'Ben and Kate' and more real-life sitcoms
Got a goofy older brother? Parents you still live with, even though you're grown up? An unconventional friendship? If so, you're too late to turn those ideas into a hit sitcom.
But while you comb your life for something else to fuel a comedy that a network will love, consider three fall sitcoms spawned from the personal lives of their creators.
CBS' "Partners" explores the lifelong friendship of Louis, who's gay, and Joe, who's straight, as they navigate their architecture business and their respective romantic ties. Their best-friends dynamic is inspired by the friendship of Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, who met in high school and, after partnering as TV producers, co-created shows including the megahit "Will & Grace." There's no attempt to hide the lineage of Fox's "Ben and Kate." It's the tale of a freewheeling brother, Ben, who comes back into the life of his single-mother younger sister, Kate, to serve as a surrogate dad while continuing his lifelong role as a mischievous child. The show is based on the relationship of its creator, Dana Fox, with her big brother, whose name is, yes, Ben.
Meanwhile, ABC's "How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life" finds a young mom from a broken marriage seeking refuge at her parents' home with her young daughter. It was drawn from the domestic situation of creator Claudia Lonow, who, well into adulthood and despite career success (including producing the sitcom "Less Than Perfect"), continues to live with parents she describes as "charismatic," "super entertaining" and "very weird." "I've been living there for 15 years, and I've been (developing) the show for about 12," Lonow told reporters last week at the TV critics' press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Like Polly (played by Sarah Chalke), who descends on TV parents Brad Garrett and Elizabeth Perkins, "I did show up at their doorstep and say, 'I hope this isn't a bad time for you, because it is for me.' "They reacted like any loving mother and stepfather would," Lenow recalled, and took her and her daughter in.
"We slept in the weight room on a cot for a while. And then, when it was time for my daughter to go to grammar school, I bought a house with them. I know it was crazy," she said with a laugh. "It's like there should be a show about it!"
Dana Fox has been gathering material for "Ben and Kate" since the cradle, thanks to her brother, Ben, who's two years her senior.
She describes him as a "Ferris Bueller-type guy . . . a really, really smart guy who intentionally does incredibly dumb things that would get us into so much trouble.
"He doesn't think a lot before he jumps," she said, "but he usually has a totally bizarre logic to all of his behavior."
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
London 2012 Olympics: life after the Game, how athletes struggle to give up the day job
London 2012 Olympics: life after the Game, how athletes struggle to give up the day job
This was good news for performance directors, because it meant a wider pool of talent to choose from. But the people at UK Sport spotted a potential downside too. A lot more thirtysomethings would be involved in the London Olympics. And that meant a lot more awkward transitions to the real world in the autumn of 2012. Yes, the party might be epic, but it was threatening to come with a stinking hangover.
Here lie the origins of one of the least reported initiatives of the Olympics. It’s tempting to call it Project Civilian, because it is all about reintroducing athletes to the mundanity of life outside a high-performance centre. But it has never really had a name – just a budget, of some £3 million over four years, and a workforce of 22 life coaches. It is one thing to show a rower how to make the perfect catch, and quite another to help him find his place in the world once that oar has been shelved for good.
“We offer a very individual bespoke service,” Nick Slade, head of performance lifestyle at the English Institute of Sport, told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s about the athlete’s agenda. We’re here to support performance first and foremost. We wouldn’t be thanked by their coaches if we dragged them away to work on other things. But the research also suggests that if there is more to your identity than sport alone, that helps you make the transition into later life.
“Each sport is different,” Slade added. “In boxing one of the things we do is help everybody to earn a gym instructor’s certificate. If they are successful in the sport they could well go on to own their own gym.
“In hockey, there was a problem with retention of males in their mid-twenties. The players were seeing their peers driving around in fast cars and getting married while they were in debt, earning a pittance. So my colleagues looked to create a number of opportunities for them to work with companies like Cadburys, IHG and O2, whether on work experience or short-term contracts.”
Until recently, none of this vocational fine-tuning would have been necessary. Olympic competition was genuinely amateur. Athletes rarely had an option but to combine their training with a day job, unless they enjoyed the luxury of inherited wealth, or had built up their savings for a spell of pure competition until the money ran out.
All that began to change towards the end of the last century. Katherine Grainger, the hotly tipped sculler who opens her campaign today at Dorney Lake, was one of the first of the new breed, receiving funding almost from the point when she entered the rowing team in 1997.
“I was so lucky,” she says now. “A lot of the other girls had been in massive debt, and had to take out loans just to pay for petrol to cover the vast amounts of travel involved. There was a definite feeling of ‘If you want to do this, it will cost you’ so it wasn’t sustainable for long. But once the Lottery funding came in, everything turned to performance.”
The gains from Lottery funding have been enormous. Most obviously, Britain has surged up the medal table, with successive finishes of 36th, 10th, 10th, and fourth since the nadir of Atlanta in 1996. Financial support has also opened Olympic sport to a wider social demographic, even if David Cameron (of all people) still complains that privately educated athletes are over-represented within the British team.
But something has been lost, too, for the modern Olympian can become as narrow in his or her own way as any single-minded careerist. One of the movement’s original principles – that of balance, or mens sana in corpore sano, as the classicists would put it – is under threat. And that can be a disadvantage once your last lap has been run. Funding may have the potential to extend your sporting lifestyle, but it can also be a means of putting off the dreadful day of decision.
“It’s important to think about what comes next,” says Dr Tim Brabants, the sprint kayaker who will defend his K-1 1,000 title next week. “It’s one thing if you’re in athletics, where most Olympic medallists over the last several Games have been able to develop careers in TV or radio. Very few athletes in any other sport have that option.
“With our Lottery funding comes an opportunity. There’s support available for courses, and you have performance lifestyle advisers whose role is to help athletes develop a career outside their sport. Once I’d got a medical degree out of the way, it made training so much easier, because I always knew I had something I could go back to. Otherwise people can become quite distracted, worrying about what they’re going to do.”
OLYMPIC REFUSE COLLECTOR
Slade wryly admits that his department receives far less media attention than the sport scientists across the hall. If there is something militaristic in the Olympic arms race, with its wind tunnels and its blood tests, then the lifestyle advisers are wielding a form of soft power. They address the athletes’ hearts and minds, not just their cardiovascular systems.
Glamorous or not, theirs is an important role, because you don’t get to be faster, higher and stronger unless you have a solid foundation to work from.
Take Natasha Perdue, a weightlifter who will compete in the 69kg class on Wednesday. In 2009, Perdue relocated from Wales to the new high-performance centre in Yorkshire on the lowest level of lottery funding — just £100 per week. With a mortgage to pay, she couldn’t have managed without shifting her job as a refuse collector from Swansea Council to Leeds, which was considerably trickier than it sounds.
“My lifestyle adviser helped me get a career break from Swansea and a new role close to my training centre,” Perdue said. “I worked full-time up until five weeks before the Games. Then, once all this fuss and attention is over, it will be back to reality, back to Swansea, and back to running behind a lorry again, throwing rubbish on.”
Yet Perdue says she would not have it any other way. “I’m one of these personalities who is all or nothing. You’ve got to escape and have time off mentally and physically, and that’s why going in to work can be nice. The boys keep me real by teasing me. ‘Can you pick this bin up?’ they say.
‘It’s too heavy for me?’ And if I get to the point where I’m feeling sick of it all, I just ring Keith up and he comes around for a coffee.” The emotional support can be just as valuable, ultimately, as any hi-tech facility.
As someone who combines a day job with a demanding training schedule, Perdue is part of a minority within the British team. But there are others.
Brabants went back to the A&E Department of Nottingham City Hospital for 18 months after winning gold in Beijing. Grainger is on the verge of completing a law PhD on psychopathic murderers. “For me, the whole point of doing it is that it’s so different,” she says. “It’s about being able to leave the river, go to the library and shut yourself away.”
And then there is Abdul Buhari, the only member of the athletics squad who has maintained an external career in the build-up to London. A discus thrower who spends five days a week training at Loughborough and the other two in the offices of Credit Suisse in Canary Wharf, Buhari works as an investment banker. “The guys in the office initially found it very strange,” he says. “But I’m the type of person who needs a different stimulus. The discus is a very technical event: you can spend months working on a tiny part of the throw, so it’s useful for me to switch off and look at spreadsheets all day.”
THE PRICE OF SUCCESS
The likes of Buhari and Brabants could be seen as poster children for the benefits of a broader outlook. Yet Slade smiles at the idea that they might be representative of Team GB as a whole.
“It sounds very plausible, the suggestion that you can have these parallel lives which contribute to each other,” he says. “And sometimes it’s true: people like Tim and Katherine are incredibly single-minded, inspirational really. But there are plenty of others whose time is being squeezed by the way performance demands have ratcheted up over the years. A lot of people take the view that ‘I have to do this 100 per cent or I’ll live with regret’.
“It’s a challenge for us, because we’re getting to a level now where most of our athletes have only ever known training, have never had a job. And trading on success at the Olympics isn’t as easy as it used to be either: the more medals that Team GB win, the less visible each individual medallist becomes.”
Ideally, Slade hopes to help Olympians avoid the painful post-career comedowns that have become commonplace in established professional sports like cricket, football and rugby. But he knows that there is a limit to what can be achieved. His role is more about softening the fall than eliminating it altogether. Providing a parachute, if you will, through support that typically lasts for three to six months after retirement.
Finding a new path won’t be easy even for those best placed to do so. Just ask Grainger, one of the most poised, articulate and capable people you will ever meet. Now 36, she could walk into any number of interesting posts after these Games, from law to academia to sports management. And yet, she still admits that “I finds it hard to see what might fill the gap. When you have this passion, this drive, this motivation, you can’t imagine leading a normal life.”
Or talk to Buhari about going from a Diamond League meeting on a Sunday night to a 6am commute into the City of London the next morning. “One minute you have all this adrenalin and you feel really powerful – sometimes even invincible. Then you get on the train into the office, the Jubilee Line and you think, ‘Oh, I’ve gone from Superman to Clark Kent’.”
Among this group of athletes, Brabants seems the least concerned about the post-Olympic gearshift. “I love being in a hospital environment,” he says.
“It’s similar to sport because who you’re surrounded by specialists who are really good at what they do in lots of different areas. You can call on expertise from lots of different people and get things done really quickly.”
Is there an unexpected lesson here? Admittedly, you won’t find many workplaces with the sort of drama, excitement and constant stimulation that sport can offer. Nor indeed the opportunities for romance that are available, allegedly, within the athletes’ village. But if you were going to look for the best available approximation, a hospital casualty ward might be a sensible place to start.
This was good news for performance directors, because it meant a wider pool of talent to choose from. But the people at UK Sport spotted a potential downside too. A lot more thirtysomethings would be involved in the London Olympics. And that meant a lot more awkward transitions to the real world in the autumn of 2012. Yes, the party might be epic, but it was threatening to come with a stinking hangover.
Here lie the origins of one of the least reported initiatives of the Olympics. It’s tempting to call it Project Civilian, because it is all about reintroducing athletes to the mundanity of life outside a high-performance centre. But it has never really had a name – just a budget, of some £3 million over four years, and a workforce of 22 life coaches. It is one thing to show a rower how to make the perfect catch, and quite another to help him find his place in the world once that oar has been shelved for good.
“We offer a very individual bespoke service,” Nick Slade, head of performance lifestyle at the English Institute of Sport, told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s about the athlete’s agenda. We’re here to support performance first and foremost. We wouldn’t be thanked by their coaches if we dragged them away to work on other things. But the research also suggests that if there is more to your identity than sport alone, that helps you make the transition into later life.
“Each sport is different,” Slade added. “In boxing one of the things we do is help everybody to earn a gym instructor’s certificate. If they are successful in the sport they could well go on to own their own gym.
“In hockey, there was a problem with retention of males in their mid-twenties. The players were seeing their peers driving around in fast cars and getting married while they were in debt, earning a pittance. So my colleagues looked to create a number of opportunities for them to work with companies like Cadburys, IHG and O2, whether on work experience or short-term contracts.”
Until recently, none of this vocational fine-tuning would have been necessary. Olympic competition was genuinely amateur. Athletes rarely had an option but to combine their training with a day job, unless they enjoyed the luxury of inherited wealth, or had built up their savings for a spell of pure competition until the money ran out.
All that began to change towards the end of the last century. Katherine Grainger, the hotly tipped sculler who opens her campaign today at Dorney Lake, was one of the first of the new breed, receiving funding almost from the point when she entered the rowing team in 1997.
“I was so lucky,” she says now. “A lot of the other girls had been in massive debt, and had to take out loans just to pay for petrol to cover the vast amounts of travel involved. There was a definite feeling of ‘If you want to do this, it will cost you’ so it wasn’t sustainable for long. But once the Lottery funding came in, everything turned to performance.”
The gains from Lottery funding have been enormous. Most obviously, Britain has surged up the medal table, with successive finishes of 36th, 10th, 10th, and fourth since the nadir of Atlanta in 1996. Financial support has also opened Olympic sport to a wider social demographic, even if David Cameron (of all people) still complains that privately educated athletes are over-represented within the British team.
But something has been lost, too, for the modern Olympian can become as narrow in his or her own way as any single-minded careerist. One of the movement’s original principles – that of balance, or mens sana in corpore sano, as the classicists would put it – is under threat. And that can be a disadvantage once your last lap has been run. Funding may have the potential to extend your sporting lifestyle, but it can also be a means of putting off the dreadful day of decision.
“It’s important to think about what comes next,” says Dr Tim Brabants, the sprint kayaker who will defend his K-1 1,000 title next week. “It’s one thing if you’re in athletics, where most Olympic medallists over the last several Games have been able to develop careers in TV or radio. Very few athletes in any other sport have that option.
“With our Lottery funding comes an opportunity. There’s support available for courses, and you have performance lifestyle advisers whose role is to help athletes develop a career outside their sport. Once I’d got a medical degree out of the way, it made training so much easier, because I always knew I had something I could go back to. Otherwise people can become quite distracted, worrying about what they’re going to do.”
OLYMPIC REFUSE COLLECTOR
Slade wryly admits that his department receives far less media attention than the sport scientists across the hall. If there is something militaristic in the Olympic arms race, with its wind tunnels and its blood tests, then the lifestyle advisers are wielding a form of soft power. They address the athletes’ hearts and minds, not just their cardiovascular systems.
Glamorous or not, theirs is an important role, because you don’t get to be faster, higher and stronger unless you have a solid foundation to work from.
Take Natasha Perdue, a weightlifter who will compete in the 69kg class on Wednesday. In 2009, Perdue relocated from Wales to the new high-performance centre in Yorkshire on the lowest level of lottery funding — just £100 per week. With a mortgage to pay, she couldn’t have managed without shifting her job as a refuse collector from Swansea Council to Leeds, which was considerably trickier than it sounds.
“My lifestyle adviser helped me get a career break from Swansea and a new role close to my training centre,” Perdue said. “I worked full-time up until five weeks before the Games. Then, once all this fuss and attention is over, it will be back to reality, back to Swansea, and back to running behind a lorry again, throwing rubbish on.”
Yet Perdue says she would not have it any other way. “I’m one of these personalities who is all or nothing. You’ve got to escape and have time off mentally and physically, and that’s why going in to work can be nice. The boys keep me real by teasing me. ‘Can you pick this bin up?’ they say.
‘It’s too heavy for me?’ And if I get to the point where I’m feeling sick of it all, I just ring Keith up and he comes around for a coffee.” The emotional support can be just as valuable, ultimately, as any hi-tech facility.
As someone who combines a day job with a demanding training schedule, Perdue is part of a minority within the British team. But there are others.
Brabants went back to the A&E Department of Nottingham City Hospital for 18 months after winning gold in Beijing. Grainger is on the verge of completing a law PhD on psychopathic murderers. “For me, the whole point of doing it is that it’s so different,” she says. “It’s about being able to leave the river, go to the library and shut yourself away.”
And then there is Abdul Buhari, the only member of the athletics squad who has maintained an external career in the build-up to London. A discus thrower who spends five days a week training at Loughborough and the other two in the offices of Credit Suisse in Canary Wharf, Buhari works as an investment banker. “The guys in the office initially found it very strange,” he says. “But I’m the type of person who needs a different stimulus. The discus is a very technical event: you can spend months working on a tiny part of the throw, so it’s useful for me to switch off and look at spreadsheets all day.”
THE PRICE OF SUCCESS
The likes of Buhari and Brabants could be seen as poster children for the benefits of a broader outlook. Yet Slade smiles at the idea that they might be representative of Team GB as a whole.
“It sounds very plausible, the suggestion that you can have these parallel lives which contribute to each other,” he says. “And sometimes it’s true: people like Tim and Katherine are incredibly single-minded, inspirational really. But there are plenty of others whose time is being squeezed by the way performance demands have ratcheted up over the years. A lot of people take the view that ‘I have to do this 100 per cent or I’ll live with regret’.
“It’s a challenge for us, because we’re getting to a level now where most of our athletes have only ever known training, have never had a job. And trading on success at the Olympics isn’t as easy as it used to be either: the more medals that Team GB win, the less visible each individual medallist becomes.”
Ideally, Slade hopes to help Olympians avoid the painful post-career comedowns that have become commonplace in established professional sports like cricket, football and rugby. But he knows that there is a limit to what can be achieved. His role is more about softening the fall than eliminating it altogether. Providing a parachute, if you will, through support that typically lasts for three to six months after retirement.
Finding a new path won’t be easy even for those best placed to do so. Just ask Grainger, one of the most poised, articulate and capable people you will ever meet. Now 36, she could walk into any number of interesting posts after these Games, from law to academia to sports management. And yet, she still admits that “I finds it hard to see what might fill the gap. When you have this passion, this drive, this motivation, you can’t imagine leading a normal life.”
Or talk to Buhari about going from a Diamond League meeting on a Sunday night to a 6am commute into the City of London the next morning. “One minute you have all this adrenalin and you feel really powerful – sometimes even invincible. Then you get on the train into the office, the Jubilee Line and you think, ‘Oh, I’ve gone from Superman to Clark Kent’.”
Among this group of athletes, Brabants seems the least concerned about the post-Olympic gearshift. “I love being in a hospital environment,” he says.
“It’s similar to sport because who you’re surrounded by specialists who are really good at what they do in lots of different areas. You can call on expertise from lots of different people and get things done really quickly.”
Is there an unexpected lesson here? Admittedly, you won’t find many workplaces with the sort of drama, excitement and constant stimulation that sport can offer. Nor indeed the opportunities for romance that are available, allegedly, within the athletes’ village. But if you were going to look for the best available approximation, a hospital casualty ward might be a sensible place to start.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Nothing quite like life in an Olympic village
Nothing quite like life in an Olympic village
Twitter has been awash with tidbits and pictures posted by sports stars, like Roland Schoeman, competing at his fourth Olympics, hailing the London base as the best village he has seen.
The high-rise apartment buildings — nine stories in the case of the block on Cheering Lane which Team SA shares with other nations including Spain — offer great views into the Olympic precinct.
Photographs of sunsets have been popular on Twitter.
But the reality is that life in the village is little different to what it is outside; training is as hard as ever.
During my brief visit into the village on Thursday afternoon, I bumped into head swim coach Graham Hill, who was heading off for a late lunch, having left the swimmers for their daily siesta. “The swimmers are sleeping,” he explained. A few hours later he would tweet a pic of himself at the Olympic pool, overseeing yet another training session.
Women’s hockey captain Marsha Marescia was rushing back from training, carrying a kitbag. “I’m late,” she shouted across the road. “I have to go for physio.”
The physiotherapists are located on the first floor, and they are visible through the windows, working tirelessly to keep Team SA fit and strong.
On top of the building SA flags have been hung to claim ownership of the block for the next few weeks. On the ground floor is the administrative office, where staff deal with mundane issues most of us would rather not know about, such as issuing meal tickets to visitors so they can eat in the legendary dining hall.
Caterers offer cuisines from around the globe — British, African, Jamaican, Indian, Asian and others are on the menu, including the famous stand hosted by MacDonald’s, one of the global sponsors of the Olympics.
Every burger and nugget is free. Legend has it that the stall is empty in the early stages of the Games, but as athletes finish their competition, suddenly the demand for junk food goes through the roof.
In the London dining hall, there were one or two people ordering at the main counter, but the real trade was going down at the McCafe side, where chocolate chip cookies — every single one free — were flying out the oven freshly baked.
For athletes not sure about what to eat, there are some nutritionists on hand, with a super-duper computer programme that will provide them with an exact menu minus anything they might be allergic to.
Much has been said of the thousands of free condoms that are reportedly being dished out in the village, but I can’t say I saw a single one. Not that I was looking.
But they are there somewhere, waiting to come out in the next week or two for those legendary orgies we have heard about.
The extraordinary achievements of Olympic athletes, however, will be on view in public and televised to millions around the world.
And that’s really why they are here.
Twitter has been awash with tidbits and pictures posted by sports stars, like Roland Schoeman, competing at his fourth Olympics, hailing the London base as the best village he has seen.
The high-rise apartment buildings — nine stories in the case of the block on Cheering Lane which Team SA shares with other nations including Spain — offer great views into the Olympic precinct.
Photographs of sunsets have been popular on Twitter.
But the reality is that life in the village is little different to what it is outside; training is as hard as ever.
During my brief visit into the village on Thursday afternoon, I bumped into head swim coach Graham Hill, who was heading off for a late lunch, having left the swimmers for their daily siesta. “The swimmers are sleeping,” he explained. A few hours later he would tweet a pic of himself at the Olympic pool, overseeing yet another training session.
Women’s hockey captain Marsha Marescia was rushing back from training, carrying a kitbag. “I’m late,” she shouted across the road. “I have to go for physio.”
The physiotherapists are located on the first floor, and they are visible through the windows, working tirelessly to keep Team SA fit and strong.
On top of the building SA flags have been hung to claim ownership of the block for the next few weeks. On the ground floor is the administrative office, where staff deal with mundane issues most of us would rather not know about, such as issuing meal tickets to visitors so they can eat in the legendary dining hall.
Caterers offer cuisines from around the globe — British, African, Jamaican, Indian, Asian and others are on the menu, including the famous stand hosted by MacDonald’s, one of the global sponsors of the Olympics.
Every burger and nugget is free. Legend has it that the stall is empty in the early stages of the Games, but as athletes finish their competition, suddenly the demand for junk food goes through the roof.
In the London dining hall, there were one or two people ordering at the main counter, but the real trade was going down at the McCafe side, where chocolate chip cookies — every single one free — were flying out the oven freshly baked.
For athletes not sure about what to eat, there are some nutritionists on hand, with a super-duper computer programme that will provide them with an exact menu minus anything they might be allergic to.
Much has been said of the thousands of free condoms that are reportedly being dished out in the village, but I can’t say I saw a single one. Not that I was looking.
But they are there somewhere, waiting to come out in the next week or two for those legendary orgies we have heard about.
The extraordinary achievements of Olympic athletes, however, will be on view in public and televised to millions around the world.
And that’s really why they are here.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Life after death on Facebook
Life after death on Facebook
AT least two of my Facebook friends have died. Family, friends and acquaintances have bid them tearful and tasteful final farewells, but their presence continues to be felt -- no, not along dark corridors late at night, but in cyberspace. Strangely and disturbingly, these friends continue to live online even when they had "offlined" in real life.
One just received a torrent of birthday messages on his wall, a month after his departure from this world. Ironically, some of his Facebook friends wished him a long and healthy life. One or two hoped he would have a better year ahead.
Several mentioned that it's been a long time, and that they should catch up soon.
Meeting up would be rather complicated in present circumstances, however. A medium, or worse exorcist, would need to be present.
This would not have occurred if he had accepted only real friends as his online friends.
Real friends would know why you stopped posting status updates and photos on the social networking site. They would be concerned enough to make enquiries as soon as they saw others posting "RIP" on your wall.
Some of his friends took the time and trouble to reply to all those who wanted to meet him soon: "Hey, he has left us, mate."
It would be interesting if he replied himself: "Let's meet up now. I'm right behind you."
Many of us spend most of our waking hours on the social networking site, but never give a thought to these questions -- how many profiles on Facebook belong to the deceased, and what would happen to our own accounts when we pass on. Some profiles of the deceased continue to pop up in the "the people you may know" feature on Facebook's homepage and "find friends" page.
This gives a whole different meaning to the quote "I see dead people".
Some virtual identities are kept alive and active by spouses, family members and friends. They update the profile and continue to post comments and tag pictures.
There have been arguments that this is an infringement of privacy but loved ones say this is their way of preserving their memories.
"As time passes, the pain of losing someone fades but the memories live on and Facebook provides a good place to store those memories, and to share and reminisce. So, why delete the dead person's profile?" shared a friend who managed her late husband's site for a while.
Other profiles are locked down by Facebook and put in a "memorial state". This means you can no longer add the person as a friend. Only friends confirmed before can see the profile or locate it in search.
Family and friends need to report the death to Facebook and apply to have the profile memorialised. But as in real life, not everyone feels comfortable with the presence of the dead in the cyberworld.
When someone dies, his or her cyber accounts should be cancelled, some users insist.
"The wall should be kept active for at least a month for friends to post condolences. After that, it should be deactivated," one suggested.
With all these arguments, perhaps we should seriously contemplate our virtual life after death.
It is a question that is becoming increasingly relevant in this digital age.
It may be taboo to think of death but let's reflect for a moment over the thousands of digital possessions we may be leaving behind -- pictures, graphics, videos, emails, status updates, comments, opinions, observations, reviews, music and personal data on Facebook, Gmail, Blogger, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr and many other online sites.
What will happen to these "possessions" when we die? Do we give our loved ones access to our accounts while we are alive or put the passwords down in our will? Should we hire the services of companies that specialise in managing our digital lives after we pass on?
Legacy Locker, Asset Lock, and Deathswitch are among the websites that are offering encrypted space for people to store their passwords and other information. They will store our details and pass them to the designated person when we die unexpectedly or become terminally ill or disabled.
Give it a thought. Ideally, we should all leave instructions for where we want our online accounts to go after we have gone.
AT least two of my Facebook friends have died. Family, friends and acquaintances have bid them tearful and tasteful final farewells, but their presence continues to be felt -- no, not along dark corridors late at night, but in cyberspace. Strangely and disturbingly, these friends continue to live online even when they had "offlined" in real life.
One just received a torrent of birthday messages on his wall, a month after his departure from this world. Ironically, some of his Facebook friends wished him a long and healthy life. One or two hoped he would have a better year ahead.
Several mentioned that it's been a long time, and that they should catch up soon.
Meeting up would be rather complicated in present circumstances, however. A medium, or worse exorcist, would need to be present.
This would not have occurred if he had accepted only real friends as his online friends.
Real friends would know why you stopped posting status updates and photos on the social networking site. They would be concerned enough to make enquiries as soon as they saw others posting "RIP" on your wall.
Some of his friends took the time and trouble to reply to all those who wanted to meet him soon: "Hey, he has left us, mate."
It would be interesting if he replied himself: "Let's meet up now. I'm right behind you."
Many of us spend most of our waking hours on the social networking site, but never give a thought to these questions -- how many profiles on Facebook belong to the deceased, and what would happen to our own accounts when we pass on. Some profiles of the deceased continue to pop up in the "the people you may know" feature on Facebook's homepage and "find friends" page.
This gives a whole different meaning to the quote "I see dead people".
Some virtual identities are kept alive and active by spouses, family members and friends. They update the profile and continue to post comments and tag pictures.
There have been arguments that this is an infringement of privacy but loved ones say this is their way of preserving their memories.
"As time passes, the pain of losing someone fades but the memories live on and Facebook provides a good place to store those memories, and to share and reminisce. So, why delete the dead person's profile?" shared a friend who managed her late husband's site for a while.
Other profiles are locked down by Facebook and put in a "memorial state". This means you can no longer add the person as a friend. Only friends confirmed before can see the profile or locate it in search.
Family and friends need to report the death to Facebook and apply to have the profile memorialised. But as in real life, not everyone feels comfortable with the presence of the dead in the cyberworld.
When someone dies, his or her cyber accounts should be cancelled, some users insist.
"The wall should be kept active for at least a month for friends to post condolences. After that, it should be deactivated," one suggested.
With all these arguments, perhaps we should seriously contemplate our virtual life after death.
It is a question that is becoming increasingly relevant in this digital age.
It may be taboo to think of death but let's reflect for a moment over the thousands of digital possessions we may be leaving behind -- pictures, graphics, videos, emails, status updates, comments, opinions, observations, reviews, music and personal data on Facebook, Gmail, Blogger, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr and many other online sites.
What will happen to these "possessions" when we die? Do we give our loved ones access to our accounts while we are alive or put the passwords down in our will? Should we hire the services of companies that specialise in managing our digital lives after we pass on?
Legacy Locker, Asset Lock, and Deathswitch are among the websites that are offering encrypted space for people to store their passwords and other information. They will store our details and pass them to the designated person when we die unexpectedly or become terminally ill or disabled.
Give it a thought. Ideally, we should all leave instructions for where we want our online accounts to go after we have gone.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
In life he fights dangerous fires; on film he plays real-life heroes
In life he fights dangerous fires; on film he plays real-life heroes
When flames engulf a mountainside, Jasen Wade races toward them.
He has worked as a BLM wildland firefighter for 10 years and chasing these unpredictable blazes is everything you think it is. In video he has shot behind the lines, picture a man with flames shooting up behind him as he maneuvers steep terrain.
Cut to a shot of him inside a building sometime later, looking into the camera, face smudged, bloodshot eyes, hair askew saying, "We just got our butts handed to us."
He says he has a healthy respect for what he does.
"I don't like fighting fire. I like steering it and making sure that it burns, what it needs to burn and then letting it go out naturally. And if it needs a little help, we help it out," Wade said.
"What we don't like is when personal property and homes are involved. That's when our hearts sink and we do everything we possibly can to shut that fire down as quickly as possible."
Wade has recorded these experiences under JWade Productions, taking viewers where they could never go to watch what he and the team do when nature rages out of control.
"It started on the other side of the hill, so it's dropping flames down here," he explains with a sweeping motion of his arms.
"There's a lot of training involved. ... I've had very rare occasions where I felt like I was in danger," he said. "We know what we're doing. We know how to do it well and everyone around us — we trust each other."
When he's not battling wildfires, Wade has been busy in his other career battling the enemy in World War II. He co-stars in the soon-to-be released film "Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed."
The film focuses on the mission of a U.S. Army elite unit, the 517th, a parachute regimental combat team that jumped into the south of France on Aug. 14, 1944, behind enemy lines. Wade plays Harland "Bud" Curtis. Curtis was a member of the 1st Battalion communications section, and this particular mission was called Operation Dragoon.
Known as the Battling Buzzards, the group was highly decorated. French and Belgian resistance fighters supported and fought with them. On the 60th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2004, Curtis was one of two veterans from the 517th chosen to receive France's highest award, The Legion of Honor.
His son, Lory, wrote that France's president said, "We will never forget."
Lory Curtis met with Wade and let him read his father's letters.
"If you want to talk about dangerous, that's a man who loved danger," Wade said. "He was a very matter-of-fact guy. He was just in the middle of this and he just did his part."
Wade may also be recognized as the star of T.C. Christensen's film, "17 Miracles." He played Latter-day Saint pioneer Levi Savage, a member of the Mormon Battalion who was recruited to help the Martin and Willey handcart companies in 1856.
Wade also read Savage's journals, feeling he came to know him as he did Bud Curtis.
"I am drawn into being bigger and better than I really am. They are really heroes. But if you were to go back and ask them, 'What do you think? You are a hero.' I guarantee both of them would've just kind of laughed in your face and said, 'Absolutely not!'"
Wade remains passionate about what he calls protecting nature and he considers his other career — playing men who rescued people and changed lives — a gift.
"Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed" from filmmakers Adam Abel and Ryan Little premieres in Utah theaters on Aug. 17.
When flames engulf a mountainside, Jasen Wade races toward them.
He has worked as a BLM wildland firefighter for 10 years and chasing these unpredictable blazes is everything you think it is. In video he has shot behind the lines, picture a man with flames shooting up behind him as he maneuvers steep terrain.
Cut to a shot of him inside a building sometime later, looking into the camera, face smudged, bloodshot eyes, hair askew saying, "We just got our butts handed to us."
He says he has a healthy respect for what he does.
"I don't like fighting fire. I like steering it and making sure that it burns, what it needs to burn and then letting it go out naturally. And if it needs a little help, we help it out," Wade said.
"What we don't like is when personal property and homes are involved. That's when our hearts sink and we do everything we possibly can to shut that fire down as quickly as possible."
Wade has recorded these experiences under JWade Productions, taking viewers where they could never go to watch what he and the team do when nature rages out of control.
"It started on the other side of the hill, so it's dropping flames down here," he explains with a sweeping motion of his arms.
"There's a lot of training involved. ... I've had very rare occasions where I felt like I was in danger," he said. "We know what we're doing. We know how to do it well and everyone around us — we trust each other."
When he's not battling wildfires, Wade has been busy in his other career battling the enemy in World War II. He co-stars in the soon-to-be released film "Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed."
The film focuses on the mission of a U.S. Army elite unit, the 517th, a parachute regimental combat team that jumped into the south of France on Aug. 14, 1944, behind enemy lines. Wade plays Harland "Bud" Curtis. Curtis was a member of the 1st Battalion communications section, and this particular mission was called Operation Dragoon.
Known as the Battling Buzzards, the group was highly decorated. French and Belgian resistance fighters supported and fought with them. On the 60th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2004, Curtis was one of two veterans from the 517th chosen to receive France's highest award, The Legion of Honor.
His son, Lory, wrote that France's president said, "We will never forget."
Lory Curtis met with Wade and let him read his father's letters.
"If you want to talk about dangerous, that's a man who loved danger," Wade said. "He was a very matter-of-fact guy. He was just in the middle of this and he just did his part."
Wade may also be recognized as the star of T.C. Christensen's film, "17 Miracles." He played Latter-day Saint pioneer Levi Savage, a member of the Mormon Battalion who was recruited to help the Martin and Willey handcart companies in 1856.
Wade also read Savage's journals, feeling he came to know him as he did Bud Curtis.
"I am drawn into being bigger and better than I really am. They are really heroes. But if you were to go back and ask them, 'What do you think? You are a hero.' I guarantee both of them would've just kind of laughed in your face and said, 'Absolutely not!'"
Wade remains passionate about what he calls protecting nature and he considers his other career — playing men who rescued people and changed lives — a gift.
"Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed" from filmmakers Adam Abel and Ryan Little premieres in Utah theaters on Aug. 17.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Indians loving life at Lord’s
Indians loving life at Lord’s
For most young boys growing up in cricket-crazy India, walking out on the hallowed turf at Lord’s is the stuff dreams are made of. Archer Tarundeep Rai is no different.
Rai is part of the Indian men’s archery triumvirate with Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerejee competing at the London Olympics and hopes they can grab a podium place.
South Korea are the favourites after winning the last three Olympic team gold medals, though the United States are expected to run them close in London with world number one Brady Ellison anchoring the team.
“Before I came here I thought that Lord’s always favoured Indians when they play cricket and I hope this will continue with archery,” said Rai.
“It is a great opportunity to come here and play. At home we call Lord’s the ‘Mecca of cricket’. It is a dream come true to come to such a historic venue.”
Team mate Talukdar said holding the competition at Lord’s had put archery on the map in India.
“When I used to tell people that I did archery they didn’t know what it was, but since the Commonwealth Games at home, people know what it is now.
“When they heard the archery was at Lord’s that was when they became really interested in archery at the Olympics.”
Rai also hoped England’s large Indian community would provide strong support.
“I hope most of the Indian people here will come and see us. We don’t have many spectators in our national tournaments so I hope spectators will come.
“Maybe they will come just to see Lord’s and then see the archery also. At home people will be watching because this is Lord’s.”
India’s preparations for the archery competition, which starts on Friday, have been interrupted by illness.
Several team members fell sick due to the change in climate from the sweltering heat of India to cool, wet weather in the British capital, though they had tried to prepare for the changing conditions in training.
“We have shot in very, very cold places. We went to the border of India and China and it is very cold there,” said. Talukdar. “We went there because we thought it would be cold here.”
For most young boys growing up in cricket-crazy India, walking out on the hallowed turf at Lord’s is the stuff dreams are made of. Archer Tarundeep Rai is no different.
Rai is part of the Indian men’s archery triumvirate with Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerejee competing at the London Olympics and hopes they can grab a podium place.
South Korea are the favourites after winning the last three Olympic team gold medals, though the United States are expected to run them close in London with world number one Brady Ellison anchoring the team.
“Before I came here I thought that Lord’s always favoured Indians when they play cricket and I hope this will continue with archery,” said Rai.
“It is a great opportunity to come here and play. At home we call Lord’s the ‘Mecca of cricket’. It is a dream come true to come to such a historic venue.”
Team mate Talukdar said holding the competition at Lord’s had put archery on the map in India.
“When I used to tell people that I did archery they didn’t know what it was, but since the Commonwealth Games at home, people know what it is now.
“When they heard the archery was at Lord’s that was when they became really interested in archery at the Olympics.”
Rai also hoped England’s large Indian community would provide strong support.
“I hope most of the Indian people here will come and see us. We don’t have many spectators in our national tournaments so I hope spectators will come.
“Maybe they will come just to see Lord’s and then see the archery also. At home people will be watching because this is Lord’s.”
India’s preparations for the archery competition, which starts on Friday, have been interrupted by illness.
Several team members fell sick due to the change in climate from the sweltering heat of India to cool, wet weather in the British capital, though they had tried to prepare for the changing conditions in training.
“We have shot in very, very cold places. We went to the border of India and China and it is very cold there,” said. Talukdar. “We went there because we thought it would be cold here.”
Monday, July 23, 2012
Life jacket poser after copter crash
Life jacket poser after copter crash
KUCHING: THE relatives of one of the three victims who died in last Friday's helicopter crash in Batang Lupar have expressed concern there were no life jackets on board.
The talk among relatives and friends yesterday at the Petra Jaya home of Siti Khuzaimah Annuar, 27, was: "Could she and the other two victims have survived if they had life jackets?"
Siti Khuzaimah was a quantity surveyor with Sebiro Holdings, the company that owned the helicopter that plunged into the river near Kampung Triso.
The other two victims are architect Henry Loh and state Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Peter Ato Mayau.
Ato is a business associate of Sebiro Holdings owner Datuk Sng Chee Hua.
State Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director Ling Swee Ing said he was not in a position to say whether the helicopter was carrying life jackets or if it was mandatory for it to have life jackets.
He said officers in DCA's flight operations section were more competent to answer those questions.
A source in the aviation industry said it was mandatory for all aircraft in Malaysia flying over water or close to water to have enough life jackets on board.
The sources said DCA crash investigators had started their investigations and some questions could be answered if they recovered the wreckage.
Sng yesterday paid his last respects and offered his condolences to the family of Siti Khuzaimah at her home.
Siti Khuzaimah was buried at the Gita Muslim cemetery yesterday.
Her mother, Hashimah Fadzli, said: "My daughter was so much against flying that day."
She said Siti Khuzaimah had been "forced" to fly.
The weather over the city on Friday was poor with reduced visibility because of heavy rain.
In an SMS to her mother just before take off, Siti Khuzaimah asked her mother to pray for a safe journey.
KUCHING: THE relatives of one of the three victims who died in last Friday's helicopter crash in Batang Lupar have expressed concern there were no life jackets on board.
The talk among relatives and friends yesterday at the Petra Jaya home of Siti Khuzaimah Annuar, 27, was: "Could she and the other two victims have survived if they had life jackets?"
Siti Khuzaimah was a quantity surveyor with Sebiro Holdings, the company that owned the helicopter that plunged into the river near Kampung Triso.
The other two victims are architect Henry Loh and state Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Peter Ato Mayau.
Ato is a business associate of Sebiro Holdings owner Datuk Sng Chee Hua.
State Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director Ling Swee Ing said he was not in a position to say whether the helicopter was carrying life jackets or if it was mandatory for it to have life jackets.
He said officers in DCA's flight operations section were more competent to answer those questions.
A source in the aviation industry said it was mandatory for all aircraft in Malaysia flying over water or close to water to have enough life jackets on board.
The sources said DCA crash investigators had started their investigations and some questions could be answered if they recovered the wreckage.
Sng yesterday paid his last respects and offered his condolences to the family of Siti Khuzaimah at her home.
Siti Khuzaimah was buried at the Gita Muslim cemetery yesterday.
Her mother, Hashimah Fadzli, said: "My daughter was so much against flying that day."
She said Siti Khuzaimah had been "forced" to fly.
The weather over the city on Friday was poor with reduced visibility because of heavy rain.
In an SMS to her mother just before take off, Siti Khuzaimah asked her mother to pray for a safe journey.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Review: Musical life just gets better for Nas
Review: Musical life just gets better for Nas
On the cover of his 10th album, “Life Is Good,” the urban troubadour known as Nas is dressed in a white suit, glumly holding his ex-wife Kelis’ green wedding dress — the only thing left behind after the couple’s publicly acrimonious divorce. By way of his art, Nas both washes his laundry in public and shows he has moved on.
Producers No I.D. and Salaam Remi give this very personal record an aura of nostalgia, a throwback to the golden age of hip-hop, by using classic beats. Collaborations with artist like Mary J. Blige, Rick Ross and Swizz Beatz and Nas’ solos arrange themselves into a coherent necklace made of discreet gems. Old mixes with new, noir enters the flow and the lyrics are tinged with both vulnerability and brutality.
Nas is the same master wordsmith as he was when he first bowled over critics with his 1994 debut “Illmatic.” He tackles thug life, chrematistics and the pursuit of status, yet shows signs of growth by considering more personal topics like parenthood, love and his relationship with his celebrity.
Songs like “Daughters,” where he raps about his own real-life parenting struggles with his teenage daughter or “Bye Baby,” where he addresses the breakdown of his marriage, show a touching self-awareness. “Cherry Wine” featuring the late Amy Winehouse paints him in a surprising light where he is unshackled by the stereotypical rap views of women.
On the cover of his 10th album, “Life Is Good,” the urban troubadour known as Nas is dressed in a white suit, glumly holding his ex-wife Kelis’ green wedding dress — the only thing left behind after the couple’s publicly acrimonious divorce. By way of his art, Nas both washes his laundry in public and shows he has moved on.
Producers No I.D. and Salaam Remi give this very personal record an aura of nostalgia, a throwback to the golden age of hip-hop, by using classic beats. Collaborations with artist like Mary J. Blige, Rick Ross and Swizz Beatz and Nas’ solos arrange themselves into a coherent necklace made of discreet gems. Old mixes with new, noir enters the flow and the lyrics are tinged with both vulnerability and brutality.
Nas is the same master wordsmith as he was when he first bowled over critics with his 1994 debut “Illmatic.” He tackles thug life, chrematistics and the pursuit of status, yet shows signs of growth by considering more personal topics like parenthood, love and his relationship with his celebrity.
Songs like “Daughters,” where he raps about his own real-life parenting struggles with his teenage daughter or “Bye Baby,” where he addresses the breakdown of his marriage, show a touching self-awareness. “Cherry Wine” featuring the late Amy Winehouse paints him in a surprising light where he is unshackled by the stereotypical rap views of women.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Bark for Life set for Saturday at O'Hara Park
Local canines are getting in on the cause to help raise awareness and support research in the fight against cancer this weekend. As part of the Relay For Life fundraisers, a special event called Bark for Life will be hosted in Oakley's O'Hara Park.
Instead of only humans walking the track, this time they will be joined by their canine friends. The sponsors are making a day of the event offering a wide variety of entertainment and activities.
"We're reaching out to a different group of people," Sharon Joseph, event coordinator, said. "This is an event for dog lovers and not all Relayers have dogs."
Joseph is part of the Relay for Life team out of Brentwood. Although the group already hosted its event last month, all teams have until Aug. 31 to continue fundraising to meet or exceed its goal.
This time out, the Brentwood and Oakley groups will team up to make the most of this fundraising effort.
While this is a Relay For Life event, those who participate in the fun don't have to be part of an earlier Relay group. Joseph said that this is a chance for anyone to get involved.
"People are welcome to get extra donations or just pay the entrance fee to help out," Joseph said.
Entry fee for the event is $25 for one dog and $35 for two dogs.
The activities start bright and early on Saturday at 8 a.m. and continue until 1 p.m. The event includes wading pools for the dogs to stay cool, relay games and an opportunity
drawing. Dogs who like to show off and dress up in costume can enter the events costume contest. Big Al will also be on hand to draw pictures of the dogs and their owners.
"A couple of our volunteers are even making up some special doggy treats to share at a Doggy Bake Shop," she said.
The first 50 people to show up for the event will receive a goody bag or a "Relay Bark For Life" bandanna.
Sign-ups will be taken at the gate on Saturday morning; however, the group is asking for people to sign up early online so they can get an idea of how many will be attending.
Instead of only humans walking the track, this time they will be joined by their canine friends. The sponsors are making a day of the event offering a wide variety of entertainment and activities.
"We're reaching out to a different group of people," Sharon Joseph, event coordinator, said. "This is an event for dog lovers and not all Relayers have dogs."
Joseph is part of the Relay for Life team out of Brentwood. Although the group already hosted its event last month, all teams have until Aug. 31 to continue fundraising to meet or exceed its goal.
This time out, the Brentwood and Oakley groups will team up to make the most of this fundraising effort.
While this is a Relay For Life event, those who participate in the fun don't have to be part of an earlier Relay group. Joseph said that this is a chance for anyone to get involved.
"People are welcome to get extra donations or just pay the entrance fee to help out," Joseph said.
Entry fee for the event is $25 for one dog and $35 for two dogs.
The activities start bright and early on Saturday at 8 a.m. and continue until 1 p.m. The event includes wading pools for the dogs to stay cool, relay games and an opportunity
drawing. Dogs who like to show off and dress up in costume can enter the events costume contest. Big Al will also be on hand to draw pictures of the dogs and their owners.
"A couple of our volunteers are even making up some special doggy treats to share at a Doggy Bake Shop," she said.
The first 50 people to show up for the event will receive a goody bag or a "Relay Bark For Life" bandanna.
Sign-ups will be taken at the gate on Saturday morning; however, the group is asking for people to sign up early online so they can get an idea of how many will be attending.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Life Design Station International, Inc.'s BACKSTAGE VIBE™ Breaks Borders
Life Design Station International, Inc.'s BACKSTAGE VIBE™ Breaks Borders
Life Design Station International, Inc. (OTC Pink: LDSI) reported today that the momentum of Backstage Vibe™ has quickly grabbed the attention of serious and creative artists of the music industry. Immediately upon announcement, the accomplished R&B recording artist and producer Damion Hall expressed his enthusiasm for this innovation to music. Now the Company reports that the avalanche of anticipation for Backstage Vibe™ has spread beyond borders.
Artists like Canadian rock guitarist James "Duke" O'Brien preregistered instantly upon learning of the viral and positive industry response to the Backstage Vibe™ global release just 11 days ago. James, (the Duke as locals from the veterans rocker circles call him) says, "This platform is the best thing I have seen for music artists since my start years ago, even though these days I play mostly for friends, the kind of buzz Backstage Vibe™ can and will generate has been like a shot in the arm for myself personally. The simple way I can reach far greater audiences who love music like I do has truly inspired me to be creative once again. I knew I had to register right away and so glad I did so; this is truly great for artists and alike everywhere in the world."
Artists, producers, promoters, fans, and music aficionados can pre-register for the innovative social music site at www.BackstageVibes.com. Pre-registrants will receive 2 months of the service FREE when the full site goes live on August 15.
About Life Design Station International, Inc.
Life Design Station International, Inc. (LDSI) is a music-inspired corporation. The Company empowers artists, producers and other music professionals to reach millions of potential customers. Life Design Station International, through its Internet-based division, develops and directs an innovative global social platform allowing artists from the U.S. and the world to interface collaboratively in order to promote, produce and sell their musical artistry. LDSI's Backstage Vibe™ provides a leading-edge, secure and user-friendly environment for the sale, distribution and securing of world talent from one source.
Life Design Station International, Inc. (OTC Pink: LDSI) reported today that the momentum of Backstage Vibe™ has quickly grabbed the attention of serious and creative artists of the music industry. Immediately upon announcement, the accomplished R&B recording artist and producer Damion Hall expressed his enthusiasm for this innovation to music. Now the Company reports that the avalanche of anticipation for Backstage Vibe™ has spread beyond borders.
Artists like Canadian rock guitarist James "Duke" O'Brien preregistered instantly upon learning of the viral and positive industry response to the Backstage Vibe™ global release just 11 days ago. James, (the Duke as locals from the veterans rocker circles call him) says, "This platform is the best thing I have seen for music artists since my start years ago, even though these days I play mostly for friends, the kind of buzz Backstage Vibe™ can and will generate has been like a shot in the arm for myself personally. The simple way I can reach far greater audiences who love music like I do has truly inspired me to be creative once again. I knew I had to register right away and so glad I did so; this is truly great for artists and alike everywhere in the world."
Artists, producers, promoters, fans, and music aficionados can pre-register for the innovative social music site at www.BackstageVibes.com. Pre-registrants will receive 2 months of the service FREE when the full site goes live on August 15.
About Life Design Station International, Inc.
Life Design Station International, Inc. (LDSI) is a music-inspired corporation. The Company empowers artists, producers and other music professionals to reach millions of potential customers. Life Design Station International, through its Internet-based division, develops and directs an innovative global social platform allowing artists from the U.S. and the world to interface collaboratively in order to promote, produce and sell their musical artistry. LDSI's Backstage Vibe™ provides a leading-edge, secure and user-friendly environment for the sale, distribution and securing of world talent from one source.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Ukrainian gets life sentence for trafficking workers in U.S
Ukrainian gets life sentence for trafficking workers in U.S
A Ukrainian national was sentenced Monday to life in prison for leading a human-trafficking ring based in Philadelphia that lured its victims into forced labor, cleaning large chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Target.
Omelyan Botsvynyuk, 52, was found guilty in October of conspiracy and extortion. Stepan Botsvynyuk, 38, his brother, was found guilty of conspiracy at the same trial and faces a possible 20 years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Tuesday.
Two other brothers, Mykhaylo and Dmytro, also have been indicted in the case and are awaiting extradition from Canada. A fifth brother, Yaroslav, is a fugitive and believed to be hiding in Ukraine, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
From 2000 to 2007, Omelyan Botsvynyuk ran an organization that smuggled about 30 young Ukrainians to the United States with promises of good jobs with free room and board.
The victims were flown from Germany and Poland to Mexico with tourist visas. There, they were coached by unidentified operatives on how to cross the border into the United States by appearing to be Americans.
They were then shipped to the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia and put to work for the Botsvynyuk brothers' cleaning business. The victims slept on filthy mattresses, sometimes five to a room.
The brothers provided cleaning crews to subcontractors for Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, and Safeway, as well as smaller stores, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Maryland.
Prosecutors said the chains likely were unaware of the status of the workers.
The Botsvynyuk brothers used beatings, sexual assaults, and threats against family members to keep the victims in peonage, forcing them to work to pay off enormous debts the brothers claimed they were owed for bringing the workers to America.
Two women testified that Omelyan Botsvynyuk had raped them several times. He once told the mother of a man who escaped that he would cut off the fingers and ears of the woman's other son in Philadelphia unless she signed over her Ukrainian house as payment.
"The evidence and testimony presented at trial painted a picture of the defendants' depravity and inhumane treatment of their victims," said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger.
"This is a case that cries out for justice on behalf of victims who entered this country for better opportunities but then found themselves living a nightmare," Memeger said.
Eight workers cooperated with the prosecution and are eligible for special visas given to victims of human trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond sentenced Omelyan Botsvynyuk to life in prison plus 20 years.
A Ukrainian national was sentenced Monday to life in prison for leading a human-trafficking ring based in Philadelphia that lured its victims into forced labor, cleaning large chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Target.
Omelyan Botsvynyuk, 52, was found guilty in October of conspiracy and extortion. Stepan Botsvynyuk, 38, his brother, was found guilty of conspiracy at the same trial and faces a possible 20 years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Tuesday.
Two other brothers, Mykhaylo and Dmytro, also have been indicted in the case and are awaiting extradition from Canada. A fifth brother, Yaroslav, is a fugitive and believed to be hiding in Ukraine, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
From 2000 to 2007, Omelyan Botsvynyuk ran an organization that smuggled about 30 young Ukrainians to the United States with promises of good jobs with free room and board.
The victims were flown from Germany and Poland to Mexico with tourist visas. There, they were coached by unidentified operatives on how to cross the border into the United States by appearing to be Americans.
They were then shipped to the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia and put to work for the Botsvynyuk brothers' cleaning business. The victims slept on filthy mattresses, sometimes five to a room.
The brothers provided cleaning crews to subcontractors for Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, and Safeway, as well as smaller stores, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Maryland.
Prosecutors said the chains likely were unaware of the status of the workers.
The Botsvynyuk brothers used beatings, sexual assaults, and threats against family members to keep the victims in peonage, forcing them to work to pay off enormous debts the brothers claimed they were owed for bringing the workers to America.
Two women testified that Omelyan Botsvynyuk had raped them several times. He once told the mother of a man who escaped that he would cut off the fingers and ears of the woman's other son in Philadelphia unless she signed over her Ukrainian house as payment.
"The evidence and testimony presented at trial painted a picture of the defendants' depravity and inhumane treatment of their victims," said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger.
"This is a case that cries out for justice on behalf of victims who entered this country for better opportunities but then found themselves living a nightmare," Memeger said.
Eight workers cooperated with the prosecution and are eligible for special visas given to victims of human trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond sentenced Omelyan Botsvynyuk to life in prison plus 20 years.
Friday, July 13, 2012
'Larger Than Life' Trade Demands Still Holding Up Rick Nash TradeRick Nash wants out of Columbus, but Scott Howson's inability to budge from 'Larger Than Life'
'Larger Than Life' Trade Demands Still Holding Up Rick Nash TradeRick Nash wants out of Columbus, but Scott Howson's inability to budge from 'Larger Than Life' trade demands have brought negotiations to a stand still.
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Jul 12, 2012 - Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson is somehow still employed in that position, months after it seemed obvious that he was no longer fit for the job.
And after bungling several offseason acquisitions a year ago -- signing free agent defenseman James Wisniewski, trading for former Flyers forward Jeff Carter, then later dishing Carter to Los Angeles in an equally lopsided deal -- he's been tasked with remaking the Blue Jackets once more.
This time things are certainly more difficult for Howson. Not only is he teetering on the brink of Life No. 9-and-a-half, he must prove he's able to create a winning tradition in Columbus while also getting rid of that organization's franchise star. The sole player in the NHL who's truly identified as a Blue Jacket. The guy who's been there since the beginning, loyal to the end. Howson must trade Rick Nash.
Surely, that it's come to this is not all Howson's fault. Nash and the organization clearly had a falling out over the course of the 2011-12 season, as the star winger clearly became fed up with life in hockey purgatory. The team has made the playoffs once in their history, and when the promises of winning days ahead turned into another NHL-worst year in Columbus, Nash finally asked for a trade.
So here's the general manager, suddenly forced to trade away the greatest player to ever pull on his team's uniform. A fan favorite. A local icon, really. And if he ships Nash out of town for anything less than a king's ransom, the calls for his head will only get louder. He'll almost certainly lose his job at the slightest hiccup.
It's no wonder why Howson has turned the Rick Nash Trade Game into a charade. It's no wonder why he failed to dish Nash to one of the many suitors that desired his services at the trade deadline, and it's no wonder why, as the 2012 NHL offseason carries on, he's still asking for a Larger Than Life return in any trade for Nash.
What's a Larger Than Life trade demand look like?
Back at the trade deadline, Howson reportedly asked the New York Rangers for the following:
■One of either stud defenseman Ryan McDonagh or rising stud defenseman Michael Del Zotto, PLUS;
■One of either potential future No. 1 centerman Derek Stepan or speedy, promising youngster Carl Hagelin, PLUS;
■One of either Brandon Dubinsky or Chris Kreider, the top prospect in the Rangers organization.
Howson hasn't stopped there. We know that he's asked for a similar package from the Philadelphia Flyers, another club that's both on Nash's list of acceptable destinations and highly interested in adding the 28-year-old.
Howson has balked at any deal that doesn't include young, impressive two-way forward Sean Couturier, the 2011 draftee selected with the No. 8 overall pick, acquired by the Flyers from Columbus in the Carter trade last June. In addition to Couturier, Howson apparently wants another top forward -- since-departed power winger James van Riemsdyk was reportedly discussed in talks, as was Philly's other young stud center, Brayden Schenn.
Boston media has speculated that any potential Nash trade to the Bruins would require a return including Tyler Seguin, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft who led all Bruins in scoring a year ago, or future linchpin defenseman Dougie Hamilton, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2011 draft. Howson also reportedly wants picks and another everyday roster player in the deal as well.
Howson has reportedly asked the Carolina Hurricanes for budding superstar Jeff Skinner. Calder Trophy candidate Logan Couture was demanded from the San Jose Sharks. That Rick Nash is still a member of the Blue Jackets in mid-July tells you all you need to know about these Larger Than Life trade demands. They're crazy.
At age 28, Nash has likely peaked in his career, reaching a high of 79 points in 2008-09.
The argument is that with better line mates -- all six teams on Nash's reported trade list feature elite centers he could play alongside -- Nash's numbers would reach career highs. But with six more years on his contract at $7.8 million against the salary cap per season, can playing with Brad Richards (or Claude Giroux or Sidney Crosby) guarantee elite-level production out of Nash until 2018?
You understand why Scott Howson is making such Larger Than Life demands in any Rick Nash trade. He'll probably lose his job otherwise. But the reality is that Nash is more valuable in Columbus, to the organization that crafted its identity and local image around him, than he is to any other team in the league.
As long as the price tag stays this high, it seems apparent that Nash will remain a member of the Blue Jackets.
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Jul 12, 2012 - Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson is somehow still employed in that position, months after it seemed obvious that he was no longer fit for the job.
And after bungling several offseason acquisitions a year ago -- signing free agent defenseman James Wisniewski, trading for former Flyers forward Jeff Carter, then later dishing Carter to Los Angeles in an equally lopsided deal -- he's been tasked with remaking the Blue Jackets once more.
This time things are certainly more difficult for Howson. Not only is he teetering on the brink of Life No. 9-and-a-half, he must prove he's able to create a winning tradition in Columbus while also getting rid of that organization's franchise star. The sole player in the NHL who's truly identified as a Blue Jacket. The guy who's been there since the beginning, loyal to the end. Howson must trade Rick Nash.
Surely, that it's come to this is not all Howson's fault. Nash and the organization clearly had a falling out over the course of the 2011-12 season, as the star winger clearly became fed up with life in hockey purgatory. The team has made the playoffs once in their history, and when the promises of winning days ahead turned into another NHL-worst year in Columbus, Nash finally asked for a trade.
So here's the general manager, suddenly forced to trade away the greatest player to ever pull on his team's uniform. A fan favorite. A local icon, really. And if he ships Nash out of town for anything less than a king's ransom, the calls for his head will only get louder. He'll almost certainly lose his job at the slightest hiccup.
It's no wonder why Howson has turned the Rick Nash Trade Game into a charade. It's no wonder why he failed to dish Nash to one of the many suitors that desired his services at the trade deadline, and it's no wonder why, as the 2012 NHL offseason carries on, he's still asking for a Larger Than Life return in any trade for Nash.
What's a Larger Than Life trade demand look like?
Back at the trade deadline, Howson reportedly asked the New York Rangers for the following:
■One of either stud defenseman Ryan McDonagh or rising stud defenseman Michael Del Zotto, PLUS;
■One of either potential future No. 1 centerman Derek Stepan or speedy, promising youngster Carl Hagelin, PLUS;
■One of either Brandon Dubinsky or Chris Kreider, the top prospect in the Rangers organization.
Howson hasn't stopped there. We know that he's asked for a similar package from the Philadelphia Flyers, another club that's both on Nash's list of acceptable destinations and highly interested in adding the 28-year-old.
Howson has balked at any deal that doesn't include young, impressive two-way forward Sean Couturier, the 2011 draftee selected with the No. 8 overall pick, acquired by the Flyers from Columbus in the Carter trade last June. In addition to Couturier, Howson apparently wants another top forward -- since-departed power winger James van Riemsdyk was reportedly discussed in talks, as was Philly's other young stud center, Brayden Schenn.
Boston media has speculated that any potential Nash trade to the Bruins would require a return including Tyler Seguin, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft who led all Bruins in scoring a year ago, or future linchpin defenseman Dougie Hamilton, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2011 draft. Howson also reportedly wants picks and another everyday roster player in the deal as well.
Howson has reportedly asked the Carolina Hurricanes for budding superstar Jeff Skinner. Calder Trophy candidate Logan Couture was demanded from the San Jose Sharks. That Rick Nash is still a member of the Blue Jackets in mid-July tells you all you need to know about these Larger Than Life trade demands. They're crazy.
At age 28, Nash has likely peaked in his career, reaching a high of 79 points in 2008-09.
The argument is that with better line mates -- all six teams on Nash's reported trade list feature elite centers he could play alongside -- Nash's numbers would reach career highs. But with six more years on his contract at $7.8 million against the salary cap per season, can playing with Brad Richards (or Claude Giroux or Sidney Crosby) guarantee elite-level production out of Nash until 2018?
You understand why Scott Howson is making such Larger Than Life demands in any Rick Nash trade. He'll probably lose his job otherwise. But the reality is that Nash is more valuable in Columbus, to the organization that crafted its identity and local image around him, than he is to any other team in the league.
As long as the price tag stays this high, it seems apparent that Nash will remain a member of the Blue Jackets.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Baby giant panda's death in Tokyo sparks grief
The death of a baby panda in Japan stopped regular television programming and brought a Tokyo zoo director to tears on Wednesday, a week after its birth sent ripples of excitement across the nation.
Newscasts had dedicated a nightly segment to the male cub's daily activities since his birth on July 5, with retailers unveiling a host of panda-themed products in celebration.
The unnamed cub was initially hailed as a rare success for Japan's captive breeding programme as it was the zoo's first panda born in 24 years and the only one conceived from natural sexual intercourse.
But the enthusiasm turned to grief on Wednesday after Ueno zoo in the Japanese capital said the tiny, 144-gram male infant had died of pneumonia, bringing zoo director Toshimitsu Doi to tears.
"We are very disappointed," Doi said as he wiped his eyes.
Newscasters interrupted regular programming to report the death of the cub, whose birth had been embraced as happy news for a country still struggling to recover from last year's quake-tsunami disaster.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda described the death as "very disappointing".
"We were all looking forward" to the cub's development, he told reporters in Tokyo.
Matsuzakaya, a major Japanese department store, had planned a "Happy Panda Week" celebration, offering special discounts following the birth, but the event was canceled on Wednesday.
The zoo said keepers found the baby lying on its back against its mother Shin Shin's stomach.
"They administered a cardiac massage and other treatment, but unfortunately they confirmed its death at 8:30 am (2330 GMT Tuesday)," the zoo said.
Shin Shin and her mate Ri Ri were leased from China last year at an annual cost of about one million dollars to the zoo operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan government.
The baby was hailed in China, which has sometimes hostile relations with neighbouring Japan.
"We lament the loss of the cub and believe that the Japanese people, who have been looking forward to seeing the cub, will also lament this loss," said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin in a statement Wednesday.
Last week Beijing expressed hope "people-to-people sentiment and overall relations between China and Japan" could be promoted by the cub's birth.
China is famed for its "panda diplomacy", using the bears as diplomatic gifts to other countries. About 1,600 remain in the wild in China, with some 300 others in captivity worldwide -- mostly in China.
As many as 16 giant pandas have been born in Japan, according to reports.
Newscasts had dedicated a nightly segment to the male cub's daily activities since his birth on July 5, with retailers unveiling a host of panda-themed products in celebration.
The unnamed cub was initially hailed as a rare success for Japan's captive breeding programme as it was the zoo's first panda born in 24 years and the only one conceived from natural sexual intercourse.
But the enthusiasm turned to grief on Wednesday after Ueno zoo in the Japanese capital said the tiny, 144-gram male infant had died of pneumonia, bringing zoo director Toshimitsu Doi to tears.
"We are very disappointed," Doi said as he wiped his eyes.
Newscasters interrupted regular programming to report the death of the cub, whose birth had been embraced as happy news for a country still struggling to recover from last year's quake-tsunami disaster.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda described the death as "very disappointing".
"We were all looking forward" to the cub's development, he told reporters in Tokyo.
Matsuzakaya, a major Japanese department store, had planned a "Happy Panda Week" celebration, offering special discounts following the birth, but the event was canceled on Wednesday.
The zoo said keepers found the baby lying on its back against its mother Shin Shin's stomach.
"They administered a cardiac massage and other treatment, but unfortunately they confirmed its death at 8:30 am (2330 GMT Tuesday)," the zoo said.
Shin Shin and her mate Ri Ri were leased from China last year at an annual cost of about one million dollars to the zoo operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan government.
The baby was hailed in China, which has sometimes hostile relations with neighbouring Japan.
"We lament the loss of the cub and believe that the Japanese people, who have been looking forward to seeing the cub, will also lament this loss," said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin in a statement Wednesday.
Last week Beijing expressed hope "people-to-people sentiment and overall relations between China and Japan" could be promoted by the cub's birth.
China is famed for its "panda diplomacy", using the bears as diplomatic gifts to other countries. About 1,600 remain in the wild in China, with some 300 others in captivity worldwide -- mostly in China.
As many as 16 giant pandas have been born in Japan, according to reports.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Egyptian President Flexes Power with Caution
The faceoff between Egypt‘s new Islamist president and the old guard military sharpened Tuesday, with parliament defying orders to disband and the highest court slapping back at Mohammed Morsi in what has become an early glimpse into how he may flex his power.
Morsi’s rapid-fire moves against Egypt’s entrenched institutions show he is willing to push back against the establishment left over from the era of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. But — so far at least — he and his Muslim Brotherhood allies have also displayed restraint and appear intent on avoiding a collision course during a sensitive transition period.
It could point to a complicated and protracted shake-out between Morsi and Egypt’s security and judicial power centers, as all sides test the limits of their powers while the country awaits its post-Arab Spring constitution — not expected before the end of the year.
In place of an all-out confrontation, Egypt may be witnessing the new rules of political engagement being defined in a time of highly unclear guidelines: tough statements, conflicting orders and attempts to push the envelope but not tear it up.
“One of them came through the ballot box and the other is trying to monopolize power,” Gamal Eid, a prominent rights lawyer said of Morsi and the generals.
Already, Morsi has shown the ability to multi-task his political messages and end up somewhere in the middle.
The president carefully avoided criticism of the court’s ruling in his order Sunday to reconvene parliament. Instead, he restricted himself to revoking the military order that disbanded the chamber — in effect picking the easier target because of widespread public frustration with the military’s lingering influence over the country since Mubarak’s fall.
But in taking on the military, Morsi has also picked a still formidable foe with massive resources and powerful allies in the media.
The military brass has been Egypt’s de facto ruler since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup. With conscription of males in force since the 1960s and four wars against Israel between 1948 and 1973, there is hardly an Egyptian family without at least one member in active service or with military experience.
“The best strategy for Morsi now might be to avoid confrontational policies and begin to slowly create a power base for himself in the higher circles of the country’s body politic,” said Azzedine Layachi, a Middle East expert from St. John’s University in New York. “For now, a confrontation may not only stall political transition in Egypt, but could also lead to Morsi’s removal from office.”
Morsi can depend on the backing of a disciplined and efficient machine in the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful political group that won just under half of parliament’s seats in the country’s freest election in decades.
The Brotherhood, which has been banned by successive regimes during most of its 84 years, nevertheless has acquired an impressive record of mobilizing supporters.
On Tuesday, thousands of Brotherhood backers filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square, cradle of last year’s uprising. Some danced and sang, while many carried Morsi portraits. They greeted Tuesday’s ruling against Morsi’s decree with chants of “batel,” or illegitimate.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is scheduled to visit Egypt this weekend, urged Morsi and the military to settle their differences in the spirit of the revolution.
(PHOTOS: After the Spring: Women of the Arab Revolution)
“We urge that there be intensive dialogue among all of the stakeholders in order to ensure there is a clear path for them to be following and that the Egyptian people get what they protested for and what they voted for, which is a fully elected government making the decisions,” she said during a trip to Vietnam.
But if Morsi wants to use the street to prevail in his fight with the military, he will need to show that he can draw support from beyond the Brotherhood’s base — something that may prove tough.
Most of the youth groups behind last year’s anti-Mubarak uprising are on the fence. As the Brotherhood and the military square off, their memories are still fresh of the Brotherhood abandoning them during deadly clashes with security forces last year.
At the time, the Brotherhood said it was focusing its energy on campaigning for parliamentary elections. Critics contended, however, that it did not want to anger the military by taking part in protests demanding the generals immediately step down.
“I personally want parliament to be reinstated, but a great deal of people I know want court rulings to be respected,” said Ahmed Badawi, a liberal activist. “For now, Morsi has the active support of Islamists.”
Possibly anticipating his fight with the military, Morsi used a series of high-profile speeches to win support outside the Muslim Brotherhood, mixing revolutionary rhetoric with dramatic gestures and signs of religious piety.
“I am a president for all Egyptians,” he has said more than once in recent days in a bid to reassure liberals, women and minority Christians who fear he will inject more religion into government and push them to the sidelines.
Morsi has also been trying to project the image of a strong president who commands the respect of the powerful military. For the second consecutive day, he attended a military graduation ceremony on Tuesday.
Unlike his four military predecessors, Morsi is not the supreme commander of the armed forces and, under a “constitutional declaration” issued by the military last month, he cannot declare war or order troops on the streets in the case of a domestic crisis without prior agreement from the military.
Morsi’s rapid-fire moves against Egypt’s entrenched institutions show he is willing to push back against the establishment left over from the era of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. But — so far at least — he and his Muslim Brotherhood allies have also displayed restraint and appear intent on avoiding a collision course during a sensitive transition period.
It could point to a complicated and protracted shake-out between Morsi and Egypt’s security and judicial power centers, as all sides test the limits of their powers while the country awaits its post-Arab Spring constitution — not expected before the end of the year.
In place of an all-out confrontation, Egypt may be witnessing the new rules of political engagement being defined in a time of highly unclear guidelines: tough statements, conflicting orders and attempts to push the envelope but not tear it up.
“One of them came through the ballot box and the other is trying to monopolize power,” Gamal Eid, a prominent rights lawyer said of Morsi and the generals.
Already, Morsi has shown the ability to multi-task his political messages and end up somewhere in the middle.
The president carefully avoided criticism of the court’s ruling in his order Sunday to reconvene parliament. Instead, he restricted himself to revoking the military order that disbanded the chamber — in effect picking the easier target because of widespread public frustration with the military’s lingering influence over the country since Mubarak’s fall.
But in taking on the military, Morsi has also picked a still formidable foe with massive resources and powerful allies in the media.
The military brass has been Egypt’s de facto ruler since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup. With conscription of males in force since the 1960s and four wars against Israel between 1948 and 1973, there is hardly an Egyptian family without at least one member in active service or with military experience.
“The best strategy for Morsi now might be to avoid confrontational policies and begin to slowly create a power base for himself in the higher circles of the country’s body politic,” said Azzedine Layachi, a Middle East expert from St. John’s University in New York. “For now, a confrontation may not only stall political transition in Egypt, but could also lead to Morsi’s removal from office.”
Morsi can depend on the backing of a disciplined and efficient machine in the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful political group that won just under half of parliament’s seats in the country’s freest election in decades.
The Brotherhood, which has been banned by successive regimes during most of its 84 years, nevertheless has acquired an impressive record of mobilizing supporters.
On Tuesday, thousands of Brotherhood backers filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square, cradle of last year’s uprising. Some danced and sang, while many carried Morsi portraits. They greeted Tuesday’s ruling against Morsi’s decree with chants of “batel,” or illegitimate.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is scheduled to visit Egypt this weekend, urged Morsi and the military to settle their differences in the spirit of the revolution.
(PHOTOS: After the Spring: Women of the Arab Revolution)
“We urge that there be intensive dialogue among all of the stakeholders in order to ensure there is a clear path for them to be following and that the Egyptian people get what they protested for and what they voted for, which is a fully elected government making the decisions,” she said during a trip to Vietnam.
But if Morsi wants to use the street to prevail in his fight with the military, he will need to show that he can draw support from beyond the Brotherhood’s base — something that may prove tough.
Most of the youth groups behind last year’s anti-Mubarak uprising are on the fence. As the Brotherhood and the military square off, their memories are still fresh of the Brotherhood abandoning them during deadly clashes with security forces last year.
At the time, the Brotherhood said it was focusing its energy on campaigning for parliamentary elections. Critics contended, however, that it did not want to anger the military by taking part in protests demanding the generals immediately step down.
“I personally want parliament to be reinstated, but a great deal of people I know want court rulings to be respected,” said Ahmed Badawi, a liberal activist. “For now, Morsi has the active support of Islamists.”
Possibly anticipating his fight with the military, Morsi used a series of high-profile speeches to win support outside the Muslim Brotherhood, mixing revolutionary rhetoric with dramatic gestures and signs of religious piety.
“I am a president for all Egyptians,” he has said more than once in recent days in a bid to reassure liberals, women and minority Christians who fear he will inject more religion into government and push them to the sidelines.
Morsi has also been trying to project the image of a strong president who commands the respect of the powerful military. For the second consecutive day, he attended a military graduation ceremony on Tuesday.
Unlike his four military predecessors, Morsi is not the supreme commander of the armed forces and, under a “constitutional declaration” issued by the military last month, he cannot declare war or order troops on the streets in the case of a domestic crisis without prior agreement from the military.
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