiem" at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the National Children's Chorus and American Youth Symphony; and appearances in leading roles with Pittsburgh Opera, Boise Philharmonic, and Opera Philadelphia.
He holds a B.M., M.M., and Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music and has been engaged as a guest speaker with institutions including Yale, Curtis, UCLA, Mannes Opera, Young Arts: The National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, and Pacific Opera Victoria. As a director, McCullough's work has been noted by The New York Times as "a pacesetter for cinematic opera." Visit https://mcculloughbaritone.com/.
About Dylan F. Thomas:
Dylan F. Thomas is the co-founder and Principal Stage Director of Valley Opera & Performing Arts, currently in its 17th season in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, where he has directed full productions of numerous operas, musicals, and concerts. Over the years, he has directed several family productions for the Pacific Symphony and Opera Pacific, where he also acted as both Resident Outreach Director and Education Stage Director, as well as Program Director for Opera Pacific's Opera Camp. Metropolitan Opera soprano Ana Maria Martinez described Dylan F. Thomas as an artist who "thinks out of the box in an intriguing and captivating way ... an inspiring director and mentor, particularly for young artists." Visit https://dylanfthomas.com/.
Jennifer Buonantony
PR Contact for National Children's Chorus
jennifer@presspassla.com
Image 1: National Children's Chorus
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.


"Obi-Wan Kenobi" Review: An Exciting Addition to the "Star Wars" franchise
In Star Wars, the original 1977 film, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) was an enigmatic older man living out his days on Tatooine, a desolate desert planet. The prequels reintroduced Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) as a young apprentice, training under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson).
At the end of the prequels, the once-mighty Jedi were betrayed by Obi-Wan’s apprentice Anakin Skywalker. The original cinematic series began decades later when Jedi, like Ob-Wan, were in hiding. Little is known about what transpired between the two trilogies but the new Disney + series Obi-Wan Kenobi seeks to explore that dark period when the Empire gained strength and the Jedi were hunted.
The story in Obi-Wan Kenobi begins years after the events of the prequels and reveals Luke to be a young farmer growing up dreaming of becoming a pilot while his sister Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) lives in wealth on a distant planet. Separated at the end of the prequels, these two siblings don’t know about each other with only a few high-ranking officials aware of their importance in the galaxy.
When this story begins, Obi-Wan lives a secluded life on Tatooine while keeping watch over Luke (from a distance). While Luke keeps to himself, the outspoken Leia wanders around freely, leaving herself vulnerable to a group of conniving thugs. After these thugs surround Leia and kidnap here from her home planet, Obi-Wan is called in to rescue her.
Director Deborah Chow, who previously directed two episodes of The Mandalorian, helmed all six episodes this new limited series and she quickly establishes the familiar world here. In the first episode, she relies on familiar faces and locations to re-establish where everything stood at the end of the prequels. At the same time, the program also establishes great new characters like the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and the cunning Reva (Moses Ingram), an inquisitor obsessed with finding Obi-Wan.
The show introduces young Leia with mixed results. In the original trilogy, Carrie Fisher commanded the screen as the headstrong Leia. In the new series, it often feels like the writers are working too hard to present Leia as overtly tough and wary. She’s constantly questioning everyone around her. It was undeniably difficult for everyone to fill in the shoes once filled by Fisher but the writers here seem to be struggling with the character. At some points, she's a smart and savvy youngster finding her place in the universe but at other times, she's completely naive and reckless, putting her character needlessly in danger
As the star of the program, Ewan McGregor easily steps back into the role of Obi-Wan (the actor also serves as an executive producer of the project). He’s one of the main reasons why the show works so well. He brings a gravitas to the story that elevates even as the story hits some over-the-top beats.
Although the universe here feels familiar, the story itself feels like a unique addition to the canon. It never detracts from the prequels and sequels even though it features characters and plot points that were previously well-established. In the three episodes that have aired so far though (the first two were originally available for review), the most frustrating element of the series has been some of the dialogue and some of the choices the writers have made, especially when it comes to Leia.
Despite its issues though, Obi-Wan Kenobi offers enough intrigue to remind viewers of why they love franchise (especially the thrilling third episode). Even though people know where the lives of these characters are headed, there’s still a lot of excitement here that offer a fresh appreciation for the character relationships that many viewers believe they already know.
This content was written by John Hanlon and is used here with permission.
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Another Juror Speaks
Drama Jury juror David Rooney (critic for Variety) takes the Pulitzer Prize override in stride:
"I think Charlie is right in thinking that you hire a jury to do a job to be supportive of their area of expertise and then to kind of disregard that because no one really got it on the page [is disappointing]... I'm thrilled at least that a prize was awarded and that it was a musical that had been in our discussions. So, I would have been very upset if we had put in all the work and they had made the decision not to give a prize this year. So, I'm less upset about it being Next to Normal, though it would not have been my choice."
In other words...better than nothing?
He also makes the following salient obervations:
"If you look at the history, particularly in recent years, I think it's very clear that things that are actually on the boards and playing in New York have a better chance.[...]Any of us who cover theatre know that the nature of theatre itself is that you are there, you are experiencing it, you have a direct emotional impact. Whatever they're seeing physically represented on a stage in front of them has a greater emotional impact than something they're reading on the page. Seeing it on the stage [is seeing it] in its intended form. Aside from the people on the board who saw the Sarah Ruhl play during its Broadway run, or perhaps who saw the Chicago or L.A. productions of the other two short-listed titles, no one is experiencing the play fully as it was intended. So, Next to Normal already has a huge advantage there. As did other things they might have seen in New York, The Orphans' Home Cycle, Next Fall."
I gotta wonder, though: did the Board bother to see Next Fall, let alone all three parts of Orphans' Home?
"If you look down the disciplines that the Pulitzer acknowledges and rewards, theatre is really the only one that is so penalized by the limitations of just appreciating it on the page. Photography, journalism, fiction, poetry, everything else, the jury whittles down to their shortlist of three, hands that shortlist onto the board, and the board gets to appreciate that shortlist to its fullest extent. Whereas in theatre, the jury wades through the scripts and the productions they've seen, passes those onto the board and the board [is] then forced to consider a play and to think in their head how that play would work on stage. Often, the majority of the board members are not people with direct experience at reading and interpreting plays and gauging what is going to work on stage. So, I think something that they actually go and see a production of has a clear advantage."
Emphasis mine--since a look at this year's Board will reveal not just a "majority" without such expertise but a flat out zero.


Rich Hofmann: Flyers rally around emergency goaltender
BOSTON - The temptation is to say that the Flyers have now experienced just about every malady there is to experience at this point (except maybe pestilence). But then you remember that this is the Year of the Seven Goaltenders, and that you really never know when the orthopedist's phone is going to ring again - even if it is in the second period of a Stanley Cup playoff elimination game.
by Rich Hofmann | Columnist
The temptation, also, is to write off this Flyers team as a group defined by its inconsistency - and falling behind by three games to none in a playoff series against the Boston Bruins was just going to be the final example. But then you see the way they play when they are cornered, and you see the definition of this group becoming more and more complex.
And so, when goaltender Brian Boucher ended up on the bottom of a pile in his crease early in the second period last night - and couldn't get up because of two knee injuries - it was both frightening and frighteningly fitting, somehow. Then, when Michael Leighton came off the bench for the first time in nearly 2 months and played shutout hockey the rest of the way - and when the team in front of him just seemed to gain energy from the predicament, as with so many others during the season - it was another impressive line on this team's resume.
And now they can see it. Now they are in a series again. With their 4-0 pummeling of the Bruins at TD Garden last night, the Flyers have brought the series to 3-2. They remain the underdog but they now have a realistic shot, even as they are forced to change goaltenders yet again, at such a precarious time.
Asked if he thought they would win the series, Leighton said, "We know we can. In my eyes, we've outplayed this team in most of the games. The first game, we came out slow [after having] a long break. But we're right there every game. It's not like they're blowing us out. We're confident, as long as we come out and be ready to play every game, that we can win each game."
But how? The goalies on this team have come full-circle so many times this season that they must be dizzy. Ray Emery, Boucher and Leighton have all now had the starting job at one point, lost it because of injury and then regained it again. In this game of last-man-standing, it is now Leighton. The fact that, since severely spraining an ankle on March 16, he didn't even back up in the series until last night just adds to the legend.
"We're a good team," Leighton said. "Look at our lineup. As long as we play well and are confident in the way we can play, we're a good team. We've shown that. Throughout the season, we've won the games we needed to win. We've beat good teams.
We've obviously lost against some teams we should have beat, but we beat Detroit. We beat Chicago. We've beaten good teams. Confidence shouldn't be much of a problem. We know we can play with those teams."
Last night, though, when Boucher went down, there was no way to know what Leighton might have. Rust is rust, and 2 months is 2 months, and trying to simulate game intensity in practice is swell in theory but, well, who knew?
Hopping off the bench and stretching as they ministered to Boucher at the other end of the ice, Leighton's mind had to be filled with both confidence and dread. As he skated past Boucher and into the net, he admitted to the obvious emotions.
"The first few minutes, just knowing the situation, my knees were shaking a little bit," he said. "I was a little bit nervous. But it's just like any other game. You're nervous for a few seconds, or a few minutes, and then you just kind of settle in.
"You know guys are doing everything they can. We played great tonight. As soon as I went in, we played great defensively. We definitely held back their shots and their goal-scoring.
"They gave me an opportunity to get comfortable," Leighton said. "If they came in and peppered me right away, it might have been a different outcome."
But they didn't and it wasn't. A 1-0 lead grew to 3-0 by the end of the second period - at which point it was all over but the message-sending. A fair reading of where things stand is that the Bruins are still in control of the series - as along as they can convince themselves that they are still in control. That is the tricky part after getting run out of their own arena.
The Flyers, meanwhile, are in their element: battered, cornered, and changing goaltenders one more time.
"I actually couldn't even believe it happened," Leighton said. "Obviously, we had Ray going down early, and then Boosh goes down, and then Ray comes back, and I get hurt. It's definitely been a roller coaster for the goalies this year. But the team has done great playing in front of all of us.
"Ray is a great goalie and we wish him back. Boosh, obviously he's done well for this team, he's got us in the position we're in."
Then Leighton said, "You can go a whole year without seeing a goalie injured." He kind of laughed when he said it.
Send e-mail to
hofmanr@phillynews.com,
or read his blog, The Idle Rich, at
http://go.philly.com/theidlerich.
For recent columns go to
http://go.philly.com/hofmann.
Rich Hofmann
arrived at the Daily News in 1980 for a job whose status was officially designated as "full-time, temporary." A senior at Penn at the time, he was hired to fill in on the copy desk during a staff illness. The notion of him covering the Eagles or being a columnist did not exist in anyone's imagination. It was supposed to be six weeks and out, but he never left. It is only one of the reasons why so many people have concerns about him as a potential house guest. Rich has blogged the postseasons of the Flyers and Eagles. E-mail Rich at


US Government Strikes Back at Silicon Valley Support for Apple
The Justice Department struck back at Silicon Valley’s outpouring of support for Apple Inc., reasserting its claim that forcing the company to help unlock a terrorist’s iPhone is legal.
Last week, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft were among the dozens of technology companies that decried what they called an unprecedented expansion of government power that endangers the privacy of hundreds of millions of people. The Justice Department on Thursday tried to narrow the focus back to the iPhone 5c used by a San Bernardino County employee who, with his wife, murdered 14 at a holiday work party and died about four hours later in a police shootout.
Federal prosecutors won a court order on Feb. 16 requiring the company to help the FBI bypass the phone’s security features to access encrypted data. The US, arguing the phone could provide critical information, seeks to undermine claims by Apple and its tech industry chorus that the order should be reversed. Prosecutors contend that the cooperation they’re seeking isn’t different in nature than what courts have ordered Apple and other companies to provide in the past.
“Apple deliberately raised technological barriers that now stand between a lawful warrant and an iPhone containing evidence related to the terrorist mass murder of 14 Americans,” prosecutors said in the filing. “Apple alone can remove those barriers so that the FBI can search the phone, and it can do so without undue burden.”
Apple and companies normally competing against it argue that the Justice Department, in trying to force the iPhone-maker to create a back door to the iPhone’s security features, is claiming an authority that Congress has deliberately refused to grant it.
The magistrate judge in Riverside, Calif., who directed Apple to help the FBI unlock the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook in the December 2 attack that also wounded 22, is set to consider at a March 22 hearing whether to leave that order in place.
Last month, Apple won a victory in a similar case in Brooklyn, N.Y., where a magistrate judge ruled the government can’t force Apple to unlock the iPhone of a drug dealer. The US has appealed that ruling to a district judge and whoever loses in the Riverside case is expected to appeal, too.
In both in the Riverside and the Brooklyn cases, the underlying question is whether an 18th Century US law allowing judges to issue orders in unusual situations where no specific law applies, can be used to make Apple unlock an iPhone that was seized under a search warrant. Apple and its supporters argue that the Justice Department can’t rely on the 1789 All Writs Act because the reason there’s no law forcing companies to help the US access encrypted information is that Congress has refused to create one.
Apple at Back for Government Silicon Strikes Support US Valley 2016-03-11


Ten Years of Protests in the Middle East and North Africa
Dynamics of Mobilisation in a Complex (Geo)Political Environment
by Silvia Colombo (Volume editor) Daniela Huber (Volume editor)
©2022 Edited Collection 216 Pages
Series: Global Politics and Security, Volume 8
Despite being challenged by authoritarian counter-revolutionary responses, the Coronavirus
pandemic, and a complex (geo)political context, the uprisings that started ten
years ago in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa are still very much
alive. By adopting a comparative approach, this comprehensive volume investigates
the ongoing protests on three levels of analysis (local, national, regional) and through
seven case studies (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia). Particular
attention is also placed on the role of the European Union and its member
states in this historical transformation.
Foreword – Preserving Tyrannies (Lorenzo Kamel)
Chapter 1: Ten Years of Arab Uprisings: A Conceptual Appraisal (Daniela Huber)
Chapter 2: Iraq’s Tishreen Movement: A Decade of Protests and Mobilisation (Hafsa Halawa)
Chapter 3: The Two Souls of the Egyptian Revolution and Its Decline. A Socio-Political Perspective (Mattia Giampaolo)
Chapter 4: From Revolt to Community-Driven Resistance: Beirut’s Year of Hell (Carmen Geha)
Chapter 5: Hirak’s Trajectory and the ‘New Algeria’ (Aurora Ianni)
Chapter 6: Sudan’s Transition in the Balance (Theodore Murphy)
Chapter 7: Morocco: A Decade of Popular Struggles and Monarchy Resistance (Francesca Caruso)
Chapter 8: Tunisia’s Quest for Democracy: Unfinished Domestic Revolution and Regional Geopolitical Entanglements (Silvia Colombo)
Chapter 9: A Decade Later: Revising European Approaches towards the MENA Region (Arturo Varvelli, Mattia Giampaolo and Lorena Stella Martini)
Chapter 10: Popular Mobilisation and Authoritarian Reconstitution in the Middle East and North Africa: Ten Years of Arab Uprisings (Andrea Dessì)
←6 | 7→
Lorenzo Kamel
Foreword – Preserving Tyrannies
‘The Arab uprisings failed’. This claim, repeated as a mantra by countless analysts and observers (mainly non ‘Middle Easterners’), is both largely misleading and arrogant. It is misleading because it tends to cherry-pick the parameters through which it is allegedly possible to assess the failures and successes of movements and efforts that have involved millions of human beings. It is arrogant inasmuch as it implicitly fosters the idea that ‘we [Westerners] are better than them’ (or, quoting Steven A. Cook on Foreign Policy,1 ‘Maybe Tunisians never wanted democracy’) and denies or downplays the role played by external actors in the alleged failure of those very same movements and trajectories.
From Tul’it rihetkun – the ‘You Stink!’ movement born out of spontaneous protests that took place in Lebanon in 2015 and 2016 – to the Hirak protests in Algeria in 2019, and to dozens of other recent movements mentioned in this volume, the spirit of the revolts is indeed far from extinguished. More than focusing on a simplistic dichotomy (failure/success), Ten Years of Protests in the Middle East and North Africa sheds light on a number of little known bottom-up dynamics and perspectives. These appear even more meaningful and ‘revolutionary’ in light of the two main competing regional and international agendas for the region in the last decade, both of them underpinned by uncompromising and autocratic ideologies, and by an interest in fostering proxy wars.
The first of these agendas aims at maintaining and strengthening an intra-regional geopolitical line across Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut: while searching for a less externally-dependent order, the regimes and most of the leaders in power in these cities/countries perceive their citizens as passive ‘subjects’ in need of guidance. The second aims at imposing a new, largely Western-led order in the region. At the moment, this second agenda – which also involves Israel and three local ‘tyrannies’ considered useful by many Western countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt) – would seem to have higher chances of success. This was also confirmed by the 2018 US sanctions on Iran (despite the appearances, a despotic and uncompromising Iran appears far more useful to Washington and its allies), which followed the ←7 | 8→unilateral breach of the Iran nuclear deal by the Trump administration, as well as by numerous other strategic dynamics. The latter include, for instance, the decision whereby Mohammed Bin Salman (2017) was made first in line to the throne at the expense of his cousin Mohammed Bin Nayef: a strategy that was first accepted and then employed by Washington on the condition of compliance with US and Israeli goals in the region.
A hundred years ago the Sykes-Picot mentality (the Sykes-Picot Agreement, on the other hand, was never implemented) hindered or postponed the rise of a new order shaped from within the region. In some respects, what many areas in the Middle East have witnessed in recent years is the final point of an historical impasse that lasted for a century. The final result, however, will most likely be not the one hoped for by most of the region’s inhabitants. Particularly under the Trump administration (and with no change in sight under the current US President Joe Biden), oppressive regimes are once again considered part of the solution, rather than the problem. As one Israeli ex-general said in 2015 to Michael Oren, his country’s former ambassador to Washington: ‘Why won’t Americans face the truth? To defend Western freedom, they must preserve Middle Eastern tyranny’.2
Local ‘tyrannies’, for their part, are ready to pay a high price to guarantee their survival. This explains, for instance, the reason why over the last decade Riyadh has invested an enormous amount of resources in opposing the rise of any government or party that, in the Arab world, could have represented a credible alternative to the ‘Saudi model’. It also sheds light on the deeper reasons connected to Riyadh's decision to support the Egyptian army in its coup against former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi (1951–2019), as well as the attempt made by the UAE leadership to interfere in the internal affairs of a number of countries, including Tunisia, where the Ennahda party was (and is still) seen by many as an example of how Islamists can participate in democratic transitions to power (winning the elections in 2011 and stepping down in 2013).
In the short term, ruling families and regimes will gain much from these strategies and the new order in the making. The long-term scenario, however, is far less promising for them. The region has changed substantially from the previous decades and particularly since 2011: grab-and-go ‘solutions’ and ideologies used in the past to divert the attention of the region’s people (including sectarian strategies conceived by autocratic and cleptocratic elites) will have much less appeal ←8 | 9→in the near future. This further confirms that the new Western-supported order fostered by Riyadh and its allies has high chances of backfiring. It will in fact lead to an even more externally dependent Middle East, but also to the further weakening of the Saudi Kingdom itself and, more in general, of a large part of the region.
←9 | 10→
1 Steven A. Cook, ‘How the West Misunderstood Tunisia’, in Foreign Policy, 27 July 2021, https://bit.ly/3l11M50.
2 Michael B. Oren, Ally. My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, New York, Random House, 2015, p. 302.
Daniela Huber
Chapter 1: Ten Years of Arab Uprisings: A Conceptual Appraisal
Almost ten years since the onset of the Arab uprisings, protest, mobilisation, and contestation in the Middle East and North Africa are continuing. While research has grown substantially,1 it has typically focused either on internal factors (comparative politics)2 or the regional dimension (international relations),3 while neglecting dynamics between these levels. Therefore, a more comparative and comprehensive approach is crucial, particularly also from a policy perspective which necessarily needs to take all factors into account.4 On top of this, covid-19 has also substantially impacted the uprisings and the EU’s response.
In light of these observations, three research institutions based in Italy – the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR) Rome office and the Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (CeSPI) – have joined forces in this research project which has been financially supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. It has been guided by two research questions:
1.How has contestation evolved over time regarding the protest movements themselves and the (geo)political context in which they occurred? How has the covid-19 crisis impacted the trajectory of the protests?
2.How has the EU reacted to the uprisings over time and what feasible paths for EU engagement exist, particularly in light of the covid-19 crisis?
Observing these questions for seven cases – Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia – the project has aimed to foster a better understanding of both local agency (the protest movements), as well as the dynamics at the national level (authoritarian resilience / relation to organised opposition) and the regional level (involvement of regional powers). This allowed us to assess how the political space has evolved over time, and what major political fault lines this may imply for the near and medium futures, whilst also taking account of the impact of covid-19.
In addition to this, observing the EU response in terms of rhetoric (perceptions of uprisings and stated goals) and practice (towards the movements, as well as the government/opposition, and regional powers) over time served to assess how the EU has imagined its own place in the region over time, also in light of the covid-19 crisis, and how (dis)connected this is from the regional political space assessed in the seven case studies. Indeed, one of the core objectives of this research project has been to identify paths towards a more attune EU engagement on the local, national and regional levels.
1. Rationale and analytical framework for the seven country case studies
The chapters of this book cover seven case studies, a comparative analysis, as well as a study of EU policies. The in-depth case studies include countries where protests have been substantially proliferating since 2005 (Lebanon), since 2010/11 (Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia), since 2015 (Iraq) and since 2019 (Algeria, Sudan). This wide range of case studies ensures variance over diverse histories of protests, political systems and their reactions/changes, and different geopolitical configurations. Such a cross-temporal comparative analysis helped us not only to identify continuity, change and processes of sequencing across time, but also to inductively reveal potential categories by which these protests can be compared.
The evolution of contestation over time in each case study is analysed across three levels of analysis, which are: 1) the local level (the protest movements); 2) the national level (government response and relationship to major political forces); and 3) the regional level (support for or opposition to protests by regional/global ←12 | 13→powers). Whilst these levels of analysis are useful for the comparative purpose of this project, as well as for devising comprehensive policy recommendations, the authors of each case study have addressed the interlinkage and interaction between these levels differently, while also keeping in mind a gender perspective.
2. First level of analysis: The protest movements
Regarding the protest movements themselves, their composition, strategies and demands of mobilisation converge rather than differ across the cases, but there are processes of learning from each other over time, as well as particularities in light of different histories of each country.
The composition of the mobilisation has typically been broad, cross-sectarian and diverse, spanning all classes, sectors, ethnicities, gender and age groups of societies with whole families participating, including the youngest and the oldest. As Asef Bayat has framed it, this has in many respects been a revolution without revolutionaries.5 They have mobilised not only in the centres and capitals, but across the countries, including in ‘peripheries’.6 Women have played a prominent role in political resistance since the uprisings began.7 Whilst research in the past ten years has put much focus on the interclass, age-group and male/female participation features of the protests, a lacuna exists in shedding more light on the ideational side of the movements. This is, however, necessary to explain why demands from the ‘square’ and policies of governments have never met, not even in Tunisia. This point directly links to the dimension of strategy, as the (lack of) political organisation within the ‘squares’ shaped the ‘revolution without revolutionaries’ or ‘mobilisation without change’.
The rather loose strategy of mobilisation of the protest movements8 has meant that they have been difficult to control; at the same time such loose strategies lead to difficulties in representing coherent alternatives to existing policies and ←13 | 14→political systems. Whilst this is a similarity across countries, protest movements have learnt from each other over time. Firstly, in light of the experiences of Egyptian counterparts, protesters in both Sudan and Algeria have, for example, been very wary of deals with the respective armies. At the same time, they continue – for now – to mobilise the square as ‘guardians of the transitions’ to promote an alternative in terms of political organisation as protagonists. Secondly, the strategies have been influenced by the memory of protests in the past which is particularly important for countries such as Lebanon, Iraq or Algeria which have been shaken by civil wars. How are protesters dealing with this memory? In both Iraq and Lebanon, for example, protesters argued for cross-sectarian solidarity and against any form of foreign intervention. Thirdly, more recently protesters have needed to deal with the covid-19 crisis. As the latter evolved many of the protest movements also needed to decide how to deal with lockdowns as governments imposing the standard global containment measures. How have activists dealt with this crisis in terms of strategy?
Like all uprisings, the Arab uprisings have developed their own ‘language’. What are the demands and dreams of these uprisings? As Sune Haugbolle and Andreas Bandak have pointed out, ‘[t]aking the practice of politics seriously means that we pay attention to what revolutionaries do – their repertoires of contention – as much as we pay attention to what they say and write as they seek to create a new political world’.9 Protestors have asked for social and ecological justice, and for provision of education and health services. In many of the protest countries, #metoo movements have also been growing.10 The movements have also criticised austerity measures which have been imposed by international financial institutions but also by the EU, as for example in Lebanon or Tunisia. This critique has intensified with the covid-19 crisis particularly, because basic health services are generally underfunded and ill-prepared for a pandemic. Sudan, for example, has practically no intensive care units for a population of almost 42 million people. In Lebanon, health services are often private, which reduces access to healthcare or makes it conditional on identity criteria. Leeway for expanding access to healthcare is limited, as the country is undergoing an existential economic crisis. After the blast in Beirut’s harbour, it has been the ←14 | 15→Lebanese Red Cross/Red Crescent and local groups and volunteers that have provided the services the government has failed to deliver.
Thus, at a first level of analysis, all chapters investigate the composition, strategies and demands of the protest movements, including from a gender perspective and also in light of the covid-19 crisis, vis-à-vis their respective governments, but also regional powers and international actors such as the European Union. This sets the stage to explain why these movements have experienced a rather huge mobilisation, but have had relatively little impact on alternative policies and change (like similar movements in other world regions such as the Occupy movements, the Indignados in Spain or Orange Revolutions in Ukraine). It exposes potential weaknesses inherent in these movements which make it difficult for them to create a new political community, particularly when they interact with power structures, as addressed next at the second level of analysis.
3. Second level of analysis: National political dynamics
At a second level, the dynamics between these movements and the respective governments and major political forces in each country are investigated. Governments have reacted with diverse strategies to the protest movements. The first strategy has been violence, including particularly gendered violence,11 and it is indeed important to also observe the role of the military and the security apparatus here, as evident in the case of Egypt.12 Such responses are typically justified with the claim of preventing the emergence of a ‘Syria situation’ (in denial of the fact that violence in Syria also escalated due to the violent response of the regime to the protests). In Iraq which has more hybrid governance structures than Egypt, also non-state actors have exercised violence against protestors. Furthermore, authoritarian regimes have learnt from each other how to respond to protests.13 As Steven Heydemann has pointed out, the reassertion of authoritarianism in Arab states after 2011 does not ‘represent a ‘back-to-the-future’ ←15 | 16→process’. Rather, Arab regimes have responded to the uprisings ‘through the imposition of repressive-exclusionary social pacts in which previously universal economic and social rights of citizens are being redefined as selective benefits’.14 A second strategy has been some minor reforms, reshuffling of government or the co-optation of protest movements, as happened in different forms in Morocco, Algeria, Iraq or Lebanon. A third path has been a genuine change of the political system as in Tunisia.
2021 (December)
Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2022. 216 pp.
Silvia Colombo (Volume editor) Daniela Huber (Volume editor)
Silvia Colombo is Senior Fellow in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa Programme at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI). Daniela Huber is Head of the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa Programme at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and Editor of The International Spectator.
Application of International Relations Theories in Asia and Africa
Global Politics in the 21st Century
The Middle East: Thinking About and Beyond Security and Stability
The English Protestant Churches since 1770
The Self-immolation of Oskar Brüsewitz Compared to Other Suicides Committed as a Political Protest
Dynamics of International Advertising
Political Music
Black Protest Thought and Education
Africa in 21st Century US and EU Agendas
Literature in Exile of East and Central Europe
Empire and Education in Africa
Empowering Africa
Dynamic Optics in Economics: Quantitative, Experimental and Econometric Analyses
Spaces of Expression and Repression in Post-Millennial North-American Literature and Visual Culture
Water and the Development of Africa
Diversity of Migration in South-East Europe
Mapping Cinematic Norths
Diverse Voices in Translation Studies in East Asia
Ireland and the North
Exhaustion and Regeneration in Post-Millennial North-American Literature and Culture


FILE. French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron attend a national memorial ceremony for Hubert Germain at the Hotel des Invalides, Friday…
FILE. French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron attend a national memorial ceremony for Hubert Germain at the Hotel des Invalides, Friday Oct.15, 2021 in Paris. A group of “atypical journalists,” on the autism spectrum, got France’s 45-year-old president to talk about himself with unusual and illuminating candour in a televised interview this weekend. (Ludovic Marin, Pool Photo via AP)
France’s Macron opens up about love to autistic interviewers
by: JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press
LE PECQ, France (AP) — The question for France’s president about his teenage romance with a teacher at his high school was so close to the bone, so eye-popping in a country where politicians largely keep their private lives to themselves, that the interviewer couldn’t quite rustle up the courage to ask it.
So he got Emmanuel Macron to pose it to himself.
“He is the president,” the French leader said, reading the question out loud from a piece of paper his interviewer handed to him.
“He should set the example and not marry his teacher.”
A group of interviewers on the autism spectrum, described by their publication as “atypical journalists,” got France’s 45-year-old president to talk about himself with unusual and illuminating candor in a televised interview this weekend, with frank but fair no-filter questions that professional journalists mostly don’t dare ask of the French leader.
The interviewers from Le Papotin, a journal founded in 1990 in a Paris-region day care center for young people with autism, playfully grilled Macron about his marriage to Brigitte, his friends (he said he doesn’t have many), Russian President Vladimir Putin and other matters in his heart and thoughts.
In the process, they winkled out some remarkably intimate details and gave Macron a platform to show a more personal side at a critical juncture in his second term as president. His government is embarking on a high-risk effort to push back France’s retirement age, a promised reform of the pension system that is infuriating critics and threatens to bring protesters onto the streets.
Le Papotin’s interviewers have over the years questioned numerous people of note, including former Presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, and actor Vincent Cassel (“Ocean’s Twelve,” “Black Swan”). Their Macron interview was filmed in Paris in November and broadcast by France Televisions, which said the only rule was: “Anything can be said to the Papotin but, most of all, anything can happen!”
Macron responded gamefully, even to the probing about his romance with Brigitte, 24 years his senior. She was Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three children, when they met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. She later moved to the French capital to join Macron and divorced. They married in 2007.
“It’s not about setting an example or not, you see? When you’re in love, the choice isn’t yours,” Macron said in his defense.
“She wasn’t really my teacher. She was my drama teacher. It’s not quite the same,” he additionally ventured, a wiggle-round that Macron himself chuckled at and which provoked peals of laughter and a teasing “he’s crafty!” from one of the interviewers sat beside him.
To another delicate question — “Do you have a lot of dough?” — the former banker said he earns less now as president, without divulging figures.
On friendship, he said: “It’s not the best job to have lots of friends.”
And of Putin, whom he’s met, and the Russian president’s war in Ukraine, the French leader said: “When you meet him like that, he’s not unpleasant. That’s the paradox.”
At the end of the half-hour question-and-answer session, Macron thanked his interviewers for a job well done.
“Your questions took me onto grounds … where I’d not been in other interviews, with other journalists,” he said.


Justin Bieber Promises "Surprises" In 2013: "You Are Not Expecting This"
18 December 2012, 13:26 | Updated: 18 December 2012, 14:10
The 'Boyfriend' star says no one will guess what he has planned for his fans next year.
Justin Bieber has been teasing fans that he has "some surprises" planned for 2013, while continuing to work on his newly announced acoustic album.
The 'As Long As You Love Me' singer confirmed on The Ellen Show last week that he will launch an acoustic record in January next year, as a thank you to his fans for supporting him ever since his early days on YouTube.
Justin has now promised that fans will not expect any of the surprises he is working on for next year, but failed to give any more hints to what he has planned.
"Studio today. I got an acoustic album to finish," Justin tweeted last night (17th December), before adding: "2013 I got some surprises.
"I promise you what I got planned for 2013 u r not expecting :)."
It is already known that Justin will return with an acoustic album in January 2013, as well as a string of newly announced 'Believe' tour dates, but the Canadian singer has yet to confirm plans for a new full studio album.
Check out a picture of Justin Bieber in the recording studio this month working on his next record below (Credit: Twitter):
Justin also spoke out last week about being left off the 2012 Grammy nominations list, claiming he knows he has plenty of time to be nominated in the future and "knows" it will happen one day.
Justin Bieber will also reportedly be the subject of a brand new ABC sitcom set to launch in the 2013/2014 TV season.


Postdoc - Bioinformatics & Genomics
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Position Number: POST40
Department: Coll of Computing&Informatics (Col)
Employment Type: Temporary - Part-time
Months Per Year: 12
The Yohe Lab is seeking a postdoctoral researcher position to investigate the developmental origins of bat diversity. The project investigates craniofacial anatomy and the development of sensory systems in relation to dietary diversification. The candidate will leverage data from more than 100 soft-tissue µCT-scans of bat embryos at varying stages and of varying species to identify key structures that are important in dietary niche divergence. The postdoc will be expected to be a part of the vibrant and growing North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC.
Minimum Experience / Education:
Candidate must have a PhD by June 30, 2023, in ecology and evolutionary biology, computational biology, or genomics, or a related field to one of the three
Preferred Education Skills and Experience:
Candidate must be familiar with morphometric analyses, R coding environment, HPLC, and phylogenetic comparative methods. Knowledge of anatomical sciences, image microscopy, mammalian biology (particularly in bats), and embryology is desirable. Demonstration of previous peer-review publications is also a strong factor.
About The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
UNC Charlotte is North Carolina's urban research institution. Our campus is located in the piedmont of North Carolina, just two hours from the mountains and three hours from the Atlantic Ocean. A large public university with a small college feel, more than 27,200 students consider UNC Charlotte’s 1,000-acre campus their home away from home.
Connections working at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
https://careers.ashg.org/jobs/18064736/postdoc-bioinformatics-genomics


Berlin 2023 - Golf
Dennis Gaines
Unified Partner | Lexington, Kentucky
Dennis Gaines of Lexington, Kentucky, has been involved with Special Olympics Kentucky as a coach in basketball, bocce, flag football, golf and softball. He will represent Special Olympics USA as a Unified partner in golf, competing with his stepson Wake Mullins. In 2018 and 2022, he competed as a Unified partner in the Special Olympics USA Games. Dennis is active in fundraising efforts for Special Olympics Kentucky, contributing to local Polar Plunge® events. A mentor for Global Messengers, Dennis has advocated alongside athletes at the annual Special Olympics Capitol Hill Day, lobbying for funds and rights for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Dennis is employed as a technician at Toyota’s Production Engineering and Manufacturing Center. His hobbies include fishing, cooking and volunteering for Fayette County Public Schools, supporting at-risk elementary children by teaching them the game of golf. He admires his wife for raising her child with special needs, his stepson Wake, and the sacrifices she made to give him a better life. He calls Wake his “biggest hero.”
See all of the Special Olympics USA athletes who will be competing in golf in Berlin at the 2023 Special Olympics World Games.


Emmys: Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy Wins Best Supporting Comedy Actress
By Michael Ausiello / September 20 2020, 5:54 PM PDT
She’s a Lamborghini, a Hollywood star and now… an Emmy winner!
Schitt’s Creek‘s Annie Murphy derailed Alex Borstein’s anticipated threepeat, prevailing over the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel scene-stealer to win Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in the Pop TV phenom’s sixth and final season.
Murphy prevailed over a crowded crop of nominees that included the aforementioned Borstein, Betty Gilpin (GLOW)
Yvonne Orji (Insecure), Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live), Kate McKinnon (SNL), D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) and Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
Schitt’s Creek received 15 total Emmy nods. It entered Sunday’s soiree having already one won two Creative Arts trophies, for casting and contemporary costumes. During Sunday’s show, it picked up seven additional awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress for Catherine O’Hara, Outstanding Lead Actor for Eugene Levy, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Dan Levy, best writing and best directing.
View the 2020 Primetime Emmys winners list (updated in real-time) here.
TAGS: Annie Murphy, Pop TV, Schitt's Creek
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