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Marcos Zegers
All Rising Photographers
"I am a Chilean photographer, with a background in architecture and with a strong interest in geopolitical, territorial and migration conflicts. My work focuses on long-term documentary projects in which I illustrate urgent situations through a careful and studied proposal.
My work has been exhibited in Chile (Animal, Ekho Gallery), and fairs in London, Paris, Shanghai and New York and I participated in photo festivals as PhotoEspaña (Esp), Format (UK) and FIFV (Chile). Recently my documentary project was published on The New York Times which gave me the opportunity to start working as a freelancer for the same newspaper. I teach at the University Diego Portales in Chile where I currently live."
About Mining and Exodus in the Atacama Desert
This visual essay is the narrative of an endless journey through the desert and the Andes Highlands in Bolivia and Chile. A paused and deep journey through places full of memory. What appears to be photographs of elements randomly dispersed throughout the territory, when consciously grouped together, are transformed into a linear narrative linked to the extractive era. Like a map that is revealed in parts, a harsh story uncovers the relationship between mining activities and cultural displacements, all united under a common element in dispute, water.
Following the course of the extractive history of colonial Latin America, what was rubber in Iquitos, cane in the Caribbean, gold in Guanajuato, or silver in Potosi, in Chile was the nitrate (saltpeter). For almost two centuries, the Atacama Desert has been a constant source of mineral resource extraction. The "Saltpetre Offices" has left the mark of an era of wealth and exploitation. Today the situation repeats itself as an exact cycle: what was nitrate, passed to copper, and today, it turns to lithium.
Right in the middle of this extractive history are the woman and the man who inhabited the territory. On the one hand, there is the Aymara woman who walks and grazes the cattle in the Andean mountain range. She has not seen the face of the mining company. However, they critically meet in the use of the same resource: water. The excessive water consumption by mining companies has dried the soil, making livestock and agriculture unviable. Consequently, the highlands man has been forced to go down to work in the city, where possible, the job to which he aspires, is precisely in mining. This uncovers a vicious circle which is greatly enhanced by the government's lack of attention to these isolated areas.
The risk is profound. The desert has not been completely unravelled. It continues to have lots of minerals, and at the same time, it stalks a climate change that will not stop any time soon. In Chile the water is sold, the water rights belong to private. This situation has alarmed the inhabitants of this territory, amongst organizations and activists who wage real legal battles in the courts. This visual essay, far from addressing the issue on all its extents, seeks to contribute to the latent conversation about extractive practices and the current economic model in Chile. To bring back this apparently scenic desert to an urgent reality, promoting a reflection that contributes to the appreciation of rural territory and its culture.
marcoszegers.cl
Ken Light
Ken Light has worked as a journalist and documentary photographer, focusing on social issues facing America for over 50 years. His work has been published in eleven books, including, Midnight La Frontera, What's Going On? 1969-1974, Coal Hollow, Delta Time, To The Promised Land, With These Hands, Texas Death Row and Valley of Shadows and Dreams. He is also the author of the text Witness in Our Time: Lives of Working Documentary Photographers, now in its second edition. His new book Course of the Empire is forthcoming. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Photographers Fellowships and the Dorothea Lange Fellowship. His work has been in numerous magazines, newspapers and a variety of media (electronic & film), and presented in over 230 exhibitions worldwide including one person shows at the International Center for Photography (NYC), Oakland Museum of California, S.E. Museum of Photography, Visual Studies Workshop, Visa pour L'image Perpignan (France) and the San Jose Museum of Art. He is the Reva and David Logan Professor of Photojournalism at the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C. Berkeley. He was the first photographer to become a Laventhol Visiting Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Articles Ken Light 'What's Going On? 1969-1974' Midnight La Frontera by Ken Light Course Of The Empire by Ken Light
Vitaly Golovatyuk
Vitaly Golovatyuk is self-taught filmmaker/photographer from Russia with over 10 years of experience in industry. Worked with many big brands as well as some of the biggest music acts. After 10 years living in Chinese Shanghai and frequently traveling for work, in 2020 he moved back to Russia and started new chapter, exploring motherland and creating new stories as multi-award winning creator.
Evgenia Arbugaeva
Evgenia Arbugaeva (born 1985) is a photographer of the Russian Arctic. Having grown up in Yakutsk, she has an empathy with the people living in the far north and the difficult living conditions they experience, and several of her photographic projects have involved them. The National Geographic has funded her to photograph the people and economic changes on Russia's northern coast. Arbugaeva was born in Tiksi, a small port town of the Sakha Republic on the Arctic Sea, near the mouth of the Lena River. As part of the Soviet Union, Tiksi supported military airfields and became the world's most northern settlement with over 5000 people. Her memories of the place include pink mountains, whiteout snowstorms in which she lost all sense of place, fields of snow colored green or gold by the surrounding light, and auroras in the endless night of winter. One of her childhood heroes was explorer Jacques Cousteau. At the age of eight, and at the fall of the Soviet Union, she and her family moved to Yakutsk, "the coldest city on earth" and a place that she found much less visually appealing. She studied management in Moscow before moving to New York City. There, she studied photography at the International Center of Photography, graduating in 2009. 19 years after moving from her hometown, Arbugaeva decided to move back to Tiksi because she could no longer remember anything from the town. These memories had faded so much to the point where they seemed unreal. Arbugaeva's photographic method involves living with her subjects on a long enough term to become friends with them and for them to relax in front of her camera. For instance, in one of her projects she traveled with Siberian hunters for the tusks of mammoths, newly exposed by global warming. She won the trust of the hunters by stitching up the injured hand of the head of the group. She often works without a camera, scouting locations that she returns to frequently until the lighting and inspiration combine to give her a photo. In 2010 Arbugaeva returned to Tiksi, now becoming a ghost town, on a personal visit to compare it to her memories, but left the town with only one photo she liked, of a teenage girl playing on the seashore. Inspired by the photo, she traveled back to Tiksi in 2011 to meet the girl and her family and to document their daily life, overlain with her own memories. Despite the decline of the town and the difficult life there (which drove her host family to plan their own departure), her photos in this project are "bright and whimsical, their compositions and vivid colours redolent of the books she read there as a child". Arbugaeva learned of the weather stations of northern Russia in a dog sledding incident, when she and her father had to take shelter from bad weather at one of the stations. In her project Weather Man, she took a two-month passage on an icebreaker to 22 of the stations, including the station at Khodovarikha, where she met meteorologist Vyacheslav (Slava) Korotki. The portrait taken of Vyacheslav Korotki is an intimate story of an individualistic man, who is facing the fading winter of the Arctic. In early 2014, she returned to Khodovarikha by helicopter for a two-and-a-half-week visit and photography session with Korotki. Based on this work, a much darker series of photos than the ones from Tiksi, she published a profile of Korotki in The New Yorker. Arbugaeva's other photography projects have included nomadic Yakut reindeer herders in Sakha, and Amani, a sequence of fictionalized images set on an abandoned anthropological research station on a former German coffee plantation in Tanzania. Arbugaeva is the 2013 winner of Leica's Oskar Barnack Award for her work in Tiksi, for which she also received a Magnum Foundation International Emergency Fund grant in 2012. In 2018, National Geographic named her as one of their four inaugural Media Innovation Fellows, funding her to photograph the people and economic changes on Russia's northern coast.Source: Wikipedia
Morris Engel (April 8, 1918 - March 5, 2005) was an American photographer, cinematographer and filmmaker best known for making the first American film "independent" of Hollywood studios, Little Fugitive (1953), in collaboration with his wife, photographer Ruth Orkin, and their friend, writer Raymond Abrashkin. Engel was a pioneer in the use of hand-held cameras and nonprofessional actors in his films, cameras that he helped design, and his naturalistic films influenced future prominent independent and French New Wave filmmakers. A lifelong New Yorker, Morris Engel was born in Brooklyn in 1918. After joining the Photo League in 1936, Engel had his first exhibition in 1939, at the New School for Social Research. He worked briefly as a photographer for the Leftist newspaper PM before joining the United States Navy as a combat photographer from 1941 to 1946 in World War II. After the war, he returned to New York where he again was an active Photo League member, teaching workshop classes and serving as co-chair of a project group focusing on postwar labor issues. In 1953, Engel, along with his girlfriend, fellow photographer Ruth Orkin, and his former colleague at PM, Raymond Abrashkin, made the feature film Little Fugitive for $30,000, shooting the film on location in Coney Island with a hand-held 35 millimeter camera Engel had designed himself. This camera was compact and lightweight so it would be unobtrusive shooting in public. As such, it did not allow simultaneous sound recording; the sound was dubbed later. The film, one of the first successful American "independent films" earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film told the story of a seven-year-old boy, played by Richie Andrusco, who runs away from home and spends the day at Coney Island. Andrusco never appeared in another film, and the other performers were mainly nonprofessional. Though their first film was a critical success, Engel and Orkin, who had since married, had a hard time finding funding for their next film, Lovers and Lollipops, which was completed in 1956. The film was about a widowed mother dating an old friend, and how her young daughter complicates their budding relationship. Like the first one, Lovers and Lollipops was filmed with a hand-held compact 35 mm camera, with sound dubbed in post-production. This was followed two years later by the more adult-centered Weddings and Babies, a film about an aspiring photographer than is often seen as autobiographical. This was Engel's first film to have live sound recorded at the time of filming, and is historically the first 35 mm fiction film made with a portable camera equipped for synchronized sound. In 1961, Engel directed three television commercials, including an award-winning one for Oreo cookies. The other two were for Ivory soap and Fab detergent. A half-hour short film The Dog Lover was made the following year, a comedy about a shop merchant whose life is turned upside down by the stray dog his kid brings home. He made a fourth feature in 1968 called I Need a Ride to California, which followed a group of young hippies in Greenwich Village. Post-production was shelved until 1972 when it was finally completed, but for unknown reasons, it was never released during his lifetime. It finally received its premiere in October 2019 at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); it was first released on home video in March 2021. In the 1980s, Engel began taking panoramic photographs on the streets of New York City. Engel and Ruth Orkin remained married until Orkin's death in 1985. In the 1990s, he returned to filmmaking, this time working on video. He completed two feature-length documentaries: A Little Bit Pregnant in 1994 and Camellia in 1998, each revolving around a different child in the Hartman family. First, in A Little Bit Pregnant Engel focused on the 8-year-old Leon's reactions, anxiety and wonderment to the impending birth of his baby sister Camellia. For the second film, two years later, Engel returned to the same family, who gave him a year of access to the now 2-year-old daughter Camellia, capturing her daily life and routines, and her relationships with her family and others. Both films were shown in private screenings, but never had a public release due likely to the Hartman family presumably holding the rights. Engel died of cancer in 2005.Source: Wikipedia Morris Engel was born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents from Lithuania. An early interest in photography led him to enroll in a class at New York's Photo League, a group dedicated to raising social consciousness through modern photography. Some of the most influential photographers of the time were associated with the Photo League; Engel worked closely with Aaron Siskind on the project Harlem Document from 1936-40 and later assisted Paul Strand in filming Native Land. Like many Photo League photographers, Engel documented life in New York City, producing and exhibiting photo essays on Coney Island, the Lower East Side and Harlem. In 1939 he had his first exhibition at New York's New School. In 1940 he joined the staff of the newspaper PM, but he left the publication one year later to sign on with the U.S. Navy as a member of a combat photo unit. He participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. In 1951 Engel momentarily quit still photography to pursue a career in filmmaking. He made a series of low-budget films with a custom 35 mm camera. His first feature film, Little Fugitive (made with his wife, the renowned photographer Ruth Orkin), earned an Academy Award nomination in 1953 for Best Original Screenplay and was screened in more than 5,000 theaters across the United States. Engel's photographs are widely exhibited and found in the collections of the International Center of Photography (New York), the Museum of the City of New York, the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.). His films continue to be screened at venues such as the Whitney Museum of Art (New York), the Brooklyn Museum and the American Museum of the Moving Image (New York).Source: American Photography Archives Group
Franco Fontana
Franco Fontana is an Italian photographer, born in Modena, Italy. He is best known for his abstract colour landscapes. He started taking photographs in the 1950s when he was working as a decorator in a furniture showroom. In 1961 he joined a local amateur club in Modena. The experience would be a turning point in his career, and Fontana went on to have his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Società Fotografica Subalpina, Turin and at the Galleria della Sala di Cultura in Modena in 1968. Since then he has participated in more than 400 group and solo exhibitions. Fontana has photographed for advertising campaigns for brands such as Fiat, Volkswagen, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Snam, Sony, Volvo, Versace, Canon, Kodak, Robe di Kappa, Swissair, and has been a magazine photographer for publications including Time Magazine, Life, Vogue (USA and France), Venerdì di Repubblica, Panorama, and with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the New York Times. Fontana's first book, Skyline, was published in 1978 in France by Contrejour and in Italy by Punto e Virgola with a text by Helmut Gernsheim. Fontana is the art director of the Toscana Fotofestival. He has received numerous awards, such as the 1989 Tokyo Photographer Society of Japan - The 150 Years of Photography - Photographer Award. Fontana is especially interested in the interplay of colours. His early innovations in colour photography in the 1960s were stylistically disruptive. According to art critic Giuliana Scimé, Fontana "destroyed all the structures, practices, and technical choices within the Italian tradition." Fontana uses 35mm cameras, and as noted by Iwan Zahar, deploys distant viewpoints with telephoto lenses to flatten contours in a landscape of crops and fields into bands of intense, saturated colour. This is an effect that Franco Lefèvre has described as dialectical landscapism. Of his use of colour in his 2019 retrospective exhibition Sintesi ('Synthesis') at Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, curator Diana Baldon has observed "His bold geometric compositions are characterised by shimmering colours, level perspectives and a geometric-formalist and minimal language...By adopting this approach during the 1960s, Fontana injected a new vitality into the field of creative colour photography for then multicolour was not in fashion in art photography...The way Fontana shoots, dematerialises the objects photographed, which loose three-dimensionality and realism to become part of an abstract drawing". Aside from the rural landscape Fontana has applied his graphic sensibility to other subjects: city architecture, portraiture, fashion, still-life and the nude. Fontana's photographs have also been used as album cover art for records produced by the ECM Records jazz label.Source: Wikipedia Fontana's style was shaped in the late 1960s under the influence of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. In that his teachers were his older contemporaries, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Ed Reinhardt. Fontana's work with its focus on form and color was quite different from the classical black-and-white art photography that was predominant at that time. His work is in more than 50 museums in the world, including Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film (Rochester), Ludwig Museum (Cologne), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Museum of Modern Art (Paris), The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Galleria d'Arte Moderna - Torino, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston-Texas - USA, Deutch Bank, Banca Unicredit, Italia, UBS Unione Banche Svizzere, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes- Buenos Aires, Muscadelle Museum of Art - Williamsburg, USA, Mus e WWestlicht, Vienna, IVAM, Museo Internazionale d'Arte Moderna, Valencia, Mus e de l'Elys e, Losanna, Maxxi, Roma, Macro, Roma.Source: francofontanaphotographer.com
Cornell Capa (born Kornél Friedmann; April 10, 1918 – May 23, 2008) was a Hungarian American photographer, member of Magnum Photos, photo curator, and the younger brother of photo-journalist and war photographer Robert Capa. Graduating from Imre Madách Gymnasium in Budapest, he initially intended to study medicine, but instead joined his brother in Paris to pursue photography. Cornell was an ambitious photo enthusiast who founded the International Center of Photography in New York in 1974 with help from Micha Bar-Am after a stint of working for both Life magazine and Magnum Photos. Born as Kornél Friedmann in Budapest, he moved, aged 18, to Paris to work with his elder brother Robert Capa, a photo-journalist. In 1937, Cornell Capa moved to New York City to work in the Life magazine darkroom.[4] After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Capa became a Life staff photographer in 1946. The many covers that Capa shot for the magazine included portraits of television personality Jack Paar, painter Grandma Moses, and Clark Gable. In 1953 he visited Venezuela to make a photo-report of Caracas, on this trip he had the opportunity to photograph the artist Armando Reverón. In May 1954, his brother Robert Capa was killed by a landmine, while covering the final years of the First Indochina War. Cornell Capa joined Magnum Photos, the photo agency co-founded by Robert, the same year. For Magnum, Cornell Capa covered the Soviet Union, Israeli Six-Day War, and American politicians. Beginning in 1967, Capa mounted a series of exhibits and books entitled The Concerned Photographer. The exhibits led to his establishment in 1974 of the International Center of Photography in New York City. Capa served for many years as the director of the Center. Capa has published several collections of his photographs including JFK for President, a series of photographs of the 1960 presidential campaign that he took for Life magazine. Capa also produced a book documenting the first 100 days of the Kennedy presidency, with fellow Magnum photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt. Capa died in New York City on May 23, 2008, of natural causes at the age of 90.Source: Wikipedia Cornell Capa (originally Cornell Friedmann) was born in Budapest and moved to Paris in 1936 to join his brother, Robert, who had escaped from the increasingly anti-Semitic climate of Hungary in 1930. Although he had intended to study medicine, Cornell was drawn to photography through his brother and began making prints for him, as well as for Henri Cartier-Bresson and Chim (David Seymour). This experience encouraged him to become a professional photojournalist, and in 1937 he moved to New York to pursue a career. After he had worked in the darkrooms of the Pix agency and LIFE for a few years, his first photo story was published in Picture Post in 1939. During World War II, Capa worked for the US Army Air Corps Photo-Intelligence Unit and the Army Air Corps's public relations department. In 1946, he became a staff photographer at LIFE, based mainly in the American Midwest, and covered some three hundred assignments over the next three years. He was the magazine's resident photographer in England for two years, after which he returned to the United States, to produced some of his most well-known photo essays, on subjects such as Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign and the education of mentally retarded children. Upon Robert's death in 1954, Capa left LIFE to continue his borther's work at Magnum, the international cooperative photography agency co-founded in 1947 by Robert, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Chim (David Seymour), and George Rodger. Over the next twenty years, Capa photographed many important stories for Magnum, including the activities of the Perón government in Argentina; the Democratic National Conventions of 1956, 1960 and 1968; and John F. Kennedy's first hundred days in office. Capa's photographic production slowed in the mid-1970s as he devoted himself more to the care and promotion of other photographers' work through his International Fund for Concerned Photography. In 1964, he organized the exhibition The Concerned Photographer, which led to the establishment of the International Center of Photography, an organization dedicated to the support of photography as a means of communication and creative expression, and to the preservation of photographic archives as a vital component of twentieth-century history. Capa received ICP's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Capa served as ICP's Director Emeritus until his death in 2008.Source: International Center of Photography In Mr. Capa's nearly 30 years as a photojournalist, the professional code to which he steadfastly adhered is best summed up by the title of his 1968 book "The Concerned Photographer." He used the phrase often to describe any photographer who was passionately dedicated to doing work that contributed to the understanding and well-being of humanity and who produced "images in which genuine human feeling predominates over commercial cynicism or disinterested formalism." The subjects of greatest interest to Capa as a photographer were politics and social justice. He covered both presidential campaigns of Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s and also became a good friend of Stevenson. He covered John F. Kennedy's successful presidential run in 1960, and then spearheaded a project in which he and nine fellow Magnum photographers documented the young president's first hundred days, resulting in the book "Let Us Begin: The First One Hundred Days of the Kennedy Administration." (He got to know the Kennedys well; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis would become one of the first trustees of the I.C.P.) In Argentina, Mr. Capa documented the increasingly repressive tactics of the Peron regime and then the revolution that overthrew it. In Israel, he covered the 1967 Six Day-War. The vast number of picture essays he produced on assignment ranged in subject from Christian missionaries in the jungles of Latin America to the Russian Orthodox Church in Soviet Russia during the cold war, the elite Queen's Guards in England and the education of mentally retarded children in New England. His work conformed to all the visual hallmarks of Life magazine photography: clear subject matter, strong composition, bold graphic impact and at times even a touch of wit. In his 1959 essay about the Ford Motor Company, for example, one picture presents a bird's-eye view of 7,000 engineers lined up in rows behind the first compact car all of them were involved in developing: a single Ford Falcon. "I am not an artist, and I never intended to be one," he wrote in the 1992 book Cornell Capa: Photographs. "I hope I have made some good photographs, but what I really hope is that I have done some good photo stories with memorable images that make a point, and, perhaps, even make a difference."Source: The New-York Times
Yves Léonard
"Professional photographer located in Belgium, I am now 52 years old with a practical experience of photography for twenty years. I am a lover of life. My optimistic and positive temperament and my joy of living allow me to meet very nice people. I started photography in the early 2000s, mainly family reports. It was in 2015 that I really fell in love with photography with the purchase of my first reflex camera, a Nikon D5100. Self-taught, I perfected myself throughout my daily practice and by following training given by professional photographers: Photoshop (Olivier Rocq), packshot photography (Quentin Décaillet), understanding light in photography (Julien Apruzzese), empara. Fr... As I love architectural photography, I will soon be taking professional training on this subject. Having become a professional since 2021, my photographic expertise is mainly at the service of companies but also individuals in order to sublimate their project and their know-how. The artistic side of photography is also very important to me. I love to sublimate flowers, nature, landscapes... The landscape photo "The Enchanted Forest" was the winner of the largest photo competition in the world 2021 of the prestigious site www.photo.fr in the landscape category and won the prize for the best photo of the Brussels Art Vue 2022 art competition. The 'Trio' photo was a finalist in the 2021 World's Biggest Photo Contest resumes above. Several of my photos were included in the selection of the month on the Facebook page of the Sigma France site. I particularly like the minimalist side of photography. It is not uncommon to stay 3-4 hours in my packshot studio and take more than 300 photos to create an artistic photo of a flower and thus find the best angle of view and the best lighting. I have participated in several photo exhibitions in my region and hope to "export" myself abroad."
Frederick Sommer
Frederick Sommer (September 7, 1905 – January 23, 1999), was an artist born in Angri, Italy and raised in Brazil. He earned a M.A. degree in Landscape Architecture (1927) from Cornell University where he met Frances Elizabeth Watson (September 20, 1904 – April 10, 1999) whom he married in 1928; they had no children. The Sommers moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1931 and then Prescott, Arizona in 1935. Sommer became a naturalized citizen of the United States on November 18, 1939. Considered a master photographer, Sommer first experimented with photography in 1931 after being diagnosed with tuberculosis the year prior. Early works on paper (starting in 1931) include watercolors, and evolve to pen-and-ink or brush plus drawings of visually composed musical score. Concurrent to the works on paper, Sommer started to seriously explore the artistic possibilities of photography in 1938 when he acquired an 8×10 Century Universal Camera, eventually encompassing the genres of still life (chicken parts and assemblage), horizonless landscapes, jarred subjects, cut-paper, cliché-verre negatives and nudes. According to art critic Robert C. Morgan, Sommer's "most extravagant, subtle, majestic, and impressive photographs—comparable in many ways to the views of Yosemite Valley's El Capitan and Half Dome by Ansel Adams—were Sommer's seemingly infinite desert landscapes, some of which he referred to as 'constellations.'" The last artistic body of work Sommer produced (1989–1999) was collage-based largely on anatomical illustrations. Frederick Sommer had significant artistic relationships with Edward Weston, Max Ernst, Aaron Siskind, Richard Nickel, Minor White, and others. His archive (of negatives and correspondence) was part of founding the Center for Creative Photography in 1975 along with Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Wynn Bullock, and Aaron Siskind. He taught briefly at Prescott College during the late 60s and substituted for Harry Callahan at IIT Institute of Design in 1957–1958 and later at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1934, Frederick Sommer visited Los Angeles. Walking through the art museum one day, he noticed a display of musical scores. He saw them not as music, but as graphics, and found in them an elegance and grace that led him to a careful study of scores and notation. He found that the best music was visually more effective and attractive. He assumed that there was a correlation between music as we hear it and its notation; and he wondered if drawings that used notational motifs and elements could be played. He made his first "drawings in the manner of musical scores" that year. (After reviewing this text, Fred asked that the author refer to his scores "only" in this way. When the author suggested that it was perhaps too long to be repeated throughout the text, he laughed and said, "Well, use it at least once.") Although people knew of his scores, and occasionally brought musicians to his house to play them, no one ever stayed with it for long. In 1967, both Walton Mendelson and Stephen Aldrich attended Prescott College, Prescott, Arizona, where Sommer was on the faculty. They barely knew of his reputation as a photographer, and nothing of the scores. Towards the end of September he invited them to his house for dinner, but they were to come early, and Mendelson was to bring my flute. "Can you play that?" he asked, as they looked at one of the scores, framed, and sitting atop his piano. With no guidance from him, they tried. Nervous and unsure of what they were getting into, they stopped midway through. Mendelson asked Aldrich where he was in the score: he pointed to where Mendelson had stopped. They knew then, mysterious though the scores were, they could be played. On May 9, 1968, the first public performance of the music of Frederick Sommer was given at Prescott College. Sommer had no musical training. He didn't know one note from another on his piano, nor could he read music. His record collection was surprisingly broad for that time, and his familiarity with it was thorough. What surprised Mendelson and Aldrich when they first met him were his visual skills: he could identify many specific pieces and almost any major composer by looking at the shapes of the notation on a page of printed music. Of Sommer's known works, his drawings, glue-color on paper, photographs, and writings, it is only these scores that have been a part of his creative life throughout the entirety of his artistic career. He was still drawing elegant scores in 1997. And like his skip reading, they are the closest insight to his creative process, thinking and aesthetic. Bruce Silverstein Gallery is the New York representative of the Frederick & Frances Sommer Foundation.Source: Wikipedia Frederick Sommer was an artistic polymath, with deep interests in painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and collage. With his work he intended to engage the world formally, to harvest its chance gifts, decontextualizing and rearranging found images and objects according to often shocking visual affinities. The artist played with a wide variety of forms, textures and scale to create startling compositions amid objects and sites others found too insignificant to notice. Sommer was intent on expanding the limits of where beauty could be found, and after viewing a display of original musical scores, he began to formulate his own theories correlating the graphic design to the sound of musical scores. Alongside many great artists of the period including Edward Weston, Max Ernst, Man Ray and Aaron Siskind, Sommer created a unique and avant-garde body of work formulated from his interest in Surrealism. His works have been exhibited by the world's most important institutions, including the George Eastman House, Rochester; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Delaware Art Museum; Serpentine Gallery, London; Charles Egan Gallery, New York; Philadelphia College of Art; Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington D.C.; Pasadena Art Museum, California; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Institute of Design, Chicago; Zimmergalerie Franck, Germany; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Work by the artist is represented in major museum collections internationally such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Maison Européenne de la Photographie; George Eastman House, Rochester; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Sommer's work has been published widely. Noteworthy publications include Frederick Sommer: Photography, Drawing, Collage (2005), The Mistress of the World Has No Name: Where Images Come From (1987), Frederick Sommer at Seventy Five, a Retrospective (1980), and Venus, Jupiter and Mars: The Photographs of Frederick Sommer (1980).Source: Bruce Silverstein Gallery
Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry N. Uelsmann (born June 11, 1934) is an American photographer, and was the forerunner of photomontage in the 20th century in America. Uelsmann was born in Detroit, Michigan. While attending public schools, at the age of fourteen, there sparked an interest in photography. He believed that through photography he could exist outside of himself, to live in a world captured through the lens. Despite poor grades, he managed to land a few jobs, primarily photographs of models. Eventually Uelsmann went on to earn a BA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and M.S. and M.F.A. degrees from Indiana University. Soon after, he began teaching photography at the University of Florida in 1960. In 1967, Uelsmann had his first solo exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art which opened doors for his photography career. Uelsmann is a master printer, producing composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He uses up to a dozen enlargers at a time to produce his final images, and has a large archive of negatives that he has shot over the years. The negatives that Uelsmann uses are known to reappear within his work, acting as a focal point in one work, and background as another. Similar in technique to Rejlander, Uelsmann is a champion of the idea that the final image need not be tied to a single negative, but may be composed of many. During the mid-twentieth century, when photography was still being defined, Uelsmann didn't care about the boundaries given by the Photo Secessionists or other realists at the time, he simply wished to share with the viewer the images from his imagination and saw photomontage as the means by which to do so. Unlike Rejlander, though, he does not seek to create narratives, but rather "allegorical surrealist imagery of the unfathomable". Uelsmann is able to subsist on grants and teaching salary, rather than commercial work. Today, with the advent of digital cameras and Photoshop, photographers are able to create a work somewhat resembling Uelsmann's in less than a day, however, at the time Uelsmann was considered to have almost "magical skill" with his completely analog tools. At the time Uelsmann's work first came to popular attention, photos were still widely regarded as unfalsifiable documentary evidence of events. However, Uelsmann, along with Lucas Samaras, was considered an avant garde shatterer of this popular mindset and help to expand the artistic boundaries of photography. Despite his works' affinity with digital techniques, Uelsmann continues to use traditional equipment. "I am sympathetic to the current digital revolution and excited by the visual options created by the computer. However, I feel my creative process remains intrinsically linked to the alchemy of the darkroom."[3] Today he is retired from teaching and currently lives in Gainesville, Florida with his third wife, Maggie Taylor.[4] Uelsmann has one son, Andrew, who is a graduate student at the University of Florida. But to this day, Uelsmann still produces photos, sometimes creating more than a hundred in a single year. Out of these images, he likes to sit back and select the ten he likes the most, which is not an easy process. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)


text:
UAE Double Tax Treaties: UAE Signs Agreements on Avoidance of Double Taxation
5th September 2017 Value Added TaxMuhammad Hasnain
Tax transparency is an essential matter that should be observed by countries in the world. There have been concerns regarding international tax evasion and avoidance, and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is eager to take continuous actions regarding these obstacles that are being faced by most nations.
The UAE, being a member of the Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, further shows its driven desire to be one of the competitive countries in the world through the Ministry of Finance (MoF)'s continuous growing network to be in discussion with other countries with regard to the agreements on exchanging tax information and avoiding double taxation.
These days, the UAE spreads its network across the five continents, having 94 agreements. This covers most of UAE's trading partners. Still, the UAE is on ongoing negotiations with 15 other countries.
Country List/Agreements on the Avoidance of Double Taxation:
Date of Ratification Date of Final Signing Country No.
7/16/1995 4/12/1994 Egypt 1
6/25/2004 4/24/2001 Algeria 2
4/29/2004 2/13/2001 Yemen 3
5/27/1997 4/10/1996 Tunisia 4
7/1/2000 2/9/1999 Morocco 5
6/6/2004 3/15/2001 Sudan 6
1/12/2002 1/26/2000 Syria 7
3/23/1999 5/17/1998 Lebanon 8
3/2/2004 9/24/2003 Mozambique 9
11/20/2000 2/7/1993 Pakistan 10
11/30/1992 4/29/1992 India 11
10/3/2007 3/27/2007 Amendment Protocol
3/12/2013 4/16/2012 Amendment Protocol
7/4/2004 9/24/2003 Sri Lanka 12
10/20/2008 9/23/2003 Philippines 13
3/9/2005 9/22/2003 South Korea 14
7/18/1996 12/1/1995 Singapore 15
Under Ratification 10/31/2014 Singapore / Amendment Protocol
6/1/1999 11/30/1995 Indonesia 16
1/4/2001 3/1/2000 Thailand 17
9/24/1996 11/28/1995 Malaysia 18
7/22/1994 7/1/1993 People's Republic of China 19
7/29/2004 9/24/2003 New Zealand 20
3/9/2004 2003 Ukraine 21
2/1/2001 2/27/2000 Belarus 22
1/23/1996 4/11/1993 Romania 23
Under Ratification 5/4/2015 Romania (New)
12/30/2011 6/9/1998 Turkmenistan 24
9/23/2003 4/22/2002 Armenia 25
3/27/2000 12/17/1995 Tajikistan 26
2/24/2004 2/21/2001 Mongolia 27
9/23/2004 9/23/2003 Austria 28
2/3/1994 1/31/1993 Poland 29
5/1/2015 12/11/2013 Poland / Amendment Protocol
7/14/2011 7/1/2010 Germany 30
12/26/1997 3/12/1996 Finland 31
10/5/1997 1/22/1995 Italy 32
1/1/2005 9/30/1996 Czech Republic 33
11/8/1994 7/19/1989 France 34
12/22/2003 9/30/1996 Belgium 35
6/19/2009 11/20/2005 Luxembourg 36
Under Ratification 10/26/2014 Luxembourg / Amendment Protocol
1/29/1995 1/29/1993 Turkey 37
5/25/2004 6/9/2002 Canada 38
9/25/2007 9/18/2006 Mauritius 39
4/14/2007 9/19/2006 Seychelles 40
5/19/2009 9/18/2006 Bosnia and Herzegovina 41
6/12/2007 11/20/2006 Azerbaijan 42
4/2/2007 3/5/2006 Spain 43
9/13/2006 3/13/2006 Malta 44
6/2/2010 5/8/2007 Netherlands 45
2/25/2011 10/26/2007 Uzbekistan 47
11/27/2013 12/22/2008 Kazakhstan 48
4/12/2010 2/16/2009 Vietnam 49
Under Ratification 1/18/2010 Greece 50
Under Ratification 6/27/2013 Amendment Protocol
7/6/2011 7/1/2010 Ireland 51
4/28/2011 11/24/2010 Georgia 52
6/20/2011 12/11/2010 Venezuela 53
5/22/2012 1/17/2011 Portugal 54
6/13/2011 1/17/2011 Bangladesh 55
3/17/2013 2/27/2011 Cyprus 56
3/29/2012 4/20/2011 Estonia 57
10/21/2012 10/6/2011 Switzerland 58
7/9/2014 11/13/2011 Guinea 59
Under Ratification 11/21/2011 Kenya 60
6/23/2013 12/7/2011 Russia 61
6/11/2013 3/11/2012 Latvia 62
2/11/2013 3/26/2012 Montenegro 63
12/20/2013 9/2/2012 Fiji 64
Under Ratification 9/24/2012 Palestine 65
10/23/2013 10/13/2012 Panama 66
7/9/2014 11/20/2012 Mexico 67
7/2/2013 1/13/2013 Serbia 68
Under Ratification 3/4/2013 Benin 69
Under Ratification 4/1/2013 Libya 70
10/4/2014 4/30/2013 Hungary 71
12/24/2014 5/2/2013 Japan 72
11/21/2014 5/21/2013 Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace 73
12/19/2014 6/30/2013 Lithuania 74
9/29/2014 10/12/2013 Slovenia 75
3/25/2015 3/13/2014 Albania 76
Under Ratification 9/22/2014 Barbados 77
Under Ratification 10/10/2014 Uruguay 78
Under Ratification 12/7/2014 Kyrgyzstan 79
Under Ratification 12/11/2014 Hong Kong 80
Under Ratification 2/12/2015 Bermuda 81
Under Ratification 3/26/2015 Comoro Islands 82
Under Ratification 4/12/2015 Ethiopia 83
Under Ratification 6/8/2015 Uganda 84
Under Ratification 7/27/2015 Gambia 85
Under Ratification 7/28/2015 Andorra 86
Under Ratification 10/1/2015 Belize 87
Under Ratification 10/1/2015 Liechtenstein 88
Under Ratification 10/22/2015 Mauritania 89
Under Ratification 10/21/2015 Senegal 90
Under Ratification 10/26/2015 Macedonia 91
Under Ratification 11/23/2015 South Africa 92
Under Ratification 12/21/2015 Slovakia 93
Under Ratification 1/18/2016 Nigeria 94
Source: Ministry of Finance
The UAE has its best interests in protecting and promoting investments as well. There are 58 agreements that the UAE has signed with countries that represent investment opportunities. Negotiations are still ongoing with other five countries. In regards to better the international tax compliance that is associated with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the UAE signed an agreement with the USA government.
The Agreements
The agreements that have been dealt with and continuously being discussed with other countries are helping in achieving a balance in the economy.
As per the decisions of G20, MoF is keen and dedicated in the execution of the highest transparency and information exchange standards for tax purposes. Along with this are the terms and conditions that go with the agreements, all for avoiding double taxation with the UAE's economic and trading partners.
A. Double Taxation
A double taxation is paying tax twice for the same earned income. In the sense of this article, this happens when you are taxed twice in two different countries. This is where the double taxation agreement comes in, which ensures that you won't be charged twice for tax at the same time in different states or countries for the same income.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) organized together with a team that is comprised of representatives from different divisions, namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and named it the International Financial Relations and Organisations Department. This group has the responsibility of negotiating and following up with nations regarding agreements on avoiding double taxation.
The Avoidance of Double Taxation agreement has the following goals:
Promoting UAE's development goals and diversifying the sources of the country's national income
Eliminating not just double taxation, but additional and indirect taxes and tax evasion also
Eradicating cross-border trade and investment flow obstacles
Providing taxpayers the protection they need from double taxation—direct or indirect
Promoting the capital's free movement and the exchange of goods and services
B. Investor Protection
The protection of the investments is in one of the UAE's best interests, signing 58 agreements with the aim to protect and promote investments. These agreements have been done between the UAE, 25% of the nations in the world, and most of its trading partners.
The Investment Protection Agreement has the following goals:
Protecting the investments of the UAE from non-commercial risks, including those that are related to the transfer of profits and revenues in convertible currency
Organising of conflict resolution (if needed)
Establishing investments within the states' agreement signatories and granting licenses to investors who are Emirati
Stipulating the rules and regulations for granting the UAE investors with just and instantaneous compensations (without discrimination), in the events that investment expropriation happens; all compensations are necessary to be based on the investment's market value.
C. Information Exchange
The MoF has been conducting agreements with countries in order to achieve transparency, justice, and protection for the economy.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the MoF with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This agreement is with regard to creating and establishing a partnership that takes care of taxation matters, by which the UAE is strengthening its reputation as a training hub of MENA with regard to information exchange, as well as being the country that has qualified and active network of tax experiences.
There were eight MoUs that were signed:
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)
Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA)
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)
Fujairah Free Zone Authority
Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ)
Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA)
Umm Al Quwain Free Trade Zone Authority
An extended MoU for the 2016-2018 fourth period was signed by MoF. Workshops were presented, showing the introduction to tax information with tax experts from different places in the world.
The points that were discussed in the workshops included the following: common international standards in the field of tax reports, implementation mechanisms, and approved legal frameworks. The intention was to strive in developing a system for tax information to be exchanged automatically but still has the interest of protecting the information and complying with confidentiality rules of the tax information exchange.
The UAE has always been venturing in becoming one of the most competitive countries in the world, and the works that the Ministry of Finance has been doing to safeguard and enhance the economy balance shows the country's vigor.
It is indeed essential to be knowledgeable when it comes to things that might affect you with regard to tax, especially with the never-ending changes that are happening in the State. FAR – Farhat Office & Co. is more than willing to extend its hand to conduct a consultation with you. You can contact us here to book a consultation.
: double tax treaty, double taxation, international tax, uae double tax, value added tax in uae, vat consultants in dubai, vat consultants in uae, vat exemptions, vat implementation, vat in dubai, vat in uae, vat registration, vat services, zero rated vat
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Facilities management in the NHS: overlapping authority and demarcation disputes
MAY, Daryl (2019). Facilities management in the NHS: overlapping authority and demarcation disputes. Facilities, 37 (3/4), 182-195.
May-FacilitiesManagementInTheNHS(AM).pdf - Accepted Version
Official URL: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/F-...
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1108/f-02-2018-0035
Purpose The research aimed to investigate the implementation of the new ward housekeeper role a hospital setting. The outcome was to propose a model to demonstrate how FM departments and clinical ward teams work effectively together to deliver catering and cleaning services. Methodology The context of the implementation of the role was deemed a necessary feature, particularly to understand the organisation structures. In this case the context being a hospital and the underlying mechanisms in place such as local recruitment and retention issues. Therefore an interpretive approach was taken and a series of semi-structured interviews were the primary method to collect data, supplemented by some non-participant observation and document analysis. Findings The findings from the two themes enabled the development of a model to illustrate the working relationships between FM departments and clinical ward teams. Practical implications The findings from the study are of significance for hospital facilities and estates departments and clinical stakeholders who have a responsibility for ward catering, cleaning and the environment. Originality/value The significance of this study emerges through the advancement of methodology within the context of facilities in healthcare and through the contribution to knowledge and practice as a result of the proposed mode. This was the first type of study to look in detail at ward housekeeping models, using an interpretive approach over a relatively long period of time.
Facilities management, hospitals, ward housekeepers, power, authority, NHS
Sheffield Business School Research Institute > Service Sector Management
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:
Sheffield Business School > Department of Service Sector Management
https://doi.org/10.1108/f-02-2018-0035
Daryl May


Study of Witchcraft, Advanced Wicca by Deborah Lipp encourages the reader to advance their study of ..
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Tigerflex™ UVF™ Series hoses are specifically designed for dry applications where abrasion is a factor. Provides longer hose life and lower operating costs versus rubber or PVC hoses. Applications include food grade material handling (standard duty), food grade blower and ducting systems, ducting, ventilation and fume removal and pharmaceutical product transfer.


text:
import os
import re

from django.contrib.gis.db.models import Extent3D, Union
from django.contrib.gis.db.models.functions import (
    AsGeoJSON, AsKML, Length, Perimeter, Scale, Translate,
)
from django.contrib.gis.geos import GEOSGeometry, LineString, Point, Polygon
from django.test import TestCase, skipUnlessDBFeature

from .models import (
    City3D, Interstate2D, Interstate3D, InterstateProj2D, InterstateProj3D,
    MultiPoint3D, Point2D, Point3D, Polygon2D, Polygon3D,
)

data_path = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', 'data'))
city_file = os.path.join(data_path, 'cities', 'cities.shp')
vrt_file = os.path.join(data_path, 'test_vrt', 'test_vrt.vrt')

# The coordinates of each city, with Z values corresponding to their
# altitude in meters.
city_data = (
    ('Houston', (-95.363151, 29.763374, 18)),
    ('Dallas', (-96.801611, 32.782057, 147)),
    ('Oklahoma City', (-97.521157, 34.464642, 380)),
    ('Wellington', (174.783117, -41.315268, 14)),
    ('Pueblo', (-104.609252, 38.255001, 1433)),
    ('Lawrence', (-95.235060, 38.971823, 251)),
    ('Chicago', (-87.650175, 41.850385, 181)),
    ('Victoria', (-123.305196, 48.462611, 15)),
)

# Reference mapping of city name to its altitude (Z value).
city_dict = {name: coords for name, coords in city_data}

# 3D freeway data derived from the National Elevation Dataset:
#  http://seamless.usgs.gov/products/9arc.php
interstate_data = (
    ('I-45',
     'LINESTRING(-95.3708481 29.7765870 11.339,-95.3694580 29.7787980 4.536,'
     '-95.3690305 29.7797359 9.762,-95.3691886 29.7812450 12.448,'
     '-95.3696447 29.7850144 10.457,-95.3702511 29.7868518 9.418,'
     '-95.3706724 29.7881286 14.858,-95.3711632 29.7896157 15.386,'
     '-95.3714525 29.7936267 13.168,-95.3717848 29.7955007 15.104,'
     '-95.3717719 29.7969804 16.516,-95.3717305 29.7982117 13.923,'
     '-95.3717254 29.8000778 14.385,-95.3719875 29.8013539 15.160,'
     '-95.3720575 29.8026785 15.544,-95.3721321 29.8040912 14.975,'
     '-95.3722074 29.8050998 15.688,-95.3722779 29.8060430 16.099,'
     '-95.3733818 29.8076750 15.197,-95.3741563 29.8103686 17.268,'
     '-95.3749458 29.8129927 19.857,-95.3763564 29.8144557 15.435)',
     (11.339, 4.536, 9.762, 12.448, 10.457, 9.418, 14.858,
      15.386, 13.168, 15.104, 16.516, 13.923, 14.385, 15.16,
      15.544, 14.975, 15.688, 16.099, 15.197, 17.268, 19.857,
      15.435),
     ),
)

# Bounding box polygon for inner-loop of Houston (in projected coordinate
# system 32140), with elevation values from the National Elevation Dataset
# (see above).
bbox_data = (
    'POLYGON((941527.97 4225693.20,962596.48 4226349.75,963152.57 4209023.95,'
    '942051.75 4208366.38,941527.97 4225693.20))',
    (21.71, 13.21, 9.12, 16.40, 21.71)
)

class Geo3DLoadingHelper:
    def _load_interstate_data(self):
        # Interstate (2D / 3D and Geographic/Projected variants)
        for name, line, exp_z in interstate_data:
            line_3d = GEOSGeometry(line, srid=4269)
            line_2d = LineString([l[:2] for l in line_3d.coords], srid=4269)

            # Creating a geographic and projected version of the
            # interstate in both 2D and 3D.
            Interstate3D.objects.create(name=name, line=line_3d)
            InterstateProj3D.objects.create(name=name, line=line_3d)
            Interstate2D.objects.create(name=name, line=line_2d)
            InterstateProj2D.objects.create(name=name, line=line_2d)

    def _load_city_data(self):
        for name, pnt_data in city_data:
            City3D.objects.create(
                name=name, point=Point(*pnt_data, srid=4326), pointg=Point(*pnt_data, srid=4326),
            )

    def _load_polygon_data(self):
        bbox_wkt, bbox_z = bbox_data
        bbox_2d = GEOSGeometry(bbox_wkt, srid=32140)
        bbox_3d = Polygon(tuple((x, y, z) for (x, y), z in zip(bbox_2d[0].coords, bbox_z)), srid=32140)
        Polygon2D.objects.create(name='2D BBox', poly=bbox_2d)
        Polygon3D.objects.create(name='3D BBox', poly=bbox_3d)

@skipUnlessDBFeature("gis_enabled", "supports_3d_storage")
class Geo3DTest(Geo3DLoadingHelper, TestCase):
    """
    Only a subset of the PostGIS routines are 3D-enabled, and this TestCase
    tries to test the features that can handle 3D and that are also
    available within GeoDjango.  For more information, see the PostGIS docs
    on the routines that support 3D:

    https://postgis.net/docs/PostGIS_Special_Functions_Index.html#PostGIS_3D_Functions
    """

    def test_3d_hasz(self):
        """
        Make sure data is 3D and has expected Z values -- shouldn't change
        because of coordinate system.
        """
        self._load_interstate_data()
        for name, line, exp_z in interstate_data:
            interstate = Interstate3D.objects.get(name=name)
            interstate_proj = InterstateProj3D.objects.get(name=name)
            for i in [interstate, interstate_proj]:
                self.assertTrue(i.line.hasz)
                self.assertEqual(exp_z, tuple(i.line.z))

        self._load_city_data()
        for name, pnt_data in city_data:
            city = City3D.objects.get(name=name)
            # Testing both geometry and geography fields
            self.assertTrue(city.point.hasz)
            self.assertTrue(city.pointg.hasz)
            self.assertEqual(city.point.z, pnt_data[2])
            self.assertEqual(city.pointg.z, pnt_data[2])

    def test_3d_polygons(self):
        """
        Test the creation of polygon 3D models.
        """
        self._load_polygon_data()
        p3d = Polygon3D.objects.get(name='3D BBox')
        self.assertTrue(p3d.poly.hasz)
        self.assertIsInstance(p3d.poly, Polygon)
        self.assertEqual(p3d.poly.srid, 32140)

    def test_3d_layermapping(self):
        """
        Testing LayerMapping on 3D models.
        """
        # Import here as GDAL is required for those imports
        from django.contrib.gis.utils import LayerMapping, LayerMapError

        point_mapping = {'point': 'POINT'}
        mpoint_mapping = {'mpoint': 'MULTIPOINT'}

        # The VRT is 3D, but should still be able to map sans the Z.
        lm = LayerMapping(Point2D, vrt_file, point_mapping, transform=False)
        lm.save()
        self.assertEqual(3, Point2D.objects.count())

        # The city shapefile is 2D, and won't be able to fill the coordinates
        # in the 3D model -- thus, a LayerMapError is raised.
        with self.assertRaises(LayerMapError):
            LayerMapping(Point3D, city_file, point_mapping, transform=False)

        # 3D model should take 3D data just fine.
        lm = LayerMapping(Point3D, vrt_file, point_mapping, transform=False)
        lm.save()
        self.assertEqual(3, Point3D.objects.count())

        # Making sure LayerMapping.make_multi works right, by converting
        # a Point25D into a MultiPoint25D.
        lm = LayerMapping(MultiPoint3D, vrt_file, mpoint_mapping, transform=False)
        lm.save()
        self.assertEqual(3, MultiPoint3D.objects.count())

    @skipUnlessDBFeature("supports_3d_functions")
    def test_union(self):
        """
        Testing the Union aggregate of 3D models.
        """
        # PostGIS query that returned the reference EWKT for this test:
        #  `SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(point)) FROM geo3d_city3d;`
        self._load_city_data()
        ref_ewkt = (
            'SRID=4326;MULTIPOINT(-123.305196 48.462611 15,-104.609252 38.255001 1433,'
            '-97.521157 34.464642 380,-96.801611 32.782057 147,-95.363151 29.763374 18,'
            '-95.23506 38.971823 251,-87.650175 41.850385 181,174.783117 -41.315268 14)'
        )
        ref_union = GEOSGeometry(ref_ewkt)
        union = City3D.objects.aggregate(Union('point'))['point__union']
        self.assertTrue(union.hasz)
        # Ordering of points in the resulting geometry may vary between implementations
        self.assertEqual({p.ewkt for p in ref_union}, {p.ewkt for p in union})

    @skipUnlessDBFeature("supports_3d_functions")
    def test_extent(self):
        """
        Testing the Extent3D aggregate for 3D models.
        """
        self._load_city_data()
        # `SELECT ST_Extent3D(point) FROM geo3d_city3d;`
        ref_extent3d = (-123.305196, -41.315268, 14, 174.783117, 48.462611, 1433)
        extent = City3D.objects.aggregate(Extent3D('point'))['point__extent3d']

        def check_extent3d(extent3d, tol=6):
            for ref_val, ext_val in zip(ref_extent3d, extent3d):
                self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_val, ext_val, tol)

        check_extent3d(extent)
        self.assertIsNone(City3D.objects.none().aggregate(Extent3D('point'))['point__extent3d'])

@skipUnlessDBFeature("gis_enabled", "supports_3d_functions")
class Geo3DFunctionsTests(Geo3DLoadingHelper, TestCase):
    def test_kml(self):
        """
        Test KML() function with Z values.
        """
        self._load_city_data()
        h = City3D.objects.annotate(kml=AsKML('point', precision=6)).get(name='Houston')
        # KML should be 3D.
        # `SELECT ST_AsKML(point, 6) FROM geo3d_city3d WHERE name = 'Houston';`
        ref_kml_regex = re.compile(r'^<Point><coordinates>-95.363\d+,29.763\d+,18</coordinates></Point>$')
        self.assertTrue(ref_kml_regex.match(h.kml))

    def test_geojson(self):
        """
        Test GeoJSON() function with Z values.
        """
        self._load_city_data()
        h = City3D.objects.annotate(geojson=AsGeoJSON('point', precision=6)).get(name='Houston')
        # GeoJSON should be 3D
        # `SELECT ST_AsGeoJSON(point, 6) FROM geo3d_city3d WHERE name='Houston';`
        ref_json_regex = re.compile(r'^{"type":"Point","coordinates":\[-95.363151,29.763374,18(\.0+)?\]}$')
        self.assertTrue(ref_json_regex.match(h.geojson))

    def test_perimeter(self):
        """
        Testing Perimeter() function on 3D fields.
        """
        self._load_polygon_data()
        # Reference query for values below:
        #  `SELECT ST_Perimeter3D(poly), ST_Perimeter2D(poly) FROM geo3d_polygon3d;`
        ref_perim_3d = 76859.2620451
        ref_perim_2d = 76859.2577803
        tol = 6
        poly2d = Polygon2D.objects.annotate(perimeter=Perimeter('poly')).get(name='2D BBox')
        self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_perim_2d, poly2d.perimeter.m, tol)
        poly3d = Polygon3D.objects.annotate(perimeter=Perimeter('poly')).get(name='3D BBox')
        self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_perim_3d, poly3d.perimeter.m, tol)

    def test_length(self):
        """
        Testing Length() function on 3D fields.
        """
        # ST_Length_Spheroid Z-aware, and thus does not need to use
        # a separate function internally.
        # `SELECT ST_Length_Spheroid(line, 'SPHEROID["GRS 1980",6378137,298.257222101]')
        #    FROM geo3d_interstate[2d|3d];`
        self._load_interstate_data()
        tol = 3
        ref_length_2d = 4368.1721949481
        ref_length_3d = 4368.62547052088
        inter2d = Interstate2D.objects.annotate(length=Length('line')).get(name='I-45')
        self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_length_2d, inter2d.length.m, tol)
        inter3d = Interstate3D.objects.annotate(length=Length('line')).get(name='I-45')
        self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_length_3d, inter3d.length.m, tol)

        # Making sure `ST_Length3D` is used on for a projected
        # and 3D model rather than `ST_Length`.
        # `SELECT ST_Length(line) FROM geo3d_interstateproj2d;`
        ref_length_2d = 4367.71564892392
        # `SELECT ST_Length3D(line) FROM geo3d_interstateproj3d;`
        ref_length_3d = 4368.16897234101
        inter2d = InterstateProj2D.objects.annotate(length=Length('line')).get(name='I-45')
        self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_length_2d, inter2d.length.m, tol)
        inter3d = InterstateProj3D.objects.annotate(length=Length('line')).get(name='I-45')
        self.assertAlmostEqual(ref_length_3d, inter3d.length.m, tol)

    def test_scale(self):
        """
        Testing Scale() function on Z values.
        """
        self._load_city_data()
        # Mapping of City name to reference Z values.
        zscales = (-3, 4, 23)
        for zscale in zscales:
            for city in City3D.objects.annotate(scale=Scale('point', 1.0, 1.0, zscale)):
                self.assertEqual(city_dict[city.name][2] * zscale, city.scale.z)

    def test_translate(self):
        """
        Testing Translate() function on Z values.
        """
        self._load_city_data()
        ztranslations = (5.23, 23, -17)
        for ztrans in ztranslations:
            for city in City3D.objects.annotate(translate=Translate('point', 0, 0, ztrans)):
                self.assertEqual(city_dict[city.name][2] + ztrans, city.translate.z)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Michel Barnier attempts to jolt UK into Brexit action
The EU's Brexit negotiator insisted he was not trying to be provocative but expressed frustration with the slow pace in London.
"If we wish to make a success of these negotiations, and I certainly do, we must pick up the pace," Barnier said | POLITICO photo-illustration (Source images by Getty Images)
By David M. Herszenhorn and	Annabelle Dickson
February 28, 2018	2:09 pm
Michel Barnier's hard-line Brexit text is an attempt to jolt the U.K. into action — but it risks a chaotic backlash.
The EU chief negotiator's heavily one-sided draft Brexit treaty is designed by Barnier to strong-arm U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May into declaring positions that she has so far refused to take, and that could even imperil her hold on the government.
Her response was swift and implacable: No U.K. leader "could ever agree" to Barnier's terms.
In releasing the 118-page document just two days before May is due to give her latest big speech on Brexit, the EU's chief negotiator sent a clear message that patience in Brussels has run out: It's time for May to get real.
At the same time, Barnier's claim that in putting out the text he was acting in the name of transparency is questionable. He said the draft treaty text would be discussed with the EU27 and the European Parliament before being presented formally to the U.K. The timing, of course, is his choice.
And the provisions in the draft treaty reflect maximalist EU positions on every issue, particularly the difficult question of Ireland on which the document effectively imposes a new trade barrier in the Irish Sea, dividing Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
"The territory of Northern Ireland ... shall be considered to be part of the customs territory of the [European] Union," the text states.
In the House of Commons, May offered a robust reaction: "The draft legal text that the Commission has published, if implemented, would undermine the U.K. common market and threatens the constitutional integrity of the U.K. by creating a customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea. No U.K. prime minister could ever agree to it and I will be making that absolutely clear."
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said May has described the draft as "the last resort," and the government's preferred option is the one that avoids a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and a hard border between Britain and Ireland. "Option A [no hard border] is still an option but it is now incumbent on the British government in particular to put forward in detail their proposals on how that can be achieved," he told the Irish parliament today.
The draft treaty also imposes the EU's view that citizens' rights provisions and residency protections should be extended until the end of a transition period on December 31, 2020 and not end on the U.K.'s formal withdrawal date of March 29, 2019 — something May has said she will oppose.
On the overall transition, the treaty ignores all of the U.K.'s concerns and demands, making clear that the terms of what May calls an "implementation period" are effectively non-negotiable as far as Brussels is concerned. If the U.K. wants a transition, it's take it or leave it.
And it bestows permanent authority and jurisdiction for the European Court of Justice to adjudicate any disputes over the withdrawal agreement.
Barnier, at a news conference in Brussels, insisted he was not trying to be provocative.
"I am not trying to create any shock waves," he insisted. "I want these negotiations to be a success."
He added, "I am not trying to provoke anybody here, and contrary to what I read there is no arrogance here. I am not being arrogant in any way. I have immense respect for the U.K."
But Barnier was clearly being more forthright in the moments of the news conference when he flashed impatience and rising anger and frustration over the U.K.'s delays in coming forward with concrete proposals, particularly on Ireland but also on an vast array of other issues.
"If we wish to make a success of these negotiations, and I certainly do, we must pick up the pace," he declared at the outset of his remarks.
Later, in response to questioning, he made clear that he does not see the urgency in London that he believes is necessary, given the short calendar.
"Nobody should underestimate the human, social, legal, financial consequences of these negotiations. We have 43 years of integration and relations between the U.K. and the European Union that have to be unraveled here," he said.
Many of the major provisions of the draft withdrawal treaty will be rejected outright by the British side. Barnier's purpose was, most likely, less to get the U.K. to accept his draft than to put forward concrete positions on any of its 168 articles with which London might disagree.
But there was also a risk that he overplayed his hand, potentially drawing a backlash in Britain that even May cannot necessarily contain. Former Brexit Minister and leading Brexiteer David Jones gave a hint of that this morning when he said the backstop Northern Ireland proposals were a "fantasy" that amounted to an "annexure" of U.K. territory.
If Barnier pushes May too far, he risks the very "disorderly exit" that he says he most wants to avoid.
Also On POLITICO
Northern Ireland should be part of EU customs territory, says Brexit draft withdrawal text
By Charlie Cooper
BREXIT FILES INSIGHT
Theresa May's political crisis just moved closer
By Tom McTague
More from ... David M. Herszenhorn and	Annabelle Dickson
How Boris Johnson's looseness with the truth infected the government
'We've all let standards slip a little bit,' said one civil servant.
UK Labour says Boris Johnson 'incapable of leading' in Ukraine crisis
Opposition party's John Healey strikes hawkish tone on Russia as Labour seeks to move on from Jeremy Corbyn years.
Tory MP accuses Boris Johnson's government of 'blackmail'
William Wragg says critics of the British PM have faced 'pressure and intimidation.'
By Emilio Casalicchio
By Esther Webber
Brexit	British politics	Citizens' rights	Customs Union	Negotiations	Trade	Transition/implementation period
EU27	Ireland	Northern Ireland	United Kingdom
Michel Barnier


"Fraudulent medicines offer organised criminal groups a high return commodity with relatively low risks, ultimately at the expense of the health of unsuspecting people," Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, claimed recently.
In Asia and Africa alone the market for fake medicines is worth $1.6 billion (£0.9 billion), while in 2008 the European's Customs Unit disrupted over 3,200 attempts to bring counterfeit medications into the continent.
The extent of the problem is such that genuine pharmaceutical companies are seeing their reputations damaged through illegal versions of their branded products, and many are now taking action.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is among the pharmaceutical companies looking to harness the increasing use of mobile technology in Africa to help combat distribution of counterfeit medications.
In partnership with the Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), GSK is offering a service through which users of itsAmpiclox anti-biotic is genuine via SMS.
Users simply have to send a text message with the 12-digit pin from the blister pack, and then will instantly receive a response informing if it is a counterfeit.
"A simple message: 'OK. Original Ampiclox cap 500mg NRN: 04-2401' confirms the product as genuine," Lekan Asuni, managing director of GSK, said.
"We believe that this project being implemented in partnership with NAFDAC will enhance the trust that people already have the GSK products," he added.
However, introducing this new technology is not the only way in which GSK is looking to combat counterfeits in Africa, while boosting its business value.
John Musunga, GSK East Africa managing director, recently announced the company was cutting the price of its key drugs by 50 percent in Kenya to boost access, also admitting that the high prices charged for drugs on the continent were part of the reason for the high proliferation of counterfeits in the region.
"Reducing prices of antibiotics, asthma medicines and dewormers will enable poor households to afford quality medication within their meagre budgets," he said, which also makes them less likely to turn to cheaper counterfeits.
Efforts to combat counterfeiting have also been taking place in the UK, with consortium SecureTrace announcing last year it had completed a successful pilot of a programme to track pharmaceuticals throughout the supply chain.
The products were initially stamped with 2D barcodes featuring authentication markers, before a natural fingerprint is created using Laser Surface Authentication.
Data from the packaging was then combined with the cartons and packaging, before RFID and barcodes were applied to cartons and all the information was stored within a database.
Throughout transit, field readers were used to track the product at different stages of the supply chain.
SecureTrace claimed the system complied with the objectives of the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) in its efforts to combat counterfeits, but also considered how to include authentication technologies which didn't affect the design of the packaging and how this technology can be practically integrated within the production line.
Jim Rittenburg, VP of Healthcare at Authentix and lead partner for SecureTrace, said: "European countries have taken a fragmented approach to tracking drugs while the United States has struggled to establish a workable pedigree system.
"SecureTrace establishes a clear and workable strategy that has been developed and executed by all players involved in the process."
Mark McGlade, Board Member of the International Authentication Association, added that it was essential pharmaceutical companies understood the "powerful combination of authentication and serialisation", adding such new technology could create further business opportunities for the UK pharma industry.
The secure trace pilot is not the only one to have looked at barcode verification to combat counterfeiting. EFPIA previously worked with stakeholders in Sweden to better understand how such a system would work, hailing it as a success but indicating there were some issues to be worked out.
It's clear different strategies will be needed to combat counterfeits in different markets, depending on the scale and nature of the problem, and the infrastructure and resources available. But it is also clear there is business value to be added through successful anti-counterfeiting measures.


From Democrats to Republicans and administration officials to independent auditors, everyone seems to agree the current General Schedule pay system is extremely outdated and an overhaul of federal employees' compensation is in order.
While admitting there is a problem is always the first step, actually solving it remains as elusive as ever.
Such was made clear at a congressional hearing Tuesday, where lawmakers and stakeholders came together to say the 65-year-old system -- which covers 80 percent of white-collar civilians -- is broken. Its 15 levels are arbitrary, its inability to reward top performers while punishing poor ones is archaic, and its lack of flexibility to recruit and retain specialized talent is disadvantageous, panelists and witnesses agreed.
"No private company could survive if its personnel system were run this way," said Rep. Blake Farenthold, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee with jurisdiction over the federal workforce.
Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta told the panel that federal workforce pay changes need to take a comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, form.
"We recognize the system established 65 years ago does need reform," Archuleta said. She noted President Obama has called for a "commission on federal public service reform," made up of lawmakers and key stakeholders, to develop recommendations to modernize the federal personnel system.
Several lawmakers and witnesses spoke of the need to increase the use of pay-for-performance at federal agencies. Farenthold said the GS system gives employees raises "based primarily on the passage of time," while a Government Accountability Office official said the GS scale is too rigid.
Patricia Niehaus, national president of the Federal Managers Association, said the government should do away with the "one size fits all" approach of the GS system.
Not everyone was on board with pay-for-performance as a solution, however. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., the subcommittee's ranking member, acknowledged federal pay required "more flexibility and accountability," but questioned the wisdom of widening internal pay inequity. J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, also expressed reluctance to adopt a more subjective pay scale, saying he could not identify a single successful example of pay-for-performance in government.
Lynch conceded any major reforms will likely be hard to come by.
His concerns are well founded. In his second term, President George W. Bush tried to move all of government to pay-for-performance -- as he had successfully done for the Senior Executive Service -- but the push ultimately fizzled. Archuleta's predecessor, the current Ambassador to Australia John Berry, revived the effort with Obama's backing in 2009. Berry's efforts were similarly stonewalled.
Robert Goldenkoff, GAO's director for strategic issues, identified several areas Uncle Sam's personnel system must improve. The difference between a GS-12 accountant and a GS-13 accountant, for example, is difficult to define, which in turn has lessened the transparency in the system. Adding to the problem, Goldenkoff said, is OPM neglecting its statutorily required reviews of agencies' job classifications since the 1980s. GAO has found the federal workforce in recent years has become more highly educated than the American workforce as a whole, a demographic factor for which the GS pay scale does not account.
Goldenkoff said performance management should be reformed, and said managers need to "step up" in holding poor performers accountable. He pointed to the Goals-Engagement-Accountability-Results, or GEAR, system piloted by the Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs departments, as well as OPM, as a framework that should be more widely implemented across government.


This project is the first of several stages of work at St Francis Xavier's College which have been identified in the school's masterplan. An accessibility study was undertaken at the school outlining what was immediately required to meet the needs of students at the school.
The school requires an upgrade to the existing outdated science laboratories and creation of specialised music facilities. The project will provide the school with four new science laboratories fit for future learning and two new seminar rooms.
The music department will be expanded with four new specialised practice rooms and a specialised flexible performance and teaching space, servicing all music, dance and drama subjects. This will also provide music, dance and drama students with a specialised space for their HSC examinations.
This project provided the upgrade of existing student toilet facilities located within the centre of a large senior high school. The new works provided for 24 male and female student toilets an accessible toilet and male and female changerooms. The works were co-ordinated to be commenced at the end of term 4 and completed over the Christmas vacation in order that the new facilities were functioning for the commencement of the new school year.
The brief was to provide a contemporary and durable environment which would allow the students to feel that they were in a mature educational environment. The project challenges included restricted site access, discovery of remnants of prior constructions within the foundation zones of the building and the differential settlement of the existing structure under which the new facility is housed.
The project was completed within the required time frame and is considered a success by the school and there has been no vandalism of the facilities and students have praised the facilities on social media.
Services Provided: Masterplanning; Architectural Design and Documentation; Feasibility Study; Schematic Design; Design Development and Documentation; Coordination of Consultants; Contract Documentation; Tendering; Contract and Project Management during Construction and Post Construction Phases.


text:
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003)
Netflix rating: 8.0
Is Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi on Netflix United States?
Yes! Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003) is available on Netflix United States.
Set in the backdrop of Indian Emergency 1975, the story revolves around 3 friends whose lives changes drastically after the turn of events. In a politically charged India of the 1970s, three friends are transformed by personal ideologies, dangerous ambitions and matters of the heart.
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
IDMB rating
8.0 (4272 votes)
Netflix rating
Sudhir Mishra
Jasbir Malik, Aditya Bhattacharya, Sohrab Ardeshir, Chitrangada Singh, Arif Zakaria, Saurabh Shukla, Chitrangda Singh, Shiney Ahuja, Yashpal Sharma, Ram Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon
Watch on Netflix
TEDTalks: Head Games
Everything Before Us
Purpose of Hiking


Riviera Lifeline is a non-profit, non-denominational organisation serving the Var and the Alpes Maritimes. They have over fifty volunteers who help seniors to continue independent lives, in a wide variety of ways, across the French Riviera. Crevisio was hired to do a complete brand and design strategy including positioning, logo design, look & feel and logo design.
The above visuals are subject to copyright. Any commercial use of it requires explicit written permission issued by the copyright holder or Crevisio.


Let's have a blast! A FAT BLAST! Variety is the spice of life and this week's workouts will provide you with a wide variety of movements to target the entire body and help you be a fat burning master. Check out The Final Countdown, Spiderman Strong, and Pop a Wheelie, three workouts that will have you feeling strong and confident.
Clean Eating List….stick to it 75-85% of the time. Consistency is key!
Since we often get asked about the sugar content of alcohol, below is a simple infographic so you know just how much sugar is in your favorite glass of wine. No need to whine, you can still enjoy, we just want you to be an informed winer. Click here.
The most common myths about weight management and the secrets that work (psst…they aren't really secrets).Learn some real strategies to move toward your goals.
Many people believe that they can improve their life if they simply had more will power. If you simply had enough self-control, you could save more money, avoid too much alcohol, stop procrastinating, and even eat well and exercise every day. It doesn't really matter what you call it; drive, motivation, resolve, determination, self-control, or will power. What we are really talking about is the ability to consciously choose the behaviors you need to in order to get the results you want. When we are unsuccessful in achieving those results, we feel like failures because we simply lacked the will power to make it happen. Learn what science says about willpower.


These Ace faucet washers can help you repair your leaky faucet. This washer will help provide a better seal and prevent water leaks and drips. It is constructed of durable rubber that will endure the rigors of everyday use.


Bullfit Fashion is the first collection created specifically for English Bulldogs.
Our tubby, wrinkled, furry friends need indeed some special sizes designed on their physical peculiarities: they are as mighty as large dogs, they have huge shoulders and thin waists (more or less…) but they are super compact in a reduced lenght. And, most important thing: they are very delicate.
WHERE DOES THIS WONDERFUL LOVE IDEA COME FROM?
A special thanks goes to my bull-models: my little bully Teodora, the sweetest and more patient dog ever, she supported me in this adventure with measurements and fittings day and night. Pietro, my wonder woman friend Luisella's bulldog who is the real "star" on set: you allowed me to take the best ever pictures and made the set of our photo shooting super funny with all the breaks you took.
Behind the scenes I have to hugely thank Lulu' and Iron with their bull-moms Manuela and Valentina for their precious cooperation with thousands of fittings at any time.
A special thanks goes to my little Margherita, a super scared tiny bulldog we adopted from English Bulldog Rescue Italia: she prefers stealing the garments than wearing them but she is uper sweet with us. She is as tiny as an adult French bulldog and her size perfectly fits the Frencies too.


text:
Getting Hands-on To Protect Two Rare Species
By SUNY Oswego
SUNY Oswego students Sarita Charap (center) and Corey Kane (right) remove cattails below the waterline of a local fen to protect sensitive habit of two rare species, the bog buckmoth and bog turtle. Working alongside the students is supervisory technician Faith Page, a 2014 Oswego alumna.
For a small group of SUNY Oswego professors and students, the answer to "what did you do over the summer?" can include "fieldwork to protect the homes of two rare species."
Students gained hands-on experience working to slow or stop the advance of cattails threatening to choke the sensitive Oswego County habitat of two rare species, the bog buckmoth and bog turtle.
Biological sciences faculty members Dr. Peter Rosenbaum, as principal investigator, and Dr. Eric Hellquist lead the student-driven effort, funded through a state Department of Environmental award of $194,500 for five years.
The research to maintain native habitat in a local fen carries promise for future cattail mitigation projects, including those to protect the New York state-endangered bog buckmoth and the federally threatened bog turtle. SUNY Oswego bog buckmoth expert Dr. Karen Sime, ecologist and alumna Faith Page, and consulting ecologist Sandra Bonanno also participate.
Rosenbaum, an expert on the bog turtle, said cattails at the site have been "moving in like an advancing army, leaving no room for anything else to grow in between." The fen likely is the last in Oswego County — and the state — to host a population of the extremely rare bog buckmoth, whose primary host plant is the bog buckbean.
Three years ago, according to Hellquist, it became apparent that research needed to begin on the best method of cattail removal and the most effective time of year to do it, to head off the threat to habitat for the rare animals. With faculty mentoring, students laid out test plots among the cattails and set to work.
"Independent student research and work conducted by the 'Wetlands Ecology' class provided the data needed to generate the momentum to obtain the funding," Hellquist said. "Student data from multiple sources allowed us to quantify the problem."
Research opportunities for students
SUNY Oswego students Sarita Charap, Corey Kane, Gabrielle Solomon and Stephanie Facchine worked in the fen earlier this summer under Page as supervisory technician.
"It was pretty hard," said Charap, a junior zoology major who invested about four weeks on the project and will participate again this fall. "We have to go below the waterline to cut the cattails. But I got to see all these cool plants and animals and learn about the fen."
Page is on her third year working at the site. Now employed by Applied Ecological Services of Waterloo, she said the students' enthusiasm has helped motivate her to stick with the project beyond graduation. "I love the team. I think we made good choices with them. They each have (research) topics involving the bog, so I hope we get some more projects out of it," she said.
With faculty-mentored undergraduate research a vital part of SUNY Oswego's fabric, Hellquist said, "This is an excellent experience that has conservation implications that students can use for independent study or senior theses."
Hellquist said students participating in the cattails mitigation project would analyze data and present their findings at a fall conference hosted by Rochester Academy of Science, as well as other academic forums in the future.
As the effort moves forward, he said, students will track the resprouting of cattails and clean up dead biomass to preserve habitat for the bog buckmoth and for the bog turtle, a species that spends as much as 90 percent of its life underground in the mucky soils it prefers.
Rosenbaum, steward of the habitat on behalf of threatened species — including orchids and rare sedges — said cutting back the cattails mitigates but does not fix the primary threat to the fen and other sensitive wetlands. "The real problem is runoff from human activities nearby," he said.
Written by SUNY Oswego
With a student body of nearly 8,000 students, SUNY Oswego is large enough to offer more than 110 programs of study yet small enough for students to form quality relationships with each other and caring faculty.
Tags: applied learning, biology, ecology, research, SUNY Oswego
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I have two points to make today and they are about Mary of Egypt. They will lead me to the subject of this last week in our beloved city of Boston. Point number one.
Why did Mary go to the desert the most inhospitable place in the whole world? For one reason: she decided it was time to stop running from her pain, to face it, and be healed. The anesthesia for her hidden pain was, as we all know, lust and pleasure. She had to stop taking the drug.
In order to do that she had to leave behind her unhealthy way of life. The streets and brothels of Alexandria were the structure that supported her addiction to excitement and pleasure. She had to detach from it and from the false belief that unbridled pleasure brings happiness, that getting what she wanted when she wanted it was freedom. It is not.
The crisis that moved her to seek change is represented to us in the story of her attempt to enter the church of the Holy Sepulchre. When she tried she couldn't get it. An invisible force stopped her. In actuality it was her shame and guilt that stopped her, that and the Holy Spirit working together to wake her up. Her bubble burst! Her illusion of happiness was shattered. All of a sudden she was denied something she wanted and her so-called happiness was shaken! With her perfect equilibrium broken, her happiness was revealed to be what it actually was, a thin veneer, a fragile dream, an illusion, a nightmare.
What happens when our perfect balance is challenged? Let's look at how snowflakes grow. At the optimal temperature of 0 Celsius a drop of water will become a perfect hexagon; perfect, but ordinary. The beautiful shapes we think of when we consider snowflakes don't occur until a crisis comes and the perfect temperature drops. Then and only then will the snowflake grow its unique, lacey dendrites and take on the immaculate, creative, unrepeatable fairy-tale shapes we love.
That is what happens to Mary when she leaves Alexandria behind and begins the difficult process of detachment. Only then does she begin to resemble her true, beautiful, unique human shape. Detachment is the way to growth, healing, and transformation.
Detachment is painful. We don't really want to change. We don't really want to be healed. We will hold on for dear life to nonsense like barnacles on a ship. Like the Gergesenes who witness the healing of the demoniacs, we want Jesus to go away and leave us alone in our so-called happiness. We are deluded and we like it that way. That is why crisis must come. Otherwise we would never get anywhere. Since we are so stuck in our ways crisis leading to detachment is the way of healing.
My second point is this. She did not go to the desert to punish herself. She went to find herself. I used to think of Mary's time in the desert as a time of self-torment. It was not. She was not motivated by self-hatred, but by love. She met her internal enemies and did exactly what Jesus commands. She loved them. She turned the other check, she did not judge, she did not resist. She prayed for them. She began for the first time to treat herself with lovingkindness. Yes, lovingkindness! When the change we need is urgent, the cure is all the more urgent. But it is not punishment; it is surgery.
Looing deeply into her life she heard the voices of the least of the brethren; the voices she had all but drowned out in Alexandria. The silence and solitude of the desert revealed them. Anthony of Egypt discovered this truth as well, but the supreme example is Jesus himself who went into the wilderness for the metaphorical 40 days and 40 nights. There he listened to the least of the brethren in himself. They were the voices of all of suffering humanity as well as his own just like Mary for we are all connected. The only difference was that Jesus lived a life of detachment always.
Thomas Merton wrote, "The Christ we find in ourselves is not identified with what we…admire in ourselves – but what we resent, our wretchedness, misery, poverty, and our sins." I have come to believe that if we have not yet discovered our own wretchedness, misery, poverty and sins we have not yet found the true and living Christ.
St. Paul writes that he wants to show us "the more excellent way," the way of love. This is the path Mary took and it led her to the barrenness of the desert just as it has countless other people. Deserts take on different forms. In Russia they were often forests. In other places they are mountains, monasteries, caves. But this is not just for monks. There are deserts that appear in our lives, times and places of loneliness that we try so hard to avoid, but when they come, sometimes after a crisis, sometimes not, we should not avoid them. We should enter them.
This week we have been in a desert collectively. What transformation will come of it has yet to be seen, but much has been revealed. The potential for brutality lives in all of us. The potential for beauty and goodness does as well. My grandmother's last words to me were Navajo words of wisdom. "Walk in beauty," she whispered. Let's you and I walk choose to walk in beauty.
Brothers and sisters, one thing that is supposed to set Christians apart from the world is the willingness to forgive those who hate us and those who love us and even those who try to kill us. We must forgive everyone for everything even 70 times 7 in a single day.
In crisis some rise to the occasion and commit acts of incredible courage and compassion, others run away. This time many did not run away. Many rose up and took the more excellent way. We can do that all the time even in the humdrum details of life as it usually is. Let's do that.
It is time for us, every one of us, to commit ourselves to the more excellent way of radical love. Today we must choose the way of Jesus, the way of Mary. "Turn the other cheek," "do not judge", "do not resist evil", "love your enemies and pray for those who despitefully use you." Pray for the victims. Pray for the bombers. Pray for the dead. Pray for the first responders. Pray for each other. Pray for yourself. For Christians this is not an option; it is a commandment.
I was asked this week whether or not it is appropriate to pray for the terrorists. It is not only appropriate for us, it is a requirement. If St. Isaac of Syria could say that the heart of a true Christian weeps even for the devils, then surely we can bring ourselves to pray for a nineteen-year old boy.