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Review: The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley
The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #6) by Jennifer Ashley
Berkley (October 1, 2013)
Heroine: Violet Bastien – Fake Medium, Mechanically Inclined.
Hero: Daniel Mackenzie – Brilliant, Inventor
Daniel Mackenzie lives up to the reputation of the scandalous Mackenzie family—he has wealth, looks, and talent, and women love him. When he meets Violet Bastien—one of the most famous spiritual mediums in England—he immediately knows two things: that Miss Bastien is a fraud, and that he's wildly attracted to her.
Violet knows she can't really contact the other side, but she's excellent at reading people. She discerns quickly that Daniel is intelligent and dangerous to her reputation, but she also finds him generous, handsome, and outrageously wicked. But spectres from Violet's past threaten to destroy her, and she flees England, adopting yet another identity.
Daniel is determined to find the elusive Violet and pursue the passion he feels for her. And though Violet knows that her scandalous past will keep her from proper marriage, her attraction to Daniel is irresistible. It's not until Daniel is the only one she can turn to that he proves he believes in something more than cold facts. He believes in love.
Violet Bastien is a confidence trickster—she pretends to tell fortunes, talk to ghosts. Really, she does what she has to to survive and take care of her mother. Violet grew up early and grew up fast. Her whole life has been spent taking care of everyone but herself. Because she's good at reading people, telling them what they want to hear, fortune telling seemed like a good fit. Until Violet meets Daniel Mackenzie during a group reading and finds she can't read him at all.
Because what you see is what you get with Daniel. Daniel is the eldest son of Cameron, a wild soul, and a passionate inventor. One look at Violet pretending to contact spirits and he's utterly captivated. Even more so when he realizes she's mechanically inclined like he is. Unlike all of the other ladies falling all over themselves to get to him, she's no simpering miss with only marriage on her mind.
Which is good, since getting tangled up with Daniel is one thrill after another. I loved the dynamic between the two. Both are brainy, mathematical types who'd rather build an engine than dance at balls. And Daniel, with his unending gentleness, is exactly what Violet's poor battered soul needed. Her life hasn't been an easy one but somehow Daniel knows how to soothe her. I loved how Daniel was passionate and deliriously sweet. He is full of that Mackenzie charm, that's for sure. And the Mackenzie hot-blooded sexuality. Oh, Daniel. He is a charmer.
The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie did feel like it ran a bit long towards the end. And I will admit some of the later parts having to do with motorcars and other inventions did make my eyes glaze over... But, overall, my love of Daniel Mackenzie kept me interested. I also loved that Violet is not at all a typical heroine. She knows who she is, what she is, and makes no apologies because surviving is what's important. Daniel and Violet together was heartwarming.
Favorite Quote:
Daniel reached his tanned and callused hands out to her. "Then grab hold of me and hang on. We're both scared about where this will end up, and when the hurting will come. If the hurting comes, it will be bad, I already know that. But hang on to me, and we'll find out together, all right?"


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The Trumps went back to the church where they married for a Christmas Eve service Saturday, where they were received by hearty applause and a standing ovation.
President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, spent two hours at the 125-year-old Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, a seven-minute drive north from his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The soon-to-be first couple arrived at 10:30 p.m. for the service, where Trump — donning his signature red tie with dark suit — shook hands with church-goers who applauded and cheered his arrival. He sat on a third-row aisle seat.
The Rev. James Harlan's sermon encouraged church-goers to let the little things go.
"All of us have some hurts, some resentments, some fears, some ways that someone has hurt us or offended us in the past that we won't let go of. We kind of actually like it. I have those," said Harlan.
"We won't let go of those things and I can tell you over time those little hurts, those little slights, those little things, consume us and they will push out that space for God's love all too easily," he aded.
The Trumps took communion and departed at 12:30 a.m. to return back to their beachside resort.
Donald and Melania Trump wed at Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in 2005, at a service that was attended by Hillary and Bill Clinton.

subset: commoncrawl


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Belleville (French: Belle ville, meaning "Beautiful city") is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, co-extensive with Belleville Township. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 44,478. It is the eighth-most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area and the most populated city south of Springfield in the state of Illinois. It is the county seat of St. Clair County, and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. Belleville is the most populated city in the Metro-East region of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area and in Southern Illinois.
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Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour
Thursday 17 September 2020, 7pm
Presented by World Expeditions
The 2019 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour showcases over two-and-a-half hours of the most enthralling mountain adventure films that will have you planning your next adventure before the credits roll.
The tour is hot on the heels of the largest and most prestigious mountain festivals in the world, the Banff Mountain Festival, which takes place every November in the mountain town of Banff, in Canada.
More than 300 of the world's best mountain sport, culture, environment, adventure, and exploration films are shown during the week-long event. A selection of award winners and audience favourites then tours the globe, visiting 390 communities and 35 countries as part of the festival's official world tour.
This year, the Australian line-up features two-and-a-half hours of captivating short films shot in some of the most wild and remote corners of the world. The program is packed full of stories of bold adventures, expert skiers, climbers, mountain bikers and paddlers from around the globe.
Presented by World Expeditions, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will be screening in Dubbo for the first time in 2020 for ONE NIGHT ONLY.
Before you begin an online transaction, please become familiar with our On-Line Ticketing Policy
Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre is the sole official ticket sellers for the productions that perform at Dubbo Regional Theatre. Please be aware that Dubbo Regional Theatre has no obligation to honour tickets purchased via unauthorised re-sellers. If you attend the event with a ticket purchased via an unauthorised re-seller such as Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree or otherwise, you may be refused entry to the event.
This is a Hirer/Promoter show and the ticket prices are set by the Hirer/Promoter.
Youth rates apply for those aged 12 months to 21 years and full time Student Card holders
Contact DRTCC Box Office:
(02) 6801 4378
Box Office Opening Hours:
9.30am - 4.30pm Monday - Friday and 1 hour prior to the show.
Please note a $2.95 telephone booking fee applies to all phone transactions.
Running time: 3 hours (includes 20 minute interval)
|Group 8+


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The Adverb
I was taught to hate it, abhor it, detest it to the very depth of my need-to-put-it-on-paper soul. If I saw an adverb creep into my writing, I had been instructed to remove it immediately rub it out as if it were a prose snitch, informing everyone that a lazy bastard, a writer too inept to locate a powerful verb, was selling them crap composition. Faulkner forbid an adverb made it into my writing workshop, every budding sentence builder in the house would note the folly, giving the offender a pitying shun, something that suggested "fucking amateur".
It's been seven years since I was last in an MFA program, but still, every time I write a word ending with –ly, I gag a little—a little out of self-loathing, more so from a fear that some knowing soul will see it. It's a hardship every aspiring wordsmith must endure: Finding out what you're doing is all wrong. I would like to say it dissipates as the years progress, but I recently read an article citing ten words or phrases that should no longer appear in travel writing, at least three of which I knew were in recent pieces I'd sent out. What can you do but find-and-replace", repent for your word choice, and vow never to see a "bustling thoroughfare" again.
Alas, despite whatever dreams I once had, I'm not a writing professor, still don't have a well-received collection of short stories that were snapped up and anthologized, but what's worse is that, as an EFL teacher, I push my students to—readily, regularly, proudly—make use of the dreaded adverb. Rather than teaching them to spit in the face of action descriptors, to learn, as my mentors had taught me, to seek the correct verb, I show my students the right place to put their adverb. I make them practice using –ly words to add life to their speech, how to know when to say tragically instead of tragic.
Ironically, it's laboriously dragged me lumbering into a new phase with my own writing, and I'm not sure how I feel or, even, how to feel about it. I've been forced to spend time with adverbs, to really consider them as words, just like any other word: with purpose, semantics, and Latin-Saxon roots like those others we cherish so lovingly. My life, my craft, my somewhat fictional profession has somehow managed to become an afterschool special: If I just give Suzie Q. Interestingly a chance, I might see she's no better or worse than my other friends, made of letters, in need of good, healthy relationships.
Then, god, like everything else, once I gave old Suzie Adverb some respect, regardless of what my professors or workshop compatriots had to say about it, I began to, at the very least, appreciate that she had her own verbose identity. She increasingly began to crop up in my paragraph parties, not bothering anyone, still not exactly blending in. She's become that kooky acquaintance who my friends (adjectives) and family (nouns) are smugly waiting to see prove them right: Adverbs are bad. For me, however, I must admit that sometimes I prefer running quickly to darting, dashing, or scurrying because, often, those other verbs just seem pretentious, working too hard to get attention from the in-crowd.
For those of you who don't know, OSHA is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the US. I learned this because, for a short period of my life, between January and April of 2000, I worked construction. I was a pipefitter's helper, a professional much less sexual than it sounds and one which lacks in glory. However, in my few short months, all spent building a toilet paper factory in Oklahoma, I managed to get my first taste of what it might feel like to piss on OSHA safety standards: I was the only natural-born US citizen on the all Mexican crew.
Only three of us (including me) spoke English; however, it wasn't the language that indicated our Mexican-ness, Mexican-ity—it was the efficiency, the pace at which all tasks got done, and especially the way they were done with little-to-no regard for health or safety. In the world of construction, "tying off" (attaching a rope from your harness to something stable in case you fall) is of paramount importance, not only for your own well-being but more so to avoid OSHA violations, fines, and being fired. No one must have translated those standards to our crew.
It happened all the time, but on one particular day, we were working on a rack of pipes running along a high ceiling, fifteen to twenty feet up, when we hit a snag and were unable to get a pipe where it needed to be. We were using scissor lifts to raise us to working level, and the rules stated that, when on a scissor lift, a one must be tied off and b at least one foot had to be on the standing platform. However, one guy, the foreman's little brother, actually untied himself so that he could climb on the top rail of the scissor lift in order to shake, yank, and all things unbalanced the offending pipe until it moved. Meanwhile, the other guys looked out for OSHA. Pipe fitted!
Living abroad feels much like being on the Mexican crew: The rules of safety are generally based on knowing (and probably not acting) better, and at best, they are disregarded as logical guidelines. Look at traffic for a clear example—the movies depict it fairly well as a sort of free-for-all in which one-way streets, stop signs, and crosswalks are more video game obstacles than steadfast laws. Over the past few years, since living the safe umbrella of OSHA, I've maintained a sort of mental tally of health and safety violations that either provided laughter or concern, usually both.
Korea, in particular, amazed. Of course, in a world where motorcycles legally zip along pedestrian walkways, the same thoroughfares where small children (barely walking) toddle around under "community" supervision, regulations are bound to be different. I remember sitting under a makeshift tent outside a Korean bar, watching a soccer game on a half-covered big screen TV in the middle of a rainstorm, only to notice the electrical power strip in a puddle on the ground had been daftly protected by being inserted into a plastic cola bottle. The air conditioner in the kindergarten classroom dripped for months (all summer) onto an electrical socket just about perfect height for the children to stick one of their metal chopsticks into.
I've seen things that would twist an OSHA man's well-groomed, safety-measured moustache into a handlebar flamethrower. However, I've recently witnessed the most blatant undermining of personal and public safety that, perhaps, has ever graced this former pipefitter's helper's eyes: Looking out of our apartment window, on the roof of the building across the street, outside the guard rails, a man was standing on the slanted, icy overhang, sweeping newly fallen snow onto the sidewalk some five stories below, nothing—no rope, cord, or out-reached hand—more than balance and luck to keep the man from plummeting to his peril, no caution to prevent pedestrians from walking under debris falling from above. Enjoy these pictures:
Just Using Well isn't Good Enough!
Emma doesn't get it because she isn't from the Deep South, like me, where we'd just as soon do away with the word, live a life in which well never existed. Instead, she comes from the-Queen's-English England, where people readily use well as an adverb, which, yes, is correct, but not when done so as a synonym for very, as seen in specimen such as, "That's well good, mate." However, as presumably good teachers, international agents of well-spoken English, we strive to do use our words good well and to be well very good examples, and so should you.
So, here we go, once again, this time without the tisking of a mother, grandma, or teacher, who probably corrected your error without any further explanation. The initial breakdown is as such, simply: Good is an adjective, as you may recall, whereas well is an adverb. Adjectives are used to describe nouns, i.e. people, places, and things. Adverbs, the trickier of the two parts of speech, can be used to describe verbs (as the name suggests) but, also, frequently accentuate adjectives or other adverbs.
For good, there are essentially two options. The easier option is when the adjective good precedes the noun its modifying, such as in that makes good sense or I have a good comprehension of what that means. Things get a tiny bit stickier when good doesn't sit next to its noun like a good, little adjective but goes off gallivanting with a copular verb. Don't get too concerned: A copular verb has nothing to do with copulation. Copular verbs are verbs that aren't necessarily actions, like look or seem or feel, but rather link a subject to an idea.
So, let's use the first of our three examples to further explain the copular verb-good combo pack: Look. There, of course, is look the action, like I looked at the hot chic over there, in which the "I" is looking; however, there is look the copulae, as seen in The chic over there looks hot, in which "the chic" isn't doing or looking at all but is merely alluring to those who are. In the later case, we'd use good: That chic looks good. That chic looks well would be commenting on her ability to see or find things rather than her sultry appearance*.
*As with all English grammar, there is the exception: Well can be used as an adjective when referring to health, such as I don't feel well, meaning I am sick. So, in actuality, That chic looks well would more likely be mistaken as commenting on her medical situation, as if perhaps she'd recently been ill.
So, that brings us to well, which can get a bit problematic due to its friendlier nature, that willingness to jump in the sack with both verbs and adjectives. (Luckily, and this is no homophobic slander, this adverb doesn't bunk up with its own kind. That's only for word sluts like very and really, as in He moved on to the next point very slowly.) The verb seems easy enough: If there is an action happening, we use well. Perhaps the hot chic struts her stuff well, which is what makes her hot, or I can't see her well, so let's get closer.
In the case of the well-adjective marriage, it's usually hyphenated or a very familiar combination: This expression is well-known. To further expound, consider the example A well-endowed widower makes a good friend. It seems a bit counter to previous statements in this week's blog because well seems part of the description of widower, which is certainly a person and, therefore, a noun. However, it is important to realize that, in this case, well is describing the adjective "endowed" and not widower, who, if poorly endowed, might not be as good a friend.
This most common mistake, at least for Americans, probably occurs when we do something good or can't do something good, or we are asked how we are doing and respond with I'm doing good. Technically, in this instance, we are reporting being in the midst of doing good (deeds), as if we involved with some charitable act, say, helping an old lady cross the street. It's more likely that we feel good and are doing well. It's so fussy and minute, I know, but this is the very thing that teachers and moms and so on were so keen to correct not so long ago. I remember it well.
Well, that just about sums it up. Go forth, be well (in good health), and please be good (I'm not exactly sure what this good means—Well-behaved? Ethically sound? Talented? —Oh, damn.)
It's a Sticky Web We Log Onto
Wherever we are--Just can't avoid getting stuck.
I am almost—and I say almost so as to feign some remnants of dignity—ashamed of myself for how much the Internet means to my life, my general attitude and outlook on how things are going. I used to play outside. I used to travel for weeks without checking my email. I used to not even bother bringing my laptop. However, when we moved into our current flat, an Internet connection was the only demand I had. No TV, no bedroom…I hadn't even checked what appliances were here. Just give me that broadband teat, the WiFi tickle, and I'll find a way to make do.
There are some pretty viable excuses. I need the Internet to gather facts for articles I'm working on, to research travel sites and magazines that might publish them, to send out articles to make some attempt at a writing career. I communicate with virtually all of my friends and family—those who don't live in Moscow, which entails every one I've ever known until six months ago—via email, Skype, or Face Time. I brag about not having had a TV for the last seven years, but that's fairly deceptive when you download multiple seasons of whatever shows you want and stream all the LSU football games live. I sometimes do online yoga classes. Work, friends and family, communication, entertainment, exercise—is that too much?
Well, I thought I was done with the list until I reread it and remembered reading. Most of my reading is now done either online or via downloaded e-books. Granted, there isn't an abundance of English-language magazines in Moscow, but I actually bring the iPad to the toilet with me, a little cyber-something to thumb through whilst doing business. I haven't held an actual newspaper for months. Emma bought me three paperbacks for my birthday in October, had them shipped from England, and I still haven't finished them. In the meantime, I've read at least three e-books and Rolf Potts's entire website. What happened to reading what's available?—everything became available.
Even teaching now, at least here, is centered around a SMART board, where I YouTube! (YouTube! has become a YouVerb!) cartoons and have my students (Yo)use them to practice new vocabulary, do listening comprehension, match the visual to the idea. I Yoused! to Youse! flashcards! Now, we play online language games (check out barryfunenglish.com) and look up stuff on Wikipedia. In any given class, fifty-percent of my lesson might be Internet-based, either active online learning or materials pulled from worldwide sources. There is neither a blackboard nor a once-technologically-advanced whiteboard in my classroom.
Nine years ago, in 2003, I finally broke down and got my first cell phone. I never really adapted to the idea, though I did relent, finding myself talking while grocery shopping, delaying orders at restaurants to answer calls, even drive-dialing old friends while traveling long stretches on road trips. I left the U.S. and my cell phone a couple of years later, living two-and-a-half years in Korea without one, spending the next five arguing with Emma about who has to carry our one, shared, usually nearly dead and out-of-credit "mobile", which only exists because companies require we have it, ya know, for teaching emergencies. We are so phone dysfunctional that we've told work to email us for all emergencies—we are more likely to get it that way.
I don't know where this leaves me. Torn, perhaps. I think you begin traveling, living abroad, in some sense, to escape these things, get out of the office cubicle, avoid spending your evening mind-numbing in front of the boob-tube. Suddenly, it's beginning to feel like I've simply re-invented all of this, and more, for myself. But, there are blogs to write, fundraisers to conduct, meetings on Skype, courses to take, the newly discovered An Idiot Abroad to watch, an e-library full of classics, and it's become that much more difficult to lose yourself in the world. Have I essentially made the same old home—virtually? How does one adventure out of a life you carry with you? Stop carrying it, I guess.
I've not said this often in the last few years, but I'm just not ready to take that step.
Will in the If-Clause
Look at the intensity! The passion!
As fluent English speakers, we have the reputation of not knowing what the hell we are doing. Sure, we can flawlessly form a sentence simultaneously utilizing the past perfect continuous verb tense* and the third conditional**, but well-over ninety percent of us have no idea what the past perfect continuous tense is, let alone that it is one of only a few options when making a third conditional, yet another spot of advanced grammar that falls out of our mouths without much consideration. In this respect, I admire my students and colleagues for their intricate knowledge of my language. They know why.
By a stroke of fairly charted destiny, I happened to be amongst the small percentage of native speakers that can (unfortunately, has to) identify the technical aspects of the everyday utterance. In some ways, it's a blessing, being part of such an elite (at least in our minds) club, but how many people really strive to be one of the few sitting around discussing the differing semantics of certain verbs when followed by an infinitive versus a gerund***. In school, when we were being encouraged to express ourselves, I'm fairly certain this conversation wasn't what our liberal arts teachers had in mind.
However, the big advantage of being a native speaker is that we can perform grammar anomalies without knowing at all why what we're saying is correct, just that it is. The problem is that the better students become, the more complex the grammar becomes, and the less accepting they are of breaking the rules they've been adhering to for years. Recently, while conducting an advanced class, one of my top students wouldn't accept an answer I had provided. "You can't use will in an if-clause," she decreed, which by rule is fairly knowledgeable; on the other hand, via a lifetime of speaking English, I knew it was wrong. Just not why.
Despite creating several sentences in which will was in the if-clause, she simply said the examples were wrong. How do you prove an exception to rule? The student argued so vehemently that, truthfully, I'd begun to doubt myself a little, and we had to break class agreeing to disagree. I was consumed with it. I thought about the if-will conundrum all the way home, talked with Emma about it, and as I was cooking dinner, she google-d around, finding sources to support if-will compatibility. It's an odd moment rejoicing over a chopped onion because you now have the evidence to prove your student wrong.
Being an English teacher has, at times, made me cocky, maybe even dick-y. On many an occasion, I will find myself watching a sitcom, some humdinger of intellectual wit, say Friends, and I'll be slighting the writers, performers, director, or producers for allowing horrible blights upon the English language. Then, I'm brought back down to level by some if-will moment, brought on by some second-hand English speaker who hasn't graduated high school, and I realize either how much I don't know about my own language or how much I wish I could forget. English, you are a bitch mother!
The Guts Behind the Grammar:
* The past perfect continuous tense is a construction like this: "had been paying" attention. It combines past simple tense "had" with the perfect tense, which requires "have" plus the third form (as in break/broke/broken) of a verb, e.g. "been", with the continuous tense, calling for a be-verb followed by the present participle (or –ing) form of a verb): "paying". The past perfect continuous tense is used to express a past event that began before the event in question and continued until that moment or beyond.
I had been paying close attention to the English lesson when my eyes went cross.
Note: (For those grammar nerds who are wondering about just using past continuous here)
· I was paying attention when my eyes went cross: This sentence emphasizes that when my eyes went cross, I was paying attention, at that exact moment.
· I had been paying attention when my eyes went cross: This sentence emphasizes that when my eyes went crossed, I had been paying attention, over a period of time. It is possible that I was still paying attention at that moment or that I had just finished.
** The third conditional is used to reference unreal situations in the past, and the results that would have been produced had the reality of the situation been otherwise. If I had been paying attention to my English lessons at school, of course, means that I hadn't been paying attention, the "if" both signify that what follows--I had been paying attention to my English lessons at school—isn't true but that we are imagining if it were true. So, that gets us halfway through the process.
Now we must follow the if-clause--If I had been paying attention to my English lessons at school-- with the presumed result of the imaginary past: If I had been paying attention to my English lessons at school, I wouldn't have learned this much ridiculous grammar anyway. Now, we the audience to this utterance know that the speaker/writer didn't pay attention during English lessons and that the result would have been the same as if he/she had done so.
Of course, as native speakers, we thoughtlessly make statements like this all the live, long day.
*** Gerunds and infinitives are two different forms a verbs, the gerund being formed with –ing, as in "Being or not being, that is the question", the infinitive then formed with to and the base verb, as in the more familiar, "To be or not to be, that is the question." These two can be the bane of an ESL teacher's existence because it's not always so clear which one to use.
First of all, some verbs can be followed by both, "I like walking" and "I like to walk", while others require one or the other, "I want to stop, yet I can't" but never "I want stopping, yet I can't". There is absolutely no standard to judge how verbs will behave, so you are forced to ask students to memorize lists rather than learn some sort of regular grammar rule.
Then, there are the tricky words like remember and stop. I remember kissing your sister every morning is very different than I remember to kiss your sister every morning, just as I stopped kissing your sister is equally different to I stopped to kiss your sister. So, as you can see, some words can use both, but the meaning completely changes as to which form is used.
So, feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.
I won't say it sneaked up on me, how could it have, what with the date inscribed in my ring and a wife who loves a reason to celebrate, and I certainly won't say that it's been a long, hard road: Emma doesn't like those sort of chauvinist jokes, and a wise husband genuinely understands that his wife is more knowledgeable about cross-gender etiquette than he is. So, suffice it to say that today marks two years of marital blissfulness. We've reached the fabled cotton anniversary, the official end to newlywed-hood, newlywed-dome, newlywed-dedness, and it is a cause for reflection:
First of all, I like the state of our relationship, how we embrace the conventional in our own unconventional way: Whereas I buy bags far too regularly, Emma fancies a good holey t-shirt and won't give them up. I like to have a meal ready for Emma when she gets home, and she relishes a chance to clean, especially something that needs rubber gloves and bleach. As tradition would have dictated, we've approached this anniversary with very cotton-centric thoughts, longing to uphold the time-honored mores of giving your spouse the appropriate material for your time spent hitched.
This year Emma gave me a card with a q-tip in it, what Brits call "cotton buds" and which she lovingly left unused. Secondly, she gave me a pair of underpants with Russian dolls on them. Upon bestowing them, she informed that she had rigorously questioned the shopkeeper to ensure that they were, indeed, cotton. Moreover, she also noted that, despite having been married for two years, she knows neither my underpants size nor my shoe size, which some conventions say should be correlative. Lastly, within the underpants gift, there was a message stating that, if they didn't fit me, she'd be happy to wear them around the house.
At first it seemed I'd been outdone, for I had not actually purchased a cotton product, or anything for that matter. But, quick on my feet, handy with a jingle, I immediately launched into a rousing—literally, she was roused and excited, not in a euphemistic way, literally—rendition of the American classic "Here Comes Peter Cottontail". She thought I'd made it up but was actually even more moved by the fact that the gift came along with several animated YouTube! versions to enjoy. I also confessed to not knowing her underpants size either, though, due to our bowling night and her inability to say thirty-seven in Russian, I do know her shoe size.
Like our wedding day, and the paper anniversary that followed it a year later (I wrote Emma a poem on a sheet from my notebook; she wrote me a note on a beer mat), we will celebrate our union tonight with cheap beer and pizza, about which Emma is as excited as I am. That's love. For breakfast, we had mimosas, which were technically meant for the day after, as happened in Vegas, but the champagne proved to enticing and did not last quite long enough. I enjoy the fact that this doesn't matter to us, that Emma even considered just making pizza at home if it was too much of a pain-in-the-ass to go out. That's why--
Two years, six countries, thirteen states, four homes (three in Russia alone), 8,000 miles of road trips, five months of visiting in-laws, two months of in-laws visiting, approximately 745 trips up the Earth Lodge hill, possibly 104 chips and mushy peas nights (on which I, the American, am chef), six visas, one snowman, four Christmases (three in Russia alone), zero diamonds, and who knows how many pizza-and-beer nights in between (if you know what I've mean—elbow nudge) later, we've finally reached maturity as a couple.
We made it to the cotton, baby!
The Opposite Intention
I love teaching opposites. It's such an easy way to increase a student's vocabulary, provides such a rich bounty of games, and opens up so many avenues of self-expression, to create some impression of your subject. Unfortunately, opposites tend to congregate on the outer edges of language, the extremes of what it is we are trying to say, leaving an entire gray area, a more sensitive and accommodating place, in the lurch. Moreover, basic semantics never dictates that which we just shouldn't say. So, here our story begins.
It starts with adjectives, usually a lesson not long after learning family members, when it seems appropriate to describe our moms: "beautiful". Which means, as the rule of antonyms suggests, we must learn ugly, the list then continuing to provide standards like tall-short, old-young, smart/clever-stupid, big-small/little, funny-serious, and always fat-thin/slim. Herein lies the problem: By opening the box to all of these great terms and the activities they foster, we the teachers have equipped our students to call each other ugly, fat, and stupid.
Many cultures use these, what English-speaking cultures consider, offensive terms with a liberalness that just isn't appropriate in our language. For example, in Guatemala, my colleagues didn't hesitate to call me gordo (fat) or gordito (little fatty—add the "ito" and it becomes a term of endearment). I prefer to be thought of as in the average-height, medium-built, moderately attractive zone with a healthy sense of humor and maybe not top-notch but respectable academic prowess. Unfortunately, the clear-cut, easy-to-find, middle-of-the-road words aren't so learner-friendly or defining. Even I can admit that medium-buildito doesn't work as well.
So, for a while there, the "funny" students inevitably belittle their teacher's ego by sighting his or her most unsightly characteristics with unfiltered brutality; however, the teacher soon gets his or her revenge. Soon the gods of opposites render interesting-boring, which is a plight on the interesting side and a blessing on the boring side. I'll go ahead and admit that "interesting" is a well-trodden word. Speakers use it readily and plentifully, but I can't think of a more boring word to describe something interesting. Hitler's quirky eating habits are interesting (bizarre, unexpected, oddly compassionate), as is Angelina Jolie's chest (plump, bouncy, bare).
So, for a while, everything is interesting, and that isn't interesting at all; however, a beautiful thing happens with the word boring. Students tend to get it confused with the word bored, which they haven't learned yet. So, as they tire of your constant black-and-whites, ups-and-downs, they—especially those funny ones who decimated your self-confidence a few weeks earlier—attempt to deliver the next blow and let you know how much your lesson, your stupid obsession with opposites, sucks. So, they hit you with: "I am boring."
You could teach them the truth, and you will eventually, when the opposites bored-interested come up in a couple of months, but for a while, at least for me, you simply bask in one of the few great glories being a teacher provides. Sure, you love to see your kids grow, expand, reach their potential and beyond, but sometimes—especially those funny ones—you like to see them make asses of themselves, even if you're the only one who knows. That, my friend, is the opposite intention.
Park Life in Moscow
Moscow has a park culture unlike anything, any city I've ever known. In our first couple of months here, Emma and I noticed a trend: Every time we'd ask a student what he or she was going to do, does, and did on the weekend, the answers was "walk in the park with my friends." It was such a standard that Emma actually banned the response from her classes. Privately, we concluded that "walk(ing) in the park with friends" must be one of those drilled responses learned in state school English programs, a sort of slightly more advanced version of "How are you?" "I'm fine, thanks." After all, who on earth goes to the park that often?
Muscovites do, that's who, said little Suzie Who. Our theory soon went down like a submarine. When winter holidays rolled around, despite frigid temperatures, the two places our Russian gal pal, Dasha, recommended we go were parks: Tsaritsyno Park and Kolomenskoye Park. We went, and they were both respectively beautiful, Kolomenskoye dotted with beautiful wooden buildings and hilltop churches, Tsaritsyno with a sprawling maze of pathways that wiggle around a lake before leading to a massive palace. When Emma's father visited, my student suggested Victory Park. A student whose grandmother lived in London cites Hyde Park, not Big Ben or The Millennium Wheel or The Tower Bridge, as her favorite vestige.
This is no judgment as we, too, are lovers of the stroll, that most directionless and exquisite of park behaviors. Visiting New York a couple of years ago, we spent over half of our time wandering through Central Park. We also have been to Hyde Park. I like to run in parks, contemplate life on park benches, or have a coffee, a chat, and smoke in the park. I like to write in parks, to picnic, watch live music, find shady spots, see peculiarities, discover hidden quirks that architects tossed in for the astute regular to enjoy. The fact is, though often an overlooked prize of the modern urban landscape, what with our lack of horses to hitch or wagons to pull, our thirst for free parking and expressways, a good park is something to appreciate. Still, I've never done it so regularly as now.
We've been to more parks in Moscow than months we've lived here, and Gorky Park, the queen mother of them all, which is at least half-an-hour metro excursion, has seen us half a dozen times. Gorky, originally built in 1928, includes 300 acres of prime riverside real estate in the city center. It used to be a bit of a withering carnival with out-of-date rides and junk food stalls, but as of 2011, the old swath got a makeover, doing away with rickety roller coasters and admission prices. The Gorky we know is full of trees, wonderful gardens, and a slew of cool attractions: an mock-up space shuttle from back in the day, a massive display of old communist statues, and an influx of seasonal happenings, such as ice sculptures, a field of hundreds of snowmen and an ice skating rink.
The ice rink, which is what prompted our last visit to Gorky Park, has taken over a large section of pavement and made it into a skating Mecca. Utilizing the rather infamous Russian cold and the tendency for sidewalks to ice over, Gorky's rink, instead of being pond-like or ellipses, incorporates many of the pathways to create 15,000 square meters of skating trails, complete with refreshment stalls, resting coves and benches, a raised observation walkway, and an elite set of railing on which a novice can keep his or her balance. It's a place of fantastic offerings, a candy shop for the blade-bound, and I honestly can't imagine anywhere else swaying me into strapping on the skates for my first time. So, I did.
Moscow, like any great city, is full of the big things that define it: the Kremlin, Balshoi Theatre, St. Basil's, Red Square…but, it's really something special to live in a place and find bits of its true pulse, what the inhabitants, who are sick of Red Square already, get up to in their free time. Parks—What a concept! Every city has some version of them, big or small, dirty or dangerous, but Moscow, when you are inside it, boasts them, its citizens holding them in a reverence, using them with a practicality, that seems different than any place I've ever been. It's a piece of this city, which, from time to time, has left feeling chewed up and spit out worth taking with me: I'll never live somewhere again without exploring what parks are on offer, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
I've never been above toilet humor.
Good gods of English, why on earth or in this heavenly solar system does the universal language, any language for that matter, need such a fine-toothed comb to express events bygone and soon-to-be forgotten? At some time, between the capitalized first letter and the pointed period of fluency, English students must tackle the horrible past simple vs. present perfect fiasco, and in turn, the EFL teacher is forced to distill the mysteries of two closely related verb tenses that might not have been were the world a gentler, more understanding place.
For the layperson, simple past verbs are those which regularly end in –ed (of course, this species is rampant with exceptions, the was/were-s, did-s, broke-s, forgot-s and so on), and in the grammarians world, these feral creatures are designated for expressing past events that have been completed with said events having happened at a particular, known time. In other words, "I taught you the glories of simple past yesterday!" or, more negatively, "Some years ago, I didn't care a jot about simple past or present perfect, which brings us to my next point..."
Continuing, the present perfect are those utterances beginning with have or has plus what the writers of EFL books have generously denoted as "the third form", "verb three", "participle form", and/or "the past participle", allowing for the utmost in clarity. So, was/were changes from was/were to have/has been, did to have/has done, broke to have/has broken, and…To the point, present perfect is used when events have occurred but without mentioning a particular time, when the event began in the past but has continued right up to the present, or if the event has just happened with visible results, such as "I've just alienated readers by getting far too grammatical."
I hate when this happens, especially as folks from the US suffer as the butt of many linguistic gags, but Americans have the well-deserved reputation for completely disregarding the specified time vs. unspecified time section of the rule. We (I'm certainly one of these troublesome disregarders) tend to ask "Did you read this?" as opposed to the more correct "Have you read this?". We exclaim "What the f- did you do!" instead of "What the f- have you done!" Okay, okay. I know, I know. I made my point. (Attention US citizens: That was a test: If you didn't recognize* the grammar faux pas I've just committed, perhaps you should reread this paragraph.)
The Brits, on the other hand, fulfill their linguistic obligations, effectively and expertly using present perfect like little fairies of perfect diction. As a result, I often turn to Emma, my Queen's English wife, for precariously impertinent cases of past simple vs. present perfect. However, the minute and unimportant (from a communicative standpoint) details sometime still leave us, seven-year veterans of teaching English grammar, lifelong speakers of English, in a tizzy, such as whether or not we use * "If you didn't recognize the grammar faux pas I've just committed" or "If you haven't recognized the grammar faux pas I've just committed". I'm still not sure which is correct, and more unfortunately, I believe both are with slightly different meanings.
The reason such tizzies occur, in my humble yet piqued opinion, is that differentiating between past events with specified times and past events with unspecified times, as you too may have also concluded by now, is probably more aggravating than useful. "I took a poo." "When?" "Five minutes ago." seems to work just as well as "I have taken a poo." "When?" "Oh, let me specify: I took a poo five minutes ago." Such a proclamation might seem grammar lazy, ultra-Americano, but damn it, if all we want is to be understood, and if our wife knows not to go in the bathroom just yet, then can't we just live in harmony.
Okay, I've said my piece, or I said it, whichever you prefer.
Jonathon Engels
posted every Monday (about life in Russia) and Friday (about concerns of an EFL teacher). His beautiful wife Emma provided all of the photos featured on this blog, as well as the website._
May 2012


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Casella Apex2 dust sampling pump range
Casella, a Kempston, U.K.-based international provider of dust, noise and vibration monitoring solutions, says employers can use its Apex2 personal dust sampling pump range to monitor individual exposure and follow the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard on silica exposure levels. Features of the pump range include:
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- includes three separate models with different functionality to meet varying requirements: the Apex2, Apex2 Plus and Apex2 Pro
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Bandit Model 2460XP Beast horizontal grinder
Bandit Industries, Remus, Michigan, has added an option to the Beast horizontal grinder lineup by introducing the Model 2460XP. Features of the Model 2460XP include:
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Genesis Attachments GBS bucket screener
Genesis Attachments, Superior, Wisconsin, has announced the introduction of the GBS bucket screener. According to the company, the equipment reduces material delivery and removal costs and minimizes the need to purchase new aggregate. Features include:
- designed to provide a mobile and cost-effective solution for sizing natural rock and recycling material on-site
- extra-large drum has been designed to result in higher production
- available in five models
- fits machines ranging from 6,600-pound skid steers to 77,000-pound excavators
Visit www.genesisattachments.com for more information.
Keestrack R3/R3e impact crusher
Keestrack, a manufacturer of mineral processing technology with U.S. offices in Krum, Texas, has released a new design of its track-mounted R3/R3e impact crusher. Features of the crusher include:
- 30-ton model can be used at short-term construction site operations and for semistationary production in medium-sized recycling and production companies
- available in a diesel hydraulic R3 version and as a fully hybrid Keestrack R3e version with a diesel electric drive as well as a full electric plug-in power supply
- features a large inlet opening
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Visit www.keestrack.com for more information.
Volvo CE rigid haulers
Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE), Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, has announced that it will enter the rigid hauler market with its own Volvo brand. Features of the haulers include:
- range consists of the 45-ton R45D, 60-ton R60D, 72-ton R70D and the flagship 100-ton R100E
- R100E is designed with high capacity and hauling speeds
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- sold exclusively through the Volvo dealer network
Visit www.volvoce.com for more information.
Bosstek DB-30 Fusion atomized mist unit
BossTek, Peoria, Illinois, has announced the debut of the DustBoss DB-30 Fusion. It carries a 3,000-hour warranty on the dust suppressor and a 2,000-hour warranty on the gen set. Features include:
- water supplied by a standard 5/8-inch garden hose
- equipped with an in-line 75-mesh, 200-micron filter
- an adjustable throw angle from 0-50 degrees of elevation
- a range of approximately 100 feet in calm conditions


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I just caught this from one of those obscure websites out there in Cyberville and just had to share it. It was reported by Nisha Kotecha on May 9, 2016. It bolsters my faith that there are wonderful, caring people all over the world, but the news media just doesn't introduce them to us very often.
A Royal Veterinary College student in North London found a tiny kitten in a communal trash bin and rushed him to Harmsworth Animal Hospital where x-rays revealed he had a fractured pelvis, toe injuries and both his back legs were broken. RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) vet Cat Wood operated to carefully pin the broken bones back together in hours of painstaking surgery.
Named Monty, the tiny tabby needed two weeks intensive care before he was strong enough to be looked after in foster care by a student at the RVC. Kathryn Turner, a fellow RVC student spotted Monty and knew he would be perfect for her grandparents who had lost their two cats shortly after moving to France in 2003. She FaceTimed Monty's picture to them, and it was long-distance love at first sight.
Kathryn officially adopted Monty in October of last year before transferring ownership over to her grandmother. She personally made the 600-mile trip by car with Monty from Haywards Heath, West Sussex to her grandparent's home in France during her Christmas break. They were received with tears of joy.
She gets letters from her grandmother reporting on Monty's progress. Here is the content of one:
"He comes when I call him in to go to sleep and he curls up on the end of our bed. He has been known to sneak under the covers. He has settled in wonderfully. The other cats in the village are probably trying to teach him French. We absolutely adore him."
Didn't your mother teach you that it's impolite not to share? Please share your experiences with us, so we, too can feel the joy that comes with loving creatures that demand so little of us.
Email your love story to email@example.com and who knows love and kindness may go viral. Allie


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Upper East Side Patch Nonprofit Gallery Featuring Immigrant Artists Opens On UES by Brendal Krisel
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A nonprofit that turns under-utilized real estate into spaces where artists can create and present their artworks opened a new studio on Monday that will feature the work of immigrant artists for its debut exhibit, the nonprofit and local elected officials announced.
The organization Chashama renovated an empty space in the St. Tropez condo complex on East 64th Street near First Avenue into an art gallery following the building's donation of the space. City Councilman Ben Kallos, the nonprofit and artists celebrated the opening of the space Monday with a ribbon cutting ceremony.


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- Hong Kong Institute of Education
The Hong Kong Institute of Education 香港教育學院 Established 1994 Type Public Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Cheung Bing Leung Admin. staff 400 Students 7,000 Location Tai Po, Hong Kong Website www.ied.edu.hk/
The Hong Kong Institute of Education (Abbreviated: HKIEd, Chinese: 香港教育學院) is one of eight subsidised tertiary institutes under the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong. It is the only one dedicated to teacher education.
The history of Hong Kong Institute of Education can be traced back to 1853. St. Paul's College introduced the first formalised program of in-service teacher training. This was described in its Annual Report for 1994/95.[1] On 25 April 1994, under the recommendation made by the Education Commission Report No 5, it was formally established by the merger of:
- The Northcote College of Education (羅富國教育學院)
- The Grantham College of Education (葛量洪教育學院)
- The Sir Robert Black College of Education (柏立基教育學院)
- The Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College (香港工商師範學院)
- The Institute of Language in Education (語文教育學院)
- 1 History
- 2 Recent developments
- 3 History of each college
- 4 Sports Centre
- 5 Controversy
- 6 See also
- 7 References
- 8 External links
Established in 1994 upon the foundation of 70 years of teacher training by the former Colleges of Education, the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) is the only University Grants Committee funded institution dedicated professional teacher education in Hong Kong. HKIEd provides doctorate, master and undergraduate degrees, postgraduate diploma, certificates and a range of in-service programs to around 7,000 pre-service students and serving teachers.
In October 1997, the institute moved to its new campus in Tai Po near the Tai Po Industrial Estate. It has a Sports Centre at Pak Shek Kok, Tai Po, as well as a Town Centre campus at Tai Kok Tsui near the Olympic MTR Station.
In 2001, the HKIEd HSBC Early Childhood Learning Centre was established on the campus. The HKIEd Jockey Club Primary School was founded on the campus in the following year.[2]
With effect from 1 May 2004, the government granted the institute self-accrediting status in respect of its own teacher education programs at degree-level and above.
Among the courses offered by the institute, the BEd (Languages) has been recognized as the best course ever[citation needed]. Most of its first batch of students, which graduated in 2005, already had job offers earlier than other BEd graduates at HKIEd or other universities.
Recent developments
In June 2009, the institute won an extra annual funding of HK$22 million from the Hong Kong Government to provide 120 undergraduate degree places for three new undergraduate programs and 30 research postgraduate places for the 2009-2012 triennium.[3]
In January 2010, the University Grants Committee endorsed the HKIEd's plans for Research Postgraduate programmes and undergraduate programs in three disciplines: "Humanities" (mainly Language), "Social Sciences", and "Creative Arts & Culture".[4]
The approval is seen as a step closer for the institute to gaining its university title by becoming a fully-fledged university of education with a range of disciplines and strong research capacity.
HKIEd will launch its first batch of non-education programs, namely the Bachelor of Arts in Language Studies and Bachelor of Social Sciences in Global and Environmental Studies in September 2010. Both programs have already secured the support of the External Validation Panel of the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications.[5]
Preparations for the launching of the third Education-Plus programme, Bachelor of Arts in Creative Arts and Culture, in 2011/2012 are underway.
The Institute actively seeks to enhance its research capacity. Four institute-level research centres[6] had been set up to facilitate the growth of expertise in multi-disciplinary research. They include:
History of each college
The Northcote College of Education
The Northcote College of Education was established in 1939.[1] It was named after Sir Geoffrey Northcote, the former Governor of Hong Kong. No. 21 Sassoon Road, the former site of the Northcote College of Education, is now headquarters of the Li Ka Shing Medical Faculty of HKU.[7]
The Grantham College of Education
The Grantham College of Education was established in 1951.[1] It was named after Sir Alexander Grantham, a former Governor of Hong Kong.
The Sir Robert Black College of Education
The Sir Robert Black College of Education was established in 1960.[1] It was named after Sir Robert Brown Black, a former Governor of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College
The Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College was established in 1974.[1]
The Institute of Language in Education
The Institute of Language in Education was established in 1982. It was previously under the supervision of the then Education Department.[1]
Sports Centre
The 5.3 hectare Sports Centre is located at 55 Yau King Lane, Tai Po, facing the Tolo Harbour. It houses a range of outdoor and indoor sports and recreational facilities including:
- grandstand with undercover seating for 1,200 spectators
- 400-meter all-weather track with facilities for field events
- natural grass soccer pitch
- artificial turf soccer / hockey pitch
- five tennis courts
- jogging path with six fitness stations
- fitness room
- parking spaces.[8]
In January 2007, a public row broke out between the management and the government over the future of the institute. Battle lines were drawn between the Vice-Chancellor Paul Morris and former Secretary for Education and Manpower, Prof. Arthur Li. The dispute had apparently been brewing for some time, as far back as June 2002, when the new Education Secretary Arthur Li was appointed. Apparently, Li favored a merger of the institute with another higher education institution, namely the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).[9] Morris opposed the merger, and had for some time been campaigning to establish the institute as a university in its own right.[10] Morris maintained he had been warned by the Chairman of the Council, Dr. Thomas Leung Kwok-fai, as far back as June 2006, that his tenure would end unless he agreed to the amalgamation of the institute with the CUHK.[10]
- 24 June 2002 - Shortly after Li's appointment as Education Secretary, Li had apparently invited Morris to dinner and proposed a merger of the institute with the Chinese University. Li also apparently offered Morris to head the "super education center".[9]
- 19 July 2002 - Morris was allegedly told by Simon Ip Sik-on, a former chairman of the institute's council, during a lunch he shared with Li and two other senior institute officials that Li threatened to render the institute unviable if a merger could not be achieved.[9]
- 14 October 2002 - Fanny Law had met with Arthur Li, Dr. Leung and its former vice chairman Alfred Chan Wing-kin. She issued an "internal email" to staff, stating the institute's wish for an early indication of a possible merger with the education faculty of the CUHK.[11]
- 25 January 2007 - The governing council of the institute decided in a vote of 10 to 3, with three abstentions, not to renew Vice Chancellor Morris' contract. Leung denied Morris' assertion about the threats to the security of his tenure, instead accusing Morris of misinterpreting him. Leung insisted that there was no connection between the two.[12][13] This led to speculation that the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) was trying to force an amalgamation of the institute with the CUHK.[14]
- 26 January 2007 - Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Bernard Luk Hung-kay (陸鴻基) alleged on RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in program that during the summer of 2003, after results of the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers were released, the media reported (falsely) that most of 330 teachers who had failed in the test were from the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Professor Luk accused Law for not having set the record straight[11] and alleged that this publicity resulted in a sharp fall in the number of applications for the next year, though the numbers had since recovered through hard work of the staff.
Prof Luk also corroborated Vice Chancellor Morris' version of events by revealing a secret breakfast meeting that took place between Dr. Leung and the Vice Chancellor in June 2006.[15]
- 5 February 2007 - Luk alleged both in his open letter[16] and on RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview program that Li had made veiled threats both against him and Morris in the past. For their refusal to make a news release denouncing those teachers who exceeded the placement quota for their profession and who were about to lose their current jobs, Arthur Li was quoted by Luk to have said on 26/27 June 2004, "I'll remember this. You will pay." (The quote was said in English).[17] Luk suggests in his letter that the time is up for his "pound of flesh."
Luk also alleged that during January 2004, Li had phoned Morris to once again urge Morris to take the lead in amalgamating with CUHK. He threatened to reduce future student intake quotas of HKIEd otherwise.[18]
Luk pointed out that there had been numerous newspaper articles written by IEd staff members in the past few years criticizing the EMB education reform and policies. Luk maintained this resulted in a number of phone calls from a certain high-ranking official in the EMB, demanding the immediate dismissals of those four staff members, which they refused to entertain.[19][20]
- 6 February 2007 - Staff members Leung Yan-wing (梁恩榮) and Yip Kin-yuen (葉建源) asked Legco to investigate further or set up an open hearing into the allegations. Legco member Cheung Man Kwong told RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in program that he along with eight other Democratic camp members had already written to Legco's Education Committee chairman Tsang Yok-sing, urging him to convene an emergency meeting to investigate these allegations of government interference in the running of IEd.[21][22] Students overwhelmingly passed vote of no-confidence in Governing Board Chairman Thomas Leung Kwok-fai: of 680 the voters, only 36 students backed Leung. There were 65 abstentions and eight voided ballot papers.[21]
- 7 February 2007 - It was announced that Legco's Education Committee would convene on 12 February 2007 to discuss any further action and that it would invite both IEd representatives and Arthur Li himself if necessary.[23]
- 9 March 2007 - Pro-government legislators blocked an attempt to set up a Legco inquiry to investigate allegations over meddling with the academic freedom and autonomy of educational institutions. The vote failed by 30:21 with one abstention.[24]
- Chief Executive Donald Tsang set up a commission headed by Justice Woo Kwok-hing.
- 16 March 2007 - Justice Woo Kwok-hing resigned to avoid potential accusations of lack of impartiality.[25]
- 22 March 2007 - Commission hearings commenced.
- 20 June 2007 - The commission dismissed allegations that Li had interfered with the institutional autonomy, but pinned the blame on Fanny Law. Law resigned immediately from her post of Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.[26]
See also
- Education in Hong Kong
- List of universities in Hong Kong
- List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Mathematics Olympiad
- ^ a b c d e f Hong Kong Higher Education Integration Matters:A Report of the Institutional Integration Working Party of the University Grants Committee
- ^ HKIEd - About HKIEd
- ^ HKIEd – Press Release (24 June 2009)
- ^ HKIEd – Press Release (20 January 2010)
- ^ HKIEd – Press Release (22 February 2010)
- ^ HKIEd – Research and Development
- ^ http://www.hku.hk/daao/newsletter/web_0103/p24-27.pdf
- ^ http://www.ied.edu.hk/campus/html/sport.html
- ^ a b c Chong, Winnie (30 March 2007). "Li threatened to `rape' institute, inquiry told". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=41274&sid=12904743&con_type=3&d_str=20070330&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ a b Chong, Winnie (26 January 2007). "Institute merger fears as council votes out head". The Standard. http://www.hkstandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=36934&sid=11908525&con_type=1&d_str=20070126. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ a b Chong, Winnie (3 April 2007). "Institute `sought advice on merger'". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=41516&sid=12985272&con_type=1&d_str=20070403&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ RTHK news article (Chinese)
- ^ RTHK audio news summary
- ^ Mingpao article (Chinese),
- ^ Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in audio
- ^ Bernard Luk's article in MingPao(Chinese)
- ^ Chong, Winnie (9 February 2007). "College chief hopes for inquiry on row". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=37956&sid=12135870&con_type=1&d_str=20070209&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in audio
- ^ HK2000 morning phone-in audio, RTHK Radio 1
- ^ Prof. Luk's open letter (Chinese)
- ^ a b Chong, Winnie (7 February 2007). "Panel seeks probe into claim Li interfered with freedom of institute". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=37778&sid=12094176&con_type=1&d_str=20070207&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in audio
- ^ RTHK (Chinese)
- ^ Chong, Winnie (10 March 2007). "HKIEd probe fails in Legco vote". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=39837&sid=12597093&con_type=1&d_str=20070310&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ Chong, Winnie (17 March 2007). "HKIEd inquiry chief resigns over impartiality questions". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=40357&sid=12706767&con_type=1&d_str=20070317&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ^ Scarlet Chiang (21 June 2007). "Li cleared of wrongdoing by HKIEd commission". The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=47373&sid=14151427&con_type=1&d_str=20070621&sear_year=2007. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
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Posts Tagged General Atomics
Is an American arms company trying to sell the Canadian government a drone the US military doesn't want
Posted by wandering raven in Canada, drones, General Atomics, Global Hawk on July 30, 2015
Is General Atomics trying to sell a drone to Canada that the US military doesn't want?
General Atomics says that it is hoping to sell its 'Avenger' drone to the Canadian military to fulfill the Arctic surveillance role that has been identified by Project JUSTAS, the inept programme of the Canadian government to acquire drones for military use. Avenger is a jet powered drone evolved from the Predator drone, and is known as the Predator 'C'.
An article in medium.com suggests that the US government was less than satisfied with Avenger, as it didn't significantly address the shortcomings that it had identified with the Predator 'A' and the Predator 'B' (known as 'Reaper'). The military wanted a drone that was more prone to survival in a combat zone, weather resistant, and with good communications. The US military felt that Avenger, which is faster and can carry more, wasn't much different than the Predator A in the qualities that mattered. Certainly a drone that was not weather resistant and didn't have a robust communication system would not be useful in high arctic conditions where it is anticipated such a drone would be used.
General Atomics is no doubt hoping that the Canadian government will see advantages in the long range capability of the Avenger, though it isn't clear why the Canadian government would want a drone promoted for its 'stealth' qualities to fly in the arctic.
The Avenger would compete with the Polar Hawk drone that Raytheon has been trying to sell to the Canadian government, that has been written about before on this blog.
Acquisition of a surveillance drone is mired in the Project JUSTAS the procurement effort of the Canadian military, so is unlikely to happen soon. Military brass shrug off the inability of the government to define its needs or fulfill its requirements, as a benefit, allowing technology to advance. Probably a good excuse because there is little evidence that an army staying out of foreign conflicts needs large surveillance drones at the present time.
Who is lobbying the Canadian government about drones?
Posted by wandering raven in Canada, JUSTAS on July 28, 2015
Project JUSTAS is the Canadian initiative to acquire large military surveillance drones. Like other military procurement projects Project JUSTAS has been delayed for many years by bungled procedures and shifting priorities. Most recently the government is claiming to have finished the acquisition process by 2023, with contracts going out by 2017. The military is still lobbying for armed drones, and it appears that the procurement for military surveillance drones will be separated from the procurement for arctic surveillance drones. Due to the need of the current government to minimise expenditures leading up to the October election no movement is likely to happen before the end of 2015.
General Atomics has lobbied eight government departments, including Department of National Defence and the Canadian Senate, in support of its bid to provide large military drones under Project JUSTAS. Their lobbyist was Patrick Gagnon, of The Parliamentary Group (consulting company and lobbyists) . Gagnon is a former Liberal MP, and former Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada, and is well connected due to many roles in government. General Atomics would also like to sell the Canadian government its Avenger drone for arctic surveillance competing with the 'Polar Hawk-Global Hawk' offering of Raytheon (see below).
Also lobbying the government with respect to Project JUSTAS was MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (MDA), a Canadian company with widespread business with the government. Most pertinent is its role providing the Canadian Government with leased Heron MALE drones for use by Canadian forces in Afghanistan. (The lease ran out in 2011). Though the public lobbying records don't state it, presumably MDA would act as an agent for Israeli Aerospace Industries, manufacturers of the Heron MALE drone. The active lobbyists for MDA are listed as Daniel Friedman, CEO, and Donald Osborne, the Executive Vice President of MDA. Records show that Osborne lobbied Bill Jones, Senior Associate Deputy Minister National Defence, though it isn't certain that Project JUSTAS was the subject of all communication between the two. There were other contacts with respect to Project JUSTAS as well.
Raytheon, and American arms company producing the 'Global Hawk' family of jet powered drones also lobbied the Canadian government on a variety of subjects, including Project JUSTAS. Raytheon has been trying to sell the Canadian Government Global Hawk variants for arctic patrols.
Elbit Systems, the large Israeli arms company, retains powerful CFN Consultants to lobby on its behalf. Lobby records don't show any communications with the government within the past year. CFN Consultants is made up mostly of former military personnel with strong ties in government circles.
Thales, the French arms company which promotes the Anglo Israeli Watchkeeper drone, uses Bluesky Strategy Group as its registered lobbyist had three recorded contacts with the Department of National Defence in the past year. But it isn't recorded whether the Watchkeeper drone was discussed.
American maker of attack drones strengthens ties with Canadian military supplier
Posted by wandering raven in arms trade, Canada, Predator on July 24, 2013
General Atomics, the maker of Predator and Reaper drones has formed an alliance with CAE, the Canadian supplier of training and simulation technology to consider integration of CAE training and simulation into General Atomics products world wide. The companies were already teamed to try to sell General Atomics drones to the Canadian military under Project JUSTAS. CAE touted the alliance as providing future Canadian jobs, and the alliance obviously is poised to offer manufacturing offsets to sweeten any potential deal to between Canada and General Atomics to buy drones.
Deliberations on the purchase of military drones continue under the radar of the Canadian public, which soon may be faced with a Cabinet decision to buy either a General Atomics drone, or one from either of the leading Israeli drone companies. Either way the most likely drone choices have a bloody history in the suppression of Palestinian independence, or in the conflict zones of the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.
CAE's Group President, Military Simulation Products, Training and Services is Gene Colabatistto, a former US marine major with long history in security and space organisations.
General Atomics is a major lobbyist in both Canada and the US, and makes substantial political donations in the US to federal politicians. CAE regularly lobbies Canadian politicians and bureaucrats.
Information leaking out about JUSTAS programme to provide Canada with drones
Posted by wandering raven in drones, JUSTAS, MacDonald Dettwiler, UAV on May 1, 2013
David Pugliese, writing in Defense News, has reported significant updates to the story of Canada's drone acquisition saga.
Key new information includes:
1. One of the top military priorities is the capability of dropping material into arctic locations for search and rescue missions.
2. Another key priority is maritime patrol.
3. General Atomics, the company that produces the Predator drone, is interested in researching the idea of adding drop capacity to the company's 'Guardian' drones, a variant of Predator.
4. Israel Aerospace Industries, through its Canadian agent MacDonald Dettwiler, is interested in selling Heron drones to the Canadian military for search and rescue. (Unstated whether this would be smaller Heron drones, or the larger Heron TP).
5. Global Hawk drones, of the type promoted by Northrup Grumman, would likely not be suitable for dropping search and rescue packages, but might be part of same search and rescue missions.
6. Canada's military wants the capacity to conduct very long patrols over long distances in remote regions.
7. Total budget for drones appears to be about $1.5 billion.
The article also quoted a Liberal Party spokeperson who criticised the Department of National Defense for always wanting to have one piece of equipment that performs all functions, meaning that acquisition is delayed.
Still missing is information about whether the government actually plans to purchase one drone that fulfills all of its goals or whether it wants to purchase a number of different drones for different purposes. Also missing is any indication of government analysis about whether drones will actually improve the military's capacity to perform any of its functions, or whether it would simply add a layer of expense and complexity without improving its ability to accomplish anything.
A key implication of the stated goal of dropping Search and Recue packages in the arctic is that the chosen drone might be a 'MALE' (medium altitude, long endurance) drone. The most likely providers of these would be General Atomics ('Predator' type drones), or the two Israeli companies Elbit Systems or Israel Aerospace Industries.
If Predator, then the Canadian government would be establishing a commercial link with the primary producer of attack drones used in targetted assassinations by the US in many 'intervention' zones around the world. This is worrying, given the Harper government's known desire to acquire armed attack drones for use in foreign interventions. General Atomics has been busy forming alliances with Canadian companies to pursue JUSTAS procurements, and has a lobbying presence in Ottawa.
But both Israeli companies are likely contenders as well, given 1. that MacDonald Dettwiler (a Canadian company) has already provided rental Heron drones for Canada's Afghanistan intervention mission, and 2. John Baird and other key members of the Harper cabinet are enthusiastic supporters of the apartheid regime in Israel and may influence decisions in that direction. There have been rumours that Baird will replace Peter Mackay as Defence Minister which could increase the probability of an Israeli purchase.
The emphasis on the need for very long patrols might be a tip of the hat towards General Atomic's 'Global Hawk' drone, which claims that as its capability. (Given the very high cost of Global Hawk drones, a purchase of a few of these would blow DND's budget and leave little or nothing for purchasing other drones). An article by Rob Cook discusses how high altitude variants of the Predator drone might perform some of the functions of a Global Hawk drone.
Project JUSTAS, the programme to acquire drones for Canada, is (by David Pugliese's suggestion) already probably five years late. There is very little published information about the nature of the deliberations, about how the military decision makers plan to address their multiple goals. However in another David Pugliese article the head of the Canadian air force, Lt General Yvan Blondin claimed to be in no hurry to commit to a particular technology in a field where technological developments are coming quickly.
Nor has the Harper government tipped its hand about how it plans to achieve its political goals, which might include forcing the military to acquire armed attack drones and/or tipping the selection process towards Israeli companies. There might even be political suggestions out of right field, like developing domestically designed drones, or demanding industrial offset schemes from existing vendors.
A fleet of lobbyists have been engaged by most of the possible drone vendors, who are now probably doing their best to influence the relevant military and political figures.
Speculation: Canada's drone acquisition policy about to shift toward Israel?
Posted by wandering raven in Canada, Israel, Israeli arms company, JUSTAS, Predator, United States on April 12, 2013
Some time in the next few weeks Canada's Department of National Defence will release the results of its Project JUSTAS (the programme to identify what drones Canada wants to acquire). In the past the military, and the government, have made it clear that among its requirements would be armed drones.
The leading suppliers capable of providing armed drones of the type required would be General Atomics of the US (Predator, Reaper), and the two Israeli drone companies Elbit Systems (Hermes drone variants), and IAI (Heron drone variants). Canada already has a working relationship with IAI and its Canadian agents through its rental of Heron surveillance drones during the Afghanistan occupation.
Israel does not appear to have sold armed drones abroad to date. However Israel is one of three countries to have used armed drones (in its occupation and wars in Palestine) and is reputed to have several variants of armed drones. Several of its surveillance drone variants are easily capable of being armed, and in any case its surveillance drones can be used as attack drones by marrying laser 'markers' with other attack systems, like ground-to-ground missiles or jet fighters. Though Israel remains tight lipped, most observers report Israel using drones as part of its recent attacks on Gaza.
Canada is part of the Missile Technology Control Regime, indeed was its originator and among the earliest signators. While the US has ratified the MTCR, Israel is not a signatory. It would be politically difficult for Canada to buy armed drones from Israel, because some of the terms of the MTCR relate to armed drone technology, which can be considered 'weapons of mass destruction'.
But news of an impending cabinet shuffle may influence this decision. David Pugliese, writing in the Ottawa citizen, has described rumours around Ottawa that current Minister of National Defence Peter Mackay, (who has been ineffectual), will be shifted laterally in the cabinet, or out. Under MacKay Canada's defence procurement projects have continued to drift from one crisis to the next (though he isn't the only minister reponsible). MacKay's replacement is rumoured to be John Baird. Baird is a combative Israelophile who, in his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, has shifted Canada's foreign policy sharply in favour of Israel, making Canada arguably Israel's most vociferous ally.
It is easy to imagine that Baird's appointment as defence minister would sharply improve the prospects of Israeli companies hoping to sell drones or other military hardware to Canada. Baird has the focus and determination to bulldoze over objections to purchasing military hardware from Israel. He can also be assumed to continue Canada's move to a beligerent foreign policy in support of American interventions around the world.
Whether or not Canada buys armed drones from Israeli companies, it can be assumed that a John Baird appointment to the head of the Defence ministry would raise their prospects for selling surveillance drones to Canada. Both Elbit Systems and IAI maintain lobbyists in Ottawa, and IAI has a well connected Canadian agent in MacDonald Dettwiler.
L-3 Wescam of Burlington, Canada arms supplier to conflict zones
Posted by wandering raven in Afghanistan, arms trade, Assassination by drone, Canada, drones, Ending the Arms Trade, Iraq on November 12, 2008
L-3 Wescam, of Burlington Ontario, is an arms exporter that produces, among other things, 'web cam' like imaging equipment, (including laser finding and targeting) for military aircraft, including drones. A key product is an imaging turret for use on the nose of aircraft, manned or unmanned. Their web site:
L-3 Wescam is the result of the September, 2002 acquisition of Wescam by L-3 Communications of the US (formerly Titan Corp). Before that the Canadian company had difficulty in getting large contracts with US arms contractors. Source
One product of the Burlington plant is the MK-20 imaging system, which has been deployed on several types of aircraft, including Predator drones in use in Afghanistan and Iraq. L-3 Wescam's XL-20; Expanded Cababilities for Expanded Missions, In:
The company appears to be strongly oriented to the US market, both for surveillance under homeland security, and selling parts for advanced American weaponry. The company works with General Atomics of the US, to produce drones for the Iraqi airforce. Press release from General Atomics:
In 2006 there was a protest at the Burlington plant, drawing attention to the use of L-3 imaging equipment on Predator drones, armed with Hellfire missiles. Excellent write-up:
The protest flyer claims that (Industry Canada as the source) L3 Westcam products end up in such human rights violators as: Colombia, Egypt, Algeria, China, Iran, Libya, Saudia Arabia, U.S., and U.K Source


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The External Affairs Ministry, in a statement this evening, quoted Kshenuka Seneviratne, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, as telling the UN Human Rights Council today that Sri Lanka is perplexed to note that the High Commissioner has thought fit to refer to the panel report in her report to the 17th Session of the.
Seneviratne said that the High Commissioner has resorted to drawing on recommendations culminating from a report of a non intergovernmental process, which also has no official status in the UN system, The External Affairs Ministry said.
"The High Commissioner continues with a seeming preoccupation of calling for the establishment of an international monitoring mechanism, which also has been recommended in the report based on unverified information, and if adhered to will call into question, the professionalism and independence of the Council," the External Affairs Ministry quoted Seneviratne as saying.
Sri Lanka also says the High Commissioner has prejudged the ability of the domestic mechanism even before it has concluded by pledging her full support to an international mechanism being established to monitor national investigations.
"The bona fides of her position in this regard comes into question, as the accepted practice is to provide the domestic processes adequate time and exhaust all available domestic recourse, prior to resorting to any international mechanism. This basic requirement of the need to give the domestic mechanism space, time and opportunity should be known by the High Commissioner, unless she wishes to ignore it for a reason of her own choice," Seneviratne told the Council today.
Sri Lanka has warned that the continued demonstrable lack of objectivity and impropriety on the part of the High Commissioner does not augur well on the work of her office in constructive engagement with the Government of Sri Lanka. (News Now.lk)


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