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A chronology of lesbian and gay communities, movements, and venues in Sydney

1960 - 1966

Australian society in the late 1960s was hostile to homosexuals or, at least, its institutions were. The Law treated gay men as criminals who could be locked away for 14 years for the “abominable crime of buggery”, and the police were active in trying to prosecute them.

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Coming Out Into a Hostile World

Francesca (Chesca) Curtis's television appearance on The Bailey File, a Melbourne-based current affairs programme on commercial television TV's Channel 9, in May or June 1970, speaking about the aims of the Australian Lesbian Movement was arguably Australia's first "coming out" in the media.

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Australia's First National Coming Out

Homosexual/transgender social groups began forming in the early 1960s in Sydney. They offered membership of a discreet “camp” organisation. Their dances provided the perfect stage for Sydney’s new amateur drag scene to flourish and a place for men and women to meet up and find Miss or Mr Right – at least for the night. In the Leichhardt area, there was no shortage of public halls for these groups.

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Leichhardt/Dykehardt Exhibition

Male homosexual acts are no longer criminal in NSW – the law was amended in 1984, and ‘gay’ men can live quite open lives, with a range of venues where they can socialize in ways similar to their heterosexual counterparts. Also, the two worlds now softly collide, with gays and straights mixing together quite easily in many places in Sydney’s inner suburbs.

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And The Beats Go On...

The following people participated in the first Mardi Gras and/or the related events . While every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy, the list could include errors and omissions. Some names are also likely to be the arrestees' aliases.

78ers Honour Roll

If not in Sydney

Jan 2001

A new guide HIV Tests and Treatments is launched by the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisation (AFAO) and the AIDS Council of NSW (ACON).

1 Jan 01

PRIDE’s Pagan Night is held at the old Showgrounds and attracts 8,000.

3 Jan 01

Police seize a book of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. The Office of Film and Literature subsequently decides the book should be freely available.

11-12 Jan 01

The International Trade Union Confederation Lesbian and Gay Conference is held in Sydney.

Feb 2001

Former Satellite Group founders Greg Fisher and Jonathon Broster appear in the St James Local Court on criminal charges brought  by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

Feb 2001

Steve Dow’s book of essays about gay life in Australia, Gay is published.

Feb 2001

Kelly Gardiner is appointed Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) CEO.

Feb 2001

The Australian Tourism Commission launches its Gay Australia Guide.

1 Feb 01

OutFM returns for one month’s transmission until 28 Feb.

1 Feb 01

The appointment of a former Pharmaceutical industry lobbyist to the Federal Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee by the Federal Health Minister, leads to the resignation of Martyn Goddard, a consumer representative.

9 Feb 01

23,000 celebrate the launch of the 2001 Mardi Gras season on the forecourt of the Opera House.

6 Feb 01

CAMP Inc’s founder members and the curator of the LGBTI history exhibition, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know Michael Flynn, mark the 30th anniversary of the first public meeting of CAMP Inc at St John’s Church Hall in Birchgrove.

16 Feb 01

Artist Trevor Fry is advised by Mardi Gras Festival director, David Fenton, that his work Favourite Things was removed from the Mardi Gras Nude Salon exhibition.

17 Feb 01

Hey Hetero! an exhibition of posters parodying the predominate heterosexual imagery by Deborah Kelly and Tina Fiveash is launched through Avant Cards and at the Seymour Centre.

23 Feb01

Cleansing Songs, a programme of music made up of works by lesbian and gay composers is performed at Government House.

27 Feb 01

The Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial Project and South Sydney Council hold a dedication ceremony for the new Green Park monument.

March 2001

Queer City – Gay and Lesbian Politics in Sydney a collection of essays edited by Paul Van Reyk and Craig Johnston is launched.

March 2001

The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation records its most demanding month, with 467 clients requesting assistance.

1 March 01

Dr Marie Bashir, Governor Elect of NSW grants vice regal patronage to the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service (NSW).

3 March 01

The 24th annual Mardi Gras Parade is held. The lead float is titled Behind the Pink Picket Fence and is intended to send a strong political message about gay and lesbian parents and their children.

4 March 01

Lucille Balls, the multi orbed dress designed by Ron Muncaster forms part of the Eternity exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

6 March 01

The latest issue of the GLBTQ weekly, G, is shrouded in controversy as the editor and staff cease working and there is a rumoured break between the publisher and the investor.

9 March 01

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, an exhibition that covers 100 years of Lesbian, gay and transgender history in NSW opens in the Fountain Court of the NSW Parliament House.

18 March 01

The UK television series, Queer as Folk screens on TV Channels 53 and 62 at 10pm.

26 March 01

George Pell is appointed Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop.

27 March 01

Company B Belvoir commences a sold- out season of the Laramie Project, a new play about Matthew Shepard who was beaten and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998.

27 March 01

Feminist Eva Cox, addresses the first lesbian health forum, Stir It Up put on by ACON and the Lesbian Health Interagency Network.

29 March 01

A forum on gay male to male domestic violence is convened by LGBTQ community organisations and highlights a lack of resources for gay men.

31 March 01

The Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project is transferred to the responsibility of ACON.

April 2001

HomoLomo an exhibition of photos taken with old Lomo cameras, goes on display at the Stonewall Hotel.

1 April 01

In a world first, a new law granting same sex marriage comes into effect in the Netherlands.

10 April 01

The Flinders Hotel sells for $3.74m at auction.

19 April 2001

Fruits in Suits is re-launched by the Gay and Lesbian Business Association at the W Hotel in Woolloomooloo.

21 April 2001

The Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed at Hall No.1 at Darling Harbour.

23 April 2001

A resolution proposed by the Australian Lesbian Medical Association to end discrimination against lesbian doctors and patients is passed by the Medical Women’s International Association.

28 April 01

Inquisition, a dance party, kicks off Sydney’s Leather Pride Week.

30 April 2001

Sydney gay man Johnnie Cass appears in the new reality TV show Big Brother.

May 2001

A community consortium continues the operations of the Positive Living Centre, after the South Eastern Sydney Area Health Service “de-funds” it.

May 2001

David McHugh, the new owner of the former Westpac Bank site at the corner of Crown and Oxford Street plans to convert it into a hotel/bar/restaurant.

May 2001

Sally Abrahams is appointed Executive Officer of Twenty10

May 2001

A gay survey conducted by recruitment TMP Worldwide found that 39.9% suffered discrimination and 11.7% said they have a “pink glass ceiling” in their workplace.

1 May 2001

A design proposal by South Sydney Council for Taylor Square, featuring outdoor seating, palm trees and a mist fountain goes on display.

6 May 2001

The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) launches its Parenting Consultation Report in conjunction with a Rainbow Babies Picnic.

7 May 2001

Kitty Fischer, key mover to establish the Gay Holocaust Memorial Project in Green Park, dies.

10 May 2001

The Collective Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) holds a demonstration against the installation of the new Roman Catholic Archbishop, George Pell at St Marys Cathedral.

18 May 2001

David Beschi, artist and venue owner, holds an exhibition of his work at the Quay Gallery.

25 May 2001

Aspirant gay and lesbian community broadcasters, OutFM and FreeFM fail in their bid for permanent FM broadcasting licences.

June 2001

Tim Berry and John Patterson buy the gay and lesbian lifestyle website,

June 2001

Sydney 2002 Gay Games appoints new CEO Geoffrey Williams and elects two new co-chairs, Bev Lange and Peter Bailey.

8 June 2001

Greg Fischer, former Managing Director of gay property and publishing company, the Satellite Group is committed to stand trial.

9 June 2001

4,000 attend ACON’s annual fundraiser dance Hand in Hand, themed Lust in Space.

27 June 2001

John Marsden wins $525,000 in damages in the Supreme Court for pederasty allegations contained in Channel Seven’s Today Tonight programme.

July 2001

Stevie Clayton is appointed as the new CEO of ACON.

July 2001

Creditors vote to liquidate the leaseholder of the Flinders Hotel, after incurring losses of $5,000 per week.

July 2001

Monash University researchers are hoping that Leutinizing Hormone Releasing Hormone has the potential to rebuild the immune system by stimulating the thymus gland.

July 2001

ACON appoints a women’s health promotion officer.

1 July 2001

Revolution ’69 Dance Party, a fund raiser for the PRIDE Centre is held.

7 July 2001

John Marsden calls for a judicial inquiry into alleged collusion between the NSW Police Service and the Channel Seven Network in preparing a defamatory broadcast.

12 July 2001

19 year old gay man Angel, the creator of celebrates the first year of his first Australian gay and lesbian youth website that had become a world-wide hit.

13 July 2001

Theo Onisforou purchases the Albury Hotel. The ground floor will become shops and the bars moved upstairs.

17 July 2001

The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church receives a report Faithfulness in Fellowship that considers biblical, theological and scientific data on homosexuality.

August 2001

Homophobia And Sexuality Discrimination In Sport, guidelines to address sexuality discrimination in sport, is released by the Federal Liberal Sports Minister, Jackie Kelly.

Aug 2001

Gordon Wheatley joins PRIDE as General Manager.

7 August 01

The GLRL calls on lesbian and gay couples to identify themselves in the national census.

25 Aug 01

Julie Regan is elected for a second term as President of  SGLMG.

29 Aug 01

Democrats Brian Greig moves an urgency motion in the Senate to “enact national laws against sexuality discrimination”. The motion is passed with support of Labor and the Greens.

Sept 2001

19 year old Mogenic web site creator Angel is appointed co-convenor of the youth support group Twenty10.

Sept 2001

GLRL launches a new campaign to alert the community to discriminatory provisions in Federal Superannuation legislation.

Sept 2001

South Sydney Council releases proposals to re-design Taylor Square.

Sept 2001

Edward Young, the partner of a deceased WWII veteran refused a widower’s pension by the Federal Department of Veteran Affairs, will have his case heard by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations.

Sept 2001

A community consortium headed by ACON will run the Positive Living Centre in Darlinghurst.

11 Sept 01

People across Sydney wait for news from friends and colleagues after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

11 Sept 01

New York

It is speculated that Mark Bingham a 31 year old public relations executive and rugby league enthusiast helped down the fourth terrorist hijacked plane before it could reach its target.

20 Sept 01

Gay man, John Fowler, is elected for a second term as the Mayor of South Sydney.

25 Sept 01

William Yang’s performance Blood Links opens at the Sydney Opera House.

29 Sept 01

15,000 attend the SGLMG Sleaze Ball, themed Beastiality.

Oct 2001

The Family Court upholds the legality of a female to male trans-sexual’s marriage to a woman after a challenge by the Federal Attorney General.

8 Oct 2001

The Sixth International Congress of AIDS in Asia and the Pacific is held.

27 Oct 01

The Albury Hotel, owned in partnership by Leigh Jennings and Nanette Theakstone, closes after 22 years as a gay hotel.

Nov 2001

Don Baxter is appointed executive director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO).

Nov 2001

Father Austin Day, the rector of Christ Church St Laurence and among the first to provide pastoral care for people with HIV/AIDS dies.

9 Nov 01

Gerald Lawrence, activist with SGLMG, GLRL, PRIDE and ACON dies.

24 Nov 01

The annual AIDS Candlelight commemoration is held with the numbers down to less than 100.

26 Nov 01

The shareholding base of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Community Publishing, publishers of the Sydney Star Observer, is increased by 200 shares.

Dec 2001

Lachlan Warner, a gay Buddhist artist, wins the Blake Prize for Religious Art.

Dec 2001

Premier Bob Carr, agrees to waive fees to hold the SGLMG Parade, possibly saving the organisation from financial ruin.

Dec 2001

The upgrade of Taylor Square by South Sydney Council is shelved.

7 Dec 01

Richard Wherrett, theatre director, SGLMG party director and author dies.

19 Dec 01

Joy Melbourne, the gay and lesbian community radio station wins its battle to gain a full time broadcasting licence.

Updated: 10/07/14


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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Astronomer of the Month: Viviana Acquaviva

Each month we will highlight a member of the CANDELS team by presenting an interview introducing them and what it's like to be an astronomer. This month's Astronomer is Viviana Acquaviva.

Tell us a little about yourself!

My name is Viviana Acquaviva and I work as an assistant professor of Physics at CityTech, one of 23 CUNY (City University of New York) campuses. I am originally from Italy and I completed all my studies there. I attended the University of Pisa where I got a Bachelors degree in Physics, and I moved to the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste for my PhD. After that, I jumped (well, flew) across the pond and held two three-year postdoctoral positions, one shared between the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, and one at Rutgers University. I've been in my current position since 2012. I enjoy cycling and word games, and I'm quite the stereotypical Italian: I like to eat, drink wine, and zip around Brooklyn on my Vespa.

What is your specific area of research? What is your role within the CANDELS team?

I have explored several areas of research -- I effectively started as a theoretical cosmologist (and even did research with pen and paper -- lots of paper) working on inflation and the early Universe. During my PhD I worked mostly on the phenomenology of extended Dark Energy and Modified Gravity models. In my first postdoc I added some statistics and data analysis to my skill set and used them to analyze Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data, and in the last few years I became interested in the physical properties of galaxies and how to measure them in a rigorous, model-independent way. My latest projects focus on using data mining and machine learning techniques to help us navigate large data sets. In CANDELS, I am an active member of the SED fitting and photometric redshift team, and I try to help make accurate measurements of properties of galaxies such as mass, age, dust content, and star formation history.

What made you want to become an astronomer? At what age did you know you were interested in astronomy?

I have a slightly unconventional background and I never really dreamed of becoming an astronomer, or thought I would become one, but I'm very glad I did (although I think I still lack many qualities a "real" astronomer should have, such as a solid knowledge of how to operate a simple telescope…). I started off thinking I'd want to go into some obscure branch of mathematical physics, became fascinated with cosmology in my senior year of college when I took a GR course, and sought an external advisor for my "Laurea" thesis (a meatier version of a senior honors thesis in the US) since there where no cosmologists where I was studying. When the time came to pick my PhD area, I was admitted to both the Astrophysics and High-Energy physics programs, and I bumped into the person who would become my advisor, Carlo Baccigalupi. I thought the research he was doing was super cool, I really enjoyed talking to him about science, and I decided I'd go for Astro. The rest, as they say, is history, although I still haven't had any formal training in Astronomy.

What obstacles have you encountered on your path to becoming an astronomer and how did you overcome them?

I can look back and identify three main roadblocks. The first came early in college -- I had been able to cruise through my high school years quite easily, and when I started college, I assumed that finding things difficult simply meant that I wasn't cut out for this field. I remember a tearful conversation with my mom in my junior year, where I was adamant (as adamant as a crying and distressed individual can be) about having chosen the wrong major and wanting to go into economics. She patiently listened and encouraged me to do whatever I felt was right. A few months later, thanks to the support of my classmates who kept telling me that in their opinion, I could understand physics pretty well and I was just having performance issues in tests, things began to get better, and I ended up graduating summa cum laude and happy as a clam. Thanks, mom. Thanks, mates.

Afterward, perhaps the most difficult waters to navigate were related to moving to the US and having to face a radically different work ethic and culture. I wasn't prepared for the competitiveness of this environment and I wasn't focused enough on my career. Up to that point, I had worked reasonable hours and had mostly had a "happy go lucky" approach, which, in all honesty, had worked pretty well. I had no clue what all these fellowships everybody was talking about were, and I had no intention or desire to work 12-hour days and every weekend, but suddenly I was surrounded by people who had been planning their next move for years and were determined to succeed, as well as very smart. Work was suddenly good -- perhaps too good, as if the number of hours spent at work, rather than the results, was something of which to be proud. My reaction (perhaps also because of lack of a stable mentor at that time) was to idle, and I got stuck in a weird mode where I wasn't really passionate about what I was doing, I wasn't productive, and these two evils kept feeding upon each other. It took some serious job (or lack thereof) scare and a great mentor to get back on track and realize that hard and systematic work was the cure.

And then of course, a few years later, there was "the faculty job" issue. I don't have much to say about how to overcome this one, because getting a job requires luck. I don't mean that I don't deserve the job that I got, but I am aware that it could have gone another way and whoever was next on that shortlist is probably as good as I am. I can share a few pointers for anxiety-control during this time, though. I tried to keep my options open during the process, by identifying valid alternatives and trying to build some additional skills. For example, I took a graduate course in machine learning in my last year as a postdoc, knowing that this was a field that fascinated me and maybe it would help me find a job I'd like outside academia. I also decided to only apply for positions I really wanted; geographical constraints were an issue for me, and I only selected a handful of locations where I thought I would be happy living. Where to set this boundary is a very personal decision, but I do strongly believe in only spending energy and time toward the things we want - a job we don't like isn't better than the alternative, even if the alternative is unknown. Of course, I had no significant other or children at that time, so it was easy for me to decide to play it out this way. And finally, in times of disappointment, I found it useful to take a break, travel and just get out of it all. Placing myself in an environment where nobody saw the big deal in not getting a faculty job in a particular place was a great help in regaining perspective.
Who has been your biggest scientific role model and why?

I don't know if I have one specific person in mind, I was fortunate to work with many incredible scientists and I like to think I learned something from each of them. The person who had the biggest impact on my career was probably Eric Gawiser, another CANDELS team member and a fantastic mentor for me throughout the years. He offered me a job in a field very different from the one I had been working in up to that time, and let me have time to build up my knowledge in the new field. I had months where I was allowed to just study statistics books and work on code, and I remember them very fondly. But all the advisers I had have qualities that I admire and taught me something that I hope to replicate with my own students and mentees. Sabino Matarrese, my "Laurea" thesis advisor, believed in me even if I came from another University and he had no idea of what my GPA was; Carlo Baccigalupi taught me cosmology from the very beginning an put up with my "enticing" combination of inexperience and arrogance; Licia Verde will forever be my icon of hard, passionate work and lack of fear in asking questions; David Spergel taught me to always be open to new subjects and listen to all talks and all people.

What is it like to be an astronomer? What is your favorite aspect?

My daily job involves a mix of teaching, research, and service work. I teach two or three classes per semester; fortunately they are small classes and usually it's introductory Astronomy, so I don't need a ton of preparation time by now. I have about two full days a week for research, and I try to divide them among my own (let's say, first-author) project, and projects with collaborator and students. I serve on various committees both for my department and my college, and I participate in a number of outreach activities, from Planetarium trips to public lectures. NYC is a very special place for that; the last talk I gave was within Astronomy on Tap, a series of events set up in various bars across NYC, and in May I will give a lecture on space in a black-tie event in a club who had Mark Twain among its early members. I look forward to talking about space while sipping champagne and wearing an evening gown! My favorite aspect of academic life is the freedom to choose what you want to work on and the flexibility in organizing my day. These factors are not exclusive to Astronomy, but I think they are just an incredible luxury. I like being around students -- it's tiring but very rewarding, and I hope that being in contact with young people will keep me young at heart and prevent me from getting bored, my greatest fear of all times. What are for me the best things about our field in particular? 1. I know tons of cool factoids (especially now after a few years of teaching -- Yes, I'm serious, a paper clip of neutron star matter weighs as much as Mount Everest, and that's why you need to know scientific notation!), and 2. our job title is quite awesome (Hi, I'm an astrophysicist, and a woman! Ta-da!).

What motivates you in your research?

Probably the fact that there are constantly new challenges. It's interesting that what keeps me motivated is also what makes me very frustrated at times: working on open-ended questions requires a good dose of self-discipline and humor. I was born with at least some of the latter but I constantly have to work on the former… Also, I've always been one to enjoy the trip more than the destination, so I'd say that my motivation comes more from the fact that I love sitting at my desk and dealing with the puzzle of the day than from the desire of solving long-standing problems in Astronomy.

What is your favorite astronomical facility? (This could include telescopes or super computers, for example)

I am going to go with the Hayden Planetarium for this one. I hold a visiting scientist appointment there, and I just find it an incredibly inspiring place where to be. I went observing at Magellan once (I was the third astronomer on the trip and my job was basically to look around and not touch anything) and that place was magical and unforgettable - but then again, I have nothing else to compare it to, so perhaps it wouldn't be right to call it my favorite telescope.

Where do you see yourself in the future? What are your career aspirations?

Because of the luxury of a (hopefully) permanent position, I have been trying to shift my mental focus on longer-term objectives rather than short-term ones -- asking myself for real, what would I want to accomplish in the next few years? In terms of research, I would really like to focus on machine learning and data mining techniques and their applications in Astronomy. I also want to see some of the underprivileged undergraduate students I supervise enter a good graduate program, and I want to help my institution strengthen the programs currently in place for undergraduate research.
If you could have any astronomy related wish, what would it be?

Turn off all the lights in NYC for a day, and show all my students what the sky really looks like. They were the ones who told me that in LA, during a massive black-out in 1994, many people called 911 reporting "a weird object" in the sky: it was the Milky Way.

What is your favorite, most mind-boggling astronomy fact?

Tough one! I guess the fact that most mind-boggling facts can be explained really simply and understood by everyone. In one of the Astro labs, we count the galaxies in a picture of the HUDF and then to calculate the number of galaxies in the Universe based on how many HUDFs-sized fields there are in the sky, and the number comes up surprisingly accurate (and definitely mind-boggling). The fact that so much of the history and fate of the Universe can be described in terms of six numbers and a couple of differential equations is also pretty amazing to me.

Is there anything else you would like for the public to know about you or astronomy in general?

I talked about myself enough, and I can't say anything new about Astronomy… so I'll close with a suggestion: if you can, take a trip to a dark location, look up, and wonder. Caveat: your kids might get a lot more passionate about science after this trip!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

CANDELS Results Highlighted in Other Blogs

The recent CANDELS paper (Morphologies of z~0.7 AGN Host Galaxies in CANDELS: No trend of merger incidence with AGN Luminosity) by Carolin Villforth (see her blog post on it here) has been discussed in a couple of other blogs. The first is a post by Tanya Urrutia and the second is a post on Astrobites. Check them out!


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Touko Laaksonen sketched out an enduring legacy with his homoerotic images of hyper-masculine men erotically flaunting their gay pride. So, why then is Dome Karukoski’s depiction of Laaksonen’s five-decade rise from closeted pornographer to celebrated artist so disappointingly flaccid? I suspect it’s because Karukoski lacks the nerve to give us the full-frontal version of the man known the world over as “Tom of Finland.” That pseudonym – hung on Laaksonen by his American publisher at Physique Pictorial magazine, Bob Mizer – also stands reflectively as the film’s boring, unimaginative title.

Karukoski is saved somewhat by a solid, unadorned performance by Pekka Strang as Laaksonen, a Finnish war hero who works as a respected advertising firm’s art director by day (heavy shades of “Mad Men’s” Salvatore Romano) and cruises the gay venues of Helsinki and Berlin by night. Tall, lanky and bearing a wisp of a mustache, Strang strongly resembles Laaksonen in stature, but Aleksi Bardy’s script seldom allows him to get inside the head of a character who refreshingly defies all gay stereotypes. His Laaksonen is stoic and – frankly – bland, a slave to the repressed demeanor shared by just about all of his fellow Finns, including his homophobic sister, Kaija (Jessica Gronkowski).

Oddly, their sibling rivalry is the movie’s main focus. Yes, they lived together, worked together and shared a love of drawing, but their relationship is never explored competently enough to warrant so much screen time. Their every scene is a mere rehash of the one before it, as Kaija deludes herself with the idea that all Touko need do is find the right girl. So on and on it goes, with Touko hidden away in his room, secretly drawing his depictions of muscle-bound men of authority encased in tight leather – or nothing at all – while Kaija frets over her brother being either imprisoned or murdered for his peculiar fetishes.

The only poignancy comes when they take on a handsome young border, Veli (a very good Lauri Tilkanen), who catches both of their eyes, but it’s a romantic competition Kaija crushingly has no chance of winning. The rest is mostly perfunctory bio-pic pap, as the filmmakers dutifully check off the highlights of Touko’s guilt-ridden life in chronological order. These bits include his arrest for cruising (or, as he calls it “pheasant hunting”) in Berlin; his creation of his alter ego, the manga superhero Kake, based on the hunky Russian paratrooper he killed during the war; his long love affair with the doomed Veli; his warm welcome to California, where he notes the straight guys are in the minority; and lastly, his alleged role in the burgeoning AIDs epidemic.

That’s a lot of stuff – five decades worth – to cram into one two-hour movie, and the resulting thinness glaringly shows, especially in the lame attempts by the makeup department to gracefully age the three main characters – Touko, Kaija and Veli – over a 30- to 40-year period. The sets aren’t much, either, mostly starkly furnished rooms. And the cinematography by Lasse Frank Johannessen is mostly dark and bleak – until the scene moves to sunny, anything-goes Southern California, where Touko’s artistry is championed by a couple of die-hard fanboys played by Jakob Oftebro and Massachusetts’ own Seumas F. Sargent.

The only elements that really stick are Laaksonen’s actual drawings, which can best be described as the male version of Vargas’ erotic pencil-and-ink drawings of voluptuous females. They are true works of beauty that have earned their places on the walls of some of the world’s most prestigious museums. And to think many of them once lay hidden behind a wall in a Helsinki apartment out of fear of the artist being arrested, or worse, sent to a sanitarium to be “cured” of his gayness. We’ve come a long way, baby. And it’s been an exciting ride. But judging by the tepid “Tom of Finland,” you’d never know it.

Movie review TOM OF FINLAND(Not rated.) Cast includes Pekka Strang, Lauri Tilkanen, Jessica Gronkowski, Jakob Oftebro and Seumas F. Sargent. Grade: C+


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Cape Town Blogger | Interview | Madelain Burgoyne

Cape Town Blogger, Interview, Madelain Burgoyne
Cape Town Blogger, Interview, Madelain Burgoyne

Another week, another Cape Town Blogger interview. And again a lady bloggeThis time it is Madelain Burgoyne with her blog “The confessions of a Mad Yogini: Diving deep into self inquiry.”

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Madelain. I’m 27, been married for 6 years, mother of a 3 1/2 year old. I’m a pretty resilient human being and feel that I  have a more than one life-times worth of experience in my short existence on this earth so far.

LOL… I am a yogi… but not the typical yogi. I’m more of a contemporary yogi, finally figuring out what my offering is in this world.

I’m also an artist, nature lover and I dig taking my mountain bike out for adventures.

This year i started my own little business teaching yoga and basically drawing an audience through using social media… mostly. I’m a one man show so far… I put my heart and soul into offering classes that will hopefully help others to have a more consistent practice. I believe that movement & mindfulness can eradicate those low (and so often too frequent) low moments we experience in our fast paced modern, goal orientated lives through shining perspective over low moments. I know because i was there all too many times.

How you first got involved in with blogging?

I read a lot of blogs. I was inspired by how some are so brave to say what’s on their minds. I want to share my human experience without denial, with utter truth and vulnerability. to share my journal with the world… because what else are we on this planet for? Aren’t we here to share, live, learn, evolve, inspire, be inspired?

Cape Town Blogger - Madelain Burgoyne
Cape Town Blogger - Madelain Burgoyne

Through sharing the truth, other’s might be inspired to do the same, stop hiding and share their experience, draw more clarity for themselves though penning their thoughts and interests down. The need for me to create a community that can resonate with my own humanness is what I want to see. That need reached the tipping point on 27 March 2012, where all I could think about was writing what i wanted to share! I spent the entire day putting the beginnings of my blog together and then wrote my first blog entry.

What do you find most challenging about blogging about your topic?

I’m not the worlds best writer and I’m not afflicted with false modesty when i say that my grammar, spelling and vocabulary suck! I find it hard to articulate what i feel into words. I’m a very  feely type of person… sometimes the rules of language make no sense to me at all. I don’t care though… it’s a very nice exercise for me to get involved in and one i try to challenge myself on all the time.

Trying to translate what I want to say takes a lot of energy… physically for me, because it’s a process of identifying to myself what i feel (emotional articulacy) and then putting it down on the blog so that other’s can understand what I’m trying to convey. So my entries are few and far between sometimes… however.. a blog will always arise when there is this pressing thought i want out with! Then I spew it out like a mad woman!

Tell me about some of the people you’ve met while working on your blog?
None so far, My blog is very new… and i haven’t made a big effort to get it out there yet.

How would (someone) describe your blogging style?
LOL Who knows, you could be the first to comment if you like. I had one friend say that my message was clear & practical.

What do you do when you aren’t working on your blog?
I try to bring awareness to the yoga classes I teach through social networking. I’m a mother, I try play hard too, which involves riding my mountain bike and driving my scooter around Cape Town to see people I love. (I’m a two wheel kinda-gal). I teach free Yoga on the promenade during the summer months (running since 2011) and indoors during winter. I am also an artist.

What networking do you do that you feel helps your blogging business?
I’m sure my Facebook friends would be interested in my blog when I decide to share it more. I also tweet. I’m planning on posting YouTube vids… but i kinda got to get a camera first.

How do you keep coming up with material/content for your blog?
Life never runs out of content! I just feel into my humanness and there is always something to share.

Where do you go for news and information online?
I google a lot. I follow people who I find interesting and discover diverse topics that resonate with my own interests. My husband shares links with me two.

Whats your strategy with your blog in general?
My strategy is: Feel… translate… blog. I’m an action kind of gal… sometimes impulsive. So i just do. I then go over it, refining certain points to make whatever I’m writing clearer.

What would you prioritize? Content? SEO? Traffic? Readers?
Definitely content… the quality of the content! I think those that need my bog for inspiration will find me.

What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?
Authenticity, showing themselves unedited. With that said, I enjoy readers who share their thoughts etc with a touch of decency & open-mindedness.

A blogger who knows that they aren’t the only ones with an opinion is pretty awesome, because they’re not trying to convert others to a certain way of thinking, but rather they are challenging, giving you food for thought, knowing that their experience is unique even to others who resonate with their posts or have similar experiences.

What has been your strategy for creating visibility to yourself and your blog?
Just allowing it to be there. Directing a few friends there by sharing the link. No planned strategy just yet. blog is very new still and I’m still cleaning it up… like you do when you move into a new home. You want to make it welcoming to your guests as well as it being your own sanctuary. So I’m still decorating LOL. I don’t mind if people come to visit me in the meantime though!

What was the most challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?
finding my way around the back-end. writing my profile content on who I am.. cause I’m a lot of things that make up me. the challenge as always is putting it into words.

Everyone has a favorite/least favorite post. Name yours and why?
No least favs yet, I only have three up so far… And i don’t publish my post without feeling like it’s complete or has the quality of my thoughts.

What is the ultimate Goal for a blogger in your opinion?
To share what and who they are. Leave a legacy, a message, to connect with other human beings… even if it’s an e-community. I think that that is what we as humans always strive to become part of.

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?
Hmmm, Facebook plug in… That’s what i have. i dunno… you got any awesome one that i need to know about?

Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?
“Damn Good Yoga” by Megan walker… This chick is an inspiring machine in her search to become knowledgeable on all things yoga.
“Ultra Chicks Unite” a sisterhood of extreme athletes living it large!
Meghan Currie… a yogini after my own heart!
Sadie Nardini… My far away cyber teacher who saved my life! reminded me that i am the master of my life.. it’s up to me to make it happen.
Wondering yoginis
Basic goodness
the good man project
Dashama Konnah… She also saved my life.
Elana Brower…. the Art of Living. This Woman is a Titan.
Dana Trixi Flynn… a stunning woman, a community women.
Zoe Keating… This woman is amazing on the cello… She speaks through her music.

there are too many to mention!

If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?
Just do it. this way your diary can never be miss placed! Leave a legacy, your message.. yo never know who will reach out & be inspired!

Love and awesomeness to you
Madelain Burgoyne
Head Mad Yogini
The confessions of a Mad Yogini: Diving deep into self inquiry.

A big thank you from Cape Town Active to Madelain for this interview. Please check out her blog
If you want to participate, please visit our Cape Town Blogger Interview page.

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February 23, 2018 @ 7:30 pm – March 11, 2018 @ 4:00 pm
Hubbard Hall Center for th Arts and Educaton
25 E Main St
Cambridge, NY 12816
David Snider

The Velocity of Autumn

Starring Christine Decker & Oliver Wadsworth

Written by Eric Coble
Directed by David Snider

A hilarious, heartfelt Broadway comedy about what happens when life becomes too hard to handle.

February 23-March 11, 2018

PWYW Preview: Friday, February 23 at 7:30 pm

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm

Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm

$30 Adults/$15 Students Ages 6-22

Opening Night Dinner* and Performance: Saturday, February 24 at 6 pm

Click here to Purchase tickets

Alexandra, a retired painter, has been told she must move out of her house and into a retirement home.  As the play begins, we find her at home in her Brooklyn brownstone, surrounded by Molatov cocktails, ready to ignite them and go out in a blaze of glory rather than be taken from her home.  Just as she’s about to light the place up, her estrange son Chris climbs into the second-story window: “Hi, mom.”  So begins a hilarious and harrowing comedy, that explores the roadblocks we all experience in life and asks the eternal questions “who will remember us once we’re gone?”


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Eric Von Berg - Newmark Realty Capital - 595 Market Street, Suite 2550, San Francisco, CA 94105 - for loan quote: 415 956 9922

July 30, 2013

Why Life Companies continue to pursue long-term, fixed-rate Commercial Real Estate Loans

The historic low in long term interest rates likely occurred in July 2012. Now we are facing increased volatility in interest rates and long-term interest rates will climb. This situation seems obvious to all the players in the capital markets.
So, with the almost certain prospect of rising interest rates, why are the life companies still aggressively pursuing long-term, fixed-rate commercial real estate loans?
The current monetary policy of a zero-interest Fed Funds rate and successive Quantitative Easing’s is a form of price controls; artificially decreasing the price of capital.  This manipulation of the free market for capital shifts earnings from investors to borrowers.  Companies have artificially high earnings because their bond costs are artificially low.  Leveraged real estate investors enjoy an even bigger subsidy, since their degree of leverage is generally higher than that of corporations.

In the face of what is often called the Fed’s policy of “Financial Repression”, why is anyone willing to play on the lending side of a rigged game?   The reason: As rates were falling long-term bonds were very profitable.   The low yield from the stated interest rate was more than made up by the appreciation of the market value for these bonds as rates fell.

The rigged market has created a bond bubble

The ride has been good, but investors admit that the risk to return ratios are out of whack.  As in any bubble, we know the situation will reverse, but as long as we are convinced a greater-fool will buy from us at a higher price tomorrow, we convince ourselves we are not one of the fools.  If greed keeps us in the game too long, we are proven foolish.  The trick in any bubble is to sell before the crowd begins to sell.
Given this competition to not be the last one still sitting, even rate stability can drive bond holders to race for the exit door.  We saw this in the mini-panic caused by some very mild words from Ben Bernanke in June:

“Tapering” = Quantitative Easing will slowly, eventually end.

We all knew this, but bond investors fled and both interest rates and spreads jumped.  10-year Treasury Swap yields were 2% on May 27th and 2.75% on July 9th.  CMBS spreads increased as the same time.  Since there is no good way to lock in an interest rate on a CMBS mortgage, 10-year fixed-rate CMBS mortgages that were getting  signed up in the high 3% range were closing (if they closed at all) in the low 5% range, many times with the dollar amount of the loan drastically reduced.

In the midst of this, the life insurance lenders were an island of stability.  They honored their commitments holding rates on loan applications where rates were locked and continued quoting loans and taking new loan applications generally at the same spreads as before the mini-panic.
A savvy real estate investor, John McNellis (who has known me since I had hair), asked during this confusion in the capital markets: “If the life companies know that interest rates will be rising, why don’t they just pull out of the market and wait to put their money out when rates will be higher?”

I had my own theories, but I posed John’s question to a few of Newmark Realty Capital’s life insurance lenders.  Here is their feedback:
  1. Life Companies are Investors not Speculators:  Market timing investing does not work for life companies, especially now when holding cash is so costly.  Chief Investment Officers (CIO’s) who try to time the market can be successful several time in a row, but one miss can cost the CIO his job.  No one gets fired for matching the terms of assets and liabilities.  Life companies have various product lines, many of which have long liability durations that pair well with long-term fixed-rate mortgages.  The CIO’s job is simply to make a profitable spread between the long-term asset (the mortgage) and the long-term liability (the annuity or insurance product).  If they just stay constantly in the markets they hope to average out over time.  If not, they can sell or close out the line of insurance business.  Because of the low-rate environment, Met Life announced they planned to get out of multiple lines of business this year.
  2. Mortgages do not have to be marked to market:  Bonds are actively traded securities, as such accounting standards require them to be “marked-to-market”.  Mortgages are much more illiquid and are generally held to term.  Thus, mortgages just sit there on the balance sheet at their face value.   Bonds can be very profitable when overall rates are falling as these securities increase in value.  But the reverse will be true as rates start to rise.  Over the last 30-years constantly dropping rates has created a tailwind for life companies as their bond portfolios rose in value.  During this time (my whole career) the bond group was treated as the A-Team in the investment departments of most of Newmark’s insurance company clients.  In the last few years this reversed.  CIO’s are giving their Mortgage Department first billing.  They are being told; “Find good mortgage deals and we will find the funds.”  Mortgages’ avoidance of potential mark-to-market losses as rates begin to rise is a big factor.
  3. Call Protection.   Mortgages can be a better match for long-term liabilities than bonds.  The lender gets to write the documents in a mortgage and the borrower gets to write the documents in a bond.  Thus fixed-rate commercial mortgage loans have the type of call-protection  (generally yield-maintenance prepayment formulas) that is lender-friendly versus the borrower-friendly call options in a corporate bond.  High-rate corporate bonds have a tendency to pay off when the corporation’s credit improves or when overall interest rates decline.  Commercial mortgages generally keep their yield until very close to the due-date.
  4. Better Loss History.  Most life companies have a system to equate a mortgage’s risk level to an equivalent bond, with targets usually somewhere in the range of BBB+/A-.  Most life companies have fond that their mortgage portfolios have a loss history 15 to 20 basis points better than that bond equivalent.  Also, a defaulted bond gives you a total loss, but even a vacant building taken back by the mortgage department has some value.
  5. Better underwriting and access to information with a Mortgage versus a Bond.  In mortgage underwriting there is less need to rely on third-party underwriting and valuation.  Most life companies underwrite mortgages themselves directly from the underlying leases and only use appraisals as a final check, simply a closing item.  The specter of partiality by the Rating Agencies clouds the bond world (see  prior blog posts).  Likewise the creativity of corporate accounting is an ongoing challenge, with off-balance sheet entities and hidden derivative risks a real concern.

As the Fed calms the capital market with talk of postponing the end of QE3, it seems the question is not are the Life Companies back? They never went away!


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Musings of Captain Justice a/k/a Gil Jones

about gil & this blog

This collection of Musings is intended as a mix of fun and serious stuff. Maybe itll be a bit provocative and we can talk about things. Sometimes you will see opinions, occasionally just observations about subjects I find to be interesting, and often I just pose questions for YOU to ponder. My hope is that you will leave a comment when you find something of interest, whether it excites you or makes your hair stand on end. Your Musings are as important as mine, probably more so. Feel free to drop a little Link Luv on anything you like by clicking one of the sharing links. My amateur radio (ham) activities are mainly posted at

What do you want to do next?

See a summary of blogs Look at the tag cloud

Look at photos

I am Guilford Gil Jones of Marble Falls, Texas.  By education and vocation(s) I am a CPA/Attorney/Judge who also happens to have a lot of hobbies and interests. I am a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (BBA 66 and JD 73). I grew up in West Texas with wonderful parents and a sister whos not so bad either. Domestically Im married with children and grandchildren but all of that will stay private. As of 1/1/2013 I will be a retired Texas State District Judge and started a new career as a mediator.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know is in a short bio.

Sometimes well talk here about things that just interest me and perhaps also you, and sometimes about things that excite me in either a positive or negative way. I hope some folks will come along and join in and all I ask is that the discussion stay respectful, even if we disagree.

There are also pages of some of my hobbies and adventures which I hope might entertain you.

Im a bit of a hobby nut at heart, including BMW motorcycles, computers, ham radio, kayak fishing, photography and hiking, and well talk about some of those things from time to time. In 2010 I started a running program to get fit and lose weight, and now its become an addiction. UPDATE: the addiction is now cycling. Mostly road bike, some mountain bike.

I also enjoy digital photography, some of which is found at

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14 thoughts on “about gil & this blog

  1. Jack Frazee

    Been looking for the story about Mark Twain suing a judge way back when over a property and tax issue. Read it once but now can’t find it again. Any help?

  2. Jacque Eagon

    recommended by Ann & Carl Ragsdale. trying to subscribe. Ann tells me you’ve fixed a glitch in the subscription process.

  3. Pingback: 2010 in review (according to Wordpress) | Musings of Captain Justice

  4. Terry Purdy

    Google found you because I have it picking up tidbits on the net ever since she was decommissioned.

    I too was out there on the “Hawk” from ’67 to ’69. I got to leave her almost every day as I was a Naval Aviator flying “The Hawkeye” with VAW-114. I’ll have to get out the cruise books out and see what you looked like as a “kid”.

    (Added trivia) Did you know that a local soccer team wants to sod the deck this summer and play matches aboard the “Hawk” in Bremerton?

  5. Pingback: Justice rules on ElephantDrive - the verdict is “great service” « ElephantDrive

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Budlaan Falls to Kan-irag Peak (Sirao Peak) Teaser

After few days of our Osmeña Peak - Kawasan Traverse, we ended up talking about Sirao peak as our Summer Ender for 2015 over a bottle of beer in 7-11.  :)

Here's our teaser for our Budlaan falls to Kan-irag Peak Adventure.

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"No curative treatment"

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Last post
"No curative treatment"

Those are the words we heard on Monday. Silas, my precious 4 year old little boy is terminal.

I won't go into a lot of detail here but you can read his caring bridge page if you like. Its under silasedenfield there.

I am praying so hard for him to make it through June. I want him around MUCH longer, but if he could just make it through June.

Without any further treatment he has maybe 2-4 months left, maybe longer. If we do some treatment to slow the cancer down, we may have 6 months to a year. But no one knows for sure.

Right now he is fine. He's happy, he's got a normal little cold, he's talking, playing, running around, eating, just being a little boy.

Its so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that his body is riddled with tiny tumors that are growing at an alarming rate. It doesn't seem real.

There are so many things I want him to experience before he's gone. He says all he wants to do it go to Sea World, have the best birthday party ever, and go visit family in California. Lots of friends and family are gathering together to make those things happen for him. We are so blessed.

As for MIL, she is doing really well in the nursing home, better than we expected. She has been there for 2 months now and has not asked once about coming home. Dh says there is no way he can bring her home while Silas is still with us, and he's not sure he can do it after he's gone either. I am totally letting him make this decision, its his mom. If he wants to bring her home at some point after Silas is gone, I will do my best to take care of her, but if he can't, that's OK too, I will support his decision.

Right now we are doing all we can to give Silas all of the joy we can while he is still with us on this earth. He knows what's happening, he knows he's going to Heaven, and he is not afraid. I dare say he's excited about going to Heaven and being with God! He's so tired of having cancer and wants so much to have a new body that will never get sick.

Oh Jessica I am so sorry.

Oh Jessica I am so sorry. That has got to be the worst thing a parent can hear. I'll keep praying for you and your family.

((((((((((((((((((Jessica &

((((((((((((((((((Jessica & family)))))))))))))))))))

I am praying that God will give you all the strength and grace you need, no matter what transpires. You are an amazing mother, wife, and daughter-in-law. Your faith and your committment to those you love leaves me speechless.

God is with you ever step of the way, of that I am sure. You have given Him all the glory throughout this long and difficult journey. May He bless you and your family abundantly, and be waiting with open arms for each of you whenever you are called.

I will be holding you in prayer. Please accept any and all offers of help and support, and know that you do not walk alone.

Much love,

When I read your post it hit me hard. I am so sorry to hear of this and I'm so glad you let us know what's going on. I just said a prayer....

(((Jessica and family))).

(((Jessica and family))). Silas sounds like a remarkable little boy.

I had been following Jessica

I had been following Jessica's journal on CaringBridge. Her dear son, Silas, left this life on May 25th, after a long and valiant battle with cancer. She and her remaining sons and husband need our prayers. She, and her son, shared a remarkable journey with all who were privileged to know them...

My heart is heavy for her. I have four sons as well, and I cannot imagine the faith and love with which she undertook every task in caring for her son up until his final breath. May he, and her entire family, find peace.

Sorry to hear about Silas. As you doubtless saw Heather's father passed on the same day. I hope things are going well with your family. There is a guest book set up at savannahnow.com/obituaries.


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Wednesday, 17 June 2015

iCarhireinsurance get great coverage in The Telegraph on the 12th June 2015

iCarhireinsurance received great media coverage last Friday in an article in The Daily Telegraph. - Avoid overpaying for insurance at the car hire desk - Check out these iCarhireinsurance tips and start your holiday safe in the knowledge that you haven't been overcharged for your insurance when hiring a car.

It looks like they had re-published an article on the iCarhireinsurance blog website from last December written by  Ross Callander

With the main holiday season just around the corner it contains some very useful suggestions.

When you pick up your holiday vehicle, the staff at the car hire desk will normally try and sell you a number of extras, including excess insurance. However, pay for excess insurance at the car hire desk and you’ll probably pay far more than you should.

Here are the basics of car hire insurance, what excess cover you can buy before you travel and how it compares to the additional cover you’ll be offered at the car hire desk.

Collision/loss damage waiver
 A collision damage waiver (CDW) or loss damage waiver (LDW) is probably what you think of as car hire insurance since it protects you financially against damage or loss to your hire car.

When you hire a car in Europe, the majority of car hire companies will provide CDW cover as well as third party insurance as standard. This means that if you’re involved in a car hire incident resulting in damage to or theft of the vehicle, the full cost of the vehicle would be covered minus any excess you’re liable for.

However, most car hire companies charge an excess if the vehicle is damaged or stolen, which ranges from £500 to £2,500.

Buy car hire excess insurance before you travel

The excess fee is set so high by many car hire companies so they can sell you their excess waiver insurance (EWI) as an extra. Many car hire companies also make it difficult for you to find out the cost of this waiver when you make your booking – it makes it easier to sell expensive EWI cover when you pick up your vehicle.

Some car hire companies charge as much as £25 per day for excess insurance – £175 over a seven-day holiday.

However, buy car hire excess insurance from iCarhireinsurance.com before you travel and you can save more than 70pc.
The cover sold by iCarhireinsurance.com is also usually more comprehensive than those sold by car hire companies.

Resist the car hire desk sales patter
 Sometimes, less reputable companies may try to tell you that the excess insurance policy you bought before travelling is “invalid”.
But remember, it is not a policy that insures the rental company; it is a policy that insures you against excess charges the rental company may charge you. That’s because it’s actually a personal indemnity against car hire excess insurance charges – the rental company is nothing to do with the contract.
However, you might need to leave a deposit to cover any car hire excess. When you use a stand-alone car hire excess insurance policy you will usually have to leave a security deposit with the rental company up to the value of the excess.

Most rental companies hold this as a pre-authorised amount on a credit card, so make sure you have the money available on your card when you collect the vehicle.
If the car is damaged or stolen when it’s with you, the rental company will withhold some or all of your deposit – all you have to do is submit a claim to iCarhireinsurance.com to recover it.

What a car hire insurance cover policy with iCarhireinsurance.com covers
 The car hire excess insurance sold by iCarhireinsurance.com is much more comprehensive than the cover sold by most car hire companies. So if you buy an iCarhireinsurance.com policy, you can turn down other car hire insurance – such as cover for the roof, undercarriage, windows and tyres.

To Go to The  Daily Telegraph article follow this link

To find out more about iCarhireinsurance products follow this link

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Problems already for UK licence holders following abolition of paper licence

From  yesterday 8 June 2015, the paper counterpart of the UK's driver licence was abolished as part of HM Government's "Red Tape Challenge" to remove unncessary administrative burdens on drivers.

The DVLA will no longer issue the paper counterpart and from  now onwards all existing paper counterparts will no longer have any legal status.

There will be no change to the photocard part of the driving licence and vehicle rental companies will still need to check that document. This is where the problems could start.

According to a report in todays "Independent", the AA reported that a number of its members had had problems with the DVLA website yesterday. Under this new scheme, anyone wanting to obtain details of their licence to hire a car has to go to the DVLA website and provide their National Insurance number.

If you have not got the information just before  you set off you can have a situation whereby  you have just arrived late at Faro Airport in Portugal with your young family, now you will have to remember your National Insurance number (and that of your partner as well) if the Car Hire company needs more information.

The AA on their Hiring a Car page suggest that  you "Print your own driving licence record from DVLA's website - you'll need to know your driving licence number, national insurance number and your home address post code.

Obtain a code from the DVLA's 'share driving licence' service that you can pass to a third party (employer, hire car company). The code will only be valid for 72 hours and will give them one-off access to your online driving licence record to verify the printed copy." See Page Here

According to The Independent, yesterday the AA's president Edmund King said " There have been problems for some of our members. We have heard that a number have found the DVLA website very slow. Another problem is the need to give a national insurance number. People travelling abroad and hiring a vehicles could well not have this number to hand. We are pushing for a change on the website, so people are asked for their passport number instead". The relative page of the DVLA website is here  Unfortunately this National Insurance number does not appear on  the European Health Insurance Card - certainly not my one.

You can’t use the DVLA  service:•if your licence was issued in Northern Ireland
•to check the progress of a licence application
•to check historical information, eg expired penalty points or old driving licence entitlements The DVLA also has
updates and advice here

Hiring a vehicle: how to prove your driving record after 8 June 2015 - Information below is from DVLA website

From 8 June 2015, you may wish to check with the hire company what they need to see when you hire a vehicle. If you’re asked for evidence of what vehicles you can drive or confirmation of any penalty points, you can request a unique code from GOV.UK which allows you to share your driving licence details or you can download a summary of your driving licence record. The code lasts for up to 72 hours and will allow the hire companies to make any necessary checks.

If you cannot generate a code online then you can call 0300 083 0013 and DVLA will provide you with a code.

Alternatively, you can call DVLA on 0300 790 6801 and leave permission for your driving record to be checked verbally by a nominated hire company. This also applies if you have a paper licence that was issued before 1998.

Not all vehicle hire companies will ask for this information and we advise that you check with your hire company
Whether or not of course if you are overseas you can call the 0300 numbers, no doubt time will tell.

The trade association in Britain for vehicle rental the BVRLA's  Chief Executive, Gerry Keaney, said: “Replacing paper forms with digital services is a great idea, but the government has gone about this the wrong way by rushing the process and not giving enough warning to motorists.

“The online system being offered by the DVLA is far from ideal and the car rental industry is working with it as best it can. “We are confident that our members will keep their GB licence holder customers up-to-date with any new procedures, which should minimise any disruption for travellers." They too are offering advice at this page

It will be interesting to see how this all works out over the next few weeks as we enter the main holiday season. You might collect that hire car late at night at Faro without a request for more information on your driving record, but then you might not. The DVLA say this is progress and are offering a more efficient service or is this just another way to save money by the British Government.

What do other countries do? According to "Citizens Information" in The Republic of Ireland "From 2013 a new plastic-card driving licence has been introduced, replacing the paper driving licence. This is an EU initiative to introduce a secure, compact style of licence in all member states".

The NDLS - National Driver License Service website says "You are still required to produce your own licence for inspection when hiring a vehicle overseas; an International Driving permit (IDP) should be seen as a translation of your licence and not a replacement.

All countries in the EU benefit from a 'mutual recognition' agreement in respect of driving licences.

Under the agreement, Irish driving licence holders can drive in any EU country on their existing Irish driving licence so long as it's current and valid.

An Irish licence holder must be age 18 with a full licence to drive in most EU Countries. The following countries (Austria, Hungary and United Kingdom) allow a full licence holder to drive at the age of 17.

Other Countries
When driving in non-EU or EEA countries, an international driving permit (IDP) is required. This is recognised internationally and allows you to drive in most but not all countries across the world. An IDP is available to Irish residents with a current full Irish driving licence. The permit is valid for one year from date of issue or to the expiry date of the licence if less than a year. More information Here

So at the end of the day it would be interesting to find out how other countries operate and what  additional information will be required when the renter of a vehicle produces his / her plastic licence at the car hire company's check in desk.


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Advice for philosophy papers

What is a philosophy paper like?

What distinguishes philosophy from other disciplines? Probably not much. But, for what it’s worth, here are my views about good philosophical writing.

Philosophers analyze arguments. That’s the great secret to writing a philosophy paper: you should take it primarily as an exercise in evaluating arguments.

So, for example, you should pay special attention the relationship between a conclusion and its premises.

This doesn’t mean that philosophers are indifferent to such matters as the truth of the premises (or the conclusion, for that matter). A logically valid argument based on wildly false premises isn’t very interesting. But it does mean that philosophers will pay a great deal of attention to the internal workings of an argument.

Answer the question

The most important thing I can recommend is to answer the question that was asked.

Why? Well, doesn’t it just make sense to answer the question I asked? It would be strange to answer a different one. “I’ll have a ham on rye” is not an appropriate answer to “How was your weekend?”

Seriously, though, remember that a philosopher’s first love is argument. Answering exactly the question asked shows that you understand the importance of working through precisely what follows from a question worded like the one you were given.

“But isn’t writing supposed to be creative?” Of course. Be creative in answering the question, not in coming up with a new one on your own.

Warning: not all questions are created equal. Compare: “what does author A say about point P?” with “what, in your opinion, is the correct answer?” Which one offers you the greater opportunity to say something creative and impress the person reading the paper? Allocate your attention accordingly.

Have something to say

You need to have a point. Sometimes, a point is not easy to come by. We’re generally talking about issues on which there are at least two compelling positions and no known way of proving that one of them is correct. So you have to have confident opinions as well as arguments to back them up. To make things even more interesting, authors sometimes switch sides in the writing process. That’s why successful ones start early.

After writing a draft or outline, an important question to ask is whether it seems that you’re trying to force a conclusion. Usually, it’s the one you originally had in mind. Is there a somewhat different, perhaps more modest conclusion to be drawn that is better supported by the arguments? There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind. Why wouldn’t process of writing out your argument change your thinking a bit?

Alternately, ask whether you have pushed hard enough. Does the main argument of the paper, well, say anything or does it peter out? This happens to me more often than I care to admit. I have a bunch of arguments but find that I haven’t thought enough about what they add up to. That’s not good enough.

Consider objections

Raise objections to your own position. Imagine ways for your opponent to evade your objections. Answer them. Why? Doing these things shows that you see the strength of the other side’s position, but can still defend your own.

Let me put that same point in a more theoretical way by asking a question: how do we move forward by using philosophical argument? Answer: by starting with an apparently compelling position or puzzling question and using arguments and objections to show us something about that position or question. For example, we might learn that the position would be more compelling if it were modified a bit. Or we might learn that the question isn’t as interesting as it seems. And so on.

Argument leads us somewhere by taking us through a process of objection, reply, and possible modification.

Of course, don’t take that too far: get most of your objections out of the way early in the writing process so that your paper only presents truly compelling or productive objections to the reader.

Set limits

Don’t worry if you can’t settle an issue completely. Your task is to analyze arguments . On matter X, does conclusion C follow from premises A and B? If the answer is “no” it still may be possible that conclusion C is the right conclusion: perhaps there is a different argument that establishes C. You will still have shown something very important if you’ve shown that a particular argument does not establish C, even if some other argument might.

We have a natural tendency to try to see all considerations as favoring one side in a dispute as opposed to the other. But sometimes one side is right about one thing and the other side is right about something else. There’s nothing wrong with reaching a subtle conclusion like that.

Pre-flight checklist

Here are some questions that you should be able to answer after your paper is just about done. Keep these in mind while revising.

  1. How is the grammar and style? Read it aloud and find out! (Quietly, of course, because it’s late and you don’t want to wake up your very tolerant roommate.) You’ll be surprised by how many typos you find. Your readers will be impressed by how few typos they find.
  2. Has it identified an interesting problem? An interesting problem is one in which there are at least two apparently compelling answers.
  3. Is it accurate? An accurate paper characterizes the major arguments and objections correctly and economically, focusing on the essential points. Giving the appropriate weight to a point is a way of being accurate.
  4. What happens between the beginning and the end? Does the paper make dialectical progress: does the back and forth of argument lead us somewhere? Where, stated briefly, does it lead?
  5. What is the conclusion? What three or four sentences would you like your readers to use if they were asked to summarize your paper? Why not use those very sentences?

The Writing Center

The Writing Center offers students free, one-on-one consultations at any stage of the writing process, from generating a thesis and structuring an argument to fine-tuning a draft. The Writing Fellows are Pomona students majoring in a variety of subjects and are trained to work on assignments from any discipline.

The Writing Center is located in Pearsons 010. They have drop-in hours or you can make an appointment online.

This page was written by Michael Green for Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy 33, Spring 2014. It was posted November 5, 2013.
Social and Political Philosophy


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Here we'll list events and activities scheduled for the next couple of months. We'll update this page frequently, so check back often to stay up to date. Contact CCCC for more information on these events or to have an event added to the calender.

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