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Unintended voter...
Ceren Baysan
Unintended voter polarisation by political elites: Experimental evidence from Turkey
A door-to-door information campaign in Turkey unintentionally polarised the electorate over their vote in a policy referendum.
The degree to which citizens are informed and have accurate beliefs affects the functioning of democracies. Numerous studies have shown that with more access to information, through channels such as higher newspaper circulation and radio penetration, citizens are more likely to hold politicians accountable (Drèze and Sen 1989, Besley and Burgess 2002, Ferraz and Finan 2008; Snyder and Strömberg, 2010). Similarly, other studies have found that direct communication on policy outcomes, like information campaigns or debates, can also increase political accountability or lead citizens to have more accurate beliefs on the position of politicians (Banerjee et al. 2011, Kendall et al. 2015, Bidwell et al. 2016).[1]
On the other hand, increased access to information is also believed to polarise voters (Gentzkow and Shapiro 2011, Sunstein 2001).[2] Among the various factors that can drive polarisation, there are theoretical studies and lab experiments showing that voter disagreement can increase and even persist in response to the same signal; for example, this can be the result of of voter bias or differences in beliefs about the state of the world and uncertainty over the source of the information.[3] In the context of Turkey, I provide some of the first experimental field evidence showing that exposure to the same door-to-door information campaign polarised the average policy choice across voters (Baysan 2018).
Context of the campaign and the April 2017 referendum
The campaign took place before a landmark referendum that was initiated by the incumbent party in Turkey after the chaotic coup attempt in July 2016. The referendum was on institutional changes to weaken constraints on the executive branch in Turkey[4]. The campaign was implemented by individuals from the main opposition party and therefore reflected their strategy to contest for votes. From their perspective, a door-to-door campaign was a channel by which they could bypass high media censorship and directly give information on policy outcomes to voters. There is not much evidence on the effectiveness of actual partisan campaigns in countries like Turkey, which is considered an illiberal democracy and, at the time of this study, had a governance ranking lower than that of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kenya. Studies that have evaluated partisan campaigns have been concentrated in liberal democracies, despite the fact that illiberal democracies are one of the most common forms of governance today.
Design of campaign
Although individuals from the main opposition party implemented the campaign, I had the opportunity to design its implementation. This entailed randomly selecting neighbourhoods for the party volunteers to visit (treatment group) and neighbourhoods that would not be targeted by the campaign (control group). Randomisation was at the neighbourhood level because this is the level at which administrative vote share and turnout data is publicly available for elections. In addition, prior to the randomisation, neighbourhoods were grouped by quartiles of the difference in vote share between the incumbent and opposition party in previous elections. This method made it possible to test the effect of the campaign by average partisanship.
The opposition party's strategy in this campaign was to give voters information on poor economic performance and increased terrorist activity under the incumbent party. Voters were also told to choose "No" in the referendum, i.e. to oppose weakening constraints on the incumbent.
Results of campaign: Net effect of campaign was zero due to polarisation
As shown in figure 1, I find that in moderate areas (areas where the vote share differential between the two parties has been low in recent elections. These are also areas where the predicted share of moderate voters is high) where the opposition was stronger, the information increased the "No" vote share by 1.8 percentage points (2.6%). In moderate areas where the opposition was weaker, the information decreased the "No" vote share by 3.7 percentage points (5.9%). As a result of this variation in impact, the net effect of the campaign was zero. The study also provides suggestive evidence that the observed polarisation is unlikely to be due to mobilisation, given that in each quartile, the treatment effect on turnout is close to zero.
Figure 1: Effect of the campaign on voting behaviour
Note: The figure illustrates the effect of the campaign on voting behavior. The x-axis is the difference in neighbourhood-level vote share between the opposition and the incumbent in the 2015 general elections. The y-axis is the outcome, which is the share that voted "No" at the neighbourhood level in the referendum.
Possible mechanisms explaining the results
What is driving the polarisation?
As shown in figure 2a below, a nationally-representative survey conducted after the coup attempt and before the referendum found that supporters of the incumbent and opposition voters agreed that they had been negatively affected by the severe drop in the value of Turkish Lira. However, as illustrated in figure 2b, self-reported supporters of the incumbent attributed poor conditions to factors they believed to be outside the leadership's control; such as, the attempted coup, the U.S. elections, and the global recession. Opposition supporters instead blamed the incumbent party. In this example, when there are different beliefs on why conditions are bad, a negative signal about the economy can shift voters to have either higher or lower support for the incumbent. This can lead to polarisation, as observed at the aggregate level.
Figure 2: Survey results
Does the drop in the value of Turkish Lira have any impact on your personal life?
Who is to blame for the drop in the value of the Lira?
Another possibility is that voters were reacting to the fact that the campaign affected their view of how strong the opposition is. In this case, in areas where the incumbent (opposition) previously had higher support, incumbent (opposition) voters may have urgently pressured the vote of moderate voters. While only suggestive, the study includes some evidence to rule out this possibility. In 20% of the neighbourhoods allocated to be treated by the campaign, the canvassers had to pull out of the neighbourhoods because they faced aggression and threats. If the result was driven by reactions to opposition strength, we may have expected that the threat, or the share of people that the canvassers were able to speak to, was correlated with partisanship, although this was not the case.
Ideally, the study would have included an individual level survey to corroborate the neighbourhood level results. However, it is difficult to implement costly surveys in politically sensitive areas, especially close to an election and during a state of emergency. Further research is required to pinpoint the mechanism driving the polarisation in this study.
Conclusion and contributions
A lot of money is invested in partisan campaigns by political elites. While partisan campaign experiments in the U.S. have been effective in changing turnout, they have generally been ineffective in changing vote share (Kalla and Broockman, 2017[1]). However, most of these experiments did not pre-specify testing for variation in the direction in which the campaign affected different groups of voters (heterogeneous effects) and most of them rely on self-reported voting behaviour. Either of these factors could contribute to the studies to not reject a null hypothesis of no effect.
In summary, we learn that the same campaign increased polarisation over an important policy choice on average, and particularly in areas where moderate voters are concentrated. This makes it tricky to identify and target swing voters who will change their vote in the favorable direction. Political elites from the opposition party in this context did not have sophisticated voter data required to target the right voters and increase their vote share. Finally, we also observe that in response to the same campaign, voters made different choices to weaken the system of checks and balances, a monumental institutional change.
Acemoglu, D, J A Robinson and R Torvik (2013), "Why do voters dismantle checks and balances?", Review of Economic Studies 80(3):845–875.
Andreoni, J and T Mylovanov (2012), "Diverging opinions", American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 4(1): 209-32.
Banerjee, A, S Kumar, R Pande and F Su (2010), "Do informed voters make better choices? Experimental evidence from urban India", Unpublished manuscript.
Baysan, C (2018), "Can more information lead to more voter polarisation? Experimental evidence from Turkey", UC Berkeley Job Market Paper.
Benoit, J-P and J Dubra (2016), "A theory of rational attitude polarisation", Working Paper.
Besley, T and R Burgess (2002), "The political economy of government responsiveness: Theory and evidence from India", The Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(4):1415–1451.
Bidwell, K, K Casey and R Glennerster (2016), "Voting and expenditure responses to political communication", Working Paper.
DellaVigna, S and M Gentzkow (2010), "Persuasion: Empirical evidence", Annual Review of Economics 2(1):643–69.
DellaVigna, S and E Kaplan (2007), "The Fox news effects: Media bias and voting", The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(3): 1187-1234
Dixit, A K and J W Weibull (2007), "Political polarisation", PNAS 104(18):7351–7356.
Drèze, J and A Sen (1989), Hunger and public action, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ferraz, C and F Finan (2008), "Exposing corrupt politicians: The effect of Brazil's publicly released audits on electoral outcomes", The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123(2):703– 745.
Fryer, R G, P Harms and M O Jackson (2017), "Updating beliefs when evidence is open to interpretation: Implications for bias and polarisation", Working Paper.
Gentzkow, M and J M Shapiro (2011), "Ideological segregation online and offline", The Quarterly Journal of Economics 126(4):1799–1839.
Jenkins, G. (2016). "Turkey's proposed constitutional changes and Erdoğan's forever war", The Turkey Analyst.
Kalla, J L and D E Broockman (2018), "The minimal persuasive effects of campaign contact in general elections: Evidence from 49 field experiments", American Political Science Review 112(1): 148-166.
Kendall, C, T Nannicini and F Trebbi (2015), "How do voters respond to information? Evidence from a randomized campaign", American Economic Review 105(1):322–353.
Loh, I and G Phelan (2017), "Dimensionality and disagreement: Asymptotic belief divergence in response to common information", Working Paper.
Lord, C G, L Ross and M R Lepper (1979), "Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(11):2098–2109.
Piketty, T (1995), "Social mobility and redistributive politics", Quarterly Journal of Economics 110(3): 551-584
Snyder, J. M., and Strömberg, D. (2010), "Press coverage and political accountability", Journal of Political Economy, 118(2): 355-408.
Sunstein, C R (2001), Republic.Com, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA.
[1] Kalla and Broockman (2017) conduct a meta-analysis of campaign experiments in the U.S. and find that they are ineffective. In Europe, Pons (2017) and Kendall et al. (2015) find that that campaigns significantly affected vote share in France and Italy.
[2] For example, DellaVigna and Kaplan (2007) show that biased media changed voting behaviour in the U.S. and with easier access to information, voters may self-segregate ideologically into different sources of information leading to divergent beliefs (Gentzkow and Shapiro, 2011).
[3] Most of this literature is theoretical; see Dixit and Weibull (2007); Andreoni and Mylovanov (2012); Acemoglu et al. (2016); Loh and Phelan (2017); Benoit and Dubra (2016); Piketty, (1995). There are also lab experiments in the psychology literature, such as the study by Lord et al. (1979), as well as the economics literature – Andreoni and Mylovanov (2012). Fryer et al. (2017) provide evidence using an online experiment.
[4] The referendum was on switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential system and on eighteen amendments to the constitution. A number of the proposed amendments to the constitution would consolidate power under the president. For example, a new power granted to the president is the ability to bypass the parliament completely and introduce legislation by issuing decrees with the force of law (Jenkins, 2016).
Ceren Baysan is a Ph.D. student at University of California, Berkeley. You can read her job market paper here.
An earlier version of this blog post was published on the World Bank's Development Impact Blog.
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Prepaid electricity: Better service delivery for the poor?
Kelsey Jack, Grant Smith
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IGC cities research group 2015: Ijaz Nabi
Ijaz Nabi
Publication - Annual report


Humblesmith has released the visual to his latest street anthem "Abakaliki 2 Lasgidi" featuring Olamide. The "Osinachi" crooner made a big wave with YBNL Boss Olamide AKA Badoo just a couple of weeks ago.
Now the N'Tyze Entertainment presents the Official Music Video of the new single entitled "Abakaliki 2 Lasgidi", which features Olamide Badoo.


Canada Day was miserable in the later afternoon, and we just hunkered down indoors and relaxed. We toyed with the idea of having our friends over for a BBQ, but ultimately decided to stay in, get pizza and watch a movie.
We decided to hit up Egg Style for a late brunch, since it was likely the only thing still serving breakfast. I totally indulged with the banana-Nutella crepe but only ate one toast and left the hash browns. Compromise… sort of.
Marco convinced me to go see Tarzan on Saturday evening–I'm so not a movie theatre person, but we have an 'Adult' theatre here now, ie. they serve real food and drinks, the seats are extra spacious and it really makes it so much better. We made a date of out of it and grabbed Vietnamese food beforehand. The movie was surprisingly really good, and I would totally recommend it!
Sunday was a glorious sleep in day, a workout and breakfast on a patio. We eventually made our way back home to relax for a bit before heading out to see Cirque du Soleil! It was an amazing show–they always are–and such a treat to see.
Since we went to the 5pm show, by the time we were out of there, we were famished, so we decided to grab dinner at Milestone's–again, on the patio, is there anything better?
I spent my entire Monday working on two new videos–the first, a balayage tutorial and the second a favourites video for June.
You may remember, back in March, when I coloured an old pair of hair extensions (below right) to blend better with my hair. Well, since getting my hair done last weekend, those extensions no longer match–if you follow me on Snapchat, you heard the saga (I'm acoest1984).
I had another pair of extensions (below left) that was a darker blonde that was a better match, but still too light at the top. I decided to try my hand, again, at colouring them and they turned out great! I'll be sharing the full how-to in the coming weeks with a step by step of exactly what I used and how I did it.
Hope you had a great weekend & here's to great weather all week! Cheers.


After positive tests of West Nile virus in humans and Chikungunya in a mosquito, officials say a third mosquito-borne threat is headed our way. Bill Spencer reports.
via Third mosquito-borne illness possibly headed to Houston area.
Dengue fever also known as breakbone fever, is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.
When it comes to Welltech insect screens it gives you a transparent windows enabling light and fresh air resisting this filthy flying pest.
Many diseases like malaria, dengu , brain fever ,chickengunia and elephantiasis are most notorious diseases which are infecting human health and their daily lives drastically. Stay away from mosquitoes and keep home and health safe from deadful insects and diseases. No one likes to stay in locked rooms, but most of the people do due to the fear of these flying pest. When it comes to Welltech insect screens it gives you a transparent windows enabling light and fresh air resisting this filthy flying pest.


November 21, 2018 Laptop Donation and more!
September 24, 2017 Adelisa & Co's First Scholarship!
As many of you know, 10% of our proceeds are donated to families in need in Nicaragua and we are so excited to share with you what we were able to do for a young family in need this month.
We would like to start off by thanking all of you who have supported our little shop. When we opened up in February, we never could have imagined how fast this little company would grow and we feel so blessed! We are so thrilled you are loving and appreciating the beautiful work done by the artisans here as much as we do. Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, and our goal in starting Adelisa & co. was to not only support these artisans, but to help the many families in need that we come in contact with while working here.
This month we teamed up with a small organization called NicaChild that helps families in need on a monthly basis. Recently, the Rojas family's 5-month-old baby Japheth joined the program. After both parents contracted dengue earlier this year, their wish was to install a false ceiling in their home. This would not only protect them and baby Japheth from the heat, but also help create a safer environment, providing them protection from harmful mosquitoes that carry diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and zika.The vast majority of people here live in homes simply built with discarded materials, dirt floors, and share one room with several family members. We are committed to making lasting and meaningful donations that will have long-term benefits in the lives of the people here and are looking forward to making more donations that improve living conditions for young children and families living in poverty.
While the needs in this beautiful country can sometimes be overwhelming, we know that making a difference in the quality of life of even one person is so worth it. Building this for Japheth's family would not have been possible without all of your support, so thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this donation by making a purchase during the months of February until May. We are so excited to see other lives touched by working together with all of you. Thank you so much for helping this young family!


It's fair to say that we look forward to some competitions more than others.
This time next week, Australian cricket bats will solely be used for Swizzling.
The same obviously goes for you lot, as the comps we anticipate judging are usually the ones that get hundreds of entries.
El Dorado's Swizzle comp is at the sharp end of this list. The prize (a trip to Guyana) obviously has something to do with it, as does the quality of the rum. But I think the Swizzle itself plays a large part – it's such a happy cocktail, both to make and drink. Even a bad Swizzle is a good Swizzle, if you know what I mean.
The 2013 El Dorado Swizzle comp's regional heats began last week. Two bartenders from each region will go through to a UK final, the winner of which gets a seat on the plane to Guyana. Last year the standard of both drink and chat were first rate, with Alex Proudfoot eventually taking first place.
This year, the journey began in West London, and The Rum Kitchen.
As always with El Dorado events, there was a large bowl of punch waiting for the competitors and judges as we arrived at the Rum Kitchen (which still smells faintly of Alexx Mouzouris' hair grease – have a great time in Hawaii mate!).
A few West London competitors had jumped ship (the East London heat will be a monster as a result) because the comp clashed with Glastonbury festival, so we were able to proceed at a pleasantly sedate pace.
The competitors first challenge was to blind taste and identify three expressions from the El Dorado range. This done, they then took their turn behind the bar to make their original Swizzle for the judges.
Crushed ice flew in all directions for the next couple of hours. We also saw fire (although not as much as we expected), a robot and, memorably, a cricket bat employed as a Swizzle stick. There may have been a layback or two, too.
Once tallied, the judging sheets were unanimous and we were pleased to see Sean Fennelly (Portside Parlour)pop his competition cherry with a win, alongside Stefano Stezampieri (Sofitel, St. James).
The El Dorado Swizzle Train then choo-chooed its way to Bristol.
Please excuse the terrible line above, Do the Choo-Choo by Archie Bell & The Drells played on the radio as I was writing this.
Bristol always nails competitions. Not only because there are some great Bristolian bartenders, but also because interlopers from Reading and Oxford often enter Bristol heats.
The Swizzle comp was no exception, and again the drinks were brilliant. The standard of presentation was also excellent, with our current competition bugbear – boring, monotone delivery of brand knowledge – conspicuous by its absence.
As quite often happens, the winner's honours were split between Bristol and Reading, with James Bridges (Bristol) and Alex Godfrey (B@1, formerly Sahara, Reading) both claiming a place in the UK final.
Next Post Why Are You Chirping Now Mate?


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Vijoleta je žensko osebno ime.

Izvor imena
Ime Vijoleta je različica ženskega osebnega imena Violeta.

Pogostost imena
Po podatkih Statističnega urada Republike Slovenije je bilo na dan 31. decembra 2007 v Sloveniji število ženskih oseb z imenom Vijoleta: 30.

Osebni praznik
Osebe z imenom Vijoleta lahko godujejo skupaj z Violetami.

Glej tudi
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Viri

Ženska osebna imena

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9 Facts About Matt Lauer's Ex-Wife, Annette Roque, Their Tumultuous Marriage & Newly Revealed Rape Allegations
Arianna Jeret
Entertainment And News, Heartbreak
With the list of powerful men in Hollywood losing their positions following multiple accusations of sexual harassment and abuse growing like wildfire, one can't help but wonder about their wives in regard to who they are, how they are faring, and what they will do moving forward.
After NBC abruptly fired him amid sexual assault allegations in 2017, many wondered, who is Matt Lauer's wife, and what must it have been like for her to learn the news along with us that he had been released from his lucrative contract with the Today Show?
At the time, the identity of the NBC employee who'd come forward with her to story had been kept anonymous, and the details of her accusations were not made public.
Now, in Ronan Farrow's new book "Catch and Kill", which focuses on the New York Times reporter's investigation of Harvey Weinstein, it's been revealed that the woman in question is former NBC employee Brooke Nevils, who claims Lauer anally raped her in his hotel room while she was drunk when the two were assignment at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
RELATED: The Actual Definitions Of Sexual Abuse & Sexual Harassment For People Who Think The Rules Have Changed
Upon learning the details of Nevils allegations had been released to the public in Variety, Lauer issued an open letter through his attorney, Libby Locke, in which he denied the accusations of rape and insisted the two had been involved in a consensual affair.
Nevils responded with her own first public statement to NBC News, saying, "There's the Matt Lauer that millions of Americans watched on TV every morning for two decades, and there is the Matt Lauer who this morning attempted to bully a former colleague into silence ... His open letter was a case study in victim blaming and concluded by threatening any other woman who might dare to speak out against him."
"I am not afraid of him now, regardless of his threats, bullying, and the shaming and predatory tactics I knew he would (and now has) tried to use against me, " she continued. "The shame in this story belongs to him."
NBC News stood by their 2017 decision, asserting, "Matt Lauer's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That's why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."
It must have been an incredibly painful two years for Lauer's former wife Annette Roque, who has stayed relatively silent, but she, too, responded publicly for the first time since the scandal originally broke.
In a statement made on her behalf to People Magazine, Roque's attorney states, "In response to your inquiry, our client has asked us to tell you that now that the parties are officially divorced, her priority and only concern is for their wonderful children. Our client will make no further statements."
Roque and Lauer finalized their divorce in September 2019 after 20 years of marriage.
Here are 9 things to know about Annette Rogue, the woman who was once Matt Lauer's wife.
1. She is of Dutch background.
Roque was born in December of 1966 in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and Indonesian father, and her mixed ethnic background also includes Chinese and French ancestry.
She grew up in a town near Amsterdam called Alphen aan de Rijn, where she lived until setting off to pursue her dream of modeling in her 20's.
2. She was a professional model.
After moving to Paris in 1988, Roque became a successful model in cosmetics ads, and was known by the stage name "Jade."
By the time she met Lauer, she had moved once again to New York City and was modeling for the likes of Victoria's Secret and J. Crew.
3. Their brief courtship and marriage seemed like a fairy tale.
Lauer and Roque were set up on a blind date by stylist Maria Santoro in July of 1997, and the two became engaged just five months later.
Speaking of the obvious romance in the air between them at their October 3, 1998 wedding in Water Mill, New York, Lauer's Today Show co-host Al Roker said, "Watching them at the table. They would be talking to somebody, and when that person would leave, the two of them were looking into each other's eyes. You could see they were truly, truly happy."
Photo: David Shankbone
RELATED: Woman Raped By Brock Turner Wants You To Know Her Real Name — Meet Chanel Miller
4. She's a dedicated mother to their three children.
Roque and Lauer have three children together: son Jack Matthew (born in 2001), daughter Romy (2004), and son Thijs (2006).
Roque and the children live full-time in a home known as Strongheart Manor in North Haven, New York, which they purchased from Richard Gere for $36.5 million in June of 2016. Now valued at approximately $44 million, the estate is expected to be sold in the near future.
5. She first filed for divorce in 2006.
While pregnant with their third child in September of 2006, Roque filed for divorce, citing behavior by Lauer so egregious that it "endangers the physical and mental well-being of [Annette] so as to render it unsafe and improper" for the two to remain living in the same home.
The papers went on to say that Roque endured "continual mental abuse" from Lauer.
He countered in his own response by saying "any 'cruel and inhuman treatment' he may have exhibited was 'provoked' by his wife."
Important note: Abuse is never "provoked."
6. She has been labeled "over-protective" and "jealous."
In a classic example of why-victim-blaming-is-wrong-and-we-should-believe-women 101, Access Hollywood correspondent Stephanie Bauer gave a so shameful it's now been deleted from YouTube report on Roque's decision to accompany Lauer to the Olympics in 2012.
"Matt Lauer's wife, Annette, will be tagging along when he travels across the pond for the London Olympics, but not to be a sports spectator. Instead, she's going just to keep tabs on him. Matt's wife wants to keep an eye on her husband and his wandering eye. A source tells RadarOnline, quote, Annette has made no bones about the fact that she will be keeping close tabs on Matt. Annette reportedly told Matt that if Natalie Morales were to land that co-hosting gig for the Today Show she would divorce him, because she didn't want him cozying up any closer to Natalie. Although there is no reason to believe that these two have anything going on, Matt's wife is the same slightly unstable woman who filed for divorce when she was pregnant with their third child in 2006, but took it back."
This little take of Roque took place right around another classic moment of 2012, when Lauer decided it would be a great idea to do this "funny" segment lampooning sexual harassment in the workplace.
Throwback to 2012 when Matt Lauer was the "real victim" of sexual harassment on the Today show pic.twitter.com/mYdnhEV2wv
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 29, 2017
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7. It's unlikely she wasn't already aware of Lauer's cheating.
Reports from RadarOnline have tied Lauer to possible extramarital affairs with celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis, former Today Show colleague Natalie Morales, and Good Morning America host Lara Spencer.
Multiple other outlets have similarly reported that Lauer's proclivity for cheating on his wife was widely known.
As reported in People, "'He regularly cheated on his wife,' one source claims. 'Everyone knew. His wife lives in the Hamptons and he lives in the city, but we never heard he made unwanted moves.' A former Today staffer echoes the first source's claims, telling People, 'Everyone on staff knew he cheated regularly on his wife.'"
8. While her first divorce petition was withdrawn, their marriage is now officially over.
The couple never intended to make the news of their first near-divorce public. Little is known as to why Roque withdrew her 2006 petition and whether or not the two may have come to some sort of agreement in order for her to so.
In September of 2017, a source told RadarOnline, "Annette turns a blind eye to it now. They play happy families at their Hamptons home on weekends, and then she lets him run off to New York to do 'Today' — and goodness knows what else."
9. Their divorce took two years.
The two separated for good shortly after Lauer's termination in 2017. This past July, Rogue submitted a new divorce petition in Suffolk County, New York, and on September 5, 2019, their divorce became final.
Sources say Roque will receive approximately $20 million in the settlement along with their Hamptons horse farm in Water Mill, and the two will share custody of their children.
RELATED: What Happened When Chanel Miller Met The Swedish Grad Students Who Stopped Brock Turner Mid-Attack
Did OJ Simpson's Son Jason Kill Nicole Brown & Ron Goldman?
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Deputy Editor Arianna Jeret, MA/MSW, has been featured in Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, Yahoo Style, MSN, Fox News, Bustle, Parents and more. Find her on Twitter and Instagram for more.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


All of us have our own hobbies.
These hobbies are for sure related to the things that we enjoy doing. The hobbies that we choose all depend on our interests, character, skills, and personalities.
Usually a hobby is done when we have some spare time. There are many different reasons why each individual has a hobby. Some people find it to be stress reliever. They make it as a reason to wake up each day with a big smile on their faces. Others consider their hobbies to be an outlet for them to express how they feel or let the world know the message that they want to convey. They use it to make their lives more colorful and meaningful.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of people from all walks of life, young and old, students and professionals that are turning their hobbies into small business and giving them the chance to earn money.
Yes, you have read it right. I know several colleagues who are now running successful small businesses that started out from a simple hobby. Their business was tickled into life when some of their friends noticed their works of arts and begun placing orders.
Several success stories have been said about bakery owners who were making cakes and pastries for the love of baking. Due to positive response from close friends and families, that simple baking has turned into profitable business, creating chains of bakeshops.
Maybe you have already heard of the stories about popular photographers in your local area who were just taking photos of panoramic views as a hobby, then out of the blue, their special skills in the field of photography paved way for their success when someone in their circle of contacts asked them to cover their special events such as weddings, birthdays or graduation parties. Not only in baking and photography can you find passions getting developed from hobbies into businesses. Different passions in different endeavors like cooking, scrapbooking, painting, the collecting of items from common to unique ones have known to be a good source of income when these hobbies are converted into small businesses.
Didn't you know that even your hobby in sports could now be turned into cash? If you have a special skill in swimming, you can offer lessons to interested students or out-of-school youth during summer vacation. There are swimming pools that you can rent per session to hold your class. Who knows, one of those that you will be training may be the next Michael Phelps, an American swimmer who brought home six gold and two bronze in 2004 (Athens Olympics) and eight gold in 2008 (Beijing Olympics), becoming the most victorious athlete at both of these editions of Olympic Games.
How about your hobby in boxing? You can maybe help coach the next Manny Pacquiao (Fighter of the Decade for the 2000s by the Boxing Writers Association of America), a professional Filipino boxer. Commonly known as "The Pacman", he is the first eight-division world champion as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes.
If you are also into basketball, you can hold hoop clinics every weekend and monetize your Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant style of playing.
Football enthusiasts would also love to enroll in your ball skills workshops if you have a good background of this popular game.
Translating a hobby into money-making small business is not as hard as it might appear. After all, you already have the technical know-how since it is your passion and you are fond of doing it.
However, it would also require lots of efforts in order for the business aspect to become successful and you cannot do it overnight. Embrace the art of managing a small business and you will surely be on your way to success. Hobby plus enterprising mind would mean cash. Isn't it great to get paid for doing a hobby that you enjoy much? It's about time then to turn your hobbies into small business.
I have coached many people on this subject. So many of them didn't realize that they could make money doing something they already do and are good at. I always remind them to step beck once in a while so they don't start to dislike the hobby that they originally started with.
Another way to launch a small business out of your hobby is to partner with someone who already has some experience in business especially if you're thinking of selling and/or offering services online. You might be able to find someone with the technical abilities that you lack or the marketing and advertising skills that would help you find prospective customers. I think that would be an ideal situation.
It is an ideal solution, but sometimes equity share businesses are quite troublesome in their own rights. Sometimes one or the other party doesn't pull their weight and the whole 50 50 collaboration falls apart at the seams. Not saying it *can't* work, but it definitely comes with some extra complexity!


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text:
This Is How Dennis Tito Plans To Send People to Mars
By Keith Cowing
Filed under General Story
Editor's note: This article will be updated with comments made during the mission's press conference starting at 1:00 pm. NASA Watch will be live tweeting the press conference at @nasawatch. You can find out how to watch the webcast live by visiting InspirationMars.com.
If Dennis Tito has his way, two people will leave our planet in January 2018 and make a trip to Mars and back. Tito will be footing much of the bill himself. This mission won't stop at Mars, but rather, will do a quick flyby.
Unlike the spate of space commerce companies that have flashed on and off the news in recent months, this effort has substantial cash behind it – at the onset. Also, unlike these previously announced efforts, this is not being done by a company that needs to eventually return a profit to its investors. Instead, it is being spearheaded by a non-profit organization, the Inspiration Mars Foundation.
Tito's mission will be facilitated by donors – not investors. And no, he will not be part of the crew.
Indeed, the intent of this mission, as contained in a media advisory is as follows: "This "Mission for America" will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation."
Intents and funding aside, this is a space mission first and foremost. And space missions are still somewhat complicated (e.g. expensive) to do – especially ones that involve humans.
To begin to flesh this idea out, Tito and a group of coauthors from NASA and several aerospace companies including NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden, senior staff from Paragon Space Development Corporation (including two Biosphere II crew members Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter), and former NASA crew surgeon, Red Bull Stratos team member, and Columbia family member Jonathan Clark, put together a concept study of sorts. Titled "Feasibility Analysis for a Manned Mars Free-Return Mission in 2018", this paper is due to be presented at the 2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference on 3 March 2013 at 9:50 pm. This paper has been widely circulated for several weeks by the authors and their associates within government, legislative, industry, and advocacy communities, and has been referenced online – in great detail – for more than a week.
Update: this paper is now online at Inspiration Mars Foundation.
The core premise of this initial mission concept is to use an upgraded SpaceX Dragon capsule as the habitable volume for the entire mission. This spacecraft would be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy and follows an optimized free-return trajectory to Mars and back. As outlined in the paper, this conceptual mission would depart Earth on 5 Jan 2018, reach Mars on 20 August 2018, and return to Earth on 21 May 2019.
Source: Tito et al.
The closest that the spacecraft would get to Mars would be ~100 km – and the crew would only spend 10 hours within that distance of the planet – with closest approach on the night side. Not too different than the first human mission to the Moon when all things are taken into account
Upon return, the Dragon capsule would use Earth's atmosphere to slow down via aerobraking. This has never been done with a human mission before. Ten days after aerobraking the Dragon capsule would return again to Earth and reenter at 14.2 km/sec. This would be the fastest reentry by any crewed spacecraft – ever. As such, this mission will require some advanced Thermal Protection System research. To that end Paragon/Inspiration Mars have already signed a reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA Ames Research Center. A check for $100,000 has already been presented to NASA to begin this work.
Since this IEE paper began to circulated, the Inspiration Mars Foundation has started to look at other mission concepts using different spacecraft and launch vehicles. As with the IEEE paper, the focus has been to use things that either exist or are expected to become available in the next several years.
The Dragon-based mission concept would require rather cramped quarters. Indeed the paper says: "The ECLSS was assumed to meet only basic human needs to support metabolic requirements of two 70 kg men, with a nominal metabolic rate of 11.82 MJ/d. Crew comfort is limited to survival needs only. For example, sponge baths are acceptable, with no need for showers … Personal provisions are limited to items such as clothing and hygiene products."
In the weeks after this paper was submitted, Inspiration Mars has been looking at other concepts including an inflatable module placed at the nose of the crew capsule – something similar to what Bigelow Aerospace will be putting on the International Space Station (ISS). In order to limit use of internal volume, the mission concept also does away with all EVA provisions (spacesuits etc). This means that there is no way to fix things – or install things outside of the spacecraft – thus requiring all systems to be serviceable from inside the spacecraft. If this no-EVA approach is taken, then adding inflatable modules to the front of the crew capsule becomes problematic. Regardless of the final design they adopt, mass limitations are likely to force that final design to be rather cramped.
The initial SpaceX hardware concept uses only one launch. Adopting a mission that uses more than one launch increases cost and complexity. But that's nothing new. How much will it cost? Who knows. They have not settled on a mission architecture yet – but this will probably be in the hundreds of millions/half billion dollar range by the time it is all figured out. Again, unlike all the other space projects that have sprouted of late, Tito is a very wealthy man and is prepared to write some rather large checks. That fact alone moves this idea from giggle factor to the verge of credibility. Tito can afford to spend significant sums to figure this out. But, given the calendar aspects of his mission, he does not have time on his side.
Given the compressed schedule, assuming a launch in January 2018, one would assume that the mission design would need to be done very quickly and completed certainly no later than a year from now. Launch vehicle selection would likely need to be done in a similarly prompt time frame. Whatever rocket(s) are chosen, they need to be ordered and built. Unlike many missions, these trajectories have constrained launch windows that don't lend themselves to delays. As such development time will be highly compressed.
Based on this tight schedule and cost limitations it is rather unlikely that a full-up test mission will be possible to test everything out beforehand. As such, it would seem that the first time that the fully integrated and operational Inspiration Mars mission hardware flies will be the actual mission itself. Once the crew deaprts there is no turning back. This is somewhat risky to say the least. Its like putting a crew and full passenger load on a new jetliner design for its very first flight and then sending it off on an intercontinental mission with only one option: land at the final destination.
While we have all become risk adverse these days, this would not be the first time something like this is done in space. The Space Shuttle had four drop tests off of a Boeing 747 to see if the shuttle design would glide and land. The first time a Space Shuttle actually went into space and back was on a real mission – with a real crew. But the real similarity can be found in the Apollo 8 mission. A crew was put inside a spacecraft that had only flown once atop a booster that had only been flown twice before, on a trajectory to the Moon – with only one engine to modify its path. As was seen on Apollo 13, there was a razor thin margin of possible response to the failure of that propulsion system – an option that was simply not available on Apollo 8.
The IEEE paper spends a lot of time discussing various life support (ECLSS) concepts, but does not seem to refer to specific hardware already in use on the Dragon or elsewhere as being proposed for use on this mission. Add in the reliability and servicing/repair requirements and is probably safe to assume that many of the designs will be more or less unique to this mission. Without a chance to fly the vehicle in space, one would expect that a rather robust ground-based engineering version (perhaps several) would be needed.
The paper does make short mention of radiation – but only in a general sense saying that it will be provided for. Given that Jon Clark is involved, you can be certain that this issue is not going to be overlooked. While the mission's trajectory has been optimized for a 2018-2019 mission due to celestial mechanics, it has the unfortunate fact of falling in the middle of a period of minimal solar activity.
In orbits close to the Earth, such as occupied by the International Space Station, Earth's geomagnetic field offers significant protection against Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and energetic solar flare protons. As such, crews on the ISS, while exposed to more radiation than on Earth, are none the less protected to a great extent when compared to regions outside Earth's magnetic field. Shielding and storm shelter locations allow greater protection when conditions warrant – and in a potentially lethal solar event scenario, they could come home in a matter of hours.
Outside the Earth's magnetic field, there is some lesser level of protection still offered due to the activity of the sun itself. However, during a solar minimum, the point in the 11 year solar cycle when the sun's activity is lowest, the sun's ability to ward off CGR is at its lowest. As such, possible exposure to astronaut crews traveling in interplanetary space is at its highest. Some predictions for Solar Cycle 25 suggest an unusually quiet period for the sun. If things continue as predicted, the sun would be reaching its lowest activity levels of the space exploration era during the planned timeline of this mission, thus presenting the highest level of potential GCR exposure to the crew. Add in the unusual quiescence of the sun, and this could be especially hazardous. Again, this can be handled with shielding but that requires mass and volume which is already preciously short.
Other factors to consider include the effects of prolonged weightlessness and psychological issues. 50 years of human spaceflight has led to a collection of countermeasures that seem to limit many (but not all) of the deleterious aspects of prolonged weightlessness. Exercise is more or less the prime countermeasure for bone and muscle loss although some pharmacologic approaches have been explored. To date the longest single exposure of a human as been 437 days. A 501 day mission would be only 2 months longer but not problematic per se.
As for psychological issues – the paper does make reference to them and suggests the possibly of putting candidate crews through a ground based simulation 6 months in duration – and perhaps for the entire 500 day period. Given the fact that there are only 1,800 or so days until launch, expecting the flight crew to spend more than a third of that time simulating a full mission – and then doing it again (for real) becomes problematic.
Sources report that it is the intention of Inspiration Mars to have a crew comprised of a man and a woman. Given that the prime purpose of this mission is to inspire people it follows that the crew actually represents everyone. While this is an assumption, it would follow that the crew is more likely to be a couple. Then the questions arises: can you and your significant other live inside a large RV for a year and a half without being able to totally get away from one another – even for 5 minutes? If so, then you two should apply. Several of the Paragon authors on this paper (Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter) are veterans of the 2-year Biosphere II mission – so there is certainly some personal experience there.
Even if a robust spacecraft is designed with every contingency considered, time, cost, and mass will force some limits. It is unlikely that NASA would send a mission without significantly more redundancy and backup systems. But NASA is NASA. This is a private expedition – not a NASA mission.
Given that the crew are likely to be private citizens – not government employees, they can decide to accept certain mission risks. No one really jumps in front of anyone wanting to climb Mt. Everest – except, of course, journalists looking for an interview and government officials wanting so to be paid a climbing permit fee. So why should a totally private mission to another summit of sorts – i.e. Mars – be any different?
I have seen this sort of risk acceptance with my own eyes. In 2009 I spent a month living at an altitude of 17,600 feet at Everest Base Camp supporting Astronaut Scott Parazynski in his successful attempt to reach the summit. We both took physical risks – Scott much more than I. But we both had to sign lots of lengthy waivers, bring lots of medications, risk sudden death from totally unexpected (and possibly untreatable) things (stroke, heart attack, or edema), and perform regular countermeasures designed to limit the increased physical risk we placed ourselves in by living and working at these altitudes. And there were thousands of people around us who accepted the same risks.
Accepting known and increased personal risk is something that people have done as part of exploration since exploration began. Indeed, risk goes hand in hand with exploration. Again, we should allow – and expect – that the Inspiration Mars team will exercise the same personal acceptance process as other explorers have before them.
So why does Dennis Tito want to do this? You'll have to ask him that. Again, one thing is clear: he's looking to spend money on this – not make money. He's already made his money – and (in case you still do not know who he is) has been there, done that when it comes to space travel. Tito was the first person to pay his own way into space back in 2001. He has the means to attempt this mission and he has a track record.
Some insight into the rationale for this mission can be found in the IEEE paper: "Sending humans on an expedition to Mars will be a defining event for humanity as well as an inspiration to our youth. Social media provides an opportunity for people to meaningfully participate in the mission, likely making this the most engaging human endeavor in modern history. The mission will address one of the most fundamental technical challenges facing human exploration of space, keeping the humans alive and productive in deep space."
Given that NASA's current plans (totally unfunded) to send humans to Mars are a decade or two away, and the human mission to an asteroid that NASA is supposed to be working on is uninteresting to the agency, yet another generation of Americans will likely grow up seeing people only going in circles overhead on the ISS. The Inspiration Mars mission has the potential to jump start public interest in space again by actually going somewhere – perhaps in a way that echoes what I and many others saw as young children in the 1960s as Apollo went from nothing to the finish line in a scant 8 years.
The public is interested in space. They always have been – but that interest is episodic and often fickle. Public interest (and one would hope, inspiration) seems to manifest itself the most when NASA or other space agencies do something totally new or when new worlds are actually explored. Despite the engineering accomplishment inherent in the ISS, it just goes in circles. Yes, it is a place where we learn how to do long duration missions (someday) but the preparation for these missions is like watching grass grow. Its hard to tell people that this will all lead to something decades from now.
But the mission contemplated by Inspiration Mars will actually do something – and the launch date is easy to plan for. You can even set a calendar alarm for it on your iPhone.
Keith Cowing
SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.
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The Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies is an international, scientific journal on working life, written in English. The journal is curated by an Editorial Board of 8-15 members from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The journal aims to strengthen the exchange of experiences, perspectives, methods and outcomes of the Nordic working life research across the Nordic countries, and promote Nordic working life research internationally.
The mission of the journal is to present studies concerning changes in work and how these changes affect qualifications, health, occupation, innovation, economy, identity, social orientation and culture. The journal aims at an interdisciplinary profile. Most of the articles in the journal have authors from the Nordic countries, but researchers from outside the Nordic region are also invited to contribute to the journal, to the extent that such contributions improve the understanding of Nordic conditions.
Please see our guidelines for setting up your paper, before submitting it! All manuscripts should be submitted to the Journal manager, Bo Carstens, bo@nordicwl.dk. (The automatic workflow-system at this web-site is not being activated by us).
Each article, if admitted by the Editors, is reviewed by two anonymous referees, normally from two different Nordic countries in a double blind review process. The Editors may also recommend revisions. Introductions, book reviews, essays, reports and commentaries. are not subject to this review process.
The Editor appointed to an article has the sole responsibility for the final publication or rejection. The reviews of the referees are not binding for the Editor.
When asked to be a Referee for an article submitted to this journal, the title and an abstract of the article and a suggested deadline will be provided. If this task is accepted by the Referee, the Journal manager will send the article (in anonymous form) + a Referee Form with indication of the deadline for the return of the review to the Referee.
The Referee Form can be seen here.
Normally the deadline for the review is 1 month.
The Journal wants to emphasize, that reviews should take a constructive approach to its points of criticism in order to facilitate dialogue and development of the texts.
The Referee is asked to number each element of the review in order to facilitate the dialogue between author(s), Editor and Referees about revisions etc. Likewise it is important that the arguments in the review are specified. All reviews must be provided in English.
The referees are invited to use Word-documents for their reviews and comments (and not PDF-files). Reviews are sent to the Journal manager, using the Referee Form. Hereafter they are forwarded to the Editor of the article.
The Editor communicates through the journal manager his or her remarks and propositions + the reviews to the author(s), and sets a deadline for the return of a revised version (if a revision is called for).
If a revised version is being made, the author is asked to comment upon the remarks and propositions from Referees and Editor with reference to the numbering of the elements of the reviews.
The Editor can decide that a second round of reviews is necessary after revision of the article, normally with a deadline of 14 days. (In the Referee Form the Referee has had the opportunity to indicate that he or she is willing to review the article again after revision upon request of the Editor).
When an article has finally been approved – or rejected – the Referees will receive a notification of this + a copy of all reviews of the article.
At the end of the year a list of referees that have contributed to the journal will be published here on the website.
We publish a regular issue each quarter (March, June, September and December). Each year 1-2 special issues may be published as well.
In 2017 we published a total of 32 peer-reviewed articles in 5 separate issues, the August issue being a special thematic issue on the organization theories of the Industrial Democracy Experiments. We expect to publish somewhat more this year, since 3 special issues are planned (on Work Organization and Technology, which was published in April, and on Refugees and Immigrants working in the Nordics, and on Precarious Work in the Nordics, which are both planned to appear in the fall).
Danish National Research Database: Database of research publications collected from 12 Danish universities and research institutions.
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There are no specific deadlines for submissions to our regular issues, since we publish those articles that are ready to be published at the time of publication. But expect a normal processing time of 32 weeks from the date of submission until the article has been approved and is ready for publication, cf. our Workflow chart below.
Special issues are published more randomly, normally once or twice a year. These issues always have a fixed deadline which is set in the Calls that are made for them, cf. the Announcements in the Navigation Bar.
The table below describes the ideal workflow. It takes 32 weeks. But variations are to be expected!
This journal follows DOAJ's Principles of Transparancy and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.
In case of suspected misconduct, we adhere to COPE's flowcharts in our response.
When a member of the Editorial Board is also author/co-author of an article submitted to the journal, an Editor from outside the Board will be appointed to the article in question.
The Journal was launched in August 2011. From 2011 to 2014 it was hosted at CBS, Copenhagen Business School, and from 2014 to 2016 at Roskilde University Library. From 2017 it is hosted by The Royal Danish Library.


Gabon's presidential guard has apparently bombed the opposition party's headquarters during post-election violence that has threatened to split the country apart.
Zambezi Governor Lawrence Sampofu has declared a water crisis in the region. He told Nampa that there was a critical need for the Agriculture, Water and Forestry Ministry to rehabilitate boreholes or dig them deeper for human and animal consumption.
Businesses have the responsibility of supporting the community in which they operate as part of their social responsibilities.
Residents of Malthahohe village have been urged to pay for their municipal services.
Namibia is on the right track in addressing literacy as well as bringing the programme to all corners of Namibia.
Electronic cigarettes are becoming popular but their content remains a concern to the World Health Organisation.
Namclay Bricks and Pavers has donated bricks to 14 families whose shacks and houses burned down in Mondesa at Swakopmund in July.
At least 25 per cent of Namibia's youth between the ages of 16 and 35 are either unemployed or in training. This picture is portrayed in the Youth Status Report, which profiles the youth demographically to determine their location, employment and education status, among others.
The town of Khorixas will be a hive of activity over the next two days. Tomorrow the Khorixas Town Council is hosting its second annual Local Economic Development Investor's Conference and gala dinner.
The Government is in the process of finalising the procedure for selection and appointment of board of directors of State-Owned Enterprises. Public Enterprises Minister Leon Jooste said this during a breakfast meeting by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Wednesday.


Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:10 pm on 12th March 2019.
"not a further exchange of letters, but a significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal agreement".
"I will not change my opinion unless I'm sure there is no legal risk of us being indefinitely detained in the backstop. I am putting my hand on my heart. I will not change my opinion unless we have a text that shows the risk has been eliminated. I would not put my name to anything less".
Before considering the merits of what the Prime Minister has obtained it is worth considering what has not been achieved. As I predicted in the debate yesterday—was it only yesterday?—there is no change to the withdrawal agreement. Its 597 pages remain unchanged. That is not entirely true, because they have been reduced to a smaller volume. The text, however, is completely unchanged. So too are the 26 pages—I think now 28 pages—of the political declaration.
I had the opportunity to hear the Attorney-General's Statement in another place this morning, and I understood him to be reconfirming that position in his answers.
"It is difficult to conclude otherwise than that the Protocol is intended to subsist even when negotiations have clearly broken down. The ordinary meaning of the provisions set out above and considered in their context allows no obvious room for the termination of the Protocol, save by the achievement of an agreement fulfilling the same objectives. Therefore, despite statements in the Protocol that it is not intended to be permanent, and the clear intention of the parties that it should be replaced by alternative, permanent arrangements, in international law the Protocol would endure indefinitely until a superseding agreement took its place, in whole or in part, as set out therein".
I understand that still to be the position and invite the noble and learned Lord to confirm it.
"not about a situation where, despite the parties properly fulfilling the duties of good faith and their best endeavours, they cannot reach an agreement on a future relationship".
Again, therefore, I ask the noble and learned Lord to confirm that the Government accept that if, while acting in good faith, both parties cannot reach an agreement, the backstop would endure with no predetermined end date. I underline the phrase "can be proved to be" acting in bad faith, because that would have to be demonstrated—would it not? —and it would be for the United Kingdom, if it was asserting that position, to prove it. Can the noble and learned Lord confirm that? The burden of proof, as we lawyers say, would be on us.
I also question the likelihood that that could be proved. I have made this point before in the House. It would be a very strong thing—a virtually impossible thing—for this arbitral panel to find on proof that senior statesmen and politicians were acting in bad faith, rather than simply being unable to agree on what are important matters for them—for their constituents, as for ours. As a practising lawyer —at least when he is not fulfilling governmental responsibilities—would the noble and learned Lord agree that the prospects of proving that, when the EU negotiators are saying, "No, we did not regard these proposals as being in the interests of the EU", are vanishingly small? If he were advising a client, he would tell him so now.
In his previous advice, the Attorney-General referred to the difficulties of proof and the egregious nature of the conduct that would be required to establish a breach of those obligations by the EU. These are very strong things to have to prove. I respectfully suggest that, in reaching a view on how much comfort these arrangements give, that must be borne very much in mind.
The Attorney-General says that he believes the risks of an indefinite stay are reduced. He does not—it seems to me—explain in his advice why they are reduced. I understood that, in short, he sees a greater political will to reach an agreement. That is a political judgement. It is of course open to him and to others to take the same or a different view on the political will. I cannot, however, agree that anything in any of the three documents changes the legal reality.
"systematic refusal to take into consideration adverse proposals or interests".
A systematic, contumacious or deliberate refusal even to consider proposals would, I suppose, be evidence of bad faith—but that is as far as it goes. A sincere disagreement about the terms, however, is not bad faith.
As for the third document, the unilateral statement, it is that and nothing more. It is what the United Kingdom says that it thinks, but that does not make it so. I do not, therefore, share the view that there is anything in these legal documents that shifts the legal risk.
I am loath to go back to the codpiece that I referred to yesterday. However, I said then that I did not really understand how that soubriquet had come into being. From what I have read since, it is apparently code for figleaf. I regret to say that despite the energy and good faith of both the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General—which I respect—these are no more than a figleaf, and Members of the other place are left to make their political judgments on the basis of the Prime Minister's deal.


Read 10 month old Weim puppy Pollo rescue news, surgery updates, plus links to donate for her recovery from life threatening injuries.
Pollo, pronounced POH-yoh and meaning "chicken" in Spanish, is shown outdoors the day after jaw surgery on Nov 14, 2014 with more surgery to come.
The horror for this sweet and innocent female Weimaraner puppy began November 10, 2014 when she was found near death by her owners.
Her owner took Pollo for emergency care where x-rays revealed a broken jaw, teeth, tail, and broken pelvis (5 places), and fractured eye socket.
The owner could not bear $5000 plus in medical costs. The choices were find a rescue to cover urgent care before morning, or euthanization.
Lifeline said "yes" that night when asked if we could help, and Pollo ownership was transferred to us.
The response from the worldwide community has been tremendous. The prognosis for Pollo's full recovery is very optimistic.
*Note: The authorities completed a formal investigation and concluded "hit by car" as the cause of her injuries. Our focus here is to report on Pollo.
Meanwhile, please read more about how you can help Pollo, her status updates, and then share this page with friends and family, too! Thanks!
Central Florida Weimaraner & Dog Rescue, Inc. dba Lifeline Dog Rescue is an IRS 501c3 tax deductible charity.
1. Donate directly to us with PayPal, credit card, or e-Check using the button above, and specify "Pollo" in remarks.
* Note: You do not need a PayPal account. Select the other options then choose Amex, Discover, MC, Visa, or e-Check.
2. Donate by check payable to Central Florida Weimaraner & Dog Rescue, Inc., mailed to 237 Whittier Street, Davenport, FL 33896 USA.
T-shirt ($16) from Weimlover who have created a #POLLOSTRONG tshirt. They will donate $2 for every shirt sold.
Register at iGive.com at http://www.igive.com/9pUjvDo This is a win-win for Lifeline fans. Zero cost to you. Retailers you shop then donate a portion, too!
This section is a summary of surgery and health status updates for Pollo the Weimaraner to keep her fans current on recovery milestones.
*Note: Some entries include a link to "Details" with more insight documented in person at that point in time.
10 Nov 2014 – Arrived at Veterinary Healthcare Associates, Winter Haven FL, in very critical condition. Surrendered by owner due to cost.
10 Nov 2014 – Vet called us for possible transfer. We met Pollo that same night and authorized all necessary care to save her life.
12 Nov 2014 – Pollo remains in 24/7 critical care on pain meds and i.v. feeding, and gaining strength in preparation for surgery.
17 Nov 2014 – Pollo continues to rest and gain strength. Her back, pelvis, and tail surgeries are pending but not scheduled.
21-22 Nov – Pollo was resting up for her surgery on Monday. The Lifeline team was busy with 4 intakes and care of the rest of the pack.
25 Nov – Pollo was fed yesterday morning pre-op in error, so her surgery will be postponed again. No date has been set.
Please take time to follow the links to "Details" above to understand this slow and certainly painful journey to recovery for Pollo.
Follow these links to see article and live television news reports about Pollo.
The staff of Lifeline Dog Rescue truly appreciate the support, donations, and promotion for Pollo from the worldwide community.
Please continue to share her story and this page with friends and family. Thank you!


text:
CD: Buywell
Ross EDWARDS (b. 1943)
Symphony No.1 "Da pacem Domine" (1991) [27:20]
Symphony No.4 "Star Chant" (2001) [32:36]*
Adelaide Chamber Singers*, Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus*
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra/Richard Mills
rec. 4-7 February and 12-13 March 2002, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide. DDD
ABC CLASSICS 476 6161 [60:00]
This fascinating disc pairs the first and fourth symphonies of Australian composer Ross Edwards. Separated by a decade, they demonstrate Edwards' developing symphonic idiom and his consistency over time.
It would not be unfair to describe Edwards as Australia's holy minimalist. There is a kinship between his music and that of Arvo Pärt, despite differences of form and colouring. His mature works – both of these are symphonies belonging to that category – are characterised by lightness of touch, and a spirituality drawn in part from Christian mysticism. Hildegard von Bingen and William Blake are two influences named in passing in the booklet notes. He also draws in part on the natural world, understood and experienced mostly through the landscape of Australia. While his harmonic language is close to that of other Australian and American neo-Romantics, there is a reflectiveness and a sense of ritual in his music which is uniquely his.
The First Symphony is written as a single movement, a long sighing adagio that is Brucknerian in its nobility and yearning. A fragment of Gregorian chant, repeated and refracted, is at the symphony's core. Edwards lays down a carpet of lush string sound, lit by smooth incantations from the horns and a gentle touches of tuned percussion. It builds to a broad brass chorale around the 11:46 mark, peaking again at around 18 minutes before fading away. It is a moving piece of music, deceptive in its simplicity.
The Fourth Symphony is cast in two movements, the first depicting the northern night sky and the second the southern night sky, as viewed from the Australian outback away from the pollution of city lights.
The northern night sky opens with mystery, with low strings growling a descending two note motif below the chanting chorus. The movement's mood shifts to one of ecstatic ritual from about 10:45, with upper strings, brass and winds brightening before a twinkling of percussion. The southern night sky is generally upbeat with passages of Philip Glass rhythms and bright interjections from violins, before the chill of mystery returns and the music dies away. Throughout the piece, the choir chants the names of stars in various languages, supporting the sense of ritual at the core of Edwards' work.
Edwards' fellow Australian composer, Richard Mills, leads the excellent Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in thoroughly prepared and deeply felt readings of both scores. A third Australian composer, Gordon Kerry, provides the detailed and eminently readable liner notes.
This is a first class production from ABC Classics that deserves to find a wide audience.
Tim Perry


The voice said to me: Human one, stand on your feet, and I'll speak to you.
In the Common English Bible, the Lord addresses Ezekiel as "Human one." Most English translations prefer the traditional "Son of man" instead of "Human one." This is a more literal rendering of the Hebrew ben-adam. But the CEB rightly represents the sense of the Hebrew phrase. "Son of man" in this context means "human being" or "human one." The Lord is not giving Ezekiel some special title, but addressing him in his humanness.
Ash Wednesday reminds us of our inherent humanness. We are from dust. We were created out of the dust of the ground. Yet Ash Wednesday also points to our sinfulness. We will die. We will return to the dust because of our sin.
The second implication of our dustiness is not good news. It's the bad news of our condition as sinful human beings. Because of our sin, we will die. Yet, embedded in Ash Wednesday is a sign of the good news yet to come. Ashes are imposed on our foreheads in the sign of the cross. This ironic symbol, which once meant a horrible death, now points to life in Jesus Christ. The ashes of Ash Wednesday begin the season of Lent by presaging what comes after the end of the season: Good Friday, the day when the wages of our sin were paid by God through Christ.
The celebration of Ash Wednesday is not required in Scripture. Therefore, you are free to observe this day or not, according to how the Spirit leads you. But the truth of Ash Wednesday is for all people, not just all Christians, but all people. We are created from dust. Because of our sin, we will die, thus returning to dust. But God has done in Christ what we could not do for ourselves, taking the penalty of our sin and offering us the gift of new, eternal life.
How do you experience your humanness? In what ways is it great to be human? In what ways is it not so great? What reminds you that you need a savior?
PRAYER: Gracious God, how I thank you for the gift of life. I thank you for the body you have given me. I thank you for my health, and for all the gifts that come with being a human being.
Yet, Lord, on this day, I'm reminded of the fact that I am not just a human being, but also a sinful one. I feel the impact of sin in my life each day, as I fail to do what's right, as I choose to do what's wrong, as my body ages, as the relationships in my life are painful, as my work is sometimes filled with thorns and thistles. Thus, I realize once more just how much I need a savior, just how much I need you.
As I enter the season of Lent, please draw me close to you. Renew my passion for you. Refresh my love for you.
My dearest Lord, take my small offering of self-denial this Lent, as a sign of my great longing for you. I hunger for your presence in my life, and I thirst for your love. I hunger for justice for those who are wronged and oppressed, and I thirst for your peace. I hunger for a glimpse of your glory, and I thirst for your stillness in my heart. God of giving, God of longing, God of pain, I hunger for you.
Lead us through the desert sands.
Life-giving God, we thank you for creating us out of the dust of the earth, and breathing your life into us.
Purpose: As we begin the season of Lent, the Scriptures being proclaimed reveal God's expectation of both public penance and private mortification, seemingly contradictory commands. It is necessary for us to develop a hidden prayer life, as well as to observe what the Church asks of us, together with the faith community.
The holy season of Lent is the very acceptable time to pause for spiritual inventory and renewal. Lent is a grand retreat for the whole Church. We step back from the ordinary to spend a little time amid somber décor and music, abandoning the Alleluia and the Gloria, as if going out into the desert, like the first monastic communities, to seek a deeper experience of the Lord in silence and emptiness. This is the moment given to us by the Church each year to examine our consciences and repent of all our sins, so we can experience the happiness of the one whose offense is forgiven (Psalm 32). These are the sacred forty days when we commit ourselves to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In so doing, we discipline ourselves to think less of the self and its cravings, and more of the needs of the poor. Prayer deepens the relationship with God begun in Baptism, and renewed each year at the Easter Mass. By our Lenten observance, we are prepared to accept, once again, the baptismal commission to reject sin and believe in God. We are made ready to honor and serve him all the more.
We are ambassadors for Christ, and effective ambassadors need to know the mind of the one they represent. Putting on the mind of Christ means deepening our conversation with the Lord in prayer, in particular prayerful contemplation of the Word of God, disciplining our wills, and looking outward to serve the poor in our midst. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the traditional Lenten observances, taken from today's Gospel, which help to make us more like Christ whom we serve.
In the reading today from the prophet Joel, the Lord demands a public observance of penance: "blow the trumpet…proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the people, notify the congregation; Assemble he elders…" In contrast are the words of Christ: "do not blow a trumpet before you…do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues and on street corners…do not look gloomy like the hypocrites…that they may appear to others to be fasting." This is one of those instances when we perceive a contradiction between the Old and New Testament readings. Should we proclaim a public fast, or should we quietly go about our spiritual discipline?
Through the valuable "both/and" lens that Catholicism wisely applies to many areas of spirituality, we appreciate the significance of both public and private devotion. The Church calls us to a fast and summons the congregation to observe Lent as a worldwide faith community. As Catholics, we have an obligation to follow the norms of spiritual discipline established by the Church. In fact, it is one of the Precepts of the Church, one of the basic "house rules" of our family of faith, that we abide by the laws of fast and abstinence during Lent. Another Precept of the Church is to financially support the work of the Church, including her charity to the poor. This includes generous support of the parish, diocesan, and national collections devoted to the work of serving the needy and marginalized. It is our obligation as disciples of Christ to support the work of the worldwide Church, as she is the face of Christ to those most in need. Public prayer is obviously essential to our Catholic life, especially the Mass. Without the Eucharist, we would be detached from Christ, and deprived of spiritual nourishment. Life without the Eucharist is like being a fish on dry land! Attending Sunday and Holy Day Mass is a third Precept of the Church. Even more than that, Jesus said we should pray: "Give us this day our daily bread." We have the opportunity every day to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, and this season of Lent is a great time to add to our spiritual routine, and attend Mass more than on Sunday. The blessings we receive from Holy Mass are infinite and life-giving!
At the same time, the Lord reminds us that spiritual things are never to be done out of a prideful desire to be seen as "holy." If we are fasting, we cannot justify complaining that we're hungry. We need to quietly endure the little moments of suffering that Lenten discipline brings for the sake of Christ and the poor. Otherwise, the sacrifice is without merit. It is good to show an example of prayer to others, but the real reason to pray is to please God, never to win the esteem of others. When we give to the poor, it is for more than a tax write-off, or to be seen by our friends as generous. Quietly going about the performing of our duties and penances in order to honor the Lord, and build up the lives of the less fortunate, is a sacrifice holy and pleasing in the sight of God.
May this holy season draw us closer to the heart of Christ through our obedience to the Church and our humble prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Thus may we come to the joy of Easter with renewed hearts, and lively devotion to him who loves us beyond measure.
The word "Lent" comes from an old English word which means "springtime" so it reminds us of spring cleaning and the new life in nature during spring. This season of Lent is a time of special grace for us in which we want to do some spring cleaning in our lives and enjoy new life as a result. Therefore we have come here today to acknowledge that we are sinners. We want to clean up our lives during Lent. We want to leave sin behind and grow closer to the Lord. We want a change of heart this Lent.
In the Scriptures when people left sin behind and turned over a new leaf they used ashes to symbolize their repentance. Job said, "I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:6) Daniel "turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." (Dan 9:3) Jesus said, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." (Matt 11:21; Luke 10:13). Therefore in a spirit of repentance we will take take ashes on our foreheads.
In our second reading Paul wrote to the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor 6:1). During Lent this year let us too not receive the grace of God in vain.
To show that we are serious about overcoming sin we do penance. Our penance during Lent as well as being a small attempt at reparation for our sins is a symbol of the change of heart we want to achieve. In the Gospel today (Matt 6:1-6, 16-18) Jesus spoke about prayer, fasting and giving alms. Since the early centuries these are three practices the Church has encouraged us to undertake during Lent as a form of penance: praying more, fasting and giving alms to the poor.
We fast today and on Good Friday and abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent. In a spirit of repentance we have always fasted from one of our favorite foods for the entire season of Lent e.g. candy. It is a way of showing that we love the Lord more than food and that we love the Lord more than sin.
There are many ways of giving alms. In helping other people we also love the Lord.
I hope Lent may also be for you a time of growing closer to the Lord by spending more time in prayer. This would also be a good time to renew praying the Rosary daily if you have been neglectful. Reading the Bible and reading spiritual books are also a great help.
protect us in our struggle against evil.
make this season holy by our self-denial.


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FBI National Data Exchange System's On-Line Tool Enhances Dispatching by Law Enforcement Agencies throughout the US
Kasey Wertheim, and Kelly Badgett
Aug 01, 2015|AEDR 2015 Vol. 3 Issue 2|Perspectives
The traffic stop began like any other. The officer radioed to dispatch with the license plate number and a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) search was conducted. The search turned up negative – showing nothing unusual about the vehicle or its owner – and the officer started a routine approach to the vehicle. The dispatcher then searched the license plate number through the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) newest System, the National Data Exchange (N-DEx). for short. Moments before the officer reached the driver's side window, dispatch returned with some relevant information – the vehicle had been associated with weapons charges only two months prior. With this new information, the officer implemented the protocol for a more dangerous situation, ordering the driver out of the vehicle with hands on his head. The subsequent search of the vehicle discovered a loaded, stolen weapon under the driver's seat. A potentially disastrous situation was averted.
This hypothetical scenario demonstrates the potential of information sharing in the 21st Century. No longer do law enforcement and criminal justice professionals have to rely on limited information to do their jobs. Instead, they have a vast array of information on incidents, arrests, booking and incarceration, pre-trial investigations, as well as probation and parole information available to them with an authorized N-DEx account accessible via common web browsers.
The FBI's National Data Exchange
The FBI's N-DEx System contains data from local, tribal, state and federal agencies. It is available 24/7, 365 days a year. The FBI also bears the full cost of development and maintenance of the System. "N-DEx was the FBI's answer to the 911 commission's report calling for greater information sharing between all levels of law enforcement," explains the N-DEx Acting Unit Chief, John Quinlan. Quinlan added that the men and women of the N-DEx Program Office are proactively engaging more and more agencies to further increase participation with N-DEx, both for obtaining more data, as well as increasing usage of the system.
N-DEx data types have evolved from incident reports to include other data types such as probation, parole, and booking reports, providing users with a wider array of investigative information. N-DEx became operational in 2008. Since then, N-DEx has been expanding capabilities incrementally. With these upgrades, version 2 of N-DEx had new features such as full text search, subscription and notification, enhanced link and geo-visualization, and collaboration features. However, version 3 of the system added new features such as the integrated person entity view, batch query, and also enhanced existing features. Subsequent N-DEx builds created roles for the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Systems Officers (CSOs) to manage personnel, audits, and training. Future builds will continue to expand and improve N-DEx capabilities, further meeting the needs of the user community.
Access to N-DEx is brokered through the FBI's Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP). Along with other services such as Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) and National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), LEEP also provides N-DEx as a service. After applying for and receiving access to N-DEx, law enforcement or criminal justice professionals can simply click on the N-DEx icon from LEEP and be taken to the default simple search screen of N-DEx, where they can craft key-word searches. One click away is the Targeted Person search where a name and other 36 Annals of Emergency Dispatch & Response | Volume 3, Issue 2 FBI National Data Exchange Program weighted identifiers, such as a date of birth, or Social Security Number, can be used to return all records in the system associated with an individual. In the case above, a license plate number was used to return any information associated with that vehicle.
N-DEx connects the dots between seemingly unrelated people, locations, property, offenses, and more. It correlates data within an agency's own files and between the files of other agencies that contribute data. This powerful feature allows investigators to easily pull all records associated with an entity, and even view the associations in the form of a link diagram. Other site features include Geo-Visualization – placing a record or records on a map – as well as batch query capability, complex filtering options, and collaboration sites where other authorized users can share files of any size or type.
In an actual case in 2012, a Maryland Highway Patrol Officer stopped a truck transporting three storage containers. A search of the vehicle and driver information did not reveal useful information. The officer then took an additional step of searching the names on the bill of lading through the Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX). Because of the designed linkages between the two systems, this LlnX search automatically triggered a query of the N-DEx System. Within seconds, the N-DEx returned results indicating an individual associated with one of the containers was the subject of an ongoing federal investigation. In light of this new information, Maryland Highway Patrol Department was able to collaborate immediately with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to track down the suspect. The vehicle was allowed to continue to its destination where the person under investigation was intercepted when he claimed the storage container. The contents included 3,000 cartons of counterfeit cigarettes; the suspect was subsequently charged and convicted of multiple crimes.
As of August 2015 the N-DEx System received files from over 5,300 agencies, containing approximately 500 million searchable records, and returns results for an average of 50,000 searches per week. As new users apply for access and begin incorporating N-DEx in their standard operations and as new agencies realize the value of having their data in the System, N-DEx will continue to grow in both size and usage. Each day new records are added to the NDEx System, creating new opportunities daily in the fight to solve and prevent crime. This is why the N-DEx Program Office will continue to actively pursue bringing on board new agencies and help new users conduct searches of the system. As Kent County Sheriff (MI), Lawrence Stelma says, "I get just as much benefit from having my records in N-DEx, as I do from using the system. Investigators from other jurisdictions are constantly bumping in to my investigations and assisting us in solving our county's crimes."
In this day and age, it is necessary to use all of the tools available in order to solve and prevent crime and promote public safety. N-DEx is one of those tools – a force multiplier – allowing users to access more information in less time. The N-DEx Program Office encourages police dispatchers to apply for N-DEx membership and utilize this valuable tool as they conduct their daily work. Together, partnerships between local law enforcement and the FBI can make the world a little safer place.
Authors note: To obtain N-DEx access, visit the LEEP at www. CJIS.gov and fill out the online application. If you already have a LEEP account, you can request N-DEx access by finding us in the "Services" section of LEEP and choosing "Request Access". For contributing data to the System, contact the N-DEx Program Office's help desk at ndex@leo.gov and your request will be routed to the Liaison Specialist associated with your state. 2015 | Annals
Citation:Wertheim K, Badgett K. FBI National Data Exchange System's On-Line Tool Enhances Dispatching by Law Enforcement Agencies throughout the US. Annals of Emergency Dispatch & Response. 2015;3(2):36-37.


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Colorado Springs: An Olympic Powerhouse
BY BRANDON ELLIS | AUGUST 2ND, 2021
Proud to be Olympic City USA, Colorado Springs shines as we celebrate the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan! Colorado Springs is home to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center, which hosts more than five hundred athletes and coaches at a time. The center is also the national headquarters for USA Swimming and USA Shooting. (So far, Team USA has won 30 medals in swimming and 6 in shooting!) Our high elevation and endless outdoor beauty make our destination perfect for elite athletes training from all over the country. What you might not know is that over a dozen Olympic athletes claim Colorado Springs as home, either growing up here, immigrating directly to Colorado Springs, or attending college here. We've done research on each of them so that you might know who to especially cheer for while watching at home.
This year, we have three Colorado Springs natives competing in Tokyo on Team USA Shooting. Amber English, a graduate of Cheyenne Mountain High School and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, has already won gold in Skeet at the Asaka Shooting Range, setting a record with 56 hits. Amber is a first lieutenant and member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program in Fort Carson, Colorado. William Shaner, another Colorado Springs native, is the youngest U.S. Men's Olympic Rifle Qualifier. The University of Kentucky student just secured Team USA's first gold in the men's 10-meter air rifle competition. Colorado Springs resident and two-time Olympian, Lucas Koziensky, won silver with Mary Tucker in the mixed-team 10-meter air rifle. Koziensky set a national record at the Olympic air rifle trials with a score he has since beat.
Hometown hero Haleigh Washington is competing in Tokyo on the U.S. Women's Volleyball team. So far, they have defeated Argentina, China, Turkey, and Italy (only losing to the Russian Olympic Committee). Now qualified for the quarterfinals, the U.S. Women's Volleyball team will go up against Dominican Republic on Wednesday, August 4th. Washington, a Doherty High School alumni, was named the 2013 Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year and has impressed the world since.
Track and field star Benard Keter, a supply specialist and member of the World Class Athlete Program, also calls Colorado Springs home. He beat his personal best to qualify for the men's 3000-meter steeplechase final. He ran an impressive 8 minute, 17.31 second race which qualified him as the only male American for finals in this race. He then ranked eleventh in the final on August 2nd. Two-time Colorado Springs Olympian Hillary Bor competed in the men's 3000m steeplechase as well, and got 6th place (of 14 runners) with a time of 8 minutes, 19.80 seconds, though he did not move forward to the final.
After emigrating from Egypt in 2014, pentathlete Amro Elgeziry moved to Colorado Springs where he currently resides. The army sergeant is a member of the World Class Athlete Program and is married to former Olympian Isabella Isaksen. While this is his fourth Olympic Games, it is his first time competing as a U.S. Olympian. Like Elgeziry, Samantha Schulz is competing in modern pentathlon as an army sergeant and member of the World Class Athlete Program. Schulz was born in Littleton, Colorado, and trains in Colorado Springs. The Pentathlon consists of fencing, shooting, swimming, riding, and cross-country running. Pentathlon events will start Thursday, August 5th and go through August 7th.
A native of Uzbekistan, Ildar Hafizov is also a member of the World Class Athlete program. The Colorado Springs resident competed as a Greco-Roman wrestler (60 kg) in Tokyo, along with Tracy G'Angelo Hancock (97 kg) from nearby Fountain, Colorado. While Hafizov fought hard, he lost to Luis Orta Sanchez of Cuba who went on to win Gold. Hancock however, made it to his weight class's quarterfinals after defeating Mikheil Kajaia of Serbia but then lost in a close match against Poland's Tadeusz Michalik. Hancock attended Fountain Fort Carson High School and recently won the 2019 U.S. Open Outstanding Wrestler and the 2019 U23 World Team Trials outstanding wrestler.
In addition to a lengthy roster of residents and natives, Colorado Springs boasts Tokyo 2021 Olympians who attended or are currently attending college at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. These include triathlete Kevin McDowell and two cyclists, Maddie Godby and Jennifer Valente (who recently won bronze in track cycling team pursuit). McDowell lead his Mixed Relay team members Katie Zaferes, Taylor Knibb, and Morgan Pearson to a silver medal win. As the last in the relay he pushed through with an incredible combined time of 20 minutes and 14 seconds (between swimming, biking, and running). Great Britain won Gold.
In normal circumstances the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center, located at Olympic Plaza, offers tours to visitors giving exclusive opportunities for people to watch Olympians train for their events. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the OPTC Visitor Center and Team USA Shop are temporarily closed in an effort to limit any potential exposure to the coronavirus (COVID-19). That being said, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in downtown Colorado Springs is open and is absolutely incredible. This brand-new museum is infused with modern technology, interactive exhibits and a rich history that celebrates mankind's greatest athletic achievements. It will leave you in absolute awe.
Since we can't make it to Tokyo this summer, Colorado Springs: Olympic City is the next best place for Olympic celebration. At the Cheyenne Mountain Resort and The Country Club of Colorado we are constantly cheering on all Team USA athletes as they continue to inspire us at the Olympic stadiums.
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