text:
Lidda (in ebraico: לוֹד, Lod; ; in greco e latino: Lydda, in ebraico tiberiense: לֹד, Lōḏ) è una città del distretto centrale di Israele, con una popolazione di  abitanti nel 2019.

Antica città di origine greco-romana, Lod è oggi un centro nei pressi dell'Aeroporto Internazionale Ben Gurion, già noto come Aeroporto di Lod; è anche il più grande nodo ferroviario del paese.

Storia
La Lod moderna è costruita sopra l'antica colonia greca di Lydda. È citata nella lista di Tutmosis III a Karnak (II millennio a.C.), e secondo la Bibbia venne abbandonata durante la cattività babilonese e ripopolata al ritorno dei Giudei dall'esilio.  La città è citata anche come luogo della guarigione di un paralitico da parte di Pietro apostolo.

Sotto l'Impero romano Lod fu rinominata Colonia Lucia Septimia Severia Diospolis. Durante la guerra di Kitos, il comandante romano Lusio Quieto assediò la città, controllata dai ribelli giudei al comando di Pappo e Giuliano; la maggior parte degli assediati venne giustiziata alla conquista della città. Dopo la distruzione del Tempio di Gerusalemme, Diospolis divenne il principale centro di studio ebraico, dove, secondo il Talmud, Rabbi Akiva fondò la sua yeshiva con 24.000 studenti (anche Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Tarfon e Rabbi Gamaliel furono attivi in questa città). Nel 351 la città venne rasa al suolo per ordine del cesare d'Oriente Costanzo Gallo, dopo che aveva sostenuto una ribellione contro l'Impero romano. Un'opera anonima dello stesso periodo afferma che Lydda era famosa per la sua porpora, e produceva grano, vino e olio in abbondanza.

All'inizio della dominazione araba, Lydda fu la capitale della Palestina, per perdere poi questo rango a favore di Ramle.

Durante la prima crociata, nel 1099, la città fu conquistata dei Crociati che vi eressero una diocesi e ne fecero una signoria ecclesiastica sotto la giurisdizione civile ed ecclesiastica del vescovo di Lidda e Ramla.
Fu ripresa per breve tempo dal Saladino e poi riconquistata dai Crociati nel 1191; per i Crociati inglesi Lydda aveva un significato speciale, perché ritenuta il luogo di nascita del loro patrono, San Giorgio, che qui è anche sepolto, in una cripta sottostante la chiesa cristiana (di rito Greco-Ortodosso) a lui dedicata.

Nel 1900 a Lod si diffuse un'epidemia di colera che uccise molti dei suoi abitanti. Molti giovani della città parteciparono alla prima guerra mondiale, che portò alla fine del dominio ottomano sulla regione. Nel 1917 l'esercito ottomano si ritirò da Lod che fu sottoposta al controllo militare britannico, in seguito diventato il mandato britannico della Palestina.

Durante il Mandato britannico sulla Palestina la città contava, secondo le statistiche del 1922, circa 8103 abitanti, la grande maggioranza dei quali erano palestinesi; circa 920 abitanti (l'11% circa) erano cristiani. Nel 1948 la popolazione era salita a 22.000.

Dopo la guerra del 1948 molti residenti furono costretti ad abbandonare la città. Nel luglio 1948 l'esercito israeliano occupò la città e dopo la firma dell'accordo di Rodi, nel 1949, la città divenne israeliana. Oggi la popolazione è composta per un quarto da palestinesi e per il resto da israeliani. Nel maggio 2021, durante l'escalation tra Israele e Striscia di Gaza, si sono registrati scontri violenti tra membri delle due comunità, al punto che in molti hanno allertato sul pericolo di guerra civile.

La basilica di San Giorgio
Sotto l'Impero bizantino Lidda fu chiamata Georgiopolis per la memoria di san Giorgio martire, che si ritiene sia nato in questa città e che qui ha la sua tomba, sulla quale sorgeva la rinomata basilica di San Giorgio.
Il pellegrino Theodosius, attorno al 530, fu il primo a menzionare la tomba del martire.
La chiesa di San Giorgio fu distrutta nel 614 dai Sasanidi ma fu ricostruita.
Nel 1010, fu incendiata dai musulmani all'arrivo dei crociati; attorno alla metà del XII secolo fu costruita una chiesa più grande a nord-est della prima, come cattedrale latina, ma anche questa venne distrutta il 24 novembre del 1191 da Saladino durante la terza crociata.
Fu ricostruita di nuovo durante il regno di Gerusalemme. Nel 1260 venne distrutta da Baybars e una parte fu trasformata in moschea.
La basilica attuale, appartenente al patriarcato greco ortodosso di Gerusalemme, è stata restaurata nel 1872 con l'aiuto delle due famiglie cristiane, Monayer e Habash.

Amministrazione

Gemellaggi

Note

Voci correlate
 Sede titolare di Lidda

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Città della Palestina storica

Talmud


If you've followed my blog for long you know I like never do Punch Art, however, this little guy tugged at my heart - isn't he cute?
I found him on Pinterest but the link was broken, so I'm unable to give credit where credit is due. If this little bird belongs to you, please let me know, and I'll link him back to you. Meanwhile, thank you for letting us enjoy him. He's in good hands as Isaiah loves birds and can tell you amazing facts about them.
And here's the birthday boy, Isaiah, who is very excited to be seven years old. He has such an amazing, quirky sense of humor (a clone of his Papa Ed) and we love him to the moon!


Changes that would be made by Gov. Bruce Rauner through an amendatory veto of Senate Bill 1, an education funding reform bill, would result in nearly twice the amount of new funding for schools in State Sen. Dale Righter's 55th Senate District.
On July 17, Rauner announced he would issue an amendatory veto of Senate Bill 1, once he receives the legislation. Despite Democrats passing the measure May 31, they have yet to send the legislation to Rauner.


Philipo told us the Serengeti would be good. I rattled off a list of animals and for each one his smile grew wider as he said over and over yes, yes, many, many. I believed him, but it turns out that before I saw it I didn't have the capacity to imagine what – how many really – animals we would see on our full day in the Serengeti. It means "endless plain" and it is the ancestral and contemporary turf of the Masaai people, a rather entreprenuerial and numerous group who are considered a little vain by their countrymen and themselves. This amazing day would end with a slightly contrived, but fascinating nonetheless, visit to a Masaai family encampment, a sort of human complement to the exotic everydayness of animal life in the Serengeti. But first we would wind our way back to Ngorongoro Crater from the far western Ikoma Gate witnessing the joyful lightness of hippo pools, the calm weight of elephants in transit, the heavy stare of more anmials than I can count and finally, the fascinatingly not gross incidence of a kill.
Philipo, triumphant in the fact that yes, there are many, many hippos here.
I don't remember the first zebra we saw – they were sort of everywhere, in small groups all turned which-away so as to keep a full 360 degree look out for one another. But in the Serengeti the small groups turned into thousands upon thousands of individuals. At one point we drove at 30 miles an hour for maybe 10 minutes and saw zebra scattered continuously from the edge of the road to the horizon on all sides. Then, the groupings thinned a bit and we spotted the reason – two hyenas had successfully brought down a zebra. The vultures lay in wait a safe distance to the sides of the dominant hyena. Both groups acted as if a vulture at any minute could glance at a wristwatch and call time. The hyenas beat a retreat at some silent signal and the vultures moved in, nearly killing one another in the process of attacking their meal. Subtly and with no warning a tiny jackal with a ferocity that belied his dog-like frame bounded down the road and commanded the vultures to move. They did.
These photos are taken from our vantage point no more than 15 feet away from the kill. It was too fascinating at the time to think about the possible yuckiness of it all. So be warned, but I hope you see the realness of the moment and finds some beauty there.
Leaving the Serengeti and its lions behind we sped towards our checkpoints and a date with a Masaai family, Philipo struggling to balance our need to stop and take a picture of everything and his need to exit the gates before his permit expired. The Masaai are generally nomadic herdspeople, but they build encampments with extended family and some invite tourists in for a few bucks and a polite show and tell. The awkward but fascinating start to the visit was an immediate corralling by gender of our group to dance and sing. The conclusion was a tour of the settlement. Our Masaai guides spoke excellent english, invited us into a woman's hut, answered our questions candidly, and sincerely congratulated Brian on having scored a wife (me).
Wow, big day, big post. If you made it this far I commend you and plan to reward you with my next post: Ngorongoro's rare Rhinos. Only 32 remain in Tanzania. One gets up close in part 5.
'slight' compared to other winners.
she's never shared details like this.
Meet my best friend… Menna . New to the blogging world.
I don't know if you can tell- or if I can tell for that matter- how and why we're best friends. It just is. You know things that just are?
I've been very busy with uni work. And it's very, very hectic- but I procrastinate…a lot. I've also been busy adjusting to the fact that my father now lives with us. It's a bit weird. And a bit of a burden to be honest. Because it's one more person at the top of the hierarchy but it's okay. He's my father and I love him.
✪ ElBaradei on Zakaria's GPS – CNN | Check in at around 30:50 for his take on Egypt's current situation.
✪ Egypt to re-evaluate subsidies for the poor – The National Newspaper | The debate over subsidies reform in Egypt.
The lovely Jana from Hijab Style is having a giveaway. She also has links to awesome hijab tutorials and videos, not to mentions her own sets and ideas for what to wear with what if you are a hijabi.


At first sight, diffusion is not connected to HSP. There is no mention of HSP Distance in any equation of Fickian diffusion!
However, it quickly becomes clear that the two are intimately connected. First, diffusion rates depend on concentration gradients. And if, say, a solvent is hardly soluble in a polymer there will only be a small concentration gradient. Second, the diffusion coefficient depends on the concentration. If a solvent swells a polymer then the diffusion coefficient in that swollen polymer will be much higher (orders of magnitude) than the coefficient in the pure polymer. In other words, the smaller the HSP Distance between a solvent and a polymer the larger the concentration gradient, the larger the concentration and the larger the diffusion coefficient.
The science of each of these issues is discussed step-by-step in the specific Diffusion apps, along with the complication of surface resistance which certainly slows absorption to high concentrations or evaporation from solutions in film formation, for example. In some relatively rare circumstances surface effects can slow down absorption even for very low final concentrations. But there is an historical anomaly to clear up. Many people think that "anomalous diffusion" requires novel mechanisms. As this page will show, that is simply not the case. The text below is Charles' personal views but the HSPiP team fully support what he says as the HSPiP Diffusion modeller and the apps on this site can be used to verify what follows.
Fickian Diffusion usually means that there is a straight line describing the uptake of a liquid or gas into a polymer film when the amount taken up at a given time is plotted against the square root of time. The straight line passes through the origin. This is common and expected when the diffusion coefficient is constant or nearly so, and there is no surface or entry resistance.
The S-Curve Uptake "anomaly" involves delayed absorption. A plot of amount uptake versus the square root of time does not produce a linear relation that passes through the origin. The reason for this delay is a surface or entry resistance that has become significant relative to the diffusion resistance. The surface or entry resistance is expressed by the inverse of the mass transport coefficient (1/h), and the diffusion resistance is given by the film thickness divided by the diffusion coefficient (L/D). Their ratio has been called B = hL/D and can be used in generalized solutions to the diffusion equation. S-curves are readily generated by solutions to the diffusion equation with a boundary condition that accounts for significant surface or entry resistance.
Case II diffusion is the term generally applied to a linear uptake of solvent using a plot of amount absorbed versus linear time (not square root of time). This is obviously a deviation from the terminology discussed above for Fickian diffusion. This behavior is described by appropriate solutions to the diffusion equation, however, and is found when the diffusion coefficient is very dependent on solvent concentration. The diffusion coefficient in rigid polymers increases by a factor of about 10 for each additional 3 percent by volume solvent that is locally present. In elastomers the diffusion coefficient increases by a factor of approximately 10 for each additional 15 percent by volume of solvent. There is a limit to this rule of thumb when the solvent concentration approaches 100% and the diffusion coefficient approaches the self-diffusion value.
As the name indicates, Super Case II is a modification of the Case II type behavior that has just been discussed.
Figure: Matching the Super Case II experiments of Hopfenberg and coworkers using concentration dependent diffusion coefficients and a significant, experimentally confirmed surface resistance1.
In this case the uptake is initially linear on a plot using linear time, but at some time well into the absorption process, the rate of uptake suddenly increases. An explanation for this astounding behavior has challenged many and there are many explanations. Since straightforward solutions to the diffusion equation can readily describe this behavior as well as all of the above, I see no reason to be surprised. An example from the HSPiP Diffusion modeller is given in the figure. This figure confirms that one can reproduce Case II type behavior when a significant entry resistance is combined with a concentration dependent diffusion coefficient. The diffusion coefficient varies with concentration as shown in the upper right figure. These values were required to match the curvature in the uptake curve. Solvent retention in the sample has led to a more rapid increase of the diffusion coefficients with concentration than otherwise expected. The surface condition in this case involves an entry resistance and not an effect external to the film surface. This is described by the given B and h values in the figure. The h required to match the experimental uptake curve agrees very well with that derived from the initial rate of uptake that was reported for the experiment. The concentration gradients that develop as a function of time can be seen at the lower left. They are horizontal and not vertical as many would have suspected. The absorption curve is plotted as a function of linear time showing the very dramatic increase in the rate of uptake well into the absorption process. The reason a constant h describes this and other absorption experiments is thought to be that the polymer chain segments at the surface continue to orient in the same way toward the external phase regardless of the concentration profile in the bulk. Since this surface orientation is controlled by HSP affinities, the intimate relation between diffusion in polymers and HSP discussed above is reinforced by this effect as well.
The conclusion to be drawn from the above, based on careful measurements published in reviewed journals, is that there are no "anomalies" in diffusion in polymers. One need only solve the diffusion equation for absorption or desorption with the verifiable coefficients to reproduce the behavior that is measured and described by the various terminologies. The diffusion equation can equally well describe Fickian absorption or desorption, S-curves in absorption, Case II, Super Case II, and even the drying of a lacquer film where the concentration of the evaporating (desorbing) species falls from very high, with very high diffusion coefficients, to zero, where the diffusion coefficient has fallen by many orders of magnitude.
There are no anomalies in diffusion in polymers. This has been confirmed by the software provided in HSPiP and also in the Diffusion apps. Specific data in literature reports reporting such generally accepted anomalies are treated in detail in downloads found elsewhere on this website. These were analyzed with the HSPiP software.
1See Jacques CHM, Hopfenberg HB and Stannet VT, "Vapor Sorption and Liquid Interactions with Glassy Polyblends of Polystyrene and Poly(2,6-Dimethyl-1,4-Phenylene Oxide), Polymer and Engineering Science, 1973(March),Vol 13(2),81-87. and Windle, AH. "Case II Sorption" Chapter 3 in Comyn J. Ed., Polymer Permeability, Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1985. pp. 75-118.


Sixth Form students at West Lakes Academy have taken part in this year's Apprenticeship Day organised by head of sixth form Rachel Denwood, to further their knowledge of alternative options to high education and how to be successful within an apprenticeship.
We had talks from Sellafield, Gen2, RWP Training and Atkins to inform the students about the programmes available to them, with previous students of the academy sharing their experiences.
Mr Simpson also expressed that, "It's very rare we get this opportunity" at the start of the talk from Sellafield.


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package io.github.mzmine.modules.visualization.spectra.simplespectra.datapointprocessing.datamodel.results;

import java.text.DecimalFormat;
import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class DPPSumFormulaResult extends DPPResult<String> {

  private final double ppm;
  private final double score;

  private static final NumberFormat format = new DecimalFormat("0.00");

  public DPPSumFormulaResult(String formula, double ppm) {
    super(formula);
    this.ppm = ppm;
    this.score = 0.f;
  }

  public DPPSumFormulaResult(String formula, double ppm, double score) {
    super(formula);
    this.ppm = ppm;
    this.score = score;
  }

  @Override
  public String toString() {
    String strScore = ", -";
    if (score != 0.0d)
      strScore = ", " + format.format(score * 100.0) + " %";
    return getValue() + " (Δ " + format.format(ppm) + " ppm" + strScore + ")";
  }

  public double getPpm() {
    return ppm;
  }

  public double getScore() {
    return score;
  }

  @Override
  public ResultType getResultType() {
    return ResultType.SUMFORMULA;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


My beloved grandmother, who I refer to pretty much every time I'm sharing a recipe, has made this bread for YEARS. I remember this bread as a small child, so we're talking at least 30 years. It's not strictly a Christmas recipe – nope, we've made this all throughout the year just depending on what we're in the mood to bake. It's great at Christmastime though because there is something about this bread that just radiates a holiday feel. But really, it is perfect any time of the year. My thoughts? Since this recipe is way late to make for Christmas (or super, super early, depending on how you look at it)? Make it for New Year's Day brunch. Do it.
While it's called a "bread" for purposes of picking a food category for this recipe, it's definitely perfect as a coffee cake, and it could almost be deemed a dessert too. It's pretty darn sweet for a bread, but not so sweet that you'd automatically consider it a dessert. And with a cup of coffee in the morning? And warmed in the oven with a pat of butter melting on top? Oh.my.goooosh. So good. It definitely works for all three purposes – bread, coffee cake, dessert. Seriously, I think we could make a case for eating Pistachio Bread absolutely any meal of the day and we'd find a way to justify it! I know that's what my grandmother would do – Pistachio Bread for dinner? Sure. Why not.
It is ridiculously moist. Like, so moist it can hardly be described. We made this several days before Christmas, and it was just as moist for Christmas day as it was when freshly baked. It has cinnamon-sugar swirled all the way throughout and some of it crunches up beautifully so you get cinnamon-sugary crunchy crystals in a few bites. It's not a dense or heavy bread, it's soft and slightly crumbly, and just a perfect consistency! Did I mention yet that this is super easy to make? That's kind of a running theme in my family. I hope you enjoy it!
In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, oil, and pistachio pudding. Pour half of the batter into a lightly greased tube or bundt pan. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon until well-blended. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture onto the batter in the tube pan, and swirl lightly with a knife. Add remaining batter into tube pan and knife in remaining cinnamon-sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely before turning the bread out onto a serving plate.
*In the course of mass baking at my Gramma's house this holiday season, we happened to overlook that we didn't have sour cream on hand. Given that grocery stores are straight-up bonkers during the holidays, we opted not to go back for it! I substituted 1 c. sour milk for the 1 c. sour cream, as well as added 3 tbsp. of softened butter into the batter, and the bread came out PERFECTLY. It substituted beautifully. I would imagine that Greek yogurt would substitute well here too. It is a staple in my own kitchen, but since I was baking out of my element, I didn't have that available to test.
To make the sour milk, I poured 1 tbsp. white vinegar into a 1 cup measuring cup. I added enough 2% milk to complete the cup. Let sit for about 10 minutes.


A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC), jointly operated by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will open in Chico on Friday, November 16. The DRC offers information concerning resources available to homeowners, renters and business owners who sustained damage as a result of the ongoing Camp Fire wildfire.California residents in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties can find the closest DRC by going online at fema.gov/drc or texting 43362 with the message DRC and their ZIP Code. Standard message and data rates apply.
Questions about how you can prevent smoke from endangering your health?
Pay attention to local air quality reports. As smoke gets worse, the concentration of particles in the air increases – and so should the steps you take to protect yourself. Air quality reports are available through local news media, your local air agency or on airnow.gov.
Dust masks aren't enough! Paper "dust" masks or surgical masks will not protect your lungs from the fine particles in wildfire smoke. Scarves or bandanas (wet or dry) won't help, either. Particulate masks known as N-95 or P-100 respirators will help, but they must fit well and be used correctly. They are sold at many hardware and home repair stores and online.
FEMA's Major Disaster Declaration was declared on October 10, 2017 for Napa and Sonoma. FEMA is now accepting applications for assistance.
Additionally, Gov. Brown has proclaimed an emergency for Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Yuba, Solano, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties. California fire victims will be eligible for assistance in the form of income- and property-tax relief for individuals and businesses in most affected counties and federal grants and loans for those in Sonoma and Napa counties.
Internal Revenue Service – IRS Gives Tax Relief to Victims of California Wildfires; Extension Filers Have Until Jan. 31 to File. This includes the Jan. 16, 2018 deadline for making quarterly estimated tax payments. For individual tax filers, it also includes 2016 income tax returns that received a tax-filing extension until Oct. 16, 2017. The IRS noted, however, that because tax payments related to these 2016 returns were originally due on April 18, 2017, those payments are not eligible for this relief.
Franchise Tax Board – The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today announced special tax relief for California taxpayers impacted by wildfires. Affected taxpayers are granted an extension to file 2016 California tax returns and make payments until January 31, 2018.
State Board of Equalization – You may be eligible to have your property value re-assessed. Owners of damaged property also can apply to have their next property tax payment deferred without penalty or interest until the county assessor has reassessed the property and sent the owner a corrected bill. Contact your local County Assessor for additional information.


text:
"39 months City Plaza: the end of an era, the beginning of a new one"
Yesterday, on 10th July 2019, the keys of squatted City Plaza were handed back to the former employees of the hotel, to whom the mobile equipment in the building belongs. All refugees living at City Plaza have been moved to safe housing within the city.
On 22 April 2016, the Economic and Political Refugee Solidarity Initiative squatted the empty City Plaza building with a two-fold goal: to create, on the one hand, a space of safety and dignity in which to house refugees in the centre of the city and, on the other, to create a centre of struggle against racism, borders, and social exclusion. For the freedom of movement and for the right to stay.
The decision to squat was taken at a critical political juncture. On 18th March 2016, one month before the squat opened, the EU-Turkey deal to restrict the movement of refugees to Europe was signed. It was the deal that marked the end of the "summer of migration" – the period which began in July 2015 when, under pressure from approximately one million people, the European borders "opened". This was the deal that turned the islands of the Aegean into a sort of prison for migrants, and which turned mainland Greece into a trap for over 60,000 people. The SYRIZA-ANEL government, following its capitulation to the neoliberal management of the economic crisis, took on the the implementation of a policy of control, deterrence and discouragement of migration. With Frontex and NATO patrolling the Aegean, with detention centres such as Moria on the islands, with awful camps as the only policy for housing refugees on the mainland, by punishing solidarity and the struggle of refugees. During that time, the housing issue was very pressing. The refugees who had arrived in Athens were either homeless or were being housed in the awful camps of Elliniko, Malakasa, or the port of Piraeus, while hundreds of people slept in tents or cardboard boxes in city streets and squares.
It was while these were happening that a discussion began within the Economic and Political Refugee Solidarity Initiative, which led to the decision to squat City Plaza, a hotel on Acharnon street which remained shut for seven years. The decision had certain features of voluntarism, and was not justified by the forces in our disposal, nor by the state of the anti-authoritarian movement at the time. Yet it was a move which addressed the political situation and the great struggle of the refugees who had, over the previous months, opened the borders of Fortress Europe and thus won their right to freedom of movement. It also matched the massive and spontaneous social solidarity movement which developed along the length of the migration route.
City Plaza as an example of dignified housing, space for social solidarity and cooperation between locals and migrants.
From its inception, City Plaza was organized around two key goals:
to create a space for safe and dignified housing for migrants in the centre of the city, a space of solidarity and cooperation between locals and migrants.
to function as a centre of struggle in which political and social demands by migrants and locals will interweave and complement each other.
CP proved in practice that the state policy of "hospitality" towards refugees is a mixture of harshness, incompetence, and political expediency. Where the solidarity movement, without any funding from formal institutions, without any "experts" or employees, managed to create one of the best housing spaces in the centre of the city, the state continued to abide by the trapping of refugees in makeshift camps and tents in the mainland, and by imposing a regime of refuting the rights of refugees and detaining them in hot spots on the islands, at the threat of deportation.
This contrast was the key element which led to mass support for CP at the beginning of its operation, by individual activists, organizations/collectives of the left, as well as by people who joined the movement for the first time there. Of course, because of the ownership status of the hotel, there were several attacks "from the left" which, fully aligned with the narrative of the owner and the petty bourgeois rhetoric on the "supreme human right to property", attempt to belittle the effort, by spreading conspiracy theories (ranging from claims that we're being funded by Soros, SYRIZA, the German State, to claims that we traffic drugs, firearms, children, and sex workers), slandering the collective and the activists who are part of it.
City Plaza proved in practice that refugees and locals can live together when, instead of isolation, punishment, and hatred, there is solidarity, struggle, and community. At the opposite pole from the camps, located outside the cities and in awful conditions, CP managed, in a difficult neighbourhood, until recently patrolled by neonazis, to brighten the formerly dark corner between Acharnon and Katrivanou, by giving it the character of security truly valued by those from below: the security of dignified housing, community, solidarity, and vitality of the people selflessly fighting for better lives.
At the same time, dozens of people showed their solidarity around the world. Through their daily presence, their participation in shifts, positive attitude and a large-scale international campaign for the financial support of the project. Dozens of crates of food and other essentials were sent to Plaza, thousands of people and groups made donations to support the project, which relied solely on donations for its survival.
City Plaza also served as a centre for struggle. Aiming to internationally denounce the anti-refugee policies of the SYRIZA-ANEL government and the EU, we brought to the fore topics such as criminal responsibility for shipwrecks and loss of human life, the delay or obstruction of sea rescue, the practice of illegal pushbacks in Evros and the Aegean, the conditions of imprisonment in hotspots. City Plaza hosted dozens of open discussions on the border regime, racism, the struggle for rights, often featuring contributions by well-known intellectuals from around the world, such as Judith Butler, Angela Davis, David Harvey, Alain Badiou, Sandro Mezzandra, among others. Yet the goal was not just to highlight issues relating to migrant struggles, but also to link them to the struggles of locals. In the rallies for International Worker's Day, the Polytechnic Uprising, antifascist and feminist protests, the City Plaza block was present throughout the three years.
The City Plaza community: Practices, Rights, Cooperation.
The answer to the question of what City Plaza is is known to the thousands of people who passed through its doors: CP is a project for the realisation of a conception of everyday life which aims to empower those "from below", in the constitution of a space of freedom, which practically realises an aspect of the society we envision.
Its mode of operation expressed a politics of everyday life which is in opposition to the dominant model of managing migration, especially to its "NGOisation". At the core of this voluntary contribution of time, effort, and emotion was not the "provision of services" to "the vulnerable" but the attempt to combat insecurity and fear, to empower and encourage confidence and trust in the collective. Help to refugees was re-politicised – and became solidarity and common struggle. Self-organisation, shared responsibility and decision making were central, as was a constant reflection on the inequalities permeating relations within the project: localisation, class, gender, language, education, etc.
Despite the inherent contradictions and difficulties, the collective experience of organising everyday life was the foundation for building a strong community of solidarity. At the same time, in this context, and in contrast to dominant victimising narratives, refugees and migrants became dynamic subjects with an active role on social and political life.
Daily life at CP was based on the principle of participatory organisation and collective decision making and operations, processes particularly complex in a community of 350 people speaking different languages, and with different ethnic, class, and social backgrounds, and different plans for the future. Regular coordination meetings became the space in which equal discussion took place on issues of operation and organisation, while House meetings were – especially in the beginning – a real lesson in how we can and should discuss, operate, and co-implement, as refugees and as locals. The organisation of residents and solidarians into working groups was a component of organising the project but also an essential basis for developing personal and political relationships amongst ourselves. The working groups were: Reception, Education, Children's Activities, Health Centre, Kitchen, Security, Economics, Cleaning, Communications, as well as a self-organized Women's Space.
In its 36 months of operation, City Plaza hosted over 2,500 refugees from 13 different countries. About 100 of the 126 rooms of the hotel hosted 350 refugees at any one time, while the remaining 26 either served as communal spaces (classrooms, women's space, storage space) or to host solidarians from around the world. It was, after all, City Plaza's political choice to not serve as a housing space "for" refugees but as a space of cohabitation and shared everyday life.
Yet we will not provide statistics referring to countries of origin, ages or 'vulnerable" cases. In contrast, we will provide "statistics" on the enormous amount of resources that the movement was able to mobilise in order to keep City Plaza going:
812,250 hot meals were prepared by the kitchen team
74,500 work hours on security shifts
28,630 hours of shifts at reception
5,100 hours of language teaching and creative educational activities
69,050 rolls of toilet paper
However, the most important things cannot be counted. They have to do with human relationships, mutual respect and solidarity, emotions and experiences, optimism born out of common struggle.
The end of an era, the beginning of a new one
Such a project demands enormous resources. It is not a political squat which can stay closed for a couple of days in August without any problems. It is a space which demands a daily commitment, responsibility, and presence. Besides, the way we see it, self-organization is not automatic. To the contrary, it requires many hours of work, often endless processes of shared decision making, and interminable difficulties. In other words, self-organization and solidarity are not theory. They are action in the here and now. Action full of contradictions and life's problems. In a society in which authoritarianism, war, capitalism, and competition between the subjugated is considered normal, while multiple divisions and hierarchies permeate us all, because of our origins, genders, and class backgrounds, self-organisation is not a slogan. It is a struggle.
Unfortunately, as often happens in many self-organized projects, enthusiasm, commitment, and participation dwindle over time – especially when circumstances are so demanding. The fact that the overwhelming majority of City Plaza residents are in transit made it impossible to hand the operation of the squat completely over to the refugees as most of them, sooner or later, left for Europe. At the same time, the material resources required for a project of such size – for food, hygiene products, medications, building maintenance – became harder to come by, despite the fact that comrades throughout Europe have demonstrated extraordinary commitment.
On the basis of all of the above, shortly before City Plaza celebrated its two-year anniversary, and following calls to collectives and spaces which supported the project from its inception, there opened a difficult and contradictory discussion on how long City Plaza can carry on, or whether and how it should adapt, given that we did not wish to see the project decline. There was a dilemma on whether we would move towards the direction of "normalising/ legalising" the squat or towards completing the project, while also looking for new ways to keep the community it created alive in a different context.
The first option was found to be politically undesirable, as it clashes with City Plaza's character as a political alternative to NGOisation, and leads to a disconnect between the issues of safe housing and collective struggle and rights demands more generally.
We decided that, despite it being a difficult choice, City Plaza should rightly close the way it began and operated: as a political project, by protecting the central element which turned it into a example, that is organisation from below, safe and dignified living, community of struggle, and addressed to society as a whole.
During the House meeting of 26th May 2018, we jointly decided on this direction – not without contradictions and disagreements – and there was an extensive discussion about how to implement such a decision. Beginning in June 2018, City Plaza did not accept new residents, while there was a collective commitment that the project would not wind down until every resident had found acceptable accommodation. This commitment was not at all simple to implement. The wider circumstances of dealing with the refugee question – both from the point of view of the SYRIZA-ANEL government and from the point of view of NGOs, did not provide an opportunity to provide institutionally guaranteed housing to residents, while other spaces and squats could not house such a large number of refugees, despite positive attempts to support this.
One year on, and while the project was winding down, the expected change in the political landscape, with the imminent re-election of New Democracy, made it imperative to once more address the pace at which the project is progressing towards its close, taking into account the fact that, over the past several months, several refugees had gradually moved to safe housing. Plaza has two pending court orders for its evacuation, while high-ranking New Democracy members made daily references to the "destruction of private property" and the "lawlessness" at City Plaza. In this respect, evacuation could be used as a deterrent, while many refugees, especially those with no fixed legal status, could face disproportionate consequences (deportation, detention, etc.). Even though, for some, an evacuation by New Democracy could be seen as a "heroic exit", for which few political explanations would need to be given, nevertheless most City Plaza residents would be put in danger, especially in view of their already vulnerable and unstable status.
This reconfirmed the decision to bring City Plaza to a close, on a collective basis and in our own terms. All refugees found safe housing. In the almost eighteen months between the decision to shut down and its implementation, most refugees moved on towards Northern Europe. Out of those who remained at City Plaza, some had the opportunity to rent their own place, as they had since found employment, while others still resorted to collective solutions. Through shared spaces and other housing projects which we have already put in place, along with the impossibly persistent network of all the people who actively participated in the project (refugees and solidarians), the community will continue to exist long after the building has been abandoned.
City Plaza's closure is linked to the wider movement's inability to develop effective forms of organization, mobilisation, and discourse on the refugee questions, which match the demands of the time. It is true that many parts of the wider social movement decided on different degrees of involvement, being unable to support the project and/or develop similar ones, which would galvanise our efforts through a new dynamic. This position is not apportioning blame, but highlights the project as part of a wider social and political process, reflecting the ideological-political and organisational crisis within the movement, with which we will have to deal in the next phase.
City Plaza was an invaluable political experience for all who took part, but also a political event far greater than the sum of its parts. Without exaggeration, CP was the pan-European symbol which concentrated resistance to the racist and repressive migration regime of the EU, following the closure of the borders after the EU-Turkey deal was signed. Equally, it served as a strong counter-example at a time of pessimism and demobilisation for the left, and a time of resurgence for the far right.
City Plaza was a great struggle which, like all great struggles, cannot be counted as a clear victory or a clear defeat. It is a chapter in antiracist and migration struggles and, at the same time, an experiment in social movements, an unexpected mix of different needs, sociopolitical, gendered, and class experiences. This meeting, like every mixture, needs some time for the multiple experiences to settle and leave their trace on our individual and collective consciousness.In this milieu, new forms of resistance, struggle, and relationships of cooperation and solidarity will form – in Athens as well as in the dozens of cities at which City Plaza residents will arrive, as well as in the daily struggles against the barbarism or racism and repressive policies.
The City Plaza collective was, from the beginning, aware of its contradictory makeup. The alternative it proposed could not but me incomplete, dependent on the circumstances in which it was born and the subjective capacities of the movement and its people, with their brains, hearts, and bodies. Yet it was also restricted, like every struggle for rights and equal participation, which impinges on the power of capitalist exploitation, the imposition and reproduction of nationalist, racist, and gendered hierarchies and divisions.
City Plaza is a link in a chain of struggles for social emancipation. A peculiar struggle, as it began from the small and the everyday, from how to cook the food and how to clean the building, and extended to resistance to the border regime and to multiple levels of discrimination. For those of us who took part in it, CP was an opportunity to redefine and to reflect on political thought and practice, relations of power, everyday life, cohabitation and its terms, self-organisation and its contradictions. We say goodbye to S(p)iti Plaza with one promise: to transfer this rich experience, to continue to enrich and broaden the ways and the places of common struggle.
Solidarity will win!
Toto 12. Juli 2019 12. Juli 2019 Artikel, Griechenland
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


What Is Your Fraud Rank?
As 2014 winds down, plan sponsors are likely thinking ahead to some of the significant changes that will take effect in 2015, most notably, the employer "pay or play" mandate under the ACA. However, there are two deadlines that plan sponsors of self-insured group health plans should be aware of.
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." President Obama repeated this assurance to the American public numerous times, and the statement was prominently featured on the White House web site prior to and after adoption of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Federal Appeals Court in D.C. Strikes Down Key Aspect of Health Care Reform (Just Before the 4th Circuit's Opposite Ruling) – Any Impact on the Individual and Employer Mandates?
The Doc Fix: Do We Finally Have a Permanent Solution?
Will physicians finally be free from worrying that their Medicare payments will be severely slashed? During the first week in February, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate agreed on a bill which would repeal the SGR formula and thus avoid the necessity for a recurring, last minute stop-gap fix, known as the 'doc fix'.
In the world of healthcare, the story that grabbed our headlines and attention the most this past year was, of course, the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As we move into 2014, we take a moment to look back at some of the key events in the implementation process thus far.
A popular 2009 movie, called "It's Complicated," was about relationships. The title of that movie also applies to solving the problem of providing affordable healthcare in the United States. It's complicated.
Affordable Care Act Update: Pay or Play Delay, and What Does it Say Today?


People are in look for the standard courier service always. One should be meticulous to send courier to India and vice versa. It is important to select the apt courier service and follow the tips accordingly.


text:
Carillion bags £800m Sunderland regeneration
Aaron Morby 9 years ago
Sunderland City Council has chosen a consortium led by Carillion and Igloo Regeneration as strategic partner to deliver the city's planned redevelopment.
This innovative contract, which will initially focus on the redevelopment of key sites across the City, is worth at least £100m over the first eight years and potentially up to £800m over 20 years.
The deal means there could finally be movement at the Vaux site, which has been standing empty for 14 years since the brewery closed in 1999.
Other key sites which will also be developed by the partnership include Seaburn, Chapelgarth, Farringdon Row, Holmeside and parts of the East End.
The two other shortlisted bidders were Langtree Land and Property and a consortium including Ramboll, Calmont Project Services, Barratt Developments, Kier Construction, BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory.
The 26-acre Vaux brewery site, next to the River Wear in Sunderland, will be a priority development site
Councillor Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council said: "The chance to take part in an ambitious, long-term initiative attracted bids from a number of leading UK companies.
"We were delighted at the high standard of the shortlisted bids and it was a difficult task to choose the preferred bidder, but the commitment, track record and approach of our chosen partner gave it the winning edge.
"This decision marks an important milestone in the joint venture agreement, which will breathe new life into under-used publicly owned land in prime sites for development.
The programme will invigorate key areas of the City and offer new opportunities for employment, housing, shopping and leisure."
Carillion Chief Executive, Richard Howson, said: "We are delighted to have been selected by Sunderland City Council as its strategic partner for this innovative contract."


Two years ago, Mr. Wow and I did something crazy! Something neither one of us ever thought we would do, especially within our adult and married life.
We were in an interesting spot in life. A few big changes had already occurred and we were looking to make a few more.
During and after college, we had both lived with roommates. Then we both found ourselves individually enjoying the life of having a one bedroom apartment without roommates. It was glorious!
But then Mr. Wow (boyfriend Wow at the time) entered the picture and after dating for awhile, we decided to forgo our separate places and stay together in the fantasy suite move into together.
We actually moved in with my parents.
I'm sure you are probably wondering who in their right mind would ever willingly move back in with their parents as a married couple?
And this wasn't due to any health issues on their part. It also wasn't a result of a desperate financial situation for us. Although it had a financial undertone, it was 100% voluntary.
First, let me explain the situation we were in.
Prior to the move, we lived in an cute, beach front apartment that had a huge view of the ocean. The view was unbeatable!
Yep, this was what we saw from our couch!
There were times that it was so sunny in our living room that we needed sunglasses and sunscreen just to sit on our couch. We were steps from the sand and from a slew of bars, restaurants and shops. [Sidenote: If you listened to our latest podcast interview THAT bar was only 2 blocks from our place.] It was perfect for two late 20s- early 30 year olds.
On the surface, this place was awesome. To this day, we still have friends ask why we ever moved from that "great" place.
But the beach pad definitely had some sharks in the shallows. And a sky-high monthly rent meant that it wouldn't take many sightings to send us to another beach.
The first thing of notice was the entry stairs. They were slowly falling apart and Mr. Wow actually stepped through one as he was walking up one evening.
Then we noticed holes in our floors. Low and behold, we had a termite infestation.
The kicker was when we found **trigger warning** termite larva in plates and bowls in the cabinets. It was just gross!
Being renters, we brought this up to our landlord. And yes, we actually put the larvae into a plastic bag to show her exactly what we were dealing with. She then left us a can of raid to fix the problem. Needless to say, it didn't.
Not only did we have unwanted critters crawling up through our floors and joining us for breakfast in our cereal bowls, but we also got front row seats to an ongoing show of domestic disturbances happening in the apartment below us.
To put it lightly, our neighbors were experiencing some relationship woes. Doors slamming, dishes breaking, incessant yelling, blood curtailing screaming and endless bouts of crying were sounds that became a usual occurrence.
Then came the police, again and again and again.
Unfortunately, our front door was the one closest to the street so in the beginning, the police came pounding on our door at all hours of the day and night.
On one Sunday afternoon, the neighbors were at it and bad. I was trying to go about my day and in the process of baking some cookies, while Mr. Wow found himself a nice spot on the couch and took a nap.
I thought our front door had been broken down it was so loud. Alas, it was the police.
Quite startled, I opened the door.
"Is there a problem here?" they ask.
"Just trying to figure out if I should make chocolate chip or sugar cookies" I said as I pointed them downstairs.
By the way, despite how loud it was, Mr. Wow slept through the whole thing.
On the worst week, the police were called pretty much every day. It was happening in the middle of the day or the middle of the night and it was getting out of hand.
There were also some big changes happening within our professional lives too. Mr. Wow's company at the time had been recently acquired. Although he received a nice payout, it also meant that his position was made redundant.
He was given 2 months to find another job. This would be the first time in his adult life that he would not have a job.
For some time, he had considered signing up for a coding bootcamp. Being that he finally had the opportunity, he found a local course he liked, applied, got in, and started a week after his last day of work.
His course schedule consisted of 15+ hour days, 6-7 days a week for 12 weeks. Basically meaning that I wasn't going to see him.
As for me, my company had taken off and I was working crazy, long days as well.
During the 12 weeks that Mr. Wow would be at the course, he would not be bringing in any income. But since we had already set ourselves up, he was able to take this opportunity without it being a question as to whether or not we could afford it.
The two of us could continue to live comfortably on just one income NBD.
But we were unhappy with our living situation. We were paying way too much rent for the crappy neighbors and creepy crawlies.
One night driving home from work, some thoughts rummaged through my mind.
Maybe we could save some money while Mr. Wow attended the course.
It would be nice to have someone around since he's going to be gone those weeks.
And like Mr. Wow had always said, it takes a little discomfort to make a big change.
Hmm, what could we do?
Maybe we could move in with my parents?
Their house is big enough. It's within the right geographical area. We'd save a sh*t ton on rent. And I would actually have some people to hang out with while he was gone. Seemed like a win-win-win in my book.
But Mr. Wow was going to think that I was crazy. Hell, I most likely am. But I mustered up the courage and told him my idea.
To my surprise, he thought it was a great idea. Ok, maybe not a great idea, but he agreed that it might actually work.
In effort to keep this post a decent length, I have decided to write a follow-up post with the details. Stayed tuned to find out if the reality matched our exceptations.
But in the mean time, I'm curious who else has done something crazy in order to save money? Anyone else moved in with their parents long after they should be moving back in?
Haha, wow, what an experience with the former rental! The view is amazing, but I can definitely see why you'd leave it!
I totally agree that it can be odd to live with the rents again, but in some instances it can actually be nice to have some time before making any big decisions, i.e. buying a house or even just figuring out where you want to live. I bet it was nice to have your parents to help out with you son too!
I think at one point or another we all have to move on from the beach. It's like a rite of passage. Unless you can afford a house away from the craziness! The only time I moved back in with the rents post-college was for a month when I decided to move to Seattle. I gave up my apartment and sold most of my things and stayed with them while I planned my trip.
Sounds like it was exactly what you needed at that time and that you didn't wear out your welcome being there for only a month.
Many cultures grown children live with their parents to make due. It is not for everyone and definitely depends on the relationship but can be a good solution.
Domestic violence is tough to be surrounded by. I am sure you want to help but there is not much I would know how to do. Thanks for sharing.
Don't think that I could do it on-going on a voluntary basis, but there are definitely worse things in life.
It doesn't help when the DV parties involved were drunk or hopped up on drugs and couldn't even be reasoned with during their tiffs. I wanted to help, but there really was nothing that I could do.
Hi, heard you guys on the BiggerPockets money podcast! I'm in LA, albeit on the other side. Moving in with the parents seems like a smart move in your situation. Landlords can get away with a lot of, um, "deferred maintenance" here. My husband and I once had an apartment in Silver Lake that developed a horrible mildew smell. The landlord claimed not to notice and of course it was rented the second we moved out. I also suspected it was termite-ridden and that a support beam was about to fall on our heads but never found termite larva. That is beyond the pale!
Hi Freida, thanks for stopping by and hoped you enjoyed the podcast! Its great to meet another LA-er, any chance you guys attend the local ChooseFI LA meet-ups?
When we moved out of that place, the landlord pretty much slapped a coat of paint on the walls and then turned around and rented it out for $700+ more than what we were paying. Absolutely ridiculous!
I didn't know about the ChooseFI LA meetup–thanks for the tip! I'm a traffic wimp but will try to check it out sometime.
Mna, I lived below a couple like that for a year once. Needless to say, I moved as soon as my lease was up. Too much stress and I wasn't even in the middle of that situation. The termites would also be a real factor on moving out.
I couldn't bring myself to move in with my parents at this stage, but it's nice that you have the kind of relationship that it is doable. I did that for a short stint when I got back from hiking and it was horrid. My mom and stepdad tried to enact curfew, I was 21, and some other things that made it unliveable pretty quickly, so I moved. Wins for everyone!
Looking forward to the follow up post(s)!
Mr. SSC recently posted…Stick to the Plan or Chase Adventure?
Those types of neighbors are not fun to live around at all. And honestly the guy was super nice and we never had an issue for a few years until he started dating that crazy girl. Bad juju all around.
Curfew? Really? That's awful. Luckily we didn't have any of that when we were there.
Ugh, bugs. I'm good about most things but I can't stand major bugs around (except spiders – I *love* spiders! they eat the other crawly bastards). I was renting a house where there were 6 exterior doors and none of them were sealed correctly, so I had creepy crawlies running around all over the place. Had to put a sticky line of death in front of each door (those adhesive mouse strips) and wear socks. Landlord would not fix the issue (among others) and couldn't fathom why I was leaving…!
Way back when, I ran out of tuition money in college during my masters degree and moved home for a couple months whilst waiting for the next raft of student loans… only a week or so into it, I got a call to go do a paid internship so I moved back to my college and did that instead. All for the best – love my folks, but I felt better to be off and working.
"Sticky line of death" haha nice, although I don't think that would work for termites and especially in that place since they were all over. We'd probably end up stuck to the tape as well since it would've been in every inch of floor and wall space.
Nice to have the option to move back when you needed it!
Yes we totally did this for a bit! My husbands parents were so generous in allowing us (plus two cats!) to stay for a few months while we were between rentals. We actually considered staying until we were totally debt free, but ended up moving on just before we got pregnant! It was a fun time, they are relatively young parents, and both working still so it was like having nice flat mates 🙂 I think that having an open mind and flexibility around your living arrangements is huge if you're thinking about FI, sometimes even just as a temporary measure. What an awful situation you had at that apartment ?
We have lived with my in-laws two times. Once when we were 22. We were in between apartment leases, briefly considered moving in with them long term to save on money because they had the space (5500 square foot house). But we were only there for a few weeks. We just didn't do well under one roof.
Maybe it works for some. But for us, living with family is just not do able, even if we save money. We like to live by ourselves.
Its nice to have the option if necessary, but also good to know that it didn't work for you. It's definitely not easy for most of us and there were plenty of things that drove me crazy and I'm sure things that drove my parents crazy.
I actually changed my plans and stayed home with my parents during and after college so that I could afford to pay for all of us to live. It was, at the time, the smartest thing I could do to save money during the time my parents needed my help because Mom was incredibly ill (my commute was paid for, I was able to work TONS of overtime to make money even while having pets because my parents could take care of them).
Compared to years later when I moved out and had to pay for two separate households, I made tons of progress keeping one combined household. And I saved a bit on taxes as the head of household filer.
Oh yes, the financial implications can be huge and it helps when family can help out with pets or children too. Sorry to hear about your mom, but it sounds like you made the most of an unfortunate situation.
Ummm. We're about to do what you did in our 50s, not our 20s.
Once we sell our house we're moving in with Mr. G's parents while our new home is built. From the logistical side it puts no pressure on us to sell our house by a specific date or accept a bad offer. It also allows us to be close by our property during the building process.
Financially, it certainly will create savings because we already spoke to my in-laws about paying rent and they said absolutely not.
I didn't know that you guys were doing that. Definitely makes it less stressful while selling and building. Can't wait for the updates about that transition!
Kudos to you for making a not so easy choice in moving back in with the folks. I really like what Mr. Wow said, "it takes a little discomfort to make a big change." It sure does.
I too moved back in with my parents after leaving the nest. I moved in at the lovely age of 44 to clean up my debt once and for all. In addition to practicing financial discipline, I got to work on things like patience, forgiveness, and self-control ;-). All in all it was totally worth it.
Yes, beautiful view in an awesome town, but it just wasn't worth dealing with all the other stuff just to life there. Also to be honest, your story about moving in with your parents in your first post actually motivated me to write this one. So I owe you a big thanks!
I am humbled that I inspired you.
Wow, expensive AND you get bad neighbours and termites! No thanks! Good thing you were renting and not owning the place. I had one bad experience with neighbours back when I first started working–luckily I was able to mbe in with Wanderer to cut our rent in half. His parents weren't a fan of the idea (since we weren't married and they are religious) but we did it anyway. Best decision I ever made.
Glad you guys decided to pick the most pragmatic solution and move in with your parents. As much as I love my parents, there is zero chance in Hell in would ever move in with them…there would just be WAY too much fighting. But it says a lot about how great your relationship is with your parents that you can do that. Curious to read part 2 to see how it turned out!
Oh yes those are just a few of the obvious reasons that we continue to rent, among many others 😉 Having that flexibility to relocate in a pinch is key!
The lesson to landlords is location, location, location. The beachfront attracted tenants who'd pay top dollar despite substandard amenities. I'm turning a 2BR now, but its location won't justify more rent unless i do some bathroom upgrades.
Geeze, that's quite a rental horror story! When you look at it that way, moving in with your parents must have been a huge improvement.
Sometimes you just have to get your feet under yourself first. You're very lucky to have parents that were willing to take you in after you became adults.
Sometimes this is called a "failure to launch", but I believe it's becoming far more 'normal'.
Yes, it was definitely a huge improvement!


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Metal Genres
Interview with Jens Johansson
Interview conducted by Luxi Lahtinen
Date online: May 13, 2018
Live pictures from the Helsinki show taken by Luxi Lahtinen
Ritchie "The Man in Black" Blackmore is a guitar legend and virtuoso and a former member of iconic Heavy/Hard Rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. He's responsible for many international hit songs from Purple classics "Child in Time", "Highway Star" and "Burn", to Rainbow's "All Night Long", "Stone Cold", "Stargazer" and so on. And the list of legendary musicians he has worked with throughout his career goes on forever.
This living legend has achieved a lot over a career that started in 1968 when he first put Deep Purple together and his career has covered six decades, which is just incredible.
In 2015, Ritchie Blackmore got the idea to take Rainbow on the road again, this time with a line-up consisting of vocalist Ronnie Romero (ex-Lords of Black), keyboardist Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Bob Nouveau on bass and David Keith on drums.
In April 2018, the Rainbow tour caravan reached European soil where they played five shows, one of which happened in Helsinki, Finland, where they played in front of a sold-out crowd.
The Metal Crypt had the golden opportunity to have a little talk about this special tour with the band's keyboard player, Jens Johansson, who kindly answered our questions.
Luxi: How's it going, Jens? I assume it feels great to be on tour with Rainbow, right?
Jens: It's a very good feeling and it is really nice to be involved in the tour. It's material I love and that I have been familiar with since I was small. On top of that, Ritchie doesn't seem to like typical tour life so he has arranged super-comfortable travel. This means lots of space between the gigs, very relaxed travel schedules, etc.
Luxi: "Memories in Rock" 2018 is the kind of tour that may Rainbow fans, both old and new, have been waiting for years and now it's really happening. What are your thoughts and feelings about touring under the Rainbow name? Do you consider it a great honour to be a part of it all?
Jens: I am like you say very honoured to be a part of this. Like everyone, I had heard the rumours for many years but didn't really think it could happen. I was extremely happy when they contacted me and, of course, very curious about who the rest of the band would be, especially the singer. :)
Luxi: You have played one show in the Czech Republic, one show in Germany, two in Russia and one in Finland; have they all sold out and has the response been overwhelming? How would you summarize these events in your own words? You have obviously given some memorable moments to your fans but what have the fans given back to you?
Jens: The shows this year have all been sold out or close to it, I believe. Yes, there have been a lot of really memorable moments on stage. If nothing else I can see the listeners have waited a long time for this, never thinking it could ever happen. There is now a trajectory since the first gigs with this line-up. There is some development, we are getting to know each other better musically, and the songs are a developing in different directions. But still few enough gigs that (I hope) nobody is getting sick of anyone else.
Luxi: The band's set list has consisted of many classic Rainbow songs and also some classic Purple-era stuff. Which are your favourite Rainbow/Purple songs to play live and why?
Jens: They are all nice to play live. If I have to single one out at this particular time maybe it will be "Mistreated" because it has had some extremely dynamic moments in the past and also it has gone through some quite interesting developments lately from Ritchie, where he will direct the band in the same manner an orchestra conductor would. Also "Child in Time" has been absolutely fantastic most of the time this past tour, much for the same reasons.
Luxi: When you play songs like "Stargazer", "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll", or "Burn" live, do you get goosebumps just hearing and seeing how your audience reacts?
Jens: "Long Live Rock'n'Roll" is especially nice in this way since the audience very often sings along with it. "Stargazer" is so epic that people just seem to get completely absorbed into it, and since there is that long guitar solo in the middle, somehow a lot of the feel of that one is tied to which mood Ritchie is in on any given night. But these are all pretty busy songs so not so much room for these very dynamic level shifts that have evolved in some of the other ones...
Luxi: This year also marks the 40th anniversary of one of Rainbow's most important albums, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll. What meaning has this album had for you as a musician?
Jens: All of the Rainbow and Purple albums have been huge milestones in my life, and pretty much most of the people I have played with as well, who were any good anyway. LLRR is a fantastic album and we all sucked up anything from that camp like sponges, really. This stuff was our lifeblood. Yngwie used to joke that he would play Made in Japan on the record player until it was so worn out that it was just a thin vinyl spiral, then he'd have to go buy another copy. Only I'm not 100% sure he was joking... Maybe he was about the spiral part.
Luxi: Would you say "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" might well be your personal hymn to your musical career, why you love doing this so much? I mean, being a musician, entertainer and first and foremost, being someone who is quite a wizard behind his keyboards?
Jens: It's not a personal hymn for me per se, but I think it's really an amazing tune.
Luxi: Ritchie Blackmore himself considers you one of the best keyboard players in the whole world saying you have managed to adopt Jon Lord's playing style (Deep Purple, Whitesnake) when playing both Rainbow and Purple stuff. How do you feel about his kind words?
Jens: It's almost impossible to believe he said that. But if it's true, of course, I'm flattered beyond belief. Jon Lord has been a huge influence on me, so it's not so much "I managed to adopt his playing style for this job in 2016" rather than "I started trying to adopt his playing style as a teenager in the mid-70s."
Luxi: Talking about Jon Lord (R.I.P.), what kind of a tutor was he when you first started learning to play keyboards? Did you see Jon as some sort of a "keyboard God", so to speak?
Jens: Definitely. Absolutely. There was nobody better in the whole world than all those guys. It was simply the embodiment of the ideal Rock band. Basically, all other bands were complete crap in my mind.
Luxi: Can you remember which songs were some of the first Rainbow songs that you tried to learn to play? Do you "blame" Rainbow, at least partly for why you stuck to playing keyboards back in the day, and not guitar or drums, for example?
Jens: It was not so much at the level of "which songs" as it was "let's learn to play all of Made in Japan note for note" when I started out. Amusingly enough, Yngwie had done the same thing. Very often in Yngwie's band when we were supposed to rehearse for some tour or other, whoever-was-the-singer-at-the-time had to haplessly sit and listen as we plowed thru one side after another of Made in Japan.
Luxi: You are, of course, mostly known as the keyboard player with Finnish Power Metal powerhouse Stratovarius since 1995, in which your keyboards are in a key role. Does playing keyboards in Rainbow set some limits on your playing style in terms of soloing, for example?
Jens: Yes, if nothing else the size of the venues sets limits! If I tried to cram all of those millions of little Stratovarius notes into an arena, they would be lost in the acoustics like 15 meters from the stage. And of course, the songs themselves are very different as well. But being Rainbow and Purple fans is still something I have in common with the guys in Stratovarius.
With Rainbow, the heart of many of the songs as they get played live is improvisation, which has something in common with Jazz music. It's also what attracted me these bands in the beginning. They did a lot of jamming. With Stratovarius there is approximately zero jamming, it's much more structured and in some ways, it's more predictable. Some people would, of course, prefer this, it's a lot more poppy and the songs live sound quite similar between gigs.
Luxi: Now that Stratovarius has been mentioned, will be there some news regarding the band's next album any time soon?
Jens: I imagine in 2019 at some point...
Luxi: How do you see the future of Rainbow? Besides this new song, titled "Waiting for a Sign", is there any new material in the works, or some plans to do some more shows across the globe?
Jens: This is all up to Ritchie. I'm up for anything if he feels like it.
Luxi: Thank you so much for your time, Jens. It was nice to have this conversation with you. Last but not least, I want to wish you all the best in all of your future endeavours, whatever there may be ahead of you. Any last words perhaps?
Jens: Thank you!
Final words of the interview... Well, I am bad at this kind of thing. Anyway, with a little luck, there will be some more gigs. Also, I heard some rumours that they may have recorded the shows this year, it would be interesting if they release some of the stuff since the songs have evolved a little bit since when we last played. But actually, I am not sure if they recorded or not...
/J
Other information about Rainbow on this site
Review: Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
Review: Rising
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New and Events and Blog
Keep It Beautiful – Kelly Ward
Pub date: spring 2013
Kelly Ward's debut collection of stories teems with characters just on the fringe of the mainstream, and each story examines the mundane and abject sides of normalcy. A middle-aged woman spends her life in the slot machine pit of a rural casino where she navigates her misplaced affections for two men: one a lifelong gambler and couch-surfing cad, the other a kid in his early 20s who makes her forget her own age and place in the world. Twenty-something newlyweds Asa and Maria attempt to conceive for the first six months of their marriage. When her apparent dream of becoming a mother doesn't pan out quickly, Maria distances herself from Asa. A septuagenarian utilizes younger shoppers as pawns to make her weekly grocery-store jaunt that much easier to navigate. Each of Keep it Beautiful's characters find humor and beauty in unlikely places, while often playing victim—or at times accomplice—to their circumstances.
"Ward's marginal characters—geriatric shoplifters, lovelorn gamblers, Zellers employees, OCD municipal workers—are curious curiosities. Ward lifts the everyday and everyman and transforms absurd disappointments and fragmented joys of the quotidian to reveal a fresh, intimate compassionate perspective, as all gifted writers do."—Ibi Kaslik, author of Skinny and The Angel Riots
"Ward favour[s] shorter stories that provide just enough information to comprehend their characters' motivations and morality, while simultaneously refusing to explain things in a blandly expository manner."—The National Post
"Keep It Beautiful is full of characters both odd and endearing and makes for fantastic summer reading for short story lovers."—Open Book Toronto
"The author's deft facility with character and her willingness to trust her readers by infusing her stories with just the right degree of contingency mark her as an author to watch."—Steve W. Beattie, 49th Shelf
"Observant and compassionate to the end"—goodreads.com
Kelly Ward is a freelance writer and editor whose fiction, poetry, and journalism have appeared in various publications across Canada, including Existere, Matrix Magazine, SubTerrain, Taddle Creek, Word Magazine, and various other literary journals. Her story, "A Girl And A Dog On A Friday Night," was longlisted for the 2017 Journey Prize. She lives in Toronto.
Posted in Catalogue, K, Short Fiction, Spring 2013, Uncategorized	| Tagged 2017 Journey Prize Longlist, 49th Shelf, fiction, ibi kaslik, Kelly Ward, National Post, Open Book Toronto, short stories, Tightrope Books	|
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