There probably isn’t anyone on the 1972-73 University of Quebec men’s hockey team who remembers being on the wrong end of a 13-0 loss against Clarkson. Same goes for the 1996-97 St. Lawrence team that lost to Boston College 6-4.
That, though, won’t be said for the Boston University team that fell to BC 5-2 on Dec. 1. Or for the Alabama-Huntsville team that lost 5-2 to the Eagles on Saturday at the Mariucci Classic.
All of those teams are now strung together by a common bond: being victims of major milestone victories for Boston College coach Jerry York, who in early December beat rival Boston University to tie the all-time wins mark held by Ron Mason of 924 wins. It took 27 days before the Eagles earned their next win, thanks to a Providence team that scored with 10.5 seconds left in regulation on Dec. 7 to earn a 3-3 tie right before the holiday break.
But Saturday’s win over Alabama-Huntsville ended a long wait, even if it was somewhat unceremonious (and as you’ll read, that’s just how York likes it). Win No. 925 is his, making York the king of college hockey coaches.
It was Quebec that provided York’s first win as he began his coaching career at Clarkson. (Games against teams that now would be considered exhibition foes then counted toward a team’s record.) St. Lawrence was York’s 500th victim. And for the 923 other victories, there are plenty of stories, memories and laughs to fill a full novel.
York likely will be most remembered for his legacy at Boston College, including six Hockey East regular season titles, nine league postseason titles, 12 NCAA tournament appearances, 10 Frozen Fours, seven national title game appearances and, of course, four national titles.
In seven years, things didn’t exactly come easy for York and his club. The apex at Clarkson came in 1977 when York’s club captured the ECAC championship. Little did anyone know that the hardware and championship ring would be the first of many.
Deciding to take a step forward in 1979, York headed to the CCHA to coach what he hoped would become an upstart Bowling Green team. After two seasons of building the program, York won three straight CCHA titles in 1982, ’83 and ’84.
It was that ’84 team that, of course, will stand out in York’s mind. That was York’s first NCAA champion, a team he continually references as the “blueprint” for every future team.
That blueprint has manifested itself most at York’s alma mater, where he took over a program in turmoil in 1994. The rest, as they say, is history, all of which has made him a hometown legend.
York is easily recognizable on the Boston sports scene. Despite the town featuring names like Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick, Stanley Cup champion coach Claude Julien and NBA champion coach Doc Rivers, York, with four national titles since 2001, has all three trumped in the ring department. You’d never know that, though, by following him around on a daily basis.
York resides in his childhood home in Watertown, Mass., just minutes from the Boston College campus. On the average morning you can find him at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Watertown Square. If you don’t see him there, possibly you’ll find him on campus at the chapel or St. Ignatius Church, where he attends daily mass.
“It is kind of like a throwback to the ’50s, kind of an old values type of thing,” Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna says.
Truth is, York doesn’t like the limelight. While anyone who knows him uses words like “fiercely competitive” to describe the 19-year veteran behind the BC bench, York shies away from anything that places him at the center of attention.
Bertagna should know. He recalls having to introduce him a few years back when York received the Ace Bailey “Good Guy” award. While Bertagna waxed poetic about the great career that York had enjoyed, the coaching veteran wanted nothing of it.
“I wasn’t halfway through what I was going to say and he was already making his way up to the podium and standing there like he wanted to get that part over with,” Bertagna says.
That’s Jerry York. He always wants everyone else to get the credit. As his Eagles have won a number of national titles — including three of the last five — the procedure for presenting the NCAA championship trophy has gradually morphed. Gone are the days of handing it to the captains. Now ESPN makes a production of handing it to the head coach.
While York obliges, the trophy sometimes looks like a hot potato once the cameras go off. The first second possible, York hands it off to his captain and then sits back near the bench with his coaches to watch the team celebrate.
“He’s constantly thinking about other people,” recalls Bertagna, who says there is one consistency for the morning after each year’s Hockey East tournament: a text message from York thanking Bertagna and his staff for running a first-class event.
“I don’t hear from him very much throughout the year in terms of [complaints about] officials, so in turn when I do hear from him, I’ll be the first to admit it gets my attention even more,” Bertagna says. “It has to be something fairly extreme for him to pick up the phone and make a call.”
The gentlemanly image of the coach certainly rubs off on his players. Countless stories are told of York’s players acting much like the head coach. One though has to wonder, is that a product of what the players learn from the mentor, or the type of player York and his staff bring to Chestnut Hill?
“All coaches have to go after a certain type of kid that fits the [hockey] formula, whether it be speed or things like that, but I’m not the first to wonder that BC always has very nice kids,” Bertagna says. “Do they feed off the coach or are those the type of kids they recruit?”
Associate head coach Mike Cavanaugh, who has been with York for all 19 seasons while at BC and a previous season at Bowling Green, says he’s never felt the need to recruit a Jerry York-type player.
For him, it’s always been about recruiting a player who fits what he calls part of the “BC fabric.”
“That’s how Jerry wants us to think about it: He doesn’t need to be a Jerry York type of guy, he needs to be a Boston College type of guy,” Cavanaugh says. “We have our mission here that we’re going to challenge you to go to school, to be terrific in the community and as a hockey player. But that has to evolve over time. We have to continue getting better.”
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Ewan McGregor faces the ultimate test of family love
With the exception of his cameo in 2010's Nanny McPhee Returns, however, he has never played a father – until now, that is. The 41-year-old Crieff native is back in cinemas with The Impossible, a harrowing survival story drawn from a family's experience in the 2004 Asian tsunami.
"I have been a father for 16 years and yet in my work I have not really explored parenthood," says McGregor when I meet the filmmakers ahead of The Impossible's world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. "That was one of the reasons I was drawn to the film in the first place. Even though it is set against this unbelievably horrendous, real tragedy, it is a look at the relationship we have with our kids and our family; that unique love we have for our children."
McGregor has four daughters of his own – with his wife of 17 years, Eve Mavrakis – while his character on screen has three sons. The actor and co-star Naomi Watts play a couple who are holidaying on the west coast of Thailand when disaster strikes just after Christmas, taking the lives of more than 300,000 people, with in excess of 5000 lost in Thailand alone. Did the actor think about his own family when shooting the film?
"I wouldn't make parallels with my family because I have never been in a situation like that with my kids," he says, "and let's hope that I never am. But I had three phenomenal young actors playing my boys in the film, who became just like my boys, in a way, and we shared so much."
The film's opening sequence, a heart-pounding eight minutes where the Indian Ocean swallows the luxury hotel in which the family resides, was shot on location in Thailand. "And out there during rehearsal we were getting to know each other and we did create a bond like a family," McGregor adds. "So I didn't have to utilise thoughts of my own kids. I just thought about my family in the film."
The film is directed by Spaniard Juan Antonio Bayona – best known for his debut movie, the 2007 chiller The Orphanage – and is based on the experiences of a real Spanish family, the Alvarez Belons, though in the film they're played as English speakers. The family's experience is extremely distressing, and Watts has already earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as a mother who overcomes so much in a bid to save her children.
"It was a strange film to make for lots of reasons," continues McGregor, "the main one being that it is a true story and there was a real disaster and thousands of people lost their lives. Thousands lost loved ones. You carry that with you all the time. And we should, because it is our responsibility to respect that and to respect all those people." The tsunami had affected many of the Thai crew who worked on the film, he explains, "and you carry that responsibility and you never ever want to feel that you are using it for the purposes of the movie, but yet you are making a movie".
McGregor says he felt no ill will from the locals. "The Thai people have bounced back. It is a place where people go on holiday. They want people to be enjoying themselves. People seem to me to have a very healthy memory about the tsunami and what it meant, but also they want things to move forward and they want to rebuild their country. And I felt that by looking at this one family's story, it might help me understand the tsunami in a much broader sense. I think the numbers are so horrendous you can't wrap your head around it, but by focusing on one story you get some kind of understanding."
The real-life family were closely involved with the production, forging a strong relationship with Bayona and revisiting many of the places where they had suffered and borne witness to such terrible destruction.
"They arrived back there and it was extraordinarily emotional for them," says McGregor. "They came back and were faced with the resort as it had been after the water had hit. The boys are quiet about it and the father, Henry, is a very quiet man, a gentle man, a very nice guy, but you weren't able to read his emotions.
"It struck them all in very different ways. Maria is a very open woman, an emotional woman, and she talks very beautifully and eloquently about how she feels about that experience in her life. She very much wears her heart on her sleeve."
Maria Belon, who has a story credit for the film, insists that she "needed to tell this story, although I was unable to do it by myself - In certain ways, what I experienced during the process of making the movie was the same I had during the tsunami. I thought we were not going to make it, but we did and that is fantastic."
It is the Maria character who suffers most on screen, and English-born Australian actress Naomi Watts summons a magnificent performance as she's physically and emotionally battered by the disaster. The actors spent a month working in a huge wave tank to capture the effects of the tidal surge. The results are more than convincing. Indeed, the actress may well scoop a second Oscar nomination (her first was for 2003's 21 Grams).
Meanwhile, 16-year-old English actor Tom Holland, the star of Billy Elliot the musical, also shines, playing the Maria character's eldest son, with whom she spends the majority of the film.
"It got to that point where we all got so close that Naomi was my real mum on set as well as in the film," remembers Holland, who'll be seen next in director Kevin Macdonald's literary adaptation How I Live Now. "We spent so much time together."
For Watts, 44, who has played a mother on screen many times, the experience was traumatic. "It was the most challenging thing I've done, physically," recalls the King Kong and Eastern Promises star.
"The reputation of water being difficult to shoot with is absolutely true and this was much more difficult that I ever imagined.
"And also the underwater stuff was even more difficult, and extra claustrophobic, and you are running out of breath and so on. I know it doesn't compare to what people actually went through, but it was still hard work. I am not the same age as Tom Holland, and it was hard on the body."
The flood was shot with two units and a tank was employed for the water sequences, measuring 100m x 80m, while Watts was anchored to a chair that spun her round, fully submerged, for a few seconds at a time before rising to let her breathe. Things didn't always go to plan, however.
"Once we had a technical problem with the chair that they used to submerge me," recalls the actress, who will return to screens later this year in director Oliver Hirschbiegel's Diana, the eagerly awaited biopic of the Princess of Wales, "and they weren't able to shut it off."
Watts was trapped underwater. "I couldn't get out and was really struggling for breath," she says. "It went further than we'd planned and it was really frightening."
Watts has already endured one bad experience with water, as a teenager. She was holidaying in Zimbabwe at the time and was caught in a rip tide.
"There are several fatalities on those beaches," she says of the experience, "but we didn't know that and we were tourists just arriving and walking into something that we did not understand.
"I was not a strong swimmer and I did not understand rip tides at all. It was a big moment that we all remember. My whole family was there."
Somehow her feet found the sand and she was able to crawl out of the sea. "It has given me a fear of water, though," she adds, "and that only helped with The Impossible. There are times in the water when I am not acting at all ."
"I have been a father for 16 years and yet in my work I have not really explored parenthood," says McGregor when I meet the filmmakers ahead of The Impossible's world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. "That was one of the reasons I was drawn to the film in the first place. Even though it is set against this unbelievably horrendous, real tragedy, it is a look at the relationship we have with our kids and our family; that unique love we have for our children."
McGregor has four daughters of his own – with his wife of 17 years, Eve Mavrakis – while his character on screen has three sons. The actor and co-star Naomi Watts play a couple who are holidaying on the west coast of Thailand when disaster strikes just after Christmas, taking the lives of more than 300,000 people, with in excess of 5000 lost in Thailand alone. Did the actor think about his own family when shooting the film?
"I wouldn't make parallels with my family because I have never been in a situation like that with my kids," he says, "and let's hope that I never am. But I had three phenomenal young actors playing my boys in the film, who became just like my boys, in a way, and we shared so much."
The film's opening sequence, a heart-pounding eight minutes where the Indian Ocean swallows the luxury hotel in which the family resides, was shot on location in Thailand. "And out there during rehearsal we were getting to know each other and we did create a bond like a family," McGregor adds. "So I didn't have to utilise thoughts of my own kids. I just thought about my family in the film."
The film is directed by Spaniard Juan Antonio Bayona – best known for his debut movie, the 2007 chiller The Orphanage – and is based on the experiences of a real Spanish family, the Alvarez Belons, though in the film they're played as English speakers. The family's experience is extremely distressing, and Watts has already earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as a mother who overcomes so much in a bid to save her children.
"It was a strange film to make for lots of reasons," continues McGregor, "the main one being that it is a true story and there was a real disaster and thousands of people lost their lives. Thousands lost loved ones. You carry that with you all the time. And we should, because it is our responsibility to respect that and to respect all those people." The tsunami had affected many of the Thai crew who worked on the film, he explains, "and you carry that responsibility and you never ever want to feel that you are using it for the purposes of the movie, but yet you are making a movie".
McGregor says he felt no ill will from the locals. "The Thai people have bounced back. It is a place where people go on holiday. They want people to be enjoying themselves. People seem to me to have a very healthy memory about the tsunami and what it meant, but also they want things to move forward and they want to rebuild their country. And I felt that by looking at this one family's story, it might help me understand the tsunami in a much broader sense. I think the numbers are so horrendous you can't wrap your head around it, but by focusing on one story you get some kind of understanding."
The real-life family were closely involved with the production, forging a strong relationship with Bayona and revisiting many of the places where they had suffered and borne witness to such terrible destruction.
"They arrived back there and it was extraordinarily emotional for them," says McGregor. "They came back and were faced with the resort as it had been after the water had hit. The boys are quiet about it and the father, Henry, is a very quiet man, a gentle man, a very nice guy, but you weren't able to read his emotions.
"It struck them all in very different ways. Maria is a very open woman, an emotional woman, and she talks very beautifully and eloquently about how she feels about that experience in her life. She very much wears her heart on her sleeve."
Maria Belon, who has a story credit for the film, insists that she "needed to tell this story, although I was unable to do it by myself - In certain ways, what I experienced during the process of making the movie was the same I had during the tsunami. I thought we were not going to make it, but we did and that is fantastic."
It is the Maria character who suffers most on screen, and English-born Australian actress Naomi Watts summons a magnificent performance as she's physically and emotionally battered by the disaster. The actors spent a month working in a huge wave tank to capture the effects of the tidal surge. The results are more than convincing. Indeed, the actress may well scoop a second Oscar nomination (her first was for 2003's 21 Grams).
Meanwhile, 16-year-old English actor Tom Holland, the star of Billy Elliot the musical, also shines, playing the Maria character's eldest son, with whom she spends the majority of the film.
"It got to that point where we all got so close that Naomi was my real mum on set as well as in the film," remembers Holland, who'll be seen next in director Kevin Macdonald's literary adaptation How I Live Now. "We spent so much time together."
For Watts, 44, who has played a mother on screen many times, the experience was traumatic. "It was the most challenging thing I've done, physically," recalls the King Kong and Eastern Promises star.
"The reputation of water being difficult to shoot with is absolutely true and this was much more difficult that I ever imagined.
"And also the underwater stuff was even more difficult, and extra claustrophobic, and you are running out of breath and so on. I know it doesn't compare to what people actually went through, but it was still hard work. I am not the same age as Tom Holland, and it was hard on the body."
The flood was shot with two units and a tank was employed for the water sequences, measuring 100m x 80m, while Watts was anchored to a chair that spun her round, fully submerged, for a few seconds at a time before rising to let her breathe. Things didn't always go to plan, however.
"Once we had a technical problem with the chair that they used to submerge me," recalls the actress, who will return to screens later this year in director Oliver Hirschbiegel's Diana, the eagerly awaited biopic of the Princess of Wales, "and they weren't able to shut it off."
Watts was trapped underwater. "I couldn't get out and was really struggling for breath," she says. "It went further than we'd planned and it was really frightening."
Watts has already endured one bad experience with water, as a teenager. She was holidaying in Zimbabwe at the time and was caught in a rip tide.
"There are several fatalities on those beaches," she says of the experience, "but we didn't know that and we were tourists just arriving and walking into something that we did not understand.
"I was not a strong swimmer and I did not understand rip tides at all. It was a big moment that we all remember. My whole family was there."
Somehow her feet found the sand and she was able to crawl out of the sea. "It has given me a fear of water, though," she adds, "and that only helped with The Impossible. There are times in the water when I am not acting at all ."
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Power of telecom, cable industry is growing
On a gray day in February 2010, Brian Roberts sat facing the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee. The panel was holding its first hearing on a proposed merger between two of the country’s most powerful media companies, the cable distribution giant Comcast Corp. and the entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal.
Roberts, the chief executive officer of Comcast, was a calm and friendly witness. If the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger, Comcast’s future as the largest distributor of information in the country would be assured.
Comcast had been gaining strength as a monopoly provider of wired high-speed Internet access in its territories, while the U.S. was lagging behind other countries when it came to the prices charged for and the speed and capability of this basic communications tool. At the same time, the Internet was becoming the common global medium. With high-speed Internet access, a farmer in Missouri can access weather conditions and crop prices; American Indians on a remote reservation can have their eyes checked by a distant doctor; entrepreneurs and small businesses in California, New York and all the states between can find inexpensive entry points into global markets.
A decade earlier, the U.S. had led the world in Internet access, but by the time of the hearing, in most of Comcast’s markets, the company was the only provider selling services at speeds sufficient to satisfy Americans’ requirements.
The access Comcast sold was less useful than it could have been, however, because the network was designed to be contested among users in the same neighborhood, making speeds unreliable. It also favored passive downloads far more than active uploads. Meanwhile, in most parts of the U.S., the Internet access that all Americans would need within five years -- fiber-optic lines capable of speeds from 100 megabits to gigabits per second -- could not be purchased at all.
With the merger, Comcast would become even more powerful. Any new high-speed Internet provider in Comcast territory would have to enter the market for content at the same time it incurred the heavy upfront costs needed to wire a network. Indeed, by the time the Comcast-NBC Universal merger was announced at the end of 2009, Verizon Communications Inc., the only nationwide company installing fiber-optic lines, had already signaled that it was planning to stop doing so. It was just too hard to compete with Comcast.
In turn, Comcast had no incentive to make its Internet access affordable or available to everyone within its territories. Nor did it have any incentive to upgrade its networks to fiber optics.
In seeking to have business ties to much of the content it provided, too, Comcast was setting itself up to be the unchallenged provider of everything -- all data, all information, all entertainment -- flowing over the wires in its markets. The company would have every incentive to squeeze online services that were unwilling to pay the freight to Comcast.
By February 2010, the accepted wisdom in Washington was that the deal would go through. And it showed Americans their Internet future. Even though there are several large cable companies nationwide, each dominates its own regions and can raise prices without fear of being undercut.
Wireless access, dominated by AT&T Inc. and Verizon, is, for its part, too slow to compete with the cable industry’s offerings; mobile wireless services are, rather, complementary. Verizon Wireless’s joint marketing agreement with Comcast, announced in December 2011, made that clear: Competitors don’t offer to sell each other’s products.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Other developed countries have a watchdog to ensure that all their citizens are connected at cheap rates to fiber-optic networks. In South Korea, more than half of households are already connected to fiber lines, and those in Japan and Hong Kong are close behind. In the U.S., only about 7 percent of households have access to fiber, and it costs six times as much as in Hong Kong.
Rather than try to ensure that the U.S. will lead the world in the information age, American politicians have removed all regulation of high-speed Internet access and have allowed steep market consolidation. The cable industry has done its best to foil municipal efforts to provide publicly overseen fiber Internet access. Now, the U.S. has neither a competitive marketplace nor government oversight.
In the subcommittee hearing, Roberts never faltered, and his performance was judged a success. In the end, the Antitrust Division allowed the merger, and the FCC followed suit.
Compared with people in other countries, Americans are paying more for less and leaving many of their fellow citizens behind. Perhaps they will start to care when they see that the U.S. is unable to compete with nations whose industrial policy has been more forward-thinking.
But even if those schools do move at some point, that does not mean that the Big Ten will slam the brakes on expansion. As we’ve discussed in previous pieces, leagues are making money off of their brand names and their content. The more good games to sell (content), the more television money to be made. For that reason, we firmly believe the rumblings we’ve heard about the Big Ten having an interest in Duke and North Carolina. Currently, the Big Ten’s schools are all located in contiguous states.
If Georgia Tech is a target for the Big Ten and if form holds, the league will need to somehow connect the state of Virginia to the state of Georgia. We don’t expect an SEC school — Vanderbilt — to be on the Big Ten’s list of invitees, so that leaves the state of North Carolina as the other option. It just so happens that the crown jewels of the ACC in terms of name brands are located in the Tarheel State. While the Big Ten is rumored to be eyeballing Virginia and Georgia Tech, don’t be surprised if Delany and company don’t attempt to add four more schools, all from the ACC — Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke.
All are AAU members. The addition of all four would bring the league’s total number of schools to 18 and greatly increase the Big Ten’s area of influence. The Big Ten Network would stretch from Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota all the way into New York and then down the Eastern seaboard and into the SEC’s biggest natural TV market: Atlanta. In addition, the more ACC schools the Big Ten goes after at once, the easier the sell might be for each school as it exits its old conference. The administrators and fans of Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke might be more likely to move if they knew they’d still be seeing plenty of familiar faces in their new home. And Maryland would already be waiting for them.
Roberts, the chief executive officer of Comcast, was a calm and friendly witness. If the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger, Comcast’s future as the largest distributor of information in the country would be assured.
Comcast had been gaining strength as a monopoly provider of wired high-speed Internet access in its territories, while the U.S. was lagging behind other countries when it came to the prices charged for and the speed and capability of this basic communications tool. At the same time, the Internet was becoming the common global medium. With high-speed Internet access, a farmer in Missouri can access weather conditions and crop prices; American Indians on a remote reservation can have their eyes checked by a distant doctor; entrepreneurs and small businesses in California, New York and all the states between can find inexpensive entry points into global markets.
A decade earlier, the U.S. had led the world in Internet access, but by the time of the hearing, in most of Comcast’s markets, the company was the only provider selling services at speeds sufficient to satisfy Americans’ requirements.
The access Comcast sold was less useful than it could have been, however, because the network was designed to be contested among users in the same neighborhood, making speeds unreliable. It also favored passive downloads far more than active uploads. Meanwhile, in most parts of the U.S., the Internet access that all Americans would need within five years -- fiber-optic lines capable of speeds from 100 megabits to gigabits per second -- could not be purchased at all.
With the merger, Comcast would become even more powerful. Any new high-speed Internet provider in Comcast territory would have to enter the market for content at the same time it incurred the heavy upfront costs needed to wire a network. Indeed, by the time the Comcast-NBC Universal merger was announced at the end of 2009, Verizon Communications Inc., the only nationwide company installing fiber-optic lines, had already signaled that it was planning to stop doing so. It was just too hard to compete with Comcast.
In turn, Comcast had no incentive to make its Internet access affordable or available to everyone within its territories. Nor did it have any incentive to upgrade its networks to fiber optics.
In seeking to have business ties to much of the content it provided, too, Comcast was setting itself up to be the unchallenged provider of everything -- all data, all information, all entertainment -- flowing over the wires in its markets. The company would have every incentive to squeeze online services that were unwilling to pay the freight to Comcast.
By February 2010, the accepted wisdom in Washington was that the deal would go through. And it showed Americans their Internet future. Even though there are several large cable companies nationwide, each dominates its own regions and can raise prices without fear of being undercut.
Wireless access, dominated by AT&T Inc. and Verizon, is, for its part, too slow to compete with the cable industry’s offerings; mobile wireless services are, rather, complementary. Verizon Wireless’s joint marketing agreement with Comcast, announced in December 2011, made that clear: Competitors don’t offer to sell each other’s products.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Other developed countries have a watchdog to ensure that all their citizens are connected at cheap rates to fiber-optic networks. In South Korea, more than half of households are already connected to fiber lines, and those in Japan and Hong Kong are close behind. In the U.S., only about 7 percent of households have access to fiber, and it costs six times as much as in Hong Kong.
Rather than try to ensure that the U.S. will lead the world in the information age, American politicians have removed all regulation of high-speed Internet access and have allowed steep market consolidation. The cable industry has done its best to foil municipal efforts to provide publicly overseen fiber Internet access. Now, the U.S. has neither a competitive marketplace nor government oversight.
In the subcommittee hearing, Roberts never faltered, and his performance was judged a success. In the end, the Antitrust Division allowed the merger, and the FCC followed suit.
Compared with people in other countries, Americans are paying more for less and leaving many of their fellow citizens behind. Perhaps they will start to care when they see that the U.S. is unable to compete with nations whose industrial policy has been more forward-thinking.
But even if those schools do move at some point, that does not mean that the Big Ten will slam the brakes on expansion. As we’ve discussed in previous pieces, leagues are making money off of their brand names and their content. The more good games to sell (content), the more television money to be made. For that reason, we firmly believe the rumblings we’ve heard about the Big Ten having an interest in Duke and North Carolina. Currently, the Big Ten’s schools are all located in contiguous states.
If Georgia Tech is a target for the Big Ten and if form holds, the league will need to somehow connect the state of Virginia to the state of Georgia. We don’t expect an SEC school — Vanderbilt — to be on the Big Ten’s list of invitees, so that leaves the state of North Carolina as the other option. It just so happens that the crown jewels of the ACC in terms of name brands are located in the Tarheel State. While the Big Ten is rumored to be eyeballing Virginia and Georgia Tech, don’t be surprised if Delany and company don’t attempt to add four more schools, all from the ACC — Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke.
All are AAU members. The addition of all four would bring the league’s total number of schools to 18 and greatly increase the Big Ten’s area of influence. The Big Ten Network would stretch from Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota all the way into New York and then down the Eastern seaboard and into the SEC’s biggest natural TV market: Atlanta. In addition, the more ACC schools the Big Ten goes after at once, the easier the sell might be for each school as it exits its old conference. The administrators and fans of Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke might be more likely to move if they knew they’d still be seeing plenty of familiar faces in their new home. And Maryland would already be waiting for them.
What is going wrong with Indian society?
Without doubt, one is compelled to salute the manner in which thousands across the country have protested against gang rape of a 23-year-old woman, earlier this month in India’s capital city. At the same time, one cannot but speculate on whether this actually spells an end to heinous crimes of this nature.
Sadly, even demonstrations at Delhi’s India Gate have not been tension-free. Attempts made by some factions to politicise the issue and perpetuate violence have led to clashes between the police and demonstrators. And this brings us to square one. Demonstrations can attract media attention and create some political pressure but cannot be expected to end such crimes. Rather, they can also provoke tension, social as well as political.
Besides, how can it be forgotten that this is not the first time that women in India have been victimised in such a brutal manner. During Gujarat carnage, hundreds of Muslim women faced sexual assaults, murders of their family members, including that of unborn children carried by pregnant ones. The surviving ones have yet to recover from that trauma.
Criminals in only a handful of these cases have been imprisoned. Capital punishment has not been announced for any of the accused, even though many were guilty of committing crimes such as rape, murder, causing injury, damaging property and riotous behaviour repeatedly over a considerable stretch of time. It would be fair if the respected protesters move beyond demanding justice for the victim and capital punishment for criminals only in case of this 23-year-old girl.
It is shameful that the girl was subjected to this heinous crime in a public transport. No less shameful is the fact that criminals, during Gujarat carnage, attacked women in their places of residence. Why there is no demand for similar punishments for crimes of the same nature?
Assuring punishment, however, does not guarantee that crimes of this nature will cease occurring in India. The heinous manner in which the 23-year-old girl was gang-raped and wounded reflects the degree to which the country’s polity, society and administration are afflicted by several evils. It is a tragedy that the country which till date has been hailed for its cultural values and norms is now being looked down upon by its own citizens because of the shameful act. And this demands introspection into what has really wrong. The incident may not have taken place if even one or two of the gang had objected and prevented others from moving ahead.
True, the local police cannot be absolved of their responsibility of not being on patrol in the area. Yet, simply passing on the blame onto the police, government and other officials does not remove the malaise from where it really begins. Even capital punishment for criminals does not guarantee this.
The malaise is increasing frenzy with which people, particularly new generations, have become callous toward what was once viewed as their social and cultural duty as well as obligation. They have started giving more importance to abusing the same. This appears to be trend, among those for whom values such as respect for women and elders carry no importance. What has led men in Indian society to this stage? What is responsible for a certain number of them turning to crime?
Here, it may be noted, urban areas have in recent years reflected an increase in criminal activities such as murder, drunken-driving and also rapes. Should neo-rich culture be to a degree blamed for this? Or does the actual fault lie in certain basic values being absolutely ignored by new generation, particularly males? There is no denying that tendency prevails among males of poorer sections to start earning as soon as possible. The earning is needed to partly supplement the family income. With the additional earning, the new generation of males also have tendency to adopt fast track, “fashionable” habits. Apart from dress, the latter include cell phones, having a good time and being with “girl friends.”
Superficially, nothing seems wrong with this trend. Yet, this also marks a break in this generation’s desire to spend more time at home with their family members thus abandoning socio-cultural values literally for the lust to be the “modern,” “fast-moving” type.
One may note here, little importance is given in several Indian sections to ensure that male children imbibe strong values. Their being money-earners is assumed to be enough.
A male child is still given greater preference than a female. While the former is viewed as two extra hands to earn, the latter is regarded as an extra mouth to feed and also a dowry burden. Despite dowry being illegal, the trend continues. The dowry is now linked with fashion and socioeconomic stature of involved parties. The male, in comparison with female, has the right and authority to lead his life as he wants to, with the latter viewed as a secondary citizen, submissive to desires of the former. True, there is no denying that there is nothing surprising or new about this trend in India. This needs to be linked with increasing aggressiveness in new generations of males to care little about rules and laws when it comes to fulfilling their desires.
Let us accept it. The Indian society is afflicted by a deep-rooted malaise which needs to be checked. The 23-year-old medical intern was not simply a victim of gang rapists, but of a deep-rooted ailment that led the latter view and uses her as nothing more than a sex commodity. Of course, it is great that young ones across the country have risen in protest against this incident. But till substantial efforts are undertaken to change the mindset of Indian males, females cannot be assured absolute security in India. The age-old belief, education begins at home, needs to be given greater importance. Education is not confined to simply learning how to read and write but also includes adhering to basic socio-cultural values, being mannered with respect for all, particularly elderly and women!
Sadly, even demonstrations at Delhi’s India Gate have not been tension-free. Attempts made by some factions to politicise the issue and perpetuate violence have led to clashes between the police and demonstrators. And this brings us to square one. Demonstrations can attract media attention and create some political pressure but cannot be expected to end such crimes. Rather, they can also provoke tension, social as well as political.
Besides, how can it be forgotten that this is not the first time that women in India have been victimised in such a brutal manner. During Gujarat carnage, hundreds of Muslim women faced sexual assaults, murders of their family members, including that of unborn children carried by pregnant ones. The surviving ones have yet to recover from that trauma.
Criminals in only a handful of these cases have been imprisoned. Capital punishment has not been announced for any of the accused, even though many were guilty of committing crimes such as rape, murder, causing injury, damaging property and riotous behaviour repeatedly over a considerable stretch of time. It would be fair if the respected protesters move beyond demanding justice for the victim and capital punishment for criminals only in case of this 23-year-old girl.
It is shameful that the girl was subjected to this heinous crime in a public transport. No less shameful is the fact that criminals, during Gujarat carnage, attacked women in their places of residence. Why there is no demand for similar punishments for crimes of the same nature?
Assuring punishment, however, does not guarantee that crimes of this nature will cease occurring in India. The heinous manner in which the 23-year-old girl was gang-raped and wounded reflects the degree to which the country’s polity, society and administration are afflicted by several evils. It is a tragedy that the country which till date has been hailed for its cultural values and norms is now being looked down upon by its own citizens because of the shameful act. And this demands introspection into what has really wrong. The incident may not have taken place if even one or two of the gang had objected and prevented others from moving ahead.
True, the local police cannot be absolved of their responsibility of not being on patrol in the area. Yet, simply passing on the blame onto the police, government and other officials does not remove the malaise from where it really begins. Even capital punishment for criminals does not guarantee this.
The malaise is increasing frenzy with which people, particularly new generations, have become callous toward what was once viewed as their social and cultural duty as well as obligation. They have started giving more importance to abusing the same. This appears to be trend, among those for whom values such as respect for women and elders carry no importance. What has led men in Indian society to this stage? What is responsible for a certain number of them turning to crime?
Here, it may be noted, urban areas have in recent years reflected an increase in criminal activities such as murder, drunken-driving and also rapes. Should neo-rich culture be to a degree blamed for this? Or does the actual fault lie in certain basic values being absolutely ignored by new generation, particularly males? There is no denying that tendency prevails among males of poorer sections to start earning as soon as possible. The earning is needed to partly supplement the family income. With the additional earning, the new generation of males also have tendency to adopt fast track, “fashionable” habits. Apart from dress, the latter include cell phones, having a good time and being with “girl friends.”
Superficially, nothing seems wrong with this trend. Yet, this also marks a break in this generation’s desire to spend more time at home with their family members thus abandoning socio-cultural values literally for the lust to be the “modern,” “fast-moving” type.
One may note here, little importance is given in several Indian sections to ensure that male children imbibe strong values. Their being money-earners is assumed to be enough.
A male child is still given greater preference than a female. While the former is viewed as two extra hands to earn, the latter is regarded as an extra mouth to feed and also a dowry burden. Despite dowry being illegal, the trend continues. The dowry is now linked with fashion and socioeconomic stature of involved parties. The male, in comparison with female, has the right and authority to lead his life as he wants to, with the latter viewed as a secondary citizen, submissive to desires of the former. True, there is no denying that there is nothing surprising or new about this trend in India. This needs to be linked with increasing aggressiveness in new generations of males to care little about rules and laws when it comes to fulfilling their desires.
Let us accept it. The Indian society is afflicted by a deep-rooted malaise which needs to be checked. The 23-year-old medical intern was not simply a victim of gang rapists, but of a deep-rooted ailment that led the latter view and uses her as nothing more than a sex commodity. Of course, it is great that young ones across the country have risen in protest against this incident. But till substantial efforts are undertaken to change the mindset of Indian males, females cannot be assured absolute security in India. The age-old belief, education begins at home, needs to be given greater importance. Education is not confined to simply learning how to read and write but also includes adhering to basic socio-cultural values, being mannered with respect for all, particularly elderly and women!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Apocalypse Not Quite Yet
Notwithstanding sundry doomsday predictions—from the Mayans to Nostradamus and the ever-impending threat of Armageddon—we can now say with some assurance that the world did not end in 2012. The Middle East, however, continues to fl irt with the apocalypse.
The revolutions, conflagrations, and confrontations now underway from the Sahara to the Hindu Kush are weakening national governments and calling into question borders that have lingered since European powers carved up the region after World War I. What is holding the map together now has more to do with fear than it does with hope, and if the old order fails, many in the Middle East suspect there may be no order left at all.
“The region has had a very strange respect for territorial lines and borders,” says Aaron David Miller at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. But those lines signified a “perverse stability,” Miller says. What kept people in line was tyranny. Some dictators may have been “acquiescent” in the eyes of the West, like Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, or “adversarial” like the Assads. But they “are going the way of the dodo,” says Miller. “I am not saying the region is headed for a catastrophic meltdown, but we are at one of those hinges of history when profound changes are taking place that we are singularly ill-equipped to understand.”
The epicenter of the most urgent crisis is Damascus. Former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice recently warned that “the civil war in Syria may well be the last act in the story of the disintegration of the Middle East as we know it.” But the greater concern is that it will be the first. The mosaic of faiths and peoples inside Syria already has been shattered by the fighting. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq are being sucked into the conflict as refugees flood across their borders and combatants exploit their territories.
The regional powers and the great powers, meanwhile, are treating the fight as a proxy war, scoring points against each other over the corpses of Syrian children. On the side of the rebels are the Turks, the Saudis, and the Qataris, who are uncomfortable allies at best, along with the United States, Britain, France, and other Europeans. The Assad regime gets its outside support from Iran, from its Hizbullah allies in Lebanon, and from Russia. Israel is doing its best to sit out this confl ict, but its northern outposts already have found themselves in the line of fire.
The wild card in the midst of the fighting is the role of foreign jihadists sympathetic to al Qaeda. They support the loosely organized rebels in combat, but undermine the revolutionaries’ credibility abroad and make it harder for them to get the weapons they badly need. When a convention of exiles cobbled together a new Syrian opposition coalition in Qatar in November, one of its architects declared the creation of the new group “a miracle.” But unless the coalition becomes a reliable conduit for weaponry, it will get little respect and have no authority among those who’ve stayed in Syria to fight the regime.
Looming like an enormous cloud—perhaps a mushroom cloud—in the background of the Syrian civil war is the danger that Israel will launch a preemptive strike against Iran to stop the mullahs from acquiring nuclear weapons. The United States has worked hard to find other means to stop the Iranians. Covert action and cyberattacks may have slowed Tehran’s progress, and a concerted diplomatic effort has led to sanctions, which have hit the Iranian economy hard.
But the atomic clock just keeps ticking, and politicians on all sides just keep on politicking. The Obama administration has taken a tough public stand, saying it will not let Iran acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances. Facing reelection, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had to balance the kind of bellicose rhetoric he loves against the possibility that defying Washington and pressing ahead with war could forever damage Israel’s strategic partnership with the U.S. Meanwhile, Tehran’s fractious internal politics are more treacherous than ever. This is an election year in Iran, too, and the widening divide between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could affect the regime’s judgments, or misjudgments, about how far the Islamic Republic can push its confrontation with the West.
In A Peace to End All Peace, the classic account of the way Europe carved up the Middle East in the early 20th century, historian David Fromkin wrote that “the characteristic feature of the region’s politics” is that “there is no sense of legitimacy—no agreement on rules of the game—and no belief universally shared in the region that, within whatever boundaries, the entities that call themselves countries or the men who claim to be rulers are entitled to recognition as such.”
The 21st century’s revolutions and wars demonstrate the lack of legitimacy even beyond the Middle East. Conflicts explode, or simmer, but do not go away. Most will grow worse. And as states continue to fracture or fail they become havens of chaos for the monsters of jihad.
Last year Mali split in two. The legendary city of Timbuktu is now being ruled by radical jihadists. Gen. Carter Ham, the head of the U.S. Africa Command, warned in December that: “As each day goes by, al Qaeda and other organizations are strengthening their hold in northern Mali.” Despite talk of an African-led international intervention, it’s more likely that other rebel factions, with foreign backing, will try to take back the vast desert territory they call Azawad. What’s not probable, or really even plausible, is the ostensible goal of the international community: a reunited Malian nation.
In Sudan, splitting the country into northern and southern enclaves was supposed to settle the issue of borders in a place long sundered by a savage civil war. But fighting there continues, despite a peace agreement, a referendum, and the independence of South Sudan. Somalia fractured and failed decades ago, and is only now, very slowly and in very limited areas, regaining some semblance of order. In Libya, the old rival cities of Benghazi and Tripoli still vie with each other for power at the expense of a very weak central government.
Palestine, its statehood now recognized by an overwhelming majority at the United Nations, is at best a conceptual country. Much of the territory it claims is still occupied by Israel. Its two governments are at odds, and remain unable and unwilling to coordinate a strategy for peace. The Hashemite royals in Jordan, next door, live in fear that Israel will shove the Palestinian West Bank or its people back into their laps, very likely provoking a new Jordanian civil war like the savage one that erupted in 1970. Jordan might be called “the Palestinian state” after that, but it is far from clear who would rule it, or how.
A year after the Americans ended their long, bloody military occupation of Iraq, that country is just barely holding together. Troops from the Shiite- dominated government in Baghdad are locked in a tense standoff with Peshmerga fighters from the autonomous Kurdish region around the contested city of Kirkuk. The Iraqi Kurds are growing richer and more powerful, thanks to oil revenue from deals they cut in defi ance of Baghdad. And the stronger they get, the more they inspire unrest among Kurds in Syria, Iran, and Turkey.
Iraq’s Sunni Muslim population, meanwhile, is paying close attention to the war in neighboring Syria. If the Assad regime there is brought down by a predominantly Sunni force with jihadist elements in it, then the resurgence of al-Qaeda in Iraq, already underway, could gain momentum very quickly. As it is, terrorist bombings often kill dozens of Iraqis a week.
The revolutions, conflagrations, and confrontations now underway from the Sahara to the Hindu Kush are weakening national governments and calling into question borders that have lingered since European powers carved up the region after World War I. What is holding the map together now has more to do with fear than it does with hope, and if the old order fails, many in the Middle East suspect there may be no order left at all.
“The region has had a very strange respect for territorial lines and borders,” says Aaron David Miller at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. But those lines signified a “perverse stability,” Miller says. What kept people in line was tyranny. Some dictators may have been “acquiescent” in the eyes of the West, like Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, or “adversarial” like the Assads. But they “are going the way of the dodo,” says Miller. “I am not saying the region is headed for a catastrophic meltdown, but we are at one of those hinges of history when profound changes are taking place that we are singularly ill-equipped to understand.”
The epicenter of the most urgent crisis is Damascus. Former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice recently warned that “the civil war in Syria may well be the last act in the story of the disintegration of the Middle East as we know it.” But the greater concern is that it will be the first. The mosaic of faiths and peoples inside Syria already has been shattered by the fighting. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq are being sucked into the conflict as refugees flood across their borders and combatants exploit their territories.
The regional powers and the great powers, meanwhile, are treating the fight as a proxy war, scoring points against each other over the corpses of Syrian children. On the side of the rebels are the Turks, the Saudis, and the Qataris, who are uncomfortable allies at best, along with the United States, Britain, France, and other Europeans. The Assad regime gets its outside support from Iran, from its Hizbullah allies in Lebanon, and from Russia. Israel is doing its best to sit out this confl ict, but its northern outposts already have found themselves in the line of fire.
The wild card in the midst of the fighting is the role of foreign jihadists sympathetic to al Qaeda. They support the loosely organized rebels in combat, but undermine the revolutionaries’ credibility abroad and make it harder for them to get the weapons they badly need. When a convention of exiles cobbled together a new Syrian opposition coalition in Qatar in November, one of its architects declared the creation of the new group “a miracle.” But unless the coalition becomes a reliable conduit for weaponry, it will get little respect and have no authority among those who’ve stayed in Syria to fight the regime.
Looming like an enormous cloud—perhaps a mushroom cloud—in the background of the Syrian civil war is the danger that Israel will launch a preemptive strike against Iran to stop the mullahs from acquiring nuclear weapons. The United States has worked hard to find other means to stop the Iranians. Covert action and cyberattacks may have slowed Tehran’s progress, and a concerted diplomatic effort has led to sanctions, which have hit the Iranian economy hard.
But the atomic clock just keeps ticking, and politicians on all sides just keep on politicking. The Obama administration has taken a tough public stand, saying it will not let Iran acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances. Facing reelection, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had to balance the kind of bellicose rhetoric he loves against the possibility that defying Washington and pressing ahead with war could forever damage Israel’s strategic partnership with the U.S. Meanwhile, Tehran’s fractious internal politics are more treacherous than ever. This is an election year in Iran, too, and the widening divide between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could affect the regime’s judgments, or misjudgments, about how far the Islamic Republic can push its confrontation with the West.
In A Peace to End All Peace, the classic account of the way Europe carved up the Middle East in the early 20th century, historian David Fromkin wrote that “the characteristic feature of the region’s politics” is that “there is no sense of legitimacy—no agreement on rules of the game—and no belief universally shared in the region that, within whatever boundaries, the entities that call themselves countries or the men who claim to be rulers are entitled to recognition as such.”
The 21st century’s revolutions and wars demonstrate the lack of legitimacy even beyond the Middle East. Conflicts explode, or simmer, but do not go away. Most will grow worse. And as states continue to fracture or fail they become havens of chaos for the monsters of jihad.
Last year Mali split in two. The legendary city of Timbuktu is now being ruled by radical jihadists. Gen. Carter Ham, the head of the U.S. Africa Command, warned in December that: “As each day goes by, al Qaeda and other organizations are strengthening their hold in northern Mali.” Despite talk of an African-led international intervention, it’s more likely that other rebel factions, with foreign backing, will try to take back the vast desert territory they call Azawad. What’s not probable, or really even plausible, is the ostensible goal of the international community: a reunited Malian nation.
In Sudan, splitting the country into northern and southern enclaves was supposed to settle the issue of borders in a place long sundered by a savage civil war. But fighting there continues, despite a peace agreement, a referendum, and the independence of South Sudan. Somalia fractured and failed decades ago, and is only now, very slowly and in very limited areas, regaining some semblance of order. In Libya, the old rival cities of Benghazi and Tripoli still vie with each other for power at the expense of a very weak central government.
Palestine, its statehood now recognized by an overwhelming majority at the United Nations, is at best a conceptual country. Much of the territory it claims is still occupied by Israel. Its two governments are at odds, and remain unable and unwilling to coordinate a strategy for peace. The Hashemite royals in Jordan, next door, live in fear that Israel will shove the Palestinian West Bank or its people back into their laps, very likely provoking a new Jordanian civil war like the savage one that erupted in 1970. Jordan might be called “the Palestinian state” after that, but it is far from clear who would rule it, or how.
A year after the Americans ended their long, bloody military occupation of Iraq, that country is just barely holding together. Troops from the Shiite- dominated government in Baghdad are locked in a tense standoff with Peshmerga fighters from the autonomous Kurdish region around the contested city of Kirkuk. The Iraqi Kurds are growing richer and more powerful, thanks to oil revenue from deals they cut in defi ance of Baghdad. And the stronger they get, the more they inspire unrest among Kurds in Syria, Iran, and Turkey.
Iraq’s Sunni Muslim population, meanwhile, is paying close attention to the war in neighboring Syria. If the Assad regime there is brought down by a predominantly Sunni force with jihadist elements in it, then the resurgence of al-Qaeda in Iraq, already underway, could gain momentum very quickly. As it is, terrorist bombings often kill dozens of Iraqis a week.
Nottingham High tracking indoor progress
They are not allowed to compete within their own county, they are not funded, they only have volunteer coaches, and the athletes have to pay to compete in every meet and find their own transportation to get to there.
They are the Nottingham High School boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams, eliminated from budget cuts two years ago and now resurrected with club status. Though allowed to represent the school and use its facilities to train, they nonetheless are for the third straight season without an official winter program.
But it could be worse. Township rivals Steinert and Hamilton don’t even have a club team.
If not for a Business Education teacher, Nottingham wouldn’t either.
Melissa Foley, head coach of the school’s girls’ track and field team in the spring, felt it was time to attempt to keep up with most of the state’s spring programs by providing an organized winter program. The hope is to maintain what has become a strong spring program for both the girls’ and boys’ teams.
“The program has meant a lot to me,” Foley said last week. “My senior year I was hurt, and that’s when I realized I loved coaching. I went to school for business (she has a business/marketing degree), but because of coaching, I fell into education. So I appreciate that aspect because coaching introduced me to my career.
“I love working with kids, and I love seeing them be successful. And I don’t want to see the kids who can get a full ride to college and who can go on and do better things outside of school fall behind. And that’s what’s going to happen. You need to be able to compete during the winter in order to stay competitive with everyone else.”
Assistant boys’ track and field coach Jon Adams feels the same. He coaches sprints in the spring and will be helping Foley once or twice a week after the holidays. Fresh off coaching the football team to the Central Jersey Group III championship, he feels the absence of the winter program caught up to the track team last spring.
Two years ago, the Northstars won the state sectional and nearly won the overall Group III title, and last year they came up short in the sectionals.
“We should have repeated, but we didn’t have the depth like the year before,” Adams said. “We didn’t have a chance to train in the offseason, and without that, it will be difficult to compete for titles. Still, with us volunteering, kids are not there every day.”
Foley has been holding training sessions four days a week; twice on Saturdays when they run in Veterans Park in the morning and then back at the high school.
During the week if the weather is nice they warm up outdoors, where obviously field events are practiced. Inside runners do laps in the hallways, and everyone hits the weight room.
“This still puts us way back,” Foley says about the bridge to spring. “I’ve witnessed this for two years. People say, ‘You say that, but your boys’ team is so successful.’ But think how much more successful could they be?
“We have so many athletes in this school who don’t do anything in winter — specifically track. A lot of kids were discouraged when they heard they had to pay their own way.”
The Northstars’ competitive season begins Jan. 3. Among the meets they will take part in are the state relays and sectionals, and they will compete a couple of times at the New York Armory. She also is trying to line up other invitationals.
Because the team is not sanctioned, it is not allowed to compete in Mercer County events such as the relays or the county championships.
Although some spring track and field athletes are involved in other winter sports, Foley estimates that the spring turnout for the girls’ and boys’ teams should at least triple and maybe even quadruple.
The autostradas — the ones that don't languish, unfinished, for decades as corrupt politicians pad their salaries with highway money — are a thing of beauty. True engineering masterpieces, they swoop gracefully through the rugged interior, across graceful arch bridges and long, curving causeways. You can safely drive 200 kph on some stretches, but the speed limit is typically around 100.
As far as roads go, the problem areas tend to be one-way streets in small towns that were built during the Middle Ages — when donkey carts full of citrus and semolina were the norm — and traffic-choked thoroughfares in the island's major cities. Rush hour traffic in Palermo, Catania, Messina, or any of the other more populated areas can be a brutally slow schlep that takes all the joy out of the novel scenery.
Drivers in Sicily are less about observing traffic laws and courtesy than they are about getting where they want to go as quickly and directly as possible, regardless of obstacles. Excessive horn honking is commonplace, as is shouting out the window and gesturing wildly with arms and dramatic facial expressions. But more often than not, the guy yelling "Stronzo!" out the window of his car is driving like a stronzo himself.
Don't be surprised if, when you're driving down a narrow one-way street, the car in front of you stops, and its driver jumps out and scurries into the nearest bread shop for a few minutes. You may be a bit peeved that your progress has been slowed by this apparent insensitivity to your needs, but there's only one thing you can do: depress your car's horn button without letting go until the car deserter returns, and then yell obscenities involving that person and the Madonna out the window until he drives off. When in Sicily...
As a rule of thumb, tiny cars fare better in Sicilian towns and cities than do large ones. Navigating narrow streets is easier, and there are a lot more little spots you can find for parking. Another really good reason to go with a small car on this beautiful Mediterranean island is that gasoline goes for more than $9 per U.S. gallon right now. That's a lot of moneta. Think Fiat 500, Renault Twingo, Toyota Yaris, or Volkswagen Lupo. Anything bigger is truly massive by Italian standards.
But on the other hand, if there's one thing Sicilians respect (as do other Italians, and Americans, too for that matter), it's wealth. If you have a big, fast, expensive car, not only will people get out of your way on the autostrada, you can also park wherever you want without any regard for actual available space or traffic flow. Pull up in a Maserati Quattroporte saloon and most people will assume that you're a big muckety muck who should be treated with deference. On the open road, all you have to do to rid the left lane of that awful Fiat Panda in your way is approach them at twice the legal speed with your lights flashing and your horn blaring. Works like a charm. Most of the time.
But if you have the money, forget all that other stuff and get yourself a classic GT car — something like a Ferrari 250 GTO, Alfa Romeo 8C, Lancia Aurelia, a Mercedes 300 SL, or even a Maserati A6GCS. They're made for these roads, and you'll enjoy yourself immensely if you pick something classic and sporty. You can also grab a modern-day Ferrari or Alfa, but there's a reason why the Targa Florio ended in the late '70s — the cars had become too powerful for Sicily's tight roads, and more fatal crashes were the unfortunate result.
They are the Nottingham High School boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams, eliminated from budget cuts two years ago and now resurrected with club status. Though allowed to represent the school and use its facilities to train, they nonetheless are for the third straight season without an official winter program.
But it could be worse. Township rivals Steinert and Hamilton don’t even have a club team.
If not for a Business Education teacher, Nottingham wouldn’t either.
Melissa Foley, head coach of the school’s girls’ track and field team in the spring, felt it was time to attempt to keep up with most of the state’s spring programs by providing an organized winter program. The hope is to maintain what has become a strong spring program for both the girls’ and boys’ teams.
“The program has meant a lot to me,” Foley said last week. “My senior year I was hurt, and that’s when I realized I loved coaching. I went to school for business (she has a business/marketing degree), but because of coaching, I fell into education. So I appreciate that aspect because coaching introduced me to my career.
“I love working with kids, and I love seeing them be successful. And I don’t want to see the kids who can get a full ride to college and who can go on and do better things outside of school fall behind. And that’s what’s going to happen. You need to be able to compete during the winter in order to stay competitive with everyone else.”
Assistant boys’ track and field coach Jon Adams feels the same. He coaches sprints in the spring and will be helping Foley once or twice a week after the holidays. Fresh off coaching the football team to the Central Jersey Group III championship, he feels the absence of the winter program caught up to the track team last spring.
Two years ago, the Northstars won the state sectional and nearly won the overall Group III title, and last year they came up short in the sectionals.
“We should have repeated, but we didn’t have the depth like the year before,” Adams said. “We didn’t have a chance to train in the offseason, and without that, it will be difficult to compete for titles. Still, with us volunteering, kids are not there every day.”
Foley has been holding training sessions four days a week; twice on Saturdays when they run in Veterans Park in the morning and then back at the high school.
During the week if the weather is nice they warm up outdoors, where obviously field events are practiced. Inside runners do laps in the hallways, and everyone hits the weight room.
“This still puts us way back,” Foley says about the bridge to spring. “I’ve witnessed this for two years. People say, ‘You say that, but your boys’ team is so successful.’ But think how much more successful could they be?
“We have so many athletes in this school who don’t do anything in winter — specifically track. A lot of kids were discouraged when they heard they had to pay their own way.”
The Northstars’ competitive season begins Jan. 3. Among the meets they will take part in are the state relays and sectionals, and they will compete a couple of times at the New York Armory. She also is trying to line up other invitationals.
Because the team is not sanctioned, it is not allowed to compete in Mercer County events such as the relays or the county championships.
Although some spring track and field athletes are involved in other winter sports, Foley estimates that the spring turnout for the girls’ and boys’ teams should at least triple and maybe even quadruple.
The autostradas — the ones that don't languish, unfinished, for decades as corrupt politicians pad their salaries with highway money — are a thing of beauty. True engineering masterpieces, they swoop gracefully through the rugged interior, across graceful arch bridges and long, curving causeways. You can safely drive 200 kph on some stretches, but the speed limit is typically around 100.
As far as roads go, the problem areas tend to be one-way streets in small towns that were built during the Middle Ages — when donkey carts full of citrus and semolina were the norm — and traffic-choked thoroughfares in the island's major cities. Rush hour traffic in Palermo, Catania, Messina, or any of the other more populated areas can be a brutally slow schlep that takes all the joy out of the novel scenery.
Drivers in Sicily are less about observing traffic laws and courtesy than they are about getting where they want to go as quickly and directly as possible, regardless of obstacles. Excessive horn honking is commonplace, as is shouting out the window and gesturing wildly with arms and dramatic facial expressions. But more often than not, the guy yelling "Stronzo!" out the window of his car is driving like a stronzo himself.
Don't be surprised if, when you're driving down a narrow one-way street, the car in front of you stops, and its driver jumps out and scurries into the nearest bread shop for a few minutes. You may be a bit peeved that your progress has been slowed by this apparent insensitivity to your needs, but there's only one thing you can do: depress your car's horn button without letting go until the car deserter returns, and then yell obscenities involving that person and the Madonna out the window until he drives off. When in Sicily...
As a rule of thumb, tiny cars fare better in Sicilian towns and cities than do large ones. Navigating narrow streets is easier, and there are a lot more little spots you can find for parking. Another really good reason to go with a small car on this beautiful Mediterranean island is that gasoline goes for more than $9 per U.S. gallon right now. That's a lot of moneta. Think Fiat 500, Renault Twingo, Toyota Yaris, or Volkswagen Lupo. Anything bigger is truly massive by Italian standards.
But on the other hand, if there's one thing Sicilians respect (as do other Italians, and Americans, too for that matter), it's wealth. If you have a big, fast, expensive car, not only will people get out of your way on the autostrada, you can also park wherever you want without any regard for actual available space or traffic flow. Pull up in a Maserati Quattroporte saloon and most people will assume that you're a big muckety muck who should be treated with deference. On the open road, all you have to do to rid the left lane of that awful Fiat Panda in your way is approach them at twice the legal speed with your lights flashing and your horn blaring. Works like a charm. Most of the time.
But if you have the money, forget all that other stuff and get yourself a classic GT car — something like a Ferrari 250 GTO, Alfa Romeo 8C, Lancia Aurelia, a Mercedes 300 SL, or even a Maserati A6GCS. They're made for these roads, and you'll enjoy yourself immensely if you pick something classic and sporty. You can also grab a modern-day Ferrari or Alfa, but there's a reason why the Targa Florio ended in the late '70s — the cars had become too powerful for Sicily's tight roads, and more fatal crashes were the unfortunate result.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Portland Mayor Sam Adams' polarizing term ends
Why, someone at his table asked, was the city about to add fluoride to drinking water? What about health concerns? Adams jumped in, asking questions, challenging assertions and spouting statistics. Within 12 hours, Adams would cast the final vote approving fluoride.
"He was definitely into it," said Jessica Moskovitz, a former campaign manager for Mayor-elect Charlie Hales who saw the episode from nearby. "I thought it was great that my mayor was staying up late, arguing policy in a bar."
The September scene reflects what many Portlanders saw in Adams when they enthusiastically elected him mayor in 2008: hip enough to be at Beech Street Parlor, smart enough to have fluoride facts at the tip of his tongue, and wonkish enough to share them over late-night drinks. Perhaps he would be Portland's next great mayor, another Neil Goldschmidt without the later scandal.
But it also reflects the Adams they got: Like much else in his term, the vote on fluoride turned divisive and messy. And scandal was right on Adams' heels.
Just three weeks into his term, Adams -- the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city -- was cornered into admitting he lied about his relationship with a teenage Beau Breedlove. He survived a state criminal investigation and two recall attempts. But his reputation was so damaged that he made the all-but-unprecedented decision last year not to seek a second term.
And yet through sheer will and hard work, Adams rammed through an ambitious priority list, easily eclipsing the record of predecessor Tom Potter. The scandal forced Adams to adapt, to become more collaborative and reliant on others.
Instead of moving into the spacious corner office in the mayor's third-floor suite, Adams opted for a tiny room near staff cubicles to be closer to the action. From his time as Katz's enforcer and deal-finder, Adams learned the importance of being a regular in city commissioners' second-floor offices. He continued making the rounds even after he began calling the shots. He found a particular ally in Commissioner Randy Leonard, the two of them almost always voting in lockstep.
And he became the first mayor in decades to hand off responsibility for the Police Bureau to a city commissioner, Dan Saltzman, a move that drew heavy criticism. His rationale? Adams wanted more time to focus on creating jobs and improving education, vitally important but largely out of the mayor's control.
Adams' tenure may be best known for his many, many plans. On economic development. On biking. On climate change. On the future of the city. Those plans helped guide decisions to cut a special redevelopment loan to retain wind-energy company Vestas, eliminate plastic bags at retail stores, end weekly trash pickup in lieu of curbside composting, and nearly double the miles of dedicated bike boulevards to almost 60.
Adams worked with Commissioner Amanda Fritz to create the Office of Equity, especially meaningful to a gay man who grew up poor on the Oregon coast. During planning, officials sponsored five "leadership dialogues" where participants shared stories of disparity.
"People were astonished," Fritz said. Each time, "people were expecting Sam to show up for the intro and leave. He stayed the whole day."
Adams created a green initiative that increased utility rates but paid for land purchases, invasive-species removal and curbside bioswales.
"His accomplishments probably stand alone in terms of the breadth and complexity in the work he's done for the environment," said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland.
Adams also hopped flights to New York (where he wooed apparel company H&M without an appointment), Chicago (to persuade owners of Pioneer Place to hold tight), San Jose (to win SoloPower expansion plans) and Spain (to get Iberdrola Renewables to keep its North American headquarters in Portland).
"He'll definitely press and say, 'It's important to us,'" said Scott Andrews, the city's urban renewal chairman, recalling a conversation Adams had with the CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue. "And when the answer is, 'I can't do it,' the question is, 'Why can't you do it?'"
Although Adams didn't hit his long-stated goal to cut Portland's high school dropout rate in half, he did steer money toward education.
His scholarship program sent hundreds of students to community college, although it gained notoriety when he proposed -- then backed off -- a funding plan that would have tapped the city's water and sewer ratepayers. This spring, he bailed out Portland Public Schools, persuading the City Council to give the district $5 million even though city bureaus faced cuts of their own. In November, voters passed a $12 million annual tax that Adams championed to pay for arts teachers and programs.
"Sam figured out how, as mayor, to harness the community in supporting success in the classroom," Portland schools Superintendent Carole Smith said.
Last month, Adams drew a standing ovation from hundreds of education advocates gathered at Concordia University. When he ascended a stage to accept a large plaque, Adams' voice broke as he said, "Thank you, all."
Although polling shows that Portlanders have warmed to Adams, more than 40 percent of voters still have negative feelings. That's the highest level veteran pollster Tim Hibbitts said he can remember for a Portland politician.
"There is no way that I'd vote for him in any election, now or in the future," said John Acree, a 42-year-old Northwest Portlander, reflecting a common sentiment. "He hasn't proven that he is worthwhile of my trust and my respect."
Commissioner Nick Fish isn't shy about saying that Adams' scandal created a "lost year" that "damaged our ability to do the people's work." Fish said he had "volcanic" conversations with Adams this year over his lack of support for Adams' ultimately doomed project, the $62 million Oregon Sustainability Center.
At City Council meetings, Adams would coordinate lengthy presentations with glowing commentary for his projects but was prone to grill those who testified in opposition. He would sometimes lecture reporters who asked a question he didn't like. Asked about his desire to cut Sellwood Bridge costs but hang onto his streetcar visions, he snapped, "I'm the decider on whether or not I am getting what I asked for, not you!"
Adams created advisory groups to develop a plan for the Rose Quarter, to add a downtown urban renewal district, bring parking meters to Northwest Portland and annex West Hayden Island. In each instance, the process imploded. So Adams maneuvered behind the scenes to strike deals where he could, West Hayden Island being a glaring exception.
"At the end of the day, Portland right now is a great city, and Sam played a role in that," said Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen, who considered a run for mayor and butted heads with Adams over urban renewal and Sellwood Bridge funding. "Some of the contributions were positive, some less so. It's a complex job. He's a complex person."
"He was definitely into it," said Jessica Moskovitz, a former campaign manager for Mayor-elect Charlie Hales who saw the episode from nearby. "I thought it was great that my mayor was staying up late, arguing policy in a bar."
The September scene reflects what many Portlanders saw in Adams when they enthusiastically elected him mayor in 2008: hip enough to be at Beech Street Parlor, smart enough to have fluoride facts at the tip of his tongue, and wonkish enough to share them over late-night drinks. Perhaps he would be Portland's next great mayor, another Neil Goldschmidt without the later scandal.
But it also reflects the Adams they got: Like much else in his term, the vote on fluoride turned divisive and messy. And scandal was right on Adams' heels.
Just three weeks into his term, Adams -- the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city -- was cornered into admitting he lied about his relationship with a teenage Beau Breedlove. He survived a state criminal investigation and two recall attempts. But his reputation was so damaged that he made the all-but-unprecedented decision last year not to seek a second term.
And yet through sheer will and hard work, Adams rammed through an ambitious priority list, easily eclipsing the record of predecessor Tom Potter. The scandal forced Adams to adapt, to become more collaborative and reliant on others.
Instead of moving into the spacious corner office in the mayor's third-floor suite, Adams opted for a tiny room near staff cubicles to be closer to the action. From his time as Katz's enforcer and deal-finder, Adams learned the importance of being a regular in city commissioners' second-floor offices. He continued making the rounds even after he began calling the shots. He found a particular ally in Commissioner Randy Leonard, the two of them almost always voting in lockstep.
And he became the first mayor in decades to hand off responsibility for the Police Bureau to a city commissioner, Dan Saltzman, a move that drew heavy criticism. His rationale? Adams wanted more time to focus on creating jobs and improving education, vitally important but largely out of the mayor's control.
Adams' tenure may be best known for his many, many plans. On economic development. On biking. On climate change. On the future of the city. Those plans helped guide decisions to cut a special redevelopment loan to retain wind-energy company Vestas, eliminate plastic bags at retail stores, end weekly trash pickup in lieu of curbside composting, and nearly double the miles of dedicated bike boulevards to almost 60.
Adams worked with Commissioner Amanda Fritz to create the Office of Equity, especially meaningful to a gay man who grew up poor on the Oregon coast. During planning, officials sponsored five "leadership dialogues" where participants shared stories of disparity.
"People were astonished," Fritz said. Each time, "people were expecting Sam to show up for the intro and leave. He stayed the whole day."
Adams created a green initiative that increased utility rates but paid for land purchases, invasive-species removal and curbside bioswales.
"His accomplishments probably stand alone in terms of the breadth and complexity in the work he's done for the environment," said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland.
Adams also hopped flights to New York (where he wooed apparel company H&M without an appointment), Chicago (to persuade owners of Pioneer Place to hold tight), San Jose (to win SoloPower expansion plans) and Spain (to get Iberdrola Renewables to keep its North American headquarters in Portland).
"He'll definitely press and say, 'It's important to us,'" said Scott Andrews, the city's urban renewal chairman, recalling a conversation Adams had with the CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue. "And when the answer is, 'I can't do it,' the question is, 'Why can't you do it?'"
Although Adams didn't hit his long-stated goal to cut Portland's high school dropout rate in half, he did steer money toward education.
His scholarship program sent hundreds of students to community college, although it gained notoriety when he proposed -- then backed off -- a funding plan that would have tapped the city's water and sewer ratepayers. This spring, he bailed out Portland Public Schools, persuading the City Council to give the district $5 million even though city bureaus faced cuts of their own. In November, voters passed a $12 million annual tax that Adams championed to pay for arts teachers and programs.
"Sam figured out how, as mayor, to harness the community in supporting success in the classroom," Portland schools Superintendent Carole Smith said.
Last month, Adams drew a standing ovation from hundreds of education advocates gathered at Concordia University. When he ascended a stage to accept a large plaque, Adams' voice broke as he said, "Thank you, all."
Although polling shows that Portlanders have warmed to Adams, more than 40 percent of voters still have negative feelings. That's the highest level veteran pollster Tim Hibbitts said he can remember for a Portland politician.
"There is no way that I'd vote for him in any election, now or in the future," said John Acree, a 42-year-old Northwest Portlander, reflecting a common sentiment. "He hasn't proven that he is worthwhile of my trust and my respect."
Commissioner Nick Fish isn't shy about saying that Adams' scandal created a "lost year" that "damaged our ability to do the people's work." Fish said he had "volcanic" conversations with Adams this year over his lack of support for Adams' ultimately doomed project, the $62 million Oregon Sustainability Center.
At City Council meetings, Adams would coordinate lengthy presentations with glowing commentary for his projects but was prone to grill those who testified in opposition. He would sometimes lecture reporters who asked a question he didn't like. Asked about his desire to cut Sellwood Bridge costs but hang onto his streetcar visions, he snapped, "I'm the decider on whether or not I am getting what I asked for, not you!"
Adams created advisory groups to develop a plan for the Rose Quarter, to add a downtown urban renewal district, bring parking meters to Northwest Portland and annex West Hayden Island. In each instance, the process imploded. So Adams maneuvered behind the scenes to strike deals where he could, West Hayden Island being a glaring exception.
"At the end of the day, Portland right now is a great city, and Sam played a role in that," said Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen, who considered a run for mayor and butted heads with Adams over urban renewal and Sellwood Bridge funding. "Some of the contributions were positive, some less so. It's a complex job. He's a complex person."
Ansar al Sharia Tunisia releases pictures of FBI agents
The official media outlet for Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has released pictures purportedly showing three FBI agents who interviewed Ali al Harzi, a suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. The release of the pictures online was first noticed by the SITE Intelligence Group.
The US government had been seeking access to Harzi for more than two months, since he was arrested in Turkey and deported to his native Tunisia in October. Harzi's lawyer told the Associated Press yesterday that the FBI had finally been given permission to interview him.
The interview last three hours and was conducted in front of the judge hearing Harzi's case, with the help of a Moroccan translator.
According to the AP, the FBI asked Harzi not only about the Benghazi attack, but also the assault on the US Embassy in Tunis three days later (Sept. 14). Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, which is headed by a notorious al Qaeda-linked jihadist named Seifullah ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), orchestrated that assault.
If the pictures are of the interviewing FBI agents, then it shows that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia was stalking the Americans. Indeed, in its message announcing the photos online, the group claimed that "despite being forcefully prevented from taking pictures, we were able to take some exclusive pictures."
"Six American states are demanding their independence from the federal government, and the Tunisian Troike [tripartite coalition] government intends to replace them in the event of secession," the group's message reads, according to SITE's translation.
The message continues: "Receive glad tidings O people, for the signs of joining have qualified FBI agents to begin investigating your sons under post-revolutionary protection."
The release of the photos adds a new wrinkle to the investigation into Harzi's background. Harzi initially came under suspicion after he posted information related to the Benghazi attack online. The Daily Beast first reported on Oct. 23 that Harzi "posted an update on social media about the fighting shortly after it had begun" and that this was "[o]ne of the first clues the intelligence community had about the perpetrators" in Benghazi.
During a television interview on Oct. 31, Tunisian Interior Minister Ali Laraeydh said that Harzi "is strongly suspected to have been involved in the attack of Benghazi."
Harzi's precise terrorist affiliation has been ambiguous in press reporting. For instance, a US intelligence official speaking anonymously to The Daily Beast described Harzi as "a member of violent extremist networks in North Africa." Harzi was reportedly en route to Syria, a common destination for North African jihadists, when he was arrested.
Fox News reported that Harzi "is part of a North African Islamist network, with family ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other extremists." Senator Saxby Chambliss (R - GA) told the cable network that Harzi "has been confirmed to be a member of Ansar al Sharia."
Members of the Ansar al Sharia militia in Benghazi reportedly took part in the attack on the US Consulate.
But the release of the photos allegedly showing FBI agents indicates that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has taken a keen interest in Harzi. In its posting of the pictures, the group refers to Harzi as "brother."
Hassine was arrested in Turkey in 2003 and deported to Tunisia, where he was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison. Hassine was released from prison in 2011, in the wake of the Tunisian revolution.
According to the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), Hassine eulogized Osama bin Laden after the al Qaeda master was killed in May 2011. "Let the entire world celebrate the death of one of our Ummah's leaders," Hassine said, "since the death and martyrdom of our leaders for the sake of this straight path ... is an indication of the truthfulness of our way."
According to MEMRI, Hassine added that the death of bin Laden and other "brothers and leaders," such as al Qaeda in Iraq leaders Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, should compel Muslims to fight on. "This is the allegiance, and that is the promise to Allah - do not regress after the death of your sheikh [i.e. bin Laden], or the deaths of your leaders," Hassine said. "Remain steadfast - and die for [the same cause] for which the best among you died."
Two other Ansar al Sharia Tunisia leaders are Sami Ben Khemais Essid and Mehdi Kammoun, both of whom were convicted by Italian courts for their participation in al Qaeda's operations in Italy. Essid was the head of al Qaeda in Italy before his arrest. According to the US State Department and other sources, Essid plotted to attack the US Embassy in Rome in early 2001.
After the Sept. 14, 2012 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis, the Tunisian government imprisoned numerous Ansar al Sharia members. One of them is Bilel Chaouachi, a young imam who has openly praised Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.
However, in the complex Middle East, easily the world’s toughest neighbourhood, such attributes are not necessarily appreciated.
Israeli media have reported that his stance on Israeli policy, and particularly the one preached and adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was “ambivalent.”
“Considered a friend of Israel, Kerry is also a staunch critic of Israel’s settlement policy,” Ynetnews said. “In 2009 he embarrassed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he came out against Israeli settlement construction during the latter’s visit in Washington.”
For the media, Kerry also spearheaded efforts to tighten relations between Washington and Syria and has been accused of engaging Hamas in a dialogue.
“He may be a friend of Israel but is not considered the standard bearer for Israel at the Senate,” a state official said. “Other senators are more prominent in that respect. His positions on the Palestinian issue are pretty clear and he is fiercely critical of the settlements,” Ynetnews reported.
An Israeli foreign ministry official who was not identified by Ynetnews reportedly said that “the biggest question troubling Israeli officials is whether Kerry will seek to make a mark on the Palestinian issue as secretary of state”.
The US government had been seeking access to Harzi for more than two months, since he was arrested in Turkey and deported to his native Tunisia in October. Harzi's lawyer told the Associated Press yesterday that the FBI had finally been given permission to interview him.
The interview last three hours and was conducted in front of the judge hearing Harzi's case, with the help of a Moroccan translator.
According to the AP, the FBI asked Harzi not only about the Benghazi attack, but also the assault on the US Embassy in Tunis three days later (Sept. 14). Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, which is headed by a notorious al Qaeda-linked jihadist named Seifullah ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), orchestrated that assault.
If the pictures are of the interviewing FBI agents, then it shows that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia was stalking the Americans. Indeed, in its message announcing the photos online, the group claimed that "despite being forcefully prevented from taking pictures, we were able to take some exclusive pictures."
"Six American states are demanding their independence from the federal government, and the Tunisian Troike [tripartite coalition] government intends to replace them in the event of secession," the group's message reads, according to SITE's translation.
The message continues: "Receive glad tidings O people, for the signs of joining have qualified FBI agents to begin investigating your sons under post-revolutionary protection."
The release of the photos adds a new wrinkle to the investigation into Harzi's background. Harzi initially came under suspicion after he posted information related to the Benghazi attack online. The Daily Beast first reported on Oct. 23 that Harzi "posted an update on social media about the fighting shortly after it had begun" and that this was "[o]ne of the first clues the intelligence community had about the perpetrators" in Benghazi.
During a television interview on Oct. 31, Tunisian Interior Minister Ali Laraeydh said that Harzi "is strongly suspected to have been involved in the attack of Benghazi."
Harzi's precise terrorist affiliation has been ambiguous in press reporting. For instance, a US intelligence official speaking anonymously to The Daily Beast described Harzi as "a member of violent extremist networks in North Africa." Harzi was reportedly en route to Syria, a common destination for North African jihadists, when he was arrested.
Fox News reported that Harzi "is part of a North African Islamist network, with family ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other extremists." Senator Saxby Chambliss (R - GA) told the cable network that Harzi "has been confirmed to be a member of Ansar al Sharia."
Members of the Ansar al Sharia militia in Benghazi reportedly took part in the attack on the US Consulate.
But the release of the photos allegedly showing FBI agents indicates that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has taken a keen interest in Harzi. In its posting of the pictures, the group refers to Harzi as "brother."
Hassine was arrested in Turkey in 2003 and deported to Tunisia, where he was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison. Hassine was released from prison in 2011, in the wake of the Tunisian revolution.
According to the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), Hassine eulogized Osama bin Laden after the al Qaeda master was killed in May 2011. "Let the entire world celebrate the death of one of our Ummah's leaders," Hassine said, "since the death and martyrdom of our leaders for the sake of this straight path ... is an indication of the truthfulness of our way."
According to MEMRI, Hassine added that the death of bin Laden and other "brothers and leaders," such as al Qaeda in Iraq leaders Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, should compel Muslims to fight on. "This is the allegiance, and that is the promise to Allah - do not regress after the death of your sheikh [i.e. bin Laden], or the deaths of your leaders," Hassine said. "Remain steadfast - and die for [the same cause] for which the best among you died."
Two other Ansar al Sharia Tunisia leaders are Sami Ben Khemais Essid and Mehdi Kammoun, both of whom were convicted by Italian courts for their participation in al Qaeda's operations in Italy. Essid was the head of al Qaeda in Italy before his arrest. According to the US State Department and other sources, Essid plotted to attack the US Embassy in Rome in early 2001.
After the Sept. 14, 2012 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis, the Tunisian government imprisoned numerous Ansar al Sharia members. One of them is Bilel Chaouachi, a young imam who has openly praised Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.
However, in the complex Middle East, easily the world’s toughest neighbourhood, such attributes are not necessarily appreciated.
Israeli media have reported that his stance on Israeli policy, and particularly the one preached and adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was “ambivalent.”
“Considered a friend of Israel, Kerry is also a staunch critic of Israel’s settlement policy,” Ynetnews said. “In 2009 he embarrassed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he came out against Israeli settlement construction during the latter’s visit in Washington.”
For the media, Kerry also spearheaded efforts to tighten relations between Washington and Syria and has been accused of engaging Hamas in a dialogue.
“He may be a friend of Israel but is not considered the standard bearer for Israel at the Senate,” a state official said. “Other senators are more prominent in that respect. His positions on the Palestinian issue are pretty clear and he is fiercely critical of the settlements,” Ynetnews reported.
An Israeli foreign ministry official who was not identified by Ynetnews reportedly said that “the biggest question troubling Israeli officials is whether Kerry will seek to make a mark on the Palestinian issue as secretary of state”.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Station 7 opens West Ocean City location
General manager Wayne Knapp says he wants the new eatery, which opened Oct. 29, to be “the most upscale dive bar in town.”
Restaurant owner Todd Wample and three other partners acquired the property when it was down to the bare walls and original wood floors. From start to finish, the renovations took nearly 10 months.
They added an elevated stage, surrounded the bar with flat-screen TVs, put up brickwork and diamond plating décor, and installed custom lighting over the bar.
The bar itself was improved with new woodworking and mirrors, as well as a real fire hydrant at the center of the bar dispensing locally-brewed draft beers.
“If you could have seen the bathrooms before versus now, they’re phenomenal. We get so many compliments. It’s like something you’d seen in a five-star hotel,” Knapp said. “Everyone’s just been floored by the changes.”
The property most recently was 707 Sports Bar & Grille. The establishment closed after the October 2011 death of owner Carey Flynn, who was hospitalized after an after-hours fight with bar patron Cyle Walker.
Flynn and an intoxicated Walker later scuffled when Flynn caught Walker urinating outside the bar around closing time.
Flynn suffered internal injuries and died at the hospital. A medical examiner ruled his cause of death was homicide.
A Worcester County judge found Walker, 27, guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Walker is currently serving a one-year jail sentence for that conviction.
According to Knapp, Station 7 owner Todd Wampler had been looking for another spot to expand his restaurant chain, which already has locations in Pittsville and Laurel, into the Ocean City-Fenwick Island area.
Flynn’s family decided to close 707 Sports Bar & Grille after his death. In the middle of the new restaurant, under dining room tables, the old 707 bar logo remains painted on the floor. Knapp said the bar owners decided to keep it, to pay homage to Flynn and the former establishment.
There’s going to be a focus on homemade food. Entrees and sauces will be made from scratch, including smoked meats, pulled pork, and fresh hand-sliced beef for cheese steaks.
The old 707 had a staunch history of being a Pittsburgh Steelers bar. Knapp said they hope to still bring in a crowd for Sunday and Monday night football games, but for now, there won’t be any favorite team.
There’s another one whom he also can’t name who lost several million dollars in one month because one of the operator’s partners found another way to route content to end users.
“He found out only when he got a bill”, because the bilateral agreement that covered the traffic was no longer as balanced as it had been previously. “He had no visibility of what was happening. The operator just didn’t see it coming.”
Understandably, the CFO was not happy. “Our analytics could have shown him what was happening the same day the deviation started, predicted the impact and automatically issued alerts. The company would have seen what was happening and adjusted their business to avoid or minimise the loss.
“Something could have been done at the time, but weeks later it’s not so easy to tackle,” says Brooks.
And there’s a third operator — again, no names — that invested over $40 million worth of network assets, only to find they were all still stuck in warehouses six months later, unused.
“Operators today are acutely aware of concepts like time to value, and return on assets; without an accurate analytics mechanism to holistically monitor all stages of asset lifecycle, procurement and daily network changes, operators have virtually no accurate visibility into those factors.”
In several cases, Subex’s programme has identified millions of dollars worth of equipment that seem to have disappeared entirely. “The warehouses think those assets are deployed, yet there is no sign of them on the network,” says Brooks. That’s something plaguing most operators today — but now they can tighten up management of the supply chain of spare parts.
“Our concept of the ROC has evolved considerably in the past three to four years,” he says. It was a revolutionary concept from the start — giving telecoms operator executives the ability to monitor revenue-critical aspects of the network and act on them in real time.
“At first the ROC was focused on metrics — and we used the metrics for applications such as revenue assurance, fraud detection and cost management.” It was an excellent system — and still is — for identifying problems that have already happened.
The significant change in the approach took place when Subex started using the data not just to analyse past behaviour in the network but to predict activities and vulnerabilities into the future. This approach is founded on analytics and insights. “What can I predict will be the effect on existing products and customers? What insights can I derive from that prediction and effect?”
Subex took the original unifying platform of the ROC and built it into a suite of products call ROCware, with built-in analytics.
“We have an approach that focuses on outcomes — not just tools. Our advantage is that we understand telecoms. All we’ve done for the past 20 years is telecoms and the financial aspects that drive operators’ businesses every day.”
By understanding the industry and its vital data, Subex is able to understand the parameters. “We know what features you’re trying to analyse. ROCware includes tailored analytics to answer the problems the telecoms industry wants to know about.”
Restaurant owner Todd Wample and three other partners acquired the property when it was down to the bare walls and original wood floors. From start to finish, the renovations took nearly 10 months.
They added an elevated stage, surrounded the bar with flat-screen TVs, put up brickwork and diamond plating décor, and installed custom lighting over the bar.
The bar itself was improved with new woodworking and mirrors, as well as a real fire hydrant at the center of the bar dispensing locally-brewed draft beers.
“If you could have seen the bathrooms before versus now, they’re phenomenal. We get so many compliments. It’s like something you’d seen in a five-star hotel,” Knapp said. “Everyone’s just been floored by the changes.”
The property most recently was 707 Sports Bar & Grille. The establishment closed after the October 2011 death of owner Carey Flynn, who was hospitalized after an after-hours fight with bar patron Cyle Walker.
Flynn and an intoxicated Walker later scuffled when Flynn caught Walker urinating outside the bar around closing time.
Flynn suffered internal injuries and died at the hospital. A medical examiner ruled his cause of death was homicide.
A Worcester County judge found Walker, 27, guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Walker is currently serving a one-year jail sentence for that conviction.
According to Knapp, Station 7 owner Todd Wampler had been looking for another spot to expand his restaurant chain, which already has locations in Pittsville and Laurel, into the Ocean City-Fenwick Island area.
Flynn’s family decided to close 707 Sports Bar & Grille after his death. In the middle of the new restaurant, under dining room tables, the old 707 bar logo remains painted on the floor. Knapp said the bar owners decided to keep it, to pay homage to Flynn and the former establishment.
There’s going to be a focus on homemade food. Entrees and sauces will be made from scratch, including smoked meats, pulled pork, and fresh hand-sliced beef for cheese steaks.
The old 707 had a staunch history of being a Pittsburgh Steelers bar. Knapp said they hope to still bring in a crowd for Sunday and Monday night football games, but for now, there won’t be any favorite team.
There’s another one whom he also can’t name who lost several million dollars in one month because one of the operator’s partners found another way to route content to end users.
“He found out only when he got a bill”, because the bilateral agreement that covered the traffic was no longer as balanced as it had been previously. “He had no visibility of what was happening. The operator just didn’t see it coming.”
Understandably, the CFO was not happy. “Our analytics could have shown him what was happening the same day the deviation started, predicted the impact and automatically issued alerts. The company would have seen what was happening and adjusted their business to avoid or minimise the loss.
“Something could have been done at the time, but weeks later it’s not so easy to tackle,” says Brooks.
And there’s a third operator — again, no names — that invested over $40 million worth of network assets, only to find they were all still stuck in warehouses six months later, unused.
“Operators today are acutely aware of concepts like time to value, and return on assets; without an accurate analytics mechanism to holistically monitor all stages of asset lifecycle, procurement and daily network changes, operators have virtually no accurate visibility into those factors.”
In several cases, Subex’s programme has identified millions of dollars worth of equipment that seem to have disappeared entirely. “The warehouses think those assets are deployed, yet there is no sign of them on the network,” says Brooks. That’s something plaguing most operators today — but now they can tighten up management of the supply chain of spare parts.
“Our concept of the ROC has evolved considerably in the past three to four years,” he says. It was a revolutionary concept from the start — giving telecoms operator executives the ability to monitor revenue-critical aspects of the network and act on them in real time.
“At first the ROC was focused on metrics — and we used the metrics for applications such as revenue assurance, fraud detection and cost management.” It was an excellent system — and still is — for identifying problems that have already happened.
The significant change in the approach took place when Subex started using the data not just to analyse past behaviour in the network but to predict activities and vulnerabilities into the future. This approach is founded on analytics and insights. “What can I predict will be the effect on existing products and customers? What insights can I derive from that prediction and effect?”
Subex took the original unifying platform of the ROC and built it into a suite of products call ROCware, with built-in analytics.
“We have an approach that focuses on outcomes — not just tools. Our advantage is that we understand telecoms. All we’ve done for the past 20 years is telecoms and the financial aspects that drive operators’ businesses every day.”
By understanding the industry and its vital data, Subex is able to understand the parameters. “We know what features you’re trying to analyse. ROCware includes tailored analytics to answer the problems the telecoms industry wants to know about.”
Hurricane Sandy doubled Internet outages
GIGO, for garbage-in, garbage-out is a basic principle of computing and/or decision-making which holds that the validity or integrity of the input will determine the validity or integrity of the output. Which is why first-year computer students are taught to check and recheck their input data and assumptions. It is not unreasonable, therefor to expect the same of seasoned scientists with multiple letters after their names, utilizing some of the most sophisticated and expensive computers and operating out of prestigious universities and laboratories. Especially when taxpayers are underwriting their work and the studies produced by their computer models are the basis for far-reaching public policies that will dramatically impact those taxpayers, as well as all of society.
However, when it comes to the theory of anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming, or AGW, the GIGO principle appears to be the norm. The so-called mainstream media (MSM) never seem to tire of headlining scary scenarios of climate catastrophe brought on by AGW, based on the latest projections generated by computer modeling of atmospheric temperatures, ocean temperatures, sea levels, glaciers, rain fall, extreme storms, etc. The same media organs, however, rarely report on the many scientific studies that regularly debunk the schlocky — and often outright fraudulent — computer models.
The Hockey Schtick blogspot reported on December 10 that a new paper published in the Journal of Climate finds there has been "little to no improvement" in simulating clouds by state-of-the-art climate models. The authors note the "poor performance of current global climate models in simulating realistic [clouds]," and that the models show "quite large biases ... as well as a remarkable degree of variation" with the differences between models remaining "large."
But, once the storm made landfall, it jumped to 0.43 percent and took about four days to return to normal, according to a new report by scientists at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering.
“On a national scale, the amount of outage is small, showing how robust the Internet is. However, this significant increase in outages shows the large impact Sandy had on our national infrastructure,” says John Heidemann, who led the team that tracked and analyzed the data. Heidemann is a research professor of computer science and project leader in the ISI’s computer networks division.
Heidemann worked with graduate student Lin Quan and research staff member Yuri Pradkin, sending tiny packets of data known as “pings” to networks and waiting for “echoes,” or responses. Though some networks—those with a firewall—will not respond to pings, this method has been shown to provide a statistically reasonable picture of when parts of the Internet are active or down.
The team, which was also able to pinpoint where the outages were occurring, noted a spike in outages in New Jersey and New York after Sandy made landfall.
Their research is published as a technical report on the ISI webpage, and the raw data will be made available to other scientists who would like to analyze it.
The data is not yet specific enough to say exactly how many individuals were affected by the outage, but it does provide solid information about the scale and location of outages, which could inform Internet service providers on how best to allocate resources to respond to natural disasters.
“Our work measures the virtual world to peer into the physical,” Heidemann says. “We are working to improve the coverage of our techniques to provide a nearly real-time view of outages across the entire Internet. We hope that our approach can help first responders quickly understand the scope of evolving natural disasters.”
The results of Dr. Mrner’s research are especially relevant to assessing the claims of climate modelers that the survival of island nations such as Maldives and Tuvalu, and low-lying coastal areas in developing nations, such as India and Bangladesh, is being threatened by rising sea levels due to AGW from emissions of the “rich countries.” The phony climate models projecting catastrophic sea-level rises are then used at UN climate summits, such as at Copenhagen, Cancun, Durban, Rio, and the recently concluded Doha summit, to call for carbon taxes and “loss and damages” payments to the “threatened” nations, in the interest of “climate justice.”
As Prof. Mrner charges, “sea-level gate” is indeed a grave scandal, showing widespread unethical practices and serious perversion of science. However, “sea-level gate” is just one of a multitude of scandals, collectively known as Climategate, (See here, here, and here), nearly all of which employ computer modeling chicanery to craft wild scenarios (which invariably are contradicted by real-world observations and verifiable historical data) to promote an agenda of empowering governments at local, national, and international levels to deal with the fabricated “crises.”
In a July 10, 2012 op-ed column for the Australian journal Quadrant, Professor Cliff Ollier of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Western Australia took aim at the dangerous practice of allowing unvetted and unreviewed computer models to determine policies in the name of “science.”
However, when it comes to the theory of anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming, or AGW, the GIGO principle appears to be the norm. The so-called mainstream media (MSM) never seem to tire of headlining scary scenarios of climate catastrophe brought on by AGW, based on the latest projections generated by computer modeling of atmospheric temperatures, ocean temperatures, sea levels, glaciers, rain fall, extreme storms, etc. The same media organs, however, rarely report on the many scientific studies that regularly debunk the schlocky — and often outright fraudulent — computer models.
The Hockey Schtick blogspot reported on December 10 that a new paper published in the Journal of Climate finds there has been "little to no improvement" in simulating clouds by state-of-the-art climate models. The authors note the "poor performance of current global climate models in simulating realistic [clouds]," and that the models show "quite large biases ... as well as a remarkable degree of variation" with the differences between models remaining "large."
But, once the storm made landfall, it jumped to 0.43 percent and took about four days to return to normal, according to a new report by scientists at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering.
“On a national scale, the amount of outage is small, showing how robust the Internet is. However, this significant increase in outages shows the large impact Sandy had on our national infrastructure,” says John Heidemann, who led the team that tracked and analyzed the data. Heidemann is a research professor of computer science and project leader in the ISI’s computer networks division.
Heidemann worked with graduate student Lin Quan and research staff member Yuri Pradkin, sending tiny packets of data known as “pings” to networks and waiting for “echoes,” or responses. Though some networks—those with a firewall—will not respond to pings, this method has been shown to provide a statistically reasonable picture of when parts of the Internet are active or down.
The team, which was also able to pinpoint where the outages were occurring, noted a spike in outages in New Jersey and New York after Sandy made landfall.
Their research is published as a technical report on the ISI webpage, and the raw data will be made available to other scientists who would like to analyze it.
The data is not yet specific enough to say exactly how many individuals were affected by the outage, but it does provide solid information about the scale and location of outages, which could inform Internet service providers on how best to allocate resources to respond to natural disasters.
“Our work measures the virtual world to peer into the physical,” Heidemann says. “We are working to improve the coverage of our techniques to provide a nearly real-time view of outages across the entire Internet. We hope that our approach can help first responders quickly understand the scope of evolving natural disasters.”
The results of Dr. Mrner’s research are especially relevant to assessing the claims of climate modelers that the survival of island nations such as Maldives and Tuvalu, and low-lying coastal areas in developing nations, such as India and Bangladesh, is being threatened by rising sea levels due to AGW from emissions of the “rich countries.” The phony climate models projecting catastrophic sea-level rises are then used at UN climate summits, such as at Copenhagen, Cancun, Durban, Rio, and the recently concluded Doha summit, to call for carbon taxes and “loss and damages” payments to the “threatened” nations, in the interest of “climate justice.”
As Prof. Mrner charges, “sea-level gate” is indeed a grave scandal, showing widespread unethical practices and serious perversion of science. However, “sea-level gate” is just one of a multitude of scandals, collectively known as Climategate, (See here, here, and here), nearly all of which employ computer modeling chicanery to craft wild scenarios (which invariably are contradicted by real-world observations and verifiable historical data) to promote an agenda of empowering governments at local, national, and international levels to deal with the fabricated “crises.”
In a July 10, 2012 op-ed column for the Australian journal Quadrant, Professor Cliff Ollier of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Western Australia took aim at the dangerous practice of allowing unvetted and unreviewed computer models to determine policies in the name of “science.”
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Georgetown, six other Big East basketball schools
Georgetown and its six kindred Big East members that don’t play big-time football voted unanimously Saturday to leave the conference, charting a course for a new league built around basketball.
In making the move, the basketball schools formally acknowledged what has become increasingly apparent: Their interests are no longer best served by what has become a football-driven conference. Rather than allow their basketball profile to be further eroded and their voice in conference affairs become more irrelevant, they are better off forming a league of their own.
“There has been thoughtful consideration to our membership in the Big East Conference — what that has meant to us, Georgetown University — and they are never easy decisions,” Georgetown Athletic Director Lee Reed explained. “But we thought it was the right time to make this decision.”
It’s unclear how many members the new league will consist of, although it will expand beyond the current seven Catholic schools, with Butler and Xavier (based in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, respectively) considered front-runners for an invitation. Under league bylaws, which mandate a 27-month waiting period without paying an early exit penalty, the seven schools would be eligible to depart June 30, 2015. It’s also unclear whether it will pursue rights to the name “Big East” and the privilege of holding its men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.
But there’s no doubt the exodus of seven schools from the 15-team Big East, whose membership has been a revolving door since 2004, will further destabilize a college landscape marked by fault lines and call into question the very viability of the league they’ll leave behind. They bring to 17 the number of schools to have left the conference since 2004, when Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left for the ACC.
The vote was taken on a noon conference call among the institutions’ seven presidents, who issued a joint statement through Georgetown’s administrative office saying they planned “to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established.”
Georgetown was a charter member of the Big East, founded in 1979 to leverage the major media markets of the Northeast and provide a nascent cable network, ESPN, with programming built on storied basketball rivalries.
But Georgetown men’s basketball Coach John Thompson III expressed no wistfulness over the move when speaking to reporters following the Hoyas’ 81-68 victory over Western Carolina at Verizon Center, which concluded just as the presidents issued their statement confirming the breakaway.
“This is a decision that is not an emotional decision,” Thompson said. “Getting to this point had nothing to do with Georgetown’s position as a charter member and not wanting to pull apart because of those ties and allegiances. I think at this point, based on the collegiate landscape, our leadership believes this is the right thing to do. And we believe this is the right thing to do.”
Thompson and Reed fielded questions for about 20 minutes, with Hall of Fame coach John Thompson Jr., who led Georgetown to the 1984 NCAA championship, sitting in, as is customary during postgame news conferences at home games.
Georgetown football will continue competing in the Patriot League, Reed said. Its other 28 varsity sports will compete in the new league. And as the new league takes shape, it won’t necessarily remain exclusive to Catholic schools.
Approached in the arena hallway, the elder Thompson declined to weigh in, saying he had been asked not to comment publicly.
The breakaway that had been expected was couched in civil terms on both sides, with the seven Catholic schools expressing gratitude for the “exceptional leadership” of Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco and saying they had been “honored to be associated with the outstanding group of institutions that have made up the Big East.”
Aresco, in turn, recognized the contributions of the seven basketball schools in his own statement confirming they had sent notice of their plan to withdraw. He struck an optimistic tone about the league’s future without them.
“The 13 members of the conference are confident and united regarding our collective future,” Aresco said. “We have a strong conference with respected national universities, and are working together to forge the future.”
If litigation follows in the months to come, in which the logistics of the Big East’s schism will be ironed out, it will likely be over the conference name, its claim on Madison Square Garden and, above all, money.
Under a provision inserted in the Big East bylaws in the wake of the defections of 2003, the seven Catholic schools don’t have to pay the $10 million exit fee per school because they are leaving as a group. They also will be able to keep the valuable “units” that reflect past performance in the NCAA basketball tournament, on which the payout for future participation in the NCAA tournament is based.
But there is ample room for debating how much — if any — of the $70-plus million in existing exit fees due the Big East the breakaway schools are entitled to.
In many respects, the breakaway is a risk, however calculated and thoughtfully deliberated. Amid the overheated scramble for college football programming, it’s unclear what broadcasters will pay for rights to a basketball-centric league that hearkens back to an earlier era. And it’s unclear if the breakaway schools can attract members — whether one, three or five — that can both elevate their basketball profile and add heft to the major media markets they already claim or at least abut: New York, Philadelphia,Washington,Milwaukee (Marquette) and Boston (Providence).
But the alternative of standing by while the Big East’s basketball brand was diluted and its like-minded purpose undermined proved increasingly intolerable. To compensate for the loss of big-time football members West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville, the Big East in the past 15 months added such far-flung schools as Boise State and San Diego State, with East Carolina and Navy signing on, as well. And efforts to compensate for the basketball cachet it will lose by adding Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, Southern Methodist and Tulane were received even more poorly.
In making the move, the basketball schools formally acknowledged what has become increasingly apparent: Their interests are no longer best served by what has become a football-driven conference. Rather than allow their basketball profile to be further eroded and their voice in conference affairs become more irrelevant, they are better off forming a league of their own.
“There has been thoughtful consideration to our membership in the Big East Conference — what that has meant to us, Georgetown University — and they are never easy decisions,” Georgetown Athletic Director Lee Reed explained. “But we thought it was the right time to make this decision.”
It’s unclear how many members the new league will consist of, although it will expand beyond the current seven Catholic schools, with Butler and Xavier (based in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, respectively) considered front-runners for an invitation. Under league bylaws, which mandate a 27-month waiting period without paying an early exit penalty, the seven schools would be eligible to depart June 30, 2015. It’s also unclear whether it will pursue rights to the name “Big East” and the privilege of holding its men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.
But there’s no doubt the exodus of seven schools from the 15-team Big East, whose membership has been a revolving door since 2004, will further destabilize a college landscape marked by fault lines and call into question the very viability of the league they’ll leave behind. They bring to 17 the number of schools to have left the conference since 2004, when Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left for the ACC.
The vote was taken on a noon conference call among the institutions’ seven presidents, who issued a joint statement through Georgetown’s administrative office saying they planned “to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established.”
Georgetown was a charter member of the Big East, founded in 1979 to leverage the major media markets of the Northeast and provide a nascent cable network, ESPN, with programming built on storied basketball rivalries.
But Georgetown men’s basketball Coach John Thompson III expressed no wistfulness over the move when speaking to reporters following the Hoyas’ 81-68 victory over Western Carolina at Verizon Center, which concluded just as the presidents issued their statement confirming the breakaway.
“This is a decision that is not an emotional decision,” Thompson said. “Getting to this point had nothing to do with Georgetown’s position as a charter member and not wanting to pull apart because of those ties and allegiances. I think at this point, based on the collegiate landscape, our leadership believes this is the right thing to do. And we believe this is the right thing to do.”
Thompson and Reed fielded questions for about 20 minutes, with Hall of Fame coach John Thompson Jr., who led Georgetown to the 1984 NCAA championship, sitting in, as is customary during postgame news conferences at home games.
Georgetown football will continue competing in the Patriot League, Reed said. Its other 28 varsity sports will compete in the new league. And as the new league takes shape, it won’t necessarily remain exclusive to Catholic schools.
Approached in the arena hallway, the elder Thompson declined to weigh in, saying he had been asked not to comment publicly.
The breakaway that had been expected was couched in civil terms on both sides, with the seven Catholic schools expressing gratitude for the “exceptional leadership” of Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco and saying they had been “honored to be associated with the outstanding group of institutions that have made up the Big East.”
Aresco, in turn, recognized the contributions of the seven basketball schools in his own statement confirming they had sent notice of their plan to withdraw. He struck an optimistic tone about the league’s future without them.
“The 13 members of the conference are confident and united regarding our collective future,” Aresco said. “We have a strong conference with respected national universities, and are working together to forge the future.”
If litigation follows in the months to come, in which the logistics of the Big East’s schism will be ironed out, it will likely be over the conference name, its claim on Madison Square Garden and, above all, money.
Under a provision inserted in the Big East bylaws in the wake of the defections of 2003, the seven Catholic schools don’t have to pay the $10 million exit fee per school because they are leaving as a group. They also will be able to keep the valuable “units” that reflect past performance in the NCAA basketball tournament, on which the payout for future participation in the NCAA tournament is based.
But there is ample room for debating how much — if any — of the $70-plus million in existing exit fees due the Big East the breakaway schools are entitled to.
In many respects, the breakaway is a risk, however calculated and thoughtfully deliberated. Amid the overheated scramble for college football programming, it’s unclear what broadcasters will pay for rights to a basketball-centric league that hearkens back to an earlier era. And it’s unclear if the breakaway schools can attract members — whether one, three or five — that can both elevate their basketball profile and add heft to the major media markets they already claim or at least abut: New York, Philadelphia,Washington,Milwaukee (Marquette) and Boston (Providence).
But the alternative of standing by while the Big East’s basketball brand was diluted and its like-minded purpose undermined proved increasingly intolerable. To compensate for the loss of big-time football members West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville, the Big East in the past 15 months added such far-flung schools as Boise State and San Diego State, with East Carolina and Navy signing on, as well. And efforts to compensate for the basketball cachet it will lose by adding Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, Southern Methodist and Tulane were received even more poorly.
Changing channels?
One of the first items of business the City Council will take up in the New Year is whether to renew Comcast Cable’s franchise agreement with Jersey City. That this franchise agreement will be renewed is a given, since by law municipalities have practically no right to deny such agreements to companies that have built up the local cable infrastructure.
But the city can dictate the length of the agreement and can demand that Comcast improve the community services and programming it offers to Jersey City residents. Since March, the city has been receiving input from the public regarding what resources and services Comcast should be required to offer as part of its franchise renewal.
In a public hearing held Dec. 11, residents had one of their last opportunities to tell the council and Comcast which services should be tied to the city’s franchise agreement with the company.
The list of requirements includes continuation of Jersey City 1 TV and a dedicated public access channel; a station set aside for the Board of Education; discounted rates for senior citizens; a service suspension option for seasonal residents; equipment upgrades; improved training opportunities for lay producers; and scholarship, internship, and employment opportunities for Jersey City students.
Whether or not the city gets any or all of these “wish list” requests will depend on the state’s Board of Public Utilities.
In 1998, the city signed a 15-year local franchise agreement with Comcast to supply cable service to Jersey City residents. This agreement expires May 13, 2013.
As a first step in this process, the city held a public hearing at City Hall last Tuesday so residents could discuss their experiences with Comcast and which services they’d like to see from their local cable provider in the future.
Based on the comments made at the public hearing before the City Council, the city will renew its cable franchise agreement with Comcast – but is likely to include its wish list of desired services and resources in the agreement.
According to City Clerk Robert Byrne, there are only a limited number of circumstances that would allow the city to deny a franchise renewal to Comcast: if the company hasn’t complied with its 1998 agreement; if Comcast’s service is poor; if Comcast lacks the financial or legal capacity to deliver service in the future, or if the company is unable to meet the future needs of the community.
Thus, it is unlikely the city will cut ties with Comcast altogether. But the city can build a number of requirements into its contract with the company that address service problems and other concerns residents raised last week.
In a nutshell, many residents believe that Jersey City receives fewer services from Comcast than other communities receive from their local cable TV providers.
“In other cities, there’s actually money set aside for public access where there is a studio and people can receive training,” said resident and cable access producer Yvonne Balcer. “In Union City, you have a great [public access studio], where the public can receive training and there is available equipment. That’s not the case here. In Jersey City, the public has to bring a finished product to the public access station [Channel 51].”
Another resident, Mia Scanga, who produces the public access show “Talking Politics” for Channel 51, agreed.
“Some of us, like myself and Yvonne Balcer, we’ve gone out and purchased our own equipment,” Scanga noted. “But video cameras and other equipment can be $2,000 or $2,500. A lot of people can’t afford that. We are not getting nearly the services at our public access station that other cites get. That [public access] studio on Kennedy Boulevard has nothing in it. In other cities, not only do people get a studio, they get trained how to film, how to edit.”
Throughout the hearing, several community members stated that Comcast’s rates, even for the most basic packages, are not affordable for seniors living on fixed incomes. This, they argued, poses a problem should there be an emergency, since seniors without cable might miss important information that is broadcast on TV.
Others, including seasonal resident Jim Morley, complained that the city’s current agreement with Comcast does not allow customers to suspend their service during months of the year when they are living out-of-state. Local cable agreements in other cities allow for such service suspensions for “snow birds.”
Charles Smith, Comcast Cable’s director of government and community services, told The Reporter that that “these are things that can be discussed” when asked whether the company would be willing to improve resources for public access TV producers, and he said Comcast would be willing to entertain such improvements.
He added, however, that many of the public access studios mentioned by Scanga and Balcer are run by Cablevision, not Comcast.
One sticking point in the city’s new franchise agreement with Comcast could be whether the city is able to keep Channel 1, known as Jersey City 1 TV, a station dedicated to municipal government meetings and city news. City officials believe that Comcast may want to capture the channel for its own purposes.
Councilman Steven Fulop also told Smith that he wanted to see what improvements Comcast plans to make in its foreign-language programming.
“As you know, we are a very diverse city, with many residents who come from other parts of the world,” said Fulop. “I’d like to know what Comcast plans to do to increase its programming for the Indian community and Russian-speaking community.”
Byrne, however, said that completely severing ties with Comcast is not possible, since it is the company that built up Jersey City’s cable infrastructure and, as such, it has the permanent right to offer local cable service, unless the city can make a strong case against renewing the franchise agreement to the Board of Public Utilities. Still, he insisted the city has negotiating power and leverage.
“Comcast has to be reasonable,” explained Byrne. “The final arbiter in all this is the Board of Public Utilities. They are the mediator if one side or the other makes silly requests. If we’re not reasonable, the BPU is not going to approve our ordinance [to renew the franchise agreement with Comcast]. But at the same time, if Comcast denies all the things we’re asking for, the BPU will intervene on our behalf and require that Comcast negotiate.”
But the city can dictate the length of the agreement and can demand that Comcast improve the community services and programming it offers to Jersey City residents. Since March, the city has been receiving input from the public regarding what resources and services Comcast should be required to offer as part of its franchise renewal.
In a public hearing held Dec. 11, residents had one of their last opportunities to tell the council and Comcast which services should be tied to the city’s franchise agreement with the company.
The list of requirements includes continuation of Jersey City 1 TV and a dedicated public access channel; a station set aside for the Board of Education; discounted rates for senior citizens; a service suspension option for seasonal residents; equipment upgrades; improved training opportunities for lay producers; and scholarship, internship, and employment opportunities for Jersey City students.
Whether or not the city gets any or all of these “wish list” requests will depend on the state’s Board of Public Utilities.
In 1998, the city signed a 15-year local franchise agreement with Comcast to supply cable service to Jersey City residents. This agreement expires May 13, 2013.
As a first step in this process, the city held a public hearing at City Hall last Tuesday so residents could discuss their experiences with Comcast and which services they’d like to see from their local cable provider in the future.
Based on the comments made at the public hearing before the City Council, the city will renew its cable franchise agreement with Comcast – but is likely to include its wish list of desired services and resources in the agreement.
According to City Clerk Robert Byrne, there are only a limited number of circumstances that would allow the city to deny a franchise renewal to Comcast: if the company hasn’t complied with its 1998 agreement; if Comcast’s service is poor; if Comcast lacks the financial or legal capacity to deliver service in the future, or if the company is unable to meet the future needs of the community.
Thus, it is unlikely the city will cut ties with Comcast altogether. But the city can build a number of requirements into its contract with the company that address service problems and other concerns residents raised last week.
In a nutshell, many residents believe that Jersey City receives fewer services from Comcast than other communities receive from their local cable TV providers.
“In other cities, there’s actually money set aside for public access where there is a studio and people can receive training,” said resident and cable access producer Yvonne Balcer. “In Union City, you have a great [public access studio], where the public can receive training and there is available equipment. That’s not the case here. In Jersey City, the public has to bring a finished product to the public access station [Channel 51].”
Another resident, Mia Scanga, who produces the public access show “Talking Politics” for Channel 51, agreed.
“Some of us, like myself and Yvonne Balcer, we’ve gone out and purchased our own equipment,” Scanga noted. “But video cameras and other equipment can be $2,000 or $2,500. A lot of people can’t afford that. We are not getting nearly the services at our public access station that other cites get. That [public access] studio on Kennedy Boulevard has nothing in it. In other cities, not only do people get a studio, they get trained how to film, how to edit.”
Throughout the hearing, several community members stated that Comcast’s rates, even for the most basic packages, are not affordable for seniors living on fixed incomes. This, they argued, poses a problem should there be an emergency, since seniors without cable might miss important information that is broadcast on TV.
Others, including seasonal resident Jim Morley, complained that the city’s current agreement with Comcast does not allow customers to suspend their service during months of the year when they are living out-of-state. Local cable agreements in other cities allow for such service suspensions for “snow birds.”
Charles Smith, Comcast Cable’s director of government and community services, told The Reporter that that “these are things that can be discussed” when asked whether the company would be willing to improve resources for public access TV producers, and he said Comcast would be willing to entertain such improvements.
He added, however, that many of the public access studios mentioned by Scanga and Balcer are run by Cablevision, not Comcast.
One sticking point in the city’s new franchise agreement with Comcast could be whether the city is able to keep Channel 1, known as Jersey City 1 TV, a station dedicated to municipal government meetings and city news. City officials believe that Comcast may want to capture the channel for its own purposes.
Councilman Steven Fulop also told Smith that he wanted to see what improvements Comcast plans to make in its foreign-language programming.
“As you know, we are a very diverse city, with many residents who come from other parts of the world,” said Fulop. “I’d like to know what Comcast plans to do to increase its programming for the Indian community and Russian-speaking community.”
Byrne, however, said that completely severing ties with Comcast is not possible, since it is the company that built up Jersey City’s cable infrastructure and, as such, it has the permanent right to offer local cable service, unless the city can make a strong case against renewing the franchise agreement to the Board of Public Utilities. Still, he insisted the city has negotiating power and leverage.
“Comcast has to be reasonable,” explained Byrne. “The final arbiter in all this is the Board of Public Utilities. They are the mediator if one side or the other makes silly requests. If we’re not reasonable, the BPU is not going to approve our ordinance [to renew the franchise agreement with Comcast]. But at the same time, if Comcast denies all the things we’re asking for, the BPU will intervene on our behalf and require that Comcast negotiate.”
Changing channels?
One of the first items of business the City Council will take up in the New Year is whether to renew Comcast Cable’s franchise agreement with Jersey City. That this franchise agreement will be renewed is a given, since by law municipalities have practically no right to deny such agreements to companies that have built up the local cable infrastructure.
But the city can dictate the length of the agreement and can demand that Comcast improve the community services and programming it offers to Jersey City residents. Since March, the city has been receiving input from the public regarding what resources and services Comcast should be required to offer as part of its franchise renewal.
In a public hearing held Dec. 11, residents had one of their last opportunities to tell the council and Comcast which services should be tied to the city’s franchise agreement with the company.
The list of requirements includes continuation of Jersey City 1 TV and a dedicated public access channel; a station set aside for the Board of Education; discounted rates for senior citizens; a service suspension option for seasonal residents; equipment upgrades; improved training opportunities for lay producers; and scholarship, internship, and employment opportunities for Jersey City students.
Whether or not the city gets any or all of these “wish list” requests will depend on the state’s Board of Public Utilities.
In 1998, the city signed a 15-year local franchise agreement with Comcast to supply cable service to Jersey City residents. This agreement expires May 13, 2013.
As a first step in this process, the city held a public hearing at City Hall last Tuesday so residents could discuss their experiences with Comcast and which services they’d like to see from their local cable provider in the future.
Based on the comments made at the public hearing before the City Council, the city will renew its cable franchise agreement with Comcast – but is likely to include its wish list of desired services and resources in the agreement.
According to City Clerk Robert Byrne, there are only a limited number of circumstances that would allow the city to deny a franchise renewal to Comcast: if the company hasn’t complied with its 1998 agreement; if Comcast’s service is poor; if Comcast lacks the financial or legal capacity to deliver service in the future, or if the company is unable to meet the future needs of the community.
Thus, it is unlikely the city will cut ties with Comcast altogether. But the city can build a number of requirements into its contract with the company that address service problems and other concerns residents raised last week.
In a nutshell, many residents believe that Jersey City receives fewer services from Comcast than other communities receive from their local cable TV providers.
“In other cities, there’s actually money set aside for public access where there is a studio and people can receive training,” said resident and cable access producer Yvonne Balcer. “In Union City, you have a great [public access studio], where the public can receive training and there is available equipment. That’s not the case here. In Jersey City, the public has to bring a finished product to the public access station [Channel 51].”
Another resident, Mia Scanga, who produces the public access show “Talking Politics” for Channel 51, agreed.
“Some of us, like myself and Yvonne Balcer, we’ve gone out and purchased our own equipment,” Scanga noted. “But video cameras and other equipment can be $2,000 or $2,500. A lot of people can’t afford that. We are not getting nearly the services at our public access station that other cites get. That [public access] studio on Kennedy Boulevard has nothing in it. In other cities, not only do people get a studio, they get trained how to film, how to edit.”
Throughout the hearing, several community members stated that Comcast’s rates, even for the most basic packages, are not affordable for seniors living on fixed incomes. This, they argued, poses a problem should there be an emergency, since seniors without cable might miss important information that is broadcast on TV.
Others, including seasonal resident Jim Morley, complained that the city’s current agreement with Comcast does not allow customers to suspend their service during months of the year when they are living out-of-state. Local cable agreements in other cities allow for such service suspensions for “snow birds.”
Charles Smith, Comcast Cable’s director of government and community services, told The Reporter that that “these are things that can be discussed” when asked whether the company would be willing to improve resources for public access TV producers, and he said Comcast would be willing to entertain such improvements.
He added, however, that many of the public access studios mentioned by Scanga and Balcer are run by Cablevision, not Comcast.
One sticking point in the city’s new franchise agreement with Comcast could be whether the city is able to keep Channel 1, known as Jersey City 1 TV, a station dedicated to municipal government meetings and city news. City officials believe that Comcast may want to capture the channel for its own purposes.
Councilman Steven Fulop also told Smith that he wanted to see what improvements Comcast plans to make in its foreign-language programming.
“As you know, we are a very diverse city, with many residents who come from other parts of the world,” said Fulop. “I’d like to know what Comcast plans to do to increase its programming for the Indian community and Russian-speaking community.”
Byrne, however, said that completely severing ties with Comcast is not possible, since it is the company that built up Jersey City’s cable infrastructure and, as such, it has the permanent right to offer local cable service, unless the city can make a strong case against renewing the franchise agreement to the Board of Public Utilities. Still, he insisted the city has negotiating power and leverage.
“Comcast has to be reasonable,” explained Byrne. “The final arbiter in all this is the Board of Public Utilities. They are the mediator if one side or the other makes silly requests. If we’re not reasonable, the BPU is not going to approve our ordinance [to renew the franchise agreement with Comcast]. But at the same time, if Comcast denies all the things we’re asking for, the BPU will intervene on our behalf and require that Comcast negotiate.”
But the city can dictate the length of the agreement and can demand that Comcast improve the community services and programming it offers to Jersey City residents. Since March, the city has been receiving input from the public regarding what resources and services Comcast should be required to offer as part of its franchise renewal.
In a public hearing held Dec. 11, residents had one of their last opportunities to tell the council and Comcast which services should be tied to the city’s franchise agreement with the company.
The list of requirements includes continuation of Jersey City 1 TV and a dedicated public access channel; a station set aside for the Board of Education; discounted rates for senior citizens; a service suspension option for seasonal residents; equipment upgrades; improved training opportunities for lay producers; and scholarship, internship, and employment opportunities for Jersey City students.
Whether or not the city gets any or all of these “wish list” requests will depend on the state’s Board of Public Utilities.
In 1998, the city signed a 15-year local franchise agreement with Comcast to supply cable service to Jersey City residents. This agreement expires May 13, 2013.
As a first step in this process, the city held a public hearing at City Hall last Tuesday so residents could discuss their experiences with Comcast and which services they’d like to see from their local cable provider in the future.
Based on the comments made at the public hearing before the City Council, the city will renew its cable franchise agreement with Comcast – but is likely to include its wish list of desired services and resources in the agreement.
According to City Clerk Robert Byrne, there are only a limited number of circumstances that would allow the city to deny a franchise renewal to Comcast: if the company hasn’t complied with its 1998 agreement; if Comcast’s service is poor; if Comcast lacks the financial or legal capacity to deliver service in the future, or if the company is unable to meet the future needs of the community.
Thus, it is unlikely the city will cut ties with Comcast altogether. But the city can build a number of requirements into its contract with the company that address service problems and other concerns residents raised last week.
In a nutshell, many residents believe that Jersey City receives fewer services from Comcast than other communities receive from their local cable TV providers.
“In other cities, there’s actually money set aside for public access where there is a studio and people can receive training,” said resident and cable access producer Yvonne Balcer. “In Union City, you have a great [public access studio], where the public can receive training and there is available equipment. That’s not the case here. In Jersey City, the public has to bring a finished product to the public access station [Channel 51].”
Another resident, Mia Scanga, who produces the public access show “Talking Politics” for Channel 51, agreed.
“Some of us, like myself and Yvonne Balcer, we’ve gone out and purchased our own equipment,” Scanga noted. “But video cameras and other equipment can be $2,000 or $2,500. A lot of people can’t afford that. We are not getting nearly the services at our public access station that other cites get. That [public access] studio on Kennedy Boulevard has nothing in it. In other cities, not only do people get a studio, they get trained how to film, how to edit.”
Throughout the hearing, several community members stated that Comcast’s rates, even for the most basic packages, are not affordable for seniors living on fixed incomes. This, they argued, poses a problem should there be an emergency, since seniors without cable might miss important information that is broadcast on TV.
Others, including seasonal resident Jim Morley, complained that the city’s current agreement with Comcast does not allow customers to suspend their service during months of the year when they are living out-of-state. Local cable agreements in other cities allow for such service suspensions for “snow birds.”
Charles Smith, Comcast Cable’s director of government and community services, told The Reporter that that “these are things that can be discussed” when asked whether the company would be willing to improve resources for public access TV producers, and he said Comcast would be willing to entertain such improvements.
He added, however, that many of the public access studios mentioned by Scanga and Balcer are run by Cablevision, not Comcast.
One sticking point in the city’s new franchise agreement with Comcast could be whether the city is able to keep Channel 1, known as Jersey City 1 TV, a station dedicated to municipal government meetings and city news. City officials believe that Comcast may want to capture the channel for its own purposes.
Councilman Steven Fulop also told Smith that he wanted to see what improvements Comcast plans to make in its foreign-language programming.
“As you know, we are a very diverse city, with many residents who come from other parts of the world,” said Fulop. “I’d like to know what Comcast plans to do to increase its programming for the Indian community and Russian-speaking community.”
Byrne, however, said that completely severing ties with Comcast is not possible, since it is the company that built up Jersey City’s cable infrastructure and, as such, it has the permanent right to offer local cable service, unless the city can make a strong case against renewing the franchise agreement to the Board of Public Utilities. Still, he insisted the city has negotiating power and leverage.
“Comcast has to be reasonable,” explained Byrne. “The final arbiter in all this is the Board of Public Utilities. They are the mediator if one side or the other makes silly requests. If we’re not reasonable, the BPU is not going to approve our ordinance [to renew the franchise agreement with Comcast]. But at the same time, if Comcast denies all the things we’re asking for, the BPU will intervene on our behalf and require that Comcast negotiate.”
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
New Hire Is One More Sign Of The Peabody Essex’s Amazing Rise
One thing has stood out in the resume of Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Austen Barron Bailly since Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum announced last week that she would become its new curator of American art in January.
Of course, she’ll bring more American art exhibits to the Salem institution — particularly more painting. Her past projects have focused on Alex Katz, Eric Fischl, John Biggers, Thomas Hart Benton, Pueblo Pottery, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent and landscapes of the American West. But most notably, the Peabody Essex says, she was “managing curator” for the 2007 “full reinstallation of LACMA’s permanent American art collection galleries.”
This is critical experience as the Peabody Essex was looking for a curator to “collaboratively re-install PEM’s American collection … in ground-breaking ways that promote comparisons and connections” as part of its project to open “up to 75,000 square feet of new galleries” in 2017.
In other words, Bailly will help lead the museum’s public rethinking of all of American art history. As part a major building expansion project, which has the museum planning to add dozens of new staffers. It’s one more step in the amazing rise of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Until about a decade ago, the Peabody Essex had been a good but sleepy museum, focused primarily on Colonial America, natural history and treasures imported from around the world via Salem’s maritime China trade. But Director Dan Monroe, who arrived from Oregon’s Portland Museum of Art in 1993, has turned it into one of the most thrilling museums in the region and one of the best in the world.
The turning point was probably 2003, when the museum opened its new Moshe Safdie–designed wing plus a 200-year-old merchant’s house shipped in from China. That year also saw the hiring of chief curator Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, formerly chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Hartigan’s impact was most evident in the magical, once-in-a-generation Joseph Cornell retrospective that she organized for the museum in 2007—one of the best exhibits in the world that year. But it was also a public signal of the sort of ambitious work she wanted from her staff.
The Peabody Essex’s strength in American art is fine art and crafts before, say, 1900, American maritime art and Native American art. The museum may have the best collection of Native American art in New England — great historical works augmented in recent years by newly acquired contemporary indigenous art of the Americas (though its curatorial vision here has been mixed).
But the strengths — and limitations — of the permanent collection have not defined the museum’s recent programming. Over the past five years, it has mounted major exhibits of art of the Americas from the distant past to brand new works. Shows have featured Cornell, Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Maya art, Hudson River School paintings, contemporary Native American art and Samuel MacIntire design. More quietly, the museum has been modestly augmenting its permanent collection with, for example, the relatively recent acquisition of a 19th-century Hudson River School landscape.
All of this is part of what I like to image is a crosstown rivalry that’s developed between the Peabody Essex and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts (though the museums would probably politely decline such competitive comparisons). In 2010, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts debuted its new $345 million Art of the Americas Wing, which was part of an astonishing $504 million fund-raising campaign. A year ago, the Peabody Essex announced that it had already raised $550 million toward a $650 million goal to expand the museum’s endowment and fund a $200 million, 175,000-square-foot expansion to the museum plus $100 million for new installations of the collection and infrastructure improvements.
Both museums have been exhibiting Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo’s rich collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings (including a Rembrandt) in apparent attempts to get the Marblehead couple to donate the collection to their respective institution. Then last summer, the MFA hired away Nancy Berliner, the Peabody Essex’s distinguished Chinese art curator.
When the MFA opened its Art of the Americas Wing, it trumpeted that it was telling a revisionist history that looked not just at the United States, but also significantly included Latin America. (At the time, this was more an expression of the MFA’s goals than reality as the collection was thin in non-U.S. works.) Call it a coincidence that a major strength of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where Bailly has been a curator since 2001, is Latin American art—both in its permanent collection and in its exhibitions.
This Granville Ferry artist says she believes one of the first steps towards painting prolifically is to simply hit the road. She arranges painting getaways at various seashore escapes.
This summer she and a group of six women artists stayed at a hostel on Brier Island for week. The idea was to co-ordinate an affordable do-it-yourself retreat, according to Opie. She invited others she knew from area, whom were within driving distance.
Opie has been arranging similar retreats for some time including another this year to Five Islands. Her idea is to gather a group of like-minded people to escape the ‘house magnet’ and paint together for a week. While most of the artists didn’t really know each other when the trip started, they quickly created a synergy that inspired and infused the group.
“I organize retreats for those people who already have plenty of instruction, but not enough time to work on their own stuff,” she said. “This way they can self-direct for a big chunk of time without having someone else’s agenda distract them from their chosen focus, or goal.”
When she retired to Bridgetown a few years ago, she was finally able to meet Opie. Martin had started a free outdoor painting school and Opie contacted her after reading an article about it in The Annapolis County Spectator.
She invited Martin to go painting and this year the pair decided to get a group together for a road trip to Brier Island. Each of the seven artists took a turn making dinner at night, so that they would be mostly free during the week to break away from the ‘house magnet,’ said Opie.
“When we’re at home we feel guilty when we paint instead of doing other things,” said Doehler. “We feel like we should be cleaning up, or doing other work. Painting is like a guilty pleasure.”
That’s one of the reasons why getting out in nature is so inspiring; there is sea and sky, but no dirty dishes. With no chores, internet, and television, all of the women were able to take in the landscape and concentrate solely on painting.
What they didn’t paint, they sketched. They say the images they found while beach combing will continue to inspire them throughout the winter.
Of course, she’ll bring more American art exhibits to the Salem institution — particularly more painting. Her past projects have focused on Alex Katz, Eric Fischl, John Biggers, Thomas Hart Benton, Pueblo Pottery, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent and landscapes of the American West. But most notably, the Peabody Essex says, she was “managing curator” for the 2007 “full reinstallation of LACMA’s permanent American art collection galleries.”
This is critical experience as the Peabody Essex was looking for a curator to “collaboratively re-install PEM’s American collection … in ground-breaking ways that promote comparisons and connections” as part of its project to open “up to 75,000 square feet of new galleries” in 2017.
In other words, Bailly will help lead the museum’s public rethinking of all of American art history. As part a major building expansion project, which has the museum planning to add dozens of new staffers. It’s one more step in the amazing rise of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Until about a decade ago, the Peabody Essex had been a good but sleepy museum, focused primarily on Colonial America, natural history and treasures imported from around the world via Salem’s maritime China trade. But Director Dan Monroe, who arrived from Oregon’s Portland Museum of Art in 1993, has turned it into one of the most thrilling museums in the region and one of the best in the world.
The turning point was probably 2003, when the museum opened its new Moshe Safdie–designed wing plus a 200-year-old merchant’s house shipped in from China. That year also saw the hiring of chief curator Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, formerly chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Hartigan’s impact was most evident in the magical, once-in-a-generation Joseph Cornell retrospective that she organized for the museum in 2007—one of the best exhibits in the world that year. But it was also a public signal of the sort of ambitious work she wanted from her staff.
The Peabody Essex’s strength in American art is fine art and crafts before, say, 1900, American maritime art and Native American art. The museum may have the best collection of Native American art in New England — great historical works augmented in recent years by newly acquired contemporary indigenous art of the Americas (though its curatorial vision here has been mixed).
But the strengths — and limitations — of the permanent collection have not defined the museum’s recent programming. Over the past five years, it has mounted major exhibits of art of the Americas from the distant past to brand new works. Shows have featured Cornell, Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Maya art, Hudson River School paintings, contemporary Native American art and Samuel MacIntire design. More quietly, the museum has been modestly augmenting its permanent collection with, for example, the relatively recent acquisition of a 19th-century Hudson River School landscape.
All of this is part of what I like to image is a crosstown rivalry that’s developed between the Peabody Essex and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts (though the museums would probably politely decline such competitive comparisons). In 2010, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts debuted its new $345 million Art of the Americas Wing, which was part of an astonishing $504 million fund-raising campaign. A year ago, the Peabody Essex announced that it had already raised $550 million toward a $650 million goal to expand the museum’s endowment and fund a $200 million, 175,000-square-foot expansion to the museum plus $100 million for new installations of the collection and infrastructure improvements.
Both museums have been exhibiting Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo’s rich collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings (including a Rembrandt) in apparent attempts to get the Marblehead couple to donate the collection to their respective institution. Then last summer, the MFA hired away Nancy Berliner, the Peabody Essex’s distinguished Chinese art curator.
When the MFA opened its Art of the Americas Wing, it trumpeted that it was telling a revisionist history that looked not just at the United States, but also significantly included Latin America. (At the time, this was more an expression of the MFA’s goals than reality as the collection was thin in non-U.S. works.) Call it a coincidence that a major strength of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where Bailly has been a curator since 2001, is Latin American art—both in its permanent collection and in its exhibitions.
This Granville Ferry artist says she believes one of the first steps towards painting prolifically is to simply hit the road. She arranges painting getaways at various seashore escapes.
This summer she and a group of six women artists stayed at a hostel on Brier Island for week. The idea was to co-ordinate an affordable do-it-yourself retreat, according to Opie. She invited others she knew from area, whom were within driving distance.
Opie has been arranging similar retreats for some time including another this year to Five Islands. Her idea is to gather a group of like-minded people to escape the ‘house magnet’ and paint together for a week. While most of the artists didn’t really know each other when the trip started, they quickly created a synergy that inspired and infused the group.
“I organize retreats for those people who already have plenty of instruction, but not enough time to work on their own stuff,” she said. “This way they can self-direct for a big chunk of time without having someone else’s agenda distract them from their chosen focus, or goal.”
When she retired to Bridgetown a few years ago, she was finally able to meet Opie. Martin had started a free outdoor painting school and Opie contacted her after reading an article about it in The Annapolis County Spectator.
She invited Martin to go painting and this year the pair decided to get a group together for a road trip to Brier Island. Each of the seven artists took a turn making dinner at night, so that they would be mostly free during the week to break away from the ‘house magnet,’ said Opie.
“When we’re at home we feel guilty when we paint instead of doing other things,” said Doehler. “We feel like we should be cleaning up, or doing other work. Painting is like a guilty pleasure.”
That’s one of the reasons why getting out in nature is so inspiring; there is sea and sky, but no dirty dishes. With no chores, internet, and television, all of the women were able to take in the landscape and concentrate solely on painting.
What they didn’t paint, they sketched. They say the images they found while beach combing will continue to inspire them throughout the winter.
Contrasting shades & diverse metaphors of life
An exhibition of paintings titled ‘Sublime Encounters’ opens at Rohtas Gallery today displaying the works done by visual artists Qadir Jhatial and Tahir Ali. The exhibition showcases about 12 paintings done in two contrasting shades and diverse metaphors of life by the artist duo.
The artists examine a restrictive and complicated maze, both visually and spatially, through various techniques and mediums, taking impressions and judgments into their surroundings and hence forming a critical representation of a distorted reality.
Sharing his observations and aesthetic account of the works presented by the duo artists, Naeem Pasha, Director of Rohtas Gallery said that both works are opposite expressions of similar aesthetic sensitivity. Pasha described Jhatial’s work as complex yet pleasing in colour distribution at first glance, but the viewer must ‘live with it’ for a while to have a full grasp of his creative concept, Pasha added. About Tahir Ali’s work, Pasha found it to be opposite of Jhatial as Tahir Ali’s works done in darker shades portrays hidden words and meanings. Both artists have played with their creative powers to tickle the imaginative nuances of the viewers, Pasha said.
Jhatial is inspired by social discrepancies and presents his works in emulsion paints with eye-catching splashes of vibrant colours bright colours, showing a complex chromatic order which takes a few seconds for the viewer to decipher. Inspired by social situations, Qadir Jhatial portrays his landscapic visions reflecting his personal experiences and impressions of the world into minimalistic shapes and has heightened the reality of his setting.
Tahir Ali’s paintings are powerful abstract creations. Moving away from social issues, Ali’s paintings are darker in shades with jarred abstract depictions of landscapes that have been distorted and inverted and are almost unrecognisable. However, they are carefully composed to reduce the viewers’ ability to see through the dreamlike landscape, which is much like the experience in a labyrinth.
Sharing his own aesthetic impulses and mode of his works, Jhatial says that his work is inspired from the elements in his surroundings and a multiple level of his aesthetic inquiry. He transforms objects from environment around in to visuals of complex chromatic order through interplay of space, surface, texture, and materials. He says that the sensitive use of domestic and familier items are sources that helps him portray his work as personal and imaginative. With keen interest of exploring new ideas, mediums, and methods of working, he searches for experience in a diverse visual vocabulary, especially in flat colour paintings.
Tahir Ali on the other hand talks about his work as the outcome of gestures, expressive lines and intuitive colour choice, notes an observational record, but contains elements of emotional experience in nature. About his works on display, Tahir says that it evolved from photographs of landscapes and cityscapes that he took. By inverting colours, he has transformed the mood of his images from everyday typical scene to dark, gloomy, and chaotic images that reflects unrest and unease. Form and rhythm plays an active role in his work process and the subtle shades create a restless and moving balance. Tahir’s paintings also plays with the 2-dimensionality of a canvas, while some explores and enhances the surface, others creates an illusion of 3-dimensional depths through multiple layering, imagination, and mark making.
When it comes to capturing the color, texture and character of people, animals and other things, she blossoms with a stroke of a rich oil or smooth watercolor brush in her own realistic style.
"I am having so much fun trying out different forms of art at this point, I haven't stopped to think about the whys," said the Auburn woman, who even took a welding class to experience the medium. "(But) when I get to paint, I feel like a kid who has just been let out for recess, and all I want to do is squeeze as much playtime in as possible."
The kid at heart inspired Ray to paint a popular entry at a local exhibit. Envisioning what a child would fondly remember growing up, Ray captured the spirit of a small farm and a scene of seven soft, adorable baby chicks playing and plucking for worms inside a straw-filled barn.
"We've become so urbanized, and it seems comforting to remember life in the country," Ray said of her oil painting, A Home of Straw, on exhibit through Dec. 16 the White River Valley Museum. The painting is part of the Small Works, Big Presents: The Gift of Art, a juried exhibit and art sale at the museum.
"(The painting) evokes memories of going to grandma's house and exploring the barn and fields, playing with farm animals, doing chores, getting dirty and the family working together," she said. "I never lived on a farm, just visited them, but that is how I imagined it to be."
A Home of Straw – a 4-by-18-inch oil painting – attracted plenty of good reviews from the public at the annual show, winning the People's Choice Award. It is the first time an Auburn artist has captured the honor. Ray won a $400 prize and the opportunity to have one of her works featured on the exhibit's promotional poster and advertisements next year.
The artists examine a restrictive and complicated maze, both visually and spatially, through various techniques and mediums, taking impressions and judgments into their surroundings and hence forming a critical representation of a distorted reality.
Sharing his observations and aesthetic account of the works presented by the duo artists, Naeem Pasha, Director of Rohtas Gallery said that both works are opposite expressions of similar aesthetic sensitivity. Pasha described Jhatial’s work as complex yet pleasing in colour distribution at first glance, but the viewer must ‘live with it’ for a while to have a full grasp of his creative concept, Pasha added. About Tahir Ali’s work, Pasha found it to be opposite of Jhatial as Tahir Ali’s works done in darker shades portrays hidden words and meanings. Both artists have played with their creative powers to tickle the imaginative nuances of the viewers, Pasha said.
Jhatial is inspired by social discrepancies and presents his works in emulsion paints with eye-catching splashes of vibrant colours bright colours, showing a complex chromatic order which takes a few seconds for the viewer to decipher. Inspired by social situations, Qadir Jhatial portrays his landscapic visions reflecting his personal experiences and impressions of the world into minimalistic shapes and has heightened the reality of his setting.
Tahir Ali’s paintings are powerful abstract creations. Moving away from social issues, Ali’s paintings are darker in shades with jarred abstract depictions of landscapes that have been distorted and inverted and are almost unrecognisable. However, they are carefully composed to reduce the viewers’ ability to see through the dreamlike landscape, which is much like the experience in a labyrinth.
Sharing his own aesthetic impulses and mode of his works, Jhatial says that his work is inspired from the elements in his surroundings and a multiple level of his aesthetic inquiry. He transforms objects from environment around in to visuals of complex chromatic order through interplay of space, surface, texture, and materials. He says that the sensitive use of domestic and familier items are sources that helps him portray his work as personal and imaginative. With keen interest of exploring new ideas, mediums, and methods of working, he searches for experience in a diverse visual vocabulary, especially in flat colour paintings.
Tahir Ali on the other hand talks about his work as the outcome of gestures, expressive lines and intuitive colour choice, notes an observational record, but contains elements of emotional experience in nature. About his works on display, Tahir says that it evolved from photographs of landscapes and cityscapes that he took. By inverting colours, he has transformed the mood of his images from everyday typical scene to dark, gloomy, and chaotic images that reflects unrest and unease. Form and rhythm plays an active role in his work process and the subtle shades create a restless and moving balance. Tahir’s paintings also plays with the 2-dimensionality of a canvas, while some explores and enhances the surface, others creates an illusion of 3-dimensional depths through multiple layering, imagination, and mark making.
When it comes to capturing the color, texture and character of people, animals and other things, she blossoms with a stroke of a rich oil or smooth watercolor brush in her own realistic style.
"I am having so much fun trying out different forms of art at this point, I haven't stopped to think about the whys," said the Auburn woman, who even took a welding class to experience the medium. "(But) when I get to paint, I feel like a kid who has just been let out for recess, and all I want to do is squeeze as much playtime in as possible."
The kid at heart inspired Ray to paint a popular entry at a local exhibit. Envisioning what a child would fondly remember growing up, Ray captured the spirit of a small farm and a scene of seven soft, adorable baby chicks playing and plucking for worms inside a straw-filled barn.
"We've become so urbanized, and it seems comforting to remember life in the country," Ray said of her oil painting, A Home of Straw, on exhibit through Dec. 16 the White River Valley Museum. The painting is part of the Small Works, Big Presents: The Gift of Art, a juried exhibit and art sale at the museum.
"(The painting) evokes memories of going to grandma's house and exploring the barn and fields, playing with farm animals, doing chores, getting dirty and the family working together," she said. "I never lived on a farm, just visited them, but that is how I imagined it to be."
A Home of Straw – a 4-by-18-inch oil painting – attracted plenty of good reviews from the public at the annual show, winning the People's Choice Award. It is the first time an Auburn artist has captured the honor. Ray won a $400 prize and the opportunity to have one of her works featured on the exhibit's promotional poster and advertisements next year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)