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Life after the John Moses Ragin trial

(Joe Fudge, Daily Press )
April 05, 2014|By Ashley K. Speed,

NEWPORT NEWS — The murders of Crystal Ragin and three of her children and the life sentence of their killer have shifted lives forever.

An 8-year-old boy is left behind, two families struggle to find closure and the killer must adjust to the remainder of his life within prison walls.

John Moses Ragin, 38, was sentenced to life in prison without parole by a judge last week after a jury was unable to decide whether to sentence him to the death penalty. He had been found guilty of the 2011 stabbing deaths of his wife, Crystal Ragin, a 32-year-old Army sergeant at Fort Eustis, and three of her children — Sierra, 15; La'Kwan, 11; and Rasheed, 6.

Ragin was found guilty of three counts of capital murder, one count of second-degree murder, four counts of unlawful stabbing in the commission of a felony and arson.

The same jury that convicted Ragin was not able to decide whether to sentence him to the death penalty last week. As a result, Newport News Circuit Judge Timothy S. Fisher sentenced him to life on each of the three capital murder counts.

The jury was able to sentence him on the remaining six convictions. Ragin received life for the arson charge, five years for each of the four stabbing in the commission of a felony charges, and 40 years for the second-degree murder charge.

Life after conviction

Ragin is being held at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth but will be assigned to a prison to serve his life sentence. On the witness stand during the sentencing phase, Ragin mentioned there was evidence that his attorneys wouldn't let him submit during the trial.

If Ragin appeals his convictions, he must file a notice of appeal to the Virginia Court of Appeals within 30 days of the sentencing order.

"The court could affirm the trial court judgment or if they feel there was some serious error during the trial they can order a new trial," said Charles Haden, an appellate attorney based in Hampton.

If the appeals court finds serious procedural error or that there was insufficient evidence to warrant the conviction, the charges could be reversed or dismissed. Serious procedural error could include a number of things, such as how the jury was instructed or improper evidence admitted that is "highly prejudicial."

But Haden said it is "pretty rare" that someone is granted a new trial.

"The fact of the matter is most trial court decisions are affirmed on appeal unless a very serious error occurred," Haden said. "Usually the rate of reversal is under 5 percent."

It typically takes the appeals court six to eight months to make a decision. If Ragin's appeal is denied, he can request his case be reviewed by the Virginia Supreme Court. That decision could take up to a year, Haden said.

During the trial and sentencing phase, Ragin's defense team brought up untested evidence by police. There were 89 blood swabs that were not sent to the lab for testing, according to his attorneys. Around ninety blood swabs were sent to the lab for testing by police, many of which were identified as belonging to Ragin, a forensic scientist testified. Ragin's blood was found in several places of the home, including a toilet seat, a green bottle of laundry detergent, a couch cushion, window blinds and a hallway door frame. His DNA was found under the fingernails of his wife.

What prison Ragin will be placed in will be decided once he is assessed by the department of corrections. That assessment includes looking at the type of sentence the person has, criminal history, mental health and if the person is considered a violent risk, according to Larry Traylor, a Department of Corrections spokesman.

The assessment will determine the security level of the prison he will be housed at. Traylor said they try to place inmates within 60 days of receiving a sentencing order from the judge. The time frame of the placement is dependent upon bed availability, he said.

Most inmates are housed with another person inside a prison cell of about 80 square feet.

The surviving son

The boy whose life was spared on Aug. 18, 2011, now lives with his aunt, Shelby Hancock, out of state. I'Kaos Ragin, now 8, was 5 at the time his family was killed.

The boy — named after his father's nickname of "Kaos" (pronounced the same as "chaos") — is currently in therapy.

"He is all we have left of my sister," Hancock said from the witness stand last week.

Hancock, who is seeking full custody of her nephew, described him as a "very smart little boy." She said he's a Cub Scout who recently earned two badges. Prosecutors theorized that the boy was outside the apartment in Ragin's car at the time of the killings. Hancock has two children, ages 4 and 5. She says I'Kaos tries to teach them to play hide and seek, the same game he and Rasheed would often play.

A sister, a mother

Daily Press Articles


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RSS pracharak quits BJP over slipped ‘Disc’

Girish Kuber & Devesh Kumar, TNN Dec 28, 2005, 12.22AM IST

MUMBAI: In a development that has the potential of further complicating relations between the BJP and the RSS, Sanjay Joshi, the low-profile general-secretary in charge of organisation, today put in his papers, dealing a big blow to the BJP's silver jubilee celebrations.

Joshi, a RSS pracharak on loan to the BJP, quietly slipped out of the show after tendering his resignation here this morning. Even though no reason was ascribed to his move, he was constrained to take the drastic step in view of the circulation of a video CDs allegedly showing him in compromising positions with a woman, said to be a BJP worker.

News of Joshi's resignation was confirmed this evening by BJP vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu. Coming out of the national executive meeting, he told newspersons that Sanjay Joshi had met party president L K Advani yesterday with the request to relieve him of his responsibility.

The BJP president broached the topic before the members of the national executive during the post-lunch session, and sought their views on the subject. While a section of the party was in favour of turning down the resignation offer in view of the "questionable nature" of the CD, terming it as "yet another conspiracy to besmirch the party's reputation", Advani felt otherwise. The party president argued that he was inclined to accept the resignation as Sanjay Joshi was insistent on its acceptance.

According to Naidu, Sanjay Joshi had registered a police case in Bhopal a few days ago. "Investigations into the allegations are on, but he wanted the BJP chief to relieve him of his charge till the probe was completed," Naidu said. Copies of the CD, it is learnt, have been in circulation for some 10 days now. They were sent to a couple of news channels, and simultaneously to the RSS headquarters at Nagpur and the NCW chairperson, Girija Vyas. The NCW chairperson could not take any action on the basis of the CD as the letter accompanying it was anonymous.

The surfacing of the sleaze CD couldn't have come at a more inopportune time for the RSS as it provides an opportunity to the BJP to hit back at the Nagpur establishment, questioning the latter's attempts to sermonise BJP about cracks in its character-building exercise and the demolition of its probity plank.

With Advani set to demit office on December 31, his successor Rajnath Singh will have a tough time in harmonising the party's ties with the RSS, and restoring the BJP's credibility. For the Sangh Parivar at large, the latest developments do not augur well. Their attempts to project themselves as being in the forefront of of the nation-building and character-defining exercises is certain to take a hit.

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You are here: Home>Collections>Rupee

Inflows worth $5b as 3G fee to ease pressure on Re

ET Bureau May 28, 2010, 01.59am IST

MUMBAI: A report by Citibank has said India could see up to $5 billion of foreign inflows to fund 3G licences which would reverse the pressure on the domestic currency.

"CIRA's ( Citigroup Investment and Research Analysis) telecom analysts estimate that at least half the money comes from overseas, which could thus result in dollar inflows of $5 billion in the near term. This would have a positive impact on the currency. In the medium-term, the rupee should be supported by strong growth and capital inflows," said a report authored by Rohini Malkhani and Anuskha Shah.

Telecom companies are expected to remit to the government over Rs 66,800 crore as proceeds of the 3G spectrum auction. Most companies have tied up short-term funds from local banks. Bankers say several telecom companies, particularly the large ones, are expected to refinance their domestic loans with international borrowings.

Inflows as a result of this borrowing would be a major positive for the rupee which is going through its worst phase in 14 years. Last week, the rupee slid nearly 4% against the dollar — the biggest weekly fall since July 1996. The fall was largely because of the firming up of the dollar in the international market as investors fled from the euro. However, domestic sentiment was also hit as international investors turned risk averse and sold Indian stocks.

The report said Citi has pared back earlier estimates of the rupee strengthening against the dollar because of the developments in Europe. However, it continues to expect that the domestic currency would appreciate against the dollar based on robust growth, strong capital inflows and ongoing monetary policy tightening.

On the interest rate front, Citi no longer expects an inter-policy rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India. It does expect a 25 bps hike in the July meeting followed by either a 25-50 bps hike in the next policy meeting in October. "However, with global growth risks and room for INR strength to take some brunt of monetary tightening, we think expected rate hikes next year will be lower. We thus reduce our first half of 2011 rate hike by 50 basis points (to 50bps from 100bps).

RBI has been forced to temporarily halt its tightening measures and move the other way to release liquidity into the market as outflows bunched up in June. On Thursday, the central bank said it was opening an additional borrowing facility for banks by allowing them to pledge securities which they are otherwise required to hold as part of reserve requirement. The measures amount to a half percentage point temporary reduction in statutory liquidity ratio.


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Sensex slumps to 3-week low, Nifty below 6,000

PTI Feb 1, 2013, 06.00PM IST
(Steep losses in Tata Motors,…)

MUMBAI: Steep losses in Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank today dragged BSE benchmark Sensex to three-week low of 19,781.19 and Nifty to below 6,000 as tepid earnings and RBI's draft guidelines on bank provisioning requirements hit the sentiment.

The Sensex fell by 113.79 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 19,781.19. The gauge commenced the day higher on investors covering their pending positions but frittered away gains on heavy selling after noon. The index had lost 110 points in the previous session.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 35.85 points, or 0.59 per cent, to end at 5,998.90, dipping below 6,000 level.

"Markets ended down on the last day of the week on weak global cues and uninspiring results. Bharti and BHEL reported numbers which were below expectations. Also, banking stocks fell," said Dipen Shah, Head PCG Research, Kotak Securities.

Tata Motors was the biggest loser in 30-share Sensex as it lost 4.36 per cent. Bharti Airtel lost 2.62 per cent and Bhel over 1 per cent. While Bharti posted 72 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 284 crore for December quarter, BHEL profits declined by 17.5 per cent to Rs 1,182 crore.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI lost between 1-2 per cent after RBI yesterday issued revised draft policy norms for restructured loans.

According to RBI draft norms, banks would need to step up provisioning on restructured loans to 5 per cent by FY'15 on the existing stock of restructured loans. "Many government banks (ex-SBI) to be more impacted," said Rajeev Varma, Research Analyst, DSP Merrill Lynch India, in a report.

Besides banks, HDFC, HUL, Infosys, and L&T mainly weighed on broader benchmark indices while rise in RIL, ITC, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto cushioned the fall to some extent.

Brokers said the market mood was also subdued after HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) - a measure of factory production - stood at 53.2 in January, after hitting a six month high level of 54.7 in December.

Kishor P Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research Ltd said: "Tata Motors hit 10 per cent lower on NSE."

Globally, Asian stocks, except Hong Kong and South Korea, ended higher today despite reports of a mild disappointment over China's official manufacturing data. European markets also were trading firm in their afternoon deals.

Back home, 18 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex finished with losses while 12 ended with gains. Other major losers from Sensex pack were ONGC (2.12 pc), Hindalco Ind (1.99 pc), Sterlite Ind (1.71 pc), HUL (1.68 pc), ICICI Bank (1.67 pc), Jindal Steel (1.15 pc), SBI (1.10 pc), BHEL (1.03 pc), HDFC (1.02 pc) and Tata Steel (1.00 pc).

However, Maruti Suzuki firmed up by 1.65 per cent, Cipla 1.58 per cent, Dr Reddy's Lab 1.48 per cent, Tata Power 1.43 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.26 per cent and RIL 0.78 per cent.
Â  Among sectoral indices, the BSE-Realty fell by 1.16 per cent, followed by BSE-Auto 0.98 per cent, BSE-Bankex 0.79 per cent and BSE-Metal 0.78 per cent. BSE-CD firmed up by 1.77 per cent and BSE-HC by 0.78 per cent.

The market breadth continued to show negative trend as 1,179 shares closed with losses while 979 ended with gains while 839 ruled steady. Total turnover was slightly up at Rs 2,387.02 crore from Rs 2,377.98 crore yesterday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 958.93 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

0.21 % 0.70
Vol: 6886 shares traded
0.55 % 1.80
Vol: 38037 shares traded


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YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollections

The Inside Track | Morning Briefing

Hasn't This Man Ever Been to a Clipper Game?

January 31, 1999|MAL FLORENCE

The Atlanta Falcons will be wearing their black uniforms today in the Super Bowl. It was an easy decision, considering the Falcons were 8-0 while attired in black this season.

Samuelle Easton, president of a New York color psychology firm, said the Falcons may have made a mistake.

"While the black may make them appear more formidable, rough and tough, it'll also make them top heavy," Easton said.

The Broncos will be attired in white jerseys and were 6-2 while wearing them. Nonetheless, Easton said the white jerseys make them seem like the good guys and "Good guys just won't lose."

Since when?

Trivia time: Which is the only Super Bowl game that was tied at halftime?

Forgotten fullback: Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe: "If you're old enough, you remember when fullback was a ballcarrying position.

"Nowadays, fullback is football's answer to a witness protection program. If you crave anonymity, ask the coach to make you a fullback. Guards get more ink.

" 'I can't even find my name in the paper,' shrugs Denver fullback Howard Griffith. " 'So I stopped buying them.' "

Give it to him: From comedy writer Alan Ray: "The Miami Heat will try to sign Dennis Rodman. Some of his demands are a bit unrealistic. He wants his own cross-dressing room."

More Rodman: "Would [Rodman] comply with the team rules set down by Coach Pat Riley?" asks Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times. "There's a better chance of Dan Reeves and Mike Shanahan sharing a hot fudge sundae than Rodman behaving for a dictator."

Backwoods grammar: Woody Paige in the Denver Post: "The toothbrush was invented in Georgia. If it had been invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush."

Paige on Miami: "The state bird is the mosquito, and the state animal is the roach. You [visitors] will be introduced often to both."

Miami lice: Dick Kreck of the Denver Post in a column published in the Miami Herald:

"True fact: Name another city that has a voodoo squad--city workers assigned to clean up dolls, roosters, dead goats and other objects placed in front of the courthouse to ward off stiff sentences."

No free speech: John Madden charges $50,000 to $70,000 to address sales personnel, the most expensive sports-related speaker around, according to the February issue of P.O.V. Magazine.

Evander Holyfield ranks No. 2 at $50,000-$65,000, followed by Pat Riley at $50,000-$60,000.

Trivia answer: San Francisco and Cincinnati were tied, 3-3, in 1989.

And finally: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune:

"Fashionable opinion at this Super Bowl is that Chris Chandler is a better quarterback than John Elway, though a similar consensus does not exist for a used Pontiac being better than a used Ferrari or asparagus being a better appetizer than stone crab."

Los Angeles Times Articles


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Ruiz Skips First Day of Camp

February 03, 2004|Paul Gutierrez | Times Staff Writer

Mauricio Cienfuegos is gone.

So are Simon Elliott, Alexi Lalas, Diego Serna and Antonio Martinez.

The Galaxy can only hope that the bitter taste left by its stunning collapse in last season's Major League Soccer playoffs is out the door as well as the team, coming off the first losing season in franchise history, opened training camp for the 2004 season Monday at the Home Depot Center.

"It's the first day so everybody's trying to get rid of the jitters," said Coach Sigi Schmid, whose future with the club was in doubt after the playoff loss. "This may be the best group of young guys we've had since [2000]."

While Schmid was referring to draft picks Joseph Ngwenya, a forward from Zimbabwe; Josh Gardner, a midfielder from Cincinnati, and Ned Grabavoy, a midfielder from Indiana, it was the "unexcused" absence of forward Carlos Ruiz that spoke loudest.

Ruiz, who twice had loans to English Premier League teams fall apart this winter, was a no-show at the Galaxy's workout.

"I'm a little disappointed with Carlos not being here," General Manager Doug Hamilton said. "But none of this is a shock. His return is imminent. Carlos and I will have a meeting when he returns."

Hamilton, though, would not say why Ruiz remained in his native Guatemala.

"I'd rather not speculate on what's in his head," he said. "He'll stand in front of [the media] after he stands in front of me and in front of the team."

Cobi Jones and Ricky Lewis were the only other Galaxy players not at the first day of camp. Jones was sick and Lewis was with the United States' Olympic qualifying team in Mexico.

The Galaxy has an international roster spot open and is expected to announce the signing of Austrian midfielder Andreas Herzog, 35, this week as well as forward Jovan Kirovski, 27. Second-year midfielder Memo Gonzalez, 18, hopes to assume the playmaking position vacated by the retired Cienfuegos.

"With the Austrian and Kirovski coming I do have to show Sigi that I want that number [10]," Gonzalez said. "With time I can show him what I can do."

A preseason trip to Europe -- to France, Spain or Portugal -- is in the works for later this month as well as a home exhibition with Brazilian club Sao Paolo on June 5. The Galaxy hopes to play an MLS match in Las Vegas in 2005.

Los Angeles Times Articles


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YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsEmployers

BOOSTER SHOTS: Oddities, musings and news from the
health world

Healthcare reform to prompt employers to drop coverage? Yeah, about that...

June 08, 2011|By Tami Dennis, HealthKey / For the Booster Shots blog
  • Diagnoses are often in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to healthcare in general.
Diagnoses are often in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes… (Stephen Savage / Los Angeles…)

The recent prediction that healthcare reform might lead employers to drop insurance coverage does not sit well with everyone. That insurance forecast, based on a report by McKinsey Quarterly, has received a fair amount of media attention -- which is perhaps unsurprising. Many Americans, with agenda or without, are regarding the upcoming changes with either anxiety or anticipation, and no one has a crystal ball.

From the Booster Shots post on the matter: "The Congressional Budget Office estimated that only 7% of employees would be forced into subsidized-exchange policies, the report said, but the survey of more than 1,300 employers suggests otherwise. That research found that 30% said they would 'definitely or probably' drop the insurance policies."

Nick Papas, a White House spokesman, made it quite clear that not everyone accepts such a prediction.

"The experts from the Congressional Budget Office, the Rand Corporation, the Urban Institute have reached a decidedly different conclusion. And history has shown that reform motivates more businesses to offer insurance. When Massachusetts enacted health reform, the number of individuals with employer-sponsored insurance increased,” he wrote in an email.

He helpfully included links to the reports from Rand, Urban Institute and Mercer.

Meanwhile, the Hill's Healthwatch blog put the reaction to the McKinsey report in perspective:

"The White House and House Republicans are in a tough fight to shape public perception of the healthcare reform law after a consulting firm said it could lead to 30 percent of employers dropping coverage starting in 2014. ... With the House not in session this week, it took a while for political rhetoric to flare up after McKinsey released its report late Monday. But by Wednesday the barbs were flying."

It helpfully included a link to the Prescription Pad blog of Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee.

If you just can't get enough of such analyses, predictions and back-and-forth, Kaiser Health News offered this roundup earlier this year: Analysis, Predictions Mark Health Law's First Anniversary.

Of course, as with any prediction or reaction, consider the source.

And, if you're a consumer just trying to figure things out, try's take on health reform. And stay tuned.

Los Angeles Times Articles


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The ethics of disaster tourism: What is the right thing to do? [Updated]

February 22, 2012|By Catharine M. Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel editor
(Gregorio Borgia / Associated…)

Removal of fuel from the Costa Concordia, which ran aground last month off Tuscany, began last week and officials say that after it’s gone, it may take seven to 10 months to refloat the ship.

Meanwhile, Tuscan tourism officials are urging tourists to visit eight-square-mile Giglio, off whose coast the ship ran aground on Jan. 13, as a “gesture of love.”

Not long after the accident, which killed at least 17 people (15 are still missing), islanders said people came to Giglio to gawk and not because of their affection for Giglio, one of seven islets in the Tuscan Archipelago.

All of which raises this question: Is it love or is it lewd to visit a place after a disaster?

After a recent story in the Travel section reported that some residents of Joplin were angered by a map showing where a tornado devastated the southwestern Missouri town last spring, we asked ethicists about tourism  in the aftermath of tragedy.

Wanting to see a place where disaster has struck is not always a sign of insensitivity, said Patricia Illingworth, an ethics professor at Northeastern University, a lawyer and a lecturer in law at Northeastern University School of Law and author of “Us Before Me, Ethics and Social Capital for Global Well Being.”

“I think that there’s a lot of benefit from going,” she said of seeing the aftermath, adding that “gawking … obviously isn’t a good idea.” But, she added, “going and seeing what the people are suffering or seeing the situation, that then raises empathy or allows us to empathize” with the situation, she said.

Fundraisers, for instance, often have at their core human suffering, she noted. And you know those ads featuring emaciated children? Calling this the “pornography of poverty,” Illingworth noted that such images stimulate empathy, which often results in action.

But some may object. “Some local residents may find it embarrassing or offensive for outsiders to ooh and ahh and take pictures of a broken community," said Dr. Tanvir Hussain, a Los Angeles cardiologist and adjunct professor of bioethics at Pepperdine University School of Law. "On the other hand, local businesses [that] thrive off of visitors, such as restaurants and hotels, may welcome outsiders at a time when little business from locals is to be had.”

The issue of disaster tourism isn’t new. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, companies began offering tours of areas that were especially hard hit after the storm and the levee failures. After the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, photos showed tourists sunbathing on Asian beaches while cleanup continued in the background. More than 200,000 people were killed in that calamity, many ripped from the arms of loved ones and swept to their deaths. Some thought the sunbathers insensitive.

“There are really two sides to the issue, one principled, and the other practical, but both making valid points,” Hussain said. “The principled view finds disaster tourism fundamentally exploitative, bringing in the wealthy and healthy to gawk at scenes of destruction, and those less fortunate who are struggling to rebuild their lives. The other side makes a practical point, stating that exposure will truly inform outsiders of the degree of devastation and hardship experienced by a community, while bringing in income from tourism and increased donations.”

There is no clear answer as to whether or even when you should go, although time will help with that latter question. Illingworth reminded me that people today visit Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where as many as 1.5 million prisoners, most of them Jews, died in World War II. The visitation would have seemed almost unthinkable in the aftermath of a war that saw 6 million Jews perish as part of the “final solution.”

[For the Record, 2:45 p.m. Feb. 22: An earlier version of this article referred to Auschwitz as a Polish concentration camp. It was a Nazi concentration camp in Poland run by German Nazis.]

In 1979, UNESCO declared Auschwitz a World Heritage Site, noting, “The site is a key place of memory for the whole of humankind for the Holocaust, racist policies and barbarism; it is a place of our collective memory of this dark chapter in the history of humanity, of transmission to younger generations and a sign of warning of the many threats and tragic consequences of extreme ideologies and denial of human dignity.”

Travel, at its core, is supposed to broaden our experience and make us think beyond our own horizons. A visit to a place of barbarism that once may have been unthinkable can now provide a painful but important lesson.

Yet those whose lives are touched by misfortune, although none on the scale of the Holocaust, may object to becoming unintended teachers.

Los Angeles Times Articles


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March 21, 2012|By Neela Banerjee
  • Guy Smith, a contractor for the Environmental Protection Agency, helps deliver water to four homes near Dimock, Pa. Testing by independent agencies revealed this week that water from at least six area homes contains many chemicals, contradicting earlier EPA reports.
Guy Smith, a contractor for the Environmental Protection Agency, helps… (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles…)

Environmental Protection Agency reports recently obtained by several Pennsylvania families who feared their well water was polluted by natural gas drilling appear to contradict the agency’s original statement late last week that the water was safe to drink, according to the investigative website ProPublica and the environmental group Water Defense.

A week ago, the EPA said that tests of the well water of 11 families in Dimock, Pa., out of a total of 60 the agency said it would analyze "did not show levels of contamination that could present a health concern."

Starting in 2009, some residents of Dimock, a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania, have complained that their well water turned cloudy and foul-smelling after an oil and gas company drilled for gas using hydraulic fracturing, a controversial extraction technique that involves shooting underground water and sand laced with chemicals to unlock reservoirs of fossil fuels.

The families recently received more detailed summaries of the tests from the EPA that seem to belie the agency’s initial assertion that the water was not significantly contaminated. Six families shared their EPA reports with Josh Fox, the Pennsylvania-based director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, “Gasland,”  who, in turn, relayed the data to Water Defense and ProPublica. The organizations asked four outside scientists to review the test results.

The outside analysis found high levels of methane or chemicals in the water of all the families, Water Defense said. The water of four of the six families had methane levels in excess of Pennsylvania’s threshold for mitigation efforts. One of the reports “showed methane levels seven times” the state limit and nearly twice “the EPA’s less stringent standard,” according to ProPublica.

Methane in itself isn’t considered toxic. But concentrations of it in enclosed spaces raise the risk of explosions.

“The data is consistent with EPA’s assertion that no substances were found at levels exceeding drinking water standards," said George Stark, a spokesman for Cabot Oil & Gas, which drilled the Dimock wells.  “As to the other substances ProPublica cites, there are currently no drinking water standards for these substances. It is important to note that there is still nothing in this data or elsewhere that indicates that these substances are related in any way to Cabot’s operations.”

The EPA did not answer requests for comment.

The tests also showed that the methane was accompanied by the gas ethane, which the experts said indicated that the methane may have come from a deep underground reservoir that was drilled and not from surface sources.

“Among the other substances detected at low levels in Dimock’s water are a suite of chemicals known to come from some sort of hydrocarbon substance, such as diesel fuel or roofing tar. They include anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene – all substances described by a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as cancer-causing even in very small amounts,” the ProPublica review of the EPA reports found.

Another host of chemicals detected by the water testing has not been evaluated by the federal government for the risks they might pose to human health.

In its statement last week, EPA said it did find that six of the 11 homes had "sodium, methane, chromium or bacteria" in their well water but that concentrations were all "within the safe range for drinking water." The sampling results also found low levels of arsenic in the water of two homes, which will be retested.

The EPA cautioned that the sampling was meant to determine the presence of contamination, not the viability of fracking. "EPA has not done any detailed review to determine the cause" of the water problems in Dimock, the agency said in response to questions last week.

Study: 'Fracking' may increase air pollution health risks

Poll: More Americans now back domestic drilling

Federal court rejects delay of N.M. power plant pollution controls

Los Angeles Times Articles


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FSU braces for short turnaround Thursday

Rare five-day break precedes Seminoles' ACC tilt at Boston College

October 31, 2011|By Coley Harvey, Orlando Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE — Hours after turning in one of the best passing performances of his career, Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel was restless. Sleep on the Saturday night following a third consecutive Seminoles win was going to be difficult to come by for the team’s fearless leader.

So, he did what any bored athlete might do.

He started getting ready for his next opponent.

“I just couldn’t fall asleep,” Manuel said. “My dad and I were up watching SportsCenter … so I just turned my computer on and started watching (film).”

Clicking first through digitized game film of Saturday afternoon’s 34-0 win over North Carolina State, Manuel began his impromptu late-night video session by analyzing his fresh 321-yard passing day. The outing was his second-best of the season, coming behind a career-best 329-yard performance against Charleston Southern in Week 2.

Once he got done looking at himself, Manuel snuck his first peek at Boston College.

Thanks to wonders of college football scheduling and national television broadcasting rights, he and his teammates had to turn the page from their latest game faster than normal. Instead of being given the standard seven days before playing their next ballgame, this week, just five days separate the Seminoles (4-3, 3-2 ACC) from a Thursday night game at Boston College. The game, aired by ESPN, will have an 8 p.m. kickoff.

“This is what we’re dealt,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said. “They have to go through it, too, and we have to play.”

The Eagles (2-6, 1-4) are coming off their own game last Saturday; a 28-17 win at Maryland.

“I just hate the five-day turnaround. It’s very tough,” Fisher said. “Academically, it stresses you and physically it stresses you. (But) that’s something we do, that’s ESPN and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Fisher has shared his discomfort with the short turnaround before. He reiterated that it wasn’t the fact that games were played on Thursday that bothered him. It’s the time teams get before playing them that was sometimes irrating.

Perhaps the toughest part of playing a Thursday night game is how they can throw players and coaches off the seven-day, Saturday-to-Saturday rhythm they settle into.

“You get into a routine with how and what you do the next day. How you unwind as a player and as a coach to get (the last game) out,” Fisher said. “A lot of time, you’re really gathering information the day, day-and-a-half before you finalize your decisions. Now those decisions have to be finalized very quickly.”

Some of those decisions were determined late last week, as assistants on FSU’s staff began making their final breakdowns of the Eagles. With respect to a change in routine, the Seminoles, who like to take Sundays off, worked out the day after beating the Wolfpack in order to get a headstart on the upcoming mid-week game.

“It was different. I actually like it,” Manuel said about practicing Sunday. “ Maybe it was just that I wasn’t as sore after that game, but I kind of like the Sunday’s just getting out there and going through some stuff.”

Fisher was pleasantly surprised by how well the Seminoles responded to the Sunday practice, adding that part of the problem with quick turnarounds is the uncertainty of how physically coaches can practice their teams.

“People don’t realize how physical a game is on Saturday, and then as a coach (you think about) how hard can you work them right after a game to make sure you don’t minimize their ability to fresh on Thursday and still be able to execute and do things,” Fisher said.

Regardless how physical a Saturday game ahead of a Thursday contest may be, the Seminoles are just glad to have another chance to prove they’re making a resurrgence, according to Manuel.

“Five, three, four (days of rest), it doesn’t matter, as long as we get a chance to go out there and play,” Manuel said. “And it’s a national game. A lot of guys haven’t been up to Boston before, it’ll be a night game, it’ll be on ESPN and things like that. I don’t think it’ll matter at all.”

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Sanford man 'freaked out,' beat girlfriend with dog during fight

9:32 p.m. EST, September 18, 2012|

By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel

A Sanford man was jailed after he allegedly used his girlfriend's small dog to beat her during a domestic dispute last week, police said.

Michael Wayne Jones, 42, was charged with domestic violence battery by strangulation, criminal mischief and tormenting an animal in the Sept. 13 attack.

According to a police report, Jones became angry when his live-in girlfriend came home with her daughter and one of them tried to smoke crack cocaine.

The victim told investigators Jones "freaked out" and said he was going to kill her dog.

She said Jones came out of the house and pulled the dog out of the vehicle, slamming the car door so hard it became stuck. The woman's daughter also said Jones punched out the windshield.

The victim then said Jones grabbed the pup and began to swing it around, the report said.

She tried to grab the animal so it would not be injured, but Jones pushed her to the ground, the report noted. That's when Jones, she said, struck her with the dog several times and began to choke her.

The report said at one point Jones let go of her girlfriend's neck, jumped on his bicycle and fled the scene. He took the dog with him.

Officers found Jones soon after on his bike carrying the little dog and bleeding from his right hand. He denied causing any harm or injury to the canine and said he fled the scene for his safety.

Based on the statements from his girlfriend and other witnesses, police charged Jones as the aggressor in the conflict.

The report did not mention the name or breed of the dog involved or what injuries, if any, it sustained.

"I've never actually seen someone use a dog as a weapon before," said Sanford Police Lt. Jim McAuliffe. "An owner will sic a dog on someone to bite them, but to use it as some sort of club device … I just don't get that."

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Terry Remembers Young Ella's Great Voice ... And Arm

Posted: February 07, 1997

At 6 in the morning, after playing at Club Plantation in St. Louis, trumpeter Clark Terry and his bandmates liked to work off the last of their unspent energy by playing a game of softball.

It was probably in the late '30s. And often tagging along with the boys was the tomboyish female singer.

She had a great voice. And a great arm.

``She could throw your butt out at home plate from the outfield,'' recalled Terry, 76. ``She was very energetic and very athletic.''

Terry called the singer ``Sis.'' The world would know her as Ella Fitzgerald.

``She had a special set of pipes that no other vocalist had,'' said Terry, a longtime friend who will be paying tribute to the singer during Peco's ``Ella: A Celebration'' concert at the Academy of Music. Fitzgerald died last June at 78.

``Her diction was impeccable. She could swing, and she had this little-girl charisma'' that connected her to the audience, Terry said.

But Terry, recalling those early years in his home town of St. Louis, remembered Fitzgerald as very sensitive.

``If two people had their heads together talking when she approached, she thought you had to be talking about her,'' Terry said.

Terry would go on to bigger and better things, too. After the Navy, he played with the bands of Charlie Barnet, Charlie Ventura, Eddie Vinson and Count Basie in the 1940s. During this time he helped a couple of young musicians named Quincy Jones and Miles Davis.

In 1951, Terry joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra, where he stayed for eight years, became its featured soloist and started specializing in the fluegelhorn.

He took a job with NBC, becoming the first black musician on the company payroll and a member of the ``Tonight Show'' band. But when the show moved to Los Angeles, Terry stayed in New York, where he became a jazz educator, continued recording and touring, and developed an interest in younger players.

He still recalls his dealings with Quincy Jones in the '40s as proof that young musicians need to be nurtured.

``He brought in an arrangement for the Basie small group,'' Terry said. ``The arrangement was horrible. But there was something that showed he was on the right track.''

As a teacher, Terry finds himself urging young players to never become satisfied. ``I tell them the only difference between a groove and a grave are the dimensions.''

And they must develop their own sound, and not just jump on the next trend of ``stuff'' coming down the road.

``There was a time when a lot of us were playing a varitone,'' an electronic brass instrument, Terry said. ``It took no effort to develop the thing. The kids were depending on this before they could develop the center of their tone'' on a real trumpet, Terry said.

And how can you tell when a kid has what it takes to become a professional musician? ``You can tell if they are zeroing in on the proper material, the traditional jazz thing,'' Terry said. ``There has to be the essence of sincerity there.''

And now, as an elder statesman, Terry knows how important it is for the young to learn from the old - as he did. He remembers when improvisation was called ``get off,'' that the 12-bar blues was the standard jazz form. In some arenas, jazz has started to become too intellectual, Terry said.

``One of the things we old-timers try to teach the kids is to come back'' to the basics of bebop.

For Terry, memories of Ella will also stay young.

``She could scat like a musician plays a horn,'' Terry said. ``I will always call her Sis.''

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You are here: Home>Collections>Djs

Excalibur nightclub to reopen as Castle

Revamped club includes a lounge, pub and 3D video projectors

  • The LED wall at coming-soon Palladium nightclub inside Castle.
The LED wall at coming-soon Palladium nightclub inside Castle. (Castle )
February 13, 2013|By Kate Bernot, @redeyeeatdrink | RedEye

Love it or hate it, Excalibur has been a fixture of River North's club scene since it opened in 1989. Twenty-four years is an eternity in nightlife time, and the club's owners decided this winter that it was time for a reboot.

Come March 1, Excalibur and the adjacent club Vision will be retired, and night owls can shake it at a new hangout, Castle. After a six-month renovation, Castle will debut as an expansive club with five separate "environments," from a first-floor pub to a fifth-floor dance club with new audio-visual installations.

"[We're] creating a sound, lighting, video and entertainment experience to rival a festival such as Lollapalooza," said Tim Borden, a consultant and developer behind Castle.

Most of the audio and visual innovations are located inside Palladium, the top-floor dance club that will host international DJs and has a capacity of approximately 1,300.

A Void sound system, custom programmable LED lighting and, yes, a 3-D video projector have been installed on walls, stages and DJ booths throughout Palladium, according to entertainment director Jeff Newing.

"Remember Carrie Underwood's dress from The Grammys?" Newing said, citing an example of 3-D projection technology. "The surface of the DJ booth and the actual speakers that are hanging next to the stage are mapped with videos. It doesn’t look like you’re watching a video screen; you’re watching a set design that’s moving."

In addition to Palladium, Castle will also include a first-floor pub called Castle Craft Pub & Eatery, serving pizzas, sandwiches and draft beers. Also on the first floor, Cabaret will host live dance and interactive stage shows. The third floor is home to Sanctuary, an LGBTQ-focused dance club, while basement Lair Lounge is a more intimate space to retreat after some time on the dance floor.

Castle gave an advanced peek at the space during a New Year's Eve party, but it will officially open March 1 with a lineup that includes Grammy-winning producer and house music DJ Roger Sanchez as well as dance DJ Chris Lake on March 2. Ticket information will be released soon on Palladium's Facebook page.

Want more? Discuss this article and others on RedEye's Facebook page

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Bank Failure Costs Expected To Jump

September 30, 2009|FROM NEWS SERVICES

Regulators expect the cost of bank failures to grow to about $100 billion over the next four years, up from an earlier estimate of $70 billion.

Faced with that sobering news, the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. voted Tuesday to require banks to prepay $45 billion in premiums to replenish an insurance fund that will start running dry Wednesday.

The proposal to require early payments of premiums for 2010-2012 could take effect after a 30-day public comment period.

The FDIC is fully backed by the government, which means depositors' money is guaranteed up to $250,000 per account. But it would be the first time the agency has required prepaid insurance fees.

An insurance payment by the industry of $45 billion "is not going to constrain lending," FDIC Chair Sheila Bair said.

The insurance fund has been sapped by a rash of bank failures that began in mid-2008. The industry prefers the prepaid premiums over a special emergency fee, which would be the second this year.

Without additional special fees or increases in regular premiums, the insurance fund - at $10.4 billion at the end of June - will become "significantly negative" next year and could remain in deficit until 2013, the FDIC is projecting.

Most of the $100 billion in costs are expected from failures this year and next, the agency said. Some analysts expect hundreds of banks to fail in coming years.

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Fire damages Pembroke Pines home

April 15, 2012|Sun Sentinel

A fire in a bedroom Sunday morning caused $100,000 damage to a home in Pembroke Pines, but no one was injured, Pembroke Pines Fire-Rescue officials said.

The house, in the 11300 block of Southwest Fourth Street, is in the Pasadena Pool Homes development.

Emergency crews found heavy smoke at the home about 9:45 a.m. Firefighters entered the home and located the fire in the bedroom. The fire was out about 10 a.m., officials said.

The Red Cross was assisting the two adults and one child who live at the home.

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OWS Arts Cluster

OWS Arts Cluster April 1, 2012

The first OWS ARTS CLUSTER is scheduled for:

April 1, 2012  •  6–10 p.m.

The Commons Brooklyn***
388 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11217

We are asking all OWS Arts Groups to come together and reflect on the last 6 months of activity and to look forward and see how we can further develop within the OWS movement.

• Each group will have time to present slides of the last 6 months of work and to discuss ideas going forward. RSVP is important for this purpose.

RSVP Name/Group: arts_culture@nycga.n**

Antonio, Dierdre, Leora and Rachel

P.S. Comments to this page are open. If you like to help organize the cluster please contact arts_culture@nycga.n** or reach out to us on NYCGA.net.  You can also help by flyering for the event download flyer here: ArtsCluster-April1-4up.pdf (ZIP)

Big thanks to The Commons Brooklyn for hosting the event! They are an OWS friendly commons in Brooklyn. Check thier website for a list of great events dedicated to community building.

A, C and G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn // F to Bergen Street // B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5 to Atlantic-Pacific // LIRR to Flatbush Avenue

BUS: B63 and B65

3 thoughts on “OWS Arts Cluster

  1. The OWS co-op will create art and silk screens for this event or a future event, since we now have the art factory up and running, with a few issues. We will stay in touch.

  2. awesome! I was actually wondering if OWS Co-op would like to make a little presentation at the Cluster meeting? So we can get to know you and your work!

    Let’s be in touch.

Comments are closed.


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Seher Shah, Object Relic, Unité d'Habitation, 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper 183 x 274 cm.

Kamrooz Aram, Emblematic Event, 2011, oil and acrylic on canvas, 117 x 203 cm.

Kamrooz Aram and Seher Shah, Contemporary Elements of Modernism

Seher Shah, Unit Object (planes), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm.

Seher Shah, Unit Object (bent), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm.

Seher Shah, Unit Object (plane), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm.

Seher Shah, Unit Object (hanging block), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm.

Seher Shah, Unit Object (plane shift), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm.

Kamrooz Aram, Backdrop for an Anxious Interior, 2012, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 152 x 137 cm.

Kamrooz Aram, Angelus Novus (Reconstructed), 2011, Oil on canvas, 213 x 168 cm.

Green Art Gallery
Al Quoz 1, Street 8, Al Serkal Avenue, Unit 28
+ 9714 346 9305
Kamrooz Aram and Seher Shah
Brute Ornament

March 19-May 5, 2012

Through the works of Kamrooz Aram and Seher Shah, Brute Force explores the conflicted relationship between the decorative tradition of ornament and Western modernism, revealing the constitutive role that ornament played in the development of modern art in the West, specifically in the move towards pure abstraction that was modernism’s endgame.

Both Aram and Shah knowingly deploy their culturally specific subject matter against a background interest in Western modernism, reflecting a broader generational curiosity in and nostalgia for its tremendous Utopian aspirations and the theories, forms and structures it inspired. Over the years, Aram has developed a personal vocabulary of highly stylized motifs — falcons, star
bursts, patterns from Persian carpets, angelic figures and spiral clouds from Persian miniatures — that he repeatedly reconfigures into painterly meditations on mysticism and exoticism that teeter between the sublime and the kitsch. And in her large graphite drawings Shah, a trained architect, has described a series of turbulent and fantastic landscapes, courtyards studded with cenotaphs, columns and monuments and plastered with patches of vegetal ornament, immersed in maelstroms of vector lines, smoky trails and swirling arabesques.

In their recent work ornament comes to function less as an overt marker of cultural difference than the specific terrain on or through which a sophisticated dialogue between the iconography of traditional Islamic forms and the history, theory and ideology of modernism unfolds. This recent work also exhibits hints of ambivalence towards ornament, playing out distinctly in their respective oeuvres. In Shah’s most recent drawings, while form and space verge on pure abstraction, the black monoliths that dominate the compositions are juxtaposed against dispersals of smaller geometric shapes whose complex patterns fold and unfold, expand and contract, asserting their presence. And in Aram’s most recent paintings, while pattern and geometry both struggle to dominate the final image, expressive and gestural painterly marks challenge their visual integrity. Ornament appears both brutal and brutalized.

Born in Shiraz, Iran in 1978, Kamrooz Aram received his MFA from Columbia University in 2003 and his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 2001. Solo shows include Negotiations at Perry Rubenstein Gallery, NY, Generation After Generation, Revolution after Revelation at LAXART, Los Angeles, CA and Kamrooz Aram: Realms and Reveries at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Massachusetts. He has shown in several important groups shows including roundabout (2010), the Busan Biennale (2006), P.S.1/MoMA’s Greater New York 2005, and the Prague Biennale I (2003). His work has been featured and reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, and Bidoun among others. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1975, Seher Shah received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. Solo shows include Paper to Monument at Nature Morte, New Delhi, India, Jihad Pop at Bose Pacia, NY and most recently Object Anxiety at Scaramouche, NY. Her work has appeared in several international exhibitions ranging from Zeichnungen: Conceptual and concrete drawings at Gisele Linder, Basel, Generation 1.5; and Eccentric Architecture at the Queens Museum of Art, 21: Twenty-first Century artists at the Brooklyn Museum, Empire and its Discontents at Tufts University, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Drawing Space at Green Cardamom, London, Lines of Control at Green Cardamom and the Third Line, Dubai, New York to Los Angeles at GBK, Sydney,and Uber Wut/On Rage at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. She has had reviews in the New York Times, Art Asia Pacific, Art India, Bidoun, Art Papers, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, Newsweek and Frieze Magazine amongst others. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Curator Murtaza Vali is a writer, art historian and curator. He received an M.A. in Art History and Archaeology in 2004 from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. An independent critic since 2005, his reviews, essays, profiles and interviews regularly appear in, ArtReview, Art India, Bidoun, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia Art, Modern Painters and ArtAsiaPacific, where he is contributing editor and was co-editor of their 2007 and 2008 Almanac. He has penned monographic essays on Siah Armajani, Shilpa Gupta, Emily Jacir, Reena Saini Kallat, Laleh Khorramian and Naeem Mohaiemen and recently edited Manual for Treason, a multilingual publication commissioned by Sharjah Biennial X (2011). As winner of the Winter 2010 Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellowship, Vali curated “Accented” at Brooklyn’s BRIC Rotunda Gallery (2010), and received a 2011 Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for Short-Form Writing. He lives between Sharjah, U.A.E. and Brooklyn,NY.

The exhibition is curated by Murtaza Vali.

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive publication edited by Murtaza Vali and with contributions by Shumon Basar, Media Farzin and Alan Gilbert.

Seher Shah, Emergent Structures: Relative noise, 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 183 x 183 cm.

Seher Shah, Emergent Structures: Capital mass, 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 183 x 183 cm.

Kamrooz Aram, Palimpsest (for Beirut), 2011, Oil on canvas, 213 x 168 cm.

Kamrooz Aram, Palimpsest (for Twombly), 2011, Oil on canvas, 213 x 152 cm.

Kamrooz Aram, Aspirations in Black and Red (diptych), 2012, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 122 x 208 cm.

Seher Shah, Unit Object (block), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm.


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Worldwide Locations

Worldwide Locations

Book Excerpt: 'The Illicit Happiness of Other People' by Manu Joseph

L: "The Illicit Happiness of Other People" by Manu Joseph (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.). R: The author. (Ritesh Uttamchandani)

The second novel by award-winning Indian author Manu Joseph, The Illicit Happiness of Other People is the witty and yet touching tale of the Chackos, a Christian family living in a gossipy Madras housing community in the late 1980s. The story starts three years after the gifted but troubled teenage son Unni Chacko mysteriously fell from the balcony of his building. When the post office delivers a comic drawn by Unni that had been lost in the mail since his death, his alcoholic father Ousep is shocked out of his stupor and ventures on a solitary quest to understand his son and rewrite his family's story.

Manu Joseph will read from and discuss his new novel with Hari Kunzru at Asia Society New York on Thursday, January 10, 2013 and Asia Society Texas on Tuesday, January 15, 2013.

Ousep Chacko, according to Mariamma Chacko, is the kind of man who has to be killed at the end of a story. But he knows that she is not very sure about this sometimes, especially in the mornings. He sits at his desk, as usual, studying a large pile of cartoons, trying to solve the only mystery that matters to her. He does not ask for coffee, but she brings it anyway, landing the glass on the wooden desk with minor violence to remind him of last night's disgrace. She flings open the windows, empties his ashtray and arranges the newspapers on the table. And when he finally leaves for work without a word, she strands in the hall and watches him go down the stairs.

On the playground below, a hard brown earth with stray grass, Ousep walks with quick short strides towards the gate. He can see the other men, the good husbands and the good fathers, their black shoes polished, serious shirts already damp in the humid air. They walk to the scooter shed, carrying inverted helmets that contain their outrageously small vegetarian lunches. More men emerge from the stair way tunnels of Block A, which is an austere white building with three floors. Their tidy, auspicious wives in cotton saris now appear in the balconies to bid goodbye. They are mumbling prayers, smiling at other women, peeping with one eye into their own blouses.

The men never greet Ousep. They turn away, or become interested in the ground, or wipe their spectacles. But among their own, they have great affection. They are a fellowship, and they can communicate by just clearing the phlegm in their throats.

"Gorbachev," a delicate man says.

"Gorbachev," the other one says.

Having thus completed the analysis of the main story in The Hindu, which is Mikhail Gorbachev's election as the first executive president of the Soviet Union, they walk towards their scooters. A scooter in Madras is a man's promise that he will not return home drunk in the evening. Hard-news reporters like Ousep Chacko consider it an insult to be seen on one, but these men are mostly bank clerks. They now hold the handlebars of their scooters and stand in a languid way. Then they kick suddenly as if to startle the engine into life. They kick many times; some even appear to bounce in the air. Eventually, the engines roar and they ride out, one by one, sitting at the very edge of the front seat as if that is the cheaper option. They will return the same way at six in the evening carrying jasmine flowers for their wives, who will wear them in their freshly washed hair, filling their homes with an aphrodisiacal odor and stirring the peace of their fathers-in-law who live with them, those old men who are so starved for flesh that they fondle children, fondle fully grown men, furtively flap their thighs when they watch women's tennis on TV.

At the gates, the fragile watchman stands in a farcical para-military outfit that puffs in the wind, and he cautiously salutes his foe. Ousep nods without looking. That always gets the guard's respect. Ousep turns for a glimpse of the women on the balconies, and they pretend they were not looking at him. On his own balcony on the third floor there is no one.

As he walks towards the far end of the street he is in full view of all the balconies of the four identical buildings on Balaji Lane, in full view of all the housewives and the unmoving old wraiths, who watch with open mouths. Ousep walks fast in the morning, the little finger of his right hand sticking out as if to receive a signal. From the other gates more scooters emerge. Some of the riders stare at him as if it is safer to meet his eyes when they are wearing helmets, which is true in a way women disappear from the balconies munching the final strands of prayer, women appear on the balconies preoccupied with many things. When they see him, their eyes rest on him a moment longer to accommodate a quick judgment. Considering everything, considering all that has passed and the way he is, it is reasonable that people should stare at him, but he hates it. They may find it hilarious if they are told his but the truth is that Ousep Chacko is a man who wants to be inconspicuous, who suffers when eyes are on him. But then the fate of shy people is that all their fears usually come true.

As things are, it does not take much to be a spectacle on this narrow tarred lane. It waits all day to be startled by the faintest hint of strangeness passing through. Such as a stray working woman in the revolutionary sleeveless blouse, who has the same aura here as a divorcee. A man with a pony tail. A north Indian girl in jeans so tight you can see daylight between her legs. It is as if such apparitions are a sign that the future, which has arrived in other places, is now prospecting the city. Here now is the final stand of an age, the last time one can profile a street in Madras and be correct. Men are managers, mothers are housewives. And all bras are white. Anglo-Indian girls who walk in floral frocks are Maria.

That is how the people on Balaji Lane would remember these days many years later. And when they remembered these times they would also remember, with a chuckle, the Malayalee Catholic family, the cuckoos among the crows- the despicable man called Ousep Chacko, his stranded wife who told her bare walls all her reasonable grudges, and their son Thoma, who was weak in maths, What became of them, did they survive the sheer length of life, did they make it through?

And they would remember Unni, of course. They would never forget Unni Chacko. "Remember Unni?" they would say. "Did anybody ever find out why he did that? Why did Unni Chacko do what he did?" Nobody would ever mention what Unni actually did. It is such a terrifying word in any language.

Reprinted from The Illicit Happiness of Other People: A Novel by Manu Joseph. Copyright (c) 2013 by Manu Joseph. With the permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Comments on: Make Food Now Dot Com Comments on Ask MetaFilter post Make Food Now Dot Com Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:32:26 -0800 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:36:23 -0800 en-us 60 Question: Make Food Now Dot Com Does such a recipe website exist?

 I had this idea that there must be a recipe website where you type in the ingredients that you have to hand in your fridge / vegetable basket / can cupboard and as you type it narrows down or broadens the recipes for which you have the necessary stuff using a clever algorithm, or working like a naming of parts type key. If not cauliflower then go to mushroom bhaji kind of thing. Google recipes, kind of? Has to be one right? If not, what are the obstacles to building such a thing?,2012:site.227294 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:32:26 -0800 tigrefacile food recipes website resolved By: Dansaman Yes. RecipeKey, SuperCook, etc.,2012:site.227294-3289030 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:36:23 -0800 Dansaman By: cgk Recipe Puppy,2012:site.227294-3289047 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:49:11 -0800 cgk By: DoubleLune Are you asking this because you'd like to build one? They exist, but I don't find them very useful -- they give you a list of recipes you can make, but I'd find it helpful to be able to select "mandatory" "optional" etc. If I'm looking for a chicken recipe and just list everything in my cupboard because I want as many options as possible, I end up having to wade through a lot of other recipes that don't have chicken in them before finding the chicken ones.,2012:site.227294-3289048 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:49:33 -0800 DoubleLune By: HopperFan Supercook allows you to emphasize ingredients - I've found lots of great recipes there. (apple cake! mmmm),2012:site.227294-3289064 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:07:00 -0800 HopperFan By: tigrefacile I googled 'recipe key', but such is the gastronomic hegemony of key lime pie I didn't get an immediate result for a website that was the actual search term.

 I don't have the skills to build a lasagne, let alone a website.,2012:site.227294-3289067 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:08:46 -0800 tigrefacile By: DoubleLune To get more options, I think "recipe by ingredient" is a pretty good Google search.,2012:site.227294-3289109 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:43:13 -0800 DoubleLune By: bamboo12

 ,2012:site.227294-3289207 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:15:26 -0800 bamboo12 By: XMLicious When I search for a recipe on Google I get a list of ingredients on the left-hand side with "Yes" and "No" checkboxes next to each one which filter the search results. This evidently is based on microformats which the web sites publishing the recipes are including in the page.,2012:site.227294-3289510 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:59:24 -0800 XMLicious By: nebulawindphone Honestly, yeah, Google is that website. Even before the recipe feature that XMLicious is talking about, the best way to get a recipe given a list of ingredients was to google the list of ingredients.

 The trick is, if Google can't find all of your search terms in a single page, it will happily serve up pages that include some of them. Google "chicken walnuts spam olives" (without quotation marks) and you get some chicken-and-olives recipes and some chicken-and-walnuts recipes and...,2012:site.227294-3289577 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:18:00 -0800 nebulawindphone By: jessamyn I use  for this. In the past I've used Recipe Source because what I really wanted was like five similar green bean recipes so that I could find the one that worked for the way I cooked and whatever nutritional impact I was looking for. It uses Google as its back end so all the recipes can be found via google also.,2012:site.227294-3289925 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:24:28 -0800 jessamyn


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10 posts tagged with amazon by Anonymous.
Displaying 1 through 10 of 10.

Multiple applications for similar Amazon openings?

Amazon insiders, and/or HR savants: I am applying for a position at Amazon, through their "Careers at Amazon" site. I notice that there are several positions listed, with different ID numbers, but essentially similar roles in the same metro area. Is it prudent, imprudent, or a non-issue to apply for all of those? Do they all go past the same sets of eyes?
posted by anonymous on Sep 17, 2012 - 5 answers

Are there still benefits to traditional publishing or should we try self-publishing?

My husband wrote a novel a few years back. It has pretty much sat in our house in digital and a print-out form. I will not comment on how the major publishing houses tend to not come searching in your house for The Next Great American Novel... *ahem* But what SHOULD he do? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 12, 2011 - 7 answers

I know you are not my accountant.

As a one-person S-Corp that has only purchased approximately $400 worth of business supplies from Amazon.com throughout 2010, how likely am I to get audited over the sales tax issue? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 4, 2010 - 9 answers

What's it like to work for Amazon?

I'm contemplating going due south (Same weather anyway :) ) and taking up a development job at Amazon HQ and am looking for some opinions. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jun 12, 2010 - 3 answers

Amazon E Travel Scam

Can you help me get a refund from some scammers? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Mar 1, 2010 - 36 answers

Secret Santa Anonymous Shipping

I would like to ship a gift to my family secret santa from amazon.com, but I can't figure out how to do it anonymously. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 3, 2009 - 12 answers

Amazon S3 for log backups?

I'm looking for a step by step recipe for log rotation from a web server to Amazon S3. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 22, 2009 - 7 answers

Amazon CD Seller Woes

I've had some problems selling CDs on Amazon. Will what I consider to be unfair buyer feedback end my ability to sell CDs there? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Feb 28, 2008 - 12 answers

Help! Amazon hates me! Why??

Why can’t I register to sell my used books, etc., at Amazon? I went through all the online steps, got approval emails about the items I’d posted, then within an hour, got another ominous email from “alliance@amazon.com” telling me... [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Aug 7, 2007 - 9 answers

What does a credit approval today say about my formerly-bad credit?

What does it indicate about my formerly-bad credit that I could be accepted today for a regular contract by a cell phone company? How can I tell when it's the right time to apply for a credit card again? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 26, 2007 - 14 answers

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text:
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(gedit:4778): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion `object->ref_count > 0' failed

What does this error mean?

share|improve this question
Are you starting gedit from the command line? How are you invoking it? –  belacqua Jan 26 '11 at 20:32
yeah, im using gksu gedit ... in the terminal –  Uri Herrera Jan 26 '11 at 20:37
Those error message can usually be ignored unless gedit isn't working for you. Feel free to report the bug to LP though. –  papukaija Jan 26 '11 at 20:45

1 Answer 1

up vote 1 down vote accepted

This is a harmless message that you will see popup when running most gtk applications on the command line. You can ignore it really. I'm not sure what causes it, but usually it's no problem, unless you are getting other problems with the application.

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When I log in my Ubuntu 13.04 account, my login screen still shows up as my desktop background, making my computer slow. Recently, I made some changes when I log in, such as removing both "Guest Login" and "Remote Login." I used the following code:

sudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

And changed my default login information:

To this:

I feel like this was the source of the problem so I tried to delete the added lines but the file was "read only." Is there anyway I can edit the file to fix my problem?

Also, is there anything else I can do so my desktop can return back to normal without the login screen showing? I just recently downloaded Ubuntu 13.04 a couple of days ago so I'm only a beginner.

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2 Answers 2

up vote 0 down vote accepted
  1. I strongly advise you not to fiddle around with files that are so relevant to your OS. They belong to root and are read-only for a reason.

  2. If you want to skip the login-screen (aka Unity-Greeter), go to the "users" aerea of the system settings and edit your account by switching on "automatic login" (may be labelled slightly different, I'm using the German version of 13.04).

share|improve this answer
Manually editing configuration files is one of the normal ways to adjust settings on most Unix-like systems, including Ubuntu. This problem happens primarily due to a bug. –  Eliah Kagan Jul 22 '13 at 6:34

see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1173834

Setting "Show desktop icons" ON fixes the problem for me.

You can access this configuration using the "Ubuntu Tweak" utility in 'Tweaks->Desktop Icons'.

share|improve this answer
The master bug for this is now bug #1115886. –  Eliah Kagan Jul 22 '13 at 6:35

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I created a symbolic link via ln -s pathname/folder/file.py whatever and I now have a bright blue link in my home directory with the symbolic link command name but when I try whatever hello_world, it's giving me an error saying whatever: command not found.

What I want to do works when I re-type out the pathname and file but the symbolic link seems to be doing nothing....which means I did something wrong

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Have you tried python whatever hello_world? –  Terry Wang Sep 20 '13 at 2:05

1 Answer 1

That is likely nothing to do with symbolic links per se - it is probably because by default the shell does not search the current directory for executable files (regardless of whether they are regular files or symbolic links) - if you add the relative path to whatever i.e.

it should work.

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Viewing .obj files in Partiview

OBJ is a 3d model format, and the only one (that I know) is taken as input by Partiview.

Often you have a model in some other format, such as VRML2, and you want to view it in Partiview. You use a third-party tool such as PolyTrans or Crossroads to convert it to OBJ format, but this doesnt get viewed by Partiview directly. One reason for this is that Partiview does not support the full OBJ format - it supports polygons and some texturing.

Viewing a OBJ file in Partiview, sans color

First, we view a obj file in the plainest form possible. Suppose we use mannequin.obj from Xiao Hu's site.

Create a file with

  waveobj -static mannequin.obj
  eval alpha 0.8

(The second line makes the model transparent; saying "eval alpha 1" makes it opaque.)

And then say (assuming partiview and mannequin.obj and are in your path)

This results in a nice model you can spin around, etc. (right)

Viewing a OBJ file in Partiview, with one color

It is also quite easy to add a single color to this: add one more line to your file, so that it now reads:

  waveobj -static mannequin.obj
  eval alpha 0.8
  eval color const 0.7 0.4 0.2

Of course, 0.7 0.4 0.2 should be replaced by RGB values (between 0 and 1) for what you want. Typing "partiview" as before results in a prettier picture.

Viewing a OBJ file in Partiview, with a texture

(From Stuart Levy, 7/16/04) "The only way "waveobj" can deal with multiple colors only via texturing. That is, you could say

          texture -M 1  blah.sgi
          waveobj -t 1  flump.obj

and have flump.obj include "vt" texture coordinates. If you made a texture image with patches of solid color, and assigned texture coordinates to lie within one or another patch, you could get colored faces.

But otherwise no. You can't have a .mtl material library, and assign materials to subsets of faces, as the full-fledged Wavefront .obj format would allow."

Here's an example, using bluemarble.sgi and temple.obj from my favorite OBJ archive

   texture -M 1 bluemarble.sgi
   waveobj -texture 1 temple.obj
   eval alpha 0.8

There is hope, however. Stuart goes on about an interesting undocumented feature :

"mayaobj", which also reads .obj files, does allow assigning material properties (colors, shininess factors, textures, etc.) to groups of faces. But it was written to work with Maya, so rather than reading .mtl libraries it digs through Maya ASCII (.ma) files...

The format of OBJ files


text:
IYA2009 Update

8 May 2009

United Nations support space science education

The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs has congratulated staff and students on the successful conclusion of the Sixth Postgraduate Course on Space and Atmospheric Science at the UN-affiliated Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP). The Course is a contribution to IYA2009, and emphasises the importance of education and research in astronomy and space science. Their official website is: http://www.cssteap.org/

2009: A year full of astronomical stamps!
IYA2009 promises to have a number of astronomy related items released. Especially so since the annual PostEurop EUROPA series (with its 40+ member agencies) has selected "Astronomy" as its theme. See the Philatelic Release Calendar here: http://www.astronomy2009.org/organisation/structure/taskgroups/philately/calendar/

Third Falakyati Mela in Okara, Pakistan
More than 1500 attendees, an hour of presentation and another for live lunar and planetary views, extremely enthusiastic students with their parents and teachers, very well organised and publicise, .and a wonderful host! This is the KSS' third Falakyati Mela in the city of Okara. Those who were there would agree that we will probably not see any better this whole year. Would you like to know more? http://www.umairasim.com/Index/Blog/Entries/2009/5/5_Third_Falakyati_Mela_in_Okara,_April_6,_2009..html

IYA2009 boosts GLOBE at Night to record number of dark-skies observations
The global citizen-science campaign GLOBE at Night 2009 recorded 80 percent more observations of the world's dark skies than the programme's previous record - including double the number of digital measurements - thanks in large part to active participation and publicity from the network of 140 countries currently celebrating IYA2009. More information is available here: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/258/

Touching the Edge of the Universe world premiere
ESA will present the world premiere of Touching the Edge of the Universe, a stunning new planetarium show, starting 7 May 2009 at 30 planetaria in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The premiere comes just days before the launch of Herschel & Planck, two of the show's starring missions, scheduled for 14 May. Further information can be found here: http://www.planetariumshow.eu

Sand & Flower Festa 2009 in Japan themed after Galileo and IYA2009
The 22nd Sand & Flower Festa 2009 in Minamisatsuma is being held from 2-6 May at Fukiage Beach in Kagoshima Prefecture. The history of this festival dates back to 1987 when they planned to activate the city by making large sand sculptures using sand of Fukiage Beach. The size of the event has grown up to welcome 150 thousands visitors last year. The theme of sand sculptures is Galileo Galilei and the International Year of Astronomy 2009. This festival is one of the official events of IYA2009.

Seiichi Sakamoto, one of JAXA's bloggers on the Cosmic Diary was invited as a delegate of the IYA2009 Japan Committee and JAXA to give a public talk there. Read his post here: http://cosmicdiary.org/blogs/jaxa/seiichi_sakamoto/?p=378

The Sand & Flower Festa's official site is: http://www.sand-minamisatsuma.jp/index.htm

GalileoMobile is an itinerant science education project bringing the Year of Astronomy to young underprivileged people across South America, to foster a will of learning by exciting wonder about our Universe. Check out the official website: http://www.galileo-mobile.org/

U.S. former astronaut visits Malta to mark IYA2009
U.S. Senator and astronaut Harrison Schmitt has spent five busy days in Malta to mark IYA2009. Accompanied by his wife Teresa Fitzgibbon, he toured various schools and sixth forms and also appeared on a television programme Xarabank. To read more, visit: http://iya2009malta.page.tl/Astronaut-Geologist-Harrison-Schmitt,-Apollo-17-Lunar-Module-Pilot.htm

Cidadanias "Space and Time": an IYA2009 performance
Scale all life times into one hour.
The Universe, the Earth, a city, a man.
All in one hour. relative, parallel and metaphorical.

Would you understand things better?
Would you find solutions for a better society?

Our goal, as in the latest Cidadania works, is to join art and science and therefore just not question, as art does, but to propose solutions, as science does.

Specially written for the International Year of Astronomy 2009, more information can be found at: www.cidadania-darmstadt.info

Special Project: observing mutual phenomena of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter
In 2009, the equinox will occur on the planet Jupiter (a once every six year event), allowing observation from Earth of mutual occultations and eclipses between the Galilean satellites. We will take the opportunity of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 to encourage everyone to look at these satellites and to make astronomical observations. More information is available at: http://www.imcce.fr/hosted_sites/ama09/phemu09_en.html

ESConet workshop report
The final ESConet workshop report is now available here: http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/documents/detail/Esconet_IYA2009_report/

StarPeace newsletter
For the latest information about the StarPeace project, be sure to visit: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/267/

A CIRCLE OF PEACE: StarPeace builds bridges between four countries
To promote the universality of the heavens, astronomers from four countries across Asia held a simultaneous public stargazing party on the night of 1 May 2009, under the aegis of StarPeace. Visit the website here: http://www.starpeace.org/

London's National Portrait Gallery exhibits portraits of astronomers
Respected astronomers are getting the star treatment in London's National Portrait Gallery. Well-known stargazers will be featuring in the Portraits of Astronomers gallery, to celebrate IYA2009. The exhibition is running from 12 July 2009, in Room 38 a. For more information about Portraits of Astronomers and the National Portrait Gallery, please visit the official website: http://www.npg.org.uk/

The Sixth International Conference On The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena
The Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, the Astronomy Department of Padua University, the INAF-Padua Astronomical Observatory, and the Vatican Observatory are jointly organising the sixth international conference on "The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena" (INSAP) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical uses of the telescope. The Conference will be held on 18-23 October 2009 at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, Italy. To learn more, be sure to visit: http://www.astro.unipd.it/insap6/

Smithsonian Photography Initiative celebrates IYA2009
During May and June, the Smithsonian Photography Initiative offers three ways to celebrate both the International Year of Astronomy and the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observation with a telescope by Galileo Galilei. To get involved, go to: http://photography.si.edu/

Organisational Associates:

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is endorsed by the United Nations and the International Council of Science.


text:
The University of Florida and the University Athletic Association announced on Tuesday that they would proceed with a $45 million renovation to the 33-year-old O'Connell Center, beginning in March 2015.

The UAA Board of Directors voted to begin the process of choosing a design firm, which it expects will take about 10 months, Fox Sports News reported.

This will be the largest renovation project the complex has ever undergone.

Proposed changes include a redesigned main entrance, new concession stands, club seating and a club lounge, new chairs and bleachers, complete office and locker room renovations, as well technical updates including a new video board and sound system, and an overhaul of the arena’s infrastructure.