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lilacmoon83 · 3 years

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Lightning in a Bottle

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Chapter 23: Whatever it Takes, Pt 1

David entered the kitchen that morning, after he finished getting ready for work, only to see his wife at the stove.

"Wow...omelets on a weekday?" he asked, as he put his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"Well...you have a busy day ahead being a sleuthing accountant. You need your energy...especially after last night," she purred.

"Yeah...it was pretty amazing," he agreed, as she put the eggs on five plates and then turned around in his arms, so they could kiss properly. They slowly swayed together and then pressed their foreheads together once their lips parted.

"Besides...you don't know how much it means to me that I have my husband and my son back and how much I love taking care of my family," she said, as he kissed her again.

"I know...and I promise we're not going anywhere ever again, my love," he promised, as Emma and the kids came into the kitchen.

"It's way too early for romance, you two," she grumbled, as she went for the coffee.

"You just hate mornings," Margaret mentioned, as she delivered the plates to everyone at the table.

"Ohh omelets...you're forgiven," Emma said, as she started eating with the kids, while David and Margaret sat down with them.

"So...how was date night?" she asked.

"Wonderful...but it was sort of a working date night," David replied.

"What does that mean?" Emma asked.

"Well...when I was digging at my new job, I learned that Unified Dynamic Systems is one of the clients at JP Williamson. UDS is funding something known as the Singularity Project, which is the research of this woman," David replied, as he showed her an image on his tablet.

"A passenger?" Emma asked.

"Yes...one that was studying something called mirror neurons. It's a fringe study that believes there are ways for human brains to link up collectively," Margaret explained.

"Uh...that sounds familiar," Emma said.

"We thought so too...so we cornered her after her symposium and questioned her about the missing passengers. But I don't think she knows anything about that," David replied.

"And you believe her?" Emma asked skeptically. He shrugged.

"She agreed to try to find out more information about her funding source, especially since it looks like they may be using her research to experiment on unwilling victims," David replied.

"I believed her too...trust me, she would be in bad shape if I thought she had anything to do with the plane's disappearance," Margaret assured. Emma snorted in amusement.

"Yeah...she'd be in a body cast right about now," she teased.

"Well…I'm protective of the people I love," Margaret said, as she kissed her husband, before gathering their plates.

"What about you? I heard you made a big arrest. It's all over the news," David mentioned.

"Uh yeah...we got that guy that killed the brother of the owner of Darkstar Pharmacy," Emma replied.

"Good...that was so sad and a little too close to home," Margaret mentioned quietly. It was not lost on any of them that Ruth had been killed in a similar type situation.

"Yeah...something else happened too. It was a Calling," she mentioned. Margaret turned off the water and sat back down with them.

"You didn't tell us that part," she said.

"It just happened," she pointed out.

"Anyway...when I was around the store owner, I kept hearing this heartbeat. Long story short...I found out that Tom Clark had a heart transplant almost six years ago…" Emma said, as she looked them in the eyes.

"It was Lily's," she said, causing Margaret to gasp and David looked at his son.

"Hey buddy...where's that drawing you were working on?" David asked. Henry dug through his backpack and produced the illustration of a man with a heart on his chest.

"That...looks like Tom Clark," Emma replied.

"And you helped catch his brother's killer," Margaret said in amazement.

"That's not all I helped him with. He was going to take justice into his own hands...but I convinced him not to, identify the killer, and let the justice system take over," Emma replied, as Margaret squeezed her hand.

"Then that's more confirmation that these Callings are doing something good," she said.

"I don't know MM…" Emma replied.

"I mean...even if they are good…" she said.

"I mean...what is this?" she added in frustration.

"I don't know...but we will figure this out. All of it," David assured them both. With that, they quickly cleaned up and started the day.

~*~

Emma arrived at the station and sat down at her desk, only to look up and see Killian standing there with a bakery sack in his hand.

"Picked up an extra bear claw," he mentioned.

"Uh...thanks," she replied, as she accepted the bag and he leaned against her desk.

"So...how's Henry?" he asked.

"He seems to be fine for the moment. We're keeping a close eye on him," she replied.

"But you don't think this is over?" he asked.

"Do you?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Honestly Emma...I have no idea. I mean...it's pretty out there," he mentioned.

"Yeah...that's what I thought too at first. But then it happens to you and it gets real, no matter how out there it seems," she said.

"I mean...last night, our victim's brother in this latest case just happened to be the recipient of Lily's heart? That's some out there stuff, but it happened," she reasoned. He sighed.

"Yeah...that was pretty wild," he agreed.

"Which means, whether I like it or not, these things that are happening to passengers are real and something," she said. He nodded.

"Fair enough...so what now?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I'm not sure...my brother is playing his own version of detective at his new job, so I guess we wait to see what he turns up and pray he's not discovered," he replied.

"Ah…I knew there had to be more to that. Your brother is way overqualified for a low level accounting clerk," he said.

"Yeah and from what I've heard his boss probably has an IQ that's half my brother's, so it shouldn't be too hard for David to find whatever he's looking for," she replied, as he sat down at his desk and they worked on the recent paperwork from the previous night's case.

~*~

After dropping Henry off with her father-in-law, Margaret arrived at her classroom that morning.

"Ms. Nolan?" a voice called, as a man peered into her classroom.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm Sidney Glass...from the New York Times," he replied. She sighed.

"A reporter," she muttered.

"Yes...and I'm sure that doesn't make you feel comfortable at all," he said.

"You mean because a dozen other reporters at your paper have run hit pieces on me and my family for the last week?" she asked. He nodded.

"I understand that...but that is not my intention. No one has really told the story from your side," he replied.

"And why should I trust you?" Margaret replied, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You have no reason to...I get that. But this would be an opportunity to tell yours and your husband's story. I'd even let you read it before I publish," he offered.

"David and I don't care what people think of us...we never have," she said.

"Fair enough...but in case you change your mind, here is my card," Sidney said, as he set it on her desk and quietly left. She scoffed, as she looked at the card and then stuffed it in her purse, forgetting about it.

~*~

Upon arriving at work that morning, David sailed through the stack of work left for him on his desk with ease. This job was not challenging at all, but then that wasn't really the reason he was there. He took the stack and walked into his boss' office and he wasn't sure what Doc was doing on his computer, but he doubted it was work.

"Oh hey...828," he greeted, as David put the stack on his desk.

"Done already?" he asked and David shrugged.

"What can I say? Numbers are my thing," David replied, as another man stuck his head inside the door.

"Hey...are we still on for the game tonight?" he asked.

"Of course...hey Billy, this is David. You know, the guy from that plane," Doc said, as David shook hands with the tall African American man.

"Nice to meet you...man, what a story," he said.

"Yeah…I get that a lot," David replied.

"This is Billy from IT," Doc said.

"Nice to meet you," David replied.

"Hey numbers guy...do you play poker?" Doc asked.

"Yeah...we could use one more tonight," Billy agreed. While he loathed the thought of not going home to his family the moment the day was over, he knew how valuable it could be to persuade an IT guy to unknowingly let him in the backdoor and straight to the files on the Singularity Project.

"Sounds great," David agreed.

"Great," Doc said, as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Until then...maybe you can help me out with these, but don't tell anyone," Doc said, as he gave him another stack and his own badge since these had a higher clearance. David smirked.

"Don't worry...I'll get these done and you can have all the credit," he replied, as he returned to his desk. He didn't know what else he could find, if anything, but he knew that accessing the backdoor through the IT guy might yield even more results.

~*~

Mr. Gold entered Vance's office, only to interrupt him with another man, whom Gold recognized as one of his senior agents.

"Mr. Gold...please join us," Vance said.

"This is Special Agent Arthur King. He was just delivering some very interesting Intel," Vance said. Mr. Gold ignored the agent, but nodded curtly to Vance.

"You mean the Intel where David Nolan has just been hired on at an accounting firm for a job that he is ridiculously overqualified for?" Gold asked.

"How do you know that?" Agent King asked suspiciously.

"I have my ways, Agent King...but I do not think Mr. Nolan has ill intentions," Gold replied.

"More hero talk?" Vance questioned.

"He seems to be taking that role...yes and he may be the keystone to breaking all of this wide open," Gold replied.

"Or he could be committing corporate espionage," Arthur countered.

"David Nolan is not our enemy. In fact...I believe our enemy is within," Gold said.

"Are you accusing a government agency of being behind the disappearance of this plane?" King questioned with an edge in his voice. Gold smirked.

"Oh no, Agent King...but I am pointing out that there are those within that may not have the passenger's best interests at heart," he added.

"These people may be a threat to National Security," Arthur pointed out.

"They don't know what happened to them, Agent King. They are in the dark as much as we are. Locking them up will yield no answers," Gold warned.

"This guy is a crackpot," Arthur hissed to his boss.

"Mr. Gold's insight is valuable...but we will monitor Mr. Nolan's activities. Bug his phone," Vance ordered. Arthur seemed appeased by that and quickly left.

"He's a hothead...and not in a good way," Gold mentioned.

"He's a good agent," Vance countered.

"If Nolan does commit espionage...I can't ignore it," Vance warned.

"Perhaps not...but arresting him will get you nothing. In fact, it may cost lives if you do," Gold warned in return. Vance was silent at that, contemplating his words.

~*~

"It's okay, baby...this sounds like an opportunity you can't pass up," Margaret said, as she put the groceries away while talking to him on speaker phone.

"I know...I just hate getting home late. But if I can get a way into this account through the backdoor, I might be able to get a location or something," David said.

"I hate it too...but I know you're doing this for Henry. I'll feed the kids and wait to eat with you," she said.

"Thanks...but you don't have to do that," he replied.

"I know...but I want to," she said.

"Then I can't wait. I'll see you soon and I love you," he replied. She smiled.

"I love you too," she gushed, as they hung up and she saw their son come into the house with her father-in-law.

"Hey sweetie...did you have a good day with Grandpa?" she asked.

"Yeah...we had lots of fun," Henry replied, as she hugged him and she and Robert shared a smile.

"But I was wondering…" Henry said.

"Wondering what?" she asked.

"When can I go back to school?" he asked.

"Oh...well, we want to make sure you're out of the woods from that most recent scare, honey," she replied.

"I know...but I feel fine now and Dad is trying to find out where those missing passengers are, right?" Henry asked. She smiled.

"He is...and we can talk about school more later, I promise," she replied, as he went upstairs.

"I know David is doing what he needs to...but corporate espionage is no joke if he gets caught," Robert said in a worried tone.

"I know...I'm worried too, but David thinks this might be the only way to save Henry and those missing passengers," Margaret replied. He nodded.

"And there will be no stopping him," Robert said. She smiled softly.

"You know David...always the hero," she said fondly.

"That's our David," he agreed.

"Do you want to stay for dinner and eat with the kids?" she asked. He smiled.

"You know I'd love that," he replied.

~*~

David entered the conference room, which had been turned into an after hours poker game. He was not looking forward to this at all, but he put a smile on and was introduced to the other players that he had not met yet.

"So 828...were the aliens at least hot?" one guy asked and the others busted up laughing. David forced a chuckle and shook his head.

"No...but then there's only one woman for me and she's right here on Earth," he replied.

"Dude...your wife isn't here. You don't actually have to say that stuff," Doc said.

"I say it because it's true," David replied.

"Don't mind Doc...he can't get a woman to save his life," Billy joked, as he dealt the cards.

"Very funny," Doc said.

"So David...he tells me you're a numbers guy?" Billy asked.

"A Master's in mathematics. I did a bit of coding in college, but ultimately decided to teach instead," David replied.

"So you know some coding?" Billy asked.

"It's been a long time...I probably need a refresher," David replied.

"I could help with that...if you're interested. Doc says that you're bored," Billy said.

"Actually yeah...that would be great," David replied.

"After you finish tomorrow's work load," Doc instructed, as they picked up their cards.

"So...that should be about nine in the morning," David said, as they all laughed. Getting in with the IT guy had been easier than he thought…

~*~

As Margaret waited for David to get home, the kids watched a movie and she found herself walking down memory lane in the form of one of her many photo albums. She flipped the page and smiled at the photo of them on their wedding day. She remembered that day so well, for it had been one of the happiest days of her life.

~*~

Flashback

"Wow...you look like a fairytale Princess for sure," her friend and one of her bridesmaid's, Ruby, said.

"Well…I'm marrying my Prince Charming so I should," Margaret replied, as Abigail adjusted her veil.

"Are you ready?" Emma asked, as she stepped forward. Her future sister-in-law and best friend was her maid of honor, of course. Margaret smiled.

"I've wanted to marry David since we were eight. I can't wait…" she replied. Emma smiled.

"Neither can he. He's been telling everyone he was going to marry you since then too, so let's finally make it official already," Emma said, as Robert poked his head in.

"Ready?" he asked. Emma nodded, as he came into the room.

"You look beautiful, Margaret and I already considered you my daughter," he said, making her smile.

"I know that I was a terrible father to my kids and you were what helped them both get through some very rough times. I can never repay you for that and when you asked me to walk you down the aisle, I was blown away," he admitted.

"You made mistakes and struggled with your own demons, but you got better and we forgive you. Even at your worst, you were more of a father to me than my own ever was," she said, as he offered his arm and she hooked her hand on his elbow.

By then, the music had intensified. Her bridesmaid's and Emma were already at the altar and everyone stood, as they exited the small garden house and outside into the beautiful garden where they had chosen to have their wedding. It was near the wooded area and the bridge they had frequented for years. They had played in this garden and park for years, so getting married here seemed perfect.

David was in awe, as she floated toward him like an angel, carrying a bouquet of snowdrops, much like the ones he had picked for her when they were children. Even then, the idea of marrying her was firm in his young mind and now that the moment was finally here, he knew that his life was complete with her by his side. The ceremony was a mere formality, for they had bonded their lives together long ago…

~*~

"That was an amazing day," he mentioned and she looked up, finding him leaning over her.

"You're home...I was so absorbed by the memory of this day that I didn't hear you come in," she mentioned, as he kissed her tenderly.

"It was one of the best days of my life," he said, as he squeezed into the chair with her.

"Mine too," she agreed, as they shared another kiss.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

"Not yet...but the IT guy promised to show me some coding. If I can manage to get in the backdoor to the account of the Singularity Project, I'm hoping I can find something like a location or more names," he replied. She smiled and kissed him again.

"I know you will...you're our hero, after all," she said, as she rested her head on his shoulder and they gazed upon their kids fondly.

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #AU #Emma #Henry #Regina #Manifest #with a Once twist #romance #family #drama #angst #adventure #Lightning in a Bottle

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gizedcom · 4 years

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Long Road To Hollywood: Why Actors With Disabilities Have Yet To Be Recognized

A pedophilic circus performer. A comedic womanizer. A killer.

These were just a few of the roles that Danny Woodburn was offered when he began auditioning for film and TV roles in the early 1990s. Woodburn, a self-described little person, quickly found that nearly every character he portrayed was “miserable,” broken or evil.

“The go-to, I think, for little people is to make them creepy or animalistic,” the actor and producer told HuffPost.

Even after landing a recurring role on “Seinfeld” and scoring gigs on shows including “Watchmen,” “Jane the Virgin” and “CSI,” Woodburn said he still came across casting opportunities that recycled tiresome tropes invoking pathos for “the sad little man.” Just a couple of years ago, casting agents tried to pitch him on a role in a Christmas special by saying he’d get the chance to kiss a famous performer.

“The big selling point was that I’d be able to make out with this well-known actress,” Woodburn said of the project. “I was like, ’Who cares about that when you’ve created this horrible, stereotypical character and the idea is that I should be so lucky to have this opportunity as a little person to be in the arms of this well-known actress and making out with her on screen?’ They were looking down on little people in that sense.”

Woodburn turned down every role that he found to be demeaning toward people with disabilities, determined not to contribute to objectifying portrayals of disability.

“It’s cost me a lot of jobs, but at the same time it’s given my career longevity,” he said.

Jerod Harris via Getty Images

Danny Woodburn attends a Television Academy and SAG-AFTRA event in North Hollywood on Sept. 11, 2018.

The entertainment industry has always struggled to provide authentic representation of people with disabilities. In 2016, only 2.7% of characters in the 100 highest-earning movies were disabled, according to a report from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. And if people with disabilities are depicted at all in film, television or theater, they tend to be in polarizing narratives that portray them as objects of pity or inspiration. Stories approaching disabled characters through a holistic, neutral lens are few and far between.

It also takes creative people with disabilities significantly longer than their nondisabled peers to get their big break, if they do at all.

Disabled people are often shut out of Hollywood because they “miss a rung on the ladder” early on in their careers, casting agent Gail Williamson of KMR Talent said last year at ReelAbilities, the largest festival of films for and about people with disabilities.

For some people, that means being shut out of a writers room. For many, it means dealing with unsupportive film schools or a casting director’s blunt preference for abled artists. And for others, a missed career opportunity can be attributed to nothing more than a damn broken elevator.

Accessible, But Not Really

In January 2019, Fuchsia Carter signed up for an audition that specifically said performers with disabilities were welcome. Carter, a trained actor who uses a wheelchair, emailed the production company to ask whether the building was accessible. “Regrettably, the space we perform in is only accessible by stairs,” the company’s team wrote back, noting they were “delighted” she wanted to audition.

Carter has had dozens of similar experiences over the course of nearly a decade. She has turned up for auditions only to discover the building doors weren’t wide enough, the elevator was out of order or there was no parking.

When she does finally make it to an audition, casting agents often assume her wheelchair is a prop. They’re floored that a wheelchair user could also be a professional actor.

“I often get asked if I can show able-bodied actors how to use a wheelchair convincingly,” said Carter, recalling one incident when casting agents for a crime show asked her if she could give lessons to another actor up for the same role. “I’m like, no, you can either hire me as the actor for the character or you can go jump.”

Even at the most basic training level, actors with disabilities are denied opportunities to hone their craft.

Actor Christine Bruno, who received degrees in acting and directing in 1998, said dance movement classes were typically a requirement for her programs — but that she didn’t have the opportunity to take them.

“They wouldn’t teach me because they didn’t know how to teach me,” said Bruno, a little person who has since been cast in “Law & Order” and, most recently, the CBS series “God Friended Me.” “They probably didn’t want to be responsible for whatever liability they thought that that would bring, so basically they refused to allow me to take their classes.”

When she asked the administration if there was another way she could fulfill the requirement, they told her not to worry about it.

“I was like, wait a minute,” she said. “I’m paying all this money for an education. I want to be afforded the same education everyone else is getting.”

I often get asked if I can show able-bodied actors how to use a wheelchair convincingly. Fuchsia Carter, actor

Other disabled professionals in the entertainment industry said they’ve faced similar roadblocks while studying the arts.

Carey Cox, a theater actor with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, said directors in her movement classes “would physically put their hands on my body and try to adjust [me] or get me to do things I was uncomfortable with.”

“If I fell or couldn’t hold my balance, it was brought up in my evaluations,” she said.

Dominick Evans, a filmmaker, said one of his theater instructors in 2009 only gave him monologues of characters with disabilities — including a deaf character and a blind character from “Oedipus,” even though Evans is a wheelchair user. He left the school the following year and didn’t finish his program.

He graduated from a different film school a few years later, calling the experience “hell” because of inaccessibility and the fact that he was told by one professor that other instructors didn’t want him in their vocal classes because they “didn’t know what to do with me because of my wheelchair.”

That same year, Evans began hosting a Twitter chat using the hashtag #FilmDis and met dozens of other people who were upset about the lack of disability representation on screen. He turned the discussion into an organization with the same name, which released a white paper in March that found that cisgender white men made up the majority of disabled characters on TV during the 2018-2019 TV season.

“In film school they taught us, ‘write what you know,’” Evans wrote during one #FilmDis Twitter chat. “And yet all these films that feature disability are not by us.”

A Steep Climb

When marginalized performing artists are absent from the creative process, both the art and the community suffer. And that’s especially true when nondisabled actors are cast to play characters with disabilities.

In “Me Before You,” a 2016 film based on a bestselling romance novel, a woman takes care of a quadriplegic man who has chosen to die by assisted suicide (played by Sam Claflin, who is nondisabled). The movie also plays out the trope that it would be better for everyone if people with disabilities were dead.

“The Upside” received widespread criticism for casting actor Bryan Cranston as a wheelchair user and maintaining “a weakness for sentimentality, a reliance on clichés and caricatures,” as the Los Angeles Times wrote in 2019.

Most recently, “Come as You Are,” a movie about three disabled men taking a road trip with a nurse to a brothel for people with disabilities, faced significant backlash for casting all nondisabled actors as the main characters.

But there is some evidence that the tide is beginning to turn. In 2018, for example, about 20% of disabled characters on TV were portrayed by actors with the same disability — up from just 5% two years earlier, according to a study from the Ruderman Foundation, which promotes full inclusion of people with disabilities.

Lauren Ridloff, who plays a deaf character on “The Walking Dead,” is set to become Marvel’s first deaf superhero in 2021′s “The Eternals.” Zack Gottsagen, star of “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” became the first actor with Down syndrome to present an Oscar in February. Ryan Haddad portrays a student with cerebral palsy in “The Politician.” And last year, Ali Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award.

Frazer Harrison via Getty Images

Actors Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry and Barry Keoghan attend Go Behind the Scenes with Walt Disney Studios in Anaheim, California, on Aug. 24, 2019. Ridloff, part of the cast of “The Walking Dead,” is set to be a Marvel superhero in “The Eternals.”

Many actors, casting directors and other industry figures said they’re increasingly seeing disabled actors playing more dynamic characters — which has naturally led to more authentic, groundbreaking and complex storytelling.

In “Raising Dion,” a Netflix drama series about a kid superhero that premiered in October, Esperanza (played by newcomer Sammi Haney) builds a friendship with Dion (Ja’Siah Young) and helps him save the world. She also happens to use a wheelchair, but that’s just one facet of her character’s story. In one episode, she tells Dion that his play tent isn’t accessible to wheelchairs in a way that shows how assertive, confident and witty she can be. In another, she gets upset when Dion assumes Esperanza wishes she could walk and teaches her friend that just because someone is disabled doesn’t mean they want to be cured.

Becoming The Norm

The increased representation of disability on screen is a result of decades of advocacy work to recognize disability as part of the greater movement for diversity in entertainment — not a separate cause.

In 2011, for example, Woodburn and several other members of the SAG-AFTRA Performers With Disabilities Committee teamed up with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a trade union representing workers in the entertainment industry. Together, they created a task force aimed at creating more opportunities for disabled performers, which has led to new relationships with studios and better industry practices on disability hiring.

Many advocates said it’s important for nondisabled people to be involved in pushing for change. Disabled people, after all, are all too cognizant of how underrepresented their community is.

Most recently, the movie “Come as You Are,” about three disabled men, faced backlash for casting all nondisabled actors for the main characters.

In late January, the Ruderman Foundation released an open letter to Hollywood executives and production companies, urging them to cast more people with disabilities. Dozens of people in the industry — including Marlee Matlin (who in 1987 became the first and only deaf actor to win an Oscar), Danny DeVito, Eva Longoria, Mark Ruffalo and Glenn Close — signed on, and the foundation has since partnered with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars, to recruit students with disabilities and from other underrepresented communities who are looking to break into Hollywood.

The Cincinnati chapter of ReelAbilities, the film festival for and about people with disabilities, relaunched in 2018 as the Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival. The name change came as part of an effort to make disability part of a larger dialogue around inclusive storytelling.

The festival drew in nearly eight times as many people as it had before the rebranding, Jack W. Geiger, the event’s managing director, told HuffPost.

“It’s raised the level of consciousness across the board,” he said, adding that more than half of the films at the festival still feature disability-related storylines. “Since the rebranding, it’s allowed us to expand the awareness of disability to a much wider audience.”

The best part of my ‘General Hospital’ dream coming true is that the character is not written as disabled. She is because I am.” Maysoon Zayid, comedian and actor

Also in 2018, the Casting Society of America hosted its first open casting call for actors with disabilities. More than 50 casting directors participated and auditioned at least 900 disabled actors as part of the call, according to Variety — showing that the common misconception that there aren’t enough disabled actors to fill roles simply isn’t true.

“The industry has an extraordinary opportunity to do work that’s truthful,” said Lynn Meyers, a member of the Casting Society of America who has also worked on casting calls for Over-the-Rhine.

“I think that’s all of our responsibilities as producers, writers, directors and actors, knowing that there are people that want to work with them and not giving up,” said Meyers, who has cast movies including “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” “It’s easy to say that; much harder for somebody to break through that.”

But even as disability has become increasingly visible on screen and behind the scenes, disabled people of color — including women and LGBTQ folks of color — are often left out of the narratives.

“Anytime you do see disability, it’s a white boy,” said comedian and actor Maysoon Zayid, referencing Ryan O’Connell in “Special,” RJ Mitte in “Breaking Bad” and Micah Fowler in “Speechless.”

Astrid Stawiarz via Getty Images for Together Live

“The best part of my ‘General Hospital’ dream coming true is that the character is not written as disabled. She is because I am,” said Maysoon Zaid, shown here at a New York City event last November.

“I love them and I support them, but maybe we could see some more women, huh?” she said.

Even on “groundbreaking” shows, she said, directors and screenwriters need to ask themselves, “Who am I missing?”

Zayid spent the first year and a half of her career auditioning for movies and TV shows. When nobody wanted to cast her, a Palestinian Muslim woman with cerebral palsy, she started performing stand-up instead. Acting opportunities were sparse, and she landed only a few small roles.

Last year, she got a recurring role as an attorney on “General Hospital.” It had taken her more than 17 years to get to that point.

“The best part of my ‘General Hospital’ dream coming true is that the character is not written as disabled,” Zayid said. “She is because I am.”

Advocates hope that the industry will get to a point where disabled artists are taken seriously and given opportunities to play characters that have complex backstories, story arcs, personalities and lives that don’t solely revolve around their disabilities.

“I don’t want to be given a job because I’m disabled,” said Carter, the actor who was shut out of inaccessible auditions. “I want to be given the chance to show that I have talent.”

Calling all HuffPost superfans!

The post Long Road To Hollywood: Why Actors With Disabilities Have Yet To Be Recognized appeared first on GIZED - Breaking News Worldwide.

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nigeiadigitalmarketingcompany · 5 years

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2:00PM Water Cooler 8/5/2019

Digital Elixir 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/5/2019

By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Trade

“Trade Wars Escalate” [Tim Duy’s Fed Watch]. “The big news everyone will wake up to is the latest escalation in the trade wars between the U.S. and China. The situation is obviously a clear net negative for the economy that will keep the Fed biased toward easing again in September. The Fed will remain under pressure to help President Trump fight his trade wars with lower interest rates in the months ahead.” • If the Fed takes away the punchbowl, the worst might happen: A Sanders win.

Politics

“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51

“They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery.” –Frank Herbert, Dune

“2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination” [RealClearPolitics] (average of five polls). As of August 1: Biden fluctuates to 32.2% (32.0), Sanders up to 16.5% (16.4%), Warren down at 14.0% (14.8%), Buttigieg flat at 5.5% (5.6%), Harris down at 10.3% (11.0%), Beto separating himself from the bottom feeders, interestingly. others Brownian motion. If these trends continue in the next release, Sanders will the only winner of both debates.

* * *

2020

Buttigieg (D)(1): “Buttigieg’s New Hampshire Director Leaves Team: Campaign Update” [Yahoo News]. “The Pete Buttigieg campaign has parted ways with its New Hampshire state director Michael Ceraso. The move comes days after the second round of Democratic debates — in which Buttigieg had no breakout moments — and two weeks after the campaign brought on Jess O’Connell as a senior adviser. O’Connell was chief executive officer of the Democratic National Committee in 2017 and has served as executive director of EMILY’s List. Ceraso departs just as she was seeking changes to make the campaign more competitive in key states, and ahead of New Hampshire’s state convention in September, the campaign said, adding that it will soon announce several other staffing changes.” • Yes, “chief executive officer of the Democratic National Committee” is the line on the resumé I want to see…

Gabbard (D)(1): “Tulsi Gabbard Thinks We’re Doomed” [New York Times]. “‘Tracking metrics of Russian state propaganda on Twitter, she was by far the most favored candidate,’ said Clinton Watts, a former F.B.I. agent and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. ‘She’s the Kremlin’s preferred Democrat. She is such a useful agent of influence for them. Whether she knows it’s happening or not, they love what she’s saying.’” • Presented without comment from the, er, reporter.

Harris (D)(1):

BREAKING:

In a major ethics violation, Kamala Harris’ iconic and memorable rainbow sequin coat she wore to San Francisco Pride was sewn together by truancy convicts in a California prison work camp, sources report. pic.twitter.com/MqliI2RD8D

— MSDNC (@MSDNCNews) August 4, 2019

Check source before recirculating…

Sanders (D)(1): “Mike Gravel to Formally Endorse Bernie Sanders’ Campaign” [The Daily Beast]. “[Gravel,] who was cajoled into running an almost exclusively online campaign by teenagers David Oks and Henry Williams, filmed an endorsement video for Sanders on Sunday. Gravel spoke with Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir before coming to the decision to make a formal endorsement and is planning to speak with Sanders himself in the coming days.”

Sanders (D)(2): “Bernie Sanders explains why it’s his time to win Nevada” [Las Vegas Review-Journal]. “‘We’ve got Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and California,’ Sanders said. ‘And my guess is that any candidate who does particularly well in those five states is going to be the nominee and the next president of the United States.’… Sanders told the crowd that all of these issues — low pay, high-interest loans, medical bills — are intertwined in a web that keeps half of Americans living paycheck to paycheck.” • That last sentence is interesting, because it’s not Sanders’ language; the reporter was actually listening and thing.

Warren (D)(1):

.@SenWarren has been publicly critical of Wall Street in the past. Can she convince the finance industry that she’s the right candidate to lead the Democrat campaign in 2020? https://t.co/AOu1nwojaZ

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) August 4, 2019

Oh, I hope not!

Williamson (D)(1): “Marianne Williamson: Holy Fool” [The American Conservative]. “[L]et’s not fool ourselves: Trump, like Sharpton and his identity-politics-besotted enablers in the Democratic Party and the left-wing establishments, are trafficking in “dark psychic forces.” For years in this space, I have warned that leftist identity politics are summoning demons. So is Donald Trump…. Dark psychic force? You’d have to be a fool not to see it. And you’d have to be completely self-deceived to think that only one side has a monopoly on it…. I believe the capacity for this kind of hatred exists within every human heart. What we are losing is the sense that it is a destructive passion to be resisted.”

TX: Suburban Republicans:

People grossly oversold GOP vulnerability in TX pre-Trump and are grossly underselling it now. Texas is an overwhelmingly urban/suburban state, so GOP weakening in the suburbs is felt disproportionately in TX. It could go blue, quickly, under this current configuration

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) August 5, 2019

2019

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, spokesman leave her office” [The Intercept]. • Looks to me like Nancy won. I hope AOC is taking care of her district.

The Debates

“Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders Stood Together on Radical Progressive Ideas in the Democratic Debate” [Teen Vogue]. “Despite being jointly labeled as the party’s progressive standard-bearers, Sanders and Warren appeal to very different supporters. As explained by Politico, polling indicates that Warren appeals more to women, to better-educated voters, and to older voters; Sanders, on the other hand, is favored by the less educated, by men, by younger voters, and by those with lower incomes. The fact that the two candidates are running on similar platforms but have such divergent bases of support speaks to the broad appeal of progressive policies. Which, in part, is why it’s confusing to see so many Democrats so eager to attack these progressives.” • What’s confusing about it?

Impeachment

“Should we impeach Donald Trump?” [Patheos]. “For those like me with a more conservative inclination, we are getting a reputation for blindly tying ourselves to one political party without regard to things we have said in the past about how political leaders ought to behave publicly. To use my own crowd as an example, in 1998 while the Clinton impeachment was going on the Southern Baptist Convention passed a ‘Resolution on the Moral Character of Public Officials,’ but you’ll have to work hard to hear that document being cited by certain prominent Southern Baptists these days. We ought to hold elected officials that we like to the same standard as those we don’t. That doesn’t mean we should automatically be in favor of impeachment, but it does mean that if we were charging at Bill Clinton for his moral failings, we should be at least as critical as Donald Trump without rationalizing it away ‘because the other side is worse.’”

RussiaGate

“DNI Nominee Intent on Getting to Bottom of Russiagate” [Ray McGovern, Consortium News]. “Shortly before President Donald Trump announced he had nominated Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to replace Dan Coats as director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe made it clear he intends to hit the deck running on the ‘crimes’ behind Russiagate. ‘What I do know as a former federal prosecutor is it does appear that there were crimes committed during the Obama administration,’ Ratcliffe told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. Mincing few words, he claimed the Democrats ‘accused Donald Trump of a crime and then tried to reverse engineer a process to justify that accusation.’ It’s an extravagant claim. But it is also true, and the proof is in the pudding of which we should have a steady diet in the months to come.” • This was written before Ratcliffe was unceremoniously heaved over the side, presumanbly after The Blob said “not on your Nellie.”

El Paso Shooting

Readers, I’ll have an El Paso Water Cooler Special tomorrow; I’m still gathering my thoughts.

“After the El Paso Massacre, the Choice Is Green Socialism or Eco-Fascism” [The Nation]. “Writing in New York magazine in March, Eric Levitz predicted that the climate emergency could easily spark two wildly divergent paths away from the current unsustainable model of economic growth: a Green New Deal vision of the future where socialist policies are used to remake the American and global economy to be more ecologically sustainable—or an extreme-right model based on immigration restriction and opposition to economic growth in the Global South.” • The mental health frame is not especially useful, I think.

“El Paso Terrorism Suspect’s Alleged Manifesto Highlights Eco-Fascism’s Revival” [HuffPo]. “Titled ‘The Inconvenient Truth,’ an allusion to Al Gore’s landmark climate change documentary, the ranting four-page document appeared on the extremist forum 8chan shortly before the shooting. Authorities have yet to confirm whether Patrick Crusius, the 21-year-old Dallas-area white man arrested in connection with the shooting that left at least 22 dead, is the author. ‘The environment is getting worse by the year,’ the manifesto reads. ‘Most of y’all are just too stubborn to change your lifestyle. So the next logical step is to decrease the number of people in America using resources. If we can get rid of enough people, then our way of life can become more sustainable.’ • Well, life expectancy is falling, and the birth rate is falling….

Obama Legacy

“The Democratic party’s quiet abandonment of Barack Obama” [Financial Times]. “As he surveys today’s wreckage, Mr Obama can draw on one other consolation: at least he merits the occasional mention. Bill Clinton, by contrast, has vanished. In the age of #Metoo, America’s 42nd president is persona non grata. Democrats are busy purging the past. Given the mood, it would be a surprise were Mr Biden to make it to the finishing line.” • The key word is “quiet.” The liberal Democrat hive mind operates rather like the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Deprecated figures in photographs are retouched away — with no explanation and no accountability.

“Obama Reportedly Unfazed By Criticism From 2020 Candidates” [The Onion]. • A survey.

“How Barack Obama Failed Black Americans” [Sandy Darity, The Atlantic]. From 2016, still germane: “The “acting white” libel is symptomatic of a more general perspective—a perspective that argues that an important factor explaining racial economic disparities is self-defeating or dysfunctional behavior on the part of blacks themselves. And Barack Obama continuously has trafficked in this perspective. Of course, there are some black folk who engage in habits that undermine their potential accomplishments, but there are some white folk who engage in habits that undermine their potential accomplishments as well. And there is no evidence to demonstrate that are proportionately more blacks who behave in ways that undercut achievement, especially since it is clear that blacks do more with less. Nevertheless, Obama consistently has trafficked heavily in the tropes of black dysfunction. Either he is unfamiliar with or uninterested in the evidence that undercuts the black behavioral deficiency narrative. These tropes, in my view, do malicious work.”

Realignment and Legitimacy

“The Idiocy of Ballot Bouncing” [Harold Meyerson, TAP]. “The California statute [on Presidential candidates’ tax returns] may just prompt Republican-controlled states to require every presidential nominee to, say, support the ongoing criminalization of undocumented border crossings, or call for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, to get their name on the states’ ballots. If the Democratic nominee’s name were not put before voters in Alabama, it wouldn’t really matter, since Alabama is bound to go for Trump. Then again, California is just as bound to go for the Democrat, no matter who it be. But what about Republican-controlled swing states like Georgia and Florida—or, for that matter, Arizona and Texas? Should the courts rule that states have the legal right to engage in ballot-bouncing, the Democratic nominee may be bounced to far greater, and more disastrous effect, than Trump.” • My example was “No Presidential candidate shall have used a private email server for public business.” NOTE I was wrong to assert that Lincoln was on the ballot in the slave states. He was not. All the more reason for California not to emulate them.

Why there should never be a digital intermediary between marking the ballot and counting it:

1989: Brian Fox introduced code into Bash, later released as version 1.03, which included the first of the Shellshock vulnerabilities publicly reported 9,169 days later. That’s 25 years, 1 month, and 13 days of exploitability.

Takeaway? You’re always running exploitable code. pic.twitter.com/wqE3cTQFwZ

— Today In Infosec (@todayininfosec) August 5, 2019

“You are always running exploitable code.” And the author of Bash is a highly competent programmer, unlike the voting machine vendors.

Stats Watch

Purchasing Managers’ Services Index, July 2019: “‘Robust’ — both domestic and foreign — is Markit Economics’ description of US service sector demand in July which, however, is not confirmed by the no more than moderate-to-solid diffusion score” [Econoday]. However, “hiring was ‘only moderate’…, inflationary pressures ‘historically subdued’, [and] optimism in the outlook slipping for a sixth month in a row.”

Institute For Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index, July 2019: “ISM non-manufacturing has consistently reported very solid rates of growth but it too is at a multi-year low” [Econoday]. “Yet rates of growth, though moderating, are still respectable…. Though it does fit in with the general slowing underway in global diffusion reports, this isn’t a bad report and is a reminder that domestic demand in the second-quarter… was very strong.”

Retail: “Inside the conflict at Walmart that’s threatening its high-stakes race with Amazon” [Vox]. “The company’s US online sales increased 40 percent last year, buoyed by a successful expansion of an online grocery business; the digital-first brands and digital-first talent it has acquired have breathed new life into its portfolio; and it has shed at least part of its reputation for being a digital dinosaur…. But it’s still far behind Amazon, and inside Walmart, tensions are rising. Multiple sources tell Recode that the company is projecting losses of more than $1 billion for its US e-commerce division this year, on revenue of between $21 billion and $22 billion. Walmart does not disclose these figures publicly and declined to comment. That size loss is an eye-popping figure for a company that is used to printing cash and that prides itself on its profitable operations; the overall Walmart business brought in nearly $7 billion in profits during the last fiscal year…. The problem is that building the online version of the Everything Store requires millions more products, and that means two things that Walmart’s current infrastructure does not support: dozens more e-commerce warehouses and a lot more merchants and brands selling through Walmart.com.” • Well worth a read. Almost makes you feel sorry for Walmart. • And then there’s this: “Walmart has not secured the same trust — and long leash — from Wall Street investors that Amazon has.” In other words, Amazon has and has had the privilege of running its operation at a loss for years.

Retail slash Internet of Shit:

As a tech critic, there is a lot of stuff that I think of as “Slavoj Zizek on easy mode”—labor-saving devices for the nihilist contrarian with a conference talk deadline. The Amazon dash buttons were in this rare category and I will be sad to see them go https://t.co/qF1WPGDczq

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) August 3, 2019

The Bezzle: “Autopilot failed to keep Tesla from sliding under semitruck at 68 mph, lawsuit claims” [Orlando Sun-Sentinel]. “About 10 seconds before the crash, Banner engaged the Autopilot system, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.” • So I’m not sure about the case, but at the end of the article there’s this: “The NTSB, in a 2017 report, wrote that design limitations of the Autopilot system played a major role in the fatality, the first known one in which a vehicle operated on a highway under semi-autonomous control systems. The agency said that Tesla told Model S owners that Autopilot should be used only on limited-access highways, primarily interstates. The report said that despite upgrades to the system, Tesla did not incorporate protections against use of the system on other types of roads.” • Because of course they didn’t. Could be that determining whether you’re on a limited-access highway is a hard problem for robot cars, just like turning left?

The Bezzle: “Finnish Tesla Model 3 Inspection Reveals Soft, Thin, Under-Spec Paint” [The Drive]. “A Finnish condition inspection of a Tesla Model 3’s paint has returned extremely poor readings for both thickness and hardness, validating growing owner concerns about easily-worn paint on the firm’s cars. These results come as Tesla negotiates the settlement of some 19 air quality violations at its Fremont, California factory paint shop, raising questions about the possibility of a connection between those compliance challenges and the thin, soft paint found on Tesla’s cars. Paint issues were one of several factors that contributed to the Model 3 losing its Consumer Reports recommendation this year.” • Oops.

The Bezzle: “Uber and Lyft Investors Are Looking for Signs of a Détente” [Bloomberg]. • Would a cartel between two firms whose business models doom them to unprofitability be unique in human history?

Tech: “AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is such a hit it almost outsold Intel’s entire CPU range” [TechRadar]. “In June, AMD’s overall market share was 68% at Mindfactory, so the increase to 79% represents a big jump, and the highest proportion of sales achieved by the company this year by a long way. To put this in a plainer fashion, for every single processor sold by Intel, AMD sold four.” • I’m used to the idea of Intel dominating everything. Oops.

Tech: “Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down (again)” [Engadget]. “Numerous reports have surfaced of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp being unavailable to various degrees on the morning of August 4th. The failure doesn’t appear to have been as dramatic as it was in July, when image services were out for several hours (we had at least some success visiting them ourselves). Still, it likely wasn’t what you were hoping for if you wanted to catch up on your social feeds on a lazy Sunday morning…. There has been a string of problems across the services in recent months, with roots in everything from server configurations to the previously mentioned media services. It’s not clear why they’ve picked up after a long period of relative stability.”

Intellectual Property: “Fact check: What you may have heard about the dispute between UC and Elsevier” [Office of Scholarly Communications, University of California]. “Elsevier’s offer to increase open access publishing “five-fold” would have resulted in only 30 percent of UC’s research, all of which is supported by public funding, being freely available to the public. Under the past Elsevier contract, which required UC authors to pay an additional charge for open access (after the libraries already paid Elsevier for subscriptions), only 6 percent of UC authors made that second payment — making the majority of UC research published in Elsevier journals inaccessible to the public who helped fund it.” • Elsevier, it is safe to say, is not greatly loved.

Intellectual Property: “Elsevier: “It’s illegal to Sci-Hub.” Also Elsevier: ‘We link to Sci-Hub all the time.’” [Boing Boing]. “Yesterday, I wrote about science publishing profiteer Elsevier’s legal threats against Citationsy, in which the company claimed that the mere act of linking to Sci-Hub (an illegal open-access portal) was itself illegal. You’ll never guess what happens next. Elsevier’s own journals turn out to be full of links to Sci-Hub. It’s also not hard to understand this. You see, the researchers who write the papers that Elsevier publishes are scientists, not private-equity-backed looter/profiteers, so they are more interested in science and scholarship than ensuring that Elsevier continues to rake in billions. And since Elsevier doesn’t pay for any of the work it publishes, it’s hard for them to exert pressure to end this practice.”

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 23 Fear (previous close: 36, Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 58 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Aug 5 at 12:49pm. • Restored at reader request. Note that the index is not always updated daily, sadly.

Rapture Index: Closes up one on Crime Rate. “America’s 8th deadliest mass shooting occurred in El Paso.” [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 184. Remember that bringing on the rapture is a good thing.

The Biosphere

“When Tree Planting Actually Damages Ecosystems” [The Wire]. “Tree planting has been widely promoted as a solution to climate change, because plants absorb the climate-warming gases from Earth’s atmosphere as they grow…. Many of those trees could be planted in tropical grassy biomes according to the report. These are the savannas and grasslands that cover large swathes of the globe and have a grassy ground layer and variable tree cover. Like forests, these ecosystems play a major role in the global carbon balance. Studies have estimated that grasslands store up to 30% of the world’s carbon that’s tied up in soil. Covering 20% of Earth’s land surface, they contain huge reserves of biodiversity, comparable in areas to tropical forest…. Savannas and grasslands are home to nearly one billion people, many of whom raise livestock and grow crops… Calls for global tree planting programmes to cool the climate need to think carefully about the real implications for all of Earth’s ecosystems. The right trees need to be planted in the right places. Otherwise, we risk a situation where we miss the savanna for the trees, and these ancient grassy ecosystems are lost forever.”

“‘This is the beginning’: new study warns climate crisis may have been pivotal in rise of drug-resistant superbug” [Monthly Review]. “A new analysis warns that ‘global warming may have played a pivotal role’ in the recent rise of a multidrug-resistant fungal superbug, sparking questions and concerns about the emerging public health threats of the human-caused climate crisis…. ‘The argument that we are making based on comparison to other close relative fungi is that as the climate has gotten warmer, some of these organisms, including Candida auris, have adapted to the higher temperature, and as they adapt, they break through human’s protective temperatures,” lead author Arturo Casadevall, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a statement.”

“By separating life stages, metamorphosis may circumvent harmful evolutionary tradeoffs” [PNAS]. • I’m only leaving this here in case there’s an evolutionary biologist in the house who can explain it.

Health Care

“What the Measles Epidemic Really Says About America” [The Atlantic]. “Bright-blue counties in Northern California, Washington State, and Oregon have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.” • There’s the lead, buried fourteen paragraphs down.

Games

“Fame and ‘Fortnite’ — inside the global gaming phenomenon” [Financial Times]. “Fortnite is technically a video game, and one with a simple premise. At the start, players drop on to an island and shoot each other until only one person is left standing. Each match lasts about 20 minutes and slowly, the numbers whittle down. A storm approaches, making the map smaller and smaller. If you jump off the island you die. Antoine Griezmann, the French football star, said playing Fortnite makes him more stressed than professional football.” • Truly a game for the neoliberal era….

Guillotine Watch

Class Warfare

But everywhere in chains (MA):

I am VERY RARELY able to access toilets while away from home in San Francisco. I am white, English-speaking, able-bodied and might be perceived as professional.

An experience last night really cemented the cruelty of San Francisco and the gig economy it has shaped. #thread

— Hans Lindahl (@hiHelloHans) August 2, 2019

(Similar case; different reaction.) So Uber has turned cab-driving into an Amazon warehouse. Here is one response to the thread above:

This is going to sound silly, but maybe this could work. There should be an app where you could summon a truck mounted port a potty to come wherever you are. Making it credit card based would keep out the messy customers. Like Uber, but for pooping.

— Jim Maruschak

(@JimMaruschak) August 3, 2019

“Make it credit-card based….” I wonder if the repellently infantile word “poop” has suddenly achieved ubiquity because our symbol manipulators are seeing more of it?

“Disaggregating data by race allows for more accurate research” [Nature]. “The term ‘women of colour’ was introduced as a symbol of political solidarity, but its evolution to a biological term encompassing all non-white women has resulted in aggregation of data from diverse ethnic groups. Breaking out statistics by race, ethnicity and gender is therefore crucial for researchers who are committed to inclusion.” • Nothing on income. Superb class erasure!

“How the Other Half Matriculates” [Inside Higher Ed]. “As a community college administrator, it was hard not to notice the sheer wealth of the university…. After the orientation, we spent a couple of days at Virginia Beach to make it feel like a vacation. At one point, the young woman behind the counter at the hotel asked me about the Brookdale Summer Shakespeare Festival t-shirt I was wearing. She mentioned that she had never seen a Shakespeare play. I suggested that the local community college might be a good place to look. She seemed satisfied with that answer. When I mentioned that outdoor community college summer productions are often free, she seemed especially happy with that. Economic reality has a way of creeping in, no matter how pretty the bubble. Back to reality…”

“The Appeal and Limits of Andrea Dworkin” [Jacobin]. “Not coincidentally, Dworkin’s influence grew as the backlash against feminism took hold in the eighties, when the utopian visions of the whirlwind period lost their persuasive power. Her dystopian vision of a women’s experience dominated at all times by male violence, or the fear of it, could feel like a bold stance against feel-good corporate feminism, especially in the absence of a dynamic left…. Particularly prescient, and often ignored in reconsiderations of her work, was Dworkin’s analysis of the Right and its appeal to women — perhaps including herself — in Right Wing Women, written in the early years of the Reagan administration. Dworkin showed how conservative women, far from denying, ignoring, or even embracing sexism, made what often looked like rational trade-offs: in exchange for the promise of what she termed ‘enforceable restraints on male aggression,’ women received relative degrees of safety, economic security, and respect. Dworkin also offered an indictment, highly relevant today, of liberal feminism and its unwillingness to view the women it failed to reach as anything other than dupes.”

News of the Wired

“The 11-step guide to running effective meetings” [Nature]. “1. Do you need a meeting?” • Excellent!

“Recursive language and modern imagination were acquired simultaneously 70,000 years ago” [Phys.org]. “Numerous archeological and genetic evidence have already convinced most paleoanthropologists that the speech apparatus has reached essentially modern configurations before the human line split from the Neanderthal line 600,000 years ago…. On the other hand, artifacts signifying modern imagination, such as composite figurative arts, elaborate burials, bone needles with an eye, and construction of dwellings arose not earlier than 70,000 years ago…. While studying acquisition of imagination in children, Dr. Vyshedskiy and his colleagues discovered a temporal limit for the development of a particular component of imagination. It became apparent that modern children who have not been exposed to full language in early childhood never acquire the type of active constructive imagination essential for juxtaposition of mental objects, known as Prefrontal Synthesis (PFS)…. Thus, the existence of a strong critical period for PFS acquisition creates a cultural evolutionary barrier for acquisition of recursive language…. The second predicted evolutionary barrier was a faster PFC maturation rate and, consequently, a shorter critical period…. An evolutionary mathematical model, developed by Dr. Vyshedskiy, predicts that humans had to jump both evolutionary barriers within several generations since the “PFC delay” mutation that is found in all modern humans, but not in Neanderthals, is deleterious and is expected to be lost in a population without an associated acquisition of PFS and recursive language. Thus, the model suggests that the ‘PFC delay’ mutation triggered simultaneous synergistic acquisition of PFS and recursive language…. Such an invention of a new recursive language has been observed in contemporary children, for example among deaf children in Nicaragua.” • Culture ignites! Fascinating stuff. I’ve quoted the set-up, but check the last few paragraphs for the summary.

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Today’s plant (JN):

What a lovely wooded brook!

Bonus plantidote (Re Silc):

Re Silc writes: “My first mobile build.” We have our own Calder! This is more plant-adjacent than plant, but it looks like a really interesting project? I wonder if other readers have done similar things? If so, send in your pictures!

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So do feel free to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:

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Readers, thank you very much. The mix of one-time contributions to smaller, monthly subscriptions is now more like what is was, and hence the total I budget for is back to normal as well. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form…

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2:00PM Water Cooler 8/5/2019

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MORE CELEBRITIES THAT DIED BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED TO LESLIE WOFFORD AND HER KIDS AND HER FAMILY AND WITH PAGAN’S DYING IT WILL TAKE OUT ANY DEMON THAT HATED OR CONSPRIRED AGAINST LUCIFER. APPLY’S TO DEVIL’S TOO, UNLESS LUCIFER WAS LESLIE’S RUINER, AND THOSE ONES WERE TRYING TO KILL HIM TO STOP HIM FROM HURTING LESLIE’S CHILDREN OR KILLING OFF HER FAMILY.

July 2002[edit source]

Unknown date - Catmando, 7, British Cat and Politician and joint Leader of the Monster Raving Looney Party

2 – Earle Brown, 75, American composer.

2 – Ray Brown, 75, American bassist.

3 – Michel Henry, 80, French philosopher.

4 – Kenneth Ross MacKenzie, 90, American physicist.

4 – Sir Jake Saunders, 84, British banker.

4 – Winnifred Van Tongerloo, 98, oldest living survivor of the Titanic.

4 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., 89, African-American General.

5 – Ted Williams, 83, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox) and member of the MLB Hall of Fame.

5 – Katy Jurado, 68, Mexican actress.

6 – Dhirubhai Ambani, 69, Indian businessman.

6 – John Frankenheimer, 74, American film director.

6 – Kenneth Koch, 77, American poet and playwright.

6 �� Stuart Shorter, 33, British homeless activist.

7 – Decherd Turner, 79, American librarian and book collector.

8 – Sir Robert Bellinger, 92, former Lord Mayor of London.

8 – Ward Kimball, 88, Disney animator.

8 – Patrick Rodger, 81, British Anglican prelate, former Bishop of Oxford.

9 – Laurence Janifer, 69, science fiction writer.

9 – William Robinson, 85, Canadian Anglican prelate, Bishop of Ottawa.

9 – Ron Scarlett, 91, New Zealand paleozoologist.

9 – Dave Sorenson, 54, former NBA and Ohio State University basketball player.

9 – Rod Steiger, 77, American actor, kidney failure.

10 – John Wallach, 59, journalist and philanthropist.

11 – Roy Orrock, 81, British World War II pilot.

12 – Edward Lee Howard, 51, American CIA agent who defected to the Soviet Union.

12 – Mani Krishnaswami, 72, Indian vocalist.

13 – Yousuf Karsh, 93, celebrity portrait photographer as "Karsh of Ottawa".

13 – Eric Price, 83, English cricketer.

14 – Joaquín Balaguer, 95, former President of the Dominican Republic.

15 – Gavin Muir, 50. British actor and musician.

15 – Camillus Perera, 64, Sri Lankan cricket umpire.

16 – Alan Charles Clark, 82, British Roman Catholic prelate.

16 – John Cocke, 77, American computer scientist, key figure in the development of RISC architecture.

16 – Cletus Madsen, 96, American Roman Catholic priest.

16 – Jack Olsen, 77, American "True crime" writer.

17 – Charles I. Krause, 90, American labor leader.

18 – Metin Toker, 78, Turkish journalist and one time politician

19 – Dave Carter, 49, American singer-songwriter.

19 – Alexander Ginzburg, 65, leading Soviet dissident.

19 – Alan Lomax, 87, American documenter of blues and folk songs.

21 – John Cunningham, 84, British World War II fighter pilot.

21 – Antti Koivumäki, 25, Finnish poet and keyboardist (Aavikko)

22 – Joyce Cooper, 93, British Olympic swimmer.

22 – Marion Montgomery, 67, American jazz singer.

22 – Giuseppe Corradi, 70, Italian footballer.

22 – Prince Ahmed bin Salman, member of the Saudi Arabian royal family.

22 – Chuck Traynor, 64, American pornographer.

23 – Bill Bell, 70, New Zealand cricketer.

23 – Alberto Castillo, 87, Argentine tango singer and actor.

23 – Leo McKern, 82, Australian actor.

23 – William Pierce, American neo-Nazi, author of The Turner Diaries.

23 – Chaim Potok, 73, American author.

24 – Maurice Denham, 92, British actor.

24 – Mike Clark, 61, former NFL kicker.

25 – Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher.

27 – Krishan Kant, 75, Indian politician, Vice-President (1997–2002).

29 – Peter Bayliss, 80, British actor.

30 – Fred Jordan, 80, British folk singer.

31 – Pauline Chan Bo-Lin, 29, Hong Kong actress, suicide.

31 – Sir Maldwyn Thomas, 84, Welsh businessman and politician.

August 2002[edit source]

1 – Theo Bruce, 79, Australian long jumper.

1 – Jack Tighe, 88, American baseball coach.

3 – Kathleen Hughes-Hallett, 84, Canadian Olympic fencer.

3 – Peter Miles, 64, American actor.

3 – Carmen Silvera, 80, UK television and theatre actress (Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!).

5 – Josh Ryan Evans, 20, American actor ("Timmy" on Passions).

5 – Chick Hearn, 85, television and radio announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team since 1960.

5 – Franco Lucentini, 82, Italian writer (The Sunday Woman).

5 – Darrell Porter, 50, American baseball player.

6 – Jim Crawford, 54, Scottish motor racing driver.

6 – Edsger Dijkstra, 72, computer scientist.

7 – Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, 100, British aristocrat.

9 – George Alfred Barnard, 86, British statistician.

10 – Doris Wishman, 90, American film director, producer and screenwriter.

12 – Sir John Rennie, 85, British diplomat.

12 – Enos Slaughter, 86, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals) and member of the MLB Hall of Fame.

12 – Dame Marjorie Williamson, 89, British university administrator.

14 – Peter R. Hunt, 77, British film editor.

14 – Larry Rivers, 78, American painter.

14 – Dave Williams, 30, singer of Drowning Pool.

15 – Jesse Brown, 58, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

15 – George Agbazika Innih, 63, Nigerian army general and politician.

15 – Haim Yosef Zadok, 88, Israeli jurist and politician.

16 – Abu Nidal, 65, terrorist.

16 – Ola Belle Reed, 85, American singer.

16 – Johnny Roseboro, 69, American baseball player.

18 – Dame Elizabeth Chesterton, 86, British architect and town planner.

18 – Edward Crew, 84, British air marshal.

18 – David Keynes Hill, 87, British biophysicist.

19 – Sunday Silence, 16, thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

20 – Augustine Geve, Solomon Islands Cabinet Minister, assassinated.

22 – Allan George Bromley, 55, computer scientist, historian of computing.

22 – Bruce Duncan Guimaraens, 66, Portuguese wine maker.

23 – Emily Genauer, 91, American art critic.

23 – Hoyt Wilhelm, 80, American baseball player who played for nine different teams and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame.

24 – Wayne Simmons, 32, American Football player.

25 – Per Anger, 88, Swedish diplomat.

25 – Dorothy Hewett, 79, Australian poet, playwright and novelist.

27 – Edwin Sill Fussell, 80, American scholar of English literature.

27 – George Mitchell, 85, Scottish musician (The Black and White Minstrel Show).

27 – John S. Wilson, 89, American music critic.

29 – Elizabeth Forbes, 85, New Zealand athlete.

29 – Paul Tripp, 91, American musician and TV host.

30 – Thomas J. Anderson, 91, American publisher and politician.

30 – Maia Berzina, 91, Russian geographer, cartographer and ethnologer.

30 – Roy Wright, 73, Austrian rules football player.

31 – Lionel Hampton, 94, American jazz musician.

31 – Martin Kamen, 89, American scientist.

31 – George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham, 81, British Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.

September 2002[edit source]

1 – Peter Ramsden, 68, British rugby league player.

2 – Sir Robert Wilson, 75, British astronomer.

3 – Kenneth Hare, 83, Canadian scientist.

3 – Ted Ross, 68, American actor.

3 – Len Wilkinson, 85, British cricketer.

4 – Frankie Albert, 82, American National Football League star.

4 – Jerome Biffle, 74, American Olympic long jumper.

5 – Robert W. Brooks, 49, American mathematician.

5 – William Cooper, 92, English novelist.

5 – Cliff Gorman, 65, American actor.

5 – David Todd Wilkinson, 67, American cosmologist.

7 - Eugenio Coșeriu, 81, linguist specialized in Romance languages

7 – Uziel Gal, 78, designer of the Uzi submachine gun.

7 – Don Smith, 73, Canadian ice hockey player.

8 – Marco Siffredi, 23, French snowboarder (last seen on this date).

9 – Geoffrey Dummer, 92, British engineer.

11 – Johnny Unitas, 69, American football player (Baltimore Colts) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

12 – Kim Hunter, 79, American stage, television and Oscar-winning film actress (played "Stella Kowalski" in the original Broadway and film versions of A Streetcar Named Desire).

13 – Charles Herbert Lowe, 82, American biologist.

13 – George Stanley, 95, Canadian historian and public servant.

14 – Paul Williams, 87, American saxophonist.

15 – Robert William Pope, 86, British Anglican prelate, Dean of Gibraltar.

16 – Archibald Hall, 78, British criminal.

16 – Nguyễn Văn Thuận, 74, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate.

17 – Denys Fisher, 84, British inventor of the Spirograph.

18 – Bob Hayes, 59, American football player Dallas Cowboys and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

19 – Sergei Bodrov Jr., 30, Russian movie star, Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide.

19 – James Macdonald, 83, Scottish-born Australian ornithologist.

20 – Necdet Kent, 91, Turkish diplomat and humanitarian.

20 – Bob Wallace, 53, American computer scientist.

21 – Henry Pybus Bell-Irving, 89, Canadian Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

21 – Angelo Buono, Jr., 67, the "Hillside Strangler".

21 – Robert L. Forward, 70, physicist and science fiction author.

22 – Joseph Nathan Kane, 103, American historian and author.

22 – Jan de Hartog, 88, novelist and playwright.

22 – Anthony Milner, 77, British musician.

23 – Vernon Corea, 75, Sri Lankan-born British radio broadcaster.

24 – Mike Webster, 50, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame).

24 – George Wilson, 86, British cricketer.

25 – Arnold Ross, 96, American mathematician.

26 – Thomas S. Smith, 84, American politician, member of the New Jersey General Assembly.

27 – David Granger, 99, American bobsledder.

27 – Bill Pearson, 80, New Zealand writer.

30 – Robert Battersby, 77, British soldier and politician.

30 – Arthur Hazlerigg, 2nd Baron Hazlerigg, 92, British cricketer and soldier.

30 – Meinhard Michael Moser, 78, Swiss mycologist.

30 – Ewart Oakeshott, 86, British illustrator.

30 – Sir Jock Taylor, 78, British diplomat.

October 2002[edit source]

1 – Walter Annenberg, 94, American publisher and philanthropist.

1 – Ted Serong, 86, Australian soldier.

2 – Norman O. Brown, 89, American classicist.

2 – Heinz von Foerster, 90, Austrian-born American physicist and philosopher, one of the founders of constructivism.

2 – Alexander Sinclair, 91, Canadian ice hockey player.

3 – John Erritt, 71, British civil servant.

3 – Bruce Paltrow, 58, American television and film producer.

4 – Alphonse Chapanis, a founder of ergonomics.

4 – Barbara Fawkes, 87, British nurse.

4 – Ahmad Mahmoud, 70, Iranian novelist.

5 – Sir Reginald Hibbert, 80, British diplomat.

5 – Morag Hood, 59, Scottish actress.

6 – Chuck Rayner, 82, Canadian ice hockey player.

6 – Claus von Amsberg, 76, Dutch diplomat; husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

8 – Phyllis Calvert, 87, British actress.

9 – Jim Martin, 78, American football player.

9 – Aileen Wuornos, 46, convicted of killing six men, lethal injection.

10 – Joe Wood, 86, American baseball player.

11 – William J. Field, 93, British politician.

12 – Sir Desmond Fitzpatrick, 89. British general.

12 – Audrey Mestre, 28, French world record-setting free diver.

12 – Nozomi Momoi, 24, Japanese AV idol, murdered.

12 – Sidney W. Pink, 86, American movie director and producer.

13 – Stephen Ambrose, 66, historian and author of "Band of Brothers".

13 – Keene Curtis, 79, American actor.

13 – Jim Higgins, 71, British politician.

14 – S. William Green, 72, American politician.

15 – Jack Lee, 89, British film director.

15 – Ze'ev, 79, Israeli caricaturist and illustrator.

16 – William Macmillan, 75, Scottish minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

17 – Derek Bell, 66, member of The Chieftains, harpist.

17 – Henri Renaud, 67, French jazz pianist and record company executive.

18 – Sir Cecil Blacker, 86, British army general.

18 – Roman Tam, 52, Hong Kong canto-pop singer.

19 – Manuel Alvarez Bravo, 100, Mexican photographer.

20 – Barbara Berjer, 82, American actress.

20 – Elisabeth Furse, 92, German-born British war-time agent.

20 – Mel Harder, 93, American baseball player.

21 – Beatrice Serota, Baroness Serota, 83, British politician.

22 – Richard Helms, 89, American former CIA director.

23 – David Henry Lewis, 85, New Zealand sailor and adventurer.

24 – Winton M. Blount, 81, last United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet.

24 – Adolph Green, 87, American lyricist and playwright.

24 – Harry Hay, 90, American gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder.

25 – Richard Harris, 72, Irish actor.

25 – René Thom, 79, French mathematician.

25 – Paul Wellstone, 58, United States Senator (D-MN).

28 – Margaret Booth, 104, Academy Award-winning film editor.

28 – Erling Persson, 85, Swedish businessman, founder of H&M.

28 – Sir Patrick Russell, 76, British jurist.

29 – Chang-Lin Tien, educator, 7th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.

29 – Richard Jenkin, 77, Cornish nationalist politician.

29 – Glenn McQueen, 41, Canadian film animator.

30 – Jam Master Jay, 37, DJ of Run DMC, murdered.

30 – Sir William Mitchell, 77, British physicist.

31 – Yuri Ahronovitch, 70, Russian conductor.

31 – Sir Napier Crookenden, 87, British Army general.

31 – Baroness Hylton-Foster, 94, British peer.

November 2002[edit source]

1 – Edward Brooke, 85, Canadian Olympic fencer.

1 – Sir Charles Wilson, 93, British political scientist.

2 – Brian Behan, 75, Irish writer, younger brother of Brendan Behan.

2 – Robert Haslam, Baron Haslam, 79, British industrialist and life peer.

2 – Lo Lieh, 63, Hong King actor.

2 – Dame Felicity Peake, 89, British Director of the Women's Royal Air Force.

2 – Tonio Selwart, 106, Bavarian actor and Broadway performer.

2 – Charles Sheffield, 67, science fiction author and physicist.

3 – Lonnie Donegan, 71, British skiffle musician.

3 – Sir John Habakkuk, 87, British economic historian.

3 – Jonathan Harris, 87, American actor, TV's "Dr. Smith" on Lost in Space.

3 – William Packard, 69, American poet and author.

3 – Sir Rex Roe, 77, British air force officer.

4 – Antonio Margheriti, 72, Italian filmmaker, heart attack.

5 – Billy Guy, 66, American singer.

5 – Mushtaq Qadri, 35, Pakistani religious poet.

6 – Brian James, 61, English cricketer.

6 – Sid Sackson, 82, board game designer.

7 – Rudolf Augstein, 79, founder and chief editorialist of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel.

8 – Dorothy Mackie Low, 86, British novelist.

9 – Dick Johnson, 85, American test pilot.

9 – Merlin Santana, 26, actor.

9 – William Schutz, 76, American psychologist.

10 – Steve Durbano, 50, ice hockey player, lung cancer.

11 – Sir Michael Clapham, 90, British industrialist.

11 – David Steel, 92, Scottish minister.

13 – Kaloji Narayana Rao, 88, Indian poet and political activist.

13 – Irv Rubin, 57, Canadian chairman of the Jewish Defence League.

14 – Eddie Bracken, 87, actor.

14 – Mir Qazi, 38, Pakistani convicted criminal, executed by lethal injection in Virginia.

15 – Myra Hindley, 60, the Moors murderess.

15 – John Joseph Stewart,79, New Zealand rugby coach.

16 – Rupert E. Billingham, 81, British biologist.

16 – Sir George Gardiner, 67, British politician.

17 – Abba Eban, 88, Israeli foreign affair minister.

18 – James Coburn, 74, Oscar-winning actor, heart attack.

18 – Pasquale Vivolo, 74, Italian footballer.

19 – Prince Alexandre de Merode, 68, International Olympic Committee member, lung cancer.

19 – George Fullerton, 79, South African cricketer.

20 – George Guest, 78, British organist and choirmaster.

20 – Ben Webb, 45, Canadian journalist.

20 – Zhang Shuguang, 82, Chinese politician

21 – Prince Takamado, 47, Japanese prince

21 – Hadda Brooks, 86, American jazz singer, pianist and composer.

21 – Arturo Guzman Decena founder of Los Zetas

21 – J. Roger Pichette, 81, Canadian politician.

22 – Joan Barclay, 88, American actress.

22 – Christine Marion Fraser, 64, Scottish novelist.

23 – Roberto Matta, 91 Chilean artist.

24 – Philip B. Meggs, 60, American graphic designer.

24 – John Rawls, 81, political theorist.

25 – Gordon Davidson, 87, Australian politician.

25 – David Drummond, 8th Earl of Perth, 95, British politician and aristocrat.

26 – Verne Winchell, 87, founder of Winchell's Donuts (nicknamed "The Donut King").

27 – Stanley Black, 89, British musician.

27 – Ronald Gerard Connors, 87, American Roman Catholic bishop in the Dominican Republic.

28 – Billy Pearson, 82, American jockey.

29 – David Weiss, 93, American novelist.

30 – Tim Woods, 68, professional wrestler who wrestled as Mr. Wrestling, heart attack.

December 2002[edit source]

1 – Dave McNally, 60, American baseball player.

1 – José Chávez Morado, 93, Mexican artist.

1 – Michael Oliver, 65, British classical music broadcaster and writer.

2 – Jim Mitchell, 56, Irish politician.

2 – Vjenceslav Richter, 85, Croatian architect.

2 – Derek Robinson, 61, British nuclear physicist.

2 – Fay Gillis Wells, 94, American pioneer aviator.

3 – Glenn Quinn, 32, Irish actor (Roseanne, Angel).

5 – Roone Arledge, 71, American television producer and executive (Monday Night Football and Nightline).

5 – Ne Win, 91, Burmese dictator.

6 – Father Philip Berrigan, 79, American priest and political activist.

6 – Charles Rosen, 85, pioneer in artificial intelligence.

7 – Barbara Howard, 76, Canadian artist.

7 – Paddy Tunney, 81, Irish traditional artist.

8 – Bobby Joe Hill, 59, American basketball player.

8 – Charles Rosen, 85, American computer scientist.

9 – Stan Rice, 60, painter, educator, poet, husband of author Anne Rice, cancer.

9 – To Huu, 82, Vietnamese poet and politician.

10 – Desmond Keith Carter, 35, convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection in North Carolina.

10 – Earl Henry, 85, American baseball player.

10 – Andres Küng, 57, Swedish journalist, writer, entrepreneur and politician of Estonian origin.

10 – Steve Llewellyn, 78, Welsh rugby league player.

10 – Ian MacNaughton, 76, director of most episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

11 – Kay Rose, 80, American Oscar-winning sound editor.

12 – Dee Brown, 94, author (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee).

12 – Edward Harrison, 92, English cricketer and squash player.

12 – Jay Wesley Neill, 37. convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma.

13 – Ronald Butt, 82, British journalist.

13 – Zal Yanofsky, 57, Canadian member of The Lovin' Spoonful music group.

14 – Jack Bradley, 86, English footballer.

15 – Arthur Jeph Parker, 79, American set decorator.

15 – Dick Stuart, 70, American baseball player.

17 – John Aubrey Davis, Sr., 90, American civil rights activist.

17 – Hank Luisetti, 86, basketball star and innovator.

18 – Lucy Grealy, 39, Irish-born American poet and memoirist.

18 – Ramon John Hnatyshyn, 68, former Governor-General of Canada, pancreatitis.

18 – Sir Bert Millichip, 88, British football administrator.

18 – Wayne Owens, 65, U.S. Congressman (D-UT), heart attack.

19 – Guy Bordelon, 80, American Korean War flying ace.

19 – Stephen Fleck, 90, American psychiatrist.

19 – Jim Flower, 79, British admiral.

19 – Arthur Rowley, 76, English footballer, holder of the record for most career league goals scored.

19 – Lewis B. Smedes, 81, American theologian.

20 – Joanne Campbell, 38, British actress who starred in the comedy series, Me and My Girl (1980s).

20 – James Richard Ham, 91, American Roman Catholic prelate.

22 – Desmond Hoyte, 73, President of Guyana from 1985 to 1992.

22 – Joe Morgan, 57, New Zealand rugby union player.

22 – Joe Strummer, 50, former singer for The Clash.

22 – Kenneth Tobey, 85, prolific character actor (appeared in about 100 films including: Twelve O'Clock High, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Thing from Another World and Airplane!).

23 – Jimmy Osborne, 94, Australian soccer player.

24 – James Ferman, 72, American film censor.

24 – Tita Merello, 98, Argentinian actress and singer.

24 – V.K. Ramasamy, 76, Indian actor.

24 – Jake Thackray, 64, English singer-songwriter, heart failure.

25 – Gabriel Almond, 91, American political scientist.

25 – William T. Orr, 85, television executive (brought Maverick, F-Troop and 77 Sunset Strip to TV).

25 – Davina Whitehouse, 90, British-born New Zealand actress.

26 – Herb Ritts, 50, celebrity photographer.

26 – Armand Zildjian, 81, cymbals manufacturer.

27 – George Roy Hill, 81, film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting).

28 – Meri Wilson, 53, American singer.

29 – Don Clarke, 69, New Zealand rugby player.

29 – Sir Paul Hawkins, 90, British politician.

30 – Mary Wesley, 90, novelist, author of The Camomile Lawn.

31 – Billy Morris, 84, Welsh footballer.

31 – Kevin MacMichael, 51, Canadian guitarist and singer-songwriter (Cutting Crew).

0 notes

eddycurrents · 5 years

Photo

For the week of 10 December 2018

Quick Bits:

Astonisher #13 adds Ryan O’Sullivan to the writer’s chair alongside Priest as this arc takes an interesting turn. The idea of the red parasite that’s been haranguing the planet since the first issue being fractured and confused pretty much turns the first twelve issues upside down if it’s indeed true. Great art from Al Barrionuevo, Rodney Ramos, Matt Banning, and Jamie Grant.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Avengers #11 takes a very different approach than the first ten issues or so as Jason Aaron throws more plot developments at us than Ursus Major hurls insults. It’s interesting as it works through the building problems with the US government, attempts at building a coalition of nations assisting the Avengers, Thor and Jennifer Walters’ date, and the surprise heel turn of a once deceased SHIELD agent. All with wonderful art from Ed McGuinness, Cory Smith, Mark Morales, Scott Hanna, Karl Kesel, and Erick Arciniega.

| Published by Marvel

Batman Annual #3 features a very sweet story from Tom Taylor, Otto Schmidt, and Troy Peteri that focuses on Alfred and all that he sacrifices and takes on himself in order to ensure Bruce can continue in his chosen vocation. The art from Schmidt is perfect and the heart and soul, complete with some very nice humour, that Taylor instills in the dialogue and narration are a very welcome change of pace from some of the grim and gritty takes on Batman. I think we need more Batman stories like this.

| Published by DC Comics

The Batman Who Laughs #1 is an interesting counterpoint to the Batman Annual, with a tale of body trafficking, alternate Batmen, and death from Scott Snyder, Jock, David Baron, and Sal Cipriano. It’s dour, bleak, and even more violent, even with corny insurance jokes. I can’t say it’s bad, though, the mystery is interesting, the art is wonderful, and there’s one hell of a cliffhanger, but it is dark.

| Published by DC Comics

Bitter Root #2 features some amazing artwork from Sanford Greene and Rico Renzi. The designs for the monsters, Jinoo or otherwise, are amazing and the feel of the colours, purples and greens, just bathe the story in an otherworldly glow.

| Published by Image

Black Panther #7 begins Book 2, “The Gathering of My Name”, with Kev Walker and Stéphane Paitreau joining Ta-Nehisi Coates and Joe Sabino to provide the art for this story. It’s a little more focused than the first arc, delivering a solid plan for the rebels to reclaim their identities.

| Published by Marvel

Captain Ginger #2 keeps things purring along as the Captain and Ramscoop leave off to follow a signal that they hope will bring them to another ship of cats. Then everything goes to hell aboard the mothership. Love the artwork from June Brigham, Roy Richardson, and Veronica Gandini. There’s also the usual prose pieces and a Hashtag: Danger back-up comic to round out the issue. “Company Policy Regarding Eel” from Mark Russell with a spot illustration from Ryan Kelly is particularly humorous.

| Published by Ahoy

Champions #27 concludes the Weirdworld arc and this volume of the series with the power of friendship. It’s actually a pretty good character arc for the former Nova and some neat stuff you wouldn’t necessarily have expected from Viv. Amazing art and designs from Max Dunbar and Nolan Woodard.

| Published by Marvel

Daughters of the Dragon #2 continues this digital original with a slightly different approach from the others, presenting an overarching story, but within that Jed MacKay is breaking it down into discrete two-part arcs. It works fairly well, giving some very entertaining action stories. The art for these two parts is handled by Joey Vasquez, Craig Yeung, Rain Beredo, and Jordan Gibson and it looks pretty good. There’s some really nice composition in the final confrontation.

| Published by Marvel

Dead Kings #2 is not quite as immediately bleak as Crude was, but it’s pretty close, with Steve Orlando revisiting some similar themes of regret and responsibility in Russia here. This is obviously more fantastical, blending fable and technology in a post-apocalyptic Thrice-Nine, with wonderfully dark art from Matthew Dow Smith and Lauren Affe to bring life to this slowly dying world.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #994 begins “Mythology” from the new creative team of Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, David Baron, and Rob Leigh and it’s pretty damn good. It feels great to actually see some detective work in Detective Comics and the mystery of why someone would go to the lengths to stage a pair of murder victims to look like Bruce’s parents is intriguing. The art from Mahnke, Mendoza, and Baron is also wonderful. Mahnke’s style is actually fairly restrained here compared to what I’ve been used to, which when combined with this particular blue from Baron, reminds me more of the Batman of yesteryear and the works of Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Marshall Rogers.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Strange: The Best Defense #1 continues this very interesting crossover event. Gerry Duggan, Greg Smallwood, and Cory Petit deliver a wonderful “Old Sorcerer Stephen” or “Doctor Strange: The End” type tale with Strange being almost the sole wanderer in a world where Dormammu and his spawn have conquered the Earth. It’s bleak, horrifying, and beautifully illustrated by Smallwood. It’s also interesting in how it ultimately dovetails the rest of the event. Although it definitely can be enjoyed on its own, this one gives a couple answers to the broader picture of what’s going on.

| Published by Marvel

Dragon Age: Deception #3 concludes with everyone hating everyone else, more or less, and an interesting revelation about the Magister everyone was so incensed about meeting, killing, and/or stealing from. Interesting new developments regarding the Qunari incursion of Tevinter as well. Great art from Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Michael Atiyeh.

| Published by Dark Horse

Electric Warriors #2 gets into the battles between warriors and the mechanics of those battles, what transfers to whom depending on challenge, as an alternate to war. It’s interesting enough on the surface, but Steve Orlando definitely seems to be building something bigger. Great art again from Travel Foreman and Hi-Fi. The designs for the characters are truly amazing.

| Published by DC Comics

The Empty Man #2 pushes the insanity caused by the disease even further. I’m not sure what’s more horrifying, the actions caused by the effects of the disease or the cult popping up around it. Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire are delivering a fairly visceral, thoroughly brutal, horror tale here.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Fearscape #3 endeavours to make you hate the series protagonist, Henry Henry, even more than you already probably do with heinous act after heinous act. It is incredible as to how thoroughly unlikable Ryan O’Sullivan has managed to make him that at this point you kind of just want to see him torn apart by pedantic, pretentious literary critics literally.

| Published by Vault

The Flash #60 gives us more details on Fuerza, the new Strength Force user, and her plight against a corrupt police force in Corto Maltese. Joshua Williamson is definitely making these new characters interestingly complicated while Flash tries to understand the new forces. Great art from Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey, and Hi-Fi.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #7 brings Hawkman a new origin, and a new reason for being, from Robert Venditti, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft. This new origin nicely builds on Hawkman’s complicated legacy, not invalidating anything, but enhancing why he keeps being reborn in different places, different eras, and gives him a purpose that’s often been lacking in some of his reboots. Great work.

| Published by DC Comics

Hellboy Winter Special 2018 has a trio of tales, each of them spotlighting a different era. The first is a wonderful traditional Hellboy short from Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck, and Dave Stewart of a seance gone horribly wrong as they also seem to. The second builds on the vampire mythology from the BPRD: 1946-1948 series amidst superstitious villagers fearing for their crops from Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon, and Dave Stewart. And finally a Lobster Johnson tale from Tonči Zonjić of criminals trying to pass off their handiwork as the Claw of Justice. All three stories are very well done, gorgeous art all throughout.

| Published by Dark Horse

Infinite Dark #3 reveals the plans, more or less, that Alvin and Kirin put in place to destroy the station. It’s terrifying, and its source possibly more so. It does kind of make me wonder why people are being driven mad at its reality, though.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther #2 concludes this mini, the last of the Infinity Warps. Absolutely stunning artwork from Jefte Palo and Jim Campbell.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Dark #6 concludes the Myrra arc as James Tynion IV waxes philosophically through Bobo and Diana about guilt and responsibility, even as the nightmares at the gate get even closer elsewhere. The art from Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Adriano Lucas is really damn good.

| Published by DC Comics

Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #1 features some very impressive art from Harvey Tolibao, Joana Lafuente, and Tristan Jurolan. Nice detail, character designs, and beautiful colours.

| Published by IDW

The Magic Order #5 delivers one hell of a twist in this penultimate chapter. Also, very inventive methods of torture. Drop dead gorgeous artwork from Olivier Coipel and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is a great debut from Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. This first issue mainly gets us back up to speed on Miles’ life and supporting cast, introducing and reintroducing the characters and his connections, largely giving narration through his journal, integrating an exercise from his classes to convey the narrative. We get a robbery and a confrontation with the Rhino that sets up the hook for a larger plot and mystery. The art from Garrón and Curiel is gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #10 is insane. Another bit of Philadelphia has been popped off into Oblivion by the less stable of the Cole brothers and this issue is the resulting chaos. I’m still very impressed with how Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, Annalisa Leoni, and Rus Wooton are constantly throwing this book into upheaval, with practically every issue giving a new revelation or upending the status quo. This is just great.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Outer Darkness #2 follows up an entertaining first issue with an outstanding second issue, introducing us to much of the crew and more explicitly the types of horrors that they’re going to encounter in space. John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau have something fairly unique here, with the humour just putting it over the top.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #313 brings this battle with Morlun to an end and with it this series. It’s been a decent tie-in to Spider-Geddon from Sean Ryan, Juan Frigeri, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham, but it is basically a three issue fight scene designed to keep Peter away from the main plot of the event.

| Published by Marvel

Red Sonja Holiday Special has a fairly entertaining lead story of Sonja learning about Christmas and then becoming embroiled in some weird witness shakedown from Amy Chu, Erik Burnham, Ricardo Jamie, Omi Remalante Jr., and Taylor Esposito. There’s also a classic reprint story from Roy Thomas, Frank Thorne, and Mike Kelleher.

| Published by Dynamite

Redlands #9 continues this arc’s structure of beginning with a flashback, this time giving us a hint of what Casper did before he was indentured to the sisters. This one’s a little light on pushing the narrative ahead very far, but very high on building more atmosphere, and developing a potential new problem for Laurent.

| Published by Image

Shadowman #10 has some really great art from Renato Guedes, Eric Battle, and Ulises Arreola. The trade off of sequences for Jack’s confrontation with Sandria Darque and then the flashbacks between Guedes and Battle is very nice, giving a unique feel to both.

| Published by Valiant

Silver Surfer: The Best Defense #1 has some oblique ties to the rest of “The Best Defense” crossover, mentioning whatever this “train” is, but like the others of these first four parts features a largely independent character study. Jason Latour and Clayton Cowles present a twist on a traditional Silver Surfer morality tale by making it a game between the Surfer and Galactus. Beautifully illustrated, tapping into some of the weirdness of Marvel’s cosmic.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #3 has Gwen and MJ work out where the Green Goblin’s hideout is with the assistance of this world’s Glory and Betty. This has been an interesting first arc and tie-in to Spider-Geddon from Seanan McGuire, Rosi Kämpe, Ian Herring, and Clayton Cowles.

| Published by Marvel

Star Trek: Waypoint Special #1 is more than worth it just for “My Human is Not” by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Sonny Liew, and Neil Uyetake. It’s an adorable story from the point of view of Spot, beautifully illustrated by Liew. The other three stories in this special also aren’t too shabby, but you’ll want to buy this one for the tabby.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Darth Maul #1 continues this series of one-shots with a spotlight on everyone’s favourite horny Sith Lord from Jody Houser, Luke Ross, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham. The art from Ross and Tartaglia is wonderful. The layouts for many of the action sequences are particularly impressive, knocking things off-kilter to evoke the kind of chaotic fighting style of Maul.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #25 goes home to Krypton in the lead story from Marc Andreyko, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Lan Medina, Sean Parsons, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano. It takes Kara’s quest into another different direction, adding another possible impediment in finding everyone and everything that aided in the destruction of Krypton. There are also a couple of back-ups, one fleshing out Dr. Z’ndr Kol and the other a sweet Christmas story.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #6 has some absolutely stunning spreads from Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair. The battle between Rogol Zaar and Superman & Zod is incredible, probably some of the best pages I’ve ever seen from Reis. The narration by Superman from Brian Michael Bendis is also interesting as he waxes philosophical about his speed and fighting side by side with Zod. What is less magical is the ending. Superman leaving Zod, even with pressing concerns elsewhere, feels wrong. I don’t know if it’s intentionally a bad decision on Superman’s part that will be addressed, or if it’s just a bad decision from Bendis. It just doesn’t feel like what Superman would do. Otherwise, this is a pretty great issue.

| Published by DC Comics

Titans #31 adds Kyle Rayner to the team as Donna Troy officially takes the lead and a number of the simmering sub-plots converge to kick off a new adventure. Great art from Clayton Henry, Brent Peeples, Dexter Vines, and Marcelo Maiolo.

| Published by DC Comics

Vampirella vs. Reanimator #1 is a damn good start to this mini from Cullen Bunn, Blacky Shepherd, and Taylor Esposito. The art from Shepherd is very impressive. I love the choice to present the story almost entirely in grey tones with spot colours for red and a little bit of sickly yellow, it really makes the art stand out.

| Published by Dynamite

William Gibson’s Alien 3 #2 continues this excellent adaptation of Gibson’s unproduced screenplay by Johnnie Christmas, Tamra Bonvillain, and Nate Piekos. The political aspect and veritable cold war are very interesting additions to the Alien lore.

| Published by Dark Horse

Wonder Woman #60 turns the screw a bit with some unexpected developments for Ares. I’m really liking the art from Cary Nord, Mick Gray, and Romulo Fajardo Jr. While definitely partially the influence of Gray’s inking, Nord’s presenting a somewhat looser, more angular style that reminds me a bit of Frank Miller and Phil Hester which really works for the chaotic and bellicose story.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Accell #16, Amazing Spider-Man #11, Animosity: Evolution #9, Asgardians of the Galaxy #4, Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #2, Battlestar Galactica Classic #2, Birthright #34, Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, The Black Order #2, By Night #6, Cemetery Beach #4, DuckTales #14, Elephantmen 2261 Holiday Special, Fantastic Four Wedding Special #1, From Hell Master Edition #2, Giant Days #45, Go Go Power Rangers #15, God of War #2, Goddess Mode #1, Head Lopper #10, Hit-Girl #11, House of Whispers #4, James Bond: Origin #4, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #5, Joe Golem: The Drowning City #4, The Lone Ranger #3, Mage: The Hero Denied #14, Murder Falcon #3, New Talent Showcase 2018 #1, Patience! Conviction! Revenge! #4, Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age #1, The Quantum Age #5, Red Sonja/Tarzan #6, Rose #15, Sasquatch Detective #1, Sleepless #10, Smooth Criminals #2, Spider-Force #3, Spider-Girls #3, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #27, Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #1, TMNT: Macro-Series #4: Raphael, Typhoid Fever: Iron Fist #1, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #39, The Unstoppable Wasp #3, Vampironica #5, War Bears #3, The Wasted Space Holiday Special #1

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 9, Black Crown Omnibus - Volume 1, Blackwood, Britannia - Volume 3: Lost Eagles of Rome, Cloak and Dagger: Shades of Grey, Curse of Brimstone - Volume 1: Inferno, Fear Agent: Final Edition - Volume 4, Giant Days: Early Registration, Go Go Power Rangers - Volume 2, Hillbilly - Volume 3, Ice Cream Man - Volume 2: Strange Neapolitan, Judge Dredd: Under Siege, Scarlet - Book 2, Star Wars - Volume 9: Hope Dies

d. emerson eddy would like to take a moment to finally admit...”I’m Batman”.

#This Week in Comics

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bisexual-horror-fan · 2 years

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Also if you need more incentive to read Blossom, I'm gonna start writing for special agent Henry Williamson. I've got my first smut piece with him planned already. 👀

#Blossom #Henry Williamson #BHF speaks #I MEAN IT #IM GONNA DO IT #Bexxx Reccs #BHF reccs

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curegbm · 6 years

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How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe: A Special Investigation The disinformation campaign—and massive radiation increase—behind the 5G rollout. By Mark Hertsgaard and Mark Dowie, THE NATION, March 29, 2018 APRIL 23, 2018 issue Things didn’t end well between George Carlo and Tom Wheeler; the last time the two met face-to-face, Wheeler had security guards escort Carlo off the premises. As president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), Wheeler was the wireless industry’s point man in Washington. Carlo was the scientist handpicked by Wheeler to defuse a public-relations crisis that threatened to strangle his infant industry in its crib. This was back in 1993, when there were only six cell-phone subscriptions for every 100 adults in the United States. But industry executives were looking forward to a booming future. Remarkably, cell phones had been allowed onto the US consumer market a decade earlier without any government safety testing. Now, some customers and industry workers were being diagnosed with cancer. In January 1993, David Reynard sued the NEC America Company, claiming that his wife’s NEC phone caused her lethal brain tumor. After Reynard appeared on national TV, the story went viral. A congressional subcommittee announced an investigation; investors began dumping their cell-phone stocks; and Wheeler and the CTIA swung into action. A week later, Wheeler announced that his industry would pay for a comprehensive research program. Cell phones were already safe, Wheeler told reporters; the new research would simply “re-validate the findings of the existing studies.” George Carlo seemed like a good bet to fulfill Wheeler’s mission. He was an epidemiologist who also had a law degree, and he’d conducted studies for other controversial industries. After a study funded by Dow Corning, Carlo had declared that breast implants posed only minimal health risks. With chemical-industry funding, he had concluded that low levels of dioxin, the chemical behind the Agent Orange scandal, were not dangerous. In 1995, Carlo began directing the industry-financed Wireless Technology Research project (WTR), whose eventual budget of $28.5 million made it the best-funded investigation of cell-phone safety to date. Outside critics soon came to suspect that Carlo would be the front man for an industry whitewash. They cited his dispute with Henry Lai, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, over a study that Lai had conducted examining whether cell-phone radiation could damage DNA. In 1999, Carlo and the WTR’s general counsel sent a letter to the university’s president urging that Lai be fired for his alleged violation of research protocols. Lai accused the WTR of tampering with his experiment’s results. Both Carlo and Lai deny the other’s accusations. Critics also attacked what they regarded as the slow pace of WTR research. The WTR was merely “a confidence game” designed to placate the public but stall real research, according to Louis Slesin, editor of the trade publication Microwave News. “By dangling a huge amount of money in front of the cash-starved [scientific] community,” Slesin argued, “Carlo guaranteed silent obedience. Anyone who dared complain risked being cut off from his millions.” Carlo denies the allegation. Whatever Carlo’s motives might have been, the documented fact is that he and Wheeler would eventually clash bitterly over the WTR’s findings, which Carlo presented to wireless-industry leaders on February 9, 1999. By that date, the WTR had commissioned more than 50 original studies and reviewed many more. Those studies raised “serious questions” about cell-phone safety, Carlo told a closed-door meeting of the CTIA’s board of directors, whose members included the CEOs or top officials of the industry’s 32 leading companies, including Apple, AT&T, and Motorola. Carlo sent letters to each of the industry’s chieftains on October 7, 1999, reiterating that the WTR’s research had found the following: “The risk of rare neuro-epithelial tumors on the outside of the brain was more than doubled…in cell phone users”; there was an apparent “correlation between brain tumors occurring on the right side of the head and the use of the phone on the right side of the head”; and “the ability of radiation from a phone’s antenna to cause functional genetic damage [was] definitely positive….” Carlo urged the CEOs to do the right thing: give consumers “the information they need to make an informed judgment about how much of this unknown risk they wish to assume,” especially since some in the industry had “repeatedly and falsely claimed that wireless phones are safe for all consumers including children.” The World Health Organization classifies cell-phone radiation as a “possible” carcinogen. The very next day, a livid Tom Wheeler began publicly trashing Carlo to the media. In a letter he shared with the CEOs, Wheeler told Carlo that the CTIA was “certain that you have never provided CTIA with the studies you mention”—an apparent effort to shield the industry from liability in the lawsuits that had led to Carlo’s hiring in the first place. Wheeler charged further that the studies had not been published in peer-reviewed journals, casting doubt on their validity. Wheeler’s tactics succeeded in dousing the controversy. Although Carlo had in fact repeatedly briefed Wheeler and other senior industry officials on the studies, which had indeed undergone peer review and would soon be published, reporters on the technology beat accepted Wheeler’s discrediting of Carlo and the WTR’s findings. (Wheeler would go on to chair the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the wireless industry. He agreed to an interview for this article but then put all of his remarks off the record, with one exception: his statement that he has always taken scientific guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration, which, he said, “has concluded, ‘the weight of scientific evidence had not linked cell phones with any health problems.’”) Why, after such acrimony, Carlo was allowed to make one last appearance before the CTIA board is a mystery. Whatever the reason, Carlo flew to New Orleans in February 2000 for the wireless industry’s annual conference, where he submitted the WTR’s final report to the CTIA board. According to Carlo, Wheeler made sure that none of the hundreds of journalists covering the event could get anywhere near him. When Carlo arrived, he was met by two seriously muscled men in plain clothes; the larger of the two let drop that he had recently left the Secret Service. The security men steered Carlo into a holding room, where they insisted he remain until his presentation. When summoned, Carlo found roughly 70 of the industry’s top executives waiting for him in silence. Carlo had spoken a mere 10 minutes when Wheeler abruptly stood, extended a hand, and said, “Thank you, George.” The two muscle men then ushered the scientist to a curbside taxi and waited until it pulled away. In the years to come, the WTR’s cautionary findings would be replicated by numerous other scientists in the United States and around the world, leading the World Health Organization in 2011 to classify cell-phone radiation as a “possible” human carcinogen and the governments of Great Britain, France, and Israel to issue strong warnings on cell-phone use by children. But as the taxi carried Carlo to Louis Armstrong International Airport, the scientist wondered whether his relationship with the industry might have turned out differently if cell phones had been safety-tested before being allowed onto the consumer market, before profit took precedence over science. But it was too late: Wheeler and his fellow executives had made it clear, Carlo told The Nation, that “they would do what they had to do to protect their industry, but they were not of a mind to protect consumers or public health.” This article does not argue that cell phones and other wireless technologies are necessarily dangerous; that is a matter for scientists to decide. Rather, the focus here is on the global industry behind cell phones—and the industry’s long campaign to make people believe that cell phones are safe. As happened earlier with Big Tobacco and Big Oil, the wireless industry’s own scientists privately warned about the risks. That campaign has plainly been a success: 95 out of every 100 adult Americans now own a cell phone; globally, three out of four adults have cell-phone access, with sales increasing every year. The wireless industry is now one of the fastest-growing on Earth and one of the biggest, boasting annual sales of $440 billion in 2016. Carlo’s story underscores the need for caution, however, particularly since it evokes eerie parallels with two of the most notorious cases of corporate deception on record: the campaigns by the tobacco and fossil-fuel industries to obscure the dangers of smoking and climate change, respectively. Just as tobacco executives were privately told by their own scientists (in the 1960s) that smoking was deadly, and fossil-fuel executives were privately told by their own scientists (in the 1980s) that burning oil, gas, and coal would cause a “catastrophic” temperature rise, so Carlo’s testimony reveals that wireless executives were privately told by their own scientists (in the 1990s) that cell phones could cause cancer and genetic damage. Carlo’s October 7, 1999, letters to wireless-industry CEOs are the smoking-gun equivalent of the November 12, 1982, memo that M.B. Glaser, Exxon’s manager of environmental-affairs programs, sent to company executives explaining that burning oil, gas, and coal could raise global temperatures by a destabilizing 3 degrees Celsius by 2100. For the tobacco industry, Carlo’s letters are akin to the 1969 proposal that a Brown & Williamson executive wrote for countering anti-tobacco advocates. “Doubt is our product,” the memo declared. “It is also the means of establishing a controversy…at the public level.” Like their tobacco and fossil-fuel brethren, wireless executives have chosen not to publicize what their own scientists have said about the risks of their products. On the contrary, the industry—in America, Europe, and Asia—has spent untold millions of dollars in the past 25 years proclaiming that science is on its side, that the critics are quacks, and that consumers have nothing to fear. This, even as the industry has worked behind the scenes—again like its Big Tobacco counterpart—to deliberately addict its customers. Just as cigarette companies added nicotine to hook smokers, so have wireless companies designed cell phones to deliver a jolt of dopamine with each swipe of the screen. This Nation investigation reveals that the wireless industry not only made the same moral choices that the tobacco and fossil-fuel industries did; it also borrowed from the same public-relations playbook those industries pioneered. The playbook’s key insight is that an industry doesn’t have to win the scientific argument about safety; it only has to keep the argument going. That amounts to a win for the industry, because the apparent lack of certainty helps to reassure customers, even as it fends off government regulations and lawsuits that might pinch profits. Central to keeping the scientific argument going is making it appear that not all scientists agree. Again like the tobacco and fossil-fuel industries, the wireless industry has “war gamed” science, as a Motorola internal memo in 1994 phrased it. War-gaming science involves playing offense as well as defense: funding studies friendly to the industry while attacking studies that raise questions; placing industry-friendly experts on advisory bodies like the World Health Organization; and seeking to discredit scientists whose views depart from the industry’s. Funding friendly research has perhaps been the most important component of this strategy, because it conveys the impression that the scientific community truly is divided. Thus, when studies have linked wireless radiation to cancer or genetic damage—as Carlo’s WTR did in 1999; as the WHO’s Interphone study did in 2010; and as the US National Toxicology Program did in 2016—industry spokespeople can point out, accurately, that other studies disagree. “[T]he overall balance of the evidence” gives no cause for alarm, asserted Jack Rowley, research and sustainability director for the Groupe Special Mobile Association (GSMA), Europe’s wireless trade association, speaking to reporters about the WHO’s findings. A closer look reveals the industry’s sleight of hand. When Henry Lai, the professor whom Carlo tried to get fired, analyzed 326 safety-related studies completed between 1990 and 2005, he learned that 56 percent found a biological effect from cell-phone radiation and 44 percent did not; the scientific community apparently was split. But when Lai recategorized the studies according to their funding sources, a different picture emerged: 67 percent of the independently funded studies found a biological effect, while a mere 28 percent of the industry-funded studies did. Lai’s findings were replicated by a 2007 analysis in Environmental Health Perspectives that concluded industry-funded studies were two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find a health effect. One key player has not been swayed by all this wireless-friendly research: the insurance industry. The Nation has not been able to find a single insurance company willing to sell a product-liability policy that covered cell-phone radiation. “Why would we want to do that?” one executive chuckled before pointing to more than two dozen lawsuits outstanding against wireless companies, demanding a total of $1.9 billion in damages. Some judges have affirmed such lawsuits, including a judge in Italy who refused to allow industry-funded research as evidence. Even so, the industry’s neutralizing of the safety issue has opened the door to the biggest, most hazardous prize of all: the proposed revolutionary transformation of society dubbed the “Internet of Things.” Lauded as a gigantic engine of economic growth, the Internet of Things will not only connect people through their smartphones and computers but will connect those devices to a customer’s vehicles and home appliances, even their baby’s diapers—all at speeds faster than can currently be achieved. Billions of cell-phone users have been subjected to a public-health experiment without informed consent. There is a catch, though: The Internet of Things will require augmenting today’s 4G technology with 5G, thus “massively increasing” the general population’s exposure to radiation, according to a petition signed by 236 scientists worldwide who have published more than 2,000 peer-reviewed studies and represent “a significant portion of the credentialed scientists in the radiation research field,” according to Joel Moskowitz, the director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, who helped circulate the petition. Nevertheless, like cell phones, 5G technology is on the verge of being introduced without pre-market safety testing. Lack of definitive proof that a technology is harmful does not mean the technology is safe, yet the wireless industry has succeeded in selling this logical fallacy to the world. In truth, the safety of wireless technology has been an unsettled question since the industry’s earliest days. The upshot is that, over the past 30 years, billions of people around the world have been subjected to a massive public-health experiment: Use a cell phone today, find out later if it causes cancer or genetic damage. Meanwhile, the wireless industry has obstructed a full and fair understanding of the current science, aided by government agencies that have prioritized commercial interests over human health and news organizations that have failed to inform the public about what the scientific community really thinks. In other words, this public-health experiment has been conducted without the informed consent of its subjects, even as the industry keeps its thumb on the scale. “The absence of absolute proof does not mean the absence of risk,” Annie Sasco, the former director of epidemiology for cancer prevention at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, told the attendees of the 2012 Childhood Cancer conference. “The younger one starts using cell phones, the higher the risk,” Sasco continued, urging a public-education effort to inform parents, politicians, and the press about children’s exceptional susceptibility. For adults and children alike, the process by which wireless radiation may cause cancer remains uncertain, but it is thought to be indirect. Wireless radiation has been shown to damage the blood-brain barrier, a vital defense mechanism that shields the brain from carcinogenic chemicals elsewhere in the body (resulting, for example, from secondhand cigarette smoke). Wireless radiation has also been shown to interfere with DNA replication, a proven progenitor of cancer. In each of these cases, the risks are higher for children: Their skulls, being smaller, absorb more radiation than adults’ skulls do, while children’s longer life span increases their cumulative exposure. The wireless industry has sought to downplay concerns about cell phones’ safety, and the Federal Communications Commission has followed its example. In 1996, the FCC established cell-phone safety levels based on “specific absorption rate,” or SAR. Phones were required to have a SAR of 1.6 watts or less per kilogram of body weight. In 2013, the American Academy of Pediatrics advised the FCC that its guidelines “do not account for the unique vulnerability and use patterns specific to pregnant women and children.” Nevertheless, the FCC has declined to update its standards. The FCC has granted the industry’s wishes so often that it qualifies as a “captured agency,” argued journalist Norm Alster in a report that Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics published in 2015. The FCC allows cell-phone manufacturers to self-report SAR levels, and does not independently test industry claims or require manufacturers to display the SAR level on a phone’s packaging. “Industry controls the FCC through a soup-to-nuts stranglehold that extends from its well-placed campaign spending in Congress through its control of the FCC’s congressional oversight committees to its persistent agency lobbying,” Alster wrote. He also quoted the CTIA website praising the FCC for “its light regulatory touch.” The revolving-door syndrome that characterizes so many industries and federal agencies reinforces the close relationship between the wireless industry and the FCC. Just as Tom Wheeler went from running the CTIA (1992– 2004) to chairing the FCC (2013–2017), Meredith Atwell Baker went from FCC commissioner (2009–2011) to the presidency of the CTIA (2014 through today). To ensure its access on Capitol Hill, the wireless industry made $26 million in campaign contributions in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and spent $87 million on lobbying in 2017. Neutralizing the safety issue has been an ongoing imperative because the research keeps coming, much of it from outside the United States. But the industry’s European and Asian branches have, like their US counterpart, zealously war-gamed the science, spun the news coverage, and thereby warped the public perception of their products’ safety. The WHO began to study the health effects of electric- and magnetic-field radiation (EMF) in 1996 under the direction of Michael Repacholi, an Australian biophysicist. Although Repacholi claimed on disclosure forms that he was “independent” of corporate influence, in fact Motorola had funded his research: While Repacholi was director of the WHO’s EMF program, Motorola paid $50,000 a year to his former employer, the Royal Adelaide Hospital, which then transferred the money to the WHO program. When journalists exposed the payments, Repacholi denied that there was anything untoward about them because Motorola had not paid him personally. Eventually, Motorola’s payments were bundled with other industry contributions and funneled through the Mobile and Wireless Forum, a trade association that gave the WHO’s program $150,000 annually. In 1999, Repacholi helped engineer a WHO statement that “EMF exposures below the limits recommended in international guidelines do not appear to have any known consequence on health.” Two wireless trade associations contributed $4.7 million to the Interphone study launched by the WHO’s International Agency for Cancer Research in 2000. That $4.7 million represented 20 percent of the $24 million budget for the Interphone study, which convened 21 scientists from 13 countries to explore possible links between cell phones and two common types of brain tumor: glioma and meningioma. The money was channeled through a “firewall” mechanism intended to prevent corporate influence on the IACR’s findings, but whether such firewalls work is debatable. “Industry sponsors know [which scientists] receive funding; sponsored scientists know who provides funding,” Dariusz Leszczynski, an adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of Helsinki, has explained. The FCC grants the wireless industry’s wishes so often that it qualifies as a “captured agency.” To be sure, the industry could not have been pleased with some of the Interphone study’s conclusions. The study found that the heaviest cell-phone users were 80 percent more likely to develop glioma. (The initial finding of 40 percent was increased to 80 to correct for selection bias.) The Interphone study also concluded that individuals who had owned a cell phone for 10 years or longer saw their risk of glioma increase by nearly 120 percent. However, the study did not find any increased risk for individuals who used their cell phones less frequently; nor was there evidence of any connection with meningioma. When the Interphone conclusions were released in 2010, industry spokespeople blunted their impact by deploying what experts on lying call “creative truth-telling.” “Interphone’s conclusion of no overall increased risk of brain cancer is consistent with conclusions reached in an already large body of scientific research on this subject,” John Walls, the vice president for public affairs at the CTIA, told reporters. The wiggle word here is “overall”: Since some of the Interphone studies did not find increased brain-cancer rates, stipulating “overall” allowed Walls to ignore those that did. The misleading spin confused enough news organizations that their coverage of the Interphone study was essentially reassuring to the industry’s customers. The Wall Street Journal announced “Cell Phone Study Sends Fuzzy Signal on Cancer Risk,” while the BBC’s headline declared: “No Proof of Mobile Cancer Risk.” The industry’s $4.7 million contribution to the WHO appears to have had its most telling effect in May 2011, when the WHO convened scientists in Lyon, France, to discuss how to classify the cancer risk posed by cell phones. The industry not only secured “observer” status at Lyon for three of its trade associations; it placed two industry-funded experts on the working group that would debate the classification, as well as additional experts among the “invited specialists” who advised the group. Niels Kuster, a Swiss engineer, initially filed a conflict-of-interest statement affirming only that his research group had taken money from “various governments, scientific institutions and corporations.” But after Kuster co-authored a summary of the WHO’s findings in The Lancet Oncology, the medical journal issued a correction expanding on Kuster’s conflict-of-interest statement, noting payments from the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, GSMA, and Deutsche Telekom. Nevertheless, Kuster participated in the entire 10 days of deliberations. The industry also mounted a campaign to discredit Lennart Hardell, a Swedish professor of oncology serving on the working group. Hardell’s studies, which found an increase in gliomas and acoustic neuromas in long-term cell-phone users, were some of the strongest evidence that the group was considering. Hardell had already attracted the industry’s displeasure back in 2002, when he began arguing that children shouldn’t use cell phones. Two scientists with industry ties quickly published a report with the Swedish Radiation Authority dismissing Hardell’s research. His detractors were John D. Boice and Joseph K. McLaughlin of the International Epidemiology Institute, a company that provided “Litigation Support” and “Corporate Counseling” to various industries, according to its website. Indeed, at the very time Boice and McLaughlin were denigrating Hardell’s work, the institute was providing expert-witness services to Motorola in a brain-tumor lawsuit against the company. The wireless industry didn’t get the outcome that it wanted at Lyon, but it did limit the damage. A number of the working group’s scientists had favored increasing the classification of cell phones to Category 2A, a “probable” carcinogen; but in the end, the group could only agree on an increase to 2B, a “possible” carcinogen. That result enabled the industry to continue proclaiming that there was no scientifically established proof that cell phones are dangerous. Jack Rowley of the GSMA trade association said that “interpretation should be based on the overall balance of the evidence.” Once again, the slippery word “overall” downplayed the significance of scientific research that the industry didn’t like. Industry-funded scientists had been pressuring their colleagues for a decade by then, according to Leszczynski, another member of the Lyon working group. Leszczynski was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School when he first experienced such pressure, in 1999. He had wanted to investigate the effects of radiation levels higher than the SAR levels permitted by government, hypothesizing that this might better conform to real-world practices. But when he proposed the idea at scientific meetings, Leszczynski said, it was shouted down by Mays Swicord, Joe Elder, and C.K. Chou—scientists who worked for Motorola. As Leszczynski recalled, “It was a normal occurrence at scientific meetings—and I attended really a lot of them—that whenever [a] scientist reported biological effects at SAR over [government-approved levels], the above-mentioned industry scientists, singularly or as a group, jumped up to the microphone to condemn and to discredit the results.” Years later, a study that Leszczynski described as a “game changer” discovered that even phones meeting government standards, which in Europe were a SAR of 2.0 watts per kilogram, could deliver exponentially higher peak radiation levels to certain skin and blood cells. (SAR levels reached a staggering 40 watts per kilogram—20 times higher than officially permitted.) In other words, the official safety levels masked dramatically higher exposures in hot spots, but industry-funded scientists obstructed research on the health impacts. “Everyone knows that if your research results show that radiation has effects, the funding flow dries up.” —Dariusz Leszczynski, adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of Helsinki “Everyone knows that if your research results show that radiation has effects, the funding flow dries up,” Leszczynski said in an interview in 2011. Sure enough, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland, where Leszczynski had a long career, discontinued research on the biological effects of cell phones and discharged him a year later. According to scientists involved in the process, the WHO may decide later this year to reconsider its categorization of the cancer risk posed by cell phones; the WHO itself told The Nation that before making any such decision, it will review the final report of the National Toxicology Program, a US government initiative. The results reported by the NTP in 2016 seem to strengthen the case for increasing the assessment of cell-phone radiation to a “probable” or even a “known” carcinogen. Whereas the WHO’s Interphone study compared the cell-phone usage of people who had contracted cancer with that of people who hadn’t, the NTP study exposed rats and mice to cell-phone radiation and observed whether the animals got sick. “There is a carcinogenic effect,” announced Ron Melnick, the designer of the study. Male rats exposed to cell-phone radiation developed cancer at a substantially higher rate, though the same effect was not seen in female rats. Rats exposed to radiation also had lower birth rates, higher infant mortality, and more heart problems than those in the control group. The cancer effect occurred in only a small percentage of the rats, but that small percentage could translate into a massive amount of human cancers. “Given the extremely large number of people who use wireless communications devices, even a very small increase in the incidence of disease…could have broad implications for public health,” the NTP’s draft report explained. But this was not the message that media coverage of the NTP study conveyed, as the industry blanketed reporters with its usual “more research is needed” spin. “Seriously, stop with the irresponsible reporting on cell phones and cancer,” demanded a Vox headline. “Don’t Believe the Hype,” urged The Washington Post. Newsweek, for its part, stated the NTP’s findings in a single paragraph, then devoted the rest of the article to an argument for why they should be ignored. The NTP study was to be peer-reviewed at a meeting on March 26–28, amid signs that the program’s leadership is pivoting to downplay its findings. The NTP had issued a public-health warning when the study’s early results were released in 2016. But when the NTP released essentially the same data in February 2018, John Bucher, the senior scientist who directed the study, announced in a telephone press conference that “I don’t think this is a high-risk situation at all,” partly because the study had exposed the rats and mice to higher levels of radiation than a typical cell-phone user experienced. Microwave News’s Slesin speculated on potential explanations for the NTP’s apparent backtracking: new leadership within the program, where a former drug-company executive, Brian Berridge, now runs the day-to-day operations; pressure from business-friendly Republicans on Capitol Hill and from the US military, whose weapons systems rely on wireless radiation; and the anti-science ideology of the Trump White House. The question now: Will the scientists doing the peer review endorse the NTP’s newly ambivalent perspective, or challenge it? The scientific evidence that cell phones and wireless technologies in general can cause cancer and genetic damage is not definitive, but it is abundant and has been increasing over time. Contrary to the impression that most news coverage has given the public, 90 percent of the 200 existing studies included in the National Institutes of Health’s PubMed database on the oxidative effects of wireless radiation—its tendency to cause cells to shed electrons, which can lead to cancer and other diseases—have found a significant impact, according to a survey of the scientific literature conducted by Henry Lai. Seventy-two percent of neurological studies and 64 percent of DNA studies have also found effects. The wireless industry’s determination to bring about the Internet of Things, despite the massive increase in radiation exposure this would unleash, raises the stakes exponentially. Because 5G radiation can only travel short distances, antennas roughly the size of a pizza box will have to be installed approximately every 250 feet to ensure connectivity. “Industry is going to need hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of new antenna sites in the United States alone,” said Moskowitz, the UC Berkeley researcher. “So people will be bathed in a smog of radiation 24/7.” There is an alternative approach, rooted in what some scientists and ethicists call the “precautionary principle,” which holds that society doesn’t need absolute proof of hazard to place limits on a given technology. If the evidence is sufficiently solid and the risks sufficiently great, the precautionary principle calls for delaying the deployment of that technology until further research clarifies its impacts. The scientists’ petition discussed earlier urges government regulators to apply the precautionary principle to 5G technology. Current safety guidelines “protect industry—not health,” contends the petition, which “recommend[s] a moratorium on the roll-out of [5G]…until potential hazards for human health and the environment have been fully investigated by scientists independent from industry.” No scientist can say with certainty how many wireless-technology users are likely to contract cancer, but that is precisely the point: We simply don’t know. Nevertheless, we are proceeding as if we do know the risk, and that the risk is vanishingly small. Meanwhile, more and more people around the world, including countless children and adolescents, are getting addicted to cell phones every day, and the shift to radiation-heavy 5G technology is regarded as a fait accompli. Which is just how Big Wireless likes it. http://bit.ly/BigWireless -- National Toxicology Program: Peer & public review of cell phone radiation study reports Note: The table I posted yesterday has been revised. Use the March 29 version which is now available online. -- Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., Director Center for Family and Community Health School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley Electromagnetic Radiation Safety Website: http://www.saferemr.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SaferEMR Twitter: @berkeleyprc

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