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Mara Elephant Project had the pleasure of hosting our key partner the Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) for a visit at our headquarters in April, which allowed them to join for the collaring operation. MEP will be supporting WRTI's efforts to setup EarthRanger as their data platform.
Catherine Villeneuve, who received support from the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), arrived on MEP's campus in late April. She is doing an MSc at University of Laval in Quebec and is helping MEP to develop machine learning approaches for the analysis of movement data. She will also be contributing to MEP's Ecoscope project. In addition to Catherine, two WRTI graduates arrived at MEP in the second quarter to start a 6-month internship program in conservation technology also supported by AI2. They will be learning all about EarthRanger, Elephantbook, Ecoscope, ArcGIS and mobile field apps and other technologies MEP is building or using. The MEP Research Department made significant progress in extending Ecoscope during the second quarter and we now have a rich set of movement and environmental analysis tools to generate conservation and research outputs with.
Dr. Jake Wall joined MEP's long-term monitoring (LTM) team in Samburu to see our partner Save the Elephants (STE) field monitoring work firsthand. We were able to show STE the latest technology MEP has developed to identify elephants and learn more from their LTM team on individual elephant identification. Collaborative efforts like these are key opportunities to share knowledge and expand MEP's ability to produce impactful outcomes with our research.
© Gilbert Sabinga/Save the Elephants
Dr. Wall will once again be sitting on the selection committee for the 2022 EarthRanger Conservation Technology Award distributing two $15,000 grants.
All of our field assistants continued their work in the second quarter mapping fences, roads and landcover ground-truthing points using motorbikes and the TerraChart app. They recorded a total of 318.4 km of fences and 70 LCC points and covered a distance of 4,255 km on motorbike.
There were four collaring operations during the second quarter. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), WRTI and MEP re-collared Matali on April 22 not far from MEP's headquarters. Matali is a bull elephant that was originally collared in May 2020 after being translocated by KWS from Kajiado County, not far from Nairobi. He is an important elephant to re-collar because his movements allow MEP rangers to react to conflict quickly and effectively in an area with growing infrastructure development. Additionally, his movements help KWS, WRTI and MEP better understand the connectivity from the Rift Valley and Mosiro into the Maasai Mara.
We also collared a new female elephant in a high conflict area that is near where collared elephants Clara, Harriet and Natasha reside. The elephant named Audrey was collared to allow MEP and KWS rangers to react to conflict and study this female and her herd's movements through the area where the expanding human footprint has changed the landscape.
In June, MEP responded to reports of a very aggressive female elephant attacking motorbikes in an area nearby our headquarters. This type of aggressive behavior was uncommon for an elephant, and this female was a candidate for a collar so that KWS and MEP could track her movements in real time and respond accordingly. The cause of her aggressive behavior was revealed during the collaring operation when it was discovered she was missing the footpad on her front left foot which must have hurt her immensely while walking. KWS Vet Dr. Ndambiri treated her and she's been named Kobe.
The second operation was a re-collaring for elephant Polaris. He was originally collared in June 2013 by KWS, WRTI and MEP to better understand how he was navigating between conservancies through increasing infrastructure development. Polaris is also a large bull elephant estimated to be over 50 years old, with large tusks, making him a potential target for poachers. We re-collared him in order to track his movements between safe areas, and the land use changes occurring around Pardamat and Ol Kinyei conservancies.
One of MEP's most well-known collared bulls, Fred, was in musth during the first part of the second quarter. The MEP LTM team spotted Fred in Mara North and Lemek conservancies with several female individuals the team is researching. When male elephants are in musth, which can last days or months depending on the available mates, they can become aggressive due to their raging hormones. Luckily Fred is used to our research vehicle and was peacefully allowing our LTM team to film him. During musth, bulls have a very distinct smell coming from urine discharged leaving a scent trail that both humans and elephants can smell. You can see in the video Fred's impressive size compared to the female elephants, all the better for passing along strong elephant genes.
On May 6, the MEP "Golf" ranger team monitored collared elephant "Indy" sponsored by the Indianapolis Zoological Society and her herd of over 70 elephants while out on patrol. They were all enjoying a drink in Olarro Conservancy. It's important for rangers to monitor collared elephants while on patrol to check for any injuries sustained from conflict and to note herd size and the overall health of the collared elephant and their herd. We were happy to see collared elephant Indy and her family doing well.
Collared elephant Indy.
Collared elephant Indy and her herd.
Collared elephant Chelsea monitored in June.
The MEP LTM team partnered with KWS and SWT in the second quarter on elephant treatments. The first took place in early June, when MEP was alerted to an elephant calf with an arrowhead injury. The LTM team quickly responded alongside MEP's assistant senior warden to monitor the baby according to the location given in Mara North Conservancy (MNC). Luckily, they found him and confirmed that he had an arrowhead sticking out of his back and needed immediate vet intervention. KWS Vet Dr. Titus Kaitho from the SWT Mobile Vet Unit was called in to treat the baby and the arrowhead was successfully removed and the wound was treated. That very same day, a bull elephant required treatment for an infected wound on his rear left leg. The same team got together to treat this bull who was located nearby the first operation.
The baby elephant injured.
A clear photo taken by a MEP LTM team member of the injury.
During treatments like these, it's safer for the personnel on the ground to also tranquilize the mother, who otherwise would become very aggressive while treating the baby. They both woke up and were back with their herd and are being closely monitored by MEP rangers on the ground.
The MEP LTM team continued their work in the field researching the Mara's elephant population and shot some great photos of individual 932, a newly identified male elephant in Ol Kinyei Conservancy.
The MEP Experimental Farm had some very exciting visitors in April, elephants. The farm is designed to test how palatable various crop types are to predators in the Mara, and since the launch in October 2021, we haven't seen many elephants, mostly hippos, birds and monkeys. So, we were excited in April when elephants decided to visit for the first time. The elephants stopped by daily for a week and ate the maize (corn), one of their favorites, and even tested the ditch to access the maize in the middle, not gaining access. They did however gain access to the maize stepping right over the sunflower barrier to get to it. They also tried the sukuma (collard greens), but it appeared that they spit it out. They also raided the wheat, butternut squash, sweet potato vines, cucumbers and beans and uprooted and stomped on the chilies but didn't appear to eat them. You can see in these before and after photos how much damage an elephant can do to crops in a short amount of time. That's why finding solutions for local communities to grow elephant friendly crops for food or to earn an income is an important objective for MEP to combat the co-existence crisis.
Elephant farm visitors.
Corn before elephants.
Corn after elephants.
Beans before elephants.
Beans after elephants.
Cucumber before elephants.
Cucumber after elephants.
The farm also employed two more workers, a cook and a farm worker, helping the team with organic farming and good crop management practices. We've never had any luck growing gooseberries on the farm, which are a wild fruit in these parts of the Mara, because of the vervet monkeys, which previously has left us with almost zero to harvest. In April however, we were lucky to harvest a few kilograms and we took advantage of that and spent an afternoon making marmalade. A valuable exercise for the farm staff to learn value addition. Once we add more capacity, we plan to conduct a market study on the varies products that can come from gooseberries and how marketable it can be in Kenya.
In second quarter, the MEP Experimental Farm purchased heirloom seeds and a kitchen garden and nursery structure using shade nets was built. They planted 27 different herbs and vegetables as well as five different varieties of tomatoes, sweet peppers and hot peppers. After the crops yield, they can re-produce the seeds that can be re-used in the farm unlike the hybrid seeds. More camera traps were also added at the farm to catch on film the animal responsible for the high level of predation.


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Practitioners 48: Frank Miller (Part 1)
January 17, 2012 by Steve Penfold	in Practitioners p-t and tagged 1-4, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 2008, 27, 28, 300, 50th Anniversary, 55, Adam Kubert, Alan Moore, Amazon, American Comic Book artist, Artist, bande dessinée, Batman, bi-monthly, Bizarre Adventures, booding, Bruce Wayne, Bullseye, Caped Crusader, challenging, chimneys, choking debris, Chris Claremont, Cold War, crime, Daredevil, Daredevil: Born Again, Dark, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Returns, DC, DC Special Series, Dead, Deliver Me From D-Day, Director, dynamic, dystopia, dystopian, edges, Elektra, Elliot S. Maggin, Elseworlds, emotionally, eNDLESS CLOUD, federal, Fifty Who Made DC Great, Film Director, Film Noir, Frank Miller, frenetic, Fringe, futility of redemption, gangs, Gene Colan, German Expressionism, Gold Key Comics, Greatest Story Never Told, Hell's Kitchen, Jason Todd, Jim Shooter, Jim Shooterr, JOE ORLANDO, John Carter, JULY, JUNE, Killing Joke, Klaus Janson, liberal hate figure, Lynn Varley, Man of Steel, Manga, Marc Silvestri, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Maryland, mercenary, Miller, monthly, Mutants, neighbourhoods, Neo-nazi, new york, NewYork, Ninja, Noir, Nuclear War, Occupy UK, Occupy US, October, Olney, painfully, part 3, Paul Kupperberg, realistic, republican, risible, Roger McKenzie, Ronin, rooftops, rOYAL fEAST, Sin City, sketching, Slowly, society, Spectacular Spider-man, Steve Gerber, Superman, The Edhe of History, The Master Assassin from Mars, Twilight Zone, Unknown Soldier, Vinnie Colletta, visceral, Wanted: Santa Claus: Dead or Alive, Warlord from Mars, Watchmen, water towers, Weird Tales, Wolverine, woman, Wonder Woman, Writer, Wyatt Gwyon, X-men, you dig your way from the cold	| 9 Comments
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his brooding, dark, film noir depictions of famous comic characters and the development of noir dystopias, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300, Ronin and Daredevil: Born Again. Batman : Dark Knight Returns is viewed as a seminal work in comics history, mandatory for any that want to understand what (along with Alan Moore's Watchmen) changed the face of comics so dramatically in the 1980s. He is also, nowadays, a liberal hate figure after outspoken statements regarding protest camps in the US and UK against multinational corporations. This, among other things, has placed a pall over his previous work, calling into question his politics and views on women, crime and society.
Miller was born in Olney, Maryland and raised Montpelier, Vermont, the fifth of seven children of a nurse mother and an electrician/ carpenter father. He was raised as an Irish Catholic.
Setting out to become an artist, Miller recieved his first published work at Western Publishing's Gold Key Comics imprint on the comic book version of The Twilight Zone, drawing 'Royal Feast' in issue #84 (June 1978), and "Endless Cloud" in #85 (July 1978). Jim Shooter, one-time Marvel Editor-in-chief recalled Miller's attempt to join DC, emboldened by his sign up with Western Publishing. "He went to DC, and after getting savaged by Joe Orlando, got in to see art director Vinnie Colletta, who recognized talent and arranged for him to get a one-page war-comic job".
Miller's first listed work is the six-page "Deliver Me From D-Day", by writer Wyatt Gwyon, in Weird War Tales #64 (June 1978). A two-page story, however, written by Roger McKenzie and titled "Slowly, painfully, you dig your way from the cold, choking debris…", appears in Weird War Tales #68 (Oct. 1978). Other fledgling work at DC included the six-page "The Greatest Story Never Told", by writer Paul Kupperberg, in that same issue, and the five-page "The Edge of History", written by Elliot S. Maggin, in Unknown Soldier #219 (Sept. 1978). and his first work for Marvel Comics, penciling the 17-page story "The Master Assassin of Mars, Part 3" in John Carter, Warlord of Mars #18 (Nov. 1978).
Miller's style was never super hero orientated but in an industry that was he had little choice but to pursue it, practicing the form and bringing Superheroes to life well enough to secure a position as regular fill-in and cover artist on a number of titles, including Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-man #27–28 (Feb.–March 1979) which featured a character that grabbed Miller's attention. As Miller recalled in 2008 "… as soon as a title came along, when [Daredevil signature artist] Gene Colan left Daredevil, I realized it was my secret in to do crime comics with a superhero in them. And so I lobbied for the title and got it"
Although still conforming to traditional comic book styles, Miller introduced his noir style to the pages of Daredevil on his debut, joining on a finale of an ongoing story written by Roger McKenzie. Living in Hell's Kitchen in the 1980s Miller sketched the roof tops of his surrounding neighbourhoods and imbued the title with a greater accuracy than fans had seen before. New York was now a more dangerous place. His work was cited as reminiscent of German Expressionism's dramatic edges and shadows as the Red Devil fought mostly now at rooftop level, among the water towers, pipes and chimneys.
Miller's run was successful enough to bring Daredevil back from being a bi-monthly title to a monthly one but that was far from the limit of the success. With the departure of Roger McKenzie, Miller took over as writer and penciller, with long time collaborator Klaus Janson on inks introducing a skittish, visceral feel. Art became to form. Violence bled (within the limited parameters of the Comics Authority), fear was felt, anger and danger were portrayed. Everything was comics +. This was a slightly more frenetic, powerful version of the superhero canon – the focus on the darkness in the lives of the bright tights. Issue #168 saw the first appearance of the ninja mercenary Elektra, who despite being an assassin-for-hire would become Daredevil's love-interest. Miller would write and draw a solo Elektra story in Bizarre Adventures #28 (Oct. 1981). This further characterised Miller's work on Daredevil with darker themes and stories. This peaked when in #181 (April 1982) he had the assassin Bullseye kill Elektra. Miller finished his Daredevil run with issue #191 (Feb. 1983); in his time he had transformed a second-tier character into one of Marvel's most popular.
Gotham's skyline from Miller's 1986 Dark Knight Returns (with Klaus Janson)
Additionally, Miller drew a short Batman Christmas story, entitled ' Wanted: Santa Claus: Dead or Live' written by Denny O'Neill for DC Special Series #21 (Spring 1980). This professional introduction to the Dark Knight was to prove a point at which the comic industry stopped being something and developed into another entirely. It was the moment that comics began to move into a more graphic, realistic, emotionally dynamic, engaging and challenging era. Elsewhere, Alan Moore was working on The Watchmen and would be asked in future to write The Killing Joke and further darken the world of Gotham and it's central hero. But nothing that Moore was writing on the Dark Knight compared to one of the most important pieces of comic book literature in history. With Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, Miller began to put together a fractured tale of a future without a Batman and a Bruce Wayne broken by the loss of Jason Todd. Now older and slower, a mournful Wayne is presented again with taking on the banner of the Bat. Only this time the world in which the caped crusader stepped into was very different…
Working with Chris Claremont at Marvel on Wolverine 1-4, inked by Josef Rubenstein and spinning off from the popular X-Men title, Miller used the series to expand on Wolverine's character. The series was a critical success and cemented Miller as an industry star. Taking an older, curmudgeonly and effectively lonely character and dropping him into a world of greater brutality and violence proved very popular – the Wolverine series still continuing today, surviving the collapse of comics in the mid 90s and still going strong. While other great artists such as Adam Kubert and Marc Silvestri continued and concreted it's success, Claremont and Miller set the tone. Brutal, fringe figures were quickly becoming Miller's niche.
Marvel's Wolverine 2 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller
In Miller's first creator-owned title, Ronin, Miller had found himself with his original quarry, DC, and he was given the opportunity to further the concept of the isolated figure of violence on the edge of society. Ronin revealed most clearly the influences of Manga and bande dessinée artforms on Miller's style, both in the artwork and narrative style. In the early 198os Miller and Steve Gerber proposed a revamp of DC's central figures entitled 'Man of Steel', 'Dark Knight' and the frankly less inspiring 'Amazon'. This proposal was rejected, however the first shoots of a seed of an idea were clearly being shown in those proposals. While the Man of Steel and the Amazon remained as they were, The Dark Knight was set to rise. In 1985, before the release of Miller's finest work, he was honoured as one of the 50 honourees in the Company's 50th Anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great. Had they left it one more year, Miller would have rocketed into the top 5 with the release of the Dark Knight Returns.
Having never left, in 1986, the Dark Knight Returned and was welcomed with open arms. A four issue mini-series it featured a Gotham gone downhill, unprotected by a figurehead crime fighter as it had been time immemorial in the wider DC Universe. This was the first Elseworlds, a parallel world inhabited by a familiar but substantially different set of characters who could now live or die without consequence. However, Miller was never going to let them off that easily…
At the age of 55, Bruce Wayne returns to the hilt and takes back his role of Batman, it showcased a more adult form of comic-book storytelling by heralding new waves of darker characters. Miller, much like Moore, absorbed a great deal of the world around it though Miller twisted his into a more immediately engaging shape. Punk Gangs and Neo Nazis rule the streets alongside older, more familiar foes – all now even darker than before. The smell of paranoia over the Cold War and the threat of Nuclear War is musky in The Dark Knight, increasing the pall of murk that has descended on Gotham. Simultaneously though Miller gave voice to both liberal and right wing opinions during the series, through continual talking heads on various invented TV shows. With the themes of media, crime, personal responsibility, federal control, public opinion and the futility of redemption, Dark Knight represents a dark and risible future. It was excellent. A timely chime on a bell of collective paranoia, it tapped perfectly into the state of mind of society at the time. Rather than the patronising resolution by brightly coloured gods – here the solution contains only glimmers of salvation but deep shades of absolutism. It satisfies fully as emotional resolutions are struck so rarely in the real world, rarely in conjunction with the resolution of situations. In Miller's world there are no easy answers. His worlds roll on beyond the final panel, stories often unfinished, character's unresolved. 25 years later the collected novel remains a timeless best seller.
But what was to come next would cement Miller as a legendary artist and writer but it will be his move to LA that will reveal him as a true auteur. Noir bleeding from every pore, Sin City was still almost a decade away…
Part 2 will be here Next Tuesday
BTB Investigates: Is Thanos the real Avengers movie bad guy?
November 29, 2011 by Steve Penfold	in Avengers, Film and Comics News, Movies, Penners Blog and tagged 2012, Aliens, Andy Lanning, Angel, Avengers Movie, Avi Arad, bad guy, Buffy, Captain America, Chicago, cosmic, Cosmic Cube, Dan Abnett, Death, Deities, Disney, Dragons, Film, Firefly, Frost Giants, Gods, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hawkeye, Infinity Gauntlet, Iron Man, Joe Quesada, John Lassetter, Joss Whedon, Loki, Mark Millar, Marvel, Marvel Universe, Mentor, Movie, new york, Odin, Odinson, Ogres, Purple, Red Skull, Richard Branagh, Saturn, Seattle, Starfox, Starlord, Sui-san, Summer, Thanos, The Hulk, Thor, Titan, Tony Stark, tv, Ultimates, Ultimates 1, Ultimtes 2, Valhalla, villain, War Machine, Warlock, Whedon	| 3 Comments
The previews for The Avengers movie next year reveals the expected obliterated New York / Chicago / Seattle streets and the various Avengers charging into battle looking pouty and slightly impractically dressed and the suggested central bad guy, Thor's half brother, Loki, flailing about in a cloak looking fairly imposing in a way an impish theatre actor might in a storm scene on stage. While we're looking forward to the Avengers movie based on what we've seen – I can't help but think that there's an absent power behind the throne on this one. There's a few reasons for this one:
Joss Whedon, assigned to direct this little number, is not one to work on a one threat script. Whether it's Firefly or Buffy or Angel, it's the initial threat, usually controlled by a shadowy puppet master and then often revealed to be a cosmic threat of unimaginable power. Not just that, he has a wry sense of humour and an acute understanding of what audiences like. He's also a populist. Unafraid to do what is cool and follow expected narratives, he is a creature of loose habit. His plot structures have always incorporated big and very charismatic entrances of large scale bad guys. He's also got a history of abstract and old school sci-fi and horror influences in everything he does, usually taking the source material and advancing it to be acceptable to TV/ Movie audiences.
Marvel has shown increasing bravery in bringing forward obscure characters from it's ranks in it's current spate of films and dealing with broad and fun themes rather than taking themselves too seriously. They also stick pretty close to source material and introduce figures that represent the proper threat for the development of the character.
The Avengers themselves have to be facing a threat on a scale that tests them well enough. Thor alone beat Loki. Loki is not a threat. The Hulk is clearly being held in reserve until the effects are finished but who is he going to face?
Mark Millar's Ultimates is informing the Avengers. While there is an invasion of fantasy hordes in Ultimates 2 which may well fill the gap, it's been well done and may still happen without undermining the theory that it's Thanos that'll step into the fray. An Alien invasion isn't discounted either as appeared in Ultimates 1 and the Nazis might still be involved. Hard to say. Point is extra terrestrial or god attack, it doesn't matter, Thanos is attached to both.
Rumours state that Thano's glove from the Infinity Gauntlet series is visible on the Avengers set photos. Thanos brought the entire Marvel Universe to a standstill in the early '90s as he took hold of the Infinity Gauntlet and threatened to destabilise the universe. A threat easily big enough to justify a call out at Avenger's towers.
But why Thanos?
Thanos is a being of credible bad that has sulked, skulked and schemed his way around the backwaters of Marvel's cosmic universe, occasionally bringing the whole thing into doubt with his plans. Lover of the dubiously aged Death and as such effectively immortal, he is a corrupted Titan, a shrugging destroyer of time, space and any sentient being stupid enough to wander into his path. He's Marvel's Lobo. He has a death grin, incurable curiosity for how much chaos and death he can cause and how brilliantly he can destabilise the powers of the universe. For fun.
He's a cosmic being and a god. Thor made it clear that Valhalla was a realm in space, responsible for galactic peace. Thanos is a deity on par with the Frost Giants. A corrupted and deformed child of gods. As the story goes according to Marvel.com – On Saturn's moon of Titan lived a colony of Eternals, and Thanos was born as one of the last sons of the original colonists, Mentor and Sui-san. However, he was born misshapen and monstrous in comparison to the other Eternals, particularly his handsome and carefree brother, Starfox.
He is a collector of Cosmic Cubes. The one connecting link between all of the films (excluding Iron Man) is the Cosmic Cubes. The Red Skull was killed by it, underestimating it's power in Captain America while the Cosmic Cube was cared for by Odin and stolen by Loki at the end of Thor. Thanos has long been associated with the cosmic cubes – which he aquires and uses regularly to keep causing trouble.
He's just returned to the Marvel Universe in a plot involving a cosmic cube. Guardians of the Galaxy, while a lesser known title outside the industry is critically acclaimed and one of Marvel's most consistent books. Returning wild and beserk, Starlord effectively punches him in the face with it to bring him down. But the fascination with the Cosmic Cube is obvious in the character and clearly a fundamental aspect of Thanos from the view of Marvel.
Abnett and Lanning aren't writing him in the usual way. Thanos has never been hailed or fanfared like a galaxy spanning threat, narratively. Thanos is a tinkerer and walks in from the side lines to see what he can get away with. That wry curiosity and mischievousness was always the defining characteristic of Thanos. Even when associated with the destruction of butt loads of planets, Thanos is intellectually involved but never held up as a purveyor of all-hell-breaking-loose. But Thanos has been elevated this time. He's not stronger, Thanos was always tough. He's not more imposing, or larger. But the way he's being written this time round suggests a greater awe, as if this character is just about to lift beyond his station in Marvel. It's not uncommon, Iron Man, Thor, War Machine have all had massively increased status in the universe since seeing celluloid. Is Thanos gonna get the same treatment?
Thanos is a great bad guy and although the natural resistance has been removed now that Marvel is under the Lassetter banner of Disney and internally responsible for it's own brand there would be sensible resistance at using an obscure, radiator chinned, purple god with a chip on his shoulder as the central pivot for a major blockbuster that's never been tried before. Abnett and Lanning's response is likely a reply to the existing rumours that Thanos almost got a big screen appearance. The contrivance of plot that would be needed to introduce a second disgruntled child of the Gods when any sensible writer can apply the same emotional palette to the existing character without dropping a stocky, purple, alien gorilla face with 1980s shoulder pads into the action. But it'd Thanos. Against the Avengers. Directed by Whedon. Keep wishing guys but in all liklihood it's just too cool to risk.
Bunker backs Miles Morales as Ultimate Spider-man!!
August 9, 2011 by Steve Penfold	in Penners Blog and tagged black, Black Panther, Brian Michael Bendis, Hald hispanic, Half-black, London, Marvek, Marvel, Miles Morales, new york, Nick Fury, Racism, Racists, Representation, Riots, Spider-man, Ultimate	| Leave a comment
With the riots taking the streets apart all over England (in particular in London) there is a distinct lack of respect on the streets right now. At times like these, any sign of anyone moving things forwards is welcome and Brian Michael Bendis has tried to do this with Miles Morales, the new incarnation of Spider-man in the Ultimate line.
With Peter Parker killed in the pages of the Ultimate Spider-man series a short while ago a replacement needed to be found and Marvel have taken a brilliant opportunity and run with it. The Ultimate line is an opportunity for Marvel to present modern ideas over the out-dated or original ones. It is not a replacement for the Marvel Universe, Spider-man still swings around New York with a little less rhythmn in the main continuity as Peter Parker. But the Ultimate line is being used effectively here and Marvel and Bendis need to be applauded for their efforts.
The Death of Peter Parker (Ultimate Spider-man 160, Marvel)
Miles Morales is half-black, half-Hispanic and as a result representative of two groups that have been unintentionally marginalised in mainstream comic books. It's a positive, challenging and brave step by a company that could, given its success, easily rest on its laurels. As such Marvel is still attempting to push the envelope and we here at the Bunker are resolutely behind the idea.
However, sadly, and unsurprisingly, it hasn't taken long for the backlash to begin. The internet chatrooms and comment boards piling up with the usual bile and overly aggressive response to the introduction of Miles Morales as the web spinner. According to an article written by Cynthia Wright in the Atlanta Post entitled 'Backlash To Black-Latino Spiderman Indicates We're Not A Post-Racial Society,' Cynthia highlights the backlash to the introduction of Morales. Below is the article in question….
by Cynthia Wright
Yesterday, USA Today released a story that Marvel Comics Ultimate Spider-Man would take its web-slinging hero in a new direction. Although, Peter Parker has played the Spider-Man character since its creation decades ago – the revamping of the Marvel comic is to attract a new generation of comic book readers, in response to its static past. So, it wasn't really that surprising that Marvel decided to kill the character off around two months ago.
Unlike the comics' overwhelmingly Caucasian days of yore – when it came to passing on the infamous red and blue suit – Marvel decided to push the envelope. Instead of embodying the usual stereotype for superheroes, the decision was made to pass the torch to a half-black, half-Hispanic teenager named Miles Morales.
Brian Michael Bendis, the writer behind Parker's death and Miles arrival told the newspaper that it was long overdue, even in the more 'diverse' Marvel universe.
"Even though there's some amazing African-American and minority characters bouncing around in all the superhero universes, it's still crazy lopsided," Bendis admitted.
Face of the Future: Miguel O'Hara - the half hispanic, half Irish Spidey of 2099
However, not everyone agrees with Bendis' assessment, a quick glance through the comments of the USA Today article reveals that even if Marvel wants to be more contemporary that doesn't give them the right to rewrite comic book history. Of course, it should be of no surprise that some white comic fans feel that iconic comic characters should be left unchallenged by today's more political correct society – especially when it comes to a biracial teenager becoming the newest incarnation of one of their most beloved superheroes.
Over on the website Bleeding Cool, they decided to publish some of the more "enlightening" comments from the USA Today story in one of their Tuesday posts. The comments ranged from bashing the need to always be politically correct, to complaints over the comic books direction and the rage over the killing of the white Peter Parker so that Morales could replace him.
With several comic-based movies taking liberty when it comes to the race of their supportive characters (i.e. Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson, Perry White being played by Laurence Fishburne), it is apparent that supporting roles are the only roles not susceptible to such a huge backlash. However, making the "minority" a main character is still seen as unacceptable.
As one commenter responded:
"Peter Parker could not be whiter. A black boy under the mask just don't look right. This opens up a whole new story line with a whole new set of problems. Who is going to believe a black man in a mask is out for the good of man kind?"
So, a black man in a mask isn't capable of helping out mankind? In a historical context, it wasn't the black population using masks to strike fear and terrorize others in American society. How quickly that one caveat is forgotten.
Blatant ignorance aside, it is hard not to be offended by some of the reactions regarding Morales' ethnicity. With the current demographics of New York being so diverse – it would make sense to have someone akin to Morales. It is about time that minority characters are given more precedence instead of being relinquished to the only role that seems deserving—the sidekick.
Practitioners 31: Tim Sale
June 14, 2011 by Steve Penfold	in Practitioners p-t, The Practitioners and tagged Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: Long Hallowe'en, Catwoman, Comico Comics, Daredevil, Dark Victory, DC Comics, Diana Schultz, Erik Larsen, Gambit, Heroes, Hulk, Isaac Mendez, Jeph Loeb, John Buscema, Joker, Jon Bogdanove, Legend, Marvel, Matt Wagner, Myth Adventures, new york, Nineties Comics, San Diego Comicon, Scholl of Visual Arts, Seattle, Spider-man, The Joker, Tim Sale, Todd McFarlane, TV series, University of Washington, Wolverine	| Leave a comment
Tim Sale, was born on May 1st 1956, in Ithaca, New York, but spent most of his early life in Seattle, Washington. He attended the University of Washington for two years before moving to New York to study, in part, under artist John Buscema at the School of Visual Arts.
Sale has an incredibly distinctive style. His characters rarely represent realistic proportions and his style of art is decidedly abstract, relying on impressionistic and silhouetted ideas as much as clear visual representation. His compositions are carefully applied, often at dizzying or deliberately engaging perspectives. He is assured in his use of space, very much in the same way younger, more technically complete artists are, but he feels no compulsion to fill open spaces. This gives his work a compelling and assured feel that draws the reader in.
The physicality of his characters is always exaggerated which reinforces the innate characteristics of the character. Batman is big and broad, his neck long and ascending into darkness. The linework is clear and precise when necessary but betray emotional lines when necessary. He is an economical artist, assured enough to apply his own style.
Sale does divide opinion, in part because of his continued association with Jeph Loeb, a marmite figure in comic books. Most artists do not like to be compared to Sale due to his disproportionate bodies and arguably loose compositions and detailing. In spite of his considerable talent he has fallen down the same path as McFarlane. A pronounced and distinctive style that has its time and moves on, Sale has perhaps been left in the 90s.
But that doesn't reduce his relevance. He pencilled and inked Dark Victory and Long Hallowe'en alongside Loeb 15 years ago and it continues to sell today. His compositions and the realisation of the Bat-universes character offered a visual insight distinct and intriguing enough to represent familiar characters such as the Joker and Two Face in ways previously unseen. Some later incarnations of Catwoman were lifted from Sales work on Dark Victory.
The problem for Practitioners such as Sale and Loeb is that the industry advanced. Techniques continued to develop, the demand for greater sophistication and accuracy increased from the readership. Its hard to say whether the industry will swing back towards the more cartoon strip years of the '90s. However, it was a period of unprecedented and unrepeated growth for the comic industry and Tim Sale became a legend during that period.
Tim began doing art for the series Myth Adventures in 1983 and was soon working on Theives' World, a shared fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978, comprising of 12 anthologies. After meeting Matt Wagner and Diana Schultz (who were at the time creating for Comico Comics) and Barbara Randall of DC Comics at the San Diego Comicon, Sales career began to develop.
The majority of Sale's work has been with Jeph Loeb. With him, they developed a cooperative style of creating books, in which the art and the writing influenced each other. The duo, creditted as 'storytellers', produced extremely popular work such as Batman: Long Hallowe'en, Batman: Dark Victory. Most recently they have worked on the so-called 'color' books for Marvel Comics involving mainstay characters from Marvel such as Spider-man, Daredevil and the Hulk.
Through his association with Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale worked on the artwork for Heroes. He was responsible for the paintings created by precognitive artist Isaac Mendez as well as other artists on the show. He is also creditted as creating the comic book font used throughout the series, based on his own handwriting.
Sale is another marmite character in the comic book hall of fame. His dereliction of standard artistic practices such as proportion and physicality means that very few artists want to be compared to him. I have to admit that if my work was assocaited with Sales I would look for where I had gone wrong as on a technical level, Sale does not deliver. But that is his strength in the eyes of a great many comic fan. Artists are by the nature technical, but Sale moves beyond that and offers up artworks taht are deliberately abstract and caricatured. Hs Wolverine is broad shouldered and bubbled, his Gambit gaunt and haunted. His London is empty and uncongested and yet, as the first time I ever saw his work I have been unable to forget it. As an artist I admire Sale's willingness to apply his own distinctive style to the comic book page. An industry should thrive on individuals like Sale as they push the form outwards towards alternative modus. If everyone in comic books drew like the Kuberts, Quitely and Coipel, with infinitely careful pen lines, consistent detailing and carefully applied physical proportions comic books'd be a dull place. Sale comes from the same stable as Jon Bogdanove, Erik Larsen and Todd McFarlane. Artists that contributed to the single most successful period in comic book history. While they may not be fashionable now clearly they have a great and broad appeal beyond the kernel of uberfans and tightly monitored comic book applications. An artist like Tim Sale would not get work in the comics industry right now, however the more I think about it – looking at a struggling comic industry – even with the money turning over in associated features – the more I think tahts not such a good thing. Men like Sale didn't need to be optioned by a film company to pay their bills. They paid it through sales. And if you're working in popular culture how many other benchmarks are there?
Dropping Science: Timelapse Cityscape
May 9, 2011 by Dan Thompson	in Dan's Blog, Dropping Science and tagged chigago, Dominic Boudreault, montreal, new york, Photography, quebec city, Time lapse, timelapse, toronto	| 1 Comment
You may have gathered by now that I rather love timelapse photography but with the quality of work that's flying around at the moment that's hardly surprising. This is an amazing piece by Canadian photographer, Dominic Boudreault which – in his own words – attempts "to show the duality between city and nature."
It was shot from late 2010 to early 2011 in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Chicago and, of course, New York.
Be sure to whack the volume up before watching for a bit of Hans Zimmer goodness!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


'cause I don't even have an explanation for my actions.
I spend a lot of time, spend a lot of time.
But they don't know that I create the demons I will have to fight.
Am I just complicated, or am I losing my mind.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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BMA, NHS GP Doctors Do Not Want Competition, Value for Money or Patient Choice
Politics / NHS Oct 01, 2010 - 12:33 PM GMT
The British Medical Association (BMA) representing NHS GP Doctors has belatedly gone on the offensive against the coalition government's plans for reforming the NHS by introducing a market for competing GP consortiums to manage most of the NHS £100 billion budget. NHS GP's do not want competition because it would mean a more commercial health service where patients are able to freely move to the better run GP surgeries which risks putting failing GP surgeries out of business and fellow GP's out of work.
"The BMA has consistently argued that clinicians should have more autonomy to shape services for their patients, but pitting them against each other in a market-based system creates waste, bureaucracy and inefficiency."
In a strong statement to British Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, the BMA adds: "We urge the government and NHS organisations to focus on those areas where they can truly eliminate waste and achieve genuine efficiency savings rather than adopt a slash-and-burn approach to health care, with arbitrary cuts and poorly considered policies."
The coalition government announced their plans in June after apparently being so impressed by the performance of the NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCT's) that it intended to scrap ALL PCT's in favour of GP Consortia's directly managing patient treatment commissioning (the process could take 2-3 years to implement).
The plans for the consolidation of GP practices into GP consortiums in an attempt to introduce real competition between surgeries for patients which means that the less performing GP surgeries could disappear as they will be unable to compete for patients in a more market orientated value for money environment due to their inability to provide health services to the satisfaction of a large % of their patients as illustrated in the wide disparity at the quality of health service deliver by the UK GP Patient survey.
The anticipated changes are set against the current system which contrary to what the population believes GP's are Independant PRIVATE contractors to the NHS WITHOUT COMPETITION. GP's are basically a law onto themselves, and in the vast majority of cases totally unaccountable where complaining against GP's amounts to a total waste of time which is why the NHS is riddled with inept GP's as there is no real mechanism to get rid of those that are not up to the job, an issue which market forces will attempt to address.
Therefore under a more competitive GP health servicing market as consortia compete against one another for patients, those surgeries that rank at the bottom that prove unable in satisfying and thus retaining patients, should find themselves forced to merge and to restructure with new staff employed so as to ensure that the consortia's are better able to compete against one another for patients. This also means for the reforms to work then there must be at least 2 competing consortia per locality, and preferably more other wise the reforms will FAIL and result in even worse patient health care experience as there will be NO incentive for GP's to treat patients but every incentive to deliver as much as possible of the £100 billion NHS budget into the back pockets of GP's which is probably what GP's expect to happen as occurred following the 2003 Labour GP contracts as illustrated by the below GP Pay graph that contributed to the 2009 MP expenses scandal as GP pay took off into the stratosphere whilst MP's watched on in envy therefore triggering the expenses abuse.
NHS Bankrupting Britain
The country continues to run an annual £156 billion budget deficit i.e. the government spends £156 billion a YEAR more than it earns in revenue which is contributing towards igniting Britains inflationary debt spiral, that risks an accelerating trend towards an hyper inflationary bust leaving savers with worthless paper and the economy in ruins, i.e. bankrupt unless urgent action is taken to bridge the gap between government revenue and spending.
The NHS budget under Labour has grown from £40 billion in 1997 to £121 billion for the last financial year. NHS budgets increasing in line with inflation (CPI) would have seen the budget under a Conservative regime rise to stand at £51.6 billion, and probably nearer £60 billion to allow for an ageing population. So the Labour government is in effect spending an extra £60 billion a year, more than double that which the Conservative would be spending on the NHS.
Against this extra spending instead of Brit's experiencing the impact from effectively paying for TWO NHS's, the NHS is experiencing year in year out loss in productivity, i.e. the more the government spends on the NHS the LESS output the NHS delivers as more tax payer funds disappear into the NHS black hole. In theory this suggests that the NHS budget could in-effect be halved to £60 billion and still deliver a functional health service that the the country can afford. Off course that is not going to happen, but still a mere 10% cut in the NHS budget would contribute some £12 billion of annual savings from this out of control spending black hole that like a cancer is eating through the countries balance sheet.
The government's annual budget deficit is running at £156 billion a year or at 23% of the total budget i.e. the the governments total revenues are £520 billion against estimated expenditure of £676 billion, hence a deficit of £156 billion added to the national debt known as the Public Sector Net Debt (PSND) currently standing at about £850 billion, though excluding the hidden tax payer liabilities that extend to several more trillions of pounds. Nevertheless £850 billion of debt now costs about £40 billion in interest per year to service, as the debt grows so does the cost of servicing the debt, more so as the supply of government bonds increases then so will the market demand ever higher interest rates to buy this flood of debt which illustrates why running anywhere near an £156 billion annual budget deficit is NOT sustainable, as it would ignite the earlier mentioned inflationary debt spiral as interest payments soar which therefore requires urgent action to CUT the deficit to BELOW 6% of GDP / £75 billion, with some £80 billion necessary to be cut comprising of tax increases, economic growth and spending cuts in the region of £60 billion.
However the coalition government has officially tied one arm behind its back by stating that they will continue to increase the two largest areas of government spending, the NHS and Pensions which amount to 1/3rd of total government spending, which means that deeper budget cuts will have to be borne by other spending departments which may not be possible to achieve.
NHS Pumping Out Bogus Performance data
A lengthy report earlier this year into the REAL performance of one of Britians top ranked hospitals placed The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust as a killing field for patients that walk through its doors, this is set against NHS phony statistics on hospitals and GP surgeries that relentlessly paint a picture of everything is great, against the facts of actual patient experience as reported by the Telegraph.
Up to 1,200 patients are thought to have died unnecessarily at the trust between 2005 and 2008.
A damning report on the deaths found chronic staff shortages, receptionists in casualty departments assessing the urgency of cases and nurses switching off equipment that did not know how to use.
Both trusts are "Foundation Trusts" a status supposedly awarded to only the best in the NHS.
We were told by the Department of Health that Mid-staffordshire NHS Trust was a one off, an aberration, but barely a few days later further details leak that it is barely the tip of the ice-berg with another 24 Hospitals with the similar problem of being engaged in the process of reducing their waiting lists by unnecessarily killing off patients, all according to the NHS produced phony data are doing well as reported by the Daily Mail
Twenty five hospital trusts should be urgently investigated over fears that thousands of patients may have died unnecessarily, an expert said last night.
Excessive death rates at the trusts could be down to serious failings in the way patients were treated, according to Professor Sir Brian Jarman.
He said a total of 4,600 more patients had died at the 25 trusts than would be expected between 2007 and 2008
Remember these are are NHS trusts that are ranked by the NHS as the BEST hospitals in Britain ? Why ? because as with the rest of the NHS, they self certify their OWN performance data. Which means a hospital's such as the Mid Staffordshire can hide 1,200 unnecessary deaths.
The same applies to as many as 1/5th of GP surgeries that self certify themselves as being good, but actual patient experience does not match the phony statistics, in this regard the Department of Health funded UK Patient GP Survey enables patients to find the truth about their GP Surgery as per actual patient experience - To find out your GP's actual performance visit the UK GP Patient survey results site.
The only answer to the NHS GP and Hospital delivery crisis is in greater competition between surgeries and hospitals which ultimately means privatisation, as the existing system of no real competition means the incompetent are rewarded with more resources in the face of inability to deliver whilst those that excel are punished with less resources so as to pull all services down towards the under performing mean.
The only way excellence can be rewarded and act is the goal to be achieved is if competition drives out the inept and incompetent GP surgeries as they lose patients and resources to the better run GP surgeries which can only happen in a private system of healthcare delivery, where patients would in effect be handed NHS credit cards to enable them to buy healthcare at ANY health facility whether NHS run or private.
Given the actual performance of the NHS, I would imagine that closing 15% of the worst performing NHS Hospitals and GP Surgeries would result in IMPROVED life expectancy for Brit's as well as contribute £15 billion of annual savings to help bring the unsustainable £156 billion annual budget deficit under control.
Comments and Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article23157.html
By Nadeem Walayat
Copyright © 2005-10 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.
Nadeem Walayat has over 20 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis specialises on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and the housing market and he is the author of the NEW Inflation Mega-Trend ebook that can be downloaded for Free. Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. We present in-depth analysis from over 500 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets. Thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk


Join the thousands of committed teens, parents, advocates, and policymakers in raising awareness of and creating solutions for teen crash risk during National Teen Driver Safety Week – October 20-26, 2019. Whether you organize your own campaign or tap into another's, it's important to keep the momentum going by supporting National Teen Driver Safety Week. We can reduce the number of crashes involving teens behind the wheel by keeping this public health crisis front and center, both locally and nationally.


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Business / Celebrity Spouse
Bader Shammas: Wiki (Lindsay Lohan's Boyfriend), Bio, Age, Family, Net Worth
Bader Shammas: Wiki (Lindsay Lohan's Boyfriend), Bio, Age, Family, Net Worth: Bader Shammas is an Emirati businessman, financier, as well as a celebrated partner. He was born in the year between 1986-1987 in Kuwait City. There is no information regarding Bader's exact date of birth on the internet at the moment. He is not popular by himself. Bader is well-known as the long-term boyfriend of Lindsay Lohan.
Bader Shammas with his girlfriend Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is a popular American actress, singer, as well as a producer by profession. Bader came into the limelight after getting engaged to his popular girlfriend, Lindsay Lohan. According to the sources, Lindsay announced her engagement with Bader on her official Instagram account on the 28th of November 2021. Then the limelight fell on Bader. To know everything about Bader Shammas read this post!
Bader Shammas's Life and Education
The exact date of birth of the businessman Bader is not yet revealed by him. But Bader is believed to be born in the year between 1986-1987. The birthplace of Bader is Kuwait City. Bader belongs to the Emirati. There is no information available regarding Bader's family. Due to the lack of information, we were not able to find the names of Bader's parents on the internet at the moment. Bader is so private.
Bader does not reveal anything about his family. According to the sources, Bader was born and grew up in a well-settled family. There is no sufficient information available regarding Bader's family. The current age of the businessman Bader is between 34-35 years old as of 2021. We don't know when the businessman Bader celebrates his birthday. The businessman Bader has not yet revealed his exact date of birth.
Bader Shammas
The details of Bader's birthday and zodiac sign could not be found on the internet at the time of writing this post. Regarding Bader's physical appearance, he is 5 feet and 10 inches tall by height. The weight of Bader's body is around 75 kg. Bader has black color eyes as well as black color hair. He belongs to mixed ethnicity. Bader is dashing. His personality is decent. He is an Emirati businessman and financier.
We don't know from which school/college Bader received his schooling. Probably, Bader must have completed his schooling in his hometown. Firstly, Bader did his Mechanical Engineering studies at the University of South Florida. Then Bader went to the University of Tampa to complete his Bachelor of Science degree. Bader received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tampa.
Bader Shammas Career
Bader started his career after his higher studies. Bader has worked for several positions so far. Bader joined BNP Paribas CIB as an analyst in April 2013. He worked for this position only for 6 months. After that, Bader worked as an associate in the same company from October 2013 to February 2018. Then Bader worked as an associate at BNP Paribas Wealth Management from February 2017 to August 2018.
Bader joined Credit Suisse as an Assistant Vice President in August 2018. Credit Suisse is a Dubai-based company. Bader has been working as an Assistant Vice President at Credit Suisse since August 2018. Bader earns a good income from his job. He is an Emirati businessman as well as a financier by profession. Bader has gained a lot of success and honor for his work. He is such a venerable personality. According to the sources, the estimated net worth of the businessman Bader Shammas is between $3 million- $4 million USD as of 2021.
Bader Shammas Personal Life
Bader is not yet married. But Bader is engaged to his girlfriend, Lindsay Lohan. According to the sources, Bader met Lindsay in 2019. It was the first meeting for Bader and Lindsay. When Lindsay was staying in Dubai. After their first meeting, Bader and Lindsay started dating and kept their relationship secretive until 2021. Bader and Lindsay engaged in November 2021. They are living a blissful life together presently.
Here is the full bio of Bader Shammas, his family, mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, children, school, education, hometown, profession, nationality, body measurements, age, height, weight, eye colour, hair colour, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, cast, birthday, birthplace, hobbies, address, zodiac sign, date of birth, religion, net worth.
Bader Shammas, Bio, Height, Weight, Profile, Net Worth
Name Bader Shammas
Profession Businessman and Financier
in feet inches-"5′ 10
in pounds– 165.43 Ibs
Figure Measurement (approx.) Not Known
Date of Birth 1986-1987
Age (as in 2021) 34-35 Years
Birth Place Kuwait City
Nationality Emirati
College/University The University of South Florida
Religion Islam
Ethnicity Mixed
Marital Status Engaged
Affairs/Boyfriends/Girlfriends Lindsay Lohan
Sexuality Not Known
Net Worth $3 Million-$4 Million
Some Lesser Known Facts About Bader Shammas
Bader Shammas is a follower of Islam.
Bader's Instagram account is private.
Bader is diligent who always works hard.
Bader prefers to travel to multiple places with his family and friends.
Bader is fond of cars and has a collection of luxury cars.
Bader's smile is pleasing.
Also Read: Barney Harris: Wiki, Bio, Age, Height, Actor, Parents, Girlfriend, Net Worth
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Mario Wynands (born in Wellington, New Zealand) is the co-founder and managing director of Sidhe Interactive and managing director of PikPok.

Wynands has developed popular games and series such as Shatter and the Rugby league series and Rugby Union series.

References

Living people
New Zealand computer programmers
Video game businesspeople
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Furlough scheme now covering 9.3 million workers
The number of workers now furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has risen to 9.3 million, according to the latest figures from the Treasury.
A further 100,000 employees were furloughed in the week up to 28 June, with 1.1 million employers now using the CJRS.
The government has now paid out more than £25 billion to furloughed UK workers. It has also guaranteed £42.9 billion in loans through its business support schemes.
The majority has been borrowed via Bounce Back loans, with 967,000 businesses accessing £29.5 billion.
A further £11.1 billion has been borrowed through the Coronavirus Businesses Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), while £2.3 billion has been lent under the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS).
Commenting on the figures, Stephen Pegge, Managing Director of Commercial Finance at UK Finance, said: 'The fact that over one million businesses are receiving support through the coronavirus loan schemes is a credit to bank staff up and down the country who have worked tirelessly to get finance to those who need it.
'Almost £43 billion has now been approved through these schemes, in addition to the industry's broad package of support for businesses, including overdraft extensions and capital repayment deferrals.'


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2 policemen injured in Islamic State attack targeting Bangladesh minister in Dhaka
Hours after the blast, SITE Intelligence Group, an American company that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organisations, said the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Bangladesh Police (Photo: Reuters)
Two policemen were injured in a blast near the car of a Bangladeshi minister in Dhaka, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) terror group, a media report said on Sunday.
The bomb was thrown from the footbridge at the Science Lab intersection Saturday night when the minister was passing through the area, the Daily Star reported, quoting police police and eyewitnesses.
The minister was unhurt in the attack.
"Six policemen were in the minister's security team and the minister was going to a programme of Border Guard Bangladesh. We got stuck at the traffic lights at Science Lab intersection. The bomb exploded when I got off (from the escort vehicle) and walked ahead to ask traffic police to clear the way for the minister," the paper quoted injured ASI AB Shahabuddin as saying.
Traffic constable Aminul Islam was also injured in the blast.
Aminul suffered splinter injuries to his right hand fingers while Shahabuddin had injuries to his legs, one of which had a fracture. They were at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and out of danger, said a doctor.
"Police are investigating the incident and trying to identify the attacker by scrutinising the CCTV footage," said Asaduzzaman Miah, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
A CCTV camera installed at a shop nearby did not cover the spot while another one at a mosque was broken, an officer said.
Bangladesh has repeatedly denied the presence of the Middle Eastern terror group in the country. However, the ISIS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.
An official, requesting anonymity, told the paper that the bomb was similar to the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) recovered at the capital's Paltan and Khamarbari on July 24.
"We suspect that the same group who planted the IED's at Paltan and Khamarbari are behind this attack. But investigation could prove that," the officer said.
On May 26, two people, including a woman police officer, were injured after a bomb went off near a police pickup in the Malibagh intersection.
On April 29, two traffic police constables and a community traffic policeman were injured in a blast in Gulistan.
Investigators had found that CCTV cameras near Paltan, Khamarbari, Gulistan, and Malibagh spots had been damaged days before the bombs went off.
Also Read | 1 dead, 9 wounded in France after suspected knife attack
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Tag: Russia
Russia Denies OneWeb Permission to Provide Satellite Internet
August 2, 2019 News 0
F6 satellite (Credit: OneWeb)
Despite launching its broadband satellites on Russian Soyuz rockets, OneWeb has been unable to obtain permission to provide its services in that country, the BBC reports.
OneWeb, whose headquarters are in the UK, was seeking to use a certain band of radio frequencies in Russia.
However, the State Commission for Radio Frequencies has denied it permission to do so.
OneWeb has been trying to get approval for its Russian operations since 2017….
In 2017, Russia's communications authority Roskomnadzor blocked OneWeb from offering services in the country.
UAE Cabinet Approves National Space Strategy
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cabinet has approved a National Space Strategy to guide the UAE until 2030, The National reports.
The strategy includes 79 projects in the areas of science and space research, manufacturing, assembly and testing in addition to the commercial space service sector, Sheikh Mohammed [bin Rashid] said.
"Last year we celebrated the launch of the first satellite fully built by young Emirati engineers, and in the very near future we will see them operating international space technology centers, based in the UAE," he said in a news release from the Cabinet office.
"We will see Emirati cadres, highly skilled and specialised in space science, achieving scientific breakthroughs that serve the entire humanity.
"We are investing in the space industry, with ambitious projects and initiatives that will benefit our citizens and contribute to key sectors of the national economy. This is an important milestone for our country, and we are aiming to become a model for countries seeking to launch ambitious space programmes."
Meanwhile, two Emirati astronauts — Hazza Al Mansouri, 34 and Sultan Al Neyadi, 37 — are in training in Russia for a spaceflight to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in September. It has not been announced which astronaut will fly with Russian commander Oleg Skripochka and American astronaut Chris Cassidy.
DIA: Russia Sees Reliance on Space as U.S. Military's Achilles' Heel
February 17, 2019 News 23
Russia has focused on maintaining its own military and civil satellites on orbit and selling launch services commercially. Russia usually launches small satellites as multiple payloads on heavier rockets but sometimes uses the Rokot light-lift vehicle to launch smaller payloads into LEO. Russia's heavy-lift vehicles are mostly used for launching into GEO or HEO. The developmental Energia SLV, designed to boost the Russian space shuttle into orbit, was discontinued in the 1980s and revived in 2016 to support proposed lunar missions. (Visualization: DIA, D3 Design)
Challenges to Security in Space
Full Report (PDF)
Excerpts on Russia
Strategy, Doctrine, and Intent
Russian military doctrine and authoritative writings clearly articulate that Russia views space as a warfighting domain and that achieving supremacy in space will be a decisive factor in winning future conflicts. Russian military thinkers believe the importance of space will continue to expand because of the growing role of precision weapons and satellite-supported information networks in all types of conflict. Meanwhile, Russia regularly expresses concern over the weaponization of space and is pursuing legal, binding space arms control agreements to curb what it sees as U.S. weaponization of outer space.
UAE Narrows Astronaut Candidates to 9
July 11, 2018 July 11, 2018 News 4
The Soyuz MS-07 rocket is launched with Expedition 54 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Scott Tingle of NASA, and flight engineer Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Shkaplerov, Tingle, and Kanai will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)
The game of musical chairs for four slots in the United Arab Emirates astronaut program continues at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
Out of 18 candidates, nine passed the one-to-one interviews in the MBRSC and are scheduled to undergo an intensive assessment in Russia by experts from Roscosmos.
Once the assessment is completed, the UAE will be choose the first Emirati astronaut corps out of four Emirati astronauts. The tests will be conducted by experts from Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, and will include intensive medical and physical tests to ensure that candidates are ready for special space-related training.
The center has book a ride to the International Space Station for its first astronaut aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for 2019.
Russian Launch Failures Aren't a Bug, They're a Feature
March 26, 2018 March 26, 2018 News 49
A Proton takes a nose dive at Baikonur. (Credit: Tsenki TV)
Managing Edior
Over the past few years, I've been keeping track of Russia's annual launch failures. For reasons I can't quite recall, the table I've used only went back to 2009.
Recently, I saw a graphic on a Russian website about launch failures, and I realized I hadn't gone back far enough. So, I dug into the records of the last 30 years from 1988 through 2017, which covers Russia and the last four years of the Soviet Union.
And holy crap! There were a helluva lot of them. Launch failures are not a bug in the system, they're a feature.
Russia Looks to Cut Back on Funding for Baikonur
August 4, 2014 August 4, 2014 News 1
Zarya, the first component of the International Space Station, launches flawlessly at 1:40 a.m. EST on November 20, 1998, from Kazahkstan (Credit: NASA)
Russian funding for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is likely to be cut significantly in the years ahead as Roscosmos shifts its focus toward the new Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East:
"In the earlier versions of the Draft Budget 2016, subsidies for Baikonur maintenance were at around $70.4 million," CEO of the Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure Sergey Lazarev said, "These funds were supposed to be spent on salaries and maintenance of the cosmodrome's facilities. We asked for more. But when our representative in the Ministry of Finance was shown the final draft, the subsidies made zero. In fact, this could mean that Baikonur will be left without any funding whatsoever."
Kazakhstan Limits Russian Rocket Launches from Baikonur
Proton rocket
Russian officials are not pleased that Kazakhstan has approved the launch of 12 Proton rockets from Baikonur in 2013 instead of the requested 17. Kazakhstan has cited environmental reasons for the restriction, saying that Proton uses a toxic fuel.
Moscow may demand to review the cosmodrome lease agreement conditions, Iterfax-Kazakhstan reports, citing Interfax Division for Military News as quoting a source in the Russia's space industry.
"A possible scenario is to initiate talks to have the rent payments tied to the extent to which the Baikonur satisfies Russia's needs", the source said.
"Russia is meeting Kazakhstan's requirements to stagedly decrease harmful emissions of the carrier rockets", the source said, reminding that Kazakhstan cited environment concerns when restricting the number of launches.
"In particular, Russia has implemented a costly program to modernize Proton carrier rockets to Proton-M. Heptyl-run Cyclon-2 and RS-20 are no longer used", the source said, adding that "hardly will the sides come to terms within a short time".
A total of 30 launches are planned from Baikonur this year.
This is the latest dispute over the Kazakh spaceport, which Russia leases at a cost of $115 million per year. Kazakhstan has said it wants to renegotiate the lease and assume greater control over the Soviet-era facility.
Russia will be moving many — but not all — of the launch operations currently performed at Baikonur to a new launch complex at Vostochny in the Russian Far East beginning in 2015.
Energia Completes Design of Soyuz Replacement, Eyes 2017 Test Flight
December 27, 2012 December 27, 2012 News 2
RSC Energia announced that it has completed the design of Russia's next-generation human spacecraft, which is intended to debut the same year that the Soyuz will reach its 50th anniversary:
The proposed spacecraft is commonly known as PPTS (or Prospective Piloted Transport System) and RSC Energia won the tender to build it in 2009. Initially, 2015 was named as the date of the first test flight, but that was then shifted to 2018. Now, [Energia Chief Vitaly] Lopota has brought the test date forward again.
Russian Officials Not Keen on Turning Over Baikonur to Kazakhstan
It looks as if Kazakhstan could have a very long wait before it can take control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and its adjoining city. A Kazakh proposal to gradually end the long-term lease that Russia holds on Baikonur is getting a chilly reception in Moscow.
"It will cause many issues, including social ones," forecasts deputy head of the Russian State Duma's commission on the CIS and compatriots Tatyana Moskalkova. She said that economic integration could assist in solving the problem. "If the EurAsian Economic Union were in place, those issues would not be that vital," she explained.
Head of the State Duma's commission Leonid Slutsky says the status question may be under discussion to the very end of the rent term between Russia and Kazakhstan, which is to 2050. "The format of the future joint exploitation is not in place, the terms are not clear," he said. "Clearly, it (revision of the status) is most likely to happen after expiration of the agreement, which is after 2050," he said.
Malfunctioning Russian Upper Stage Explodes, Spreads Orbital Debris
October 24, 2012 News 4
Computer generated image showing the debris cloud around Earth.
The decaying Russian space program continues to cause serious problems for the world:
A Russian Breeze M rocket stage, left with loaded fuel tanks after an August launch failure, exploded in orbit Oct. 16, raising concerns of the U.S. military, NASA and global satellite operators on the lookout for collision threats from hundreds of new space debris fragments.
Russia: Rogozin Calls for Hypersonic Bomber by 2020
September 2, 2012 September 1, 2012 News 1
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)
In a move that has puzzled military observers, Russia's defense czar has called for his nation to produce a hypersonic bomber within eight years:
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin repeated his appeal on Monday for Russia to develop a hypersonic aircraft for its PAK-DA long-range bomber requirement.
"I think we need to go down the route of hypersonic technology and we are moving in that direction and are not falling behind the Americans," he said on Rossiya 24 TV. "We will use this technology when developing a new bomber."
Proton Upper Stage Misfire Puts Satellites in Wrong Orbits
After seven months of successes, the Russian launch industry has suffered another setback when a malfunctioning Breeze M upper stage sent a pair of Russian and Indonesian communications satellites into the wrong orbit. ITAR-TASS reports that "the upper stage engine unit worked for only seven seconds instead of planned 18 minutes and five seconds, and the satellites were not put into the planned orbits."
The nation experienced a string of launch failures from late 2010 to Dec. 23, 2011. The ITAR-TASS story quotes former Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov, who was fired over the failures, as saying the problem is worse now because of the space agency abolished the department in charge of overseeing launch vehicles and upper stages. This makes it more difficult to identify those responsible for failures.
A press release from ILS explains the latest mishap.
RESTON, Virg. (ILS PR) — On 7 August at 1:32 a.m. local time, a Proton Breeze M vehicle carrying the Express MD2 and Telkom 3 satellites launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Proton M launch vehicle performed nominally, however, the Orbital Unit (OU), comprised of the Breeze M upper stage and the two spacecraft, did not properly reach its transfer orbit and was placed into an off-nominal intermediate orbit. The Aerospace Defense and Roscosmos, are currently monitoring the OU and efforts are now underway to establish contact with the Express MD2 and Telkom 3 satellites.
Russia's Soyuz Replacement Delayed to 2018
Vladimir Putin inside of a full-size mockup of Russia's six-passenger "Rus" spacecraft. (Credit: RSC Energia)
Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin says that Russia's new six-person Soyuz replacement will not fly until 2018, a delay from the previous 2015-16 time frame:
"We are thinking of higher [compared to the International Space Station] orbits, and flights to the moon, and developing the technology to fly to Mars," he said. "So we are developing a future system, first of all of course the pressurized, launchable module," he said.
Khrunichev Progresses on New ISS Multipurpose Lab Module
July 1, 2012 June 30, 2012 News 0
While the American part of the International Space Station is largely complete, Russia is continuing work on expanding its capabilities. Below is a brief press release from Khrunichev website about a new module set for launch next year followed by a detailed description.
MOSCOW (Khrunichev PR) — In the Khrunichev Space Center, work is continuing for the flight of the multifunction products laboratory module (MLM) for the International Space Station.
To date, the docking port has been installed on the transition chamber….Equipment layouts for the board layout and the cable network have been installed inside the module. Tests on the temperature control system and the pneumatic hydraulic systems have been undertaken.
Russian, Kazakh Presidents Agree to Develop Long-Term Plan for Baikonur
June 11, 2012 June 11, 2012 News 0
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Russian Ruler for Life Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan's only president ever, Nursultan Nazarbayev, have directed the heads of their respective space agencies to develop a "comprehensive bilateral agreement governing the joint use of Baikonur, the development of its scientific and technological capacity, joint missile systems, training and participation of Kazakhstani specialists in launch services," the KAZINFORM news agency reports.
The decision was announced last week during Putin's official state visit to Almaty, a trip that corresponded with a gathering of the space agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The commonwealth is a loose association of Russia, Kazakhstan and eight other former Soviet republics.


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Comic Review: Penny Dreadful: The Awakening #5
By Waerloga69 | @ | September 11th, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Penny Dreadful: The Awakening #5
Written by Chris King
Art by Jesus Hervas
Colors by Jason Wordie
Letters by Rob Steen
Cover Price: $3.99
In Penny Dreadful: The Awakening #5, it's Hell on Earth, quite literally. In this brand new story arc, we watch as our dutiful protectors are vanquished, forcing them to retreat and formulate new plans to defeat the evil that has taken root in the body of one of humanity's strongest defenders. I am a latecomer to this franchise, but I have quickly learned that it is a gloriously built world with a rich and inviting concept.
...continue reading »
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Topics: Comic Spotlight, Comics, Features
Tags: Chris King, Jason Wordie, Jesus Hervas, Penny Dreadful, Rob Steen, The Awakening, Titan Comics
Movie Review: The Awakening
By The Movie God | @ | August 14th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
DIRECTOR: Nick Murphy
WRITERS: Stephen Volk, Nick Murphy
STARRING: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Cal Macaninch, Shaun Dooley
BBC Films
RELEASE DATE: August 17, 2012 (limited)
As a lover of all types of horror movies, and especially of a good ghost story, I was excited to check out The Awakening, the new thriller from director Nick Murphy, who's making his feature debut.
The movie follows Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), a paranormal hoaxes author and true skeptic in a devastated post World War I England who's firmly set on revealing the real cause of paranormal occurrences, whether they be scientific or man made trickery. Clearly battling some of her own demons, Florence is one day visited by Robert Mallory (Dominic West), who claims that there have been many sightings of a child ghost at the boarding school he teaches at. At first she shrugs him off, offering a simple explanation for his problem, but when he rebukes them all and clarifies that this isn't about finding a ghost but calming the fears of the boys who attend the school, she decides to help.
Upon arriving Florence investigates around a bit and sets up her many complex tests, which leads to what appears to be a resolution. But when strange things continue to happen and she sees things she cannot explain, everything Florence has so strongly believed in will be tested.
Topics: Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews
Tags: Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Nick Murphy, Rebecca Hall, The Awakening
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I've been exploring the Russian Wilderness in northern California over the last two summers. Here are my best videos. Enjoy!
John, great videos of lakes in one of my most favorite wilderness areas. The "Russians" are proof that wonderful things do come in small packages!
Thanks John. The Russian Wilderness is one of those places that packs a lot of beauty in a small area.