text:
The term 'podcast' was coined by Ben Hammersly in 2004 in an article he wrote for The Guardian newspaper as a portmanteau of 'iPod' and 'broadcast' . Although the medium first appeared in the 1980s (known as "audioblogs" at the time), it began to become more popular in the early 2000s with the rise of the internet broadband and portable audio devices. Nowadays, the podcast has since grown to become a powerful medium. A 2021 survey has found that there are approximately 14 million in 2020 in the United States alone and future projections only foresee this number increasing for good reason.
After all, whether you're looking for a dulcet female british tone discussing the latest in current affairs, a soothing african american male voice reading an audiobook or the winding musicality of a texas accent giving a lecture on regional linguistics, the podcasting industry is a wide and varied marketplace with hundreds of thousands of shows covering everything from politics to movie reviews to health and wellness just ripe for the picking (and listening).
One could argue that AM/FM radio fulfills a similar role. However, the ever increasing number of listeners shows that the medium has carved out a special place for itself in spite of its more commercial and polished counterpart. So what is it about the medium which has captured the ears of listeners?
Ease of access
In this digital age, audio streaming platforms are booming. Spotify alone has over 40 million monthly listeners in just the United States and podcasts have been a staple piece of entertainment offered on the platform since 2018 and continue to maintain their relevance.
With the increased usage of portable digital devices capable of streaming audio such as handphones, tablets and smart speakers, such digital platforms have become the go-to destination as they are essentially an all-in-one stop for audio entertainment.
This widespread accessibility has in turn has given podcasting a space to truly flourish. While most people on these platforms still opt to listen to music primarily, podcasts are easily accessed through the search engine or the recommendations page. As such, the rise of popularity of such platforms also means a rise in exposure (and consequently listeners) of podcasts.
Intimacy of the experience
It isn't an exaggeration to say that the radio revolutionised the way we consume and enjoyed entertainment. It provided a relatively cheap way for communities to bond over shared entertainment and often featured beloved personalities such as comedians. More importantly, the appeal was that it felt like an intimate experience as the radio host was speaking "directly" to the listener.
Podcasts take the intimacy that radio listeners experienced and dial it up a notch. Especially since we often listen to them on personal devices and using our earpieces, this creates a uniquely personal touch to the listening experience.
In this modern age where everything is capable of being edited with the click of a button, concepts such as "genuineness" and "relatability" are highly valued. Since podcasts are usually independent productions, podcasters do not have to face the same scrutiny or conduct themselves in such a politically correct or formal manner as their radio counterparts do.
Therefore podcasters are able to to express their views in a much more relaxed and personal manner. This unfiltered manner of delivery has allowed the medium to become popular with today's youths.
Wide range of topics
If you have an interest and you want to listen to someone talk about it, there's probably a podcast channel out there with someone talking about it. If not, there's little to stop you from starting your own podcast about said topic.
Podcasting is relatively simple to start. All one needs to start is an audio recording device, basic editing skills, a platform to upload the episode onto and a topic they want to talk about. The accessibility of the medium has opened the doors of spoken word entertainment to just about everyone from established online personalities (such as Youtuber Stephanie Soo) to the everyday layperson with the gift of gab.
Therefore, topics that usually would be considered taboo or frivolous or just too niche to garner coverage from a dedicated radio station find a home in podcasts instead. This allows for more diversity in discussions and consequently attracts a wider range of creators and listeners to explore the medium.
Podcasts have become an increasingly popular mode of spoken word entertainment. In the ever changing landscape of media consumption, the podcast has managed to secure a place for itself by combining the intimacy of a radio broadcast with the freedom of expression that internet mediums so often afford. Only time will tell, but this unique medium will likely continue to appeal to listeners across a wide range of backgrounds and demographics for years to come.


This page archives items from our home page. You may also want to visit the Transfaith Institute community care blog for additional archives.
Join us for this annual transgender-led, transgender-centered Shabbat observance at the Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference. D'var Torah offered by Enzi Tanner.
Transfaith moves to a new office in Philadelphia, increasing accessibility and options for in-person gatherings on site.
Transfaith Youth Writing Fellow mud howard interviews writer, poet, and interrogator jayy dodd.
The Trans Ecology of "For Wildness to Bloom"
Josefine W. W. Parker's essays on trans ecology, magic, and sainthood "For Wildness to Bloom"
This year at Philadelphia Trans Health Conference Transfaith presents three days of workshops, events, and sessions on liberating spirituality for trans, gender nonconforming and intersex people. Join us September 7th - 9th!
Hablo Rodriguez-Williams discusses the increasing weaponization of police in communities of color - and why it should matter to trans people.
Youth Writing Fellow Mud Howard gives us a peek behind the scenes at Peacock Rebellion's Brouhaha, an event that celebrates stand-up comedy by trans women of color!
Youth Writing Fellow Habló Rodríguez-Williams advocates for decolonial spiritual practices.
Transfaith Youth Fellow Mud Howard explores emerging trans spiritual movements.
Join Transfaith in welcoming two Youth Writing Fellows into the fold for the summer of 2017!
Transfaith speaks with two black trans elders about the past, present, and future of transgender liberation, and what we can do to support those who have been in this struggle since back in the day.
Transfaith sits down with three transgender Muslims to talk about the impact of Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban, and how to join in struggle with targeted Muslim communities.
Trans and Muslim project launches!
Planning for a gathering of transgender Muslim leaders at the 2017 Philadelphia Trans Health has begun!


text:
Prescribing Faith: Medicine, Media and Religion in American Culture
Badaracco, Claire H. Prescribing Faith: Medicine, Media and Religion in American Culture. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007.
In the Introduction, Badaracco asks, "What is it about American cultural identity that has cultivated the ground for alternative religions based on the rejection of formal medicine…?" As a professor of communication, she is interested in how 19th-century American religion advertised "a type of hopefulness" as compared with how medicine preyed more on fear. After a summary of early and mid-19th-century American healing movements, chapter two is devoted to Christian Science, with a particular interest in Mary Baker Eddy's use of publishing and branding to spread her ideas. She separates Eddy from both Phineas P. Quimby and later mind cure movements by underlining Eddy's religious conservativism rooted in the Bible; and she recognizes the importance of Eddy's female religious leadership and the business of her religion. Other chapters examine subsequent mind cure movements that arose during "the era of fads and quackery" that thrived because of the unreliability of medicine. With medicine's reliance "on the imagination of disease and its concomitant fear," many mental cure movements countered with their own appeal to hope. Despite the careful analysis of Christian Science practice in relation to 19th-century health practices, a number of errors should be noted, such as the fact that Calvin Frye's father attended Harvard University, but Calvin himself did not (62).
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 978-1932792898
Badaracco, Claire H.
People: Eddy, Mary Baker

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Small Charities Coalition reports increased income last year
09 January 2020 by John Plummer
The Small Charities Coalition increased its income last year but made a slight deficit because it hired extra staff, according to accounts published this week.
The organisation, which has recruited a completely new staff team over the past nine months, generated £350,214 in the year to the end of March 2019, compared with £299,436 in the previous year.
But this was more than offset by expenditure rising from £240,572 to £359,595, mainly due to the recruitment of two extra senior staff.
This led to a deficit of £9,381, compared with a surplus of £58,864 the previous year.
Staff costs rose from £151,950 to £266,350 as the number of employees increased from six to eight. Two were made redundant shortly after the year-end results were known.
Professional fees went up from £18,200 to £46,567.
Free reserves fell from 10 months of running costs to 5.4 months, below the set policy of six to nine months.
The report describes 2018/19 as "a year of change and challenge".
It adds: "Whilst the external environment to secure funding remains challenging, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity remains a going concern for twelve months from signing these accounts."
Rita Chadha, chief executive of the Small Charities Coalition, told Third Sector the organisation had built a new four-strong staff team since she joined in the summer, and it would shortly advertise for a policy and influencing manager.
She said "salary levels have been reduced across the board" as the organisation "cut our cloth accordingly".
Chadha said she expected the next set of accounts to break even and was confident the one after would show significant improvement.
"It's been a difficult period, but we feel we are through the worst," she said.
The Small Charities Coalition, which has 10,000 members, helps charities with incomes below £1m.
But it has begun focusing more on the particular needs of charities with incomes of less than £350,000.
Membership is free, but members with incomes of between £350,000 and £1m will now pay more to attend training sessions.
Mentoring will be available only to charities with incomes below £350,000, which will also have access to additional resources.
The annual report reveals that, in 2018/19, the Small Charities Coalition held 54 training workshop and networking events, handled 1,639 questions on its support line and matched 136 small charities with new mentors.
The figures for 2017/18 cover a 10-month period to 31 March 2018 because the organisation changed its financial year-end to align with funders, which are mainly trusts and foundations.
Finance Accounting Small Charities News Charity & volunteer support Registered metered content
Smaller charities feeling more optimistic about the coming year, research indicates
Small Charities Coalition appoints new chief executive
New campaign calls on larger charities to support smaller ones
NCVO unhappy about the commission's new serious incident guidance
Highest earner at Wellcome Trust was paid £3.3m in 2018/19
Investigation of Dove Trust has cost Charity Commission £650,000
Navca likely to allow board to choose its chair, not members
Hospice charity probed for a second time amid fundraising concerns


A once-prominent bone researcher whose career crumbled after allegations of misconduct has lost her medical license in Canada.
The researcher, Abida Sophina "Sophie" Jamal, formerly of the University of Toronto, had been considered a rising star in the international community of osteoporosis researchers, winning awards and collaborating with some of the leading senior investigators in the field.
The Committee views your behaviour as shocking and shameful. Your falsification of research data and dishonesty strikes at the fundamental faith in the medical profession.
Your extensive attempts at cover up add further to your breach of the public trust. The impact of your misconduct is far reaching. This has affected not only your colleagues, but Women's College Hospital, the University of Toronto, and the reputation of the Canadian research Community.
You were highly qualified to carry out research on human subjects in a world class setting, and you betrayed all of those involved. The Committee is of the view that your misconduct is egregious, and is of the highest order.
In addition to the falsification of research data and dishonesty, you betrayed trust in your research assistant, and it can only be imagined the resultant effects on this individual. You wasted precious health care research funds.
While we accept that there were no harmful outcomes, there were adverse effects on study participants. While the community accepts that you are ashamed of your actions, we remain at a loss as to how to explain why you acted in the manner you did. This is something you will have to come to terms with in future years.
In addition to the rebuke, Jamal had to pay the costs of one day of hearings — $5,500 — and lost her certificate of registration (the Canadian version of a medical license).
Jamal's fortunes began to change in 2015, when people began to question the integrity of her data. Those doubts eventually led to three retractions and a lifetime funding ban from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, to whom she paid restitution of more than $260,000.
has failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession; … has engaged in an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional; and … has engaged in conduct unbecoming a physician.
The document states that Jamal lied to investigators, blamed her research associate for apparent discrepancies in her data and even blamed Steven Cummings, her high-profile collaborator on the JAMA article, for cooking up complaints against her out of 'deep personal interest' in the outcome of that study.
The files she submitted to the University of Toronto Inquiry were files she personally manipulated and not the original files of her Research Associate as she claimed. She went so far as to illegally access patient records to alter data and destroy and change computer files. She disposed of an old computer so the forensic computer experts could not examine it. She went into the Canadian Blood Services facility and changed freezer temperatures to damage blood and urine samples in a strenuous attempt to cover up her deceptions during the IC's investigation. This prolonged deception and dishonesty is considered by the Committee to constitute serious professional misconduct.
Cummings declined to speak with us about the case.
Jamal's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. According to the report she waived her right to appeal the judgment.
"She went into the Canadian Blood Services facility and changed freezer temperatures to damage blood and urine samples"??
Isn't this a crime, rather than simply a misconduct?
Intentionally damaging or destroying property certainly would be, although it would be up to the owner of said property (the University or the Blood Center) to press charges, not the medical licensing board.
we need to see serious punishments like this in the US. Pulling a medical license would get some people's attention.
Required to pay $260K restitution for research funds and costs for the her hearing, a no-holds-barred public rebuke, loss of job, loss of licence, loss of livelihood. She justifiably received the maximum possible punishment for her actions, which were egregious. Somehow, though, it doesn't give me any new confidence that the old boys with big titles, big grants, and spin-offs with big valuations won't continue to be able to just slink off somewhere else when their misdeeds and dishonesty comes to light.
It appears it was Dr Eastell and colleagues that spotted inconsistencies with Dr Jamals data as they had some of the raw data.
It is highly unlikely that anyone would have spotted the data irregularities if the raw data were not available.
Therefore should all raw data be made available for all future publications?
In reading the linked report, it appears Dr Eastell was in attendence when Dr Jamal presented an analysis of the data, and recognized that some of the results did not make sense. It was only then that he sought the underlying data. Dr Jamal had manipulated the data that the assistant collected from the patient records, and later also patient records themselves.
If all patient record forms and images from a clinical study were immediately uploaded and locked from being edited later, that would have prevented what Dr Jamal did. That's the closest thing to raw data that could be put in electronic form, but it's not a format that would facilitate reanalysis by others. If you've seen the stacks of patient record forms from even a small study of a couple dozen subjects, you'll know what I mean.
Critical thinking by an expert looking at the end result of data analysis is what started the unravelling of Dr Jamal's attempt to manipulate the study outcome. He was also in the position to demand to see all of the data she was using.
It is not a simple thing to define "raw data" that would be made publically available and thereby prevent research misconduct.
IMO keeping them honest will always require scientists who can question the work of other scientists – not just small fry but the big shots that exert enormous power in their field and at their universities – and institutions that will then be willing and able ti investigate and disclose their findings.
Next Next post: Can a "nudge" stop researchers from using the wrong cell lines?


Purchase this product now and earn 639 Points!
This is a regulated item. Federal law requires us to ship it to an FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee) in your state of residence. After you have placed your order, please send us an email to: [email protected] (or simply reply to your confirmation email) with your order # and the name and number/email of the FFL you would like us to ship your firearm to. We will contact them and arrange shipment. Once it arrives they will contact you so you can pick it up.
*FOR GEN4/GEN5 MODELS: Check out the Gen5 and Gen4 Technology area for medium/large backstrapsTechnical Data are rounded and do not reflect tolerances – they may be altered without notice! Subject to technical changes.


text:
Q: UIPageViewController not loading page content after accessing UITableView content This is likely a noob question about the PageViewControllers or general management of my views.
I have a PageViewController that allows me to swipe through... well, you know what it does.  On each of these dynamic pages, I have a label that gives a current game status message and an embedded UITableView that has a list of players and their scores (see attached #1).
When I tap on the player to see their profile, and then return back to my pageviewcontroller the data I see is the data that had when I initially left the view -- which is good.  However... when I then swipe forward or back to the subsequent pages, that data does not clear itself out and gets layered on top of the newly swiped in view (see attached #2).  Also, the tableview should be showing no points for this screen.
The 3rd screen grab shows how the data should look.
Thoughts / comments, look familiar to anyone?
thanks in advance
:-)

EDIT
Added more details by request
The number 2, "..." and "player 1 is in the lead" parts are all UILabels found on the PageContentViewController shown in the example below.  My ScoringViewController is really only responsible for setting up the page views, and loading the subsequent pages.
ScoringViewController.m
-(void)loadPages:(int)startingPage {
    // Create page view controller
    self.pageViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"PageViewController"];
    self.pageViewController.dataSource = self;

    PageContentViewController *startingViewController = [self viewControllerAtIndex:startingPage];
    NSArray *viewControllers = @[startingViewController];

    // Advance to next page ("hole");
    [self.pageViewController setViewControllers:viewControllers direction:UIPageViewControllerNavigationDirectionForward animated:NO completion:nil];

    // Change the size of page view controller
    self.pageViewController.view.frame = CGRectMake(
                                                0,
                                                0,
                                                self.view.frame.size.width,
                                                self.view.frame.size.height);

    [self addChildViewController:_pageViewController];
    [self.view insertSubview:_pageViewController.view atIndex:0];
    [self.pageViewController didMoveToParentViewController:self];
}

-(PageContentViewController *)viewControllerAtIndex:(NSUInteger)index {
    // Create a new view controller and pass suitable data.
    PageContentViewController *pageContentViewController = [self.storyboard
                                                        instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"PageContentViewController"];

    pageContentViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"PageContentViewController"];
    pageContentViewController.pageIndex = index;

    return pageContentViewController;
}

PageContentViewController.m
-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];

    // Add 1 to the page index since it's zero based.
    int tmpPageIndex = _pageIndex + 1;

    _lblCurrentHole.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d",tmpPageIndex];
}

In my configureCell method for the table view, it's just hitting a leaderCheck function and then displaying the proper message.  Beyond that, nothing else really.  It works great if I don't go to the profile page and come back.
The code has it's roots in an example I found on AppCoda awhile back. (http://www.appcoda.com/uipageviewcontroller-storyboard-tutorial/).
EDIT
Including a close up of the content view with colors to show the separation of the main view on top and the tableview on the on the bottom.
Is something just not clearing from memory properly when I leave this view and come back to it?

A: I think the loadPages: method in the ScoringViewController is being called twice, because it is called from viewWillAppear.  The viewWillAppear will be called when the VC is first displayed, but also when the profile view controller is dismissed. Hence you end up with two pageViewControllers, with one showing through the other. It should work OK if you move that code to viewDidLoad instead.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Thank you to everyone who gave us feedback during the conversation period 15th June – 30th September. We're taking your views on board as we develop the new People and Communities programme, but here is a snap shot of what you told us to date.
The VCSE sector is very welcoming of the open nature of the People and Communities programme.
There is widespread support for the strengths-based approach. However, a number of people said they need help with identifying and evidencing the strengths in their community.
@BIGNIonline it will still have to depend on evidence – so how do they show it? through examples to date and workable ideas for the future?
Some people said we should consider accepting new forms of evidence like case studies or films.
Communities have a variety of strengths – one of the most important was identified as: people and the skills and experiences that they bring. many people suggested that we should bring people together at all stages to share ideas, learning and best practice, to help people build on these strengths.
@OLTHLC We've always asked: show the need your project will address. P&C is asking: show the strengths your project will build on.
There is a great appetite for face to face contact at all stages of the funding journey – including workshops in communities to provide advice before writing applications; visiting groups during assessment to get a better sense of the issues; and during grant management to showcase good work and best practice and to better share information.
Groups may find it challenging to effectively manage people's expectations of success when they get involved in a project. It was also highlighted that previous negative experiences may discourage people from getting involved.
Other challenges identified included issues specific to rural areas such as access to services, and involving people across a more dispersed area.
Engagement methods need to be tailored to the specific needs of the people you want to involve in design and delivery.
Age, transport needs, health issues, and specific vulnerabilities may be a barrier to getting involved and groups need to take these into consideration.
The financial situation facing the VCSE sector and its impact on project sustainability needs to be considered in the discussion around building on the strengths of a community.
Organisations have acknowledged that there will be competition for this programme and there has been discussion about us funding projects which are picking up on unmet needs or shortfalls due to government funding cuts.
The financial situation facing the VCSEs isn't good for sustainability. That's why we want you to build on existing strengths and resources.
The idea that people may know what they want but don't always know what they need was highlighted by some groups as a challenge to involving people in project design and delivery.
People are generally supportive of our flexibility and how we currently support applicants and grantholders with our application support, media training and development and support contracts.
Many people said they want simpler forms, best practice examples, transparency in decision making and clearer terminology, for example, what do we mean by assets and involving people?
← Harryville Partnership Initiative win an Awards for All grant.


text:
BoardAndFraud
SEC & DOJ Release Second Edition of the Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Jonathan T. Marks, CPA, CFF, CFE
Congress enacted the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA or the Act) in 1977 in response to revelations of widespread bribery of foreign officials by U.S. companies. The Act was intended to halt those corrupt practices, create a level playing field for honest businesses, and restore public confidence in the integrity of the marketplace.
The original Guide was released in November 2012 and quietly revised in June of 2015, with changes that were more technical than substantive.
On July 3rd, the 2020 Guidance or the Second Edition was made available. I will refer to the Guidance as the Second Edition throughout this writing, does not break new ground by offering any new policy pronouncements. Still, it does contain useful information, including some good examples for companies seeking to comply with the FCPA.
The Second Edition guide is designed to provide practical advice about, and useful insights into enforcement considerations.
Although many aspects of the Guide continue to hold true today, the last eight years have also brought new cases, new law, and new policies. The Second Edition of the Guide reflects these updates, including new case law on the definition of the term "foreign official" under the FCPA, the jurisdictional reach of the FCPA, and the FCPA's foreign written laws affirmative defense. It addresses certain legal standards, including the mens rea requirement and statute of limitations for criminal violations of the accounting provisions. It reflects updated data, statistics, and case examples. And it summarizes new policies applicable to the FCPA that have been announced in the DOJ's and SEC's continuing efforts to provide increased transparency, including the DOJ's FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, Selection of Monitors in Criminal Division Matters, Coordination of Corporate Resolution Penalties (or Anti-Piling On Policy), and the Criminal Division's Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs.
Also, the Guide is intended to provide information for businesses and individuals regarding the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Guide has been prepared by the staff of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Second Edition reflects the views of the Division of Enforcement, but it is not a statement by the Commission, and the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved its content. It is non-binding, informal, and summary in nature, and the information contained herein does not constitute rules or regulations. As such, it is not intended to, does not, and may not be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, that are enforceable at law by any party, in any criminal, civil, or administrative matter. It is not intended to substitute for the advice of legal counsel on specific issues related to the FCPA.
It does not in any way limit the enforcement intentions or litigating positions of the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or any other U.S. government agency.
Some Key Points of Focus
The Second Edition builds on the previous Resource Guide's compliance program guidance and discussion of effective compliance programs.
Investigation, Analysis, and Remediation of Misconduct
A significant addition to the guidance is located within the Investigation, Analysis, and Remediation of Misconduct section, which states:
The truest measure of an effective compliance program is how it responds to misconduct. Accordingly, for a compliance program to be truly effective, it should have a well-functioning and appropriately funded mechanism for the timely and thorough investigations of any allegations or suspicions of misconduct by the company, its employees, or agents. An effective investigations structure will also have an established means of documenting the company's response, including any disciplinary or remediation measures taken.
The guidance includes additional compliance program resources and guides.
The Second Edition suggests essential best practices to be followed regarding a company's merger with or acquisition of other companies. There is an additional focus on M&A and corporate successor liability. The Second Edition speaks in greater depth to the principles of corporate successor liability under the FCPA, including a detailed discussion of successor liability in the M&A context. Lastly, there is emphasis on pre-acqusition due diligence.
Lastly, the Second Edition clarifies the Resource Guide's earlier language relating to the FCPA's "internal controls" provisions. The new writing makes it clear that those provisions apply to a company's system of internal accounting controls – adding the word "accounting" to the earlier text.
On page 40-41 of The Second Edition states:
Although a company's internal accounting controls are not synonymous with a company's compliance program, an effective compliance program contains a number of components that may overlap with a critical component of an issuer's internal accounting controls. Fundamentally, the design of a company's internal controls must take into account the operational realities and risks attendant to the company's business, such as the nature of its products or services; how the products or services get to market; the nature of its workforce; the degree of regulation; the extent of its government interaction; and the degree to which it has operations in countries with a high risk of corruption. Just as a company's internal accounting controls are tailored to its operations, its compliance program needs to be tailored to the risks specific to its operations. Businesses whose operations expose them to a high risk of corruption will necessarily devise and employ different compliance programs than businesses that have a lesser exposure to corruption, just as a financial services company would be expected to devise and employ different internal accounting controls than a manufacturer.
Gifts, Travel, Entertainment, and Other Things
The Second Edition now outlines a framework for evaluating corporate hospitality. To start, the Second Edition explicitly recognizes the legitimacy of the practice, stating that "[a] small gift or token of esteem or gratitude is often an appropriate way for business people to display respect for each other."
Conversely, the Second Edition states that improper benefits include such things as "a $12,000 birthday trip for a government decision-maker" and a "trip to Italy for eight" officials consisting "primarily of sightseeing" and including "$1,000 in 'pocket money' for each official."
Most helpfully, the Second Edition identifies the specific "hallmarks of appropriate gift-giving" as being that the gift is:
Given openly and transparently,
Recorded correctly in the giver's books and records,
Provided only to reflect esteem or gratitude, and
Permitted under local law.
Also, the Second Edition suggests explicitly that organizations, particularly large ones, use automated systems "with clear monetary limits and annual limitations" in implementing compliance programs related to "routine gifts, travel and entertainment."
The Second Edition provides useful advice to comply with the FCPA's affirmative defense for "reasonable and bona fide travel and lodging expenses … related to the promotion, demonstration, or explanation of a company's products or services."
The Second Edition outlines the safeguards it has deemed to be appropriate concerning travel expenditures:
Do not select the particular officials who will participate in the party's proposed trip or program or else select them based on pre-determined, merit-based criteria.
Pay all costs directly to travel and lodging vendors and reimburse costs only upon presentation of a receipt.
Do not advance funds or pay for reimbursements in cash.
Ensure that any stipends are reasonable approximations of costs likely to be incurred and that expenses are limited to those that are necessary and reasonable.
Ensure the expenditures are transparent, both within the company and to the foreign government.
Do not condition payment of expenses on any action by the foreign official.
Obtain written confirmation that payment of the expenses is not contrary to local law.
Provide no additional compensation, stipends, or spending money beyond what is necessary to pay for actual expenses incurred.
Ensure that costs and expenses on behalf of the foreign officials will be accurately recorded in the company's books and records.
The examples the Second Edition provides regarding gifts, travel, and entertainment are instructive, and advises readers that the FCPA is not violated when representatives of a U.S. company:
Pay for a "moderate bar tab" for customers, including government officials at an industry trade show.
Present "a moderately priced crystal vase" to the General Manager of a government-owned customer "as a wedding gift and token of esteem."
Cover business class airfare for employees of a government customer to inspect company facilities in the United States, consistent with internal company guidelines for reimbursing the cost of lengthy international flights.
By contrast, the Second Edition states that the FCPA obviously would not permit first-class airfare for the officials to travel, with spouses, to Las Vegas on vacation.
The key changes to the Second Edition reflect developments and issues that are well-known to many practitioners. Nevertheless, the updated Guide emphasizes the importance of effective (and "adequately resourced") compliance programs, risk-based diligence efforts, and voluntary self-disclosures.
A copy of the Guide can be downloaded here: fcpa-guide-2020_final.pdf
A comparison of the 2020 to the 2015 version can be download here: compare fcpa-guide-2020_final
Have a safe and happy July 4th Holiday weekend!
Jonathan T. Marks, CPA, CFE
Share this BoardandFraud post:
Beyond the FCPA Strong Internal Controls and Effective Internal Audit are Critical Factors in Global Anti-corruption Efforts
In "FCPA"
Board of Directors Guide to FCPA Compliance
In "Audit Committee"
Speaking and Training on Fraud, Compliance, Ethics, and More...
In "ACFE"
Categories: Chief Audit Executive, Chief Compliance Officer, Compliance, Corporate Fraud, Corruption, DOJ, FCPA, Fraud, Fraud and Forensic, Fraud and Forensic Investigations, Compliance, and Ethics, Fraud Investigations, General Counsel, Gifts, Governance, Internal Audit, Internal Control Deficiencies, Internal Controls, Investigations, Legal, SEC
Tags: bribery, Corruption, DOJ, FCPA, Resource Guide, SEC, Squar Milner
View non-AMP version


Although less celebrated than some of his better known giallo peers such as Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Sergio Martino, late producer-turned-director Luciano Ercoli contributed three hugely entertaining and memorable entries to the genre – including this, his 1971 sophomore effort, Death Walks on High Heels.
Spanish-born model and actress Nieves Navarro stars as Nicole, an exotic dancer who finds herself terrorized by a black-clad assailant determined on procuring her murdered father's stolen gems. Fleeing Paris in hopes of evading her knife-wielding pursuer, Nicole arrives in England only to discover that death stalks her at every corner.
With the scene-stealing Navarro at its center, Death Walks on High Heels manages to subvert the conventions of the giallo film by having a ballsy, well-rounded female protagonist to root for – representing a welcome departure from the neurotic stereotypes found elsewhere within the genre.
-Uncut Version, for the first time on Blu-ray!
Pieces is the original sickening slasher classic, now restored in glorious 4K!
From Juan Piquer Simón, director of the equally unhinged Slugs, Pieces is the original sickening slasher classic, now restored in glorious 4K!
A Boston college campus is being terrorised by a black-clad maniac who collects body parts from his unfortunate co-ed victims. As the corpses (and red herrings) begin to pile up, can Professor Brown (genre veteran Jack Taylor) unmask the murderer before his morbid puzzle is complete?
Boasting some of the most outrageous gore set-pieces ever to splash their way across the screen (including a particularly memorable slow-motion evisceration atop a waterbed), Pieces is an essential slice of Spanish splatter and more gruesome than ever on Blu-ray.


text:
William Hague Orders a Judicial Inquiry into British Complicity in Torture
Some horrors may await us on the economic front when George Osborne, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, finishes sharpening his scythe, but for those of us who care about human rights and civil liberties, and who have been aghast for the last 13 years at the Labour government's paranoid, cruel and chaotic anti-terror legislation, its obsession with secret evidence, control orders and imprisonment without charge or trial, its authoritarian contempt for legitimate protest, and its Big Brother approach to surveillance, the arrival of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government has so far been a breath of fresh air.
Beyond the easy targets — the hated ID card scheme, for example — the new government has reacted well to two early tests of its promise to tackle Labour's record on terrorism. This was a significant target for the Liberal Democrats (who actively opposed the use of secret evidence and control orders, and called for an inquiry into British complicity in torture at their conference last autumn), and this latter topic was also a personal obsession of William Hague's, even if the party as a whole — with a few other notable exceptions (David Davis and Andrew Tyrie, for example, and Baroness Neville-Jones in the Lords) — supported Labour's domestic anti-terror agenda rather enthusiastically.
The first test: not overreacting to a difficult decision regarding the deportation of two terror suspects
On Tuesday, the government passed its first test, responding with admirable restraint to the thorny problem of a judge refusing to allow the deportation of two Pakistani terror suspects, because they face the risk of torture in Pakistan.
On the campaign trail, David Cameron had made repealing the Human Rights Act one of his major manifesto pledges (and replacing it with a BNP-sounding British Bill of Rights), but when every misguided xenophobe with access to a newspaper column (or a comments page) began wailing about repealing the HRA immediately, the government refused to be drawn.
Home Secretary Theresa May promised a commission to investigate the HRA, while Nick Clegg warned that the Act was "an absolute constitutional cornerstone" and a "fundamental guarantor of rights to the British citizen," adding, bluntly, "Any government would tamper with it at its peril." Crucially, however, the government did not threaten to appeal the decision, seemed content to keep the men in question under surveillance, and no doubt quietly accepted that bashing the HRA as an election tool was not the same as having to deal with the real issues.
These, to be clear, are that the legally binding European Convention on Human Rights (PDF) and the UN Convention Against Torture are the documents that prohibit any involvement whatsoever with torture (including sending foreign nationals back to countries where they face the risk of torture) and the HRA (which largely attempted, with some success, to keep ECHR issues in-house rather than having cases perpetually being referred to Strasbourg) is not to blame.
As a result, although we can no doubt expect the government to attempt to follow Labour's dubious policy of establishing "memoranda of understanding" with human rights-abusing regimes (which purport to guarantee the humane treatment of those returned, even though that is scarcely credible), we will also, hopefully, see real movement (as signalled on Sunday) regarding putting terror suspects on trial, by allowing the use of intercept evidence in regular courts.
This is what numerous legal experts have been advising for years (PDF), and it is clearly time that we joined the rest of the world in finding a way to do this while protecting intelligence agents and sources, rather than continuing to rely on the use of secret evidence, on special advocates who represent the accused in closed sessions, but are unable to tell their clients anything that they have heard, and on the whims of judges in a special terror court.
The second test: a judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture
On Thursday, the government passed its second test, when William Hague, evidently preempting attempts by FCO and intelligence officials to cajole him into silence, announced that he was ordering a judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture and rendition since September 11, 2001. As the Guardian explained, his remarks "appear to have caught the Foreign Office by surprise, as no details were yet available on how the inquiry will be conducted, its terms of reference or when it will start work." In a follow-up article, also in the Guardian, Ian Cobain laid out what might be hoped for from the inquiry. "It is expected to expose not only details of the activities of the security and intelligence officials alleged to have colluded in torture since 9/11," he wrote, "but also the identities of the senior figures in government who authorised those activities."
As was revealed last June, any detailed inquiry will be required to follow a chain to the very top of government, because, as the Guardian explained at the time, Tony Blair "was aware of the existence of a secret interrogation policy which effectively led to British citizens, and others, being tortured during counter-terrorism investigations."
The Guardian added that Britain's post-9/11 policy "offered guidance to MI5 and MI6 officers questioning detainees in Afghanistan whom they knew were being mistreated by the US military," providing intelligence agents with written instructions that they could not "be seen to condone" torture and must not "engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners," although "they were also told they were not under any obligation to intervene to prevent detainees from being mistreated." As stated in the policy, "Given that they are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene to prevent this."
The Guardian proceeded to explain that the policy, which was "set out in written instructions sent to MI5 and MI6 officers in January 2002," also informed them that they "might consider complaining to US officials about the mistreatment of detainees 'if circumstances allow,'" and noted that Tony Blair had "indicated his awareness of the existence of the policy" in 2004, shortly after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke.
The exact form the inquiry will take has not yet been established. William Hague stated only, "We will be setting out in the not-too-distant future what we are going to do about allegations that have been made into complicity in torture. We will make a full announcement that we are working on now. We want a judge-led inquiry." It is, for example, not known how much of the evidence will be presented publicly. The Daily Mail suggested that "Much of the evidence will be taken behind closed doors and it is is not clear whether a full report will be published — though a summary is expected to be made public."
However, even with these limitations, an inquiry that focuses, as anticipated, on cases including that of Binyam Mohamed would be extraordinary, given the extent to which the Labour government tried to hide its knowledge of the British resident's torture in Pakistan, as well as the persistent denials by senior officials, and by the heads of MI5 and MI6, that any collusion in torture took place.
Set against this are the grave concerns and criticism expressed by two High Court judges, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr. Justice Lloyd Jones, who chastised the government for complicity in "wrongdoing" after a judicial review in August 2008, and then spent 18 months arguing that the public had the right to know what was contained in 42 documents sent to the British by their counterparts in US intelligence, and the criticism levelled at MI5 in February this year by Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, in a Court of Appeal hearing that finally led to the release of a summary of those documents. On that occasion, Lord Neuberger accused MI5 of having "deliberately misled parliament."
There is much more to Binyam Mohamed's case alone, of course, especially regarding the extent to which the government knew about his imprisonment for 18 months in Morocco — and, as has been alleged, sent both a spy and an informer to talk to him — as well as British complicity in the rendition and torture of other men who ended up in Guantanamo, including Shaker Aamer, the British resident who is still held, and Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil El-Banna, who were seized by the CIA in the Gambia on a business trip, after an exchange of intelligence between the US and the UK.
There are also many other cases, primarily in Pakistan, but also in other countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, that have surfaced over the last few years, in which the torture of British citizens appears to have been very deliberately sub-contracted to foreign torturers. Ian Cobain exposed many of these stories for the first time, I have also discussed them (see, for example, here), and they have also been examined by Human Rights Watch and by Cageprisoners, in a report, "Fabricating Terrorism II" (PDF) that was published in April 2009.
Another champion of accountability, David Davis MP, played a major role in exposing British complicity in torture, when, last July, he used the protection of parliamentary privilege to tell the House of Commons how, in 2006, the government and the security services allowed Rangzieb Ahmed, a British citizen, to travel to Pakistan, where they "suggested" to the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Pakistan's most notorious intelligence agency, that he should be arrested. As he explained, Pakistani intelligence would have been "aware that 'suggesting' arrest was equivalent to 'suggesting' torture." Ahmed was later returned to the UK to face a trial, at which evidence of his torture — including having three of his fingernails ripped out — was concealed, and Davis was not only appalled by this particular cover-up, but also told the House, bluntly, "I cannot imagine a more obvious case of the outsourcing of torture."
For now, those of us who have been calling for an inquiry can only hope that its revelations will not be drowned in the secrecy that was such a hallmark of the Labour government, and that, as Philippe Sands urged yesterday, it will be "deep and broad and as open as possible." After eight years of largely hidden complicity in the Bush administration's "War on Terror," and the recent and compelling evidence of Britain's own policy of outsourcing torture, we need answers, and we need them to be both frank and clear.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in January 2010, details about the new documentary film, "Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo" (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and currently on tour in the UK), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
Cross-posted on The Public Record, Eurasia Review and Uruknet.
Posted in American torture, Belmarsh, control orders, deportation and extradition, Binyam Mohamed, Bisher al-Rawi, British terror plots, Guantanamo, Jamil El-Banna, UK complicity in torture, UK politics
Will Shirley says...
Oddly enough I consider myself to be a good American based on the fairy tales about the country I was told as a child: freedom, liberty, honesty, ethics, morality…equality sometimes. So it is fairly odd to be hoping that the crimes of my country are finally exposed, because I want the criminals tried and sentenced and a good attempt to be made at making the nation match the myth. We are so very much like early Nazi Germany here that it terrifies me. My daughter is starting her career, my son is in his hospital bed and will be for the rest of his life and Nazis are never very nice to women and cripples. Okay, not Nazis, fascists, or as Mussolini prefers to call them: corporatists. See, my daughter is talented and beautiful so I figure she has a good shot at finding a nice guy, getting married and maybe having a kid. I'd get to be a grandfather! But would you want your grandchild to grow up in George Bush's America, or the Tea Party's version? Oh hell no!! So I want my country to be stripped of it's mask and exposed for what it is, and if that sends a few thousand fascist war criminals to prison, great! Andy, you are welcome to join me in a secret dance of exposure late at night under a full moon to call up the gods of Truth and Ethics and offer up oh I don't know maybe even a full cooked chicken dinner for the outing of the Republicrats as the fascist murderers they are. "Justice, justice,ethics, KICK! Honesty, honesty, ethics, KICK!"
...on May 22nd, 2010 at 10:32 am
Thanks, Will. I would love to join you in that late night dance to cast out the fascists!
...on May 22nd, 2010 at 12:14 pm
New letter to William Hague, asking him to secure the return from Guantánamo of Shaker Aamer « freedetainees.org says...
[…] the welcome news that foreign secretary William Hague has ordered a judicial inquiry into allegations of British complicity in torture, I've amended the letter to him that I drafted […]
...on May 22nd, 2010 at 4:27 pm


text:
The B-Side Get to Know Kehlani's Glam Team: Hairstylist Kahh Spence and MUA Troye Antonio The Reflection Issue
The Reflection Issue Overview
Cover Story Kehlani Is Constantly Reflecting and Forever Evolving
The B-Side Get to Know Kehlani's Glam Team: Hairstylist Kahh Spence and MUA Troye Antonio
Gen Z Has Brought Back Y2K in a Major Way—But Why?
It's Time To Stop Criticizing Black Women's Hair
Why Is the Internet So Obsessed With Morning Routines?
The Products That Inspired Team Byrdie's Love of Beauty
Why the Holidays Never Live Up to Our Expectations
Why Do I Want to be Hot for the Apocalypse?
How to Cope With Grief During the Holiday Season
What People Don't Know About Love After a Toxic Relationship
This Is Where Beauty Is Headed in 2022
The TikTok Trends, Accounts, and Hashtags That Bring Us Joy
Beauty Maximalism Is Back, and These Brands Are Proof
Editors' Picks: The One Product We're Excited to Wear for the Holidays
8 Stunning Makeup Tutorials That Have Taught Us the Most
The Best Viral Products We Discovered on TikTok This Year
Transition + Reconnecting
Coming To Terms With "Not Forever, But Right Now"
How Taking Solo Trips Can Help You Reconnect With Yourself
After a Year in Sweats, I'm Getting to Know My Closet Again
Kelly Mi Li on Self-Discovery Through Expectations
the digital issue
Get to Know Kehlani's Glam Team: Hairstylist Kahh Spence and MUA Troye Antonio
They're beauty powerhouses.
Hallie Gould
Hallie Gould is Byrdie's senior editorial director. She has a decade's worth of experience as a writer and editor, and her bylines can be found in such publications as ELLE, Cosmopolitan, and InStyle.
Traditionally, the "B-side" refers to the flip-side of a record. The A-side contains the more front-facing hits—the singles—but on the B-side, you can get in a bit deeper with the artist. And quite honestly, there's no better metaphor we can think of for the creative team behind a beauty look. They pull the references, scour the archives, and paint the picture you see on the big screen. The celebrity, model, or actor is the single with the most air time. But the glam team? They're the producers, conductors, friends, and family. For lack of a less ubiquitous phrase, they make it work.
It has always been our mission to shine a light on the BTS of beauty, as the artistry of hair and makeup is an intricate, detailed exploration at the cross-section of aesthetics and culture. Why? Because the origin of a look is just as important as the look itself. The backstory deserves its own hard-earned glory.
This time around, we're introducing you to Kahh Spence and Troye Antonio, the masterminds behind the hair and makeup looks for Byrdie's sixth cover—The Reflection Issue—featuring Kehlani. Below, join us in taking a peek behind the curtain, as their words are empowering and beautiful in equal measure.
Hair: Kahh Spence
"Our most recent inspiration is a modern-day Cruella de Vil," Spence tells me as brushing through Kehlani's first look—an updo showcasing their half black, half white dye-job. "Few people can pull off such a daring style, yet Kehlani does so with ease," he says. And it's true. The entire day felt easy. There's a lightness to Kehlani that translates in their beauty choices. Spence used their natural texture in the first look for that reason. "It was super natural and kept the look in Kehlani's element," he explains.
There's something to be said for having an inside look at an artist and her team. Kehlani had been traveling with the same group for weeks prior to our shoot—Spence and Antonio on hair and makeup, as well as her stylist, reps, and adorable young daughter. It felt like family; comfortable, quiet, and, here's that word again: easy. "Kehlani is such a sweetheart," Spence says of his longtime friend and client, "and she allows me to be as creative as possible. It's always a great experience."
Spence grew up in Brooklyn, NY and spent a lot of that time in the salon or barbershop with his family. "I was exposed to the beauty space at such a young age," he tells me. "I styled my mother's hair and that sealed the deal for me. She was very particular about who touched her hair, so I knew I had done something right!" Now, he routinely works with celebrity clients including Kehlani, Winnie Harlow, Cardi B, and Kelly Rowland—and he launched his namesake fragrance brand Kahh Spence Beauty in 2019. "It's made for everyone of every shape, size, and color all over the world," the brand's website reads.
Kehlani's second hairstyle, "clean and smooth," as Spence describes it, showcased that Cruella de Vil-inspired color yet again. It was meant to play off the shine from their rhinestone freckles. The third and final look was more structural, where Spence created two separate braids and looped them together in a U-shape. He styled their baby hairs for each look, a signature for Kehlani, and used OGX's Beauty Multi-Benefit Hairspray between takes.
"Beauty isn't skin deep; it is a state of mind," Spence asserts when I ask what it all means to him. "I've learned when your inner beauty is genuine and sincere, you'll shine no matter what." With that in mind, I ask for his beauty icons. "Rihanna and Pat McGrath," he says without pause. "And I lookup to Kim Kimble and Chris Appleton."
His ascendance into celebrity beauty has been quick—Spence is only 26 years-old and has the fresh, unwearied skin to prove it—but doesn't have just one turning point to speak of. His career has been an amalgamation of proud moments and hard work. His favorite on-set memory was a video shoot, one where he had to create four completely different hair looks in very little time. "I wowed myself and it taught me so much about my work ethic." He continues, "There's no one specific highlight as everything is a big moment for me. Waking up every day doing what I love and making a living off of that is the real highlight for me."
As for advice, Spence says to focus on the craft before anything. "As your craft progresses, so will your career. Stay ready so you never have to get ready."
EAP Heat
Makeup: Troye Antonio
"Kehlani is always a good time," Antonio says with a grin. Doing their makeup for the 2021 Met Gala is high up on his list of highlights. "We always laugh and joke during glam. They're always down to let me have fun with makeup looks." He's not wrong—Kehlani was instrumental in the makeup looks on set, shifting and molding each one to fit their personality best. The first was "inspired by Kehlani's natural beauty," Antonio says. He wanted to keep it all looking fresh-faced and clean, so he enhanced their freckles with Freck Beauty's Freck OG Freckle Pen ($22) and applied a wash of clear gloss to her lips.
Freckles became a bit of a theme for this shoot, as the second look used rhinestones across Kehlani's cheeks to accentuate each one. "I thought it was so cool, so we went for it," Antonio describes. "Beauty to me will always be a world of self expression," he adds. "It has empowered me to challenge myself. As makeup trends change, or if I see a look I think is cool, I challenge myself to recreate it. It will forever be the reason I love what I do."
Antonio grew up in Richmond, VA and worked in retail during the early years of his career. "I started at Nars, then went to MAC. Before leaving retail, I was a beauty stylist for Nordstrom," he shares. First, he broke into the beauty industry in 2012 doing prosthetic makeup. His aha moment came later, when he created his first glamorous makeup style and it came really naturally to him. "I never looked back since," he tells me.
"I can't narrow it down to one," he says when I ask for his favorite on-set memory since his career took off. "The best memories always tend to be the most creative makeup looks," he continues. Antonio's beauty icon and personal mentor is Mali Thomas, a Bobbi Brown Cosmetics artist in residence, the founder of Mali Magic LLC, and a veteran makeup artist in the space. "When I decided to leave retail, she gave me the push, encouragement, and opportunities that have built who I am today. "I will forever be grateful to her," he shares with genuine sincerity.
The third look was a play on a traditional cat eye, with liner across the lid of one eye and along the lash line of the other. "Kehlani has the best eye shape, so this technique was amazing on her," Antonio explains.
Before we finish up for the day, I ask if he has any advice for aspiring artists—as this business is a hard one to break into. "Stay patient," he says. "Stay patient with your skills and stay patient on your journey." Antonio expands, "Skills will always come with time and consistency, and your journey creates your personal story. You can use your story to inspire and encourage others."
Kehlani Is Constantly Reflecting and Forever Evolving
Get to Know Thuso's Glam Team: Hairstylist Sharif Poston and MUA Rebekah Aladdin
Get to Know Tiffany's Glam Team: Hairstylist Ray Christopher and MUA Kathy Jeung
Get to Know Laverne's Glam Team: Hairstylist Dee TrannyBear and MUA Deja Smith
Get to Know Joey's Glam Team: Hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos and MUA Allen Avendaño
The 32 Best Beauty Moments of 2021
Get to Know Jamie's Glam Team: Hairstylist Kiyonori Sudo and MUA Ayami Nishimura
Get to Know Lily's Glam Team: Hairstylist Gregory Russell and Makeup Artist Fiona Stiles
Get to Know Taylor's Glam Team: Hairstylist Johnnie Sapong and Makeup Artist Kate Lee
Featuring Hairstylist Marty Harper and Halsey (Who Did Her Own Makeup)
Marsai Martin Shares the Best Beauty Lesson She's Learned
Benito Skinner (AKA Benny Drama) Surprisingly Knows How to Chill
Thuso Mbedu Wants to Be Your Next Action Hero
15 Celebs Who Go All Out in the Halloween Makeup Department
Sir John Is Taking His Makeup Magic to MasterClass
Patrick Ta on His Life as a Celebrity MUA and Brand Founder


Summary: The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened an investigation based on consumer allegations of doors failing to latch and/or inadvertently opening on model year (MY) 2011-2013 Ford Fiesta, MY 2013 Ford Fusion and MY 2013 Lincoln MKZ vehicles. All of the affected vehicles share the same door latch design.ODI has received 281 unique reports related to the alleged problem, with over 100 claiming that the door(s) opened inadvertently while the vehicle was in motion. There were no crashes reported however three separate injuries were indicated, all caused by a rebounding door striking a consumer after they attempted to close it. In response to ODI's Information Request (IR) letter, Ford Motor Company (Ford) responded with 1,102 unique reports related to the alleged problem. There were no injury claims but there were two claims of low speed accidents occurring involving the door opening while driving and damaging property. Ford also submitted 10,883 warranty claims related to door latch failures.Many customers indicated that the door would not latch at all and accordingly they decided to restrain the door by other means (looping the seatbelt through the door, or using rope or tape) in order to drive the vehicle.Some customers also reported multiple door latch failures occurring on the same vehicle on different doors occurring months apart.On April 23rd, 2015 Ford notified ODI that it would conduct a safety recall (15V-246) to remedy door latches failures on certain MY 2011-2014 Ford Fiesta and MY 2013-2014 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles.According to Ford, the pawl spring tab located within the door latch can break off, or separate and result in a ""door will not close" condition.The recalled vehicles include Fiesta vehiclesmanufactured from the start of the MY 2011 to May 2013 and Fusion and MKZ vehicles manufactured from the start of the MY 2013 year until May 2013.In May 2013 Ford reports that it made a manufacturing quality control change, specific to the spring tab, to improve the performance of the existing part.The door latch spring tab was redesigned and the new latch was phased into production in December 2014 with a new part number.Ford will replace all four door latches on the affected vehicles with the new latch design currently in production.The recall action initiated by the manufacturer appears to address the safety risks of concern to ODI.Accordingly, the investigation is closed.The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the identification (ODI) numbers found in the attached list.
Summary: On September 11, 2014 the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE14-028) to investigate claims of doors failing to latch and/or inadvertently opening on model year (MY) 2011-2013 Ford Fiesta vehicles. ODI has received 207 unique reports related to the alleged problem, with sixty-five claiming that the door(s) opened inadvertently while the vehicle was in motion. Two injuries were reported, both caused by a rebounding door striking a consumer after they attempted to close it. In response to ODI's Information Request (IR), Ford Motor Company (Ford) responded with 451 unique reports related to the alleged defect.One claim involved an incident in which property damage incurred after a door opened while driving at low speed and struck another vehicle. Ford also submitted 1,079 warranty claims related to door latch failures. Additionally Ford informed ODI in its IR response that MY 2013 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles utilize the same door latch as the MY 2011-13 Fiesta. In it's response, Ford stated that it does not believe that a latched door experiencing this condition will inadvertently unlatch and that there are many overt warning associated with a door that does not latch. ODI noted that the rate of occurrence for this failure is comparable to other door latch failure investigations and questions the effectiveness of warning signals given the number of complainants alleging that the door(s) opened while the vehicle was in motion. Therefore, ODI is upgrading this investigation to an Engineering Analysis (EA15-002) in order to further investigate the scope, frequency and consequence of this failure.ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at www-odi.nhtsa.gov/complaints under the identification (ODI) numbers listed in the attached document.


text:
Q: Memcached status returning "memcached dead but pid file exists" When I want to see the status of memcached I run service --status-all but I get this multiple times "memcached dead but pid file exists" when it lists memcached.
It seems to me that this means memcached needs some cleaning up.   How can I remove those messages about the old pid file?

A: I got this message when memcached has been started under the wrong user account. Killing the old process and restarting it correctly fixed it.
[matt@vm]# service memcached status
memcached dead but pid file exists
[matt@vm]# ps aux | grep memcached
roland   24038  0.0  0.0 349780  ... memcached ... -P /var/run/memcached/memcached.pid
[matt@vm]# sudo kill -9 24038

[matt@vm]# service memcached start
Starting memcached:                     [  OK  ]
[matt@vm]# ps aux | grep memcached
memcached   21159  0.0  0.0 330852 ... memcached ... -P /var/run/memcached/memcached.pid
[matt@vm]# service memcached status
memcached (pid  21159) is running...

A: Depending on your distro, .pid files will either be located in memcached's working directly (like /etc/memcached) or in /var/run.

A: I tried deleting the pid file, but then would get "subsys locked" error. So I actually had to reboot and the memcached would work fine

A: I got this message and I fixed it doing this:
> ps aux | grep memcached
copied the pid and pasted it on the memcached pid location file:
> echo 2600880 > /var/run/memcached/memcached.pid
then it worked
> service memcached status
Se está ejecutando memcached (pid  2600880)...


I get this question from time to time. My Soldiers often make assumptions like, "man Sir, it must be hard for you, having to listen to everyone complain" or "there is no way I could do what you do, deal with everyone's emotions. It has to be hard for you. How you doing?" I always smile and hear their unsaid story, the one about not being able to deal with their own emotions. Its generally why people have issues hearing someone else's story – they can't deal with their own.
No, what's most challenging to me, to be frank, is the opposite – its when no one needs to talk. Its when I "make my rounds" and everyone is doing ok. When I need to make small talk to fill the void because no one is actually feeling bad. Its sitting in a quiet office feeling the need to do something but there really isn't anything to do. It's putting a ton of effort into an event like the National Day of Prayer Breakfast and three people besides the ones you specifically involved in the program show up. Its struggling with feelings of worth when everyone has a specific job on the camp that fills their day and yours is to walk about and talk to people. It's watching the Staff work really hard at the business of war while you having nothing particularly significant to add. That's hard.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I can come up with stuff to fill my day. In fact, I can come up with all kinds of busy work that thrusts me into all kinds of areas. Work that integrates me into the staff and makes my job something other than religious support (PAO and MWR come to mind). But these are not my job. In deployments past, in my anxiety, I came up with all kinds of efforts that kept me busy. Kept my mind occupied and focused on things other than unintegrated emotions but it certainly was not my job.
My job, every deployment, is two-fold – provide for the free exercise of religion and advise the Commander in the areas of religion, morale, ethics, and morals. So… yeah… that does not always fill the days. I visit. Stay informed. Read. Observe. And, once in a while, something pops up on the radar that no one is tracking and I have a mission to advise. But the overwhelming bulk of my work happens one on one. It's when I observe that staff member in the meeting who seems just a little off and when I can approach them offline, I find out that their daughter is sick and they need prayer. I just wish sometimes that I didn't have to seek this out every single time. It would be so very helpful if people would just utilize me instead of me having to pull it out of them.
But that's the call isn't it?
This is my first deployment post-CPE. I'd like to think I'm more integrated emotionally than I was for other deployments. I'd like to think I'm a little more self-aware. The thing is, of course, that the anxiety of uselessness in combat does not go away, I just have a name for it. I can sense the emotion and can deal with it. Focus the energy on useful things that actually relate to religious support. But that does not make it any less hard.
What's the hardest part of deployment for me? Maintaining the un-anxious presence.
Now that I am no longer at the prison, I can reflect on some strong memories I have from there. Ash Wednesday is of particular note.
In order to make an Ash Wednesday service happen, I looked at the schedule and for reasons I do not remember, it couldn't take place in the evening so I planned it for the opposite end of the spectrum, 0730-0800.
This meant that the prisoners would come to chapel instead of work call, attend service and then return to work after. One of the interesting impacts of this which I was not planning or intending for was that myself and my inmates were getting ashes on our foreheads at the beginning of the day. There is something very spiritually significant about "bearing the cross" all day long. Going to work, lunches, visiting, and interacting with my Soldiers while wearing an ashen cross. Over and over, every year I was at the prison, I would need to explain why "my forehead was dirty" or what Ash Wed was. Inmates who chose to come to service and wear the cross had to do so very publicly.
It put "bearing the cross" in a whole new light.
Not only was it a reminder of our own frailty and humanity, it was also a testimony to the Gospel. It took some courage to bear the cross.
Remember you are from dust and to dust you will return. Repent. And believe the Gospel.
The first year, I was able to coordinate a service with our Catholic Deacon that provided pastoral care to Catholic inmates. This made the service truly eccumenical and helped to emphasize that in the Family of God, we can come together to recognize our shared humanity.
The second year, the power was out, the correctional specialists had switched to 12 hour shifts and the service had been lost in all the movement. I showed up that morning and was greeted by emergency lighting and the inmates were all still in their housing areas.
So I had it put out over the sound system that there would be Ash Wed services that morning. I really didn't expect much participation as work call had been cancelled and most everyone was taking advantage of the time to sleep away their time and to top it off, the Deacon could not come because of the weather.
But after putting out the word, the doors to the housing areas opened and out came inmate after inmate, filing into the chapel where we, with emergency lighting and no instruments, had our service of penitence and reflection.
The final Ash Wed service was a year ago today. I had mentioned in service on Sunday at my post congregation (Memorial Chapel) that I'd be conducting the service in the prison. A couple of my church members to include the Garrison Commander asked if they could join us in worship.
That morning everything worked, the schedule of calls was on time and the church was fairly full. Looking out over my congregation, it was a picture of the Church. The powerful and powerless, the formal worshippers next to the informal, the Catholics side by side with the Protestants, the Mormons next to the Baptists, the handsome next to the homely, the brown (prison uniform) next to the green (Army uniform), the inmate and the Garrison commander, the public sinners who were tried and condemned for their crimes and the private sinners who alone knew of their brokenness – I remember sitting in the pastor's chair a little speechless by what was before me.
I knew it was to be my last Ash Wed service in the prison and very soon I would be leaving the prison and my inmates. My voice quivered when I started but soon confidence took over and the service went on. As inmates filed up to receive their ashes, the officers and Soldiers mingled with the prisoners, all one, all equal, all aware of their humanity and frailty.
Finally it was time for me to receive my ashes. I motioned to one of my inmates and, surprised, he came forward.
"Will you put the ashes on me?" He nodded.
I said the words, "From dust you have come and to dust you shall return. Repent, and believe the Gospel." His hands trembled a bit as the prisoner applied the ashes to the chaplain's forehead.
We are all one. We are all sinners in need of a savior. We all come from dust and no matter what power or prestige is given to us on earth, to dust we shall return. Repent. And believe the Gospel.
Sacred dust. Sacred Ash. Sacred Redemption.
Jane Bryant Quinn is an American journalist who is known as a commenter on personal finance. She once said, "Where you stand should not depend on where you sit." In other words, one should put all their financial eggs in one basket. I like that but her thought also struck me from the perspective of principled-centered living. When we live by principles – those ideas that have stood the test of time like honor, dignity, loyalty etc. – then we come out ahead regardless of who we work for or what our job is.
What are your core principles and how do they guide you?
It's All Saint's Sunday. A day when we, as a Church, remember the saints that have gone before us. Generally, it's a day for warm memories and challenging stories. Traditionally, capital "S" saints who are revered in the Catholic Church are people who are set apart, their holiness and particular living worthy of memory. In the Protestant church, many hold that all Christians can and should be categorized as "saints" even the not so holy. Therefore, on a day like to today, we remember all our beloved who have "gone to glory" before us.
This brings us a challenging thought however – isn't our collective past as Christians fraught with very non-holy actions? Even our saints, upon closer examination, are not exactly paragons of holiness. If we expand the definition to include everyone, we're really in a bind!
The Chapel where I pastor is called, "Memorial Chapel." This year will be the 136th year of active worship within it's walls. Those walls are covered with what are essentially gravestones marking the heroic dead – many of whom are officers who died during the "Indian Wars." Surrounded by the memory of one of America's bloodiest periods, where sovereign peoples were put to the sword and whole people groups laid waste by good Christians who worshiped in that very church is complicated to say the least. From here, native children were placed in good Christian homes forbidden to even speak of their cultural heritage. Fort Leavenworth was the edge of civilization back then, beyond that was war.
On All Saints day, I remember that our Christian past is complicated and not always terribly Christ-like.
"Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. "Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
How do I, a Chaplain in the mightiest Army the world has ever known make sense of 1. Our bloody history and 2. Jesus words in this text?
As I thought about his text I remembered another pastor, a saint, who faced similar questions. Perhaps it might be helpful to remember his struggle.
"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing….
These words were written by a young pastor. The words were first published in 1937. The pastor the wrote them had been overseeing an illegal seminary training pastors for ministry in Nazi Germany. At the time of this publishing, the Gestapo closed the Seminary in Finkenwalde and arrested 27 pastors and former students. This was a text written for a country in battle for its soul.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his twin sister Sabine was born on February 4th, 1906. His father, Dr. Karl Bonhoeffer is just beginning to teach neurology and psychiatry. He would go on to become one of the most well-known and most respected psychiatrists in Germany. His mother was one of the few women in her generation who obtained a university degree. It was a happy family. A family of thoughtful, educated, and scientific people. D's brothers would go on to become scientists and were dubious at best of D's forays into the theological life.
Dietrich's young life was marked by a continual interest and calling into a life in the ministry. His father is proud of his son but hopeful that this religious phase would pass and he would pursue something more fitting his vast academic abilities.
This didn't happen however, and Dietrich did indeed pursue theology. He was published at a young age. Within four years after beginning theological studies at Tubingen University, he successfully defends his brilliant and ground-breaking doctoral thesis, Sanctorum Communio (Communion of Saints), a significantly new way of looking at the nature of the Christian church. He is just 21 years old.
Like any young seminarian, he wonders what comes next. He sails to New York and begins a teaching fellowship at Union Theological Seminary. He identifies with the African American church experience in Harlem where he spends a great deal of time teaching and interacting with the congregation. He is exposed to the "Social Justice" movement as taught through what would become known as the "Social Gospel." It is a profound moment for him and would inform what came next.
He is a contemporary of the theologian Karl Barth and the two wrote often. Barth said to him that Germany needed his voice. Things were getting bad there. In 1931, Dietrich Bonhoeffer returns to Germany.
1933. A pivotal year for Germany. Adolf Hitler, the Austrian Corporal turned artist turned political theorist completes his rise to power and is appointed Chancellor. Two days later, Bonhoeffer now a professor of theology at the University of Berlin, delivers a radio address on leadership attacking Hitler. He is cut off the air. In April, 1933 he publishes "The Church and the Jewish Question," which was the first known essay to address the new problems the church faced under the Nazi dictatorship; his defense of the Jews was marked by Christian supersessionism – the Christian belief that Christianity had superseded Judaism, in history and in the eyes of God; the real question, he argued, was how the church would judge and respond to the Nazi state's actions against the Jews; his essay was completed in the days following the April 1, 1933, boycott of Jewish businesses. Some scholars believe Bonhoeffer was influenced on this issue by his close friendship at Union Seminary with his African American colleague, Frank Fisher, and his direct observation of Fisher's experiences under racism.
In the summer of 1933, many protestants welcomed the rise of the Nazi state. A group called, the Deutsche Christen ("German Christians") became the voice of Nazi ideology within the Evangelical Church, even advocating the removal of the Old Testament from the Bible. The Deutsche Christians cited the state Aryan laws that barred all "non-Aryans" from the civil service, they also proposed a church "Aryan paragraph" to prevent "non-Aryans" from becoming ministers or religious teachers; the Deutsche Christen claimed that Jews, as a "separate race," could not become members of an "Aryan" German church even through baptism a clear repudiation of the validity of Gospel teachings. The mainstream church was also coming under the grip of Nazism, becoming silent on the world that Germany was becoming.
In November of that year, he is ordained pastor at St. Matthias Church, Berlin.
In 1934, he and a group of brave Christians, form the "Confessing Church" in direct opposition to the established church who was about the business of assisting the State along the path leading to genocide. The Confessing Church was free of Nazi influence but not Nazi persecution. On August 2, German President Paul von Hindenburg dies and Hitler is proclaimed Chancellor and President.
He moves to Finkenwalde in 1935 where he is part of the founding of the aforementioned Seminary training pastors for ministry. By December, Himmler declares all examinations for the Confessing Church invalid, all training there invalid and all participants liable to arrest. German Jews are being arrested under the Nurmburg laws.
It is "All Saints Sunday." A day where we remember those saints who have gone before us, stood with us, and in whose shoes we stand today. It is right that we remember them. It is right that we recall the stands that others have taken so that we can evaluate where we are, who we are, and what we represent. Our Faith is not a faith that exists in opposition to others. We have a faith that is typified in its best sense in Love.
However, if the shoe of opposition fits, are we willing to wear it?
Dietrich lived in that tension between the being a peacemaker and embracing war – even internal war – against a State which was doing such wrong. By 1938, he had made contact with the German Resistance. His twin sister Sabine and her Jewish husband escape together to England by way of Switzerland.
1941, Bonhoeffer is forbidden to print or publish. He makes two trips to Switzerland for the Resistance. WW2 is in full force. Over the next two years, Dietrich would continue to write, teach and preach while making several visits to Norway and in Sweden he would meet with the British – all on the behalf of the Resistance.
1943. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is arrested. He writes during his incarceration. He continues to minister while in prison – both to the other inmates and the guards. One guard, a Corporal, approaches Dietrich with a plan for his escape and the Soldier's with him. The plot is laid but in the end, D stops it as he does not want other members of his family, incarcerated and not to be endangered by his actions or escape. He is transferred to Buchenwald. He is very cold in the winter of 1944. The news is that America and Russia are pushing in on Germany from all fronts. They cannot hold out forever. He leans up to the crack in his door and for hours converses with those near his cell, prisoner and guard, about the grace of God.
1945. In February an Allied conference is held at Yalta to discuss post-war settlements. On March 7 American forces cross Rhine River. On April the 3rd of that year, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young German pastor, theologian, and author, is moved from Buchenwald to the Flossenburg concentration camp. On the 9th, he is executed with several other key leaders of the Resistance. On April 12 President Franklin Roosevelt dies; Harry Truman is sworn in as president. On April 30 Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin bunker. By May 2 Berlin falls. On May 7 the German forces make an unconditional surrender.
So which was it? Was Bonhoeffer a combatant? A German patriot fighting for the soul of his country if not it's government? Is there a time to take up arms? Is there a time to stop turning the other cheek?
These are questions I face regularly and struggle through. I recall Jesus words, "If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword." I do not experience them as particularly judgmental but more of a statement of fact, if you live by the sword, it is very likely that you will die by it.
We live in complicated times but no more so than any other time. Those who are commemorated on the walls of memorial chapel lived in complicated times as well. They followed God in ways that made sense to the world that they understood. Let us not forget that their immediate peers and superiors had just finished fighting a war to end Slavery and the economics that the institution upheld.
When working through our Christian history and all the victories and failings of those who have gone before, we would be remiss forget the times in which they lived. They should be understood and given grace for the world that they understood rather than be judged by the one we understand.
Living the Gospel in the best way we know how. Living out our faith in a way that makes sense to us in the world we understand hoping that a hundred years from now, we will be judged by the world we knew.
And in all this, seeking to live in the way that Jesus taught. Loving others. Blessing those that curse us. Doing good to those who hate us. Doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.
GIGO – Garbage in, garbage out. It is a succinct explanation as to why computer findings would be errant. It first shows up in the 50s as computers begin to be used for actual work! It highlights the idea that if the original data is flawed, the conclusions will absolutely be flawed!


text:
Hardcover published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 2000.
Paperback by Laurel-Leaf, 2002.
Groundwood Books in Canada, 2000.
Corgi Book in Great Britain, 2002.
De Fontein in The Netherlands in Dutch, 2003.
Selected as a American Library Association (ALA) Best Book for Young Adults, 2002
Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff B.C. Book Prize for Children's Literature, 2001
Winner of a Mr. Christie's Book Award Silver Seal, 2000
A New York Library Pick for the Best 100 Children's Books of the Year 2000
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) Top Shelf Pick 2001 and one of their selections for the Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror 2000
A Junior Library Guild Pick
Nominated for :
Keystone State (Pennsylvania) Reading Association Young Adult Book Award, 2001-02
Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, 2002
Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Fiction, 2001
Canadian Geoffrey Bilson Historical Fiction for Young People Award, 2001
"An engaging, beautifully written story with a complex, appealing narrator… engrossing… compelling…" Shelle Rosenfeld, Booklist
"Throughout the fast-paced story, coincidences between the past and present accumulate until they from a bridge that leads Tom to his real identity and helps him understand what 'family' means." Kirkus Review
"Honest and uncompromising…" The Horn Book
My name is Tom and I'm small for my age, which is thirteen and three-quarters. My mother left me crawling in Toys on the fifth floor of Lewis's department store when I was a baby and never came back for me.
Abandoned in a shopping mall when he was a baby, thirteen-year-old Tom Mullen has no family – he's spent his life shuffled from one rotten foster home to another. When he hears rumours that a mass grave has been unearthed on his school grounds, he feels himself inexplicably drawn to it, and then down into its terrible darkness and beyond. He discovers that he is no longer in Liverpool in 1974 but in Ireland in 1847, the height of the potato famine. A family named Monaghan takes him in, and Tom experiences for the first time what it's like to have parents and siblings who cleave to one another even amid terrible hardship. But why has Tom been transported across time and place? And why must the grave keep yanking him back, at intervals, to his dreary, lonely existence in Liverpool? Most of all, what does it mean that the Monaghan's son Tully is practically Tom's double? Tom stands by the Monaghans in their plight, and in so doing discovers that the past, and the Monaghans, hold the key to his destiny.
FROM HORN BOOK. The strongest parts of the novel describe the desperate living conditions of the Monaghans and their fellow Irish immigrants, driven from their homeland and traveling to England in hopes of finding free passage to America by serving as ship ballast. In the teeming streets of Liverpool, blanketed by "fog the color and smell of horse dung," they seek shelter in squatters' cellars and suffer the horrors of "Irish famine fever"-typhus. Many will eventually be buried in the mass grave where coffins are stacked sixteen high… Honest and uncompromising. Copyright © 2000 The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
FROM SHELLE ROSENFELD IN BOOKLIST (Gr. 7-10). The engrossing novel, which begins in 1974 Liverpool, is equal parts adventure, fantasy, and historical fiction. It is also a compelling story of a teen who learns the rewards of love and family, particularly in times of adversity. Tom's expressive, first-person narrative, reminiscent of an edgier Holden Caulfield and filled with period detail, vividly portrays the impact of Ireland's Potato Famine on individuals and families, while revealing the vulnerability beneath Tom's tough facade. Tom is a likable, three-dimensional character, whose dilemmas are compassionately and realistically revealed. Although some readers may find the book's resolution too fairy tale-like, it opens a door of possibilities for change, hope, and redemption. An author's note briefly describes the real-life events that inspired the book. An engaging, beautifully written story with a complex, appealing narrator. Shelle Rosenfeld Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
FROM KIRKUS REVIEWS (Oct. 17, 2000). …Superbly crafted time-split novel… Throughout the fast-paced story, coincidences between the past and present accumulate until they form a bridge that leads Tom to his real identity and helps him understand what "family" means. Loosely based on the discovery of a mass grave in Liverpool, the characters and situations here ring true. A riveting adventure. (Fiction, 12-14).
FROM LANE DEVEREUX, AB LIBRARY, HOUSTON TX. James Heneghan has created a world, which should be improbable and hokey, but is completely believable. The main success of his story rests on Tom Mullen, a boy as genuine and likeable as your next-door neighbor. Streetwise and savvy enough to stand up for himself against the creeps of the world, Tom is nonetheless good-hearted and generous to those who deserve it or need it. Through this appealing character, the reader is drawn into the sad, fascinating story of the terrible Irish Potato Famine in 1847. The ending, which surprisingly does not seem contrived or sappy, is a satisfying completion to a well-told tale.
FROM CATHERINE SAFER IN THE SUNDAY DAILY NEWS. An excellent adventure, though rife with sadness, Heneghan spares no detail of the devastation caused by famine, and no love for those who might have saved so many lives. Let the youngsters know that what they are reading ö The Grave is based on terrible truth. Heneghanâs writing is wonderful.
FROM JEFFREY CANTON IN QUILL & QUIRE (November 2000). James Heneghan… has used the real-life discovery of a mass grave in Liverpool to create a compelling mystery and time-travel adventure. Heneghan's sensitive portrayal of the Irish famine victims is vivid, as are the authentic details of mid-1970s Liverpool life, including the popular music Tom would have listened to. As well, the mass grave itself is a marvelous time-travel device that neatly bridges the past and present, adding just the right dash of the supernatural to a novel that in so many other ways is rooted in realism. A gripping mystery, a compelling time-travel adventure, and a devastatingly realistic glimpse into the past… Terrifically satisfying. (Ages 12-15)
FROM PJB IN BOOKTRUSTED NEWS. The first person narrative and the fast pace of this book draw in the reader from page one. . . . The way in which feelings of love and friendship begin to grow in this previously unloved and lonely boy are conveyed with great sensitivity and charm. My only (minor) criticism is with regard to the cover design [Corgi English edition], which could be somewhat misleading. [It does] not do justice to the contents of this rather wonderful book.
FROM DANA VANCE IN THE ALAN REVIEW. "The Grave" is a compelling combination of current and historical fiction. Tom Mullen lives in the Liverpool of 1974. …Combining a strong take of romance and adventure, the author weaves a fascinating historical coming of age story in a most unlikely setting.
FROM MARGARET POOLE IN THE HALIFAX CHRONICLE-HERALD (December, 2000). Tom is a memorable and convincing character, growing out of the tough and gritty exterior he as built up for himself as the story unfolds. Tom's eventual realization of his true connection with the Monaghans gives meaning to his life in Liverpool and opens up a whole new future for him.