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Finding the perfect context for wine appreciation
Of all the things I've done over the last 30 years to understand wine–reading countless books, tasting 100,000 wines, interviewing hundreds of winemakers and growers–nothing has so "filled me with the spirit" of wine as when I wrote my first book, A Wine Journey along the Russian River, which was published in 2005 (but reissued, with a new introduction, last year by University of California Press).
That effort took the better part of two years. I saturated myself in wine, not literally, of course (I just had an image of me taking a bath in Pinot Noir), but in the sense that, for almost every day in 2003-2004, I awoke on a day that began precisely where the previous one had left off: immersed in this book. I thought about it constantly, edited myself all the time, dreamed about it at night, worked out the conceptual structure as I drove my car, came up with new ideas in the shower, and spent every minute I could traveling along the Russian River, by every conceivable mode of transportation, having adventures and meeting people, exploring vineyards, eating and drinking on the river, and even, on one unhappy but memorable occasion, almost drowning in water so cold in winter snowmelt, it gave me a case of hypothermia that permanently discombobulated my internal thermostat. I was trapped in whitewater rapids, hanging on for dear life to a "strainer," a fallen tree whose gnarled limbs looked ominously like wizened fingers, clutched in a death grip to which I clung lest the angry current sweep me away.
In retrospect, it was the perfect metaphor for the way I conducted my research: when someone says they plunged themselves into their work, I can say I did it literally! One of the things I was proudest of in that book was that it contained no wine reviews. I might have filled it with formal notes, but decided not to, because I wanted to write a book that would stand the test of time and be interesting and relevant to future readers. And there's nothing staler or duller than old wine reviews.
The culture of wine always has appealed to me at least as much as its science, or even as much as tasting. By "culture" I mean the places, the natural formations (rivers, cliffs, mountains, fields, marshes, streams, landslides, forests, wildflowers, gullies, estuaries) that are indigenous to every wine region. The animals too: snakes, deer, wildcats, winery dogs and cats. And the people! The wine industry is never devoid of characters, that's for sure. There's a context to every wine that's important to comprehend, if you're to fully experience a wine in its fullness. To drink a glass of Robert Mondavi Tokalon Fume Blanc in that vineyard, with Tim Mondavi: that's context. To witness the Rochioli Vineyard, the source of so many great wines I've had over the years, at various times of the year–in the full bloom of harvest, completely underwater during a ferocious winter storm–to have climbed up its bank, as the gravelly dirt slid out from under my feet, is to have given my next experience of a Rochioli wine added depth and imagery. To have known the Rochiolis, Joe, Jr. and Tom, further compounds my appreciation of their wines. To have been present at the creation of Williams Selyem's estate vineyard [formerly Litton Estate], as the bulldozers broke ground and pulled mountains of rocks out–to have been there the day an arborist warned Bob Cabral he'd better pull out some century-old trees before a storm blew them down on somebody's head, only to have Bob decide that, No, he couldn't do it, and instead to persuade his boss to save the trees, with all the expense that implied–and then, years later, to have tasted the Estate Pinot Noir and be able to give it 100 points–and, after that, to see the magnificent new winery building erected on the very spot that had been a wasteland of mud and stone, just seven years earlier–that is context. That is continuity. That is experiencing a wine in its fullness. I have griped before, and often, about how I wish certain winemakers would not insist on having me come to the winery to taste their wine (hello Dalla Valle, Alban, Staglin, Screaming Eagle and all you others!), instead of sending it to me at home, like most wineries do. But the truth is, I totally understand. They wish for me to know their wine in the very context I have described, and I can't blame them for that. Were I a winemaker, I'd probably do the same thing.
Having been to a few vineyards and walked them with the people who own them, work them year round and have them tell me intimate details about how the grapes were grown, how the birds/bears/deer ate these rows of these blocks — you are absolutely spot on in that it does give you a deeper appreciation and context of what's in the glass.
I'd spent most of the day with the husbnd and wife owners of a medium-sized winery in central Oregon during harvest in 2008. My hosts were gracious enough to take time from their hectic day to give me "the tour" and we ended up on the patio for lunch. When discussing the in& outs of pinot noir, I gushed a bit about how some of my favorites came from Bien Nacido vineyards. The husband looked at the wife and said, "Bring one out." She disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a bottle, which turned out to be a pinot he had produced while still in CA. The fruit? Bien Nacido and the vintage was 1986.
It was one of those "light bulb" moments and was the perfect book end to my experiences of that day in their vineyard in OR. It reflected not only his style as a winemaker but showed the differences and similarities in wines produced by the same man, but from different locations.
The context surely has much to show us about the wines, but also the people who produce them.
Your comments bring to mind what Terry Theise expounds in his book "Reading Between the Wines." There's more to a wine than is in the glass. And if my memory isn't failing me, isn't that reason that RMP ran into difficulties in Burgundy?
I too was reminded of Terry's book, which I recently read. He takes us through the Mosel and all-around German wine country as we meet the characters and wines that shaped Terry's understanding. Since I too came to wine through the Russian River Valley, I've long wanted to read your book, Steve. I have close friends that work in the valley, and through them, have had my own experiences at Rochioli, Davis Bynum, Iron Horse, and others. Going to SSU then, it was an opportune time to discover wine.
Far from many touting "natural wine," I celebrate the fact that wine in many ways exists as the pinnacle of culture-man's conquering, or tackling, of nature. Man's taking the primitive and wild, tempering and taming it, and fashioning it into a drink of untold tales. To enjoy wine in the context you describe, brings to light the beauty and purity of man's expression through this stewardship. I often tell guests that the best of the wines I own are not those with the steepest price tag, but those that came from vineyards I walked upon and felt in every sense. This isn't easy to understand though, for those that have never had wine in that context.
Understanding wine in its context is great. Tasting it in its context is a way to follow in love with context as much as the wine. That is why we taste in neutral sites and in blind tastings.
Too much context skews our thinking. If we were story tellers and not comprehensive wine reviewers, that would be totally different. When Rod Smith and I shared the podium at the LA Times for several years, we could attend the same tastings and come way with very different stories to tell. Neither was more "important" than the other, but mine was necessarily constrained by context and his was enhanced by context.
That said, our understandings of the wines we tasted are furthered in general by what we learn from visits to wineries. We taste young wines and see what they have. We get to know what to expect. It is all part of the learning process.
But a great visit, with a wonderful host, in a magnificent setting does not change what is ultimately in the glass and that is why we taste without specific context informing our primary judgment. If we fail to do that, we become cheerleaders instead of independent, trusted sources.
This is why many wine blogs will never go anywhere, because the authors don't go anywhere (physically). Sometimes you have to see to understand, in good and bad ways.
Wayne, most blogs were never going to go anywhere anyhow. But, there are only ever a handful of fully paid wine journalists and the thousands of bloggers are not auditioning to take their places.
But, over time, some will emerge as the new voices of the wine world. They will have to because so many of the current crop are getting up in years and will pass the torch one way or the other.
Well said Charlie.
I agree Charlie. All I am saying is, and I think you will agree, that the few who do get to rise through the ranks will be the ones who are getting their boots dirty in the field from time to time. The ones who are reviewing their Trader Joes and Super Market scores are going to lack the perspective Steve speaks of.
You can never get too down on critics for this very reason, they atleast of done the work of getting a hands on experience and I respect that.
Spot on, Wayne. Ultimately, the best writers are not only those with at least a modest gift for language but also the depth of understanding to give deeper meaning to their words than the ordinary punters.
Very few winewriters are super-tasters, but most of us have paid our dues, gotten ourselves educated and bring the something extra by way of learned experience to our writings. I think we are seeing that happen with many bloggers today. But blogging will not be the only path to a career in wine-writing. Working in wineries, restaurants and retail all expand the knowledge base of those who pay attention.


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The First Americans
I found Will's entry below so fascinating, I felt the need to return to colonial times and add on the following interesting fact:
Today is also the day, back in 1790, that the very first official US census got underway. Why it took nearly 15 years from the official signing of the Declaration of Independence to the official tallying of the people in the Union is mysterious, but perhaps their computers were a little slower back then.
Anyway, here's what that census yielded:
Estimated population of the United States = ca. 4 million (compared to ca. 300 million today)
Number of people per square mile = ca. 4.5 (compared to ca. 80 today)
Third biggest city = Boston, with ca. 18,000 people already mispronouncing words like "car" and "yard."
Second biggest city = New York City, with ca. 33,000 people desperately trying to hail what few cabs there must have been at rush hour.
Number one biggest city in the Union = Philadelphia, of course, with ca. 42,000 inhabitants, no doubt all of them frustrated beyond belief with their city's sports teams.

subset: commoncrawl


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Secular Egyptians Fear Theocracy By New Parliament
In Egypt, Islamists are once again expected to dominate at the ballot box, in the second round of parliamentary elections. Their anticipated win in a vote that begins tomorrow has many secular Egyptians fearing the new parliament will turn their country into a theocracy. Secular candidates say they will not go down without a fight. Some are even trying to use religion to lure voters away from the Islamists.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson has this report from Cairo.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Amani Essawi works the crowd that's gathered to meet the secular candidate on this cool night in Algouza.
NELSON: That's no easy task in this middle-class enclave across the river from Cairo. Several men grumble at her that secular lawmakers they elected during Hosni Mubarak's era only showed up when they needed votes. But she seems to win them over with her pledges to improve government services.
NELSON: Essawi, who works in a government office, is a first-time candidate. She is running as an independent with no ties to any political party. She says she's had to fight misperceptions that a vote for her would be casting a ballot for the past, given that Mubarak's government was staunchly secular.
Another hurdle is that she doesn't wear an Islamic headscarf, which an overwhelming majority of the women in her electoral district do. She says her Islamist opponents, like the ultra-conservative Salafists, have defaced her campaign posters.
AMANI ESSAWI: You know, I have, like, cards with my photo, et cetera; because I am not veiled they remove them and they put like Salafi, you know, people on top of mine, things like that, but I am trying. When I talk to the normal people in the street I get lots of acceptance.
NELSON: Essawi is among a growing number of secular candidates who say they have stepped up efforts to meet voters face-to-face after most of them lost the first round. Many analysts attribute that loss to the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist parties being more organized and better at community outreach. Khaled Fahmy, who chairs the history department at the American University in Cairo, says it didn't help that few secular candidates talked about what they would do if elected.
KHALED FAHMY: I was looking around for concrete programs in order to compare and contrast. I spent a week trying to find in my district what the different candidates are saying regarding different issues. And there was very little to go by.
NELSON: Mohammed Shadid Shaheen adds, when he and other secular candidates did talk about their plans, the Brotherhood and Salafist candidates denounced them as un-Islamic.
MOHAMMED SHADID SHAHEEN: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: He says it proved an effective strategy, playing to deeply rooted religious sentiments in this largely Muslim country. But Shaheen adds he decided to beat the Islamists at their own game. He used Quranic teachings to justify his liberal platform. It paid off.
Shaheen is a member of the liberal Free Egyptians Party. He ran as an independent and beat out his Muslim Brotherhood opponent in the first round of parliamentary elections in Cairo last week.
SHAHEEN: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Shaheen says his approach is one other secular candidates have adopted in their own campaigns. But analysts and political activists predict other tactics employed by secular parties will backfire. For example, many secular groups that have nothing in common have formed alliances to compete with the Islamists.
Secular candidate Amani Essawi says some secular parties are working against her with as much vigor as the Islamists.
ESSAWI: I think that the secular movements are, I would say, exaggerating and overdoing it because simply I'm not given a fair chance to compete and to present my work and to present my programs to the people.
NELSON: Essawi predicts what they are doing will end up helping the Islamists win even more seats.
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Cairo.
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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The price of leading from behind: Passivity is not a policy
What lessons can be learned from events in Libya? That nothing good will come out of the Arab Spring? That Arabs are volatile, easily excitable and prone to acting out? That the United States, Mitt Romney notwithstanding, cannot control everything or that the United States, Mitt Romney more to the point, has tried to control nothing? In other words, is this what happens when the U.S. is "leading from behind"?
This phrase, you might remember, was coined in reference to Barack Obama's reluctance to take the lead in the NATO air campaign that toppled the dictatorship of Moammar Gaddafi. And that operation, in which the French seized the initiative, was mounted to save Benghazi, the city where the insurrection started and the one where U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed last week. Benghazi was saved from Gaddafi's bloody reprisals, but not from mayhem.
The notion that the United States can lead from behind is pitiful, the sorry concoction of an Obama administration that mistakes dulcet passivity for a foreign policy. The view from behind now has to be awfully depressing. Where once Obama could see the gallant tails of the French, the British, the Italians and some others, there is now no one. The predictably indignant Nicolas Sarkozy has been replaced by the soullessly pragmatic Francois Hollande, who has other fish to saute. NATO's warplanes have returned to base and Libya, a tribal society, was left to fend for itself. It has not fended all that well.
Until recent events offered a rebuke, the Obama administration treated its toe-in-the-water response to the threats uttered by Gaddafi as an unalloyed success. The dictator had been ousted (and subsequently killed), no Americans had died in the effort and the wisdom of doing as little as possible was proclaimed a sterling triumph. Had the U.S. taken the lead, however, someone might have been paying more attention to events there and trying to forge a government out of heavily armed militias. After all, it's not as if all of Libya was sacking the U.S. legation; it was a well-armed few. Much of the rest of the country was appalled by what happened and the president of the national congress, Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf, offered an apology and vowed to find the terrorists and, as always, bring them to justice.
Some things are true even though Obama is president. The Arab world is culturally a very distant shore. It will not embrace American values such as free speech and religious toleration because certain speech and certain religious practices are truly repugnant to it. The intellectual godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyid Qutb, spent many months in the United States and returned to Egypt loathing America and fulminating about its obscenely provocative women. The 9/11 terrorists lived among us as well — and not one of them was deterred from their mission by the sweet treats of American life. I love us to pieces, but we are, for some people, awfully revolting.
Another thing. Without American leadership, nothing happens. Our allies are incapable of leading because (1) they do not have the military wherewithal and (2) they have forgotten how. The French determination to bring Gaddafi to heel and avoid a massacre was a short-lived affair. We see what has happened in Syria. The French and British are outraged; the Turks are appalled. The Jordanians are anxious and the Saudis are indignant. Still, Bashar al-Assad remains in power because the United States will not impose a no-fly zone — and really no one else can do so. This cautious policy has resulted in many civilian deaths, a huge refugee crisis and the comfy feeling in the White House that we have ducked another quagmire. The situation may now be beyond remedy and the chirpy forecasts that Assad is a goner are way past their pull date. Every president gets his foreign policy regret. Syria will be Obama's.
Romney was wrong and ham-fisted and alarmingly premature to criticize Obama for a statement put out by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. He is both wrong and dishonest to keep repeating the canard about Obama being a serial apologizer. But he is right in sensing that beyond the very Obamaness of Obama himself — the quality that made him a Nobel Peace Prize winner in the pupal stage of his presidency — lurks a foreign policy that has been more sentiment and aspiration than hard reasoning. Leading from behind is not a nifty phrase. In Libya, it's an indictment.
Richard Cohen writes this column for The Washington Post. Email: email@example.com


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Ok back in business and straight into the heart of the metropolis of Tamworth, or at least round the edges of the centre to have a look at the Anglo-Saxon to medieval defences that once surrounded Tamworth.
Witness the Fitness, Abe and Ernst are back in training
This post is riding the wave of Anglo-Saxon popularity of which Tamworth of course is in the premier in this field. The defences compared to other subjects in Timehikes have had considerable time and research, internet space dedicated to them so below I´m going to review the work done by archaeologists, historians, witnesses, map makers before going on to suggest a few ways of promoting the elusive defences.
Below I´ve outlined the course of the defences in green
This was a pointless exercise as Ordnance survey have done it already, below
The defences, known variably as King´s ditch, Offa´s dyke and Walferlong are connected with the very origins of the name Tamworth, they add the worth bit in the name, meaning enclosure, Tamworth = enclosure by the river tame( that´s one translation). That the defences are very ancient is testified by evidence of even older defences going back to at least the 8th century but more of that later.
The defences consisting of a broad ditch and bank are no longer visible, at least without scraping away the dirt. Back in the 19th century though they formed a very visible reminder of Tamworth´s ancient past. Below is a description from Victoria County History Vol 1, 1904:
This is an excellent collection of previous accounts. From 350 years ago when the ditch was clearly visible on the 3 sides to descriptions in 1884 of the north-west corner of the defence line.
The story of the defences is one of gradual to quick disappearance to partial rediscovery by archaeologists. Falling out of use between the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, they were still very present as the ´kings ditch´ in the 1600´s( see above, Dugdales account) although filled up in places. In the 1839 map below, they are marked on the eastern side of the town as King´s Ditch, so they were at least still present on the eastern and western sides.
1839 map with kings ditch marked on it
The above ( Victoria county) accounts from 1884 and the map below from 1885 give a privileged snapshot of the state of the defences in that time. The eastern side had disappeared and the western portion was at it´s most prominent in the north-western corner. Again quoting Victoria county history it mainly consisted of an ´earth tump´. In the 1884 map below the rounded corner is prominently marked. It runs alongside the very saxon sounding Walferlong, another name for the defences(now the less epic sounding Orchard Street)
1885 ordnance map
At some point between the 1886-1900 the visible North-western portion was built on and the northwestern course was followed roughly by terraced housing. In the 1901 ordnance map they are marked as ´remains of´ in the vicinity of the aforementioned terraced houses and along Hospital Street. ´Remains of´ could be inferred as that there was still evidence of the Defence line at the turn of the 20th century.
1901 ordnance map
At some point before 1938 they become ´site of´ , which could be taken as that there were no longer remains and have become a ´memory´ commemorated by the nearby Offa street.
1938 ordnance map
Parallel to it´s dissappearance and it´s conversion to memory and then history, archaeologists appear in the scene in the 1960´s-1980´s. A number of small excavations are carried out in response to building work. Below I´ll outline some of their discoveries.
This is a bit of mish mash of reports and is quite difficult to outline so sorry to misquote but it gives an idea of the conclusions of the excavations.Many of the excavations were carried out by Gould in the 60´s and 70´s, his excavations on brewery lane revealed possible different phases. There´s the hypothesis that the defences correspond to King Aethelfaed´s action in 913 written in the Market charter´He went with all the Mercians to Tamworth and built the burgh there in the early summer´. The construction of fortified burhs during this period marks an important transition in the development of towns, Tamworth being a significant example. The ditch with a turf built rampart , with frontal timber revetments and wooden strapping found at the brewery lane site was ascribed to this Aethelfaed period. Gould also found evidence though of earlier pre-Aethelfaed sequences. It´s described as a ´palisaded trench´. It seems quite certain that there was a pre late saxon defence and there´s speculation that it originated in the royal defences of the royal site of Tamworth in the mid-8th century mentioned in the Market charters.
Speculated cross-section of the defences from mid-anglo saxon period, pre-Aethelfaed.(copied and pasted from Basset,S, Divide and rule,the military infrastructure of eighth and ninth century Mercia)
On the other side of the sequence there´s evidence of continued use of the defences after 913 up until the 13th centuries. The defences were refurbished and stone walls were placed in front of the ramparts as noted in the excavations on Albert Road and rubble found in ditch of Brewery lane. The collapsed walls were probably used in fact to fill in the ditches. (all taken from reviews of the excavations from Bassett, S, Divide and Rule, The military infrastructure of eighth and ninth century Mercia and info from online archaeology reports)
map with excavations and original medieval streets, again the above map is again copied and pasted from Bassett, S, Divide and Rule, The military infrastructure of eighth and ninth century Mercia. thankyou!
I remember (although I maybe completely wrong)that they excavated a wall in the excavation on Hospital street in response to the reforming of the old hospital and conversion into houses, with surrounding houses I remember it was back in the 90´s. I dimly remember that they found remains of a wall and ditch and that it was displayed in one of the reformed buildings with an explanation of the remains. I don´t know where I remember it from and maybe it´s wishful thinking but as far as I know that´s no longer the case and there´s no explanation of the place currently. They are private residences so difficult to find out. Anyway it would have been a great idea if it did exist outside my head! Why don´t they integrate the ditch and bank found in one of the excavations into the current townscape.With a small investment it would give back to some extent the King´s ditch back to the town and great introduction to the origins of the town. In Valencia where I live the integrating of archaeological remains into modern townscapes is seen everywhere. From an islamic wall in the middle of a museum gallery, a bakery to part of the Roman town seen below a glass plaza. Even if you are not interested in a ´bunch of walls,´ the results look great, as you might see from the picture below
The Almoina, Valencia, a glass covered square showing the Roman excavated ruins below. This is perhaps an overly expensive example of what could be done
Promoting the defences
A commemorative heritage gastronomic trail or pub crawl.
How about a pub crawl along the course of the ancient defences . This can be taken in a more leisurely or decadent way depending on your style. This could integrate Tamworth heritage pub initiative and the Mercian trail promoted by the local council.
Ok here goes, start at the eastern side of the ditch, at the Weatherspoons. It´s best to start here as a: it´s very cheap and b: you miss the rush of hundreds of people later on. Take your time here as there awaits a long walk along the eastern course to the next watering hole, the Albert Inn. This is not right on the course of the defence but it´s near enough. This is an old-school boozer as are most on the itinerary, or at least it was, haven´t been there for years. You may encounter in some of the pubs, real Anglo Saxons descendents, keep a look out, you´ll know when you see one. From here continue west along Albert street until you get to the crossroads at Gungate. Here you will face a dilemma, if you´re feeling peckish there´s a thai restaurant on the corner or you can carry on to the Globe Hotel, a fine example of a Victorian pub palace as described in Tamworth Heritagepubs. From here you enter a more residential area empty of pubs. Go along Hospital street, stop at the corner shop with Orchard Street and while you´re buying some maltesers imagine you´re standing on the corner of the renowned King´s ditch. Continue along Orchard street, go past the St Johns club and the borough council buildings onto the White Lion the penultimate and well deserved resting place. From here a short step to the last pub, right next to an excavation of the ditch, called the Three Tuns. … That´s it the King´s Ditch pub crawl!
The pub´s named and placed, click to enlarge
A collective search for the ancient defences
This is a call out in Timeteam or maybe big dig style for anyone living on the course of the defences to have a look around, you never know there just might be a telling dip in the garden, a cellar with adjoining wall, anyway would be amazing to hear any stories. Also memories of the remains would also be great to hear. Below is a map with the houses and adjoining back yards where there might be evidence. I think the corner of Hospital and Orchard street is the most promising place for some sort of evidence, maybe a rise in the garden.
The residences and church( below St Johns Catholic church, probable basement) highlighted on the defence line where maybe, just maybe there is evidence of the ancient defences
I´m really enthusiastic about this idea so I´m going to risk the ridiculous and am going to try and post a call out on the Tamworth Blog!
Abe and Ernst getting into the spirit of the search for the ancient defences
This post is far too long and has got out of hand!


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Northern Trust Survey: Managers See Resilient U.S. Growth, Regardless of Fed Tapering
Northern Trust Survey: Managers See Resilient U.S. Growth, Regardless of Fed Tapering
Most Expected Little Market Impact from Budget, Debt Ceiling Impasse
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Investment managers characterize the U.S. economy as resilient, whether or not the Federal Reserve curtails its current quantitative easing (QE3) program, according to a survey by Northern Trust. The survey of approximately 100 managers, taken between September 4 and September 18, also found nearly all -- nine out of 10 -- expected the political stand-off over the federal government shutdown and the U.S. debt ceiling would have at most a modest impact on U.S. equity markets.
"Throughout 2013, investment managers have weighed the impact of politics and policy decisions against a steadily improving economy in their market outlook," said Christopher Vella, Chief Investment Officer for Multi-Manager Solutions at Northern Trust. "Regarding the budget stand-off, it seems as if Washington's continued infighting was not news to Wall Street, and managers expected that gradual strengthening of key indicators would prevail over short-term political factors. Optimism on the economy also appears to outweigh Fed policy changes that have been anticipated by the financial markets."
Managers expressed optimism on several key economic factors:
86% believe job growth will either remain stable or accelerate over the next 6 months
71% expect housing prices to rise over the next 6 months
89% expect corporate profits to remain stable or increase in the fourth quarter
Investment managers identified a change in Federal Reserve monetary policy or QE tapering as the top risk to equity markets. Long-term interest rates are expected to rise when the Fed tapers its bond purchases under the QE program. However, more than 60 percent believe the U.S. economy will keep growing if the 10-year rate rises by 50 basis points, and 42 percent of managers said long-term rates could rise by 1 percent without stifling economic growth.
At the time the survey was taken, 53 percent of managers expected the impasses in Washington over a continuing resolution to fund the federal government and a measure to authorize an increase in the federal debt ceiling will lead to a modest decline (less than 10 percent of the S&P 500 Index) in the U.S. equity market, while 40 percent expected little to no effect on the market.
"The change in monetary policy was still the number one risk on managers' minds this quarter," said Mark Meisel, Senior Investment Product Specialist of the Multi-Manager Solutions group, who oversees the survey. "Most managers are expecting that Washington will sidestep the budget and debt ceiling issues prior to significant harm being inflicted on the markets."
Looking outside the U.S., managers are seeing value in Emerging Markets equities after losses in those markets in 2013. About two-thirds (64 percent) of managers believe emerging markets equities are undervalued, up from 49 percent in the second quarter. However, managers don't expect strong performance to return soon: Only 23 percent of managers expect emerging market equities to outperform developed market equities over the next 6 months. Managers also view European equities favorably, with more than half (53 percent) saying European equities are undervalued. Most managers (69 percent) believe the Japanese equity market is undervalued or appropriately valued.
On the bullish-bearish spectrum for asset classes and broad economic sectors, managers continue to be most bullish on U.S. large-cap equities, U.S. small caps and emerging market equities:
62% of managers are bullish on U.S. large caps.
For small-caps, 53% of managers are bullish, down from 59% in the second quarter.
51% are bullish on emerging market equities versus 53% in the second quarter.
Managers were most bullish on information technology, industrials and health care.
For more details, please see the full Investment Manager Survey Report on Northern Trust's web site. For its survey, Northern Trust polls investment firms that participate in its multi-manager investment programs and funds. The select group of respondents includes fixed income and equity managers across value and growth styles, with a bias toward fundamental, bottom-up stock picking strategies. The survey is conducted quarterly so that Northern Trust and participating managers can examine trends in attitudes and allocations.
Northern Trust is a leading provider of multi-manager investment solutions, with more than $36 billion under management as of June 30, 2013, for institutional and personal clients. Northern Trust invests with more than 200 external managers worldwide, offering personal and institutional solutions that include retail mutual funds, alternative asset classes, emerging manager programs and total investment program management.
Asset Management at Northern Trust begins with listening and leads to answers beyond the expected for our clients. The multi-asset class investment management business is comprised of Northern Trust Investments, Inc., Northern Trust Global Investments Limited, Northern Trust Global Investments Japan, K.K., the investment advisor division of The Northern Trust Company and The Northern Trust Company of Connecticut and its subsidiaries which offer investment products and services to personal and institutional markets.
About Northern Trust
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Teen sweethearts blaze trail of crime across South
LEITCHFIELD, Ky. - Police say two teenage sweethearts have blazed a trail of crime across the South, leaving in their path a string of stolen vehicles and pilfered checks and stirring concern about their increasingly bold behavior.
The 18-year-old and his 13-year-old girlfriend - who had apparently convinced the boy and his family that she was 19 - have so far eluded capture and are now believed to be cruising around in a stolen truck with two guns.
"There's going to come a time when we're not going to see him as an 18-year-old kid," said Norman Chaffins, sheriff in Grayson County, Kentucky, where the pair disappeared nearly two weeks ago.
"We're going to see him as someone who's stolen three vehicles with two handguns in them, and the outcome is not going to be good for either one of them if they don't turn themselves in."
Dalton Hayes and Cheyenne Phillips vanished Jan. 3 from their small hometown in western Kentucky, the sheriff said. Since then, authorities believe the two have traveled to South Carolina and Georgia.
Hayes' mother urged the young couple to surrender and "face the consequences."
"I pretty much cry myself to sleep every night worrying about where they are and if a police officer or any random individual tries to pull them over and isn't so nice and hurts them," Tammy Martin said.
The couple had been dating for about three months. The girl portrayed herself as being 19, and the family, including Martin's son, believed her, she said.
Cheyenne "would go in and write checks, and she would come out with cigarettes and stuff, so I didn't have any reason not to believe she wasn't 19. Because normally you can't buy cigarettes when you're 13 years old," Martin said.
By the time her son realized she was a mere 13, "he was already done in love with her," Martin said.
When he hit the road, Hayes was running away from trouble back home. He faces burglary and theft charges in his home county, stemming from an arrest late last year, according to Grayson County court records.
He was planning to be at the local judicial center on Jan. 5 to find out if a grand jury had indicted him on the charges, his mother said. His case did not come up, but by that time the teens were gone.
The sheriff said the couple's behavior is "becoming increasingly brazen and dangerous."
"They're going on people's property," he said. "They're forging checks to get money. ... They could have stopped in Kentucky, but they didn't."
Since they have no source of money, he added, "they're going to get desperate."
Twice, the teens were able to evade law officers in Kentucky, the sheriff said. They crashed the first truck they stole and hid in the woods. Then they later stole another truck nearby, Chaffins said.
Chaffins said he believes Hayes - who had run-ins with the law as a juvenile - is calling the shots as the teens try to stay ahead of police.
The two were spotted Monday at a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, where the teens are thought to have passed two stolen checks, said Manning, South Carolina, Police Chief Blair Shaffer. They were seen in a vehicle that apparently was stolen from Kentucky, he said.
Authorities believe they then headed to Georgia and stole a pickup truck from the driveway of a man's home in Henry County, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. The homeowner awoke Wednesday to find his vehicle was gone, along with two handguns he kept inside, Henry County police Lt. Joey Smith said Friday.
Hours later, another truck the couple is suspected of having stolen in another state was found nearby. It had been crashed through a fence and abandoned behind a vacant building on neighboring property, Smith said.
Martin said her son texted her a few days after their disappearance to say the couple was in Mississippi. They were spotted soon after that in Kentucky, she said.
"He was just trying to throw me off," she said. "I'm sure he thought that I would call the police and tell them where he was."
Chaffins said the situation is getting more serious as time passes, he said.
"This is not a game to us," Chaffins said. "Our biggest fear is that Dalton is not going to stop for the police. He's going to run every time they approach him."


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Ceramic Succulent Flower - LargeChive
The beautiful ceramic succulents and flowers and sea-like creatures are called "Coral" but we should have just called them "Stunning". Each Coral piece is handmade and that is reflected in their exquisite detail, each one is a little work of art that is completely unique. They are beautifully crafted and blend beautifully into any home, from modern minimalist and boho chic to country traditional and classic Cape Cod.
The wall art design ideas are innumerable, there is so much room for interior decorating creativity. Go full gluttony and create a massive installation in the living room over your couch. Run a wave of them down your foyer hall. Take an old picture frame and use it to frame-in 3 or 5 pieces above your bed.
Color Available: Blue Grey
Dimensions: 6" diameter, 2.75" tall


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Many of the world's most reputable news organisations have been stung by a fake press release claiming that new research showed that users of Internet Explorer had lower IQs than people who used other browsers. The BBC, CNN, Forbes, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph all fell for the elaborate hoax. The research appeared to be put out by Canadian firm AqTiquant, but it has now been discovered that the company's website was only set-up in the past month and that the staff photos were apparently just copied from the website of a legitimate French company.
In all the debate about what constitutes 'proper' journalism, ethical public relations and citizen journalists it's worrying to see how this story slipped through the net.
And just as an aside lots of journalists condemn PR commissioned surveys as a waste of time, but as this incident shows they work even when they are 100% fake!


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The UAE has released its domestic VAT Law and FTA website has been saved
The UAE has released its domestic VAT Law and FTA website
Another milestone along the journey to VAT implementation
2017 has witnessed some of the most far-reaching socio-economic changes the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced to date.
On Sunday 27 August, 2017, the UAE released the text of its domestic Value Added Tax (VAT) Law, shortly after releasing the text of its Excise Tax Law last week, and the Federal Tax Procedures Law (FTP) earlier this month.
The UAE Government is still planning to introduce VAT on 1 January 2018. The standard VAT rate of 5% will be applied on goods and services (e.g. food, consulting services, maintenance works etc.) that are not VAT exempt or zero-rated. Some key sectors are confirmed as having VAT reliefs such as: healthcare; education; financial services; and passenger transport; exports; and hydrocarbons (though not petrol). There are also special rules for paying import VAT, VAT grouping rules and so on.
The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) website has also been launched and can be accessed here. FTA is the government entity responsible for the collection and management of federal taxes. Businesses will be able to register online for VAT purposes from the middle of September 2017.
You can access the UAE VAT law in Arabic and English.
To provide the needed guidance to businesses in the UAE, Deloitte has organized a UAE VAT Academy in Dubai on Wednesday, 27 September and Abu Dhabi on Thursday, 28 September, 2017. The official invite with the full details will follow shortly.


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Georgia House adopts $40.9 billion state budget
ATLANTA - The Georgia House has passed a state spending plan that trims many government agencies, but largely insulates public schools from cuts.
The 159-15 vote sends the $40.9 billion state and federal budget to the Senate.
House members endorsed Gov. Nathan Deal's proposal to spend more to extend pre-kindergarten from 170 days to 180 days. They also followed Deal's recommendation to add money for HOPE grants. That will allow a reduction for academic requirements for technical college scholarships.
The chamber broke from Deal, however, by declining to cut $2.6 million in special grants for small, mostly rural schools.
The budget also assumes that Georgia hospitals will continue to pay an industry tax to help finance the Medicaid insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled.
Fiscal 2014 begins July 1.


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Behind the Chrysanthemum Curtain
Japan's palace courtiers face big obstacles—in the form of tradition, politics, and their own code of behavior—as they struggle to create a modern role for the country's imperial family
On this unusually steamy day in late May, Makoto Watanabe is frantic. In less than twenty-four hours the Emperor and Empress of Japan will leave from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to begin a twelve-day official tour of Brazil and Argentina. Watanabe perches restlessly on the edge of an overstuffed chair covered in gold cloth. His secretary brings in green tea, served in blue-and-white china cups embellished with chrysanthemums, the imperial symbol. The phone rings, and Watanabe races across the office. "Yes, yes—morning coats," he says. In a moment the phone rings again. This time Watanabe goes over the details of a speech that Emperor Akihito is to deliver.
A thoughtful man whose profile is one of attenuated sharp angles, Watanabe is the grand chamberlain—perhaps Akihito's closest adviser. He is also a courtier who seems to be perennially caught in the middle as Japan's imperial system—a system at once delicate and durable—is pulled this way and that by the conflicting forces at work in Japan as a whole.
Watanabe's pedigree is impressive. His great-grandfather was the imperial household minister from 1910 to 1914. His father, a onetime count, was a playmate of Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito. Watanabe began his career, in 1959, as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His first palace job was as grand master of ceremonies. In this position he handled the royal couple's official international trips, oversaw some thirty court musicians, and took diplomats and politicians on palace-sponsored duck-netting and cormorant-fishing expeditions. The Emperor and Empress personally approved him for his current job in 1996.
Watanabe's life is tightly intertwined with that of the imperial couple. Most days he is by their side at 9:00 A.M., attending Shinto ceremonies or official audiences for, say, principals of junior high schools or participants in the Special Olympics. Some nights there are banquets for visiting heads of state. Watanabe is privy to the most mundane details of palace life. At the outset of one interview he fretted about the Empress's affliction with a form of herpes that was causing pain in her shoulder.
The imperial chamberlains, of whom the grand chamberlain is the chief, are part of an inner circle of palace bureaucrats, or oku, who work closely with the Japanese royal family. Until the 1970s, when the government decided that morning coats and automobiles would be more appropriate, the chamberlains wore white robes and rode in horse-drawn carriages to pray at the palace shrines. Together with the omote—the administrative courtiers who serve as liaisons with cabinet officials, ministries, and other agencies—they make up the Imperial Household Agency, a secretive bureaucracy that wields enormous control over the affairs of the imperial family. The friction between the oku and the omote has long been fodder for Japan's tabloid press. The strife is real, engendered in part by differences in the roles and perspectives of the two groups. On one occasion when I spoke with Watanabe, he stressed the urgency of fixing a "communication problem" with the omote.
The courtiers of Japan's royal house did not need the death of Princess Diana last year, and the anti-monarchical sentiment amid the mourning that ensued, to remind them that modern monarchies can be fragile institutions, venerable but also buffeted by the crosswinds of the moment. "Emperor Akihito realizes that the greatest challenge for a monarchy in a democratic society is simply to survive," a senior Japanese palace official said to me recently. But how to survive? Behind the walled, moated perimeter of the Emperor's 285-acre palace grounds, an island of luxuriant foliage and delicious air amid Tokyo's congestion, courtiers like Watanabe endlessly and inconclusively search for a response to that challenge.
Think of the imperial grounds as a splendid but secluded village. The Imperial Household Agency headquarters, a European-style structure built in the 1930s, is the town hall. To one side is the palace, rebuilt in 1968, with traditional Japanese-style patinaed-bronze roofs and elegant formal rooms. Some distance away is the two-story modern home of Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and their unmarried twenty-nine-year-old daughter, Princess Sayako. It consists of sixty-two rooms (many reserved for official use) laid out around a garden. Dispersed around the grounds are shrines, archives, a hospital, and a silkworm nursery. On a stroll one encounters the occasional volunteer group, its members bent and wrinkled, dutifully sweeping leaves. Smartly dressed men and kimono-clad women arrive in tour buses for audiences with the Emperor. But mostly there is silence.
Here in this compound, in once-magnificent offices that show unmistakable signs of decay (peeling wallpaper, empty Kirin beer bottles, dying plants perched perilously on dusty shelves), Japan's imperial minders speak in dissonant voices.
There are the purists, who subscribe to the view of monarchy articulated for Britain in the late nineteenth century by the political writer and Economist editor Walter Bagehot: royalty must remain cloaked in mystery and magic. They shun talk of more frequent and less formal imperial outings. By scripting press conferences, limiting photographs, and assuming personal responsibility for royal foibles, the purists seem intent on purging the imperial family of its humanity and individuality. They cherish a vision of Japanese monarchy that the public is becoming increasingly disinclined to accept.
Then there are the more forward-looking courtiers, who are busy studying the King of Thailand's development projects and the Belgian monarchy's involvement in trade missions. They want to give Japan's Emperor a more activist role. Members of this group are desperately searching for a modern theme that would solidify public support. "Strong ideological opposition to the monarchy has weakened in recent years," says one senior courtier. "But now we have a new problem: there is an increase in the number of people who don't feel they need the system. And the monarchy hasn't been made meaningful to the younger generation."
This attitude could emerge more powerfully in the event of significant provocation. Imagine, for a moment, that Princess Masako, the Harvard graduate and onetime diplomat who married Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993, does not produce an heir. This is a real possibility, after five years of childless marriage and, apparently, a dutiful effort to conceive. If the Crown Prince, now thirty-eight, dies without issue, his brother, Prince Akishino, thirty-two, will be next in line to the throne. But after him? So far Akishino has fathered only daughters, and an 1889 law limits succession to a male. Some courtiers, albeit off the record, argue in favor of changing that law. To amend it, however, would require approval by the Diet, or parliament. This would in all likelihood entail a wrenching debate about the meaning of monarchy. The Japanese people would come face to face with the fact that the throne reflects their society all too well. It is built of awkward compromises sustained by administrative inertia. It is an expression of Japan's muddled nationalism.
THERE seems to be no definitive textbook on the management of monarchy, but if a recent analysis in Britain's Financial Times is any guide, the Japanese have done well with some of the basics. Japan's royal family is for the most part morally upright, so far as is known. Its members are discreet with regard to the media. They stay far away from politics. (Japan's 1947 constitution prohibits political involvement by the Emperor.) The royal family lives elegantly but not ostentatiously.
Japan's imperial system is not cheap, however. Including salaries for some 1,150 imperial employees (administrators, cooks, gardeners, musicians, scholars, financial managers, servants) and for 970 palace police officers, the total annual bill is around $200 million. Japan's royal family owns neither the ground on which the imperial palace sits—which during the real-estate boom of the late 1980s was reported to be worth as much as the entire state of Florida—nor any of the almost ten square miles of property, including farms, burial grounds, and outlying villas and palaces, that have been designated by the government for the court's exclusive use. The Emperor is, in effect, a glorified salaryman, paid a yearly tax-free stipend of about $2.4 million. A portion of that, perhaps a third, goes to support certain staff members in the Emperor's personal employ—assistants for his private research on gobiid fish, for example. Daily living expenses for Empress Michiko and Princess Sayako, for the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and for the Emperor's aged mother also come out of the Emperor's stipend. Several additional households that belong to the imperial family are given their own tax-free stipends, generally about $220,000 a year.
With the nation straining under a huge budget deficit and serious economic malaise, some courtiers worry that the royal family will be accused of not earning its keep. Of course, bean counting misses the point. In Japan, as in Britain, the monarchy serves as the repository of the nation's traditions. "We have a two-thousand-year history," Satoshi Takishima, who until recently ran the palace's tombs division, once told me by way of explaining his visceral resistance to innovation. "We are not in the habit of changing things." Another courtier underscored the point by invoking a mystical simile: "The Emperor system is like air, not something somebody made."
The truth is, however, that many of the traditional trappings of the Japanese throne, from archaic-looking Shinto wedding ceremonies to the design of some of Japan's most sacred shrines, were purposely created by Japan's governing elite as a way to unify the populace after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. This event, which ended two and a half centuries of feudal rule, brought the imperial house closer to the center of Japan's culture than it had ever been before. Hitherto, for example, the average Japanese knew little about the Emperor, or about his mythical claim to descent from the sun goddess.
The Meiji Restoration, a dramatic historical period, saw the creation of an ideology from which the Japanese in important respects have scarcely budged. Takashi Fujitani, a history professor at the University of California at San Diego, writes, in his book Splendid Monarchy (1996), "The emperor and his family continue to perform their ceremonials as if they were traditional—somehow timeless and without a history—and in so doing erase the memories of a past when national community was but the dream of a few." The calculated manufacture of tradition is not uniquely Japanese. As the historian David Cannadine has pointed out, only in the late nineteenth century did the British monarchy resume staging splendid public spectacles; for quite some time before that its rituals were clumsy and essentially private.
For Britain's monarchy the challenge is to symbolize the spirit of the nation in a United Kingdom irrevocably beyond the Age of Empire. Japanese courtiers face the task of conveying, through the imperial family's activities, a binding ideal of Japanese nationhood that goes beyond the myth of unique blood—a concept that is beginning to lose its appeal even within Japan. That task would be daunting enough without the prevailing official culture of diffidence and indirection.
Emperor Akihito's interviews and press conferences are formal, staid affairs, and his speeches are almost entirely written for him by courtiers and cabinet members. A talk with Makoto Watanabe is one of the few ways of gaining insight into Akihito's mind, and even this route is oddly circuitous, lined with confusing road signs, and studded with dead ends. And yet Watanabe would argue, with some justification, that Akihito chafes at being dictated to and in fact asserts himself on certain issues. Shortly after Emperor Hirohito died, in 1989, Akihito made a point of clearly articulating his support for the present Japanese constitution—a subtle rebuke to Japan's extreme right-wing activists, who assume that Hirohito never really liked this American-crafted document. (Hirohito did have his reservations. He wanted to be consulted, to encourage, and to warn, in the manner of the British monarchy.)
Akihito has edged delicately toward controversy in other ways. In 1990, when Hitoshi Motoshima, the mayor of Nagasaki, was shot by fanatics for suggesting that Hirohito was partly responsible for the behavior of the Japanese military during the Second World War, Akihito visited the mayor and conveyed his sympathy. Akihito has also demonstrated some initiative in the matter of the Japanese island of Okinawa. His father was never welcome there. Okinawans felt betrayed by Hirohito, and held him responsible for the island's wartime devastation and for encouraging the United States to prolong its postwar occupation. Akihito, however, has shown interest in the poetry of Okinawa and has made several trips to the island, despite being attacked by a firebomber on one occasion.
Hiroshi Takahashi, a journalist and perhaps the most knowledgeable chronicler of the Japanese throne, credits Akihito personally for sharpening and deepening the public expression of Japanese remorse for Japan's ravaging of China and its people during the Second World War. This expression, uttered in the course of Akihito's visit to China in 1992, was particularly controversial, because conservatives did not want the Emperor to apologize to the Chinese at all, and they lobbied the Diet to dilute his speeches. Nobody at the palace will confirm Takahashi's claim, though Watanabe will say that the Emperor makes some editorial changes to the remarks he delivers, seizing opportunities to speak his own mind.
But such gestures, and much else of what the Emperor does, may be too subtle for the average harried citizen to grasp. Many Japanese regard Akihito as bland in comparison with his charismatic father. And the truth is that many of the Emperor's duties are nothing but symbolic drudgery—attesting the appointment of ambassadors and ministers, putting his seal on documents from the cabinet. Every year in early summer the Emperor plants rice at the palace paddy, and the Empress goes off to cultivate silk at the imperial silkworm nursery. "This is a nice tradition," one courtier says, "but Japan's silk industry is pretty much gone, and the number of rice farmers is rapidly shrinking. And Japan's computer industry doesn't need encouragement from the imperial family."
Some Japanese believe that the seeming reticence of the throne is a deliberate choice of the Emperor's advisers. No doubt this is true to some extent, but a good part of the perceived reticence is due simply to inertia. A friend who once worked at the palace told me that it took him a full year to negotiate access to files he needed in order to complete the task for which he had been hired. "The apathy is extraordinary," he recalled. Like Watanabe, most senior officials at the palace come from one of the ministries, many on a short-term basis. The ostensible purpose of this system, which reflects pre-war patterns, is to keep the palace well connected and well informed. But it no longer works. In pre-war times a stint at the palace carried prestige. Today many regard the assignment as an unwelcome diversion from their careers. Understanding little about the imperial system, the temporary courtiers cling blindly to precedent so as not to make some terrible mistake. There are, of course, exceptions. One I met was Tokumitsu Murakami, a director at the Imperial Household Agency, whose bookshelves were filled with volumes on the imperial system written by both left- and right-wing scholars—part of his determined effort to understand what is going on. "It's nice that he's trying," said one Japanese journalist who covers the court. "But he'll be gone soon." Indeed, Murakami recently left the palace's employ.
Taking the notion of imperial impartiality to paralyzing extremes, courtiers rarely seize what might seem like obvious opportunities. After the 1995 Kobe earthquake many volunteer groups formed to help the victims. One adviser suggested dispatching the Crown Prince and Princess to pitch in as a show of support. But the idea was abandoned out of fear of possible criticism for favoring one group over another.
Last year, after the death of Princess Diana, I watched with great interest to see how Britain's royal minders would deal with the public call for the palace to break with protocol and lower flags to half mast, and for the Queen to openly exhibit grief. I was astonished by the rapid and coherent articulation of public opinion and the speed of the throne's reply. Had Japan's Imperial Household Agency been confronted with a similar challenge (not that the Japanese public would ever have been so forward), it probably would have taken the courtiers weeks to overcome infighting, passivity, and the meddling of interest groups.
Another front on which the palace seems to have stalled indecisively involves Princess Masako. Many Japanese expected that she would play a role somewhat comparable to Princess Diana's, and that she would breathe new life into Japan's royal house. This has not happened, and there has been a torrent of press commentary, in Japan and also in the West, questioning why Masako has not assumed a less traditional position. Courtiers have been accused of stifling her ambitions—an understandable accusation in view of history. Japan countenanced eight Empresses among its rulers from 593 to 1771, but after the Meiji Restoration, as noted, the monarchy became a male preserve. Basing their practice on a study of Western models, the Japanese also made royal women conform to roles as wives, mothers, and facilitators of charitable work. By the 1930s palace courtiers were increasingly emphasizing the Emperor's divine status, and the Empress had become even less of a public figure and even more purely a biological vessel for ensuring the continuation of the imperial line.
When I first asked courtiers about Masako, two years ago, they were still sorting out their thoughts. "I don't understand what reporters mean by 'active,'" said the grand master of the Crown Prince's household, Kiyoshi Furukawa. "She's very active. She already has a busy schedule. If we didn't refuse requests, she'd have no private time." Together with the Crown Prince, Masako visits old-age homes, attends sporting events for the disabled, greets foreign guests, and occasionally makes trips overseas. However, these are the same sorts of activities that Empress Michiko performed when she was the Crown Princess. Masako is seen as little more than a demure extension of her husband. Furukawa had no problem with that: "The main function of the Crown Princess is to support the Crown Prince."
More-recent conversations with courtiers indicate that they realize that a good part of the public wants to see Masako as a spontaneous modern woman with a meaningful public life. "I'm hoping that after a certain period of time she will find a way to express herself," Watanabe says. Another senior courtier agrees. "Women in Japan certainly expect this, and if she doesn't, people may lose interest in her," he told me. Of course, they may lose interest anyway. The less prescribed and more spontaneous the job of being a royal figure becomes, the more importance individual personality assumes. But will the people like what they see up close? The fact is, Masako seems to be rather conservative and deliberative, not the free spirit or the boat rocker that some members of the public seem to think. "The media created an overblown image of Princess Masako as the young, aggressive career woman," Watanabe says. "She's very intelligent, but she is also more of a follower." Watanabe dismisses the notion that palace traditionalists have been cramping her style, insisting that her orthodox clothes—the trim suits, hemmed to the knee, and matching hats, often in sweet pastel colors—are her own choice. One fellow student at Oxford recalls, "Masako was very much the traditional Japanese woman, unlikely to take initiative or stick her neck out."
The Imperial Household Agency, of course, hardly operates in a vacuum. Politicians and interest groups weigh in. Particularly important is the Association of Shinto Shrines, a little-known but powerful right-wing organization that represents some 20,000 Shinto priests and 80,000 Shinto shrines.
Under Japan's postwar constitution, religion and the government are strictly separate. Although the imperial family practices Shinto in private, Shinto is no longer Japan's official religion. The association, however, continues to work assiduously for a return to a national polity based firmly on Shinto thought, and with the Emperor firmly at its center. It prints leaflets about ways to preserve or enhance imperial dignity. When it doesn't like something that the palace is doing, it complains directly or through pliant politicians, of whom there is no dearth. Not all the association's causes are religious; some are merely nationalist. For instance, it successfully fought to water down a 1995 resolution condemning Japan's wartime aggression.
Courtiers do not like to admit it, but the association can be good at getting its way. Consider the nocturnal Shinto rite known as the Daijosai, in which a new Emperor, as part of his enthronement, communes with the sun goddess. The Imperial Household Agency might well have abbreviated this rite for Akihito's accession were it not for the lobbying efforts of the association. The group is said to have reservations about Akihito, because it feels he is too Westernized and too humanized. "We do not generally approve of the Emperor traveling overseas," says Masao Sugitani, a representative of the association. "The Emperor's primary job is to pray."
Despite claims to an influential and venerable past, for much of its history Shinto was simply a local cult in Japan. Before the Meiji Restoration the imperial house was mainly Buddhist. But the nineteenth-century reformers decided that Buddhism, a Chinese and Korean import, was unsuitable in the new Japan. Shinto, in contrast, was a homegrown religion. To be sure, some of the Meiji reformers had their doubts about elevating Shinto to be the state religion. Shinto, wrote Yukichi Fukuzawa, a distinguished intellectual of the era, "is only an insignificant movement trying to make headway by taking advantage of the imperial house at a time of political change." After the Second World War and the abolition of state support for religion, the Shintoists were determined not to lapse into obscurity. Leaders of major pre-war Shinto organizations banded together in 1946 to found the association. Today courtiers fear that some of the association's stances could provoke a backlash against the monarchy; however, according to Ken Ruoff, the author of a forthcoming book on the Japanese throne, they also appreciate the association's role as a defender of the imperial institution.
Given that prayer has been central to the Emperor's identity, the separation of Church and State in Japan is in many ways paradoxical. For most of the monarchy's history the Emperor's work consisted largely of priestly chores. On the first of every month, and at least twenty other times during the year, Akihito offers prayers at the palace shrines. And yet Shinto ritualists are technically not on the palace payroll. They are paid directly (and rather poorly, I'm told) by the Emperor himself, a bookkeeping fudge so that they are not classified as civil servants.
The presence of Shinto ritualists in the palace unnerves some Japanese. "Why does the Imperial Household Agency continue stubbornly to treat the Emperor as a descendant of the gods?" one Japanese magazine asked not long ago. The article reminded readers that despite all the exotic present-day trappings—including the presence of young, unmarried Shinto priestesses on the palace grounds, adhering strictly to a regime of sexual purity—Shinto rituals have not always been the only ones practiced by the royal family. In the view of some courtiers, Shinto ritual is hardly indispensable—a sentiment that the association has not failed to register. "You have to keep an eye on the Imperial Household Agency," Sugitani warns. He worries that courtiers, in their eagerness to avoid controversy, might simplify or eliminate certain rituals.
I asked Watanabe about situations in which the separation of Church and State seems to have been violated. For example, palace chamberlains, who are civil servants, regularly make visits to Shinto shrines in lieu of the Emperor. Also twice a year the Prime Minister and cabinet members attend rites for the imperial ancestors at the palace Shinto shrines. "We believe that attendance of these people [politicians] adds weight to those events, but we are not forcing them to come," Watanabe explained.
When Emperor Akihito prays, I asked another senior courtier, does he think of himself as a direct offspring of the sun goddess? (Hirohito, after the war, refused to bow to U.S. pressure to renounce his claim to divine lineage, though he did deny that he himself was a god.) The reply was deft: "In general terms he considers ancestor worship very important. How much ancestry that includes, I don't know." The courtier continued, "I believe His Majesty, being a modern man, knows that the early part of imperial history belongs to myth." Why doesn't the Emperor elucidate these myths as myths—a move that would probably be welcomed by a certain segment of the public? "You, as an American, can look at this very objectively," the courtier said. "But for many Japanese, particularly those who are vocal, it is still very difficult to be objective about these matters." Among other things, any reinterpretation would entail looking at the role Shinto rituals played in contributing to the war, which would reopen the whole question of the culpability of state Shinto and the imperial system. Japan is not ready for such a history lesson. "In this atmosphere what position can His Majesty take?" the courtier asked.
Takeshi Kasano, an archaeologist, struggles with a parallel set of issues. Kasano is one of 150 full-time palace employees around the country who research, guard, and repair the imperial tombs. Some of these graves are clearly spurious and were manufactured by nineteenth-century royalists who wanted evidence of an unbroken 2,000-year-old imperial line. Others are authentic and important cultural treasures.
For years scholars unconnected with the royal family have begged the palace for permission to investigate a number of imperial graves, especially ones dating from the third century to the seventh century A.D. Japan's oldest surviving written history dates back only to the eighth century, so the graves would provide historians with vital information. What has already been learned about the imperial past is tantalizing. Archaeologists have been able to explore several sites thought to be royal or aristocratic mounds that have somehow escaped modern imperial legal control. In one seventh-century tomb they discovered Korean-style murals. In one sixth-century tomb they found artifacts from China. Findings like these are suggestive of a complicated imperial past—and they are at odds with the desire of the palace to cloak its origins in mystery or in myth.
In recent years the Imperial Household Agency has allowed some carefully controlled archaeological activity—for example, letting small groups of archaeologists tour tomb sites briefly when the repair of moats and ramparts was under way. But initiating major excavations purely in order to gain knowledge has been prohibited on grounds of its intolerable invasiveness.
I met Kasano in the company of Satoshi Takishima, while he was still the chief of the palace's tombs division. On the question of excavations Takishima repeated the party line: "The imperial family worships at these tombs," he said. "The most important thing is to maintain their quiet and dignity." Takishima brushed aside talk of employing less-intrusive means of archaeological exploration, such as radar and fiberscopes. Kasano is clearly interested in such technology. Still, his face flushed as he spoke even tentatively of such approaches to exploration, as if he suspected that the very notion amounted to heresy. When I asked about the prospect of more excavations, Kasano replied, "I have learned that science is not everything. There is a place for myth and religion."
That point of view is publicly shared by many mainstream Japanese journalists, who are similarly shy about undertaking too much excavation. On the second floor of the Imperial Household Agency headquarters is a work space for palace press-club members. All Japan's prestigious media outlets maintain palace correspondents. Until recently no foreign news agencies were allowed; even now they are excluded from many important conferences. The mainstream Japanese journalists enjoy exclusive access to the frequent briefings given by agency officials and also to the less regular press conferences of royal-family members. The journalists not only obey news embargoes; they also prepare their questions together, taking pains to avoid sensitive subjects. For one interview with Princess Masako the journalists collectively decided not to ask anything about her childbearing plans—the question obviously on everyone's mind.
However, Japan's tabloid magazines, which are not part of the official press system and fear getting scooped by a more entrepreneurial Western press, play by their own rules. (Some palace reporters, in fact, write anonymous articles or leak tips to tabloid writers, out of friendship or in exchange for money or drink.) Several months before the Princess Masako interview the Weekly Shincho ran a story claiming that the Emperor was so worried about a potentially scandalous dalliance on the part of Prince Akishino, involving a woman in Thailand, that he had contracted a stress-related ailment. The article went on to describe how Akishino's father-in-law had complained personally to the Emperor. The Imperial Household Agency responded to this story with unusual vigor. Tokumitsu Murakami, one of its directors, himself visited the offices of the Weekly Shincho to demand a retraction. Instead the magazine ran a follow-up article mocking the palace's efforts to rein in the press. Eventually Prince Akishino felt compelled to answer the charges, using the occasion of a traditional birthday press conference to deny that he had been unfaithful: "Smoke has spread where there is absolutely no fire."
In 1881 Kencho Suematsu, a student at Cambridge University who later became a prominent Japanese politician, began sending observations on the British monarchy to Japan's imperial household minister. He warned against allowing the imperial family to become too aloof, and he stressed the importance of creating a human face for the Emperor. Suematsu was no doubt influenced by the predicament of Queen Victoria, who faced an outburst of republicanism when she withdrew from public life after the death of Prince Albert. Suematsu's reports and other writings on the Western monarchies profoundly influenced the Japanese as they sought to define their own modernized monarchy.
What lessons should the Japanese be learning now? One is that monarchies are at risk when they are perceived as holding society back. English republicans argue today that the Queen upholds outdated values in a new Britain, and that she represents the pinnacle of a social hierarchy that needs to be dismantled. Emperor Akihito may himself be a committed internationalist, but imperial rituals perpetuate the notion of Japan as a sacred community holding itself apart from the world—clearly not the optimal stance for a nation with extensive trade and investment interests overseas. The Emperor has ample resources to craft a new message. He could highlight Chinese and Korean influences on court culture as a reminder that even the most Japanese of institutions is indebted to Japan's neighbors. He could release documents relating to the Second World War in order to show respect for the ordeal and painful memories of other nations. Such gestures would be likely to offend conservatives at home, of course. But the conservatives are the past, not the future.
Another lesson is that social expectations change. A great deal has been written about the emotional reserve of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles in a more expressive Britain. Behavioral conventions of a different kind may be changing in Japan. Increasingly, the person who is perceived as the most capable wins, and laggards are quietly shown the door. Deference to established hierarchy and the status quo is no longer automatic. (Nobuyuki Idei, the current president of Sony, was by no means the conventional choice for the job, which he was given in preference to fourteen higher-ranking executives.) With their lives and livelihoods under increasing pressure, the Japanese may come to find the loose accountability of the palace repugnant.
A final lesson involves the durability of history. Aside from a small number of rightist supporters and left-wing opponents, most Japanese appear to have extremely ambiguous feelings toward the monarchy. For some courtiers and Japanese in general the quandary is the same: They are torn about the monarchy's past, its role during the Second World War, and its association with racial myths that fueled Japan's aggression. Few people in the middle find that they can speak with confidence about this institution. The story of Japan's monarchy is about the price of unsettled history.


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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Westboro Baptist Church's protests of military funerals are protected under the First Amendment. In addition to funeral protests, members of the church—known for signs reading "God Hates Fags"—maintain a busy schedule of demonstrations at colleges and political conventions. Like all incorporated churches in the United States, the WBC conducts the majority of its activities tax-free under the 501(c)(3) provision—which is rather odd, when you think about it, since part of the 501(c)(3)/nonprofit deal is that churches must accept restrictions on political engagement. This raises the question: Why is the Church tax-exempt?
Because they avoid direct advocacy. Nonprofits are allowed to hold opinions on public issues, of course. Only overtly political activities (electioneering, for example) are forbidden. The easiest way to lose 501(c)(3) protection is to contribute to a candidate's campaign, whether through funding, stated support, or the contribution of office space. But the WBC has never made such mistakes. While Phelps and company do target specific political figures such as Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, they keep their criticisms ad hominem (Gore is apparently a "famous fag pimp").
Likewise, although a church may devote only an "insubstantial amount" of time or resources to lobbying, the WBC is careful to eschew pronouncements on specific legislation. They stick to "we hate homos" as opposed to "we support Prop 8." Moreover, because calls to vote a certain way are subject to IRS scrutiny, the Church's statements are almost always declarative ("AIDS cures fags"), not coercive or persuasive ("AIDS cures fags; elect John Smith").
The WBC has not escaped taxation entirely. In 2008, a Kansas State Board of Tax Appeals ruled that their truck, a 2002 Ford F-150 used to transport signs to protests, was too involved in their "political activities and secular philosophy, which constitute a significant part of [the church's] picketing activities" to be tax-exempt. If an IRS lawyer really wanted to go after the WBC, he could point out that most of the 100 or so congregants are members of the Phelps family, and that a number of them work for the family's successful law firm—which makes them seem more like a home-grown activist group with a vested financial interest in political outcomes than a religious organization. If a church seems to operate for mostly nonreligious purposes (i.e., political work or personal profit), the IRS can revoke 501(c)(3) status.
If a church seems to operate for mostly nonreligious purposes (i.e., political work or personal profit), the IRS can revoke 501(c)(3) status.
Oddly enough, it may be easier to get the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) into tax trouble than Westboro. The Mormon Church exhorted its members to use their time and resources to support the 2008 anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 campaign in California, arguably crossing the 501(c)(3) line. Though Prop 8 protesters have organized a number of petitions demanding an investigation, the IRS has not yet moved against the LDS.
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.
Thanks to Miranda P. Fleischer of the University of Colorado Law School.


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Keeping You Informed
Soar is your home for the latest news and information from the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Each month, Soar features updates on the Fraternal Order of Eagles' programs, member benefits, local and international charitable donations, and more. Issues are mailed to each Aerie home for distribution and can be found here on foe.com in a high-quality PDF format – all free of charge.
Our Mission Statement
The Fraternal Order of Eagles is an international non-profit organization uniting fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills and promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.
F.O.E. donates more than $10 million a year to local communities, fundraisers, charities and more. As part of its philosophy, the F.O.E. gives back 100 percent of monies raised in the form of grants. Fundraisers are conducted for eight major charities, including kidnefoe.comy, heart, diabetes, cancer and spinal cord injury funds, a children's fund, memorial foundation and the Golden Eagle Fund.
F.O.E. History
The F.O.E. was founded in February, 1898 by six theatre owners gathered in a Seattle shipyard to discuss a musician's strike. After addressing the matter, they agreed to "bury the hatchet" and form "The Order of Good Things." As numbers grew, members selected the Bald Eagle as the official emblem and changed the name to "The Fraternal Order of Eagles." The women's auxiliary traces its roots to 1927.
Our Membership
F.O.E. membership exceeds 800,000, with more than 1,500 local Aeries in the U.S. and Canada. Women's auxiliaries total more than 1,300. Members are recruited by other members and must be sponsored by two members before the membership process begins.
Our Motto
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FULL INFO of OUR GRAND PRESIDENTS
The Fraternal Order of Eagles has nearly 1,500 locations across the United States and Canada, dedicated to improving our communities and helping others. Use our Aerie Locator tool to identify the Aerie closest to you.


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As I've mentioned in previous posts, this blog and my regular genealogy website (All My Branches) has been instrumental in the "finding" of long lost and unknown relatives. I attribute my good fortune to several things.
- The use of great keywords
- Submitting my sites to search engines
- Submitting information on key family names via message boards and queries on a variety of genealogy related sites
- Posting enough information about ancestors that will aid others who are searching for specific family names
Not too long into my research, I ran across a post on a message board by an Amore relative whose name was familiar to me. Turns out, he was the son of my first cousin! We emailed constantly and shared a wealth of information with each other. When his father had to travel to my part of the country many months later, we were able to meet. I hadn't seen him since I was very little. He also got to spend time with my sister, who he had known quite well when they were both younger. I mailed letters to many with that last name who were living in Coshocton, and soon I was also in contact with others from my Amore branch. Several others also found me through the website.
On my Johnson line, I had posted a query on a message board about my great-grandfather's half brother and his children's names. Quite awhile later, the grand-daughter of that half-brother, contacted me after seeing her mom's and two aunt's names. Since that time, we have exchanged pictures of our shared ancestors and family. She even sent me copies of letters my grandparents had written to her mom. Between her queries and my website we brought several more Johnson family members into touch with each other.
I have also heard from relatives I never knew existed: a daughter of an uncle; a daughter of a great-aunt; a grand-daughter of my gr-great aunt's son; just to name a few. I've also heard from those I've been searching for – maybe not by name, but by relation (case in point: Rachel Blazer Given's descendents).
In almost all of my closest family lines (Amore, Johnson, House, Wilt, Stern, Blazer, Goul, Werts) – there has been at least one distant "cousin" (sometimes closer) that has found me via the blog or website. Sometimes I've heard from relatives that share a common ancestor through the Caylor, Roudebush, Hollister, Loveland, or Risley line.
So as you post information on your blog or set up your genealogy website, make sure you:
- submit it to several search engines
- use good keywords
- post information to message boards or queries – not only Surname – but location and even ethnic or religious boards
- list Surnames so they are easily found
When contacted by other researchers, sharing is wonderful – but until you know enough about who you are giving information to, make sure you privatize your gedcom files. Also, make sure when you receive information from others (as is the case when surfing the web), take with a grain of salt any information that's posted unless there are sources and accurate citations.
And if you happen to stumble across long lost relatives or those waiting to be found, enjoy the experience!


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‡ In these countries please contact our distributor
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i) Malmsjö M. et al. Biological effects of a disposable, canisterless Negative Pressure Wound Therapy system. Eplasty 2014; 14:e15.ii) Data on File DS/18/015/R. Summary Wound Model Report for Opal PICO 7. January 2018iii) Data on file reference 1102010 – Bacterial Barrier Testing (wet-wet) of PICO dressing with a 7 day test duration against S.marcescens; Helen Lumb, February 2011.iv) Karlakki S, Brem M, Giannini S, Khanduka V, Stannard J and Martin R (2013) Negative pressure wound therapy management of the surgical incision in orthopaedic surgery: A review of evidence and mechanisms for an emerging indication. Bone and Joint research, [online] 2(12), pp. 276-284. Available at:http://bjr.boneandjoint.org.uk/content/2/276.long[Accessed 4 Oct, 2017].
1) Dowsett C et al. Use of PICO to improve clinical and economic outcomes in hard-to-heal wounds. Wounds Int. 2017; 8(2):52-58.2) Strugala V and Martin R. Meta-analysis of comparative trials evaluating a prophylactic single-use negative pressure wound therapy system for the prevention of surgical site complications. Surgical Infections 2018; 18 (7):810-819. DOI: 10.1089/sur.2017.156.3) Galiano R.D., Hudson D, Shin J, et al. Incisional negative pressure wound therapy for prevention of wound healing complications following reduction mammoplasty. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open 2018;6:e1560; doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000001560; Published online 12 January 2018.4) Witt-Majchrzak et al, Preliminary outcome of treatment of post-operative primarily closed sternotomy wounds treated using negative pressure wound therapy. Polish Journal of Surgery (2014) Vol 86(Issue 10): 456-465.5) Rodden d . et al。在h NPWT:切口管理igh risk cardiothoracic patients reducing surgical site infection and length of stay, Poster presented at STSC Conference 2015.6) Karlakki SL et al. Incisional negative pressure wound therapy dressings (iNPWTd) in routine primary hip and knee arthroplasties: A randomised controlled trial. Bone & Joint Research (2016) Vol 5 (Issue 8): pp 328-337 doi:10.1302/2046-3758.58.BJR-2016-0022.R1.7) O'Leary D.P. et al, Prophylactic negative pressure dressing use in closed laparotomy wounds following abdominal operations. A randomised, controlled, open-label trial: The P.I.C.O. trial. Ann Surg. 2017; Jun 265(6):1082-1086.8) Holt R and Murphy J. PICO incision closure in oncoplastic breast surgery: a case series. Br J Hosp Med 2015; 76(4):217-223.9) Selvaggi F et al., New Advances in Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) for Surgical Wounds of Patients Affected with Crohn's Disease. Surgical Technology International XXIV; 83- 89.10) Pellino G et al. Prophylactic Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in colorectal surgery. Effects on surgical site events: current status and call to action, Updates Surg 2015; DOI 10.10007/s 13304-015-0298-z.11) Canonico S et al. Therapeutic possibilities of portable NPWT. Initial multidisciplinary observation with the negative pressure therapy device. Acta Vulnol 2012; 10: 57-66.12) Nordmeyer M et al. Negative pressure wound therapy for seroma prevention and surgical incision treatment in spinal fracture care. Int Wound Journal 2015; DOI: 10.111/iwj.12436.13) Matsumoto, T. and Parekh S.G. Use of negative pressure wound therapy on closed surgical incision after total ankle arthroplasty. Foot & Ankle International (2015) Vol 36 (Issue 7): 787-794.14) Bullough, L. et al: Reducing C-Section Wound Complications. The Clinical Services Journal (2015) April: 2-6.15) Data on file. DS/17/253/R version2. Project Opal PICO 7 system stability testing, initial time point. November 201716) Pellino G. et al, Effects of a new pocket device for negative pressure wound therapy on surgical wounds of patients affected with Crohn's disease: A pilot trial; Surgical Innovation, Jul 2014;21 (2):204-21217) Bullough L. et al; Changing woundcare protocols to reduce post-operative caesarean section infection and readmission. Wounds UK 2014, Vol 10, No.1, 72-7618) Pellino G. et al; Preventative NPWT over closed incisions in general surgery. Does age matter? International Journal of Surgery 2014; 12 Supplement 2: S64-819) Adogwa, O. et al. 2014: Negative pressure wound therapy reduces incidence of post-operative wound infection and dehiscence after long-segment thoracolumbar spinal fusion: A single institutional experience. The Spine Journal 14(12):2911-1720) Payne C, Edwards D: Application of the single-use negative pressure wound therapy device (PICO) on a heterogeneous group of surgical and traumatic wounds: Eplasty Apr 2014, 14: e20.21) Tanaydin V, et al. Randomized controlled study comparing disposable negative-pressure wound therapy with standard care in bilateral breast reduction mammoplasty evaluating surgical site complications and scar quality. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2018. doi. 10.1007/s00266-018-1095-022) Karlakki, S., Brem, M., Giannini, S., Khanduka, V., Stannard, J. and Martin, R. (2013) Negative pressure wound therapy for management of the surgical incision in orthopaedic surgery: A review of evidence and mechanisms for an emerging indication. Bone and Joint Research, [online] 2(12), pp.276-284. Available at:http://bjr.boneandjoint.org.uk/content/2/276.long[Accessed 4 Oct. 2017].23) Schwartz J.A., et al, 2015: Single-Use Negative Pressure Wound Therapy for the treatment of chronic lower leg wounds. Journal of Wound Care 24: S4-9.24) Hurd T; Trueman P; Rossington A; Use of a portable, single-use negative pressure wound therapy device in home care patients with low to moderately exuding wounds: a case series; Ostomy Wound Management supplement, 60: 30-36. Issue 3, 2014.25) Stryja J et al, 2015: Farmakoekonomika Ambulantní Terapie RanKontrolovaným Podtlakem (Cost-Effectiveness of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in Outpatient Setting). Rozhl Chir 94(8): 322–28.26) Dunn R et al. 2011. Factors associated with positive outcomes in 131 patients treated with gauze-based negative pressure wound therapy Int J Surg. 9(3):258-262.27) Young, S.R. ; Hampton, S; Martin, R; Non-invasive assessment of negative pressure wound therapy using high frequency diagnostic ultrasound: odema reduction and new tissue accumulation; Int Wound J. 2013;10(4):383-388.28) Key Opinions in Medicine, Challenging Wounds (2017), Volume 1, Issue 1.29) Hampton J. Providing cost-effective treatment of hard-to-heal wounds in the community through use of NPWT. Br J Community Nurs. 2015; 20:S14–S20.30) Rossington, A; A prospective, open, non-comparative, multicentre study to evaluate the functionality and dressing performance of a new negative pressure enhanced dressing (NPED) in acute wounds, CT09/02, May 2015.31) Sharp, E; Single use NPWT for the treatment of complex orthopaedic surgical and trauma wounds; Journal of Woundcare Cases supplement 2013, Vol 22, No 10, S5-9.32) Hudson, D; Adams, K; Van Huyssteen, A; Martin, R; Huddleston, E; Simplified negative pressure wound therapy: clinical evaluation of an ultraportable, no canister system; International Wound Journal 2015, 12: 195-201.33) Malmsjö M et al. Biological effects of a disposable, canisterless Negative Pressure Wound Therapy system. Eplasty 2014; 14:e15.34) Loveluck J et al. Biomechanical modelling of forces applied to closed incisions during single-use negative pressure wound therapy. Eplasty 2016; 16e20.35) Molnar j等;急性其他的管理mal injury with subatmospheric pressure; J Burns Wounds, March 2005; 4:e536) Data on file report DS/14/065/R. Comparison of pressure transmission through port area of current PICO and PICO Soft Port designs, April 2014.37) Rafiq, G; A prospective, open, non-comparative, multicentre study to evaluate the functionality and dressing performance of a new single use negative pressure wound therapy dressing (PICO) in shallow chronic wounds, CT10/01, Feb 2012.38) Wang et al., Topical negative pressure and compression therapy in the management of venous leg ulcers: a pilot study. Wound Practice and Research. 2017;25(1): 36-4039) Dowsett et al 2013. Venous leg ulcer management: single use negative pressure wound therapy. Clinical Focus. Wound Care. S16-S25. March 201340) Data on file report 1712012. The retention of P.aeruginosa and S. aureus bacteria within PICO dressings after 72 hours under NPWT in a dynamic model. December 2017.
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