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Sir John Curtice: The man who gets elections right
Voters across the UK go to the polls in local and Northern Ireland Assembly elections this Thursday. The man who calls the results, and informs the country about the state of politics based on voting, reveals how he does it.
When Professor Sir John Curtice pronounces on elections, politicians and pundits listen.
Knighted in 2017, he is perhaps the only psephologist in the UK who is routinely, albeit reluctantly, recognised in the street.
"I live with it," he says. "I don't live for it."
As 10pm chimes on the final Thursday of a general election, the last voters finish casting their ballots.
It's then that Sir John, who's been working on general elections since the 1970s, interprets the exit poll - in which voters at about 140 selected polling stations fill in second ballots, indicating which candidate they've chosen.
And that's what he uses to tell the world who is likely to become the next prime minister.
"I don't worry about what happens at the close of voting," he says. "The more nervous period is later on in the night, when we actually see how accurate we've been."
For local elections like this week's in England, Scotland and Wales there are no exit polls - the same applies for the Northern Ireland Assembly elections on the same day.
But Sir John still has to make a call on what the vote means for the next general election.
"Someone wants you to give a reasonably realistic estimate of how the parties would do if voting shares were applied across the country as a whole, and across the four nations," he says.
"We're still trying to get the people an idea of where the story's going. It's quite hard."
The work of Sir John, professor of political science at the University of Strathclyde, and his colleagues starts months before the glamour of election night.
By the time polls open on the day of a general election, hundreds of hours of work finessing methods have gone in, ready for Sir John and his team of five or six experts to analyse exit poll results as they are phoned in.
"We tend to start in the middle of the morning, 11am or 12ish," he says. "No earlier, really, because we have to work until sometimes well into the following day."
The team hand in their mobile phones and sit together in a guarded room in a secret location.
By early afternoon - several hours before the rest of the country - Sir John has a good idea of who is likely to be the next prime minister.
After the usual early-evening surge in voting and exit polls, he and his experts sketch out their broader thoughts on a whiteboard.
"We're beginning to brief the people who really need to know, such as main representatives from TV companies," says Sir John.
"Then we get to the tough end of the business, saying this is what [result] we're going to go for now."
After the exit poll-based prediction is revealed at 10pm there is the wait to see if it is right - or as right as it can be.
Sir John's team leave the sealed room, spending the rest of the night in the TV studio.
This week's elections, lacking exit polls, will not have the amount of prior data that a general election provides.
Brain food? Sir John's team like to eat healthily but a slice of pizza now and then goes down well
"The story is emerging throughout the night," 68-year-old Sir John says. "For last year's local elections I got four hours' sleep [when there was a lull in results] and I got up at 5am to start again, but that doesn't happen for general elections."
For these, he is awake for at least 36 hours straight as he goes through the results, while writing online stories and appearing on radio and TV.
His team choose food from takeaway menus. "We try to have something healthy," says Sir John, "but we had pizzas last year, I think."
David Butler, the UK pioneering on-screen pollster, was a mentor to Sir John
"It gets more difficult to do the job the longer you're awake," says Sir John. "Lack of sleep destroys your short-term memory, so you have to get as well prepared as you can.
"Most people are not sitting up all night watching this stuff. But we still have to be ready to explain to people in the morning what's happened."
But Sir John resists the temptation to grab 40 winks.
"The way I see it is that, if you've missed a night of sleep, you've missed a night. You don't want to go back to sleep early and ruin sleep patterns. You have to keep going until nine or 10 the next evening."
By mid-morning on Friday, general election results show whether Sir John was right or wrong.
Broadcasters continue for several more hours to ask him for in-depth analysis on why people voted as they did.
And for local elections, he's called on throughout the day to give his developing state of-the-political-nation thoughts.
After that, it's time - finally - for bed.


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What's Behind the Spike in SC Real Estate Foreclosures? What's Behind the Spike in SC Real Estate Foreclosures?
Last week, the Charleston Regional Business Journal reported that foreclosure activity for South Carolina real estate jumped 33% in July and that the state's foreclosure rate was higher than the national average. Just three months earlier, the April foreclosure report showed that foreclosures had decreased, and that South Carolina was faring better than the rest of the country. So what happened over the last quarter? Why has real estate foreclosure activity increased so much in the state, and where does the Charleston area stand?
The foreclosure rate has been rising nationwide since May. That's because the country's largest real estate lenders finally reached an agreement with states in February, allowing them to resume the processing of unpaid mortgages. Before the February settlement, a large backlog had been building, as banks were unable to begin foreclosure proceedings on default mortgages amid allegations of improper document verifications.
Basically, the increased number of foreclosures does not indicate a new cycle of homeowners missing payments. Instead, the real estate that is currently entering the foreclosure process has been in default for a long time, but lenders have not taken action against the owners of the properties. Foreclosure activity varies widely on a state-to-state basis and is more of a reflection of each area's foreclosure laws and procedures rather than the health of the state's real estate market. It seems that SC's foreclosure process really bottle-necked last quarter, and that the banks are finally making headway on their backlog. The Charleston Regional Business Journal points out that overall, foreclosures are down for the 22nd straight month, but new foreclosure filings are up from last year. Unfortunately, the rise in new foreclosure proceedings could still cause a dip in home values since distressed properties typically sell for less than market value. With that said, banks are increasingly opting to allow short sale transactions rather than repossessing properties in foreclosure. On average, short sale homes sell for about $25,000 more than bank-owned homes, so this, along with a sustainably growing real estate market, could help absorb losses in value caused by foreclosure properties.
Do you have questions about purchasing distressed real estate? Bob Brennaman is always happy to share his experiences and can be reached on the web or via his cell phone: 842-345-6074.


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The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 April 1973 and were originally called POSCO FC after the steel-making company POSCO, which still owns the club today. They are one of South Korea's most successful teams, having won the K League five times and the AFC Champions League three times.

History
The club was founded on 1 April 1973 as the Pohang Iron and Steel Company Football Club (POSCO FC). Initially a semi-professional club, they turned professional in the 1984 season and changed its name to POSCO Dolphins. A year later they renamed as the POSCO Atoms. In 1986 they won their first Championship, and enjoyed a great spell of domination in the league; between 1985 and 1998 they were continuously in the top four of the K League.

In 1995 the club was renamed again, becoming the Pohang Atoms. This name change was an attempt to further strengthen local ties with the region, and in 1997 they adopted their current name, the Pohang Steelers. The team won the Asian Champions Cup in 1997 and 1998.

In the 2000s, the club struggled near the bottom of the table, but bounced back to the forefront of South Korean football by winning the first stage of the 2004 K League Championship. The club qualified for the final Championship match of the 2004 season, but lost 4–3 on penalties to Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

In 2007, the club won the Championship play-off by beating Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, who finished in first place in the regular season of the K League. Pohang won the first leg 3–1 at home, and then traveled to Seongnam for the second leg game, recording a 1–0 victory to seal a 4–1 aggregate triumph. The Steelers had ended the K League season in fifth place, but then defeated Gyeongnam FC, Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and finally Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the play-offs to win the championship.

Pohang again made the play-offs in the 2008 season by finishing the season in fifth place, but were knocked out in their play-off game by Ulsan Hyundai after the penalty shoot-out. However, the club fared much better in the 2008 Korean FA Cup. After beating Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the quarter-finals, Pohang knocked out Daegu FC in the semi-finals and then defeated Gyeongnam FC in the final to ensure qualification for the 2009 AFC Champions League.

In the 2009 AFC Champions League, the Steelers defeated Umm-Salal of Qatar 4–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals to advance to their first ever AFC Champions League final. The Steelers defeated Saudi club Al-Ittihad 2–1 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan to claim the title. For the 2009 K League season, Pohang once again qualified for the play-off phase of the league by finishing the regular season in second place, equal with FC Seoul on points, but ahead on goal difference. The Steelers had a bye to the semi-finals, but lost to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. Nonetheless, their regular season placing saw them qualify for the 2010 AFC Champions League Group stage.

Following the conclusion of the 2009 K League season, at the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in December, the Steelers finished in third place after defeating Mexican side Atlante 4–3 on penalties.

Kits

In 1994, POSCO Atoms wore a green kit and a white kit with a multicoloured sun in the middle. In 1997, Pohang Steelers wore a white shirt with black stripes on the shoulders and black shorts. In 2000, the first kit consisted of a sky blue shirt and white shorts, while the away kit was a black and red hooped shirt with black shorts (similar to the current kit). In 2002 the kit was red with a black "V" on the chest.

Kit suppliers

Current squad

Out on loan

Honours

Domestic

League
 K League 1
Winners (5): 1986, 1988, 1992, 2007, 2013
Runners-up (4): 1985, 1987, 1995, 2004
 Korean National Semi-Professional Football League
Winners (5): 1975 Spring, 1981 Fall, 1982, 1986 Fall, 1988 Fall
Runners-up (2): 1977, 1989 Spring

Cups
 FA Cup
Winners (4): 1996, 2008, 2012, 2013
Runners-up (3): 2001, 2002, 2007
 League Cup
Winners (2): 1993, 2009
Runners-up (2): 1996, 1997s
 National Football Championship
Runners-up (2): 1977, 1985
 President's Cup
Winners (1): 1974
 Runners-up (1): 1989

International

Continental
 AFC Champions League
Winners (3): 1996–97, 1997–98, 2009
Runners-up (1): 2021
 Asian Super Cup
Runners-up (2): 1997, 1998
 A3 Champions Cup
Runners-up (1): 2005

Worldwide
 FIFA Club World Cup
Third place (1): 2009
 Afro-Asian Club Championship
Runners-up (2): 1997, 1998

Invitational
 DCM Trophy
 Winners (1): 1988
 Runners-up (1): 1989
 King's Cup
 Runners-up (1): 1987

Season-by-season records

Key
Tms. = Number of teams
Pos. = Position in league

AFC Champions League record

Club officials

Managers

 Names in italics indicates interim or caretaker manager

See also
List of football clubs in South Korea

References

External links

Official website

Association football clubs established in 1973
K League 1 clubs
Football clubs in North Gyeongsang Province
Pohang
POSCO
1973 establishments in South Korea
Works association football clubs in South Korea
AFC Champions League winning clubs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It's good to hear from you Ella, although it sounds like you're having a terrible time. I'm glad that you're able to have some good days, especially finding that cute little wildflower. I wish that you could get a picture of it, but it's probably not possible. Sorry to hear about the deer and the tick problem.
So good to hear from you, Ella but sorry to hear about all the not so good stuff!
On a positive note about the aphids, I'm watching my ladybug population grow on the tomato plants.
have not been over here for a while. working on my garden every spare minute before and after work. it seems better than ever! growing 11 tomato plants: stump of the world, kelloggs breakfast, dehybridized big beef, as well as hybrid parks big beef, abraham lincoln, peacevine, sweet ozark orange. And a fun dwarf tomato called Marigold Kiss, those are in pots. also eggplant, pickling cukes, chard, winter squash, zukes, basil and other herbs, and hundreds of flowers. Most proud of coral honeysuckle, which i got from piggy swap, i think. in its third year and climbing up a trellis, i think it will bloom for first time this summer. remembering all of my cubits friends when i look at garden because so many are from piggy swap seeds. ATP/garden.org has a swap feature that makes it easy to do swaps, i also got quite a few from there last winter. makes gardening so fun to have unusual plants from friends around the world.
Oh, and Judy, meant to tell you I'm growing your squash seeds this year, Trombone squash.
The trombone or tromboncino work great trellised so the squash straighten out and are easier to slice. Also you can harvest them as summer squash or let them mature into hard skinned winter squash. I think they taste great either way.
Oh wildflowers! I'm growing SO many of your seeds, arugula, cranesbill, coral nymph salvia. The arugula didn't get planted til last fall, it produced all winter and spring, finally went to seed so now I have tons of arugula seed of my own. And the coral nymph is gorgeous, reseeds everywhere even containers.
That's so great, SCbuttercup! It's always fun to know your seeds have flourished. I love that arugula, it seems spicy when you take a taste but its so delicious as a salad and very addictive!
With all that I'm already growing this year, of course a couple of volunteers showed up.
This one looks like it might get BIG, looks like watermelon, I think ? ?
wildflowers wrote: This one looks like it might get BIG, looks like watermelon, I think ? ?
I'll hazard a guess and say that it looks like "Solanum rostratum". Is it spiny?
Yikes, Joseph, I don' know but I'll be checking promptly!
I went and checked first thing this morning and there aren't any spiny thorns on my plant. It looks like something is about to bloom on the end.
The stems are hairy but no spines.
Looks to me like some sort of squash, or gourd, or melon... did you have any of those growing last year, Christine?
I'm going to withdraw my comment... Solanum rostratum doesn't have tendrils like the newly posted photo shows.
Well, I'm relieved. Still waiting to see what grows from it, if anything.
At a friend's house on their puter as usual mine is on the fritz. I hope everybody is staying as cool as possible. We are burning up here. 1/16th of an inch of rain in the past month. Lots of rain, but it has gone all around us. Major water restrictions with huge, huge fines if caught watering on wrong days or times. Gonna be 105 tom108F with heat index tomorrow. Ya know it bad when the weeds are dying. We started out year cool and now summer coming in with a vengeance for sure.
Got to pick, eat and spit out my first tomato the other day. It was so acidic it was rough. Not to bad if I drown it in salad dressing.
Think this is the first year that I haven't had major bug problems. Just a few flea beetles so far. Now that tomatoes are starting to ripen though the tomato hornworms are all over the place. Never had so many before. I scout the leaves twice a day too so now sure how they even got on the plants, cuz I sure didn't find any eggs.
Has anybody grown Agastache Ambrosia before? I was wondering if it made viable seeds or not? One pretty plant. I hoping it does to gather and save seeds from it.
Ruellia Rajun Cajin is doing beautiful. I keeping the seed pods picked off right now, to keep it blooming. Will save seeds later in season from it. Besides being a beautiful plant, the hummers luv it.
Getting ready here to start sowing seeds. We kinda like Joseph and a few others that in cool spots that have a short growing season. We only have a couple of months at beginig of spring to get things growed and harvested before extreme heat and humidity comes in. Then we have about 3 months, last year was almost 6 , months of too hot to grow anything weather. Then we have three to 4 months that we can try and grow a second crop. So now the time to start seeds and by the time the plants get big enough to go out and hardened off, hopefully it will be cooler and right temp for them to grow.
I do have some dwarf sunflowers growing. Ya!!!!!!!! Finally. Learned the secret is don't transplant them any deeper than what they are when they come up. Which got me to thinking that may be why all these years I haven't had any luck with the Tithonia's. I usually transplant deeper. Maye that my problem. Gonna give it another try here and see what happens.
Ok, got to run. We'll shuffle. To hot to run. Everybody stay cool and safe!
Happy to see you posting, Ella!
You're welcome to come visit me -- we've only had one day so far that was over 80, and mostly our temps haven't gotten into the 70s... good for working in the garden, not so great for the plants!
My post disappeared, no matter I am kind of cranky anyway.
I was wondering what things people sow this time of year - lettuce, brassicas, beans optimistically. My first frost date is typically around Halloween.
I was thinking of trying some perennial flowers in containers and putting any seedlings in the ground to overwinter (carefully,with protection, assuming I don't move). I have a couple of local options I could move into without much bother, if I want to stay in the area... Leaving the area for another with a better climate and lower cost of living is an appealing option ..I would rather just be able to breathe again and stick it out here until I finish my pHD and residency.
The latest crisis is a mold problem. The lackadaisical landlord is dragging his feet, so I have enlisted help from the state. I really don't want to move, again, but I have asthma and am very allergic to mold. I have had to start taking medicines to breathe. I can't close the windows and turn on the a/c (well, my a/c that works because the one in the house doesn't work) I fainted during a breathing test and was rushed to the hospital, unfortunately it was the local hospital not the good hospital, so I didn't get any help there ... but have the makings of a malpractice suit. I have to see specialists for the asthma and conduct tours for every mold remediation company willing to give free estimates....would rather be washing aphids off my roses - one of my most unfavorite garden tasks.


About 7 years ago, I was free, creating and doing the things I wanted to do. I was also began battling loneliness. While I did have many friends that I could call upon, I often felt like I was burdening them. I also felt like they couldn't relate. My girlfriends had met great guys, and were getting engaged and starting families. I wasn't on that path, I didn't even know how to get on that path and just felt ashamed.
I used work as my escape route, throwing myself into everything I did. It was fulfilling, and it helped me hide from those whom I thought were judging me. I started to feel a little better until I began internalizing everything: a small criticism, sarcastic remark or disapproving look. I'd start to feel like I couldn't do anything right. My heart would start to race. So I'd quietly leave work in the middle of the day, rush to my car, jump in, drive off and burst into tears. When I had run out of tears, I'd return, and get back to work.
No one knew what was going on. I didn't even understand what was going on. Nothing made me happy. I just felt lost, lonely, and anxious all the time.
I tried to talk myself through it. I tried to have a positive outlook on life. I tried to be thankful. I ate well and exercised. But none of it helped.
So I reached out to an expert, a psychologist. She said that I mostly suffered from anxiety, and because I was highly functional I wouldn't need any medication. She suggested a combination of psychotherapy and life coaching techniques to help me manage my anxiety. Her strategies helped me take control and understand the challenges I needed to face.
For me, the future was filled with fear. Most of my anxiety came from anticipating what would happen in a week, a month, or a year. My psychologist asked me to practice letting things come to me. It was quite a challenge, because I was so used to pushing hard to get what I needed. But when I had to wait it made me focus on the present.
Challenge two: Growing thicker skin.
With her help, I learned I needed to detach myself from other people's expectations, comparisons and drama. This was hard since so much of my happiness had come from pleasing others or competing against others. I needed to get comfortable with setbacks both large and small and even recognize when I was taking an all or nothing attitude.
These steps helped me feel stronger and have thicker skin.
Related: Hustling on a Side Business? How to Find the Time.
I took stock of all the most trying moments in my life, and realized how much I was capable of. Even if others didn't recognize or appreciate what I had done, it didn't mean that I wasn't capable. This process helped me learn how to value and respect myself.
As entrepreneurs, we might confuse suffering with paying our dues, that it's a badge of honor or something to brag about later. But I couldn't imagine living the rest of my life with high levels of anxiety. I wanted to live a full life, be calm, and present.
When anxiety interferes with how you want to live your life, you have to seek help. Sometimes social stigma holds us back from finding support. We're afraid we'll be judged or that people will think we have 'issues.' But seeing a therapist is like hiring a personal trainer: It's about working on getting healthy.
I'm not saying you need therapy or counseling – not everyone does. I'm here to tell you that I hated the way I felt and did something about it. Therapy gave me the tools I needed to manage my anxiety and self-doubt. Two years later, I was strong enough to strike out on my own, start a business, and handle the setbacks and rejection that are common to running and growing one.
We make time for our physical health – we can do the same for our mental health. We owe it to those around us, our dreams and ourselves.
If you're open to sharing, I'd like to ask: how have you helped others you have struggled with self-doubt or anxiety or yourself? Please let me know in the comments below.


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June 2004 News Archive
Madonna to fans: I'm Crazy for You
Madge dedicates "Crazy for you" to her adoring fans!
Madonna excels at the unexpected (tour review - spoiler)
From the Boston Globe By Joan Anderman
Even before the mohawked skateboarder began riding the half - pipe during 'Hollywood,' interest in the thin red string circling Madonna's left wrist had vanished. As well it should have. With a two - hour show this gorgeous and this artful, Madonna hardly needed to rely on a spiritual stunt to generate the sort of excitement that, 20 years into her iconic pop career, she's still capable of conceiving brilliantly and executing it masterfully.
That said, she takes pleasure in keeping us guessing. Or maybe she's just an equal - opportunity disciple, happy to give props to Hebrew script and Jesus on the cross, which were both featured prominently on video screens.
More to the point - this is a concert, not a celebrity inquest - in the era of over - the - top arena spectacles, Madonna has taken the concept to a new level. Without a unifying thread and in defiance of every aesthetic law known to man, she wove elements of burlesque, extreme sports, rock concerts, Cirque du Soleil, military drills, art installations, dance theater, yoga, and antiwar rallies into a whole. And seamlessness was merely the icing.
The 'Re - Invention' tour, which sounded so desperately self - referential on paper, turns out to be impossibly accurate. Madonna manages to reinvent her reinventions. She gilded 'Vogue' with a French court twist, delivered an irony - free 'Material Girl,' deepened 'Into the Groove' with bagpipes and kilts, and redefined 'Express Yourself' as a drummer boy's march into battle.
The latter tune featured the fatigues and rifles from the proceeding number 'American Life,' but the jarring image neatly summed up what Madonna's career has been about: Mindful confrontation, artful provocation, and the use of every part of her body and mind to spark her own little culture wars.
She's never sounded better. The treated chirp of her early years, which morphed into the dreadful earnestness of the 'Evita' era, has matured into a strong, clear singing voice. A few years ago the idea of Madonna standing alone at a microphone singing 'Frozen' would have been a dubious one. Last night she commanded her spectacle and her music with equal clarity.
Describing the breath of the pageantry during 'American Life,' her most blatant political statements, images of firestorms, screaming helicopters, and wounded children flashed on video screens while dancers dressed in religious frocks (this being a Madonna show, the habits and burkas were minis) traversed a massive V - shaped catwalk above the audience. Sure it was preachy. Timely, too.
She's traded in her bullet bra for spangled hot pants, disco beats for finger popping, and transformed 'Hanky Panky' and 'Deeper and Deeper' into noir numbers. Likewise, the abstract ballroom choreography of 'Die Another Day' was an elegant antidote to the rote gyrations favored by the next generation of pop stars.
A blipping, bloated take on John Lennon's 'Imagine' was the evening's one misstep. But her heart was in the right place. And for the first time in a long time, so were all the artistic pieces.
Madonna's show overwhelms, exhausts (tour review - spoiler)
From the Providence Journal By Rick Massimo
Madonna's Re - Invention Tour rolled into the Worcester Centrum for the first of four performances last night, and while there were new touches on several songs, the set - list emphasis was still on dance - floor thumpers, mostly from her last album, American Life. And the visual element was at least a co - star of the show.
The sheer scope was exhausting - costume changes after every few songs, a troupe of 10 backup dancers, a five - piece band, two backup singers, and four giant video screens showing different projections (as well as two more trained on the star of the show).
Heck, some of the interludes that covered Madonna's costume changes were more opulent than many bands' tours. Some were borderline offensive, as when beefy background dancers made war look like a particularly strenuous dance number, while the video screens showed graphic war footage, all to cover Madonna's change into faux Che - gear for 'American Life.'
The next interlude, with a belly dancer, break dancer, tap dancer, skateboarder and guitar soloist, on the other hand, made interesting connections between seemingly unrelated disciplines.
The near - sensory overload veered between moments of interesting juxtaposition and semiotic incoherence. The Weimar - style black - and - white 'set' for the acoustic guitar - driven 'Don't Tell Me' was lovely, but what 'American Life' was trying to say is anyone's guess. it's rare when an artist onstage gives an upturned middle finger, and you're not sure whom it's directed at. (The song also incorporated some of the video footage that was excised from the song's video.)
Similarly, 'Express Yourself' followed 'American Life,' with the martially - dressed Madonna doing rifle tricks while singing 'Don't settle for second - best/ Put your love to the test.' Huh?
And so it went: The sequence of a gently swinging 'Hanky Panky' and a hushed 'Deeper and Deeper' gave something to hang onto, but then there were images of x - rays and the elderly on the too - slight 'Die Another Day,' Hebrew letters and stigmata on 'Mother and Father' (which featured some of Madonna's best singing of the night).
Many of the songs worked as individual production numbers, but after a while the images became gimmicky - There she is with an electric guitar! There she is in an electric chair! - and detracted from each other.
Madonna's voice has never been the world's strongest (as she has said herself), but it was as strong as ever last night. There was some lip - synching, particularly on the first couple of songs.
As has been widely noted, 'Get Into the Groove' began with an interlude of bagpipes and martial drums, and broke down to bagpipes on the bridge, but the effect was inconsequential - indeed, by the end of the show, nothing was a shock.
There's something about the widely varied looks and images that works in aradio or video context - it's a shot of variety and the unexpected, and in small doses it's invigorating. In a live setting, with the condensed, cascading effect of so many numbers in a row, it's easy to appreciate, even be wowed by, the sheer scope and the energy being expended. But to what end?
As a collection of dance - floor thumpers, the show had more than its share of moments - 'Nobody Knows Me,' 'Vogue,' the early 'Burning Up.' But if the gaudy show business was intended to make a deeper point, it's not immediately clear what it was.
The tour continues with shows tonight, Wednesday and Thursday.
UK fans: Watch TOTP on Friday!
Fans in the UK should tune into TOTP this Friday at 7.30pm on BBC1 (Euro 2004 football schedule permitting) to enter a very exciting Madonna competition....
Piper Joins Madonna for World Tour
Madonna adds a bag-pipe player to her tour!
Yakov and the Seven Thieves in Stores TODAY!
Madonna's new children's book "Yakov and the Seven Thieves" comes out today, June 21st. If you have not order your copy of the book already, do so at the Madonna Store:
Yakov & The Seven Thieves Book
Seven slippery scoundrels.
One tricky lock.
An unlikely solution...
Yakov, the kindly cobbler, and his wife, Olga, are heartbroken because their son, Mikhail, is very ill. They seek advice from a wise old man, who enlists the help of seven thieves and proves that miracles can occur if we do good deeds.
Written by Madonna and beautifully illustrated by Gennady Spirin.
Helping Madonna Hit Her Marks
From the NY Times
Who can a star rely on to create a spiritually enlightened, Pilates - inspired, military - saluting, career - extending international road show? Jamie King has created pop spectaculars for Prince, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. Still, directing and choreographing Madonna's Reinvention Tour, which opened here late last month, made all his previous assignments look easy. By the time it completes its three - month run, with 55 concerts in the United States, Canada and Europe, it is expected to gross 0 million.
Mr. King, 32, has worked with Madonna since she asked him to choreograph her video for 'Human Nature' in 1996. He recently talked with Valerie Gladstone.
VALERIE GLADSTONE Describe how you and she come up with ideas.
JAMIE KING We've been working together for a long time, so we don't have to go through the whole introductory process. it's more like 'Jamie, I saw this Ninja movie, and it was cool, and it might be cool to do something like that on tour.' Or, 'My kids have been watching 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,' maybe we could do something like the dance with bamboo sticks from that as a transition into 'Get Into the Groove.' '
GLADSTONE What happens when you disagree?
KING We had one major disagreement. Only a few weeks ago, I told her I thought she should replace a song she had already relearned with "Material Girl." She'd spent a lot of time learning the other song on the guitar. She'd also said publicly that she would never sing "Material Girl" again. So I had to convince her that it was a bigger hit and worked much better at the end of a particular sequence.
GLADSTONE Were you worried that the song wouldn't go over?
KING If the audience hadn't responded enthusiastically, I'd never have heard the end of it.
GLADSTONE What did you do after choosing the 12 dancers?
KING I set up four rooms in the Culver City Studios: the band room where Madonna worked on the songs with the musical director and the musicians; the choreography room where we developed the dances; the technical room, where I had the theatrical props, like the swings for the acrobatic dances. That's also where we rehearsed the fire handling and rifle choreography and skateboarding.
In another room, I had the entire stage taped out to scale with mock screens and elements of the set, all made of wood. Madonna wants to know exactly what everything will actually look like in materials as close to the finals as possible.
GLADSTONE The show has a variety of dance styles: tango, popping, a Scottish bagpipe procession and something called the krump. What's the krump?
KING Madonna likes me to bring her the newest thing. The krump is very in - your - face, very angry and confrontational, with the arms spread wide in a threatening manner. My dancers told me about it. It looks like you're fighting. it's a way for kids in tough neighborhoods to express their aggression, without really fighting. That's what she and I like about it.
Madonna pours on the juice (tour review - spoiler)
BY JAY LUSTIG
Star - Ledger Staff
NEW YORK - - Bagpipers and skateboarders. Yoga poses and a T - shirt reading "Kabbalists do it better." Rap and country music. Angry political statements and giddy party anthems.
Madonna's Wednesday night show at Madison Square Garden had all of the above, and more. A Madonna tour is, by definition, a spectacle. But she has never presented anything quite as dizzying and dazzling as her current "re - Invention Tour," which has four more dates at the Garden, as well as two at the Continental Airlines Arena.
Dancers turned into acrobats, spinning on swings high above the stage. They also breakdanced and tap - danced as images of Tarot cards flashed behind them. At two points in the show, a V - shaped ramp descended from the rafters and Madonna and the dancers ran out to the middle of the arena floor.
Without an album of new material to draw from, Madonna added new twists to some of her old songs. "Material Girl" and "Burning Up" took on a new - wave rock feel, and "Deeper and Deeper" became a jazzy ballad. Bagpipes and a filmed Missy Elliott rap were added to "Into the Groove," while "Don't Tell Me" had a strange country - techno interlude.
Madonna sang "Lament," from the rock opera "Evita," from an electric chair and added video footage of a gospel choir to "Like a Prayer." Artful film of entwined, slow - moving, near - naked bodies enhanced the yearning sentiment of the ballad "Frozen."
In general, though, sexual content was kept to a minimum. Madonna seems more interested these days in spirituality and the state of the world.
One of the show's low points came during "Express Yourself." Dancers dressed in military uniforms marched and twirled rifles with projections of tanks and planes behind them. Madonna herself held a rifle above her head as she sang the line, "What you need is a big strong hand to lift you to your higher ground."
One imagines she was making an anti - war statement, but the theatrics didn't make much sense accompanying a song about personal empowerment.
Better to be inscrutable, though, than heavy - handed.
"American Life" was accompanied by a video that showed, among other things, footage of a President Bush lookalike kissing a Saddam Hussein lookalike, and lovingly laying his head on the dictator's shoulder.
Shots of children suffering from malnutrition or violence were projected behind Madonna during her earnest cover of John Lennon's "Imagine." Toward the end of the song, though, happy children were shown, and a Jewish boy and an Arab boy walked off together, arm in arm.
Madonna made her longest speech of the night before this number, encouraging fans to see Michael Moore's upcoming documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," which explores links between the families of President Bush and Osama bin Laden.
"I don't think I ever cried so hard at a movie in my life," she said before thanking Moore, who was in the audience.
Later, she offered a more conventional thank - you, dedicating "Crazy for You" to the fans who have stuck by her through her entire career. She then sang a warm, relaxed version of the song. This was the concert's calmest moment, by far.
Then it was back to business as usual, with a manic "Music," featuring hip - hop record scratching, dancers gliding around the stage on conveyor belts, and the word F - R - E - E - D - O - M spelled out on the dancers' butts. The show ended with "Holiday," a celebratory dance - pop tune with prancing on the V - ramp, a blast of confetti, and a final video message: "Reinvent Yourself."
Vh1's Front and Center with Madonna Sweepstakes
See the Material Girl in concert in the city of your choice! Party in the pit and be front and center for Madonna's shocking new tour. Enter now!
Madonna not ready to quit (tour review - spoiler)
By GLENN GAMBOA
For Madonna, necessity is the mother of "Re - Invention."
Super - savvy culture vulture that she is, the Material Mom knows that if she doesn't re - assert her relevance soon, she could quickly become a fringe best known for writing children's books and being Britney's gal - pal.
On the heels of disappointing sales for her "American Life" album and a hostile reception to her last movie, "Swept Away," the 45 - year - old entertainer has her back against the wall for the first time in her career.
"The Re - Invention Tour" is her way of proving she is not ready to retire to the London mansion with hubby Guy Ritchie and the kids just yet. At Madison Square Garden last night, the first of eight sold - out shows in New York in the next two weeks, she definitely made that point.
Many sing better. Others write better songs. But no one performs better than Madonna especially when she has something to prove.
In the nearly two - hour set, Madonna takes the audience on a whirlwind tour through her 20 - year career. Some songs get shaken up the disco jam "Deeper and Deeper" gets jazzy, "Like a Prayer" gets an electro - country twang and "Material Girl" becomes a pop - punk rave - up. But what is even more impressive is how her elaborate performance art pieces enhance many of the songs. The athletic swinging of her dancers during "Bedtime Story" provides the song a grace that it never would have seen in a straight performance. The intricate moves of her 16 - member dance troupe turned "Into the Groove" into a powerful dance piece instead of simply a dance - pop trifle. "Papa Don't Preach" was filled with playfulness and innocence, even including a ring - around - the - rosie dance.
This is a side of Madonna that she hasn't shown very often, the one that has fun, the one that enjoys the roar of the crowd. She offered genuine appreciation for the cheers much like her decision to bring back songs from her past that she has tired of.
Making peace with her past doesn't mean she's ready to give up on the interests of her present. Kabbala is present in the Hebrew letters that swirl on the big screens behind her and she even sports a t - shirt that says "Kabbalists Do It Better." Her anti - war, anti - Bush beliefs are clearly on display during "American Life," as well as her overwhelming endorsement of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," which she said had her in tears. With this tour, Madonna can give the song her full support unlike last year, when she yanked the video to avoid controversy about complaining about Middle East policies in the middle of the Iraqi war. She was rightfully worried about getting Dixie - Chicked if she proceeded, but as it turned out, her album was basically blacklisted anyway.
If anyone could have waged a successful media campaign to get her anti - war, pro - troops point across, it would be Team Madonna. The Material Mom, however, plays things a little safer, which is also evident on "The Re - Invention Tour."
When Madonna dedicated her ballad "Crazy For You" to all her fans who have "stuck with me through thick and thin for the past 20 years," she short - circuited all the critiques of her 2001 "Drowned World" tour, which was high on drama and production but low on fun and any sort of crowd interaction.
Madonna's latest reinvention may be her best one yet. She has not only become a champion of the underdogs but somehow an underdog herself. And as long as she offers amazing performances like this one, she will have an army of fans backing her up.
MADONNA 'CALL ME ESTHER' ROCKS N.Y. (tour review - spoiler)
By DAN AQUILANTE
June 17, 2004 - - SHE may have adopted the new name Esther, but it was the same old Madonna electrifying Madison Square Garden last night.
In a barrage of video imagery, campy dance routines and hit songs, last night's opening concert of Madonna's six - show Garden series was more artistic regurgitation than reinvention - despite the title of this tour.
That isn't saying the tightly wrapped "Re - Invention" extravaganza wasn't fun eyeball candy. But in most ways, this show seemed to be the old Madonna in a new bustier.
While the lightning bolt of musical greatness didn't strike the stage during the nearly two - hour concert, Madonna razzle - dazzled her way into the hearts of the devoted audience with an entertaining theatrical revue that was elaborately staged, costumed and cast with a full dance troupe that included acrobats and even a Mohawked skateboard boy.
The 45 - year - old pop legend sang well and looked great. And when it came to her dance - oriented pieces, she was certainly at her most compelling.
Yet, she was at her best when she performed her bare - bones strum 'n' hum "Like a Prayer." Madonna accompanied herself on acoustic guitar, and it was the one song where a feeling of soul came across.
An unfortunate cover of John Lennon's "Imagine," the low point of the night, followed that. She complicated it by playing it beneath images of desperately ill and dying children. "Imagine," one of Lennon's best tunes, was such a downer, it felt as if Madonna pulled the plug on the show.
With all that's been made of her new - found Kabbalist leanings - which inspired her new name - and shadowy spiritualism, it was surprising how little of that made its way into this concert. She took a lesson from her own song "Papa Don't Preach." and didn't gab about finding higher ground. Yes, video images of Hebrew letters and pictures of the Sacred Heart Jesus popped up, but the projections were more graphic design than evangelism.
In fact, that was one of the biggest problems with this concert. The songs and the staging often had little to do with one another.
There was an anti - Republican undercurrent here, but Madonna smartly voiced no criticism of the president or his foreign policy in words. Instead, she let videos featuring the ravages of war convey her why - can't - we - just - get - along message.
As for the notion that Madonna couldn't sell out the Garden anymore, the reports of the demise of her career were greatly exaggerated. There wasn't an empty seat in sight.
Yakov and the Seven Thieves Review (book spoiler)
Madonna is getting the hang of this kiddie book thing.
Yakov and the Seven Thieves (Callaway Editions) is the third instalment of Madonna's five - book series for the publisher and it's the best, mostly because there is nothing Material Girl - ish about it. (Her first book, the rather boring The English Roses, focused on a catty group of girls illustrated in a very fashion - forward manner.)
The fairy - tale artwork in Yakov, by Russian painter Gennady Spirin, brings authenticity to the story about a sick boy, desperate dad and wise old man in an eastern European village in the 18th century.
Madonna, who cites the influence of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, in all her books, says Yakov was inspired by the Baal Shem Tov, a Ukrainian teacher.
"It's a story about how all of us have the ability to unlock the gates of heaven - - no matter how unworthy we think we are. For when we go against our selfish natures, we make miracles happen, in our lives and in the lives of others," Madonna writes on the cover jacket.
While that's an exaggeration of how important and symbolic this book really is, the story moves along nicely and gets its message about redemption across without being too preachy. it's also appropriately written for its target audience of six - year - olds.
Yakov is the father of Mikhail, who is literally on his death bed. With few options left, Yakov goes to visit the mysterious old man who lives on the outskirts of the village and is rumoured to perform miracles. Unfortunately, the old man's first attempt to help the boy fails. He has an idea, though, to ask all the town's thieves, pickpockets and criminals to put their rather unusual talents toward a good cause.
Of course, being a children's picture book, there is a happy ending with a healthy Mikhail and reformed rascals.
And, it's worth noting that the only female scoundrel, Petra the Pickpocket, bears a striking resemblance to Madonna herself.
Madonna Interview on 20/20 (ABC)
Watch Cynthia McFadden's exclusive interview with Madonna on 20/20 Friday night at 10 p.m.
Madonna's latest makeover - - motherhood and mysticism
Madonna talks with 20/20 about motherhood, mysticism, her latest children's book and her new concert tour. (ABCNEWS.com)
By ABCNEWS.com
June 16, 2004 Madonna, the master of self - invention, has come a long way since her "Material Girl" days. While she has no regrets about her moves on her climb to pop diva status, she tells ABC News' 20/20, "I brought a lot of chaos to people's lives, because of my selfish behavior."
In her latest incarnation, the wife, mother, children's book author and still - touring pop star says the ruling philosophy in her home is "pick up your s - - t."
Madonna may have made a career on rebellion, irreverence and sexually charged performance, but when it comes to her children, manners are important. "Even my children have to clean up their mess, clean up their rooms. Manners, thank you, please, take your dishes to the sink. I mean gratitude, being grateful, that is, that has to happen If it's traditional to be a decent human being, then I'm traditional," she told ABC News' Cynthia McFadden.
Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie in 2000. They have a son together, 4 - year - old Rocco, and Madonna has a 7 - year - old daughter, Lourdes, whose father is Madonna's former personal trainer, Carlos Leon.
Madonna says her favorite aspect of getting older is "getting smarter" and gives a rare glimpse of her private life with Ritchie. She tells McFadden she believes the key step to a successful marriage is "learning to apologize." She also shares one of the couple's daily rituals, saying that after her grueling performances, she goes in the tub and her husband talks to her about the day.
Call Me Esther
Madonna also speaks candidly with McFadden about her study of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbala, which she believes is "incredibly punk rock" and anti - establishment.
"Kabbalists believe in immortality. They believe that you can overcome death, overcome illness, whatever, so, it's incredibly good to be a rebel," she said.
Madonna also reveals that she has also taken on the Hebrew name of Esther, explaining that, "I was named after my mother. My mother died when she was very young, of cancer, and I wanted to attach myself to another name.
This is in no way a negation of who my mother is. I wanted to attach myself to the energy of a different name."
To Naughty Children Everywhere
Madonna also discusses her third and latest foray into children's literature, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, which hits bookstores June 21.
Madonna has dedicated the book to "naughty children everywhere," saying that, "Even the naughtiest person in the world, big or small, has the capability to do something good in the world."
Describing herself as "naughty child, number one," she espouses the power of prayer. "I pray every day and I believe that it is a very powerful way to communicate, to heal, to affect change."
20/20 will also air exclusive footage from Madonna's Reinvention tour, which comes to New York City's Madison Square Garden today.
Prime Madonna (tour review - spoiler)
She's in her prime!
Madonna voted top fashion icon for women over 40
After reigning over the hearts of millions for quite some time, pop queen Madonna, has added another feather to her cap.
The 45 - year - old mom of two has been voted the best dressed woman by the Good Housekeeping magazine.
The homemaker's bible declared Madonna the leading fashion icon for women over 40.
"The great thing about Madonna is that she constantly looks good and constantly reinvents herself and sets trends," editor Lindsay Nicholson is quoted as saying by news.com.
Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley was highly commended while fellow actors Helen Mirren and Judi Dench and model Jerry Hall were on the short list.
Hall's one - time partner, crooner Bryan Ferry, was named Britain's best - dressed man, relegating soccer star David Beckham to second place.
Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, the austere hosts of the television series "What Not To Wear" reproduced for an Australian audience recently by Channel 7 - were judged worst - dressed women. (ANI)
Re - Invention Ball in Toronto July 16th
Music brings the people together for a special edition of Grapefruit
Grapefruit Promotions is pleased to present the Re - Invention Ball: the official Toronto launch party for Madonna's Re - Invention Tour and a fundraiser for Casey House.
The Ball starts spinning on Friday, July 16 at Tequila Lounge, located at 794 Bathurst Street (corner of Bloor and Bathurst). Doors open to media and special guests at 9 p.m., then to the public at 10 p.m.
DJ Aural and DJ Shane will take guests on a musical journey as they spin a career - spanning set packed full of hits, remixes, live tracks and classic album cuts. Grapefruit is also flying in Madiva - star of MTV, U.K. Television and peer of Madonna herself. New York's most infamous Madonna impersonator is sure to dazzle the crowd with some of her greatest numbers In addition to the theatrics, guests can also win posters, DVD's, gift certificates, clothing and an all - inclusive vacation package for two. Prizes for the event have been donated by Grapefruit's generous sponsors in support of Casey House.
Tickets can be purchased at Music Authority (95 Maitland St.) starting on June 18. Tickets are in advance and priced higher at the door. Tickets are very limited and are sold on a first - come first - serve basis.
For all the up - to - date information on tickets, sponsors, dates, Madiva and Madonna herself, please visit
http://www.shanepercy.com/madonna_event.htm
Madonna reinvents her hits (tour review - spoiler)
By Mark Guarino
The engine of Madonna's 21 - year career is reinvention. Look back and her lineage of videos and concert tours is lined with shifting selves - - from disco boy - toy all the way up to children's book author.
By naming her current tour "Re - Invention," the 45 - year - old is not so much trying anything new as she is, for the first time, collecting all her former selves and seeing if they can co - exist together.
Some call it nostalgia, but Madonna has never been that obvious. At the United Center Sunday, the first of four sold - out nights, she tried to make sense out of everything she's done in the past, but in the exhilarating collage, she demonstrated some previous lives live up to the present and a few do not.
Some reinvention was musical and on these songs, Madonna and her eight - piece band and core of dancers celebrated their durability. "Into the Groove," an early hit, was remixed with a more complex beat, rapping interludes from a recorded Missy Elliott and, strangely, a live bagpiper and drum corps. "Like a Prayer," part of her disco folk set, swelled with spiritual uplift with the help of a recorded gospel choir.
Unlike her dark and condensed "Drowned World" tour in 2001, this outing joyfully interchanged past with present. The best moments blurred images and toyed with mixed messages.
She and her dancers performed "Express Yourself," an infectious dance pop statement of individuality, dressed in military gear and twirling rifles. For "Burning Up," her earliest dance hit, and "Material Girl," Madonna posed as a serious guitar rocker, hitting chords and transforming the songs' adolescent whine into adult certitude.
The flow of imagery had its chinks when Madonna revisited weaker material - - notably "Hanky Panky," a vaudeville jazz send - up from "Dick Tracy." And no matter what you think of Andrew Lloyd Webber, his material ("Lament") doesn't sound good being sung when the singer is strapped to a fake electric chair.
Unlike the past, the show was not designed to provoke but was filled with more moments where she tried to present herself as a serious songwriter.
She slipped into that mode during the show's third act, a short acoustic set that ended with a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine." The choice may have been in protest, since Clear Channel Entertainment, her tour's producer and promoter, is the same company that banned the song from its 1,200 radio stations after Sept. 11.
But since she was singing in front of a backdrop of televised starving children, it's more likely she was using the song to signal her altruism. Her shrill rendition didn't do that. Instead, it felt like another reinvention, just that this one was empty and presumptuous.
Yakov and the Seven Thieves illustrator interview
We wanted to remind you about the release of Madonna's newest children's book, "Yakov and The Seven Thieves". The book, which is beautifully illustrated by Gennady Spirin, comes out June 21st, but you can pre - order ahead of time and have it shipped directly to your door. You can also buy an exclusive t - shirt featuring the cover art, in both youth and adult sizes.
CLICK HERE TO PRE - ORDER
Below is a Q & A with Gennady Spirin
What was it like working on Yakov and the Seven Thieves?
The book was completed amazingly quickly. The idea was clear. The style parameters were set. I was able to render the characters without much difficulty - very naturally. Everything came together well.
How is Yakov and the Seven Thieves different from other books you've illustrated?
This is the first time that I worked with a contemporary author. This is not a classic, world - renowned story, but the idea has deep roots.
What message do you hope children will glean from Yakov and the Seven Thieves?
I think that children and grown - ups should see this book as espousing the importance of compassion. It also puts forward the concept that often the prayers of some of the most seemingly "bad" people are dearer to God than the prayers of the seemingly "good" people. The thieves? Prayers demonstrate real openness before God, and stem from feelings of unworthiness.
What is your favorite part of Yakov and the Seven Thieves?
I must confess that I look at the book as a whole and, thus, I do not prefer one part of the book over another.
What is your favorite illustration in Yakov and the Seven Thieves?
I cannot select anything in particular and have never been able to admire my own work, even if I am satisfied with it overall. One's admiration for one's own work can only bring disdain from the great Masters.
What about your style do you feel lends itself to Yakov and the Seven Thieves?
The stylistic parameters for the book were discussed and set from the outset. This story takes place in Europe, in the 18th century. It could have been illustrated in any number of styles, but we decided on Baroque. It makes the book dressier, but at the same time preserves the dramatic element and the psychological characteristics of each of the characters.
What was your opinion of Madonna before and after reading Yakov and the Seven Thieves?
I had, of course, heard of the author before commencing work on the book, but I am not a fan of contemporary music. I like classical music and jazz. However, my children are familiar with Madonna, and, overhearing that I was working on this book, they told me of her accomplishments and career highlights. Overall, she is a giant, so I felt somewhat uncomfortable initially. Irrespective of the Hollywood hoopla surrounding Madonna, it is not lost on her to notice simple, human actions, which is the centralmoral principle of the story.
What inspired you to want to illustrate children's books?
I remember that as a child I absolutely loved to look at books with pictures. How delighted and excited my young soul was to see the elaborate letters and illustrations of a new story. I was drawn to stories by their illustrations. A whole world opened up to my youthful imagination. And to this day, that world beckons.
Which artists and illustrators have most influenced you and your work?
Unfortunately, I cannot name just one person. My interests and tastes are broad and my work is influenced not only by other artists (and there is a legion of them), but also by different cultures, architecture, period costumes, and a mass of minute details and elements that have filled my life at different times.
How did growing up in Russia influence your work?
Most positively. First and foremost, I am a Russian soul. I am Russian Orthodox. Russia is my Fatherland. The list of Russia's great leaders, religious icons, writers, composers, artists and entertainers is what inspires me, and I consider myself supremely fortunate to be a part of Russia's rich traditions.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you can pass on to young artists?
To the young and not - so - young artists I can wish only great love. Love inspires great art, as well as life itself. Love what you do.
Your illustrations feature an amazing amount of detail. How long does it usually take you to complete a piece? What is your process like?
In art we are not dependent on technology. It is the process itself that is most important, and the creative process cannot be timed. Sometimes, I can create an illustration in 2 - 3 days, but more often it takes a week or longer. About my creative process: I don't do sketches. That way, I am much more focused on the creative process and the final product, and, for me, this is more interesting, because I am not worried about the many changes that may be requested and the work then proceeds more naturally, by the grace of God. Of course, I draw on many types of cultural materials while I am working - books, architecture, interiors, furnishings, costumes, etc. Yes, it is true, I love detail - it is a necessary part of the whole.
How do your own children influence your illustrations?
I work at home and I love when my children are home while I am working. I love to hear their voices. They are the first to see what I am working
on and I can feel when they are not pleased with something I've created. I also know when they are very pleased - which is the best reward I can
hope for.
Madonna's third book for children, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, illustrated by Gennady Spirin, will be released worldwide on June 21, 2004.
Special thanks to Callaway Editions
X - STaTIC PRO - CeSS Exhibition in Germany
The X - STaTIC PRO - CeSS exhibition has moved from a successful installation in Munich to Dusseldorf at the NRW Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft.
For more details on the exhibition which runs from 10 - 27 June visit the gallery website at
www.nrw - forum.de
Here is the official poster which is available to buy at the exhibition.
Madonna Audibles Now Available on Yahoo! Messenger
On June 4th, Yahoo! Messenger,a popular instant messaging service, launched Madonna Audibles. Audibles are expressive verbal animations that you can send to your friends through Yahoo! Messenger. Madonna Audibles are the very first music Audibles to appear on Yahoo! Messenger.
These audibles are caricatures of the Material Girl that display two distinct and popular time periods for Madonna-- the 80's and 90's. When a user sends a Madonna audible, they have the option of sending song samples of either "Who's that Girl" or "Ray of Light."
Everyone can check out the Madonna audibles and send them to their friends by downloading the All-New Yahoo! Messenger at messenger.yahoo.com
Madonna Hits It (tour review - spoiler)
Madonna WOWS the San Jose crowd!
San Francisco Gate review of the show (tour spoiler)
Check out reviews of Madonna's concert at San Jose's HP Pavilion!
Re-Invention Tour Photos on Madonna.com
Click here to see pictures of Madonna on the Re-Invention Tour in the image gallery.
What is your favorite "Re-Invention Tour" Look?
Clck here to Vote now on Madonna.com
Madonna Unleashes the Mother Lode (tour review spoiler)
Madonna's still got it!
Second Dutch Show
The Madonna Arnhem show went on sale on Saturday and in fact sold out in 17 minutes!
As such, show #2 (September 9th) was also announced and it too sold out.
© 2019 Boy Toy, Inc. Powered by Live Nation Entertainment.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A buddy jumped in to help our Movember efforts our and developed this short clip when I shared with him some footage of a recorded chat between my self and local adult performer Michael Brandon on our 2013 "Movember" efforts here in San Francisco with our team #Stachekrieg. You can visit Michael on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Mr.MichaelBrandon.
At the time of the filming Stachekrieg was 6th in the country – but as larger and more corp groups kicked into gear by the time of this posting our small 11 man, casual group was still holding at 11 in the country with over $23,560 raised.
One of my fav blogger's Mike at Accidentalbear.com recently posted this youtube and it had me sitting here with a smile on my face.
So many don't know how we've lost one key social construct from our past.
I came across this post and loved the concept!
Its such a shame we can't seem to come up with cool content in the states! Thank You!
Bay Area radio personality and one half of the Fernando & Greg morning show on 99.7 NOW, sent us a shout out to help us promote men's health awareness as part of the Movember movement and our http://www.Stachekrieg.com team website as we raise funds for men's testicular & prostate cancer and mental health awareness.
Hey… I know it's @scruffapp but they "opened the door" by comenting, so I might as well share the message about #Movember and offer!
Got this from one of our steadfast Mo husbands who are standing by us during this time of folicular scareness shared this. Thanks Lance.
Woohoo. Another great plug supporting why I've a scratchy face !
Still time to donate to the cause! We will be growing our staches in through November!
If you haven't checked out AccidentalBear.com do so. Its always one of my fav follows.


Owens fled the Mazda on foot before deputies caught up with him, said Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jamie Sykes.
Owens was turned over to the Alamance County Sheriff's Office, Sykes said, and is believed to have stolen such items as cash, weapons and jewelry.
"A full list of charges will be available later, and additional arrests are anticipated in connection with these break-ins," Sykes wrote in an email.


Most novice Comrades Marathon runners finish the race on their first attempt and the majority of them walk (shuffle, crawl?) away with Bronze medals.
a runner who has not completed both an "up" and a "down" Comrades Marathon.
For the purposes of this article I will be adopting the first definition. This is probably the one of most interest to runners who are embarking on their first Comrades journey.
I'll be using the same data sets that I have discussed in previous articles. Before we focus on the data for the novices we'll start by just retaining the fields of interest.
To satisfy our definition of novice we'll need to exclude the "did not start" (DNS) records.
Some runners do not finish the race on their first attempt but they bravely come back to run the race again. We will retain only the first record for each runner, because the second time they attempt the race they are (according to our definition) no longer novices since already have some race experience.
I suppose that the foremost question going through the minds of many Comrades novices is "Will I finish?".
Well, there's some good news: around 80% of all novices finish the race. Those are quite compelling odds. Of course, a number of factors can influence the success of each individual, but if you have done the training and you run sensibly, then the odds are in your favour.
What medal is a novice most likely to receive?
The vast majority (again around 80%) claim a Bronze medal. There are also a significant proportion (just over 10%) who miss the eleven hour cutoff and get a Vic Clapham medal. Around 6% of novices achieve a Bill Rowan medal and a surprisingly large fraction, just over 4%, manage to finish in a Silver medal time of under seven and a half hours. There are very few Wally Hayward and Gold medals won by novices. The odds for a novice Gold medal are around one in 1200, all else being equal (which it very definitely isn't!).
As one would expect, the chart slopes up towards the right: progressively more runners come in later in the day. There is very clear evidence of clustering of runners just before the medal cutoffs at 07:30, 09:00, 11:00 and 12:00. There is also a peak before the psychological cutoff at 10:00.
The data for previous years indicates that the outlook for novices is rather good. 80% of them will finish the race and, of those, around 80% will receive Bronze medals.
Start slowly. It's going to be a long day.
Take regular walking breaks and start doing this early on. A few minutes' recovery will power you up for a number of kms.
Stay hydrated. Take something at every water table. Just don't overdo it.
Be inspired by the other runners: they all have the guts to indulge in this madness with you and every one of them is fighting their own battle.
Enjoy the support: the hordes of people beside the road have come out to see YOU run by. And they all want you to finish.
Enjoy the day: as far as entertainment is concerned, the Comrades Marathon is about the best value for money that you can get.
See you in Pietermaritzburg at 05:30 on 1 June!
Note: There's an error in this post which is corrected here.
Thanks to Daniel for suggesting this article.
Next: Race Statistics for Comrades Marathon Novice Runners: Corrigendum.
Previous: Hazardous and Benign Space Objects: Orbits in the Solar-Ecliptic Reference Frame.


Longmaster Information & Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese software developer founded in 1998, announced today to acquire 39.net in cash and stock. The price reportedly is RMB650 million (more than US$100).
Launched in March 2000 by China's state-owned pharmaceutical company 999Group, 39.net was one of the first health websites in China. It was shortly after a wave of Chinese Internet companies had been founded, such as Tencent, Alibaba, Sina and NetEase, and when the Dot-com bubble about to burst.
In 2006, when 999Group was under restructuring, 39.net introduced funding from IDG Capital Partners, a China-focused investment firm, acquired the site for RMB30 million, according to reports.
The site started offering medical and health information and then added features for users to ask doctors questions. The site covers 120 million users, with 48% on mobile, as reported by 21cbn.
The site's major revenue source is advertising. It made RMB107 million in 2013, a 66% growth, and RMB31 million in net profit, a 264% increase, according to 21cbn — The net profit margin is 29%.
It was reported that Baidu, the largest search service in China, wanted to acquire 39.net. — Medical has been the top search category in terms of revenue for Baidu.


text:
Speech by Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam, Deputy Chairman and Executive Director, GIC, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies 50th Anniversary Conference held on 14 September 2008, Geneva, Switzerland
A key driving force in the world economy over the next few decades will be the rise of major developing countries as engines of economic growth, sources of capital and ultimately geopolitical powers in their own right. The rise of the developing countries will be a challenge to the present world order which is dominated by the economic and political power of the developed countries. This change in the balance of power poses critical questions for the sustainability of security, stability and good order. The tension between the emerging world and the established developed world is already taking place.
Much of the world's prosperity since the Second World War was built on a consensus, essentially among developed countries, on how international frameworks should be established and operate. In the absence of a consensus among all major players today, the inadequacies of current international frameworks are becoming more evident as can be seen, for example, in the breakdown of recent WTO negotiations or the stress in climate control talks. Further points of conflict will arise as emerging countries seek to re-negotiate the "rules of the game" and the two worlds, developed and developing, compete for resources, markets and influence on a scale never seen before.
Before examining the consequences of this momentous development, it is useful to step back and reflect on how far we have come in the last 25 years, and how benign and unusual past economic circumstances have been.
The economic environment over the past 25 years can be broadly characterized as one of falling global inflation and rising economic growth. In developed economies, the process of disinflation began in the early 1980s as the Volcker Fed and other G-7 central banks resolutely hiked interest rates to bring inflation down. With the fall in inflation, economic growth became less volatile and recessions less severe. Falling inflation has also been a boon for financial investments.
A similar process of disinflation began in emerging economies in the mid-1990s. Since inflation was a much larger problem in these economies, the benefits of disinflation that accompanied major structural and macro stabilization reforms were even greater. This is evident in the boom in emerging market growth, an acceleration of the integration of the developing world into global production, as well as rapidly rising returns from investment in emerging markets.
Major political transitions contributed to and reinforced these positive economic trends. The fall of communism and the end of the Cold War, the integration of Eastern Europe into the West, the formation of WTO, all underpinned greater trade and investment links between countries. The Internet brought the world even closer, potentially globalizing services as well as the production, marketing and distribution of goods.
The coming decades may not be as benign economically. There is growing potential for more severe economic dislocations that could lead to stress and conflicts.
Over the near term, debt deflation and de-leveraging in the US and other major developed economies will exert downward pressure on growth in many economies. Policy responses so far have tried to minimize the likelihood of a Japan-like deflationary spiral but the adjustment could take a couple of years and be very painful. This could lead to protectionist or populist pressures.
At the same time, growth in emerging markets can be expected to remain relatively robust, with the emerging markets accounting for more than half of the world's GDP within the next decade. This has several implications.
First, global growth will be much more dependent on emerging markets. In 2000, for instance, emerging markets accounted for one fifth of global growth, but over the coming decade emerging markets are expected to eventually account for more than half of global growth.
Second, emerging economies will displace the G-7 as the world's largest economies over the next two to three decades, even if per capita incomes still lag behind those of the developed economies.
Third, economic growth will lead to a rapid expansion of the "middle class". This historically unprecedented expansion of the "middle class" will support growth through increasing urbanisation and growing demand for education, transport and healthcare as well as consumer goods and services, and investment in housing, real estate and infrastructure. At the same time, such strong demand will likely put pressure on commodity prices, natural resources, and the environment. The political demands of the middle class will also grow, both at the national and international levels.
If policy-makers in the developed and developing worlds are able to effectively manage these issues and tensions, the dominant trends can underpin a future economic environment with robust growth, led by emerging markets, and moderate inflation. Growth will likely be weak in the next few years due to the debt de-leveraging that is taking place in the US and OECD but should then recover. With a return to stronger global growth, supply constraints will become more evident over time leading to greater inflationary pressures. But credible central banks and prudent macro-economic policies should be able to keep global inflation contained.
This benign scenario requires that governments and decision makers resolutely address difficult policy challenges that could otherwise lead to stagnation or inflation.
If this is not done, a deeper debt deflation and de-leveraging in the US and major European economies could further weaken the global financial system leading to a quasi- "Japan-like" stagnation. If house price declines are significantly greater than expected, larger financial institutions could become insolvent, the credit crunch would be more severe, and economic growth could weaken considerably. A vicious deflationary cycle with falling house prices, failing financial institutions, and weaker growth could then ensue.
With weaker employment and income growth, protectionism could rise medium-term, especially in the US and Europe.
Such a scenario is now more likely than ever, with an ever-growing majority in major developed countries disenchanted with stagnating median real wages and growing income inequality that has worsened over the last 5- 10 years partly because of the globalization of emerging economies' massive excess labour supply and now their competition for finite energy and food resources.
This could slow global trade and investment, as well as cause a backlash against deregulation, liberalization policies and globalization in general. Initially, such a move would be deflationary and have negative consequences for growth and global trade in manufactured products as well as commodities. Longer-term, productivity and growth would suffer as globalization stalls and competition becomes muted.
Another significant risk to global growth would be a return of inflation. A more robust economic recovery in response to reflationary stimulus could result in higher oil and commodity prices. Inflation risks would be heightened as China's excess productive labour supply and rate of urbanization begin to slow markedly and China's heretofore dis-inflationary impact on global inflation could then turn distinctly inflationary. The policy tension will first be felt domestically, as central banks in both developed and developing democracies are challenged to tolerate higher inflation rather than implement a much tighter monetary policy that might be needed to keep inflation from creeping above current low inflation targets.
International tensions could rise as countries compete for natural resources, especially food, energy and water. Commodity-producing countries are likely to exert stronger control over their natural resources, potentially exacerbating supply concerns. In oil, for instance, the bulk of proven reserves are in countries that are not friendly or open to private Western investments.
Countries that are reliant on imports of commodities, such as China, could be more aggressive in their pursuit of predictable supplies of food, oil and raw materials. Countries like Venezuela, Iran or Russia could use the supply of scarce energy as a diplomatic weapon. We have already seen this vividly in recent weeks and could well see it again in coming years. Conflicts within and between countries over commodity-rich disputed territories whether in the Spratlys, Iraq or the Niger Delta may intensify, often with grave global consequences. Some food-producing countries may limit exports to safeguard domestic supply, further worsening global food scarcity. The consequences of such adverse developments would be exacerbated in an environment of food and energy-led inflation which would hurt the poorer populations of developing countries more than the comparatively richer populations of developed countries.
Here again, unless international frameworks for cooperation and global management of scarce food, energy and water resources are developed in time, the potential for conflict and political instability could rise.
To conclude – the economic trends of the last 25 years have been broadly benign. The coming decades could be more challenging. Significant stagnation as well as inflation risks suggest that challenges and potential conflicts arising from both protectionism as well as resource nationalism could seriously jeopardize globalization of production and markets.
The current international system for conflict resolution has been eroded by the recent lack of coherent international leadership from developed economies and the inherent bias of post- WW2, UN-centered institutions and fora towards developed countries, whether on the issue of slowing carbon emissions or global currency coordination.
The challenge is to evolve new international frameworks for cooperation that can effectively resolve these tensions in the decades ahead. This requires much greater communication, cooperation and ultimately leadership and political will from both developed and key emerging countries. Minimally this requires the strengthening of current multi-lateral international institutions as well as their reform to include major emerging economies as key stakeholders.
It may also require a re-examination, and perhaps re-writing of the rules for the resolution of differences between economies and nations and even building new institutions to do so.


Located in Galveston, Ocean Retreat is 19 miles from Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark. Moody Gardens is 19 miles away.
The accommodation has a TV and DVD player. There is also a kitchen, fitted with a dishwasher, oven and microwave. A toaster and refrigerator are also provided, as well as a coffee machine. There is a private bathroom with a hairdryer in every unit.
Pleasure Pier is 23 miles from Ocean Retreat. The nearest airport is William P. Hobby Airport, 39 miles from the property.
When would you like to stay at Ocean Retreat?
This holiday home features a balcony, dishwasher and CD player.
House Rules Ocean Retreat takes special requests – add in the next step!
Ocean Retreat accepts these cards and reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival.
Please inform Ocean Retreat of your expected arrival time in advance. You can use the Special Requests box when booking, or contact the property directly using the contact details in your confirmation.
We need at least 5 reviews before we can calculate a review score. If you book and review your stay, you can help Ocean Retreat meet this goal.
Loved everything!! The room was so comfortable and extra nice!! The view from the room was beautiful, you could hear the ocean!!!The infinity pool was beautiful and inviting! Loved the jacuzzi too!!! We would definitely go back again!!!


text:
Чарльз Едвард Бора (;   —  ) — американський легкоатлет, який спеціалізувався в бігу на короткі дистанції.

Із життєпису

Олімпійський чемпіон в естафеті 4×100 метрів (1928).

На Олімпіаді-1928 також брав участь у бігу на 100 метрів, проте зупинився на чвертьфінальній стадії.

Чемпіон США у бігу на 100 ярдів (1926) та 220 ярдів (1927, 1928).

Ексрекордсмен світу в естафетах 4×100 метрів та 4×220 ярдів.

Випускник Університета Південної Каліфорнії.

По закінченні спортивної кар'єри працював дантистом.

Основні міжнародні виступи

Джерела

 Чарлі Бора  — профіль на сайті Світової легкої атлетики

 Чарлі Бора  — профіль на сайті trackfield.brinkster.net

Бігуни на короткі дистанції США
Легкоатлети на літніх Олімпійських іграх 1928
Чемпіони літніх Олімпійських ігор 1928
Олімпійські чемпіони США
Рекордсмени світу з легкої атлетики
Випускники Університету Південної Каліфорнії
Чемпіони США з легкої атлетики


text:
AwardsFeature Film
'Josep' Wins Best Animated Feature At European Film Awards
By Amid Amidi | 12/13/2020 1:46 pm | Be the First to Comment!
The animated biopic Josep won best animated feature at the European Film Awards (EFA), which held a livestreamed virtual edition on Saturday.
Josep marks the feature directorial debut of French comic artist and political cartoonist Aurelien Froment (better known by his pen name Aurel), and tells the story of Spanish illustrator Josep Bartoli, who fled Franco's dictatorship in Spain in 1939, only to end up interned in a French concentration camp that had been set up to detain political refugees. Bartoli later escaped to Mexico, where he became Frida Kahlo's lover.
The film has enjoyed a positive reception this year; it was one of four animated features selected for the official Cannes line-up, but after the festival was cancelled, it ended up debuting at the online Annecy festival in June. It has earned received excellent reviews. "As real people buffeted by history go," wrote Lisa Nesselson in Screen Daily, "Bartoli is entirely worthy of a feature-length animated film. His authentic artwork is used throughout the film to great effect … A harsh history lesson as well as a good yarn, this visually arresting endeavour registers strongly at a time when refugees account for a record 1% of the world's population."
Here is Aurel's acceptance speech at the European Film Awards:
The other nominees in the EFA category were Rémi Chayé's Calamity (France/Denmark), Sergio Pablos's Klaus (Spain), and Andrey Khrzhanovsky's The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks (Russia).
Five of the last ten winners of the EFA animated feature award have also been nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature.
The EFA award for European Short Film combines both animated and live-action films in the same category. Two of the five nominees in the category this year were animated — Regina Pessoa's Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days (Portugal/Canada) and Adrien Mérigeau's Genius Loci (France) — but the category winner was a live-action short, All Cats are Grey in the Dark (Lasse Linder, Switzerland).
Earlier on Cartoon Brew
Watch The Trailer For 'Josep,' The Hand-Drawn Historical Drama Selected At Cannes September 29, 2020
Read More: Adrien Merigeau Aurel Aurelien Froment European Film Awards Josep Regina Pessoa
Amid Amidi More Articles
Amid Amidi is Cartoon Brew's Publisher and Editor-at-large.
More in Awards:
Academy Announces 2023 Animation And VFX Oscar Nominees
'Pinocchio,' 'Marcel,' 'Puss In Boots,' And 'Turning Red' To Face Off Again After Scoring BAFTA Animated Feature Nominations
'Avatar,' 'Pinocchio,' 'The Rings of Power' Lead VES Awards Nominations
Sponsored by Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Why CG Animation Was The Right Choice For Damaris Zielke's Approach To A Taboo Topic In 'The Most Boring Granny In The Whole World'


text:
Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings: Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model
Tobi J. Saidel, Don Des Jarlais, Wiwat Peerapatanapokin, Jimmy Dorabjee, Siddharth Singh, Tim Brown
Introduction: An important public health question is the degree to which HIV epidemics among injecting drug users (IDUs) can contribute to more generalised spread of the virus heterosexually among non-IDUs. Mathematical models can be of use in understanding the complexities of such epidemiological problems. Methods: In this paper, the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) is used to explore different scenarios for potential HIV transmission by IDUs to non-injecting sexual partners and beyond. The model is applied to a 'general Asian' setting, in which (1) there is the potential for sex work to drive a self-sustaining heterosexual epidemic, and (2) the vast majority of IDUs are male and do not engage in sex work themselves, but a substantial minority of the IDUs do purchase sexual services from sex workers. Within such a setting, three different scenarios are modeled, and within each scenario, the level of HIV prevalence among IDUs is varied, to see the impact of preventing HIV among IDUs at different stages. Results: The number of HIV infections attributable to IDUs over a 15-year period was greatest when the epidemic among IDUs started in advance of a generalised heterosexual epidemic, with a 171% increase in infections if the IDU prevalence was not kept under control. Once a heterosexual epidemic was underway, controlling HIV prevalence among IDUs still resulted in a meaningful reduction in infections (23%), including among non-IDUs. Once the heterosexual epidemic started to decline, the relative proportion of infections attributable to IDUs increased, creating a situation for IDUs to feed into new epidemics. Discussion: In the early stages of a heterosexual epidemic, maintaining HIV prevalence at low levels among IDUs can buy critical time to address the potential for rapid heterosexual transmission. In more advanced heterosexual epidemics, preventing HIV among IDUs can still avert a substantial number of infections.
Injection drug users
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings: Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Drug Users Medicine & Life Sciences
Sex Work Medicine & Life Sciences
Sex Workers Medicine & Life Sciences
Sexual Partners Medicine & Life Sciences
Saidel, T. J., Des Jarlais, D., Peerapatanapokin, W., Dorabjee, J., Singh, S., & Brown, T. (2003). Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings: Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model. International Journal of Drug Policy, 14(1), 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0955-3959(02)00209-8
Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings : Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model. / Saidel, Tobi J.; Des Jarlais, Don; Peerapatanapokin, Wiwat; Dorabjee, Jimmy; Singh, Siddharth; Brown, Tim.
In: International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol. 14, No. 1, 02.2003, p. 63-74.
Saidel, TJ, Des Jarlais, D, Peerapatanapokin, W, Dorabjee, J, Singh, S & Brown, T 2003, 'Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings: Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model', International Journal of Drug Policy, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0955-3959(02)00209-8
Saidel TJ, Des Jarlais D, Peerapatanapokin W, Dorabjee J, Singh S, Brown T. Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings: Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2003 Feb;14(1):63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0955-3959(02)00209-8
Saidel, Tobi J. ; Des Jarlais, Don ; Peerapatanapokin, Wiwat ; Dorabjee, Jimmy ; Singh, Siddharth ; Brown, Tim. / Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings : Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model. In: International Journal of Drug Policy. 2003 ; Vol. 14, No. 1. pp. 63-74.
@article{77d42309cbc2411bae1b9a8885a8abbb,
title = "Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings: Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model",
abstract = "Introduction: An important public health question is the degree to which HIV epidemics among injecting drug users (IDUs) can contribute to more generalised spread of the virus heterosexually among non-IDUs. Mathematical models can be of use in understanding the complexities of such epidemiological problems. Methods: In this paper, the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) is used to explore different scenarios for potential HIV transmission by IDUs to non-injecting sexual partners and beyond. The model is applied to a 'general Asian' setting, in which (1) there is the potential for sex work to drive a self-sustaining heterosexual epidemic, and (2) the vast majority of IDUs are male and do not engage in sex work themselves, but a substantial minority of the IDUs do purchase sexual services from sex workers. Within such a setting, three different scenarios are modeled, and within each scenario, the level of HIV prevalence among IDUs is varied, to see the impact of preventing HIV among IDUs at different stages. Results: The number of HIV infections attributable to IDUs over a 15-year period was greatest when the epidemic among IDUs started in advance of a generalised heterosexual epidemic, with a 171% increase in infections if the IDU prevalence was not kept under control. Once a heterosexual epidemic was underway, controlling HIV prevalence among IDUs still resulted in a meaningful reduction in infections (23%), including among non-IDUs. Once the heterosexual epidemic started to decline, the relative proportion of infections attributable to IDUs increased, creating a situation for IDUs to feed into new epidemics. Discussion: In the early stages of a heterosexual epidemic, maintaining HIV prevalence at low levels among IDUs can buy critical time to address the potential for rapid heterosexual transmission. In more advanced heterosexual epidemics, preventing HIV among IDUs can still avert a substantial number of infections.",
keywords = "AIDS, Epidemiology, HIV, HIV transmission, Injection drug users, Modeling",
author = "Saidel, {Tobi J.} and {Des Jarlais}, Don and Wiwat Peerapatanapokin and Jimmy Dorabjee and Siddharth Singh and Tim Brown",
T1 - Potential impact of HIV among IDUs on heterosexual transmission in Asian settings
T2 - Scenarios from the Asian Epidemic Model
AU - Saidel, Tobi J.
AU - Des Jarlais, Don
AU - Peerapatanapokin, Wiwat
AU - Dorabjee, Jimmy
AU - Singh, Siddharth
AU - Brown, Tim
N2 - Introduction: An important public health question is the degree to which HIV epidemics among injecting drug users (IDUs) can contribute to more generalised spread of the virus heterosexually among non-IDUs. Mathematical models can be of use in understanding the complexities of such epidemiological problems. Methods: In this paper, the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) is used to explore different scenarios for potential HIV transmission by IDUs to non-injecting sexual partners and beyond. The model is applied to a 'general Asian' setting, in which (1) there is the potential for sex work to drive a self-sustaining heterosexual epidemic, and (2) the vast majority of IDUs are male and do not engage in sex work themselves, but a substantial minority of the IDUs do purchase sexual services from sex workers. Within such a setting, three different scenarios are modeled, and within each scenario, the level of HIV prevalence among IDUs is varied, to see the impact of preventing HIV among IDUs at different stages. Results: The number of HIV infections attributable to IDUs over a 15-year period was greatest when the epidemic among IDUs started in advance of a generalised heterosexual epidemic, with a 171% increase in infections if the IDU prevalence was not kept under control. Once a heterosexual epidemic was underway, controlling HIV prevalence among IDUs still resulted in a meaningful reduction in infections (23%), including among non-IDUs. Once the heterosexual epidemic started to decline, the relative proportion of infections attributable to IDUs increased, creating a situation for IDUs to feed into new epidemics. Discussion: In the early stages of a heterosexual epidemic, maintaining HIV prevalence at low levels among IDUs can buy critical time to address the potential for rapid heterosexual transmission. In more advanced heterosexual epidemics, preventing HIV among IDUs can still avert a substantial number of infections.
AB - Introduction: An important public health question is the degree to which HIV epidemics among injecting drug users (IDUs) can contribute to more generalised spread of the virus heterosexually among non-IDUs. Mathematical models can be of use in understanding the complexities of such epidemiological problems. Methods: In this paper, the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) is used to explore different scenarios for potential HIV transmission by IDUs to non-injecting sexual partners and beyond. The model is applied to a 'general Asian' setting, in which (1) there is the potential for sex work to drive a self-sustaining heterosexual epidemic, and (2) the vast majority of IDUs are male and do not engage in sex work themselves, but a substantial minority of the IDUs do purchase sexual services from sex workers. Within such a setting, three different scenarios are modeled, and within each scenario, the level of HIV prevalence among IDUs is varied, to see the impact of preventing HIV among IDUs at different stages. Results: The number of HIV infections attributable to IDUs over a 15-year period was greatest when the epidemic among IDUs started in advance of a generalised heterosexual epidemic, with a 171% increase in infections if the IDU prevalence was not kept under control. Once a heterosexual epidemic was underway, controlling HIV prevalence among IDUs still resulted in a meaningful reduction in infections (23%), including among non-IDUs. Once the heterosexual epidemic started to decline, the relative proportion of infections attributable to IDUs increased, creating a situation for IDUs to feed into new epidemics. Discussion: In the early stages of a heterosexual epidemic, maintaining HIV prevalence at low levels among IDUs can buy critical time to address the potential for rapid heterosexual transmission. In more advanced heterosexual epidemics, preventing HIV among IDUs can still avert a substantial number of infections.
KW - HIV transmission
KW - Injection drug users


Max.Resolution - 1920 x 1080 at 144Hz (DVI-DL, DP)?
Display Area(mm)? 531.36 x 298.89 ?
Typ. DCR (DyNomic Contrast Ratio) - 12M:1 ?
Input/Output Connector? D-sub / DVI-DL / HDMI x2 / DP1.2/headphone jack /mic jack?
Power Supply (90~264 AC)? Built-in?
Power Consumption (On mode)? 50W?
Dimensions (HxWxD mm)? 520 x 568 x 199?
Dimensions with Wall Mount (HxWxD mm) (w/o Base)? 335 x 568 x 61?
VESA Wall Mounting 100x 100mm? v?