#Gordon's result was ironic :D

[lucianalight]

Avatar The Last Airbender Cast Play What Kind of Bender You Are

#they're cute #Gordon's result was ironic :D #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar the last airbender #atla #netflix atla #polls #poll #quiz #four elements #Youtube #atla quiz

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Union pensions are funding private equity attacks on workers

On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.

If end-stage capitalism has a motto, it's this: "Stop hitting yourself." The great failure of "voting with your wallet" is that you're casting ballots in a one party system (The Capitalism Party), and the people with the thickest wallets get the most votes.

During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese state would bill the families of executed dissidents for the ammunition used to execute their loved ones:

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-the-Chinese-government-makes-the-families-of-executed-people-pay-for-the-cost-of-bullets

In end-stage capitalism, the dollars we spend to feed ourselves are used to capture the food supply and corrupt our political process:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

And the dollars we save for retirement are flushed into the stock market casino, a game that is rigged against us, where we are always the suckers at the table:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/25/derechos-humanos/#are-there-no-poorhouses

Everywhere and always, we are financing our own destruction. It's quite a Mr Gotcha moment:

https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/

Now, anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop. We are living through a broad, multi-front counter-revolution to Reaganomics and neoliberal Democratic Party sellouts. The FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division are dragging Big Tech and Big Meat and Big Publishing into court. We're seeing bans on noncompete clauses, and high-profile government enforcers are publicly pledging never to work for corporate law-firms when they quit public service:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/09/nein-nein/#everything-is-miscellaneous

And of course, there's the reinvigoration of the labor movement! Hot Labor Summer is now Perpetual Labor September, with 75,000 Kaiser workers walking out alongside the UAW, SAG-AFTRA and 2,350 other groups of workers picketing, striking or protesting:

https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/

But capitalism still gets a lick in. Union pension plans are some of the most important investors in private equity funds. Your union pension dollars are probably funding the union-busting, child-labor-employing, civilization-destroying Gordon Gecko LARPers who are also evicting you from the rental they bought and turned into a slum, and will then murder you in a hospice that they bought and turned into a slaughterhouse:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

Writing for The American Prospect, Rachel Phua rounds up the past, present and future of union pension funds backing private equity monsters:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-10-04-workers-funding-misery-private-equity-pension-funds/

Private equity and hedge funds have destroyed 1.3 million US jobs:

https://united4respect.org/press-release/people-who-work-at-walmart-sears-amazon-formerly-toys-r-us-more-join-forces-together-as-united-for-respect-2-2-2-2-5-3/

They buy companies and then illegally staff them with children:

https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20230217-1

They lobby against the minimum wage:

https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Insire-Brands-memo-on-15-wage.pdf

They illegally retaliate against workers seeking to unionize their jobsite:

https://www.hoteldive.com/news/dc-hotel-workers-enlist-us-representatives-to-fight-sofitel-union-busting/650396/

And they couldn't do it without union pension funds. Public service union pensions have invested $650 million with PE funds. In 2001, the share of public union pensions invested in PE was 3.5%; today, it's 13%:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B0vv26VEFmwtfw5ur6dSDMY8NftvZKij/

Giant public union funds like CalPERS are planning massive increases in their contributions to PE:

https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/newsroom/calpers-news/2023/calpers-preliminary-investment-return-fiscal-year-2022-23

This results in some ghastly and ironic situations. Aramark used funds from a custodian's union to bid against that union's members for contracts, in an attempt to break the union and force the workers to take a paycut to $11/hour:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-11-20/pension-fund-gains-mean-worker-pain-as-aramark-cuts-pay

Blackstone's investors include the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS). The PE ghouls who sucked Toys R Us dry were funded by Texas teachers.

Then there's KKR, one of the most rapacious predators of the PE world. Half of the investors in KKR's Global Infrastructure Investors IV fund are public sector pension funds. Those workers' money were spent to buy up Refresco (Arizona Iced Tea, Tropicana juices, etc), a transaction that immediately precipitated a huge spike in on-the-job accidents as KKR cut safety and increased tempo:

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1675674.015

Petsmart is the poster-child for PE predation. The company uses TRAPs ("TrainingRepaymentAgreementProvision") clauses to recreate indentured servitude, forcing workers to pay thousands of dollars to quit their jobs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

Why would a Petsmart employee want to quit? Petsmart's PE owner is BC Partners, and under BC's management, workers have been forced to work impossible hours while overseeing cruel animal abuse, including starving sick animals to death rather than euthanizing them, and then being made to sneak them into dumpsters on the way home from work so Petsmart doesn't have to pay for cremation. 24 of BC Partners' backers are public pension funds, including CalSTRS and the NYC Employees' Retirement System:

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-06-02-days-of-plunder-morgenson-rosner-ballou-review/

PE buyouts are immediately followed by layoffs. One in five PE acquisitions goes bankrupt. Unions should not be investing in PE. But the managers of these funds defend the practice, saying they "facilitate dialog" with the PE bosses on workers' behalf.

This isn't total nonsense. Once upon a time, public pension fund managers put pressure on investees to force them to divest from Apartheid South Africa and tobacco companies. Even today, public pensions have successfully applied leverage to get fund managers to drop Russian investments after the invasion of Ukraine. And public pensions pulled out of the private prison sector, tanking the valuation of some of the largest players.

But there's no evidence that this leverage is being applied to pensions' PE billions. It's not like PE is a great deal for these pensions. PE funds don't reliably outperform the market, especially after PE bosses' sky-high fees are clawed back:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3623820

Pension funds could match or beat their PE returns by sticking the money in a low-load Vanguard index tracker. What's more, PE is getting worse, pioneering new scams like inflating the value of companies after they buy and strip-mine them, even though there's no reason to think anyone would buy these hollow companies at the price that the PE companies assign to them for bookkeeping purposes:

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bstqfcskz9o72ospzlds/opinion/why-does-private-equity-get-to-play-make-believe-with-prices

To inject a little verisimilitude into this obvious fantasy, PE companies sell their portfolio companies to themselves at inflated prices, in a patently fraudulent shell-game:

https://www.ft.com/content/646d00f4-af5d-4267-a436-54fb3bc1697b

What's more, PE funds aren't just bad bosses, they're also bad landlords. PE-backed funds have scooped up an appreciable fraction of America's housing stock, transforming good rentals into slums:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/27/extraordinary-popular-delusions/#wall-street-slumlords

PE is really pioneering a literal cradle-to-grave immiseration strategy. First, they gouge you on your kids' birth:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/27/crossing-a-line/#zero-fucks-given

Then, they slash your wages and steal from your paycheck:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3465723

Then, they evict you from your home:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/05/vulture-capitalism/#distressed-assets

And then they murder you as part of a scam they're running on Medicare:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/05/any-metric-becomes-a-target/#hca

As the labor movement flexes its muscle, it needs to break this connection. Workers should not be paying for the bullet that their bosses put through their skulls.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/05/mr-gotcha/#no-ethical-consumption-under-capitalism

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

#pluralistic #labor #pensions #finance #private equity #toys r us #Rachel Phua #kkr #bain capital #calpers #aramark #Private Equity Stakeholder Project #RefrescoArizona Iced Tea #CalSTRS #Roark Capital #child labor #blackstone #PSSI

[whumpster-fire]

So I’ve been sucked into the Railway Series fandom and had the stupid idea of making a fan railroad loosely based off the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad but run with the same “refuses to merge with other railways, refuses to give up its steam fleet, and keeps ending up with a hodgepodge of engine classes from other railways and weird experimental designs” attitude as the NWR, and I’ve been doing research on railroads now as a result, and thoughts so far are as follows:

Jesus the scale of US geography compared to British/Sudrian geography is fucking ridiculous in general and I chose to base this off Colorado railroads which are on their own level of ridiculous. Like, the real life basis for this is “Line literally gains a fucking mile of elevation” ridiculous. “The standard gauge lines have to deal with 3% grades, the narrow-gauge ones get up to like 4%” ridiculous. “The new tunnel means trains ‘only’ have to deal with sustained 2% grades and 4,000 ft of elevation gain” ridiculous. And the engines are probably insufferable about it. Imagining them hearing about the infamous Gordon’s Hill and then finding out that it’s a 1 in 75 gradient for 5 miles and being like “You... named that? That’s literally just a random part of the main line over here.” Their pastime is probably making fun of ‘flatlander’ diesels who show up and complain about the hills.

On a very related note the scale of the engines is fucking ridiculous. I was thinking “Oh well this is based off a relatively small railway they probably wouldn’t have the really big engines” but then I did research and it turned out that due to the need to move heavy freight trains up said absurd elevation gains while the D&RGW didn’t have Big Boys or Alleghanies they had just about everything short of that including at one point leasing some of Union Pacific 3985′s siblings and the Duluth and Iron Range ‘Yellowstones’ as well as owning some similarly gigantic engines. Also some of the fucking narrow-gauge engines are almost the size of Gordon and Henry and might win a tug-of-war with them.

Also imagining the engines being horrified by some of the NWR’s stories about the stunts trucks pull, because apparently those are based on air brakes not being required for freight rolling stock in the UK at the time but the US mandated air brakes in 1900 so many of the steam engines would only have heard stories about a time before them from the older ones.

American engines have such different lamps from the Brit ones. Some US engines have their lamps above the smokebox but some have them on the front of the smokebox, which is a problem in the RWS-verse because that’s where the engine’s face is. So I’ve decided that in the RWS setting any engines that IRL have lamps on their smokeboxes instead have their lamps in their eyes. Some crews really like working with these engines because they can just look at whatever, but some crews hate it because when their engine looks away from the track the crew can’t see it either and they really have to rely on the engine’s situational awareness. And also the moment of darkness when the engine blinks is kind of disconcerting.

Also the bells and whistles and couplings are quite different. Are... American locomotives able to push a train or bunch of rolling stock without being coupled to it?

I saw one website say that “funnel” is not actually real terminology for a locomotive’s smokestack IRL and was popularized by Awdry. If that’s true than my new headcanon is that it’s a quirk of the Sudrian language and dialect in-universe.

#The Railway Series fandom #Thomas the Tank Engine fandom #trains #silly ideas

[sciencespies]

Subway stations near river tunnels have worst air quality

https://sciencespies.com/environment/subway-stations-near-river-tunnels-have-worst-air-quality/

Subway stations near river tunnels have worst air quality

Subway riders waiting in stations near tunnels that run below the city’s rivers are exposed to higher levels of hazardous pollutants than are found in other stations. The “river-tunnel effect,” as researchers call it, may help explain extremely poor air quality in the nation’s largest underground transit system and have particular implications for stations close to rivers in general.

In a previous investigation of New York’s subways, researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine found considerable variation in air quality among city subway stations. While some had pollutant levels a few times higher than that of outdoor air, the air quality in others was comparable to sooty air contaminated by forest fires or building demolitions.

To better understand why, the NYU Grossman research team measured air quality samples in 54 NYC stations during morning rush hour. They found that stations neighboring river tunnels had 80% to 130% higher concentrations of potentially dangerous particles in the air compared with stations only two or three stops further away from rivers. The new study published online Dec. 30 in the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.

“Our findings help explain why some underground subway stations are more polluted than others,” says study lead author David Luglio, MS; a doctoral student at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “Those subway stations closest to rivers clearly must be prioritized during cleaning efforts.”

To explain the “river-tunnel effect,” Luglio notes that while many tunnels in the city’s underground subway system have some degree of air exchange with the surface, those traveling beneath water have more limited ventilation. As a result, harmful debris gets trapped and builds up over time. Trains passing through may then throw these iron and carbon particles back into the air and push them into the closest stations — those at either end of the tunnel.

The investigation, which Luglio says is the largest exploration to date of how river tunnels influence air quality in underground subway stations, also revealed that proximity to a river tunnel was the strongest factor in predicting a station’s pollution levels, followed by its age. Other potential contributors, such as station size and depth, did not appear to play a major role in air quality differences.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority reported that 5.5 million people rode New York City’s subways every day in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began. According to past research, passengers were exposed to air with high levels of particles, which experts have linked to lung and heart disease as well as overall higher risk of death.

For the investigation, researchers collected over 100 air samples in stations between February and March 2022. Among the results, the study showed that on average, pollutant levels in all measured stations exceeded the daily exposure limit advised by the Environmental Protection Agency, which assesses potential health hazards in the environment.

For comparison, and to confirm the river-tunnel effect, the study team measured particle buildup on the B-line, a train route that crosses the East River via a bridge instead of passing beneath the water. Notably, pollutant levels in the two stations closest to the river on this train route were lower than that of stations farther away — as expected, the reverse of the river-tunnel phenomenon.

“Now that our results have identified key contributors to poor air quality in New York City’s underground subway stations, we have a better idea of where to improve conditions in the most contaminated areas of the transit system,” says study senior author Terry Gordon, PhD. “Increasing ventilation and scrubbing the tunnel walls and floors to remove continually recycling debris may make stations safer for riders and transit workers,” adds Gordon, a professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health.

Gordon, also a member of NYU Langone’s Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards, cautions that since the investigation only explored subways in New York City, it remains unclear whether the river-tunnel effect occurs in other cities as well.

He adds that the study team next plans to examine the effects of subway contaminants on human cells to better pinpoint the level of exposure needed to pose a risk to human health.

Funding for the study was provided by National Institutes of Health grants ES000260 and ES007324. Further funding was provided by the NY/NJ Occupational Safety and Health Center ERC Pilot Project Award grant T42 OH008422.

In addition to Luglio and Gordon, other NYU Langone study investigators involved in the study were Tri Huynh, BS; and Antonio Saporito, BS.

#Environment

#Environment

[funknrolll]

FOCUSING ON JANET JACKSON: THE STORY OF THE ICONIC LEGEND, THE HIGHLIGHTS OF HER SUCCESSFUL CAREER, THE FIERCE AND INSIPIRING MESSAGE DELIVERED THROUGH HER TIMELESS ART

Hi music lovers, today I’m focusing on Janet Jackson, I tried to cover as much as I could with this article. Just know that I will write other articles about her, therefore if you do not find some particulars in this essay, just know that they will be in another future article!! I hope you enjoy this article💜

For 54 years the music icon “Miss Jackson” has and still is paving the path for many artists and inspiring us all with her legacy, talent, grace, and beauty, being the role model everyone should look up to. Today I am focusing on the highlights of Janet Jacksons extraordinary career.

Born Janet Damita Jo Jackson on May 16, 1966, in Gary, Indiana, the artist, was the youngest of ten children, but undoubtedly not the least talented. Indeed, at the young age of 10, she got the part of Penny Gordon on the tv show Good Times and her acting skills were already showing. The young child prodigy also made a few memorable appearances on the tv show Diff’rent Strokes as Charlene Dupree and soon got her role on the renown show Fame as Cleo Hewitt. Though the show business was not all flowers and roses for young Janet, who, even at the age of 10, was already showing her iron will to achieve the very much desired success. Indeed, as the artist recalled, “‘I would set my alarm clock for 5.30am, get myself dressed, and get myself out of the door for work five days a week,’ she says. ‘And for a 10-year-old to have that kind of discipline – there’s a lot to be said for that.’.

Then Janet decided to pursue the music career in the 80s, establishing herself as a singing star of the first order. At the age of 16, she dropped her first self-titled album. The pop, funk-influenced, fresh, and danceable record was the beginning of a glorious and remarkable career. Young Love even reached number six on Billboard’s R&B chart. The following year the artist issued Dream Street. The exquisitely pop album was entirely in the fashion of good 80s tunes. Not to mention the surprise guest artist who lent his signature voice in Don’t Stand Another Chance and All My Love To You.

However, in 1986 came Janet’s commercial, and most importantly, creative breakthrough. The artist teamed up with none other than Minneapolis-based producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to create Control, the game-changing, legendary R&B-pop masterpiece that paved the way for the new emerging sounds of the late 80s. Through the empowering lyrics, the artist declared her independence with passion and grace as she affirmed in the title track, “this time, I’m gonna do it my way,” and she really did it. Moreover, the pure brilliance of this work lies in the extremely self-assured vocals and sleek slamming beat combo that presented Janet as a confident tough-minded artist who is in charge of her life and her choices. In support of her brand-new persona, Jam and Lewis crafted a set of gleamy, computerized hip-hop-nuanced funk and urban R&B backing tracks. The album eventually sold over 5 million copies, establishing Janet as a new influential pop star and role model. With this album, the artist was already showing her immense talent.

In 1989 the artist teamed up again with producers Jam and Lewis and released the hotly anticipated follow-up concept album: Rhythm Nation 1814. With this work, the artist became more overtly political, exploring socially conscious themes and issues, which were the whole fulcrum of the album. The singer took some risks with this Rhythm Nation as protest songs were quite uncommon in R&B, but making those risks paid off as the masterpiece not only assured Janet an even higher artist plateau, but it also had wildly successful results. As the artist sang in the title track “Join voices in protest to social injustice” or “A generation full of courage, come forth with me,” in this work, Janet explores themes such as racism, sexism, and feminism and flourishing as a person and artist in an environment ruled by both issues. However, some nonpolitical songs could not miss, ranging from smooth and silky ballads such as Someday Is Tonight, Alone and Come Back to Me to the pop rock influenced Black Cat, to the funk-influenced Miss You Much and Alright to the bright and romantically-themed Love Will Never Do (Without You) and Escapade. The album was a triumph and was accepted enthusiastically by the audience. In support of this masterpiece, Janet undertook her first tour, and it was a smashing success.

In 1992 the artist, along with rapper Tupac Shakur starred in John Singleton’s all-time classic, Poetic Justice. Janet gave proof one more time of her extraordinary acting skills taking up the role of Justice, a hairdresser, grieving over her boyfriend’s death, who writes poems to get through the sorrow of her bereavement.

Subsequently, 1993 saw the artist fully embracing her sexuality, which was crowned with her breakthrough homonymous album: Janet. The new image was trumpeted with a strikingly iconic Rolling Stone cover picture: an uncropped photo with the artist topless covered by two hands. The picture was then used as the album cover. One more time, Janet teamed up with the iconic duo Jam-Lewis and the outcome churned out did not leave the audience disappointed at all. The powerful trio left the synthesized funk in favor of warm, gently, inviting undulating grooves. The 28 tracked album is the product of the artist’s groundbreaking eclecticism. This masterpiece is a perfect mix of whooping cuts sprawling a sonic extravaganza where only 12 were proper songs, and the rest short interludes. The new quirky sounds were aligned perfectly with the brand-new public persona the artist created. The album shifts from the old school shuffle-beat-pop of Whoops Now to the New Jack Swing of You Want This. The leading guitar of What’ll I Do is a 60s flavored old school-rock hit with a bit of Janet’s signature sound. The danceable grooves of Funky Big Band are spiced up with old-jazz samples, while the erotic moans in Throb are a clear nod to Donna Summer’s Love to love you, baby, with some electro-trance influences I must say. A major sociopolitical hit could not miss on this masterpiece. The pop song New Agenda featuring a noteworthy cameo from rap Public Enemy’s head MC. Chuck D is indeed touching some relevant themes such as gendered racism and sexism, which issues were and still are much present in today’s society. The album is also featuring some enjoyable ballads such as the major hit and R&B Again, which appeared at the end of the movie mentioned Poetic Justice. With The Body that Loves you, Janet shifts to some jazzier, smooth, and silky sounds, while the slow R&B-nuanced Any Time Any Place is a groovy erotic jam. The angry This Time is a successful experiment in mixing rocky inflections with lyrical singing. The centerpiece was the album’s first single, the groovy alluring infectious ballad That’s The Way Love Goes. Not only is the collection a groundbreaking masterpiece sprinkled with revolutionary sounds, but what is striking most about this work is the intention with which it was produced. Indeed, Janet is a clear statement and frank celebration of female sexual liberation, which was and still is considered a taboo topic. Through this album, Janet explores black sexuality and lust, which is something black women have always been stereotyped about. Hence, with the explicit lyrics, the mellow and groovy sounds, the artist unveils these relevant topics making a monument to black lust, ultimately taking the power of her own sexuality back, which is portrayed as a beautiful, liberating act. With this masterpiece, Janet was baptized as one of the first real trailblazers and role models who paved the path for multiple African American female artists in addressing and embracing their sexuality fully. Additionally, the video of If was praised for being a beautiful, uplifting celebration and portrait of interracial lust.

Furthermore, how can we forget when Janet introduced her legendary brother Michael at the 35th Grammy Legend Awards on February 24, 1993? The artist wearing a gorgeous total white look and matching high heels matched Michael’s nestled pearls jacket. Not to mention her iconic, memorable hairstyle: beautiful box braids slicked-back into a high ponytail topped off with a had-band turned ponytail-holder matching the whole outfit. The jewelry was also in harmony with the outfit, as the artist opted for silver medium hoops (which went gorgeously with the hairstyle), a classy silver chained necklace, and of course, a couple of silver rings. Janet stepped on stage with the biggest, brightest, and most gorgeous smile to introduce her brother with one of the most touching speeches ever, beginning with “Before he won 12 Grammy Awards before he dazzled millions of fans around the world with his amazing talent as a performer. Before, he impacted millions of lives with his ongoing humanitarian efforts. Before all of that, he was one other thing, he was my brother”. Then she presented the audience an enlightening book of the instructions on how to become a legend choosing Michael as a guide. But the best part was yet to come. Indeed, Janet expressed her love and gratitude for her brother, and honestly, she had us crying the ugliest tears ever and Michael too “I just want to say one thing, seriously. I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you and how much you’ve inspired me and how proud I am to be your sister. And how much I love you, I do”. It was lovely seeing Janet and Michael sharing a beautiful moment on stage and joking with each other. It was indeed a beautiful, heartwarming moment to witness.

In 1995 Janet’s came in support of her brother Michael in Scream, the lead single contained on the album HIStory. The duet between the younger sister and Michael finds the pair spitting out tightly wound lines railing against tabloids. The industrial beats and clattering percussions encased an incredible one of the most mind-blowing vocal performances ever. The sense of frustration and rage makes it one of the most vivid and enduring songs. Not to mention the iconic video directed by Mark Romanek housing the siblings in their own hyper-modern spaceship complete with an indoor zen garden, remote-controlled art gallery, and futuristic squash court. The iconic video came in black and white, with the spacecraft flying over the earth and Michael standing in his distress capsule. Then the tv screen flickers and Janet closes her eyes in the distress capsule. A deafening noise reverberates through their headphones, and the siblings scream in pain. An anime comes on tv, and Michael breaks the glass of the capsule. With this intro, the legendary duo begins a mesmerizing and extremely arduous choreography in unbelievable perfect sync with each other. Not to mention the iconic outfits consisting of black and silver PVC pants, silver bikini for Janet, and black or grey spiked shibori crop-tops styled by David Bradshaw.

In 1997 came Janet’s follow-up album, The Velvet Rope, representing the product of her artistic revolution. With this album, the artist is summarizing the essence of the three previous works: the self-empowering messages from Control, the skin-deep social consciousness of Rhythm Nation, and the sexual liberation of Janet. Through the mature and experimental new sounds, the artist takes the listeners on a journey through the exploration of her psyche and sexuality: the outcome leads us to a darker path than the previous works released. Indeed, the singer sought to combine the sensuality of the last record to some more socially conscious parts such as domestic abuse, AIDS, and homophobia. Indeed, Vanessa-Mae’s prog-rock violin solo on the title track is setting the tone for profoundly spiritual work. The bass-heavy house track Together Again was an elegy for AIDS victims, which showcased a poignant vocal and lyric. Furthermore, from the raw and extremely vivid words of What About “What about the times you hit my face?../What about the times you said you didn’t fuck her; she only gave you head?” it is quite clear what the song is dealing with. And the anti-homophobia song par-excellence Free Xone shifts the moods and tempos segueing from a Prince’s Love Symbol (if you know what album I am talking about) like jam to an intriguing masterful sample from Archie Bell and the Drells’: Tighten Up. Extremely popular on the radio was Got ‘Til It’s Gone featuring the rapper Q-Tip and a reggae-crafted beat of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi. I Get Lonely featuring Blackstreet was another tremendous hit that traversed the dark side of desire. Then Every Time is a melancholic piano-based touching ballad (not going to lie this song had me crying ugly tears!!). The edgy rhythms and he drum-and-and-bass lite in Empty are enhanced by Janet’s delivery racing in a staccato. Then the smooth groovy slippery Go Deep is worthy of some of the best Michael Jackson’s jams (can you notice the resemblance with some of Michael’s songs?). Special is another fabulous piano-based ballad drenched in meaningful lyrics, a true anthem of self-worth-discovery delivering an essential lesson “You see? You can’t run away from your pain. Because wherever you’ll run, there you will be. You have to learn to water your spiritual garden. Then you will be free.”. The idyllic song is abruptly stopped halfway by Janet saying “work in progress,” because after all, we are all a work in progress in our journeys through self-discovery and self-love, right? In the second part of the song, the hidden track “Can’t Be Stopped” is a monumental celebration of being Black where the artist is encouraging other African-Americans to have the same pride “You were born with blood of Kings and Queens and can’t be stopped.” Furthermore, through interludes such as Sad and Memory, the artist explores her deepest emotions and grief. For instance with the few words of the album opener Twisted Elegance “It is my belief that we have the need to feel special/And its this need that can bring out the best in us/Yet the worst in us/This need created the velvet rope” Janet is putting into a small number of words the whole purpose and meaning of this monumental masterpiece. The Velvet Rope is, in fact, a metaphor for a place deep inside. We all strive to protect where all our feelings and thoughts lay. Janet, with this album, is courageously unveiling her Velvet Rope, letting herself firstly and the listener beyond it directly into her sacred “spiritual garden.” Indeed, it is not a mystery that the singer chose the symbol of the Sankofa ( which is also the symbol of the Adinkra tribe in West Africa) to represent the album. Indeed, its paraphrase means “You must learn from your past to move forward,” and this is again the whole concept of The Velvet Rope.

In 2000 the artist appeared in Eddie Murphy’s comedy The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps as professor Denise Gaines.

The next year, on March 12, 2001, the artist was honored with the MTV Icon Award, where the glittery talent roster included Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, Stevie Wonder, Aaliyah, ‘Nsync and Macy Gray, to pay their tribute to the legendary icon. To keep the hype of her new upcoming album release, Janet performed All For You the title track of her next album due on April 24, 2001. The singer ascended the stage in a gorgeous stylish all-white outfit and blew the audience away with her enchanting voice and impeccable choreography. After the performance was over, the artist thanked her dancers and her fans, saying, “It’s such a special night in my Life. An amazing night. Thank you so much. Because of you guys, I’m here. Thank you. I love you.”. Needless to say that we love our beautiful, humble queen more.

Moreover, after the super-personal and provocative Velvet Rope, Janet teamed up again with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to produce the sparkling danceable 70s/80s-influenced All For You. Come On Get Up (one of my favorite tracks in the album) breaks into a frenzy dance upbeat tempo and synth followed by some joyous and impeccable vocals. When We Oooo is an R&B downtempo percussive-based groovy alluring ballad that takes us to another dimension. The R&B ballad China Love is characterized by an extremely neat yet unique instrumental. The sounds of traditional Oriental chimes delve into the past love connections and other new age ambiguities. The glossy, silky slow ballad Love Scene is a sensual jam, perhaps one of Janet’s sexiest song in the album. Trust A Try is the product of a collaboration with hip-hop producer Rockwilder. The monumentally theatrical vocals are accompanied by a reinvention of the opera-genre rearranged into the rock key with electric guitars and cinematic strings. You Ain’t Right is a brutal attack on a gossipy friend characterized by a groovy upbeat tempo and some prominent vocals. The optimistic and hopeful ballad Better Days is entirely in harmony with the whole theme of the album (such an uplifting gem). The complete instrumentation with the guitar solo and striking strings are having us daydreaming of beautiful and distant places. The album is featuring singer Carly Simon in Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You), which is mashed-up with Carly Simon’s song You’re So Vain. Another track containing a sample from America’s Ventura Highway is the upbeat synth-based ballad Someone to Call My Lover, such a well-crafted reinvention of the original song. The extra-slow groovy Truth is a typical Janet’s ballad in the fashion of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On. Feels So Right is another sparkling glossy R&B lo-fi track characterized by a prominent beat and some almost whispered sensual, charming vocals. Lastly, the title track, All For You, is a clear nod to the most memorable 70s funk masterpieces. The alluring upbeat and funk-influenced sound is having the listener daydreaming of the dancefloor at the Studio 54.

In 2004 Janet released her 8th album: Damita Jo again produced by the iconic duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The highly anticipated work is another groovy, sensual, erotic, and unapologetic masterpiece, where the artist explores the crucial role of sex in a new relationship. The preponderance to slow-tempo, sensual grooves, sexual imageries, and spoken interludes are now Janet’s trademark. It’s Janet, and she’s unapologetically sexy. The R&B ping-pong rhythms of the title track accompany the sampled bells, the rap inflected scratches, and the mellow vocals perfectly. Sexhibition is alluring the listener with its infectious stuttering beats and the sampled groovy electro R&B chug, along with Janet’s intermittent vocal bubbles. The sensual vocals in Strawberry Bounce are mixed into an effervescent loop over which, if you listen attentively, you can hear elements of Jay-Z’s Can I Get A and Deon Jackson’s Love’s Make the World Go Round. The next track, My Baby, featuring Kanye West, is a regular R&B laidback slow-jam with on-point beats. Spending Time With You is yet another slow R&B groovy jam that sounds exceptionally familiar (of course, if you are familiar with Michael Jackson’s music). Indeed, the prominent beats, the sampled bells, and the mellow and sensual-almost whispered vocals are clearly drawing inspiration from Janet’s older brother Michael. Segueing the slow-tunes mentioned above, All Nite (Don’t Stop) is a pumping electro-funk whose infectious beats allure the listeners to the dancefloor. Yet R&B Junkie keeps the retro 70s funk vibe high with some well-crafted catchy upbeat synths and characteristic inflected vinyl scratching having us daydreaming of the 70s dancefloors. The album shifts into ’60s retro dazzle with I Want You. The squeaky-clean sugary puff sounds in the verve of the best ’60s classics are a clear homage to the glory of Berry Gordy’s Motown Records. With Like You Don’t Love Me, we are taken back to modern R&B, nodding to new soul stylings with its catchy production, the infectious beats, subtle guitars, and keyboard accompanied by the sensual girly crooning. Thinkin’ Bout My Ex is another slow downtempo jam where the artist explores the emotional consequences of heartbreaks. Following Thinkin’ Bout My Ex, the extra-slow Warmth is a swirling erotic jam. Moist is the sequel of Warmth, another down-tempo piano-based track. The next track, Truly, is leaning towards a new soul genre. With its luscious harmonies and silky vocals, the song is such a sublime masterpiece. Slolove is another in-the-verve-of 70s up-tempo jam characterized by meticulous funk beats. Closing the album Just A Little While is an apparent salute to Prince’s Dirty Mind (precisely When You Were Mine) combining effervescent elements of 80s Prince’ inspired guitars and keyboards. The wide variety of music genres and 60’, 70’, and 80s influences on the album are the product of Janet’s revolutionary and eclectic vision showing the artist flexing her musicology muscle.

In 2006 Janet was a 40 years old woman feeling half her age. Her 40th birthday also conveys with her breakthrough as a music icon and legend 1986. Hence, she released her new album, 20 Y.O. The collection is one more time featuring 5 interludes, all of them titled 20. The first interlude is, however, the most relevant one as the singer gives a clear explanation of the purpose and the meaning of this work: “Well, there’s something to... Are you recording?/ There’s something to be said for not saying anything/I’ve talked about racism, spousal abuse, empowering women, children/I’ve talked about a lot of things/What do I talk about this time?/ I’ve covered a lot in my 20 years/, And I’ve uncovered a lot in my 20 years/, But I wanna keep it light/I don’t wanna be serious/I wanna have fun/I know/I don’t know/That’s what I do know”. The first track opening the album boasts a collaboration with rapper Khia. If you listen attentively, you’d also realize that the song is a masterful sample of Rockit by Herbie Hancock. The outcome is an urban R&B synth-based with prominent on-point-beats. The next three songs present some other masterful samples, such as Show Me complemented with Kraftwerk’s Boing Boom Tschak, Get It Out Me with Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock and Do It 2 Me with Brenda Russell’s If Only for One Night. The threads that relate to all these tracks are the playful prominent danceable and sharp beats and grooves. Segueing the steamy rocky-R&B erotic This Body in which the artist adds some sensual vocals that match perfectly the whole theme of the track: the reversal of female objectification. Therefore, the music and the vocals match the intensity of the narrative, and the manic electric guitar replete with steel drum rimshots. After the second interlude, the artist is back again to a classic R&B string-based downtempo mellow jam. Next track Call On Me, boasts another collaboration with rapper Nelly. The song is yet another well-crafted sample with S.O.S Band’s 1983 major hit Tell Me If You Still Care. The sparkle of the sampled bells in Daybreak glides like Escapade and Runaway. The next track, the neo-soul with a touch of retro vibes Enjoy, is a total breath of positivity and fresh air. The ambiance-neo-soul Take Care is a classic silky dazzling ballad in the verve of Come Back To Me. Love 2 Love is yet another sensual slow jam. In the 5th interlude closing the album, the artist states the fugacity of the 20 years, and ultimately she thanks God for the sense of humor. Then she starts joking with one of her old friends “Twenty years/Time flashes by like lightning in the sky/Twenty years of questions come down to ‘Who am I?’/Thank you God for giving us all a sense of humor”… “All right, it’s ten to six/You’ve gotta go, ’cause I’ve gotta go/Oh, now she’s throwin’ me out now that she had her little say/We have some lovely parting gifts for you, Lynette/Thanks for coming down/Haha, oh, she tryin’ to shut me up/ Do do duh do do do..”

The next year we find Janet in Tyler Perry’s movie Why Did I Get Married? The film set in a Rocky Mountain resort follows four couples who meet each year for a therapeutic vacation. The 8 friends converge to discuss their relationships and address their issues. In the movie, we see Janet play the role of Patricia, a well-meaning psychiatrist and writer who helps her friends to solve their marital problems. The sequel of the movie, Why Did I Get Married Too?, came in 2010, but this time it includes a lengthy section set at the Bahamas. The film is one more time an amid portrait of four couples dealing with marital crises. With these movies, Janet is showing one more time her never-ending acting talents, especially in the second one, when she had to bring to Life Patricia’s painful past. It is indeed, that hurtful past with the broad range of emotions that Janet managed to bring to life amazingly well, making the movie even more credible and touching.

In 2011 Janet released her book True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself, in which she recounters her struggle with weight and confidence. The book is as well featuring letters from her fans. True You topped the new York time’s bestseller list in the following month. The same year Janet was the first female artist to ever perform at the I.M. Pei glass pyramid at the Louvre Museum, raising contributions for the restoration of artworks.

Nine years later, Janet is back with Unbreakable, a profound and insightful masterpiece. In this album, we find a brand-new Janet with brand new sounds more new-soul oriented. The themes of the collection are as well different from the previous ones. In the title track is the artist expresses her gratitude over a relaxed and longing groove. The intensity increases with the dance uptempo song BURNITUP featuring hip-hop icon Missy Elliot. The mood changes with the probing synths and booming bass in Dammn Baby. The next two tracks, The Great Forever, and Broken Hearts Heal, are a tribute to her brother Michael who passed in June 2009. What is mesmerizing about The Great Forever is that Janet sounds almost like Michael. While Broken Hearts Heal is a poignant uptempo ballad with a retro touch that brings us back to the glorious Michael’s 1978 Off The Wall. The subtle crystal beat is exactly giving the vibe of Workin’ Day and Night. The lyrics as well are giving hints that the song is dedicated to Michael “It was a long, long time ago/But I remember it like yesterday/Amazing times while we were growing/’Round all the brightest stars the world had seen/ We made-up songs to do our chores to/And harmonized while we all did our part/Danced and sang our way through most anything/Always felt safe in each others’ love/It was in summer that you left me/The fall and winter never felt so cold/, And Lord knows words can never express it/Life feels so empty I miss you much/Painful tears like never before/We can’t laugh together till we cry/But our love’s ain’t no material thing/ Inshaallah, see you in the next life”. The social-message-song Shoulda Known Better rides on an electro-dance sound and synths to reach euphoria, which is perfectly aligned with the hopeful message of revolution and social change. With After You Fall, Janet lets the listener into her deep thoughts, showing her fragility. The neat and simple arrangement and the gorgeous vocals are flawlessly completing the whole theme and purpose of the song, putting the vulnerability and the grief into sound. The sparkling infectious electro-disco Night is a clear nod to sturdy Minneapolis funk, more precisely Prince’s Sexy Dance (Prince self-titled album 1978). Segueing the effervescent rhythms of Night, No Sleeep is a more relaxed hypnotic downtempo jam. Then Dream Maker/Euphoria kicks in with a Michael-like cry hitting high notes, then settling into a luscious psychedelic groove. 2 Be Loved and Take Me Away are two classic fresh danceable pop songs. The dark nuanced Promise sets the tone for the touching performance of Lessons Learned, where one more time, the singer lets the listener into her deepest fragilities. The dark-tinged new soul Black Eagle keeps the moods sober, unraveling a poignant, beautiful message. The gospel-flavored Gon B’ Alright, is a prominent link to the past in the verve of Sly and The Family Stone and Larry Graham Central Station with a touch of Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Starting Something.

After the release of Unbreakable, Janet began The State Of The World Tour, which was launched in 2017. The title of the tour set the record straight on the themes addressed during the shows. Indeed, some testimonies from some lucky fans who attended the concerts recall the opening video making perfectly clear the message Janet wanted to deliver. A blood-red clip that flashed the names of unarmed black men shot and killed by police, denouncing white supremacy and ending in a chant of “We Want Justice.” Subsequentially, a giant portrait of the singer filled the screen, her image covered by the slogans “We will not be silent. LGBTQ rights. Black Lives Matter. Immigrants are welcome. Liberty and Justice for all”. Through the concert, the artist highlighted the importance of information with the lyrics from Rhythm Nation “information keeps us strong” and “if you want to be in control you gotta get yourself in the know.” The show featured as well lighter topics, and Janet did not spare herself some slick choreographers.

And how can we possibly forget Janet’s ICONIC performance and INSPIRING speech while accepting the Billboard Icon Award in 2018? The artist took the stage, offering the audience one of the fiercest and most impeccable performances ever of Nasty meshed up with When We Ooo (at the end of the song) and Throb. The singer also sought inclusivity not just with words; indeed, the performance featured a collective of dancers of all sizes, colors, and shapes. Eventually, Janet, introduced by Bruno Mars, graced the audience with an incredibly inspiring and beautiful acceptance speech: “I am deeply humbled and grateful for this award. I believe that for all the challenges, for all our challenges, we live at a glorious moment in history. It’s a moment when at long last, women have made it clear that we will no longer be controlled, manipulated, or abused. I stand with those women and with those men equally outraged by discrimination who support us in heart and mind. This is also a moment when our public discourse is loud and harsh.”. What a beautiful, stunning, inspiring queen!!

Furthermore, this summer 2020, the artist was supposed to start her Black Diamond world tour, but unfortunately, it has been postponed.

With this said, through her extraordinary career, Janet has proved so much and has achieved so much. Her unbelievable work ethic and talent have brought her to become one of the best artists on earth, and this is a fact. Her inspiring music celebrating women, especially African American women, impeccable choreographies, the iconic music videos celebrating, and uplifting black people have paved the path for many artists. With her vast contribution not just in the music business, Janet has become a legendary icon to many women and men. All hail to the queen.

Thank you for your attention💜 G.✨

#janet jackson #janet #janet damita jo jackson #janetjackson #rhythm nation #nasty boy #control #black artist #black female artists #female power #intersectional feminism #feminist #music #music icon #black excellence #iconic #article #poetic justice #michael jackson #damitajo #velvet rope #all for you #unbreakable

[blackkudos]

Louis Gossett Jr.

Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman, and his Emmy Award-winning role as Fiddler in the 1977 ABC television miniseries Roots. Gossett has also starred in numerous film productions including A Raisin In The Sun,The Landlord. Skin Game, Travels with My Aunt, The Laughing Policeman, The Deep, Jaws 3-D (1983), Wolfgang Petersen's Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series, Toy Soldiers and The Punisher, in an acting career that spans over five decades.

Early life and education

Gossett was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, on May 27, 1936, to Hellen Rebecca (née Wray), a nurse, and Louis Gossett Sr., a porter. He is an alumnus of Mark Twain Intermediate School 239 and Abraham Lincoln High School. His stage debut came at the age of 17, in a school production of You Can't Take It with You when a sports injury resulted in the decision to take an acting class. Polio had already delayed his graduation.

After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1954, he attended New York University, declining an athletic scholarship. Standing 6'4" (1.93 m), he was offered the opportunity to play varsity basketball during his college years at NYU, which he declined to concentrate on theater. His high school teacher had encouraged him to audition for a Broadway part, which resulted in his selection for a starring role on Broadway in 1953 from among 200 other actors well before he entered NYU.

Career

Gossett replaced Bill Gunn as Spencer Scott in Broadway's Take a Giant Step, which was selected by The New York Times drama critics as one of the 10 best shows of the year. He was 17, and still a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, with no formal drama training.

Gossett's Broadway theatre credits include A Raisin in the Sun (1959). Gossett stepped into the world of cinema in the Sidney Poitier vehicle A Raisin in the Sun in 1961.

Also in 1961, Gossett appeared in the original cast of Jean Genet's The Blacks, the longest running off-Broadway play of the decade, running for 1,408 performances. The original cast also featured James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, Cicely Tyson, Godfrey Cambridge, Maya Angelou and Charles Gordone.

In 1965, Gossett appeared in the musical play, Zulu and the Zayda on Broadway as Paulus with music and lyrics by Harold Rome.

Gossett wrote the antiwar folk song "Handsome Johnny" with Richie Havens which Havens recorded in 1966.

His Emmy Award-winning role of Fiddler in the 1977 television miniseries Roots first brought Gossett to the audience's attention.

In 1983, he was cast in the title role in Sadat, a miniseries which chronicled the life and assassination of Anwar Sadat. While filming An Officer and a Gentleman, Gossett was also starring in the 1982–1983 science fiction series, The Powers of Matthew Star. His role as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first African-American male to win an Oscar in a supporting role, the second black male to win for acting, and the third African-American actor to win overall.

In 1986, Gossett starred in another role as a military man (Colonel Chappy Sinclair) in the film Iron Eagle. It was followed by three sequels.

Gossett is the voice of the Vortigaunts in the video game Half-Life 2 and is the Free Jaffa Leader Gerak in Season 9 of the sci-fi television series Stargate SG-1. He provides the voice of Lucius Fox in The Batman animated series. He recorded several commercials for a Nashville-based diabetic company, AmMed Direct, LLC. In 1997, Gossett presented When Animals Attack! 4, a one-hour special on Fox.

He played the role of fictional U.S. President Gerald Fitzhugh in the 2005 film Left Behind: World at War. In 2008 he filmed the "Keep It Real" series of commercials for the Namibian lager Windhoek.

In 2009, Gossett also lent his voice talents in the Thomas Nelson audio Bible production known as The Word of Promise. In this dramatized audio, Gossett played the character of John the Apostle. The project also featured a large ensemble of well known Hollywood actors including Jim Caviezel, John Rhys-Davies, Jon Voight, Gary Sinise, Jason Alexander, Christopher McDonald, Marissa Tomei and John Schneider.

In 2013, Gossett starred in the controversial drama, Boiling Pot, which is based on true events of racism that occurred on college campuses across the country during the 2008 Presidential election. The film, written and directed by the Ashmawey brothers under AshmaweyFilms, also stars Danielle Fishel, Keith David, M. Emmet Walsh, and John Heard. Gossett plays a detective attempting to decipher a murder case that was fueled by racism, all while putting aside his own prejudices. Boiling Pot was released in 2014. Gossett returned to television in the CBS All Access series, The Good Fight, guest starring as founding partner Carl Reddick of Diane Lockhart's new firm.

Personal life

Gossett has been married three times and fathered one son and adopted one son. His first marriage was to Hattie Glascoe; it was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, took place on August 21, 1973. Their son Satie was born in 1974. Gossett and Mangosing divorced in 1975. His third marriage, to Star Search champion Cyndi James-Reese, took place on December 25, 1987. They adopted a son, Sharron (born 1977). Gossett and James-Reese divorced in 1992.

Louis is the uncle of actor Robert Gossett who starred on TNT's The Closer.

According to DNA analysis, he is descended, chiefly, from people of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

On February 9, 2010, Gossett announced that he was suffering from prostate cancer. He added: the disease was caught in its early stages, and expects to make a full recovery.

On July 18, 2016, Mr. Gosset cohosted as a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies' primetime lineup. Allowed to choose four movies to air, he selected Blackboard Jungle, Lifeboat, Touch of Evil and The Night of the Hunter.

Wikipedia

#Louis Gossett Jr. #05-27

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/dark-store-theory-revisited-news-sports-jobs/

‘Dark store’ theory revisited | News, Sports, Jobs

MARQUETTE — As communities continue to adjust to the potential economic reverberations of the coronavirus pandemic, the “dark store” theory keeps darkening the doorstep of municipalities all over Michigan. Local officials, like those in Marquette Township, have struggled to continue providing services in the face of a nearly $3 million combined cumulative revenue reduction in the last 10 years.

A Michigan State University study on the subject characterizes the “dark store” tax valuation method as a “practice whereby big-box stores contend that their fully operational, often thriving, businesses should be assessed the same as vacant buildings or “dark stores.” The process can reduce the taxable value of a property to less than 50% of the municipality’s initial assessment, according to laws governing Michigan assessing.

The process begins when businesses petition the Michigan Tax Tribunal, a five-member body appointed by the governor, for a reduction in their properties’ tax valuation, based on a variety of factors.

The end result is less money for local education, municipal operations, public transportation, roads, emergency services, veterans, libraries and more.

According to a report compiled by Marquette Township Assessor Dulcee Atherton, the cumulative effect of state tax tribunal decisions involving businesses in the township alone has resulted in over $2.8 million in reductions for all taxing entities from 2009 to 2019.

In that 10-year span, MTT decisions to reduce property tax assessments for retail businesses in the township like Target, Lowe’s, Menards, Gordon Food Service, AutoZone and Kohl’s, for example, have hit the Marquette Area Public Schools’ operating millage especially hard, reducing it by nearly $1.2 million in cumulative budget reductions or refunds, according to Atherton’s calculations.

Other local taxing entities that have seen a cumulative derogatory impact from tribunal decisions involving Marquette Township businesses over the last decade include:

≤ Marquette Township operating fund — $312,942 reduction

≤ Marquette County operating fund — $337,738 reduction

≤ Special education — $127,327

≤ Marquette Township Fire — $159,636

≤ Marquette Township road millage — $68,098

≤ Peter White Public Library — $57,810

≤ Marquette County Dispatch — $31,582

Other Marquette County funds like veterans affairs, Marquette County Transit Authority and the Marquette County Commission on Aging have also seen budget reductions and/or have had to issue refunds.

What’s the justification?

The big box stores’ arguments for tax reductions can be based on a variety of factors including self-imposed deed restrictions that disallow future retail activity to take place in a building once it is sold, as well as the very disposable nature of the buildings themselves.

For example, a portion of the argument in the 2012 case of Lowe’s vs. Marquette Township:

“The big box stores are not concerned about the market value of the stores constructed, but instead, design and build a store that will maximize sales and profits. The big box stores are constructed for the single user’s specific business mode,” the 2012 MTT documents state. “When sold, they are converted to another use, demolished, or an investor will spend a considerable amount to reconfigure the space. (Certified General Real Estate Appraiser Lawrence G.) Allen gave examples of several big box stores that were five years old that were purchased and razed for the new owner to construct a building that meets its specific business prototype.”

Marquette Township Supervisor Lyn Durant said one of the most frustrating things to municipalities is that assessors are following applicable state law in their valuations of all properties.

“The biggest problem is the (state) tax book has to be followed. Assessors have to follow that, and if they go out one iota, they can be, who knows what, how they are punished by the state,” Durant said. “And yet, the tribunal can sit there and in many cases (at the time when the dark store petitions first began to be filed) they were attorneys and many of them didn’t know a lot about taxes or assessing or anything. They were making these decisions … without thinking through what the assessor is required to do. They changed the rules, basically.”

Renewed frustration at the state level

The Lowe’s decision is important, because it was overseen by Victoria Enyart, who Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently reappointed to four-year term on the Michigan Tax Tribunal.

According to Marquette Township officials, it was Enyart who reduced the tax rate for Lowe’s Home Center on U.S. 41 from $60 per square foot to $25 per square foot, resulting in the local taxing entities being forced to reimburse the retailer $500,000 for taxes paid in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Both local and state officials warn the appointment of Enyart, who is a level IV assessor from downstate Jackson, means the atmosphere around big box property tax devaluations will likely remain the same, and may get worse.

State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, who is on the Michigan Senate Advice and Consent Committee, is calling for a hearing regarding the appointment of Enyart, who he said has a “troubling dark store past.”

“Ms. Enyart has served on the state’s tax tribunal for several years and she has a record that must be taken into account,” McBroom said in a release. “During her time on the tribunal, Enyart has established a troubling pattern of devaluing the property of big box stores. The tax tribunal has accepted faulty reasoning for the property tax of big businesses across Michigan, and not only does it result in an unfair advantage of not paying their share, the revenue reduction puts undue stress on governments trying to supply services like fire protection to their residents.”

And objections are coming from both sides of the aisle with a recent release from state Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette, identifying Enyart as “instrumental” in “holding up efforts to abolish the ‘dark store’ loophole.” She also noted that Enyart played a major role in the Menards v. City of Escanaba decision.

“The reappointment of Ms. Enyart to the tax tribunal by our governor is a disastrous decision for local units of government in Michigan,” she said. “Her reappointment guarantees municipalities will lose big box tax appeals in the future.”

The MSU study notes that since 2010, the use of the “dark store” method has cost more than $200 million to local governments and communities in terms of tax refunds to big-box stores.

“At least 72% of (Michigan) counties have faced tax revenue reductions due to the application of the ‘dark store’ method,” the study states. “Local governments have not been successful in challenging the Michigan Tax Tribunal, which favors the use of the ‘dark store’ method. Five bills have been introduced by Lansing legislators over the last several years in an effort to close the dark store loophole, none of which has seemed to get any traction, according to the MSU study. The latest, a bill introduced by Rep. Beau Lafave, R-Iron Mountain, in January 2019, has not moved past the House Committee on Local Government and Municipal Finance, where it has been since March 15, 2019.”

Concern rises as more petitions are filed

Three Marquette Township property owners have filed petitions with the tribunal this year, perhaps the most noteworthy is Meijer, which opened its supercenter and gas station, valued at $14.4 million, in May 2018.

The Michigan-based retailer filed a property tax appeal with the MTT in May, requesting the store’s taxable value be reduced by nearly 43% — from roughly $7 million to about $4 million. The 24-acre parcel where Meijer’s retail store and gas station are situated was purchased for $3.2 million in 2017.

Atherton has estimated that local taxing entities would lose about $140,000 in revenue if the state tribunal OKs Meijer’s request.

Walmart is asking that the tribunal reduce the 2020 assessed taxable value of its property in Marquette Township from nearly $5 million to a little over $2.5 million, according to case documentation on the state tax docket website.

The company has launched similar petitions with the tax tribunal for its stores across the state, Durant said.

“There may be some more personalization to residents in smaller communities where those taxes are more significant,” she said. “Michigan’s residents have to realize that this severe reduction in revenue is having a crippling effect and will continue to worsen, and they need to push the legislature to address it, as many states across the country already have.”

Westwood Mall Realty Holding, LLC, contends that the assessed value of that property in 2020 should be about $2 million rather than the $3.3 million assessed on the tax rolls, leaving $1.3 million in dispute. The company paid $3.2 million for the property in 2018.

Township Board Trustee Pete LaRue cautioned that local employees are not to blame for the tribunal requests.

“We don’t want to take it out on the local stores. The managers there have almost nothing to do with this,” LaRue said. “It’s the bean counters and all those other ones. But if the residents would (tell those companies), ‘I am paying for your roads and you are getting more out of it,’ if they can get to their senators and representatives and the governor … We have to let them know that we’re here and we’re tired of this.”

Making it personal

Durant said it is important that residents understand what is at stake, as more and more MTT “dark store” decisions are made.

“The problem with the big stores dropping their taxable value is that the burden falls to the resident to have them pay everything,” Durant said. “The trickle-down is horrific for the whole tax code.

“For right now, their property values are still high, their assessed values are still pretty high in the township and their taxes are only going to change by the inflation rate for right now. But where they will feel it is that they will have to have more and more millages for the things they want.”

That’s primarily because the taxable value of the retail and commercial properties in the township is being artificially reduced by the tax tribunal decisions, she said.

According to Atherton’s calculations, the taxable value in the township has been cumulatively reduced by over $72 million since 2009.

“Who knows what benefit there’ll be, but we need to educate the public,” Durant said. “(We need to explain) to them that if it’s not hitting their pocketbook now, it will. Municipalities have been able to constructively manage budgets so far, but I think the next couple of years will be very telling as to whether services start getting cut.”

Lisa Bowers can be reached at [email protected]. Her email address is [email protected].

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#revisited #store #theory #Sports

[juniperpublishers-agriculture]

Global Warming Caused by Man “Reality or Global Political Strategy”-Juniper Publishers

The position of Jaworowski [1], on this global political strategy, is argued and designed considering several aspects among them:

The use of research groups and theories of important scientists as main argument such as:

a. The Malthusian current, Thomas Malthus. The theory held that the population growth in the world was in geometric shape, food production in arithmetic progression [2]. b. The Iron Mountain report (proposes the creation of a new quasi-religious myth about planetary risks and exaggerated environmental protection). c. One of the 119 famous quotes of the biologist Thomas Henrry Huxley “the surplus population must be eliminated in some way” [3].

The opinion of public figures of great world importance that reinforce this position (global warming produced by man) among them:

a. Maurice Stron, Advisor to Kofi Anan (Secretary General of the ONU). b. The oceanographer Jacques Cousteau “to stabilize the world population, we must eliminate 350 thousand people daily”. c. Prince Felipe “his intention to return to another life as a virus”. d. The Club of Rome. e. Political figures such as Al Gore, etc.The creation of institutions, such as the Environmental Protection Agency of the USA (EPA) and the United Nations Development Program, among others, drivers of the new proposal.

The implementation of the IPCC as an organization to scientifically validate the political strategy.

Jaworowski [1] states that the joint and synchronized action of these, without considering the veracity or falsity of the information used as a basis for their claims, has promoted the appearance and positioning of ecologists. Therefore, there is scientific evidence to elucidate, based on objective research, whether global warming is real and whether it is caused by man or is a political strategy that encompasses other interests on a large scale (Figure 1).

Critical Analysis

First, we will try to understand in a general way the causes of the global climate. Staines [4] Explains very clearly that climatic variations can be produced naturally by internal phenomena of the Earth-atmosphere system or can be caused by external forcing

Natural factors

a. Changes in solar radiation (The amount of energy that the Sun emits is not constant, due to sunspots on its surface). b. Changes in Earth’s orbit (Variations in the geometry of the orbit that the earth describes around the sun determine where and when the earth receives more solar energy, affecting the net energy balance). c. The greenhouse effect (part of the longwave energy emitted by the earth’s surface is retained by greenhouse gases water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, without affecting the entry of UV rays from the Sun). d. Aerosols (particles and droplets are so small from 10mm to 100μm in diameter that they remain suspended in a gas, in this case the atmosphere, for considerable periods.

External factors (man)

Changes in land use, in cultivation areas or replacing vegetation cover with asphalt or concrete have altered the way in which the earth reflects sunlight and radiates heat. These changes affect the regional patterns of evaporation, rainfall and infiltration of water into the subsoil, affecting the distribution of energy on the planet.Staines [4] concludes that the increase in temperature is attributed to different causes that can be summarized in: a. The climate system is reacting after a negative anomaly caused by a diminished solar contribution, which was followed by a constant increase in solar energy. b. The system is reacting after a negative anomaly caused by an increase in global volcanic activity c. The system is not reacting but is being forced into warmer temperatures by an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a product of human activity. Of course, there is a fourth and more plausible explanation; d. The increase in temperature is the product of a combination of the three causes mentioned above.

Social psychology

Staines [4], does not blame man and rather attributes to the sum of other factors that sound more conservative and scientifically correct. Then, we are able to accept the theory of warming caused by ourselves and start a whole current (Ecologist) to control it. Psychologically is it possible? The human being would be able to accept a lie of such magnitude and what would be his attitude towards it, in this respect Ferguson and Branscombe [5] investigated the notion that collective guilt mediates the effects of beliefs about the cause and effect of global warming on the willingness to participate in mitigation. It concludes that when people believe that their group is responsible for damaging the natural world and that the damage can be repaired, it is likely that their feelings of collective guilt provoke behavior to repair the damage caused. That is, it can encourage environmental behavior.As such a scenario is psychologically possible, is global warming real? The article by Dai et al. [6] can give us a more objective explanation, they used the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) considering historical data on precipitation and soil temperature (up to 1m of soil depth) from 1870 to 2002. Concludes that 1950 to 2002, precipitation increases in Argentina, the southern United States and most of western Australia, resulting in more humid conditions (i.e. higher PDSI) in these regions. However, most of Europe, Africa, Canada, Alaska and eastern Australia became drier from 1950 to 2002, in part due to the large warming of the soil surface since 1950 in these regions. It is clear that this article shows that the changes produced are the product of a variation in precipitation and changes in temperature on the surface, tacitly understood to be generated by agricultural production. It is clear that Dai et al. [6], although it accepts the theory of warming, it does not indicate that CO2 is responsible and coincides slightly with Staines [4].'

Role of the IPCC

But what arguments are found to deny the claim sponsored by the IPCC, is cooling perhaps a mere invention of counterattack. Wayne Hall [7] published in Global Research (January 3, 2017), demystifying the debate on climate change. I point out that forty years ago, it was the new ice age and not global warming that was at the center of official and media concern. Quote some of them:a. The “New York Times” of July 18, 1970 reported that “The United States and the Soviet Union are mounting largescale investigations to determine why the Arctic climate is getting colder, why parts of the Arctic sea ice are they have become ominously thicker and if the reach of that ice sheet contributes to the beginning of the glaciations. “All major climate organizations of the time supported the theory of global cooling. b. A 1974 report by oceanographer and paleontologist James D. Hays revealed that “The suspicion that winters are getting colder and colder is no more than a mere suspicion among climatologists.” In the last 30 years, permanent snow in the Baffin Island has expanded the ice accumulated in Iceland during the winter is increasing and is becoming a serious danger to navigation. c. “The Canberra Times” of November 1974 reported: “A new ice age could conquer the world within the life of present generations. d. An important television documentary (BBC) shows that international scientists have changed their minds about the speed with which the “weather machine” of the world can change gears.Then we ask ourselves when the CO2 monster and global warming is created, Wayne Hall [7], affirms that the doctrine that the increase of carbon dioxide emissions is heating up the planet became “official” for consumption of media in 1966 when Gordon Mac Donald - President of the new Select Panel on Climate and Climate Change of the ICAS (Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science) stated: “Carbon dioxide placed in the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution has produced an increase in the average temperature of the lower atmosphere of a few tenths of a degree Fahrenheit “.For Wayne, it is clear that the issue lies in the ignorance of a global strategy, carried out by the climate mafia (as proposed in the Iron Mountain report in 1967). Where, a global tax on carbon, imposed on humanity for its supposed role in anthropogenic global warming (AGM), would be a cornerstone. Whoever has the monopoly of truth has a monopoly of deception. What has finally been achieved is the last trick of confidence, managing to corral people from all over the world in two camps and turn them against each other.The paradox is that global warming transcended and hypnotized the scientific world, as shown by the article by the researcher Oreskes [8]; who made the review of 928 scientific publications on the subject, from peer-reviewed journals from 1993 to 2003, to see if there was a consensus among the scientific community regarding the influence of human activity on climate, more particularly on global warming. What she found was that each and every one of the authors of these articles agrees with the fact that there is evidence that shows a human impact in the changes observed during the last decades, although the opinions vary with regard to the magnitude of said impact.It is clear that in order to disseminate the idea, they needed an authoritative voice and that is where the IPCC fits, which for Arcos [9] indicates that the main objective for the IPCC is to reduce the Climate Change of anthropogenic origin. Although, there is a social and political debate on the question of whether there is enough scientific consensus to justify concerted international action to lessen its effects (true intention of the supposed warming as Wayne maintains). Arcos [9] mentions that on March 21, 2004, the IPCC reported that the concentration reached 376ppm. This concentration is considerably higher than at any time in the last 420 thousand years, during which period reliable data could be obtained from ice cores. It is believed that the CO2 values were at this height for the last time 40 million years ago. So, I wonder, should not the planet be on fire? If the IPCC attributes the heating to the CO2 increase.The IPCC then lies, because no author has refuted that the planet has presented warming and cooling rates for the causes pointed out by Staines [4] and there are more numerous authors who scientifically demonstrate that the slight warming shown by the earth is reaching its final stage and it gives way to a cooling stage, as Jaworowski [1] maintains. Then its foundations (global cooling trend, influenced by sunspots), are testable or are simply a counter-attack to the IPCC position. In this regard, Wang Shaowu et al. [10] explains that the last cycle of 11 years of solar activity, called cycle 23, was very different from any previous cycle. It lasted 12.4 years, while most of the previous cycles lasted only 10 years, until March 2010. This represents an exceptional solar minimum, beginning in 1913, from cycle 15 to cycle 22. In addition, the weakening of the Magnetic fields and sunspots, evidence weakening of current solar activity. It concludes that the current great solar maximum, which began in 1920, will soon end. It is very possible that a new large solar minimum will begin in the next 100-200 years and we need to closely monitor the number of sunspots in the next solar cycle 24, to confirm whether solar activity tends to continuous weakening.In this context, the proposal of man-made global warming, well supported by the IPCC, is not an impromptu invention, it is finely designed, and to understand the solids of its philosophy, Staines [4] explains the factors that cause variations. climatic and man is a factor and the magnitude of their participation is unknown. Then, as the vast majority I accept such a theory. Ferguson and Branscombe [5] explain that psychologically collective guilt is created, about the cause and effect of global warming, in response the will to participate in mitigation is generated.In addition, Wayne Hall [7] denies the IPCC, showing evidence that forty years ago, it was the new ice age and not global warming that was at the center of official and media concern and that the real purpose is to create imposed on humanity for its supposed role in anthropogenic global warming (AGM). The worrying thing is that global warming transcended and hypnotized the scientific world, as shown by the article by the researcher Naomi Oreskes [8] and we are blinded by what the IPCC says and apparently do not want to accept that the weakening of the fields is taking place. magnetic fields and decrease in sunspots, weakening current solar activity, which governs the global climate as affirmed by Wang Shaowu et al. [10].Finally, Arcos [9] mentions that on March 21, 2004, the IPCC reported that the concentration of CO2 reached 376ppm and that the CO2 values were at this height for the last time 40 million years ago. I ask myself again, should not the planet be on fire? and if the warming is so true why then we do not give tribune and diffusion to alternatives and technologies that allow the transformation of CO2 from industrial emission. As Faruque [11] proposal, a chemical reactor is installed in the tower of industrial CO2 emissions, to capture it and allow a heat release reaction in the bioreactor in the presence of Li3N to convert it into lithium cyanamide (Li2CN2) and use as fertilizers.

Conclusion

The supposed global warming generates its own interests on a global scale, which at this moment keep us occupied and polarized with two discordant philosophical approaches (Ecological- Industrial) and distract us from the real environmental problems that affect the human being in the present “air pollution”, water and soil. “that put at risk the health and food security of future generations.

To know more about Journal of Agriculture Research -

https://juniperpublishers.com/artoaj/index.php

To know more about open access journal publishers click on Juniper publishers

#Agronomy #Agriculture #Open Access Journals #Juniper Publishers

[autographedcat]

A Fistful of Mithril: The Journey Begins

I was delighted recently to be invited by my friend Aron Wolf to participate in a D&D one-shot he was putting together.   I’m a long-time RPG fan, but I haven’t really had a group of my own recently.  Our old regular weekly D&D group in Atlanta scattered across the country, and while we managed to get things going again for a while over Skype, life intervened and we never got it back up again.  So I was really excited to not only play, but play around a table in a room with a bunch of other people I already knew i liked and enjoyed spending time with!

Because this was intended as a shakedown cruise for the world Aron is building, he gave us all pre-rolled 3rd level characters with specific backstories, which let us drop into the “meeting the party” phase without a lot of time for chargen.  This was useful, because our group was pretty evenly divided between D&D veterans and folks who had never played before, and even among the vets, some of us hadn’t really played 5th edition yet, so our knowledge of the system was rather out of date.

(Author’s note: I am not the DM of this campaign, so all of my reports will necessarily be titled towards my own perspective as a player. I will do my best to report on the happenings fairly and accurately, but I won’t always have all the information to hand about what is important, and that may influence my account.) Our setting is a land that is somewhat modelled on the Italian renaissance, and is set about 10 years after a very nasty war with a neighbouring nation-state devastated the region, and from which it is still recovering.  Our characters all had various connections back to that war. 

My own character’s story had a lot of interesting and tragic threads.  She was born into nobility, but her family’s house was betrayed by collaborators and  fell during the war, when she was a child.  Her parents were executed by the invaders, and she was held hostage for a time in the occupier’s court.  When the war ended, she found herself without land or title, and has been making a life on the streets in a variety of shady pursuits, with a speciality in skycraft and the acquisition and brokering of information to those willing to pay for it.  As a result, she’s had a hard life for one so young, but can still, thanks to her upbringing and early education, still move as easily through high society as she does the criminal underworld.  She’s still bitter about being cast out, and has ambitious to one day reclaim her birthright. 1 In addition to Kyrial, my rogue, we had the following PCs to round out the party: A cleric, Jane (Julie), A dwarven bard, Belle (Shawna) A fighter, Gordon (Marcos) A musketeer2, Lex (Jasmine/Leah)3 Another Rogue, Splendid (Paul) (Shawna helpfully live-tweeted some of the better dialogue, which I will be including throughout this report. Thanks, Shawna!) We had all been brought together to guard a caravan that was taking supplies up from the regional capitol to a mining town on the edge of the mountains, about two days travel away.  Our benefactor, Elmo Bartolo, was one of the scions of the frontier town, which was still rebuilding after the war. We had a fit of giggles over learning the name of our employer, which lead the the DM referring to him exclusively by his last name for the rest of the session.

Elmo does not travel! Elmo is the money!#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

The first day of travel passed uneventfully. We set watches for the night, which also passed uneventfully. Well, one of us heard a noise and investigated, but it turned out to be nothing.

“Bunny.” “…Bunny?” “Bunny.”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #belle #gordon

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Midway through the second day, we were approaching the entrance to a narrow gulch in between two rises.  Off to one side, the wreck of an overturned wagon could be seen.  Though the first two wagons in our caravan had passed into the gulch without incident,  Splendid decided he would stealthily try to circle wide and scout it out from the higher ground.  The bard was already wary of the entire scenario.

Belle, singing “It’s prooobably a traaaap, it’s prooobably a traaaap”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #belle #bard

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Successfully sneaking up onto the ledge, Splendid spotted four goblins–one rather larger than the others–waiting in ambush behind the cart, which he signalled back to us via a message spell Belle had established.

Belle: “It’s deeefinitely a traaaap, it’s deeefinately a traaaap” Gordon: “Really, Belle?” Belle: 🤷🏻‍♀️#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #belle #gordon #bard #captainobvious

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #goblin #ogre Image description: four goblins and an ogre on a rise of rock. pic.twitter.com/uiPvdKfm72

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Just as the wagon in front us had passed through the ravine, a rock slide fell down into the path.  Above the ridge on the opposite side from where the previously spotted goblins were hiding, there were four more goblins and an ogre.  All of whom came from hiding to engage the party.

Spoiler: it was a trap.#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #goblinsandogresandrockslides #ohmy

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

With the trap sprung, we leapt into action.  Splendid pegged the goblin leader in the back with a arrow from his hiding spot, while the cleric sent a spiritual weapon spell forward to smack him in the face as well. Between the two of them, he was not having a very good ambush.

The goblin boss is, obviously, not happy.#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #jane #goblin #boss

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Lex went wide to the left and fired a shot off at the ogre, which hit but, thanks to poor die rolls (a theme of the evening), it did so little damage the ogre, not knowing what a rifle was, didn’t actually associate the loud far off noise with the damage.  Meanwhile, Belle and Gordon moved forward to engage the smaller goblins with their preferred weapons, respectively an enormous warhammer that was taller than she was and…a cast iron frying pan4

Kyrial, who had been brought up never to walk up to a strange group of goblins without a proper escort, kept to her perch on top of the wagon and took crossbow shots at whatever target appeared most favourable from that vantage point, declining to take a move action at all unless she was forced.

#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #jane #lex Image description: dnd minis, 2 on a cart, one on the ground, and two horses. pic.twitter.com/wS1XDL6YLj

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Aron (DM): “Are you gonna fall off the wagon?” Kyrial: “It depends on my Dex check!” 😅#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #kyrial #dm

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Belle's first attack with the hammer left hes target on death's doorstep, a mighty blow that nearly reduced the hapless goblin to pulp.  ((Put a pin in that thought.  We'll be back for it later.)).

DM: “He is hurt, but not paste. (He has one hit point left.)”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #belle #Goblin #dm

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

In the second round, the ogre and his retinue of goblins had scrambled down the hill.  Lex took a second shot at the ogre, and this time connected with a more substantial amount of damage.  The ogre, now aware that the human with the boom stick was creating the hurt, peeled off to make a beeline for the musketeer, and tagged him for half of his hitpoints. (Ouch!).  Belle, meanwhile, cast a shatter spell on the four goblins he’d just abandoned, obliterating two and badly hurting the others.  At one point, Gordon did a massive amount of damage to a goblin who didn’t have much health left, and Aron wrapped his knuckles on the edge of the table while reaching out to turn over the mini.

“You did so much damage, you killed the goblin and injured the DM!”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #gordon

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

The goblins did manage to get some minor hits in against their melee targets, poking them with their rusty short swords, but it was clear the battle was not going the way they had planned.

“Does tetanus count as poison?”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #belle #rustysword #goblin

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Of course, this being our first combat (even for the D&D veterans in the group, this was the first time a lot of us had been playing 5th Edition, so a lot of what we knew about combat was no longer applicable. One person noted it was a lot like trying to figure out the controllers on a new video game, and not being sure which button was the one to attack with.

“Which of these buttons isn’t crouch?”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

At one point, I was asking about attacks of opportunity, recalling that in 3.5 days the rules were so complicated that our friend Mary had written an entire song just to teach everyone how they worked. 5

“@DrMaryCCrowell wrote a song just to explain attacks of opportunity.” “Remember that that was for 3.5.”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #filk

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Meanwhile, between spells, arrows, and melee, the goblins were in a world of hurt, and the Goblin Leader decided that the better part of valour was abandoning his cannon fodder and going to gather more, healthier cannon fodder.  He turned to flee, but in the process ran right past our hidden rogue, who managed to tag him for the last of his health.

DM: “The goblin sees you.” Splendid: “I wink at him.”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #splendid #goblin

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

Lex, on the other hand, took one more shot at the ogre before deciding also to abandon his now close-range target for the warm embrace of the cleric’s healing spells.  Unfortunately, leaving the ogre’s threat radius did provoke an opportunity attack, which was substantial enough to help him cover most of the distance between himself and the cleric in the air.  Luckily, the cleric was prepared with a healing touch.

“Boop of Healing!” 10 points!#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #jane #lex

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

The ogre closed the gap to where Lex, Belle, and Gordon were standing.  At this point, between Kyrial picking them off and Belle and Gordon smacking them with hammers and pans, the goblins were pretty much off the table, but the ogre still had a big mad on, and he was looking to take it out on someone.  Kyrial suggested this was not how the creature had expected his afternoon to go.

“He just wanted to read you his poetry.”#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

With three targets to choose from, the ogre picked randomly, but missed, but so did we trying to hit.  But that set up the moment in the next round that brought us victory. Splendid, having run out of targets, had moved around to the front of the ridge, and managed a critical sneak attack with his bow that brought the giant foe crashing down.

DM: “How do you want to do this?” Splendid: “It’s through the femoral artery, pinning him to the ground.” Ogre: “blaaaghlrrlrlrlrlrlrlrrrrllllll” x_x#dnd5e #fistfulofmithril #splendid #criticalrole

— Shawna Universe (@SheIsTheWeather)

November 23, 2019

We looted the bodies, which didn’t net us much, and then surveyed the rest of the caravan.  The lead wagons had been fighting off a goblin band of their own, but had dispatched them.  Unfortunately, the path was no longer navigable, so we were told to take the longer way around through a nearby pass and meet up with them in town.

And thus ended the first combat.  I have to say I’m quite impressed with the way combat flows in 5e. They’ve managed to streamline it substantially, without taking away all of the strategy or skill synergy that makes putting different builds and styles  in a group to see how well they work together.

The session continued when we reached town, but this post is already long and full of tweets, so I’ll continue that story in another post.

Much of this information is still largely unknown to the party, and in turn, I only have some glimpses into the backstory of the other characters myself. ↩

Gunpowder is a relatively recent and rare invention, so this is a notable character ↩

Jasmine was not feeling well, and had to leave partway through the game, so Leah took over her character for her. ↩

Don’t judge.  It was super effective. ↩

It’s true, and it’s a bop.  You should listen to it even if it isn’t necessarily useful for teaching D&D anymore, because it’s a bop. – https://marycrowell.bandcamp.com/track/opportunity-tango  ↩

#5e #campaign diary #d&d #fistful of mithril #gaming

[rivashmcmaster-blog]

Globalization and the Olympics: A Gold Medal in Greed | Blog Post 3

The olympics are a global spectacle of patriotism, competition, pride and the bringing of the world together for one big event. On the outside the Olympics seem like a light hearted event meant for the people of the world to rejoice in; Everyone is rooting for their country to take the gold. However, it's ironic that the global mega events like the Olympics often do more harm than good. One recent example of this is the 2016 Rio Olympics. It seems like everyone was excited for the games except the people of Brazil. Strange, but after even just 15 minutes of basic research you can see the real, horrible and gluttonous nature of the Olympics. The games did a great job of generating income and attracting global attention, however, all that money and attention only benefited the already rich and corrupt government officials, business owners, construction companies and foreign sponsors (Gordon, 2016). Brazil spent 12 Billion dollars on hosting the Olympics at a time when the country was already in a recession. The “supposed investment” did not benefit the poor citizens living in the slums. Instead it went directly into the pockets of those mentioned before, leaving Brazil’s people in even worse conditions (Burke 2017). As a direct result of globalization and the advancement of broadcasting technology the Olympics have become a magical spectacle that everyone but the host country’s citizens looks forward to. Everyone around the world wants to tune in to watch but rarely think about the poor people suffering so others can watch. As global citizens we have a duty to do something about this. Either we can boycott the Olympics and its sponsors (To an extent because in reality it's a lot easier said than done), demand for the IOC to go about the olympic preparation ethically or other socially positive solutions that work to benefit the people who have historically suffered during and even after the Olympics strike. According to Forbes, Brazil earned around $9 billion as a result of hosting the games (Settimi, 2016).  And yet village house cleaners are being paid the equivalent of less than $3 Canadian! This doesn't take into account the working conditions or the 17-hour long work days, many workers were forced to work (Watts, 2016). This is the sad reality that are the Olympics and to a broader extent Globalization: As we sit back and enjoy the bright olympic flame, others are suffering to keep their own flames alive.

Work Cited

Burke, D. (2017, February 20). Brazil's $12 billion Olympic legacy lies in ruins. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4241412/Brazil-s-12-billion-Olympic-legacy-lies-ruins.html.

Gordon, A. (2016, August 22). The Rio Games Were An Unjustifiable Human Disaster, And So Are The Olympics. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/gvayg4/the-rio-games-were-an-unjustifiable-human-disaster-and-so-are-the-olympics.

Settimi, C. (2016, August 8). The 2016 Rio Summer Olympics: By The Numbers. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2016/08/05/the-2016-summer-olympics-in-rio-by-the-numbers/#1d416f7efa18.

Watts, J. (2016, August 18). Cleaners at Rio's athletes' village paid just £1.40 an hour. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/19/cleaners-at-rios-athletes-village-paid-just-140-an-hour.

[foodpsyche]

Filet Mignon with Red Wine Sauce + Pomme Puree & Asparagus

Today, I’m delivering a ‘Top Chef’-esque recipe & photos of my successful attempt. Sometimes I come into these projects with very little expectation on how well it will turn out, but gotta tell you, I was pleased with the result (& so was my guest [wink wink]).

There have been more futile attempts than I would like to admit in the past, like the time I tried to make garlic naan......had a whole 8 dinner guest witness the catastrophe too. To think of it, a good pep talk from Gordon Ramsey could have probably done me some good.

“Aye aye, Captain! I’mma handle this kerfuffle matey, before it goes bonkers”. That’s how the Geordies/Brits talk,...it think.

Now that painfully unfunny introduction is over, lets get to the bizness with my lovely recipe.

Ingredients:

- Potatoes, peeled and quartered

- 4 Garlic Cloves

- Peeled ½ lb Fresh Asparagus, washed and trimmed 

- 4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Divided 2 8 oz Filet Mignons, at room temperature Kosher Salt Fresh Cracked Pepper

- 1 Tablespoon Shallot, minced

- ½ Cup Red Wine

- ½ Cup Beef Stock 

- 8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

- Melted ¼ Cup Heavy Cream, warm

Step One (make Pomme puree):

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Heat a large pot of water over medium high heat.  When water comes to a boil, add potatoes and garlic cloves and cook 11-13 minutes, or until fork tender; remove from heat and set aside. When almost ready to serve, return on heat, pour some cream along with melted butter and mash to preferred level of smoothness.

 Next, lay out asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet; drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat each spear.  

Step Two (cook the fillet):

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and season filets with salt and pepper.  Add remaining oil and sear filets, undisturbed, for 2-3 minutes.  

Flip filets, and insert into the bottom rack of the oven until internal temperature is 135 degrees F for medium rare/medium, about 5-7 more minutes depending on the cut.  

Remove filets from oven and tent with foil to keep warm and rest.  

Meanwhile, place asparagus on the top rack of a 425 degree oven, roast for 8-10 minutes, shaking pan on occasion to ensure asparagus cooks evenly.  

Step Three (Make the red wine sauce):

Place the cast iron skillet used to cook steaks back on stovetop over medium high heat and sauté shallots for 1-2 minutes.  Deglaze pan with wine, and reduce mixture by half.  Add stock, and once again reduce mixture by half.  Remove from heat, add 2 tablespoons of butter, and season the pan sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Serving: Plate a portion of potatoes on the centre of plate, top with asparagus, and finish with the filet.  Spoon the red wine pan sauce around the perimeter of the plate.  Enjoy!

[papermoonloveslucy]

WOMEN’S CLUB ELECTION

September 30, 1949

"Women’s Club Election” (aka “Liz Is Elected Women’s Club Treasurer”) is episode #56 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on September 30, 1949.

This was the fifth episode of the second season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950. 

The script was later adapted for television as “The Club Election” (ILL S2;E19) first aired on February 16, 1953.  

Synopsis ~ George has cause for alarm when Liz is elected treasurer of the local women's club because he knows how much trouble she has with figures but Liz has a surprise for him.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Coope. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father's garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricarodo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) does not appear in this episode. 

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (Mr. Benjamin Wood) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.

Conried played Mr. Wood on several episodes. Wood is a neighbor of the Coopers with eleven children!

Frank Nelson (Derelict) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”.  Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs. His trademark was playing clerks and other working stiffs, suddenly turning to Benny with a drawn out “Yeeeeeeeeees?” Nelson appeared in 11 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, including three as quiz master Freddy Fillmore, and two as Ralph Ramsey, plus appearance on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” - making him the only actor to play two different recurring roles on “I Love Lucy.” Nelson returned to the role of the frazzled Train Conductor for an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963. This marks his final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom.

Elvia Allman (Marge Van Tassel) was born on September 19, 1904 in Enochville, North Carolina. She started her performing career on radio in the 1920s, as both a storyteller and singer. This led to work voicing cartoon characters for Warner Brothers. Simultaneously, she was pursuing stage acting, appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. Allman made her film debut as an actress in 1940’s The Road to Singapore as a homely woman who pursues Bob Hope. Allman played the strident forewoman of Kramer’s Kandy Kitchen in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1).  She would return to the show as one of Minnie Finch’s neighbors in “Fan Magazine” (ILL S3;E17) and as reporter Nancy Graham in “The Homecoming” (ILL S5;E6). She made two appearances each on The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour“ and ”The Lucy Show.“

On “I Love Lucy,” Lucy Ricardo frequently was heard talking to a club woman named Marge on the telephone, but her last name was never mentioned. When we finally get to meet Marge she is played by Charlotte Lawrence.    

Naomi Brubaker and other Women’s Club Members are played by uncredited performers. 

EPISODE

The episode opens late evening at the Cooper’s where Liz is typing and George is reading a book. Liz complains about Mr. Woods’ kids ringing the doorbell - but it is just the bell on the typewriter. Liz is typing her acceptance speech for tomorrow’s women’s club election. She reads the speech aloud for George:

LIZ: “Ladies of the Sheridan Falls Women’s Club: First, I want to thank everyone who voted for me. You will not be disappointed.  I’ll do my best to be a good _______ this year.”

On "I Love Lucy” the Sheridan Falls Women’s Club was known as The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League.

Liz will fill in the blanks once she is elected. She is sure to be elected to some office, as everyone in the club is an officer - all 25!  The only office Liz is not expected to be elected to is Treasurer, which always goes to Naomi Brubaker, whose husband is a CPA.

Next day at the Club meeting, Iris (as President) makes announcements and reads the election results. As Iris owns the clubhouse furniture, she is naturally re-elected President. Vice President goes to Phyllis Brown, though Liz assumes it will be her. Secretary goes to Marge Van Tassell (Elvia Allman), although Liz expects it to be her.  Instead, Liz has been elected 25th Honorary Exalted Alternate. The bad news is that although Naomi is re-elected treasurer, she must resign as her husband the CPA has been transferred to California.  Because Liz’s husband George is a banker, Liz’s nomination and election is rushed through, much to her dismay. 

IRIS: “Liz, you’ve been elected!  This is a democracy! It’s the will of the people!”  LIZ: “It is not!  I’m a people and I didn’t even get a chance to peep!” 

Liz’s rush to read her acceptance speech before her name is even announced is very similar to Lucy Ricardo’s rising to acknowledge her nomination before her name is read aloud in “The Club Election”.  Liz and Lucy’s hopes are dashed each time Madam President announces a new result. 

George is concerned about Liz’s election to treasurer because of her inability to do her household accounts.  He lays down the law: if her household accounts don’t balance, then she must resign!  Liz confides in Katie the Maid that the Club’s books are a real disaster.

On “I Love Lucy,” Lucy Ricardo’s household accounts became so messy that Ricky hired “The Business Manager” (ILL S4;E1) to try to make sense of them. Charles Lane played Mr. Hickox. 

Liz asks neighbor Mr. Wood (Hans Conried) for help with the club’s books. She has plans to build a new clubhouse, but she doesn’t know the difference between income and expenses and can’t add 9 and 9. Mr. Wood says the club only has forty cents in their ledger!

LIZ: “What kind of a clubhouse can you buy for forty cents!?” MR. WOOD: “Maybe you should settle on a club sandwich.” 

After a commercial by announcer Bob LeMond for Jello Vanilla Tapioca Pudding, the story resumes. It is the first of the month and George wants to see Liz’s household books, but she is forty dollars short, so she tricks him into thinking he is late for work by setting the clocks forward. Liz gets an idea to transfer the money from the club to the household accounts and back again!  

At the meeting, Liz reports a surplus of $100. Marge wants to contribute the money to the Sheridan Falls Boys Club. The donation is voted through although Liz knows this will spoil her scheme to juggle the books. 

Back at home, she confesses to Katie that she didn’t give the Boy’s Club the full amount. To clear her guilty conscience she decides to give the rest of the money to the first needy charity she sees. She opens the front door and coincidentally a derelict (Frank Nelson) is passing by. She give him the forty dollars. 

When George comes home to see her books, Liz faces the music, fearing the worst. Just then the doorbell rings. It is the Derelict who hands her $740. He took her $40 and bet it on a horse at Belmont who came in 16 to 1! Liz gladly returns to face George! 

At one time, early in her career, Lucille Ball went by the name Diane Belmont, naming herself after the New York Racetrack!

In a live Jello commercial, Lucy plays a tourist in sunny France and Bob LeMond a Frenchman flirting with her. He says he reminds her of Jello Tapioca Pudding!  

LUCY: “Well, tap my ‘oka’ - these Frenchmen really know how to make love!”

In the usual bedtime tag, Liz wakes George from a sound sleep to report she’s had a dream of being in the desert. He is sure she wants him to get her a glass of water. Instead, he brings a whole pitcher and dumps it on her!  End of episode. 

Bob LeMond reads a pitch for men to join the military, highlighting educational opportunities. He reminds listeners that Lucille Ball can be seen in the film Miss Grant Takes Richmond.  The film had premiered just ten days before this broadcast. 

#My Favorite Husband #I Love Lucy #Lucille Ball #Richard Denning #Bea Benadaret #Ruth Perrott #Bob Lemond #Elvia Allman #Frank Nelson #Hans Conried #Club Election #1949 #Radio #CBS #Jello #Miss Grant Takes Richmond