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i-only-ever-asked-questions · 11 months ago

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Good Omens Through the Decades

UPDATED!

This is a timeline of all the events that have happened related to Good Omens, from its inception to its publication to its future plans; editions, adaptations, failed adaptations and the like.

I originally wanted to have this post ready for the anniversary in May, that didn't work, it just kept getting larger. Then I wanted to do it for the anniversary of Season 2 in July, that didn't work either, for the same reason. So I am just going to post it now, a random date and hope for the best LOL. And guess what? After a fun and fruitful chat with another fan who prefers to remain anonymous, I added a couple of events a few trivia here and there (thank you!). So, a little bit of warning: it is loooong, lots of things have happened in 34 years. At the beginning I was going to put all the references at the end of the post, but they are a lot, so I put them in a document instead.

*Yes, of course I am aware of the allegations. But this is about the history and the world of Good Omens which is so much bigger than one person, even if that person started the whole thing. It is ours now. It is Terry's and Rob's. It is David and Michael's, Douglas McKinnon's, David Arnold's and the rest of the cast and crew. It is Colleen Doran's, Dirk Maggs's, Terry Gilliam's, Vicki Larnach, Jim Hare and Jay James Moody's. It is Stephen Brigg's and Martin Jarvis's. And so many other people who have brought or will bring its many iterations to life. It is the fans'.

1985-1990 - The Book

1985, Jan - Terry and Neil met for the first time when Neil interviewed Terry for Space Voyager magazine after "The Colour of Magic" was published [1,2] *For years they both wholeheartedly believed it had been at a Chinese Restaurant during February. Some time after Terry passed away Neil found his diary for 1985 where the entry said it had been in January at an Italian Restaurant [3]

1987, summer - Neil wrote the first 5000 words of a story and sent it to a few friends, including Terry; "An exchange in Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, combined with a late night viewing of The Omen and a love of Richmal Compton’s immortal Just William stories, had put a story into my head, about a demonic baby-swap that goes wrong, in which the Antichrist grows up to be a nice kid, with a dog and a gang" [1,4]

1987, Oct - Sandman began and William the Antichrist went into the back back back burner [1]

1988, spring? summer? - Terry called Neil and offered to either buy the idea or write it together; "About a year later I took it out of the drawer and did see what happened next, even if I couldn’t see how it all ended yet" [5]

1988, summer - They wrote it together (do you really need a reference? 😉)

1988-1989 - First draft took about nine weeks. After Richmal Compton's estate did not reply to the request of using William Brown and his world, William became Adam, Pepper and War became female and the book got a new title (Good Omens by Neil) and subtitle (The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry). The second draft took about four months. There were still about five more months of polishing and editing and auctioning and more editing [4,6] *Good Omens was the first Terry book that ever went to auction. It ended up going for £150,000 [7]

1989, Halloween - During the World Fantasy Convention in Seattle, Terry and Neil started plotting what could become the sequel to Good Omens and called it "668 The Neighbor of the Beast" [6,8] *The real-life experience of trying to piece together the plot of a soft porn movie using little free increments from hotels' pay-per-view over time probably made it into the sequel around here [7]

1990, May 10. Book published in the UK - Hardback published in the UK by Victor Gollancz (with whom Terry had already been working) to be followed by paperback by Corgi on May 23, 1991 [8,9] *After the first UK edition was published (Gollancz), several changes were made to the text to make it easier on US readers and to polish it a bit. The new text was used by both the US publishers (Workman) and the UK publishers of the paperback (Corgi). Gollancz was unaware of this alternate text until about 2009. They started using the Workman/Corgi text starting with their next edition in 2014 [9]

1990, Sep. Book published in the US - Hardback published in the US by Workman to be followed by paperback by Berkley on March 1992 [9,10] *UK editions list Terry's name first and US editions list Neil's name first. This was done because Terry was more known in the UK and Neil was more known in the US [7]

1991-2004 - The Movies

1991, Feb - Hollywood Studio Sovereign Pictures hired Terry and Neil to write an adaptation of the book for a movie. The studio had some specific requirements such as Crowley owning a night club, Aziraphale working as a curator for the British Museum, Tadfield with an abandoned pier and a miniature town in it and Satan. They ended up rejecting the script anyway [11] *It was at this point that Terry suggested Buddy Holly's "Every Day" as the theme for Good Omens. In this script some of the angels used for the series got started like Gabriel and Sandalphon and a big sequence had them use their haloes like frisbees inside the British Museum [11,12,13]

1992, Jan. Movie Script - Terry declined to write a second script, but Neil stayed and wrote one. In October the company got taken over and all dreams of a movie died [11,14] *In this script Crowley tries to run away to Alpha Centauri

2001-2002. Terry Gilliam Movie deal - Since about 1999, when he obtained the rights, and throughout the 00's Terry Gilliam tried hard to make a movie. The closest he came to it was in 2001-2002 when he got as far as casting the parts (Johnny Depp as Crowley, Robin Williams as Aziraphale, Mme. Tracey and Hastur, and Kirsten Dunst). But he couldn't get a US studio to invest the last $15M and the movie project collapsed [13,15,16] *Terry had received, back in 1989, a copy of the book asking for a blurb. The letter got lost and he thought the book had been sent as a pitch for a movie [16,17]

2004, Jun 20th - Hill House Publishers created the "Neil Gaiman's Preferred Edition Series" with limited editions of American Gods, Anansi Boys and Neverwhere. As a bonus for the subcribers, Hill House printed the 1992 movie script under the name "A Screenplay." Only 500 numbered and 52 lettered copies were ever made [11,18]

2005-2010 - The Sequel (and the Audiobooks)

2005, Jun - Terry and Neil met at the Audie Awards in New York and plotted a little more of the sequel. This was when the South Downs bit was thought up [19,20]

2005, Dec. Crowley and Aziraphale's New Year's resolutions - The list of resolutions came out sometime between Christmas and New Year's at Harper Collins' website [7] *The well-known idea of Crowley gluing coins to the sidewalk is not in the book at all, it came from this list

2006, Feb 28. New edition - The book was reissued in the US as a hardcover in two different versions. The text is the same but one version has a white cover with Crowley and Neil's name listed first, and a second version has a black cover with Aziraphale and Terry's name listed first [7,21] *This time the explanation for the authors' name order was to make sure the book could be found both under "G" and also under "P"

2006, Jul. Briggs Audiobook - ISIS released in the UK an unabridged audiobook read by Stephen Briggs in CD, MP3CD and cassette (it won the 2008 Audiobook Download of the Year by audible.co.uk) [22,23]

2009, Nov 10. Jarvis Audiobook - HarperAudio released in the US an unabridged audiobook read by Martin Jarvis in CD [24] *Martin Jarvis is the same narrator who recorded the Just William audiobooks, a nice Easter egg related to the origins of the book

2010, Sep 23 - Terry and Neil had dinner at a sushi restaurant in Cardiff and decided that the book should be adapted as a TV series and not a movie anymore (as per Terry Gilliam's advice). And if it goes well, the rest of the story, the unwritten sequel, should be adapted too [8,13,15] *It was around here that the idea of the sushi restaurant cameo with both of them being patrons started

2011-2013 - The Stage (and a failed TV series)

2011, Feb. Terry Jones TV series - Terry and Neil agreed to a deal to adapt the book into a four-part TV series made by Terry Jones and Gavin Scott. At the end they didn't quite like the script though [13,25,26]

2012, Jun - Amy Hoff's The Cult Classic Theatre was granted permission to adapt the book to a stage play [27] *One of the conditions was that no footage would be taken/made available and the script would not be shared/sold

2012, Aug- Narrativia was established as the production company that would handle all of Terry's work adaptations. The production of the TV series and of The Watch were then transferred from Prime Focus [28,29] *Narrativia was first revealed at "The Watch Team Interview" panel during the Discworld 2012 convention on Aug, 26th [28]

2013, Mar. Stage Play - Amy Hoff's play was presented on March 20-23 and 27-30 at the Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow [30]

2013, Apr - BBC drama producer Heather Larmour pitched a radio drama adaptation to the BBC [31]

2013, sometime. The Musical - Vicki Larnarch and Jim Hare, "two hippies from Sydney", had met with Terry and Rob about six months prior. Terry's interest had gotten piqued when they showed him The Chattering Order Nuns song and he asked them to come back with a showstopper and a few more songs. They came back with "All Living Things" and they got the green light to go forward with the adaptation [32]

2013, Dec 11 - In a meeting at The Groucho Club, Terry and Neil enter into talks with the BBC to adapt GO to TV [33]

2014-2015 - The Radio Drama

2014, summer - Dirk Maggs adapted the book into a Radio Drama and gave Terry and Neil a cameo as police officers pursuing Crowley [31,34] *In July, Neil advised Dirk to get Terry's recording asap, before he couldn't do it anymore. They did it in the summer and that day ended up being the last day Neil and Terry saw each other [35]. The rest of the recording happened during autumn [13]

2014, Aug - Terry asked Neil to make the TV adaptation of Good Omens, "I know, Neil, that you are very, very busy, but no one else could ever do it with the passion that we share for the old girl. I wish I could be more involved, and I will help in any way I can" [12] Neil, of course, said yes

2014, Dec. BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation - The six episodes aired between December 22nd and December 27th, 2014 on BBC Radio 4 [36]

2015, Jan 15 - Random House UK released the BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation in CD [37]

2015-2019 - The TV series (and some luxury limited editions)

2015, Mar 12 - Terry passed away 😢

2015, Mar 25 - Terry's funeral. As soon as Neil got back home, he started writing the script for the TV series [12] *Sometimes signed copies of the third draft of the pilot (dated 25 July 2015) appear in eBay

2015 - Jay James-Moody joined the team to produce the musical [32]

2016, Aug 1 - First read-through of the series script [38] *The scripts were finalized right before SDCC 2016 which was held July 21st-24th [39]. Both Maggie Service and Tim Downie were present in this read-through [40]

2017, Sep 18 - 2018, Mar 10. Season 1 shooting - Season 1 started shooting at St. James' park (with the 11 years ago scene) and ended in Cape Town, South Africa [13,41,42] *The read-through before shooting occurred on Sept 13, 2017 [43]

2017, Nov 13 - Full development reading of the musical at the York Theatre in Chippendale, Sydney, Australia [32,44]

2019, Feb 8 - The social media campaign to promote Season 1 started with a tour of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl, an acapella choir that traveled to different cities for events and TV shows [45,46]

2019, Apr 25. The Chattering Order of St. Beryl's video - The video "That Brand New Baby Smell" was released in YouTube [47]

2019, May 3 and 4 - Workshop production of the musical at IPAC in Wollongong, Australia. About ten days before the series premiere Vicki, Jim and Jay showed Neil and Rob a recording of this show [32,44,48] *Although a full recording of the workshop exists, they are not allowed to share it until it is finished

2019, May 21. Companion Book - A companion book to the TV series with interviews and behind the scenes photographs written by Matt Whyman was published by William Morrow [49]

2019, May 21. The Script Book - Headline Publishing Group released a script book in both hardback and paperback (The US edition by William Morrow followed on Jun 11th). All editions of the script book include an "Other Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" deleted scene. An exclusive edition for Waterstones included an additional deleted scene (Aziraphale in the 1800). A hardback edition limited to 1000 copies with white cover included four different deleted scenes (thugs visiting the bookshop, Leonardo DaVinci, the televangelist and Crowley clothes shopping) and a series of sketches made on set by Lorna May Wadsworth. On Jan 15th of 2020, a paperback edition with the white cover was released; it contained all five deleted scenes from the other editions and a sixth one (Aziraphale trying to sell a book); this edition does not include the sketches however. [9,50] *The script book was created so the production could pay for the death of Agnes Nutter, a scene (and a character) originally written by Terry which was too expensive to film [3]

2019, May 23. The Illustrated Edition - The Pratchett Estate and Neil agreed on a revised definitive text. It was published in five versions collectively called the Definitive Edition. Two versions were published by Gollancz which they called the Illustrated Edition; a standard hardback with black cover and a limited edition in a slipcase with white cover signed by Paul Kidby, the illustrator [51,52]

2019, May 30. "Unholy Night" - The Chattering Order of St. Beryl's released their album "Unholy Night" on Amazon Music and other digital platforms [53]

2019, May 31. TV Series - Season 1 premiered in Prime Video 😊

2019, May 31. Soundtrack - Silva Screen Records released the soundtrack in CD, vinyl and mp3/wav download [54]

2019, Jul. The Definitive Edition - The other three versions of the revised text were published by Dunmanifestin, the company established by the Pratchett Estate to handle Terry's intellectual property. All editions were limited: The Occult Edition (July 1st) with only 1655 copies in a black clamshell box, the Ineffable Edition (July 4th) with 666 copies in a deluxe box including ephemera, and the Celestial Edition, made to order with only 24 copies [52,55]

2019, Aug 2. The BBC Radio Drama Collectors Edition - A vinyl box set by Demon Records included four LPs printed in black and white in illustrated wallets, commentaries by Neil and Dirk and a set of tarot cards. An Amazon exclusive limited edition of 500 sets also included a print signed by Neil [56]

2019, Aug - Neil pitched Season 2 to Amazon [57]

2019, Oct 28. Blu-ray and DVD - Amazon released the series in DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook limited edition Blu-ray (PAL) for the UK. The US version (NSTC) followed on November 5th in both DVD and Blu-ray, there was no steelbook edition for the US market [58]

2019, Dec - John Finnemore joined as co-writer of Season 2 [57] *In this meeting, John stated that he needed to know the ending before he could write so Neil came up with the ending of Season 2 in about 5 minutes right there and then

2020-2025 - TV Series Season 2, a new Audiobook and some other adjacent projects

2020, May 1st. Lockdown Video - A short video about a phonecall between Crowley and Aziraphale was created by Narrativia and The Blank Corporation for the 30th anniversary of the book. It was released in the the official YouTube account of the Terry Pratchett Estate (@terrypratchett6025) [59]

2020, summer - Neil started writing the script for Season 2 beginning with the opening scene for episode 1 [57] *The last scene written was Gabriel organizing the books by first letter of first line. It was planned as the last scene for Episode 2 but at the end got moved to another place [60]

2020, Sep 16 - Season 2 was officially greenlit (along with Anansi Boys) [61]

2021, Mar 26 - The Hillywood Show announced the Good Omens parody project [62]

2021, Jun 29 - Amazon announced Season 2 in a press release [63]

2021, Oct 18 - 2022, Mar 1. Season 2 shooting - Season 2 started shooting in the Bathgate studio. Some scenes were shot on location in different parts of Edinburgh and other areas [64,65] *The read-through happened over October 14th and 15th, three episodes per day [66], David had to attend via zoom since he was still in isolation from Georgia's covid [67]. On the other hand, Michel McKean (Shadwell in Season 1) was present for that zoom read-through but had to be drop out also for covid reasons [68]. Peter Davison (David's-father-in law) was asked to play Job's part after shooting had started (possibly replacing Michael McKean?) and Ty Tennant (David's son) was cast too after shooting had started but through audition [69]. Maggie Service was in the very first shot of the season and also in the last day, first one in last one out as she said [70]

2021, Nov 2. Full Cast Audiobook - HarperAudio released in the US a full cast audiobook with Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley. The audiobook was later released in the UK on January 14th, 2022 [71,72] *The original cover for the audiobook was designed by Henry Sene Yee; a lavender background with drawings of Crowley and Aziraphale facing away from each other. After Season 2 was released, the cover changed to one of the promotional posters [73]

2023, Mar 15. Good Omens HQ - The Terry Pratchett Estate and Neil Gaiman created Good Omens Headquarters. The headquarters launched official accounts in several social media platforms and a website that keeps track of collector's items as they are being revealed [74]

2023, May 10. Good Omens Parody - The Hillywood Show's parody premiered in their YouTube channel (thehillywoodshow) [75] *Amazon Video partnered with Hillywood to announce the premiere date for Season 2 within their parody video. Neil, Maggie Service and Daniel Mays appeared as guests

2023, Jul 28. TV Series Season 2 - Season 2 premiered in Prime Video 😊 *As part of the promo campaign two days before the premiere, Amazon screened the first two episodes in cinemas in several cities free for Amazon Prime members

2023-2024 - The Graphic Novel

2023, Aug 1. Graphic Novel - The Kickstarter campaign to fund the graphic novel adaptation with Colleen Doran as illustrator launched [76] *At its closure, 36,867 backers had pledged £2,419,973 (notice it is pounds, not dollars)

2023, Aug 25. Season 2 Soundtrack - Silva Screen Records released the soundtrack for season 2 in CD, vinyl and mp3/wav download [54]

2023, Dec 14 - Season 3 was officially greenlit [77]

2024, Apr 18 - The Graphic Novel Pledgemanager site launches for people who missed the Kickstarter campaign or to add extras to an already existing pledge [78]

2024, Jul 13 - Vicki Larnach, Jim Hare and Jay James Moody appeared as virtual guests at Nullus Anxietas 9, the Australian Discworld Convention 2024 held in Adelaide, to talk about recent push for the musical [79]

2025 - The Future

2025, January - Season 3 is scheduled to begin filming [80]

2025, Spring - Graphic novel is scheduled to be released [76] *The original release date was in July of 2024, however in April of 2024 it was announced that it would need to be pushed to the Spring of 2025 (Update #20)

There should be a special mention of a fan created musical parody for YouTube that was in development in Russia by 62Media. This was completely fan made and not connected to the Pratchett Estate, Neil, the BBC or Amazon (which is why it is not in the list). Unfortunately it had to shut down due to COVID [81]

Fun fact: During the tour to promote the book, back in 1989-1990 the song "Shoehorn With Teeth" by They Might Be Giants became the unofficial anthem of the tour since that is what they always ended up singing when things went too crazy [82]

#good omens #good omens book #good omens movie script #good omens musical #good omens stage play #good omens graphic novel #good omens 2 #good omens 3 #good omens radio drama #good omens through the ages (I mean decades)

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walkingstackofbooks · 10 months ago

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My 2023 in Star Trek

This is a very random time to post this, but just found it in my drafts having left off from October, and decided I was in the mood for maths!

[Annoyingly, I've found that the previous year I did I bunch of data but only up to Dec 17th 2022? After which I watched a whole buunch more DS9 before the end of 2022 so I'm missing half a month? But hey ho. My 2023 data is mostly complete! 😅]

Total amount of Trek watched in 2023: 224 hours, made from 316 episodes across 23 different seasons.

Total amount of Trek watched ever: 745 hours (ishhh) made from 900+ episodes across 36 different seasons.

Percentage of Star Trek watched so far: 74% (Or 79%, with all series weighed equally) Percentage of Star Trek re-watched: 45% (Or 32%, with all series weighed equally) [Out of the Trek I’ve watched, not *all* Trek]

Overview of series watched in 2023: VOY - 1.5 seasons - 30 hours ENT - 0.5 seasons - 8 hours DS9 - 2.8 + 5.4 seasons - 151 hours TNG - 8 episodes + 1 movie - 8 hours SNW - 1 season - 8 hours LD - 2ish seasons - 7 hours PRO - 1 season - 7 hours

Monthly Log:

Jan - Voy s2e1 - s3e13; First Contact; DS9 s5e17 - end (101 episodes + film = 77 hours)

Feb - Ent s1e1-12 (12 episodes = 8 hours)

Mar - DS9 s1e1-e11 (11 episodes = 8 hours)

Apr - DS9 s1e12-2x25; TNG s4e12, s5e03, s6e10,e11,e20, s7e15,e20. (41 episodes = 30 hours)

May - DS9 s2e26-s3e24 ; TNG s7e24 (26 episodes = 20 hours)

June - DS9 s3e25-s4e06; SNW s2e1-3 (11 episodes = 10 hours)

July - DS9 s4e07-s4e21; SNW s2e4-e7 (19 episodes = 15 hours)

August - DS9 s4e22; SNW s2e8-10 (4 episodes = 4 hours)

September - DS9 s4e23-s5e7 (10); LD s2e9, s3e4-6,8-10, s4e1-5 (12); PRO e1-8 (8) - (30 episodes = 14 hours)

October - DS9 s5e8-e14 (7); LD s4e6-9 (4); PRO e9-15 (7) - (18 episodes = 10 hours)

November - [reconstructed] DS9 s5e15-s6e7 (34); LD s4e10? (1); PRO e16-20? (5) - (40 episodes = 26 hours)

December - [reconstructed] DS9 s6e8-10 - (3 episodes = 2 hours)

#trek year count #personal #i just find this sort of thing interesting #i stopped keeping track in november last year but thanks netflix for having a reasonable history tracker #this is so old i put this off for so long XD #anyway #wsb

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yeoldontknow · 5 years ago

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catch up tag 🌸

tagged by beautiful angels @chillingtae and @yoonia to do this catch up tag. thank you so much loves! i hope you guys are having a happy friday <3 <3

1. what do you prefer to be called name-wise?

kat is fine! i introduce myself to people as kat. if youre using my full name youre either upset with me or a member of my family lmao

2. when is your birthday?

jan 23

3. where do you live?

nyc

4. three things you are doing right now?

working (waiting for one of my systems to load which has been bogged down and super slow lately), listening to my spotify release radar (which is....not great today im disappointed), mentally drafting lines and description for the next hero chapter as im in the mood to write today but im absolutely not in a romantic place lmao

5. four fandoms that have peaked your interest?

uhhh ill list fandoms ive written fanfic for! kpop (obviously), merlin, muse, and supernatural (but like really specifically supernatural seasons 2-5)

6. how has the pandemic been treating you?

i mean....50/50. my company is amazing and i know im super privileged. ive been working from home since the end of february and corporate have been extremely generous (giving us additional time off, mental health days, extending summer fridays until end of 2021, compensating for home office needs, restructuring work from home policies to accommodate parents). i got a bonus in june in place of my raise due to financial tensions but was confirmed for another promotion next year - even was offered a new job, literally straight offered didnt even need to interview, to create my own team in a different department. i have a roof over my head and food on my table. my family is healthy, my parents are retired and safe. like...im so so so grateful.

mentally and emotionally and creatively...i am struggling. a lot of my inspiration for fics comes from being out in the city and observing people and their interactions. even architecture inspires me. the act of moving through a city inspires nearly all of my fics (like..i think everyone can sense that lmao asas is in london, light sakura is tokyo, all quiet is movement through spaces, hero was inspired by a building in harlem). not having that kind of motion and observation has made writing really hard. and also just...the news and the onslaught of hyper-reality. its been utterly daunting and ive found myself completely burned out more this year than ever before. usually my burnout hits during new years or the holidays. ive spent part of summer and part of autumn and literally all of november just...vacant.

so yeah. 50/50

7. a song you can’t stop listening to?

Flexibility of Mind - GRoost

8. recommend a movie?

Summer Wars (2009, hosoda mamoru)

9. how old are you?

10. school, university, occupation, other?

currently employed at a major company in the arts & entertainment industry

11. do you prefer heat or cold?

cold!!!! its so easy to warm up and bundle. who doesnt love cozy socks and hoodies and slippers <3 <3 its so hard for me to cool down in the summer and i hate sweating lmao

12. name one fact others may not know about you?

uhhh i worked in music supervision while getting my masters and the two degrees i have do not necessarily relate to the work i do now lmao

13. are you shy?

i can be. im definitely introverted and find other people to be way, way more interesting than i am. i enjoy listening to people talk about their passions and what interests them, and this also means that i dont say much or say anything at all about myself, really. im not usually the first person to engage in a group or even to introduce myself first to someone unless i get the sense there is someone uncomfortable (with the energy, the topic, the setting, etc) and then i will put myself in a position of leadership to make them feel safe

14. preferred pronouns?

she/her !

15. biggest pet peeves?

people who react rather than respond to criticism or confrontation; people who instigate drama; really loud groups of people on public transportation

16. what is your favorite ‘dere’ type?

i dont believe i have one

17. how would you rate your life from 1-10, 1 being crappy and 10 being the best it could be?

ill say like...8

18. what is your main blog?

this one - yeoldontknow

@yeoldontknowiread is for ficrecs

20. is there something people need to know about you before they become friends?

i can be pathologically secretive in that i dont really talk about myself or what my day has been like or what im up to unless something happens that is exciting or interesting. being an introvert also means that my regard for our friendship will define it as something sacred and i will likely be more devoted (though quietly so) than you might be if youre an extrovert. im really passionate about things and if i sense that you are not as passionate about those same things i will likely not bring them up again unless i feel like you want to hear about it. it might take me a while to respond to texts or messages, but it doesnt mean i love you less. there could be long periods of inactivity in our friendship but if someone else asks me about you i will say i love you and you are special to me and will call you a close friend even if its been years since weve last talked

tagging: @yehet-me-up @kyungseokie @jenmyeons @jamaisjoons @j-pping @yeolville @loeybeans @ditzymax @imdifferentshadesofpurple @red-exo @iris-somnia @inkedtae @yeojaa @hobi-gif @sahmfanficbts @snackhobi @delhyun @yutacrush @nunchiwrites @blackberrykai @kimtaehyunq @jiminiethot and anyone else who wants to do this. i know i tagged a lot of people but really i just want to check in on you and see how youre all doing. as always please only do so if you wish <3

#catch up tag

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kingedwardvi · 4 years ago

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Calendar of State Papers Foreign: Edward VI 1547-1553

1551.

Jan. 6. [Antwerp?] Gaeret Harman, goldsmith, to Sir William Cecil. After a good passage he arrived at Antwerp on New-year's day, at 10 p.m. whence he proceeded to Master Channerly [Chamberlain], at Brussels, and delivered the message.

Received for answer that they should have no need thereof, and it was hard to get it, because the Lady Regent is not at Brussels, and that if application were made to the Council for a passport, it might be thought suspicious; therefore bids him make the best shift he can to get a good ship or two as needs require and to get him to Zealand with Master Gondelfings [Kundelfinger] and his company, and with the first wind to sea.

Requests Cecil to procure for him a passport, since without it he may be stayed. Having a bit of the ore in his bag, he gave it to Gondelfings and the Burgomaster, the latter of whom immediately assayed it, and found it so good that there is no doubt if he have ore enough the King shall receive such honest profit as will cause the Council to regret that it has been so long delayed. Has had no tidings of Dansell's coming, or of the money, which grieves him. [Two pages.]

--- Jan. 7. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to Cecil. Were well worthy blame, and unworthy either to receive long or short letters from Cecil, if he did not bid his shortest welcome and give most earnest thanks for them. Master Hales plieth him with precepts, and breeds a desire in him, as much as he can, to please them both.

Ciphering is to him such a pain, as he had rather do any drudgery than fall to it, and yet will he lie no more so open as he has done. Winchester's fault he can no way better amend, than in doing as he did, to be most against him. Well likes Mr. Wotton's wariness, and where he can, does mean to follow it. He does but tell reports for the most part, which is, in his fancy, a good part of his service; as he can seldom come where he may know whether they be true or otherwise.

If he does sometime say his conjecture, so it be thereafter hid under a cipher, his lack of judgment, in guessing otherwise than it is, may more justly be pitied than he shent for saying as he thinks. He had rather seem unwise than unwilling to further as much as he can; and what harm do councillors take, when he has said, which may think as they see cause and do what they best like?

That he is so open, the fault is Fortune's, and many times not his. He sometimes hears news of importance when he has scarce time to write them; if he shall send them, they must go as they may; if he stays them for cipher, they may come thither by other means, and he be shent for leaving his duty undone.

He supposes his letters come into England unseen; if they do not the Emperor is content men shall write the success of rebels as well as his good fortunes. He may be bold to favour that he ought, when W. made at his discourses to set up that he ought to have beaten down. Will follow him but when he is forced; learn to pardon faults, and he will make the fewer.

Cecil will perceive what charges will grow newly to him; if the Emperor goes into Hungary, he must either send home his wife or keep at Argentine [Strasburg]; do which he will, he is half undone. Marvels that his diet money cometh not; if that will not serve with more, is it reason he lacks it?

Prays Cecil will cry upon Mr. Hales to sell his western land; he left commission with him, and writes every post to him for it. He would be able someways to entice some to bring him advertisements. His geldings have hitherto served, he must now seek other shifts.

May no licence be granted to him but licence to want, and few to pity him? "Good Mr. Cecil, let me perceive that you have made my scuse of not writing, and that he hath as well a mind to help me out of this beggary as though I wrote daily. I wish you health, and my lady your wife sick of child."

P.S.—"You must in any wise help Christopher Mount to part of his money; if not to all. I know he wanteth; and, as little plenty as I have, I was driven to pity his needs more than mine own lacks. You shall at once do pleasure to twain." [Three pages.]

--- Jan. 8. [Antwerp?] Gaeret Harman, goldsmith, to Sir William Cecil. Earnestly desires that this money may be paid, as these men heartily desire to serve the King. After the Burgomaster had twice or thrice repeated the assay of the ore, he was as merry as if the King had given him 100 pounds, and said that if he might have ore enough, the whole realm should have cause to thank God for it.

Out of the 100 ounces would be got more than eight ounces of fine silver, and half a hundred of good lead. If Cecil will show this letter to the Council, they will see that he has always spoken the truth in regard to this matter, and it were pity that men of no experience should meddle in it, as they would lose the one half that God had given to them. [One page.]

--- Jan. 18. Greenwich. The Council to Sir John Masone. Acknowledge his letter of the 30th December, and commend his diligence. Desire to be informed what he has done in regard to the lewd French book against the King, and that he may let the French King know that, however anxious they are to be on friendly terms with the Scots, the latter will always provoke a breach of the peace.

Dr. Smith has farthered his own suit by printing at Paris a slanderous book against the Bishop of Canterbury. He has once deceived an Ambassador in Flanders, and by likelihood would deceive another in France; but indeed they know him too well to be deceived by him.

Mr. Chamberlain having lately been denied the service of his religion in Flanders, they have caused the Emperor's Ambassador to procure him liberty on pain of his own restraint here. Wish to know how he is treated in this respect in France. Mr. Pickering's preparations are well advanced, and the time of his departure will shortly be made known. Orders have been issued for the payment of Masone's diets. [Three pages. Copy in Sir J. Masone's LetterBook.] Eod. die.Draft of the preceding. [Four pages.]

--- Jan. 19. Blois. Henry II., King of France, to King Edward VI. In favour of Nicholas Guymonneau, a merchant of Orleans, whose vessel had been captured by the English in 1547, during the time of peace. [Broadside. French. Countersigned by De l'Aubespine.]

--- Jan. 20. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Introducing the merchant of Orleans mentioned in the preceding letter, and urging his suit, the same being much made of by the French King and Court. [One page and a half.] Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book. [One page and a half.]

--- Jan. 20. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to Cecil. Is his land so increased since his coming out, or his substance so unknown, that men do think he may serve the King without his diets? He would he could, not that he cares, "if your intrade lasted no longer mine than I have to serve here."

If all his doings be still misliked, he is able to do no better, is sorry for it, and wishes some wise men might shortly call a fool home. He has written so much, and to so many, that he must have a new matter ere he can write more, and come home to make more friends ere he can write to any more.

Shall he continue at his cares where to have money, how to get his house found? What service can a mind thus distempered think upon? or if he chance to think upon any, how shall he do that he gladliest would? He prays God he come no more home, if he has not in this little while spent a thousand pounds within a fifty or three score.

He does ask yet but his diets, and if Mr. Hales would make as good haste in selling his land as he does in entreating him to it, would spend his own first, and cry for his allowances after. Does think there be that owe him their help. If they be not able to pay presently, he will bear with them; if they be, and will not, they do him a good deal of wrong.

He cannot serve without heart, nor live without money. Can less bear this his infelicity, that he must be where spending is necessary, where he must with unreasonable blushing borrow and still fail his day. Had rather write of other things, but sorrow guideth his heart, and his hand the pen.

God send him once home, and he trusts he shall better indent ere he come forth again. Will stop, and let rage of his race, praying that by some means or other he may be holpen to his due. " And thus in frost, all out of temper, I wish you more than I care for myself, health. Yours in temper and out of temper." [Two pages.]

---- Jan. 22. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Requests passports for one year may be granted to Sir Hugh Campbell, Sheriff of Ayr, his son Matthew, their two wives, and eight servants, to go from and return to France through England; and as Sir Hugh intends to purchase here three or four curtalls, begs that they may be allowed to pass without staying, any restraint to the contrary, if such there be, notwithstanding. [One page.]

--- Jan. 22. Blois. Same to same. Requesting passports for Mr. Hugh Kennedy and Mr. Ringan (Ninian) Cranstoun, two Scottish gentlemen, with seven or eight attendants, their horses and other necessaries, to go to Scotland through England; also that such stoned horses or curtalls as he might desire—one or two being at the most—shall pass without restraint. [One page.]

---- Jan. 23. Blois. Same to same. Apprizes them of the departure of Mons. de Lansac, a native of Guienne and "gentleman for the mouth," who has been sent by the French King as a mediator for peace between England and Scotland. Again refers to the case of the merchant of Orleans mentioned in his letter of the 20th.

The military preparations are supposed to be against the Emperor. "This Court was never so secret, and therefore the harder it is to know any certainty of things but as time shall reveal them."

The Chancellor of France has been recently dismissed, on the ground, as common report goes, that he was too slow for the office; but wise men think there was some other matter.

"This Court is all set upon pastimes, and between Candlemas and Shrovetide shall the marriages go forward with much triumph." [Four pages and a half.]

Eod. dieCopy of the preceding in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book. [Four pages.]

---- Jan. 24. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Requesting letters of safe conduct for Sir James Douglas, of Donnelanerycke (Drumlanrig), with eight or ten servants, returning to Scotland through England, and that the same may be sent by John Douglas, who will wait upon their Lordships for Lord Maxwell's safe conduct. [One page.]

---- Jan. 28 Greenwich. The Council to Sir John Masone. Introducing to him a secret agent, "one that Balneys (Balneaves) the Scot hath committed of trust to be in France," and who will bring to him as much intelligence as the Scots have. They have given him 10l. towards his charge. [Half a page. Noted by Masone to have been written in cipher. Copy in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book.]

--- Jan 29. Greenwich. Same to same. In consequence of intelligence received from France, Scotland, and elsewhere, that the great military preparations by the French are intended against England, they desire him to learn from the French King himself their meaning in these preparations. [One page. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

---- Jan. 31. Greenwich. Same to same. Introducing the bearer, Mr. Dudley, who accompanies the Vidame to France, and requesting that the usual attentions and good services may be shown to him. [Half a page. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

----

Feb. 3. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to Cecil. Has now in all received three letters from him; as glad of these as sorry that any sent from him should come short. Was in his last letter, as by this is sure Cecil perceives, wonderfully cumbered for lack of money.

At home he had not many that ever he durst open his lips to borrow of them any money; and here he would fain be taken for no beggar, not that he passes so much to be one, as that, being so counted, he shall be less able to do good service.

The rest of his calling be able to lash and lay on, and he, poor soul, must oft lose his night's rest, for that he cannot day it as others do. Thanks him for his friendship and services. If he had heard of his money before, his warm letter, which he sent last of all, had frozen itself to nothing.

"Let my lady, your wife, take heed she writes no Greek, for if she do, Joannes Sturmius is like to see it Mr. Ascham hath already done her errand to him, and, I do believe, you and she shall shortly see their letters in print. I will not, for all my saying, do more than shall stand well with both your pleasures; and yet, lest she chide me for some others' quarrel, it were my best to say I would show her letters to strangers; so I know she would be afraid to chide me.

But, what she will, she can write to few that will give her more thanks for a curst letter than I. And yet, let her take heed, for I can, as you may see by my last, speak apace when I am angry."

His wife sends her commendations to Cecil and his lady, wishing that when the former is at Court without her the latter were here. Is glad Mr. Pickering goeth into France, and hopes he shall easily maintain amity at the Court there. Ωσπερ μεν η ειρηνη τοις ανθρωποις τ'αγαθα παντα τικτει ουτω δε πολλα τα λυπαρα, και κακα εκ του πολεμου γινεται. He means as he writes, and wishes they might for three years war with nobody. [Three pages.]

--- Feb. 7. Florence. Francis Peyto to the Earl of Warwick. Hears nothing farther of the General Council proclaimed at Rome. Some doubt expressed as to its proceeding, as many things may fall before Mayday to let the same. Favours have been offered to him of late, as, with the occasion of their so granting, the inclosure will show; to these his reply is deferred, because they be from Rome removed.

It is such as may both well excuse the not accepting, and also still maintain him in his credit. The Pope gives himself good time in feasts and triumphs which have been made this carnival. He is liberal of his pardons, for in this city be many of his jubilees. He is known altogether to be imperial, and only favourer of that faction. He rather attendeth to enrich his own, than of Cardinals to augment the number; for hitherto there is but one that hath the hat, where many more were hoped.

The Genoese are deceived in their vain hope, for at present Don Diego is there, and doth eftsoons return the labourers to the fortress, with whom it is there now matter of state that will with words gainsay the same. So is the liberty there enlarged! Spaniards keep them under awe, whose number daily increaseth in the country thereabouts, but in the city not yet received.

On the 25th ult. Don Garcia, son to the Viceroy of Naples, and brother to the Duchess here, passed in post this way to Augsburg. He seeks from the Emperor the reversion of Prince Doria's room upon the seas. Hitherto he has only had charge of the Neapolitan galleys, with which he has so well behaved, especially in the late taking of Africa, that he is thought likely to obtain his object; and the rather because of his brother-in-law, the Duke, a man of whose help oftimes the Emperor is served, and maketh good stay in his affairs in Italy.

He is also a Prince of wise and notable government, as by his proceedings daily is declared. It is thought that the Bishop of Rome and the Duke here will shortly raise some men to send to the service of the Emperor in Hungary, where he has recently gained from the Turk a strong fortress, with the death of many that were therein.

P.S. Has just received from Rome a letter of 31st January, copy of which he annexes to the inclosure. Is uncertain what may be the foundation of these conjectures, but will prove if he may learn the same. [One page and a half.] Incloses,

~ Copy letter from Rome of 17th January. Advises him to prevent Henry Stafford, who, at coming home, is likely to do him small pleasure, with a wise letter to some of his friends. He may thank his Lord's Grace and his uncle, who has of late spoken to the former in his behalf, and obtained a promise of effectual recommendation of him to any Prince of Italy, where he thinks he may best be entertained, and like a gentleman, in case he would willingly forsake all that he has in England, and return to Christ's laws.

Writer will communicate his mind more at length in next letter; meanwhile, let him consider which he should prefer of these four, the Duke of Florence, Duke of Urbino, Duke or Cardinal of Mantua, or Don Diego, all of whom are his Lord's entire friends. Were the writer to choose, he would select Urbino, for the quietness of that state, before the rest; he has a singular friend in good estimation both with the Duke and Duchess there to further Peyto in that behalf; but let him do as his heart likes best.

~Letter of 31st January. Of his Lord of Sarum, and the writer's love and affection towards him, he needs never to doubt, for he shall find them always ready to his advancement. By a former letter he might perceive in what state Mr. Thomas Stafford, his Lord's nephew, stands with his Grace, whom writer takes to be of such grace and qualities that perchance the time may come that both he and Peyto may be glad, not only to serve him, but that he ever came into these parts. He is not a little affectionate to Peyto upon his uncle's report and that of the writer; so that Peyto, being little older than he, may be hereafter better able to serve him than the writer, whose good years be almost past. No man living knows what he may come to.

Conjectures more things than may be thought on, and therefore writes this as a warning, that when the time comes, Peyto may say the writer prophesied this long before. Let him in the meanwhile proceed diligently in obtaining virtue, and serve God faithfully, and put not all his confidence and trust in a little plot of land he has at home, which every hour may be taken from him. Has been absent from Rome with his Lord's Grace for 15 days, for which reason he did not write last week. [One page.]

--- Feb. 7. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Had received by Francisco their letter of the 29th January, on Monday, the 2d curt., at 7 p.m. Next morning requested audience, which was deferred for two days on account of the great pastimes invited. Gives an account of the King's and courtiers' tilting, the processions and masks, to which the Ambassadors were invited, and had places prepared for them; and of the grand banquet made by the Cardinal of Lorraine, at which the King himself was steward of the feast and the Constable clerk of the kitchen, "to which also were bade the Ambassadors, to see but not to feed."

He "never saw a more goodly or a richer sight. A man would have thought that all the jewels in Christendom had been assembled together, so gorgeously were the dames beset with great numbers of them, both their heads and bodies."

On Friday had audience of the King after dinner. Details at much length their conversation, and a subsequent one with the Constable, in both of which the most positive assurances of friendship and disclaimer of any hostile intentions were given. The general belief is, that the preparations are designed against the Emperor, whose Ambassador "standeth in such doubt, as he hath already sent away his wife."

Divers bands have been sent lately to Piedmont and some into Burgundy; and the Emperor, on the other side, makes himself strong in both places. The preparations made of soldiers are most in Gascoigne and Burgundy. The Swiss are, by all means, entertained, and so are all such states of Italy as these men make any account of.

The strife between the Bishop of Rome and the King for the archbishopric of Marseilles is ended, and the Bishop for this time hath his mind. The harangue against the English made at Court was by the prothonotary Monluc, in presence of the King, the Queen of Scots, the Cardinal of Lorraine, and Mons. de Guise, assembled to discuss the pacification of matters in Scotland. "It should seem he brast out therewith ex abundantia cordis, and of his cankered malice towards us."

Had brought the matter of the lewd book before the Council; states what occurred on the occasion. Has discovered that the author is Peter Hogue, "who hath long served in all practices between the subjects and the Prince against whom this King hath meant hostility. He was first Secretary to Rincon, and sithen to Poulin, and lastly he was joined with Monluc in Scotland and Ireland, and was at the commotion time in habit dissembled in England. But, finally being sent to the Emperer's countries to make some stir there, he is taken, and lieth by the feet in Riplemonde, like to have that that he hath long sithen deserved."

This Peter wrote the book, but as far as he can learn it was published by the said malicious Monluc, who is now in Gascony, and to whom they have promised shortly to speak withal. Concerning the service of his religion, he has ever since his coming to the Court, used on the holidays, for the most part, the communion, and some time in the working days the common prayers, which he causes to be done in the open place where he dines and sups, and at such an hour as the end thereof, for the most part, meets with the beginning of his dinner, and hitherto never found any man fault therewith, and yet have a good number at Sunday times come to the God-speed of it, as well Frenchmen as Scots.

Is informed that certain rovers have gone from these quarters to lie about the coast of Devonshire and Cornwall, among which, besides Scots and French, are many Englishmen. The blind Scot, that nameth himself Archbishop of Armachan [Armagh], passed by this Court five or six days ago, and was very much made of; he has gone in post to Rome, being appointed to be one of the doers in the Council.

Captain Poulin is restored to liberty. Chastillon is now in great credit. His heart is made to bleed by hearing the base sort of the Court, both Scots and French, who are glad to hear anything to the disadvantage of the English doctrine, talk of the buying and selling of offices in England, the decaying of grammar schools and the Universities, with many other enormities, which they show one to another, printed in English books, and set forth by English preachers.

Rolfe has come in his old age to be a student in Orleans. The Portuguese Ambassador, having a suit in England for certain plate and other things spoiled upon the sea, has requested him to write to their Lordships for favourable justice. He is a right honest man, therefore it were a good deed if he might be restored to some part of what he has lost. Desires to know what answer he shall give to the Earl of Huntly, who often sends to him touching his passport. [Eleven pages.]Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book. [Eleven pages and a half.]

----

Feb. 16. Westminster. The Council to Sir John Masone. Acquaint him with the proceedings at their conferences with Mons. de Lansac on the subjects of his mission, viz., the settling of differences between them and the Scots as to boundaries, the ransom of prisoners, free traffic on sea and land between the English and Scots, &c.

The main propositions had been agreed to, and what remained are to be arranged by Masone and Sir William Pickering, who is shortly to be sent to France on a special mission. The Bishop of Winchester was yesterday deprived of his bishopric, "and in his disobedience and obstinate refusing of the King's Majesty's mercy and favour, showed not only a wilful pride, but also a cankered heart of an evil subject." [Six pages. Draft.]

Eod. die.Contemporary copy of the preceding. [Six pages.] Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book, with copy of the articles delivered by Mons. de Lansac, and extract from a treaty between Edward IV. and James III. of Scotland, referred to in the letter, and which are not in the drafts. [Nine pages.]

---- Feb. 17. Westminster. Same to same. Sir William Pickering has departed with a joint commission for Masone and himself, as mentioned in their former letter; think that as Masone has more readiness in the French tongue, that he should take upon him the handling of the arguments contained in the instructions sent in their last.

On the same day that Lansac had received his answer, news arrived from the Captain of Berwick and Sir Robert Bowes that the Governor was at Edinburgh with all the French troops in Scotland and the complement of five or six Scottish ships, for the purpose, as was reported, of going to the borders to punish certain thieves in Liddesdale, but in reality, as the Captain of Berwick was informed, to make a sudden attack upon that town.

Of this they had apprized Lansac and the French Ambassador, who were immediately to despatch a messenger to Scotland to prevent hostilities. [Three pages and a half. Draft.] Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book. [Two pages and a half.]

--- Feb. 18. [Westminster.] Instructions from the King and Council to Sir John Masone and Sir William Pickering, sent to the French King for the purpose of settling the mission of Mons. Lansac by an amicable arrangement of all the differences between England and Scotland. [Eighteen pages. Draft.] Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book. [Eight pages.]

----

Feb. 23. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Three or four days since was informed by a wise man and of practice, whom the French King uses often in his secret affairs in Germany, that notwithstanding all their fair words and specious appearance, the King and Court are bent upon war with England, and assuredly will if the Turk comes into Hungary.

That this is prompted by Mons. de Guise and his house, in so much as it is already half concluded to send away the Queen of Scots with all convenient speed, and with her 300 or 400 men of arms, and 10,000 foot. His informant is much affected to the English religion, and having a great desire to go to England to see Bucer, may probably accompany Masone on his return, when their Lordships may learn more.

Endeavouring subsequently to ascertain what ground there was for such assertions, had learned that lately the King was highly irritated by a letter from Lord Maxwell complaining of the refusal of his safe conduct; which feeling has been fomented by the Queen of Scots and her house, who bear in this Court the whole swing.

"The Scottish Queen desireth as much our subversion, if it lay in her power, as she desireth the preservation of herself, whose service in Scotland is so highly taken here, as she is in this Court made a goddess. Mons. de Guise and M. d'Aumale, and the Cardinal of Lorraine, partly at her egging, and partly upon an ambitious desire to make their house great, be no hindrance of her malicious desire."

The Constable, he thinks, would be content things proceeded otherwise. Recommends vigilance; Fistula dulce canit volucrem dum decipit auceps.

"The credit of the house of Guise in this Court passeth all others. For albeit the Constable hath the outward adminstration of all things, being for that service such a man as hard it were to find the like, yet have they as much credit as he with whom he is constrained to sail, and many times to take that course that he liketh never a whit."

Francisco has arrived with their Lordships' letter announcing their intention to send Pickering: as it may be sometime before they can have speech with the King, who is abroad hunting, and will not be within eight miles of the town for five or six days, sends back Francisco, who will inform them of the precarious state of his health, which compels him for the most part to keep his bed.

In case it shall please God in the mean season either to call for him, or to continue him in this weakness, their Lordships shall not do amiss to give Pickering commission to do the errand alone, wherein peradventure he will otherwise be scrupulous. The malapert glory of the Bishop of Winchester that was is in no place better known than in this Court. This day a great many Scottish gentlemen were despatched with commission to take shipping in Flanders. [Six pages. Indorsed by Cecil.] Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book. [Six pages and a half.]

---- Feb. 24. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to Cecil. What should he look for Cecil's long letters, when the shortest be so comfortable to him? It is his comfort that all his doings do not displease. His trust is his time weareth fast away, and that some good chance or other will send him home. If ever he comes home again, and may do anything with those that do send him abroad, he thinks he can say so much for poor men tarrying at home, that he shall be the last that shall be sent with any great Court to shame himself.

His continual fear to lack, or rather his own continual lacks, must needs grieve him, and yet do they not half as much as that he is forced still to weary the Lords with his beggarly complaints. He thinks they would reckon him worthy some help, if they knew how his things waste away.

He could write of his beggary till to-morrow, and find matter plenty. If he goes to anything else, now the Lords' letters are done and he almost tired, Cecil sees œgri hominis somnia how they hang together. Makes suit that some clerk of the Council might write but this much to men that serve abroad, "your letters written such or such a day are received," &c.

If Cecil were in this case, he would think it as necessary as anything can be. Unquietness beareth such a rule in men's heads, while they may doubt whether things come as they be sent or no, that he shall do nothing wisely that feeleth that trouble, if he be no wiser than the writer is. Cecil sees he is troubled, therefore will no longer trouble Cecil. [Two pages.]

----

Feb. 25. List of despatches sent this day to Sir John Masone and Sir William Pickering, viz.:— 1. Credentials for Sir William Pickering as Ambassador. 2. Instructions for Sir William Pickering. 3. Letter of revocation of Sir John Masone. 4. Letters from the Council to Sir John Masone. 5. Letters to Sir William Pickering to send Thomas Dannett. [Half a page. Indorsed by Cecil.]

--- Feb. 25. Westminster.298. Letter from King Edward VI. to Sir John Masone. Revoking his appointment as Ambassador, and notifying that of Sir William Pickering as his successor in office. [One page. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

----

March 17. Blois. Henry II., King of France, to King Edward VI. Acknowledging receipt of his letter by Sir William Pickering, and his concession of such points as had been urged by Lansac; for the completing of what remains will shortly despatch a gentleman who will pass through England to Scotland. [Countersigned by Bochetel. One page. French.]

---- March 17. Blois. Sir John Masone to Cecil. Requests that there may be no delays in the business of Sir William Pickering, who has promised to return within 18 or 20 days. "These men sithen this last commission seem much altered in disposition towards us, and in all men's opinions we are like this year as the last to be friends. If they mean otherwise, they be devils and no men." The Master of Erskine, whom he takes to be a very honest man, and given to peace and unity, will, with M. de Lansac, within two days be in England. [One page.]

---

March 20. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Requesting a safe conduct for the Archbishop of Glasgow and his retinue, desiring to go to and return from Scotland through England. [Half a page.]

--- March 21. Blois. Henry II., King of France, to King Edward VI. Re-credentials of the Sieur de Lansac, sent to England on the matters contained in the letter brought by Sir William Pickering [Countersigned by Bochetel. One page. French.]

--- March 23. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to Cecil. Perceives by Mr. Hales that his ciphering now doth as much cumber Cecil as his lying too open at the first gave occasion for warning him to play closer. Sees that in vitium ducit culpœ fuga si caret arte, and will from henceforth mean to hit the mean. Were Cecil in his place, believes that he would send few of those things open-faced that are now covered with cipher.

Mr. Hales says he is too merry. He must answer and say they be morosiores quam quibus morem gerere vel queat vel velit, that cannot allow him more mirth than he at any times hitherto has used.

Mr. Hales writes that he has spoken to Cecil to help that the Lords may license him to have his diets in leather. "If you think I could be content to put you in silk, see that you help to clad me in leather." It is a mean spur to service to be always wanting; but he dares not touch this string, it maketh him all day after out of temper. [Three pages.]

--- March 23. Blois. Sir John Masone to the Council. Although the Master of Erskine and M. de Lansac were to have left last Thursday, they had been detained until this present Tuesday, "the occasion whereof is the far lying of the Chancellor from the Court, without whom, albeit he be removed from the seal, they conclude no great matter here; so much do they esteem a wise and a faithful servant, notwithstanding some displeasure taken with him upon a private matter.

The Master of Erskine seems to be of a plainer sort than many are of that country, and to mean very much the sincere reconciliation of the two nations together. M. de Lansac has everywhere made honourable report of their Lordships' courteous handling of him. M. d'Estrees has returned, but the vessel mentioned in his letter of the 18th has been stayed.

The Rhinegrave has returned from Denmark to a house of his wife in Gascony, albeit he was in sundry places by the way narrowly laid for. The Turk prepares 200 galleys for the recovery of Africa, to the great fear of all the coast of Italy, Sicily, and the islands in the Mediterranean. Much practice of late to make Parma hold of the French King in like manner as the state of Mirandola, and M. de Thermes, under pretence of going to Rome as Ambassador, has been some time there for that purpose, to the concluding whereof M. St. Pierre has very lately been despatched hence in post.

The Bishop of Rome winks at this, and thereby has provoked the choler of the Emperor, who cannot but must much storm thereat, since it will give the French King a hold to do great harm in Italy when he pleases.

There has been a great skirmish between Don Fernando and Signor Octavio touching the question of the frontiers of Parma and Piacenza, wherein many men are miscarried; and news have been received that Signor Octavio has beaten down all the Emperor's arms and crosses, and planted in their places the arms of France.

Recommends the case of the French merchant at Dover, as one very evident, even by the deposi tions of the inhabitants of Dover, and demanding speedy justice. Begs them to hasten the return of Pickering. [Three pages. Partly in cipher, deciphered.]

----

March 30. Cleves. William Duke of Cleves, to King Edward VI. Letters of credence in favour of Herman Cruser, Doctor of Laws, who visits England on business of the Duke's sister. [One page.]

----

April 7. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to the Council. Hearing that the Lady Regent meant to make towards Flanders to-day, had on Saturday last requested an audience, which was granted the next morning at nine o'clock. Her Grace's professions of friendship on part of the Emperor and herself were great. Had told her that the news of this Court, which are that three French ships should be going into Ireland and drowned by the way, made him afraid the English should have good need of powder ere they should have leave to fetch it out of Flanders, if her Grace did not both help him to speak, and after help to speed such as should be appointed to fetch it.

That the Emperor had given him a very gentle answer, showing a desire to furnish as much as could be conveniently spared; yet he saw the suit would finally be committed to her Grace's order, and therefore prayed her as her plenty might serve their need to help them.

He had very good words, "if there were to spare, and we should have occasion to spend powder, we should," &c.; but his prayer is and shall be that there may be no more need of powder than they have will to afford it, and then it must either be wanted or fought hard for before it is had, or shortly after. M. D'Arras had been at Council with her Grace a great while before he came.

Whatsoever the matter was, he saw by her countenance she was in dumps, although, smiling twice or thrice, she did what she could to keep cares in the dark. Here be more posting and little audience given to foreign matters. The Bishop of Jaen, as yet, has not spoken with the Emperor since his coming. Pigghinus would fain take his leave.

The King of Sweden's men hitherto cannot get to his Majesty. The King of Poland's Ambassador has been there these two months upon taking his leave; he abideth his good hour. It is said that the Queen of Poland is either stark dead or not like to live, and that France will practise with him for a marriage. Has waited upon two Polish gentlemen that came to see the Lady Elizabeth's Grace.

Knows that they both went home great praisers of her person and of her bringing up. The Frenchmen that were here have gone, as their Ambassador told Bernardine, towards Vienna. Cannot imagine why they should travel that way, unless it be that France may give from thence better advices to the Turk.

Rumours here that France meaneth a voyage into Ireland. Letters from their Ambassador at the Turk's Court had arrived at Venice late at night. In the morning they called a Council, and forthwith despatched 600 new soldiers to Corfu, with money and victuals for themselves and those already there.

The Turk is said to have at Vallona, hard against Italy, 200 vessels to ship over horses, every vessel able well to carry little lack of 40 horses. To-day, Signor Gastaldo, who was Master of the Emperor's camp in his wars of Germany, goes towards Vienna. Some Spaniards lately slain by the Turks. Africa not thought to be the mark the Turk shooteth at. Italy and Sicily never fitter to be assaulted, both being so weary of the Spaniards that they care not who comes, so they may trudge away. Great dearth of corn and victuals in both.

The General Council, it is said, will be prorogued to September; because of inconvenience to those that are called and are now on their way to it, supposes they will counterfeit a beginning, but there be few likelihoods that it should last any while. Germany is unquiet, and like to wax madder now that cold and snow have almost left. Two of these French gentlemen that came hither of late did communicate at the Protestants' church under both kinds.

Duke of Oldenburg is said to have entered into Magdeburg with 300 men well horsed and well hearted. Will know more of the matters of that town by copy of a letter received from thence sent herewith (missing). Since then news have come that on the 25th March the inhabitants had given Duke Maurice's men another great overthrow, and taken prisoner his chief captain, Peter Pfefferkorn, with 200 more, whom, after disarming, they drove altogether before them into the town.

Mutual complaints of the Emperor's Council and Duke Maurice; the former thinking that the Duke might have done more than he hath, and the latter that he was promised better aid than hath been sent to him. Men mutter that the Duke will procure himself no longer the hatred of Germany by farther offering displeasure to these men.

The three Bishops-Electors and the Palsgrave, who have been always confederated, are, as it is said, together; some think for the Coadjutoria, others because the Emperor has taken into his hands Superiorem Palatinum, and the decease of this man doth make a claim ad Inferiorem. The Court will be but meanly furnished now King Maximilian has gone, the Queen going, and the Electors and Princes have left. The Prince of Spain is also ready to depart.

The Emperor has here a guard of 2,000 foot, and it is said intends to bring 1,500 cavalry into the town; if so, the horses there, that now can hardly get meat, must starve, or seek victuals in other places, there being no hay within a dozen English miles round about. People supposed his Majesty would have removed hence, because wine and all kinds of victuals wax not only unreasonable for their price, but not to be had for their scarceness; yet now it is thought they shall lie here most part of the summer.

Physicians think it perilous for his Majesty to remove till his health is stronger. Knows not whether it were better to be at the expense of removing where things may be had cheaper, or to remain here, dearth notwithstanding. Trusts their Lordships will devise, or rather have devised already, some help for him. [Four pages. A few lines in cipher, deciphered.]

---- April 10. Draft instructions by King Edward VI., with the advice of his Council, to Dr. Wotton, Dean of Canterbury and York, sent to the Emperor as Ambassador. He is to explain that no offence was intended by his Majesty, and if any discontent has been caused by the over-earnest speaking of religion to M. D'Arras or the Emperor by the Ambassador now revoked, it is to be ascribed to the excessive zeal of the man.

That his Majesty, on grounds of natural equity, expects that his Ambassador in Flanders shall have the same free exercise of his religion in Flanders as the Emperor's has in England. And in regard to the Lady Mary, that no promise of the exercise of religion had ever been made; that a prescribed form of common prayer has been established by Parliament, and that as a subject she is bound, as well as his Majesty, thereby, so should he not but do unjustly to violate it, or in any point to agree to the breaking of it. [Ten pages.]Two copies of the above, with slight variations, attached.

--- April. 11. [Greenwich.] Instructions by the King and Council to Sir William Pickering, sent to France to notify to the French King the appointment of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry [Richard Sampson], Sir Robert Bowes, Sir Leonard Beckwith, and Sir Thomas Chaloner as Commissioners to meet with those of France, for settling the boundaries of Scotland and England, about the beginning of May next, and to commence his duties as Ambassador on the departure of Sir John Masone. [Draft. Seven pages.]

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April 14. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to the Council. So long as he hears not from their Lordships, he will pay no attention to the rumours that come abroad. And yet when it is reported that the French King meaneth to be busy in Ireland, and his Ambassador here says it is most false, he might both answer others, if he knew the state of matters at home, and believe the Ambassador as he should see cause.

It is said to be very certain that the French King has 28 galleys at Marseilles, and has lately sent thither 140,000 crowns to do such things withal as are in hand; there is also much making of biscuits and such like provision. Further, that a Turkish galiot has arrived there, to solicit the French King to be in readiness, that both their forces may be abroad at the same time.

The Emperor has also new ships and galleys at Barcelona. The Prince of Spain's departure is delayed, either because the French galleys may cumber his passage or because Andrew Doria has not yet returned from the succouring of Africa. Some say he means to seek out Dragut Rey, in hope to find him in certain straits where he must either fight or yield. Heard this day that Doria is very sick, and some think that by this time he is stark dead. Was told yesterday that letters from Venice mention the capture of a castle of the Duke of Ferrara by Ferrante Gonzaga; but heard to-day that it is a castle belonging to Parma, called Brusa. Whether it be the one or the other, it is thought that war will follow.

Yesterday came from the Bishop of Rome one Dandino, a bishop, to commune with the Emperor in matters of Parma; so that the Bishop has three bishops here, who severally practise with M. D'Arras. Dandino, having risen by the house of Farnese, is like to favour Duke Octavio's desires, being thought to be full Farnese, as the Bishop of Jaen is thought to be Imperial; but both, notwithstanding, use all their friendship to the service of a third.

Some reckon that the Bishop of Rome, either to dash the Council or for some other reason, so mindeth to cause a jar between the two Princes, that he will give to the Emperor all the interest that Rome has in Parma, and suffer him after to deal with France for the recovery of it as best he can. Carolo Vic [Carlowicius], agent here for Duke Maurice, was sent four days ago to his master by the Emperor, with instructions, it is supposed, to agree those of Magdeburg, finding less hope now to do them harm than at the beginning.

Their Lordships must take all these things as reports, and not as of his own certain knowledge. Hears that an old fellow with a long beard has gone from this Court to serve the Lady Mary; he was a good while servant to Chapuis, and after that to Dilphius, and he has letters, to whom Morysine wots not, from the French Ambassador, which he wrote with leisure and very diligently.

Three days since the Admiral of Flanders wrote hither that the French King's naval preparations are great, and thought it convenient the Emperor should have a good eye to his doings. To-day or to-morrow the Emperor entereth into the Diet, and it is thought will not tarry in it past 10 or 12 days: if he means to accord with Magdeburg and Bremen, as some suppose, it is like enough other things are in hand.

All men think certainly that war will be proclaimed ere May be quite expired. Pigghinus has taken leave of the Emperor, and goes, they say, to the Council. The Emperor has again written to all his, that they fail not to be at Trent on the day appointed. Thinks that the more show there is of a Council, the less it is meant; and that the Emperor's taking of guaiacum and writing of new letters is but to make men imagine that he thinks of nothing but of the Council; for if the Council were certainly meant, the first letters from the Emperor would serve well enough to command as many of his subjects as must and mean to obey.

Yesterday heard that the Bishop of Rome has imprisoned two Bishops in the Castle of St. Angelo, because they have become Protestants: one of these is the Bishop of Bergamo, a Venetian of good house; the other's name he knows not. Paulus Vergerius has set them a goodly example; if these be come, more may follow. Vergerius has done a marvellous deal of good by leaving his bishopric and forsaking his hope of growing great in the world; but he has done much more good by printing daily of new books, which go in great numbers into Italy. Many of these are dedicated to the King's Majesty.

The man has left all to follow Christ, and lives very hardly. Many there are can gladlier commend well doing, than provide that virtue go not a-begging. "Bucer's death has raised up again the bruit that was here, that we are become Jews. The tale is thus told: the King's Majesty asking Bucer how the Bishop of Rome's authority might be quite extinct? His answer was, 'Sir, Messias is not yet come, and therefore the authority that Christ hath given him is to be accounted as none.'"

Their Lordships see what lust they have to lie, that lie thus, not so much as colouring it with some likelihood of truth. "Bucer is safely laid up, and our country not the worse of a mite that they, which know no more of Christ than his name and dwelling-place, do take us all for damned souls." Many Spaniards and Italians this Lent past went to the Bishop of Rome's Nuncio to be absolved, for that they had served in the wars the King of England.

Yesterday saw a letter from Ferdinando's Court that as yet little harm has been done on either part, but the Bassa of Buda has gathered a great power, rather to defend himself than annoy others, although some think he waits a larger force from Adrianople and Belgrade, and then, on all sides at once, to set upon Transylvania. Sends herewith a letter from Wittenberg to an honest man of this town, containing the matters which have been done at Magdeburg during the last month. [Four pages.] Incloses,

319. I. From Wittenberg, 23d March. Here they are building boats for making a bridge across the Elbe. They make frequent sallies, and beyond all expectation defeat Maurice's troops. They intercept ammunition and provisions and convey them into the city. So vigorously do they fight, that two days ago heavy firing was heard about 12 miles from this, and is still occasionally.

All say that it is quite impossible they can take the city. The day before these letters were written many country people came to Wittenberg severely wounded, who said that they had saved their lives by concealing themselves behind the dead bodies.

When Maurice's troops surrounded the gate to prevent issue from the city, these countrymen were told to leave or abide the consequences. While they delayed 2,000 soldiers rushed out of the city, slew about 300 of them, and attacking a large number of troops who were defending the trenches, killed some, dispersed others, captured several together with a standard, and took them to the city.

These on the same night they dismissed, with white rods in their hands, after disarming them and writing down their names. John Margrave of Custrin desired to reconcile them to Maurice, and a convention was held at Corbet, but without results. [One page.]

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April 18. Amboise. Sir John Masone to the Council. George Paris, the Irish agent, mentioned in previous letters, has arrived, in company with a great gentleman from Ireland, offering the service of the rebels, with their country, to the French King, if he will send troops thither.

They have had very good countenance both of the King and of the Constable, and have been in communication with the Bishop of Rome's Ambassador; but it is understood that they have been informed they may look for no aid hence. Details the political intrigues and differences among the Scots at the Court. The Emperor is exceedingly displeased with the Pope, whom he believes to have been a worker in the affair of Parma; and it seems that he has no fancy to be doing with the French King, by whom he has been so pricked lately, as, if he had any mind thereunto, he could not have kept his patience.

Rumours that the Emperor mindeth to have war with the English. The Scottish Queen's shipping is hasted very much, and it is supposed that she will embark a month sooner than was determined. General musters through France. No great haste making there for sending to the General Council. The reports as to the Turk's intentions against Africa are dying away.

The frontier of France upon Spain is very straitly kept. The King of Navarre has been dangerously ill, but is recovering. Lady Fleming departed hence with child by the French King, and it is thought that upon the arrival of the Queen Dowager in Scotland she shall come again to fetch another. States his objections to corporations. Complains of the long absence of Pickering, of his continued feeble health, want of money, and relative discomforts and inconveniences. [Nine pages and a half.]Eod. die.Copy of the above in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book. [Nine pages. Printed by Tytler, Vol. i., p. 351.]

---- April 19. Brussels. Sir Thomas Chamberlain to same. A Secretary of this Court, named Matthew Strick, leaves in four or five days for Scotland, in the capacity of Ambassador resident there, and a like Ambassador from Scotland is expected. Bremen and Hamburg are reported to have agreed with the Emperor, but Magdeburg still holds out. Great warlike preparations are made in Spain, and all the merchant-vessels are pressed into service: their destination is not known, but is supposed to be for another voyage to Algiers. [One page.]

----- April 20. Greenwich. The Council to Sir John Masone. Sir William Pickering has been detained by them until the Scottish matter should be farther proceeded in. He now leaves, and they request he may be thoroughly instructed by Masone before he enters upon his official duties. [Half a page. Copy.]

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April 22. Amboise. Sir John Masone to the Council. The name of the person who came with George Paris is Cormac O'Connor, the eldest, as he says, of nine brothers all alive; and he states that his father is the great worker of all this rebellion, and could never be induced to submit, notwithstanding the general coming in of the rest of the Irish nobility, in the time of King Henry VIII., although he has one house within a stone's cast of the English pale, and another within 20 miles of it.

He charges the French King's messengers with causing the whole stir, and has requested from the Constable an aid of 5,000 men, which, with their own force, would suffice not only for defence but for offence. He has been put off with fair words, and is likely to receive nothing else; but the Queen Dowager of Scotland and the Vidame would fain have them helped. The Scots here are much discontented, and mislike the yoke that foolishly they have put their heads in. Mr. Dudley and Mr. Stukeley, who have been made very much of, return to England in seven or eight days.

Schertel, the Protestant captain of Augsburg, despairing of pardon from the Emperor, has within these three days come to the Court and having offered his service to the French King, is very well entertained for the first coming. Hears nothing of Pickering, whose tarrying he can only impute to his own ill-luck.

To-day news have arrived that the Queen of Bohemia has been brought to bed of a son, and that both her husband and the Prince of Spain were departing for Spain, the one to see his wife, and the other to keep the ordinary Courts held every fourth year in Castile, Aragon, and Catalonia, to the great advantage of the King. [Two pages and a half.]Eod. dieCopy of the preceding in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book. [Two pages and a half.]

---- April 27. Amboise. Sir John Masone to the Council. The Irishmen mentioned in his last letter were on Friday willed to keep their lodgings, and to resort no more to the Court until they should be sent for. Supposes they will be despatched away very secretly, or that the object of their mission being so clearly known, it is not deemed expedient to entertain them so openly.

The departure of the Scottish Queen is deferred again; some think because of a fancy that the French King has for one of her train; Mr. Dudley has behaved himself in this Court very honestly, and has communicated to Masone all that he could learn by haunting the company of the Vidame, than whom a more superstitious man is not in all this realm, and who has done all in his power to have the Irishmen aided.

Longs to hear from England, having had no tidings from thence since the 26th of February. Begs to be informed if there is any alteration touching Pickering, in order that he may provide for such things as are necessary for his office, whereof, by too much trust, he is at this present so destitute as never was there in any Court a more miserable Ambassador.

Yesterday arrived a Danish nobleman, called the Count D'Igles, who was brought up at this Court, and has come, as he alleges, to christen a son of Marshal St. André. A post from the Commissioners on the frontiers of Scotland has just arrived by sea, and two days ago the Baron de Courton was despatched thither. [One page and a half.]Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book. [One page.]

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April 28. Amboise. Henry II., King of France, to King Edward VI. Has instructed his Ambassador, the Sieur de Chemault, to request that his Majesty will cause to be delivered up to him a Scotsman, named Stuard, implicated in a conspiracy against his grand-daughter the Queen of Scotland. [French. One page.]

---- April 28. Augsburg. Sir Richard Morysine to Cecil. Though Germany cannot match England in sweet herbs, it can in nettles and such as have skill in stinging. He is a proof who wrote to the Council that Morysine was a messenger (αποστολος) rather than an Ambassador (πρεσβυς). Will not regard John Hales' complaints. Knows who says, it is strange if we can endure the cauteries of the physician, and not advice administered when we do wrong. Begs he will stand his friend, as he did by his attorney, when J. H. was there.

Knows the thanks that good advice deserves. Gives a quotation in Greek to this effect, and adds, "My Lady Cecil can easily spy my theft, and so see what I might a-stolen more. I must say my Lady Cecil, and not change an opinion so imprest in me." Must stick to his opinions in that Court like his grandfather. "Knight it you when you can, I may no more unknight you than I can unlady my wife, and yet her ladyship on working-days is very well content to be wrapped in English clothes, and like shortly to mourn for silk if leather make me not able to barat with some shifting mercer."

Thanks him for leather, as he expects to be baited when Wotton comes. Will be able to cast off the dog let loose upon him, if it be not the mastiff himself. Is sorry that Cecil would have him speak French, which he hardly understands; "Dieu vous garde, Mr. Buttes was wont to add, de bon jour." The French Ambassador has many advices that the two heads will not easily be reconciled. Cecil must induce him, for whose safety they are both most anxious, to yield a little of his state if the other cannot stoop.

Their chief object must be the security of the King and kingdom. Considers he is writing not only to Cecil, but to the Duke of Somerset. Cecil's lady must kneel for him, and pay his compliments to the Duchess. "In earnest, if I have no leather my men will go barefooted." Has written to Northampton and Warwick, in whom is all his trust. [Three pages. Holograph, partly in Greek, partly English in Greek characters.]

---- April 29. Amboise. Sir John Masone to the Council. A conspiracy to poison the young Queen of Scots has been detected. He that took the matter upon him is an archer of the guard, who has escaped into Ireland. Much search is made for him, and it is reported that he has been already stayed to be sent into Scotland, and so again into France.

The old Queen is fallen suddenly sick upon the opening of these news unto her. The design is supposed to have been devised by some miscontented Scots. The same post that brought these tidings also brought word that the Lady Fleming is brought a-bed of a man child, whereat the women here do not much rejoice.

On Monday a French post arrived from England, and since then there has been much talking of dissensions among certain of the English nobility. These he deplores, and thinks that the Ambassador ought to be informed of the truth of occurrents at home so as to stop such rumours: as for himself, these 10 weeks he is more ignorant of any occurrents of England than is the worst pack of this Court.

Is in continual hope of the return of Pickering. The Princess of Navarre is with child, to the great rejoicing of the whole house of Vendôme. The King of Navarre has settled 400 francs per ann. on the bearer who brought the news from his daughter, and on his heirs for ever.

The Duke of Vendôme is still with his father-in-law, not far from the frontiers; and it is thought that if the Emperor is not encumbered with the Turk, there shall be some exploit attempted for the recovery of Navarre. Has not heard from his doers in England touching the receipts of his diets, and beseeches their Lordships' aid herein.

He has lived on credit these two months, not without great interest, and as all his plate and moveables have been sent off, he has no help for himself on this side. His diets are not much more than 37 shillings a day, which only defray his horses and house rent. [Two pages.] Eod. die.Copy of the preceding in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book. [Two pages.]

--- April 30. Venice. Peter Vannes to the Council. Takes advantage of the departure of a courier extraordinary to inform them that the Turk's preparations are daily more and more certified to be great, and besides the 109 galleys which he has ready, he is providing 40 or 50 more.

The doings of Andrew Doria are very prosperous to the Emperor's affairs, as will be seen by the inclosure communicated to him by the Emperor's Ambassador. The Bishop of Rome's demonstrations against Parma are like to turn into a calm, as it is reported that the Emperor is unwilling to kindle a war in Italy, and the Bishop of Rome is unable of himself to take any such enterprise in hand.

The Venetians are very busy, and in eight or ten days their general with the galleys shall set forth. The Prince of Spain, it is said, defers his journey to Spain until the return of Andrew Doria. This day Signor Daniel Barbaro has had his first audience of the Seigniory, and is understood to have reported very honourably of the King's Majesty and their Lordships. [One page and a half.] Inclosure.

----

May 1. Greenwich. Same to same. Informing him that on last St. George's day the French King had been elected a Knight of the Garter, and that on the 18th of the present month the Marquis of Northampton, the Bishop of Ely [Thomas Goodrich], and others are to go to France to invest his Majesty with the insignia of the Order, and requesting that he will remain to assist the deputation. [One page. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

---

May 6. Greenwich. The Earl of Warwick [John Dudley] to Sir John Masone. The delay in Sir William Pickering's return has been by occasion of this great Ambassade. Recommends his son Lord Lisle, who has been appointed Attaché to the Embassy. The Marquis of Northampton is to leave upon Monday in Whitsun-week. [One page. Copy in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book.]

----- May 7. Greenwich. The Council to Sir John Masone. Sending therewith his Majesty's letter to the French King of the 1st inst., desiring him to present it officially, and to mention the appointment of the Marquis of Northampton and the Bishop of Ely as Ambassadors extraordinary for the ceremony of investiture. [One page and a half. Draft.]

---- May 19. Chinon. Sir John Masone to the Council. Had received their letters of the 7th upon Thursday the 14th inst., and had ascribed the blame of their late despatch to the negligence of the courier or some inferior minister. On Monday, in Whitsun week, he waited upon the King, and presented the letter from the King his master. The French King was exceedingly delighted.

"I have not seen him more jocund, neither at any other time have I noted in him either a more pleasant or gentle countenance, either friendlier or more amiable words, which I could not guess but that they proceeded even from the bottom of his stomach."

Marshal St. André seems to rejoice very much of these outward signs of the increase of this amity. Is informed that he takes with him either two or three ships laden with wheat, and intends not to make too much haste to return, being desirous to have some experience of the English hunting, wherein they do exceed other nations. He also, it is said, brings with him a great number of the young gentlemen of the French Court.

If so, their Lordships doubtless will not let them lack convenient entertainment. Signor Ascanio has returned with certain overtures devised for the pacification of the matter of Parma, which it is thought will not take effect so soon, the less because that Don Fernando, on hearing of the revolt of Parma, had seized a town called Bozzelis [Bossolo], not far from thence, belonging to the Cardinal of Ferrara, and is now fortifying it. Its position being such as to impede supplies from Mirandola, marvellously troubles the French.

The Emperor is again reported to be dying. Has seen a letter from Rome, in which it is said that the Bishop of Armachan is thoroughly and very well despatched touching the matters of Ireland. What this may be he can rather conjecture than know certainly, but either is it some cursing, or giving the said realm in predam, or some mischief or other, which he trusts shall take the same effect as have other malicious practices which have hitherto been meant against England from that see.

The French King's ordinance, that all ecclesiastics shall reside half the year on their benefices, has given much offence to the Bishop of Rome. Monluc is likely to be sent thither concerning this. Congratulates them on their taking measures for the reformation of the coinage in England, which will be gladly appreciated both at home and abroad. Marshal St. André will not leave until he hears that the Marquis of Northampton has crossed the sea. [Three pages.]

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May 20. Brussels. Dr. Wotton to the Council. Arrived at Brussels on Monday in Whitsun-week, having tarried some days at Antwerp for sundry preparations necessary. Next morning Sir Thomas Chaloner and he sent notice of his arrival to the President de Mombarry, otherwise called de Saint Maurice, desiring audience of the Queen Regent.

Her Majesty did not return from hunting until late, but to-day (Wednesday), about 10 a.m., the President came and brought them to the Queen, to whom Wotton delivered the King's letter. She used herself gently enough, made much expression of amity, and mentioned that the Emperor would leave Augsburg in the beginning of next month to come downwards.

After leaving her they waited upon the French Queen, and did like commendations from the King to her; who also seemed to take it very well and used very gentle words to them. Intends to depart to-morrow, thinking to find the Emperor at Worms, where it is understood his Majesty will only wait for ships and boats convenient for him and his train.

Wherefore, had he not feared to offend the King, he could have been content to spare this journey to Augsburg or Worms, and have tarried for the Emperor here, knowing how little pleasure it is for strangers to travel in that barbarous country of Germany. "As I passed through Mechlin a servant of mine told me that one in a velvet coat asked him whether he were an Englishman? My man said, 'Yea,' The t'other asked him whether he were my servant? My man said, 'Yea.' 'Then,' quod the t'other, 'I pray you show your master that I would fain speak with him.' 'What is your name?' quod my man. 'Marry, Geoffrey Pole,' quod the other. When I heard this I told my man I would not speak with him, he having used himself as he had done.

Likewise here at Brussels, two gentlemen, the one called Kempe, the other Walgrave, would fain have spoken with me. I caused answer to be made to them that if they could make it appear to me that they had leave either to come out of England or to tarry here, I would be glad to speak with them, and else not. And so they went their ways." Desires to know his Majesty's pleasure whether he should have any communication with them, or other persons, if again sued for an interview. [Two pages.]

--- May 20. Greenwich. Commission from King Edward VI. to William Marquis of Northampton, Thomas Bishop of Ely, Sir John Masone, Sir Philip Hoby, Sir William Pickering, Sir Thomas Smith, and Dr. John Oliver, to conclude a treaty of marriage between his Majesty and the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II., King of France. [Three pages. Latin. Copy in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book.]

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May 20. Greenwich. Commission from King Edward VI. to the same Commissioners to arrange a treaty of strict alliance and defence between France and England. [Three pages. Latin. Copy in Sir John Masone's Letter-Book.]

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May 20. Greenwich. Instructions from King Edward VI. to the Marquis of Northampton and the other Commissioners aforesaid,—proceeding to France to invest Henry II. with the Order of the Garter,—to demand the Queen of Scots in marriage with the King of England; and in the event of that being refused, to solicit the hand of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the French monarch. With the various stipulations as to dowry, time for solemnization of the marriage, &c.

[Nine pages. Copy in Sir John Masone's LetterBook.] The treaty of marriage following upon the preceding commission has been printed by Rymer, Vol. xv., p. 273, 2d edition, 1728. First draft of the preceding (Eighteen pages), and fair copy thereof (Eight pages, indorsed by Cecil), without the three additional clauses contained in Masone's copy.

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May 20. "A memoriall of such things as be to be considered for the instructions of the Lord Marquis" (Northampton). "An estimat of the enterteynement of the Lords that went over with my Lord Marquis." "A memorie for the enterteynement of my Lord Marquis and his treyne." In the first of these documents it is settled that there shall be no book of statutes (of the Order of the Garter), as hath been accustomed. [Five pages.]

---- May c. 20 or 21. Greenwich. King Edward VI. to Henry II., King of France. Informs him of the appointment of Commissioners to meet M. Lansac for settling the question of the Scottish boundaries, and giving credence to Sir William Pickering, who has been appointed resident Ambassador in France. [One page. Indorsed by Cecil. French. Copy.]

----

May 28. Angers. Sir John Masone to the Marquis of Northampton. Congratulates him on his arrival in France. The King is at present within three leagues of Angers. Recommends his Lordship for the more ease to come by water from Orleans, as the Loire is much greater than in times past at this season it hath been wont to be. M. de Boisdaulphin, a gentleman of much estimation and chief maître d'hôtel to the King, is to accompany M. de St. André to England and remain as Ambassador there. Has just been informed that the King will be here on Tuesday next, will not remain beyond three days, but will go to Chateaubriand, 15 or 16 leagues hence. [One page. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

----- May 31. Paris. The Marquis of Northampton to Sir John Masone. Thanks him for his letter, and informs him that his entertainment hitherto by the way has been so gentle and friendly that he is put out of care for needing of anything while he shall be in these parts. M. de Mandosse had met him at Boulogne, and M. de Villebon at Montreuil, and made him right good cheer, continuing their escort of him hither.

Had been visited by the Mayor and principal men of every town through which he passed, with such presents as they use. If Masone sees the King or the Constable, requests that he will express the Marquis's grateful sense of the attentions paid to him and his suite.

Was informed yesterday by M. de Mandosse that the King would receive him at Nantes. Will leave Paris about Wednesday next, and spend three days in journey between that city and Orleans, whence he will take the water as Masone recommends him. Sends his compliments to Lady Masone. [One page and a half. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

----

June 2. King Edward VI. to the Duke of Cleves. Re-credentials of Herman Cruser. Trusts that the answer conveyed by the bearer will appear just and reasonable. [Draft. One page.]

---- June 4. Paris. The Marquis of Northampton to the Council. Informs them of his honourable entertainment on his way to Paris and of his reception there. Will leave to-morrow, intending on Sunday to be at Orleans, whence he proceeds by water to Nantes, where the King willed him to arrive about the 15th. The Marshal St. André will bring with him to England a very brave company, and M. de Beaudaulphin, who is to remain there as Ambassador. Yesterday Sir Anthony Guidotti showed him a letter from Florence, which mentioned that Horatio Farnese, who had left Marseilles with two French galleys, intending to land on some part of the Italian coast, wherefrom he might best reach his brother at Parma, was by force of tempest driven into one of the Duke of Florence's ports called Vireg, near Pietra Santa, where, having with difficulty landed in a small boat, he was discovered and conveyed to the Duke then at Pietra Santa. Whether he will be detained or set at liberty by the Duke is not known. [Three pages. Indorsed by Cecil.]

---- June 4. Paris. Same to the Earl of Warwick, Lord Great Master of the King's Majesty's most honourable household. Sir William Pickering has been informed by Francis, a servant of the Vidame, who speaks good English, and in respect of having been educated there says he will at all times discover what he hears to be prejudicial to England, that one John Hutchins, an Englishman, formerly a tamborine under a lieutenant with Mr. Luttrell, has lately been at the French Court offering his service to the King, and to bring the Scilly Islands and some parts of Ireland into his hands.

The King gave small ear to his large promises, and licensed him to depart. He had thereafter seen the Vidame, and offered to send him intelligence from England, with plats, both of Jersey and Guernsey, and all the ports and coasts of England, desiring the company of some trusty Frenchman to deliver these things to him.

Francis has been appointed very shortly to go to him in England, and he has promised from time to time to communicate Hutchins' proceedings to their Lordships, advising that no steps be taken against him until he has commenced his enterprise, when they may both be arrested, and Francis put to gentle ward that the discovery may not seem to proceed from him.

Has also been told by Sir William Pickering, that having had certain letters delivered to him by a Scottish herald, to be conveyed to the French Court, he contrived to open them, and amongst others discovered one from the Master of Erskine to his wife, stating that when he last passed through England he had privily spoken with the Earl Bothwell, not mentioning the special matter, and requiring her to advertise him with all speed what the Scottish Queen's pleasure should be touching that mater. Refers to the preceding letter for particulars of his embassy. [Two pages. Indorsed by Cecil.]

----- June 4. Angers. Sir John Masone to the Marquis of Northampton. Has received his letter of the 31st May. The Constable, reckoning that his Lordship will reach Nantes about Thursday or Friday next week has arranged for his coming to Chateaubriand, the Constable's own house and seigniory, and has left this morning to prepare for his reception there; whither, the King, who arrived here on Wednesday, goes to-morrow.

Desires to be informed of the number and qualities of his suite, concerning which the harbingers inquire daily. His Lordship's lodging was appointed in this town with the rest of his train to the number of 100 beds. The Constable being desirous to feast M. St. André at Chateaubriand before his departure for England, hopes it may be agreeable to his Lordship. Touching the conduct of Senarpont on the frontiers, the Constable has therein written out of hand, seeming not well contented with the matter. M. de Chastillon goes in post to Picardy with 10 or 12 experienced captains to set an order upon the frontiers, and would have gone sooner but for his desire to see the Marquis here.

Thinks the cause of his going is the coming of the Emperor to the Low Countries. Horatio Farnese has been, contrary to his expectation, very well received by the Duke of Florence, and after good and friendly handling by the said Duke is departed safely and freely. [Two pages. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

--- June 4. Paris. The Marquis of Northampton to Sir John Masone. M. de Mandosse has informed him that, because of the preparations for his reception, the French King wills that in nowise should he arrive at Nantes before the 15th inst. This he regrets, and writes to let Masone understand the cause of his training upon the way. Tomorrow he intends to leave this, and to be at Orleans by Sunday night at the farthest. [Half a page. Copy in Sir J. Masone's Letter-Book.]

---- June 6. Plessis Macé. Henry II., King of France, to King Edward VI. Informing his Majesty of his election into the Order of St. Michael. [Broadside. Countersigned by De l' Aubespine. French.]

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canaryrecords · 5 years ago

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According to George Katsaros’s WWII draft registration, he was born April 3, 1898 in Trikala in western Thessaly, Greece. He arrived through Ellis Island alone on October 20, 1913, and his declared age at the time was 17, which would have meant he was born in 1896-7. His brother Harry (whose also WWII card as well as a 1930 border crossing document also give Thessaly as his place of birth) had preceded him and settled in the Detroit area. Their parents’ names were Kristos (Gustos) and Zoe.

Much of the information about Katsaros’ life that has circulated for decades, drawn from stories he told in the 1980s and 90s when he was an old man, including that he was born ten years earlier on the island of Amorgos with the surname Theologitis appears to be false. For reasons we haven’t ascertained, Katsaros was by then an untrustworthy narrator of his own life. Two serious studies of his biography and music have been undertaken - one in Greek by Panagiotis Kounadis (which, unfortunately, I have not been able to read because of the language barrier) and another in English by Steve Frangos. The interviews conducted by Frangos in 1985 (available through the site of the State Library and Archives of Florida) and that articles Frangos subsequently wrote based on on those interviews are an invaluable resource on Katsaros’s self-mythology and some of what follows in drawn from them.

Katsaros’s memories of his life were often highly detailed and therefore more or less verifiable. There are some vast craters in his narrative and some apparent fantastic invention. It seems reasonable to suppose that he is telling the truth that he was playing at a cafe called the Zapeion in New York around early 1917 when he had an opportunity to go to San Francisco to play at the Minerva and Acropolis Cafes, both on Folsom Street. The Minerva at the time widely promoted its family-friendly French dinners and 30 cent vegetarian lunches while, around the same time, being under close scrutiny by the police for underworld activity, resulting in the 1919 withdrawal of its liquor license after a fire and a drugging-and-theft incident there made the news in quick succession. Police found the cafe in violation of the wartime prohibition act.

Katsaros named no less than 16 towns in California where he played during the period 1917-18 and another dozen in Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, and Nevada in 1918-19. Performing a wide array of traditional Greek (and some Armenian) folk songs for audiences of agricultural workers, port workers, and miners, he spoke in generalities of this period, but the fact that he names specific venues (the Parthenon and the Aphrodite in Salt Lake City, for instance) and some bandmates, including cymbalom players Frank Gazis, who later recorded with violinist Demetrios Poggis, and Spiros Stamos, who later recorded for the Greek Record Company in Chicago, gives credence to his story. He bragged of earning $50 ($750 now) a night, often playing almost continuously from 7PM to 2AM. By 1920, he says, he was back east, playing at the Kentron Restaurant at 1018 Locust Street in Philadelphia. His claim of having been called to sign a 5 year contract with Victor Records in 1919 seems to be fabricated or at least unverifiable, as were his descriptions of a tours to Mumbai, India (via Australia, Burma, Singapore, and other locations) or his assertion of a 1924 trip to Algeria, Tunis, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa. "My records, they went all over the world," he said. "From every place in the United States and South America and Europe [...] they pay me and I take a boat and I go. Playing for the big concerrts. I play for the churches, for the rich people." But he hadn't actually made any records yet.

We can be sure of two significant events in the Summer of 1927. On June 6 and 16, he made his first recordings for Victor across the bridge from Philadelphia in Camden, New Jersey, resulting in his first issued disc, a 12” with the zeibekiko “Elleniki Apolausis (Greek Pleasure)” on one side and “A Kakoorga Eli (Cruel Hearted Elli)” on the flip. And then, at 29 years old, he married a 20 year old woman named Ouranea (b. Dec. 25 1907; d. April 28, 1984). Years later, she told a newspaper that she was the niece of Theodoros Pangelos who had become President of Greece in April 1925 in the aftermath of a coup, only to be deposed August 1926 in a counter-coup.

By June 24, 1928, George and Oura were in Michigan, where George’s brother Harry lived, for the birth of their first daughter Arete (Rita). During the onset and and deepening of the Great Depression four more children arrived there near Detroit - Steve (Jan. 13, 1930), Cleopatria (ca. 1933), James (ca. 1934), and Paul (April 23, 1936.) Parallel to the growth of their family, George made approximately annual trips to New Jersey, New York City, and Chicago to record. His memory in 1985 of the number of sides he made during that period is pretty close to the facts: 18 for Columbia and 36 for Victor, he said. In fact, he released 8 on Columbia and 33 for Victor as well as an additional 20 or so for Victor that were rejected and unissued. At present, we have evidence of one concert during that period, a fundraiser for the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform under the auspices of a Greek organization in Detroit on December 1, 1931 along with a Greek soprano and pianist. A photo given by Katsaros to the researcher Pangiotis Kounadis in 1987 apparently depicts him with a friend in the early 1930s in Birmingham, England.

His reputation as a seminal force in the development of rebetika, the music of the Greek underworld, based on certain of his 1920s and 30s discs is only part of the story of what he did. The vast majority of what he recorded were his own compositions and many of them spoke plainly of the nightlife, of an empathic eye for modern women, a wicked confidence as a gambler, a powerful appetite for hashish, rough companions, and the hustling all of it entails. He also recorded songs that were comedic or deeply pathetic, as often in tango rhythms or with similarities to American songsters like Jimmie Rogers or Mexican conjunto as they were to the zeibekiko rhythms and quasi-Turkish tonalities of the rebetika demimonde that grew in Athens at the same time. Playing a spruce-topped Martin parlor guitar made in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, his songs were straight-shooting, deeply honest, and totally syncretic of his experience as a Greek-American. There is nothing Hellenistically “purist” about Katsaros’s records, but they are adamantly pure in their relationship to his own sense of himself. That is what made him so unique and, perhaps, what made him one of the very, very few Greek performers to have been able to continue to record at all during the 1930s in the U.S. The 1929 stock market crash had simply ended the recording careers of most the Greek-American performers on records, including for instance Marika Papagika, (with whom Katsaros said he worked in the 30s on the road and characterized as a "very very lovely singer and a very very good person") or made their performances feel like remnants of the “old world." It was Katsaros’ singular approach to his instrument and his plain-talking songwriting, as in his exhortation of Herbert Hoover at the end of his Depression ballad “With Pockets Empty” or his lament for the sick “Mother, I Have Tuberculosis [Consumption]” that gave his records such legs that they were regularly repressed, year after year into the 1940s.

Katsaros claimed to have recorded another 24 sides for Decca in the 1930s-40s, but we have no evidence of those having been released. We know that he made about 10 sides for the Gary, Indiana independent label Grecophone and then in the 1940s about six sides for the New York Metropolitan label (related to Adjin Asllan’s Balkan label) and four or more for Standard (run by Tetos Demetriades, who had previously been the head of the Foreign division of Victor in the 1930s and had championed Katsaros then).

In 1940 his family of seven was living in Wayne, Michigan in a heavily Polish neighborhood along with a 51 year old boarder, who, like George, was making $1,900 ($35,000 today) a year working six days a week as a switchman for the Grand Trunk Railroad between Six Mile and Nine Mile of Detroit. The census that year also counted them at another house in Tarpon Springs, Florida where a "John Katsaros" is listed as the head of the household was working as a driver. Katsaros spent the Summer of 1943 playing hotels in the Catskills - the Monte Carlo, the Olympia, and the Sunset. Performing was lucrative enough that he and Oura got their picture in the Detroit Free Press that November for having bought a total of $842 in War Bonds (about $12,500 today), and his occupation was mentioned as “nightclub performer.” But on February 7, 1945, they divorced. He was 46; she was 37. A few years earlier the German occupying forces in Athens had killed his mother for having hidden two American servicemen. Her house was burned. George’s sister Sophia survived and later emigrated to the U.S.

By 1950, he was living in Brighton, Massachusetts at 100 Washington Street. On his way home just before 5 in the morning in November, 1952 Katsaros was robbed at gunpoint. The two muggers grabbed $150 in small bills from his inner jacket pocket but, he said, neglected to check his pants, where he had another $2,000 in cash.

Meanwhile, back home, George and Oura’s eldest child was in the papers. Having been drafted in 1949 to the Korean war, he’d been called back for another year of service as an enlisted infantryman in 1950. On February 12, 1951 he was captured and held as a prisoner of war until August 1953. He was 23 years old when he was reunited with his mother and siblings, living at 2961 Hanley St in Hamtramck, Michigan, including his younger brother James who had also served in Korea. Every member of the family is mentioned in the press notices of his joyful return except for his father.

Katsaros worked in the late 50s in Chicago in Boston at the Club Zara at 475 Tremont St. According to researcher Amy E. Smith, the Club Zara might have had mob ties. On May 6, 1960, 25 days of police surveillance a resulted in the dispersal of a crowd of 300 people at midnight and the arrest of seven women (five of them dancers in their 20s) and five men (including the maitre d, the manager, and an Armenian singer) under charges of “participating in or contributing to an immoral show.” Whether Katsaros was present that night or was even still working there at the time, we don't know. He said in 1985 that he’d been one of its cofounders and took credit for hiring the club’s first bellydancer “Morocco.” The trial that resulted from the raid was a media circus, and all but one of those arrested was fined between $200 and $1500. Four of the dancers were given 3 to 6 months in prison. One dancer lost custody of her eight year old daughter. The club lost its liquor license. The District Attorney told the press “This is filth, real filth. It’s about time we get rid of that show.” If they’d been looking for evidence of underaged employees or other illegal activities, the catalyst for the raid was when one dancer’s bra straps snapped.

Whether or not Katsaros was still in Boston when the raid happened, by about 1962 he’d moved to Holiday, Florida near Tarpon Springs, a town founded in the 16th century as a Greek sponge fishing village. Through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, he performed sporadically at Greek community events and restaurants, often with the accordion player John Gianaros whom he’d known since the 40s back in New York. Katsaros was getting old with several lifetimes’ worth of experiences and songs in the head, still covered in a thick pile of of kinky hair that he kept vainly under a net at home.

When a new generation of Greeks got hip to the 1920s-30s material of the old dope-smoking hipsters, they found him there in Florida. At 80-something years old, he wanted to know where the money was. In 1985, he asked Steve Frangos about how to collect royalties on his recordings from 50 years earlier or how to get a new record deal. In 1988, he traveled to Greece to perform and gave interviews. His old music was reissued. In March 1995, he was flown again to Greece to be honored by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at a widely-broadcast concert and spoke and played for his countrymen (now available on YouTube).

When he died at home in Holiday, having outlived practically everyone who could have remembered him, on June 22, 1997 at the age of 99, newspapers around the world told an incredible story about 109 year old badass, a walking antique, who had been everywhere and done everything. Among them, the researcher Aydin Chaloupka noticed a mention in the Pappas Press that Katsaros had a birth certificate from Amorgos for one Yiorgos Theologitis born in 1888 that he'd had authenticated and showed visitors, letting them make copies of it. The story he told that his last name Katsaros was a stage name referring to his his hair ("katsaros" means "kinky" or "curly" in Greek) might hold true if his brother, a grocer in Detroit, didn't share the same name.

Why would Katsaros lie about his date and place of birth and go the trouble of obtaining someone else's birth certificate? We can only speculate, but it is not out of the question that there was something in his life that he did not want to catch up with him even as he attained some notoriety in the late 1980s. Perhaps is was the family he left behind in Detroit in the mid-40s. Perhaps it was the authorities for something he'd done (or felt he'd done) wrong. Perhaps it was some of the underworld characters he'd crossed paths with in the course of his career. Maybe the birth certificate was an insurance policy so that, if someone knocked on his door, he could say "you've got the wrong guy. I'm not George Katsaros, born 1897 in Thessaly. I'm Yiorgos Theologitis, born 1888 on Amorgos." Plausible deniability.

Something is true. But George Katsaros was probably not the person who would have told you.

#rebetiko #78rpm #78 rpm #greek #immigrant #rebetika

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weekinethereum · 6 years ago

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January 18, 2019

Ethereum News and Links

Constantinople postponed

The day before the scheduled Constantinople upgrade fork, ChainSecurity found that EIP1283 potentially allowed deployed contracts to be vulnerable to a re-entrancy attack. There was no bug in the EIP per se, but it broke an implied invariant for a small but then-indeterminate amount of deployed code. Hence, out of an abundance of caution but with limited time for the community to come to consensus, Constantinople was successfully postponed.

A full post-action report by Trail of Bits, ChainSecurity, and Eveem. They proffer a different alternative to 1283 - refund difference of intended cost of writes. Magicians thread on 1283 alternatives and thread on invariants.

New ConstantiNOPE client releases by which the fork was avoided (update if you haven’t): Geth, Parity (stable) and beta, Trinity, Nethermind, Pantheon, Ethereum on ARM

Constantinople is set for block 7280000, around Feb 27. EIP1283 is not included.

Layer 1

[eth1] Ethereum State Rent Proof of Concept

[eth2] Ben Edgington: exploring Eth2.0 design goals

[eth2] James Prestwich: An engineer’s guide to eth2. See also Vitalik’s annotations.

[eth2] Latest Eth2.0 implementers call. agenda to follow along

[eth2] What’s New in Eth2

[eth2] Prysmatic dev update

[eth2] Lighthouse dev update

[eth2] Lodestar dev update

[eth2] Dean Eigenmann and Eric Tu are implementing the Beacon Chain in Swift

[eth2.x] What CBCifying the beacon chain would look like

[eth2.x] Bitwise LMD GHOST: an efficient CBC Casper fork choice rule

Swarm v0.3.9

Layer 2

OmiseGo Plasma update

Encumberments as a common mechanism in sharding and L2

Plasma snapp-1-bit

Aragon’s Voting Relay Protocol for optimistic vote counting

Connext dev update

Loredana Cirstea on building CryptoBotWars on Raiden

Stuff for developers

0x dev tools suite: compiler, tracer, code coverage measurer, and gas profiler

Trail of Bits’ Slither v0.5.0 static analyzer

Panvala’s first token grant applications

A flow chart analyzing the potential EIP1283 attack

Using the Truebit file system

Rust bindings for the Solidity compiler

Python REST api for JSON-RPC Infura calls

On efficient Eth addresses to eek out gas savings

Automatic authentication signatures for web3

Mintable’s SDK to generate ERC-721s

Piñata on IPFS economics. And an SDK for pinning on IPFS with Piñata

Web3 yeet wraps most common web3js operations for one line use

draft of code for ENS permanent registrar

Live on mainnet

Augur interface Veil launches on mainnet

STK payment channels live on mainnet

Urbit Address Space live on mainnet. You may find the Urbit Primer useful

Ecosystem

The Year in Ethereum 2018. #longreads

Andrew Keys’ 2019 predictions

New ENS manager

Parity Fether v0.2 beta light-client based wallet

Austin Griffith: onboarding new users with Burner Wallet point of sale

New Etherscan beta site

Enterprise

Quorum v2.2.1 and Tessera v0.8

Oaken Innovations’ toll road transactions pilot

Governance and Standards

Latest core devs call. Agenda to follow along.

List of Aragon proposals up for a vote on the 24th.

2019: the year of the DAO?

Kristy-Leigh Minehan on ProgPoW tradeoffs between Nvidia and AMD

ERC1710: URL format for web3 browsers

ERC1700: non-exhaustible token

ERC1702: generalized account versioningscheme

ERC1707: version byte prefix for account versioning

Application layer

0x roadmap: ZEIPs. Also a new look 0xTracker.

Understanding the risk/reward of providing Uniswap liquidity

Ari Juels on Chainlink and TownCrier

Brave’s opt-in ads paying 70% to user are live in their dev release. I tried it - slightly unexpected, but I like it.

Monetha’s decentralized reputation framework

Ryan Yi on Augur’s dispute resolution mechanism and US Congressional elections

Gnosis to prime the liquidity pump for DutchX with some DAI/ETH orders

Althea beta release “to dynamically route, buy, and sell bandwidth” with Eth

Maker to completely rebuild Oasis and will remove OasisDex and Oasis.direct frontends on Jan31

Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks

Multiparty Computations episode of Zero Knowledge

Andrew Keys talks ConsenSys 2.0 on Decentralize This

Decentralized Data Now call. Formerly open source block explorers

Andy Bromberg on the Smartest Contract

Settle’s Scott Lewis on Into the Ether

Tokens / Business / Regulation

Status app store curation mechanism

Brooklyn Project: the state of regulation in 2019

Continuous Organizations 1.0

de la Rouviere: Moloch DAO and collapsing the firm

General

Implementing secp256k1 on Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB) to create cross-platform Ethereum-Scuttlebutt applications

Ex-BitTorrent employee Simon Morris on lessons for crypto from BitTorrent (link to part 1 of 4)

CBInsights: how blockchain could disrupt insurance

Shapeshift on 2018 law enforcement requests

Profile of DuckDuckGo and founder Gabe Weinberg

Gitcoin planning on experimenting with Liberal Radicalism with its grants

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new in bold):

Jan 23 - Infura Project ID prioritization

Jan 24 - List of things for Aragon vote, including on funding original AragonOne team

Jan 25 - Graph Day (San Francisco)

Jan 29-30 - AraCon (Berlin)

Jan 30 - Feb 1 - Stanford Blockchain Conference

Jan 31 - GörliCon (Berlin)

Jan 31 - Maker to remove OasisDEX and Oasis.direct frontends

Feb 7-8 - Melonport’s M1 conf (Zug)

Feb 7 - 0x and Coinlist virtual hackathon ends

Feb 15-17 - ETHDenver hackathon (ETHGlobal)

Feb 27 - Constantinople (block 7280000)

Mar 4 - Ethereum Magicians (Paris)

Mar 5-7 - EthCC (Paris)

Mar 8-10 - ETHParis (ETHGlobal)

Mar 8-10 - EthUToronto

Mar 22 - Zero Knowledge Summit 0x03 (Berlin)

Mar 27 - Infura end of legacy key support

April 8-14 - Edcon hackathon and conference (Sydney)

Apr 19-21 - ETHCapetown (ETHGlobal)

May 10-11 - Ethereal (NYC)

May 17 - Deadline to accept proposals for Instanbul upgrade fork

If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys

This newsletter is made possible by ConsenSys.

I own Week In Ethereum. Editorial control has always been 100% me.

If you're unhappy with editorial decisions or anything that I have written in this issue, feel free to tweet at me.

Housekeeping

Archive on the web if you’re linking to it: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/182127013533/january-18-2019

Cent link for the night view: https://beta.cent.co/+k96cwv

https link: Substack

Follow me on Twitter, because most of what is linked here gets tweeted first: @evan_van_ness

If you’re wondering “why didn’t my post make it into Week in Ethereum?”

Did you get forwarded this newsletter? Sign up to receive the weekly email

#ethereum #eth #blockchain #crypto #Cryptocurrency

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Why These C.E.O.s Got Paid More in the Pandemic Pandemic pay packages The Times’s David Gelles gives DealBook the backstory to his recent front-page article about rising C.E.O. pay during the pandemic. Companies battered by the pandemic are handing out enormous pay packages to their C.E.O.s, highlighting the sharp divides in a nation on the precipice of an economic boom, but still wracked by steep income inequality. Executive compensation has, of course, been soaring for decades now. Chief executives of big companies in the U.S. now make, on average, 320 times as much as the typical worker. In 1989, that ratio was 61 to 1. In years when the profits are flowing and unemployment is low, such disparities are often explained away. But in this pandemic year, corporate P.R. teams are bending over backward to justify their bosses’ big paydays. When I reached out to the companies mentioned in my article for comment, they responded with infographics, statements from board members and urgent requests for off-the-record phone calls. Here are three of the common tactics they employed: Don’t believe your eyes: A Hilton spokesman stressed that the figure in its latest proxy filing did not represent take-home pay for Chris Nassetta, because the company restructured several stock awards. “Said directly, Chris did not take home $55.9 million in 2020,” the spokesman said. “Chris’s actual pay was closer to $20.1 million.” Hilton lost $720 million last year. An AT&T spokesman emphasized that while John Stankey was awarded compensation worth some $21 million, that wasn’t what he was “paid,” noting that this includes stock awards that may not be realized. Stankey’s actual take-home pay, the spokesman added, was closer to $10.4 million. AT&T lost $5.4 billion last year. It could’ve been even more: Boeing wanted to make clear how much money Dave Calhoun “voluntarily elected to forgo to support the company through the Covid-19 pandemic” — some $3.6 million, according to a spokesman. Nonetheless, Calhoun was awarded $21.1 million last year, while Boeing lost $12 billion. Disney stressed that “the impact of the pandemic on our businesses led to a meaningful reduction” in executive pay, noting that executive chairman Bob Iger, who was awarded $21 million last fiscal year, gave up his salary for much of that time. Disney lost $2.8 billion in the period. The great man theory: Starbucks, which awarded Kevin Johnson $14.7 million, was among many companies making the case that their C.E.O. was essential to future success. “Continuity in Kevin’s role is particularly vital to Starbucks at this time,” said Mary Dillon, a member of the compensation committee. The company made a $930 million profit in its latest fiscal year, down three-quarters from the previous year. And General Electric sent a 487-word defense of the $73.2 million package awarded to Larry Culp, arguing that he was uniquely equipped to revive the ailing industrial conglomerate. “The board sees Larry Culp as essential to G.E.’s transformation,” a company spokesman said. The company turned a $5.2 billion profit last year, helped by restructuring measures that included reducing headcount by more than 20,000. Read the full story here. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING A deep split in pandemic fortunes highlights an uneven global recovery. On one hand: The E.U. could let vaccinated Americans visit this summer, bringing much-needed tourism revenue to the region. (One potential hangup is a rising number of people who aren’t getting their second doses.) On the other: India will receive emergency medical supplies from the U.S. as it reports half of all new Covid-19 cases worldwide. Netflix had a big night at the Oscars. The streaming company won seven Academy Awards last night, the most of any studio, but again fell short in its quest to win Best Picture. (That went to Disney, whose Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” won the big prize; Disney won five awards over all.) AT&T’s Warner Bros. won three Oscars, while Amazon took home two. An activist investor steps up its challenge at Exxon Mobil. Engine No. 1 argues in a new presentation that the oil giant faces an “existential business risk” because it is not taking bolder steps to move away from fossil fuels, The Financial Times reports. (Exxon and other major producers are set to report earnings this week.) A group of 30 big companies launches an initiative to hire ex-convicts. About 70 million American adults have a criminal record, complicating their ability to get work and entrenching poverty. “Business has an important role to play in making it easier for people with criminal backgrounds to get back on their feet,” said JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, a co-chair of the Second Chance Business Coalition, which was announced today. Elon Musk is hosting “S.N.L.” Yes, really. The Tesla chief is scheduled to host “Saturday Night Live” on May 8. (We bet S.E.C. officials will be watching.) John Authers of Bloomberg Opinion has an interesting take on it: The Tesla chief’s antics are doing more to encourage adoption of green technology than any amount of environmentalist scolding. The ‘massive threat’ in a ‘measly’ Supreme Court case Today the Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend American politics. It has largely escaped attention because it’s not obviously political at all. “Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Rodriquez” involves a fight over California’s donor disclosure requirements for charities and “may seem like a measly spat over state nonprofit rules,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, told DealBook. “But a massive threat lurks within.” Today in Business Updated April 23, 2021, 1:31 p.m. ET Nonprofits want more donor anonymity. Americans for Prosperity Foundation is a “social welfare” nonprofit arguing that the right to anonymous assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment extends to donor data. Critics say that a ruling in favor of the Koch-funded charity would allow more untraceable money to flow through groups designed to mask the outsize role that a few wealthy players have in American politics. If A.F.P.F. wins, “special interests will have a free pass to rig our democracy from behind a veil of secrecy,” Whitehouse said. Companies secretly influence politics with “dark money” donations that are deliberately opaque. Basically, some “social welfare” groups are quasi-political yet don’t have the same reporting requirements as explicitly political groups. Similarly, trade groups take corporate donations and pass them on, obscuring the sources. “The importance of dark money in society, the scope of it, is something people don’t really grasp, but it impacts everyday life,” said Anna Massoglia, a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics. A decision is expected around late June. Notably, the court took the case on Jan. 8, two days after the Capitol riot prompted a reckoning over corporate political donations. Both the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers filed briefs supporting A.F.P.F.’s case for anonymity, and Allen Dickerson, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, argued the same in a Wall Street Journal op-ed yesterday. “What a gift she’s given them by this crazy way of giving.” — Marti DeLiema, a professor of social work at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, on how the billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s unorthodox method of philanthropy — emailing groups out of the blue — has created a cottage industry of scammers. Bain is buying $1 billion worth of desserts Bain Capital Private Equity is buying Dessert Holdings in a deal that DealBook hears values the company at about $1 billion. Dessert Holdings makes “Insta-worthy” cheesecakes and other desserts through three brands: The Original Cakerie, Lawler’s Desserts and Atlanta Cheesecake. The company, which sells to retailers and restaurants, was created through acquisitions led by its prior owner, Gryphon Investors. The dessert conglomerate emphasizes the “wow factor” of products like tuxedo truffle mousse cake that are made to look good on social media. A sweet deal? In-store bakeries have held up well during the pandemic, while restaurants are expected to rebound post-Covid. There could be more consolidation in the industry, with George Weston announcing in March it plans to put its bakery business — which includes Wonder Bread in Canada — up for sale. Over the years, Bain has invested in a number of food service and restaurant brands, like Dunkin’ and Domino’s Pizza. It plans to develop “new and innovative products” as well as pursue more acquisitions after the Dessert Holdings deal, said Adam Nebesar, a managing director at the private equity firm. Trevor Lawrence is getting paid in Bitcoin As cryptocurrency goes more mainstream — thanks in part to the recent public listing of Coinbase — blockchain businesses are hustling for brand recognition. “We’re really trying to get our name out a lot,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, the C.E.O. of FTX, a crypto exchange that competes with Coinbase. One of FTX’s companies, the investment app Blockfolio, has signed an endorsement deal with Trevor Lawrence, the former Clemson quarterback and presumptive number-one pick in this week’s N.F.L. draft, DealBook is first to report. The quarterback’s first payment was made exclusively in crypto tokens transferred directly into his Blockfolio account. “Trevor was excited about crypto,” Bankman-Fried said. “That’s what drew us to him.” The company wouldn’t disclose the terms of the multiyear agreement, but a spokesman noted that the “signing bonus” was already worth more on Sunday than when it was deposited on Friday night. Future payments will be made in whatever combination of dollars and crypto Lawrence chooses. “Crypto is on a lot of people’s minds,” Bankman-Fried told DealBook. The 29-year-old billionaire founded FTX in 2019, and said he regrets spending his early years “playing video games.” Now, he’s trying to make up for lost time and the “low name recognition” of his crypto brands by hitching their wagon to bigger brands. FTX recently agreed to pay $135 million for the naming rights to the N.B.A.’s Miami Heat arena for 19 years. THE SPEED READ Deals ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, has reportedly delayed plans to go public because it hasn’t devised a corporate structure that would win approval from Washington and Beijing. (South China Morning Post) A close look at the efforts by the Carlyle Group’s C.E.O., Kewsong Lee, to catch up to his private equity rivals. (WSJ) Politics and policy The law firm Jones Day has rehired at least seven lawyers who worked in the Trump administration, cementing its status as a top outpost for Republican legal experts. (FT) Advisers to wealthy Americans are studying various strategies to minimize the hit from the Biden administration’s proposed tax hikes. (Bloomberg) Tech Ant Group, the Chinese fintech giant, reportedly plans to offer employees zero-interest loans backed by their stock options to bolster morale. (Bloomberg) The culture of Travis Kalanick’s food-delivery start-up, CloudKitchens, is said to closely resemble the “bro-y” early days of Uber — and it’s losing workers as a result. (Insider) Best of the rest Honda said it expects all cars it sells will be electric by 2040. (Bloomberg) One of the men who created the “Yale model” of endowment investing says the strategy is past its prime. (FT) An eye-opening look inside the “slander industry.” (NYT) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected]. Source link Orbem News #CEOs #Paid #Pandemic

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chivalin · 7 years ago

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March 18: Appreciating Other Content Creators Statistics

…I still refuse to believe that it’s April already. But since the calendar doesn’t lie, it’s time for AOCC statistics again! Don’t know what this is about? In short, I made a New Year’s resolution to show more appreciation towards other content creators out there and this is my way of keeping that promise.

To echo my words from last months’ posts, every show of appreciation has always included a comment (even if it has been a short one), a like and a reblog at least to my Art Appreciation Blog. Because nothing’s better than seeing how happy people get from my little comments :3.

AOCC stats: January - February - March

MARCH 18: Others’ Content

Overall Appreciation (in comment & other things): 209 // ~12% inc. from Feb / ~31% inc. from Jan

Week 9: 3 (~1%)

Week 10: 14 (~7%)

Week 11: 54 (~26%)

Week 12: 13 (~6%)

Week 13: 125 (~60%)

Art Appreciation: 138 (~66%) // ~5% inc. from Feb / ~13% inc. from Jan

Fic Appreciation: 23 (~11%) // ~-4% dec. from Feb / 15% inc. from Jan

Other Appreciation*: 20 (~10%) // ~150% inc. from Feb / ~233% inc. from Jan

Asks/OC Questions: 28 (~13%) // ~17% inc. from Feb / ~133% inc. from Jan

*Includes overall appreciation of someone’s whole content, and other ways of positively interacting with people that don’t fit into any other category.

MARCH 18: My Content

Fics Written: 5

Fics Word Count: 5794

Weekly Count (fics - words):

Week 9: 0

Week 10: 2 (40%) - 1131 (~20%)

Week 11: 0

Week 12: 3 (60%) - 4663 (~80%)

Week 13: 0

Art Done: 3

Week 10: 3

Well fuck. I would have liked to always increase these numbers even by a little but it seems I fucked up lol. I usually keep the last month’s stats close by, so I can make sure there’s some progress happening. But when I was putting this together, I realized I had put January’s stats under February xP. Oh well.

Other than that little mishap, I’ve done rather well otherwise. I’m definitely still struggling with trying to even out my comments, so there would be no close to zero days. But tbh, I’m by nature someone who has a hard time forming habits as my go to method is just doing big chunks here and there with plenty of downtime in between. However, since I’ve managed to make writing a habit (it took several years though lol), I’m sure I’ll be able to make this one too. It might just take a while.

There’s not much else to say, other than that I figured out a good way to increase the asks/oc questions count that fits with my “big chunks” approach. Instead of waiting around for people to reblog ask memes/similar things by themselves, it’s far easier to just send them extempore questions about their ocs whenever I have time to do so. People also seemed quite happy when receiving these asks, so I’ll probably continue doing this in the future too.

Lastly, here’s a few key points that I have found to be exceedingly helpful when it comes to this AOCC business:

Keep Setting Time Aside for commenting to form it as a habit.

Draft Posts For Later Commenting because it’s highly useful when I don’t have enough time (or energy) to comment on everything at the moment but want to do so later on.

Have Last Month’s Stats In View since they tend to give that extra push and help improve even by a little.

Extempore OC Questions are great for every occasion. Just make a list of people who have OCs and search up “oc ask memes” and then just start typing away!

I’ll see yall in May with April’s statistics!

#chivaocc #chivaocc stats #long post #if the math looks wonky #i probably fucked up lol #there's also a read more here #but it might not work on mobile since tumblr is shit lol #AND if you're on browser and see fucked up letters here #it's tumblr fault too #once you click read more/ go to my blog they're not there anymore #...tumblr is so great you guys lol

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bongaboi · 5 years ago

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Tampa Bay Lightning: 2020 Stanley Cup Champions

After last season's shocking first round sweep and playoff exit, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois knew some changes had to made in order to have a better result the next time his team qualified for the postseason.

BriseBois didn't want to blow up the core of the team that had been in place for a number of seasons. And changes to the coaching staff didn't make sense either.

Instead, BriseBois identified three areas his team would have to get better in order to achieve their ultimate goal of lifting the Stanley Cup.

The Lightning needed to reduce the number of quality chances against. That meant, protecting the slot more robustly and reducing the number of minor penalties the team took.

They needed to battle harder and be more physical, whether by having more of a net-front presence or winning more puck battles.

And, finally, they needed to manage the game better.

"And we did that," BriseBois said. "And because we did, we were a better team."

The Lightning made additions during the offseason to achieve their goals. They brought in Curtis McElhinney to be the backup goaltender even though they had a backup goalie on the roster in Louis Domingue because McElhinney gave them cost certainty at the position for two seasons with a salary cap crunch looming. They added Luke Schenn and Kevin Shattenkirk to their blueline. Schenn provided a veteran, physical presence that proved particularly effective in playoff series against Boston and the New York Islanders. Shattenkirk fell into the Lightning's lap after his contract was bought out by the New York Rangers. He partnered well with Mikhail Sergachev and aided in the youngster's development as a standout on the blueline. He also gave the Lightning some scoring punch and was invaluable in the locker room.

And at forward, the Lightning brought in Pat Maroon, who won a Stanley Cup the previous season with his hometown St. Louis Blues and knew what it took to manage the ups and downs of an extended playoff run.

"Both Kevin and Pat Maroon we signed with them bringing some leadership to our group in mind," BriseBois said. "They still both managed to exceed my expectations in terms of how much they brought to our locker room, how much they brought to our team both on and off the ice. Not that my expectations were low, they still found a way to manage to exceed my expectations. They were key contributors to our team, and they may have been exactly what we needed. It's nice when things work out."

The 2019-20 regular season certainly didn't go off without a hitch. The Lightning slogged their way through the first two months of the season. By mid-December, they were well out of a playoff spot and sixth in the Atlantic Division behind teams like Florida, Montreal and Buffalo.

But from December 23 through February 17, when the team capped a franchise record 11-game win streak with a 4-3 overtime victory in Colorado, the Lightning went 23-2-1, moved to within a point of the Boston Bruins for first place overall in the NHL and firmly established themselves as a playoff team and a top contender for the Stanley Cup.

More than that, however, the aspects of their game BriseBois laid out at the beginning of the season the Lightning would need to be successful come playoff time came to fruition. Over a stretch from the beginning of the 2020 calendar year to that win in Denver, the Lightning didn't allow more than three goals in a single contest and became one of the League's best teams defensively and in managing the puck, their 1.77 goals against average over that stretch tops in the League.

"All in all, we had a good team, and the numbers kind of support that," BriseBois said.

At the trade deadline, BriseBois had an opportunity to upgrade his already dangerous team. He identified a need for a couple of forwards that could fit into their top nine. And he needed another right-shot defenseman, especially with long-term injuries to Jan Rutta and Ryan McDonagh.

"I thought we could really benefit from adding two forwards that were going to be hard to play against, bring some size, bring some snarl, some sandpaper," BriseBois said. "And we were really good defensively. We're trying to improve our team defensively at that point and be harder to play against."

The Lightning traded for Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow to augment the forward group. The price to acquire them was steep - collectively, the Lightning gave up two first round draft picks in 2020 and prized prospect Nolan Foote - but BriseBois said he couldn't pass up the opportunity to add two players who could step into the lineup immediately and make an impact at the expense of future assets that might or might not pan out on the NHL level.

"My mindset at that point was to be very aggressive in the pursuit of the pieces that I believed could give us a strong push forward," BriseBois said. "It wasn't just about adding depth to our team, it was about making our team better, all the while keeping an eye on next season and trying to make sure that we remain a competitive team year in and year out. We were also looking at players that we could potentially add to our group that had good contracts going forward and that made adding Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow all the more attractive to us."

And with Bogosian, the Lightning were looking to bring in a right-shot defenseman anyway, and when the veteran defenseman in his 12th season in the league became available after having his contract terminated by Buffalo, he became the best option.

Plus, as a free agent, he didn't require the forfeiture of any assets to get him, and the Lightning had enough room under the cap to sign him.

"Picking up Zach Bogosian certainly ended up being a key decision I think in our success because he was an important player for us on the ice," BriseBois said.

Once the new additions joined the team, the Lightning's play dipped a bit as they worked to integrate the pieces into their puzzle. But that's where the four-month pause might have benefited the Lightning more than any other team because they were able to assimilate the new players into the group during the down time and then they were basically able to have a training camp with the team during the two-week camp before the team left for the bubble in Toronto.

"I have to give credit to our players, their commitment to winning this season, it never waned," BriseBois said. "I was continually in touch with them (during the pause). They were continuously in touch with our director of sport performance Mark Lambert, and they stayed on top of their conditioning. They also did a great job staying at home and eliminating their risk of getting the COVID virus."

Once in the playoffs, the Lightning quickly established themselves as the tournament's most dominant team. The five overtime win in Game 1 of the First Round versus Columbus was a breakthrough for the team, giving them confidence after what happened against the same team the year prior. And then the Bolts got better and better as the playoffs moved along, overcoming injuries and bad bounces to lift the Cup at the end following a six-game series against the Dallas Stars in the Cup Final, the culmination of over two months inside the bubble in what could arguably be considered the most difficult Stanley Cup Playoffs ever contested.

"I am in awe of what our guys accomplished. I am in awe of how deep they had to dig physically and mentally in order for us to fly back to Tampa with the Cup," BriseBois said. "It was, being able to witness it up close, it was awesome, it was awe-inspiring, it was just so incredible what they did. I'm going to get my name engraved on the Stanley Cup and I was honored to be nominated for GM of the year, but that has a lot more to do with the work of our players, the work and the sacrifices of our players and our staff and our coaches then it does with me. I am truly appreciative and grateful for everything that they've done. It is not lost on me that I am the beneficiary of all their hard work and sacrifices. And now as (Lightning head coach Jon Cooper) says, we get to walk together forever as the 2020 Stanley Cup champions."

Now that the season is over, the reality is the team the Lightning put on the ice in Game 6 against Dallas will be different from the one that begins the 2020-21 regular season, whenever that is. A flat salary cap and a number of players either beginning new contracts next season or coming off entry-level contracts and due a raise means that some key members of the team's core will probably have to move on this offseason.

"Even though I would like to bring this whole group back together so we could try to defend our championship and that would be my preference if I got to choose what I would want to do is bring everyone back as is and we try to defend our title, the reality is I can't do that," BriseBois said. "The cap just doesn't allow that to happen. It never does for any team. There's always some turnover, and this year the turnover is going to require that some of our players that have been here for a while and just helped us win a championship aren't going to be returning."

BriseBois said signing Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak to new contracts is a priority. All three of those players are coming off their entry-level deals.

"(They) haven't really entered their prime yet, and they're going to allow us to continue to be a good team going forward for many years," BriseBois said.

BriseBois said he doesn't expect to have to buy out anyone's contract. And he has an ongoing dialogue with players to keep them in the loop about what or when decisions will be made.

"I think it's important for everyone to get a chance to properly celebrate this championship as a team with their teammates," BriseBois said. "I wish I didn't have to have the types of conversations I'm going to have to have as soon as I will. But it's just the reality of our business. Ultimately, it's in their best interest too. The sooner they know, the better for them as well."

As for Steven Stamkos, the Lightning captain played just one game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that coming in Game 3 of the Cup Final when he scored a goal on his third shift of the game and first shot but wasn't able to continue after 2:47 of ice time, forever immortalizing himself in Cup lore for his effort in an abbreviated appearance.

BriseBois said Stamkos had sports hernia surgery on March 2 and was progressing well through Phase 2 of the team's return to play but suffered a new injury where his body was overcompensating for the sports hernia, which is why he wasn't able to play until so late in the playoffs and then for only such a short amount of time.

But BriseBois reiterated Stamkos is not expected to miss the start of next season's training camp and should be fully recovered once that starts.

"The whole pandemic certainly didn't help his cause because it was hard to, you couldn't send him anywhere to go see specialists," BriseBois said. "If he goes out of the bubble, now he's got to quarantine again. What's the trade off? He wants to be around the team. We want him around the team. It certainly complicated matters, and I will know more next week (when Stamkos sees a specialist)…But we're talking about weeks of rehab and not months of rehab, and we fully expect him to be ready for the start of training camp whenever that will be."

#2020 #stanley cup 2020 #stanley cup playoffs #stanley cup finals #tampa bay lightning #nhl #national hockey lea

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polarwandersea · 8 years ago

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Hillary as a person and her vulnerability

This is a super quick text post I put together with excerpts showing Hillary’s vulnerability and proving that she really feels and isn’t corrupt. The examples speak for themselves so I’ll just present them without commenting like i usually do. These are mostly about her appearing before the grand jury to testify about whitewater.

Hillary's chief of staff, Maggie Williams, had broken down in tears while testifying the previous week at the hearings chaired by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato. Williams was saddled with large legal bills, virtually abandoned by her patrons in the White House. "How could the first lady allow her chief of staff to spend $140,000 on legal fees?" Klein asked. "Why hasn't she come forward and said, 'Stop torturing my staff. This isn't about them. I'll testify. I'll make all documents available. I'll sit here and answer your stupid, salacious questions until Inauguration Day, if need be'?"

Hillary was sobbing when she called Jane Sherburne, the White House attorney in charge of scandal management.

Had Jane read the Klein column?

Yes.

"It's killing me to let this happen," Hillary said. She wanted to testify, to make it better, to take care of it. "Every bone in my body tells me that's what I should do."

She could not stand by and let Maggie be hurt so, have others dragged in.

"How is Maggie?"

Sherburne said they both knew Maggie was both vulnerable and tough. She was willing to throw herself in front of any train and get beat up.

Hillary's voice caught and she gasped in short breaths.

Testifying, Sherburne said, would be a mixed blessing. It would be such a sensation. The pure spectacle of the first lady appearing before Congress would overshadow anything she said. Were there words she could say that would resolve the issues and answer all the questions? They would always find more questions.

"I got to do this," Hillary said, gaining strength, taking deeper, measured breaths. "I'm going to do it."

The Clintons' personal lawyer, David Kendall, was against it, they both knew – vehemently opposed in the midst of independent counsel Ken Starr's grand jury investigation of Whitewater. Public testimony by the first lady before D'Amato's committee might play into the Republicans' hands. There would be rounds of questions with all the Republican senators homing in. Potentially very ugly.

"Am I really that powerless?" Mrs. Clinton asked. The portrait of her as heartless and selfish was tearing her apart. It was awful to stand silently by as those she cared about were being hurt, she said.

Sherburne said her testimony would have multiple legal ramifications. What about Starr, his investigation and grand juries? Politically, how would D'Amato and the other Republicans handle her? Her husband's reelection bid was a little more than a year off. The basic strategy on Whitewater was to calm the waters, avoid confrontation, minimize news coverage.

Sobbing again, Hillary said her parents had always told her not to be guided by the opinions of others. "You have to live with yourself." Well, now the law and politics had cornered her. It wasn't a matter of appearances – appearing cold and indifferent to her friends and staff. If she stood by silently she would be that person they accused her of being.

"That is not who I am!" Hillary said, crying, pleading. "I take care of people."

In January 1996, Hillary looked forward to assuming the role she most liked, planning an 11-city tour for her book "It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us." But the discovery of a memo written by David Watkins saying Hillary was responsible for the 1993 travel office firings and the reappearance of Mrs. Clinton's long-lost Rose Law Firm billing records shifted the focus to her role in the scandals. On Jan. 8, a Newsweek cover story on Hillary was headlined "Saint Or Sinner?" over a frumpy picture of the first lady. The same day, columnist William Safire of the New York Times wrote that Hillary was a "congenital liar."

Hillary wanted to discuss her issues – children's issues – but she agreed to answer questions about the scandals. On Jan. 15, she appeared on "The Diane Rehm Show," a serious, popular Washington talk-radio program.

She said she and her husband had always acted in "good faith." Even during the 1992 campaign, her staff had made the Whitewater documents available, she said.

"We actually did that with the New York Times," she claimed. "We took every document we had – which, again, I have to say, were not many – we laid them all out."

The New York Times's Washington bureau chief called George Stephanopoulos, Clinton's senior adviser, to note that Mrs. Clinton was wrong. The clearest example was the computer run of the Rose Law Firm billing records – the same records that had been found recently in the White House residence. The Clinton campaign had these records in 1992. They hadn't been turned over. Mrs. Clinton's current claim of total Whitewater disclosure in 1992 was incorrect. There was going to be a front-page, above-the-fold, first-lady's-a-liar story.

Stephanopoulos wanted Sherburne to smooth over this problem.

Sherburne called Susan Thomases, Hillary's close friend, who had helped with the initial 1992 Times Whitewater story. She reported what Hillary had said.

"Oh, my God, we didn't," Thomases explained, recounting how they had severely limited the documents they made available in 1992.

Sherburne reviewed the information. They needed to say that the first lady had made a mistake and was now correcting her comment based on new information, but that she had not intended to mislead anyone.

A short statement was finally drafted with the key word "mistakenly" in it. Sherburne had to phone Hillary, who was on the road promoting her book, to clear the statement-retraction with her.

Just before Sherburne placed the call, she learned that Starr had issued a grand jury subpoena for the first lady to testify about the disappearance and sudden reappearance of the billing records.

When she reached Hillary, the first lady was profoundly upset about all these matters stacking up. Watkins's memo, billing records, the grand jury subpoena and now the coming first-lady-is-a-liar story. Fine, she said, issue the statement but call Rehm to let her know the statement was coming.

Hillary poured out her emotions. Sherburne had never heard her so distressed. She was at wit's end, under siege, in despair. She dwelled on the ugly, ugly sequence of events. "Saint or Sinner?" "Congenital Liar."

"I can't take this anymore," Hillary said. It was the voice of someone at the end of her rope. "How can I go on?" she asked. "How can I?"

Within the White House, a classic internal debate began over the subpoena. Should they announce it or try to appear in secret? Sherburne and Mark Fabiani, the White House scandal spokesman, were worried that information about the subpoena would leak to the news media. They wanted to announce it from the White House and shape the story. Kendall presented Hillary with a number of options for going to the courthouse. She could take a limousine into the courthouse basement or even sneak in covertly.

"Nope," she said. As past master of putting the best face on disaster, she decided it was best not to attempt to sneak into the courthouse like some Mafia suspect or engage in some other subterfuge.

On Jan. 26, 1996, she walked into the courthouse, head held high. She went to the witness room with her attorneys and lingered by the doorway. First the 23 grand jurors walked by into the grand jury room. They were mostly black and about half women.

Then suddenly a group of men led by Starr paraded by into the secret room. Hillary and Sherburne both mentally counted out, one, two. Nine altogether. All white males in suits. Sherburne looked at Hillary, then Hillary looked at Sherburne. Both registered the same reaction – but of course.

"God," Mrs. Clinton said, noting she and Sherburne had the same reaction, "I'm looking in the mirror."

Outside, after dark, after four hours of testimony, Hillary walked up to an array of microphones.

"Would you rather have been somewhere else today?" she was asked.

"Oh," Hillary said, "about a million other places."

As she came under increasing attack in the following months, Hillary pressed Sherburne and Fabiani.

"Why is Starr getting a free ride?" she asked. "I don't understand this. Everything we do gets put under a microscope and look at this guy! No one says anything negative about him. How can he get away with this?"

Hillary wanted the White House to call attention to the independent counsel's potential conflicts of interest and Starr's part-time status, the types of criticisms that she kept hearing on the news and reading in the newspapers.

Fabiani did not believe they dared declare open war on the independent counsel. The White House's relationship with the independent counsel's staff would deteriorate rapidly. Fabiani also felt a public attack is what many would expect, and to a certain extent that would mitigate any potential damage to Starr.

Sherburne decided not to tell Hillary that Fabiani had collected publicly available negative background information on the independent counsel and quietly given it to reporters. She hoped to protect the first lady and the president. But Hillary continued to vent in private about the administration's failure to attack Starr.

"We're out there," Sherburne told her, hoping she would get the message.

It was not until Jan. 27, 1998, that Hillary Clinton publicly gave voice to her anger at Starr. Appearing on the "Today" show, days after allegations that her husband had had an affair with Lewinsky, she said Starr was part of "a vast right-wing conspiracy" out to get her husband.

Matt Lauer, the show's co-anchor, asked her if she thought her husband "would admit that he again has caused pain in this marriage?"

"No, absolutely not," she replied sharply. "And he shouldn't."

It took the president seven months to admit before a grand jury and then the nation that he did have an "inappropriate intimate relationship" with Lewinsky.

After the vacation on the Vineyard, which she considered the dark days, she attempted to sort out her dilemma with some women friends. She insisted that she did not view Lewinsky as a real threat. It was only sex, not partnership. She had the partnership – the real friendship and love with him.

Her friends thought that Hillary used to be a wallflower. She had blossomed in the White House years. Several close friends believed that Hillary filled so many roles in her husband's life – the mother he didn't have any longer, the sister who had never existed, the chief adviser he didn't have anymore and perhaps had never had. She was the smartest person in the room.

Hillary retreated to her religious and spiritual convictions.

"I've got to take this," she told one friend. "I have to take this punishment. I don't know why God has chosen this for me. But He has, and it will be revealed to me. God is doing this, and He knows the reason. There is some reason."

By fall 1998, as the House moved toward impeaching her husband, Hillary was still uncertain about her own course. A close friend told her about a high-profile, public couple. They had been married 40 years, the friend told Hillary. The man had lots of affairs and the woman finally caught him.

"She was devastated," the friend said, "but she thought hard about it. They had a great relationship, and she decided he is worth fighting for, and it would be unwise to turn him out or to give him to someone else. Her decision was that it was better to fight for him and to fight for the relationship."

"Man," Hillary said, "that's exactly what I'm thinking now."

A therapist can stop the bleeding, Hillary's friend said. That was the key to making progress and saving the marriage.

Hillary said she and Bill knew that counseling was the right thing to do. "We are doing the right thing."

#just a quick mini text post #the other requested ones will be up shortly #i like these because i feel like you can learn so much more about her

62 notes · View notes

binnedrubbish · 5 years ago

Text

5/12/19 Notes

Lab Meeting Prep Pipeline:

(May 2nd, 2019 at 2:38 p.m.)

[ ] Read the Results & Discussion cover to cover

[ ] Complete slides for all figures

[ ] Give a practice presentation

[ ] Read methods

[ ] Complete fluorescence slides

[ ] Decide how to deal with ‘relationship between calcium activity and movement’ section

[ ] Give a practice presentation

[ ] Read supplementary material cover to cover

[ ] Give a practice presentation

Note to self: Relax. Be meticulous. Be disciplined. Keep calm, do your best, trust your team.

——

Advanced Optimization

8 20 905

Live Action Poem, February 2nd, 6:41

Went to Brazil out of spite and saw

stone Jesus, arms open for a hug,

bought street weed, twice, from the same vendor

out of a reckless love for reckless love.

Hoped for a tropical muse and found

a strong handshake from a dangerous man.

Holed up in Rio de Janeiro with piles

of paper money and paced all alone

angry at nothing if only for the moment.

Rain dampened slick stone walkaways,

waiters were too nice and I tipped too much.

One offered to be a bodyguard , violence

hinted in every smirking human moment.

God, I loved being a target, smug,

dumb, flitting away American Dollars.

Jesus Christ looming in stone on a hill top.

Titties and marijuana, iconic primadonna

extravagant flora, dying fauna, fawning

over the climate. I went to Brazil

on an off month. To hole up

safe from my sprawling little lovely life.

To Do 26.1.19

[x] Cristina - Search for Hippocampus Models

[x] Ana G. - Draft e-mail call for interest in “Live Action Science”

[ ]

Data science Club Thursday at 5:00 p.m.

Astavakrasana

laser-scanning photostimulation (LSPS) by UV glutamate uncaging.

12.1.19 Goals

[x] Some Portuguese

[x] Mouse Academy - first read

[ / ] Dynamic mesolithic dopamine

[x] Water rats * SMH

Acorn - tracks impact | BetaWorks | 2 years of money | PitchBook | Social Impact Start Up

Mission Aligned Investors | Metrics | Costumer Acquistion Cost | Clint Corver -> Chain of Contacts -> Who To Talk to (Scope: ~100)

Money Committed || Sparrow || Decision Analysis —> Ulu Ventures [500k] [Budget x ]

Ivan - > IoS Engineering { Bulgarian DevShop }

[market mapping] Metrics -> Shrug

Peter Singer - Academic Advisory Board …

[1 million ]

Product market testing

Foundation Directory Online - Targeted , Do Your Homework

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2018/11/19/why-neuroscience-needs-data-scientists/

Head-fixed —>

~INHIBITION EXPERIMENT TRAINING PLAN~

STOP MICE: 20th. GIVE WATER: 20th (afternoon) - 30th. DEPRIVE: 31st... (Morning) RESUME: Jan 2nd.

21st - BLEACH/DEEP CLEAN BOXES 1-14 (Diluted bleach; Flush (with needles out) - Open Arduino Sketch with Continuously open Valves - PERFUSE System) *[NOT BOX 11 or 5]*; Run 15 mL of Bleach per syringe; Copious water through valves; Leave dry.

———

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/preparing-manuscript#journalclub

Friday - Dec. 14th, 2018

[x] - Complete 2019 ‘Goals and Blueprint’

[x] - 2-minute Summary ‘Properties of Neuron in External Globus Pallidus Can Support Optimal Action Selection

[ ] MatLab for Neuroscientists :: Basic Bayesian Bearded Terrorist probability plots

[x] Statistics 101: Linear Regression

“Golden Girls” - Devendra Banhart

“King” by Moor - FIREBEAT

Reread - Section 3.3 to

Monday - Apply for DGAV License (MAKE SHORT CV)

SAMPLE: ‘Sal’ From Khan Academy

Make short CV

Tiago - Certificate

MATH:

“We explicitly focus on a gentle introduction here, as it serves our purposes. If you are in

need of a more rigorous or comprehensive treatment, we refer you to Mathematics for Neuroscientists by Gabbiani and Cox. If you want to see what math education could be like, centered on great explanations that build intuition, we recommend Math, Better Explained by Kalid Azad.”

Jacksonian March seizure (somatosensory)

—

Tara LeGates > D1/D2 Synapses

Scott Thompson

Fabrizio Gabbiani - Biophysics - Sophisticated and reasonable approach

Quote For Neuroscience Paper:

“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”

— Zadie Smith, White Teeth

Model Animal: Dragonfly? Cats. Alligators.

Ali Farke Toure

Entre as 9 hora e o meio-dia ele trabalha no computador.

Ele volta para o trabalha à uma e meia.

Ele vai as compras depois do trabalho.

A noite, depois do jantar, ele e a mulher veem televisão.

As oito vou de bicicleta para o trabalho. (go)

As oito venho de bicicleta para o trabalho. (come)

A que horas começa a trabalhar?

Eu começo a trabalhar os oito e meia.

Normalmente…

Eu caminho cerca de Lisbon.

É muito triste! Eu faço nada! Talvez, eu caminho cerca de Lisbon. Talvez eu leio um livro. Talvez eu dormi. Eu vai Lx Factory.

Depois de/do (after)

antes de/do (before)

—

Monday -> Mice

MATLAB!

“New ways of thinking about familiar problems.”

~*NOVEMBER GOALS*~

> Permanent MatLab Access [x] -> Tiago has license

> Order Mouse Lines [ ] -> Health report requested… Reach out to Vivarium about FoxP2

-> Mash1 line -> FoxP2 expression?

> Finish ‘First Read Through’ [ ]

> Figure 40 [ ]

SAMPLE : ‘Afraid of Us’ Jonwayne, Zeroh

Monday Nov 5th Goals:

> Attentively watch:

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba_l8IKoMvU (Distributed RL)

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsuvM1jO-4w (Distributed RL | The Algorithm)

MatLab License

Practical Sessions at the CCU for the Unknown between 19 - 22 Nov 2018 (provisional programme attached)

Week of November 5th - Handle Bruno’s Animals

Lab Goals -

“Deep Networks - Influence Politics Around the World”

Paton Lab Meeting Archives

Strategy: Read titles/abstracts follow gut on interesting and relevant papers

Goals: Get a general sense of the intellectual history of the lab, thought/project trajectories, researchers and work done in the field and neighboring fields.

Look through a GPe/Arkypallidal lens… what can be revisited with new understanding?

First Read Through

[x] 2011 - (22 meetings || 10/12 - SLAM camera tracking techniques)

[ x] 2012a (18 meetings)

[x] 2012b (15 meetings - sloppy summary sentences)

[ x] 2013a (19 meetings - less sloppy summaries jotted down)

[x] 2013b (17 meetings)

[x] 2014a (21 meetings) (summaries in progress)

[x] 2014b

[x] 2015 (23 meetings)

[ ] 2016 (23 meetings)

Current

—

“I like, I wish, I wonder”

“Only Yesterday” Pretty Lights

retrosplenial dysgranular cx (?)

retrosplenial granular cx, c (?)

fornix (?)

Stringer 2018 arVix

Lowe and Glimpsher

November Goals:

[ ] GPe literature -

[ x ] Dodson & Magill

[ x] Mastro & Gittis

[ ] Chu & Bevan

[x] Modeling (extra credit -Bogacz)

[ ] Principles of Neural Science: Part IV

[ x ] MatLab license… Website program…

Extra credit:

Side projects [/ ] Neuroanatomy 40

[ -> ] ExperiMentor - Riberio, Mainen scripts… Paton! -> LiveAction Science

MACHINE LEARNING

Week of Oct 29th -

Symposium Week!

Wyatt -> John Hopkins -> He got into American University!

Belly Full Beat (MadLib album Drive In)

“The human brain produces in 30 seconds as much data as the Hubble Space Telescope has produced in its lifetime.”

Sequence of voltage sensors -> ArcLite -> Quasar -> Asap -> Voltron -> ???

Muscarine -> Glutamate

Ph Sensitive

cAMP

Zinc sensitive

5 ways to calculate delta f

2 main ways

SNR Voltage —

Dimensionality reduction of a data set: When is it spiking?

5 to 10 2-photon microscope open crystal

…Open window to a million neuron…

Week of 10/15/18

Monday: Travel

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Begin rat training. Reorient.

Thursday:

Friday:

|| Software synergistically ||

—————

Beam splitter, Lambda, diacritic

1.6021766208×10−19

‘sparse coding’

Benny Boy get your programming shit together.

Week of Oct. 8th, 2018

10/9/18

[ ] Rat shadowing (9:30 a.m.) -> Pushed to next week

10/8/18

[x] Begin Chapter 13 of Kandel, Schwartz, Jessell

[x] Outline of figure 36

[ ] Read Abdi & Mallet (2015)

DOPE BEAT MATERIAL - Etude 1 (Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota)

Saturday - Chill [x]

Friday - ExperiMentor … mehhhhh scripts?

Photometry -> Photodiode collects light in form of voltage (GCaMP) (TtdTomate as Baseline… how much fluorescence is based on TdTomatoe, controlling factor always luminesce - GCaMP calcium dependent) :: Collecting from a ‘cone’ or geometric region in the brain. Data stored and plotted over time… Signals must be corrected…

Cell populations are firing or releasing calcium. (GCaMP encoded by virus injection, mice express CRE in a particular cell type).

———————————————

Brain on an Occam’s Razor,

bird on a wire,

synaptic fatalism integrating

consistent spiking;

strange looping: is this me?

Thursday

“We don’t make decisions, so much as our decisions make us.”

“Blind flies don’t like to fly”

[x] 9:00 a.m. Lab Meeting

[x] 12:00 p.m. - Colloquium

“It was demeaning, to borrow a line from the poet A. R. Ammons, to allow one’s Weltanschauung to be noticeably wobbled.”

“You must not fear, hold back, count or be a miser with your thoughts and feelings. It is also true that creation comes from an overflow, so you have to learn to intake, to imbibe, to nourish yourself and not be afraid of fullness. The fullness is like a tidal wave which then carries you, sweeps you into experience and into writing. Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow for the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications. Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them. If it seems to you that I move in a world of certitudes, you, par contre, must benefit from the great privilege of youth, which is that you move in a world of mysteries. But both must be ruled by faith.”

Anaïs Nin

[ ] MatLab trial expires in 1 day *

[ ] 3:00 p.m. pictures

“We do not yet know whether Arkys relay Stop decisions from elsewhere, or are actively involved in forming those decisions. This is in part because the input pathways to Arkys remain to be determined.”

These studies prompt an interesting reflection about the benefits and conflicts of labeling and classifying neurons at a relatively grainy level of understanding.

“The authors hypothesize that under normal conditions, hLTP serves an adaptive, homeostatic role to maintain a healthy balance between the hyperdirect and indirect pathway in the STN. However, after dopamine depletion, pathologically elevated cortical input to the STN triggers excessive induction of hLTP at GPe synapses, which becomes maladaptive to circuit function and contributes to or even exacerbates pathological oscillations.”

To Do Week of Oct. 1st - Focus: Big Picture Goals

[ x ] GPe Literature - Hernandez 2015 & Mallet 2016 (Focus on techniques and details)

[ ] MatLab! Lectures 6-7 (Get your hands dirty!)

[ x ] Kandel Chapters 12 - 13

Tuesday Surgery Induction 10:00 with Andreia

6:00 - 7:30

Portuguese

Digitally reconstructed Neurons: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5106405/

To Do Week of, September 24th, 2018

To Do Week of Monday, September 17th, 2018

PRIORITY:

DATA ANALYSIS PROJECT ITI

———— PAUSE. ———————

Talks

[x ] Mainen Lab - Evidence or Value based encoding of World State/Probability - ‘Consecutive failures’ - easy/medium/hard estimate of where the reward will be.

Reading for the Week

[x] Chapter 9 - Propagating Signal | The Action Potential

[/ ] Ligaya et. al (2018) (CCU S.I.?)

[x] Katz & Castillo (1952) Experiment where they describe measurement techniques

[ ] Raiser Chapter 4 - Stimulus Outlasting Calcium Dynamics in Drosophila Kenyon Cells Encode Odor Identity

Video Lectures

[— ] Linear Algebra (Trudge steadily through)

[ — ] Khan Academy Logarithms (Trudge steadily through)

MatLab

[ ] Trudge steadily through www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/learn_matlab

*FIND PROBLEM SET/TEXT BOOK/WORK SHEETS*

Concepts to Grasp

[ / ] Master logarithms!

[ ] Review Kandel Et. Al Part II *Chapters 5-9*

Neuroanatomy

[ x ] Ink Figure 28

Project Planning? Too soon! Too soon! Read some literature on the subject.

17/9/18

1:00 p.m. Meet with Catarina to discuss “CCU Science Illustrated” (WIP) Project

2:30 p.m. Vivarium Induction

_______________________________________________________

| SPCAL Credentials |

| |

| login: |

| PW: |

-————————————————————————

——

NPR:: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/11/644992109/can-a-barn-owl-s-brain-explain-why-kids-with-adhd-can-t-stay-focused

9.13.18

[ x ] Pauses in cholinergic interneuron firing exert an inhibitory control on stratal output in vivo (Zucca et. al 2018)

[ x ] Chapter 8 - Local Signaling: Passive Properties of

-> Sub and supra threshold membrane potential (Conceptual)

Monday, Sept. 10th 2018

“Eat the Frog First”

[ N/A ] Review SPCAL Lessons 1-5 (In Library?) CRAM THURSDAY?

-> [/] wait for confirmation from Delores for theoretical test

-> (Out of Office reply from person in charge)

To Do:

[/] Comment Out %PRE_PROCESS_vBeta.m

[x] Change path name and run program in MatLab

[ ] Solve trial.blahblahblah error spkCount? labels?

[ ] Change Epochs and run?

[x] Chapter 7 - Membrane Potential :: Return to Pg. 136-137 Box 7-2 when sharp. ::

[x] Castillo and B. Katz (1954)

[x] 12:00 - Neural Circuits for Vision in Action CCU

[x] 2:30 - THESIS DEFENSE: Mechanisms of Visual Perceptions in the Mouse Visual Cortex

————

Extra-credit

[x] Ink Figure 24

[~ ] Finish “First & Last 2017” (100/127 = 78.74%)

——

Jax Laboratory Tools: https://www.jax.org/jax-mice-and-services/model-generation-services/crispr-cas9

Recommendation for Design and Analysis of In Vivo Electrophysiology Studies

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/26/5837

On the Horizon:

Schultz (1997) (Classic, classic, classic)

*[x] 9/7/18 - 6:00 p.m. Flip water for Bruno’s mice *

ITI Data Analysis -> Next step ->….

[ ] (find the sigmoid call) / Poke around preprocessing_beta

Reading

[x] Chapter 6 - Ion Channels

[ / ] Finish Krietzer 2016 —> [ ] write an experiment-by-experiment summary paper

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPsCVKhNvlA Helpful explanation of ChR2-YFP, NpHR, and general ontogenetic principles.

[ / ] Reiser Chapter 3.3.38 - 3.4 (Need to finish 3.4.5, Look up Photoionization detectors, Coherence)

Neuroanatomy

[/] Finish Figure 24 (need to ink)

“Drawing Scientists “

[/] Storyboard for GCAMP6s targeted paper

-> Show Filipe for feedback ->

-> Ask Leopold permission ? Talk to Catarina

[ x] 16:9

[x] Write script and record [ 1:00 ]

Intellectual Roaming

[ / ] Return to Review of Reviews and Review Zoom-In | First & Last |

[/] Explore Digital Mouse Brain Atlas

9/6/18 - Thursday

To Do:

ITI Data Analysis :

[x] Draw data structure on mm paper -> Reach out for help understanding

[ / ] What fields did Asma call? What fields are necessary for a psychometric curve

Reading

[x] Kandel - Chapter 5 | Synthesis and Trafficking of Neuronal Proteins

[ / ] Reiser - Chapter 3 | A High-Bandwidth Dual-Channel Olfactory Stimulator for Studying Temporal Sensitivity of Olfactory Processing (Results complicated)

[/ ] Krietzer 2016 - Cell-Type-Specific Controls of Brainstem Locomotor Circuits by Basal Ganglia

Talks:

[x] 12:00 p.m. - Colloquium - Development of Drosophila Motor Circuit

Tutorials:

~ [x ] MatLab plotting psychometric curves

Neuroanatomy

[ x ] Outline brain for figure 24

———

MatLab

Laser stuff HZ noise, thresholds,

// PCA -> Co-variance ->

// Linear regression | Geometric intuition -> “What is known to the animal during inter-trial? What features can be described by animals history” ===> Construct a history space (axis represent different animals history ex. x-axis previous stimulus, reward, etc.?) Predictive (?)

Plot psychometric functions || PSTH (post stimulation of histogram ) of example neurons -> skills: bin spiking, plot rasters, smoothing (if necessary)

Data:: Access to Dropbox -> /data/TAFC/Combined02/ [3 animals :: Elife]

/data/TAFC/video

Tiago and Flipe know the video data

File Format -> Parser/Transformation (guideline) ||

> MatLab

Access to MatLab -> [/] 28 days!

How can I begin to analysis?

History dependent | Omitted

——

To Do Week of September 3rd

Monday

Administrative

[ x] Check-in with HR (Don’t bombard!): Badge. (Library access?)

[ ] Reach out to SEF?

[x] 2:00 p.m. Meet with Asma - discuss data analysis. Where is it? How do I access it (Tiago?) What has been done and why?

[x] 3:00 p.m. Lab Meeting “Maurico’s Data” - Pay special attention

[x] Finish first read through of Theoretical Laboratory Animal Science PDF Lectures

[ ] Rat Surgery Techniques…

Mouse neuroanatomy project

[/ ] Figure 24

[ ] Figure 28

Math

[x ] L.A. Lecture 2

[ x] L.A. Lecture 3

Read:

[ ] Georg Raiser’s Thesis (Page 22 of 213)

Find time to do at least an hour of quiet focused reading a day. (Place?).

Continue to explore whims, papers, databases, ideas, protocols, that seem interesting.

Develop ‘literature scour’ protocol - (Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience)

Dates to Remember: September 14th - Laboratory Animal Sciences Theoretical Test!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180827180803.htm:Can these be used for techniques?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180823141038.htm ‘Unexpected’ - Unexpected physical event and unexpected reward or lack of reward (neuronal modeling of external environment)

—

In my first ten minutes at work I’m exposed to a weeks (month/year/decade) worth of interesting information. Going from an intellectual tundra to an intellectual rain forest.

1460 proteins with increased expression in the brain: Human Protein Atlas https://www.proteinatlas.org

Non-profit plasmid repository: https://www.addgene.org

Protein database: https://www.rcsb.org/3d-view/3WLC/1

Started to think at the molecular level.

“MGSHHHHHHGMASMTGGQQMGRDLYDDDDKDLATMVDSSRRKWNKTGHAVRAIGRLSSLENVYIKADKQKNGIKANFKIR

HNIEDGGVQLAYHYQQNTPIGDGPVLLPDNHYLSVQSKLSKDPNEKRDHMVLLEFVTAAGITLGMDELYKGGTGGSMVSK

GEELFTGVVPILVELDGDVNGHKFSVSGEGEGDATYGKLTLKFICTTGKLPVPWPTLVTTLTYGVQCFSRYPDHMKQHDF

FKSAMPEGYIQERTIFFKDDGNYKTRAEVKFEGDTLVNRIELKGIDFKEDGNILGHKLEYNLPDQLTEEQIAEFKEAFSL

FDKDGDGTITTKELGTVMRSLGQNPTEAELQDMINEVDADGDGTIDFPEFLTMMARKGSYRDTEEEIREAFGVFDKDGNG

YISAAELRHVMTNLGEKLTDEEVDEMIREADIDGDGQVNYEEFVQMMTAK” - CCaMP6m amino acid code.

8/31/18 - (Friday) @12:00 in Meeting Room 25.08

GET USB ! !

[Lisboa Cultura na ru, Lisbon on the streets Com’Out Lisbon - Katie Gurrerirra ]

MatLab -> Chronux Neural Analysis

SEPTEMBER 14th!

Week of August 27th, 2018

“Conserved computational circuitry, perhaps taking different arguments on different locations of Basil Ganglia” - Tuesday

Andrew Barto: http://www-all.cs.umass.edu/~barto/

Basil Ganglia Labs

Okihide Hikosaka Lab: https://irp.nih.gov/pi/okihide-hikosaka

Wilbrecht Lab

Uchida N. (ubiquitous dopamine motivation and reward)

Peter J. Magill

Schultz (Pioneer in the field)

C. Savio Chan

Doya, K. (theory)

Calabresi, P. (muscarinic)

Ana Graybiel (McGovern)

James C. Houk (1994 - Book on Models of Computation in the basal Ganglia)

Evolutionary Conservation of Basil Ganglia type action-selection mechanisms:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982211005288

Dopamine D1 - Retinal Signaling https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.00855.2017 [Note to self: Too Off Track]

[ ~ ] Flurorphore Library

Official Badge? [ ] Printer Access [ ]?

—

Online Course on Laboratory Animal Science

Monday : 11 [x] 12 [x]

Tuesday : 13 [x] 14 [x]

Wednesday: 15 [x] 16 [/]

Thursday: 17 [x] 18 [x]

Friday: 19 [x] 20 [/]

Lesson 11 - Behavior and Environment, animals must be housed in an environment enriched to maximize their welfare.

Lesson 12 - Rodent and Lagomorph Accommodation and Housing - A more comprehensive guide from the macro environment, facilities i.e. establishments, to the micro environments. Covers health and safety procedures for personnel as well as geometry of housing units (rounded edges to prevent water accumulation). Absolutely essential.

Lesson 13 - Collecting Samples and Administrating Procedures - covers the most common collection techniques and materials collected and stressed the importance of doing as little harm as possible to the animal.

Lesson 14 - Transporting the Animal : Shipper holds most of the responsibility. Major goals are making sure the journey is as stress free as possible, contingency plans are in place, and that all of the logistics have been carefully planned, communicated, and coordinated between various parties responsible in the shipping. Also, animals should be prepared mentally and physically for the journey and should have a period of post-transportation to adjust to the new surroundings and environment. A number of practical issues must be considered such as temperature, availability of food, and access to animals during the journey. Boxes should be properly labelled in whatever languages are necessary.

Lesson 15 - The purpose of feeding and nutrition is to meet the energy needs of the animals, which vary by species, physiological state of animal (growth, maintenance, gestation, and lactation). A number of category of diets exist as well as a variety of specific diets to best fits the needs of the experiment. This chapter covers particulars of nutrition requirements and stresses the importance of avoiding obesity and malnutrition.

Lesson 16 - Anatomy and Physiology of Teleosts (Skip for now: Focus on Rodents and Lagomorphs)

Lesson 17 - Anatomy and Physiology of Rodents and Lagomorphs - General characteristics of the anatomy and physiology of six species, 5 rodents and 1 lagomorph. Mice, rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, and hamsters. Rabbits. It covers particularities of each species and has a quiz asking specific facts, mostly centered on commonalities and distinguishing factors. Worth a close read.

Lesson 18 - Anaesthesia and Analgesia in Rodents and Lagomorphs . Pre anaesthesia techniques, drug combinations, and repeated warning of the importance of choosing the right drugs and technique for the species. Use of a chamber. Methods of anesthesia (IP, IV, Volatile). Endotracheal Intubation for rabbits; the proper use and administration of analgesics; monitoring during the operation (for example - the paw pain reflex disappears in medium to deep anesthesia

Lesson 19 - Animal Welfare and Signs of Disturbance - This chapter repeatedly stresses the importance of the relationship between the caretaker and the animal. It repeats the ideal social, environmental, and nutritional environments for rodents and rabbits and highlights peculiarities of each species. After reading this one should be better suited to detecting stress, disease, or other ailments in a laboratory animal.

Lesson 20 - Fish Psychology and Welfare (Skip for now: Focus on Rodents and Lagomorphs)

Lessons 5, 17, and 20 pertain to fish

TEST SEPTEMBER 14th

—

MIT Open Course Ware:

Linear Algebra

Lecture 2 [/ ] -> Elimination by Matrices, production of elementary matrices, basic computations, and a review of row and column approaches to systems of equations. Introduction to the basic application of the rule of association in linear algebra.

Lecture 3 [ ]

Mouse Neuroanatomy

Ink Figure 16 [x]

Figure 20 [x]

Figure 24 [ ]

Introduction to MatLab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ekAD7U-wU [ ]

Math Big Picture: Review Single Variable Calculus! Find reasonable Statistics and Probability Course (Statistical Thinking and Data Analysis? Introduction to Probability and Statistics?) Mine as well review algebra well I’m at it eh.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

—

Data analysis :: Behavioral Analysis

—

Ana Margarida - Lecture 6 - Handling Mice techniques

EuroCircuit can make a piece. Commercial v. DYI version of products.

Dario is the soldering, hardware expert. I.E. skilled technician.

www.dgv.min-agricultura.pt; it is recommended that the entry on Animal Protection and the section on Animals used for experimental purposes be consulted first.

—

Sir Ronald Fisher, stated in 1938 in regards to this matter that “To consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of”.

——

Finally, it is time to publish and reveal the results. According to Santiago Ramón y Cajal, scientific writers should govern themselves by the following rules:

Make sure you have something to say; Find a suitable title and sequence to present your ideas; Say it; Stop once it is said.

8/21 Goals

Access ->

:: Champalimaud Private Internet [HR] Printer [HR]

:: Web of Science (?)

:: PubMed (Nature, Journals, etc.?)

———

PRIORITY: Online Course -> Animal Laboratory Sciences PDF’s

20 total -> 4 a day || I can finish by Friday

Monday : 1 [x] 2 [x]

Tuesday : 3 [x] 4 [x ]

Wednesday: 5 [x*] 6 [x]

Thursday: 7 [x* ] 8 [x]es

Friday: 9 [x ] 10 [x ]

Notes:

Lesson 1 - Philosophical and ethical background and the 3 R’s

Lesson 2 - Euthanasia. Recommended, adequate, unacceptable. Physical or chemical. Chemical - inhalable or injectable. Paton Lab uses CO2 and cervical dislocation.

Lecture 3 - Experimental Design. Return to as a starting point for basic design (randomized samples and blocks) Integrate with “Statistical Thinking and Data Analysis”

Lecture 4 - Legislation. Memorize specific laws and acts.

Lecture 5 is highly specific for the care and maintenance of Zebrafish

Lecture 6 - Handling of rodents and mice. A theoretical overview, this material is essentially kinesthetic.

Lecture 7 - Provides a technically detailed account of how genetic manipulations are done and propagated. Deserves a ‘printed’ review and vocabulary cross reference.

Lecture 8 - Health and Safety. Predominantly common sense.

Lecture 9 - Microbiology - contains an appendix with list of common infections that will be eventually be good to know.

Lesson 10 - Anaesthesia pre and post operation techniques, risks of infections etc.

// http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/member_states_stats_reports_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/news_en.htm -> General European News regarding

http://www.ahwla.org.uk/site/tutorials/RP/RP01-Title.html -> Recognizing pain in animals

Week of 8/20/18 To Do:

Tiago/Team -> Whats the most important priority?

Get Arduino Machine working again [?]

Jupiter/Python Notebook Up [ ]

Bruno MatLab Access [… ]

- Get documents to HR

- Animal Lab certified?

- Logistical/Certificate/Etc.

- Start discussing personal project:

> (Rat colony) Wet Lab

> (Machine Learning) Electric Lab

> Statistics project

- Reacquaint with Lab Technology/Protocols

- Review papers - Engage back with the science

Project Print: Screen shots

[ ] collect

“Do the job. Do it engaged. Engage -> Not just execute the best you can, understand the experiment.

Why? Alternative designs? Control experiments needed to interpret the data? Positive controls and negative controls? What do you need to do to get crisp. Totally engage.

How it fits into other experiments?

“Engage with the science as if it were your baby.”

Execute beautifully… Ask --- et. al. What does ideal execution look like

Extra time: allocate time. Technicians : Freedom to do other things, work with other things, other technical things, giving people independent project to carry out. Project --- has in mind? Design. Hands on education of how science works then reading. Spend time focused on a problem and in the ideal become the world’s foremost expert on whatever ‘mundane’ aspect of what ever problem you are working on.

Computational in the context of a problem. Learn to use. Defining “problems I want to solve.” As an operating scientist, the technology can change very quickly. Capable of learning, understanding, and applying.

Answer questions in a robust way. Thinking of technology in context of problem. Deep domain knowledge; focus on experimental more than book reading.

Realistic path -> Research fellow to PhD. program. Industry… Strong head’s up to do research. First-rate OHSU? Excellent. IF: Remember that it is narrow, broader with neuroscience as a component. Biology < > Neurology. Real neuroscience computational ->

Juxtasuposed: Engineering, CS, A.I., and all that…

Label in broad ways: Molecular, cellular, systems, cognitive, psychology. Borders are so fuzzy — as to be

Domain bias. In general -> other than P.I. protected from funding. Publication, the life of the business. Metric of success is the science they publish. Work that contributes to being an author = more engaged, more independent. Evolved to an independent project.

So incredibly broad -> CRISPR, GFP, Optogenetics, with higher level systems problems. 100 years = absurd. Look back -> Could we have conceived whats going on today.

Foremost expert on something how-ever limited. Grow from there. Grown from a particular expertise.

Molecular biologist || Do what a 3 year old is taught to do. How? How? How? How does that work. Quantum physics. Ask questions. Be open.

Go to seminars -> Go to every talk. Take every note. Primary literature fundamentally different. Always learn in context. Don’t dilute too much (ignore title, abstract, discussion). Look at figures and tables and derive for yourself what they say. Look for THE FIGURE or THE TABLE that is the crux and look for the control experiment. Understand the critical assessment, are the facts valid and warranted? Infinite amount to learn, don’t spread yourself infinitely thin. “

To Do: Develop Independent Machine Learning Project

Gain Access to Web of Science

————

Paton Learning Lab

Personal Learning Goals

September 1st - December 1st

Major Goals

[ ] Read Principles of Neuroscience 5th Edition

[ ] Complete CSS 229

[ ] Deep read 12 papers (Write summary || Practice peer review)

Administrative

[ ] Reactivate

[ / ] Figure out Residence Permit/Visa

Lifestyle

[ x ] Purchase commuter bicycle

[ / ] Purchase waterproof computer/messenger bag

Language

[x] …. Focused practice minimum 20 minutes daily …?

[ ] Find language partner

[ ] Portuguese film/television/music

UPCOMING

Phone conversation with --------

Tuesday, August 7th 9:00 a.m. EST (10:00 a.m.

0 notes

mobianflame · 6 years ago

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RCMP are obligated to pay the Aga Khan's island greater than $56,000 for Trudeau holiday|CBC Headlines

The Royal Canadian Installed Police be obligated to repay the supervisors of the Aga Khan's personal isle in the Bahamas more than $56,000 for foods, holiday accommodations and jet ski rentals in the course of Excellent Administrator Justin Trudeau's disputable holiday, CBC Headlines has found out.

Three years after the trip, the pressure has certainly not however refunded the expenses "in spite of attempts produced to perform so," pointed out RCMP spokesperson Acting Detective Caroline Duval.While the RCMP point out

they have actually tried to pay out what they owe, their economic accountancy system commonly calls for invoices. The managers of the Aga Khan's island said in e-mails secured by CBC Information that they would like to be compensated for prices they acquired on behalf of the power-- however they do not really want any statements. Depending on to files gotten under the Get access to

to Relevant information Act following a complaint to Canada's relevant information , the Royal Canadian Mounted Cops sustained a$ 56,000 tab in 2017 for "accommodations/meals/jet ski rentals"for the Prime Administrator's Defense Information(PMPD), the RCMP unit that safeguards Canada's head of states. The troop said the costs were directly connected to

the unit's mandate"to give close security procedures to the Best Administrator and also his family members."The RCMP refuses to claim the amount of the

loan was spent on plane ski services, mentioning "carrying out thus could possibly expose safety and security particulars about the lot of employees assigned to defend the PM as well as his household."Records laying out the costs the RCMP possessed to repay list 5 charges ranging coming from$3,500 to$22,000. Duval stated nobody besides RCMP employees utilized any sort of plane ski rented on account of the power. The files also expose that the PMPD attempted to stop the expense from being showed to the public

. It asked that the$ 56,000-plus tab be spared from proactive disclosure and be censored to clear away endorsements to the prices being incurred in the course of the Trudeau family members's Xmas getaway. Under federal government guidelines, divisions are meant to proactively show information concerning contracts worth greater than$

10,000, unless disclosing them would certainly endanger points like social safety and security or national safety. In a memorandum dated Feb. 14, 2017, RCMP Manager of Arrangement Quality Control Markos Vennos questioned why the PMPD desired to exempt the spending

from declaration due to the fact that the vacation was over."I sent the reasoning for non-disclosure that PMPD offered up by means of my Director that consequently found assistance from our DG,"he wrote.

"She does certainly not feel that our team may exclude the contract from being actually divulged proactively."Because the costs has actually not however, been paid for, it has actually certainly not been actually divulged proactively. Trudeau has arrived in for massive adversary criticism over his choice to take the

excursion to the Aga Khan's special personal isle in the Bahamas over the Xmas vacations in

2016/17. Liberal MP as well as longtime good friend Seamus O'Regan as well as his other half Steve Doussis participated in Trudeau's loved ones on the isle, together with Anna Gainey, that was Liberal Party head of state during the time, as well as her other half Tom Pitfield, a longtime good friend and a vital participant of Trudeau's vote-casting initiative crew. Then-ethics commissioner Mary Dawson found in December 2017 that Trudeau broke 4 areas of the Disagreement of Rate of interest

Act, which governs social office owners, when he accepted the holiday from the Aga Khan. She refused Trudeau's debate that the Aga Khan, whose structure as well as Global Center for Pluralism bargain with the federal government, was just a household good friend as well as stated the vacations can be viewed as a try to determine Trudeau. A separate situation, which centres on the question of whether the Aga Khan broke Canada's lobbying guidelines, is actually to become listened to by the Federal Court of Beauty on Dec. 12.

The vacation cost the Canadian authorities greater than$215,000, with the RCMP bookkeeping for $153,504 of the button. The RCMP has not however reacted to a question from CBC Headlines regarding whether the

$56,000-plus it has yet to spend is consisted of during that overall. While other government departments have provided some details of their investing, the RCMP repetitively has actually rejected in the past to particular its own spending, maintaining that it can jeopardize the security

of the prime official. The documentations, nonetheless, offer new knowledge right into the expense of the vacation as well as the logistical difficulties postured through what the RCMP pertained to as the"Maple household deployment to Nassau, Bahamas.

"When he was actually a kid, the RCMP's codename for Trudeau was Walnut 3. On Jan. 1, 2017 in an email along with the topic line" Expenses for Accommodations/Meals/Jet Ski rentals,"Assessor Linda Blake, who moved

the PMPD release, stated she had actually inquired the manager of Bell Island to supply

a billing for the prices incurred while her police officers performed the isle. A 2nd e-mail to a Bell Isle staffer the exact same time describes doing" the true estimation on the meals, plane ski and watercraft."A distinct documentation, allowed RCMP Criteria for Alarm Isle Attendee System, provides five separate charges. While the descriptions are actually blanked out, a cost for $18,000 appears to relate an endorsement in the RCMP e-mails to a dish gratuity. The RCMP claimed the food costs were for RCMP employees only. A second fee is for $22,000.

The RCMP declined to point out whether the volume was for cottage, mentioning to accomplish therefore would show particulars about the amount of personnel appointed to defend the PM and also his family members. That leaves behind three staying

fees for $8,400,$ 4,500 and also $3,500-- one or additional of which are actually for jet ski rentals. The documentations likewise uncover that the unconventional selection to getaway on a private island in the Bahamas activated an authoritative problem responsible for the scenes. The RCMP had a hard time for months to find a way within its existing financial device to pay the costs it

had actually incurred on the isle, while the isle's supervisors were adamant they failed to desire to give out a billing. They acquired quite testy when a senior RCMP police officer attempted to draft one for them."I have discussed this situation and our experts are actually really concerned that you went ahead of time as well as produced a statement on our part after we specified many times that our company may certainly not provide statements,"created Alarm Isle supervisor Gordon Overing on March 23, 3 months

after Trudeau's go to."We are CERTAINLY NOT an organisation and also have no certificate to give out billings.

As explained, this ought to be actually dealt with as a repayment for products leased in support of the RCMP."Through April, the problem still had actually not been actually dealt with."It seems like our typical federal authorities repayment unit is actually certainly not appropriate with the Bell Island operations, "composed RCMP Superintendent Pierre J.G. Ménard, supervisor of Close Security Particulars."Isn't certainly there any sort of technique that our team may discover a solution to pay them that will please both the federal government monetary red tape and also the Alarm Isle supervisors."

The papers supply tantalizing peeks of what lifestyle felt like on the Aga Khan's private island throughout Trudeau's remain, and also what one Bell Island staff member called "the full Bell Isle expertise.""Things must begin to

receive a little bit more busy over the following handful of times,"states an interior email to workers on Bell Island, which consisted of the isle's manager of marine operations as well as another team member whose LinkedIn profile page explains him as a valet and gentleman's gent to a royal family in France."Our team are actually heading to reach 31 visitors for NYE( New Year's Eve )and also 35 attendees coming from the 1st to the 4th."It emerged after Dawson's report that then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry got on the island at the exact same opportunity as Trudeau.

Trudeau mentioned he had a chance to speak with Kerry concerning the state of the world and the inbound Trump administration. He illustrated lunch times and dinners along with about 20 people around the table. It is actually certainly not known who else attended on the isle at the opportunity past the Aga Khan, John Kerry, Trudeau, his family members and visitors.

All at once Trudeau as well as his household existed, the Aga Khan's team intended a trip on the Aga Khan's

46-metre high-end private yacht Shergar. The head of state's workplace refused continuously to state whether Trudeau and also his loved ones or guests voyaged on the Shergar. In May, Conservative movie critic Peter Kent required the RCMP to check into the trip, citing a provision of the Wrongdoer Code that restricts social representatives coming from accepting a benefit coming from somebody who has negotiations along with the authorities. But in a letter to Kent dated Aug. 19, RCMP Brenda Lucki informed him the force reached the final thought that it can certainly not"completely go after

an unlawful examination." Kent mentioned he considers to elevate the concern when Assemblage resumes resting. Elizabeth Thompson could be hit at [email protected]!.?.!

This content was originally published here.

0 notes

ebenvt · 5 years ago

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Introduction to Bacon & the Art of Living

The quest to understand how great bacon is made takes me around the world and through epic adventures. I tell the story by changing the setting from the 2000s to the late 1800s when much of the technology behind bacon curing was unraveled. I weave into the mix beautiful stories of Cape Town and use mostly my family as the other characters besides me and Oscar and Uncle Jeppe from Denmark, a good friend and someone to whom I owe much gratitude! A man who knows bacon! Most other characters have a real basis in history and I describe actual events and personal experiences set in a different historical context.

The cast I use to mould the story into is letters I wrote home during my travels.

The Castlemain Bacon Company

October 1960

Over the years I have written letters to my kids telling them what I learn and about my experiences. They followed my quest to produce the best bacon on earth through these monthly communications. When I returned home I found that they kept every letter. When they were here last December, the gave me the draft of a book where they are including every letter. They even contacted Dawie and Oscar who both sent them my mails. They asked me to write the introduction to every county and the “Union Letters” as they called the letters I sent them from Cape Town.

I asked them if I can add three accounts of companies who achieved perfection in the large-scale production of bacon. This is the first of the three good examples of people who achieved what I sought. I think that for a time at Woody’s we achieved the same and when Duncan and Koos took over, things took a dip, but they are recovering beautifully.

What makes this an insanely exciting story is the fact that the main character who created the Castlemaine Bacon Company fought in the Second Anglo-Boer war on the side of Brittain. My great grandfather fought in the same war, but for the Boers. It was a fascinating project for me to compare diaries and see what our, now two, main characters did at certain times. The two men are Wright Harris and Jan Kok, my great-grandfather.

These stories begin much in the same way. Their faith played an equally important role in surviving the war and it established a legacy where hard work, faith, and opportunity determined the actions of their children’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Both stories end with the creation of a bacon curing company!

The Anglo-Boer War

The Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902) was fought between the British Empire and two Boer states. One was the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the other was the Orange Free State. The war was fought over England’s influence in South Africa. It is called the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War.

As it happens, we know the man in England who was in charge of the military when the war broke out. It is none other than Lord Landsdown from Wiltshire, the man we dined with on the evening before Minette and I left for New Zealand via Cape Town who was the Secretary of State for War when the Second Anglo-Boer war broke out.

For the life of me, I can’t remember who said this, but a bacon production manager in the UK quoted an English author who described the Boers as “stinking smelly bastards but they can shoot straight!” Such is the Boer soldier!

England approached its other colonies to recruit soldiers to fight in South Africa. One such a man, from Australia, was Wright Harris.

WRIGHT HARRIS

Wright Harris before departure for the Boer War, 1900

The story of Wright Harris, the Australian protagonist, begins in England where his parents were married in January 1864 and migrated to Victoria, Australia. Wright was the 7th of 11 children. His father was a farm labourer and woodcutter. Wright remarked in later life that he left school at age 12 when hard work was the lot of most boys and added that “it didn’t hurt us.” Wright was a devout Christian. A heritage he got from his mother. By 1900 he was a regular lay preacher at many churches in the area.

JAN KOK

Our second protagonist is my great grandfather, Jan Kok.

Jan Kok at the house on Kranskop where he was born.

Johannes W Kok was born in Winburg in the independent Boer republic of the Orange Free State on 4 April 1880. The Orange Free State got its independence from Brittain on 23 February 1854. Winburg itself was a self-proclaimed independent Boer territory since 1837 and was incorporated into the Free State in 1854. Jan Kok was christened in Winburg on 02 Mei 1880. He grew up right in the heart of Boer-self determination.

THE SECOND ANGLO-BOER WAR

In October 1899 the second Anglo-Boer war broke out in South Africa. In the first few months, the Boers had the upper hand, but the British government responded by massing its forces from across the empire. Wright enlisted in February 1900 in the Victorian Bushmen Contingent.

Jack Harris in the Otto Würth smokehouse, 1993

P. L. Murray writes about the Third Bushmen Contingent in his work, Official Records of the Australian military contingents to the war in South Africa, “This corps was largely subscribed for by the public. It was resolved that, in lieu of drawing the men exclusively from the local forces, a class of Australian yeomen and bushmen should be obtained; hardy riders straight shots, accustomed to find their way about in difficult country, and likely to make an expert figure in the vicissitudes of such a campaign as was being conducted.”

An enormous number of candidates volunteered for enlistment. The men selected were largely untrained in military matters; 230 were farmers or with some connection to farming. The selection criteria were based on their ability to ride and shoot. The men were allowed to bring their own horses. Many brought two.

They left Melbourne for South Africa on 10 March 1900 aboard the Euryalis and arrived in Cape Town on 3 April 1900. Wright suffered from severe seasickness on the voyage to South Africa and wrote only two words in his diary, “seasick.” Of the 261 men and NCO’s and 15 officers, 17 would lose their lives in the South African campaign.”

In South-Africa, thirty-seven days later, on 5 May 1900, on an autumn evening, the 20-year-old Jan Kok greeted his mum and dad, took his rifle and mounted his horse. At 20:00 he rode off with the kommando (1) from their farm Kransdrif. From there they rode to the farm of A. Nel, Kafferskop. In all, they were 11 people riding together; 6 from Winburg, 1 from Kroonstad, 2 from Thabanchu and two black people. They travel to Ficksburg, where they join the Kommando and on 18 May they set off from Ficksburg to join larger Boer forces.

I read an account about Boers getting the call to war from a story, published in American newspapers in May 1900. The events surrounding the call to arms and the mood when Jan rode off to war could not have been much different. “All night the beacon fires had been burning on the higher kops. All night native runners had been scouring the country with messages from the commandants to the burgers. All night in many farmhouses the woman had been at work preparing the rations of biltong, and cleaning the arms of the patriots. All night throughout the length and breadth of the land prayers had gone up and the veld had echoed deep-voiced songs of David.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1900)

From Jan’s diary, there was considerable disagreement where they should go and which Boer forces they should join.

The Australians, on the other hand, had none of the indecisiveness associated with a more informal military organisation of the Boers. As soon as they landed at Cape Town, they traveled to Beira and to Marondera (known as Marandellas until 1982), a town in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe, located about 72 km east of Harare. Here, all the colonial Bushmen were formed into regiments known as the Rhodesian Field Force; “the Victorians and West Australians forming the 3rd, under Major Vialls. They marched in squadrons across the then Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) to Bulawayo. From there to Mafikeng where they were again mobilised and equipped and took part in one of the major battles of the war, the siege of Mafikeng.

Wright noted the following entries in his journal at Mafikeng. 23 July, Monday. “Left Bulawayo for Mafikeng at 3 o’clock. Twenty-five in a truck, packed in like pigs.”

24 July, Tuesday. “Ostrich running alongside the train. A halt for two hours at Palepwe to feed and water horses.” (I am not sure where Palepwe is. The name is probably misspelled)

25 July, Wednesday “Met by an armoured train. Reached Mafikeng at about 6 o’clock, and slept out in the rain.”

26 July, Thursday. “A look around the trenches and around Mafikeng. Saw the Boer prisoners, two sentenced to death.”

27 July, Friday. “Got our saddles. The ponies captured from the Boers allotted to us. Saw the guns that saved Mafikeng.”

28 July, Saturday. “Sent out to hold the river against the enemy with four guns. Got orders to go away and take three months provisions. Order countermanded (rescinded/canceled).”

29 July, Sunday. “Church parade. Went to the Wesleyan church in town, had a grand service. Text Timoty 21 and 22. On picket, got a piece of shell that had come through the roof. (This must be a mistake because there is no such reference. My best guess is that it is 2 Tim 2: 21 and 22 which reads: “If a man, therefore, purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

On 28 July, Jan notes in his own diary that the kommando, under the leadership of General Marthinus Prinsloo, decides that it is not worth fighting any further since the Boers are heavily demoralised. They ask the British to negotiate a surrender. At this time they are still in Fouriesburg, in the Brandwater Basin.

The formal surrender was on 30 July 1900, but Jan and his fellow Boers lay down arms on 31 July. They are assured by the British that they would be allowed to return to their homes and farms, but in the end, this does not materialise.

Photo courtesy of Dirk Marais. Boers surrendering at the Brandwaterkom (4)

Jan writes in his diary on Monday, 31 July 1900, “we have our weapons deposited on the surrender of General Prinsloo to General Hunter. On this day he notes, “a time of new experiences and disappointment, for sure.” On August 11 they sent us by train to Cape Town (Green Point).” He writes that “the Malaaihers (Malays?) and bastards (colourds?) were standing both sides of the street and mocked us all the way.”

They board the ship Dilwara on 15 August. On 18 August they leave Cape Town and stopover in Simonsbaai (probably Simons Town). On 21 August they arrived in Durban. Aboard they are tortured by an infestation of fleas. They leave Durban on 22 August. On 30 August, they anchor at the “Chysellen.” Here they are allowed for the first time to buy some fruit, “12 bananas for 6 “pence.”

On 8 September they arrive in Colombo Bay. From here they travel 160 miles by train and arrive eventually in Diyatalawa.

On 16 September a fellow inmate and an ordained minister, Ds C Ferreira, preach from Matt. 8:12, “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” That afternoon Ds Postma preach from Luke 18:10 (probably up to: 14). On that day they were very upset that the “koelies” (a derogatory but common term for people of Indian descent) worked on that day, a Sunday as if it was any other day. Ds. Postma’s reading dealt with that judgemental attitude towards others who do not observe and worship in the same way as you do.

He writes on 22 September that he and Gert van de Venter from hut 48 started a “Zingkoor” (a choir). He attended bible study at hut 63 where a certain Ds. Roux spoke.

Photo courtesy of Nico Moolman. A Boer POW in Ceylon (Shri Lanka).

This was obviously a time of great reflection and soul searching. On 1 October, he writes that “as I reflect on the past year and what happened to me, I can not say anything else but that the Lord helped me through it all and that he can not but to thank Him for all that He has done for me.” It is interesting that he named his son, years later, Ebenhaezer, meaning” God helped me all the way and brought me to this place.” He never told my grandfather why he named him Eben. It was not a family name and must have been done deliberately in a time when conservative farmers gave their children the names of their parents or grandparents. From this entry in his diary, I can see how important this thought was to him and, especially in Afrikaans, the wording is similar to the words used in the bible from where we get the meaning of the name, Ebenhaezer. I suspect that in naming his son Eben, Jan was celebrating God’s faithfulness in by allowing him to return and have his own family.

There were also ministers in the camp who used Sunday school for a time to criticise the fact that they laid down arms. Ds. Roux accused them of being selfish when they surrendered and say that they were only feeling sorry for their horses and were homesick.

He spends lots of time attending bible study and Sunday school. On 3 January when a school was started, he attended. On 7 January he mentions that there was a missions prayer meeting and he starts to attend a missions class.

Boer prisoners of war at the Sunday service in Diyatalawa camp on Ceylon. Post and photo by Dirk Marais

His grandson, Ds Jan Kok (my uncle), writes a dissertation when he completes his studies as a Dutch Reformed minister, about the development of a missionary zeal in the POW camps and indeed, many of the POW’s returned home to become missionaries. This was later published under the title “Sonderlinge Vrug” (special or unusual fruit).

Jan became one of the founders of the “Zuid-Afrikaansche Pennie Vereniging” on 1 June 1902. The goal of the organisation was to promote the missionary course and through this, to expand the Kingdom of God.

On 31 July, as Jan surrenders and is taken POW, Wright Harris is still very much part of the siege of Mafikeng and writes in his own diary, “Called out to wait for the Boers at daylight. Ordered not to start.” 1 August, Wright notes, “Starting out for Mafikeng. Passed Boer trenches.”

He survives the campaign, but his health deteriorates. He suffers horrible bouts of severe illness. His Christian faith sustains him through everything, like Jan Kok in the Diyatalawa camp. Wright also continues to attend church parades, tent meetings, bible readings, and prayer meetings. I wonder if he could have imagined that on the Boer side there were men with much the same commitment and a common experience of faith with him.

In early October, as Jan is getting used to life as a prisoner of war, Wright Harris contracts deadly typhoid fever. He is taken to hospital where he lay for weeks, delirious and close to death. He is so severely sick that he later becomes convinced that his eventual recovery is a miracle. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he is sent back to Australia and arrived in Melbourne in early Feb 1901.

Wright, deeply committed to his faith, undertakes a year of church work in New Zealand, following the war. Jan is eventually released on 5 December 1902 and returns to South Africa on 27 December 1902.

FOLLOWING THE WAR

There is a deep belief among the young men at these camps that a reason for the war was that they did not do everything in their power to spread Christianity among the native African tribes. It was in a way, God’s judgment upon them for their inaction. It is therefore not surprising that after their homecoming, Jan enrolls in the Missionary Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church in Wellington. The collective Boer nations had matters to resolve that, in their interpretation of events, brought about such devastation on their land and it is completely understandable and commendable that this became the passion of Jan’s life. Jan is confirmed in March 1906 in a missions church in Heilbron.

Wright did not have a nation to save and without the spiritual issues that plagued the young Boer-men, focusing on building his own life. He was ready to do whatever his hands find to do. Events in his life would steer him, not to full-time church ministry as was the case with Jan, but to a life of business and bacon curing.

Probably through the Methodist church at Scoresby, he met John and his daughter, Janet Weetman. William Haine ran a butter factory in Kennedy Street, Castlemaine. He also ran a bacon company part-time as the Castlemaine Mild Cured Bacon Company, to earn additional income. Haine and Weetman agreed for John and Janet to take over the running of the bacon side of things and Weetman roped Wright Harris in to assist them. The three arrived in Castlemaine in 1905 and started the Castlemaine Bacon Company in a room in the butter factory. Together with John Kernihan they processed five pigs per week. John Kernihan and John Weetman were the experienced craftsmen. Kernihan employed Weetman years earlier in his own bacon company in Northcote but lost his business during the depression of the 1850s.

Wright and Janet eventually marry on 18 April 1906. John Weetman passed away on 28 March 1922 at which time Wright and Janet acquired the company and the land the factory was built on. So started a long and prolific history of the Castlemaine Bacon Company under Wright Harris’s name.

Back in South Africa, Jan remains faithfully at the congregation in Heilbron for 39 years until his retirement in 1945. My uncle, Oom Jan Kok, who was named after his grandfather, follows in his footsteps and become a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church. He faithfully serves in the Moedergemeente, Warmbad for most of his life. He tells an interesting story that when he was christened, this was done in the “black church” where his grandfather and the man who’s name he received, was the pastor, in Heilbron. In those years this was of course not permitted under the Apartheid Laws. My uncle, Jan, needed a “doopseël” (baptismal seal) for some reason and it was eventually found at the “white church” (Heilbron-South) where his grandfather must have registered it.

I, in turn, am named after my grandfather, Oupa Eben Kok and was destined to follow in the footsteps of my great granddad and uncle to become a pastor. During a year I spent in the USA after my own time in the South African Army (1988 to 1990), I returned to South Africa with a commitment to pursue a career in business. Bacon curing became my life. (2)

It was in researching an article for this site on famous bacon curing companies from around the world and a book I am writing on our setting up of Woody’s Consumer Brands that I came across the story of the Castlemaine Bacon Company and the link they have with South Africa. Since the founding of the company, our growth has been meteoric, much like Wright Harris’ Castlemaine Bacon Company. The Harris family now stands and looks back at a company which they eventually sold and they have in a sense completed the full circle, a road that we are still excited to be traveling and in a sense, continue to follow in their footsteps.

Finally

The great story of bacon curing is, from the beginning to the end, a human story. It took the best of humankind, over thousands of years to create a dish that mimics natural processes that are part of human metabolism, every moment. The story of bacon curing is our own story in a very personal way. It is a science and an art – human culture at its best. Telling the story of curing is telling our own personal stories. They are inseparable.

On Saturday morning I was standing in our own dispatch area, telling Oscar about this article and my attempts to make contact with the Harris family. The commitments, disciplines and great lessons from the words of John Harris and the inspiration we can draw from them.

As humans, we identify patterns, we learn, evolve and we connect. Looking at our own experience in Woody’s Consumer Brands fill Oscar and me with a deep gratitude and we take courage from the men and woman of the Harris family with their remarkable heritage which is so close to our own. Bacon curing brings together some of the greatest stories on earth!

Graham Tonkin with sausages.