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Raoul Wallenberg's Protective Passports:
After a month in the Hungarian capital, the Secretary of the Swedish Embassy there, Raoul Wallenberg, had to decide quickly on the form of Schutz Pass, or 'protective passport' ('SP') he would use in his humanitarian relief work with the Jews of Budapest. He attached a specimen to his report to Stockholm of 16 August. It was an important part of his assignment to provide 1,500 Hungarians with temporary passports as protective documents. These could be persons with very close family links with Sweden, or who had been for a long time closely connected to Swedish commercial life, a number that rose later to 4,500. The issue of the new Swedish protective document came with a structure: a long-term Swedish connection had to be proved documentarily, while the Schutzbrief issued by Langlet had no such condition attached. Wallenberg quickly perceived the scope of humanitarian action. He was a good organiser and had numerous Hungarian colleagues in the accomplishment of tasks. He soon appreciated the unreliability of the Hungarian political élite and its tendency to vacillate, experiencing the many ways in which responsibility could be evaded. Most of his Hungarian acquaintances were ashamed of what was happening to the Jews but insisted that the brutality was exclusively the work of the Germans. Unlike them, he saw clearly what could be described as the Hungarian hara-kiri, and stressed the responsibility of Hungarians, making it clear that anti-Semitism is deeply rooted in Hungary. He pointed out that Jews on forced labour were not allowed to take shelter during air-raids, leading him to the conclusion that the Christian population evinced only a very luke-warm sympathy, and that it would be very difficult for the Jews to avoid their doom by flight.
The Swedish protective passport in Hungarian and German, with the holder's photograph, was not acknowledged in international law and had no force. Nonetheless, its influence could not be underestimated. In the summer of 1944, it commanded a certain respect and carried a message. In the presence of immediate lethal danger, many saw in it the chance of escape, of organised defence and the embodiment of their hopes of survival. In August more and more groups of Jews in fear of deportation came to him. The news of his protective passport spread like wildfire and long queues waited on Gellérthegy outside the Humanitarian Section of the Swedish Embassy. From 16 August, a further building was rented and applicants were received from 4 p.m., with questionnaires filled in and six photographs. These were the conditions imposed by the Hungarian government for asylum documents. On the 22nd, the Ministry produced an order on the subject of the exemption of individuals from the regulations relating to Jews. By mid-September, the strength of Wallenberg's Hungarian apparatus was approaching a hundred. He provided extra accommodation for them at Gellérthegy and also on Naphegy, where ten rooms and a cellar were rented, and round-the-clock shift-work was instituted.
The taking on of colleagues, the formation of an effective organisation and the thorough checking of the data submitted in applications for the Swedish document all took time. The apparatus required for this grew constantly. On 29 September, he reported to the Swedish Foreign Ministry that the entire staff including families number about three hundred persons and are exempt from wearing stars and forced labour. By that time 2,700 letters of protection had been issued and the numbers of those who had gained exemptions from wearing stars exceeded the original 4,500 by a further 1,100. For the first four months of the humanitarian action, it would have been impossible for the Swedish passport of protection to be handed out as a gift to those who did not have clear Swedish connections. That came later when the Arrow Cross reign of terror meant that people were in fear for their lives in an imminent sense. Then, resourceful Jews would copy names (similar to their own) and addresses from the Swedish telephone directories held in the Budapest head post office and send a 'reply paid' telegram. Kind-hearted Swedes, realising that the sender was pleading for his or her life, would then confirm the 'relationship' by return telegram. Wallenberg's biographer, Jenő Lévai, has concluded that very many obtained protective passports and escaped through letters or reply telegrams from complete strangers.
The embassy's work offered reasonable security against the constant threat of deportation. Those employed on humanitarian work received a legitimising card from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Budapest and a special personal card from the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior. This exempted them from wearing the yellow Star of David and from the ever-more widespread duties of forced labour within the army. Wallenberg had essentially established a system of dual nationality, and this repeatedly aroused the suspicion of both the SS and the Hungarian authorities. According to a German Embassy note of 29 September, the director of the Budapest political section of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry was thinking that the Swedish Embassy should be called to order in a responsible, clear and sharp tone.
By mid-October, Vilmos Langfelder's family had come under the protection of the Swedish Embassy and he moved to the central office of the Humanitarian Section at Űllői út on the Pest side of the city. Langfelder probably came into contact with Wallenberg because of his knowledge of German and his ability to drive. Within a short time, he had become the Swedish diplomat's close associate as his chauffeur. His SP had been issued on 20 August, when he had belonged to a forced labour unit under Swedish protection. Langfelder took charge of Elek Kelecsényi's Steyr car for the purpose of life-saving work. According to Lévai, Wallenberg sent out an Instruction which set out what had to be done to save holders of Swedish protective documents from the clutches of armed bandits, potentially a lethal undertaking. This summed up the dramatic essence of the immediate life-saving work:
Members of this section must be on constant duty day and night. There are no days off. If anyone is arrested, let them hope for much help, and if they do good work let them not expect thanks.
Langfelder frequently found himself driving Wallenberg, at night, to someplace where people needed his protection. Among the couriers and agents, disappearances were frequent, especially when they went into one of the Arrow Cross houses to inquire about a missing person, exposing themselves to a world of pain and indescribable horrors. Increasingly, abductions and murders were carried out in broad daylight. László Hollós and Ödön Ullman were on their way to inform Wallenberg of an Arrow Cross assault on a hospital when they were arrested and murdered. In the countryside, the role of the Hungarian actress Vali Rácz has also been recognised by Israel. She hid many families from Budapest in her home in the countryside after the initial deportations but was denounced to the invading Red Army for fraternising with German soldiers (in order to protect her 'guests') and almost shot as a collaborator. A Red Army Colonel intervened to stop this and she was exonerated. There were also some members of the army and police who saved people (Pál Szalai, Károly Szabó, and other officers who took Jews out from camps with fake papers) as well as some local church institutions and personalities.
Rudolph Kasztner also deserves special attention because of his enduring negotiations with Eichmann to prevent deportations to Auschwitz, succeeding only minimally, by sending Jews to still horrific labour battalions in Austria and ultimately saving 1,680 Jews on what became known as 'Kastner's train', which by the beginning of August had left Bergen-Belsen with its human 'cargo' bound for Palestine.
Those left in the 'Jewish houses' and the ghettoes were increasingly targeted for forced labour gangs. They were lined up in the streets, marched off, ceaselessly shouted at, trudging off to Óbuda in broad daylight. Klára Tüdős' recollection draws a concise picture for posterity:
Dreadful rumours circulated about Jews interned at brick-works and cattle-trucks with barbed wire on them, and as dawn broke processions of people wearing stars would set off in the streets of Pest. These things are mixed up inside me together with the wailing of sirens, like a delirious dream.
The Extreme Right's Reign of Terror begins:
The coming to power of Ferenc Szálasi and his followers on 15 October through the armed intervention of the SS was the nadir of the Horthy régime, its bloodstained final act. Under the Arrow Cross Party, terror became the tool of the totalitarianism of the extreme Right. Its ranks were swelled in particular by the lumpen elements of the underworld and misguided youth that could recognise the chance for unrestrained robbery and violence. On 15 October, Daisy Lászlo's father, the tallest man in the apartment block, removed the yellow star from the front door. By the afternoon, however, he realised that with this act he had risked his life again. Since he was aware of the politics of the janitor's wife, he secretly left the house in the dark, but before the doors would have been locked. She must have said something to the Arrow Cross thugs, however, because the following evening a heavily intoxicated young man, wearing the party uniform, kept banging on the Lászlo family's door, looking for Mr Lászlo. The story continues below, in Daisy's own words:
He searched every room, causing terrible alarm among the families placed there because he pushed and shoved everybody, shouted and took whatever he laid his eyes on. He was brandishing his revolver, and we were scared that he would start shooting. There was a large table in the entrance hall of the apartment, around which we took our meals, mostly together. He dragged off the tablecloth and packed in it the stuff he had collected from the various rooms. It seemed that he had forgotten why he had come and we were hoping that he would take the bundle and leave. He was proceeding toward the front door when he changed his mind, returned and demanded a drink. Jews were not permitted to purchase alcohol, but somebody must have had something stashed away, because after a short discussion, a bottle appeared on the table. While he was sipping from the bottle, he … informed us that he was an actor. He jumped on the dining room table, and began reciting Petőfi's poem, 'The Lunatic'.
He got totally carried away, stomping with his feet, his face distorted; he seemed in a trance. I do not know how much of the poem he had recited, whether he knew it by heart, or made mistakes, but when he finished there was a thunderous applause and … bows on the table, surrounded by his terrified public. … He told us that he would go home … but would return the following day and continue the recital. He threw the bundle over his shoulder and staggered out the front door. … stumbling toward the street corner. He did not return, neither the following day, nor ever. We did not know what had happened to him, but for days we feared that he would reappear.
After Szálasi and his men took over the government a rapid series of changes of personnel took place in the organisations providing the protection of the regime. New organisations were formed including, on 17 October, the State Security Police, the Hungarian Gestapo, was re-formed. Its activity extended to all opponents of the Germans and the Arrow Cross, irrespective of rank or status. On the 26th, the 'National Unit for Accountability' came into being, responsible for extinguishing the lives of many civilians. In the implementation of its laws, decrees and orders, the régime could rely on the gendarmerie, the police and the armed formations of the Arrow Cross Party. In what followed, those that belonged to the service slaughtered a large number of army deserters, Jewish forced labourers and people arrested during raids, increasingly and frequently on the spot. Apart from the scale of the violence, the deluge of accompanying decrees, renewed orders and contradictory instructions increased the turmoil. A wholesale breakdown occurred in the army, the police and public administration. From 28 October, Arrow Cross members received regular payments from the state to carry out robbery and murder on a grand scale. They not only had the right to bear arms but also formed the local detective, investigative, interrogation and enquiry squads. They could act on their own authority to create the ever more tragic and corrupt conditions which they considered 'order'. In the practice of totalitarian dictatorship, the paramilitary members of the Party knew no bounds.
A typical element of the Hungarista programme was the widespread persecution and terrorising of the Jews. Following the assumption of power, party terrorists attacked starred houses in Budapest and Jewish forced labour barracks. For example, one of Daisy's schoolfriends, Marika, lived with her mother in what became a 'Jewish house' after 19 March. Marika's biological father was not Jewish but he refused to marry Marika's Jewish mother because he was a close crony of Miklós Horthy, entitled as vitéz ('man of valour'), a title he would have lost if he had been known to have married a 'Jewess'. In June, Marika had been sent to a summer camp in Balatonboglár, run by Sisters in the Catholic Church. She was given a fictitious name and false papers, along with two other girls. One night they were awakened by gendarmes and pulled out of bed. She was so traumatised by this that thereafter she frequently peed herself. She 'escaped' and left for Budapest on foot, where she eventually returned to her house where she fell into the arms of her mother, kissed and cried, and ate sausage in the pantry. Her return lasted until 15 October, when her mother greeted Horthy's abortive proclamation by opening a bottle of champagne. Happiness lasted a very short time. Marika's mother helped to forge documents, while her mother was placed in one of the 'protected houses'. Once, when Marika was visiting her with her aunt Duncy, Arrow Cross soldiers raided the area. Her aunt yelled at one of them, outraged that he had dared to ask for her papers.
Meanwhile, Marika's mother became seriously ill with meningitis, and her sister arranged for her to be taken (with false papers) to the Szent István Kórház. Marika could still visit her there, where she eventually died. One night her uncle urged them to leave their new house in Benczúr utca, and they found refuge in the cellar of a nearby pharmacy owned by a relative. Next day the Arrow Cross raided the house, ordered everyone in it down to the courtyard and shot them all dead. When the siege of Budapest began, Marika, her aunt and her grandmother did not dare go down to the air-raid shelter. By that time, they were living in hiding alongside Polish and Czech refugees. One day the Arrow Cross soldiers marched the refugees down to the bank of the Danube and shot them into the river. Daisy herself narrowly escaped a similar fate during that autumn, when she spent several days wandering alone, stealing her food from outside grocery stores. She found herself in Szent István Park and was thrown into a column of thirty people being marched towards the lower embankment of the Danube under the guns of two young Arrow Cross hoodlums. She recalled:
We progressed silently, adults and children, without anyone protesting or crying. But when we reached the small underpass, and I was hit by the familiar stench of urine, without thinking about the consequences, I simply turned right and left the group.
Nothing happened and no one called out. I turned around the corner … Only after the Liberation did I hear that Jews had been shot into the Danube from the lower embankment of the Pest side … I never mentioned this episode to anyone fearing that people would think I had made it up out of a need to create a heroic story; that I was ashamed that while so many from our family had been murdered, I had not come close enough to death.
Another of Daisy's friends, Vera S, had already lost her relatives in the countryside to Auschwitz in the summer, but she still lived in Budapest with her parents and grandparents, where their apartment building had become a 'Jewish house' and their apartment filled up with strangers. The residents were ordered down into the courtyard several times and were threatened with deportation. On one such occasion, when they were permitted to return to their apartment, they found the rooms ransacked and most of their belongings missing, even Vera's dolls were gone. Then, shortly after 15 October, the men in the house were rounded up. Running to the balcony, Vera and her mother tried to see where the group was being taken, but Vera's father, looking up and fearing for their safety, motioned with his hand, urging them to go back inside. That was the last time they saw him. A postcard arrived from Valkó, where they had been taken on foot. From there, Vera's father was deported to a concentration camp. They knew nothing more of his fate.
Shortly after that, Vera's mother had to report to the Óbuda brick factory and the children were placed in a Jewish orphanage. Vera escaped and rejoined her brother when their grandparents found shelter in a Swedish 'protected house'. Their mother escaped from the brick factory, bought false papers from their former janitor, and went into hiding. The following day, the Arrow Cross took the orphans from the ghetto and shot them all into the Danube. Thereafter, Vera and her brother stayed with their grandparents where they lived with twenty other surviving children, in one room. These children knew nothing of their parents and were starving. One day, Vera's mother arrived at the 'protected house' but Vera couldn't recognise her because she had dyed her hair to fit her false papers. Vera later recalled:
She said that when the Russians fully surround the city, and we will have to die, she will return that we should die together. She did come back, but fortunately we did not die.
On 30 October, German soldiers arrived in the house on the Pest side of the Danube where Iván lived with his family. They entered their apartment in the company of Miki, the janitor's son who was wearing his Arrow Cross uniform. Although Miki had been Iván's friend and playmate for the past decade, that did not prevent him from handing him over to the Nazis. Requiring additional labourers, the Germans had the help of the Arrow Cross in collecting men over sixty and boys under sixteen from the surrounding 'starred houses'. By then Iván's father had been away for years in a forced labour camp, and after their paint shop had been closed under anti-Jewish legislation, his mother had supported their two boys, her mother and herself by making artificial flower arrangements. Iván and his group of conscripted labourers were taken to Lepsény in western Hungary where they were made by the Wehrmacht to organise a military depot next to the local railroad station. They worked there throughout November, emptying trains that carried military supplies and filling military trucks with winter clothing for soldiers. Iván later learned that his brother Ervin, who had a weaker constitution, had also been sent to Transdanubia and had died while digging ditches. He was buried in a mass grave near Győr. Iván was the only survivor from those who were taken from his apartment house.
Ágnes B, another of Daisy's friends was just ten years old when her father was drafted as a forced labourer. Soon after 15 October, Arrow Cross soldiers came to their apartment house, where they lived with her mother's sister's family. They rounded up all the women under forty, including her mother, who did not resist, despite being only weeks away from her fortieth birthday. Ági recalled her leaving:
My mother put on a fur-lined coat because it had been very cold. I followed her across the yard until the gate and I watched as she joined the group of Jewish women. She wrote one card from the road to Austria, telling me that they had been placed in a pigsty overnight. I never saw her again…
Life for all the remaining Jews in Budapest became increasingly difficult, but the access to Swiss and Swedish protection documents could provide some amelioration. Daisy's friend's mother was able to procure copies of the 'protection documents' Wallenberg had been handing out, but it was too late to use them because the Germans occupied their house and transported both sets of grandparents to the ghetto. Kati was sent to live with distant relatives, where she got false papers and a new name to learn, along with the names of her seven new 'sisters and brothers'. She was with relatives, but still felt 'terribly alone'. Although she looked 'Aryan' (see the picture below), she was not allowed out on the street. Another friend, Tomi, was twelve in 1944, by which time his entirely assimilated family had decided to convert to Catholicism, mainly to avoid the increasing restrictions placed upon Jews. In June, they had been forced to leave their apartment on the first floor of a Rózsadomb villa and moved to a 'Jewish house'. By this time, Tomi's father was in a forced labour camp and after 15 October, all three had to report to the brick family of Óbuda, from where they were supposed to be deported. Tomi's father was able to provide them with Swiss protection documents and, therefore, three days later, they were moved to the overcrowded ghetto.
Wallenberg's Responses and Reports:
The sudden turn of events took the Swedish embassy organisation by surprise, as it did the humanitarian activists too. Wallenberg himself had been expecting Hungary to pull out of the war, which had been much talked about in Budapest social circles as the government's intention. He was also calculating when the Red Army would reach Budapest, and was thinking of going back to Stockholm a few days before it happened. Up to 15 October, the Swedish Embassy had received eight thousand applications and 3,500 had been granted the SP. A week after Szálasi's rise to power Wallenberg reported that armed bandits have attacked those in possession of protective passports and torn them up. The Hungarian staff had reacted to this unexpected turn of events by going into hiding, as he noted:
The events have had a catastrophic effect on the section, the entire staff has absented itself, and a car which was placed at our disposal free of charge, together with the keys of various locked places and cupboards etc., have vanished.
In order to put some spirit and courage back into his dismayed colleagues, Wallenberg cycled through the bandit-infested streets in order to pick up the threads of his work again, a procedure which was fraught with risks. Instead of the peace that many had yearned and hoped for a fresh wave of destruction began. On 16 October the head of the Arrow Cross Party staff decreed that Jews were not to leave their homes until further notice. Buildings designated by stars of David were to be kept shut day and night. Until further notice, only non-Jews might go in and out. Non-Jews were not allowed to visit Jews. On 18 October, one of his Swedish officers reported that the new government had introduced strict anti-Jewish regulations and that the entire Jewish staff of the Embassy was in mortal danger. A crowd of Jews seeking revenge was besieging the embassy, which was incapable of accommodating them.
In the course of renewed the renewed persecutions, the previous forms of protection lost their usefulness. Beginning on 20 October, armed Arrow Cross men lined up tens of thousands of men aged between sixteen and sixty, on two trotting-tracks, dividing them into labour-companies and took them off. The one suburban sports ground, in Zugló, became the mustering place for Jewish women, as directed on posters. The assigned Jews of the city were made to work on fortifications, digging defensive ditches. Renewed talks with the black-uniformed, green-shirted Arrow Cross leaders were required, as were new methods of saving people. Wallenberg quickly made contact with Szálasi's Foreign Minister, Baron Gábor Kemény. In matters of the "Jewish Question" and other 'Jew-related' topics he later had to deal with the Foreign Ministry. On 21st, he reached an agreement with Kemény that the Hungarian authorities would give the staff of the Royal Swedish Embassy and members of their families exceptional treatment. They were exempted from wearing the yellow star; from all kinds of forced labour; they were not obliged to live in starred houses, and allowed to go out onto the streets without curfew. This rapid agreement gave hope to several hundred people by officially extending the scope of Swedish protection. It also gave Wallenberg the room to prevent the complete destruction of the Budapest Jews.
This became known, along with the change of régime in Budapest, on 24 October in Bern, Washington and New York (World Jewish Congress), at the Red Cross International Council centre in Geneva and elsewhere. However, the Szálasi government quickly realised its mistake, and drastically reduced the scope of the exemption by the end of October. On 29th, it restricted the circle of those exempted by a 'variation of decree'. For his part, Wallenberg worked at adding to the exemption that had been obtained and at retaining the greater and lesser fruits of the talks. Protection from the embassy was, in reality, frequently nothing more than a thread of hope. The 'protected' houses offered an unstable, relative refuge. Security and day-to-day survival were unpredictable and depended on luck and the movements and whims of the armed Arrow Cross men. Exactly a year later, on 24 October 1945, Béla Zsedenyi, President of the Provisional National Assembly, meeting in Debrecen, thanked King Gustav V of Sweden, the Swedish people and the Swedish diplomatic mission in the name of the Hungarian nation for their help in the humanitarian activity in 1944. He described the defensive stand taken by embassy secretary Wallenberg as "invaluable service", emphasising that…
… he had taken a selfless and heroic part of decisive significance in warding off the acts of mass muder planned against innocent and defenceless citizens, and by his resolve had succeeded in saving the good name of the Hungarian people from further stain.
By that time, Wallenberg had disappeared at the end of a bitter winter during which he and his staff at the Swedish Embassy Annex had succeeded in saving the lives of thousands more, enabling them to survive the war and the terror in Budapest.
Return to Auschwitz:
Those already deported from the Hungarian countryside to Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Dachau had no means of protection, of course, and continued to face 'extermination' in the camps. Daisy Lászlo's Uncle Samu and his family had been deported to Auschwitz from Dunaszerdahely in the summer. His wife, Aunt Berta was his second cousin, a fact which was constantly mentioned on the fringes of family visits and gatherings because both of their boys had disabilities. The older son, Nándi, had a speech impediment, and the younger one, Ármin, was almost totally deaf. All that was learnt of the family in 1945 was that they were among the hundreds of thousands of victims, but neither the place nor the time of their deaths was known. In 2010, an Israeli relative found the story of Ármin's last months among the files of the International Tracing Service in Germany. This showed that on 25 October, he was transferred from Dachau back to Auschwitz.
During the last months of the war, thousands of Jews were returned to Auschwitz for extermination because they were considered too weak to work. As is shown below, Ármin's physical description (including height, eye colour, the shape of mouth and ears) accompanied the transfer. His mother's maiden name, his permanent domicile were also recorded. His signature at the bottom of this document led Daisy to believe that Ármin's had been a special case, perhaps because of his deafness. However, she then found out that during the autumn of 1944, over five hundred inmates were returned to Auschwitz within a few weeks, accompanied by the exact same documents. Clearly, the Nazi coup in Budapest had had indirect effects in quickening the death machine of Auschwitz.
Andrew J Chandler (2012), As the Land Remembers Them. Kecskemét: self-published, http://www.chandlerozconsultants.wordpress.com.
Anna Porter (2007), Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust. London: Constable (2008).
Nóra Szekér, Domokos Szent-Iványi and His Book, Part I, in Hungarian Review, Volume IV, No. 6. Budapest, November 2013
Domokos Szent-Iványi, The Hungarian Independence Movement, Excerpts, Descent into the Maelstrom, Hungarian Review, loc.cit.
Gyula Kodolányi & Nóra Szekér (2013), Domokos Szent-Iványi: The Hungarian Independence Movement, 1939-1946. Budapest: Hungarian Review Books.
James C Bennett & Michael J Lotus, America, England, Europe – Why do we differ? Hungarian Review, loc.cit.
Marc J Susser (ed.) (2007), The United States & Hungary; Paths of Diplomacy, 1848-2006. Washington: US Department of State.
István Lázár, (1989), The History of Hungary. Budapest: Corvina.
Szabolcs Szita (2012), The Power of Humanity. Budapest: Corvina.
Marianna D. Birnbaum & Judith Flesch Rose (ed.)(2016), 1944: A Year Without Goodbyes. Budapest: Corvina.


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Sad sobbed, "No one likes me, no one wants to be with me!"
"Cut it out now. We all have problems; only you are making a big deal about yours, Sad," said Envy.
"Look at Love, many times people throw him out in fear of losing it later; Hatred is hated the more; Happiness is compared always and demeaned often and me, Envy, I have existence only when someone else have it all, you know how difficult it is to find my way in."
"Even though no one wants you, you are there at the end of every other emotion; so stop your act now," lectured the Envy.
Written based on the prompt – Envy for Five Sentence Fiction hosted by Lillie Mcferrin.
Also linking to NaBloPoMo – November Day 5, Ultimate Blog Challenge and Ultra Blog Challenge.
I am a Write Tribe Pro Blogger.

subset: commoncrawl


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World's Largest Sandhill Crane – 29/52, BlackBerry 52 — Week 29 Jump-Off, Steele, North Dakota, July 17th 2011, photo © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
On a July trip to North Dakota, we exited off I-94 to fill up with gas in Steele, North Dakota. Across the street, next to the Lone Steer Cafe (formerly a bustling Greyhound bus station), a 40-foot sandhill crane stood grazing in the grass. Sandy, the World's Largest Sandhill Crane, was built in 1999 by Arena, North Dakota resident James Miller. The sculpture weighs 4.5 tons and is constructed of rolled sheet metal welded onto a steel inner frame. It was built in three separate sections — the body in one section, the neck and head in another, and pipes fitted to make the legs.
Residents of Steele, North Dakota erected the giant sandhill to call attention to the fact that Kidder County is one of the best birding destinations in North America. The Coteau Rangeland of North Dakota, commonly known as the Prairie Pothole Region, is an area of glacial potholes located in the direct path of the migration flyway making this area a favorite spot for migratory nesting birds, including the Sandhill Crane. To the west, Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge, established as one of the country's first wildlife refuges in 1908 by executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt, is the largest American White Pelican rookery in North America, where thousands of pelicans nest each spring.
North Dakota artist James Miller, creator of the World's Largest Sandhill Crane, died October 17, 2002. According to his obituary in the Bismarck Tribune, Jim and his wife farmed north of Arena from 1955 until retiring in 1991. He created metal work sculptures in his shop and invented his own version of "Miller Bilt" hydraulic presses, along with everything from two wheeled trailers and wheelchair ramps to yard ornaments, docks, crystal radios, and even a steam engine. His art live on in 26 states throughout the country.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Lotus and I will continue to respond to each other's BlackBerry Jump-Off photos with text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we'll add them to our posts.
-related to posts: WRITING TOPIC — ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS, dragonfly revisted — end of summer, first dragonfly, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, sticks for legs and arms


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Jen and I have been planning our trip to the World Championships, which takes place at the end of the month. We figured it would probably be a right old hassle to get from our hotel in Florence to the Fiesole, the longest of two climbs on the closing circuit, so we decided to fork out €100 each for seats by the finish line. And I'm pleased that we did, because we're going to be in row 'A'! Woo-hoo! That'll be a prime perving spot for Jen, especially if David Millar turns up.
As far as I know, getting into the grandstand at the finish of the Worlds usually involves opening your wallet – there was certainly a charge last year in Valkenburg, and I'm pretty sure that was also the case when Cipollini triumphed at Zolder in 2002, although I was on a press trip that year so I was too busy scoffing vol-au-vents in the VIP area to investigate. What has surprised me this time 'round is that the Italians are also charging €100 to watch the race on the Via Salviati, the finishing circuit's short, punchy climb… and you don't even get to park your bum on a plastic seat.
So, basically, that's €100 to experience what most of us expect to do for free: stand by the side of a public road and watch a bike race. That sounds a bit rubbish, doesn't it?
To be fair, the climb is only 600m long and it appears to be quite narrow, judging by footage three enthusiastic Americans have made of the circuit…
…so ticketing is probably an effective way of limiting access to what appears to be a restricted space. And the price gives you three days' access, which covers the men's, women's and juniors' road races.
But even so, it's £84. Access to Box Hill, the centrepiece of the 2012 Olympic road race, only cost 15 quid. Why so blimmin' high, UCI?


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Updated: December 21, 2012 a.k.a. Doom's Day a.k.a Mayan Apocalypse. Note: The threat still looms large. 21st has not even begun in the US, and we don't really know anything about the time-zone that the Mayans had in mind, when they prophesied the end of the world.
I am updating this post because in the last 12 hours, this blog has been inundated with more than a hundred instances of the query, "What Time does the World end?" Honestly, my incredible omniscience fails to tell me the exact time and also the exact time zone for this once in the earth's lifetime event. But when I switched on my computer this morning, I was driven to draw this guy, who really wants to know.
Oh, I forgot to mention. There's a Doomsday Discount on the above cartoon. If you want to take it away with you for your blog, you are welcome to do so 🙂 It's free. The sale ends along with the world!
If you've kept your eyes and ears open, you must know that the world is going to end tomorrow (December 21, 2012.) This key information comes from the Mayans, and so it has to be absolutely correct. What? You are questioning it? Are you crazy? The Mayans knew. How?! Don't you know? Those guys were the original programmers of this world matrix, and they planned an auto-shutdown of the Universe program on the date in question.
We are really running short of time here, so let me skip ahead and talk about more important things.
You see, I've been frantically searching for any information on a Noah's Ark-alike that leaves from my city. So far, I've found out nothing. I think people don't want to share this information on the Internet, because only two humans from every city are allowed to board the ark. Sources who've requested anonymity say that only politicians will be allowed to board the ark, and that some seats in the hull are going for Millions of Dollars. I also hear that Paris Hilton, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber have already secured their passage into the new world by parting with almost all their riches.
So why isn't the media reporting this corruption around the Ark-deal? Oh well! Those media guys are going to be stowaways. It's rumored that these arks were built with secret compartments to ensure that the best of the best (read: the politicians, the paparazzi, and the stinking rich) will be able to escape the inevitable, either directly or indirectly.
If you have any information on this matter, please leave it here in a comment. I have a feeling that if you had such information, you must've already been brain-washed into believing that you'd have a seat on the ark, if you just remained silent; but my friend, they are playing with you. Mark my words, if the world ends tomorrow…billions of us would be standing together bidding farewell to our politicians and others of their kind.
Now, the second important question…


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WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. firms will be allowed to respond to any oil spills from drilling set to begin off Cuba's northern coast later this year, the Obama administration says.
The federal government is "taking measures to ensure that the appropriate private industry parties are able to respond quickly in the event of an oil spill in Cuban waters," Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, told the Senate Tuesday.
The decision would mean relaxing the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which generally bars American commerce with the nation.
Under the embargo, individual companies can ask the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control for licenses to travel to or do business with Cuba.
At least two U.S. companies specializing in spill response already hold such permits, The Houston Chronicle reported.
Environmentalists and oil industry leaders have been pressuring the administration to issue more general licenses for a broad class of oil service companies to do business with Cuba in case of an emergency.
If licensing decisions are made only after a spill occurs, "on a case-by-case, day-by-day basis ... you may see a delay in our ability to respond quickly and address the cleanup," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said.


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I Fell in Love With a Girl at the Rock Show: Lydia Loveless at Ace of Cups, 09/09/2016 by Amanda Wilson
In December, my husband and I went to see Sleater-Kinney at the Newport. I was supposed to review the show for this website so my husband could write off my drinks, but I never did. The thing I noticed most about the show (the band was amazing as always) was all the MEN.
MEN. Everywhere. Standing in front of me, being loud, wearing ironic t-shirts. When did Sleater-Kinney become cool for men to like? The women in the crowd ranged from incredulous, like me, to visibly hostile. My husband got a pass from the stink-eye because he was with me, and, as always, exceedingly polite.
I've continued to mull over that experience for the past year. Thinking about "#1 must have", We Were Feminists Once and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. What's happened to the feminist movement in the past ten years, and where do I fit within it? I realized it was time to re-engage. Three audio books later (How to Be a Woman, Bad Feminist, and Shrill), I feel like I've regained the beat.
The same old crap is going on
Some good stuff has happened
I still give a shit.
What does any of this have to do with Lydia Loveless' Real tour kick off at Ace of Cups Thursday night? Nothing, and everything.
I am one of those annoying introverts who is always saying they'll go to things and then doesn't, because getting dressed and leaving the house. While introverted parenting is difficult in its own right, I highly recommend a baby as a permanent font of excuses to go nowhere. I had flirted casually with going to this show but not bothered to make concrete plans. When the title of the Facebook event changed to SOLD OUT, I texted my husband a sad face. A few minutes later, I had it on good authority that I would, in fact, be able to get in. A magician never reveals his secrets but one of my posts to Facebook later that night was "there are perks to having a rock star for a husband." I was super excited but skeptical of my ability to stay up past 9P (at 8:30P my husband made me a cup of coffee). I thought about dressing up but opted for comfort: cut offs, studded belt, 'Supernatural' tank top and chemistry themed Toms. I wavered between driving and walking, decided to drive, couldn't find parking, took my car home, and walked past a giant parking space right in front of the door to Ace of Cups. I know what the words SOLD OUT mean but damn! it was crowded.
I tried to look confident as I walked through the door with the SOLD OUT sign on it. "Amanda Wilson?" I said ,with audible emphasis on the question mark , and there I was, at the top of 'The List'. I received an unidentifiable hand stamp and made my way to the bar for a G&T. My bartender was gorgeous and I tried not to stare at her in her tight Jack Daniels t-shirt and leather skirt. I wandered to an empty spot on the floor and looked around.
There were a lot of old people there – older than me! Middle-aged men mostly, and lots of women who looked like me (glasses, varying shapes and effort at dress). I remembered my husband told me to look around for people we know. So I went out to the patio, even though I quit smoking almost six years ago. Right out of the door I see Lydia and her sister, Eleanor. "I'm so glad you got in!" says Lydia, embracing me. "Thank you!" I reply, "It's Mommy's night out!" I say I feel guilty ("He'll be OK," Eleanor reassures me) not for leaving the baby with my husband but because he is a HUGE Lydia Loveless fan. "Really?" Lydia exclaims, "How old is he now?" The answer is eighteen months and ten minutes in the door I'm already the mom showing pictures of her baby to people at the bar. My son demands to listen to Lydia's records most nights before bed, waving his tiny fist in the air.
We chat and I see some other familiar faces. One of the things we discuss is the intractable misogyny of the music industry; how male music journalists still ask the same stupid questions ("how does it feel to be a woman in music? What does your husband think of your lyrics?") And how any response gets twisted into a negative ("Old guys like my music becomes 'Why do you hate old people?"). Looking around, it's clearly true that old guys like Lydia Loveless' music. I think about the guys at the Sleater-Kinney show. I like for men to like music made by women. But is something getting lost? I'm not sure yet.
I follow Eleanor upstairs and try to stay out of the way so she can finish the conversation with her sister I initially interrupted. I ask if Eleanor wants a drink, she does but is not sure what. I bring back another G&T and a Fireball and Coke, which is apparently ridiculous evidence of how out of the loop I am regarding cocktails at rock shows. By the time I returned from the bar Eleanor had disappeared into the green room with Lydia. I'm appraising the guy at the door to determine if I can trust him to deliver Eleanor's beverage when she opens the door and pulls me into the room. "I heard your voice," she explains. I'll bet. When I do talk, it's incredibly loud. This difficulty in modulation contributes to my social anxiety, but I try to embrace it. Eleanor raises her eyebrows almost imperceptibly at the beverage options, taking the G&T and leaving me to sip my cinnamon toast (my husband teased me about it later).
It's blissfully quiet in the green room. It's just Lydia and Eleanor in there now, and as we talk as Lydia's band comes in to make the set list. They say they don't know what to play so I make helpful suggestions (Steve Earle! Heaven! Midwestern guys! Everything's gone! The killing time! I would die 4 U!) Most of which I got to hear later. Eleanor introduced me to their brother and his date. A stream of people come in with various concerns. Eleanor says "someone needs to have a talk with the teenager guarding the door. He can't let just anyone back here." I feel special. I manage to act mostly normal, except when I try to show everyone the picture of a runaway cat that passed out in a catnip display.
I'm reluctant to describe Lydia's appearance because a woman's appearance is always described and because I don't want to sound weird, but she looked like gold. I'm impressed by her guitar playing, how it gets better and better, and her command of the stage. I consider describing everyone's appearance to justify this passage- Ben like something out of a country Teen Beat, killing the electric bass as well as he does the upright, Todd, dressed like Willy Wonka (that will be referenced later), his face completely transforming as he shreds the guitar, Jay with his wristband and Radiohead-esque soundscapes and George looking exactly as adorable and boyish as he has probably looked for twenty years, maybe with a shade more scalp showing through, demonstrating measured restraint when needed but a lot of skill. I enjoy the versatility of the live show, the sound reliable and not repetitive.
The set is incredible, mostly songs off the two most recent albums. I dance and feel amazing and remember why I love live music. I hate music reviews generally and refuse to describe the actual music in a series of pointless adjectives. If you aren't familiar with Lydia's music and you like Neko Case or Bjork or the 80s go listen to it. Lydia does a few solo songs with her electric guitar in the middle, Billy Bragg style. One of them is "Wild Horses;" her dad comes on stage to sing with her and I weep. Because it's beautiful, because of the song, and because I don't have a dad to sing with anymore. Jay plays a loop from Willy Wonka and Eleanor takes the stage, singing "Pure Imagination." As the band begins the encore to their set she takes an elegant stage dive into the waiting arms of a friend.
The men were all up front, phones out, taking video. Tall and refusing to move. I think of the Sleater-Kinney show. I wonder if we need to start calling ladies to the front again, Bikini Kill style. I think of Lydia's face in the green room, joking about wearing a gorilla mask, "I want to wear this so I don't get groped on the way to the stage." She is 26 years old and a star and she should be focused on what she wants to play and enjoying herself, not worried about some pervert trying to cop a feel when she walks to and from the stage. I feel maternal and possessive and aggressive. I want to say, "She belongs to us. Back off!" But I can't because of course she only belongs to herself. I did tell her to dedicate "Midwestern Guys" to them in the crowd which she did, but I wonder if the irony was lost on them, like when I made a bunch of metal heads watch Metalocalypse with me and they did not get it. I know that ten years is not so long between our ages but us feminists in our 30s, did we fail her somehow? Thank you, Lydia, for sharing your gift with us.
-Aew, 09/10/2016.
Albert Fishing Trip : 'Geritocracy'
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016)
When I was in 6th grade I got in trouble for listening to the 'Love Symbol Album' by Prince and The New Power Generation at school. They took the tape, wrapped it up in brown paper, and sent it home with me and a note to my parents. I didn't tell them that my dad gave me the tape. That way the school thought I'd get punishment when I got home and wouldn't come up with their own. I think that might have been my 1st time personally witnessing how music and art can scare people. I liked that. It stuck with me even when I didn't dig his records. I'd share the song that I imagine was the one that got me busted: 'Sexy Mothrfucker' but Prince was the master of getting his shit taken down from YouTube.
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016) Rest In Purple


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Sunday, 16 June 2013 11:26 AM EDT
AMMAN, Jordan — Sunni extremists blew up a Shiite mosque in a village in eastern Syria stormed by rebels earlier this week, another sign of the growing sectarian hatred in the country's civil war, activists said Sunday.
They said al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria carried out the destruction. It showed the determination of extremists to drive Shiites out of the village of Hatla in the Deir el-Zour region near Iraq. Last week rebels battled pro-regime militiamen there, killing more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians, according to activists.
In Lebanon, gunmen deployed in the streets of the northeast and set up roadblocks in protest following the killing of four Lebanese Shiite men in an ambush, security officials said Sunday.
The security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the four were found dead in the Wadi Rafeq area between Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa near the border with Syria.
They said the men were from the powerful Jaafar and Amhaz clans, triggering fears of retaliation.
Sunday's ambush is believed to be related to sectarian tensions related to the Syrian civil war.
Tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon increased after the Shiite Iranian-backed Hezbollah openly joined the fight in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad.
Most Sunnis in Lebanon support the mostly Sunni rebels fighting to oust Assad.
In amateur videos of the mosque destruction in Syria, fighters walked into the mosque in Hatla and trampled on books, some with covers showing pictures of Shiite clerics. The videos then showed an explosion that brought down the building.
Sunday's video posted on the Internet appeared genuine and corresponded with other Associated Press reporting from the area.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that the mosque was demolished Friday, three days after the battle. Other videos that emerged earlier have showed rebels cursing Shiites and suggested fighters had burned Shiite homes.
"It's clear that they want to root out Hatla's Shiite inhabitants," he told The Associated Press.
The town is home to several thousand people, about 30 percent of them Shiites. It was considered a pro-regime community in the Euphrates River valley, where rebels — including the al-Qaida-linked group Jabhat el-Nusra — have taken over much of the surrounding territory.
The Syrian uprising began more than two years ago with peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad, but later grew into a civil war that has killed 93,000 people and probably many more, according to the U.N.
Most of the armed rebels in Syria are from the country's Sunni majority, while Assad has retained core support among the minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, along with Christians and Shiites.
In the past year, sectarian bitterness has grown in the conflict. Each sect has been accused of massacres against the other, and Sunni and Shiite fighters from other countries have increasingly joined the battle.
The prolonged civil war has frayed Syria's traditional relations with Jordan and Egypt.
Jordan's King Abdullah II told graduating military cadets Sunday that his forces were ready to fend off any Syrian threats.
Abdullah said Jordan "will emerge victorious in the face of all challenges, the way we always have in the past." His country hosts more than 500,000 Syrian refugees.
Jordan, which backs the rebels against Assad's rule, is concerned that the Syrian president may ultimately attack his neighbors with chemical weapons or that the weapons might fall into the hands of militants if the regime collapses.
Jordan is hosting multinational military exercises involving thousands of U.S. troops. The U.S. has also agreed to install Patriot missiles along Jordan's 235-mile border with Syria and is allowing a squadron of 12 to 24 F-16 fighter jets to remain after the exercises.
Also Sunday, a Syrian official said Egypt's decision to cut off diplomatic ties with his country is "irresponsible."
His statement, broadcast on Syria's state TV, came a day after Morsi told supporters in Cairo that his country is severing ties with Damascus and closing its embassy there. Morsi's decision followed calls from hard-line Sunni clerics in Egypt and elsewhere in the region to launch a holy war against Assad's regime.
Morsi also called for a no-fly zone over Syria.
The unnamed Syrian official charged that Morsi's call was a violation of Syria's sovereignty "and serves the goals of Israel and the United States."
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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About this paper
The MIT Sloan Management Review's eighth annual Data & Analytics Global Executive Study and Research Report has released its latest findings regarding organizational use of analytics. Innovators continue to glean analytical insights, noting the use of data from multiple sources including customers, vendors, regulators and, in some cases, competitors.
Key findings:
- Competitive advantage from analytics continues to grow.
- Analytics is driving customer engagement.
- Analytically mature companies use more data sources to engage customers.
Sharing data can improve influence with customers and other groups.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.
Avez-vous déjà un profil SAS ? Pour compléter automatiquement ce formulaire Se connecter


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Lennie leaned down, kissed his forehead and placed the napkin across her father's lap. Just as she got it in place, Burt looked up at her.
Lenore was gutted.
More pieces of her already broken heart fell away.
His ashen skin, mottling and in different shades of brown and gray unsettled her. His slack jaw and visible body tremors made Lennie shudder. His eyes were her undoing. The mischievous gleam responsible for so much laughter, which had helped to comfort, console, and encourage her… was gone.
Father and daughter were still eye-to-eye, the reality of the situation holding Lennie in place when she felt his frail hand cover hers.
"Thank… you, baby girl."
Lennie smiled and kissed his cheek, comforted with the knowledge she made her father happy. "You're welcome, Daddy… always."
Before Lennie could retrieve his dinner plate, Linda Kelimore was already cutting the meat into tiny portions.
"I'll help your father with this, Lenore. Take the other plate for yourself."
"But that's yours, mom."
"It will be cold before I get to it. Go on, eat. I know you've been on your feet since the lunch rush."
Just like that, Lennie was twelve years old again, doing as she was told.
Picking at her food, she tried not to stare at her parents. But Lennie couldn't help but be mesmerized. Watching as her mother fussed and cooed in loving tones at Burt to take his time and chew each tiny bite of food. Linda caressed his cheek between bites. Burt rested his hand on her knee, never taking his eyes off Linda's face.
Feeling like an intruder on a private moment, Lennie did force herself to look away.
Anyone who knew Burt and Linda Kelimore knew they were totally devoted to each other. More than half a century had passed since the day they each ran into a mechanic's shop in need of quick repairs. Though they were both on their way to meet other people, a thirty-minute conversation changed their plans for the evening and the rest of their lives.
"Free, a Novella" by Felicia Denise
#99cents #KindleUnlimited
Amazon US – bit.ly/LindenLane
Amazon UK – bit.ly/LindenLaneUK
Amazon CA – bit.ly/LindenLaneCA
Amazon AU – bit.ly/LindenLaneAU
Goodreads – bit.ly/FreeANovella


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Nem sempre é possível falar de todas as coisas que me despertam a atenção, por isso desta vez vou apenas sugerir uns links que merecem ser partilhados. Desde interactividade numa folha de jornal a fotografias de concertos, a lista de assuntos é variada, em posts escritos em inglês, português e francês. Divirtam-se.
It is not always possible to write about all the things that catch my eye, so this time i'll just suggest some links i believe that must be shared. From interactivity in a newspaper sheet to rock concerts pictures, the subject list is varied, in english, portuguese and french written posts. Have fun.
Semantic Search: The Myth and Reality
For a few years now people have been talking about semantic search. Any technology that stands a chance to dethrone Google is of great interest to all of us, particularly one that takes advantage of long-awaited and much-hyped semantic technologies. But no matter how much progress has been made, most of us are still underwhelmed by the results. In head-to-head comparisons with Google, the results have not come out much different. What are we doing wrong?
Pushing the needle forward means not asking "what have we done in the past," but instead asking, "what can we do in the future?" How can we innovate?
How can we make something better? Pushing the needle forward means realizing that your last project will never be your best project, because you'll always be trying to make things better.
Já toda a gente percebeu que o futuro é móvel. O problema é que este futuro chega cada vez mais cedo e tem agora por hábito nem sequer bater à porta das redacções. Nos EUA, uma tendência ganha peso: os jornais contratam cada vez mais "mojos" (contracção de mobile journalists).
(…) Há um diário que está mesmo a pensar em tornar todos os seus repórteres e fotojornalistas "mojos" ainda este ano. Um "mojo" passa a maior parte do tempo no exterior, gravando, filmando, escrevendo. Alguns não chegam sequer a passar pelas suas redacções.
More or bore ? L'interactivité de thelondonpaper
Hier, dans thelondonpaper, un des gratuits de Murdoch, un édito écrit par une lectrice. En dessous, le journal appelle les lecteurs à voter par SMS, more or bore ?
More et l'éditorialiste amateur continue. Bore et l'on passe au suivant.
On the nightstand: Books on Multimedia and Journalism
I have a stack of books on my nightstand just waiting to be read, including Tanner Stranksy's Find Your Inner Ugly Betty: 25 Career Lessons for Young Professionals Inspired by TV Shows and Not In My Family: AIDS in the African American Community, edited by Gil L. Robertson IV. But not surprisingly most of the books to be read are about journalism and/or new media. Here are the books I plan to read as soon as I find time to crack them open.
Who Owns All These Comments? You? Us? Someone Else?
Hank Williams relates a story about one of Robert Scoble's comments on FriendFeed being deleted after the author of the blog post he was commenting one removed his FriendFeed account. While the cynical response might be, "So one of the ten million comments Scoble leaves each day was delete — he'll live," it does bring up a valid point about content ownership. The blog owner was upset that his the discussion around his content was taking place outside of his blog, while Scoble was upset that content he created (and thus should own — right?) was removed without his permission. On an increasingly fragmented social web, who owns your comments?
No user-generated content please, we're Rush
Go to a gig today and there'll be dozens of people shooting photos or video on mobile phones or small point and shoot cameras. I am usually one of these people and have never had any trouble. (…) I was happily enjoying watching these virtuoso musicians play live and taking some snapshots on a small Canon point and shoot camera.So imagine my surprise when one of the ushers came up to me and told me to stop. "There is a strict no cameras policy", I was told.
I was shocked and somewhat taken aback. It is the first time this has happened to me, and I go to see bands all the time. What was more surprising was that many others were doing exactly the same thing, but using cell phones.
How BBC blogs are engaging with audiences
In a section on accountability, the Trust explores how the BBC's commitment to "to forge a new relationship with licence fee payers" online and suggests that "recent developments, such as the development of BBC editors and management blogs, mean that the BBC may be able to fulfil this commitment much better in the future".
What is startling is how the audiences for the BBC's blogs have grown, with the Trust noting that "usage of the blogs now outstrips usage of the BBC's corporate site and the Have Your Say message boards. In fact, usage of Have your Say message boards has been fairly static between 2006 and 2007″.
I'm not saying editing is bad. But as news becomes a process rather than a product, editing can affect that process. Note the lead story from the NY Times home page right now:
The edited, packaged story says that one person died in yet another crane collapse in New York today. But right below that, the lightning fast Sewell Chan has later, more up-to-date and correct information in his blog — two have died — which the Times wisely feeds directly onto the home page, contradicting their own edited story. In a breaking story, a blog in the hands of a good reporter beats a long line of editors.


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My social media timelines are full of reflections on 2013 and resolutions for the New Year. Here in the Vicarage we've had some great down time since Christmas to gather our thoughts. Whilst we've not been sleeping or waking up feeling like we've been dozing in the middle of the M6, that is. There's something about a busy run-up to the festive season that makes you feel like you've been run over by a few dozen lorries.
On reflection, 2013 was pretty good here in the Vicarage. The kids grew up a bit and are still speaking to us (except when they're watching telly, when it's impossible to extract even a monosyllable from any of them). The encouragements in church outweighed the discouragements by a good margin. The clutter in our hallway has threatened but not actually managed to submerge us. I gave a Christian talk which wasn't mainly ums and ers. I wrote a book and some people have bought it. We have seen over and over that the Lord has been faithful in the big things which concern us and the small things that bug us.
As I've done every year for the past few, I have been going through Don Whitney's 10 questions as I've reflected. I think many of the questions will be addressed in my plan to read my bible more in 2014. And I'm going to start off by following Professor Horner's bible reading plan – a system involving reading 10 chapters a day. You can get this reading plan if you use YouBible, although one of the recommendations is to use a single bible that enables you to become familiar with the location of passages, so I'm going to start with a comfortable softbacked ESV. Obviously this is pretty ambitious and I'm sure I'll stumble along the way. But I want to see if I can read at the pace I normally read a work of fiction – gathering general ideas and making links, not getting bogged down in the detail. One of the hazards of too much social media consumption is the tendency to skim lots in short chunks and not sit down to read and reflect. This is what I'd like to work on this year. I want to know God through his word and be filled with thoughts of him. Dave Bish offers a similar approach in a blogpost from 2012.
My other main resolution for 2014 is to knit more. And do crafty things in general. One of the things about living in a busy Vicarage, where home is the workplace and work is in the home, is that it never quite feels like everything is finished for the day. So I usually feel guilty (to a greater or lesser extent) about sitting down to anything that's not *really* needing to be done. Telly and the internet don't seem quite as deliberate as taking up the knitting needles or sitting down at the table with craft equipment. But relaxing creatively is good for me. It makes me feel refreshed and there is something there at the end which makes me smile. So I have a scarf pattern, and I have taken up my knitting needles again. And the Queen has got herself a PInterest board and I am planning to join her in having a craftier 2014.
Do you have grand (or small) plans for 2014? You might like to take advantage of the free download offered by Christian Audio this month – the entire ESV bible on mp3. And if you have an Apple device, you can now download PrayerMate for free until the end of March courtesy of London City Mission. I've got to hang out for the Android version… If it makes a difference just for a bit, it's worth a go. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly.


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SECTION 1. SECRET BALLOT GUARANTEED. All elections by the people must be by ballot. An absolutely secret ballot is hereby guaranteed, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to enact such laws as shall carry this section into effect.
SECTION 2. QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS. Every male or female citizen of the United States, eighteen years old, who has resided in this state, and in the county were [where] he or she offers to vote for the period of time provided by law, if registered as provided by law, is a qualified elector.
SECTION 3. DISQUALIFICATION OF CERTAIN PERSONS. No person is permitted to vote, serve as a juror, or hold any civil office who has, at any place, been convicted of a felony, and who has not been restored to the rights of citizenship, or who, at the time of such election, is confined in prison on conviction of a criminal offense.
SECTION 4. LEGISLATURE MAY PRESCRIBE ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS. The legislature may prescribe qualifications, limitations, and conditions for the right of suffrage, additional to those prescribe [prescribed] in this article, but shall never annul any of the provisions in this article contained.
SECTION 5. RESIDENCE FOR VOTING PURPOSES NOT LOST OR GAINED. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of this state, or of the United States, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this state or of the United States, nor while a student of any institution of learning, nor while kept at any alms house or other asylum at the public expense.
SECTION 6. RECALL OF OFFICERS AUTHORIZED. Every public officer in the state of Idaho, excepting the judicial officers, is subject to recall by the legal voters of the state or of the electoral district from which he is elected. The legislature shall pass the necessary laws to carry this provision into effect.
SECTION 7. NONPARTISAN SELECTION OF SUPREME AND DISTRICT JUDGES. The selection of justices of the Supreme Court and district judges shall be nonpartisan. The legislature shall provide for their nomination and election, but candidates for the offices of justice of the Supreme Court and district judge shall not be nominated nor endorsed by any political party and their names shall not appear on any political party ticket, nor be accompanied on the ballot by any political party designation.


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Light Tray by Andreas Engesvik and Daniel Rybakken
The gallery Spazio Rossana Orlandi has always been one of the must-go destinations during the Milan Design Week. The selection of mostly limited editions of well-known designers but also undiscovered newcomers displayed in the beautiful old milanese villa has alwas been a highlight. This year, amongst others, the Norwegian designers Andreas Engesvik and Daniel Rybakken will present the result of their newest collaboration. 'Light Tray' – compound of a powder coated aluminium tray, hand blown, coloured glass domes and fixed light sources – allows us to compose light using diffusers in various combinations and colours.
Read more: Rossana Orlandi
Read more: Andreas Engesvik
Read more: Daniel Rybakken


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Greetings, Legions of the Unspoken! Dean Compton is back with you here to delve into some more 90's goodness. I am excited that spring is finally sprung, baseball is in full swing, and that some small indie film called Avengers: Infinity War has dropped. You probably haven't heard of it because it's so obscure and there's been almost no build-up.
We're all very excited. Those of us who braved the speculation crashes of the 90's have been waiting for this movie for around twenty-five years. If you had told me then that one day there'd be a movie based on Thanos's exploits with the Infinity Gems, I would have thought you were Mephisto, prince of lies. Or at least Zarathos or maybe one of those weird demons from Hellblazer or something. Alas, here we are, though, on the precipice of what is hopefully a monumental moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
'Round these parts we are more interested in the then, than the now, and one of the things that really interested me as I first started my deep dive into comic books some 27 years ago (it's mega unfair that it has been that long) was the entire Infinity Gauntlet saga. My first big exposure to superheroes outside of cartoons was the Impel Marvel Trading Cards, series 2 in particular, and the Infinity Gauntlet card captured my attention. There was Thanos, basking in all the glory that comes with omnipotence. I didn't know what had happened, and sadly, I was too late to keep up with the original saga month to month. Lucky me, though, as The Infinity War was about to break out!
One of the things that attracted me to Infinity War was the epic gatefold covers, many of which depicted the mightiest heroes in the Marvel Universe in a tumultuous struggle with sharp-toothed doppelgangers that looked like they had stepped out of a mirror universe from Tales from the Darkside or something. What appealed to me even more was that the saga was so large that it burst out of the mini-series like the insides of a tomato hitting the ground, spilling out into almost every other Marvel title! Most of you will brush this off as a lame sales grab, and, well, it was definitely a sales grab, but it was a sales grab in the best way!
Did you want to see more of Wonder Man's inner struggle during the Infinity War? How would Sue Richards deal with the seeming death of her husband? Perhaps you wanted to see what happened to Sleepwalker during this struggle? (Based on sales, you probably didn't.) The crossovers meant you could, and they meant that you could try out other titles you hadn't really given a shot to before. I know we're all tired of them now, but this was still a new concept to me then. Sort of how when I was 16 I was like, "GODDAMN, I CAN'T WAIT TO DRIVE!" but fuck, now I'd almost rather do anything else besides drive, like, y'know, writing crappy articles like this.
One team that I hadn't gotten a handle on from the Marvel Cards I had seen was the Guardians of the Galaxy. I don't recall seeing any of the GOTG (yes, I'm lazy – this article is free, y'all) in the Marvel Universe Series 2 set (cue up dude in the comments proving me wrong), so when I saw the Infinity War crossover issues, I was intrigued. Who were these guys? They're from the future? Why does that Rambo-looking dude have Captain America's shield? (For those of you coming in here who aren't big pads, big guns, no feet 90's comic book fans, the GOTG were originally a super-team from a possible Marvel Universe future that eventually diverged. You'll see no Star-Lord, Gamora, or Rocket Raccoon here. Get ready for Major Victory, Nikki, Charlie-27, Starhawk, and more!)
I had already picked up a GOTG issue where they fought a street gang of folks based on The Punisher (which is just as awesome as it sounds), but these issues got me very interested. An added bonus is this is one of my first experiences with The Inhumans, one of the most underrated superhero groups of all time!
The issue takes off with Major Victory, the leader of the GOTG, berating the rest of the team for heading into the past on a mission of pure genocide against the Badoon. The Badoon are the raison detre for the GOTG, as their attack on our solar system basically wiped out humanity, so the original GOTG united against them and their tyranny! Somewhere along the way, though, Starhawk convinced them to go back in time and destroy the Badoon before they can destroy humanity. Major Victory, being the guy with Cap's shield, doesn't think too much of this plan, but before he can thoroughly chew the team out, their newest member, Talon, stumbles in. I'd say he seems sick as a dog, but he's sort of a cat, so that seems wrong.
Talon collapses as the team tries to take him to sick bay, but as he does, he tells them to get him to the moon. Specifically, he wants to go to Attilan, which is the secret city that is home to none other than the Inhumans and their royal family!
The GOTG speed off in that direction, but they have no way of knowing that one of the first blows of The Infinity War has been stuck. The headquarters of The Fantastic Four (notably good pals of The Inhumans and in particular the royal family), Four Freedoms Plaza, has been blown up by unknown forces, and the fate of the FF and many other superheroes there is unknown! So to say the least, it really isn't the best time for a group of superhumans that The Inhumans have no idea exists to teleport into Attilan. I know this is gonna shock you, but that's exactly what the GOTG do! Of course, The Innumans act calmly when Major Victory tries to explain their presence.
The Inhumans and the GOTG punch on each other a bit while telling each other their names, which is legit my favorite kind of fight. Major Victory is aware the fight is usless, though, and he unleashes a mighty psychokinetic blast that somehow convinces Black Bolt that the GOTG are the good guys.
The Inhumans take Talon to the Randac Medcal Center, which, honestly, is what all medical centers should be called henceforth. As he gets the care he needs, the other Inhumans explain to the GOTG about the explosion at Four Freedoms Plaza, and how they don't have any idea what may have caused this tragedy.
The two superhero squads (See what I did there? Now that theme is stuck in your head.) don't have a lot of time to discuss the explosion because just as the conversation starts, an array of doppelgangers of both the Inhumans and the Guardians rudely interrupts them.
These doppelgangers from the Infinity War are great. The razor teeth look genuinely creeped me out back in the day, and to be honest, that look is still sort of unnerving now. The Infinity War doppelgangers look like the people that are just like us that live on the other side of mirrors. You can say they're fake, but let's be honest — deep down, we all believe in that world on the other side of the mirror, and it sprang to life in the Marvel Universe during the Infinity War.
The good news for the Inhumans and the Guardians is that these doppelgangers go down easy for now. After Talon reveals a big secret about the future of the Inhumans to the Royal Family, the Guardians split for Avengers Mansion on Earth. Major Victory has no recollection of these events, and if something has happened to The Avengers, then the Guardians are going to get to the bottom of it!
While the Guardians are teleporting down from Attilan, Doctor Octopus has assembled a ragtag group of villains together in the wake of the explosion at Four Freedoms Plaza. Doc Ock has information that not only did Four Freedoms Plaza explode, but that nearly every superhero in the city was inside the building when it blew up! He suggests the group (consisting of Doc Ock, Powderkeg, Jackhammer, Oddball, Titania, the Abosrbing Man, and Yellowjacket [Rita Demara]) attack and loot Avengers Mansion while the heroes are away. Of course, he is just using these folks, and the
good bad doctor plans to abscond with all of the advanced Avengers technology himself!
As this meeting is happening, the Guardians arrive at Avengers mansion, only to be met by the fiercest resistance possible from a slightly out of shape butler and his vacuum cleaner!
Jarvis opens up to the Guardians that the explosion at Four Freedoms Plaza didn't kill the assembled superheroes and that a task force of heroes has left Earth via mystic means. Other heroes remain behind for now. Charlie-27 suggests that the Guardians head that way, when a member of Avengers Mansion security bursts in to alert the Guardians and Jarvis about Doc Ock's villain team just outside the mansion! The Avengers security team beefs up with some weaponry while the Guardians of the Galaxy face off with what Jarvis is calling another incarnation of the Masters of Evil! Talon points out this is a dumb name, but he's a cat dude named after a bird's foot, so I dunno that he is in a position to hurl that sort of insult. Then again, Absorbing Man just calls his group that on the next page, so I guess it's all fair game.
The Guardians spring into action with only Charlie-27 really having a lot of problems. Since he had to take care of the Masters' most powerful member, I suppose we have to cut him a bit of slack. Nikki has no issues with Yellowjacket, and she notes that Yellowjacket's heart didn't really seem to be in the fight. There's a lot of struggle elsewhere, and while the fracas is going on, Doc Ock sneaks off to engage in a contingency plan. Starhawk, meanwhile, is being confronted by his doppelganger, and in what's only a minor league asshole move for the guy if you have read a lot of GOTG, is looking forward to being absorbed by his doppelganger until he realizes that by doing so his own free will would be subverted.
The Guardians take out the Masters of Evil, although they need the help of Yellowjacket's face turn to get the job done. Nikki and Yellowjacket take off during the battle for the inside of Avengers Mansion, and when the other Guardians finally catch up to them, they've been overcome by Doc Ock and a few members of the Masters of Evil we hadn't seen yet!
With that it's on to Guardians of the Galaxy #29 to wrap up the Guardians involvement in the Infinity War, and this time the war comes home! And by the war coming home, I mean a bunch of doppelgangers of both the Guardians and the Masters of Evil are gonna be such a big deal in the last part of this story that they are the only fucking thing on the cover.
Also, while we are looking at this cover, how could you even tell which one of those Shockers is the doppelganger? Both have weird looking eyes, and neither have those sharp ass teeth that should have clued Starhawk in that merging with the doppelgangers is a bad idea.
Another bad idea would be to turn your back on any member of the GOTG, even one who you had previously thought defeated. Doc Ock has no knowledge of the Guardians, so he and the other Masters of Evil are surprised when Nikki and Yellowjacket come back from their unconscious state and turn the tables on the Masters of Evil!
Both teams soon have bigger problems on their hands, and I mean this literally as Gargantua's doppelganger teleports onto the scene. Other doppelgangers of both the Guardians and the Masters of Evil start arriving left and right, leaving Doc Ock and Major Victory no choice but to have their teams join forces to attempt to repel these ungodly abominations, although Gargantua needs no encouragement to take the fight right to the razor toothed mirror men!
The fight seems endless, as more and more doppelgangers pour out of portals, threatening to overwhelm hero and villain alike. Due to the actions of Galactus in another comic book, the doppelgangers all disappear like a bad memory. Really, though, shouldn't that be a good memory? We forget the good stuff all the time, while we continue to torture ourselves with the bad memories late at night when we should be sleeping. All apologies for that; it's a tad morose to be in an article highlighted by an evil giant punching through the chest of his more evil doppelganger. I won't let it happen again, folks
Anyhow, with the day saved, Doc Ock is of the mindset that the Masters of Evil should take out the Guardians and resume with their plan to take over Avengers Mansion. The Masters of Evil treat Doc Ock the way you treat your pal who just doesn't know when the party's over and turn on him faster than a new superhero universe popped up in the early 90's!
All's well that ends well, and if the bad guys are gonna chase themselves off, I reckon it doesn't get much better than that. Yellowjacket also stays behind, and soon she'll head back to the future with the Guardians and even join the team! Before she gets to bask in the glory of being in Marvel's premiere 31st century super hero squad, there's just one more task to complete. Jarvis takes his duties seriously, and he insists that the Guardians of the Galaxy become the Custodians of the Castle as Jarvis walks right up to them and demands they take part in repairs and cleanup!
Jarvis getting the Guardians to clean up Avengers Mansion might be the greatest moment in the history of the Marvel Universe. Fight me if you disagree. Or better yet, fight my evil doppelganger. The one with the teeth.
Hope everyone enjoyed this look back at Infinity War! It's definitely a fun part of the larger crossover, although it could have used a bit of Thanos or Warlock to really spruce things up and make it feel more like a part of the larger crossover. It would have been nice, but it wasn't really needed. Other than that minor oversight, this is a great example of how a larger crossover should spill into a book. No one who just read this felt ripped off because some of the events wrap up elsewhere. If you were a regular reader of Guardians of the Galaxy, it developed characters further (some of which aren't mentioned in this write-up. Go read the book, people!) These three issues also did a great job displaying the Guardians to a non-regular reader. All in all, for all the flak that 90's crossovers get (some of which is deserved), this shows you how that 90's mega-epic could work in a spin-off crossover if done right!
Everyone, enjoy the movie. It's amazing that we're gonna get to see this, right? Just try and remember being a teenager in 1992, eyes wide open over Thanos's shenanigans in the Marvel Universe then, and try and think about that young person would feel if they knew what they were gonna see. We've got our tickets for Saturday! I can't wait!


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Six years ago I started writing Lame Adventures because I was down on my luck. The country was deep in recession and I needed something free to fill my time following a twenty percent pay cut in 2009. Writing a blog was the perfect solution. I had to take photographs, concoct a story, make it somewhat coherent, and field comments from my trickle of followers. That was a great time sponge.
Over the years, as my following increased, The Grind every so often stuck a crow bar in the company safe and returned some of my cut pay. After my father shed his mortal coil in summer 2014, my siblings and I sold our family home in San Francisco, and split the proceeds three ways. Suddenly I was up on my luck. My brother, Axel, suggested the unfathomable:
Axel: Why don't you look into buying a piece of New York real estate?
Give up the rent stabilized apartment in the heart of Manhattan's Upper West Side that I had called my sanctum sanctorum for over thirty years? So it was in a walk-up building with thin walls, worn floors, torn window screens, it had one closet, the refrigerator light was busted and a replacement bulb could not be found, the bathroom sink leaked, and the ancient stove, originally intended for a motor home, had to be lit with a match. It wasn't wired for air conditioning, it only had three outlets with five working plugs, I had to walk three blocks to the laundromat in the blistering heat and freezing cold, my letter carrier was the poster child for anger management, the tenant below me lay dead on the floor for several days in 2014, and last summer, I temporarily had a room mate, a pigeon that flew in through the chimney. Was my closest living male relative smoking crack when he suggested that I give up that slice of paradise?
The time had come to do what had initially seemed unthinkable: stop being a renter and start being an owner. It took all of 2015 through January of 2016 for me to complete this process. After searching for eight months, bidding half a dozen times on apartments as far north as 103rd Street and south as 57th Street, getting rejected five times in the ferocious blood sport that is Manhattan real estate shopping, I finally had my offer accepted. Then, I entered a new hell: the complicated buying process for this sliver of Big Apple in a landmark Emery Roth co-op building a short walk from my former sanctum sanctorum.
Before I started looking into purchasing a place, I would not have known Emery Roth from an emery board. He's the architect who designed the iconic San Remo, the building with the two towers that I'm flying past in my banner. To afford to live in the San Remo, you need the assets of a sultan. Considering that I remain in the neighborhood that I've called home for over thirty years, I feel like I've won Powerball gaining admittance into discount Emery Roth. Residents that live on the side of the San Remo facing east get a view of Central Park. In my building, my apartment faces north, so my view is a dentist's terrace.
My new building has an opulent lobby, two elevators, an immaculate laundry room (open twenty hours a day, seven days a week), 24 hour doormen who greet me warmly and accept my deliveries, a live-in super and friendly handyman. My apartment has air conditioning, two closets, a real stove, a refrigerator with a light, and unlike my old sanctum sanctorum, room for a couch and space for a desk. Electricity is included in the maintenance.
Because my new place is near my old one, I didn't hire movers. Aside from my spin bike, pictures, a file box and magazine rack, I ditched my old furniture and decided to start over fresh. What I did keep, about a third of what I had, required approximately 347 pack mule schleps with a duffel bag. I parted with many things I didn't even know I had from my first phone to a specimen cup.
Despite its many quirks, I bid my rental apartment of 32 years and four months a fond adieu.
When I returned the keys, I suspect that my now elderly Irish landlady tossed aside her cane and did a little Riverdance, shouting at the top of her lungs:
Irish Landlady: Hallelujah, she's gone! We can double the rent!
I am adapting to the good life in my new sanctum sanctorum at warp speed, but I am confident that wherever I go, more Lame Adventures will follow.


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August 10: TODAY in Irish History:
Today in Irish History: Curated by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks
Chicago Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff.
BUY Author signed copy of For the Love of Being Irish For a unique perspective on Ireland featuring History and Humor.
August 10: TODAY in Irish History:
1890: Death of County Meath born Irish poet, writer and nationalist John Boyle O'Reilly. O'Reilly was transported to Australia in 1868 for his Fenian activities, but escaped to America after two years where he ultimately became an American citizen.
President Kennedy was an admirer of O'Reilly's work and quoted him when speaking to Dail Eireann in 1963 stating:
"The world is large," wrote John Boyle O'Reilly.
"The world is large when its weary
leagues two loving hearts divide,
"But the world is small when your enemy
is loose on the other side."
Interestingly this was a speech where Kennedy got his facts wrong. The Kennedy's knew good copy when they saw it and Bobby Kennedy used the same lines as JFK when speaking to The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick on March 17, 1964.
DOWNLOAD free eBook of Songs, Legends and Ballads by John Boyle O'Reilly.
You can also read online MOONDYNE (1879) — a novel based on his experiences as a convict in Western Australia
More on John Boyle O'Reilly.
1971:Soccer player Roy Keane is born in Cork. "The Boy Roy" is possibly the finest (and fiestiest) player to ever play for the Republic of Ireland. Having previously played for Cobh Ramblers and Nottingham Forest, Keane achieved world fame and success with Manchester United with whom he won seven Premier League titles and four FA Cups. Keane's greatest performance may have been in the Champions League semi-final against Italian side Juventus. Keane was booked early in the game which meant he was ineligible for the final, something that looked extremely unlikely as United fell two goals behind. Despite this, Keane scored the first of United's three goals and put in a performance that had Red Devil's manager Alex Ferguson raving.
"It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player."
Keane was a magnificent footballer with a manic competitive desire which United fans saw as combative and opposition fans (mistakenly!) saw as dirty. Indeed one referee David Elleray sent Keane off four times!
Keane's battles with Arsenal legend Patrick Viera were the stuff of legend. As you can see in this video clip, they even started before the game. (Note: The Boy Roy does not always use the Queen's English!)
The love affair with United and Ferguson petered out in recent years as it has with many Irish fans following his abrupt departure from the Irish World Cup squad in 2902 after he savaged manager Mick McCarthy.
Want to learn more about Ireland? See these images and more in the acclaimed For the Love of Being Irish
BUY Quality Quality Guinness and Ireland Rugby Shirts
For the Love of Being Irish written by Chicago based Corkman Conor Cunneen and illustrated by Mark Anderson is an A-Z of all things Irish. This is a book that contains History, Horror, Humor, Passion, Pathos and Lyrical Limericks that will have you giving thanks (or wishing you were) For the Love of Being Irish
Watch For the Love of Being Irish author Conor Cunneen – IrishmanSpeaks on his Youtube channel IrishmanSpeaks. Laugh and Learn.
This history is written by Irish author, business keynote speaker and award winning humoristIrishmanSpeaks – Conor Cunneen. If you spot any inaccuracies or wish to make a comment, please don't hesitate to contact us via the comment button.
Visit Conor's YouTube channel IrishmanSpeaks to Laugh and Learn. Tags: Best Irish Gift, Creative Irish Gift, Unique Irish Gifts, Irish Books, Irish Authors, Today in Irish History TODAY IN IRISH HISTORY (published by IrishmanSpeaks)


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"For what it's worth, I have no idea why that's supposed to sound scary."
It is, of course, easy enough to wonder why more taco trucks would be a bad thing; it is also easy enough to remember that Marco Gutierrez of Latinos for Trump supports a Republican, and heaven knows the one thing Republicans can't tolerate is the prospect of safe taco trucks. Perhaps Mr. Gutierrez thinks Mexicans are really into deregulation, or something.
JOY REID: Marco, you know, I've heard this Trump moment described as a "Barry Goldwater moment", which is of course the tipping point when African-Americans became so identified with the Democratic Party that it essentially became almost impossible for Republicans to win more than ten percent of them. I've heard it described as a "Prop 187 moment", when the California law that went after undocumented migrants there really harmed the Republican Party―it's never recovered. Are you not at all concerned that Donald Trump is so alienating people with his tone last night, that yelling into the prompter speech, and just the tone toward undocumented migrants, toward immigrants in this country, that you are now facing a Barry Goldwater moment for your Party?
MARCO GUTIERREZ: Yes, but, you know, Donald Trump's a genius of delivering the message, and yes, it was a tough message to deliver, but he did it in a way that has shown us that we have a problem, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; and different times, different problems. Yes, indeed, there's a lot of people―my colleague, here, he would not be here―but we need to understand that this is a different time and we're having problems here.
REID: What problems? What problems are you talking about?
GUTIERREZ: My culture is a very dominant culture. And it's imposing, and it's causing problems. If you don't do something about it, you're going to have taco trucks every corner.
There is always at least one. There is an Alan Keyes or, more recently, Ben Carson. There is a Wendy McElroy or Janet Bloomfield. That is to say, there will always be someone who will serve the marketplace by advertising why we should be afraid of them. Or, if not them, others like them. See, we're not supposed to be afraid of Marco Gutierrez, because he's telling white people the truth about Mexicans, which in turn is that Mexicans are terrible people, or at the very least, "a dominant culture" that is "imposing" and "causing problems", or something approximately like that. Marco Gutierrez found a job telling white supremacists what they want to hear about hispanics. Just like Janet Bloomfield will tell rapists what they want to hear about women. I know a guy like Mr. Gutierrez, a registered and participating Republican, a man of Mexican descent who worked hard and bootstrapped and scrimped and saved and got himself a career as an optometrist in the midwest and became a respectable person, not like that army of invading Mexicans he tells me I should be afraid of. Then again, it's not just hispanics he hates; he also has a thing against blacks. He's the Republican who once explained to me that Obamanoia was really just a policy discussion, and if the president wasn't so terrible, all these wonderful, unracist, good, decent American people wouldn't be forced to say racist-sounding things.
No, seriously, something about deplorable goes here.


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Margaret H. Davis was born 19 January 1861 in Johnstown,1 Pennsylvania to David H Davis and Catherine Annie Harris, both immigrants from Wales. She was the 5th child of 13 born to David and Catherine.
Margaret Davis married Henry Herman Updegraff in 1881. Her siblings considered her "marrying well." The young couple moved to New Castle between 1885 and 18892 (just before the horrendous Johnstown Flood of 1889). Margaret and Henry raised four children: Clarence David, Royer Howard, John William, and Alma Catherine. Margaret's younger sister, Rachel Davis also lived with Margaret and Henry until she was married to William G. Fischer in 1901.
Margaret hosted many social events for her children, especially her daughter Alma.3 They had a cottage at Brady's Lake in Ohio and in one instance in 1904, Margaret and her sister Rachel Fischer took the two oldest children (Clarence and Royer) and their girlfriends (to whom they were later engaged) on a vacation there. The family appeared in the "Society Section" of the New Castle News over 20 times between the year 1900 and 1920.
Margaret was certainly the matriarch of the Davis and Updegraff family. Not only did she host many family and social gatherings but she also cared for many. In addition to caring for her younger sister Rachel, she also took in her niece, after her sister-in-law (widow of Margaret's brother Luther John Davis) passed away unexpectedly. When her niece, Irene married, the couple continued to live with the Updegraffs until they could afford a place of their own.
In 1923, Margaret's husband, Henry Herman Updegraff passed away. She moved to Youngstown, Ohio to live with her son John William and became the primary caregiver for her two grandsons Robert Lee (my grandfather) and John Leroy. Margaret was a very important person in my grandfather's life and according to my mother "she could do no wrong in his eyes."
Margaret passed away on 26 September 1945 of heart failure. She is buried with her husbad in Graceland Cemetery in New Castle, Pennsylvania.
1 The obituaries posted in the Youngstown Vindicator and New Castle News have conflicting birth dates: 23 January 1861 and 19 January 1861, respectively. Margaret's death certificate lists the birth date as 19 January 1861.
2 Royer Howard was born in 1885 in Johnstown and the next child, John William, was born March 1889 in New Castle, indicating the family moved sometime between 1885 and March 1889.
3 To read more about the events and gatherings Margaret hosted with her daughter Alma, click here.
Click here for a list of sources used.


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Turkey has not received a written notice of renunciation of Iranian oil purchase after the United States is sending its neighbors back to Tehran next week, but rumored rumors have been heard, Minister of Energy said on Friday.
The US government has agreed that eight countries, including close allies, South Korea and Japan, and India, will continue to buy Iranian oil after next year putting Tehran back on sanctions, Bloomberg announced on Friday a US official.
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