text:
Different silences
As far as I can see there are music shops. Outside each one, musicians sit with bowls of green tea, playing ancient melodies on pot-bellied reed flutes, single stringed huqins and high pitched whiny violins punctuated by the odd paiban wood-clapper.
They wave and smile at me as I walk past, the only blonde in the world, inviting me to try the instruments and the tea, nodding congenially when I show my calloused cello fingers to indicate the benign presence of a fellow muso.
Walking past countless western guitar shops with their rows of Strats, Gibsons, Fenders and Hawaiians, I wander into little booths stuffed with zithers of all sizes. Drawing my fingers gently over the strings, I'm immediately transported into the serene and herb-scented waiting room of my brutal Chinese Tuina masseuse, tannoyed arppegios accompanied by soothing superimposed waterfalls.
Locals playing Huquins, sounding like amplified pentatonic mosquitoes to my ignorant western ear.
Two larges shops are filled with cellos and earnest looking people playing something reminiscent of Bach.
The air shimmers wih the fragrance of cooking. Noodle bars, sesame bun stands, duck soup vendors and tiny restaurants jostle shoulder to shoulder in the maze of side streets leading off from Xinjiekou South Street, filled with people going about their business in a neighbourhood of low level houses, bustling bicycles and tiny tea houses that appear untouched by time.
I'm in Beijing on a 4 day hit and run visit with London Sinfonietta and have made a firm decision to ignore the 7 hour time difference and explore as much as possible in the few free hours allotted.
My bag stuffed with little gongs that make a "pow" sound when whacked really hard, tinkling tingers, bamboo flutes and an industrial quantity of chrysanthamum tea, I set off for the nearby Jingshan Park.
Or so it looks on the city map the hotel provides. In fact, this spectacular park turned out to be a good 25 minute fast hike away. The scale of the city is unimaginably vast. Main streets are as wide as 2 Pall Malls and everywhere the traffic broods, bumper to bumper, unmoving, choking the air with thick fumes.
Katie Melua's song There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing needs a rethink.
Incidentally, I was once a cello backing girl for Melua and was impressed by her razor-precise cool delivery, un-showy pixie prettiness and overwhelming tedium of the songs, imbibed with fanatical devotion by a packed Radio 2 audience of solo middle aged men in questionable jackets.
Not so unlike new music audiences really, just fewer beards.
Prices of cars in China have recently been inflated way beyond even western market value in an attempt to curb the appalling traffic congestion, but the new micro class of China's super rich buy them anyway, and the problem continues which, combined with the dust that swirls in from the Gobi desert, make this one of the most polluted spots on earth. In summer it must truly be a suffocating hell furnace.
Fact: there are 2000 new cars added to Beijing's roads every day.
But we are incredibly lucky. We've arrived on one of the very few days of the year when the air has been cleared by fierce wind and rain, and for these few hours, a clear bright sky and crisp autumn sun reminds us of a pre-industrial age, allowing us a rare glimpse of the spectacular mountains surrounding Beijing.
People drive their cars here like bicycles, swerving suddenly and without warning to fill any available gaps, every second seeming to promise certain death for the many pedestrians who follow the same rules: simply go when you see your chance and the strongest survives. Several times I took cover behind a bowed old man with stick or woman with baby to avoid the oncoming machine stream, all completely ignoring the token pedestrian crossings or traffic lights. But to no avail. All take their chances in the moment.
As well one might do in a nation of 1,344,130,000 souls (this year's figure) and growing. Everywhere you go, people jostle each other, but without getting upset as you certainly would do here if someone dared to push ahead in a post office queue or supermarket line. You simply have to work a little harder here to get noticed amidst the vast ocean of humanity.
People queuing for the subway by Beijing central rail station last winter.
On the central axis of Beijing, north of the Forbidden City, I enter the tranquil bamboo grove that announces Jingshan Park, roughly the size of two Hyde Parks combined, set around a central lake. On every corner music was being made. In one ornately carved band-stand, a group of elderly ladies take turns in singing in that wobbly high soprano we all associate with Chinese song.
A few yards along couples of all ages and gender combinations (well, not tranny, but you know what I mean) perform a kind of jive-meets-foxtrot-meets-disco to Sino-Lithuanian-Eurovision-synth-bop. Walking further around the lake a group of middle-aged ladies, all with jet black hair, take part in an exercise class that looks like a combo of synchronised ballet and Chi Gung; incredibly graceful gestures with precise movements of the hands, all coordinated to ghetto-blasted Chinese folk songs. Passers-by stop and sing along.
Some of the spectacular pavillions on the hill by the lake, overlooking the Forbidden City.
Next door a different kind of sino-pop blares from speakers hung from Ginkgo trees overhanging the lake. A bunch of single men and woman perform a robotic but creative form of Chinese Dad dancing. Some wear shades. Everyone looks happy. Onlookers sing along.
My impression was that, whatever the political system, music is very much alive and well here at a really grass roots level. A cloud of song and dance appeared to rise from the lake along with the ornate three storey pavillion in the central island.
Group Tai Chi in the park, done to something sounding like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets acu spa.
But I can't help wondering how in 5 thousand years (probably more?) of one-time most sophisticated civilisation on earth, that the music of this nation still hasn't moved past the pentatonic scale.
But hey, what do I know of the intricacies of their music tradition? For all I know its finest notes have vanished, like the music of the ancient Greeks. After all, even though written evidence of Greek musical theory survives, no one really knows what it actually sounded like. And so it must be with music of all ages as civilisations come and go.
My Dad recently got obsessed with an enthralling book by Gavin Menzies called 1421. The Year The Chinese Discovered the World, which explores evidence suggesting that the Chinese had circumnavigated the world at least 70 years before Columbus.
(The generally accepted notion that no one could have discovered the world before Columbus is extremely dodgy in my view).
Former British submarine lieutenant-commander Menzies spent 15 years researching his theory, triggered by discovering spookily accurate 15th century world maps by Chinese cartographers. Whatever the truth behind his discoveries, the book points to a civilisation significantly more advanced than it's European neighbours of the time, highly skilled in architecture, painting, mathematics, astronomy, textiles, boat building, philosophy, medicine, maps and trading.
Here's the beginning of the book's introductory blurb:
"On 8 March 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. The ships, some nearly five hundred feet long, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. (Note: EUNUCHS). Their mission was 'to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas and unite the world in Confucian harmony."
Attempting their own form of Confucian harmony, The London Sinfonietta find themselves performing in a hall within a shopping mall that looks for all the world like Basingstoke. The hall is sandwiched between the new Apple Store, Benefit Cosmetics and opposite – yes, you've guessed it – Starbucks. A huge screen outside the hall dwarfs a row of Beijing Music Festival flags, flashing 50 ft images of western models in western fashion to blasting western pop music.
It took an hour of progressively desperate phone calls from Sinfonietta's long-suffering concert manager, via a hierarchy of SEVEN different officials to get Gaga to stop obliterating the rehearsal the other side of the screen.
One of Beijing's many Starbucks. Note total absence of Chinese translation.
This kind of east-west paradox is at the heart of my brief experience of China, a communist country with the most aggressively capitalist culture I've ever seen. Giant posters of Julia Roberts advertising Lancombe tower over the rapidly disappearing low level buildings I mentioned earlier, along with their ornate roof carvings, red lanterns, rows of tiny shops selling clothes, jade, spices, cigarettes, shampoo, washing lines strung between dumpling vendors and old men playing cards, drinking tea at tables in streets thronged with bicycles.
Lady Gaga. Ruiner of London Sinfonietta rehearsals.
A block away from wizened, squatting old ladies selling pomegrantes and baked yams on street corners, loomed the vast marble temples of Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Dior; Western luxury goods manufactured in the sweat shops of Shanghai.
Speaking of squatting, public loos were mostly in that vein, and, more upsettingly for my delicate English sensibilities, often used with doors LEFT OPEN.
More disturbingly, I was told that in remote rural provinces, if a western woman has to obey the call of nature, local women gather round to observe. With interest.
My memories of Shanghai (on another concert hit and run) are of another unimaginably huge city, full of aggressively phallic skyscrapers multiplying literally as one looked, out-Manhattaning Manhattan. The rich-poor divide was breathtaking, savagely illustrated by the 10 quid I paid for a single espresso in the Marriot, and the same paid for a banquet for 5 people, including limitless beer, one block away the same evening.
Beijing is stuffed with the same contradictions, but feels a little slower, more secretive, less aggressively upward moving. Although I did get invited to a restaurant in Beijing where you could buy imported French wine for £3000 a bottle.
If you've seen the latest Bond but have never been to China, Shanghai really does look like that, a kind of super shiny futuristic Gotham City.
And I simply can't pass by Skyfall without observing that it sorely needed:-
1) Proper shags. The whole point of Bond is that he is a misogynist multiple shagger. To cut away from his liaison with Moneypenny to exploding fireworks was ridiculously coy. (Not that she was particularly shagly in the first place.)
Gratuitous zip unfastening should be at the heart of every Bond movie.
2) MUCH more of John Barry's marvellous Theme. Skyfall's sound track teased with tiny thematic snippets until we were finally permitted one, but ONE complete rendering of the music that differentiates Bond from other action thrillers.
This was the worst case of theme tease I've ever experienced and I DON'T LIKE IT.
3) less of Daniel Craig looking like a Playstation killing robot.
But I DID like geek-spotting film quotes from Orson Welles Lady from Shanghai, Bladerunner, The Queen (the bit in Scotland) and Hitchcock's Rebecca (Manderlay burning down). And I LOVED the unexpected homosexual plot twist. Without giving the game away, a gay friend of mine clutched my hand at the extraordinary moment when it's hinted that
JAMES BOND MAY NOT BE A GAY VIRGIN
and breathlessly said, "well, it's taken 50 years…"
Oh yes, a shopping mall in Beijing, and a programme of English music conducted by George Benjamin, including his marvellous chamber opera Into the Little Hill based on the Pied Piper of Hamlyn story, with libretto by celebrated playwright Martin Crimp,
I had the good fortune to play in the first UK performance of this truly beautiful piece at the Linbury Studio at the Opera House. Those who were there will remember how the power suddenly failed 10 minutes into the show, forcing audience and performers to be led to safety by torchlight out of the blackness into which they'd been unceremoniously plunged.
Star singers Sue Bickley and Claire Booth doing their thing in the fated, and fêted, London performance of Little Hill a couple of years back. Their expressions could indicate premonitions of the imminent power collapse.
After heated conference backstage, the girls dressing room decided that the show HAD to go on by way of the upstairs bar of the Lindbury. And so it did in perhaps one if the best concert experiences of my life, with the audience sitting on the floor, by the bar, wherever they could find a space, utterly engaged with music without a single visual aid.
Just the music and text, speaking for itself without visual frills.
No matter how many times I play in this piece – and it's now quite a few – the impeccably heard layers of delicate string harmonics, resonance, dramatic tonal shifts and silvery orchestration never get boring. One mark of truly good music must be that it continues to reveal itself after many hearings. And for the record, everyone else in the band feels the same way about this piece, a rarity in contemporary music performing circles I can tell you.
Composer Eric Whitacre. For context read on.
This performance was given one of its best with mezzo Katalin Karolyi – who was a great friend of Ligeti's, and recently starred in Gerald Barry's outrageous Importance of Being Ernest – along with the extraordinarily razor-sharp precision and dramatic power of soprano Hila Plitmann, whose voice I had heard on recordings of music by the fabulous David Del Tredici (for much about whom see a couple of posts back), whose music she has been singing for 16 years or so.
Hila is married to composer Eric Whitacre, who shot to stratospheric fame a couple of years back with his composition for internet choir, and was recently signed to Storm Model agency – although Hila says the media has vastly overemphasized the latter fact, and that Eric has yet to do a single fashion shoot.
Actually, Hila herself could easily be on Storm's model books as you can see from this pic.
Let's face it, there aren't too many composers who get signed to major international model agencies.
Whitacre showed up to the rehearsals in London and kept calling Benjamin "Maestro", much to his delighted embarrassment.
The first half of the Beijing programme was comprised of Birtwistle's darkly funky Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum (1977) – a delicately spiky piece of writing which you MUST check out if you don't know it. I really love this piece, but suspect it totally baffled the Chinese audience, who will have heard nothing like it.
Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Not signed by Storm as far as I know.
The director of the Beijing festival told me that this London 2012-themed year has featured Chinese premieres of music by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten, our programme and … John Cage's 4'33".
Given the Chinese have absolutely none of our western symphonic DNA and it's journey through Schoenberg and beyond, WHAT do they make of Cage?
Like, what does 4'33'' means to a Chinese audience ? I'd love to know. Is their silence different?
Some of the Sinfonietta players described teaching sessions with students at the Beijing Conservatoire, and said that whilst they were all technically competent, the notion of phrasing Mozart, for example, was completely alien to them and had to be taught by literally writing in every last crescendo, diminuendo and ritardando that make up the classical shapes that are second nature to their western colleagues.
In the same vein, how could I have an instinct for the gestures, aesthetic, sound colours or impulses of Chinese or Indian or South American music without being brought up with it? Or Ghanaian drumming, or Japanese Kabuki?
It was interesting to hear the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra the first time they were in London playing Tchaikovsky. Although the notes were pretty much in the right place, much of it sounded completely alien, almost unrecognisable in places, familiar music spoken with a heavy foreign accent.
It's fascinating to witness western art music being introduced to people free from the centuries-old cultural baggage that goes with it.
In China, there are currently some 10 million children learning piano alone. They practice. A lot. And the music they are learning is mostly (from what I gather), western baroque, classical and romantic music.
I've recently been auditioning students for our own marvellous National Youth Orchestra, whose cello section I have the huge privilege to coach. A few of those of those auditioning were Chinese, travelling over specially for an English musical education. (Why?). They have scary mothers who ask other mothers how much their kids practice.
Yes, I've read Tiger Mother, but won't go there now.
Our music conservatoires and schools house increasing numbers of these hard-working children born of China's economic elite, fast becoming the few who can actually afford the staggering fees, and actively sought out by British music conservatoires and universities who need the cash.
A sad young undergraduate cellist at Trinity Laban College told me that it now costs £40,000 to do a 2 year post grad at the Royal Academy of Music. FORTY. THOUSAND. POUNDS. Before accommodation and living expenses in London, one of the most expensive cities in the world.
I PROMISE you this isn't a "help, help the Chinese are coming!" rant (for that see South Park's appalling The Chinese Problem episode). But more of a quiet observation (from my extremely limited experience) of how rapid economic growth and rampant capitalist values don't necessarily mean absolute cultural philistinism. Our classical music is seriously on the agenda in China's big cities. It's valued. Even if they do it very differently.
Is this cultural imperialism in action?
Discuss. (But not now).
Who knows, maybe in time they will become the main guardians of Western classical art music if that evil baron of anti-culture, Simon Cowell (above) and his unwitting dark hench-persons Katherine Jenkins, Myleen Klass and Gary Barlow have their way.
Terrifying fact. The biggest-selling string quartet of ALL TIME is Bond.
But somehow I doubt it. I'd like to think the power of our own marvellous art music is too great to get killed off by supermodels in ballgowns flicking their hair around to Vivaldi with a rock beat.
(Please forgive me Bond girls! Those of you I know are super nice, intelligent and work v v hard at what you do. But you must see my point in this context.)
The second piece in the Sinfonietta's Beijing gig was Oliver Knussen's exquisite Songs Without Voices (1992), another piece that opens up its bejewelled treasures with repeated listenings and playings. You can hear it on Spotify.
The last piece before the interval was oboe concerto Extase II by Chinese composer Qigang Chen, met with ecstatic applause by the usually reserved audience. And no wonder. Sinfonietta's Gareth Hulse (left) gave a performance of staggering virtuosity, effortlessly negotiating circular breathing, rapid fire note flurries and some of the most accurately pitched high sustained quarter tones I've ever heard from this most tricky of instruments.
Two words I usually wouldn't put together:
1. Oboe
2. Recital
But I would if Gareth was playing.
Qigang Chen's score hinged around a folk tune well known to the audience, identical to the second line of In the Bleak Mid Winter. (Many of us continued to sing Frosty Winds May Blow for some time after the show.) The piece was a sort of Chinese inflected Ligeti combined with Hollywood c. Clint Eastwood and the theme tune from Dallas. But for all that had a certain something.
"During China's Cultural Revolution countless individuals lost the opportunity for formal training in the arts, and it was only in 1977 when the Central Conservatory in Beijing reopened that a generation of musicians could once again seek education. Part of the illustrious 1978 graduating class was Qigang Chen (left) who later went on to study with Olivier Messiaen." (Text c/o Boosey's, his publisher.)
Overall the concert was a big success and apparently had gone down well with the shoppers outside who got to see/hear the music from the same screen/loud speaker system that had tormented us earlier in the day. Their listening presence was indicated by discarded McDonald's wrappings.
Music for the People, innit.
And now some more sightseeing.
Almost my first sight, straight off the red-eye from Heathrow was the huge image of Chairman Mao that graces the main gate to the Forbidden City, an image soaked in blood in my mind's eye from the little I learnt in school about the Cultural Revolution.
People from all over this vast continent had gathered at this historic place, some dressed in Mao tunics, most in western clothes, and a few in strange head-dresses and padded jackets, clearly from faraway lands. Many had terrible teeth.
Incidentally, I saw very few women in skirts or dresses. The vast majority wear trousers, and everyone on the street is dressed casually, practically, rather than for effect. Evil fashion lords haven't yet infiltrated the highstreet, probably cos no one can afford the Chinese-manufactured gear we're all swathed in from Primark, M&S and Next (to name but 3).
The Forbidden City! Magical words for a big fan of The Last Emperor, arguably Bertolucci's masterpiece.
The young Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, looks out on his subjects in this still from the film, shot in situ. Those coloured lines are made up of people. That's how vast it is.
Note mountains in background.
The scale of the place is hard to describe. You walk through enormous square after enormous square, each demarcated by the same high windowless walls in rusty red, framed by beautiful elaborate golden roof carvings of mythological animals, guarded by huge stone lions and impressive stone font things.
Titles of streets and buildings indicate a thought system entirely different from ours: The Hall of Mental Enhancement, Temple of Comparative Bliss, the Gate of Divine Might.
Throne rooms and living quarters were roped off, some behind glass cases, all covered in thick dust, giving the impression that nothing had been touched since the Last Emperor child played amongst his elaborately dressed courtiers. In fact, it was probably a mere month's worth of Gobi desert dust clinging to the royal hangings.
How strange to be in a place closed for so many centuries to the outside world! And even within the city, there is a sense of secrecy, places you are not allowed to go, the very height of the walls precluding a peep into the unknown world that once existed, the whisperings of hundreds of concubines long since faded into ether.
The emperor's throne, covered in dust the day I saw it.
Outside in Tiananmen square another order of reality exists. It's perhaps the most palpably evil place I've ever been. It's VAST. CRAWLING with police. A huge horrible monument to power. Concrete. Brutal. Unspeakably ugly.
Here's James Fenton's poem about it.
The police presence is inescapable. They throng the tube, security checks at every possible entrance and exit, all over the city.
When a friend called to me on the hotel phone, there was a whir-click on the line and I was reminded that here Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are banned, bugging is common practice, and there are some 30,000 people employed in internet censorship.
But on a superficial level, people in Beijing didn't look oppressed. Perhaps it was the amazing weather. They appeared friendly, helpful, relaxed and not the xenophobic dictator-crushed lot you might expect. A surprising number spoke English. Well. And I felt safe at all times, maybe (ironically) because of the police.
Tiananmen Square. I didn't use the iconic image of the student standing in front of tanks we all associate with the name. It's there in our minds anyway.
One of the most beautiful spots I visited in Beijing is the Lama Temple, the most famous active Buddhist temple outside Tibet. A profound sense of peace radiates from the fragrant osymanthus trees that lead up to the temples filled with huge Buddhas, and people making devotions in front of large incense burners whose sandalwood-infused scent clouds the air a mile away.
You literally have to kneel in order to see this 50ft Buddha. Awe is inspired by size in this religion, as opposed to bloodthirsty gore in ours.
The resident monks are from Mongolia and, erm, Tibet.
As a friend told me, the sinister truth is that these monks will be officially approved, the monastery reconstructed from the revolution's ravages and the whole set-up, magical and inspiring as I found it, allowed to exist in order to give an impression of official tolerance.
I wonder what writer Lu Xun would have made of the 21st century? Tipped off by Alexander Goehr, I found myself at the house of this godfather of modern Chinese literature, now a small but beautifully presented museum about the author's works and life.
Born in 1881, Lu Xun (right) lived through a particularly bloody chapter in a particularly blood-soaked country, and had the extraordinary courage to use his exceptional literary talent to bring injustices into print, at great personal risk.
He was the first to translate Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Gogol and Edgar Allen Poe, amongst other great European writers into Chinese, and his writing style reflects all of these seen through a Chinese lens saturated with over 2000 years' worth of his own country's literature, art and philosophy..
I managed to acquire copies of his most famous works, mostly short stories written in both Baihua (vernacular) and formal style in a beautiful edition in Chinese and English, illustrated by woodcut prints, an art he both collected and propagated. This is world-class writing of enormous sophistication, crackling with humour, compassion and savage sarcasm at the injustices meted out by those in power. It reminds me of Joyce, Kafka and the great Russian writers of the 20th century.
Although a hero of early Chinese communism, hence the wonderful museum, it's clear his work transcends politics. Lu Xun is ultimately a liberal and humanist rather than political flag waver, and his work really should be known better here.
Woodcut illustration by Wu Sihong, 1933.
You can get hold of a Penguin edition of his complete fiction here .
Epic as this post is, I can't leave you without mention of one of the best meals I've ever eaten, at a restaurant with the marvellous name, Da Dong.
"Chef Dong" had prepared his signature duck that melted on the tongue, crisp date pear things that glowed in a liquid nitrogen cloud, glistening cabbage in a chestnut and saffron soup, succulent prawns in delicate chilli mayonnaise, softest fried aubergines in herbs and spices that revealed themselves in layers, seconds after each bite, sweet scallops tingling with fennel seed, garlic and cumin, sautéed sweet water lily root and an extraordinary black sesame soup – a thick broth that soothed and sweetened and calmed the body like a mother's song.
Just as well I'm not a restaurant critic.
To continue the food theme, I got invited to a post-show banquet in an unfeasibly stylish restaurant hidden somewhere by the Forbidden City, kept open for our party and hosted by Lady D…, a Chinese Malaysian lady of spectacular elegance, whose trust foundation had paid for our concert.
A society beauty in her day, her divorce settlement a few years back had made big headlines here, rumoured to run into 9 figures (in US dollar terms). How wonderful she should choose to spend it on music!
Red lanterns as far as the eye could see on Ghost Street, close by another restaurant I went to that served chicken feet, ox hoof, bull-frog, sea slug and seriously sinister mushrooms.
Around the table sat the odd property tycoon, CEOs of major financial organisations and British Council bods, mostly ex-pats in suits. Surprisingly, not the wankers you'd expect, but really switched-on people dedicated to bringing British folk, classical, jazz and left-field indie bands to remote provinces of China, along with theatre, poetry, fashion design and visual art.
How amazing is that? And what on earth do the locals make of it? And once again, do we need to ask that cultural imperialism question?
It's now really time to go and do some cello practice, but I leave you with an extract from Lost Horizon, the dream fantasy film directed by Frank Capra in 1937 about a party of Brits and Americans who escape bloody revolutionary clashes in China by plane, only to find that they've been kidnapped by a Mongolian pilot, then crash into the Himalayas and get rescued by a mysterious community living in Shangri La, a remote paradise somewhere in Tibet completely cut off from civilisation.
Ignoring the saccherine sub-Straussian sound track and outrageously sentimental aesthetic, the heart of the drama features a speech by the ruling high lama priest, (aged 200, Belgian) outlining the principles that make Shangri La work. Although he looks uncannily like Freddy Krueger in this scene, much of the old boy's words still apply, in my view.
"Look at the world today.
Is there anything more pitiful?
But when has the world known any other time?
What madness there is, what blindness, what unintelligent leadership.
A furiously racing mass of bewildered humanity, strengthening not in wisdom
but in vulgar passions, crashing headlong into each other,
motivated by greed and propelled into brutality.
The time must come when evil will destroy itself.
For when the day comes that the world begins to look for a new life,
It is our belief they will find their reservoir of hope here.
So here we shall stay with our books and our music and our meditation.
Here we shall be to guide the footsteps of a weary people.
Here we shall be with our way of life based on one simple rule:
And it is our hope that Shangri La's brotherly love will spread throughout the world.
And when the strong have devoured each other,
then, at last,
The meek shall inherit the earth.
Stay tuned for the next episode.
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Burke & Domercq, LLP
Meet Our Office
Daniel V. Burke
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Child Custody and Visitation or Parenting Time
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California Spousal Support Family Law Code
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At Burke & Domercq, LLP, in Carlsbad, California, two attorneys with outstanding credentials have partnered to create a firm focused exclusively on divorce and family issues.. We address matters at all levels of complexity and conflict with emphasis on focused personal attention, strategic preparation and cost-efficiency.
Daniel V. Burke has practiced family law since 1977, and has been certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California since 1991. Mr. Burke is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Mr. Burke has also served as a Judge Pro Tem of the San Diego County Superior Court since 1986.
Mr. Burke has lectured extensively throughout the state of California on a wide variety of family law matters for many organizations, and has also written extensively on family law matters. Daniel V. Burke will devote his 30+ years of skill, experience and expertise and the resources of a sophisticated and dedicated office to assist you in achieving your goals in your family matters.
Pierre A. Domercq gained extensive, invaluable experience in business prior to entering the practice of law in 1997, and he has since built an excellent reputation in San Diego area courts and among his professional peers. Mr. Domercq has been certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California and serves as the Chairman elect on the Carlsbad Certified Legal Specialist Committee, as well as Chair of the Carlsbad Family Law Bar.
Mr. Domercq is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers as well as a Member of the Board of Delegates to the Conference of the California Bar Association. Pierre Domercq stays on the cutting edge of emerging family law issues, and he has appeared on television to comment on a prominent appellate case.
Susan Minnick Gathman received her Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she was awarded scholarships for academic merit, student leadership, contributing to campus diversity and for her work in indigent defense. During law school, she served on the Student Honor Court and earned concentrations in Criminal Litigation and Public Interest Law. Sue interned with the Vista Family Law Facilitator's Office, as well as the San Diego Public Defender, the Employee Rights Center in City Heights, and USD's Veterans' Clinic. She currently serves as a Volunteer Attorney with Casa Cornelia Law Center in San Diego, representing unaccompanied children in immigration court, and with the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers' Program's Carlsbad restraining order clinic, where she earned the 2015 Distinguished Volunteer Award. She finds family law especially rewarding, and enjoys the opportunity to assist clients as they navigate challenging life situations.
Sue earned her B.A. in German Linguistics from the University of California at Davis, and lives in Carlsbad with her three children. She enjoys traveling, cooking, history, live music, quilting, postcards, trivia and the written word.
Rebecca Robson joined Burke & Domercq in 2012 and is our lead paralegal. Rebecca has over 5 year's paralegal experience in family law and over 7 years' experience in the legal field. Rebecca received her paralegal certification from the University of California, San Diego's American Bar Association approved paralegal program in 2011 after obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Minor in Anthropology. Rebecca is a certified Master Teacher. Rebecca's lengthy experience and training in early childhood education is an asset to our clients confronting custody and visitation cases, as well as domestic violence matters.
At Burke & Domercq, LLP, Rebecca assists our clients and attorneys throughout the legal process, oversees and manages legal calendaring and our website contacts. Rebecca also trains and oversees administration staff and paralegals. Outside the office, Rebecca enjoys running, fishing, swimming, cooking, traveling, snowboarding and spending time with her family.
Rebecca regularly attends conferences and seminars, and participates in additional education and training. Rebecca has been a key speaker and presented at a Family Law Webinar and continues to review and provide feedback for upcoming seminars. Currently, Rebecca is enrolled in law school where she received a scholarship for scoring above the top 5% on her entry exams.
Penni Delagnes joined Burke & Domercq, LLP in 2004 and is our senior paralegal. Penni has 20+ years paralegal experience, primarily in the areas of family law and civil litigation. Penni works alongside our attorneys in all aspects of a case to provide superior personalized representation of our clients. Penni received her paralegal certificate with honors from the University of San Diego and Bachelor of Arts in political science from San Diego State University. In 2006, Penni was named Legal Assistant of the Year by Northern San Diego County Legal Professional's Association.
Penni is originally from New York and resides in Oceanside with her husband and two children. Penni spends her free time enjoying all that San Diego has to offer, being outdoors as much as possible, travel, yoga, reading, and just spending time with her family and close friends.
Penni received her American Bar Association paralegal certificate with honors from the University of San Diego after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in political science from San Diego State University. Penni joined Burke & Domercq, LLP in 2004 and is our senior paralegal. Penni has 20+ years paralegal experience, primarily in the areas of family law and civil litigation. Penni works alongside our attorneys in all aspects of a case to provide superior personalized representation of our clients. Penni was named Legal Assistant of the Year by Northern San Diego County Legal Professional's Association.
Jacquelyn Minney is a member of the paralegal team. She received her paralegal certificate from the University of San Diego and Bachelor of Arts in Communication from California State University, San Marcos.
Jacquelyn resides in Carlsbad where she spends most of her free time at the beach or with family and close friends.
Jennifer Gambrell is an intregal member of our paralegal team. Jennifer discovered her passion for law while interning in a family law firm during her undergrad at Hawaii Pacific University. After graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, she fell in love with a local non-profit called REINS Therapeutic Horsemanship Program, that specialized in providing life-changing therapy for children and adults with disabilities. Jennifer worked for REINS, as their Development Coordinator, for nine years. In 2015, she decided to expand upon her extensive experience working with children and adults to assist families with their domestic and family law matters. She successfully completed the Paralegal Program at the University of San Diego and in September 2015 obtained her American Bar Association Paralegal Certificate.
At Burke & Domercq, LLP, Jennifer keeps our clients informed about their case and assists them and the attorneys, working towards resolution throughout all aspects of the legal process. Outside of the office, Jennifer enjoys exploring San Diego and spending time with family and friends.
Jennifer regularly attends conferences and seminars, along with additional education and training. Jennifer has completed the following seminars and continuing education courses:
2015 – Preparation and Processing Family Law Judgments by Commissioner Patti Ratekin;
2015 – Military Pay and Benefits in Family Law by Commissioner Patti Ratekin & Alexander Verduci, Esq.;
2015 – The Paralegals Handbook to Ethical Communications and Relationships by The Institute for Paralegal Education;
2015 – "The Psychology of Domestic Violence" by The San Diego Family Law Bar Association;
2016 – Social Media Secrets by The American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers;
2016 – Family Law Orders and Enforcement Remedies by The Carlsbad Certified Family Law Specialists and the Carlsbad Bar Association; &
2016: Stock Based Compensation in Family Law Proceedings by Th e American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Claire Hamilton completed the University of San Diego's paralegal program and received her paralegal certificate with honors in August of 2014, after earning her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a minor in human rights from the University of California San Diego in June of 2013.
In her spare time, Claire enjoys volunteering with the San Diego Paralegal Association to strengthen, promote, and empower the paralegal profession and attending their continuing education events for paralegals. She also delights in etymology and word play.
Michelle Dukes is one of the newest additions to the Burke & Domercq team and serves to be the firm's document processor. At Burke and Domercq, Michelle processes many different types of documents and makes sure that they are circulated to the client and their corresponding paralegals and attorney. She also assists in basic clerical and administrative tasks, from filing, billing, mailing, and much more.
Originally hailing from Los Angeles, CA, Michelle grew up in a military family and has enjoyed the experience of travelling and living all over the United States during her youth. Michelle's hobbies include reading, listening to music, and hanging out with her friends and family.
For more on our lawyers' backgrounds and accomplishments, please follow the links below to their individual profiles. To request a consultation focused on your needs and concerns, please contact our firm.
Serving Carlsbad, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, Oceanside, Vista and All of North County San Diego
"Family Matters - When it Really Matters"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Scantharies
Bio The Scantharies
The Scantharies is a new band put together by Anglo Greek musician and producer Andy Dragazis.
Their debut self titled album is set for release on 3 December 2012 on Memphis Industries. Some may know Dragazis from his four Blue States albums released variously on Memphis Industries and XL Recordings.
Dragazis, who splits his time between London and the Greek island of Evia, came up with the idea of an album influenced by the Greek garage rock scence of the 60s and 70s whilst driving to buy cigarettes with his uncle listening to his old compilation tapes. These tapes were an eclectic mix of old Greek bands such as The Persons, The Forminx and Aphrodites' Child, traditional Greek Rebetiko music of composers like Stavros Xarhakos and the mainstream instrumental guitar workings of The Ventures.
After spending time on 'Dreams Island', an island off the coast of Eretria, Dragazis envisaged the album would be a 'best of' compilation of a band called 'The Scantharies' who he imagined bestrode the Greek music scene from the late 60s through to the end of the 70s. 'Dreams Island' is the island famously visited by The Beatles in the late 60s with their 'fixer' Magic Alex. He imagined that this visit inspired four local Eretrians to start a band called 'The Scantharies', a play on the Greek word for beetle. The band would morph from a simple guitar led instrumental garage group into a more widescreen and experimental ensemble absorbing more diverse musical influences, becoming increasingly religiously obsessed, before ultimately dissolving in acrimony, overdoses and obscurity.
The album begins with 'The Start' and 'I've Got The Green Light And I'm Ready To Go', two tracks bristling with Fender fuzz that wouldn't feel out of place on an early Ventures record. 'The Bear' and 'What The Gods Want, The Gods Get' introduce some Joe Meek electronic flourishes and hint at the greater musical experimentation to come. The tone of the album becomes increasingly darker with 'Feat Of Flames' and 'Advance!
Forward!' culminating with the organ heavy, procession like 'Hip Messiah', ending with the Xahakos influenced 'The Cross'.
The recordings took place in London and Greece where Dragazis has been putting a band of young Greek musicians together to play the songs of The Scantharies live, a case of art imitating art.
Aero Flynn
Oufit


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Q: What is the most suitable "Want" or "Need" When I send an email to a seller, I can express,
1.
I want to buy ....
2.
I need to buy ....
What is the most suitable one? What are the differences between "Want" and "Need" ?

A: Want means to have a strong desire for. In your sentence, I want to buy smth, you practically say that you wish to buy smth.
Need means to be in need of, to require. Your sentence, I need to buy smth, suggests that it is imperative (necessary) for you to buy that object. It's not only a wish, but a vital requirement to buy it.

A: The difference in the two words is urgency, with subtext of importance.
If you want something you don't need it currently, but would like it eventually.
It doesn't matter how long it takes to reach the end result, as long as you eventually get it. If someone "wants" the reports on their desk by Monday, it means that it's encouraged for you to do so, but not absolutely required.
If you need something it means that is imperative that you have it as soon as possible. It is very important that you have it as soon as possible. You require it. If someone "needs" the reports on their desk by Monday, their task likely hinges on those reports being there by a specific date. It is urgent, and important that they are there.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I loved Saturday afternoon's thunder, blue-black storm-clouds, and cold, drenching rain that poured down here and there with much drama. Somehow, west Petaluma seemed to miss the downpour, but the strange turn in the weather reminded me to ask you all to share your California drought/ climate change thoughts with us here at the Literary Update. Whether it's a photo, a poem, a short essay, a rant, a prayer—let's keep the drought-inspired work coming!
Much beloved American poet Phil Levine passed away on Valentine's Day, February 14, at age 87. He was among the country's most decorated poets, winning the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Ruth Lilly Poetry Award, among many others. He taught at Princeton, Columbia, and Cal. State Fresno, and in 2011, he was appointed United But perhaps his greatest legacy is the impact he has had on a generation of writers, and not just those enrolled in university creative writing programs. He took the time to write back to poets who sent him their work, to answer the phone and chat, and though it got him into trouble with his colleagues at time, to welcome the occasional student too broke to pay tuition as an auditor in his classes. There hasn't been another American man of letters who had a greater gift for expressing "the hard work we do to make sense of our lives," in the words of Librarian of Congress James Billington. Levine was a native of Detroit; his parents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and this working-class upbringing found its way into his work though his subjects, themes, and plain-spoken.
Congratulations to this month's recently published authors in Sonoma County. See who's in print at https://socolitupdate.com/sonoma-county-in-print. Thanks to Ed Coletti who keeps this page of the Literary Update current with your notices of work you've had accepted for publication in literary journals and magazines. Two local writers were published recently in Petaluma-based, Wordrunner eChapbooks' themed anthology, Strange Encounters.
Our calendar for March and April is brimming with events. Please do take a look at what's happening in our literary community this month. There are a few I'm including in this post, but this is just a taste to whet your appetite.
Today, March 1, from 5-7pm, the Geri DiGiorno and the Redwood Cafe in Cotati will host poets Michael Rothenberg, (100,000 Poets for Change) Terri Carrion, and Patti Trimble. Join them for words on Politics and Other Things, music by bassist Steve Shain, and local beer on tap. 8240 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati.
Next Saturday, March 7, at 2:30 PM, The Sitting Room in Cotati presents "Opening to Poetry," featuring Iris Dunkle, Rebecca Foust and Terry Ehret whose reading will lauch the Spring 2015 exhibit dedicated to the Sitting Room Poetry Collection at 2025 Curtis Drive in Penngrove, just off Petaluma Hill Road.
On Sunday, the Ides of March (March 15 for those of you not inclined to soothsaying predictions on Roman dates), the Petaluma Arts Center presents a reading from Changing Harm to Harmony: Bullies and Bystanders Project. This is one of the most important topics any poetry anthology has embraced—one you may want to bring your family to hear. Poet, editor, and Marin County Poet Laureate Joe Zaccardi has assembled a brilliant cast of writers whose work helps us all find a way toward "restorative justice."Readers include David Beckman, Rose Black Ed Coletti, Lucy Lang Day,Francesca Dezza Parada, Juliet Emerson-Colvin, 'Lyn Follett, Helen Heal, Jodi Hottel, Janet Jennings, Dave Seter and Patti Trimble. Petaluma poet Donna Emerson, PAC's Val Richman, and Joe Zaccardi co-host this evening of poetry, stories, and letters from 6-8 PM at the Petaluma Arts Center, 230 Lakeville Street, Petaluma.
Click on LISTEN to hear Phil Levine read the poem and talk about how he came to write it.
From New Selected Poems (Alfred A Knopf, 1991), © Philip Levine 1991, used by permission of Alfred A Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.


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Blogging Business, Lifestyle, Nashville
Blogging the Ballet Ball 2017 Part One // The Rehearsal
The journey to figuring out my passion has been tough to initiate at times but looking back, it is so clear. Of all the activities I attend/cover, they usually fall under the music and arts areas of the lifestyle category so when I received the invitation to attend the 2017 Ballet Ball I was more than thrilled. Look over my blog — its main music, some rants, some developments, some people, but all somewhat centered around the music. So combine the iconic Fisk Jubilee Singer in a performance with the Nashville Ballet, plus performances by Emmy/Grammy/Dove award winning (and super charming) artist Shannon Sanders and rock blues duo Muddy Magnolias. I knew this was something special. I love to get dolled for an event with a cause. I believe in the music and the arts — the Nashville Ballet and the National Museum of African American music. It was almost like the Universe was giving me confirmation that I'm on the right path. (Later I learned I was recommended by the National Museum of African American Music from my work on my blog and brand Nashvillesocialbutterfly.com. YUP. Opportunity. Straight like that. More about that later.).
AND THEN.
3 Questions with Kelsey Montague Art #WhatLiftsYou
"My murals specifically invite people into a piece and then invite people to share their experience online. I believe that art should not be separated from the human experience. Instead the human experience should have a hand in creating the art itself." — Kelsey Montague
I caught up with the mural artist Kelsey Montague and she graciously answered three questions for the blog.
Soul Cinema Sunday – Wattstax
June 8, 2016 No Comments
How does one cultivate a sense of community and fellowship in a day in age when families barely sit down together for dinner? Where are the culturally based, value-adding events and programs that seem to become lost among the shuffle of likes, trending topics, hashtags, and Instagram models. Where boredom produces potential foolishness (I say "potential " foolishness because sociologically, I understand the underlying motives for activities perceived as the uncultured) how do we as a people reinstate the community nature from which many of us are reared?
Enter 2nd Sunday Soul Cinema. Each 2nd Sunday Thaxton Waters is bringing an extension of the Art History Class and Lifestyle Lounge to the lawn right outside of the lounge. The event will provide guests with an opportunity to congregate within the north Nashville community and celebrate Black Music History Month. This Sunday the featured movie will be Wattstax which was filmed in the 1970s, and true to the Art History Class Lifestyle Lounge's nature is by all means a vintage movie in look and feel. The purpose of the event centered around the musical documentary Wattstax is the filming of a benefit concert to commemorate the 1965 Watts Riots. In the movie Wattstax, there is black power, black passion, and black unity. The imagery is bold and the message is clearly articulated through chants of "I am somebody." I'm excited this movie is being shown.
Before OJ Simpson, before Rodney King, before black lives mattered, there were the Watts riots of 1965. The movie Wattstax is a musical documentary of a benefit concert commemorating the Watts riots of 1965. Racial tensions are a part of American History. Wattstax attempts to document a benefit concert held in benefit of, and as a response to, racial inequality and typical prejudice messaging. What I enjoyed most is the action and congregating of the benefit concert (versus a hashtag) and the many artists from across that camen from across the country to support the event including Isaac Hayes, Jesse Jackson, and the Staple Singers, with hum orous commentary from Richard Pryor. What's even more special is that there is Tennessee homage paid in the movie as Stax records was established in Memphis Tennessee.
Just like contemporary Beyonce's Lemonade, Wattstax is filled with imagery that is black, unadulterated, and true. Along with the other musical documentaries and movies I've watched – Fade to Black, The Show – the images set the tone and the music tells the story of never forgetting to be black even when among dominant society.
Wattstax is important to the black culture. It gives us a glimpse of our legends – who have died and joined our ancestors – in action and in their element for us to observe, honor and to learn. The time frame of the movie depicts a time when black was proud and not concerned with offending anyone. The background shows a black community united, proud, and non violent in a time where black crowds can cause anxiety and suspicion. The message is consistent – I may be black, on welfare, or not have any skills, but I deserve respect and I deserve to be treated like a human.
I hope to see everyone Sunday at 7pm for food, music, history, and culture at the Art History Class and Lifestyle Lounge for 2nd Sunday Soul Cinema featuring Wattstax.
Karla is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University which a degree in Sociology, and is currently pursuing a MBA at Bethel University. She is a Nashville Native and Lifestyle Blogger; a Free Spirit, and a Music Lover. To subscribe to her monthly newsletter click here. She can be reached via email: karla@nashvillesocialbutterfly.com


The polar winter middle atmosphere is a dynamically active region that is driven primarily by wave activity. Planetary waves intermittently disturbed the region at different levels and the most spectacular type of disturbance is a major Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW). However, other types of extreme disturbances occur on a more frequent, intraseasonal basis. One such disturbance is a synoptic-scale "weather event" observed in lidar and rocket soundings, soundings from the TIMED/SABER instrument and UK Meteorological Office (MetO) assimilated data. These disturbances are most easily identified near 42 km where temperatures are elevated over baseline conditions by a remarkable 50 K and an associated cooling is observed near 75 km. As these disturbances have a coupled vertical structure extending into the lower mesosphere, they are termed Upper Stratospheric/Lower Mesospheric (USLM) disturbances. This research begins with description of the phenomenology of USLM events in observations and the assimilated data set MetO, develops a description of the dynamics responsible for their development and places them in the context of the family of polar winter middle atmospheric disturbances.
Climatologies indicates that USLM disturbances are commonly occurring polar wintertime disturbances of the middle atmosphere, have a remarkably repeating thermal structure, are located on the East side of the polar low and are related planetary wave activity. Using the same methodology for identifying USLM events and building climatologies of these events, the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model WACCM version 4 is established to spontaneously and internally generate USLM disturbances. Planetary waves are seen to break at a level just above the stratopause and convergence of the EP- ux vector is occurring in this region, decelerating the eastward zonal-mean wind and inducing ageostrophic vertical motion to maintain mass continuity. The descending air increases the horizontal temperature gradient at 2 hPa and is responsible for the stratopause warming. Embedded in this planetary wave breaking process is baroclinic instability, as indicated by the Charney-Stern criteria and an EP- ux analysis decomposed by planetary and synoptic-scale waves.
It is recognized that USLM events are part of a family of disturbances that occur in the polar winter middle atmosphere which have the potential to impact the entire atmospheric column. Relationships between USLM events, minor SSWs and major SSWs are examined and displayed through a Venn diagram which looked for events that were linked to each other (or not) by temporal evolution of the polar vortex within 14 days. Critically, every identified major SSW (in both MetO and WACCM) is preceded by a USLM disturbance, and the baroclinic instability that is embedded in the planetary wave breaking of USLM disturbances mark significant disruption to the middle atmosphere, which may aid in the forecast of major SSWs. This leads to the proposal of new dynamics based definitions of minor and major SSWs.
Greer, Katelynn R., "Wave Driven Disturbances of the Thermal Structure in the Polar Winter Upper Stratosphere and Lower Mesosphere" (2013). Aerospace Engineering Sciences Graduate Theses & Dissertations. 73.


The chalet is split over three levels with the lounge, kitchen and dining upstairs and bedrooms downstairs. From the lounge you have beautiful views of the surrounding resort, which you can enjoy while relaxing in front of the wood fireplace.
Red Robin Chalet is a fresh, modern chalet in a fantastic location which offers great views and comfortable accommodation for eight guests.
Red Robin has one car park next to the chalet for your stay and more parking can be found along designated areas of the Great Alpine Road.


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Assessing Gender Representation of Speakers at UNWTO's Events
Lucy Jeczalik
By Dr Elaine Chiao Ling Yang
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) plays an important leadership role in setting the agenda that drives tourism development. The organisation is the leader in tourism knowledge production and dissemination through research and business events such as industry meetings and conferences. In response to the pronounced and persistent gender gaps in the tourism industry, UNWTO has pledged its commitment to advance gender equality and empower women in tourism (the fifth UNSDG). A cursory investigation into UNWTO's events, however, suggests the possibility of "femwashing" where the management practices continue to reproduce gender bias despite the pledge for gender equality. Professor Catheryn Khoo, Jess Sanggyeong Je and I conducted a critical audit to examine if the speakers at UNWTOS's planned events reinforce stereotypes that undermine women's expertise and intellectual competencies. This blog post summarises the key findings and actionable recommendations from the study, which was published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
The study analysed 121 events organised and/or held by UNWTO in 2017. Ethnicity and nationality information were included in the analysis to provide a fuller understanding of whether other social inequalities intersected with gender in shaping speaker representation at these events. A total of 1656 speakers were identified from 64 events where speaker information was publicly available. Among these speakers, 70% were males. Male speakers outnumbered their female counterparts in 59 of the 64 events. For instance, an event held in Papua New Guinea had 13 speakers, none of whom were female. Another event held in China had 41 male speakers compared to 3 females.
The analysis of the speakers' ethnicity and nationality shows an equal representation between Western and non-Western speakers. However, a deep dive into the number reveals a double marginalisation of non-Western female speakers who only accounted for 14% of the speakers. Male speakers from the West appeared to be the dominant tourism knowledge leaders at these events.
Considering the significant gender gaps identified from the analysis, the research team contacted event organisers for their comments on the predominant male line-up of speakers. Most of the organisers did not reply or declined to comment. One organiser responded that the selection of speakers was based on expertise and recommendations from partners.
The findings of this study reveal that even for UNWTO, a leading organisation advocating for gender equality, there has been a significant underrepresentation of women speakers at their events. This lack of representation indicates limited equal opportunities for women in tourism leadership roles, thereby threatening the fifth UNSDG of gender equality. As an industry, tourism relies heavily on the female workforce, but women face unequal opportunities for vertical career progression, which is known as the 'sticky floors' phenomenon. Unfortunately, the incessant images of men on stage as tourism experts diminish the perception that women could be equally powerful actors and dampen the aspiration of upcoming female tourism leaders. Likewise, while the voices of non-Western speakers seemed well represented at UNWTO events, the voices of non-Western women remain marginalised.
Enduring forms of implicit bias such as unconscious sexism and racism could perpetuate the underrepresentation of women and in particular, non-Western women in tourism knowledge production. Five recommendations were provided to address the implicit bias and to bridge the gaps between the gender equality rhetoric and actual practices of UNWTO. These recommendations may benefit any tourism organisations and event organisers alike.
Increase awareness among people behind the decision-making committees about the importance of inclusivity and the influence of implicit bias on the notion of meritocracy.
Introduce formal protocols to ensure equal representations of gender as well as ethnically diverse speakers.
Utilise an inclusion-scoping checklist to facilitate speaker planning and engagement.
Create a database of qualified, expert speakers and make the information available to the tourism community.
Monitor the diversity representation of speakers at future events against the findings of this study as one of the measurements for achieving the fifth UNSDG.
Khoo-Lattimore, C., Yang, E.C.L., & Je, S.J. (2019). Assessing gender representation in knowledge production: A critical analysis of UNWTO's planned events. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(7), 920-938. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1566347
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Genocide survivors to set up trust fund
By Justice4Survivors on 1 Jul 2013 • ( 1 Comment )
From the New Times Rwanda July 1st , 2013
Some of the Genocide survivors at the FARG offices in Remera. The New Times/ File.
Genocide survivors are planning to establish an international trust fund that will draw finances from all over the world to help the vulnerable survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The planners of the project said the fund will operate along the same lines as that run by International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Albert Gasake, the legal advocacy project coordinator for Survivors Fund (Surf), said if the fund is established, all countries and international organisations will be sensitised to contribute toward it.
"To date, the funds allocated to survivors from UN Agencies total $250,000 (about Rwf162 million) annually. This contrasts sharply with the $30m (about Rwf2b) the same body spends on a single suspect at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). With the fund, we intend to pressure UN to allocate more funds for the survivors," said Gasake, who is part of the team that is working on the proposal to set up the fund.
Similar funds have previously been set up, including the ICC Trust Fund for the victims, which has a budget of about $70 million (about Rwf4.5 billion), the UN Trust Fund to end violence against women, UN Voluntary Trust Fund for victims of human trafficking and the UN-World Bank International Trust Fund for Reconstruction of Iraq.
According to Gasake, such a fund needs to be established with a mandate to advance the interest of Genocide survivors on the international arena.
"Genocide survivors have unique needs and distinctive vulnerabilities as a result of the losses they suffered during the ethnic cleansing, the violence they experienced and witnessed, theft of their properties and land, the destruction of their families and communities, and the physical and psychological impairments caused by the Genocide which continue to threaten their welfare on a daily basis. Such a fund would deal with all these problems," he said.
Gasake said the fund would only be receiving voluntary contributions, which is why it was not named the 'reparations fund.'
The representative of Ibuka, a Genocide survivors' umbrella, in Europe, Eric Rutayisire, advised that if all survivors agree on the principle of establishing the fund, there is need to move away from relying fully on the government and instead, the Rwandan government would come is as a partner like any other country or organisation to contribute to the fund.
In a separate interview with The New Times, the president of Ibuka, Dr Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, said if the fund is established, getting money would not be a problem.
"To give you a rough picture, there is about Rwf500 million that was won as reparations and that money has been deposited in various bank accounts. We could sink that money in the new fund.
"There are also victims of the Genocide who were killed and left a lot of money on their bank accounts, we could as well put this money in the fund. There are countries that had a direct or indirect role in what happened and now they wish to contribute, but they don't want to be seen as if they are implicated in the Genocide. We believe they would as well contribute some money," said Dusingizemungu, without elaborating which countries.
For general cause
He, however, noted that the money would not be spent on an individual per se, but on general issues.
Generally, survivors are optimistic that the fund, once established, may offer a lease of life to those that remain vulnerable, almost 20 years after the Genocide.
Jean Damascene Nsanzumuhire, a survivor living in Kicukiro, said the fund would also play an advocacy role on the plight of survivors on the internation scene.
"We request the international community to embrace this fund and make significant contributions to it. It's one way we would know that the world values our existence and honours our relatives who perished in the Genocide," said Nsanzumuhire.
The government has, since the Genocide in 1994, been providing support to survivors although the beneficiaries say the support has not solved all issues, the reason for mooting the idea for international fund.
In 1998, government established the Fund for Support to Genocide Survivors (FARG) in which at least 5 per cent of the national cake is sunk to cater for the survivors.
By last year, the Fund had spent more than Rwf130 billion on survivors' welfare, with 75 per cent spent on education.
A 2012 study indicated that 98 per cent of Genocide survivors are satisfied with the way they have been facilitated on education.
According to the study, the two per cent who were discontented are those who had dropped out of school for various reasons.
It is estimated that currently, there about 300,000 Genocide survivors in the country.
Contact email: edwin.musoni[at]newtimes.co.rw
IBUKA Press Release: Roundtable Discussion, 28 June 2013 (justicetosurvivors.wordpress.com)
Justice for survivors (justicetosurvivors.wordpress.com)
New impetus in Genocide reparation cases (justicetosurvivors.wordpress.com)
Categories: Reparations
Tagged as: Albert Gasake, Genocide, Ibuka, International Criminal Court, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, New Times, Rwanda, Survivors Fund
IBUKA Press Release: Roundtable Discussion, 28 June 2013
The dilemma of children born of rape in the 1994 Genocide
Pingback: Genocide suspect MUNYAGISHARI Finally in Rwanda! | Reparation4GenocideSurvivors


PLII+ is a calculation software for the analysis of rectangular plates with or without bracing that are exposed to user-defined actions on the edges. Besides the verification of the structural safety, the user can merely calculate the buckling load factors and buckling coefficients in accordance with the linear buckling theory. The calculation of the buckling field is based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) in this analysis.
All examinations, including the calculation of the ideal buckling values, are performed on the entire field and include discrete longitudinal and transverse stiffeners. The effect of the stiffeners on the buckling behaviour is taken into account in all of these examinations. Therefore, verifications for individual or partial fields or an additional verification of the minimum stiffness of stiffeners can be dispensed with. Buckling on a member that behaves like an Eulerian column can also be considered for the entire braced field, if applicable.
The loading described in item 3 and 4 allows you to map also variable bending and shear stress distributions in the buckling field by calculating the plate loading on a cantilever or a single- or doublespan beam pinned on two sides.
For structures that are not handled in the selected design code (e.g. one or several unsupported buckling field edges), linear buckling loads can be calculated separately for all action components. This can optionally be done in an automatic calculation.
By modelling flanges via the definition of edge stiffeners, you can also the examine buckling and lateral torsional buckling stability problems on deformed cross sections. PLII+ delivers the ideal buckling loads with consideration to local buckling in compressionloaded web areas.
The results of such an examination strongly depend on the definition of the individual portions of the stiffeners' stiffnesses and their contribution to the load transfer.
Special areas of application The PLII+ software is especially suitable for the verification of the buckling safety of welded beams with very slender webs. The buckling risk may be attributable to the entire supporting behaviour (loading by bending and axial force) and/or locally transferred loads as with craneway beams.


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United Church of Christ-including many Congregational
Good News: Maine 'Queer' Boys' Workshop Canceled
'Boys to Men' Director Gregory Cites 'Lack of Interest' for Homosexual Youth Class
Note in this story by the Christian Civic League of Maine yet another connection between the United Church of Christ (UCC) and perversion. The UCC has an appalling left-wing record (check THIS out) — including its 2006 merger with a Dallas mega-church, the Cathedral of Hope, which caters to homosexuals. (We hear that the UCC is still searching for a partnering church that cater to swingers….) So why doesn't the UCC just go all the way and start offering its very own "How to Be Homosexual" workshops for youth?
For the sake of accuracy, we also recommend a name-change to UCS: United Church of Sodom. Enough with this phony "Christ" talk. We envision a host of liberal Protestant mergers under the UCS banner beginning with proud homosexualist bishop (Vicky) Gene Robinson and his wayward Episcopal Church. In fact, Robinson could be the annual keynote speaker at the How to Be Homosexual workshops.
Posted in 04 - Gender Confusion (Transgender), A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, Anglican/Episcopal, D - GLBTQ Pressure Within Churches, Diversity & Tolerance Propaganda, E - Praying for the Lost, GLBT Youth Centers, GLBTQ Targeting Youth and Schools, Maine, News, The Bible, Churches, & Homosexuality, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
Gay Pride: Tactics of Tyranny
There is a yawning chasm between the values and priorities we piously claim as our national heritage and those we have chosen to live by.
Our survival as a democracy is in our hands. We too must come out of the closet of cloistered Christianity and come to the rescue of our constitutional rights.
By Lee Taylor
Gay pride was not born in a vacuum. Timing and social upheaval formed the vortex in which it was born and bred. Hanging from the shirttails of the Civil Rights, women's liberation, and anti-war movements, it exploited the vulnerability of a nation in turmoil. Fueling its fraudulent claims and outrageous demands from our national guilt complex and introspective conflict of values, the Gay Liberation Front exploded onto the American scene. The soul-searching '60's exposed a nation fraught with self-doubt, self-recrimination, anxiety, addiction and ideological conflict, a nation at odds with itself. The sexual revolution accelerated the erosion of both marriage and the family as we struggled with the values and priorities of our national identity.
We were still recovering from the Viet Nam War and had only begun to realize the implications of racial integration when homosexual opportunists executed a strategically timed and targeted blitzkrieg on American society. We were caught napping, and the initial homosexual coup was a resounding success. Adopting the Civil Rights, anti-war and women's liberation movements as its own, forming its political platform by drawing heavily from each, the Gay Liberation Front took aim at our Christian values and democratic institutions.
Posted in "Civil Unions" & "Gay Marriage", "Civil Unions" & "Gay Marriage", A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, Bible, Christian, Christian Persecution, D - GLBTQ Pressure Within Churches, Freedom Under Fire, GLBTQ Lawsuits & Retribution, Government Promotion, Homosexual Pride Parades & Festivals, News, Pro-Homosexual Media, Sexual Revolution, Stealing Civil Rights, The Bible, Churches, & Homosexuality, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
Dr Albert Mohler: Homosexuality in the Church – Is It Time for a New Reformation?
Dr. Albert Mohler addresses the recent ruling by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America regarding their reluctant expulsion of openly homosexual "pastor" Bradley Schmeling from St. John's Lutheran Church in Atlanta. The congregation's "Trial Update" page declares Schmeling's homosexual relationship with Darin Easler, a former ELCU "pastor" now seeking ordination in the apostate United Church of Christ. Unfortunately, while recognizing that Schmeling is in violation of church policy, the committee also suggests that the policy should be changed to accommodate openly and practicing homosexual clergy.
Listen online as Dr. Mohler encourages "pitchfork rebellion" — the laity standing firmly for Truth:
Feb 9, 2007 Homosexuality in the Church: Is It Time for a New Reformation?
Also, Dr. Mohler recommends a book called Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor:
Posted in "Civil Unions" & "Gay Marriage", A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, News, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
Homosexual Lutheran Pastor Charged
Mr. Swank says it well:
…The divine revelation is eternal ethic and thereby will not condone homosexual practice. Those running counter to this revelation will answer to God's wrath in this life and at death at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
TAKE ACTION — You may send a note of support to Ron Warren, who rightfully recommends removing Bradley Schmeling from his position of authority.
Excerpted from Homosexual Lutheran Pastor Charged, by Grant Swank, published Jan 20, 2007, by The Conservative Voice:
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America concluded at its 2005 conclave that sex was to be practiced within marriage. Also, such sex was not open to homosexual lifestyles. All this is because the Bible ethic is against sex outside of marriage and prohibits homosexual activities.
Bradley Schmeling, pastor, St. John's ECLA, Atlanta, makes known that he is homosexual and now has a partner. The congregation agrees that he should continue as minister. In fact, the parishioners had a party celebrating his formal announcement of partnership with a "lifelong companion."
Bishop Ronald Warren, Southeastern Synod, told Schmeling to resign. Schmeling said he would not resign. "Disciplinary proceedings against him for violating church rules barring sex outside of marriage" have begun. That means Schmeling confronts a hearing composed of a dozen ELCA members deciding his fate…
If the committee concludes him to be defrocked, he would no longer be "recognized as an ordained minister in the ELCA," per AP. If the congregation still calls him their spiritual leader, the church then could be disciplined…
Throughout the divine revelation right and wrong are set forth by God Himself. Consequently, for those espousing homosexual lifestyles as divinely blessed is to expose their biblical ignorance and theological liberalism, the latter basically given to writing one's own religion.
Other denominations dealing with this matter include the Presbyterian Church, United Methodist Church, American Baptist Convention and segments within the Mennonite framework. Denominations which accept homosexuality as ethically legitimate include the Unitarian Society, United Church of Christ (Congregational), and the Episcopal Church of America.
Continue reading at The Conservative Voice…
Posted in "Civil Unions" & "Gay Marriage", A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, Anglican/Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, News, Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
UCC "Pastor" Calls Devotion to Traditional Family "Idolatry"
From our friends at MassResistance: A letter to the editor from a Massachusetts United Church of Christ "pastor" who is responding to Tom Mountain's article about a GLSEN activist/grade school social worker explaining "transgender" to a class of third graders, without their parents' permission.
Likewise, here in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, "Parish Minister" Julie Denny-Hughes of Palatine's Countryside Unitarian Universalist "Church" passionately defended the use of "Perks of Being a Wallflower" by teachers in District 214. "Perks" is written at a third or fourth grade reading level, but was planned for a high school class. Should you find this "book" on your child's required or recommended reading list, you might be interested to know that it offers quite an education in masturbating with a hot dog, forced oral sex, forceable sodomy, voyeurism, attempted drunken sex with a dog, and so on. (Read the excerpts for yourself.)
We've heard quite enough from the UCC and Unitarian leaders. Where are the Bible-believing pastors and youth ministers (the ones like Pastor Vincent Fields)? Their voices are sorely needed. — Sonja Dalton
New low in narrow-mindedness
By Reverend Richard Malmberg/ Guest column
Published Nov 15, 2006, in Newton Tab
Flaunting his biases with characteristic reliance on hearsay information, Tom Mountain accused Franklin School Principal Cindy Marchand of overreacting to an irate parent. As a Franklin parent, I know her to be a competent and knowledgeable principal. She was right to defend her staff, especially such a dedicated and professional social worker as Laura Perkins. Further, Ms. O'Shea should have been reprimanded for humiliating a Franklin family and attempting to derail a school meeting to press her own agenda. Other parents present at Curriculum Night confirm that Ms. Marchand handled an awkward situation calmly and capably. I generally try to ignore Tom Mountain's weekly bitter tirades. They do little to edify, and nothing to enhance the civility of public discourse in Newton. At the risk of responding in kind, I have to say that his column in the Nov. 8 TAB reached a new low in mean-spirited narrow-mindedness.
I have had kids in Franklin School for more than eight years, and had numerous contacts with the family whose presence seems to so outrage Mr. Mountain and Ms. O'Shea. It might surprise them both that my first conversation with the parent who underwent gender reassignment took place at a Little League game. Our sons were on the same team. As we sat in our folding chairs, we had a friendly and stimulating conversation. When I told him I was a minister, the conversation turned to Biblical scholarship. He (then still living as a man) was obviously quite well-read and genuinely interested in the subject. I learned that he is an active lay leader in his own church.
Only after the "teachable moment" Mr. Mountain described did I learn through the Franklin grapevine that this other Little League dad was going through a gender reassignment. I confess that for a while after that, I felt a little awkward – my problem. I regret not being more openly supportive during what must have been a difficult time for their family. I admire the quiet dignity and courage they display through it all. They have not allowed the self-appointed sexuality police to harass them out of full participation in the community. Newton is fortunate to have such solid citizens, active in their congregation, supporting their kids, their school and pursuing happiness in our midst. Their modest refusal to hide makes our city safer for diversity.
I find it interesting that Mr. Mountain, champion of traditional family values, hints at snarky disbelief that this couple remained married after gender reassignment. With divorce rates what they are in our society, he should celebrate a durable commitment and intact family. Mindless devotion to a "Leave It to Beaver" mirage of "traditional family" is simply idolatry. Our fixation on an imagined norm undermines our ability to value real families whatever shape they take. We endanger the actual relationships that sustain us, while damaging our psychic and spiritual well-being. Consider the tragically self-loathing, self-destructive Rev. Ted Haggard. He crusaded against gay marriage in public, and engaged in risky gay sex and drug abuse in secret. This man of deep faith and extraordinary charisma was twisted by intolerant theology that had no room for the man God created him to be.
Posted in "Civil Unions" & "Gay Marriage", Boards, Administrators, Teachers, Counselors, Gender 'Fluidity' (Confusion), GLSEN, News, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
Somebody Stole Yvette Flunder's Spirit
From the Task Force's 2005 Creating Change conference:
Creating Change closed with a thunderous speech by Bishop Yvette Flunder, founder and senior pastor of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco, who spoke to the separation many LGBT activists feel from spiritual traditions, saying,
"Somebody stole God from some of us. Somebody reached down inside you and stole your spirit from you."
But she encouraged activists not to abandon the spiritual dimension of the work they do for justice, saying,
"Activism that is rooted in spirituality can bust Hell wide open."
The audience wildly applauded Flunder's speech and left the conference with her words resonating as a spiritual call to all justice-seeking people:
"I challenge you, prophets, to stand up!"
Posted in Religious Leaders, Task Force, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
This pastor put in writing what I have repeatedly said to friends regarding the UCC's "God Is Still Speaking" campaign. Hebrews 1:1 says…
Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
but in these last days *He has spoken* to us by his Son…
There is no new revelation on divorce or pre-marital sex or adultery or homosexuality; there is no other name by which we must be saved. "God has spoken." – Sonja Dalton
LET IT BE KNOWN:
As Jesus did not come to change the law, but to fulfill it, His obedient Church has no authority to change the ancient laws prohibiting fornication and adultery, nor those prohibiting homosexual acts. It was Jesus who affirmed the old teaching that a MAN cleaves to a WOMAN, husband to wife, in a sanctified union. Those who teach otherwise – including the President, officers, delegates and ministers in the United Church of Christ – are Satan's false prophets and blind leaders who lead the unwise and naive to the Pit of Sheol. We have heard their protestations of holiness, but Jesus has taught us it is not those who say, "Lord, Lord," who will enter the Kingdom, but those who do God's will.
The God who is still speaking is not one whose word changes with our whims – but who changes us instead, to willingly listen and eagerly do what we have read in the holy scriptures inspired by the Lord – indeed, who through them has already spoken!
Rev. Albert W. Kovacs, Pastor
Hungarian Reformed Church
Posted in A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |
UCC Pastor Says He's Okay with Legalizing Polyamory
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
From: John Grigsby
To: Blue Ridge Leader
Subject: Note (not letter) to editor – re: event tonight
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:01:45 -0700 (PDT)
I called Don Prange, pastor of St. James United Church of Christ in Lovettsville, which is sponsoring a "Faith and Life Forum" tonight (Wednesday, Oct 25th), where "Gay and Lesbian partners will share their stories". I offered to find, for Pastor Prange, Christians involved in ex-gay ministries, in order to open the forum up to a wider body of opinion. Specifically, I intended to invite Regina Griggs… Regina was agreeable to participating.
Pastor Prange told me that he would no more "invite George Bush defending (presumably U.S.) Imperialism" or "Satan himself" to the podium than invite ex gays. No, I am not making this up, and by the way I was very polite to him.
He also told me that Jesus wouldn't have opened up a place at the podium for the Pharisees, and when I asked him what he thought about other familes, specifically polyamourous ones, he had no problem with legalizing them as well.
I don't think the media does a good enough job of covering this issue, so I'm offering up his answers to my questions as an example of what I think the media might want to ask, which is what the opponents of the Marriage Amendment support. When we are talking about the Unitarian Universalists and the ACLU, you might be surprised how close they are to Pastor Prange's views.
John Grigsby
Posted in "Civil Unions" & "Gay Marriage", United Church of Christ-including many Congregational |


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text:
IPAddress.com The Best IP Address Tools
Hurras.org
Hurras.org Website Review
According to our traffic estimates, Hurras.org has recently decreased by 82,276 positions and currently is at rank 250,587 worldwide compared to all other websites considered. The site receives approximately 6,600 visitors and 11,200 page views per day. The revenue is about $100 per day and the site has an estimated worth of $88,900. hurras.org is a domain name delegated under the generic top-level domain .org. The domain was registered in 2010 and is currently over 12 years old. The web servers are located in the United States and are reachable through the IP address 207.7.90.127.
hurras
Estimated Revenue
Estimated Website Worth
Estimated Visitors
6,600 / Day
Estimated Page Impressions
11,200 / Day
12 years, 7 months and 16 days (4,613 days)
207.7.90.127
Web Server Location
Last Updated: Mar 4, 2020
Where is Hurras.org Server Location?
The servers for hurras.org are located in Dallas, Texas, United States. The traffic is routed via the IPv4 address 207.7.90.127.
🇺🇸 Dallas, TX, US
Dallas, Texas, 75247, United States
32.8137 / 32°48′49″ N
-96.8704 / 96°52′13″ W
2023-01-27 01:44:12-06:00
IPv4 Addresses
WHOIS hurras.org
hurras.org uses the generic top-level domain (gTLD) .org, which is administered by Public Interest Registry (PIR). The domain was first registered on June 11, 2010 and is due to expire on June 11, 2020. It was last registered through registrar GoDaddy.com, LLC. The WHOIS data for the domain was last updated on March 20, 2019. There are currently 2 nameservers in the WHOIS data for the domain.
Top-Level Domain (TLD)
TLD Type
Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD)
Registrar WHOIS Server
whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL
http://www.whois.godaddy.com
Domain Updated Date
Domain Creation Date
Domain Expiry Date
clientdeleteprohibited
clientrenewprohibited
clientupdateprohibited
ns1.hurras.org
.org Sponsoring Organisation
Public Interest Registry (PIR)
.org WHOIS Server
whois.publicinterestregistry.org
.org Registry URL
http://publicinterestregistry.org
How fast is Hurras.org? And what web server software does the site use?
The average page load time is about 6.3 seconds. That's slower than about 96% of the rest of the web pages. The site uses the Apache web server software. The website has about 161 inbound links.
Is Hurras down today? Use our Ping Tool to check if hurras.org is up and running...
https://www.hurras.org
Median Page Load Time
6.316 seconds
Number of Sites Linking In
What are Hurras.org DNS Records?
The DNS configuration for hurras.org includes 1 IPv4 address (A).
Additional DNS resource records can be found via our NSLookup Tool, if necessary.
A 207.7.90.127
How much Traffic does Hurras.org get?
Hurras.org ranks 250,587 in terms of traffic compared to all other websites considered. Every day, the site is accessed by an estimated 6,600 visitors, generating a total of 11,200 page views. This adds up to around 200,000 visitors and 341,000 page impressions per month.
Estimated Monthly Visitors
Estimated Monthly Page Views
What is Hurras.org's net worth? How much money does the site make?
Hurras.org generates about $100 per day, which sums up to an estimated monthly revenue of $3,000 and a total income of approximately $35,600 per year. Based on these numbers the site has an estimated net worth of about $88,900.
Estimated Daily Revenue
Estimated Monthly Revenue
$88,900 $100 $3,000
Traffic Statistics by Country
🇪🇬 Egypt 12,013 26.2% 25.0%
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 12,034 38.7% 23.5%
🇩🇿 Algeria 14,893 8.1% 10.7%
🇱🇾 Libya 8,547 5.2% 9.3%
🇹🇳 Tunisia 15,002 4.0% 4.2%
🇲🇦 Morocco 28,048 2.0% 3.6%
🇮🇶 Iraq 18,467 1.1% 2.0%
Other Countries 14.5% 21.7%
Hurras Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who is Hurras.org?
The domain has been registered at GoDaddy.com, LLC. You can visit the registrar's website at http://www.whois.godaddy.com. The registrar's WHOIS server can be reached at whois.godaddy.com.
What is Hurras.org IP address?
Hurras.org resolves to the IPv4 address 207.7.90.127.
When did Hurras.org come out?
Hurras.org was registered 4612 days ago on Friday, June 11, 2010.
When has Hurras.org expired?
This domain has expired 959 days ago on Thursday, June 11, 2020.
When was the WHOIS for Hurras.org last updated?
The WHOIS entry was last updated 1409 days ago on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
What are Hurras.org's nameservers?
DNS for Hurras.org is provided by the nameservers ns1.hurras.org and ns2.hurras.org.
What is the traffic rank for Hurras.org?
Hurras.org ranks 250,587 globally on Alexa.
How many people visit Hurras.org each day?
Hurras.org receives approximately 6,600 visitors and 11,200 page impressions per day.
From which countries does Hurras.org receive most of its visitors from?
Hurras.org is mostly visited by people located in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
What country does Hurras.org come from?
Hurras.org has its servers located in the United States.
What webserver software does Hurras.org use?
Hurras.org is powered by "Apache" webserver.
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text:
Warren Falls, Biden Moves To Comfortable Lead In Nevada, South Carolina, And California
Lawrence Richard
As Democratic presidential candidates brace for the holiday season and prepare for their sixth presidential debate, a new poll finds Senator Elizabeth Warren may be falling from the top spots she held in national polling as well as key primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
While Warren was rising in the polls, with one putting her over former Vice President Joe Biden, she has now fallen nearly ten points behind him.
FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver reports Biden was the top-ranked candidate with 26.4 percent of the vote in a new polling average of a CNN poll, SurveyUSA national and California polls, and an Emerson New Hampshire poll.
Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders trailed in second and third place with 16.9 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (9.6 percent), Senator Kamala Harris (4 percent), and businessman Andrew Yang (3.1 percent) followed the frontrunners. No other candidate received above 3 percent.
538 polling averages with CNN + SurveyUSA national & California polls + Emerson New Hampshire included. **All state averages are adjusted for national trends**.
Biden 26.4
Warren 16.9
Sanders 16.5
Buttigieg 9.6
Harris 4.0
Yang 3.1
Bloomberg 2.6
Klobuchar 2.1
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 27, 2019
Early state voting averages also showed Warren in a decline as she placed third in Iowa and fourth in New Hamshire.
In Iowa, Buttigieg won with 23.9 percent of the vote. Biden took second place with 17.4 percent and Warren took third with 14.2 percent.
In New Hampshire, Sanders narrowly won with 18.7 percent of the vote and Buttigieg followed with 18.1 percent. Biden took third with 15.1 percent of the vote and Warren got 14.4 percent.
The next two states in order of the primaries, Nevada and South Carolina, showed a commanding lead for Biden. The former vice president took 27.4 percent of the vote in Nevada to Sanders' 19/5 percent, Warren's 16.6 percent, and Buttigieg's 9 percent. Biden won South Carolina with a resounding 37.5 percent of the vote to Sanders' 13 percent, Warren's 10.5 percent, and Buttigieg's 6.8 percent.
Biden also topped the ranks in California with 23.3 percent. Sanders (18.3 percent), Warren (16.1 percent), Buttigieg (9 percent), and Harris (8 percent) all followed.
IA—Buttigieg 23.9—Sanders 18.7—Biden 17.4—Warren 14.2
NH—Sanders 18.7—Buttigieg 18.1—Biden 15.1—Warren 14.4
NV—Biden 27.4—Sanders 19.5—Warren 16.6—Buttigieg 9.0
SC—Biden 37.5—Sanders 13.0—Warren 10.5—Buttigieg 6.8
CA—Biden 23.3—Sanders 18.3—Warren 16.1—Buttigieg 9.0—Harris 8.0
The Independent Journal Review reports these figures were similarly represented in the results of a Quinnipiac poll released on Tuesday:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's national polling numbers took a nosedive on Tuesday.
Warren, who had been leading the field in an October 24th Quinnipiac poll with 28 percent of voters supporting her candidacy, saw her numbers drop to just 14 percent in the same poll taken this week. Former Vice President Joe Biden moved into first place with 24 percent of the vote, up from 21 percent, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg moved up to second place in the polls with 16 percent of the vote.
Voters in the poll were asked if the Democratic primary were being held today, which of the current candidates they'd vote for. Warren saw the biggest change in her polling numbers of any candidate, and it comes as the Iowa caucuses are just two months away.
"Biden is back on top of the pack but now there is a 3-way race for second. Buttigieg has broken into the top tier, apparently at the expense of Warren, who has taken a dive after being hammered for being too far left on health care and other issues," Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said.


text:
La  du Tour d'Espagne 2009 s'est déroulée le  entre Talavera de la Reina et Ávila sur 165 kilomètres. Cette étape est remportée par l'Irlandais Philip Deignan. Alejandro Valverde, conserve la tête du classement général.

Parcours

Récit

Classement de l'étape

Classement général

Classements annexes

Abandons
  Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana)
  Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream)
  Christian Meier (Garmin-Slipstream)
  Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream)
  Bert Grabsch (Team Columbia-HTC)
  Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale)
  Gerald Ciolek (Team Milram)
  Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil)

Notes et références

Voir aussi

Article connexe
 Tour d'Espagne 2009

Liens externes
 Le Tour d'Espagne 2009 sur le site officiel du Tour d'Espagne
 L'étape sur cyclingnews.com

18
2009-18
2009, 18
2009, 18

en:2009 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21#Stage 18

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Home » Blogs » LeBron James to produce House Party movie reboot.
Hey LeBron! Why not try to produce a "Godfather" reboot instead? You've had your head buried in that book for so long! I assume you must know every damn detail & how to make it better by now. Or, you're reading skills are at an elementary school level & you need to sound out every syllable.
Stick to what you're good at LeBron. Leave these ideas and decisions for people in Hollywood.