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Trump's New Foreign Broadcasting CEO Fires News Chiefs, Raising Fears Of Meddling
The Voice of America building, shown Monday, in Washington, D.C. VOA has increasingly been a target of the Trump administration.
President Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack, showed up to work Wednesday for the first time after being approved by the U.S. Senate two weeks earlier.
His words to staff were affirming. His actions were anything but.
Pack swiftly sidelined most of the agency's senior leadership by stripping them of their authority. He also fired the chiefs of the government-sponsored broadcast networks for foreign audiences that his agency oversees, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Radio Free Asia; Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and Television Martí; and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, which runs Alhurra and Radio Sawa.
The two top officials at Voice of America resigned days earlier in anticipation of Pack's arrival.
Pack dissolved advisory boards over each of the networks and placed his own aides above them. He gave no reason for his actions other than his authority to do so, according to two people with direct knowledge of the day's events.
Trump had sought to place Pack in the position for two years, complaining about the Senate's slow pace in confirming him. This spring, lawmakers learned Pack was under investigation by the Washington, D.C., attorney general's office over concerns he had improperly transferred millions of dollars from his not-for-profit outfit to his for-profit production company. That investigation has not been resolved.
Pack's bold moves took people who work at the agency by surprise. A memo obtained by NPR that was sent out by Pack's new chief of staff, Emily Newman, said that officials could take no actions and make no external communications without approval from above.
Several staffers, who spoke to NPR on condition they not be named, said that effectively shut down the agency.
A new direction?
Pack is a filmmaker whose documentaries have appeared on PBS. President George W. Bush appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities, and he has held senior positions at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Pack is a past president of the conservative Claremont Institute and has worked on projects with former Trump political strategist Stephen Bannon, the former executive chairman of the Breitbart News Network.
In an internal memo sent Wednesday evening that NPR reviewed, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty chief Jamie Fly conveyed his surprise.
"It is with great sadness that I leave all of you at RFE/RL," wrote Fly, who moved with his family to Prague last summer for the job. "I had hoped to work with you much longer and to make progress on the initiatives that we've begun."
The fired head of Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Alberto Miguel Fernandez, wrote in a tweet Wednesday night that he regretted his departure was so "precipitous," adding, "Wish the incoming people at @USAGMgov well. I hope they know what they are doing."
Libby Liu, a past president of Radio Free Asia, had given notice she would step down in July as head of the agency's Open Technology Fund, intended to promote Internet access around the world. Pack made her departure immediate.
The director and deputy director of Voice of America, Amanda Bennett and Sandy Sugawara, resigned over the weekend, saying Pack deserved to have his appointees leading the news service. Bennett's parting statement noted Pack's promise to uphold the journalistic independence of the news service and the firewall that exists to protect it from political interference.
The resignations nonetheless followed fast on the heels of the disclosure that another government agency sought to shut her journalists out.
Earlier this week, documents obtained by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University showed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued a ban on responding to questions from former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, now hosting a show for VOA, or anyone else with the government-backed news service. The CDC cited a White House memo for its policy — a remarkable instance of one government agency shutting out another's requests for public information.
Voice of America has increasingly been a target of Trump and his administration. In 2018, Bannon told the Los Angeles Times, "VOA is a rotten fish from top to bottom." He added, "It's now totally controlled by the deep-state apparatus."
Instead, the White House claimed in a formal statement in April that VOA had "amplified Beijing's propaganda" by running an Associated Press article about COVID-19 policies in China.
VOA has aired highly critical reports from China, particularly regarding the government's ongoing persecution of Uighurs and other Muslims in the northwest of China.
Pack's immediate predecessor as permanent CEO of the broadcasting agency, John Lansing, now CEO of NPR, expressed concern in an interview.
"If VOA is converted to a mouthpiece for an American president's agenda, then we will be giving aid and comfort to authoritarians around the world," Lansing said, "and that will ultimately make American citizens less safe and will diminish America's standing around the world."
An agency born in conflict
The service, created during World War II to provide reliable news and information about the war to people in countries under German occupation, has served as a form of "soft diplomacy." It is intended to project American values abroad through a reliable news service in multiple languages as an example of the nation's commitment to political pluralism and freedom of the press.
Over the decades, the U.S. government's international broadcasters have at times been political footballs, pushed this way or that to emphasize certain regions or policy imperatives by various administrations.
Prominent Democrats, including House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel of New York, had warned Pack against politicizing the agency. The agency's old bipartisan board issued federal rules on June 11 stating with more specificity the firewall and journalistic standards intended to protect the news services' reports. It now stands as federal policy.
That board, however, was dissolved as Pack took over as CEO.
Part of the internal concern over Pack stems from his collaboration with Bannon on two documentary projects and his work in ideological forums such as the Claremont Institute.
In his memo to staffers Wednesday morning, Pack committed himself to respecting VOA's charter and the mission of the other broadcasters. He said he also believed they serve as a bulwark against misinformation by foreign actors. (China and Russia are internally seen as the two leading offenders.) And Pack invoked President Abraham Lincoln, writing, "We need to counter lies with the truth. We need to make clear to the world the ideals that inspire America."
Pack also wrote he intended "to examine some of the problems that have surfaced in the media in recent years. I have no preconceptions – I simply intend to make sure there are no issues getting in the way of your ability to report the news."
Pack did not respond to requests for an interview.
The people swept out by Pack include those who have received praise for helping their networks fight misinformation from China and Russia with factual reporting. And they include officials appointed during the Trump presidency.
Fry, until Wednesday the chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, had been a top aide to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, though he had been critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign. Fernandez was a State Department official under President George W. Bush as well as an ambassador under President Barack Obama.
Other steps were taken in anticipation of Pack's arrival.
A photograph of Lansing, Pack's predecessor, adorned a wall in a hallway at the agency's headquarters, along with a quote taken from his farewell address there: "A set of unimpeachable facts, and the existence of a baseline of truth is the foundation that undergirds our democracy, its institutions, and the health, safety and security of all American citizens.
"Since our country's founding, journalists and journalism have stood watch over private and public officials in power to hold them accountable to what is factual and what is true."
The quote was painted over last weekend, the photograph removed.
Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR's Mark Katkov. Due to Lansing's prior role at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, no senior news executive or corporate executive at NPR reviewed this story before it was published.


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WIAN (1240 AM) was a radio station licensed to Ishpeming, Michigan. The station began broadcasting November 16, 1947, holding the call sign WJPD and operating with a 24 hour license of 1,000 watts daytime and 250 watts nightime. The station, whose slogan was "The Voice of the Iron Country," was licensed to Ishpeming Broadcasting Company. Its call sign stood for the founding owner's name, James P. Deegan. Locally, it was also referred to as "Where Joyful People Dwell".

The station's call sign was changed to WIAN on November 15, 1992. It changed formats from country, simulcasting 92.3 WJPD-FM, to adult contemporary, and began simulcasting AM 1320 WDMJ. In December 1998, WIAN and WDMJ adopted a talk/sports format. Its owner, Sovereign Communications, surrendered WIAN's license on July 30, 2020.

References

External links
Michiguide.com – WIAN History

IAN
Radio stations established in 1947
1947 establishments in Michigan
Defunct radio stations in the United States
Radio stations disestablished in 2020
2020 disestablishments in Michigan
IAN

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Central Powers Defeated as Armistice is signed in France, but in Russia the Fighting Continues.
On this day the guns on the Western Front and most other fronts ceased their relentless roar. The World had been plunged into a turmoil such as it had never before experienced. On July 28th 1914 a young Serbian student shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife whilst on a visit to Sarajevo. The resulting domino effect saw most of Europe gradually sliding into an unstoppable nightmare that would last for four years and four months. Some skirmishes did continue in some of the remoter theatres of the war such as Mozambique and Palestine but the "war to end all wars" for most people ceased at 11am French time on the 11thNovember 1918.
Winston Churchill at this point in history was the British Minister for Munitions after having had a chequered record during the war, resigning after being heavily blamed for his role in the massacres in the Dardenelles. Gallipoli's blood soaked beaches had seen the deaths of 250,000 troops and Churchill was forced to resign from Government in November 1915. Days later he took himself off to the trenches assuming the rank of Lt. Colonel and commanding the 6thBattalion Royal Scots Fusiliers. Although his unit was not involved in direct fighting at the time, Churchill himself visited the front line no less than 36 times, cheating death more than once. It was obvious that he was trying to expunge his reputation from the disasters of Turkey.
He returned to Parliament to more criticism. 'You will one day discover that the state of mind revealed in (your) letter is the reason why you do not win trust even where you command admiration. In every line of it, national interests are completely overshadowed by your personal concern.', was David Lloyd George's assessment. Nevertheless, Churchill returned to Government in July 1917 as Minister of Munitions, but it was events taking place in Russia that would occupy his attention as it did through most of his life.
The Revolutions that took place in Russia from April 1917 and again in October that year brought fear of a destabilising situation. The communist Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia and fearing the spread of communism throughout war torn Europe Churchill felt he must do anything in his power to check its proliferation.
For the men sent to fight the cause against Bolshevism, they did not hear about the Armistice until the following day, during which time more casualties were sustained. They could have been forgiven for thinking that they would immediately lay down their arms at the news that the war had ended. From the high command downwards they waited expectantly for the order to return home. This order never came and the fight went on. Douglas and his comrades would remain in Russia to fight Churchill's (and others') undeclared war against communism. This was a war that many would ask, "Why are we here"? It was seen as an internal conflict. If Russians wanted a Bolshevik government then so what? That's their business why should it bother us? Churchill took a wider view and by those who agreed with him managing to convince the United States to assist they would remain there for the months to come.


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Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Paperback)
By Kevin Bales
The Jungle: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)
By Upton Sinclair, Eric Schlosser (Introduction by), Charles Burns (Illustrator)
The Wages of History: Emotional Labor on Public History's Front Lines (Public History in Historical Perspective) (Paperback)
By Amy Tyson
Good Trouble: A Shoeleather History of Nonviolent Direct Action by Steve (Paperback)
By Steve Thornton
Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly (Paperback)
By Peter Cole (Editor), Robin D.G. Kelley (Foreword by)
The Wealth of Nations: Books 1-3 (Paperback)
By Adam Smith, Andrew Skinner (Introduction by)
Holding the Line (Paperback)
How the World Works: The Story of Human Labor from Prehistory to the Modern Day (Paperback)
By Paul Cockshott
Capital Moves: RCA's Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor (Paperback)
By Jefferson R. Cowie
The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America (Paperback)
By Oren Cass
Autobiography of Mother Jones (Paperback)
By Mary Harris Jones, Clarence Darrow (Introduction by), Mary Field Parton (Editor)
Midnight in Vehicle City: General Motors, Flint, and the Strike That Created the Middle Class (Hardcover)
By Edward McClelland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Sunday, December 15, 2019―4 PM
Westview Presbyterian Church, Longmont
Longmont Chorale's Viva Voce – Scott Hamlin, artistic director
Longmont Symphony Chamber Orchestra
Elliot Moore, conductor
Ekaterina Kotcherguina, soprano
Claire McCahan, mezzo-soprano
Charles Moore, tenor
Joshua South, bass
Tickets $30; Students/Children $10
THIS PERFORMANCE IS SOLD OUT!
This performance is generously sponsored by:
Bill and Anne Boettcher
Harvey and Carol Yoakum
A Note from our Conductor:
As a work that has come to be known as a holiday classic, with annual performances at Christmas time across the globe, I wanted to bring this incredible work to our community. Despite its subject and text, there is no evidence that Handel ever intended an evangelical purpose. More than anything, Handel intended a charitable purpose for this work, consistently presenting it throughout his career for the benefit of the poor and needy.
Handel famously completed Messiah in a feverishly inspired 24 days. That said, he never really stopped working on it; Handel was constantly amending the score to suit the circumstances of each new performance he gave. This means that there is no one definitive version of the work for us to follow today. There have been performances with choirs of over 4,000 singers accompanied by orchestras of equal gargantuan size. That said, we have opted to present today's performance of Messiah in the spirit of Handel's time—with modest choral and orchestral forces—as we best know it from the distance of 277 years from its premiere.
I consider Handel's Messiah to be one of the most inspired musical works ever composed. I hope that our performance elicits in each of you the same sense of awe, wonder, and joy that this work sparks in me.
Musically yours,
About Ekaterina Kotcherguina
Praised for her "fresh and exuberant" stage presence by the Daily Camera, Russian soprano Ekaterina Kotcherguina is a flexible performer, equally compelling when portraying light-hearted damsels or tragic heroines. She holds an affinity for music of the Baroque and Classical period and particularly enjoys singing innovative interpretations of the Baroque repertoire. Recent performances include Handel's Messiah with the Hot Springs Music Festival, Schubert's Mass in G Major with the Longmont Symphony Chamber Orchestra, concerts with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Boulder Opera Company, Seicento Baroque Ensemble, and the Boulder Bach Festival, as well as chamber and solo recitals in Colorado and Arkansas. Winner of the 2017 Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition, Ms. Kotcherguina received her Performance Certificate in Opera and Solo Vocal Performance from the University of Colorado Boulder, and her Masters of Music degree from the University of Oklahoma. Her training includes Music Academy of the West, OperaWorks' Advanced Artists Program, London Summer School of Voice, and the Up North Vocal Institute.
About Claire McCahan
Claire McCahan has been applauded for her unique tone and dedication to character and expression in operatic and concert performances. Her recent operatic credits include Olga in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, the title role in Handel's Ariodante, Third Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Prince Orlofsky in Strauss' Die Fledermaus (Eklund Opera), and Camille Claudel in a staged interpretation of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's Camille Claudel: Into the Fire (Opera Steamboat). Recent concert appearances include Handel's Messiah at St. John's Cathedral in Denver, under conductor Mathieu Lussier, the Boulder Bach Festival concert "From London with Love" featuring the music of Henry Purcell under conductor Nicholas Carthy, Vivaldi's Gloria with the Longmont Symphony as well as the Cantabile ensemble of Boulder, and in Mozart's Requiem with the CU Boulder choruses and orchestra. clairemccahan.com
About Charles Moore
Declared a "skyscraping tenor" in a review by Arkansan music critic Eric Harrison, Dr. Charles Moore hails from Kingston, Jamaica, and had his early music beginnings in the Boys Choir of the St. Richard's Catholic School under the baton of internationally renowned conductor and musician Lloyd Hall. While maintaining an active national and international performance schedule, Dr. Moore received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Mississippi and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees in Performance and Pedagogy from Louisiana State University. Recent appearances include Vuval in William Grant Still's Troubled Island, and Pat in David T. Little's Dog Days, among others. Concert performances include Don Ottavio from Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Louisiana Philharmonic, and excerpts from Handel's Messiah with the Jefferson Chamber Orchestra.
About Joshua South
Joshua South, bass, has performed with 50 Cent, Paul McCartney, Kelli O'Hara, Kelsey Grammar, Brian Dennehy, and many other world-class singers and conductors at many world-class venues like Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. He has been a member of several vocal ensembles, including The Clarion Choir (2017 GRAMMY nomination for Best Choral Performance), St. Thomas Men and Boys Choir, New York City Opera Chorus, New York Choral Artists, the Bard Opera Chorus, and has sung on numerous SAG/AFTRA major motion picture soundtracks. Recently he sang Riff in West Side Story with Central City Opera, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte (Boulder Opera Company), Sarastro in Magic Flute (Arapahoe Philharmonic), Pandolfe in Cendrillon (Boulder Opera), and Dottore Grenvil in La Traviata (St. Petersburg Opera and Boulder Symphony). Career highlights include a Carnegie Hall debut in the New York Philharmonic's West Side Story Suites, an Avery Fisher Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra, and a New York City debut with Kent Tritle in the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series. Joshua also appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the critically-acclaimed staging of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, directed by Sir Jonathan Miller. joshuasouthbass.com
About the Longmont Chorale
The Longmont Chorale provides and supports an open, non-auditioned community choir, enriching the lives of singers and patrons through the study, creation, and performance of beautiful choral music. The full Chorale performs a diverse repertoire of music across genres such as classical, pop, jazz, movie and show tunes, Celtic, and more. All are welcome to sing with the full Chorale, and there is no audition to join; only simple pitch-matching exercises are needed. In addition, the smaller auditioned group, Viva Voce, performs at special events around the Longmont community. Singers perform as part of the Longmont United Hospital's tree lighting ceremony, and for assisted living residents. longmontchorale.org


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Map of the Abandoned Rails of The Milwaukee Road's Pacific Extension
The Milwaukee Road's Pacific Extension
Terry, MT to Renton, WA
Home | ID , MT , WA | CM&StP , CMStP&P
The Pacific Extension was the successful attempt by the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railroad (the Milwaukee Road) to build a transcontinental line over the Rocky and Cascade mountain ranges and reach the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Seattle area. Construction on the line began in 1906 and completed in 1909; the line represented the shortest route over the Continental Divide. Upon completion, the name of the CM&StP was changed to the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, adding "Pacific" to the name in order to identify its extents. This route was the last of the great transcontinental routes to be constructed in the United States.
Due to the northern regions through which the line traveled, the Milwaukee Road found that electrifying various parts of the Pacific Extension produced more favorable results than the usual steam power that was typically found elsewhere during that time. At the height of electrification, 656 total miles along the extension were electrified (albeit in different locales and therefore disconnected), making the Milwaukee Road the largest electrified railroad in the US. It dismantled its electrified infrastructure in 1973, during the onset of the oil crisis -- as diesels started roaming in previously electrified territory and with oil prices soaring, the de-electrification of the Milwaukee Road ultimatley proved ill-timed.
Because of the Milwaukee Road's increasing financial woes during the 1970s, the track along the Pacific Extension slowly deteriorated due to lack of funds for maintenance. The road's bankruptcy in 1977 ultimately spelled doom for the Pacific Extension, and it was abandoned west of Miles City, MT, in 1980.
Thanks to Mike Fromholt for contributing information.


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Suffering' tag.
Sometimes liturgy puts words in the mouth of the worshiper that are more true than the worshipper himself is aware.
I have reached the age at which many of my peers are retiring. It seems every day, someone I know is turning in their professional position for the privilege of life without the demands of full-time employment.
It may only last minutes. Sometimes it will go on for hours, days, weeks, months, even years.
Writing about the magoi in preparation for Epiphany this year, I was reminded of an article I wrote twenty years ago, that appeared in our local Anglican Diocesan paper.
I have written many times about pain.
Christmas is the season of love, peace, hope, and joy. It is the time of year when the axis of the earth shifts back towards the light.
There is a lot of suffering in peoples' lives.
Is It Callous To Give Thanks?
In the shadow of the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada a week ago today, it may seem callous to sit down over this weekend with family and friends to a sumptuous meal in thanksgiving for the many blessings of this life. What right do we have to relish the gifts we enjoy when there is so much suffering so fresh upon the land?


[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY, USA. Also made available for sale at the same store.
Given away at brand store grand opening events, 2012 onwards.
LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Copenhagen, March (TBC) 2011.
LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, London Westfield, February 27, 2011.
[EU] Available at anniversaries of German store openings, 2013 and opening of Wijnegem store, Belgium, November 2013.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Re-Opening Exclusive Set, Colorado Mills, Denver, CO., March 23 - 25, 2012.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Alpharetta. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 500 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Westfield Annapolis, Annapolis, MD, USA. Opened June 2009.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Barton Creek Square, Austin, TX. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Beachwood Place, Beachwood, OH. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 500 sets.
[CN] Available at the opening of the Wangfujing store in Beijing, February 2019.
Minifigure heads, hair and legs may differ from those shown.
[DE] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Berlin, June 2017. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 500 sets.
[DE] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Berlin, Germany, November 27, 2009. Free with minimum purchase of €25.00. Limited to 300 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Riverchase Galleria, Birmingham, AL.
[FR] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Bordeaux, France, June 2016. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 500 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, South Shore Plaza, Braintree, MA.
[CA] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Chinnok Centre, Calgary, AB. in July 17, 2010. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Canoga Park, LA.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Chandler Fashion Center, Chandler, AZ. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Kenwood Town Center, Cincinnati, OH., June 20, 2009. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets.
[FR] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Clermont-Ferrand, France, February 2014. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets. Note that all backing cards were numbered 1.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Easton Town Center, Columbus, OH., August 01, 2009. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, Concord Mills, Concord, NC. Free with minimum purchase. Limited to 300 sets.
[US] LEGO Store Grand Opening Exclusive Set, South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, CA., March 11, 2011. Free with minimum purchase of $35. Limited to 500 sets.


text:
Millennials in the Workplace – Are You Ready?
Millennials in the Workplace –…
Social PublishingUseful ArticlesHuman Resources
How the Next Generation of Employees Are Changing the Landscape of Business
In every profession across the globe employers are forced to adapt to never ending, far-reaching business terrains. The substantial influx of technology has accelerated the business world into the 21st century and increasingly assertive trade unions have meant that adapting to change has become the norm for the everyday employer. In addition to these and other tireless complications, a new obstacle has emerged; a workforce generation of Millennials aka Generation Y. Gone is the diligent, tireless, laborious generation of baby boomers, replaced by a tech-savvy, over-educated albeit ambitious generation of kids.
With the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Google, employees have become accustomed to assurances that were essentially non-existent some 20 years ago. It is undeniable that young entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg have placed an increasing emphasis on reform allowing this generation to hold revised workplace expectations, which have both positive and negative ramifications.
Revised Priorities
A recent study conducted by the Oxford School of Economics shows a gulf in priorities between Millennials and their counterparts. When asked what was most important to them with regards to the workplace, 68% of Millennials answered compensation, compared to only 64 % of non-Millennials. In fact answers varied on almost every question asked, non-Millennials preferring meaningful work-life balance amongst other things. It should also be noted that 32% of Millennials ranked achievement of income goals as a priority, in comparison to 30% of non-Millennials. These are staggering statistics when bearing in mind that on average, only 30% of employers are giving special attention to the particular wants and needs of Millennials.
Employers who place an increased emphasis on the distinctive, differing wants and needs of both Millennials and non-Millennials will reap rewards through a greater employee work ethic and an increased passion for even the most mundane of assignments. The incoming generation of Millennials undoubtedly bring with them revised priorities and a fuelled ambition to succeed. It is now down to employers to adapt to the changing landscape of business and accommodate the initiative of this new generation of workers.
Increased Promotion Opportunities
In 2011, Opinium Research commissioned a report that sought to determine what it is that Millennials desire most from their employment. The results indicated that a large proportion of Millennials are determined to climb as high up the corporate ladder as possible. Career progression was noted as the most lucrative incentive an employer could offer for this up-and-coming generation, with 52% agreeing that promotion opportunities were equal to job selection. To put this in perspective, the same report indicated that only 44% of those surveyed selected competitive wages as a determining factor.
The landscape of business will undeniably be impacted by this modern, unfamiliar preference of career progression over competitive wages. It is clear that employers, who are unaware, indifferent or simply unwilling to tailor their strategy to this incoming generation, will be left behind in an increasingly modern, innovative economy. Although this ambition is undoubtedly positive, it is important to bear in mind the fact that this ambition could unnerve or stifle other generations.
While acknowledging the importance of this vigor, the report further indicated that although millennials are comfortable working with older generations and value mentors, in particular, there were signs of tensions. 38% of those surveyed said that older senior management do not relate to younger workers, and 34% said that their personal drive was intimidating to other generations. Employers that are unaware of this fact will ensure their businesses are increasingly susceptible to co-worker tensions and inefficient work.
Importance of Job
This incoming generation of millennials already makes up over 40% of the workforce, a figure that is expected to rise to 75% by 2025. This generation are bound to make a telling impact in every aspect of the business environment. A survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield Global Business Consulting Publication asked thousands of young participants to agree or disagree with a variety of statements pertaining to their workplace. A striking 95% of millennials agreed with this sentiment "I work harder when I understand how my work contributes to the company's mission".
This generation of workers believes that being acutely aware of the importance and relevance of the job at hand is a motivating factor behind doing it with enthusiasm and diligence. Furthermore, millennials have developed a culture of consistently acquiring new knowledge and bettering oneself in all aspects of their work lives, with 89% of participants agreeing with the statement that "I believe it's important to be constantly learning".
Employers across the country are adapting their strategies to fit in with this new generation of workers. These millennials are having a monumental impact on how businesses are run nationwide and their numbers are growing interminably; understanding and interacting with this new generation could be the difference between growth and stagnation.
As arguably the most successful millennial to date, Mark Zuckerberg once said
"Understanding people is not a waste of time"
Prepare for the Growth of Millennials in Your Workforce with HR Management Software.
Categories: Social Publishing, Useful Articles, Human ResourcesBy pierce 10th August 2015
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How to Promote Effective Team Communication
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It's very easy to locate friends via any kind of page on Facebook. Simply log into your account and also utilize the search field at the top of any kind of Facebook page. You could key in a name or email address. If somebody else on your Friends list is friends with the person you're trying to find, their name ought to appear near the top of the results. Otherwise, you can click for extra search engine result and also scan to see if faces or locations provided in someone's profile appearance acquainted.
If you have a mutual friend, you can locate people with that individual's Friends list. For instance, if you have several high-school friends on your Friends list, you could be able to discover more via one of those people. Just click their name, which will bring you to their personal Facebook web page. After that, click Friends and also scan through the list.
Once you locate the friend you want, click his or her name to present their Facebook web page. There are 2 means to Add a friend from the top of this web page, and also both have the very same effect.
Then, simply wait to see if the individual accepts your request. Remember that your outcomes might not be prompt. Nonetheless, when that person accepts your request, you ought to receive a notification as well as perhaps even an email regarding it if that alternative is enabled in your Facebook setups.
When somebody requests to be your Facebook friend, you'll obtain a notification in the top (or bottom, relying on your device) food selection bar. When received, you have the choice to accept, deny, or do nothing at all.
To inspect impressive requests (along with see that has actually requested you), click the very same friend Requests icon from any kind of Facebook web page. A list of exceptional demands must drop down. Click "See All" to bring up all those friend Demands. That web page additionally has an option to "View Sent Requests" so you could see that has yet to reply to you.
A common method to discover friends on Facebook is to extract your existing Friends list. Click on your name or profile picture from any Facebook web page to bring up your personal web page. After that, click Friends. This will bring up every one of your Facebook friends. Choose one, whether it's a neighbor, secondary school friend, or family member. Then click on their friends list and also scroll via the options. Everyone's name ought to have the alternative to friend them, unless they have actually set privacy setups to do otherwise.
Facebook also periodically makes friend ideas. These usually appear in your information feed or in the right-hand bar. You could likewise navigate over to you Friends list, click "Locate Friends" in the upper right-hand corner, as well as browse the selection below. Delighted friending!


text:
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Yansongda\Pay\Plugin\Wechat\Shortcut;

use Yansongda\Pay\Contract\ShortcutInterface;
use Yansongda\Pay\Exception\Exception;
use Yansongda\Pay\Exception\InvalidParamsException;
use Yansongda\Pay\Plugin\Wechat\Pay\Common\FindRefundPlugin;
use Yansongda\Pay\Plugin\Wechat\Pay\Common\QueryPlugin;
use Yansongda\Supports\Str;

class QueryShortcut implements ShortcutInterface
{
    /**
     * @throws \Yansongda\Pay\Exception\InvalidParamsException
     */
    public function getPlugins(array $params): array
    {
        if (isset($params['combine_out_trade_no'])) {
            return $this->combinePlugins();
        }

        $typeMethod = Str::camel($params['_type'] ?? 'default').'Plugins';

        if (method_exists($this, $typeMethod)) {
            return $this->{$typeMethod}();
        }

        throw new InvalidParamsException(Exception::SHORTCUT_MULTI_TYPE_ERROR, "Query type [$typeMethod] not supported");
    }

    protected function defaultPlugins(): array
    {
        return [
            QueryPlugin::class,
        ];
    }

    protected function refundPlugins(): array
    {
        return [
            FindRefundPlugin::class,
        ];
    }

    protected function combinePlugins(): array
    {
        return [
            \Yansongda\Pay\Plugin\Wechat\Pay\Combine\QueryPlugin::class,
        ];
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


As We Were Suzanne tries to track down the vampire who killed her family, while her friend Lope tries to stop revenge from taking over her life. Art by Shazzbaa.
From Scratch Aaron gets roped into helping a small band of supernatural creatures take down a group of mobsters. Art by Jose Pimenta.


text:
namespace cn_util
{

static const size_t UNLIMIT_ASYNC_POOL_SIZE = SIZE_MAX;

// @Class:   AsyncPool
// @Author:  cao.ning
// @Date:    2017/05/17
// @Brief:
class AsyncPool
{
public:
    AsyncPool() { run_ = false; }
    virtual ~AsyncPool() { Stop(); }

    void Start(size_t init_size = std::thread::hardware_concurrency(),
               size_t max_size = UNLIMIT_ASYNC_POOL_SIZE,
               bool self_adaptation = true)
    {
        if (run_) { throw std::exception("is_running"); }
        // init member
        init_size_ = init_size;
        max_size_ = max_size;
        self_adaptation_ = self_adaptation;
        working_count_ = 0;
        last_self_adaptation_time_ = 0;
        run_ = true;

        for (size_t idx = 0; idx < init_size; ++idx)
        {
            threads_.push_back(new std::thread(&AsyncPool::executing, this));
        }
    }

    void Stop()
    {
        run_ = false;
        cv_.notify_all();
        for (auto ptr : threads_)
        {
            ptr->join();
            delete ptr;
        }
        threads_.clear();
        working_count_ = 0;
    }

    template<class Func, class... Args> bool Post(Func&& func, Args&&... args)
    {
        if (run_)
        {
            std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lg(mutex_);
            waiting_list_.emplace_back(std::bind(std::forward<Func>(func),
                std::forward<Args>(args)...));
            bool post_res = true;
            if (working_count_ == threads_.size()
                && threads_.size() < max_size_)    // need expand
            {
                try
                {
                    // if threads size reachs upper bound of system
                    // new function will throw exception
                    auto thp = new std::thread(&AsyncPool::executing, this);
                    threads_.push_back(thp);
                    last_self_adaptation_time_ = time(nullptr);
                }
                catch (...)
                {
                    post_res = false;
                }
            }
            cv_.notify_all();
            return post_res;
        }
        return false;
    }

    inline uint32_t WorkingCount() const { return working_count_; }
    inline uint32_t PoolSize() const { return threads_.size(); }
private:
    void executing()
    {
        while (run_)
        {
            // only waiting if list is empty
            if (waiting_list_.empty())
            {
                std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(mutex_);
                cv_.wait_for(lk, std::chrono::seconds(1));
            }
            if (!run_) { break; }
            mutex_.lock();
            if (!waiting_list_.empty())
            {
                ++working_count_;
                auto f(std::move(waiting_list_.front()));
                waiting_list_.pop_front();
                mutex_.unlock();
                f();
                --working_count_;
                if (self_adaptation_ && need_self_adaptation())
                {
                    last_self_adaptation_time_ = time(nullptr);
                    Post(std::bind(&AsyncPool::close_thread, this,
                        std::placeholders::_1), std::this_thread::get_id());
                    // outof thread
                    break;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                mutex_.unlock();
            }
        }
    }

    inline bool need_self_adaptation()
    {
        std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lg(mutex_);
        size_t thsize = threads_.size();
        return thsize > init_size_ && working_count_ < thsize / 3
            && time(nullptr) - last_self_adaptation_time_ > 5;
        // close one thread at most in 5 sec
    }

    void close_thread(std::thread::id tid)
    {
        for (auto it = threads_.begin(); it != threads_.end(); ++it)
        {
            auto thp = (*it);
            if (thp->get_id() == tid)
            {
                thp->join();
                delete thp;
                threads_.erase(it);
                last_self_adaptation_time_ = time(nullptr);
                return;
            }
        }
    }
private:
    size_t init_size_, max_size_;
    bool self_adaptation_;
    time_t last_self_adaptation_time_;
    std::atomic<uint32_t> working_count_;
    std::mutex mutex_;
    std::condition_variable cv_;
    std::atomic_bool run_;
    std::deque<std::thread*> threads_;
    std::deque<std::function<void(void)>> waiting_list_;
};

} // namespace cn_util END

#endif // __CN_UTIL_ASYNC_POOL_H__


For a possible cosponsored session with the Hinduism Group, we seek proposals considering how modern Hindus have translated, articulated, and in other ways seriously engaged with foundational categories of "liberalism," including rationalism, freedom, religious toleration, and racial, social, and gender equality.
Presenters will be asked to provide a full manuscript for precirculation by October 15, 2012.
Liberal theology in all its varieties has been a robust intellectual and religious presence in North America from the colonial era to the present. The theologians involved with this Group, who come from many different universities and religious schools in North America and from abroad, are committed to continuing this tradition. Our focus is plural — we look across religious traditions. It is interdisciplinary — we welcome the participation, among others, of historians, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and philosophers engaged with questions of vital moment to liberal theologies. Our gaze is to the future — we are determined to develop new perspectives, new ways of speaking, and new combinations of ideas that will better address the intellectual and social circumstances in which we find ourselves. Participants in the Group are welcome to access the Liberal Theologies website.


text:
HomeCrimeVero Beach Man Busted on Facebook Live Video
Vero Beach Man Busted on Facebook Live Video
August 15, 2019 Andy Hodges Crime 0
Deputies watched Julia Thomas driving without a driver's license as he made a Facebook Live video in Vero Beach, Florida.
If you don't have a driver's license and have had previous encounters with police, you may not want to drive while making a Facebook Live video.
A deputy observed a Facebook Live video showing a man operating a gas-powered all-terrain vehicle in Vero Beach. The deputy knows the man does not have a valid driver's license from prior encounters, according to the Indian River County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies watched as 37-year-old Julia Thomas of Vero Beach drove the vehicle on 59th Street, then executed a U-turn to travel back towards 58th Avenue, while on Facebook Live.
Then, they responded to the area and located the vehicle parked in front of his home.
"Mr. Thomas's Florida license status returned a result of suspended," the deputy said.
Thomas had his license suspended for failing a pay a traffic fine in March 2019 and July 2019, according to the affidavit. He was arrested for driving while his license was suspended with knowledge.
Thomas was transported to the Indian River County Jail. He has since been released after posting a $500 bond.
DISCLAIMER: Arrests and mugshots were made public by complaint affidavits, arrest affidavits, and police reports. All persons arrested are innocent until proven guilty.
Signup for the free Sebastian Daily newsletter for your chance to win free dinners and merchandise!
Copyright 2019 SebastianDaily.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Andy Hodges
Andy Hodges was born in Annapolis, Maryland. When he was age 9, his parents moved to Jupiter, Florida. Andy spent several years at various radio & television stations in Florida such as WLIZ, WFLX-FOX 29, WIRK, WIXI, WKSY, WRMF, and WJNO to name a few. In 1994, Andy made a career change to computer programming and worked for several technology companies (two are Fortune 500) in Atlanta, Georgia. However, Andy returned to Florida and settled in the small town of Sebastian in 2002. In 2005, he returned to the broadcasting news sector and eventually joined our news team in 2016 as editor in chief. Andy's family has lived in Sebastian for more than 45 years.
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Letters to the Editor for January 21, 2020
Finally Friday Fest in Sebastian with Pareidolia Brewing Company
Apply for Medicare Before You are Ready to Retire
Sebastian braces for cold night into Wednesday morning
Sebastian Man Charged With Felony Child Abuse
Sebastian Man Tries to Enter Wrong Home While Intoxicated
Mayor Ed Dodd reconsiders motion that reinstated board member who struck a police officer
2 Barefoot Bay Women Charged With Grand Theft
Septic to Sewer Grant Program in the Sebastian Community Redevelopment Agency District
U-Pick Raspberry Pale Ale at Pareidolia Brewing Company
Letters to the Editor: Sebastian Pest Management, Rogue City Council Members
Latest News & Weather in Sebastian for 1/17/2020
What's Happening: Frog Leg Festival, Riverfront Fine Art & Music Festival, Live Entertainment
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text:
Featuring music from Michael Franti's tenth studio album, Stay Human Vol. II, available now.
In a quest to hold on to humanity and STAY HUMAN in the craziness of the world we live in today, award-winning musician Michael Franti takes us on a personal journey through his songs and stories of extraordinary humans who inspire him to overcome cynicism with optimism and hope. Michael shares the tales of Robin Lim, a midwife who opened a birthing clinic in the aftermath of a devastating typhoon in the Philippines; Steve & Hope Dezember, a young couple whose love carries them through Steve's battle with ALS; Arief Rabik, an environmental scientist in Bali who perfected a method to make industrial and household products with bamboo in an effort to curb deforestation; and Sive Mazinyo and Busisiwwe Vazi, who help inspire their community of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, through music and education. Michael reflects on his own journey facing adversity as a child, struggling to find his voice as a musician, and how he came to find inspiration through these stories. He hopes to inspire people to become changemakers by utilizing creativity, tenacity, and heart to face our daily challenges as individuals, and together as citizens of our planet to STAY HUMAN.
Commentary with Michael and Sara Agah Franti
"The Flower" Music Video
Label: CINEDIGM
Stay Human [DVD]
Artist: Michael Franti & Spearhead


*David Junior Ngcobo is one of the rappers from Africa who has made name for him self at a very young age, having seen all that he has accomplished as a rapper. We all can agree he deserved a thumb up.
*In a recent interview, David Junior Ngcobo shared about how he started making music and where he got his name. Nasty C. I was a huge fan of Lil Wayne and T.I while growing up. said Nasty.
*Listening to their music which had a lot of swear words in them at a young age and singing along is what made his friends started calling him Nasty Cat.
*I didn't even know half the stuff I was rapping about, Whisper used to call me Nasty Cat because of it and I just dropped the last bit to make it Nasty C," said Nasty C.


It's been a tough fall for producers this year as rain and snow have hampered the nation's combines, and the Department of Agriculture wants to make sure producers are in line with crop insurance requirements for a slowed harvest.
Next Monday, December 10 is a critical date for producers. By that time, the insurance period for spring-planted crops covered under the Risk Management Agency (RMA) administered crop insurance program ends.
"It's not easy in some cases to understand exactly what each farmer's situation is, but you can see some of these pockets that maybe neighboring areas got their harvest out but (a different farmer) got an extra rain that shortened up the harvest season," USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey said in an interview with Agri-Pulse.
USDA's procedures allow crop insurance companies to authorize policyholders, on a case-by-case basis, more time to attempt to harvest so claims can be settled based on harvested production. That in mind, Northey said farmers need to give their insurance agent a call if they think they'll be late, and farmers have a few options.
Primarily, producers are asked to get in touch with their crop insurance agent to document the delay in harvest was not because due to a lack of sufficient equipment or manpower to harvest the crop by the end of the insurance period. If given timely notice, insurance providers can determine and document the delay in harvest was due to an insured cause of loss and a timely harvest was not possible.
Northey said he's been in contact with producers in Tennessee, and "there are some soybeans yet to harvest in that area." The same could be said, he added, for many upper plains states.
USDA has observed harvest delays in almost every state, and Northey said cotton is "very delayed" in the southern plains. Soybean harvest has also been slowed in certain areas along the East Coast or upper Midwest.
"Everthing's been behind. Behind planting, behind spraying, everything's just been behind," Maryland corn and soybean grower Mike Harrison said. "There's water laying on top of the ground and streams going through the field." He's got 100 acres of corn left to harvest and expects to be done in the next week or so.
It's the same story in southeast Michigan. Dan Cable, Vice President of the Michigan Corn Growers Association, continues to shell corn near Maybee and said they've had "tremendous rains" the entire fall. "It's hard to be upbeat about something most of us have looked forward to doing our whole life."
According to the Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service, farmers have harvested 94 percent of the nation's corn crop and 95 percent of the soybeans. The nation's cotton (98 percent), sorghum (99 percent), peanuts (96 percent), and sunflowers (87 percent) are nearly all out of fields, but almost every state has a few untouched acres.


Flanked by City Council colleagues and representatives of the city's ethnic communities, Mayor Annise Parker Wednesday signed an executive order authorizing dissemination of hurricane preparedness and other important information in five foreign languages.
The measure authorized city departments that provide essential services directly to the public to determine what type of information should be publicized and what languages should be used in the program.
Parker said the effort – the first stage to be completed in six months – will be directed to the "most needed" languages rather than the most frequently spoken.
"The city already does just about everything in Spanish," she said. "Houston also has a significant south Asian population, Pakistani and Indian, and Hindi is a commonly spoken language. But many Hindi speakers also are fluent in English."
In addition to hurricane information, the program will publicize such information as how to report a gas leak, make a police report and utilize the mass transit system. The effort will be Internet-oriented, Parker said.
More than 100 languages are spoken in Houston's ethnic communities, and almost 500,000 residents are foreign-born, Parker said.


The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Mississippi District Office announces Jennifer and Jeffrey Sutton, owners of Gulf Coast Veterinary Services, LLC of Biloxi, MS have been named the 2019 SBA Mississippi 'Small Business Persons of the Year'.
Jennifer and Jeffrey Sutton opened Gulf Coast Veterinary Services, LLC in July, 2003 in Biloxi, MS. Gulf Coast Veterinary Services operates an unparalleled facility with skilled staff to deliver exceptional urgent, emergency, and critical care to small and exotic animals. The Sutton's both graduated from veterinary school and had a passion and desire to open their business on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
"It is our pleasure to recognize the Sutton's for their accomplishments and contributions as the SBA Mississippi Small Business Persons of the Year, along with our Small Business Champion Winners and Top Lenders and Top CDC for their FY 2018 SBA small business loan activity," said Janita R. Stewart, SBA Mississippi District Director.
The SBA Mississippi District Office will honor the Small Business Persons of the Year, Small Business Champions, Top Lenders and Top CDC at an invitation-only awards ceremony taking place on Thursday, May 9, 2019, in Jackson during National Small Business Week.
Three Rivers Local Development Company, Inc.


text:
E.B. Hudspeth's 'The Resurrectionist' is an anatomical study of human-animal hybrids
By Ronni Reich | The Star-Ledger
Resurrectionist-Sphinx.JPG
Sphinx Alatus from The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth
(E.B. Hudspeth)
When E.B. Hudspeth draws a body, he starts with a rough sketch. First, he traces out the familiar parts — the arms, the legs, the torso.
Later, he adds wings, horns, scales, tusks — and, occasionally, secondary and tertiary heads.
Hudspeth, whose first name is Eric, is the author and artist of "The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black."
A fictional biography of a 19th-century surgeon, the book centers on a blasphemous hypothesis: What if birth defects and deformities were actually vestiges of human-animal hybrids that once walked the earth?
Published this week by QuirkBooks, the volume — something of a hybrid itself, marrying a novel, "biography" and an art book — includes a "Codex Extinct Animalia," with more than 100 pages of anatomical drawings by Hudspeth as detail-oriented as those found in Gray's, but devoted to mythological creatures such as the minotaur and pegasus.
"I tried to take the most scientific approach that I could," Hudspeth says. "I wanted to make it believable and fun at the same time."
The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth
For each creature he explored, the artist drew several perspectives — what it might look like in real life, as well as outlines of its bones and its muscles. One drawing of a mermaid shows rippled fish scales cascading from armor-like abdominals; elephant tusks and two sets of arms protrude from the otherwise textbook human skeleton of Ganesha.
When his editor, Jason Rekulak, opened the submission, his jaw dropped.
"I had never seen anything like it," he says.
He sent the manuscript to his sister-in-law, a forensic pathologist, to see if Hudspeth had correctly identified the body parts in the codex. She told him that everything — human and animal — was perfectly on target. And there are no shortcuts. One drawing of a sphinx names 39 muscles in Latin; a harpy even has a reproductive system.
"Most of the writers I know and most of the illustrators I know couldn't illustrate this," Rekulak says.
"He just delivered the whole package, which is really, really rare."
E.B. Hudspeth, artist and author of The Resurrectionist
sculpting and writing
Hudspeth, 36, works by day as a sculptor at the Macy's Parade Studio in Moonachie, where he and his wife, Loryn Sotsky, make floats for the annual Thanksgiving extravaganza. They live in Bayonne with their 6-year-old son, Dexter, and their 1-year-old daughter, Noa.
Asked about his art background, his first thought is, "I don't have one." He never went to college or art school. But like his character, he knows something about forging one's own path in pursuit of a singular passion.
Growing up in Denver, his teachers began taking away his notebooks as early as kindergarten because he refused to stop drawing in class. He drew on desks instead.
After high school, he took part in a stone sculpting symposium at the Marble Institute of Colorado with the artist Madeline Wiener. A Zeus that he made there caught the attention of an ice sculptor who hired him to work weddings and events — jobs that would cost clients up to $100,000. His only college education was one community college class in anatomy, which he audited because he thought a sculptor should know the body as thoroughly as possible.
He had always wanted to study sculpture in Italy, so at 23, with $600 in his pocket, he wrote to artists to find an apprenticeship and off he went. Hudspeth studied in Pietrasanta, a town in the Tuscany region that Michelangelo recognized for the quality of its marble in the 15th century.
He worked under the sculptor Giovanni Antoniazzi, who had plaster casts of classics by Michelangelo and Bernini that they used to make reproductions.
It was in Italy, working on a brass sculpture of an angel, that Hudspeth stumbled into the idea for "The Resurrectionist." He wasn't happy with the way the wings sprouted from the back and started sketching out what it would look like if they were a real, functional part of the body. More sketches followed and then came the story.
mad scientist's world
Siren Oceanus from E.B. Hudspethâs The Resurrectionist
For his plot, Hudspeth delved into the mania that might motivate someone like Dr. Black.
"I was not going to shy away from the mad scientist thing," Hudspeth says.
As a new father, he wanted to give Dr. Black children, to give his actions a heightened sense of consequences.
"I knew he was going to go into this dark world in his mind, and I still wanted him to have some human element people could relate to," he says.
Hudspeth read volumes of research on the subtopics his story covered: abnormal anatomy, medicine in the 19th century, freak shows and carnivals. He pored over "Frankenstein" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau," not wanting to duplicate anything.
He read doctors' writings and biographies, looking for not just what they said, but how they said it, what they were talking about and why, what was important at the time.
"The Resurrectionist" came to life in the late hours of the night over the course of four years. In addition to job at the Macy's studio, he was in the middle of remodeling his house — singlehandedly gutting and rebuilding an entire floor. With everyone living downstairs, he wrote next to his son's crib, carefully selecting music that would keep him quiet. (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was the favorite.)
"When everybody was asleep, I would start to work," he says.
"I didn't want to allow it to sacrifice family, and bettering our home was part of the family job."
Rekulak describes Hudspeth as "a nice, normal guy," grounded in spite of his wild ideas and a care for minutiae that might have appeared obsessive.
"When you get submissions like this, sometimes a person's so talented and brilliant, and working with them is a nightmare," he says. "Somehow, he managed to channel crazy without being crazy."
Siren Oceanus from E.B. Hudspeth's The Resurrectionist
'making it work'
With each drawing, Hudspeth first thought about proportion and symmetry, about how to make sure even unusual features looked deliberate and natural. They all posed challenges.
But the harpy — a bird-woman whose mythological role involves tormenting men — really lived up to her reputation as a nuisance. Usually, when an animal has wings, it doesn't have arms, but the harpy has both. The ribcages are fundamentally different.
"To try to do things just so, considering the physiology, you beat yourself up over it," Hudspeth says. "But then you have to stop and realize these just aren't real."
"It's a game, and it was fun, but I did stress out and labor over it trying to get something that can't be to look like it can be."
Hudspeth has considered the possibility of small sculptures to go along with his book and he's in the research stage of a sequel that would follow Black's children into the early 20th century.
He's still working out the specifics. But given the results of his trip to Italy, and his impulse to devote hours to perfecting fingertips and wing-feathers, there's reason to trust his instincts.
As he says, "I have a history of jumping right in feet first and making it work."
• Pop-up art galleries bring art to N.J. downtowns
• Wave Gothic Festival photos: Oh, by goth by golly


text:
Hands-on with GoldenEye 007: Reloaded's multiplayer
Posted 10 years ago by Hamza Aziz
Like most, I am a huge fan of GoldenEye 64. It was my gateway drug into the wonderful world of first-person shooters. Hundreds of hours were wasted in "slappers only" multiplayer matches, causing the frame rate to come to a crawl by abusing remote mines, and exploiting the game in order to dual-wield a rocket launcher and the Golden Gun at the same time.
A re-release of the Nintendo 64 classic will forever be in limbo, so developer Eurocom and publisher Activision went and re-imagined GoldenEye for the Wii instead. It was actually pretty good and one of the best first-person shooters on the Wii.
The game was able to stand out due largely to the very small first-person shooter selection available on the platform. Now, thanks to fan demand, GoldenEye is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Based on what I played, though, it's going to have one hell of a time trying to stand out from the powerhouses that dominate these two consoles.
GoldenEye 007: Reloaded (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [Previewed])
Developer: Eurocom
Publisher: Activision
Release: November 1, 2011
Developer Eurocom worked on a brand new engine to bring GoldenEye 007 to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, in order to deliver HD visuals at 60 frames per second. The visual upgrade is pretty huge and vastly better than the Wii version for sure, but don't expect anything mind-blowing either, especially those of you big on FPS console games already.
In terms of single-player, it's basically the same experience as the Wii version minus the motion controls. Basically, you're James Bond, and you have to stop bad guys from doing bad things to the world. So, you know, basically every plot of every James Bond movie. Sidenote: GoldenEye is my second favorite Bond movie of all time. Go watch if you haven't seen it by now.
What is new is the addition of a single-player challenge section called Mi6 Operative. These missions are based in the campaign levels, where you have to complete various objectives in four different types of modes. For instance, in Stealth mode, you have to kill all the enemies stealthily (duh!). The one I tried out was Assault mode, where I had to take out multiple waves of foes.
The real draw of GoldenEye is, of course, the muliplayer mode. First, yes, there is four-player split-screen play, and it's pretty great. All the maps are coming back with the addition of four new ones too. Playing with others in the same room brought back some great memories, and I kind of miss those feelings that come with split-screen play.
The Internet has made playing with others extremely convenient, and of course, there will be 16-player online matches with Reloaded. Returning modes will include Golden Gun, License to Kill, Conflict, GoldenEye, and more. Additionally, there will be four new modes:
Bomb Defuse: Two teams are tasked with retrieving a single bomb and planting it at one of two designated points on the map. Victory goes to the team who successfully plants and defends the bomb.
Escalation: A conflict-style game mode where players progress through pre-set selection of weapons, making an elimination with each other to progress to the next weapon in the sequence.
Detonator Agent: One player carries a bomb with a 60-second fuse, each elimination passes the bomb over to the player killed.
Data Miner: Download a data file while everyone else is trying to kill you.
The only new mode I played was Escalation, and it's a lot like Gun Game from Call of Duty: Black Ops. Every kill you make grants you a new and stronger gun. Unlike Gun Game, though, this mode is a lot more forgiving. If you get killed once, you'll still have the last gun you acquired. Get killed twice in a row, and you'll be dropped back to your previous gun.
My one major concern with Reloaded is with the controls. The single most important thing about an FPS on a console is the controls, and Reloaded was nowhere near where I would like it to be in that department. Turning is extremely sluggish, and the aiming system felt very loose. I had to play around with the look sensitivity quite a bit to make the turning decent, but there wasn't much I could do about aiming. That precision you get with something like Call of Duty just wasn't there. I also felt that the weapon kick and muzzle flash was way too obtrusive.
I don't think the controls were completely game-breaking (I still won every match I played), but it definitely needs to be fine-tuned. The shotgun in particular needs to be rebalanced, as it is completely overpowered. Not to be a bragging asshole, but I joined a match in the middle of progress and ended up winning thanks to the shotty.
Speaking of weapons, expect over 30 guns plus grenades, mines, and more. All the weapons can be customized with attachments too. There are over 44 playable characters, and some of them come with special weapons, like Oddjob's stupid throwing hat and Hugo Drax's Moonraker laser pistol.
Additionally, you can assign three perks to your character. The first perk is reserved for the type of mine you can use, the second for increasing your character's stats (such as speed), and the third for powering up your weapons.
Another potential game-breaker I discovered was with the third perk option. Like Call of Duty, you will unlock perks as you play, and the highest perk you can earn for your weapons is called Multitasking. Here, you're allowed to use any primary weapon as a replacement for your secondary weapon (normally reserved for pistols). You can be sure to expect players to just go nuts with this option. Not to keep bringing up the Call of Duty series here, but there's a really good reason why Infinity Ward made shotguns a primary-only weapon now for Modern Warfare 3 instead of as a secondary like past Modern Warfare games.
I think what Activision is banking on here with GoldenEye is all the fans of the old game. If you're a first-shooter nut, your money is already tied to Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3. It really doesn't help that GoldenEye is being released between those two games either. If anything, I feel like GoldenEye is best left to people just getting into FPS gaming or to the kids who are way too young for something like the M-rated counterparts (GoldenEye is rated T.)
Above all else, I really feel like GoldenEye 007:Reloaded could do with a few more months of development. Not only do I feel like it will give Eurocom more time to tighten the controls, I also think that pushing the release would ensure that the game won't go unnoticed amongst the storm of AAA titles next month.
Hamza Aziz
Filed under... #Activision#GoldenEye 007: Reloaded#James Bond#Trailers
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"No, we won't go to them," Xia Yuling refused, "I've already done so much for them over the years. It's time for them to come to me."
Xiao Jie looked at her friend and realized, once a woman's heart was hardened, it could be strong enough to destroy the earth.
In the past, this could be witnessed via Tangning. Now, Xia Yuling was the same.
Of course, pulling oneself up from a painful abyss was difficult, but bravely moving forward was the only way to break through to a new life of freedom.
[Secrets of the Rich Revealed: Two Families Involved in Shocking Scandal!]"
Without a doubt, the Tang Family's scandal immediately jumped to the top of search rankings. After all, with both Tangning and her birth secret involved, the drawing power was incomparable.
Plus, the way that the story unfolded was much too entertaining for those that followed it. After all, the person originally labeled a mistress, turned out to be legitimate and even had to put up with years of suffering and judgment. While the woman that claimed to be legitimate turned out to be the one that was involved in an affair; her actions were completely immoral!
As the scandal involved both a famous celebrity and wealthy socialite family, the public couldn't help gossiping about it.
"Now that I think about it carefully, back when Tangning had her accident, rumors suddenly started out of nowhere about her keeping ghosts. At that time, the rumor went completely viral; she was even replaced by the producer of her film. If this series of events was instigated by someone in the Tang Family, then that's quite terrifying."
"This is nothing. In the world of the wealthy, people would do anything for the sake of power."
"Quick, look. An a.n.a.lysis post has been placed online."
"Who is Hai Rui looking for? And who was Xia Yuling referring to? It has to be her: the eldest daughter of the Tang Family - Tang Xuan!"
"It has been rumored that Tang Xuan and Tangning are on bad terms. In fact, Tang Xuan was the reason that Tangning left the Tang Family."
"This Tang Family heiress is brutal. I've met her in the past. She is arrogant and sn.o.bby!"
The netizens were undoubtedly powerful. So, it didn't take long for them to come to the conclusion that Tangning's accident had something to do with Tang Xuan.
Because, out of everyone in the Tang Family, she was the only one at odds with Tangning.
"It seems, Xia Yuling had reached her limit. That's why she stepped out to reveal the truth. I guess the almighty heiress has now turned into a mistress' daughter."
"And here she was being all shameless and bullying the legitimate heiress. She deserved being exposed by Xia Yuling!"
"Tangning left home at 17 and has been working hard on her own, yet Tang Xuan still wouldn't let her go. She is much too cruel."
All of a sudden, information about the three illegitimate siblings was dug up by netizens.
After seeing news about the press conference, Elder Tang sat in his study room for quite some time without saying a word. At the same time, over at the hospital and college, Tang Yichen and Tang Jingxuan were surprised, but...they somehow felt that it wasn't bad for the revelation to be made. After all, Tang Xuan had made a mess of the Tang Family and had almost gone out of control.
Meanwhile, from the time the press conference ended, Tang Qinwen remained hidden in the hotel bathroom, too afraid to step out. He simply sat on the floor in disbelief because he couldn't believe what Xia Yuling had done to him.
It felt like something she shouldn't have done, but at the same time, it was reasonable for her to have done it!
The only one to react angrily was Tang Xuan, who jumped out of her seat as soon as she saw the news. In disbelief, she turned to her a.s.sistant and asked, "Is this a joke? This must be a part of the b*tch's trick, right?"
"How could I possibly be the daughter of a mistress?"
"My mother is the heiress of Liang Corp! How could she be a mistress?"
"I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it," Tang Xuan took a few steps back and leaned on her office chair in a daze. It was obvious she couldn't accept what had happened.
"President Tang. This is all real," her a.s.sistant replied, "Madam Tang presented everyone with evidence..."
"But, the original records can't be forged."
"I don't care..." Tang Xuan had suffered a huge blow. As she slid lifelessly onto the floor, she cried, "I am the Tang Family heiress. Tangning is the daughter of a mistress! She has to be!"
Her a.s.sistant looked at her and took a few steps to the side. It was obvious that Tang Xuan couldn't accept the truth. No matter who tried to comfort her at a time like this, they were bound to be treated like an enemy.
For a woman that was power-hungry to be told that her mother was actually a mistress and have it revealed in front of the entire nation, how was she to ever face the world again?
It hit Tang Xuan so bad that she couldn't fight back.
Everything she did had completely backfired on her. It took so much scheming to think of the cruelest way to deal with Tangning, yet, in the end, she received her retribution and dug her own grave.
This time, not only did the entire nation know she was the daughter of a mistress, they also found out how she ruthlessly schemed against her own sister!
So, it was no surprise that Tang Xuan was sitting on the floor in a daze.
How was she to ever step foot out the front door again?
Her a.s.sistant simply kept her company and watched over her. Eventually, Elder Tang made a phone call, "How's Tang Xuan?"
"Chairman, she is not doing well," the a.s.sistant replied honestly. "She's sitting on the floor, not saying a word, completely in a daze."
"Bring her home. She should meet with Yuling, admit to her wrongdoings and offer an apology."
"OK, I'll bring her home now," the a.s.sistant nodded.
"Also, she should step down from the position of Acting President...From now on, she shouldn't dream of touching the Tang Family business again."
The a.s.sistant hung up the phone with a dark look in his eyes, but he still walked over to Tang Xuan and helped her off the floor, "The Chairman wants me to take you home."
Tang Xuan glanced at her a.s.sistant. Perhaps it was because she mistook him for her husband, she pounced forward, wrapped him in a hug and cried.
As soon as he saw the two huddled up together, he was obviously shocked, "Let her go!"
The a.s.sistant was surprised as he quickly tried to explain, "The Chairman..."
"Don't tell me there's still something going on between the two of you in private!"
"Mr. Zhong, please don't misunderstand," the a.s.sistant bowed with respect.
"Hmmph," Tang Xuan's husband grabbed onto her hand and pulled her into the elevator.
In reality, he was quite fired up too. From the time that he married Tang Xuan, she had continuously begged him to let her work and refused to have children. Now, it was discovered that she hurt her own sister for the sake of power and had been exposed on national news. He was, after all, the owner of a famous s.h.i.+pping company. How could he let the public look at him in ridicule because of his wife?
Above all, Tang Xuan's true ident.i.ty as a mistress' daughter had been proven!
It was obvious this marriage was reaching its limits.
...it always made him feel uncomfortable.
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text:
Les campagnes jouent un rôle important en Italie. En effet, après avoir été un pays rural, l'Italie va se moderniser inégalement au . Cela explique en partie des clivages persistants au sein du pays : schématiquement entre un Nord industriel et plus riche et un sud plus paysan et moins prospère.

Antiquité

Moyen Âge

Renaissance

Période moderne

Les campagnes dans les évolutions politiques et sociales de l'Italie du premier

Le monde rural italien a — selon Gilles Pécout, l'historien de référence concernant ce sujet — longtemps été victime de clichés positifs ou négatifs, de l'image de pauvreté extrême et d'immobilisme. Il insiste sur les préjugés à ne pas avoir : une unité du monde paysan, un isolement à relativiser, des valeurs paysannes qu'on retrouve aussi à la ville.

Les marques des évolutions politiques et sociales ne sont donc pas absentes de la campagne, et la campagne n'est pas ilotée de la ville, si bien qu'elle a aussi une influence dans le pays. L'« ordre éternel des champs », ajoute Pécout, n'est pas une réalité. Cependant il faut nuancer le propos, car l'évolution italienne sera beaucoup plus lente que dans le reste de l'Europe (du Nord notamment).

La situation économique des campagnes en Italie est désastreuse tout au long du . Encore aujourd'hui, une rupture existe entre Italie du Nord fortement industrialisée et Italie du Sud plus rurale et endormie, telles que les a décrites dans une opposition binaire Gramsci, d'où des mouvements séparatistes tels que la ligue du Nord. Mais il s'agit des évolutions politiques et sociales dont nous allons parler, conséquences directes des mauvaises conditions économique que la péninsule italienne et les îles italiennes connaissent dans la période que nous étudions, le premier  qui court de la campagne d'Italie à la fin de la première phase du Risorgimento. La politisation peut en effet jouer le rôle d'intégrateur au sein de la démocratisation libérale et de la nation.

Un sombre tableau

 Disparités et influences
La société italienne est à cette époque divisée en deux strates séparées : classe dirigeante et paysannerie. Il faut parler des deux : il n'y a pas que des paysans à la campagne. La classe dirigeante à la campagne (possidenti) et l'Église influencent en effet les paysans (cf. Le Guépard, même si hors-période), et pour comprendre les campagnes italiennes à cette époque, il nous faut une vue d'ensemble.

 Des campagnes extrêmement pauvres
La paysannerie donc constitue la majeure partie de la population et dont « le sort est aussi immuable que le système d'économie rurale dont il est la conséquence ». On chôme beaucoup : les journaliers (braccianti) n'arrivant souvent pas à travailler plus de 6 mois par an en cumulant leurs journées de travail, les petits fermiers sont à la merci de n'importe quel aléa (sécheresse) et leurs fermes ne permettent pas parfois leur simple autosubsistance. Ils vivent sous la menace de l'expropriation. Être métayer n'est guère plus rentable au vu des rendements. Ni viande, ni lait, on se nourrit de galettes ou de polenta faites à partir du peu de grain dont on dispose. On en est même réduit à chercher la chaleur dans les étables l'hiver.

 Des paysans dépendants
Plusieurs cas de figure : soit l'on est journalier, et donc à la merci des propriétaires des latifundia, soit l'on est permanent dans ces latifundia et l'on vit un peu mieux à la merci du propriétaire, soit encore on possède sa parcelle de terre —trop petite — et l'on lutte pour survivre (voir plus haut) face aux créanciers. Il se trouve donc deux possibilités : l'exode rural vers des villes peu accueillantes et déjà saturées ou la révolte. Ainsi on assiste à des pillages, destruction de registres et occupations qui sont sans « signification politique précise ». Garibaldi a d'ailleurs su exploiter ces révoltes face au pouvoir des Bourbons, mais n'hésitera pas à les écraser pour rassurer les propriétaires.

 Une forte concentration des terres
Mais revenons dans la période qui nous intéresse. D'un point de vue foncier maintenant: en effet, même si les chiffres sont postérieurs, ils permettent d'avoir un aperçu assez fidèle des conditions : 50 % des terres appartiennent à 8 nobles et 30 % sont soumis à la mainmorte. Cela corrobore la problématique des latifundia.

 Une impossibilité de s'exprimer par des voies classiques
Si l'on considère l'aspect politique, le suffrage universel n'a été instauré qu'à partir des lois de 1912 et 1919, bien après l'Italie du premier . Les campagnes pour jouer un rôle dans les évolutions politiques et sociales ont dû trouver des dérivatifs (discussions publiques). Selon Gilles Pécout, les libertés politiques acquises (de presse, d'association et de réunion) n'ont en outre pas été expliquées à la « classe contadina ». Ainsi également Sereni affirme que les paysans ont été mis de côté lors de l'Unité, la fin des pratiques féodales profitant à la bourgeoisie.

Le redémarrage

 Une meilleure éducation
Dans les années 1830-1840, les élites pré-unitaires rêvent d'une économie unifiée qui passe par la modernisation des campagnes. Cette modernisation est menée via l'éducation agraire.

 La modernisation
Durant les années 1840-1850, mise en place d'une irrigation systématique, de la fertilisation chimique et de la mécanisation en Toscane, Lombardie et Piémont (c'est-à-dire principalement au Nord) favorisée par les mairies et les grands propriétaires

Il y a hausse des prix agricoles dans le Nord. Le Sud n'en profite presque pas, comme la modernisation citée ci-dessus.

De nos jours

Bibliographie

Manuels et ouvrages généraux
 Serge Bernstein et Pierre Milza, L'Histoire du , Hatier, Paris, 1996

Ouvrages spécialisés
 Sous la direction de Michel Pigenet et Gilles Pécout, Campagnes et Sociétés en Europe 1830-1930, Les Éditions de l'Atelier, 2005
 Gilles Pécout, Politisation et transition étatique dans les campagnes toscanes du Risorgimento, in Les Actes du Colloque international du 20-22 février 1997 à Rome

Géographie de l'Italie
Agriculture en Italie


Perched on a dusty ridge overlooking the Rio Grande, the tiny town of Langtry lies in the thick of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, about 60 miles west of Del Rio. Langtry sprang up in 1882 as a railroad camp during the construction of the Southern Pacific line. Among the profiteers following the railroad was Roy Bean, a tent-saloon operator who became Langtry's justice of the peace. The grizzled Bean—pictured ahorseback in this undated photo—relished the position, branding himself the "Law West of the Pecos." Holding court at his Jersey Lilly Saloon, Bean built a reputation as a cantankerous and opportunistic arbiter, once fining a corpse $40 for carrying a concealed weapon. The Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center (a Texas Department of Transportation Travel Information Center) preserves Bean's 122-year-old wooden saloon and his adobe home, along with historical artifacts such as Bean's intricately carved walking stick. On Nov. 1, the visitor center celebrates its 50th anniversary with historical exhibits and children's activities.


Hexie the Side Table will put a spell on you!
I think everyone had/has an older family member with one of these vintage style geometric side tables. They are basically made of plastic and without any sprucing they pretty dang ugly. I was sold on this piece and definitely saw the potential when I noticed the knobs! So cute.
So because of the plastic nature of this piece you almost HAVE to use chalk paint. I personally think it works better than any primer. I used 2 coats of Reloved Chalk Paint (BTW - local Edmonton company!) in Cotton as my base. The lilac colour is an interior Behr paint, with no name as I got it for cheap, cheap, cheap as a mis-tint! And then I gently sanded the purple so the white layer could show through. Then it was sealed with Minwax Polyacrylic Sealer. Obviously little legs were added and doing that is one of my favourite ways to update furniture. She's got a whole new personality!


text:
Masthay looks to regain confidence for playoffs
Packers punter Tim Masthay is looking to bounce back in the playoffs from a second-half slump.
Masthay looks to regain confidence for playoffs Packers punter Tim Masthay is looking to bounce back in the playoffs from a second-half slump. Check out this story on packersnews.com: https://pck.rs/1B25HQL
Weston Hodkiewicz, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 11:32 a.m. CT Dec. 30, 2014 | Updated 11:57 a.m. CT Dec. 30, 2014
Green Bay Packers punter Tim Masthay almost has a punt blocked by the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Dec. 14.(Photo: Jim Matthews/Press-Gazette Media)
It was shaping up to be the best season of Tim Masthay's career.
At the halfway mark of the 2014 season, the Green Bay Packers' punter was on pace to not only reset his team record for net punting average for the fifth consecutive season (42.2 yards per punt), but also his single-season mark for gross average (47.0).
While the team has rallied since its 44-23 loss to New Orleans in Week 8, the second half of the year hasn't been as kind to Masthay. His last 21 punts have come with a 40.1 gross average and 33.6 net.
The 27-year-old Masthay was discussing his career-low 49 punts this season with a small group of reporters on Monday when he offered an assessment of his play. He admitted he felt accountable for some of the special-teams lapses over the past two months, including Marcus Thigpen's 75-yard punt return for a touchdown two weeks ago in Buffalo and his blocked punt against Philadelphia.
Like many other specialists before him, Masthay is encountering the first long slump of his career. Now, he needs pull himself out of it.
"It's been kind of a frustrating year for me because the first half of the year went very well, and the second half of the year has not gone very well at all," Masthay said. "The regular season's over and it's time to clean-sheet it and make a little run here in the playoffs. So I'm looking forward to the next game."
Masthay finished the year with a 44.1 gross average and 37.0 net with a career-low percentage of punts inside the 20 (14-of-49 for 28.6 percent) and a league-high in touch-back percentage (4-of-49 for 8.2 percent).
In Sunday's 30-20 win over Detroit, Masthay's three punts went for a 39.0 gross average and 27.7 net. His first punt to former Packers returner Jeremy Ross was brought back 14 yards to the Detroit 49 at the start of the third quarter.
Special-teams coach Shawn Slocum believes there is some technique involved in Masthay's slump and a few areas that can be "fine-tuned."
"His first punt was not good enough. I think Tim needs to punt better," Slocum said. "He needs to move forward and we've talked about that. His second and third punts, the first of the two, I called that punt to kick out of bounds to take Jeremy out of the play with 2:40 or so in the game. And then the one there at the end, they brought a bunch of people and I thought Tim did a nice job of getting it off fast and taking the returner out of the play."
The Packers stood by kicker Mason Crosby during a disastrous 2012 season when he missed 12 field goals on 33 attempts for a league-worst 63.6 percent. Crosby rebounded with the best year of his career in 2013, completing 33-of-37 attempts for 89.2 percent.
Masthay is close friends with Crosby and talked with him about it, but it wasn't just advice he was seeking. Sometimes the most helpful part is just bouncing things off each other and "getting things off our chest."
Ultimately, Masthay knows it comes down to him.
"(I'm) not as high on confidence as I have been in the past," Masthay said. "I'd be flat-out lying if I didn't say that, and that's just because things haven't gone very well the second half of the season, whether it's been the touchdown we gave up, the second block we gave up, just some poor punts, it's been kind of myriad of negative plays that I have directly contributed to. So going forth, that's what I think anyway. I think I've got to regain confidence. The trick is doing that but that's what I've got to do. I've got to figure out how to regain confidence and be the punter that I've been in the past."
Masthay feels refreshed with the playoff schedule and said he's "not worried" about regaining form. He arrived on a future contract in 2010 and played well enough to earn a four-year extension in 2012.
Now, he wants to turn a corner. It starts in the playoffs.
"Slumps are common to professional athletes or just athletes in general, whether you're a professional athlete, college athlete, high-school athlete, whatever," Masthay said. "Most players experience a downturn in performance at some point, and one of the things that give some players staying power is their ability to bounce back from a slump. So that's what I'm going to try to do."
-- whodkiew@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @WesHod.