#John MacWilliam

[anticattocomunismo]

Fiducia supplicans: sì dai vescovi (europei) del Nordafrica

Via libera alle benedizioni di coppie gay e irregolari in Libia, Marocco, Tunisia ed Algeria (più il Sahara occidentale): appena dieci presuli, nessuno dei quali africano. Passano in sordina le crescenti voci contrarie, a partire dalla Slovacchia. Continue reading Untitled

[scotianostra]

On July 6th 1249 King Alexander II died on the island of Kerrera.

The kings of Scots of the old Celtic line were plagued in the thirteenth century by a persistent inability to breed male heirs. William the Lion, whose reign lasted fifty years till his death in 1214, was well into his middle fifties when his son and heir, the future Alexander II, at last arrived. Alexander was sixteen when he took his place on the hallowed coronation stone at Scone.

Alexander was at once threatened by his relatives, the MacWilliams, descended from King Duncan II, who had been murdered in 1094. They believed they had a better right to the throne than the incumbents, had already made attempts to attain it, and had no shortage of male heirs. Now, in 1215, Donald Bane, a great-grandson of King Duncan, rose in the north, but he and his supporters were quelled by a powerful Celtic lord, Farquhar MacTaggart, who sent Alexander the severed heads of the rebels as a present. Alexander was less Norman-oriented and more Celtic in his sympathies than his father and this support from a Celtic lord was significant.

It was a brutal age and in the 1220s Alexander would have the hands and feet of eighty men of Caithness cut off to punish them for roasting their bishop alive, while another challenge from the MacWilliams in 1230 would end with the brains of the challenger’s baby daughter being beaten out against the market cross in Forfar.

Alexander meanwhile had no baby of his own. He had married Joan, the eldest sister of Henry III of England, but the years went by and there were no children. The nearest male heir was Alexander’s cousin, John, Earl of Huntingdon, but he died in 1237, childless. The English kings had already laid claim to being Scotland’s suzerains and the situation was so threatening that, apparently, it was decided that if Alexander died without a son, his successor would be Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale, as the nearest male in line. Or so the Bruces were to claim.

When Queen Joan died in 1238 on a visit to England, Alexander took the opportunity to marry again. He chose a French lord’s daughter, Marie de Coucy, and in 1241, to what must have been the huge relief of them both, she presented him with an heir, the future Alexander III, who was to be their one and only child. The king, who had extended his effective sway to both Galloway and Argyll, with assistance from Farquhar MacTaggart, now set out to buy the Western Isles from their ruler, Haakon IV of Norway. The offer was not accepted and in 1249 Alexander gathered an invasion fleet. He had got as far as the island of Kerrera, across the water from Oban, when he fell sick of a fever and died.

The heir, Alexander III, was a boy of seven, and was ten when he was married to Henry III’s eleven- year-old daughter, Margaret. He grew up to be one of the best kings of his line, but all his children died in his own lifetime and when he himself was killed in a riding accident in 1286 his successor was his baby granddaughter, known as the Maid of Norway. She died only four years later and the way was wide open for the ruthless Edward I of England to intervene, claiming to be Scotland’s overlord, and to sort out the succession. The intervention was unsuccessful in the end, but it led to centuries of intermittent war, and Scots in later times looked back to the reigns of Alexander II and Alexander III as a golden age.

Alexander II has the honour of being the only Scottish king to take his invasion force all the way to the south coast of England.

Whilst still a teenager, Alexander backed a rebellion of northern English barons against the King of England, John I. Hoping to secure the territories of Northumberland, Alexander and his army invaded England. They reached the port of Dover where, while waiting to join a French invasion force, the invasion failed. The death of John I saw the English barons change their allegiances. Alexander left empty-handed.

The third pic is Gylen Castle on Kerrera.

[byneddiedingo]

Walter Slezak, John Hodiak,Tallulah Bankhead, Heather Angel, Mary Anderson in Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)

Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn, Canada Lee. Screenplay: John Steinbeck, Jo Swerling. Cinematography: Glen MacWilliams. Art direction: James Basevi, Maurice Ransford. Film editing: Dorothy Spencer. Music: Hugo Friedhofer. 

Lifeboat has two things going for it: Alfred Hitchcock and Tallulah Bankhead. Otherwise, it could easily have turned into either a routine survival melodrama or, worse, a didactic allegory about the human condition -- elements of both remain. The situation -- a small group of survivors of a merchant marine vessel torpedoed by a German U-boat confront the elements, their own frailties, and the U-boat captain they unwittingly help rescue -- was dreamed up by Hitchcock and was assigned to John Steinbeck to come up with a story. It was then turned into a screenplay by Jo Swerling, with the uncredited help of a number of other hands, including Ben Hecht and Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville. Steinbeck is said to have hated it, partly because the screenplay was purged of his leftist point of view, but anyone familiar with his fiction can see how the script's avoidance of his tendency to preach strengthened the film. And the casting of Bankhead, in what is virtually her only great screen role, adds a note of sophisticated sass that the melodrama desperately needs. Steinbeck also objected that the character of Joe (Canada Lee), the ship's steward and the only Black survivor, had been turned into a "stock comedy Negro," which is hardly fair: Although there are unpleasant taints of Hollywood racism in the characterization -- Bankhead's character refers to him as "Charcoal" a couple of times -- Joe is generally treated with respect. At one point, when the occupants of the lifeboat decide to put something to a vote, Joe asks, with more than a touch of sad experience behind the question, "Do I get to vote, too?" And when the survivors finally turn in a frenzy on the treacherous German (Walter Slezak), clubbing him to death and drowning him, Joe is the only one who seems to recognize that what they're doing is essentially a lynching; he tries to dissuade Alice (Mary Anderson), the U.S. Army nurse, from joining the assault. (Of course, it's also possible that the studio feared that having a Black man assault a white man would outrage Southern audiences.) While it's not prime Hitchcock, Lifeboat is engaging and entertaining, and a cut above most wartime melodramas, partly because it dares to present the enemy, the German captain, as dangerous, cleverly outwitting and manipulating the Americans and Brits in the boat -- which naturally outraged some of the flag-waving critics.

[nahasjungle]

Academy award movies from 2017

#ACADEMY AWARD MOVIES FROM 2017 PROFESSIONAL#

nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role ( Janet Leigh).nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen ( Ernest Lehman).nominated for Best Film Editing ( George Tomasini).nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color.nominated for Best Sound ( George Dutton).nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Or Color ( Hal Pereira & Henry Bumstead).nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color ( Hal Pereira).nominated for Best Costume Design, Color ( Edith Head).nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay ( John Michael Hayes).nominated for Best Sound, Recording ( Loren L.nominated for Best Cinematography, Color ( Robert Burks).nominated Best Cinematography, Black-and-White ( Robert Burks).nominated for Best Actress In A Supporting Role ( Ethel Barrymore).nominated for Best Writing, Original Screenplay ( Ben Hecht).nominated for Best Actor In A Supporting Role ( Claude Rains).nominated for Best Effects, Special Effects ( Jack Cosgrove).nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White ( George Barnes).nominated Best Actor In A Supporting Role ( Michael Chekhov).nominated for Best Writing, Original Story ( John Steinbeck).nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White ( Glen MacWilliams).nominated for Best Writing, Original Story ( Gordon McDonell for " Uncle Charlie").nominated for Best Picture ( Alfred Hitchcock).nominated for Best Music, Scoring Of A Dramatic Picture ( Franz Waxman).nominated for Best Writing, Original Screenplay ( Charles Bennett & Joan Harrison).nominated for Best Picture ( Walter Wanger).nominated for Best Effects, Special Effects ( Paul Eagler & Thomas T.nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White ( Rudolph Maté).nominated for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White ( Alexander Golitzen).nominated Best Actor In A Supporting Role ( Albert Bassermann).nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay ( Robert E.nominated for Best Music, Original Score ( Franz Waxman).nominated for Best Film Editing ( Hal C.nominated for Best Effects, Special Effects ( Jack Cosgrove & Arthur Johns).nominated for Best Director ( Alfred Hitchcock).nominated for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White ( Lyle R.nominated for Best Actress In A Supporting Role ( Judith Anderson).nominated for Best Actress In A Leading Role ( Joan Fontaine).nominated for Best Actor In A Leading Role ( Laurence Olivier).recipient of the 2008 Honorary Academy Award for his work as a Production Designer.won Best Music, Original Song for the song " Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)" ( Jay Livingston & Ray Evans).won Best Cinematography, Color ( Robert Burks).won Best Music, Scoring Of A Dramatic Or Comedy Picture ( Miklós Rózsa).won Best Actress In A Leading Role ( Joan Fontaine).won Best Cinematography, Black-and-White ( George Barnes).In 2008, the honorary Academy Award was presented to 98 year old production designer Robert F. In 1968, Alfred Hitchcock was presented with the Irving G. The annual Oscar presentation has been held since 1929. They are intended for the films and persons the Academy believes have the top achievements of the year. The votes have been tabulated and certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for 72 years, since close to the awards' inception.

#ACADEMY AWARD MOVIES FROM 2017 PROFESSIONAL#

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the United States and most watched awards ceremony in the world.Īcademy Awards are granted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a professional honorary organization.

[genevieveetguy]

- He said "Aren't you going to kill me?" - "Aren't you going to kill me?" What are you gonna do with people like that?

Lifeboat, Alfred Hitchcock (1944)

[weavingthetapestry]

2nd January 1264: Marriage and Murder in Mediaeval Menteith

(Priory of Inchmahome, founded on one of the islands of Lake of Menteith in the thirteenth century)

On 2nd January 1264, Pope Urban IV despatched a letter to the bishops of St Andrews and Aberdeen, and the Abbot of Dunfermline, commanding them to enquire into a succession dispute in the earldom of Menteith. Situated in the heart of Scotland, this earldom stretched from the graceful mountains and glens of the Trossachs, to the boggy carseland west of Stirling and the low-lying Vale of Menteith between Callander and Dunblane. The earls and countesses of Menteith were members of the highest rank of the nobility, ruling the area from strongholds such as Doune Castle, Inch Talla, and Kilbryde. Perhaps the best-known relic of the mediaeval earldom is the beautiful, ruined Priory of Inchmahome, which was established on an island in Lake of Menteith by Earl Walter Comyn in 1238. Walter Comyn was a powerful, if controversial, figure during the reigns of Kings Alexander II and Alexander III. He controlled the earldom for several decades after his marriage to its Countess, Isabella of Menteith, but following Walter’s death in 1258 his widow was beset on all sides by powerful enemies. These enemies even went so far as to capture Isabella and accuse her of poisoning her husband. The story of this unfortunate countess offers a rare glimpse into the position of great heiresses in High Mediaeval Scotland, revealing the darker side of thirteenth century politics.

Alexander II and Alexander III are generally remembered as powerful monarchs who oversaw the expansion and consolidation of the Scottish realm. During their reigns, dynastic rivals like the MacWilliams were crushed, regions such as Galloway and the Western Isles formally acknowledged Scottish overlordship, and the Scottish Crown held its own in diplomacy and disputes with neighbouring rulers in Norway and England. Both kings furthered their aims by promoting powerful nobles in strategic areas, but it was also vital to harness the ambition and aggression of these men productively. In the absence of an adult monarch, unchecked magnate rivalry risked destabilising the realm, as in the years between 1249 and 1262, when Alexander III was underage.

(A fifteenth century depiction of the coronation of Alexander III.  Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Walter Comyn offers a typical picture of the ambitious Scottish magnate. Ultimately loyal to the Crown, his family loyalties and personal aims nonetheless made him a divisive figure. A member of the powerful Comyn kindred, he had received the lordship of Badenoch in the Central Highlands by 1229, probably because of his family’s opposition to the MacWilliams. In early 1231, he was granted the hand of a rich heiress, Isabella of Menteith. In the end, there would be no Comyn dynasty in Menteith: Walter and Isabella had a son named Henry, mentioned in a charter c.1250, but he likely predeceased his father. Nevertheless, Walter Comyn carved out a career at the centre of Scottish politics and besides witnessing many royal charters, he acted as the king’s lieutenant in Galloway in 1235 and became embroiled in the scandalous Bisset affair of 1242.

When Alexander II died in 1249, Walter and the other Comyns sought power during the minority of the boy king Alexander III. They were opposed by the similarly ambitious Alan Durward and in time Henry III of England, the attentive father of Alexander III’s wife Margaret, was also dragged into the squabble as both sides solicited his support in order to undermine their opponents. Possession of the young king’s person offered a swift route to power, and, although nobody challenged Alexander III’s right to the throne, some took drastic measures to seize control of government. Walter Comyn and his allies managed this twice, the second time by kidnapping the young king at Kinross in 1257. They were later forced to make concessions to enemies like Durward but, with Henry III increasingly distracted by the deteriorating political situation in England, the Comyns held onto power for the rest of the minority. However Walter only enjoyed his victory for a short while: by the end of 1258, the Earl of Menteith was dead.

Walter Comyn had dominated Scottish politics for a decade, and even if, as Michael Brown suggests, his death gave the political community some breathing space, this also left Menteith without a lord. As a widow, Countess Isabella theoretically gained more personal freedom, but mediaeval realpolitik was not always consistent with legal ideals. In thirteenth century Scotland, the increased wealth of widows made them vulnerable in new ways (not least to abduction) and, although primogeniture and the indivisibility of earldoms were promoted, in reality these ideals were often subordinated to the Crown’s need to reward its supporters. Isabella of Menteith was soon to find that her position had become very precarious.

At first, things went well. Although one source claims that many noblemen sought her hand, Isabella made her own choice, marrying an English knight named John Russell. Sir John’s background is obscure but, despite assertions that he was low born, he had connections at the English court. Isabella and John obtained royal consent for their marriage c.1260, and the happy couple also took crusading vows soon afterwards.

But whatever his wife thought, in the eyes of the Scottish nobility John Russell cut a much less impressive figure than Walter Comyn. The couple had not been married long before a powerful coterie of nobles descended on Menteith like hoodie-crows. Pope Urban’s list of persecutors includes the earls of Buchan, Fife, Mar, and Strathearn, Alan Durward, Hugh of Abernethy, Reginald le Cheyne, Hugh de Berkeley, David de Graham, and many others. But the ringleader was John ‘the Red’ Comyn, the nephew of Isabella of Menteith’s deceased husband Walter, who had already succeeded to the lordship of Badenoch. Even though Menteith belonged to Isabella in her own right, Comyn coveted his late uncle’s title there. Supported by the other lords, he captured and imprisoned the countess and John Russell, and justified this bold assault by claiming that the newlyweds had conspired together to poison Earl Walter. It is unclear what proof, if any, John Comyn supplied to back up his claim, but the couple were unable to disprove it. They were forced to surrender all claims to Isabella’s dowry, as well as many of her own lands and rents. A surviving charter shows that Hugh de Abernethy was granted property around Aberfoyle about 1260, but it seems that the lion’s share of the spoils went to the Red Comyn, who secured for himself and his heirs the promise of the earldom of Menteith itself.

Isabella and her husband were only released when they promised to pass into exile until they could clear their names before seven peers of the realm. John Russell’s brother Robert was delivered to Comyn as security for their full resignation of the earldom. Having ‘incurred heavy losses and expenses’, which certainly stymied their crusading plans, they fled.

In a letter of 1264, Pope Urban IV described the couple as ‘undefended by the authority of the king, while as yet a minor’. However, though Alexander III was technically underage in 1260, he was now nineteen and could not be ignored entirely. Michael Brown suggests that Isabella and her husband may have been seized when the king was visiting England, and that John Comyn’s unsanctioned bid for the earldom of Menteith may explain why Alexander cut short his stay in November 1260 and hastily returned north, leaving his pregnant queen with her parents at Windsor. Certainly, Comyn was forced to relinquish the earldom before 17th April 1261. But instead of restoring Menteith to its exiled countess, Alexander settled the earldom on another rising star: Walter ‘Bailloch’ Stewart, whose wife Mary had a claim to Menteith.

Mary of Menteith is often described as Isabella’s younger sister, although contemporary sources never say so and some historians argue that they were cousins. Either way, Alexander’s decision to uphold her claim was probably as much influenced by her husband’s identity as her alleged birth right. Like Walter Comyn, Walter Bailloch (‘freckled’), belonged to an influential family as the brother of Alexander, Steward of Scotland. From their origins in the royal household, the Stewarts became major regional magnates, assisting royal expansion in the west. The promising son of a powerful family, Walter Bailloch was sheriff of Ayr by 1264 and likely fought in the Battle of Largs in 1263. In 1260 Alexander III had the opportunity to secure Walter’s loyalty as the royal minority drew to a close. Conversely John Comyn of Badenoch found himself out of favour and was removed as justiciar of Galloway following the Menteith incident. The king would not alienate the Comyns permanently, but for now, the stars of Walter Bailloch and Mary of Menteith were in the ascendant.

(Loch Lubnaig, in the Trossachs, another former possession of the earls of Menteith)

Isabella of Menteith and John Russell had not been idle in the meantime. Travelling to John’s home country of England, they probably appealed to Henry III. In September 1261, the English king inspected documents relating to a previous dispute over the earldom of Menteith. On that occasion, two brothers, both named Maurice, had their differences settled before the future Alexander II at Edinburgh in 1213. The elder Maurice, who held the title Earl of Menteith and was presumed illegitimate by later writers (though this is never stated), resigned the earldom, which was regranted to Maurice junior. In return the elder Maurice received some towns and lands to be held for his lifetime only, and the younger Maurice promised to provide for the marriage of his older brother’s daughters.

It is probable that Isabella was the daughter of the younger Maurice, and that she produced these charters as proof of her right to the earldom. Perhaps Mary was her younger sister, but it seems likelier that Isabella would have wanted to prove the younger Maurice’s right if Mary was a descendant of the elder brother, and therefore her cousin. However despite Henry III’s formal recognition of the settlement, he did not provide Isabella with any real assistance: for whatever reason, the English king was either unable or unwilling to press his son-in-law the King of Scots on this matter. Isabella then turned instead to the spiritual leader of western Europe- Pope Urban IV.

(A depiction of the coronation of Henry III of England, though in fact the English king was only a child when he was crowned. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

A long epistle which the pope sent to several Scottish prelates in January 1264 has survived, revealing much about the case. Thus we learn that Urban was initially moved by Isabella and her husband’s predicament, perhaps especially so since they had taken the cross. Accordingly, he had appointed his chaplain Pontius Nicholas to enquire further and discreetly arrange the couple’s restoration. Pontius was to journey to Menteith, ‘if he could safely do so, otherwise to pass personally to parts adjacent to the said kingdom, and to summon those who should be summoned’. But Pontius’ mission only hindered Isabella’s suit. According to Gesta Annalia I, the papal chaplain got no closer to Scotland than York. From there he summoned many Scottish churchmen and nobles to appear before him, and even the King of Scots himself. This merely antagonised Alexander III and his subjects. Although Alexander maintained good relations with England and the papacy throughout his reign, he had a strong sense of his own prerogative and did not appreciate being summoned to answer for his actions, especially not outwith his realm and least of all in York. Special daughter of the papacy or not, Scotland’s clergy and nobility supported their king and refused to compear. Faced with this intransigence, Pontius Nicholas placed the entire kingdom under interdict, at which point Alexander retaliated by writing directly to the chaplain’s boss, demanding Pontius’ dismissal from the case.

Urban IV swiftly backpedalled. In a conciliatory tone he claimed that Pontius was guilty of ‘exceeding the terms of our mandate’ and causing ‘grievous scandal’. To remedy the situation, and avoid endangering souls, the pope discharged his responsibility over the case to the bishops of St Andrews and Aberdeen, and the Abbot of Dunfermline. Thus the pope washed his hands of a troublesome case, the Scottish king’s nose could be put back in joint, and Isabella’s suit was transferred to men with great experience of Scottish affairs, who should have been capable of satisfactorily resolving the matter. However, there is no indication that Isabella was ever compensated for the loss of her inheritance, and when the dispute over Menteith was raised again ten years later, the countess was not even mentioned (probably she had since died). Possibly her suit was discreetly buried after it was transferred to the Scottish clerics, a solution which, however frustrating for the exiled countess, would have been convenient for the great men whose responsibility it was to ensure justice was done.

(Doune Castle- the earliest parts of this famous stronghold probably date to the days of the thirteenth century earls of Menteith, although much of the work visible today dates from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries)

The Comyns could not be dismissed so easily. Never resigned to losing Menteith, John Comyn of Badenoch claimed the earldom again c.1273, on behalf of his son William Comyn of Kirkintilloch. William had since married Isabella Russell, daughter of Isabella of Menteith by her second husband.* The 1273 suit was unsuccessful but William Comyn and Isabella Russell did not lose hope, and in 1282, William asked Edward I of England to intercede for them with the king of Scots. In 1285, with William’s father John Comyn long dead, Alexander III finally offered a compromise. Walter Bailloch, whose wife Mary may have died, was to keep half the earldom and he and his heirs would bear the title earl of Menteith. William Comyn and Isabella Russell received the other half in free barony, and this eventually passed to the offspring of Isabella’s second marriage to Sir Edward Hastings. Perhaps this could be seen as a posthumous victory for Isabella Russell’s late parents, but their descendants would never regain the whole earldom (except, controversially, when the younger Isabella’s two sons were each granted half after Edward I forfeited the current earl for supporting Robert Bruce).

Conversely, Walter Bailloch’s descendants remained at the forefront of Scottish politics. He and his wife Mary accompanied Alexander III’s daughter to Norway in 1281, and Walter was later a signatory to both the Turnberry Band and the Maid of Norway’s marriage negotiations. He also acted as a commissioner for Robert Bruce (grandfather to the future king) during the Great Cause. He had at least three children by Mary of Menteith and their sons took the surname Menteith rather than Stewart. The descendants of the eldest son, Alexander, held the earldom of Menteith until at least 1425. The younger son, John, became infamous as the much-maligned ‘Fause Menteith’ who betrayed William Wallace, although he later rose high in the service of King Robert I. Walter Bailloch himself died c.1294-5, and was buried next to his wife at the Priory of Inchmahome on Lake of Menteith, which Walter Comyn had founded over fifty years previously. The effigies of Walter Bailloch and Mary of Menteith can still be seen in the chapter house of the ruined priory: the worn faces are turned towards each other and each figure stretches out an arm to embrace their spouse in a lasting symbol of marital affection.

(The effigies of Walter Bailloch and Mary of Menteith at Inchmahome Priory, which was founded by Walter Comyn in 1238 and was perhaps intended as a burial site for himself and his wife Isabella of Menteith. Source: Wikimedia Commons).

The dispute over Menteith saw a prominent noblewoman publicly accused of murder and exiled, and even sparked an international incident when Scotland was placed under interdict. For all this, neither Isabella of Menteith nor John Comyn of Badenoch triumphed in the long term. Even Walter Bailloch eventually had to accept the loss of half the earldom after holding it for over twenty years. In the end the only real winner seems to have been the king. Although at first sight the persecution of Isabella and her husband looks like a classic example of overmighty magnates taking advantage of a breakdown in law and order during a royal minority, Alexander III was not a child and his rebuke of John Comyn did not result in any backlash against the Crown. Most of the Scottish nobility fell back in line once the king came of age, but the king in turn had to ensure that he was able to reward key supporters if he wanted to expand the realm he had inherited. Although it was important to both Alexander III and his father that primogeniture and were accepted by their subjects as the norm, in practice both kings found that they had to bend their own rules to ensure that the system worked to their own advantage. The thirteenth century is often seen an age of legal development and state-building, but these things sometimes came into conflict with each other, and even the most successful kings had to work within a messy system and consider the competing loyalties and customs of their subjects.

Selected Bibliography:

- “Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum”, Augustinus Theiner (a printed version of Urban IV’s original Latin epistle may be found here)

- “John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation”, vol. 2, ed. W.F. Skene (this is an English translation of the chronicle of John of Fordun, made when Gesta Annalia I was still believed to be his work. It provides an independent thirteenth or fourteenth century Scottish account of the Menteith case

- “The Red Book of Menteith”, volumes 1+2, ed. Sir William Fraser

- “Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, Preserved Among the Public Records of England”, volumes 1, 2, 3 & 5, ed. Joseph Bain

- “The Political Role of Walter Comyn, earl of Menteith, during the Minority of Alexander III of Scotland”, A. Young, in the Scottish Historical Review, vol.57 no.164 part 2 (1978). 

- “Scotland, England and France After the Loss of Normandy, 1204-1296″, M.A. Pollock

- “The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371″, Michael Brown

As ever if anyone has a question about a specific detail or source, please let me know! I have a lot of notes for this post, so hopefully I should be able to help!

[medievaldickweed]

[emtalksbooks]

End of Year Book List

In the order they were read, separated by category:

Fiction

1. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

2. The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash

3. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

4. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

5. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

6. The Martian by Andy Weir

7. Zone One by Colson Whitehead

8. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

9. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

10. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Nonfiction

1. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

2. Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

3. Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

4. Heroines by Kate Zambreno

5. The Other Side of the River by Alex Kotlowitz

6. Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? 20th Anniversary Edition, by Beverly Daniel Tatum

7. The Battle of Blair Mountain by Robert Shogan

8. Female Husband by Jen Manion

9. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

10. War Against the Weak by Edwin Black

11. Work Won’t Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe

12. White Evangelical Racism by Anthea Butler

13. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

14. The Book by Alan Watts

15. Cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah

16. The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison

17. Holding the Line by Barbara Kingsolver

18. Playing the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni Morrison

19. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

20. On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History by Matthew C. MacWilliams

21. The Lies that Bind by Kwame Anthony Appiah

22. The Violence of Organized Forgetting by Henry Giroux

23. The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron

24. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

25. No More Nice Girls by Lauren McKeon

26. The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen by Kwame Anthony Appiah

27. The Melancholia of Class by Cynthia Cruz

28. The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

29. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Higher Education & Teaching

1. A Short History of Writing Instruction by James Murphy

2. Everyone Can Write by Peter Elbow

3. Beyond Education: Radical Studying for Another World by Eli Meyerhoff

4. The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez

5. Why They Can’t Write by John Warner

6. The End of Composition Studies by David Smit

7. Composing Critical Pedagogies by Amy Lee

8. Sustainable, Resilient, Free: The Future of Public Higher Education by John Warner

9. Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America by Paul Tough

10. Ungrading by Susan Blum

11. Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto by Kevin Gannon

12. Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities by Kelly Nielson and Laura T. Hamilton

13. Cracks in the Ivory Tower by Jason Brennan and Philip Magness

14. The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching by Jonathan Zimmerman

15. The Adjunct Underclass by Herb Childress

Poetry

1. Frank: Sonnets by Diane Seuss

Total books: 55

[goalhofer]

2020-21 Eishockeyclub Red Bull München G.M.B.H. Roster

Wingers

#18 Justin Schütz (Kassel, Germany)

#19 Dennis Lobach (Schweinfurt, Germany)

#28 Frank Mauer (Heidelberg, Germany)

#42 Yasin Ehliz (Bad Tölz, Germany)

#71 Chris Bourque (Topsfield, Massachusetts)

#72 Dominik Kahun (Mannheim, Germany)

#77 John-Jason Peterka (München, Germany)

#84 Trevor Parkes (Ft. Erie, Ontario)

#87 Philip Gogulla (Düsseldorf, Germany)

#93 Max Kastner (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany)

#98 Bastian Eckl (Regensburg, Germany)

Centers

#9 Derek Roy (Ottawa, Ontario)

#41 Jakob Mayenschein (Landshut, Germany)

#49 Mark Voakes (St. Thomas, Ontario)

#52 Patrick Hager (Stuttgart, Germany) C

#70 Maximilian Daubner (Deggendorf, Germany)

Defensemen

#2 Andrew MacWilliam (Calgary, Alberta)

#5 Keith Aulie (Rouleau, Saskatchewan)

#6 Daryl Boyle (Sparwood, British Columbia)

#16 Konrad Abeltshauser (Bad Tölz, Germany)

#22 Emil Quaas (Berlin, Germany)

#23 Nicolas Appendino (Berlin, Germany)

#38 Zach Redmond (Traverse City, Michigan)

#43 Luca Zitterbart (München, Germany)

Goalies

#1 Daniel Allavena (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany)

#30 Daniel Fießinger (Marktoberdorf, Germany)

#33 Danny Aus Den Birken (Düsseldorf, Germany)

#35 Kevin Reich (Iserlohn, Germany)

[jaigeddes]

23 demolition firms win places on Scottish framework

Twenty-three Scottish SMEs are set to benefit from an £18m a year contract to offer demolition and deconstruction services to all local authorities and housing associations.

The Scotland Excel second-generation framework for demolition is designed to help councils deliver planned demolitions and deconstruction with a strong focus on re-using materials.

The improved framework has been redesigned to include deconstruction, which is more likely to reuse material in future construction projects.

Quick response to dangerous structures, including bridges or monuments with emergency demolitions or safeguarding with a three hour or less response time has also been built into the framework after detailed research and discussion with contracting authorities.

Scottish demolition framework (Lot 1 work up to £50,000; Lot 2 work over £50,000; Lot 3 is emergency work.) Firm SME Status Local area Lot(s) secured Bardem Small Renfrewshire 1, 2 Burnfield Builders & Demolishers Small Glasgow City 1, 2, 3 Caskie Small Glasgow City 1, 2, 3 Central Demolition Medium Falkirk 1, 2, 3 Chris Wright & Sons Small Inverclyde 1, 2, 3 Coleman Group Medium Birmingham City 2 Daltons Demolitions Small The City of Edinburgh 1, 2, 3 Damada (Asbestos Removals) Small South Lanarkshire 1, 2 David Morton (Larbert) Small Falkirk 1, 2, 3 David Smith Contractors Medium Aberdeenshire 1,2 Dem-Master Demolition Medium West Lothian 1, 2, 3 Dundee Plant Company Medium Dundee City 2 GCM Services Scotland Small Falkirk 1, 2 George Beattie & Sons Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2, 3 Gowrie Contracts Small Dundee City 1, 2 JCH Plant Hire Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2 JCJ (Demolition & Construction) Small Glasgow City 1, 2, 3 John Graham (Metals) Small Stirling 1 MacWilliam Demolition Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2 MGR Industrial Services Small Falkirk 1, 2 Reigart Contracts Medium North Lanarkshire 1, 2, 3 Safedem Medium Dundee City 1, 2, 3 Technical Demolition Services Medium Wirral 2 William Goodfellow (Contractors) Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2 William Munro Construction (Highland) Small The Highland 3

Every supplier on the framework must recycle 95% of materials and pay the Real Living Wage to workers.

Councillor John Shaw, Convener of Scotland Excel, said: “The renewal of our Demolition and Deconstruction Works contract comes at an important time for Scotland’s construction sector. Several of our members have indicated that affordable house building will be one of their priorities as we move out of Covid-19 lockdown and this framework will support them to clear vital land to build new vibrant communities.

“Our demolition contract is the only national framework of its kind to offer demolition and deconstruction services to all 32 councils.

“It will give them the tools to quickly and efficiently source work from specialist contractors that have gone through a detailed tender process.

“As well as securing the competitive rates – additional value can be driven through mini competitions for planned works that will ensure councils get competitive prices, quick turnaround, and tailored work packages to meet the specific needs of each scheduled demolition programme.”

[ebenalconstruct]

23 demolition firms win places on Scottish framework

Twenty-three Scottish SMEs are set to benefit from an £18m a year contract to offer demolition and deconstruction services to all local authorities and housing associations.

The Scotland Excel second-generation framework for demolition is designed to help councils deliver planned demolitions and deconstruction with a strong focus on re-using materials.

The improved framework has been redesigned to include deconstruction, which is more likely to reuse material in future construction projects.

Quick response to dangerous structures, including bridges or monuments with emergency demolitions or safeguarding with a three hour or less response time has also been built into the framework after detailed research and discussion with contracting authorities.

Scottish demolition framework (Lot 1 work up to £50,000; Lot 2 work over £50,000; Lot 3 is emergency work.) Firm SME Status Local area Lot(s) secured Bardem Small Renfrewshire 1, 2 Burnfield Builders & Demolishers Small Glasgow City 1, 2, 3 Caskie Small Glasgow City 1, 2, 3 Central Demolition Medium Falkirk 1, 2, 3 Chris Wright & Sons Small Inverclyde 1, 2, 3 Coleman Group Medium Birmingham City 2 Daltons Demolitions Small The City of Edinburgh 1, 2, 3 Damada (Asbestos Removals) Small South Lanarkshire 1, 2 David Morton (Larbert) Small Falkirk 1, 2, 3 David Smith Contractors Medium Aberdeenshire 1,2 Dem-Master Demolition Medium West Lothian 1, 2, 3 Dundee Plant Company Medium Dundee City 2 GCM Services Scotland Small Falkirk 1, 2 George Beattie & Sons Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2, 3 Gowrie Contracts Small Dundee City 1, 2 JCH Plant Hire Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2 JCJ (Demolition & Construction) Small Glasgow City 1, 2, 3 John Graham (Metals) Small Stirling 1 MacWilliam Demolition Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2 MGR Industrial Services Small Falkirk 1, 2 Reigart Contracts Medium North Lanarkshire 1, 2, 3 Safedem Medium Dundee City 1, 2, 3 Technical Demolition Services Medium Wirral 2 William Goodfellow (Contractors) Small North Lanarkshire 1, 2 William Munro Construction (Highland) Small The Highland 3

Every supplier on the framework must recycle 95% of materials and pay the Real Living Wage to workers.

Councillor John Shaw, Convener of Scotland Excel, said: “The renewal of our Demolition and Deconstruction Works contract comes at an important time for Scotland’s construction sector. Several of our members have indicated that affordable house building will be one of their priorities as we move out of Covid-19 lockdown and this framework will support them to clear vital land to build new vibrant communities.

“Our demolition contract is the only national framework of its kind to offer demolition and deconstruction services to all 32 councils.

“It will give them the tools to quickly and efficiently source work from specialist contractors that have gone through a detailed tender process.

“As well as securing the competitive rates – additional value can be driven through mini competitions for planned works that will ensure councils get competitive prices, quick turnaround, and tailored work packages to meet the specific needs of each scheduled demolition programme.”

  from https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2020/08/05/23-demolition-firms-win-places-on-scottish-framework/

[scotianostra]

On July 6th 1249 King Alexander II died on the island of Kerrera.

Alexander’s reign was often later remembered in Scotland as a golden age. The kings of Scots of the old Celtic line were plagued in the thirteenth century by a persistent inability to breed male heirs. William the Lion, whose reign lasted fifty years till his death in 1214, was well into his middle fifties when his son and heir, the future Alexander II, at last arrived. Alexander was sixteen when he took his place on the hallowed coronation stone at Scone.

Alexander was at once threatened by his relatives, the MacWilliams, descended from King Duncan II, who had been murdered in 1094. They believed they had a better right to the throne than the incumbents, had already made attempts to attain it, and had no shortage of male heirs. Now, in 1215, Donald Bane, a great-grandson of King Duncan, rose in the north, but he and his supporters were quelled by a powerful Celtic lord, Farquhar MacTaggart, who sent Alexander the severed heads of the rebels as a present. Alexander was less Norman-oriented and more Celtic in his sympathies than his father and this support from a Celtic lord was significant.

It was a brutal age and in the 1220s Alexander would have the hands and feet of eighty men of Caithness cut off to punish them for roasting their bishop alive, while another challenge from the MacWilliams in 1230 would end with the brains of the challenger’s baby daughter being beaten out against the market cross in Forfar.

Alexander meanwhile had no baby of his own. He had married Joan, the eldest sister of Henry III of England, but the years went by and there were no children. The nearest male heir was Alexander’s cousin, John, Earl of Huntingdon, but he died in 1237, childless. The English kings had already laid claim to being Scotland’s overlords, and the situation was so threatening that, apparently, it was decided that if Alexander died without a son, his successor would be Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale, (that’s the grandfather by the way)as the nearest male in line. Or so the Bruces were to claim.

When Queen Joan died in 1238 on a visit to England, Alexander took the opportunity to marry again. He chose a French lord’s daughter, Marie de Coucy, and in 1241, to what must have been the huge relief of them both, she presented him with an heir, the future Alexander III, who was to be their one and only child. The king, who had extended his effective sway to both Galloway and Argyll, with assistance from Farquhar MacTaggart, now set out to buy the Western Isles from their ruler, Haakon IV of Norway. The offer was not accepted and in 1249 Alexander gathered an invasion fleet. He had got as far as the island of Kerrera, across the water from Oban, when he fell sick of a fever and died. He was fifty years old, and the isles would remain virtually independent until the seventeenth century.

The third pic is Gylen Castle on Kerrera

[holyjost]

TEAM LISTS OF UNPROTECTED PLAYERS [source] ANAHEIM DUCKS

FORWARDS: spencer abbott, jared boll, sam carrick, patrick eaves, emerson etem, ryan garbutt, max gortz, nicolas kerdiles, andre petersson, logan shaw, nick sorenson, nate thompson, corey tropp, chris wagner

DEFENSEMEN: nate guenin, korbinian holzer, josh manson, jaycob megna, jeff schultz, clayton stoner, sami vatanen

GOALTENDERS: jonathan bernier, jhonas enroth, ryan faragher, matt hackett, dustin tokarski

ARIZONA COYOTES

FORWARDS: alexander burmistrov, shane doan, tyler gaudet, peter holland, josh jooris, jamie mcginn, jeremy morin, mitchell moroz, chris mueller, teemu pulkkinen, brad richardson, garret ross, branden troock, radim vrbata, joe whitney

DEFENSEMEN: kevin connauton, jamie mcbain, zbynek michalek, jarred tinordi

GOALTENDERS: louis domingue

BOSTON BRUINS

FORWARDS: matt beleskey, brian ferlin, jimmy hayes, alex khokhlachev, dominic moore, tyler randell, zac rinaldo, tim schaller, drew stafford

DEFENSEMEN: linus arnesson, chris casto, tommy cross, alex grant, john-michael liles, adam mcquaid, colin miller, joe morrow

GOALTENDERS: anton khudobinn, malcolm subban

BUFFALO SABRES

FORWARDS: william carrier, nicolas deslauriers, brian gionta, derek grant, justin kea, matt moulson, cal o'reilly, cole schneider

DEFENSEMEN: brady austin, mathew bodie, zach bogosian, justin falk, taylor fedun, cody franson, josh gorges, dmitry kulikov

GOALTENDERS: anders nilsson, linus ullmark

CALGARY FLAMES

FORWARDS: brandon bollig, lance bouma, troy brouwer, alex chiasson, freddie hamilton, emile poirier, hunter shinkaruk, matt stajan, kris versteeg, linden vey

DEFENSEMEN: matt bartkowski, ryan culkin, deryk engelland, michael kostka, brett kulak, ladislav smid, michael stone, dennis wideman, tyler wotherspoon

GOALTENDERS: brian elliott, tom mccollum

CAROLINA HURRICANES

FORWARDS: bryan bickell, connor brickley, patrick brown, erik karlsson, danny kristo, jay mcclement, andrew miller, andrej nestrasil, joakim nordstrom, lee stempniak, brendan woods

DEFENSEMEN: klas dahlbeck, dennis robertson, philip samuelsson, matt tennyson

GOALTENDERS: daniel altshuller, eddie lack, michael leighton, cam ward

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

FORWARDS: kyle baun, andrew desjardins, marcus kruger, pierre-cedric labrie, michael latta, brandon mashinter, dennis rasmussen, jordin tootoo

DEFENSEMEN: brian campbell, dillon fournier, shawn lalonde, johnny oduya, ville pokka, michael rozsival, viktor svedberg, trevor van riemsdyk

GOALTENDERS: mac carruth, jeff glass

COLORADO AVALANCHE

FORWARDS: troy bourke, gabriel bourque, rene bourque, joe colborne, turner elson, felix girard, mikhail grigorenko, samuel henley, john mitchell, jim o'brien, brendan ranford, mike sislo, carl soderberg

DEFENSEMEN: mark barberio, mat clark, eric gelinas, cody goloubef, duncan siemens, fedor tyutin, patrick wiercioch

GOALTENDERS: joe cannata, calvin pickard, jeremy smith

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

FORWARDS: josh anderson, alex broadhurst, matt calvert, zac dalpe, sam gagner, brett gallant, william karlsson, lauri korpikosko, lukas sedlak, t.j. tynan, daniel zaar

DEFENSEMEN: marc-andre bergeron, scott harrington, jack johnson, kyle quincey, john ramage, jaime sifers, ryan stanton

GOALTENDERS: oscar dansk, anton forsberg, joonas korpisalo

DALLAS STARS

FORWARDS: adam cracknell, justin dowling, cody eakin, ales hemski, jiri hudler, curtis mckenzie, mark mcneill, travis morin, patrick sharp, gemel smith, matej stransky

DEFENSEMEN: mattias backman, andrew bodnarchuk, ludwig bystrom, nick ebert, justin hache, dan hamhuis, patrik nemeth, jamie oleksiak, greg pateryn, dustin stevenson

GOALTENDERS: henri kiviaho, maxime legace, kari lehtonen, antti niemi, justin peters

DETROIT RED WINGS

FORWARDS: louis-marc aubry, mitch callahan, colin campbell, martin frk, luke glendening, darren helm, drew miller, tomas nosek, riley sheahan, ben street, eric tangradi

DEFENSEMEN: adam almquist, jonathan ericsson, niklas kronwall, brian lashoff, dylan mcilrath, xavier ouellet, ryan sproul

GOALTENDERS: jared coreau, petr mrazek, edward pasquale, jake peterson

EDMONTON OILERS

FORWARDS: david desharnais, justin fontaine, matt henricks, roman horak, jujhar khaira, anton lander, iiro pakarinen, tyler pitlick, zach pochiro, benoit pouliot, henrik samuelsson, bogdan yakimov

DEFENSEMEN: mark fayne, andrew ference, mark fraser, eric gryba, david musil, jordan oesterle, griffin reinhart, kris russell, dillon simpson

GOALTENDERS: laurent brossoit, jonas gustavsson

FLORIDA PANTHERS

FORWARDS: graham black, tim bozon, jaromir jagr, jussi jokinen, derek mackenzie, jonathan marchessault, colton sceviour, michael sgarbossa, reilly smith, brody sutter, paul thompson, shawn thornton, thomas vanek

DEFENSEMEN: jason demers, jakub kindl, brent regner, reece scarlett, mackenzie weegar

GOALTENDERS: reto berra, sam brittain, roberto luongo

LOS ANGELES KINGS

FORWARDS: andy andreoff, justin auger, dustin brown, kyle clifford, andrew crescenzi, nic dowd, marian gaborik, jarome iginla, trevor lewis, michael mersch, jordan nolan, teddy purcell, devin setoguchi, nick shore

DEFENSEMEN: matt greene, vincent loverde, brayden mcnabb, cameron schilling, rob scuderi, zach trotman

GOALTENDERS: jack campbell, jeff zatkoff

MINNESOTA WILD

FORWARDS: brady brassart, patrick cannone, ryan carter, kurtis gabriel, martin hanzal, erik haula, zack mitchell, jordan schroeder, eric staal, chris stewart, ryan white

DEFENSEMEN: victor bartley, matt dumba, christian folin, guillaume gelinas, alexander gudbranson, gustav olofsson, nate prosser, marco scandella, mike weber

GOALTENDERS: johan gustafsson, darcy kuemper, alex stalock

MONTREAL CANADIENS

FORWARDS: daniel carr, connor crisp, jacob de la rose, bobby farnham, brian flynn, max friberg, charles hudon, dwight king, stefan matteau, torrey mitchell, joonas nattinen, steve ott, tomas plekanec, alexander radulov, chris terry

DEFENSEMEN: brandon davidson, alexei emelin, keegan lowe, andrei markov, nikita nesterov, zach redmond, dalton thrower

GOALTENDERS: al montoya

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

FORWARDS: pontus aberg, cody bass, vernon fiddler, mike fisher, cody mcleod, james neal, p.a. parenteau, adam payerl, mike ribeiro, miikka salomaki, colton sissons, craig smith, trevor smith, austin watson, colin wilson, harry zolnierczyk

DEFENSEMEN: taylor aronson, anthony bitetto, stefan elliot, petter granberg, brad hunt, matt irwin, andrew o'brien, adam pardy, jaynen rissling, scott valentine, yannick weber

GOALTENDERS: marek mazanec

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

FORWARDS: beau bennett, michael cammalleri, carter camper, luke gazdic, shane harper, jacob josefson, ivan khomutov, stefan noeson, marc savard, devante smith-pelly, petr straka, mattias tedenby, ben thomson, david wohlberg

DEFENSEMEN: seth helgeson, viktor loov, ben lovejoy, andrew macwilliam, jon merrill, dalton prout, karl stollery, alexander urbom

GOALTENDERS: keith kinkaid, scott wedgewood

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

FORWARDS: josh bailey, steve bernier, eric boulton, jason chimera, casey cizikas, cal clutterbuck, stephen gionta, ben holmstrom, bracken kearns, nikolay kulemin, brock nelson, shane prince, alan quine, ryan strome, johan sundstrom

DEFENSEMEN: calvin de haan, matthew finn, jesse graham, thomas hickey, loic leduc, scott mayfield, dennis seidenberg

GOALTENDERS: jean-francois berube, christopher gibson, jaroslav halak

NEW YORK RANGERS

FORWARDS: taylor beck, chris brown, daniel catenacci, jesper fast, tanner glass, michael grabner, marek hrivik, nicklas jensen, carl klingberg, oscar lindberg, brandon pirri, matt puempel

DEFENSEMEN: adam clendening, tommy hughes, steven kampfer, kevin klein, michael paliotta, brendan smith, chris summers

GOALTENDERS: magnus hellberg, antti raanta, mackenzie skapski

OTTAWA SENATORS

FORWARDS: casey bailey, mike blunden, alexandre burrows, stephane da costa, christopher didomenico, nikita filatov, chris kelly, clarke macarthur, max mccormick, chris neil, tom pyatt, ryan rupert, bobby ryan, viktor stalberg, phil varone, tommy wingels

DEFENSEMEN: mark borowiecki, fredrik claesson, brandon gormley, jyrki jokipakka, marc methot, patrick sieloff, chris wideman, mikael wikstrand

GOALTENDERS: mike condon, chris driedger, andrew hammond

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

FORWARDS: pierre-edouard bellemare, greg carey, chris conner, boyd gordon, taylor leier, colin mcdonald, andy miele, michael raffl, matt read, chris vandevelde, jordan weal, dale weise, eric wellwood

DEFENSEMEN: mark alt, tj brennan, michael del zotto, andrew macdonald, will o’neill, jesper pettersson, nick schultz

GOALTENDERS: steve mason, michal neuvirth

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

FORWARDS: josh archibald, nick bonino, matt cullen, jean-sebastien dea, carl hagelin, tom kuhnhackl, chris kunitz, kevin porter, bryan rust, tom sestito, oskar sundqvist, dominik uher, garrett wilson, scott wilson

DEFENSEMEN: ian cole, frank corrado, trevor daley, tim erixon, cameron gaunce, ron hainsey, stuart percy, derrick pouliot, chad ruhwedel, mark streit, david warsofsky

GOALTENDERS: marc-andre fleury

SAN JOSE SHARKS

FORWARDS: mikkel boedker, barclay goodrow, micheal haley, patrick marleau, buddy robinson, zack stortini, joe thornton, joel ward

DEFENSEMEN: dylan demelo, brenden dillon, dan kelly, paul martin, david schlemko

GOALTENDERS: aaron dell, troy grosenick, harri sateri

ST. LOUIS BLUES

FORWARDS: kenny agostino, andrew agozzino, kyle brodziak, jordan caron, jacob doty, landon ferraro, alex friesen, evgeny grachev, dmitrij jaskin, jori lehtera, brad malone, magnus paajarvi, david perron, ty rattie, scottie upshall, nail yakupov

DEFENSEMEN: robert bortuzzo, chris butler, morgan ellis, carl gunnarsson, jani hakanpaa, petteri lindbohm, reid mcneill

GOALTENDERS: jordan binnington, carter hutton

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

FORWARDS: carter ashton, michael bournival, j.t. brown, cory conacher, erik condra, gabriel dumont, stefan fournier, byron froese, yanni gourde, mike halmo, henri ikonen, pierre-luc letourneau-leblond, tye mcginn, greg mckegg, cedric paquette, tanner richard, joel vermin

DEFENSEMEN: dylan blujus, jake dotchin, jason garrison, slater koekkoek, jonathan racine, andrej sustr, matt taormina, luke witkowski

GOALTENDERS: peter budaj, kristers gudlevskis, jaroslav janus, mike mckenna

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

FORWARDS: brian boyle, eric fehr, colin greening, seth griffith, teemu hartikainen, brooks laich, brendan leipsic, joffrey lupul, milan michalek, kerby rychel, ben smith

DEFENSEMEN: andrew campbell, matt hunwick, alexey marchenko, martin marincin, steve oleksy, roman polak

GOALTENDERS: antoine bibeau, curtis mcelhinney, garret sparks

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

FORWARDS: reid boucher, michael chaput, joseph cramarossa, derek dorsett, brendan gaunce, alexandre grenier, jayson megna, borna rendulic, anton rodin, drew shore, jack skille, michael zalewski

DEFENSEMEN: alex biega, philip larsen, tom nilsson, andrey pedan, luca sbisa

GOALTENDERS: richard bachman, ryan miller

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

FORWARDS: jay beagle, chris bourque, paul carey, brett connolly, stanislav galiev, tyler graovac, garrett mitchell, liam o’brien, t.j. oshie, zach sill, chandler stephenson, christian thomas, nathan walker, justin williams, daniel winnik

DEFENSEMEN: karl alzner, taylor chorney, cody corbett, darren dietz, christian djoos, tom gilbert, aaron ness, brooks orpik, nate schmidt, kevin shattenkirk

GOALTENDERS: pheonix copley, philipp grubauer

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS: marko dano, quinton howden, scott kosmachuk, tomas kubalik, jc lipon, shawn matthias, ryan olsen, anthony peluso, chris thorburn

DEFENSEMEN: ben chiarot, toby enstrom, brenden kichton, julian melchiori, paul postma, brian strait, mark stuart

GOALTENDERS: michael hutchinson, ondrej pavelec

[7r0773r]

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

There is another way to think of John MacWilliams’s fifth risk: the risk a society runs when it falls into the habit of responding to long-term risks with short-term solutions. “Program management” is not just program management. “Program management” is the existential threat that you never really even imagine as a risk. Some of the things any incoming president should worry about are fast-moving: pandemics, hurricanes, terrorist attacks. But most are not. Most are like bombs with very long fuses that, in the distant future, when the fuse reaches the bomb, might or might not explode. It is delaying repairs to a tunnel filled with lethal waste until, one day, it collapses. It is the aging workforce of the DOE—which is no longer attracting young people as it once did—that one day loses track of a nuclear bomb. It is the ceding of technical and scientific leadership to China. It is the innovation that never occurs, and the knowledge that is never created, because you have ceased to lay the groundwork for it. It is what you never learned that might have saved you. (pp. 75-76)

***

ARPA-E had since won the praise of business leaders from Bill Gates to Lee Scott, the former CEO of Walmart, to Fred Smith, the Republican founder of FedEx, who has said that “pound for pound, dollar for dollar, activity for activity, it’s hard to find a more effective thing government has done than ARPA-E.” Trump’s first budget eliminated ARPA-E altogether. It also eliminated the spectacularly successful $70 billion loan program. It cut funding to the national labs in a way that implies the laying off of six thousand of their people. It eliminated all research on climate change. It halved the funding for work to secure the electrical grid from attack or natural disaster. “All the risks are science-based,” said John MacWilliams when he saw the budget. “You can’t gut the science. If you do, you are hurting the country. If you gut the core competency of the DOE, you gut the country.”

But you can. Indeed, if you are seeking to preserve a certain worldview, it actually helps to gut science. Trump’s budget, like the social forces behind it, is powered by a perverse desire—to remain ignorant. Donald Trump didn’t invent this desire. He was just its ultimate expression. (pp. 79-80)

***

And yet through the entire experience, David Friedberg had this growing sense of unease. “When you come from San Francisco and grew up in Silicon Valley, every measure is about progress,” he said. “The progress in society. The progress in the economy. The progress of technology. And you kind of get used to that. And you think that’s the norm in the way the world operates, because you see everything getting better. Then you get on a plane and if you land anywhere but a big city, it feels the same. It’s total stagnation. It’s ‘we’ve been farming the same six fields for the last seventy years.’ It’s getting married at nineteen or twenty. It’s the opposite of progression. Life is about keeping up. Life is about keeping everything the same.”

People in the places he’d traveled lived from paycheck to paycheck. They were exposed to risks in ways that he was not: the weather was just one of those risks. He began to notice other kinds of data—for instance, that 40 percent of Americans can’t cover an unexpected expense of a thousand bucks. The farmers usually weren’t so bad off, but their situation was inherently precarious and threatened by modernity. Farmers didn’t work on desktop computers, and so they’d largely skipped the initial internet revolution. But they had mobile phones, and in 2008, when the 3G networks went up in rural America, farmers finally got online. “The problem with the internet is that it shows everyone on earth what they’re missing,” said Friedberg. “And if you can’t get to it, you feel you are getting fucked. That there is this very visceral and obvious shift that is happening in the world that you’re missing out on.”

At the same time David Friedberg was helping farmers to secure their immediate economic future, he was threatening their identity. Your family has been tilling this same soil for a century, and yet this data-crunching machine I’ve built in just a few years can do it better. The phrase was a whisper underlying every conversation he’d had with a farmer.

Friedberg played in a high-stakes poker game with some friends in the tech world. In their last game before the 2016 presidential election, he offered to bet anyone who would take the other side that Donald Trump would win. (pp. 187-88)

***

In the weeks after the Elk City tornado, Lonnie Risenhoover toured the damage with various government officials. A man from the Federal Emergency Management Agency came through to determine who was eligible for disaster relief. While driving the man around Elk City, Lonnie spotted Miss Finley. Her house was a ruin and her barn was gone: surely she was eligible for relief. Lonnie stopped so the FEMA guy might speak with her. “You know,” said Miss Finley, “for the last ten years I prayed for a tornado to come and take that barn. I didn’t think it would take the house, too.” She seemed to think her reasoning self-evident. The FEMA guy said he didn’t understand: Why had she been praying for a tornado to take her barn? “Every time I pull out of the driveway I’m looking at that red barn,” she said.”And every time I pull into the driveway I’m looking at the red barn.” At which point Lonnie asked the FEMA guy if he was ready to leave. He wasn’t. He was still puzzled: Why did it bother the woman to look at her red barn? “That barn,” said Miss Finley, “is where my husband committed suicide ten years ago.”

And so you might have good reason to pray for a tornado, whether it comes in the shape of swirling winds, or a politician. You imagine the thing doing the damage that you would like to see done, and no more. It’s what you fail to imagine that kills you. (pp. 218-19)

[lynchgirl90]

David Lynch: The Art Life, artists and experimental filmmaking this July at the IFI

This July, the Irish Film Institute presents evocative and thought-provoking artists’ and experimental filmmaking with curated programmes of Irish and international work, from the upcoming release of David Lynch: The Art Life, to screenings from filmmakers Susan MacWilliam and Andrew Kötting.

David Lynch: The Art Life, directed by Jon Nguyen, opens July 14th and offers a compelling insight into the early life of one of American cinema’s finest visionaries. Made by the team who produced 2007’s Lynch, a film which chronicled the making of Inland Empire, David Lynch: The Art Life is an intimate portrait of the usually private director, providing a privileged view of his process as a fine artist as well as an insight into his upbringing and intransigent commitment to self-expression. This is Lynch’s own take on his early life and experiences as an art student, first in Boston but more successfully later in Philadelphia, a haunted city in ruins that served as inspiration for Eraserhead.

Edith Walks, directed by Andrew Kötting, will have two screenings at the IFI, on Sunday, July 2nd at 16.00 and Monday, July 3rd at 18.20. Inspired by a statue of King Harold in the arms of his first wife Edith Swan-Neck, filmmaker Kötting journeys 108 miles on foot from Waltham Abbey in Essex to St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex, where the sculpture is situated. Edith Walks will screen with Forgotten the Queen, a 12-minute animated short, directed by Eden Kötting.

The IFI regularly collaborates with aemi to present screenings of  artist and experimental moving image works, both contemporary and historical, that challenge, expand and interrogate a wider realm of possibility in terms of what cinema can be and do. Founded in 2016 by Alice Butler and Daniel Fitzpatrick, aemi is an agency and platform for the support and exhibition of a diverse range of Irish and international moving image practices, reclaiming the cinema as a space for warped perspectives and spatiotemporal journeys utterly unlike those we might be accustomed to.  The aim of the aemi screenings is to contribute to and develop critical discourse in this area.

In July, IFI & aemi will collaborate with artist Susan MacWilliam to present Out of Body, a selection of moving image works that explore the psychic and physical space of body and landscape. Presented in partnership with IMMA’s As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits and Mystics exhibition, the screening will take place on Sunday, July 25th at 18.30 and will be introduced by MacWilliam.

Featuring works from Jordan Baseman, Maya Deren, Mairéad McClean, Paul Sharits, John Smith and Susan MacWilliam, these films encourage a consideration of the external and the internal, of that which is visible and which is not, drawing attention to the very act of looking and even eliciting the feeling of being ‘out of body’.

The immersive experience offered by aemi Projections, together with discourse around the films, helps create a vital sense of cinema culture, and allows film lovers to take the plunge into the world of artist cinema.

Tickets for all screenings are on sale now from www.ifi.ie and the IFI Box Office – 01-6793477.

Link (DL)

[zzkt]

The risk we should most fear is not the risk we easily imagine. It is the risk that we don’t.

John MacWilliams