The 7 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Week
Phoenix New Times Music Writers January 8, 2018 7:00AM
Marilyn Manson is scheduled to perform on Wednesday, January 10, at The Van Buren. Courtesy of Biz3
Your East Coast friends are totally jealous of all the awesome weather we've been experiencing lately. No, really. (Haven't you been on social media lately?)
You might want to take advantage of it and get out of the house this week, maybe even to attend one of the "can't miss" concerts and music events happening over the next few nights.
That includes the long-awaited gig by Marilyn Manson at The Van Buren, as well as performances by bands like Milky Chance, Roadkill Ghost Choir, and Tatanka.
There will also be a few dance parties worth checking out, like the David Bowie Nite at Crescent Ballroom and the latest Thump Daze party at Lost Leaf.
Full details of all these events can be found below in our rundown of the best concerts and music events in Phoenix this week. And for even more gigs happening around town, check out our live music listings.
Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Daush of Milky Chance.
Courtesy of Republic Records
The Van Buren
A trifecta of German folk, reggae, and electronic music, Milky Chance are a harmonious cacophony of something you've never really heard before. Singer Clemens Rehbein has the voice of a long-lost friend, his raspy, sultry attitude enriched by dreamy beats from producer Philipp Daush.
Their 2013 album Sadnecessary became an international hit, launching the duo into multiple world tours, as well as performances at venues and festivals worldwide. And after a four-year wait, Milky Chance finally released a follow-up album, Blossom, in 2017, which charted in countries worldwide, including the Billboard 200. They're currently touring in support of the 14-song LP and will visit The Van Buren on January 9. Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi opens. Eleanor Lambert
Ramblin' Jack Elliott visits the MIM this week.
Courtesy of ANTI- Records
Ramblin' Jack Elliott & Peter Rowan
Folk singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott is truly the last of a dying breed, one of the last mastodons looking down at a herd of cattle and thinking, "Look at those frail, wimpy things."
Staccato stories from a free-wheeling life roll out of the man, now 86, as he bounces from tangent to tangent: lost guitars, actress girlfriends, Taos, the Alps, Utah Phillips, rodeos, Woody Guthrie, bluegrass and banjo players, hitchhiking trips to New Orleans, Kris Kristofferson, dancing around a banana tree with a naked ballerina. All are told with wit, verve, and a faint sense of lost youth.
Elliott's stories, and his life, bridge virtually the entire span of folk music and what has come to be called Americana. He rode trains with Woody Guthrie, was a role model for Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie, shared stages with everyone from Odetta to Fred Neil – and is ready to do it some more. On Tuesday night, he'll share a stage and spin yarns with bluegrass musician and instrumentalist Peter Rowan at the MIM. William Michael Smith
Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson.
Mike Brooks
Say what you will about America's favorite satanist, but it can't be denied that Marilyn Manson will always be an important thread in America's rock and roll fabric.
Whether you're a fan or not — the shock rocker/boundary-pushing gender-bender goth lord is a divider, people either love or hate him — his cultural impact and musical history is fascinating. To follow his story is to follow the evolution of American popular culture and our reaction to one of its most extreme voices.
Retrospectively, his antics of yesteryear appear tame when compared to today's standards, and for that, you can thank him and his band. Art, without pushing its boundaries, remains stagnant. If ever there was a performer who capsized the proverbial boat in the stagnant waters of modern rock, it's Manson. Kristy Loye
The members of Roadkill Ghost Choir.
Courtesy of Big Hassle Media
Roadkill Ghost Choir
Valley Bar
The organic Americana sound created by indie folk troupe Roadkill Ghost Choir stands in stark contrast to the sleek, modern, Top 40 radio pop. Banjo-led songs with touches of folk, like the group's breakout track "Beggars' Guild," are as refreshing as taking a dip in a spring.
Add steel pedal guitar licks and Southern-rock charm and you'd assume the five guys who make up the band grew up in some tiny town in Florida's zany swampland. In actuality, the three Shepard brothers at the band's core – vocalist/guitarist Andrew, bassist Zach, and drummer Maxx – were raised in Deland, a town near Orlando.
At age 19, Andrew discovered the sweeping orchestral melodies of Sufjan Stevens and, a few years later, started exploring the country yearnings of Willie Nelson. He calls the discovery of Nelson's outlaw country tunes a "defining moment" in his young career because it caused the young musician to begin crafting songs.
Just a few years later, Roadkill Ghost Choir was fully realized when Andrew asked his brothers to perform with him. Success came at a rapid speed for the Shepard gang – one fan posted a song of theirs on Reddit, thereby catching the ear of notable comedian Joe Rogan, who in turn championed the band on his successful podcast. After just an EP's worth of material, the five-piece found itself on the iconic Late Show With David Letterman. Last year, Roadkill Ghost Choir released their latest album, False Youth Etcetera, which they're supporting with their current tour. Alex Rendon
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Washtenaw Non-Profits
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Tips & Tricks For A Stronger Booth Presence
Policies, Rules and Regulations for the Washtenaw Non-Profits and Member Participants in the 2023 Ann Arbor Art Fairs
1. Non profit organizations only. You must provide your (or your national or state organization's) Federal IRS nonprofit (501(c)(4), or 527) identification number or have annual revenues less than the non-profit reporting provisions of the IRS. No commercial or arts and crafts exhibitors. All organizations must operate an office* in Washtenaw county (each organization is requested to provide an abridged version of its non-profit mission statement as reflected in its bylaws, articles of incorporation or other governing documents, with their application materials).
* To meet the definition for having an office in Washtenaw County, your group must satisfy four out of the seven listed criteria:
i. Regular published meetings.
ii. Local organization mailing address in county.
iii. Phone bill in organization name.
iv. Local bank account in county.
v. Commercial office space in county.
vi. IRS or State documents with county address.
vii. More than four members or 50% of membership in county
2. Donations for your organization only may be solicited and accepted. Items (buttons, posters, etc.) may be distributed or sold provided they directly promote the non-profit organization or its cause, if they include the organization's name or logo or relate to the organization's mission statement, and are predominantly noncommercial in nature and content. The phrase "Ann Arbor Art Fair(s)" cannot be used on any of the items distributed at a booth.
3. Raffles or drawings are permitted, but they must conform to any government regulations. Each member will assume responsibility for obtaining and conforming to these regulations, and for organizing and conducting its raffle or drawing. Washtenaw Non-Profits assumes no liability therein. No food or drink (except professionally bottled spring water and factory wrapped candy) can be sold or given away at member booths. Loud speakers, amplification systems or music systems are allowed provided they do not disturb neighboring booths. Alcohol or other drugs are not allowed.
4. All groups are assigned a standard space of six feet by six feet, with a maximum height of eight feet. You may use a booth or table in this space. Displays and literature distribution must not extend beyond your designated 6′ x 6′ area. The extensions (the space between sidewalk and designated both area) must be kept clear of materials and bodies. This fire marshal requirement will be strictly enforced, so be sure to notify all staff in the booth. Spaces will be clearly marked on the pavement so you will know your boundaries. (Participants may retain two storage boxes on the extension.)
5. All materials used in the construction of, or in the connection of the physical booth or table must be provided by the participant. All booths need to be constructed of fire retarding materials as specified by NFPA 701. If you have further questions about fire retarding materials, please contact your local fire marshal.
6. Booths and tables must be completely constructed by 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 20 (the first day of the fair). It is preferred, however, that booths be constructed on Wednesday, starting at 10am. Booths, tables, merchandise and literature may be left on site at the risk of the participant. The booth/table materials must be completely removed by 10:00pm on Saturday July 22nd (the last day of the fair).
7. There will be no parking space provided for the participants in the non-profit section of the Art Fair. No vehicles will be allowed on Liberty Street during the regular hours of the Fair. Vehicles are to be off Liberty Street by 9:30 am prior to the start of the Fair each morning. Vehicles are not allowed on Liberty Street until 15 minutes after the close of the Fair each evening. Art Fair hours are 10:00 am – 9:00 pm Thursday & Friday, and Saturday 10:00 am-8:00 pm. Please minimize the number of vehicles on Liberty Street by parking in nearby lots and using carts or dollies to transport your materials. When driving in for set up/breakdown, enter Liberty Street from Fifth Street and exit on Division Street–traffic flows one way (west to east) during the fair; display your pass in front window of your set-up/break-down vehicle. Please adhere to these and all other Washtenaw Non-Profit traffic rules (to be detailed in the June mandatory meeting).
8. Each group must designate an accountable person who shall be responsible for: knowing all rules and regulations; distributing necessary information to (own group) members; ensuring that all assigned duties are adequately performed; staffing booths. A $25 fee will be deducted from the $50 participation fee per violation of rules. (Example: $25 may be assessed for not performing assigned trash and traffic duty; for not adequately staffing booth, etc.) After a third violation is recorded you could be banned from the next years Art Fair. You must record the completion of your duty with the Washtenaw Non-profits Information booth (i.e., not the State Street Area Info booth down the street); if your staff does not understand where this booth is, the penalty is yours.
9. Except under rare circumstances, booths must be attended during all hours throughout the Art Fair. Booths found unattended will be assessed a penalty (point 8 above) or disallowed from continued participation, or both, depending on the duration or frequency of absenteeism. This provision shall be strictly enforced (and booth staffing shall be closely monitored). Wait-listed participants will be called to fill any empty booths
10. Booths may be shared, pending joint application approval, and space availability. This may include the sharing of space or time. All applicants must clearly state a request for joint usage (including days) if applicable. All joint usage must be applied for during the regular application process.
11. Each organization must provide its own insurance for their materials (if so desired).
12. All participants are responsible for collecting their own sales tax. Sales tax will be monitored by State authorities throughout the Fair. Have your tax-exempt number hand or they will collect taxes on the spot!
13. The booth fee of $150 per (single) space is due with the application . Each applying organization must also pay a refundable $50 participation fee. The participation fee will be refunded at the close of the Art Fair if:
You attend short, mandatory meeting two weeks before the Art Fair.
You provide volunteers to work trash details, recycling station duty, or parking barricade duty. Day and time will be assigned by the Washtenaw Non-profits and notification is at the mandatory meeting.
You clean up your booth space at the close of the Art Fair.
You staff your booth for all hours throughout the Art Fair.
14. Remember to submit your participant fee as a separate check from the application fee. Meeting all these conditions will entitle you to a full refund of your participant fee.
15. No one may sublet or assign space to any other organization or artist.
16. Washtenaw Non-Profits, the City of Ann Arbor, The State Street Art Fair, The Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans, Summer Art Fair, and the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair disclaim any responsibility or liability for any damages or thefts to or from the physical booths, contents, and/or the booth participants. Washtenaw Non-profits members have agreed to hire security for fair nights (Weds., Thurs., Fri.).
17. Violations of any of the Policies, Rules and Regulations will result in immediate forfeiture of both the application and the participant fees, As well as the right to participate in the non-profit section of the Ann Arbor Art Fair in succeeding years.
18. The deadline for withdrawal (with full reimbursement) from the Washtenaw Non-Profit section of the Fair without penalty is July 1, 2023.
19. The Washtenaw Non-Profits operates as a contracted confederation of member organizations. Meeting the terms of the Policies, Rules and Regulations establishes membership status in the Washtenaw Non-Profits. Decision making is conducted under simple majority rules (50% plus 1), with a spirit of agreement-seeking so that the voices and views of each member organization representative are recognized and addressed in reasonable terms. Traditionally, Washtenaw Non-Profits general membership elects at its annual winter meeting two spokespersons and a Steering Committee, from the general body, which is empowered to make provisional changes to the Policies, Rules, and Regulations. At the annual meeting, the general membership organizations' representatives are to review and finalize for each year's Fair(s) amendments to the Policies, Rules, and Regulations made by the Steering Committee. The two spokespersons are to be recommended to the Mayor of Ann Arbor for appointment to the Mayor's Art Fair Committee. All meetings of the Washtenaw Non-Profits are to follow open-meeting provisions.
You may download the documents below in Acrobat format (Right-click and Save-as):
WNP-Rules
WNP-Fire-Rules
WNP-Booth-Map
Booth Signage – Informative and Eye Catching
Create Amazon Smile for your Nonprofit
Get professional pictures of your booth during the fair
Order promotional items with your logo
Structure a great pitch
© 2014 Washtenaw Non-Profits
WordPress Design & Support Cassandra Consulting Ann Arbor, MI


The Patriot 2000
This film has some miniature ships nicely shot in a dry studio with motion control and inserted into various digital matte paintings and CG oceans.
Twelve ship models were built at 1/12 scale, six three masted ships and six smaller vessels representing a variety of smaller craft. Supervised by Joachim Grüninger, they were made from pine with various small details cast in urethane resin. The larger ships were featured as British ships and re-purposed to represent the French fleet so they were designed to be fairly generic in shape and colour scheme. They were mounted on a motion control base which was programmed to simulate the rocking motion of a ship in water and shot against a large green screen. These miniature elements were then digitally composited into the required shots.
Other miniatures included the buildings on the other side of the street in the dockside of Charlestown made at 1/12 and 1/24 scale and the roof and cupola of the town hall which was the foreground element of a transitional matte painting with a CG flag flying.
The miniature work is by Magicon a German company with some very impressive behind the scenes material on their website from the projects they have worked on. Some projects of note are the miniatures from 10000 BC, a Monster calls and the miniature tsunami effects from The Impossible.
Magicon
Source - Cinefex Number 83 October 2000
Labels: 2000s', Joachim Grüninger, Magicon
Virus 1998
The Poseidon Adventure 1972


Thomas Langlois Lefroy
Alfred Webb
A Compendium of Irish Biography
Lefroy, Thomas Langlois, Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench, was born in the County of Limerick, 8th January 1776 — descended from an old Huguenot family. He entered Trinity College, 2nd November 1790, and was a member of the old College Historical Society, broken up in 1794. As auditor of the new society established in 1795, he delivered the opening address, and obtained four gold medals for oratory. He was called to the Bar in 1797. Two years afterwards he married at Abergavenny a Miss Paul, a member of one of the many Wexford families that retired to Wales during the Insurrection. In 1806, having risen high in practice, and having, in conjunction with his friend Mr. Schoales, published a valuable series of Reports, he was appointed King's Counsel; two years later he was made King's Sergeant. He was a prominent member of nearly all Protestant religious associations, including the Kildare-place Education Society. In 1830 his resignation of the sergeantcy created some sensation. He was prompted to this step by the Government declining to send him as usual judge of assize on a vacancy occurring. His known Protestant proclivities and his unpopularity with the Catholic party were the causes of this apparent slight.
He sat as member for Dublin University from 1830 to 1841 — taking the Conservative side, and opposing the extension of the Reform Bill to Ireland. In 1841, not without reluctance, seeing that his claims to the Chancellorship had been overlooked, he accepted the post of Baron of the Exchequer. He sat as judge during most of the political trials of 1848, and passed sentence on John Mitchel and other leaders of the Young Ireland movement. In 1852 he became Chief-Justice. "As a judge, he was remarkable for the quickness with which he apprehended the essential features of the cases submitted to him, while his comprehensive grasp of legal principles, and his skill in the application of them, have rarely, if ever, been surpassed."[304] In 1866 unsuccessful efforts were made in Parliament to remove him because of his great age. Later in the same year he resigned, refusing offers of a baronetcy and a seat on the Privy Council for his son. He died at Newcourt, near Bray, 4th May 1869, aged 93 years, retaining his faculties to the end. He was buried at Mount Jerome. Mr. Lefroy was a devoted parent, delighting in home; and was of a deeply religious cast of mind. He left behind a collection of meditations on religious subjects.
16. Authors, Dictionary of British and American: S. Austin Allibone. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1859-'71.
213. Lefroy, Chief Justice, Memoir: Thomas Lefroy. Dublin, 1871.
304. Sheil's, Richard Lalor, Sketches Legal and Political: Edited with Notes by M. W. Savage. 2 vols. London, 1855.
« Joseph Sheridan LeFanu
Thomas Leland »


Home » Archive by Category "US News" (Page 2)
Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Portland: 1 dead; 4 hospitalized
By Guest Author
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New York reports UK strain of COVID-19 in Saratoga Springs
By NewsDesk @bactiman63 On Monday, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the first confirmed case of the UK strain of COVID-19 virus in New York has been detected in Saratoga Springs. The new strain...
Chlorhexidine Gluconate Oral Rinse recalled due to Burkholderia lata contamination risk
Precision Dose, Inc. is voluntarily recalling all lots of Chlorhexidine Gluconate Oral Rinse USP, 0.12%, 15mL Unit Dose Cups bearing an expiration date from 1/31/2021 – 02/28/2022 (see specific lots...
Shigella increase reported in Seattle area in recent weeks
By NewsDesk @bactiman63 Officials with Public Health – Seattle & King County are reporting an increase in shigellosis cases since mid-December in King County. Since the end of October, Public...
Delaware reports 1st flu-related death of the season
Delaware health officials reported this week the first flu-related death of the 2020-2021 season. The individual was a 56-year-old Kent county male infected with influenza B, who also had underlying...
Dog and cat food recalled over Aflatoxin risk
By NewsDesk @bactiman63 Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc., of Evansville, IN is issuing a voluntary recall of the below listed dog and cat food products due to tests indicating levels of Aflatoxin that exceed...
Valley fever: The cost of the fungal infection in Arizona is very expensive
By NewsDesk @bactiman63 In a new study published this week in the journal, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, researchers from the University of Arizona and others estimated the lifetime cost-of-illness...
San Diego reports 3 additional cases of new COVID-19 strain
By NewsDesk @bactiman63 In a follow-up report from earlier this week in California, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency reported three new cases of the United Kingdom variant of COVID-19,...
Florida reports 1st new COVID-19 strain case in Martin County
Florida has become the third state, after Colorado and California, to report the detection of a United Kingdom variant of COVID-19 in the US. According to a Florida Department of Health tweet yesterday:...
First Case of United Kingdom Coronavirus Variant Detected in California
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has been notified by San Diego County Public Health Services of a patient with the variant COVID-19 virus strain originally detected in the United Kingdom. This...


Cyclists at traffic lights (©Toby Jacobs)
Too much Cycle City Ambition… and not enough cash
At least £80million of Cycle City bids chase £30million govt funding as UK cities look to invest in cycling
Tue, May 07, 2013 13:48
At least seven bids totalling nearly £80 million have been submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) to try and win a slice of the £30 million Cycle City Ambition cash for cities in England announced by Minister for Transport Norman Baker in January.
Up to three cities, possibly only one or two, will be successful given the current level of funding available. If even just two of the three most ambitious bids were chosen, the combined amounts involved would be greater than the £30million total available.
The deadline for applications was last Tuesday 30 April, and road.cc has identified seven separate bids for the money available - according to on report there are as many as 20.
Even seven bids means that demand outstrips supply by a factor of 2.5 to 1 – this will go much higher once full details of all of the bids become available.
The cities we have so far identified (we'll be carrying out further research to find others), and the sums that local authorities or passenger transport executives concerned are seeking according to the sources we have seen, are:
Manchester (TfGM) £20 million
Leeds/Bradford (Metro) £18 million
Birmingham £17 million
Bristol £10 million
Nottingham £6 million
Cambridge £4.1 million
Norwich £3.4 million
Other cities believed to have put forward bids include Oxford, Southend and Ipswich, and we have asked the DfT whether it is able to confirm how many bids have been submitted in total and where they have come from.
The actual sums those cities contemplate investing should their bids prove successful is substantially higher, due to a match funding requirement stipulated by the DfT – Cambridgeshire County Council, for example, would match-fund to the tune of 50%, seeking £4.1 million from the DfT for schemes worth a total £8.2 million.
Now we at road.cc are under no illusions that the UK has a long, long way to go in matching the levels of investment in cycling, not to mention quality of infrastructure and other issues such as presumed liability that are so common on the Continent.
But we're encouraged that so many cities are now firmly committed to investing in cycling, and to stumping up the cash in terms of match funding that would make their plans become reality - assuming their bids were successful.
Certainly, in the nearly five years since road.cc was founded, we believe there has been a noticeable increase in interest in investing in cycling infrastructure by local authorities that has accelerated over the past year to 18 months. A number of factors can be assumed to have contributed, the example set by successive adminstrations in London and what might be termed the London effect as cycling becomes more mainstream in the capital and London centred national media projecting that out to the rest of the country – The Times Cities fit for Cycling campaign has provided a focal point for those who had been lobbying for improvements for years, and via a channel that politicians had to take seriously. In cash straitened times it is probably also the case that the message is starting to get through about the cost effectiveness of investment in cycling.
There's little doubt either that Olympic and Paralympic success last summer, together with Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France and, the previous year, Mark Cavendish taking the world title have not only raised the profile of cycling as a sport, but also encouraged people to take to two wheels.
There's a long way to go, and it's clear that for every local authority keen to promote cycling and pump cash into it, there are others whose way of thinking is still built around the car.
The CTC and British Cycling have both said in no uncertain terms that the next step is to ensure that the Get Britain Cycling report has a chance of being debated in Parliament by getting 100,000 people to sign the e-petition posted by The Times urging Prime Minsiter David Cameron to act.
Cycling organisations are urging cyclists, their families, and friends to sign the petition, If you haven't signed the petition yet, you can find it here and so can your family and frinds. The faster it reaches the 100,000 signature target the more likely it is to win debating time in parliament and the greater the chance of speeding up the process of making our streets, towns and cities safer and more pleasant places for everyone.
The peitition currently totals 53,401 signatures, if you can add it that please do - we will continue to bring you regular updates on the peitition's progress. .
In the meantime, if you are aware that your local authority has submitted a Cycle City Ambition bid, please let us know in the comments.
Cycle City Ambition Fund
Cities Fit For Cycling
Get Britain Cycling


Alexandre Lemille
Africa, a Circular Continent
By Alexandre Lemille
Source: www.ACEN.Africa
First published in Green Economy Journal, issue 35, page 26 (p.28 in the digital version), June/July 2019, South Africa
Western Economists could argue that Africa has not yet fully "benefited" from what is historically known as the linear economy. On the contrary, innovative new business solutions are emerging that are beneficial for profit, the planet and its people. The circular economy is no longer a hype; Africa may yet prove to be the continent playing the tune that others will follow in this economic revolution.
The linear economy is based on extraction models (often from African soils) to manufacture, assemble and then distribute consumer products. In its entirety this process is designed in a way that the extracted raw materials are sent several times around the planet in the assembly of goods, with obvious negative impacts on our environment as a result.
The consumer product is not built to last; it either becomes (technically) outdated or is replaced in favour of the 'new' and, if it was to be repaired this often comes at a higher cost that replacing it. This results in huge waste of products that are dumped into the environment, end up at a landfill or get incinerated as "residue" when reaching the end of their perceived "useful" lifespan.
This waste perception of end of life products does not factor in the multitude of costs and investments lost forever:
· costs of environmental destruction
· lost investments in research and development
· loss of residual energy now and working hours
In contrast to this model, the circular economy suggests preserving consumer goods as long as possible in our market economies and changing our way of thinking about the object by using it differently. The aim is to preserve the investments made, reduce our environmental impacts and make companies sustainable with innovative approaches based on a service economy rather than the consumption of goods.
In Africa, some countries have already banned single-use plastics and implemented decrees on electronic waste. In 2016, the African Circular Economy Network (www.ACEN.Africa) was born in South Africa based on the belief that Africa could thrive on circular economy principals. This movement has now spread across the continent to more than 29 countries with great results that showcase the regeneration of soils and the reuse of products available over the longer term, based on innovative service models.
Of the many examples in upcycling there is the start-up in Cameroon that turns tyres into flooring, or AmbiReciclo in Angola that recycles tyres and vegetable oils. In Senegal, many recycling programs exist (SeTIC, Proplast (Recuplast)). In Egypt, UpFuse has recycled more than 50,000 plastic bags since 2013. In Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, Coliba has developed a mobile application for municipalities to identify the value of unused resources and monetise it. In Ghana, the Agbogbloshie Marketspace Platform (AMP) is creating value from e-waste by giving it a second life. The African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, for its part has rolled out a program aimed at creating 2,000 jobs in the collection and transformation of plastics. In Morocco, Tawafouk values waste. In Uganda, it is a car cleaning company that reuses water in closed loops. In Rwanda, the e-waste plant has collected more than 120 tons of electronic waste and repaired 400 computers in the first six months of its launch. In Mauritius, Belle Verte provides resource management solutions while reselling upcycled products, as does Environment 360 in Ghana through its resource recovery cooperative.
If we continue our journey in the re-manufacturing and refurbishing loops, we find a social enterprise in Kenya, the "Circular Economy Hub" which is about to launch its refurbishment unit for electronic products. In South Africa, Barloworld re-manufactures Caterpillar machine parts for resale on the market with the same warranty as a virgin product.
In the smaller beneficial loops which are the maintenance and repair of products there is Hello Tractor in Nigeria which gives access of shared agricultural equipment to hundreds of farmers. In eco-design, innovations abound in the Abidjan FabLab and Nairobi Circular Design in Kenya.
In the biological and agricultural cycles, Lono Côte d'Ivoire facilitates the lives of small farmers through permaculture solutions that negate the need for expensive fertilizers. The famous Songhai Farm in Benin has been using permaculture for several decades and influenced the concept of the Blue Economy. In South Africa there is the award-winning Agriprotein unit that produces animal feed from black soldier fly larvae. In Lilongwe Zambia, ICLEI Africa is implementing an ambitious composting programme. In Mozambique, a study on regenerative thinking was carried out in the Açucreira sugar factory in Xinavane based on the concept of industrial ecology. This same concept is being studied within the South African Economic Development Zones and supported by the three industrial symbiosis programmes. Zimbabwe has the unique Eastgate Shopping Mall running on 90% natural air system and Ethiopia, for its part, has a national programme to regenerate its agriculture. Meanwhile, the social enterprise Djouman organises Agri-Bootcamp in permaculture throughout West Africa and organic restaurants are open in Accra where you can eat the leaves of Katemfe.
Most of these examples come from the ACEN Network members, that have implemented innovative solutions and shared them in order to inspire further circular thinking.
Green Economy Journal, issue 35 — www.issuu.com
About ACEN:
The African Circular Economy Network is a South African Not-for-Profit organisation since 2016. It also has a registered organisation based in Nigeria. ACEN's vision is about "building a restorative African economy that generates well-being and prosperity inclusive of all its people through new forms of economic production and consumption which maintain and regenerate its environmental resources." ACEN today operates in 29 countries thanks to experts advising public and private organisations locally. They can be reached via our website: www.ACEN.Africa
Meet with ACEN!
We are an active partner of the upcoming Conference on Circular Economy and green jobs with UNIDO and the European Union, on 22nd/23rd July 2019 in Dakar, Sénégal.
For more information on how to co-create a beautiful definition of Africa write to : Info@ACEN.Africa
Alexandre LEMILLE is a co-founder of the African Network of Circular Economy and its Secretary General. Creating human value is the foundation for triggering answers to our economic, environmental and societal issues.
The Circular Humansphere or how humans will preserve conditions conducive to life #CircHumansphere
Circulareconomy
Circular Africa
Acen
More from Alexandre Lemille
How To Talk About Climate Hope: Energizing Tiny Actions To Save The Planet
Gavin Lamb, PhD in Wild Ones
The many, many types of "eco-friendly" plastic, explained
Yue Huang
Pitting Jobs Against Climate Action is a False Choice.
Kulani Abendroth-Dias in Age of Awareness
The Endangered Species Act Amendments of 2020
Defenders of Wildlife in Wild Without End
Climate Change and Florida: What You Need to Know
How Humans Broke The Climate Computer
Indi Samarajiva in The Startup
6 Times the Environment Won in 2018
Fast Fashion: The Ugly Truth
Jensen Li in Age of Awareness


You are here: Home > T-Mobile Officially Announces Galaxy Note, "Coming In A Few Weeks"
T-Mobile Officially Announces Galaxy Note, "Coming In A Few Weeks"
Oh T-Mobile, how I love your midnight press releases just moments after I turn the computer off — and you announce the Galaxy Note. Well, technically they announced the Galaxy Note earlier in the day, but with their midnight press release comes a bit of new information, including specs but nothing on price or release date.
Let's get this right out-of-the-way, any hopes for a Snapdragon S4 are dashed as T-Mobile's press release confirms the existence of a Snapdragon S3 inside the Galaxy Note. The S3 processor is paired with a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42Mbps network and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box.
The Galaxy Note with Premium Suite also includes a "range of productivity enhancing features, such as the S Pen, S Memo and Polaris Office." I think it's safe to say that T-Mobile will use the Galaxy Note with their re-energized B2B efforts.
The Galaxy Note also includes T-Mobile's "4G Pro App Pack," which includes applications like Dropbox, Evernote, Square, Tripit, CamScammer and LInkedIn," again emphasizing a B2B focus with the Note.
The Samsung Galaxy Note is expected to be available in T-Mobile stores and online "in the coming weeks." We're still looking at August 8th according to our sources, for what it's worth at this point.
"In addition to larger screens, today customers demand more from their devices — from having safeguarded access to corporate email and other productivity features to being able to rely on a speedy network for streaming content," said Andrew Morrison, vice president, product management, T-Mobile USA. "With the unique and highly innovative Galaxy Note in our lineup, we are even better equipped to help our customers strike the perfect balance as they juggle both professional and personal activities."
Full Press Release:
T-Mobile Expands Its Galaxy Lineup With the Samsung Galaxy Note™
Smartphone Delivers Innovative All-in-One Experience With the Perfect Blend of Work and Play Features
BELLEVUE, Wash., — July 17, 2012 — T-Mobile USA, Inc., the No. 1 mobile operator brand in Samsung Galaxy S™ sales, and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S. and the No. 1 smartphone provider worldwide1, today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Galaxy Note™. One of T-Mobile's fastest devices leveraging its 4G (HSPA+ 42) network and running on Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung's Premium Suite, the Galaxy Note provides an innovative, all-in-one experience that is perfect for work, play and everything in between.
Consumers are demanding larger smartphone screen sizes. In fact, a recent T-Mobile survey2 showed 77 percent of consumers prefer a device with a 4.5-inch or larger display rather than a smaller screen. The Galaxy Note speaks directly to that demand with a 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED™ touch screen — the largest screen on a T-Mobile® smartphone. The device is elegantly designed to handle both business and home tasks with ease.
The Galaxy Note with Premium Suite provides a range of productivity-enhancing features, such as the S Pen™, S Note, S Memo™ and Polaris Office. Now T-Mobile customers can write notes, to-do lists and annotate documents; share ideas and edited content; and create documents, presentations and spreadsheets to maximize efficiency while on the go. S Note helps to professionalize communications by providing templates for seven commonly used documents such as an idea note, travel notes, diary entry, meeting notes and recipes. S Note also allows you to import and annotate a PDF file and convert dictated or handwritten memos to text with the Continual Voice Input and Handwriting-to-Text features. With S Memo, Galaxy Note users have one-touch access to creating a typewritten, handwritten or voice dictated memo; researching information during creation; and adding an image.
The Galaxy Note also has the SAFE (Samsung Approved for Enterprise™) designation, which means it has a full suite of enterprise-ready features and capabilities, including comprehensive IT policy support for top-tier mobile device management (MDM) providers, on-device AES256-bit encryption, enhanced support for Microsoft Exchange, as well as integrated support for a range of virtual private network (VPN) solutions. The Galaxy Note also provides Wi-Fi Calling capabilities and, with a qualifying rate plan, can act as a Smartphone Mobile HotSpot for up to five devices.
The Samsung Galaxy Note also offers the T-Mobile 4G Pro App Pack, an aggregation of key applications, such as Dropbox, Evernote, Square, TripIt, CamScanner and LinkedIn, that can reduce the complexity and effort associated with finding and downloading business-related applications. By providing an easy path to cloud services such as Dropbox and Evernote, T-Mobile helps professionals easily store and access the documents, files, images and notes that will help them better manage their work from virtually anywhere.
Featuring a snappy Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ S3 Processor with 1.5 Ghz Dual-Core CPUs, the Galaxy Note provides customers with incredible 4G experiences, making it the perfect all-in-one device to maximize efficiency and productivity, in addition to fun. The Galaxy Note offers a variety of entertainment experiences, such as T-Mobile TV in mobile HD3 for watching live TV programming, Samsung Media Hub for renting and buying the latest movies and TV shows, and Google Play Music for streaming and purchasing music. The Galaxy Note also features an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, to capture pictures and HD videos to share with friends, family and social networks.
The Samsung Galaxy Note is expected to be available at select T-Mobile retail stores and online via www.T-Mobile.com in the coming weeks.
Tags: 42Mbps, Dual Core, galaxy note, HSPA+ 42, s pen, samsung galaxy note, snapdragon s3
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Suu Kyi in court as genocide case set out at ICJ against Myanmar
ReutersDecember 10, 2019
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi enters the court room of the International Court of Justice for the first day of three days of hearings in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. — AP
Mass rapes, the burning alive of Muslim Rohingya families in their homes and the killing with knives of dozens of children were described by Gambia's legal team as it set out its genocide case against Myanmar at the United Nation's highest court on Tuesday.
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, looked on impassively as the alleged atrocities were detailed on the first of three days of hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The case was instituted by The Gambia against Buddhist-majority Myanmar in November.
"All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings," Gambia's Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou said in opening comments. "To stop these acts of barbarity and brutality that have shocked and continue to shock our collective conscience. To stop this genocide of its own people."
Suu Kyi is expected on Wednesday to repeat denials of genocide and argue that military "clearance operations" launched in August 2017 were a legitimate counterterrorism response to attacks by Rohingya militants.
Detailing events at the village of Min Gyi, Gambia's lawyer Andrew Loewenstein drew on witness accounts recorded in a report by UN investigators, who estimated 750 people were killed there, including more than 100 children under the age of six.
"There were dead bodies on the floor: young boys from our village," Loewenstein quoted from one survivor's testimony to the UN fact-finding mission.
"As we entered the house, the soldiers locked the door. One soldier raped me. He stabbed me in the back of my neck and in my abdomen. I was trying to save my baby, who was only 28 days old, but they threw him on the ground and he died."
At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Gambia asked the court to order special measures to protect the Rohingya. The so-called provisional measures would act as a kind of restraining order for the Myanmar military until the case is heard in full.
"Only in this way can we hope the rights of The Gambia and the safety of the Rohingya group be fully protected," said Philippe Sands, another lawyer for the tiny, mostly Muslim West African country.
Calls for justice
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after the military-led crackdown and were forced into squalid camps across the border in Bangladesh. The UN investigators concluded the military campaign was executed with "genocidal intent".
Myanmar has previously denied almost all allegations made by refugees against its troops, including of mass rape, killings and arson, and promised to punish any soldiers involved in what it says were isolated cases of wrongdoing.
Outside the court, dozens of Rohingya demonstrated to demand justice for victims. Hours earlier in Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital, thousands of people had rallied in support of Suu Kyi.
"It's like Mother Suu went to the frontlines for our country," said 58-year-old Myint Myint Thwin. "Therefore to show our support and that we stand with her we joined this march."
Once feted in the West, Suu Kyi has faced mounting international criticism over the Rohingya crisis. But she has remained popular at home since coming to power 2016 as part of the transition to democracy after decades of military rule.
The Gambia is arguing that Myanmar's forces carried out widespread and systematic atrocities that constituted genocide, and that in doing so Myanmar violated its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
This week's proceedings, before a panel of 17 judges, will not deal with whether Myanmar is guilty of the most serious international crime but will focus on Gambia's request for provisional measures. A decision on that request is expected within weeks.
The tribunal has no enforcement powers, but its rulings are final and have significant legal weight.
In the Bangladeshi refugee camps on Tuesday, hundreds gathered on a hilltop and chanted, "Gambia! Gambia!", pumping their fists. Some offered special prayers at mosques in the camps and many others were fasting.
"Our people were killed, our children were thrown into fire, our women were raped, our houses were burnt down. All we want is a fair trial," said Nurul Amin, 30.
Nobel laureates ask Suu Kyi to be held accountable for crimes against Rohingya Muslims
International Criminal Court approves probe into alleged Myanmar Rohingya abuse
Rohingya genocide still taking place in Myanmar: UN investigator
Political Vapors Trail.
The poor downtrodden Rohingyas were killed by armed forces of Myanmar junta. And Suu Kyi did nothing to stop the horrific heinous genocide. BD has thousands of refugees in its soil, and this is the most speaking truth. ICJ may please revoke the Nobel prize, along with other penalties.
Majeed at Thani
Dec 11, 2019 02:20am
Attrocities against the Rohinga are well-documented. It is time to strip Aung San Suu Kyi of her Nobel laurels, otherwise it would be difficult for people to believe that the Nobel Committee does not have a political agenda.
Strip her of her Nobel prize.
send her back to the land where genocide is rampant. she will just lie.


Organ Trail on Ouya
I'm glad to announce that as of June 18th the full version of Organ Trail: Director's Cut went live on Ouya.
As for my thoughts on Ouya (as that is what everyone asks me about) I find that I want it to be the indie box. I want all the cool multiplayer indie games like Samurai Gunn or TowerFall on it. As of right now there are some issues with the store and discoverability but hey, you get that everywhere else and they are constantly updating the thing, so I'm hoping in the next year the quality games flow in. I guess part of the question is whether or not it's worth it to develop a game for the Ouya. I say… ask me a again in few months when I have sales figures.
This is our first console release and it was a lot of work converting the mouse/touch interface to a controller. Lucky for us… someone else did it! Our long time friend Patrick from Fun Machine offered to help us port it and we gladly passed our horrible code over to them (and ran away laughing before they could give it back.) Here's what Patrick had to say about releasing Organ Trail: Director's Cut on the Ouya for us.
Porting Organ Trail to the Ouya was a no-brainer for Fun Machine. Take a game we like, made by people we like, using an engine we like… and make it work on a TV with dual-sticks, which we also like! We see the Ouya as an exciting new chapter in the ongoing saga of game development, and we hope it's a democratizing catalyst for everyone in the industry, whether they're making mobile, console or PC games! And if you're not making games yet, why not?! It's not that hard, we swear.
We couldn't have gotten this port done without the support of Julie Uhrman, Bawb Mills, Piers Sutton and the rest of the Ouya team, and of course the folks that did the hard work on the port, Shay Pierce and Irvin Chavira here in Austin. But the biggest thanks go to Mike Block and Ryan Wiemeyer, those fine gentlemen that wear so many hats. Thanks for making a fun game, and thanks for letting Fun Machine be a part of your retro zombie romp!
We hope that you enjoy this new version of Organ Trail, and have as much fun playing it on your Ouya as we do!
It's cool to see Organ Trail: Director's Cut on a bigscreen TV, and now that we've got the code for controller support we might be looking at some other places to put this thing we've made….
June 20th, 2013 by Ryan
"We are men of many needs and many hats. Between daily business excursions and nightly romantic rendezvous, we meet to create games imbued with our core principles – developmental dexterousness, trans-accessibility, expressivocity and other phrases that may or may not be real."
©2023 Hats Productions. All rights reserved • Website by Jamie Sanchez


Gary Wright brings stories, songs to Chatham
Bill Nutt
Gary Wright is best known for a pair of songs that were hits in 1976: "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive."
But his musical career actually began earlier. In point of fact, Wright sang on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in the late 1950s, when he was starring as the child lead in the Broadway musical "Fanny" with Florence Henderson.
When Wright later became friends with George Harrison, that subject would occasionally arise to their mutual amusement. "We would joke about the fact that I played 'Ed Sullivan' before he did," Wright says.
The fact that Wright serves as a link between Henderson and Harrison (as well as Harry Nilsson, Ronnie Spector, Ringo Starr, B. B. King, and others) indicates just how rich a life in music he has enjoyed.
"I realized I could write a book," says Wright, who was born in Cresskill in 1943. "I've written over 300 songs, and the creative process is the same. In a book you don't have to worry about rhythm and rhyme."
The result: "Dream Weaver: A Memoir," published by Penguin/Random House Publishers. Wright is currently touring with a multimedia show based on the book, and his next stop is the Presbyterian Church in Chatham Saturday.
The performance includes Wright reading from the book and a slideshow that features rare photos. "It's a chance for me to do the songs I love playing," he says.
Despite his success as a child actor in the 1950s, Wright was reluctant to become a professional musician. "
I loved music, but it wasn't a secure career," he says. He thought about become a doctor before deciding to study psychology in Berlin.
However, Wright continued to play in bands occasionally. While he was in Europe, he met producer Chris Blackwell, who encouraged him to continue with music.
Wright went to London, where he formed the rock band Spooky Tooth. He later recorded a solo album with session musicians that included Klaus Voormann on bass.
Voormann encouraged Wright to play on a session he had scheduled with George Harrison. The resulting album, "All Things Must Pass," established Harrison's solo career following the break-up of the Beatles.
The album also marked a friendship that lasted until Harrison's death in 2001. "George wasn't the 'Quiet Beatle,' " Wright says with a laugh. "When he started, he would talk at length about anything. He was a very smart man."
Wright and Harrison bonded over a common interest in spirituality. "Music is powerful, but the quest for truth has been an important part of my life," Wright says.
The success of Wright's song "Dream Weaver" came as a surprise.
"I thought 'Love Is Alive' would be the hit from that album," he says. "That was released as the first single, and it went nowhere."
"When we recorded the song 'Dream Weaver,' we added electronic effects. I thought it would be a trippy song for album radio. But then it became a single." The song hit Number One and was followed by a successful re-release of "Love Is Alive."
Since then, Wright has tried to push expectations by incorporating elements of world music, including rhythms from South America and India.
As a musician, Wright is intrigued by some younger artists.
"But it's so hard to break into this business," he says. "Formats are so tight, and that's not conducive for creating great music."
A belief in the power of music remains a constant in Wright's life. "Music should be uplifting," he says. "Even a song that starts negative can turn to trust and hope and faith. People need to have solace, and music can be that beautiful force."
DREAM WEAVER: A MEMOIR TOUR
WHAT: Gary Wright, the musician behind the 1970s hits "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive," reflects on his long and varied career, which includes a run as a child actor in the Broadway show "Fanny" and a friendship with George Harrison. Wright's multimedia show coincides with the release of his autobiography, "Dream Weaver: A Memoir."
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Presbyterian Church, 240 Southern Blvd.,
Chatham.
INFORMATION: 973-376-4946 or www.sanctuaryconcerts.org


Robert Knapp's Invisible Romans: Prostitutes, Outlaws, Slaves, Gladiators, Ordinary Men and Women . . . The Romans that History Forgot
By John Phillips DECEMBER 1, 2015
The goal of this book is an ambitious one: to bring to light the lives and living conditions of those great masses of people who occupied the lower classes in the Roman Empire, and were for that reason almost completely disregarded by the elite authors of the sources that have survived the ages. For a book of this breadth and detail, Knapp provides a remarkably brief introduction, in which he discusses the problem of finding reliable sources and explains his approach of dividing this neglected population into various groups, each of which he examines separately. He acknowledges the chief problem inherent in an undertaking of this type—that is, to cull from the array of extant historical sources those bits of information about the vast majority of Romans that their authors had no real interest in conveying. It is a problem to which Knapp returns often in the course of his study, and it will be primarily by his success or failure in justifying his choice of sources and in judiciously employing them that the work will be judged.
Knapp begins by enumerating the aspirations, concerns, and attitudes of the "ordinary" Roman, i.e. "every free person below the elite and above the poor day-laborer or peasant," and providing a synopsis what we can determine to be their attitudes concerning such aspects of life as slavery, the crafts and trades, marriage, and divorce. In separate chapters, Knapp looks at ordinary men and women of the Empire, the challenges each group faced, and their sometimes extraordinary methods of coping with an often hostile world. There were two basic ways by which men attempted to maintain control over their lives in an uncertain, often inimical world: either by the casting of spells or the uttering of incantations to ward off evil or to even the score with enemies, all such methods stemming from a widespread belief in the efficacy of magic; or by appeal to more orthodox religious practices, where advantages were gained by prayer or sacrifices, dream interpretations, astrological charts, or through the offices of priests and diviners. The list of worries and threats that led them to avail themselves of these coping mechanisms is long: death, the vagaries of fortune, the ineluctable force of fate, debt, failure in business, harassment from civic officials, marital and sexual relations, the abuse of authority, the threat of legal troubles, theft, and physical assault. Yet life was not all misery, and, like their elite counterparts, ordinary Romans would have had active social lives at such public venues as the gladiatorial games, the baths, civic associations, and local assemblies, meetings with passersby on the streets, taverns, and even executions.
The social and economic roles of women in the Empire provide a fascinatingly paradoxical picture. As Knapp's focus is on ordinary Roman women, we might expect to find an intensification of the universal belief in their inferiority due to highly misogynistic attitudes from which the more prosperous would have been free because of their education and upbringing. Indeed, women had no legal status, could not vote, and had no chance to advance to higher levels of education. Yet Knapp concludes from evidence provided by epitaphs and papyrological material that women of the lower social and economic ranks had remarkable resiliency in this male-dominated world. There is evidence that many were regarded with sincere affection by their male partners and often availed themselves of opportunities to engage a much wider world beyond the home, often to the point of traveling well beyond the city for personal and practical reasons. Such opportunities were afforded them, of course, only if they met their fundamental duties as women and wives to maintain most aspects of the home, to birth and raise children, and to handle themselves with decency and decorum outside the household. Still, the common view of the sterile Roman marriage, that it was an entirely arranged event for the sake of the security of the estate and of the need to produce heirs, is often contradicted by the sources. And that element of Roman marriage laws that required the husband to return his wife's dowry on the occasion of their divorce gave women some degree of power over their husbands. Women were expected to enjoy sex (within limits), and could work at a number of professions, sometimes at executive positions, as long as they were under the supervision of guardians.
Those living under extreme poverty form the next group examined by Knapp. Direct references in sources to the poor populace are scarce, as one would expect, and so Knapp resorts to consulting proverbs, fables, religious documents, and even jokes in the belief—which he defends in some detail—that these materials can provide a glimpse into the 'mind world' of such people. He begins his discussion with a bracing demographic estimate: 65 percent of the population, both slave and free together, lived on the economic fringes of the Empire, eking out a subsistence living. Knapp studies the development of the core values of the poor, those qualities and actions that were felt to be necessary for survival under such bleak conditions. He lists two opposing "pulls" that evolve from the formulation of such values. One is the pull of forming relationships of family and friends as insurance in times of hardship; the other is the pull of strife as the unavoidable accompaniment of the failures that attend poverty.
The former is realized as necessary for survival, and there were social mechanisms to ensure that the rules of cooperation were enforced. In all of this, Knapp points out, the poor were keenly aware that poverty and want were their lot in life, and he finds evidence of an ethos according to which the wealthy and privileged are not begrudged their advantages both economically and politically, as long as they wielded their power fairly. Upsetting the status quo was not normally considered to be an option, and the notions of justice to which the poor subscribed reflected their realization of the reality of the lack of balance in power and wealth in the empire under which they labored.
We should expect from a study of this sort special attention to be paid to the plight of slaves, and Knapp does not disappoint. He characterizes his treatment of slaves as an attempt to enter the slave's "mind world" by ignoring the standard views of slavery framed by our standard sources that represent the attitudes of the elite. He again avails himself of a variety sources, here employing astrological works, dream interpretations, fables, and, beyond literature, epitaphs, and papyri. What he finds is that, since slavery was omnipresent, there was no felt need to justify it; rather, what we find is interest on the part of slaves either to accommodate it as a defining condition of life, or to escape or avoid it. Treatment of slaves varied depending on circumstances. Abuse—often sexual—was common, and there was little to no recourse to justice in existing laws. To alleviate their condition, slaves formed communities forged by common experiences. Such a response to bleak circumstances forms a kind of theme in this book. Resistance could take a number of forms apart from the full-scale revolts that were much feared by the ruling classes. This is not to say that slaves would not mistreat one other; this was especially a problem when slaves were charged with overseeing their fellow slaves. And we should not overlook the often complex relationships between masters and their slaves, which could be favorable for some. Masters naturally valued those slaves who exhibited the desired characteristics of efficiency of labor, obedience, and faithfulness. Slaves could even conduct business transactions under limited conditions. And for some, freedom in the form of manumission was obtainable.
The status of freedmen receives separate treatment. By this term, Knapp means specifically those who had been freed by masters who were Roman citizens. Freedom came through manumission, whether formal or informal. It was a true transformation from the slave's status from a nonperson to an individual with an identity, whose master then took on the role of a patron. Abuse at this level was still common, ranging from threats of revocation to forced indebtedness to former masters. Still, the freedmen's lot was a considerable improvement on their former life. The benefits of manumission were generally twofold: freedom and the opportunity to earn and keep money of one's own. With these benefits came other improvements. No social restrictions were placed on freedmen, so that they lived just as did free persons; they were at this point able to marry; any women with whom they had been co-habitating and any children that issued from such relationships were also declared free; many were able to open businesses over which they had full control; they could engage in the full range of religious life. There were certain legal restrictions, but these do not seem to have caused much difficulty.
The social status of Roman soldiers was decidedly mixed. Enrollment was limited to young, freeborn citizens, mostly between ages of seventeen and twenty-four years old. The life of the soldier could be arduous, although many would have found this preferable to life on the farm or as a common laborer. Death in battle was always a real threat, but the long days and months spent in camp between conflicts brought their own disadvantages. And the Roman leadership went to great lengths to acculturate their enlistees. Efforts were made to turn soldiers' religious allegiance from normal cultic activity to allegiance to the Emperor, the pantheon of Roman gods, and Rome itself. Most controversially, there was instituted a prohibition against marriage and the procreation of children. The purpose of these proscriptions was to guarantee that, as military tenures or conscription grew much longer over time, the army would replace the soldier's natural family as the source of his allegiance. Yet these rules were relaxed over time, so much so that soldiers often openly took wives and produced offspring, and military men were allowed to take legal wives upon discharge. All in all, however, soldiering was a desirable profession offering stable employment and special privileges recognized by law, enough to eat, stable living conditions, and, despite the fact that service to the Emperor and Rome was long, the promise of a degree of prosperity for retired veterans. As representatives of imperial authority, they wielded considerable power among the populace, which, according to a number of sources, they often abused, thus generating both fear and repulsion through their sometimes arrogant behavior toward civilians.
Knapp turns next to prostitution, which, he notes, was treated as any other public service—that is, as a commodity provided by women as well as men to fulfill a need. They plied their trade in several different venues, such as brothels, inns, private dwellings, baths, and various public spaces. Some prostitutes entered their professions willingly, while others did not; some prospered while others suffered profound indignities and were vulnerable to serious physical injury. Knapp focuses on ordinary prostitutes, who practiced their craft openly, free from risk of prosecution. Such artisans offered no threat to upper-class Romans and their families, nor was there any moral umbrage taken at their mode of living, or concern about their practice of abortion and infanticide. Authorities might extort payment in bribes, and prostitutes were subject to taxation, but otherwise they were left alone—except by their pimps.
The chapter on gladiators is one of the more fascinating and revealing in the book. Their numbers, which included women, were drawn from two groups: those forced to join, such as criminals condemned to death in the arena and slaves, and volunteers, who signed contracts, sometimes with bonuses, through which they forfeited some of their legal rights. They thus subjected themselves to grave risks and were often targets for derision, yet the lure of the arena and the prospect of prizes and glory were seductive to many. Successful contestants could expect relatively long careers under the watchful eyes of their managers and promoters. They trained and fought as parts of familiae, organized living and training arrangements, so that their conditions resembled those of the military.
Knapp includes a chapter on outlaws, whom he distinguishes from other fringe groups by defining them as those who live "in contact with but outside society's laws." They share the same cultural ideology with other "inlaws" but work against the interests of their society while at the same time being able to cooperate with authorities when it was in the interest of both to do so. They did not seek change, nor did they actively resist the governmental structure that they exploited. Their goals were more limited and specific. There were no concerted attempts to eliminate them; actions taken against them were usually local, and the punishments meted out were usually swift and severe. There is evidence as well of outlaw communities governed by principles of egalitarianism, whose social order Knapp compares to that of "sea outlaws" of the "golden age of piracy" in the early eighteenth century, as depicted in Marcus Rediker's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
Knapp very helpfully devotes a final section to an extended analysis of the various sources available to him. He here emphasizes his central point that the literature that emanated from authors who belonged to the elite classes, while important for providing a balanced picture of the lives of the invisible Romans, is to be consulted with great caution due to its pronounced bias toward the concerns and general ethos of the upper classes. Even legal documents are not free of such prejudice. All of this enhances the importance of other sources, such as fables, proverbs, papyrology, epigraphy, and other non-elite literature such as the New Testament. Another resource, comparative material that originated in eras other than that of ancient Rome, can be subject to suspicion and disregard, but Knapp finds it quite useful and informative if consulted with discretion. The book ends with an annotated list of contemporary sources for further reading.
It should be repeated that, in the end, the degree of success of Knapp's undertaking, as he himself amply acknowledges, is to be judged by the degree of our conviction in his justification for the use of his varied sources. To what degree of accuracy, for example, do inscriptions and ancient novels depict the actual conditions of life for ordinary Romans? How reliable are the Egyptian sources upon which he admits that he relies heavily, even if they are apparently corroborated by parallels in other "local" material? Throughout the book, Knapp reminds his readers that his project is not to formulate a social or economic history of the lower classes of the Roman Empire but rather to attempt to get through to what he calls the "mind world" of the "invisible" people whom he studies. This is a difficult task, one fraught with methodological dangers and inherent shortcomings, but also one well worth the risk. In the end, it is a fascinating chronicle, leaving us with a much better understanding of, and to some extent respect for, the invisible Romans.
Invisible Romans. By Robert Knapp. Harvard University Press, 2011.


VINNYTSIA IN FOCUS
REGIONAL ROLE MODEL: Vinnytsia continues to set the gold standard for good local governance in Ukraine
The Central Ukrainian city has consistently taken first place for the past few years in International Republican Institute surveys
Located two hours southwest of Kyiv by train, Vinnytsia is one of Ukraine's smaller oblast centers, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to attracting both domestic and international investment
Michael Druckman
Over the past several years, the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Ukraine has been able to monitor the impact of the country's landmark 2015 decentralization reforms by using its Nationwide Municipal Survey tool. IRI's survey is the largest regularly conducted poll in Ukraine, drawing from a sample of more than 19,000 residents of 24 cities across Ukraine, including Mariupol and Severodonetsk in the Donbas region. The poll asks a wide spectrum of questions on everything from city services to how citizens view their educational facilities. It covers instances of local corruption, public safety, and citizen observations on both national and local government institutions and officials.
Over the past four years, the city of Vinnytsia has consistently stood out. In survey after survey, Vinnytsia has taken top slot among Ukraine's 24 oblast centers. What is most noteworthy, however, is that Vinnytsia does not just score well in a specific municipal service or public perception, but rather across multiple sectors and indicators in the survey.
The main aggregated score in IRI's annual Nationwide Municipal Survey is on service delivery, which consists of 22 separate service scorecards in each city. These include everything from streetlights and road conditions to educational and medical facilities. In the most recent survey conducted in 2018, Vinnytsia scored 3.6 out of a possible five, almost 10% ahead of second-placed Lutsk.
To be fair, it is important to recognize that Vinnytsia received a head start thanks to the reforms that then-Mayor Volodymyr Groysman independently implemented during his term in charge of the city prior to the 2013-14 Euromaidan Revolution. These reforms helped Vinnytsia stand out during the 2010-2014 Yanukovych administration as one of the few bright spots of democratic development in Ukraine at that time. Several Ukrainian cities including Lviv and Cherkasy subsequently mirrored the reforms championed under Mayor Groysman, but it was not until the post-Euromaidan reforms on local governance in 2015 that the decentralization of power in Ukraine towards municipalities got underway. This gave Ukrainian cities the opportunity to implement reforms on a far more comprehensive level.
Building on the city's groundbreaking reform of its public transportation system (making it one of the most modern and efficient in Ukraine through the use of e-ticketing among other innovations), Vinnytsia also led the country in the creation of Administrative Service Centers, a "one-stop shop" for municipal services that houses previously disparate departments and officials under a single glass-encased roof. Following Mayor Groysman's elevation to Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament in 2014 (and subsequently to the post of Prime Minister), his former deputy Serhiy Morhunov won election as mayor. He has maintained the reform-driven agenda established by his predecessor.
In terms of attitudes among local populations regarding the direction their cities are moving in, residents of Vinnytsia are some of the most optimistic in the country, with 65 percent of residents in 2018 saying things in their city were going in the right direction, compared to only 38 percent on average nationally. Moreover, this optimism also extends to the national outlook of local citizens. Although the average at the time for those reporting that Ukraine was heading in the right direction was only 16 percent, 24 percent of Vinnytsia's respondents said things were on the right track.
When it comes to perceptions of corruption, Vinnytsia once more stands apart from most of its peer cities, with residents feeling that corruption is not the primary obstacle that prevents business from coming to their city. Only 25 percent of Vinnytsia's residents say that local corruption prevents businesses from coming to their city, while the 24-city average for Ukraine is almost double this at 47 percent. Instead, 42 percent of Vinnytsia respondents identified a lack of investment funds as the primary issue.
Finally, the residents of Vinnytsia feel that local authorities treat them well when it comes to interaction with city officials for municipal services. Almost a quarter of Vinnytsia residents reported being treated in an "excellent" manner by the local authorities, surpassing fellow cities by a considerable distance. Meanwhile, only 8 percent said they were treated poorly, also significantly below the 24-city national average.
Based on the results of IRI surveys covering the entire country, Vinnytsia is clearly one of Ukraine's most optimistic, transparent and well-governed cities. IRI will be heading back into the field this autumn for its 2019 Nationwide Municipal Survey. While we expect to see many changes given the tectonic shifts in national politics that have taken place this year, we can be reasonably confident that Vinnytsia will continue to be one of the exemplary cities and a place that leads by example when it comes to deepening good governance practices in today's Ukraine.
About the author: Michael Druckman is Ukraine Country Director at the International Republican Institute
Decentralization Investing in Vinnytsia Ukrainian regions Vinnytsia


Whether touched directly by the Cultural Revolution or not, many Chinese artists work with that bloody, turbulent time as recent history. The Gao Brothers (Gao Qiang and Gao Zhen), driven by the memory of their father, who was arrested in 1968 as a counterrevolutionary and died in custody, rose to international fame in the 1990s as artistic provocateurs. In a practice that can be mocking and damning but also personal and meditative, they relentlessly challenge the legacy of Mao Zedong and explore its broader implications in the process, provoking, not surprisingly, the ire of the Chinese government.
Eighteen of the brothers' sculptures, paintings, and photographs are on view in a survey at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art—their first museum show in the United States. It is a fitting site, just a few blocks away from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and its world-renowned collection of Chinese art. The Kemper's expansive exhibition gallery comfortably handles the scale of the installation (some of the paintings are more than thirteen feet tall), and its open configuration allows the interrelated works to carry on a lively dialogue across the space. One of the duo's largest and best-known pieces is outdoors. Standing about two stories high, the stainless steel sculpture titled Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head, 2009, satirically addresses China's uneasy marriage of capitalism and communism.
There is nothing subtle about the brothers' work. The intent behind the digitally manipulated photograph The Interview, 2009, for example, is simple, almost overly so. The work imagines a meeting among some of history's most notorious leaders, including Stalin, Hitler, Bin Laden, and, of course, Mao. While that black-and-white piece is hardly small, it seems almost unassuming compared to other works on view, such as the four-panel, thirteen-by-thirty-nine-foot oil-on-canvas Standard Hairstyle—Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, 2009. Again, it's not hard to discern the meaning of these four giant heads: Just as hairstyles of the Chinese leaders don't change, neither do their modes of governance. These paintings have a billboardlike boldness that recalls the communist propaganda historically displayed everywhere in China—an ironic similarity that is clearly intended.
These assertive works generate an immediate visceral reaction, but their lingering impact is open to question. Offering more emotional and intellectual depth is a contemplative installation based around Mao's Guilt, 2009, a roughly life-size sculpture of the leader kneeling, his head bent, his hand on his heart. There is a suggestion of contrition. The brothers have shown this piece in different ways, and here it is stationed before four photographs, including two vintage images of their parents and a pair of nearly identical family portraits from 1969 and 1999. Taken together, the ensemble suggests a kind of reconciliation shrine.
Like many contemporary artists, the Gaos function as designers or architects do, leaving their ideas to be mostly realized by studio assistants and fabricators. Rather than invent a visual language, the duo largely appropriates Western tropes and strategies, adapting them to the most ubiquitous Chinese symbols (Mao, Tiananmen Square), among other icons (Mother Teresa, Hitler), and typically without making any critical distinction between their stylistic sources. For example, photo-transfer paintings of Saddam Hussein and the Dalai Lama draw on Andy Warhol but also on Chuck Close, and it's impossible to look at Miss Mao No. 3, 2007, a cartoonishly big-breasted caricature in gleaming stainless steel, without thinking of Jeff Koons. But perhaps the most direct and heavy-handed example of this is their reuse of a firing squad first seen in Goya's Third of May 1808 and reconsidered in Manet's Execution of Maximilian, where they have re-created the scene employing life-size bronze figures, with Jesus as victim and multiple Maos the executioners.
Through artworks ranging from the irreverent to the introspective, the Gao Brothers try to reconcile China's past and agitate for a different future. However, with so many young Asian artists having entered the dialogue in the past decade, only to more deftly synthesize the aesthetic language of Western art with their own cultural concerns, perhaps the question is: Has that future already passed them by?
—Kyle MacMillan


High Court rules Harlequin damages should go to investors
By Laura Miller
Overseas property scheme Harlequin has won an $11.6m (£9.15m) case against its former accountants, money which the High Court judge said should be ringfenced to pay back investors.
The case was brought by unregulated investment scheme Harlequin against accountancy Wilkins Kennedy, over claims the latter firm was involved in a conflict of interest with a property developer hired by Harlequin.
Wilkins Kennedy were retained by Harlequin between 2006 and 2010 to provide financial and business advice focused on helping to build and create the investment scheme's flagship Buccament Bay Resort in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
In the ruling yesterday (12 December), Judge Mr Justice Coulson found that Wilkins Kennedy was at fault in failing to properly advise Harlequin.
However in a move to protect Harlequin investors, the judge proposed the damages should be paid into a ringfenced escrow account for investors, rather than go to Harlequin or its chairman David Ames, with the judge stating he hoped such ringfencing to protect investors' interests could be done by agreement.
"That seemed to me to be the fairest way of ensuring that those who have lost the most in this case, namely the investors, had at least some prospect of recovering some of their money from this Judgment," Mr Justice Coulson said.
The High Court judge gave a damning description of the Harlequin investment scheme, comparing it to a Ponzi scheme aimed a gullible investors.
He said: "It is important not to pull any punches when describing the Harlequin business model. There were elements of it which were similar to what might be called a 'Ponzi' scheme, where the money paid in by gullible investors was not spent as they thought it would be, but the scheme grew by word of mouth and those responsible for it became rich, whilst the investors ended up with nothing.
"I note that...Harlequin's then solicitors, DLA Piper, expressed their concern that the Harlequin business model was indeed a 'Ponzi' scheme.
"Furthermore, at one point in his oral evidence, in connection with the Harlequin business model, Mr Ames made the revealing remark that "I was not going to build properties that I had not sold". It might be thought that a better long term business plan would have operated the other way round."
Harlequin founder David Ames said outside of court: "We have lived with the failings of Wilkins Kennedy and the nightmare of this case for years.
"The impact their actions have had on our investors, the success of our business, our public reputation, the happiness of our family and our own health is undeniable.
"Wilkins Kennedy should be holding their heads in disgrace. I trusted them as my accountants.
"Today we have, at last, some justice. Tomorrow, we return to fighting to rebuild our business."
Tom Govan, communications director at Wilkins Kennedy, said in a statement: "Although disappointed that the court did not dismiss the entire case, we are pleased that it has rejected the vast majority of Harlequin's claim.
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Network: Women21Century – Facchin Valeria, Linden Delanie, Saha IndraniMiMi2021-05-26T08:02:23+01:00
Women21Century
W21 is an on-going participatory art project focusing on post-feminism and intersectional practice in art, science, culture, and technology. We aim to map feminist practice and to write a collaborative manifesto for the digital era, with deep considerations of gender, class or race.
Check our next events on Clubhouse here
The three founders are:
Valeria Facchin
Valeria Facchin is a curator and researcher. With a focus on visual studies, biology and AI, her work explores the relationship between bodies, technologies and future ecosystems.
Valeria's research questions are: "How can the concept of disembodiment, the neutralisation of genders, be countered and reimagined as productive within the virtual realm?"
While considered as assemblages of computational processes, Valeria compares virtual environments as permeable membranes between worlds. By acting as a layered extension of the physical realm, they could be compared to mini-ecosystems – functional arenas, such as the mesocosms, enclosed and essentially self-sufficient experimental controlled environments. Valeria's body of work tries to acknowledge their ecomimetic and mesocosmic properties as a way to erode the divisions between the real and the virtual: in other words, through virtual environments, we experience a multitude of universes, n-possibilities. This could be explained through the quantum theory of the multiverse which implies that alongside our world lie a possibly infinite number of other worlds, and to which ours has some connection. Valeria believes that, by bringing the nonhuman world into equal prominence with the human, the synthetic worlds of virtuality should be considered not merely as an extension of reality, but as an independent, yet interconnected ecosystem.
She holds an MA in History of Art from @cafoscari and an MA in Curatorial Museum Studies from @courtauld. She is currently working as Assistant Curator at @fiorucciartrust, London. Before @fiorucciartrust she held curatorial positions, among others, at @somersethouse, @sciencemuseum and @labiennale. Valeria regularly speaks at panels and conferences about the impact of technology in contemporary art practice and she has served as a founding young trustee of @scigalleryve.
Delanie Joy Linden
Delanie Joy Linden is a doctoral student of art history at MIT.
Her research examines the intersections of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century portraiture and colour theory. For many theorists in this period, colour played an important role in "enlivening" art, giving breath to drawings and prints. In portraiture, the colour's animacy was even more vivid. Lush, silky oil paint and sparkling, velvety pastels enhanced the body's three-dimensionality. Red fingertips and nostrils, rouge cheeks, blue, black, and brown undulating folds of dimples, chins, and cheeks rendered such bodies alive. Yet, colouring the body was also polemical; colours signified race, class, gender, sickness. Such contradictions form central questions for Linden; what does it mean to be "of colour," to be "coloured," to be colourful?
Why did colour and portraiture come to signify categories of human types? W21's theme this year is "disembodiment," a theme which has been fundamental to Linden's research on portraiture, beginning with her training as a portraitist under the guidance of American landscape artist Liv Saether and Swedish portraitist Inger Hodgson. At the University of Michigan, where she doubled-majored in neuroscience and the history of art, portraiture offered a unique medium through which Linden could explore her interdisciplinary interests in the link between the body (represented in art) and the soul (cognition and perception).
She expanded upon this research during her MA at SMU. At the moment, she is working on producing a theory of the "portal" between the soul and body in portraits produced in liminal geographies, such as port towns.
Indrani Saha
Indrani Saha is a PhD candidate in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture program at MIT. She studies modern art of the United States with a particular interest in histories of abstraction as they intersect with theories of mind, histories of spirituality, and reception theory.
W21's 2021 theme of "disembodiment" resonates with Saha's own research interest in how seemingly simple "non-representational" instances of colour and form can yield visceral experiences where one becomes self-conscious of embodiment taking place. As a member of the "Art, Vision, and the Brain" @dukebassconnections team, she studied the dizzying (and nauseating) equiluminant screenprints from Richard Anuszkiewicz's Spectral Cadmium portfolio. This experience piqued her curiosity in disorienting aesthetic experiences.
How do art objects serve as dis/orientation devices? What are the political, artistic, spiritual, and subjective stakes when disorientation induces becoming? Saha explores these questions in further detail in a wild dissertation-in-progress about women curators/modern art promoters engaged in an effort to operationalise radically abstract modern art to spiritualise and (dis)orient the American public in the early twentieth century.
Saha holds a BA in Cognitive Aesthetics from Duke where she was a Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellow. Her distinction thesis examined how perceptual disruption and disorientation alter social interaction in Carlos Cruz-Diez's Chromosaturation. She has worked with the Nasher Museum as a curatorial intern and student curator.
Hilma af Klint, Serie SUW/UW, Grupp IX/SUW, The Swan, No. 17, 1915, oil on canvas © Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk Photo: Albin Dahlström/@modernamuseet, Stockholm, Sweden.
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