#murdoch community college

[murdochccm]

[acephysicskarkat]

Epithet Erased Plays Magic

Ramsey: Abyssal Persecutor! You can't win the game, and your opponents can't lose the game.

Mera: (buries face in hands)

Ramsey: As I end the turn, the Abyssal Persecutor is going to go over to Mera. You can't win the game, and your opponents can't lose the game.

Molly: Vesuvan Shapeshifter! It is going to be a copy of Abyssal Persecutor, which means that you and I have entered the void in which we cannot win or lose. We are suspended in nothingness, together.

Mera: So...if we hit zero life, nothing happens, because we can't lose but we also can't win?

Molly: (thousand-yard stare) "Can't" always wins.

Mera: I feel like I'm trapped in an Escher painting.

Molly: We're not in a time frame-

Mera: Shut up! I'm done! I'm done listening to this.

Trixie: No more games! No more riddles!

Mera: No more games!

Molly: It's like turn 6 and I've already melted you.

(source)

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Leaded Gasoline #1 by Patrick Kindlon and Lorenzo Re. Cover by David Murdoch. Variant cover by Re. Out in September.

"In the 1980s a killer stalks the streets of South Los Angeles. Task forces are assembled, detectives work overtime, but the bodies keep coming. This is the story of a community college professor who believes there's more to the story than a single madman. From writer Patrick Kindlon (Frontiersman, Nobody Is In Control, We Can Never Go Home) and your next favorite artist Lorenzo Re, Leaded Gasoline captures the mad energy of the most brash and risk-taking horror comics that are smart, dangerous, and intent on taking a sledgehammer to your mind."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby at Popular information:

Eugene Ramirez, the lead anchor of Sinclair's national evening news broadcast, resigned in January over concerns about the accuracy and right-wing bias of the content he was required to present on air, three sources told Popular Information. The sources — one current and two former Sinclair employees — spoke to Popular Information on the condition of anonymity, citing concerns about the potential professional repercussions of speaking out about Sinclair's editorial processes. Ramirez's show, which continues to air with a new host, appears on at least 70 of the hundreds of local television affiliates owned by Sinclair.  One of the primary issues that prompted Ramirez's resignation was the requirement to include at least three stories produced by Sinclair's Rapid Response Team (RRT) on a nightly basis. Sinclair's RRT is a group of four reporters who work out of Sinclair's national headquarters in Maryland. The group's output is prodigious. A Popular Information review found that between January 1 and July 4 this year, the RRT published at least 775 stories.

Most of the RRT's stories are short and aggregate information from other sources. Sinclair publicly claims that the RRT and other components of its national newsgathering operation, known as The National Desk, provide a "comprehensive, commentary-free look of the most impactful news of the day." But a look at the RRT's stories over the course of the year shows that the group frequently produces pieces that have more in common with right-wing agitprop than journalism. 

[...] Many of the pieces produced by the RRT that do not explicitly mention Republicans or Democrats (or do so only in passing) still promote a right-wing agenda, highlighting stories that portray immigrants or LGBTQ people negatively. 

These are the stories that Ramirez was required to present each night. Sinclair's headquarters sent a list of four stories produced by the RRT to the team that produced the evening news broadcast. At least three had to be read on air. One current employee at Sinclair's headquarters described the RRT team as "the right-wing propaganda arm of the national digital operation." The RRT is run by Julian Baron, a 2021 graduate of Syracuse University. Despite having little professional experience (and none outside of Sinclair), Baron's title is "Chief of Staff for News." In that role, Baron serves as the right-hand man for Scott Livingston, Sinclair's Senior Vice President for News. 

The reporters on the RRT team who work under Baron are Jackson Walker, Ray Lewis, and Kristina Watrobski. Walker was hired by Sinclair less than two months after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2023. Walker spent his college years writing for The College Fix, a national right-wing student publication. On X, Walker frequently highlights when his stories are circulated by Libs of TikTok, an anti-LGBTQ activist. Walker retweeted a post by Libs of TikTok that highlighted one of his articles and described the LGBTQ community as a "child mutilation cult." Lewis is a 2023 graduate of Rutgers University. Prior to joining Sinclair, he was an intern at the New York Post, a right-wing tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch. Watrobski is a 2020 graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh and previously worked for a Sinclair affiliate in Albany. Baron, according to three sources, has the authority to assign and publish RRT articles without any editorial oversight. In addition to appearing on the evening news broadcasts, RRT's articles are automatically syndicated to hundreds of local news outlets, where they are given the imprimatur of mainstream media brands, including NBC, ABC, and CBS. According to two of the sources who spoke to Popular Information, this frequently caused rancor among the news staff of Sinclair affiliates, who were concerned about the posting of biased or inaccurate content on their websites. 

Eugene Ramirez, the former lead anchor of the evening version of The National Desk, resigned this January over concerns about Sinclair’s right-wing biased and inaccurate content. The requirement of including at least three Rapid Response Team stories each night was one of Ramirez’s breaking points.

[justforbooks]

The novelist AS Byatt, who has died aged 87, was throughout her existence a victim of Samuel Johnson’s “hunger of the imagination that preys incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some employment”. In the words of one of her own heroines, whatever in the moral abstract she thought about the relative importance of writing and life, nothing mattered to her more than writing.

Her first novel, Shadow of a Sun, appeared in 1964, the year after A Summer Bird-Cage, the first novel by her sister, Margaret Drabble, was published, thus establishing the notorious and possibly exaggerated rivalry between them. It was followed by studies of Iris Murdoch, of Wordsworth and Coleridge, and by another novel, The Game (1967). In 1972, she endured the death of her 11-year-old son, Charles, knocked down and killed by a car. The experience marked her deeply. She continued to teach and she sat on committees, but for a decade the creative springs were dried up in her. There is no compensation, she said to interviewers who asked about such compensations, for the death of a child – except that if you survive, you’re a bit tougher. But it taught her about the machinery of grief.

Her creative career started again in 1978 with The Virgin in the Garden, the first of what would prove to be a remarkable tetralogy of novels, and a long, complex narrative of a small community and its school in Yorkshire celebrating in the coronation year of 1953, the start of a new Elizabethan age.

To some extent the creation of fiction had become necessary to her as a complement (or antidote) to her teaching work at University College London, as a kind of private gesture against an excessively theoretical academic environment. It was evident, she wrote acerbically, that what writers there were in the 1970s were not coming out of English departments: it therefore seemed better not to go into one.

The Virgin in the Garden was well received, and was followed by Still Life (1985), which included the chance death by electrocution of one of the main characters from the first novel, and an emphasis on the accidental element in human life and death.

Her reputation (until then, that of a literary novelist with slightly intimidating intellectual qualifications) was transformed by the publication in 1990 of Possession, which was to win the Booker prize and become a slightly surprising bestseller worldwide, and, in 2002, a film.

A rich and capacious combination of 19th-century letters, poems, fables and journals, all contained within the apparently orthodox setting of a modern literary detective novel, it was the book in which her exhilarating genius at last came into its own. Publishers in Britain and America, who had contemplated in appalled respect the prospect of selling a novel containing large swatches of pastiche Victorian poetry, were triumphantly refuted when sales of the book – even before the award of the Booker and Aer Lingus prizes – soared. It had seemed until then, to quote one review, that her fiction was to be characterised by a luminous bookishness that stayed artistically inert.

She was a self-confessed intellectual, and this earned her a bad press in a country in which the word was a term of denigration. Possession elbowed this image aside by adding vitality and comedy to literariness, and excitement to erudition. The wells that had been sealed up for so long were now flowing with unexpected abundance.

The book brought together elements in her background that had lain fallow until then, and provided pointers to the way her writing was to develop in the future. In it, in an extraordinarily rich mixture, are to be found her fascination with Victorian fiction and poetry, her childhood absorption in myths and fairytales, her interest in the sheer mechanics of storytelling; in it also are to be found her insatiable thirst for knowledge, her love for subtlety and complication in her plots, an increased assurance in her use of humour, her satiric view of the more exploitative aspects of the academic industry, and her growing mistrust of literary biography as a genre – described by her as “a bastard form, a dilettante pursuit”. This mistrust was something she was to explore more extensively in a later novel, The Biographer’s Tale (2000).

The publication of Possession released an unbelievable flow of creativity. Books came bursting out, notably Angels and Insects (1992), which was filmed in 1995, and, later, The Children’s Book (2009), shortlisted for the Booker. “I think I wrote them in a kind of joie de vivre about being a full-time writer instead of walking through the streets thinking about students and lectures,” she said.

Another aspect of her talent that was unexpectedly unleashed during the 1980s and 90s was the short story. It is rarely the case that writers who are at ease in what has been described as the big baggy novel are also adept in this very different and extremely demanding form.

Byatt was able to cope with equal ease with the 2,000-word story and the 20,000-word novella. Her first collection, Sugar and Other Stories (1987), dealt with bereavement, ghosts, memories of her childhood, her father; in it, for the first time, she wrote in The July Ghost, a story based on her own grief at the loss of her son. It was a kind of clearing of the decks. Later stories carried on from where Sugar left off, building on the concentrated, painterly and tactile prose she had developed there.

One of the most typical was A Lamia in the Cévennes, written for the British Council’s New Writing series. In it, a painter who has abandoned London for the Cévennes mountains of southern France finds a lamia – a mythological creature, closely modelled on Keats’s lamia (a “palpitating snake… Her head was serpent, but, ah, bitter-sweet! She had a woman’s mouth with all its pearls complete.”) – in his swimming pool. This pool bears a striking resemblance to the one Byatt had built for her house in the village of Avèze in that region with the prize money from Possession; the hero is trying to capture the different blues and different surface planes that his pool confronts him with:

He muttered to himself. Why bother. Why does this matter so much. What difference does it make to anything if I solve this blue and just start again. I could just sit down and drink wine. I could go and be useful in a cholera-camp in Colombia or Ethiopia. Why bother to render the transparency in solid paint or air on a bit of board? I could just stop.

He could not.

He tried oil paint and acrylic, water-colour and gouache, large designs and small plain planes and complicated juxtaposed planes. He tried trapping light on thick impasto and tried also glazing his surfaces flat and glossy, like seventeenth-century Dutch or Spanish paintings of silk. One of these almost pleased him, done at night, with the lights under the water and the dark round the stone, on an oval bit of board. But then he thought it was sentimental. He tried veils of watery blues on white in water-colour, he tried Matisse-like patches of blue and petunia – pool blue, sky blue, petunia – he tried Bonnard’s mixtures of pastel and gouache.

His brain hurt, and his eyes stared, and he felt whipped by winds and dried by suns.

He was happy, in one of the ways human beings have found in which to be happy.

It was her way too. Her love of the fine arts was deep and scholarly, and is apparent throughout her work, most notably in her Portraits in Fiction (2001) and Peacock and Vine (2016), on William Morris and the designer Mariano Fortuny.

Born in Sheffield, Antonia was the eldest child of John Drabble, KC and judge, and his wife, Marie (nee Bloor). She described her childhood as having been greatly blessed by very bad asthma, and when later in life she came to read Proust, she recognised certain things in him – “a contemplative, acute vision, induced by keeping very still in order to be able to breathe, a sense of living most fiercely in the mind, or in books, which were a livelier life”. If she was fortunate in her asthma, she was also fortunate in belonging to a family that took books and reading for granted.

She remembered three colouring books that she was given at the age of four, each with a page of poetry beside a picture. The poems were The Pied Piper and Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott and Morte d’Arthur, and she quickly had all three by heart, a suitable foundation for a writer who was to be so influenced by the Victorian age. Later, she lost herself in a tangled maze of myths, folktales, legends and fairy stories, and found in them another world beyond the (to her) limited and boring world of childhood. Most importantly, she quickly recognised and understood the vital importance of storytelling.

Her early immersion in myth found its outlet much later in her career, when she was invited to contribute to Canongate’s series of retellings of ancient myth. Her own novels, as she pointed out, had threads of myth in their narrative that were an essential part of their form.

It was inevitable that, in choosing which to retell, she should turn back to one of the most influential books her mother had given her in her childhood, Wilhelm Wägner’s Asgard and the Gods, and rewrite Ragnarök (2011), “the myth to end all myths, the myth in which the gods themselves were all destroyed”. Written in the persona of a child living in a time of world war, when human beings seemed bent on destroying the world they had been born into, it provided ample ammunition for metaphor and irony, as well as some beautiful writing: “Wind Time, Wolf Time, before the World breaks up. That was the time they were in.”

The second world war very soon removed her father temporarily from her daily life. However, her mother, who had been an early graduate of the English school at Cambridge but had been forced to give up teaching when she married, took it for granted that children needed to be supplied constantly with poetry and with books.

Life in the Drabble household was something of an intellectual hothouse with a highly competitive element: all four children were expected to excel. Antonia and Margaret’s younger siblings, Helen and Richard, became, respectively, an art historian and a KC.

Antonia was educated at Sheffield high school and the Mount school, York, and later at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she took first-class honours in English, at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, and at Somerville College, Oxford.

In 1959, she married Ian Byatt and had a son (who died in the accident) and a daughter; in 1969, they divorced, and she married Peter Duffy, with whom she had two daughters. She taught in the extramural department of London University (1962-71) and the Central School of Art and Design (1965-69), and in 1972 became full-time lecturer in English and American Literature at UCL (senior lecturer in 1981). She left the college in 1983 to write full time.

She was conscientious in taking on administrative chores that many writers baulked at, and gave service on many committees, notably the Kingman committee on English language (1987-88). But the appointment that perhaps fed most directly into her interests was on the board of the British Council and its literature advisory panel.

Throughout her career she was, like many writers, a tireless traveller; unlike some, she was generous in acknowledging the benefits she gained from her travels, which she undertook not just to sell herself, but to learn from other writers and readers. She began writing short stories, she said, because of lectures she was given about the superiority of the short form by writers in China and Russia. But her interests were essentially and intrinsically European, and her intimate knowledge of European literature, past and present, also fed into her work.

She could read easily in many languages, which made her a natural choice as a judge of the first European literature prize, when it was established in 1990; it was while reading for it that she discovered the work of writers such as Roberto Calasso, Javier Marías and Bernardo Atxaga, for whom she formed a lasting enthusiasm, and did much to enhance their reputation in Britain.

She was also remarkable for her generosity to younger writers. At a stage of her career when she might well have been excused for finding her own professional commitments a sufficiently heavy workload, she read new work voraciously. Her floorboards cracked under the load of novels and poems sent to her by writers and publishers who valued her approval far above that of reviewers. She could not possibly have read all of them, but she read an astonishing number.

She was appointed CBE in 1990 and made a dame in 1999. Devoted to her family, she was much absorbed in the future of her children and grandchildren. But beyond every other attribute, she had a genius for friendship. In this relationship, all her qualities came to the fore: her imagination, her creativity, her ability to communicate, her steadfastness, and above all her generosity.

She is survived by her husband and daughters, Antonia, Miranda and Isabel.

🔔Antonia Susan Byatt, writer, born 24 August 1936; died 16 November 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[laresearchette]

Monday, January 02, 2022 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: AMERICA'S GOT TALENT: ALL-STARS (CTV) 8:00pm FANTASY ISLAND (Global) 8:00pm SURVIVING R. KELLY PART III: THE FINAL CHAPTER (Lifetime Canada) 9:00pm/10:30pm QUANTUM LEAP (City TV) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: ANTIQUES ROADSHOW (PBS Feed) TMZ PRESENTS: LAMAR ODOM: SEX, DRUGS & KARDASHIANS (FOX Feed) STREET OUTLAWS: OKC (TBD - Discovery Canada)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CBC GEM THE HEAD (Season 2) THE SIMPLER LIFE

IIHF WORLD JUNIORS (TSN/TSN3/TSN5): 11:00am: Quarterfinal (TSN/TSN3/TSN5) 1:30pm: Quarterfinal (TSN/TSN3) 4:00pm: Quarterfinal (TSN/TSN4/TSN5) 6:30pm: Quarterfinal

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 2:00pm: NHL Winter Classic: Penguins vs. Bruins (SNWest/SNPacific) 7:00pm: Knights vs. Avalanche

NBA BASKETBALL   (SN1/SNEast/SNOntario) 7:00pm: Raptors vs. Pacers (SN Now) 7:00pm: Lakers vs. Hornets (SN1) 10:00pm: Hawks vs. Warriors

MURDOCH MYSTERIES (CBC) 8:00pm: Higgins enlists Watts help after he messes up the courier delivery of a horse statue for some very dangerous thugs.

NFL FOOTBALL (CTV/TSN3) 8:15pm: Bills vs. Bengals

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (CBC) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Phileas Fogg bets a fortune that he can circle the Earth in 80 days.

HIGHWAY THRU HELL (Discovery Canada) 9:00pm/10:00pm: Jamie and Rick tackle a massive double recovery; heavy fog tests Reliable's newest hire; Big John trains a familiar face to operate a heavy on an unusual jackknife; John and his daughter take on a wreck with a twist.  In Episode Two, Aggressive's Jason and Merv team up with MSA's Kirpal and Sons for a triple wrecker recovery; Ty, Andy and a heavy recovery hopeful take on a mudslide wreck; Dylan, Rooster and Andy get pushed to their limits by a heavy transport frozen in.

SHATTERED HEARTS (OWN Canada) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): North Carolina college student Latrese Curtis's gruesome stabbing death spurs an investigation that reveals her secret double life and exposes a toxic environment of lies, jealousy and murderous rage.

ALL AMERICAN (Showcase) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE):  With everyone on holiday break, Spencer decides to throw an epic Christmas party as an excuse to bring him and Olivia closer; Jordan gets news about his hand, but he isn't sure what to do; Coop feels replaced when Laura makes a change in the office.

BAKING IT (Food Network Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler welcome new teams of home bakers to the cabin, starting things off with a bang by asking the bakers to recreate a cake that just exploded.

ALL OF THEM WITCHES (AMC Canada) 10:00pm: Historically seen as a dangerous crone conjuring destructive magic, the witch is perceived as a threat to the community and in league with the devil; this is the untold story of the witch, and her persecution and perseverance throughout history.

[systemtek]

The Rise and Fall of MySpace: A Journey Through the Early Days of Social Media

In the early 2000s, a new era of digital communication was on the horizon. This was a time when the internet was evolving rapidly, and the idea of connecting with friends, sharing music, and expressing oneself online was beginning to take shape. At the forefront of this social media revolution was MySpace, a platform that would not only define an entire generation’s online experience but also pave the way for the social networks that followed. The Birth of MySpace MySpace was founded in 2003 by a team of developers and executives who worked for eUniverse, a digital marketing company. The team included Tom Anderson, who became the platform's iconic co-founder and default friend to every new user, and Chris DeWolfe, who took on the role of CEO. Inspired by Friendster, one of the first social networking sites, the team at eUniverse saw the potential of creating a social platform that could cater to a younger demographic interested in music, pop culture, and personal expression. They wanted to build a site that would allow users to create customizable profiles, connect with friends, share music, and join groups based on interests. From its inception, MySpace was designed to be a highly customizable platform. Unlike its predecessors, MySpace allowed users to personalize their profiles with HTML and CSS, giving them the freedom to change backgrounds, add music, and embed videos. This level of customization became one of the site’s most beloved features, as it empowered users to express themselves in unique and creative ways. The MySpace Boom MySpace quickly gained popularity, particularly among teenagers and young adults who were eager to explore this new form of digital self-expression. The site offered a combination of features that were innovative at the time: user profiles, a friend list, a public comment wall (known as "the Wall"), blogs, groups, and, most notably, a music section that allowed bands and musicians to share their work. By 2005, MySpace had become the most visited website in the United States, surpassing even Google in terms of daily page views. The platform's success was fueled by its vibrant community of users who were excited to connect with others, share their favorite music, and engage in the burgeoning culture of online social networking. One of the major factors contributing to MySpace's rapid growth was its embrace of independent musicians and bands. The site became a launching pad for many artists who otherwise might not have had the resources to reach a wider audience. Musicians could upload songs, share tour dates, and interact directly with their fans, all without the need for a record label. This focus on music helped MySpace establish itself as a cultural hub, attracting users who were passionate about discovering new artists and staying connected with their favorite bands. Acquisition by News Corporation In July 2005, MySpace caught the attention of media giant News Corporation, which was led by Rupert Murdoch. Sensing the platform's potential, News Corporation acquired MySpace for $580 million, a move that was initially seen as a shrewd investment in the burgeoning social media market. The acquisition brought significant changes to MySpace. With the backing of a major corporation, MySpace had access to greater resources and the potential for even more rapid growth. However, this corporate oversight also led to increased commercialization, which began to alienate some of the platform’s core users. Advertisements became more prevalent, and the user experience started to feel less personal and more corporate. The Rise of Facebook and the Decline of MySpace Around the same time that MySpace was reaching the peak of its popularity, another social networking site was quietly gaining traction: Facebook. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and a group of Harvard students, Facebook initially targeted college students before gradually opening up to a broader audience. Unlike MySpace, which focused heavily on customization and music, Facebook offered a cleaner, more streamlined interface and placed a greater emphasis on real-name identities and privacy. Facebook's minimalist design and intuitive user experience resonated with a growing number of users who were looking for a more straightforward social networking platform. By 2008, Facebook had overtaken MySpace in terms of global users, marking the beginning of MySpace's decline. Several factors contributed to this shift, including: - User Experience: While MySpace's customizable profiles were initially a major draw, the ability to add flashy backgrounds, music, and videos eventually led to cluttered and slow-loading pages. This contrasted sharply with Facebook's clean and simple design, which appealed to a wider audience. - Focus on Real-Life Connections: Facebook's emphasis on connecting people with their real-life friends and family made it a more compelling platform for users looking to build and maintain personal relationships. MySpace, by contrast, was more about self-expression and connecting with strangers who shared similar interests. - Privacy and Security: Facebook's approach to privacy, with more robust settings and controls, was seen as a safer option compared to MySpace, which had faced criticism for its handling of user data and underage user safety. - Strategic Missteps: Following the acquisition by News Corporation, MySpace underwent several redesigns and changes that were poorly received by users. The platform’s increasing focus on monetization and advertising also alienated its core user base, who felt that the original spirit of the site was being lost. Attempts at Reinvention As Facebook continued to grow, MySpace tried to reinvent itself several times. In 2009, MySpace underwent a major redesign and attempted to position itself as a social entertainment destination rather than a traditional social network. The company even brought in a new leadership team, including former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, in an effort to revitalize the brand. Despite these efforts, MySpace struggled to regain its former glory. The platform continued to lose users and relevance, as the social media landscape became increasingly dominated by Facebook, Twitter, and other emerging platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. In 2011, News Corporation sold MySpace to Specific Media for a reported $35 million, a fraction of what it had paid six years earlier. The sale marked the end of an era for MySpace and underscored the platform’s dramatic fall from grace. The Legacy of MySpace Today, MySpace exists as a shadow of its former self, serving primarily as a niche site for music and entertainment content. However, its impact on the early days of social media cannot be overstated. MySpace was a pioneer in the digital space, demonstrating the potential of social networking and paving the way for future platforms. MySpace taught the world valuable lessons about user experience, privacy, and the importance of evolving with changing user needs and technological advancements. It also underscored the challenges of maintaining relevance in an ever-evolving digital landscape. While MySpace may no longer be the cultural force it once was, its legacy lives on in the countless social media platforms that followed. It was a place where many people first learned to code, customize, and curate their digital selves, and it will always be remembered as the social network that introduced the world to the power of online connection. Conclusion The story of MySpace is a classic tale of innovation, meteoric rise, and dramatic decline. It serves as a reminder of the fleeting nature of technology and the importance of adaptability in the digital age. As we continue to navigate the evolving world of social media, the lessons learned from MySpace's history remain as relevant as ever. Read the full article

[silverferneducationconsultants]

Know More About The Types of Universities in Australia

As an academic destination, Australia is globally recognized for its quality education system as well as providing extensive knowledge to both domestic and international students. Learning in the nation is not only limited to passing examinations but understanding the very basics of contexts and applying practical knowledge to respective fields in a relevant and coherent manner. In the past few decades, Australia has developed some of the most powerful and effective infrastructural changes in terms of world class facilities and technology at its university campuses. Combined with its already advanced educational infrastructure, it has become a global powerhouse in the fields of business, education, healthcare and numerous others. The purpose of this blog is to allow its reader to better understand the types of Australian universities so students can make a more informed choice about choosing the right institute for their future education.

Australian institutes are effectively divided into the following categories:

I) Group of Eight

The Group of Eight (Go8) is at the apex of academic associations in Australia and is essentially a group of universities with the most research income. The group traces its roots back to 1994 and was formally incorporated in 1999 in order to appeal to the Commonwealth and Australia to further concentrate resources towards the development of its member universities. In terms of quality of education and prestige, these institutes are the best in Australia with one university located in each Australian mainland capital city and two additional ones in Australia’s biggest cities:

● University of Sydney (1850)

● University of Melbourne (1852)

● University of Adelaide (1874)

● University of Queensland (1909)

● University of Western Australia (1913)

● Australian National University (1946)

● University of New South Wales (1949)

● Monash University (1958)

Besides being some of the highest ranked universities in Australia and the world, what sets these universities apart is their accumulation of academic and socio-economic capital. Studying at these institutes is a matter of great pride and our expertise at Silver Fern Education Consultants will greatly assist you if you are interested in studying at the Group of Eight. .

II) 1960s & 1970s Universities

The decade-long period between the 1960s and 70s saw the establishment of a number of State Government funded universities supported by the Commonwealth in response to the rising demands of better higher education institutes. This demand was due to the expansion of enrollments in the mainland capitals as the baby boom generation born right after World War 2 reached university age. Their locations ranged from proximity to central business districts of capitals cities to comfortable suburbs and their founders wanted to redefine traditional definitions of a classical university. These newer universities would thus inherent novel values of collegial governance, modern architecture and interdisciplinarity.These universities today include:

● Deakin University (1976)

● Flinders University (1966)

● Griffith University (1971)

● La Trobe University (1967)

● Macquarie University (1964)

● Murdoch University (1964)

● Newcastle University (1965)

● University of Wollongong (1975)

III) New Generation Universities

Due to the increasing enrollments of high school students into colleges and universities, different countries began to establish new types of academic institutions whether those were polytechnics in the United Kingdom, community colleges in the US and Canada or in Australia’s case, a new generation of advanced education colleges or institutes. These newer institutes bargained for university status and the distinction between university and non university statuses was dissolved in 1988. 2002 saw the emergence of a network of new generation of universities comprising of the following institutions:

● Australian Catholic University (1991)

● Bond University (1987)

● Canberra University (1967)

● Edith Cowan University (1991)

● University of Notre Dame (1989)

● Western Sydney University (1989)

● Victoria University (1990)

Research at these universities is constantly developing and have most of their student numbers in cities of more than 250,000 people.

IV) Regional Universities

A number of universities in Australia have sought to distinguish themselves from national universities but their classification was always ambiguous due to the difficulty in coming to an agreement of what ‘regional’ meant as a number of national universities had their campuses in multiple regions in Australia. Finally, in 2011, a group of 6 universities formed the Regional Universities Network with their major focus being on providing quality education to regional populations and driving forward community development. Regional Universities ultimately served regions with a population of less than 250,000 people. These included:

● Southern Cross University (1994)

● University of Ballarat (1976)

● University of the Sunshine Coast (1994)

● Central Queensland University (1967)

● Charles Darwin University (2003)

● Charles Sturt University (1989)

● James Cook University (1961)

● University of Southern Queensland (1967)

● University of New England (1953)

● University of Tasmania (1890)

From battling for their regional status to, today, becoming some of the finest institutes in Australia with high enrollment numbers every year, regional universities today form the heartbeat of Australian education.

V) Australian Technology Network (ATN)

ATN was an initial group of 5 institutes, now 6, in Australia that prided themselves on their technical innovation and delivering the highest quality of education outside of the Go8. They formally came together for more support from the Australian government and recognition as senior institutions for vocational higher education in 1975, disbanded in 1982, and re- emerged in 1999 in their current version of the ATN. These institutes include the following institutes:

● Deakin University (1974)

● Curtin University (1986)

● University of Technology Sydney (1988)

● University of South Australia (1991)

● Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1887)

● The University of Newcastle (1965)

*Queensland University of Technology (QUT) was an initial member but ceased its membership in 2019 due to a new strategic plan. However, the institute continues to be a leader in technological education in Australia. Perhaps the strongest aspect of ATN universities is their focus on real world learning and making students ready for professional life as soon as their programs are complete. Graduates from these institutes are known to undertake world class research and require the least induction training in professional spheres.

Finally, we at Silver Fern specialize in admission processes in each of these five university categories in Australia and hope that this classification will provide a precursor into a more informed choice for potential students aspiring to study in Australia.

[sounmashnews]

[ad_1] CNN  —  Here’s a have a look at the lifetime of David Cameron, former prime minister of the United Kingdom. Birth date: October 9, 1966 Birth place: London, England Birth title: David William Donald Cameron Father: Ian Cameron, a stockbroker Mother: Mary (Mount) Cameron Marriage: Samantha (Sheffield) Cameron (June 1, 1996-present) Children: Florence Rose Endellion, 2010; Arthur Elwen, 2006; Nancy Gwen, 2004; Ivan Reginald, 2002-2009 Education: Eton College; Brasenose College, Oxford, 1988 - First Class honors diploma in Politics, Philosophy and Economics Religion: Anglican Is a descendant of King William IV. Was the twelfth prime minister to take workplace throughout Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The first Conservative (Tory) prime minister since John Major in 1997. 1988-1992 - Works on the Conservative Party Research Department. 1992 - Becomes particular adviser to Norman Lamont, the chancellor of the exchequer. 1993 - Is particular adviser to Home Secretary Michael Howard. 1994-2001 - Head of company affairs for media firm Carlton Communications. 1997 - Runs unsuccessfully for a parliamentary seat from Stafford. 2001 - Becomes a member of Parliament (MP) representing the city of Witney, in Oxfordshire, and serves as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee. 2003 - Is appointed shadow deputy chief within the House of Commons. May 2005 - Is appointed shadow training secretary. December 6, 2005 - Is elected chief of the Conservative Party. February 25, 2009 - His son Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy, dies on the age of 6. May 6, 2010 - No one occasion receives a majority in parliamentary elections. The Conservatives win 306 seats within the 650-seat House of Commons, 20 seats shy of a majority. May 11, 2010 - Queen Elizabeth II invitations Cameron to be the new prime minister after Gordon Brown’s resignation. Cameron declares his intent to type a coalition authorities with the Liberal Democrat occasion. July 20, 2010 - Makes a visit to the United States, assembly with President Barack Obama. July 20, 2011 - Cameron addresses an emergency session of the House of Commons concerning the phone hacking scandal at News Corp. Cameron defends his ties to Rupert Murdoch and former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who beforehand labored as Cameron’s communications director. June 14, 2012 - Cameron testifies earlier than the Leveson Inquiry relating to the News Corp. cellphone hacking scandal. September 26, 2012 - Appears on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” May 7, 2015 - With all of the leads to, Cameron and his Conservative Party claim an outright majority in Parliament, with 331 seats out of 650, and might type a brand new authorities. June 24, 2016 - Following the UK vote to leave the European Union, Cameron declares his resignation saying he'll depart when a brand new chief is appointed. July 13, 2016 - Cameron resigns. Home Secretary Theresa May replaces him. September 12, 2016 - Cameron declares he will stand down immediately as a member of parliament, saying he doesn’t wish to be a “diversion to the important decisions that lie ahead for my successor in Downing Street and the Government.” March 6, 2018 - The BBC and different British media report that Cameron has develop into a paid advisor to Illumina, a US-based genomics firm, and is serving as vice chairman of an funding fund referred to as the UK-China fund. He is banned from lobbying till July 2018, based on the UK’s Advisory Committee of Business Appointments, which accepted his new positions.

September 2019 - Cameron’s memoir “For the Record” is printed. [ad_2] Source link

[newagesispage]

OCTOBER                           2021

 THE RIB PAGE

*****

We miss U Charlie Watts!!

*****

The Stones performed at a private party for Patriots owner Robert Kraft of all people. The test run looked like just that. Shark jumped. I am becoming disillusioned.

*****

SNL is back with Owen Wilson as first host of season 47. Kacey Musgraves is the musical guest. Episode 2 will have a ridic choice for host. Halsey will sing. I suppose $ is power with the Kardashians. I could think of about 10 million other people to host but more and more Lorne goes for the shiny object , what he THINKS people want instead of taking risk. Beck Bennett is out.

*****

Is everybody watching the Amber Ruffin Show?? I loved her before but now… I learn so much from her show. Sometimes it takes a comic to get to the real serious shit. For example: Have you heard of drowning towns? Towns like Oscarville, Kowaliga, York hill, Seneca Village, Prentiss and countless other black towns that were drowned out to make lakes for the local whites. Central Park was also made after a black community was erased from history. Development displacement? Alleyway dwelling authority? Even those rabid for history can find out new things everyday. Thanks Amber!!

*****

Bob Woodward and Robert Costa are finally giving us Peril !!!!!!  I’ve been waiting!!** I was in political nerd heaven on Sept. 24 when Yamiche hosted Robert, Bob and Weijia Jang on Washington Week. All of my favorite pundits all together at one table, my dream team!!

*****

Iman looked great at the Met Gala!! Other great looks belonged to AOC, Tessa Thompson, Maluma, Helen Lasichanb and Pharrell Williams. Gigi Hadid, Kiki Layne, Ashton Sanders, Hailee Steinfeld, Kehlani, Zoe Kravitz, Michaela Cole, Lili Reinhart, Kate Hudson and Shai Gilgeous- Alexander were great. Whoopi Goldberg seemed a bit off.

*****

Jason Isbell is back with his latest offering, Georgia Blue.

*****

I see a lot of Title Max type establishment are closing down. Are they a thing of the past? Let’s hope.

*****

Law and Order is coming back to NBC for season 21. Dick Wolf will own 2 entire nights of television. Some of the old cast is reported to be returning.

*****

Britney Spears Father was suspended as her conservator.

*****

Timothy Chalamet, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins and Olivia Coleman will star in Wonka.

*****

The 2022 Super Bowl halftime show will bring us Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

*****

People are doing test runs for school board positions to see if their political ideas will play well for the big leagues. If they don’t seem to work, at least they can sometimes change the rules in their own area.

*****

Joe Rogan got Covid.

*****

Lake Michigan beaches were closed down thanks to a US Steel plant chemical leak.

*****

Is this country the master of endless administrative work?  None of us should have been surprised at the red tape that the slowed down the end of the war in Afghanistan.** Uber donated 50k for rides and meals to the Afghans when they arrive.**And why do so many waste taxpayer $ on useless recounts and recalls when people need real help with food and healthcare? They must really hate humanity.

*****

R. Kelly was found guilty of 8 counts of sex trafficking and 1 count of racketeering.

*****

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

*****

Texas has put a law into effect to allow most Texans to carry open without permit or training.

*****

Texas has banned abortion at about 6 weeks. Uber and Lyft will pay drivers legal fees if sued under Texas abortion law. Lyft donated $1mil to Planned Parenthood. ** Look for the ruling in the Mississippi law over Roe V. Wade in June 2022.**Hear us roar!** BTW.. Go Jen Psaki!!!!!!!

*****

They seriously banned plastic straws and abortion before assault rifles? – Eden Dranger

*****

Please stop banning abortions, the last thing the world needs is more Americans. –Sarah Beattie

*****

Women don’t inseminate themselves. Vasectomies are reversible. Should every man have one until he’s deemed financially and emotionally fit to be a Father? – Bradley Whitford

*****

90 year old William Shatner will go to space for Blue Origin.

*****

The Q Anon Shaman pled guilty to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings. I say 20 years and a $250K fine.** 600 others have been indicted.

*****

Days Alert: The Beyond Salem thing was ridic but it was so great to see some old characters.  Days is so great at visiting old family. Who can resist Shane, Austin and Carrie, Billie and the old Kristen? I do wish that Peacock would get their kinks out!! Back to the real Days: Are we smelling an Emmy for Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bill?? ** Good to have Abigail back. It is always fun to wonder which actress and or personality it will be. ** Deidre Hall got her star on the walk of fame.**And just in time for Halloween, the Devil is making a comeback. The end of the year in Salem is always the best!! It is so brave to give the 96 year old man the old switcheroo into the Dark Lord.  It was fun to see the grandkids discover Grandma Marlena’s story. Delicious!! Hail Satan!!** It is past time for Tate and Teresa to come back to town. Brady needs to be put in his place. And thanks for the Philip and Chloe flashbacks!!

*****

The breakdown of the vaccinated: 90% of Atheists, 86% Hispanic Catholic, 84% Agnostic, 79% White Catholic, 73% White mainline protestant, 70% Black mainline protestant, 57% white evangelical. 1 in 500 Americans have died of Covid.

*****

So Mike Lindell and Jim Baker have teamed up to sell children’s Bible pillows.** Piers Morgan has returned to the Murdoch organization by joining Fox. That sounds about right.

*****

Please stop saying the vaccine does not have severe side effects, I took my shots and now I’m alive and have to keep working. –Mohand Eishieky

*****

In theatres Oct. 22: The French Dispatch.** October also brings us a new season of Curb your enthusiasm and Oct. 17 will catch us up on Succession. Whew!!!

*****

So people under conservatorship are not free to marry who they want? What?

*****

46% of Americans believe in ghosts.

*****

Simone Biles, Mckayla Maroney and Aly Rasiman testified at  the Senate judiciary hearing about the FBI’s handling of accusations against Larry Nassar and it was eye opening!

*****

We wanted a no -nonsense Dem who pushes on and does not puss out.  I am a bit surprised to see we have it. There are so many pressing issues that I hope Biden works a bit more on Haiti though.

*****

The National Police Act was passed to celebrate cops. Still no police reform.

*****

John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are going to have a baby.

*****

The Emmy’s were a little different this year with more of a Golden Globe look.  Cedric the Entertainer hosted with Reggie Watts as DJ. Lots of minority noms but barely a win. It was a white people night. Ted Lasso had a great night. Mare of Eastown took home a few with Evan Peters, Julianne Nicholson and Kate Winslet. Now, Kate is great but how did Anya Taylor- Joy not walk away with that? Queens Gambit did win a couple and gave the longest speech with the seemingly arrogant director Scott Frank who opened up 2 page acceptance. Categories were tough but I was routing for Renee Elise Goldberry and Bowen Yang but perhaps next year. The people in England who had their own party for all the statues that the Crown won seemed to be having more fun! Hacks won for writing and directing and Jean Smart!! It was nice to see the Norm Macdonald love which was barely mentioned by Lorne but celebrated by John Oliver. Colbert ‘s election night special won as did JB Smoove. Hamilton won and Debbie Allen got the big one. I do not understand why real singers and or musicians have to be there for the in Memoriam. It takes me out of it a bit and concentrates the focus on them. Do they think that people will pay attention more? Do they want to keep the home audience or live audience from the bathroom?  My best dressed were Anya Taylor-Joy, Michaela Cole who won for I may destroy you, Jean Smart, Josh O’Connor, Kathryn Hahn, Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Keenan Thonpson, Leslie Odom Jr., Catherine O’Hara, Trevor Noah, Eugene Levy, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, Bowen Yang,  Anthony Anderson, Leslie Grossman, Amber Ruffin, Allyson Felix, Renee Elise Goldberry, Samira Wiley and Rege- Jean Page. My worst were Sarah Paulson, Gillian Anderson,  Beanie Feldstein, Elizabeth Olsen and Aidy Bryant. To me the best part of the show was the enthusiasm of Conan and the way he injected himself into much of the evening .He was the show.  Go Conan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*****

Next year there must be some Emmys for Sarah Paulson and Cobie Smulders in Impeachment!!!!!

*****

Oh Boy!! The Eyes of Tammy Faye!!

*****

Looking forward to the Electric Life of Louis Wain with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy.

*****

Abba has a new album!!

*****

Shang Chi is the biggest Labor Day opening with a $71.4 mil opening.

*****

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has announced she has breast cancer.

*****

Is it the 70’s? A streaker ran past the studio of the Today show.

*****

Rascal Flatts Joe Don Rooney was arrested for DUI.** Nicholas Cage was thrown out of a prime rib pace in Vegas after being drunk and disorderly.

*****

Jennifer Eckhart has filed a lawsuit against former Fox news anchor Ed Henry for rape and retaliation after allegedly being handcuffed and beaten.

*****

Scarlett Johansson has settled her Disney lawsuit.

*****

Pete Buttigieg and Chasten had twins they named Penelope Rose and Joseph August.

*****

I noticed a commercial for Dancing with the Stars. Are we onto the E list because I have heard of hardly any of these people. ‘Stars’is really stretching it. And as I post this I see there are some covid issues there as well.

*****

Virgin River was renewed for 2 more seasons.

*****

Trevor Noah is right? Why do they stop giving lollipops to adults at the doctor?

*****

Jon Stewart is back on Apple tv with ‘The problem with Jon Stewart.

*****

Brooklyn 99 had about the best finale (other than Newhart) that I can recall. I had my fingers crossed that Chelsea would be back. Will they honor us like they did in the show and come back for a special about once a year? That would be fucking awesome!!

*****

Don’t expect compliments from an insecure person.- Mr. Pickles

*****

Thousands and thousands of people are in need. Haitian refugees and other immigrants have seen nothing like this what with assassination, a hurricane and earthquake. The Southern border is a mess.** Why does Fox news keep telling refugees the border is open as they sit back and laugh at Biden’s predicament.  Spreading false info to intentionally hurt poor, distressed people has no end for them.

*****

Do companies know how fucked up their employment websites are? It is true that some people do not want to work. It is true that people schedule interviews and don’t show up. It is also true that companies have made it so hard to apply that many can’t. I suppose it is easier for them but the poor who may really want to work have a hard time. Paper applications are almost completely gone. The old fashioned way of walking into low paying job sites and finding a connection with a manager rarely exist. Some places only accept texts or have long ridiculous psych tests that a working Mother may not have time for. A Father working many hours already, may not be able to go to the library to get online if they cannot afford a computer. Many websites tell you that there no positions available in your area while there is a huge sign in front of the establishment. Can’t find people to work.. Gee I wonder why?? And treat people with respect once you find them, how about that?

*****

Keep your head up in failure, and your head down in success. –Jerry Seinfeld

*****

Hey.. There was a van air B’n B biz going that got busted. Hey.. The poor need vaca’s too. It is wrong but If they are willing to sleep in a van, why not. I truly think that many do not understand how much people are struggling.

*****

Free coffee day came and went but only a few places really gave you free coffee without rules to govern the promo. Some places wanted to sell you something else and some made you belong to their club. Starbucks held that customers had to come inside for the free cup of Joe, handicapped or not.

*****

One would think the Republicans would run out of $ for recounts but they have deep pockets. Just think how much good they could do for the huddled masses with that scratch.

*****

Sad to lose Mick Brigden, protégé of Bill Graham who managed The Stones and worked with Frampton, Dylan and Santana.** And the comics were very vocal about the loss of Norm Macdonald. He was one of a kind and he will be missed!

*****

R.I.P. Ruth Marx, Lee Scratch Perry, Willard Scott, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Isadore Bleckman, George Wein, Michael K. William,George Holliday, Anthony Johnson,  Basil Hoffman, Al Harrington,Willie Garson, Mick Brigden, Tommy Kirk and Norm Macdonald.

[hope-hopefully-writes]

Writeblr Intro

Hello! I’ve seen bits and pieces of the Writeblr community, and just as I sometimes do when something ends up catching my attention, decided to throw myself head first into it. A bit of a bad habit of mine I think, but hey it can help with confidence right?

Introduction Time!

My name is Hope, She/Her (cis female), Canadian, Autistic, Scorpio and nearly 20. I went for a 1 year college course but decided to take the year off not only because of what’s been happening in the world but to also figure out what I exactly want to do with my life (with job searching). I’ve been creating stories for a few years, and am primarily an artist but I wish to start writing and sharing the stories I’ve made to the world.

Some media that I like is,

Magical girls (PreCure, Sailor Moon, Madoka Magica)

Shonen (not as much as magical girls but I’ve watched mainly Fairy Tail and Fire Force, and also The Promised Neverland)

Murder Mystery (Danganronpa, Zero Escape, Murdoch Mysteries)

Slice of Life (Fruits Basket, Ascendence of a Bookworm (though that’s also Isekai? I dunno I just really like the characters and world building) )

Final Fantasy! Kingdom Hearts! The World Ends With You! Animal Crossing, Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Persona Series and Zelda.

Stuff in my writing! Found Family is always a win, sibling relationships always seem to be popping up, redemption arcs or morally grey characters I think, loss, magic (no seriously, all my wips include some form of magic), lgbt+ characters (for Jewel Protectors and SIC, Deities Game and Mystica are that old but I’m still attached to them and will be revising the stories for sure).

I’m still trying to figure out what I use in my writing so I may make another intro in the future with more solidified ideas despite this being a solid list already. (I just know I use more but it’s late and I can’t wrack my brain for them)

My WIPs!

Jewel Protectors - My current wip, I plan to make this into a comic someday but until then it’s in writing format! It started blatantly more Magical Girl (group? There’s boys in the group, Magical Hero?) but now it’s a bit more sci fi, but still very filled with magical hero stuff and slice of life as well. It follows seven people, five high school students, a university dropout and an amnesiac alien all navigating life and strange new powers along with the dangers that come with them. Planning/Outlining stages

Back burner wips! I do want to work on all of these eventually

The Mystica Chronicles - In a world where more and more citizens are being born without connection to the myst (magic), young Ashton worries that he may not have any at all. What comes after is travels around the world, Kraken fights and being careful of what you wish for. Current plans is to make this into a novel/book series eventually once Jewel Protectors is done

Deities Game - What started as a survival/murder mystery story takes a 180 to slice of life/fantasy in concept. I hope to return to it and refresh it sometime in the future for sure.

Supernatural Investigation Club - University Students investigate supernatural occurrences in their town of Bellton.

I think that’s all from me? I follow back from @hopeeternia. I still have much to learn, but if you are interested in my current wip or maybe one of my back burner wips please send an ask (I will try to get an Introduction done for my current wip as soon as I can). Procrastination is mean but it’s time to get started on all of these stories starting with Jewel Protectors.

[murdochccm]

中国人更多的是一组集体的

Zhōngguó rén gèng duō de shì yī zǔ jítǐ de

Chinese people are more of a collective

美国人很个人主义的。

Měiguó rén hěn gèrén zhǔyì de.

Americans are very individualistic.

[meetnategreen]

"Madame First Lady — Mrs. Biden — Jill — kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter, Any chance you might drop the 'Dr.' before your name? 'Dr. Jill Biden' sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs “

Who is Joseph Epstein?

Joseph Epstein currently serves as an emeritus lecturer of English at Northwestern University. Epstein was the editor of ‘The American Scholar’ from 1975 to 1997, and wrote essays under the name Aristides. He has written ‘Fabulous Small Jews’ and ‘Snobbery: The American Version’, among several other works. Epstein taught writing and literature at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from 1974 to 2002. Speaking about being removed from ‘The American Scholar’, he told Joshua Cohen of Forward, “I believe I was fired from this lovely, cushy job for being insufficiently correct politically.”

Article on homosexuality

In September 1970, Harper's Magazine published an article by Epstein called "Homo/Hetero: The Struggle for Sexual Identity"[9] that used the N-word to describe being gay and was criticized for its perceived homophobia.[10]Epstein wrote that he considered homosexuality "a curse, in a literal sense" and that his sons could do nothing to make him sadder than "if any of them were to become homosexual."[10][11] Gay activists characterized the essay as portraying every gay man the author met, or fantasized about meeting, as predatory, sex-obsessed, and a threat to civilization.[12] In the essay, he says that, if possible, "I would wish homosexuality off the face of the earth", a statement that was interpreted by gay writer and editor Merle Miller as a call to genocide.[13] A sit-in took place at Harper's by members of the Gay Activists Alliance.[14][12]

What college degrees does Joseph Epstein have?

Epstein was rewarded a B.A. from  University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1959.

No one has ever, or will ever, call Joseph Epstein “doctor.”

Post Script: Both the Editor-in-Chief of the Wall Street Journal and FOX are owned by Rupert Murdoch aka Newscorps ( Founded: 1980, in  Adelaide, Australia)

[tabloidtoc]

National Examiner, February 15 -- part 1 of 3

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's final goodbye

Page 2: Celebs Who Came Close to the End -- near-death experiences of the rich and famous -- Gary Busey, Johnny Depp, Donald Sutherland, Sharon Stone

Page 3: Martin Lawrence, Emilia Clarke, Stephen King, Tracy Morgan, Christie Brinkley, Ozzy Osbourne, Jane Seymour, Chevy Chase

Page 4: Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie roles

Page 6: After serving nearly two months in a California prison for her role in the high-profile college admissions scandal Lori Loughlin is happy to be back home -- while she celebrated her December 28 release with gratitude and prayer she knows there is still a lot to work through and most important is regaining the trust of daughters Olivia and Isabella -- her husband Mossimo Giannulli is currently serving a five-month prison sentence for his involvement in the scandal and Lori speaks to him as much as she can and it's all about getting through this and moving on

Page 7: Things You Don't Know About Our New Veep -- Kamala Harris makes history

Page 8: Petroleum jelly can get you out of a jam

Page 9: Lower blood pressure fast

Page 10: Harper is only in the fourth grade, but her heart is huge -- the Kentucky youngster tucked her allowance into a plastic baggie and sent it to Gov. Andy Beshear to help him out during tough times

Page 11: Get fit by making a clean sweep -- it turns out cleaning your home is just as effective as sweating through hundreds of situps

Page 12: Celebrities who nabbed the jab -- these celebs who are at high risk of coronavirus complications and even death because of their ages and health conditions stepped up to the plate and took their best shot -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joel Grey, Judi Dench, Rupert Murdoch, Willie Nelson, Steve Martin, Joan Collins, Martha Stewart, Dan Rather

Page 13: Al Roker, Pope Francis, Tony Bennett, Buzz Aldrin, Ian McKellen, Oliver Stone, Norma Kamali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Loretta Lynn, Tom Jones

Page 14: Dear Tony, America's Top Psychic Healer -- the world belongs to all of us so don't opt out, Tony predicts a bright new star in the movie world Anya Taylor-Joy who shines in The Queens Gambit: give her time because she will be huge

Page 15: Frank Stallone is Sylvester Stallone's younger's brother and while Frank is an actor too, there is no doubt Sly is more famous but there's no hard feelings

Page 16: The Judds fix 40-year feud -- Naomi Judd who suffered from mental illness struggled to raise two daughters on her own -- Wynonna Judd once cut off communication with her mother for three years -- for 40 years mother-daughter country duo Naomi and Wynonna fought and feuded like wildcats but they've finally kissed and made up so 75-year-old Naomi can go to her grave with a happy heart

Page 18: Madeleine Fugate put her sewing skills and a compassion that is beyond her years to good use as she stiches together a giant quilt paying tribute to the tragic victims of COVID-19 -- maybe it's in her blood because her mother Katherine worked on the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt 35 years ago

Page 19: We've been waiting for a flying car ever since the 1960s TV show The Jetsons and finally one seems ready to touch down -- a Japanese startup has been road testing it new flying vehicles and says a fleet of there air taxis could be ready by 2023

(continued)

[dr-archeville]

INDY Week: It's All Over but the Tweetin'

Everything you need to know this morning

Thank you to this week's INDY Daily sponsor, NC Grind - Invest Local from the Mountains to the Sea.  NC Grind helps you find investment opportunities connected to North Carolina and connect with people taking Shop Local to the next level.

Support the INDY Press Club: Better Journalism for a Better Community

It's Thursday, November 5.

Hey y'all,

Uh, whoops! I wrote yesterday’s INDY Daily extremely late on Tuesday evening, and due to a technical error (read: me being really tired), I accidentally scheduled the newsletter to be sent out on the wrong day, only to realize my mistake in the morning and promptly send it out. I’d like to thank my mom for waking me up yesterday morning and informing me of the error. Sorry about that!

Like the INDY Daily? Share it with your friends and ask them to subscribe!

The INDY Daily is made possible by the INDY Press Club, which is helping us keep fearless, independent local journalism viable in the Triangle.

It’s All Over But the Tweetin’

What a week the past two days have been. Never in my life did I think I would be glued to the news watching a guy in Atlanta give a press conference explaining the process of counting votes in excruciating detail, yet here we are. Tuesday night was rough. I and a lot of other people hoped that Biden would earn 270 Electoral College votes on Election Night. And when he didn’t, I and a lot of other people were like, "Oh God, this is happening again, we nominated the centrist Democrat instead of Bernie Sanders and now Trump is creaming them." But 2020 is not 2016, and as Tuesday turned into yesterday, things started looking up. First, Fox News became one of the first news outlets to call Arizona for Biden, which, according to the New York Times, sent the Trump campaign into full-on freakout mode. Trump’s team got in touch with Fox News and tried to get them to do a take-backsies on the call. The network refused. Then, Trump tweeted that he’d won, then called a news conference and declared himself the winner. At some point, Jared Kusher called Rupert Murdoch personally to ask him to tell Fox News to issue a retraction, but nothing came of it. It’s 10 p.m. as I write this, and as of now, the Associated Press and McClatchy, the parent company of the Raleigh News & Observer, have both awarded Arizona to Biden, while other news outlets have not yet formally awarded him the state’s 11 Electoral College votes. (While a significant share of the ballots haven’t yet been counted, Biden’s winning by a little over 100,000 votes, and a large portion of outstanding votes are coming from Maricopa County, which favors the former Vice President.) Yesterday, the key battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan were declared for Biden as well, giving Biden 264 Electoral College votes if we count Arizona — just six shy of the 270 he needed to win. Right now, four states (five if you count Arizona, which again, for the purpose of this analysis, I am giving to Biden) are still up in the air. There’s Nevada (six E.C. votes), which will announce its preliminary results this morning. There’s Georgia (16 E.C. votes), where Trump has a razor-thin lead, with ballots still to be counted from Atlanta and Savannah, and the count could extend all night into the morning. There’s Pennsylvania (20 E.C. votes), and Biden is on track to squeeze out a win there. There are still votes trickling in from North Carolina (11 E.C. votes), as well. Things aren’t looking too hot for Biden in North Carolina, where the official results won’t be in until November 13, but he’s got a damn good shot of winning those other three states. By the time you read this, Biden may very well have won. I hope so. Right now, the Trump campaign is filing a bunch of lawsuits trying to press the pause button on the rest of the results. They’ve asked that the vote count be halted in Michigan and Pennsylvania, quibbled over 53 ballots in one Georgia county, and have indicated that they’ll request a recount in Wisconsin. In all likelihood, these suits, as well as the recount, won’t go anywhere — tactically, they’re the equivalent of a basketball team intentionally fouling opposing players in the final seconds of a game. Because again: All Biden has to do is hang on in literally one state, and he’s the winner. Trump won’t be happy about it, and he’ll probably never actually concede defeat, but he’s also too lazy and dumb to stage a full-on coup — instead, he’ll just go around the country holding high-priced rallies doing random grifts that will allow him to bilk his supporters out of money, which I’m pretty sure is his favorite part of being the president, anyway. Also, Thom Tillis is currently winning the Senate race by a wide enough margin to declare victory, and it’s a wide enough margin that makes me, personally, declare that Cal Cunningham has probably lost. Not exactly a shocker, given that the entire argument for him was "let’s all hold our noses and cast our ballots for him in the hopes that the Democrats can have a Senate majority," but hey, Richard Burr’s shown himself corrupt enough to be in constant danger of being forced to resign from the Senate, and if he makes it to the end of his term in 2022, he isn’t seeking re-election. So, truly, there’s always next season. On this week’s INDY cover, my friend Paul Blest (who also wrote this newsletter before I did) wrote a great essay about what this election season has meant. If you consider yourself progressive in any way, you should be proud of yourself and cautiously optimistic for the future. Paul writes:

The Trump era has seen the birth of an effective roadmap for protesting and pushing back against the increasingly authoritarian nature of the executive branch. When family separation was revealed, the public rallied back against the White House and successfully forced Trump to sign an executive order ending the policy. Activists also successfully rallied to kill the GOP’s legislative attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act. And all across the country this year, racial justice activists made some of their most successful attempts yet at forcing their cities to confront racism and brutality in policing.

One aspect of the last four years that has been particularly encouraging has been the growth of the left and its willingness to challenge both Democrats and Republicans on the decisions that brought us to this nightmare realm. Democratic mayors, prosecutors, judges, sheriffs, and even members of Congress all over the country have been toppled by a new generation of officials who have promised to fundamentally change the system, if not create a new one altogether.

Besides, the election itself didn’t just bring tepid news. You just have to look a little further down the ballot. The Democrat Ricky Hurtado beat out a Republican incumbent in the 63rd State House district — located largely in Alamance County, where just on Saturday, police pepper-sprayed folks trying to go vote — and became the first Latino Democrat in that particular legislative body. Anjali Boyd will be Durham County’s next Soil and Water District Supervisor. Josh Stein, a rising star of the Democratic Party, will most likely remain our Attorney General. And Marchell Adams-David will be the first woman and first African-American to serve as Raleigh’s City Manager. (The position is not an elected one, but the announcement occurred the day after Election Day, so I’m counting it as an Election Season win.

In light of how things have played out so far, it was probably naive of me to ever think that a Biden victory was going to be easy. We shouldn’t have been surprised that the polls were off, and given that so much of the Democrats’ messaging around this election was that Trump was this unique aberration rather than the natural result of the Republican Party’s years-long slide into antidemocratic authoritarianism, we should have probably expected that Republicans gained seats in the House even as it looks like Trump’s probably going to lose the presidency. And if you were annoyed by all of the internecine Democratic in-fighting that characterized the 2020 primary, just wait until 2024, when the Biden vs. Bernie dynamic plays out again, this time with, like, Andrew Cuomo vs. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s gonna be so much fun, y’all.

Statewide COVID-19 by the numbers: Wednesday, November 4

2,425 New lab-confirmed new cases (282,802 total; seven-day average trending down)

24,025 Completed tests (4.17 million total; most recent positive rate was 6.8 percent)

1,186 Current hospitalizations reported (seven-day average holding steady; 4,507 total deaths)  

Quick Hits

The local hip-hop artist Rapsody has won the Lyricist of the Year award at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. [INDY Week]

Remember how in yesterday’s newsletter I mentioned that there was an armed Trump supporter in Charlotte who’d been arrested for returning to a polling place where he’d been intimidating voters after he’d been asked to leave? Well, he came back to that same polling place for a third time right after he got out of jail. [Associated Press]

North Carolina saw record voter turnout! That’s pretty cool, right? [WUNC]

In the National Women’s Soccer League, rookie Tziarra King, an N.C. State alum, has become one of the league’s most outspoken political voices. [INDY Week]

Today’s weather: Sunny with a few clouds in the afternoon, partly cloudy in the evening. High of 72, low of 49.

Song of the day: "I’ve Been Waiting" by Lil Peep feat. ILoveMakonnen

Another day without firm election results, another song with "Waiting" in the title. R.I.P. Lil Peep.

— Drew Millard — Send me an email | Find me on Twitter

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[catholicartistsnyc]

Meet: Jose Solís

JOSE SOLÍS is a NYC-based theatre critic who has written for the The New York Times, American Theatre, America, and Backstage. 

Jose’s website: http://tokentheatrefriends.com/

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): What brought you to NYC, and where did you come from? How long have you been here, and why did you decide to move here?

JOSE SOLÍS (JS): New York City is the only place I have ever missed. I fell in love with it the moment I first visited in my late childhood, and knew that this is where I belonged. I finally moved here in 2012 from Costa Rica, where I had gone to college, but I was actually born in Honduras.

CAC: Do you call yourself a Catholic artist?  What do you see as your personal mission as a Catholic working in the arts?

JS: Despite growing up in a predominantly Catholic country, I was actually raised atheist and it wasn't until my very late 20s that I dared enter a Catholic church again. I had been told for years that my homosexuality had no place in the church, until I found the Jesuits in NYC, who showed me a side of Catholicism I didn't know existed. So these days I don't call myself a Catholic necessarily, but instead I'm more of a religious syncretic, I combine what I learned from Jesuits, Kabbalah, Zen, Hinduism and esotericism to craft and live by a philosophy of love and kindness. In many ways though, the Jesuit notion that prayer must be complimented with works is what I bring to the arts.

CAC: Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?

JS: The Ignatian exercises helped me find a way to align my work with the teachings of Jesus Christ through St. Ignatius, so I find support in my spiritual director and a few priests I come to for advice. 

CAC: Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?

JS: I haven't, in fact it wasn't until very recently that I "came out of the closet" so to speak, since the arts have over the past century or so, maintained themselves very removed from religion and spirituality. 

CAC: How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

JS: It's the job of the church to let people like me know that we're welcome. I am blessed to have found the Jesuits, but if it wasn't for them, I'd still feel that the Church wants me to cease existing. 

CAC: How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?

JS: Any mention of the Catholic church leads to instant mentions, and rightfully so, of the child abuse within it. The problem is that in condemning the biggest sin of the Church (an undeniably un-Christian culture of silencing and aiding the powerful) but not making space to see the good that the Church can contribute (i.e. the work of Jesuits, and nuns like the Sisters of Charity) the arts treat the Church without any nuance. I don't understand why Broadway plays for instance try to humanize Rupert Murdoch and racists, but won't even consider doing the same for Catholics who condemn the child abuse.

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?

JS: My HQ is St. Francis Xavier Church near Union Square. It remains the only Catholic Church I've ever attended where I felt loved and wanted. 

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?

JS: As a freelance critic, I've found the need for artistic community, but critics often find themselves on the outskirts of the field. We're thought of as antagonists, instead of parts of the ecosystem. I find community on Twitter where I am able to have conversations with people from all walks of life. In terms of training and community I'm in the process of launching the first national organization comprised entirely of BIPOC theatre critics, and also a training program for BIPOC folks who want to become critics.

CAC: How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist living in NYC?

JS: I was part of the Contemplative Leaders in Action (CLA) program and met some fascinating people I now get to call my friends, the director of my program, Kaija DeWitt-Allen was instrumental to me finding a place within the Church. 

CAC: What is your daily spiritual practice?

JS: I do the Ignatian Examen most days, I pray constantly, and also use resources I learned from Kabbalah in my daily interactions with people. 

CAC: What is your daily artistic practice?

JS: I try to write something every day, even if it's just a tweet. I also read constantly in order to become inspired by the work of others. 

CAC: Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.

JS: Ever since I launched my publication (Token Theatre Friends) independently, I have found fulfillment of my vocation every single day. While most theatre publications struggle waiting for things to go back to how they were before the pandemic, I made it my mission to remind ourselves that there is no virus that can prevent artists from creating, and such on a typical day I will be on the phone with different playwrights, actors and directors, or recording/editing my show, writing a review or a column etc. Nothing brings me more joy than being able to amplify the work these magnificent artists are doing. 

CAC: You actually live in NYC? How!?

JS: Barely hanging in there, during the pandemic I've relied on grants and the little income I'm able to make each month. I've also become one of those millennials who gets helps from their parents, which makes me feel endless shame, but they agree it's safer for me to live in NYC than going back to Honduras.

CAC: But seriously, how do you make a living in NYC?

JS: I'm so stubborn that I found a way to make ends meet just by freelancing without relying on a "day job", of course that all changed with COVID-19. I can't romanticize NYC in any way, it's an overpriced hellscape dominated by greedy landowners and the super rich, so I can't recommend anyone in their right mind to just move here. But I've been blessed in that I make just about enough money to pay my rent/bills/food/transportation.

CAC: How much would you suggest artists moving to NYC budget for their first year?

JS: I have managed to live in NYC making less than 27k a year, I don't recommend it, but it's worked for me.

CAC: What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists moving to NYC?

JS: 1. NYC can be filled with temptations and invitations to straying from the path of goodness and kindness. Stay focused.

2. If possible find a community of friends outside your field, in a city as competitive as this, it's essential to have friends that aren't vying for the same jobs you are.

3. Go to St. Francis Xavier and bask in the joy of their inclusive groups and friendly community. It's the only church in the world where I can imagine both a tribute to the victims of the Pulse massacre, and seeing a black woman deliver the homily as the white priest sat behind her all smiles.