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Howe reunion on cards as Newcastle plot optimistic bids for Prem trio
Newcastle United have already identified five targets for the January transfer window, a report claims – and the most recent rumour would reunite Eddie Howe with a former player.
After being taken over by a Saudi-backed consortium, expectations are high for Newcastle ahead of January. That said, they will face a battle to convince top targets given their current position in the Premier League relegation zone.
Money talks, though, and several players could be enticed by their long-term plans. With that in mind, Newcastle are working on their shortlist of targets.
The first important step for the new owners was to establish who their next head coach would be. Now that Howe is in position, they can really push forward with their plans.
According to Marca, Newcastle have five targets in mind for the January transfer window. In most cases, the speculation has already existed, but one link that appears to be new is that with Tyrone Mings.
Mings currently captains Aston Villa, who are about to enter a new era of their own after appointing Steven Gerrard as manager.
Villa will be keen to keep hold of Mings, but Newcastle may test their resolve. Defence is an area for them to consolidate after conceding 24 goals from their first 11 Premier League games this season.
The England international is seen as someone who could be a leader in their backline if he was to make such a switch.
Mings previously played under Howe at Bournemouth, although injuries limited his involvement. He only appeared 23 times under the new Magpies boss.
They could yet get a chance to work together again. However, with a contract until 2024, Mings is unlikely to be made available by Villa – who are just five points above Newcastle in the table.
Indeed, there have been doubts about whether any Premier League clubs would be willing to do business with Newcastle after the reception to their takeover.
Therefore, the Magpies may have to look abroad for alternative targets. Another defender on their radar to be mentioned by Marca is Niklas Sule of Bayern Munich.
There is a feeling that Bayern may make Sule available, despite him getting plenty of gametime, if Newcastle put together a decent financial package.
Newcastle linked with midfield trio
Elsewhere in the report, the other three names to be linked with Newcastle are all midfielders.
First, Marca suggest Toni Kroos of Real Madrid is of interest. The German international wants to spend the rest of his career in the Spanish capital. However, Newcastle will still try their luck.
If they make an offer that Madrid can't refuse, Kroos may have his mind made up for him. But Marca still concede he is the most difficult signing of the lot.
The alternatives both come from Manchester United. The report claims Donny van de Beek and Jesse Lingard are both under consideration.
Neither of the attack-minded midfielders is getting much gametime at present. They could seek exits to revive their careers, just as Lingard did on loan with West Ham last season.
In Van de Beek's case, Man Utd know they will struggle to recoup the fee they paid Ajax for him. However, they could tempt Newcastle to go close.
Lingard, on the other hand, would be available for a cheaper price. His contract expires at the end of the season. Man Utd could cash in now to avoid losing him for free.
The England international wants to find more space elsewhere to boost his chances of getting to the 2022 World Cup.
It seems difficult for Newcastle to sign all five players. Each transfer race would come with its own obstacles. But the new owners are definitely capable of making a statement in the transfer market should they desire.
READ MORE: Ousted Man Utd star urged to make selfish decision and join Newcastle
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Home Dan Savage: Building a Leading Marketing Team
Dan Savage: Building a Leading Marketing Team
When it comes to talent and achievements at gaming suppliers, Bally Technologies is a clear winner. This statement holds true for all sectors of the company, and the marketing department there is no exception. Spearheaded by Vice President of Corporate Marketing Dan Savage, Bally's marketing team has proven itself as a best-of-breed band of marketing warriors.
Before making the move to Bally Technologies in 2008, Savage was global business manager at 3M for their Touch Systems division based in St. Paul, Minn. Prior to that, he worked with Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., and was in the biomedical technology industry in Vancouver, Canada.
With more awards under their belt than any other marketing department in the industry, it's clear that Savage is using his expertise and marketing background to lead the team in a winning direction.
In roughly four years with Bally, Savage has made a giant impact, to say the least. Several initiatives he's implemented include player testing of products, increased brand development and casino promotions, customer panels, and external communications. "When I was brought onboard with Bally, I was asked to improve the overall branding of the company and product," Savage said. "I wanted to broaden our services to include operator and player feedback, brand development, industry-leading sales tools, customer panels, and strengthen our overall internal partnerships."
One of his proudest accomplishments at Bally is being on the team that is implementing compelling product differentiation. The Bally iDeck is a good example of incorporating third-party technologies. Savage used his unique expertise and background from 3M to help incorporate and brand the iDeck technology. "I don't know how much more involved you can get than being with 3M for 15 years and then coming over to Bally and implementing some of the technology," he said. "It helps Bally gain a first-to-market advantage with these technologies like the Pro Series game platform, iDeck and Pro Curve."
Another of Savage's reputable achievements includes player testing, which, according to Savage, wasn't in existence in 2008. In his four years, the company went from no testing to testing about 20 percent of their products annually. "This is our operator and player testing, which gives us face-to-face feedback before we put those products through compliance," he said. "It allows us to alter the product according to operator and player likes and dislikes."
Renowned brands like NASCAR and Michael Jackson weren't always feasible, but establishing licensed brands was a huge initiative for Savage and the team, and they've proven highly successful for the company. Bally is now committed to introducing two to three new licenses per year, which will lead to even more recognizable brands from the company.
Savage recognized the evolvement of sales trends and changes in customer behavior, and has appropriately updated and refreshed the sales team's methods and tools. "We've moved from a relationship style of selling to more of a product knowledge, performance and creditability selling model," he said. "Now it's product knowledge, sales tools, online training, performance reports, and trust and credibility, not who takes you out for the nicest dinner or who buys you the biggest bottle of wine."
According to Savage, Bally now dedicates more than $1 million a year to product training for both Bally employees and customers. "Our teams create custom product videos, monthly online sales training, monthly internal executive communications, and leverage state-of-the-art mobile apps and devices to help deliver our messages," he said.
Above all, Savage says his proudest accomplishment at Bally has been building a world-class marketing organization. He's worked over the last few years to develop a top-of-the-line team, to whom he credits much of the company's marketing achievements.
Building and maintaining relationships—with both employees and customers—is something that Savage concentrates on each day. "You've got to build trust and value in everything you do," he said. "If you're not building value, you shouldn't be there."
The marketing team, comprised of about 25 individuals, is one definitely of value, and it's due to Savage's pinpointed management style. "If you give people clear goals and communications, they are usually along for the ride," he said. "I've built a team that's difficult to get on, and easy to get kicked off."
For Savage, there are three key motivating factors to achieving success—company results, employee development, and an internal or professional drive. "First and foremost, it's the scorecard," he said. "It's our results, our EPS, market share, etc., and I love to see smiles on our sales guys' faces at the end of the day. I love the employee development: seeing a junior employee developing into a new role, or a director developing and growing into more challenging roles. Besides that, I'm really competitive."
Savage also points out the importance of mentors, both having them and being one, sharing that he still has one mentor at 3M, one at Kodak, and one outside of the industry with whom he's never worked in a professional setting. "We all have blind spots, and it's important to have mentors who can point those out to us," he said. "They're really important to not just my professional development, but also my personal growth. Everyone needs a mentor!"
According to Savage, Bally Technologies has won more innovation awards than any of the company's competitors combined over the last three years, and he credits those to innovation-driven and strong company leadership, great products, and a focus by his team on the award submission essays. "These awards are recognition for the hard work the Bally team has put in," he said.
While Bally has been on an innovation award streak, Savage's corporate marketing team has too, winning more than 50 awards the past two years, including 15 Hermes Awards, nine Pinnacle Awards and eight AGA VOICE Awards, just to name a few. "We've been recognized as an industry-leading marketing team and we've also been recognized outside the gaming industry," he said.
Many different Bally games, systems, and interactive marketing campaigns and projects have received recognition, including the Michael Jackson King of Pop video slot launch campaign, a mobile app for Bally's Systems User Conference, Bally's quarterly employee news magazine, and a philanthropic public service campaign to benefit a socially disadvantaged school.
"It is so rewarding for me and my team to achieve this third-party recognition for projects and creative campaigns that most of which, we did entirely internally using our own graphic designers, copywriters, mobile app developers and PR teams," Savage said. "But none of this would be possible without strong support from executive management, and great partners like game development, sales, product management, systems, engineering and many others."
The team he's created and molded is a testament to Savage's dedication to teamwork and collaboration. "At the end of the day, if you don't work well with the team, you won't succeed," he explained. "I could run the best marketing department in the industry, but if we didn't work well with game development, sales, legal, manufacturing or product management, we're dead in the water. It's all about teamwork!"
Savage points out the importance and the significance of being the recipient of all of these awards and recognition. "Marketing awards don't mean anything to revenue," he said. "It helps recruit top talent and builds pride with existing employees. "Most importantly, it builds trust and respect cross functionally within the company that we have marketing professionals who the team can rely on; it's huge."
While his goal has always been to create a world-class marketing organization, Savage asks the question: "How do you measure that? How do you know when you're there? I love the market share; love the EPS results, but how do you know you're running a great department and it's not just because of great products?" That's where awards and internal stakeholder rankings come in. "The team's now being acknowledged externally and internally as industry-leading marketing professionals, and we take a lot of pride in that."
The company itself is delivering double-digit growth and is showing no signs of slowing down. With impressive quarterly reports and no shortage of announcements about expanding, Savage says that in a couple of years, he sees the company as a billion-dollar industry leader. As for other goals, he wants to continue to establish Bally as a leader when it comes to innovation. "We put the 'Technologies' name on the back end of Bally for a reason," he said. "We have to be acknowledged as the industry technology leader by our peers and partners; that's a huge goal for all of us at Bally in the next couple of years."


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Ankafobe
Things are not always better on the sunny side!
July 22, 2019 July 22, 2019 / Leighton Reid	/ Leave a comment
Chris Birkinshaw is an assistant curator in the Missouri Botanical Garden's Madagascar Program, based in Antananarivo. He describes his observations on forest succession at Ankafobe, a site in the central highlands.
Anyone flying over Madagascar's highly dissected central highlands will be struck at first by the vast grasslands that dominate this landscape. But, those looking more carefully will also detect pockets of forest within the rich network of valleys. These forests have a distinct fauna and flora but, perhaps because of their small size, they have attracted little interest from conservationists. Consequently, in the last few decades, the majority have been degraded or entirely destroyed as their trees were cut for timber or charcoal and the relicts burnt by wild fires that rage over this landscape in the dry season.
The Ankafobe Forest, located some 135 km NW of Antananarivo, is currently being designated as new protected area by Missouri Botanical Garden's Madagascar Research and Conservation Program. It is one of the larger remaining areas of highland forest but, here too, the forest has been impacted by exploitation for timber and charcoal and burning by wild fires.
Efforts are underway to restore this forest to its former extent in the recent past. This is no easy task because away from the current forest edge tree seedlings are subjected to harsh conditions: soils impoverished and compacted by annual burning, grasses that compete greedily for water and nutrients, an extended 7-month long dry season, and exposure to hot sunshine and strong desiccating winds. Even when firebreaks are used to prevent wildfires from penetrating the grassland surrounding the forest, few tree seedlings naturally colonize outside of nurturing limits to the forest.
Few but not none. A closer inspection of the landscape reveals some woody plants in the grassland on the less sunny south-facing slopes surrounding the forest (south is less sunny because Madagascar is in the southern hemisphere). Perhaps then the forest could be helped to expand by planting young trees preferentially on these slopes?
Vegetation is lusher on south-facing slopes (left) compared to north-facing slopes (right) at Ankafobe, a proposed conservation area in highland Madagascar.
To test this idea in 2017 we planted 25 nine-month old seedlings of each of four native tree species in grassland 20 m from the forest edge on both a south-facing slope and a north-facing slope. The species were selected for this test are native to the Ankafobe Forest and were available at the local tree nursery when the experiment was installed. After 12 months the survival and growth of these young plants were measured.
All four species survived well on the south-facing slope but only one species, Nuxia capitata, had good survival on the north-facing slope. Mortality of Uapaca densifolia was total on the north-facing slopes. Growth was sluggish on both the south-facing and north-facing slopes with the exception of Nuxia capitata on the south-facing slope that had a mean 12-month growth exceeding 20 cm. These results suggest that south-facing slopes may provide the best results, at least at Ankafobe, for forest restoration endeavors.
South- facing North-facing
Species % Survival Average growth (cm) % Survival Average growth (cm)
Eugenia pluricymosa 72% 4.1 8% 3.0
Baronia taratana 88% 9.1 28% 12.4
Nuxia capitata 96% 21.5 100% 8.7
Uapaca densifolia 72% 10.5 0%
Aspect – the direction that a slope faces – makes a big difference for vegetation in the temperate zone, especially in dry places. But it is not often considered in tropical ecology. Directly or indirectly, the difference in sun exposure between the slopes at Ankafobe can make the difference between life and death for young trees growing in this hostile, water-stressed environment.
To read more blog posts about the restoration efforts at Ankafobe, please click here. You may also read a 2019 open access paper about seedling trials at this site here.
Native tree seedlings grow best near existing forest and beneath shade in highland Madagascar
December 11, 2018 / Leighton Reid	/ 1 Comment
A team of MBG scientists describes a recent experiment to grow native trees in a degraded part of Madagascar's central highlands.
The dissected landscape of the Tampoketsa de Ankazobe in central Madagascar. Imagery: Google Earth (2018).
Seen from space, parts of Madagascar's high plateau look like a wizened, grayish-pink brain drying in the sun. Thin, dark lines demarcate nooks and crannies – nearly the only places where bits of forest remain.
Formerly, the forests here covered more territory. Just how much territory is debated; ancient grasslands are also present in highland Madagascar. But in this area, about three hours northwest of the capital, many forests have been cleared, burned, and converted to new grassland within living memory.
To restore forests to their recent extent would benefit a range of species, including Schizolaena tampoketsana (a threatened, micro-endemic tree) and an undescribed species of fat-tailed dwarf lemur. However, restoration has been easier said than done so far. Natural forest regeneration is slow to non-existent, even near remnant forests where fire is excluded. Planted tree seedlings grow only millimeters each year, if they survive at all. Adding fertilizer seems to inhibit seedling growth. Inoculating seedlings with mycorrhizal fungi seems promising, but we are not yet sure if this will make a difference in the field.
Following a field trip in November 2016, we decided to test a couple of other tactics for growing native trees on this weathered plateau. First, we tested planting trees near existing forest. Being near the forest could help young seedlings by shading them from the hot sun or by sharing beneficial microorganisms. Second, we put shade structures over some of tree seedlings to test how much the bright, hot sunlight prevented tree growth.
We tested four tree species: Baronia taratana (Anacardiaceae), Nuxia capitata (Stilbaceae), Uapaca densifolia (Phyllanthaceae), and Eugenia pluricymosa (Myrtaceae).
An experiment with native tree seedlings at Ankafobe, a small forest fragment on the highlands northwest of Madgascar's capital, Antananarivo. Photo: Chris Birkinshaw.
Three of the tree species survived and grew more when we planted them next to the forest. The fourth, Nuxia capitata, was a super species and grew relatively well wherever it was planted.
Two of the four species also survived more often beneath shade structures. But interestingly, this shade effect did not completely account for the effect of proximity to forest. That suggests that shade is important for protecting young seedlings from the hot sun, but something else is going on too. Perhaps trees growing next to the forest get a boost of water, since remnant forests sit at the valley bottom where water collects. If this is true, then tree seedlings might do well in any valley bottom, not just ones with remnant forest in them.
Our study site, called Ankafobe, is only a small area, so it would be a stretch to generalize our observations to the entire region. However, we are not the only ones to have done such a test in this ecosystem. In 2000, Ingar Pareliussen led a study with the same basic elements as ours at a site ten kilometers away, at Ambohitantely. Like us, Pareliussen's team found that seedlings planted near the edge of a remnant forest grew better than those planted further away. In contrast, shade structures did not improve seedling survival. In fact, one species grew worse in the shade.
One vision for landscape-scale forest restoration on the Tampoketsa de Ankazobe. We used an edge-detection algorithm in Inkscape to highlight forest edges and valley bottoms, the places where trees grew best in our study. Imagery: Google Earth (2018).
Together, our two studies begin to suggest the outlines of a vision for landscape-scale forest restoration on the high Tampoketsa de Ankazobe. If native tree seedlings perform better along forest edges, it follows that a cost-effective strategy would be to focus on planting those areas first, leaving the higher, drier areas alone. Planting along edges would also be a conservative strategy given our hazy understanding of past landscapes. Some grasslands in highland Madagascar seem to be very old, and planting trees in such places could destroy habitat for grassland species, which are threatened in their own right.
For more information about this experiment, you can read our open access paper in Plant Diversity. We have also published several other blog posts about Ankafobe.
Homemade mycorrhizal inoculum improves seedling growth for some native Malagasy trees
February 27, 2018 / Leighton Reid	/ 4 Comments
MBG Madagascar's Chris Birkinshaw and Dinasoa Tahirinirainy describe exciting, preliminary results from a forest restoration experiment in highland Madagascar.
This sliver of riparian forest is one of the last vestiges of Madagascar's highland forests. Decades of Missouri Botanical Garden research in Madagascar have shown that more than 80% of all plant species on the island exist nowhere else. Many are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss. Several previous posts have described forest restoration efforts at this site, home to the largest population of the endemic sohisika tree (Schizolaena tampoketsana) – a species that belongs to a family (Sarcolanaceae) that only exists on Madagascar.
A small number of forest restoration projects in Madagascar routinely inoculate the tree seedlings in their nurseries with a homemade mycorrhizal inoculum. While the nurserymen are convinced that this technique promotes growth and survival of tree seedlings, there seems to be no published data objectively demonstrating these positive outcomes. In an effort to provide the evidence to justify investment in this technique, we designed a simple experiment that will compare the survival and growth under four treatments of young plants of six native trees planted in grassland adjacent to the Ankafobe Forest on the central Malagasy highlands.
Table – Four experimental treatments to test the effects of mulch and mycorrhizal inoculum on native tree seedling growth in highland Madagascar
Inoculated Not inoculated
Mulched Treatment 1 Treatment 2
Not mulched Treatment 3 Treatment 4 (control)
In our experiment, fifteen seedlings of each of six native tree species will be grown under each of the four treatments listed above. The mycorrhizal inoculum was made by filling a pit (150 cm long × 50 cm wide × 30 cm deep) lined with sacks with topsoil collected from around the roots of three native tree species, then growing maize and beans in this soil for three months before cutting these plants down and letting the substrate dry out for two weeks. The substrate remaining in the pit is the inoculum and was used by adding one tablespoon to each seedling container.
Beans and maize are grown in topsoil collected from a remnant forest to amplify local mycorrhizae populations. This enriched soil (i.e., inoculum) is then added to seedling containers.
The tree seedlings that received mycorrhizal enrichment were inoculated in November 2017, and all of the seedlings were otherwise grown under the same conditions in the nursery until January 2018 when they were planted out into an experimental plot at Ankafobe. Half of the tree seedlings were surrounded by a thick layer of grass-based mulch (~30-cm deep). The comparison of seedling performance with and without the addition of mulch is interesting because of the possibility that mulch helps to maintain a relatively cool and moist environment in which the mycorrhizae can flourish.
Table – Mean difference in tree seedling height (cm) between seedlings inoculated versus not inoculated with homemade mycorrhizae, after two months in the nursery (N = 30 seedlings per species).
Species Inoculated seedling height Non-inoculated seedling height t p1
Aphloia theiformis 29.5 ± 10.2 33.4 ± 6.5 -1.75 1.0000
Baronia tarantana 18.1 ± 6.1 11.4 ± 3.5 5.21 <0.0001
Brachylaena ramiflora 27.2 ± 6.0 31.8 ± 6.5 -2.87 1.0000
Craspidospermum verticillatum 43.0 ± 5.9 42.6 ± 3.7 0.37 1.0000
Macaranga alnifolia 34.8 ± 8.6 39.2 ± 5.2 -2.43 1.0000
Uapaca densifolia 23.0 ± 7.9 11.5 ± 2.6 7.58 <0.0001
1 t and p values are from a one-tailed student's t-test asking whether inoculated seedling height was greater than non-inoculated seedling height. P values are adjusted for multiple comparisons with Bonferroni correction.
Although we plan to measure seedling survival and growth 12 months from the time when they were planted (i.e., in January 2019), we were interested to see that for two of the species the height of inoculated seedlings was significantly greater than the height of non-inoculated seedlings after a mere two months in the nursery. On average, inoculated seedlings of Baronia tarantana are 1.6× taller than non-inoculated seedlings; while the seedlings of Uapaca densifolia are a full 2× taller. For the other species there was no significant difference between the height of the inoculated and non-inoculated plants.
Tree seedlings are planted out in a field experiment at Ankafobe in January 2018. These seedlings are planted adjacent to a line of "green manure" (i.e., nitrogen-fixing Tephrosia shrubs planted to improve the degraded highland soil prior to planting native tree seedlings).
Hill of Honey: Forest Recovery on Madagascar's Central Highlands
December 17, 2015 / mbgadmin	/ 3 Comments
This post was co-written by Leighton Reid and Chris Birkinshaw after a three-day field trip in the tampoketsa with Cyprien Mandriamanana and Jeannie Raharimampionona.
A narrow, paved road winds north from Antananarivo through a high, windswept plain. It is the wet season, and the hills are green and close-cropped, but in the long dry season the landscape burns black. Orange rivers wind through the valleys, muddied by massive erosion. Here and there are thin strips of riparian forest, chock full of endemic species.
The biggest chunk of remaining forest is Ambohitantely, Malagasy for "hill of honey". Ambohitantely encompasses 1,800 ha of humid forest (about three times the size of Saint Louis's Forest Park). We visited the reserve to observe natural forest recovery in one of the few places it can still be seen on Madagascar's Central Highlands.
Ambohitantely: the last large tract of forest on Madagascar's Central Highlands. Ten kilometers to the northwest is Ankafobe, a much smaller forest fragment managed by a local community with assistance from Missouri Botanical Garden.
Why is forest recovery so rare in the Malagasy highlands? Madagascar's Central Highlands are currently undergoing a complete ecological transition, from forest and wooded savanna to grassland. The degradation cycle often starts when people cut forest trees to extract wood for timber and charcoal production. Small-scale cutting opens the canopy, dries the forest floor, and creates debris, all of which increase forest vulnerability to annual wildfires that sweep across the grasslands during the eight month dry season. C4 grasses quickly colonize the burned land, inhibiting forest recovery, and creating ideal conditions for future fires. The reason that Ambohitantely has natural forest recovery for us to observe is because reserve staff maintain a wide fire break for more than thirty kilometers around the reserve.
Our guide at Ambohitantely took us on a hike through several areas where forest had once been cleared and burned but where fire had been excluded for 15 or 25 years, allowing the forest to begin to recover. Frankly, the vegetation was uninspiring. Low shrubs and forbs were scattered through a matrix of C4 grass (mostly Aristida), but trees and tree seedlings were nowhere to be seen outside of the forest (where they were abundant). By tropical forest standards, this looked slow. But for natural forest recovery on the Central Highlands, it's hard to imagine a better situation than being protected from fire and immediately adjacent to the largest remaining tract of forest.
After 25 years of recovery, forest edges were sharp. Tree seedlings were almost totally restricted to forest, and grasses dominated the ground layer just outside.
Our main interest in Ambohitantely was to compare natural forest recovery there to our observations at another forest fragment, Ankafobe, 10 km northwest. For the last decade, MBG has partnered with a local community to preserve a thin, riparian forest containing several critically endangered plant species. Community members constructed a fire break and have begun to restore the surrounding hillsides by turning over the orange clay and planting fast-growing legumes to develop the soil.
A degraded hillside at Ankafobe; the remnant forest is down the hill to the right, near the edge of the photo. The tree at the top of the hill is Schizolaena tampoketsana, a critically endangered microendemic in an endemic Malagasy plant family (Sarcolaenaceae). It is a remnant forest tree that likely escaped repeated fires by being nestled in a deep, protective gully. The multi-stemmed shrub in the foreground is actually a large tree species, Brexia montana, which has likely resprouted many times from a well-developed root system.
Some of our comparative observations were promising. We were happy to find examples at Ambohitantely where recovering land dominated by heather and blueberry seemed to have continued developing into a more diverse thicket, including Nuxia capitata, Psiadia altissima, and Razafimandimbisonia minor. At Ankafobe, we had worried that the heather growing in some areas signified poor soil conditions and possibly arrested development.
Overall our visit left us with more questions than answers. We hope to answer at least a couple of them over the coming years.
Why is natural forest recovery so slow on the Central Highlands?
Has it always been this slow?
Are Malagasy tree species poor pioneers because of their long, relatively stable evolutionary ecological history?
Is there any way to make Malagasy trees grow any faster on the degraded grasslands?1
Are the fire-stoking C4 grasses introduced from east Africa rather than being native species?
Is the soil too far gone to ever recover?
How important were now-extinct seed dispersers and grazers, like 200-kg lemurs and elephant birds?
Although Ambohitantely is the only remnant forest fragment of any size, we learned recently that it may not be a perfect reference system for Ankafobe. For one thing, Ambohitantely is slightly higher and farther east, which results in considerably greater cloud cover during the dry season. This probably ameliorates the harsh conditions outside of the forest, at least a little. Shown here is cloud frequency from May – October, taken from NOAA MODIS satellite imagery. Thanks, Michael Douglas!
Goodman, S.M. & Jungers, W.L. 2014. Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island's Past. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Pareliussen, I., Olsson, E.G.A. & Armbruster, W.S. 2006. Factors Limiting the Survival of Native Tree Seedlings Used in Conservation Efforts at the Edges of Forest Fragments in Upland Madagascar. Restoration Ecology 14: 196-203.
1Two datasets (one from our team and one from Pareliussen et al's [2006]) suggest that NPK fertilizer, even in relatively small doses, reduces native tree seedling performance. It is unclear whether this is because of toxicity (a direct effect) or because other plants, like shrubs, are better able to utilize the nutrient pulse and then compete more strongly against the native tree seedlings (an indirect effect).
Can fungus help grow trees in Madagascar?
February 25, 2015 April 6, 2015 / mbgadmin	/ 4 Comments
Thomas Timberlake and Cyprien Miandrimanana write from Madagascar about a field experiment using fungus to help tree seedlings survive.
One of the problems that has long bedeviled ecological restoration efforts in Madagascar is persuading young seedlings to grow at a pace of more than just a few centimetres per year. The site of Ankafobe in the central highlands is a prime example, with many five year old individuals, planted in the anthropogenic grassland surrounding the remaining forest fragments, still no taller than waist height. Clearly, the environment into which the seedlings are planted is in some way inhospitable. One hypothesis to explain seedling underperformance is that they are not managing to establish their normal symbiotic relationships with vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) fungi on which most higher plants depend.
Scaled visual comparison of VAM and VAM-less seedlings at Mitsinjo in Andasibe, Madagascar.
In a VAM symbiosis, plants exchange a significant carbohydrate donation to the fungus in return for important nutrients, particularly phosphorus, and often increased drought tolerance. So if mycorrhizae propagules are absent in the savanna soil, this could well explain the slow growth rates and high mortality observed among planted tree seedlings at sites like Ankafobe.
In response to concern about poor seedling performance, various restoration projects in Madagascar have begun inoculating their nursery seedlings with VAM using a simple protocol pioneered by Mitsinjo, a restoration project in the eastern rain forest of Andasibe. Soil (presumed to contain mycorrhizal fungus) is gathered from underneath forest trees, mixed with sand in a sack-lined pit and then sown with rice and beans to act as hosts for the developing VAM. After three months of maturation, you have a sack-full of VAM inoculum, ready to be applied to the young germinating seedlings – one teaspoon per plant.
Inspecting the VAM inoculate at a Mitsinjo nursery.
Experimental Conchopetalum madagascariense (Sapindaceae) seedlings ready for planting.
Many groups in Madagascar swear by the VAM protocol and the visual results can be compelling, but as yet there have been no experiments in the country to rigorously test whether this method is actually effective. This lack of clear evidence is what prompted us to work on a series of experiments testing and perhaps refining the VAM protocol.
We planted 480 native tree seedlings with and without VAM inoculation to test whether this method increases seedling survival and growth in the degraded savanna around Ankafobe. Digging into the solid laterite and planting the experimental seedlings was hard work but our efforts were rewarded one day with the sighting of a family of 10 young Tenrecs (Tenrec ecaudatus) who ventured bravely out of the security of the forest to observe the progress.
Four holes down, 476 to go!
Tom planting tree seedlings in the mud and rain.
Tenrec ecaudatus inspecting the digging progress
Planting complete, we took our "Time Zero" measurements and then a small sample of roots from both VAM and control seedlings to return to Antananarivo and check for the presence of mycorrhizae vesicles. The process of staining involved cooking up some rather nasty chemicals in our improvised laboratory – the kitchen – back in Tana.
Our next project will be to replicate our VAM study in Ananalava, a humid site on the east coast that contrasts with the drier climate of the Malagasy Highlands. Repeating our study in different environments will help generalize our results and recommendations for people working across this heterogeneous island.
Cyprien in our kitchen laboratory preparing an improvised stain to look for VAM vesicles.


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Shocking dashcam footage of near miss between Bolsover and Clowne released by police
Danielle Andrews
Published: 13:03 Updated: 13:39 Friday 02 November 2018
Shocking video footage released by police shows a terrifying near miss, as a young driver overtakes and almost collides with an oncoming vehicle.
The footage was sent to police by a member of the public following a very near miss on the B6417 between Clowne and Bolsover on October 1.
Bolsover and Clowne Safer Neighbourhood Team release shocking dashcam footage of near miss.
Police managed to get the vehicle registration and track the young driver down and deal with him for the offences committed.
A post on Bolsover and Clowne Safer Neighbourhood Team's Facebook said: "I think his mother put more fear into him then we did as she attended the Police station with him and was horrified as much as we were by his, what only can be described as stupid actions.
"I don't think he will be driving like this again and let this be a lesson to all motorists that think they are invincible on the roads.
"This was a lucky escape, we are just pleased we were not visiting his mother or another family with a different story."
Latest Chesterfield magistrates' court results


When you're over 40, you might notice that the workout routine you've been doing for the last 10 years or so is not as effective as it used to be or you might find it a little bit uncomfortable or painful. The body ages with us and it will definitely shift and change. You may also start noticing that you're gaining some extra pounds even if you're eating the same amount of food. We've read over and over that as we got older, our metabolism slows down as well. The solution is jump starting your metabolism to keep it in fat-burning mode.
One way to do this is by increasing your fat-burning muscles. If you build more muscles, the body will tend to burn more fats. Muscles will use the fat as energy and everything else to help sustain the muscle and improve muscle growth. But like many other things, don't overdo it. Did you know that the body builds muscle when it is actually resting? This is the time that you give your muscles time to recover and grow. Remember that it is only when you rest that the nutrients are used after the trauma. In addition to that, if you have been in a routine for quite some time now and you're not seeing some outcome or any difference at all then this tells you that you have to step up your routine. A routine will only work if you give your body the level of stress that it is not used to.
Eat sufficient amount of protein to help you prevent the breakdown of muscle tissues. Make sure you eat the lean part. Stay away from foods which are high in bad cholesterol and fats. Soy, nuts and fish are also great source of protein. To make your body speed up its metabolism, eat several smaller meals in a day. Six or seven meals will do. Increase your intake of food high in fiber. Fiber can effectively stabilize the level of blood sugar in the body. It also significantly improves cholesterol level and blood pressure.


The life of a foster child can be one of continual transition, says Anne Bryson Doyle. She would know. Bryson Doyle is an adoptive parent and member of the board of directors for Amara, a Seattle-based agency focused on placing children into foster and permanent homes. Bryson Doyle, alongside fellow 2017 Superhero and Amara post-adoption program manager Angela Tucker, seek to create permanence in a world that can feel anything but stable to a foster child.
The foster care system is a transient one; a quarter of foster children move five times while in foster care, according to Amara. Each time, they lose about six months of academic progress.
Both Tucker and Bryson Doyle know firsthand the importance of a stable home life. After her mom's death from pancreatic cancer, then 14-year-old Bryson Doyle couch-surfed for four years.
Her experience with teenage homelessness fed her drive to establish a stable home for children in need; she adopted her first child, a boy who's now 16, from foster care in 2004 with her ex-wife. Now that Bryson Doyle has remarried, her family includes eight children ranging in age from 8 to 16 — seven of whom she adopted from foster care.
"Amara is like an extended family for these kids, to help them have the permanence that they need," says Bryson Doyle.
Tucker was just barely a year old when she was adopted through foster care by a white family in Bellingham; that family eventually expanded to seven children, six of whom were adopted from foster care. Tucker embarked on an emotional search for her birth parents in 2012, chronicled in the 2013 independent film Closure.
AT: The first black female president; I wanted to see black people in powerful roles.
ABD: I grew up playing house with baby dolls. I always wanted to be a mom.
AT: The myths about what it takes to be a foster parent: that the kids are damaged, that it costs a lot of money, that it's just too difficult to parent a child who has experienced trauma.
ABD: We have eight kids, so people think that our home must be chaotic, but it really isn't.
AT: Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. Life in foster care can involve trauma, and the quote "Love wins, love always wins" helps put it in perspective.
AT: Hot chocolate with whipped cream! Milstead & Co. in Fremont is a favorite.
ABD: I have eight kids — I can't stay in bed!
AT: I'd love to alter society's norms around the meaning of family, and expand our norms to include blended families, families with gay parents or one parent. Family is family.
ABD: If I could pause time, I'd get more done and get more enjoyment out of each day.
AT: Journalist Ann Curry. She chooses to go into the heart of catastrophe to tell stories of human suffering. I admire how she uses her platform to benefit society.
ABD: I love living in the moment, sitting around the dinner table with my own family.


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- Select year - 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
(1 = best, 7 = worst)
Mauritius enjoyed a relatively tranquil year, although in October, Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth announced that he would step down on September 30, 2003. Local elections, earlier scheduled for September 2002, were postponed to 2003.
Mauritius, which has no indigenous peoples, was seized and settled as a way station for European trade to the East Indies and India. Its ethnically mixed population is primarily descended from immigrants from the Indian subcontinent who were brought to the island as laborers during its 360 years of Dutch, French, and British colonial administration. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1968, Mauritius has maintained one of the developing world's most successful democracies. In 1992, the island became a republic within the Commonwealth, with a largely ceremonial president as head of state.
In a surprise move, in August 2000 President Cassam Uteem dissolved the National Assembly and called early elections, in large part because of a series of corruption scandals that had led to the resignation of several cabinet ministers. Some 80 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. The previous incumbent had served since 1995. In the elections, the victorious opposition alliance was led by the Socialist Militant Party (MSM). Its leader, the current prime minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, had previously served as prime minister from 1982 until 1995, when he was voted out of office.
The MSM is allied with the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM). The leader of the MMM, Paul Berenger, was subsequently appointed minister of finance and deputy prime minister. He is now slated to become prime minister in September 2003. In 2001 several corruption scandals attracted considerable notice.
Mauritius has achieved a stable democratic and constitutional order, and its focus on political competition rather than violent conflict demonstrates a level of political development enjoyed by few other African states. The political process is used to maintain ethnic balance and economic growth rather than dominance by any single group. In addition, political parties are not divided along the lines of the country's diverse ethnicities and religions.
The country's political stability is underpinned by steady economic growth and improvements in the island's infrastructure and standard of living. Unemployment and crime are rising, but the country's integrated, multinational population has provided a capable and reliable workforce that, along with preferential European and U.S. market access for sugar and garment exports, is attracting foreign investment. Economic development has been achieved, however, at the cost of the country's native forest and fauna, nearly all of which have been destroyed.
Citizens have the right to change their government democratically. The head of state is a president, elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term. Executive power resides in the prime minister. The National Assembly is unicameral; it has 62 members that are directly elected by universal adult suffrage and a maximum of 8 (currently 4) members appointed from unsuccessful parliamentary candidates who gained the largest number of votes. The members serve for a five-year term.
Since independence, Mauritius has regularly chosen its representatives in free, fair, and competitive elections. In 2002 the parliament appointed two separate committees to examine recommendations submitted by a constitutional and electoral reform commission. The commission has recommended government funding for political parties. They also suggested that the National Assembly, which is presently comprised of 62 members, be expanded by 30 members chosen proportionately from parties obtaining more than 10 percent of the total votes cast during a general election.
Decentralized structures govern the country's dependent islands. The largest of these is Rodrigues Island, which has its own government, local councils, and two seats in the National Assembly.
The generally independent judiciary is headed by the supreme court. The legal system is an amalgam of French and British traditions. Civil rights are generally well respected, although cases of police brutality have been reported. Freedom of religion is respected. There are no known political prisoners or reports of political or extrajudicial killings.
According to the BBC, the constitution guarantees freedom of expression and of the press. The state-owned Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) operates radio and TV services and generally reflects government thinking. A small number of private radio stations have been authorized, but the state-run media enjoy a monopoly in broadcasting local news. Several private daily and weekly publications, however, are often highly critical of both government and opposition politicians and their policies. Four daily newspapers and eight weeklies offer balanced coverage in several languages. They are often critical of both the government and the opposition parties.
Freedom of assembly and association is respected, although police occasionally refuse to issue permits for demonstrations. Numerous nongovernmental organizations operate.
Nine labor federations include 300 unions.
Women constitute approximately 20 percent of the paid labor force and generally occupy a subordinate role in society. The law does not require equal pay for equal work or prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace. Women are underrepresented at the national university. The country is preparing a national gender-action plan with the long-term objective of greater equality. It addresses the integration of gender issues into the mainstream of government and private sector activities, and the enactment of a domestic violence act.
Women are significantly underrepresented in the nation's political life. According to the Southern African Development Community, in 2000 the percentages of women in parliament and in the cabinet (5.9 and 4 percent respectively) were the lowest of the 14 member countries.
Various cultures and traditions flourish in peace, though Mauritian Creoles, descendents of African slaves who make up a third of the population, live in poverty and complain of discrimination. In addition, tensions between the Hindu majority and Muslim minority persist, despite the general respect for constitutional prohibitions against discrimination. These constitute one of the country's few potential political flashpoints.
According to IMF figures, in 2001 Mauritius registered a 5.3 eight percent economic growth rate, and inflation has hovered at around 5 percent. Unemployment has risen to about 9 percent. Just 2.5 percent of the country's labor force is unemployed. Per capita income in Mauritius is $3,710, and is one of the highest in Africa. Adult literacy is 83 percent.


I have an idea for a story that involves a soft person in a very prickly environment. I don't need much of an excuse to draw the cacti and succulents in the greenhouses…!
I love the names: Oaxacan Pony Tail & Devil's Backbone (both in blue pencil). These were drawn last weekend.
Only a few minutes today to draw this Cattleya "gerardoensis" orchid. It wasn't blooming but its stems and leaves were interesting.


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text:
Representing the best
Finnish authors abroad
Rights News
Miki Liukkonen
Format info
- Miki Liukkonen
What is O?
O is a novel that explores a swimming team preparing for the Olympics, a company designing playground slides with attitude and an artistic edge, and a man who flees his neuroses by locking himself in the shed at the bottom of the garden.
O shows us how a walk across Copenhagen can provide as many images and impressions as an entire anthology of poetry.
O follows the horse-trading of Roma men who live two hours in the future thanks to a worm-hole in time.
O describes the life-threatening human experiments carried out by devotees of Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach fanatics who think nothing of eliminating any who stand in their way.
O introduces us to a shy, withdrawn boy who communicates only via the medium of Post-It notes, and to a junkie living under a boat in Spain, who sees through a hole in the upturned hull a vaulted sky that we outsiders can only dream of.
O takes OCD sufferers by the hand and painstakingly shows them how to make a chicken fricassee.
Whatever else it may be, O is above all a very large book on what the everyday means in our world, and how to live in it.
The second novel from Miki Liukkonen, painted across an outrageously large canvas, is a megalomaniacal and encyclopaedic narrative of ordinary people and extraordinary events, neuroses, stubborn fixed ideas, and the irrational things that we shudder at, just as a child fears a starless night. All the things you know and have felt, but which it is most unlikely you have ever read on the pages of a book.
2018 Shortlisted for the Runeberg Prize
2017 Shortlisted for the Finlandia Fiction Award
2017 Shortlisted for the Bothnia Prize
English sample
English review
French excerpt
French synopsis
Finnish edition
French (Le Castor Astral Éditeur)
Praise for the work
Finland on O (O, WSOY 2017)
"Miki Liukkonen's (b. 1989) massive novel O is a towering synthesis of our fragmented era. The overflowing gallery of characters tries to see if curling up in one's neuroses is of any help when reality does not otherwise seem to stay put within any sensible framework. Excessive self-awareness and a constant flow of information eat away at the characters from the inside, forcing them to fixate obsessively on details, or to disappear entirely into the escapism of alternative functions. Behind the abundance and humour lurks an emptiness, in which the Preacher's voice echoes out, preaching on the vanity of vanities. Despite its massive scale, the novel is not a difficult read. Liukkonen's language is a precise and glorious flight of free spirit. In the world of Finnish literature, O is a truly unique case." – Statement of the Jury, Runeberg Prize
"Prose can be described as a collection of sentences that investigates the state of a thing. In this sense, Miki Liukkonen's novel O is an investigation of the obsessive, neurotic age of the millennial generation, where the search for reasons forms a forest in which every tree must be studied. O is stunning in its maximalism. The exactness of its language makes the reader chuckle, and the linguistic material used seems inexhaustible. O manages to pique the curiosity of the reader on each of its pages and is unprecedented in the precision of its observations." – Statement of the Jury, Finlandia Fiction Award
"Miki Liukkonen's novel O challenges its reader to a prosaic wrestling match – in an ironic way. The massive scale of the work, its excessive weight, endless gallery of characters, countless footnotes and almost deranged immersion into details are alienating but also fascinating. Liukkonen's narrative reaches something essential about the jerky lifestyle of our times. O has been described as one of the most important novels of the decade – and not without good reason." – Statement of the Jury, Bothnia Prize
"Miki Liukkonen has written one of the most important Finnish fiction books of this decade." – Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
"Miki Liukkonen's maximalistic novel O is an exquisite read." – Turun Sanomat newspaper
"Successfully megalomaniacal." – Kouvolan Sanomat newspaper
"Miki Liukkonen is a writer who intoxicates the senses and can immerse the reader in wondrously colour-saturated images and atmospheres (…) Liukkonen's lyrical, original kind of sentence, expressing all of its meanings at once, rings out majestically through the work. (…) Liukkonen's gifts for creating exclusively potent images are undoubtable, and completely sufficient for creating a great work. But when this uninhibitedly effortless skill is combined with a cool intelligence, as is the case in O, it results in stunning literary power. (…) An ambitious explanation of the world and a sheer display of literary prowess, O has climbed to a high rank on my list of the most important Finnish fiction works of the 2010s, alongside Jaakko Yli-Juonikas' Neuromaniac and Laura Lindstedt's Oneiron." – Juhani Karila, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
"Open the book to any page and it will offer some kind of epiphany or treat (…) Although the themes in O are well known from American postmodernism and time is disjointed as in the works of Philip K. Dick, Liukkonen's virtuosic, magician-like approach and frenzied experimentation make the novel a true original. Rejoice, it declares, literature is not dead!" – Kouvolan Sanomat newspaper
"The entire novel can also be described (…) as a ring-like concatenation of links of people and events that connect to one another in different but inexorable ways. It sets itself against linear progression of thought, narrative and plot development. (…) Liukkonen takes detailed description to the extreme and does so impressively, making use of language with varying tones of voice. The work moves from poetic sentimentality to lecherousness, from the laughable to the ridiculous, from serious to comical. The language of the novel is a delightful stimulation of the senses. (…) Liukkonen's novel O is unquestionably a literary event that takes the reader to the other side of imagination and truth." – Turun Sanomat newspaper
"Liukkonen is an exceptional figure in the Finnish literary field. There is also something un-Finnish about his prose. For this reason, it is some of the best modern prose in Finland. (…) Liukkonen's imagination and ability to make associations are surprising and original. At its best, the visions, landscapes and chains of events described in O build up into a dense, prose-poetic outpouring, a hysterical intertwining of carnivalesque imagery and language use stimulating all of the senses. With Liukkonen's treatment, everyday life is contorted in a direction that is often grotesque and surrealistic. Black humour and irony swinging into comical horror are strongly present in the novel from start to finish (…) One of the greatest strengths of Liukkonen's prose is its ability to mix a childlike, whimsical sensitivity with a multifaceted spectre of irony. This overarching sensitivity of a blessed and cursed poet brings to mind Arthur Rimbaud. (…) In addition to Houellebecq, Wallace and Rimbaud, Liukkonen's kindred spirits include James Joyce and Fyodor Dostoyevski. Liukkonen is a world-class author who skilfully distinguishes himself from the stagnant conventions of Finnish prosaic narrative tradition. He creates something new." – Uljas. Newspaper of the University of Eastern Finland
"O calls into question the relationship between fiction and reality by ironising and disputing realism. The novel has 140 footnotes of commentary that both add to the truthfulness and strengthen the fictiveness of the work. Meandering sentence structures, sentences spanning two pages in places, offshoots and associations demand a lot from the reader but are also greatly rewarding. In literary terms, we would call an encyclopedic, polyphonic and hypertextual work of post-modern metafiction. Liukkonen's novel has been compared to American author David Foster's work Infinite Jest, "the book of all books". (…) O is a playfully fun novel. It is also a penetrating depiction of our time. (…) O's flowing language and labyrinthine world are enchanting and invite the reader to think of the woven text as a composition. If you want to experience a completely new kind of Finnish prose, you should choose this novel." – Kaleva newspaper
"All the more, as the greatest tensions of the novel emerge when there is an error in the information keeping reality together, [the work] performs both a transillumination and an autopsy of this cacophony of weak signals known as the information society." – Aamulehti newspaper
"An ingenious work." – Habaneran havaintoja literary blog
"O lived up to all its hype and went well beyond, too." – Also Sprach Jussi literary blog
"From cover to cover, Miki Liukkonen's O delivers Finnish literature a delightfully heavy-handed shake-up. The work in question is already one of the most significant achievements of the Finnish literary year, a book that will surely be discussed for a long time to come. (…) O is a slowly progressing novel that devotes itself to its subject matter in an admirably comprehensive way, with a passion reminiscent of [Thomas Pynchon's] Gravity's Rainbow – Liukkonen simply tells everything about his characters in his freely flowing prose. I have not yet been able to experience such an all-encompassing literary experience that works at such a great scale within the body of Finnish literature. Liukkonen seems to have simply reached a level that no one has even dared to try to get to before – and he manages in an unbelievable way to keep the oscillating work under control. (…) Liukkonen's prose is beautiful text that lingers in its description of the world." – Opus Eka literary blog
"Liukkonen masterfully describes our current era and its problems, of which the greatest is perhaps our relation to time, the passage of time and living within it. Do we exist in the real world or the virtual world? What does it take to exist in time and what problems are caused by keeping or not keeping in time? (…) I savoured, laughed and thought; I was impressed and confused. A rewarding, astonishing, fun and wise work, about everything. The book is aptly named: the circle of life is endless, everything is, o… The beginning and end are not important." – Kulttuuri kukoistaa literary blog
"A skilful analysis of our fragmented era. Miki Liukkonen has done something that has been long awaited. He has written a magnificent contemporary novel called O, a "universal study" that also delves into history in order to tell what it means to live here and now." – Kirjasta kirjaan literary blog
"O is a playfully fun novel. It is also a piercing description of our time. (…) Yet the flowing language and meandering world are enchanting, inspiring the reader to view the woven text as a composition. If you would like to experience an entirely new kind of Finnish prose, you should choose this novel." – Kirjoituksia literary blog
"I picked up this book, O, several times before I took it to the checkout counter. I was intimidated by the size of the book (over 850 pages), as well as the positive reviews praising it up and down as some kind of reformer and saviour of Finnish literature. But now, after the two-week-long reading experience, I have to say that this has the potential to be something bigger than just a spring novel. (…) I don't remember being so delighted by reading since The Famous Five. (…) a mind-bogglingly good novel." – Uki.nyt literary blog
"In Liukkonen's novel, modern life does not come together as a clear story with a beginning and an end, actions and consequences. The book is massive, a cornucopia of information overflow and neuroses as a means of survival. The nature of information has changed. The novel makes you think about how it is no longer important or even possible to determine which information is truer or more important for a person than some other information. A dazzling novel of a new type." – Kirjojen Suomi, YLE
International praise for the work
"In French, the word "coup de coeur" translates the crush you feel when you fall in love with a lot of emotion and no specific rational reason. It is exactly what we experimented at Le Castor Astral Éditeur when we first discovered the pitch of O and the reading of some excerpts. Our little red light started to blink. As a rather small but independent and resistant animal in the wild world of the publishing business, Le Castor Astral loves the type of challenges O proposes, with its excessive, gigantic, obsessional, megalomaniac dimension, offering a maze of words at the fringe of a total new literary world, being something different, unique, brave, unexpected. We are confident we can create a true event with O on the French speaking territories." – A statement by Miki Liukkonen's French publisher, Le Castor Astral
BONNIER RIGHTS FINLAND
info(at)bonnierrights.fi
Lönnrotinkatu 18 A, 00120 Helsinki, Finland


text:
Home Read The Secrets of Writing a Multicultural Children's Book
The Secrets of Writing a Multicultural Children's Book
Stephanie Meade
So you want to write a multicultural children's book. You know you have a great story to tell but how do you know if it really works for kids? What makes for a great story? Is there a market for it? What do publishers look for? To answer all these questions and a bunch more, we interviewed Tessa Strickland, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of one of the leading publishers of multicultural books, Barefoot Books. Founded originally in London and expanding to the U.S. five years later, Barefoot has been in the multicultural book business for over 20 years. They began back when very few picture books were written from a global perspective or featured a non-white character in a central role. Today, they publish over 500 stories from around the world that captivate children's imaginations.
Characterized by colorful and artfully crafted illustrations, they allow children to travel the world from their very own homes.
InCultureParent's Interview with Tessa Strickland
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Barefoot Books
First, how do you define multicultural children's literature?
We look for stories from cultures all over the world and try to avoid stereotypes. A multicultural story at Barefoot Books could be one that is set in an obviously Northern hemisphere, Western setting, but features characters of different nationalities. Equally, it could be set in another country (Tanzania, China, India for example).
What are the elements that make for a great story? What do you look for?
I look both for a strong storyline—a story that makes you want to turn the pages and that delivers engaging characters, a great story and a satisfying ending—and for finely wrought language. I am fascinated by language as music. For small children, in particular, it matters very much that the story reads well aloud. That the child understands every word of the text is less important than the way in which the words and pictures taken together cast a spell and nourish the child's emotional development.
What makes one story stand out from another?
It's said that there are only seven stories in the world, but they can overlap. They are tragedy, comedy, the quest, voyage and return, rebirth, overcoming the monster and rags to riches. Within these categories there is endless scope for the creative writer. I'd say it is the writer's voice that makes one story stand out from another though. You can take a theme, such as rags to riches, and a story, such as "Cinderella" variants of which exist in well over a hundred cultures, and the way it is told will differ quite radically depending on the voice of the writer.
Is writing a multicultural children's book any different from a non-multicultural children's book?
Yes and no—I'd say what matters most is authenticity, and perhaps this need is heightened when an author is writing about a culture with which he or she is only partially familiar. I'd say that the success of a book such as "Lola's Fandango," which has just been given an Honorable Mention in the Ezra Jack Keats awards, is due to the author's own experiences as a Spanish-speaking European living in North America.
What are the things to avoid in writing a multicultural children's book?
Don't generalize and don't write about what you don't know!
Are the better books always written by someone that is from that particular culture or country the books is based on? Does an author need to be from Peru to write a book based on Peru or can someone not from Peru write a good book about it?
In my experience, an author does not have to come from a specific culture in order to write about it well. What I do find, though, is that the author needs to have a first-hand experience of that culture to be able to write with conviction and authority. 'Don't write about what you don't know' is the rule I encourage authors to go by.
What's the market for multicultural children's books and given your 20 years in the business, how has it evolved over the years?
This is a very interesting question. When we started Barefoot Books, very few non-white children were represented in anything but cameo roles in picture books. We set out to introduce children from many cultures and to do so in an integrative way. Our own publishing programme has evolved, in part dictated by our continued commitment to representing other cultures and in part by the requests we receive from customers.
A trend which we are keenly aware of is the number of interracial marriages and partnerships—I don't have statistics on hand and I can't tell whether the feedback we get reflects wider social trends or wider awareness of our brand, but it is interesting to note how many of the families who visit our studios in Oxford and Concord are families with one or more parents from different cultures. Also, we often get requests from customers for stories from particular parts of the world, so my perception is that a lot of parents actively look for stories that help their children to understand their cultural heritage.
Are there any particular cultures, ethnicities, races, religions or countries which you feel need better representation in children's books?
I think there are lots! I was especially delighted to discover the writing of Danish author Jorn Riel a few years ago. His "Inuk Quartet" introduces young readers to a Viking boy, Leiv, who is shipwrecked off the coast of Greenland and rescued by two Inuit children. Leiv learns from his Inuit friends how to live peaceably and co-operatively, in step with the rhythms of the natural world. At a time in human history when our collective addiction to oil and to speed is causing huge environmental damage, and when conflict has destroyed and continues to destroy the lives of so many innocent people, it is very inspiring to read about the Inuit way of life and the deep understanding it reveals about the interdependence between people and the land.
We have developed all kinds of clever technologies in the past hundred and fifty years, but without the wisdom to use them with restraint, we risk continuing to destroy so much that is precious and creating a dismal future for the generations that come after us. For me, any story from any culture which helps today's parents and children to appreciate the importance of living more sustainably is worthy of attention.
Do you read unsolicited manuscripts?
Yes, when we have the time. At the moment, our programme is full and we have to focus on what we have already commissioned. We have an area on our website which advises authors when we are open for unsolicited material.
If someone has an idea for a book, are you interested in pitches or only finished stories?
The story does not have to be finished, but it does need to be sufficiently well developed for the quality of its language and the strength of the characterization to be apparent.
Should an author find an illustrator themselves and send you a finished story with illustrations or do you have your own illustrators you work with?
Sometimes authors are also exceptional illustrators, but we usually assess stories on their own merits and then commission the illustrator separately.
What advice would you give someone who has an idea for a multicultural children's book?
I'd encourage the writer to get the idea onto paper and then to trial it with children of the age for which he or she is writing. We do this regularly with manuscripts we are working on and the feedback we get from children is always a great help.
Check what is already in the market and look closely at the techniques of writers whose work you admire—notice the effect on you as a reader of these techniques. Try writing your story in different ways—e.g., as dialogue, in the first person, in the third person. Be experimental. Feel the difference between obvious adjectives and more unusual ones and none at all. Be your own best editor and make sure that everything you write moves the story forward. Listen to your critics, persevere and above all listen to your own inner voice.
Thank you Tessa!
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Stephanie is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of InCultureParent. She has two Moroccan-American daughters (ages 10 and 11), whom she is raising, together with her husband, trilingual in Arabic, Spanish and English. After many moves worldwide, she currently lives in Berkeley, California.
Meera Sriram August 26, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Very insightful interview! Thanks, Tessa!
Adrienne December 29, 2017 at 10:40 pm
The first rule of writing and maybe the only writing rule is; ONLY WRITE ABOUT THINGS YOU KNOW!
I believe the only reason why white people are all of sudden writing Black books, is this simple, to be included in another genre so they can get paid. White folks appropriate black culture to make money, regardless of how many qualified Black authors there are waiting for the chance to be published.
For the first time in my life that I've ever heard there is a market for Black stories, and as soon as this opportunity opened up, all of a sudden white authors are interested in Black people. Why, why now? I say it's because of greed.
Our U.S. history books have relegated three to four pages to represent the history of the African American experience, and not one Black person was asked if it was accurate. No one can tell my story better than I can.
The playing field must be leveled, stories that aren't yours are off limit. If you're a white author and you believe in equality, prove it, by stop writing so-called black books and leave it to the experts, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN!
Adrienne February 9, 2018 at 7:22 pm
What makes White people think you're an authority on black life?
Why do you think it's okay to write our stories?
You're the only race who steals, misappropriate from every culture without paying reparations to the people who you' continue to harm.
Why is it okay for you to write to for our children?
The white female teacher is the number person responsible for the incarceration of African Americans. You might ask, How is this possible? The White Female Teacher is the number one demographic who has been responsible for teaching all of the U.S. children.
She decides who gets kicked out of school and who is forever labeled as a problem child. They're kicked out of school, then to juvenile detention, eventually to prison. Which is referred to the CLASSROOM TO PRISON PIPELINE. Do you realize that they build prisons according to how many black children are suspended from school each year, starting at third grade?
So, NO, YOU CAN'T WRITE BOOKS FOR OUR CHILDREN.
I'm not upset or bitter. Sometimes the truth can hurt, but it' worth accepting it because it's guaranteed to FREE you.


London just got another lesson in post-Brexit trade realpolitik.
A week after U.S. President Donald Trump ignored all appeals by Prime Minister Theresa May to block the imposition of a hefty 219 percent tariff on Bombardier, putting about 4,000 jobs in Northern Ireland at risk, Washington has again showed no compassion when it comes to defending its own economic interests. The U.S. has teamed up with six other heavyweights at the World Trade Organization to challenge a joint U.K.-EU plan that London hoped would allow a smooth Brexit transition at the global trade body.
By leaving the EU, the U.K. will become an independent WTO member, meaning it does not only need to set up new trade arrangements with other countries but also settle the terms of divorce when it comes to current commitments as an EU member. High on the agenda is the issue of food quotas, which determine how many tons of meat, grains or sugar other countries can export into the EU at a reduced tariff rate.
London and Brussels insist that they have struck a deal for these food imports. The best way, they argue, is to simply split the existing quotas based on the amounts of food that Britain and the rest of the EU currently import under their joint membership. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told POLITICO last month that the British idea of splitting the quotas had been "very well received" by EU partners.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative said that "a high priority for the administration" was "ensuring that U.S. exporters of food and agricultural products have the market access in Europe due to them." That line gives a foretaste for London of the way the U.S. will play future talks on a bilateral free-trade agreement.
Turbulent times lie ahead for both the U.K. and EU as they sort out the consequences of the Brexit divorce in the international trade community.


Synopsis: In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed "Daughter of Smoke and Bone," Karou must come to terms with who and what she is, and how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, mysteries and secrets, new characters and old favorites, Days of Blood and Starlight brings the richness, color and intensity of the first book to a brand new canvas.
Synopsis: Its name is spoken only in whispers, if the people of Alban dare to speak it at all: Shadowfell. The training ground for rebels seeking to free their land from the grip of the tyrannical king is so shrouded in mystery that most believe it to be a myth.
Days of Blood and Starlight - Firstly, I think this cover blows the first book's cover out of the water. The cover for his book is freaking stunning. I also, really loved the first book and I cannot wait to see where Karou will end up in this sequel.
Shadowfell - This book sounds like a Maria V. Synder or Samantha Young book, and I absolutely adore adventures in magical worlds. I have a feeling I'll really enjoy Shadowfell and cannot wait to read it.
The Torn Wing - I loved The Faerie Ring so much. I cannot wait to read more of Tiki's story. Plus, I need way more Rieker! I ADORE him.
That cover on Daughter of Blood and Starlight is pretty awesome. I really need to start that series soon. Great picks.
I still have to read The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I will make time to read the book before the second book comes out. I'm excited to read The Torn Wing! The first book was great!


Research Cochrane attached homes for sale, Cochrane real estate statistics, real estate & detached homes on April 24, 2019. Currently there are 371 active real estate listings in Cochrane average asking price of $444,977.54 highest price property $2,477,784.00. Currently 279 properties include Single Family Attached Homes, Detached Homes, For Sale by Owner, Luxury Homes plus 90 Condos, Townhomes, Rowhouses, Lake Homes, bank foreclosures.
Cochrane housing market: As of April 24, 2019 there are 389 Cochrane real estate listings for sale in listed active, with an average asking price $444,977.54 and the highest price approximately $2,477,784.00. There are a variety of property types to choose from Attached homes, Detached, Foreclosures and more. Data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed accurate by CREB®. Search Cochrane attached homes for sale or contact a licensed REALTOR® if you have questions.


The Emerson sits at the intersection of New and Old in the historic suburb of Oak Park. The suburb's bustling downtown enjoys easy transit access to downtown Chicago, and consistently attracts busy young professionals in search of a lifestyle that blends urban and suburban qualities. At the same time, this well-established enclave is proud of its historical heritage, with many significant buildings making up a quaint walkable streetscape nearby.
The Emerson is a model for mixed-use, transit-oriented suburban development, offering walkable retail shops, a Target flexible-format store, public parking, and 270 luxury apartments in studio, one-, and two-bedroom floor plans.
The Emerson's position between Oak Park's historic shopping district and busy commuter rail lines meant that the design needed to blend well with the context of the shopping district and provide a dense transit-oriented residential component. This was accomplished by designing the north building as a logical continuation of the low-rise corridor nearby, standing five stories and built from more traditional materials. The north building contains 80 apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail occupied by a Target flexible-format store.
Along the rail lines, a much taller building, in a modern language of concrete and glass, could be developed. The south building is 20 stories tall, contains 170 apartments, 424 parking spaces, amenities, and management offices. Between the two buildings, a pedestrian bridge spans over Westgate Street, providing North Building residents with sheltered access to parking and amenities.
The two buildings at the Emerson present residents and guests with options that represent both of these influences: the low-rise north building has a decidedly suburban feel, with traditionally-sized windows, finished ceilings, and smaller-scale public spaces with intimate spaces and soft furnishings. The high-rise south building brings a more contemporary sensibility, with double-height public spaces and exposed concrete touches. Shared amenities blend the two aesthetics across comfortable lounge spaces, coworking suites, and a shared club room.
Originally offered by the Village of Oak Park as an RFP seeking developers, these two centrally-located lots previously held underutilized commercial buildings which were razed for surface parking lots. The site held incredible promise as a transit-oriented development, since residents would be just steps from both Metra commuter rail and CTA light rail, which together serve approximately 5,000 passengers per day. More than a dozen commuter bus stops can be found within a 1/4 mile radius of the site, serving four different major routes.
The prominent intersection of Lake Street and Harlem Avenue provides easy vehicular access to and from the site. Both corridors feature a mix of retail and entertainment establishments, and the Lake Street corridor is widely considered the heart of Downtown Oak Park. Adjacent to the site, Oak Park's historic district influences the development to fit respectfully into the neighborhood, and it is also a large draw for residents.
The Emerson's north building blends with the nearby historic district and Lake Street shopping corridor with traditional materials and low-rise massing. Built from wood construction over a concrete retail podium, the building has a decidedly more suburban feel, with traditionally-sized windows and smaller-scale public spaces.
an urban aesthetic found most often in downtown multifamily properties.


Please don't forget! Shameek Robinson from the College Board (makers of the SATs and SAT subject tests) will be attending our PTA meeting to discuss the best strategies to help our kids prepare for the SATs and SAT subject tests. He will go over all the free resources available through the College Board and Khan Academy to help our kids improve their scores on these important tests. These free resources include test prep tailored to each child as well as their question of the day. IT IS NEVER TOO EARLY TO START! He will also discuss College Board's college planning and scholarship search functions.
He is a wonderful, engaging speaker. His advice will be invaluable and will be targeted for students of all ages. So we hope to see BSGE parents from ALL grades attend.
We hope to see everyone tonight!
Previous Post Congratulations to BSGE for receiving Reward status from NYSED!


The time when disaster strikes, is not, for most people, the time to start creating a response plan. Taking the time to prepare a plan before a disaster occurs provides an opportunity for you to identify the things that are critical for the survival of your business and determine workable solutions to get your business operational in the quickest time possible following a disruption.
What are the key products and services of your organisation?
How long can you stop providing these products and services before the business impact becomes unacceptable to you, your clients and stakeholders?
What are the activities and resources required to deliver these products and services?
What are the threats and vulnerabilities of these activities?
How will you recover and maintain continuity of these activities when disruptions occur?
The business impact analysis (BIA) prioritises business activities for recovery and identifies the resources that are required to support these activities for business continuity purposes. This involves assessing the potential business impact on the organisations should key business activities be disrupted, determining the timeframes within which these business activities must be resumed, and identifying the resources required for business continuity.
The risk assessment process involves identifying vulnerabilities to the organization, assessing the level of risks and identifying appropriate risk control measures to manage the risks.
This involves the identification and assessment of strategies (response options) to meet the organisation's requirements for business continuity, covering people, IT systems and networks, premises and facilities, and data backup and offsite storage.
This involves putting in place a response team structure, developing processes for incident notification and escalation, and documenting the business continuity action plans. The purpose of the action plans are to provide guidance on you should call, where you should go and what you should do when disaster strikes. This is also when implementation of the response option is carried, such as procurement of backup equipment and commissioning of alternate facilities.
This step ensures that the response plans that have been developed and documented will actually work to enable the organisation to continue delivering critical business activities when a crisis arises. This involves training relevant employees on the use of the plan, conducting exercises to validate the completeness and accuracy of the plan, and putting in place a schedule for the on-going maintenance of the plan.
For more information on BCM or to establish how Riskwest can assist you, please contact the author at kenny.seow@riskwest.com.au or visit www.riskwest.com.au.


The Morton Cemetery near Richmond, Texas, was the scene of a marker dedication held on March 7, 1966, during the annual State Assembly. John and Jerry Barnett, members of the Texas Society of the Children of the American Colonists, served as Color Bearers during the impressive ceremony, which was closed poignantly with taps by a bugler.
The Fort Bend County cemetery had been in use since 1822 and was the resting place of a number of famous early Texans. including Jane Long, the "Mother of Texas"; Mirabeau B. Lamar, "Father of Texas Education" and second president of the Republic of Texas; John Gillespie, who came with Stephen F. Austin when he founded his colony; "Deaf' Smith, famous Texas scout and hero of the Battle of San Jacinto; and numerous Confederate Army veterans. This marking project was an activity of Mrs. Grady Kirby's term as State Regent.


text:
Matidia simia es una especie de arañas araneomorfas de la familia Clubionidae.

Distribución geográfica
Es endémica de Célebes (Indonesia).

Referencias

 Deeleman-Reinhold, C. L. (2001). Forest spiders of South East Asia: with a revision of the sac and ground spiders (Araneae: Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Liocranidae, Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae and Trochanterriidae [sic]). Brill, Leiden, 591 pp.

Enlaces externos

simia
Arácnidos de las Célebes
Fauna endémica de la isla de Célebes
Animales descritos en 2001

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Generously butter the inside of a well seasoned 12-inch cast iron skillet and set aside.
For the Topping: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the brown sugar, flour, oats, walnuts, cinnamon, and butter. Pulse until the mixture is crumbly and still clumpy and set aside.
For the Filling: In a large mixing bowl combine the apples, cranberries, brown sugar, honey, bourbon, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Stir gently to combine.
Pour the fruit mixture into the buttered skillet. Drop the topping evenly over the fruit.
Bake the apple crisp for about 60 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is hot and bubbling.
Let cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve with ice cream. Enjoy!


Gin Gin Gin and Gin! We'll have distilleries attending from 5pm to 7pm We'll have Pompiere Pizza outside for your foodie needs! We'll have a band on too from 8pm! Pinx Tinker! We'll also be bringing our Yorkshire Ales Gin Bar! 16th March 2019 Tickets £20 Gin Glass to use and take home (limited edition) Gin Book Gin and Tonic on arrival ! Come down and let the afternoon beGIN!
Gin Gin Gin and Gin! We'll have distilleries attending from 5pm to 7pm We'll have Pompiere Pizza outside for your foodie needs! We'll have a band on too from 8pm! Pinx Tinker! We'll also be bringing our Yorkshire Ales Gin Bar! Tickets £20 Gin Glass to use and take home (limited edition) Gin Book Gin and Tonic on arrival ! Come down and let the afternoon beGIN!


text:
Joyendu "Joy" Bhadury, PhD
Joy Bhadury, PhD, is Professor and Dean of the School of Business and Management at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. Prior to that, he was a Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management in the Bryan School of Business and Economics in The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. and served as the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Programs for the Bryan School between 2007-14. Prior to UNCG, he was Chair of the Department of Management and Finance in the College of Business and Economics at California State University–East Bay and served as the Director of the Engineering Program at that institution. After completing his PhD in Management Science from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1991, he additionally worked at the following two institutions: University of New Brunswick, Canada and SUNY-Buffalo.
Dr. Bhadury's professional specialization is in Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Operations Research. He has taught extensively at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the US and Canada, and has also taught Executive MBA courses in the US, Ghana, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany and Austria. He has published his research in numerous national and international academic journals such as INFORMS Journal of Computing, Travel Behavior and Society, European Journal of Operational Research, Maritime Policy and Management, Economic Development Quarterly, Annals of Regional Science and Computers and Operations Research. Additionally, he has provided professional services to public and private organizations including NC Maritime Strategy Advisory Council, NC Center for Global Logistics, Carolina Farm Credit, Duplin Winery, SAP-AG, FedEx, and Buffalo Police Department. His work has been supported by funding from organizations such as Glaxo Smith Kline Foundation, US Dept of Labor (WIRED Program), Carolina Farm Credit, Piedmont Triad Partnership, NC Department of Public Instruction, NC Department of Motor Vehicles, NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, NC Department of Transportation and Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.
Dean, The School of Business and Management
Joyendu
Bhadury
jbhadury@brockport.edu