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The Sentinel extends birthday greetings to those who have given of themselves for humanity
by Yussuf J. Simmonds
Sentinel Managing Editor
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi — August 27
Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi is the chief of the Zulu nation and leader of the Inkatha political party in South Africa; he is educated, articulate and has held the position of Minister of Home Affairs in the administration of Nelson Mandela, the first Black president of a non-racial, anti-apartheid country. Like all Black Africans, in the 20th century in general, and the Black South Africans in particular, Buthelezi was born amidst obstacles and barriers, and even though those setbacks were just bumps in the road of his life's journey, he agonized for his people (the Zulu nation) whom he knew under the apartheid system, and for all Black people in Africa.
Though formally educated, he still suffered the indignities and scourge of apartheid (South Africa's racism) and armed with a degree, Buthelezi then pursued a legal career. His dreams were first interrupted when he got expelled for his protest activities against apartheid as a member of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League. Then he transferred to the University of Natal where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in 1950 and started his political career. He was impatient with the slowness of the anti-apartheid movement but remained committed to the goals of the organization; he finally quit the organization to pursue more aggressive approaches toward reform.
Buthelezi recognized that the ANC (which comprised mostly of the Xhosa tribe), PAC (Pan African Congress) and other Black Consciousness Movements were traveling parallel paths, as the Zulu nation and he were, to reach the same goal–the eradication of apartheid. So he founded the Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement in 1975 in Northern Kwazulu, which gradually evolved into the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and by 1990, he was elected president of IFP. Though he disagreed with ANC's and PAC's anti-apartheid tactics, he knew that those leaders in prison were political prisoners and he used his speeches to call for their release. He quoted them, which was a banned and punishable offense, but he was adamantly opposed to sanctions that were called for by the ANC, Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, and other opponents of apartheid.
Buthelezi's stand on sanctions isolated him and widened the gap between the Zulu Tribe and Inkatha, and the Xhosa Tribe, ANC and others; it also made him seem to be in cahoots with the government and the White business leaders. The forces of apartheid exploited this rivalry and created an environment of Xhosas versus Zulus. To the suffering masses, sanctions could not deprive them from what they did not have; it was the ultimate weapon against apartheid, and they seemed to be for it.
South Africa, a decade after apartheid, hasn't yet emerged to the point where the masses have been relieved. Men like Buthelezi have placed the country in the right direction in order to systematically eradicate all vestiges of white dominance/supremacy. His contributions have been enormous and he, after over seven decades, still carries the mantle of Chief of the Zulus.
Marva Collins — August 31
The name Marva Collins is synonymous with quality education for Black children–and her methods can be used for all children. Collins was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1936. At that time, "Jim Crow" and segregation was the law–de facto and de jure. She was denied the use of the public library as a young child and had to learn to read from tin can labels, Bible school books and books that her father brought her from nearby Mobile. She graduated from Eschambia County Training School in Atmore, Alabama and then went to Clark College in Atlanta.
After graduating from Clark, she moved back to Alabama where she taught school for two years before moving to Chicago. It was primarily in the school system in Chicago that she first became dissatisfied with the public school system which led her to open her own school on the second floor of her home with the $5,000 from her school pension fund.With her two children and four other youngsters in the neighborhood, Collins began the Westside Preparatory School in 1975 in Garfield Park, Chicago. She had a unique educational program and it included the public school's problem children–the mentally challenged (learning disabled), those with special educational needs and even the borderline retarded–society's uneducable children. Her premise was that any child may achieve, if not taught too thoroughly to fail.
Enrollment blossomed and grades improved at least five times higher than the children were previously experiencing in other (public) schools. Words of encouragement like, "Success doesn't come to you, you go to it," were slogans given to the children. Students are taught to have ownership of their education, and are guided in realizing that responsibility is the key. One of the children who was labeled as borderline retarded graduated in 1976 from college "summa cum laude" and some of Westside's graduates have gone on to Harvard, Yale, Stanford and some of the nation's finest institution of higher learning. The school has produced doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators and other professions. The CBS program, 60 Minutes, have twice aired segments of Collins' achievement in the Westside Preparatory School, in 1979 and in 1995.
The "secret" of her success with these mostly inner city children is not a miracle, as some suggest; the answer is in her love for each student, a positive approach to education, her refusal to give up and a complete dedication to teaching. Collins has emphasized that students may know nothing, they may be complete illiterates, but they know when they are loved, respected and taught properly.
Collins has received many awards, commendations and accolades for her outstanding work. A made-for-television moviewas made about her titled, The Marva Collins Story, starring Cicely Tyson that first aired in 1982. Some of her awards are:
The Marva Collins Preparatory School is located on Chicago's Southside.
Beyonce Knowles — September 4
As an R&B recording artist, actress and fashion model, Beyonce Knowles rose to fame in the 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Beyonce released her debut solo album "Dangerously in Love" in 2003, which spawned number-one hits and became one of the most successful albums of that year, earning her a then record-tying five Grammy Awards. Three years later, she released her second solo album "B'Day" which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Her third solo album "I Am… Sasha Fierce," included the anthemic "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" which earned her six Grammy Awards, breaking the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night. Beyonce has won 16 Grammys -13 as a solo artist and three as a member of Destiny's Child. Her acting career includes the musical film Carmen: A Hip Hopera and the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, for which she earned two Golden Globe nominations.
Rep. Kendrick Meek — September 6
As a congressman Kendrick Meek followed his mother, former Congresswoman Carrie Meek to the 17th Congressional District in Florida and has been re-elected for four successive terms with no official opponent. He then positioned himself to run for the U.S. Senate and if elected, he would become the seventh African American to serve in that august body. Meek recently was the winner in the Democratic primary; he defeated Jeff Greene, a millionaire newcomer, as the insider versus the well-financed outsider saying, "I made the case that I am the real Democrat in this race."
After thanking every Floridian who voted for him, as well as his opponents. Meek said he also has the support of his defeated opponent who had harsh words for him throughout the campaign. About Meek, Greene said, "The contest I had for Kendrick Meek will be a big challenge, but I want you to know that I intend to support him every step of the way," in his concession speech.
Greene vowed to support Meek because the other candidates, Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, who left the Republican Party in April to run as independent candidate, will "turn back the clock on everything."
Meek has the support of President Barack Obama and Senator Bill Nelson, the US senator for Florida, whom he hopes to join in the Senate. The Florida Democratic Party has shown a solid of Rep. Meek since he won the party's primary nomination last week.
On a visit to the Sentinel, Meek was asked 'What would you do if elected to the U.S. Senate?' He replied, "Following and refining the healthcare reform that we have right now, a major first step in putting into place a structure for healthcare.
Poet Sonia Sanchez — September 9
Sonia Sanchez is one of the poets who is generally associated with the Black Arts Movement more so than any of her contemporaries. She was born Wilsonia Benita Driver on September 9, 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama, and has traveled not only through the world of poetry and children's books but has also been on television, music and plays, having authored numerous books of poetry, books for children and plays during her professional career.
She married a Puerto Rican named Albert Sanchez, hence her surname, but it did not last very long. In the early 60s as an activist, she supported the integrationist movement with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) but was soon frustrated by its lack of meaningful progress. She had heard Malcolm X speak and was influenced by his oratory which she thought was direct and truthful, and it moved her to write blunt, passionate and honest poetry about the Black experience in America. Sanchez latched on to the Nation of Islam's belief that Blacks would never be truly accepted by Whites in America and it reflected in her writings. She began to focus on her heritage from a separatist point of view.
In 1965, Sanchez began teaching at what is now San Francisco State University where she was instrumental in developing its Black Studies program. She was the first to create and teach a course based on Black Women and Literature in the United States. Her travels outside of America in 1970s broadened her horizon and it fueled an anger, which was seething since the confrontations of the 1960s. She visited China, Australia, the Caribbean, including Cuba, and that along with her brief membership in the Nation of Islam crystallized her views on the world outside that she had gained from others.
Before moving to Philadelphia in 1977 where she became the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University, Sanchez had already held teaching positions at the University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, Manhattan Community College and Amherst College, and had lectured at several hundred others including Howard University, Morehouse University and Spelman College.
She remained at Temple University as the Laura Carnell chair, Professor of English until her retirement in 1999 and then became its poet-in-residence. During the 1990s, Sanchez appeared on the Bill Cosby Show. She supports the National Black United Front and has edited two anthologies on Black literature, "We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans" and "360° of Blackness Coming at You." Known for her innovative melding of musical formats–like the blues–and traditional poetic formats like haiku and tanka, Sanchez also tends to use incorrect spelling to get her point across.
The body of her work includes: Poetry, Plays and Children's Books


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in September as exports rose sharply, suggesting global demand for U.S. goods was holding up despite a debt crisis in Europe.
Other data on Thursday showed a drop in new claims for jobless benefits last week, although a severe storm that battered the East Coast distorted the figures.
The trade gap shrank 5.1 percent to $41.55 billion, the smallest deficit since December 2010, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected it to widen to $45.0 billion.
Exports jumped 3.1 percent, the biggest increase in more than a year. The export gain more than offset a 1.5 percent increase in imports that was centered on purchases of consumer goods.
The data was the latest positive sign for the U.S. economy, which has appeared to perk up as consumers spend more freely and home construction quickens.
"This was a very encouraging report as the improvement in both export and non-petroleum import activity suggest improving demand both domestically and globally," said Millan Mulraine, an economist at TD Securities in New York.
Chinese demand for U.S. products appeared to help exporters in September. China bought $8.8 billion in U.S. goods and services, up 0.3 percent from a month earlier, although those figures were not seasonally adjusted.
Exports to the European Union, where a debt crisis has pushed several countries into recession, were flat. The U.S. government does not seasonally adjust figures for countries and regions as it does for overall imports and exports.
The larger-than-anticipated decline in the trade gap suggested U.S. economic growth may have been faster in the third quarter than the 2.0 percent annual rate initially reported.
JPMorgan said it pointed to a 2.8 percent growth rate. Analysts on Wall Street had previously increased their estimates for third-quarter growth following stronger-than-expected data on factory orders. The Commerce Department will release a revised GDP growth estimate on November 29.
Many economists still think that cooling growth in the global economy will increasingly weigh on the United States.
Moreover, the U.S. economy could fall back into recession if Congress fails to avert a package of tax hikes and spending cuts planned for the new year. Fears of this so-called "fiscal cliff" already appear to have reduced business investment.
U.S. stocks edged lower as investors continued to adjust portfolios ahead of negotiations in Washington over fiscal policy. Prices for U.S. government debt rose.
Like the gain in exports, the rise in imports provided a positive signal for domestic demand, even though imports subtract from economic growth. Imports of consumer goods rose by $2.7 billion.
Analysts said a good deal of the increase reflected imports of the new iPhone model by Apple. That suggested the increase in imports of consumer goods might be temporary.
Oil imports fell in September as a drop in the quantity of oil imports swamped an increase in the average price for imported oil, which hit $98.88 per barrel.
A separate report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, although Superstorm Sandy roiled the data.
"It is pretty difficult to interpret," said David Sloan, an economist at 4Cast in New York.
Initial claims for state jobless benefits dropped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 355,000, the Labor Department said. That was below the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 370,000.
An analyst from the department said Sandy, a mammoth storm that slammed into the eastern seaboard on October 29, boosted claims in some states by leaving people out of work, but also reduced claims in at least one state because power outages kept it from collecting claim reports.
It was unclear if the storm's net effect was to boost or reduce claims, the analyst said. Either way, the impact should prove short-lived, although the analyst said the data could be affected for several more weeks.
The storm killed at least 121 people in the United States and Canada and left more than 8 million homes and businesses without electricity in the Northeast.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said storm damage and economic losses have totaled $33 billion in New York state, and $50 billion in the region.
The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smoothes out volatility, rose 3,250 to 370,500. Economists think readings below 400,000 generally point to rising employment.
Editing by Andrea Ricci, Tim Ahmann and Bernadette Baum

subset: commoncrawl


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Those scans look great, can't wait to have a proper look through them later on. Looks like some glorious stuff there. The 'behind the scenes' shots look fascinating. Such a shame that most, if not all, of the sets went up in flames.
I'm planning on remuxing the French transfer with the English audio at some point. I've done quite a bit of anime previously where a show has had a HD transfer in Japan but remains DVD-only here, so hopefully that will stand me in good stead. We'll see! Only MKVs, but it's let me watch English friendly versions of Evangelion, Macross, Gunbuster etc in HD.
I wanted to see how much of an improvement the French transfer was over the English one before starting to do it, but based on the first episode it looks like it would be a worthwhile exercise.


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RIM is seeking a financial consultant to help it with its recent money woes and is considering licensing out its mobile operating system, according to a report in Bloomberg.
The Canadian company is still dealing with the consequences of last quarter's $125m loss and the exodus of the BlackBerry old guard, and is turning to the bankers to consider the company's serious financial problems, the story claimed.
The Bloomberg source listed out the options RIM is considering in order of preference: licensing out its operating system, possibly to Samsung; throwing some of the company's cash into a strategic investment in some new technology; or, as a last resort, an outright sale of the business.
Asked to confirm or deny the story, Blackberry's UK PR said it did not comment on rumours and speculation but would provide "formal, periodic updates" when there was "material news to share".
It comes after another phone giant, Nokia, suffered a downgrade on its debt ratings and warned that its financial situation would only get worse – showing how precarious the once-booming phone market has become for the smaller players. ®


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To have your projects featured on Dancehallarena.com Please email us at email@example.com.
Dancehallarena.com is the number 1 Online Dancehall & Reggae Music Promotion Website.
Dancehallarena began November 2012, with the aim of promoting music throughout the entire world. We here at Dancehallarena would like to take the time out and say thanks for all our loyal fans from day one and prospective ones to come.
We look forward to continue promoting Music and all that the music industry has to offer.
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Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. Three of the biggest stars of the early dancehall era were Yellowman, Eek-a-Mouse and Moti Giat. Dancehall brought a new generation of producers, including Linval Thompson, Gussie Clarke and Jah Thomas. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall (or "ragga") becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms.


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Dear WordPress… Stop eating my posts!
Why can't you handle an interruption caused by a phone call? You app is designed to run on an iPhone?
Why do you tell me you recovered the post, let me save and finish the post… Yet when I open it again, there is nothing but a blank page!
Here we go again…
I have a dirty dual spec secret…
Friday and Saturday night we cleared Naxx10 (We should have cleared it on Friday night, but whatever). So that's 3 Naxx clears out of 3 for me now, one of which was 25 man.
I should be pretty happy, but instead I am kind of bored. I think back to the months of struggle we had with Kara, yet Naxx is giving me a clear run.
So when our raid broke up after the clear and my mates headed into daily Heroic Violet Hold (which I had already done, but that's a post for another day), I decided the time had come to mix it up a bit.
Like Larisa, I have had my cowardly moments with spec changes. Just prior to WoLK I threatened to try out Frost, made Zupa go to the trouble of writing a guide, then found every excuse under the sun to stay fire.
On Saturday though, I was determined. As soon as the party split, I ported to Ironforge, hit the AH and bought all the glyphs I would require, then trotted back to the Trainer.
I asked all about Dual Spec…
(Notice that he is a GNOME Mage trainer… how specialized can you get?)
The trainer told me what I needed to know…
I said yes please, I want to purchase Dual Spec…
The trainer wanted 1,000 gold and I was ready and happy to pay it!
But the trainer didn't want my money.
- I figure the trainer was trying to save me from disappointment.
- I figure the trainer knows I am a Gnome Mage with great balls of fire, and nothing else will do.
- I figure the trainer didn't want me to change my blog focus.
- I figure that the trainer wasn't happy to interact with one of my mods.
No matter how I tried, the trainer wouldn't teach me dual spec.
I just wish I knew which mod was causing the conflict.
So, my dirty little dual spec secret is you don't know what my second spec is…
PS: ^^^ This is post 400! ^^^
Gnomer and Out!
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.


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text: 5 Ways to Encourage Positive Thinking in Kids by ImagineToys.com on Friday, March 14, 2014 8:56:00 AM Raise A Happy, Positive Thinker Teach your child how to be a positive thinker and look at the world around them in a positive light. This entry was posted in Let's Play - Kids of All Ages, Toddlers & Preschoolers Playtime, Big Kid Adventures. positive thinkingactivities for kidsencouragementteaching kidslife lessons


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I increased the width of the gym and now the gym won't burn itself down. Much more space for battles.
- Unlit Beacon During The Day | Show
- Beacon with Pressure Plate Activated at Night | Show
- Inside of Beacon | Show
- Download | Show
- http://www.mediafire.com/download/r3oce3ra33as5xm/Fire_Gym.zip


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Christ Is Risen!
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Even though we all sinned in Adam.
Those simply seem to state that we are all Adam, with which I totally agree. Does that mean we bear the personal guilt of Adam's sin? Well now that depends if Adam is a historical person or a mythological archetype, doesn't it?
An article on the View of Sin in the Early Church. I read this as we were converting and much appreciated it. http://www.antiochian.org/assets/asset_manager/da42e6049df1d08bff1865c1ac19e759.pdf
What is Original Sin called by the Orthodox and what is the Orthodox view of it?
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Cinnamon Cinnamomum aromaticum, C. burmanni, C. bejolghota
A sweet yet savoury herb obtained from powdered tree bark, this herb has been used for cenuries to flavour food and treat ailments.
Probably best known for its use in sweet treats and pastries, cinnamon is an evergreen tree with a highly aromatic bark.
We use Cinnamon from Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka - all of which is grown in organically certified mixed-forest systems.
The bark is sustainably harvested using a coppicing method creating the most delicious smelling 'rolls' of fresh cinnamon bark.
Full of sweet and stimulating essential oils, cinnamon is a long-time favourite for invigorating, warming and generally making life more delicious.
Click here to learn a little more about Cinnamon.


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Workshop to shed light on the darkness of postpartum depression
ST. CATHARINES, Feb. 11, 2004 – To help registered nurses and other health-care professionals better understand postpartum depression (PPD), an illness that affects between 10 and 16 per cent of mothers from every age group and socio-economic background, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) Centre for Professional Nursing Excellence is hosting a workshop in St. Catharines on Thursday, Feb. 12.
"PPD has negative consequences for the woman, her infant, and other family members," says Dr. Wendy Sword, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, McMaster University. "Yet for various reasons it is often overlooked by new mothers and their care providers."
Sword will lead the workshop discussions, along with health-care colleagues from the Niagara Region. Sword is also a public health consultant for the City of Hamilton Social and Public Health Services Division. Her clinical background is in clinical parent-child and community nursing and her research interests include health and social services utilization, service accessibility, marginalized women and health promotion.
"Many sufferers of PPD experience a range of negative emotions and see no end to their darkness," explains Sword, adding that early recognition of this disease is important. "It is vital we educate expectant women, family and friends about the disease and let new mothers with PPD know they are not alone."
Developed by RNAO's Centre for Professional Nursing Excellence in partnership with three RNAO interest groups (the Community Health Nurses' Initiatives Group, the Mental Health Nursing Interest Group and the Childbirth Nurses Interest Group), the workshop will examine:
- How to recognize the signs of PPD
- Best practices in the treatment of postpartum depression
- How to involve family and friends
- Where to find support and resources in the community
WHAT: Workshop on Postpartum Depression: Recognizing the Signs, Community Support and Resolution
Hosted by RNAO's Centre for Professional Nursing Excellence in partnership with RNAO's Community Health Nurses' Initiatives Group, Mental Health Nursing Interest Group, and Childbirth Nurses Interest Group
WHO: Dr. Wendy Ann Sword, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, McMaster University
Margaret Fairman, RN, BN, psychiatric nurse, manager, Perinatal Mood Disorders Clinic, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Hamilton
Mona Kang, pharmacist, Niagara Health System
Pilar Chapman, registered midwife, Niagara Midwifery Practice
Wendy Palermo, survivor of Postpartum Depression
Catharine Kennedy, RN, BScN, public health nurse, Regional Niagara Public Health Department
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 12, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Pond Inlet Room, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines, ON.-30-
Please contact:
Marion Zych, Director of Communications, RNAO
Cell: 647-406-5605 / Office: 416-408-5605
Toll free: 1-800-268-7199 ext. 209


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We understand how difficult and confusing it is to plan for the financing of care fees, particularly at a time when you are dealing with the decisions concerning the care needs of a loved one.
Alderwood works with Eldercare Solutions Limited, who are regulated independent care fees planning specialists. Their advisers are Later Life Accredited through the Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA). As someone who is responsible for funding the cost of their care, their role is to provide you and your family with the options to fund the cost of your care and help you make an informed decision.
Andrew Dixson Smith, Managing Director of Eldercare Solutions answers your frequently asked questions.
Currently, if a person has capital in excess of £23,250, they will generally be responsible for the funding of their own care until such time as their money falls below this threshold. If the person requires a certain level of nursing care, a contribution or even all of the cost of care could be funded by the NHS (not means tested).
With good planning, it may be possible, when care is needed, to structure your finances in such a way that care fees can be paid for the rest of your life, providing peace of mind.
These are impaired life annuity plans that are specifically designed to meet the cost of care in either a care home or in the person's home. They usually pay the income shortfall, i.e. the gap between income available and the cost of fees or up to the whole amount of the fees. The payment from the plan is paid tax free when made to a Care Quality Commission registered care provider. Payments are made for the rest of the person's life. Indexation options are available to protect against inflation as are capital protection options to reduce risk in event of early death. The lump sum cost to purchase is fully underwritten and is calculated on the person's age and health; so the shorter someone's life expectancy, the lesser the sum needed to buy the income to cover care costs.
Payments are guaranteed to be made tax free for life, while a reduction in the value of your estate could potentially save IHT due on death. The plan provides peace of mind as the income will always be paid until death. Portability, if there is a change of care providers. Deferred options are available that defer income payments for a cheaper plan cost. The plans are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The plan is suitable for anyone in need of care on an indefinite basis and wants certainty of payments for the rest of life. The plan covers one person but can be purchased by a third party.
There are a range of capital protection options which offer to pay up to 70% of the plan purchase cost in event of death less the payments made to the date of death. Alternatively, capital guarantees are provided in the first six months of the plan's commencement (some providers offer this free of charge) in event of death and a proportion of the purchase cost is returned to the estate less payments made to the date of death. A popular way to mitigate the potential loss of capital in the event of early death, however, is to purchase the plan on a deferred start basis.
The pension freedom is for those retiring and having a choice on how they take benefits to supplement their life in retirement. A Care Fees Payment Plan is for those that are at the point of need for care and have an income shortfall requirement for the rest of their life.
Fund from capital and income with the risk that the money runs out, resulting in the loss of choice of care to care funded by the local authority after a means tested assessment.


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SLENZ pilot progress
An outsider's view …
The creation and melding together of the design and development phases of the SLENZ pilot programmes has proven a slightly more difficult process for the SLENZ team than initially envisaged.
"We are making progress, albeit slower than I anticipated or would have liked," joint project leader Terry Neal (pictured right) said recently. "The focus over the last couple of weeks has been agreeing the processes, terminology and templates that will enable us to work together effectively for the design and development phase of our project.
"Once we have finalised these, we then need to use them," she said.
From the outside – and part of my brief is to view the project from the outside – one of the difficulties facing the team producing the three pilots – in midwifery, foundation learning and Second Life Orientation – has been the confusing number of platforms (Second Life, IMs, blogs, emails, googledocs, wikis) being used by team members to disseminate their ideas to each other.
Although the pilots are still at an early stage it appears, at times, that team members are not talking "in the same virtual room" although this is probably through no fault of their own, and is possibly a feature of every virtual world "team" effort as opposed to VW individual efforts. The problem is, however, that the oft-quoted proposition that in virtual worlds the learner is more important than the teacher/researcher/creator might be forgotten, with ever-widening, more ambitious ideas being put forward and the possibility that the goals of the pilots might be buried by words.
This is not to say that the ideas are not excellent, but at times, in my view, grandstanding, reinventing wheels (a New Zealand habit), and widening the scope of a pilot, rather than containing it, can reduce the effectiveness of a project and lead to the initial aims and goals being, if not forgotten, glossed over.
The problem appears to be compounded by the fact that SLENZ is a temporary team with the members physically removed from each other who, once the project is over, will go on to do their own things: the academic life blood after all might be said to be publishing papers and individual recognition.
Significant milestones
Basically, I believe, as team members, we need to recognise that each of us will get something more valuable out of the collaborative team effort, rather than from our individual contributions, if we get onto the same page and work in the same virtual room with the same language, even if on different campuses and with different world views. We will also lessen the workload.
As Neal said in her most recent project update, and this probably applies to all virtual world collaborative education projects, "We need to effectively refine and merge … and agree our terminology because (we) are using quite different terms for the same things."
Despite the difficulties the team has already achieved some significant milestones with its initial reports and discussion documents – the SL Literature Review, written by Dr Ben Salt (research and evaluation), Dr Clare Atkins (joint project leader, pictured lower right), ) and Leigh Blackall (learning designer), is being picked up by a noted peer-reviewed virtual world journal – and obviously will achieve other major milestones in the future.
Despite my criticism of the proliferation of communication channels the documents I am alluding to are worth reading, and contain good ideas for anyone working in education or doing research on the creation of learning opportunities in MUVEs. With the team currently concentrating on the midwifery project Blackall has posted his thoughts on the overall process at http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/producing-educational-resources-through-second-life/ and at (http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/slenz-midwifery-ideas-for-stage-1-virtual-birthing-unit/ ); Atkins has used googledocs – although some are not publicly available at the time of going to press – to share "SLENZ User story Stage 1" ( http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcr62szf_4gnvmm3mg&invite=c7c87wm), drafted guidelines (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dj2k8bp_19dk3m4vfx&invite and a template) and a technical specifications document (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dj2k8bp_20cnsg5hc2&hl=en); and Sarah Stewart (lead educator) has put the midwifery pilot into context by detailing what she and her colleagues know of their students, such as learning preferences, motivation and access to technology, and clarifying what the learning objectives will be for each stage (http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com/2009/02/thinking-about-stage-1-of-second-life.html) and (http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com/2009/02/context-of-midwifery-education-and.html)
Unenviable task
There already has been agreement between Atkins and Todd Cochrane (developer) on such things as a template, naming conventions and version control, both within and outside Second Life.
Despite the "foundation learning" pilot appearing to be on hold while the midwifery pilot has taken precedence, Merle Lemon (lead educator) has been busy talking to the other academic collaborators to enable her to feed their needs into the pilot as well as determining how to make intra-team communication more effective.
The next major step, according to Neal, and one might say unenviable task, is for Atkins to translate the thinking of various members of the team on the birthing unit into the technical specifications/production plan for further development of the guidelines for the birthing unit and templates.
Salt has done an initial draft of the evaluation process and is currently completing it in more detail.
Finally, according to Neal, the team needs be ready to seek ethics approval in March.
Neal concluded, "While our process and template decision-making is taking longer than I had anticipated or hoped, it is worth taking the time to get this right and will set us on a stronger course for the next 11 months."
-written by Johnnie Wendt/John Waugh
Are avatars really useful?
This is essential reading and I really mean essential. Even if you don't read another thing on your computer this week there are two articles/blogs that as an educator you must read.
I referred to one in my previous blog (SLENZ Update, No 44) by Caleb Booker ( ROI in Virtual Worlds 1 – Why Webcams Fail (http://www.calebbooker.com/blog/2009/01/27/roi-in-virtual-worlds-1-why-webcams-fail/)
The second is his followup, ROI in Virtual Worlds – Anatomy of an Avatar (http://www.calebbooker.com/blog/2009/02/03/roi-in-virtual-worlds-anatomy-of-an-avatar/)
His thoughts, which he is the first to admit are "off the cuff", make sense to me on a variety of levels. They are easy to understand and they mirror my own virtual world reality. That said, they also provoke considerable thought, and I would think will provoke lots of valuable discussion if not changes in attitude.
ROI in Virtual Worlds – Anatomy of an Avatar, is the second of a series dedicated to answering why virtual worlds are a good alternative to existing technologies; and how one can best get a Return On Investment (ROI) from virtual world ventures.
Booker argues initially that avatars yield returns on several levels: 1. They allow people to "see themselves" taking part in the experience; 2. Your perception of who is participating is greatly enhanced; 3. Open and honest communication between employees is greatly facilitated; 4. You always have an ice-breaker; and 5. You're always ready for work.
Later in a reply to a comment from Nic Mitham, of Kzero, he simplifies this in a business environment to: 1) Real user engagement; 2) Increased customer contact;3) Improved employee relations; 4) Easier initiation of sales contacts; 5) Happier, more productive employees.
And I'm also indebted to Booker for the following link from Collegehumor.com which compares avatar creation on the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 consoles.
He comments, "their observations are brief and superficial but what I like about it is that this is very much the knee-jerk reaction from outside the industry echo-chamber -you know, the place where customers come from!"
Ten facets in 70 VWs
Sarah Robbins (SL: Intellagirl Tully) (pictured at right), as part of her dissertation research, has noted 10 specific facets that occur in the 70 virtual worlds that she has studied over the past 18 months. She has published her useful chart of them here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pgKqGR6eOiPOKjMG9f856Sw For more info about the facets: http://ubernoggin.com/archives/383
Robbins (www.ubernoggin.com and http://www.intellagirl.com) is a PhD candidate, Ball State University and director of Emerging Technologies, Kelley Executive Partners, at Indiana University.
The top 11 according to…
Promoting his new ebook , Virtual Worlds for Business Nick Wilson ( pictured) of CleverZebra.com has released an interesting teaser identifying what he considers the top 11 virtual worlds technologies for meetings, training and collaborative work which he believes will change the way we work. http://cleverzebra.com/virtual-worlds
There are some "old" standbys on the list and some interesting and unusual new choices: his reasons for his choices are thought provoking.
His list includes: ActiveWorlds, OLIVE, Protosphere, Quaq Forums, Second Life, web.alive, Multiverse, OpenSim, Project Wonderland, 3DXplorer, Vastpark.
Filed under: Education, Education in Second Life, SLENZ Project | Tagged: 3DXplorer, ActiveWorlds, Atkins, Ball State, Blackall, CleverZebra, Cochrane, Foundation learning, Kelley Executive Partners, kzero, Lemon, midwifery, Mitham, Multiverse, Neal, OLIVE, OpenSim, Project Wonderland, Protosphere, Quaq Forums, Robbins, SecondLife, SL, Stewart, team communication, Tully, Vastpark, Virtual Worlds, web.alive, Wilson | 2 Comments »


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ST. PAUL, MN -- After a year and a half of construction, Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, opened its new Leonard Athletic and Wellness Center last year. The $45 million, 175,000-square-foot center gives Macalester a recruiting boost among small liberal arts colleges, school officials say. The new facility's indoor swimming pool, 200-meter track and gymnasium qualify Macalester to host regional and national competitions.
The facility includes green design elements, such as energy-efficient roof design and materials to help reduce heating and cooling costs.
The center's Deno Fitness Center is a 9,000-square-foot fitness area that is triple the size of the previous facility and includes stationary bikes, treadmills, circuit-training equipment and free weights. Students also are able to take classes in yoga, Pilates and stress management at the new facility or enjoy a break at the new juice bar.


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Once upon a time, I was a television anchor with a closet stuffed full of designer gear. But when I became a mom, my new uniform consisted of cheap blue jeans and disposable t-shirts.
A few years spent in the mother 'hood and I was ready to claw my way out or die trying -- that's how "She's Still Got It" was born. I believe moms can be pretty, stylish, and on trend. Even on a ridiculously meager budget. Even in the car rider pick-up line.
You've still got it, Mama. And I'd love to help you figure out exactly how to show it off.
Have style questions? Email me at email@example.com!


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Sokkia B40 Automatic Level
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World-Proven Precision and Durability
Sokkia B series automatic levels feature enhanced reliability under all environmental conditions. Tough and compact bodies are more tightly sealed against water, humidity and dust (IPx6). The B series levels provide quick setup, easy sighting, and superior durability against vibration and shock, ensuring the increased productivity over an extra-long period of time.
Precise, Reliable Automatic Compensator
The B series levels incorporate the most precise and reliable compensator available in the market today. The technological superiority of the Sokkia automatic levels has been proven since the release of the best-selling B2 model in 1963. Four super-high-tensile suspension wires and magnetic damping system ensure accuracy and stability even when exposed to temperature changes, vibrations, or shock.
Superior Telescope
Optimally designed telescope provides exceptionally bright and sharp view that reduces operator's eye strain. Ultra-short focus distance of 20cm (7.9in.) from end of telescope makes it easiest to use in confined locations.
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Two knobs of endless horizontal motion drives can be operated with either hand for fast and easy aiming.
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Horizontal angles can be read in 1° or 1 gon units. Freely rotatable circle allows any angle reading from zero. Right angles can be quickly set for layout and alignment tasks. The readout window is conveniently located on the instrument base - directly below the eyepiece.
The stadia lines on the reticle allow distance measurements. Simply multiply the staff length between the top and bottom stadia lines by 100.
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Reticle adjustment is made with one screw. Circular levels vial is adjusted with two screws. Both adjustments are simple and fast with provided tools.
Standard Equipment
B Series Automatic Level Instrument, Lens Cap, Plumb Bob, Vinyl Rain Cover, Cleaning Cloth, Tool Kit, Operator's Manual, Hard Carrying Case


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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Endorses Senator Barack Obama
Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, threw his strong support behind Senator Barack Obama for president Friday, enthusiastically delivering one of the most coveted and tightly held endorsements in the race for the Democratic nomination. The New Mexico governor joined Obama at a rousing rally in Portland, Oregon, and claimed that the Illinois senator demonstrated his leadership abilities this week with his speech on race. "You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader," the governor said from the stage. "Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together."
"There is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander in chief when our nation's security is on the line," Richardson said. "He showed this judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally."
Obama embraced the endorsement of Governor Richardson as a man who is an accomplished figure on the world stage who "understands the importance of restoring diplomacy as a central part of our national security strategy."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Endorses Obama
Chris Matthews Touched by Obama's Speech
Technorati: Barack Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson, Gov. Bill Richardson endorses Obama, Richardson endorses Obama, photographs, video, gay, GLTB, politics, 2008 Election, immigration, Hispanics, African-American, news, political news, world news, world
Please Bookmark This:


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Hey again guys,
I know this question seems a little weird...
But when Jay and the band our on tour nearly all over the world.
Who looks after his dogs back in Buckinghamshire?
Do they have staff to look after them for him?
I know it seems a stupid question but it do makes you wonder lol...
Jamiroquai rocks x


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I have a GUI project, but the instructions I'm given on what is supposed to happen in each event handler is uncleared.
For one of them, it is supposed to delete a file made in another event handler. However, I do not know how to delete the file. Can someone help me with this?
For a different event handler, it is supposed to check to make sure all fields are filled in, but I do not know how to write the code to check this. I'm also supposed to store 4 pieces of data to a file on a separate line. However, i don't know how to do this. I have another method, but I don't think I can put a method into a event handler. Can someone help me with this too?


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Curt Locklear Sr. was a remarkable man who grew up in a remarkable time. He could remember plowing on the family farm with oxen. When World War II and Uncle Sam called, he put down the plow and served his country overseas.
After the war, Locklear studied, played football and worked his way through Pembroke State College. While a student, one of his jobs was planting the historic oak trees along Old Main Drive with grounds superintendent Walter Pinchbeck.
Locklear planted other seedlings in his time. One grew into a successful business that continues to provide employment for more than 60 people today. He and wife, Catherine, raised nine children: Janice, Cathy, Nancy, Curt Jr., Milton, Marcia, Stephen, Lindsey and Anthony. There are 23 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.
The scholarship will continue the legacy of Curt Locklear's successful life. The family and many friends of Curt and Catherine Locklear completed the endowed scholarship in their honor during summer of 2013. At $10,000 and growing, the income from the scholarship will provide financial aid to deserving students at UNC Pembroke in perpetuity.
Curt Locklear Sr. passed away in March 2011 at the age of 87. With Catherine his wife of 63 years, they produced one of the most celebrated business and family success stories of the Pembroke community.
With his brother, Monroe Lowry, Curt founded Pembroke Hardware Company in. His children and their children fashioned their own success business successes at the hardware store, Sheff's Seafood, Southeastern Veterinary and Metcon Construction Company.
A younger generation of customers shopping at Pembroke Hardware's new store on N.C. 711 will remember Curt talking with friends from his desk strategically located near the front door, where it still sits today as a living memorial to the its founder. Curt always said folks were not just customers, they were "friends."
He built the business from the ground up with shrewd management skills that resulted in great customer service and an inventory for every need. Locklear explained his business philosophy: "If we had $50 at the end of the week, we bought $50 worth of hardware from the Monroe Hardware salesman."
Lowry added: "We had a good work ethic and good credit. By that I mean we had no credit."
The business added building supplies to serve the growing demand from local contractors. A large family was also being added. While raising nine children, Catherine worked at the store, and became well known for her housewares and Christmas shop.
In addition to the endowed scholarship, Curt and Catherine will be remembered with the legacy courtyard and Curt Locklear Drive named for them at the football stadium. Their philanthropy also extended to other sports, the Givens Performing Arts Center and the Mary Livermore Library.
Wendy Lowery, UNCP's vice chancellor of Advancement, said the Locklears are one of the "first families" of the university. "We can't begin to express our sincere appreciation for the Locklear family and their continued support of UNC Pembroke," she said. "They represent the core nature of what this great institution is all about."
At the dedication of the new hardware store in 2006, Curt Sr. said he had no regrets. "A business like a hardware store takes a lot of devotion, and it has been good to me," he said. "I was never discouraged, and I found a lot of happiness."
A 1949 graduate of Pembroke State College, Locklear was the recipient of the Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award in 2002. In an interview that is archived in the Native American Resource Center in Old Main, he summed up his feelings about this community: "This was a beautiful place, still is. This is the best place, the only place I ever wanted to live."
The scholarship is designated to an American Indian student who is majoring in business with demonstrated need for financial assistance. To contribute to the Curt and Catherine Locklear Endowed Scholarship or other scholarships, please contact the Office of Advancement at 910.521.6252 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Family left devastated after no sign of rottweilers
SINCE July there have been 12 pure breed animals posted as missing on the Lost Pets Coordinator South Burnett Facebook page.
Melissa Saly's two rottweilers, Cleo and Cujo, went missing from her Booie property several months ago.
She said Cleo was four weeks pregnant when they disappeared.
"Rotweillers throw a large litter so whoever has them would profit greatly from them, with each puppy worth $1000," Ms Saly said.
She said her family was devastated by the loss.
"There are so many words under the sun I could use to describe how we're feeling right now," Ms Saly said.
"But it's like losing two of our children."
Lost Pet Coordinator South Burnett's Denise Bettany said the number of missing pure breeds in the area was concerning.
"What's strange is a lot of pure breeds are missing and they're not desexed," she said.
"So this means they can be used for breeding."
RSPCA Kingaroy shelter manager Sally Charles urged people to secure their pets properly.
"Now that we're coming into the storm season, people should secure their pets as they can take off during a storm because they're frightened," she said.
"We would like to reiterate that people need to microchip their pets because it helps us relocate their pet."
For more information about lost pets, visit rspcaqld.org.au/LostAndFound or facebook.com/qlpr.sthburnett.
Have you lost your dogs or know of someone who has? Let us know.


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When Terence Winter was developing Boardwalk Empire, one of the things he knew he didn't want to do was make another Deadwood.
Not that he didn't like the foul-mouthed HBO western — in fact, he loved it — but the show's plethora of historical characters and events made it too easily spoiled by Google. Finding out how Al Swearengen or Calamity Jane met their ends was just a click away.
"Every time Wild Bill Hickok would walk in, I'd go, 'Any minute now he's going to be sitting there at a card table, and get dealt aces and eights," Winter said in an interview with Wired, referencing Hickok's famous "dead man's hand." "It's like looking through a crystal ball and you're like, 'Oh God, is that how it ends?' Sometimes it's better not to know."
So when Winter was creating Boardwalk Empire, which returns to HBO for its third season Sunday, he opted to fictionalize his characters — particularly Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (played by Steve Buscemi), the character based on real-world Atlantic City figure Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. Winter also opted to get a crew of detail-oriented researchers who could make sure everything else was as historically accurate as possible.
Enter Edward McGinty and Vicki Gold Levi — two Atlantic City natives whose connection to the town goes back to the days of Prohibition (McGinty's grandfather worked at the Ritz-Carlton when the real Nucky was living there; Levi met the man himself as a kid). These two Encyclopedia Brown types aren't the whole of the show's research operation — costumers and set designers do their own backgrounding as well — and neither take any more credit for the accuracy of the show than they feel they deserve.
"This whole production is just a research factory," McGinty told Wired.
Wired asked Winter, McGinty and Levi to open up that factory, and in the process got the details about putting truth into historical fiction, the Great Moustache Debate during Season 2, Lucky Luciano giving himself gonorrhea, going to the Museum of Sex in New York for "research," and the softer side of the real Al Capone that's rarely seen on TV (until now).
TV Fact-Checkers: Terence Winter, Edward McGinty and Vicki Gold Levi
Titles: Winter is executive producer and writer; McGinty is research adviser and plays the character Ward Boss Boyd; Levi is historical consultant for Boardwalk Empire (which airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO).
Bona fides: Winter is something of a history geek and also won Emmys for his work as a writer and producer on The Sopranos. McGinty has a master's in film from Columbia University and rich family history in Atlantic City. Levi is the co-author of Atlantic City: 125 Years of Ocean Madness and has advised on lots of movies about the New Jersey city.
Obviously Boardwalk Empire is historical fiction, but how much is real history and how much is fiction?
Terence Winter: Starting out, I had inherited the book [Boardwalk Empire by Nelson Johnson]. HBO gave me the book and said, "Why don't you read this, and see if you think there's a series there." The book itself is really the history of Atlantic City. There was a chapter on the real Nucky Johnson, and he's the guy who ran the town during Prohibition. I thought, "OK, that's the guy. This is the era I'd like to explore." Then everything else really from there was my own invention. Taking the character Nucky, and then, early on I made the decision to fictionalize him.
(Spoiler alert: Minor plot points follow.)
I've talked about this before, but I was inspired to fictionalize as many people as possible because of Deadwood, which I loved. I was a big fan, but once I found out that all those people were real, the first thing I did was Google everybody. Then I was ahead of the story. I thought, "Wow. I really wish I didn't know, for example, that Al Swearengen lived till the 20th century, because it took a lot of the jeopardy of the show away from me. I was just waiting for events to get checked off. Even Swearengen died like he was destitute. I think he died running for a train or something. It was one of these really pathetic deaths.
I guess you'd say the same thing about watching Titanic. We all know that there's an iceberg out there. That was what was great about Inglourious Basterds when Hitler died in a movie theater. It was like, good for him. I just know I'm going to be out there explaining to my kids one day, "No, Hitler did not die in a movie theater fire actually. It was a bunker in Germany." But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
How do you avoid doing the same thing with your characters?
Winter: I knew we had a few people — Al Capone, Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano — who I knew I could not deviate their major life arcs. I'm not going to kill Capone off in 1925. The guy lived till the '40s. Everywhere along the line, whenever I felt I could fictionalize a character, I would, starting with Nucky.
I didn't want to be beholden to the actual Nucky Johnson's life, because my Nucky I would like to have do things that the real Nucky probably didn't do. Again, it's partly to be able to surprise the audience, and partly because I don't know if the real Nucky has relatives that are still living who are going to watch and say, "My uncle never murdered nine people" or whatever I want to have my guy do. That was the decision going into it.
Vicki Gold Levi: Nucky Johnson is not Nucky Thompson, and Nucky Thompson is not Nucky Johnson. Nucky Johnson didn't murder anybody. I mean, he may have ordered it, I don't know. I met Nucky when I was little – he was like Boss Tweed in Tammany Hall. He wasn't a murderer. They're taking [Nucky Thompson] down that gangster road.
Winter: In terms of the overall history, I really felt, as far as how the characters interact with each other, I always just tried to be true to the spirit of who these people were, again, adhering to their life stories. Obviously, Al Capone was based in Chicago. He had his rise through the ranks in Chicago, and being, basically, the king of that world, and I won't deviate from that.
But, Al also wasn't friends with the real Nucky. Johnny Torrio wasn't friends with the real Nucky, though he did spend a certain amount of time in Atlantic City. Same thing with Rothstein, same thing with Luciano. I have license then to say, "OK, I know these guys knew the real Nucky. They did spend time there." I can then comfortably create fictional relationships for them with people who they may or may not have known. For example, Al Capone may very well have been friends with a guy like [Michael Pitt's character] Jimmy Darmody, who ultimately became a footnote in mob history because he died in 1921.
How familiar are the actors with these backstories?
Edward McGinty: The actors that play the gangsters are deeply researched on who their characters are, and I'd say probably know more than we do. We had them in Season 1 to talk to the writers about their particular characters. Michael Pitt was really, really a voracious researcher. He would always ask for a lot of information, stuff about World War I, that type of thing.
That's surprising since Jimmy isn't based on a real person.
McGinty: No, that was a fictional character that Terry came up with on his own accord. That's what we're playing with, real characters by name playing within a fictional world. It's interesting because you're able to connect the dots with the real characters through the fictional characters. It's a really interesting playground to play in.
What about something like Capone's deaf son, who plays a bigger role in the upcoming season's events? Is that based on reality?
Winter: Yeah. It was congenital syphilis. Capone died of syphilis. Unbeknownst to him, he had syphilis when he impregnated his wife. His son was actually born with hearing problems because of that. Sonny was his son's name, they took him into various hearing specialists. He had surgery, and was at least partially deaf for his entire life. That's, again, a great detail about Capone's life. I don't know that it's ever been depicted or even mentioned in any movie about Capone.
That's the great luxury of doing a drama series that can run for dozens and dozens of hours. You have the opportunity to really delve deeply into the characters' lives. Usually, in any movie it's Capone at the height of his power. Because of when this show started, I got to see Capone as a kid. He was just a chubby kid who was somebody's driver and they don't know his name. That's Al Capone. So, you get to go home with Al Capone, and see his family and his kid. It's a lot more than just this scar-faced guy chomping the cigar and beating people. God willing, we'll get to that too. I don't know who that Capone was before he was that guy. That, for me, made it 100 times more interesting.
How important are the little historical accuracies? The real Nucky Johnson actually always wore the red carnation, which seems to be used in your show. Are there other examples like that where the details are real, even if the overall story is a bit fictionalized?
Levi: My strength in working with a lot of the theatrical things is the big picture. I don't get mired down in, "Well, that didn't happen exactly on that day at that place!" I understand there's an arc of historical fiction here.
Winter: Arnold Rothstein almost entirely subsisted on milk and cake, which we've sort of made a point of that. You generally always see him drinking milk. He also for some reason believed that fresh figs were extremely healthful, so, usually you'll see a bowl of fresh figs around. Rothstein will be eating them, occasionally. It's very subtle. This season coming up, this is just a physical characteristic, Dean O'Banion in the Chicago flower shop did actually walk with a limp. And our actor walks with a limp.
We try to always find out the little nuances. Benny Siegel is portrayed as a really sort of wild guy. He got the name "Bugsy" because people thought he was crazy. He would just go and blurt out almost like Tourette's-y kind of things. We've had our actor do that a few times, just to show that people thought he was insane.
We're just really trying to adhere to the little details of who people are. Same thing with Harry Daugherty, the attorney general, and his accomplice Jess Smith. There was some speculation that these guys might be lovers — they shared an apartment together — but it was never really proven. So, we've sort of depicted them … it's very ambiguous. You don't really know because we didn't really know. We said, "You know what? We'll just depict the same way that they were depicted to America, where you go, 'Are they a couple, or are they just friends?'" Just very subtle little things, the way they look at each other, the way they refer to each other. It's never overt but it's there, and it's based on the history of what we read about them.
Lucky Luciano is another example. This was my choice. Early on in the research, I read Luciano's biography, which talked about the idea that he, to get out of service in World War I, intentionally had himself infected with gonorrhea. That was a way out. Yeah, great idea, when there's no cure. The treatments for it were horrific. We actually depicted that in an episode, too. These syringes full of, I think it was mercury, shot down your urethra.
Then, in his biography, he talked about the idea that he avoided a lot of intimate encounters with women over the years, even though he had women throwing themselves at him. He avoided it because he felt that he wasn't quite sure if the gonorrhea ever completely went away, and he didn't want to infect anybody else. I read this and I thought, "OK. This guy's a murderer and this obvious sociopath, but now suddenly he's Mr. Sensitive and he doesn't want to spread gonorrhea?" What I think is really going on here is he has sexual dysfunction. He's avoiding these women. He's avoiding these encounters because there's an issue here, and he's covering it up by saying, "No, I actually avoided women."
I just, again, took the artistic license of saying I think that might have been an issue for him. Of course, it factored into his fictional relationship with Jimmy Darmody's mom, who cured him of that problem. But at least early on that was again something based on the real history of the guy, but extrapolated on by us.
Are there any things coming up in the new season that history buffs might pick up on that casual viewers may not?
Winter: Well, there's a whole story line involving Washington, D.C. Again, if you know the history of Harry Daugherty and Jess Smith and how that story played out, you'll see that play itself out over the course of the year. As 1923 progressed, the wagons were circling around those guys quite a bit in terms of them being revealed as the corrupt people they were. So, the Teapot Dome scandal started to heat up.
Their involvement in the Veteran's Administration corruption, particularly their involvement with George Remus, and selling alcohol licenses to sell medicinal alcohol basically to the highest bidder. That sort of became public. Jess Smith, during the course of the year, started to have a pretty noticeable breakdown, and it ultimately resulted in his very suspicious death toward the middle of 1923. That plays out over the show.
There's another historical character named Gaston Means who was a chief investigator for the Justice Department who reported directly to Harry Daugherty, who's played by the actor Stephen Root. Means was basically a conman who somehow wangled his way into a job as a Pinkerton agent, and then ultimately into the Justice Department. He's kind of a very colorful character, a Southerner, sort of half Foghorn Leghorn, half very smooth talker, and kind of dangerous, just a really interesting character. He plays into events in the White House as well.
How do you go about finding Atlantic City experts to dig into the things you don't know?
Winter: Ed was one of the first people I hired on the show. I met him in Los Angeles. It was one of those weird kismet kind of things. I had been developing the show, and I had spoken at Columbia University about 12 years ago when I was on The Sopranos. The guy who ran that evening was a grad student at that point. He and I stayed in touch over the years through e-mail. He happened to e-mail me as I was developing Boardwalk to ask a question about something, and he asked me what I was working on. I told him, and he said, "Oh, you got to meet my friend Ed McGinty. Ed is a fourth-generation Atlantic City native. He was actually one of the grad students who was there the night you spoke."
So I met him for breakfast in Los Angeles, and he showed up with a shopping bag full of photographs, many of which were of his grandfather, who worked as a bellman in the actual Ritz-Carlton hotel when the real Nucky lived there. I said, "You're hired. I mean, I don't know for what, but you've got to come work with me."
McGinty: Yeah, I pretty much showed up to the interview with every book about Atlantic City that I had. I showed up notating every photo that I could find and told him a story about each one. Then, at the end of the interview, I pulled out a photo with my grandmother and grandfather standing on the boardwalk, probably around 1922, and then a picture of my grandfather in a bellman's outfit. He was the head bellman at the Ritz hotel, which is where Nucky lived. My father also worked there as well. He was a page boy. I have a little bit of bloodline to this story. It's a birthright at this point.
Winter: Ed is basically in charge of the research, and also an actor on the show. He played one of Nucky's ward bosses. He's Ward Boss Boyd. He's like a big, burly guy with a mustache.
McGinty: I was in the writers' room [because] any time they would even think about a question, I'd get an answer for them or give them an educated guess before they even finished the question. I was just in there all the time. But I do have an acting background. They were talking about a certain scene, and Terry just looked up at me, and he said, "With that face, you should be one of the ward bosses." I thought he was kidding. I just let it go. But he called me late that Sunday night, and said, "No. I'm serious. You have to go audition in the morning." I was terrified.
The name Boyd is actually a historical reference to one of Nucky's political operatives who was a fishing buddy of my grandfather. I pulled that name out in order to give props to Boss [Al] Boyd. He was a ward boss, as well. Also another interesting connection is his wife was the librarian in Atlantic City, and she collected a lot of photos of Nucky, and photos of the time, and clippings, and that kind of thing. A lot of the archives at the Atlantic City Free Public Library, which has been indispensable to me, was built by Maria Boyd, who was Ward Boss Boyd's wife.
Winter: Ed basically keeps us honest. I turn in a script, and 48 hours later I get a five-page detailed fact-check. He'll call me on things, he'll point things out, or just provide further information on anything that we've mentioned, even down to colloquialisms, or the geography of Atlantic City. I'll throw out the street name and he'll say, "This makes no sense at all. That's a completely different part of town."
What's the fact-check process for a given episode?
McGinty: It's changed over time. The first season was more about building the world. It was a lot of broad strokes. It was a lot of really just getting the show and the world built and the audience to see what this world was. That was a lot of photo research and that type of thing. And then, it became more specific as it went on. I would do a lot more really specific medical and law research, to the point I was like, "I could probably be a lawyer in 1921. If you're going to sue somebody that backed into your Model T, I could probably do that.
The first season and a half, I was actually in the writers room and able to really make educated guesses and answer the questions as they came up. [After that] more of the answers would be harder to find, so I was spending more time in my office. I have an entire library in my office of books that I refer to.
Then when the first script comes out, I'll go through that and look at specific references and slang and that type of thing and really just check up on everything to make sure that it's in line with the period. Then I'll send that information to the writers, and as they do rewrites, they'll use most of that information to get everything in line. As they do rewrites, I'll keep up on that. As the show gets shot or whatever, if something comes up in post-production, I'll go down there or I'll talk with them.
I'm also giving a lot of visual reference to the directors, especially the new directors that come in. I'll give them a lot of photos of what's in the script that they're working on, historical photos. They have as much reference material to pull from as possible when they're directing the episode.
Levi: I come to it in sort of three phases. One phase is if they have a question. If they have one, Ed will shoot me the question. I don't consult with anybody but the library. Sometimes I know it, sometimes the library and I share information, but usually we come up with what he asks for. The other way that I come up with stuff is that I do a portfolio every year for Ed on what I think might be germane in that year that they wouldn't know, or wouldn't think of. I will say, "Here's a bunch of stuff that I think is interesting from that year." Finally, last year — and I hope to do it again this year — I have the opportunity to go speak with the writers and tell them what I hope they might look for in the next season, based on what I think might be interesting. That's how I operate.
What about non-story elements like costumes and visual aspects?
McGinty: Everybody on the production does a little bit of their own research. If they have a question outside of their purview, they ask me. But I'm particular. The art department has a woman named Miriam Schapiro and the production designer Bill Groom — they do a ton of their own research. This is period stuff, so we're looking at black-and-white photos. They actually have to go and find paint chips of the houses, the color and that kind of thing. And then, the wardrobe department, John Dunn and Lisa Padovani, they'll get old pieces of wardrobe, like a suit jacket.
Levi: When I went to the boardwalk [set] for the first time in Brooklyn, I was in tears it was so good. It was more the boardwalk of my childhood than the boardwalk of today, even though it was 1920. It was pristine, the colors were right, the arcs were right. Everything about it was perfect.
Winter: We have big meetings at the beginning of every season. We're in the new year, and styles changed dramatically during the 1920s — hairstyles, makeup, all that stuff. There's actually a chart I saw early on tracking the women's hemline from 1920 to 1929. It's just like it gets higher and higher every year. Everybody is as on top of this as I am.
I mean, we had a big debate about mustaches last year. By 1921, if you were under 30, you did not have a mustache. Your grandfather did that. A lot of that was actually driven by the Gillette Corporation and advertising. Gillette around 1920 came out with the safety razor, so men could shave themselves at home. Up until that point, most people got shaved at a barber shop. Now it was suddenly, you could go to a drug store, buy a razor, shave yourself. Gillette really started this ad campaign to make it so it wasn't cool to have a mustache.
How did you determine that a trend started from that?
Winter: The thing that settled it was we had the 1920 Princeton yearbook, and there wasn't a single mustache in the entire graduating class of 1920. If you looked at the graduating class of 1890, you'd see nothing but crazy beards and Rutherford B. Hayes-looking mutton chops and all that stuff.
But it also changes, too — just because it's 2012 doesn't mean that everybody out on the street is wearing clothes from 2012. I've got pants, I know, from 1995, probably in my closet. Unless my wife says, "You can't wear those," I will. That's the reality of the world we live in. Not everybody's up-to-date. New York City, of course, is more cutting-edge than Chicago. So, you'll get people in Atlantic City that are a little more sophisticated. You go to Chicago and you'll get people who are wearing clothes 20 years older or hairstyles from 20 years older. That's the kind of stuff we pay attention to as well, because it looks fake if everybody looks like they stepped out of that month's fashion magazine.
You're dealing with gangsters, the wise guys, from that time. Some of them are really fashionable and some of them are old-school and keep the same suit.
Winter: Dutch Schultz, actually, apparently, he always used to fight with Lucky Luciano because Luciano would wear like $30 silk shirts and Dutch Schultz, he said, "You can get a perfectly good shirt for $1.50. Why the fuck do I need to spend $30 on a shirt?" They both had millions of dollars by then, but Schultz could never get his head around why do you need to spend money on clothes. Who cares? You're not a woman.
What's one of the craziest things you'd have to research?
McGinty: There's a funny research story of Season 1. There was a scene where Nucky went away to Chicago. All the boys, the ward bosses and the sheriff, and some others, were all taking over his office. They happened to be watching a pornographic movie. I was in the scene and I was actually cranking the movie, and it gets jammed, and catches on fire. I also had to be the person that had to go to the Museum of Sex in New York for two straight days and watch all of the pornographic movies from the era. It was a dark point of my career.
What about the music on the show? Are you meticulous that it be a song that would've been playing in that place in that time period?
Winter: We've got a terrific music supervisor, Randy Poster, who does tons of the music selection for the show. I also, I do a lot of research myself about music on the internet, on YouTube. It's just a great resource. There's the season finale of Season 1: We had a song called "Life's a Funny Proposition After All." I found that. It was written by George M. Cohan. I found that on the internet. I thought it was really great. The Season 2 opener, there's a song called, "After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It." All correct to the period.
There have been times when I've rejected songs, or I found some that I thought were period-appropriate, and then I'd find out they were a couple years too late, and I won't use them. That's sort of the mandate, is it's got to be appropriate to the period. Everything except, of course, our main title song, which is completely inappropriate to the period.
In the season opener, there's a woman named Carrie Duncan, who is making a cross-continental flight. She's not real is she?
Winter: No. We fictionalized her. The character we based her on actually taught Amelia Earhart had to fly, Neta Snook. We based Carrie Duncan on that. As you'll see the episodes progress, you'll learn more about the outcome of Carrie's attempt at flight across country. We did fictionalize her, but she was based on a real female aviator of the period.
She's inspirational to Margaret [played by Kelly MacDonald] in her personal journey. It really does represent going off into parts unknown on your own, and really just taking control of your own life, heading out fearlessly into what could be a very dangerous situation. Margaret is adrift by the end of that episode one, and that's the thing that inspires her to move ahead and into a new direction.
McGinty: We thought that was really interesting. There was a lot of interest in aviation at the time. They put that up as an inspiration for Margaret, to where her story would go.
Do you ever pitch story lines or anything like that?
Levi: I, and I'm sure others, highlighted the Jack Dempsey association with Atlantic City. He trained there for the fight of the century and I highlighted that he became friends with the mayor. But I wouldn't say I'm the only one who noted that. I'm sure it came from other people.
McGinty: I wouldn't say I pitch stories. Early on, I was telling a lot of Atlantic City stories and that kind of thing to give them a feel for the place. I'm constantly, constantly reading. That's where I'm getting any of the new information, because I don't have a time machine. If something comes up that's interesting, I'll get it to Terry and the writers right away. I'm always giving them new bits of history that are part of the grand scheme of things. But I wouldn't actually walk into the room and say, "Nucky should do this."
Are you ever surprised when you see one of your suggestions in the show?
Levi: Were you shocked when they shot Jimmy Darmody? I was shocked too! But I also noticed they did it in front of the 1922 building of the monument by Carrère and Hastings by the high school [laughs]. That was the war memorial. I can't say I'm the only one who sent that in, but I sure had a folder on it.
Has there ever been something from a script or story pitch that you wanted to do but ended up having to reject because it was just too much of an anachronism?
Winter: The episode where Nucky goes to outer space, we couldn't do that [laughs]. We really wanted that, the jetpack episode. I think we probably stop ourselves before we get to the anachronistic stuff. There are certain historical events that I would love to see happen: the stock market crash, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. But it's just not time yet. Even Capone — you wait for Al Capone to become the Al Capone that we know and love, and we're still a couple seasons away from that guy. He's still on the rise. He's just, by the end of the season, is starting to come into his own as a boss, or as an equal to Johnny Torrio.
Any other Easter eggs you can share for the new season?
Winter: One of the things is the party, the opening New Year's Eve party. [See video below.] It's sort of an Egyptian theme. King Tut's tomb was just discovered a few months earlier, and that became the big rage. Suddenly, you've got people dressing in Egyptian fashions. It was very influential in terms of art design, and furniture, and a lot of the decor from the early '20s, from '23, was Egyptian-inspired, and that was all inspired by King Tut.
That had just happened, I think in November '22, so Margaret is very much on the cutting edge by having an Egyptian-themed New Year's party. It's a very oblique reference. The Egyptian thing became a sort of craze at that time, and just tracking what was going on in the world in the timeframe that we were depicting the show, that was one of the things that popped up. This had just happened. We were saying, "OK, we're going to start in January '23, what are current events? What are people talking about? What's been on their minds? King Tut was the thing everybody talked about.
Even the King Tut novelty song that they perform at the show was [real]. The King Tut thing happened, and then, as is the case today, suddenly it becomes a pop culture phenomenon. They had a novelty song already that Sophie Tucker had recorded, and that's the song they perform at the party."
Edward, do you have a lot of old family stories that you can rely on for storylines?
McGinty: My father would always tell these stories about how they would find a bunch of money in the marshland or something like that. Or they would wake up in the morning and there'd be crates of booze on their doorstep and that kind of thing. My father, he was born in the late '20s, so he's hearkening back to some earlier days. But my cousin recorded my grandfather telling a bunch of stories, and he talks about his days. He came up in vaudeville, and he came back and worked at the hotel. And so, he had all kinds of stories to tell.
My grandfather and my father, they were in cable television, and set up one of the first cable TV systems in the country in Atlantic City. They were literally in every single room, backroom, under every building in the city. They would tell a lot of stories about how there was these horse rooms and betting parlors and everything like that, because they would hook up things like the wire service for the horse races and that type of thing. They had all these inside stories about the politics that was going on and the gambling.
Edward and Vicki, being natives, do you feel a responsibility to do the city justice with the show?
McGinty: I do lose sleep at night with fears that something like that will come up on me. Even after it airs, there's so many eyes on the show. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I'm called to task. That happens every now and again when I'm back in Atlantic City, which I get back there quite a bit. Every now and again, some old-timer I see in a restaurant is like, "It wasn't like that back then." I just have to say, I always say, "It's a piece of historical fiction."
Levi: Atlantic City, they love that I'm here, I mean forget about it. It's going to be on my gravestone.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


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The Pennsylvania club brings the expanding chain expertise in family and kids programming.
CHALFONT, Pa. - Historically a dominant force in urban areas along the Northeast Corridor, Town Sports International (TSI) has been moving into the suburbs, especially in New Jersey, Connecticut, the District of Columbia and Virginia. To serve these suburban markets better, TSI decided that it must focus more on family and kids programming. However, lacking experience in this field, TSI chose to acquire an expert: the Highpoint Athletic Club in Chalfont, Pa.
"The facility is phenomenal," said Mark Smith, TSI's CEO. "Highpoint ranks among the top family-oriented multi-sports clubs in the country."
For that reason, Highpoint is a logical starting point and learning center for TSI as the company moves into family and children's programming. And it's equally logical that Frank Napolitano, Highpoint's owner, is being retained to lead the effort as TSI's new vice president of special programs. "That's where his real expertise lies, distinguishing him from other people in the industry," Smith noted.
In addition to his new title, Napolitano continues to hold the property on which Highpoint is located. TSI has only acquired the business, which will now be known as a Philadelphia Sports Club. Still, TSI will always keep a reference to the Highpoint Athletic Club name because it is well known and respected, according to Smith. With the Highpoint acquisition, TSI now operates three Philadelphia Sports Clubs. At press time, a fourth club was in presales with another about to enter the presale stage. TSI's ultimate goal is to expand to 15 to 20 locations in the Philadelphia area.


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