Домой Блог

UK inquiry finds ‘chilling’ cover-up of infected blood scandal

aedailynews
-
0
JUSTIN TALLIS/ AFP

An infected blood scandal in Britain was no accident but the fault of doctors and a succession of governments that led to 3,000 deaths and thousands more contracting hepatitis or HIV, a public inquiry has found.

Inquiry chair Brian Langstaff said more than 30,000 people received infected blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s from Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS), destroying lives, dreams and families.

The government hid the truth to «save face and to save expense», he said, adding that the cover-up was «more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications» than any orchestrated conspiracy plot.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to apologise on behalf of the state when he addresses the House of Commons later on Monday. Langstaff, a former High Court judge, received a standing ovation by campaigners as he delivered his findings.

The families of victims and survivors had sought justice for years and Langstaff, who led a near 6-year inquiry, said the scale of what happened was both horrifying and astonishing.

In some cases, blood products made from donations from US prisoners or other high-risk groups were used on children, infecting them with HIV or hepatitis C, long after the risks were known.

Other victims were used in medical trials without their knowledge or consent. Those who contracted HIV were often shunned by their communities afterwards.

«This disaster was not an accident,» Langstaff said. «The infections happened because those in authority — doctors, the blood services and successive governments — did not put patient safety first.»

He said proper compensation must now be paid.

The use of infected blood has resulted in thousands of victims in the United States, France, Canada and other countries.

The British government, which in 2015 said it was «something that never should have happened», agreed in 2022 to make an interim payment of 100,000 pounds ($126,990) to those affected.

Clive Smith, chair of the Haemophilia Society, said the scandal had rocked trust in the medical establishment. «(It) really challenges the trust that we put in people to look after us, to do their best and to protect us,» he told reporters.

The infected blood and blood products, some of which were imported from the United States, were used for transfusions, which were not always clinically needed, and as treatments for bleeding disorders like haemophilia.

Haemophiliacs received Factor 8 concentrates which carried a paticularly high risk of infection.

Some of the concentrates were infected with HIV in the 1980s, the inquiry said, but authorities failed to switch to safer alternatives, and they decided in July 1983, a year after risks were apparent, not to suspend their importation.

Systemic failures resulted in between 80 and 100 people becoming infected with HIV by transfusion, the inquiry found, and about 26,800 were infected with Hepatitis C, often from receiving blood after childbirth or an operation.

Both groups were failed by doctors’ complacency about Hepatitis C and their slowness to respond to the risks of AIDS, it said, compounded by an absence of meaningful apology or redress.

«It will be astonishing to anyone who reads this report that these events could have happened in the UK,» Langstaff said.

The British inquiry, which started in 2018, does not have the power to recommend prosecutions.

In France, former health minister Edmond Herve was convicted in 1999 for his role in the scandal, but he received no punishment. Michel Garretta, the director of France’s national blood centre, received a four-year sentence.

Source website: www.dubai92.com

Ivan F. Boesky, Rogue Trader in 1980s Wall Street Scandal, Dies at 87

aedailynews
-
0

Ivan F. Boesky, the brash financier who came to symbolize Wall Street greed as a central figure of the 1980s insider trading scandals, and who went to prison for his misdeeds, died on Monday at his home in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. He was 87.

His daughter Marianne Boesky said he died in his sleep.

An inspiration for the character Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s movie “Wall Street” and its sequel, Mr. Boesky made a fortune betting on stock tips, often passed to him illegally in exchange for suitcases of cash. His guilty plea to insider trading in November 1986 and his $100 million penalty, a record at the time, sent shock waves through Wall Street and set off a cascade of events that marked the end of a decade of frenzied takeover activity and the celebration of conspicuous wealth.

As federal investigators closed in on Mr. Boesky, he agreed to cooperate, providing information that led to the downfall of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert and its junk bond king, Michael Milken.

Mr. Boesky brought an aggressive style to the once-sleepy world of arbitrage, the buying and selling of stocks in companies that appear to be takeover targets. Sniffing out impending deals, he amassed stock positions at levels never seen before.

At the top of his game in the mid-1980s, he had a net worth of $280 million (about $818 million in today’s currency) and a trading portfolio valued at $3 billion (about $8.7 billion today), much of it financed with borrowed money. Home was a sprawling estate in Westchester County, N.Y., its main house adorned with a Renoir and carpets embossed with his monogram, “IFB.” (The estate was once owned by the Revson family, founders of Revlon cosmetics and, before that, the family behind Macy’s, the Strausses.)

Besides a Manhattan pied-à-terre, there was a retreat on the French Riviera, a lavish Paris apartment and a condo in Hawaii. Through his first wife, Seema Boesky, he was part owner of the celebrated Beverly Hills Hotel, a lush pink concoction favored by Hollywood stars as well as by titans of finance attending the Predators’ Ball, Drexel Burnham’s annual get-together.

Mr. Boesky claimed to sleep only two to three hours a night, rising at 4:30 a.m. to work out before taking a limousine to his New York office, where he stood command over an array of video terminals, news wires and stock tickers, as well as 160 telephone lines and a set of screens allowing him to see and hear his employees at all times. Each day he dressed the same way: in a signature three-piece black suit and starched white shirt, with a gold chain dangling from his vest pocket. He preferred to stand all day than to sit, and he barely ate, consuming vast amounts of coffee instead.

On Wall Street, it was a decade born of greed. Fueled by the easy money of junk bonds, a small group of kingmakers, including Carl Icahn, T. Boone Pickens, James Goldsmith, Saul Steinberg, Mr. Boesky and Mr. Milken, became fabulously wealthy by engaging in schemes of financial engineering and corporate raids that drove the stock market to dizzying levels before its crash in 1987.

Mr. Boesky embraced the go-go ethos of the time. “Greed is all right, by the way,” he told business school students at the University of California, Berkeley, in a commencement speech in 1986. “I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.” He was greeted with rousing applause.

A year later, those words were immortalized onscreen in “Wall Street,” in which the unscrupulous corporate raider Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) gives his famous “Greed is good” speech.

“All that mattered to Ivan Boesky was making money,” Jeff Madrick, the author of “Age of Greed” (2011), said in an interview for this obituary in 2019. “He found a path to that and he abused it badly.”

Mr. Boesky touted his success whenever he could. In 1985 he published a book, “Merger Mania,” which promoted his deal-making skills and his uncanny ability to identify the next takeover target. But behind Mr. Boesky’s success was a story of deceit: He was paying others to provide him with insider information.

One of his biggest sources was Martin Siegel, at the time an investment banker at Kidder, Peabody & Company. The two hatched their scheme in 1982, and soon Mr. Boesky was having a courier deliver suitcases filled with $100 bills to Mr. Siegel — $150,000 one time, $200,000 another time and $400,000 a third — in exchange for inside information about forthcoming takeovers. Using the code words “red light” and “green light” for the handoff, the courier delivered the suitcases to Mr. Siegel in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

But by 1986 Mr. Boesky’s world had begun to unravel. In May, when a lower-level Drexel banker, Dennis Levine, was indicted on insider trading charges, federal prosecutors found Mr. Boesky’s name in his notes; he had been paying Mr. Levine for tips. Hot on Mr. Boesky’s trail was Rudolph W. Giuliani, the United States attorney who had been bringing down Mafia dons and crooked politicians and was now focused on Wall Street malfeasance.

In September 1986, Mr. Boesky was invited to one of the most lavish bar mitzvahs in memory. Gerald Guterman, a real estate developer, paid nearly $1 million to rent the entire Queen Elizabeth 2 to celebrate his son, taking guests on a cruise up the Hudson River and out into the Atlantic. Huge banners, clowns, musicians and a crew of 1,000 greeted the guests. But Mr. Boesky was nowhere to be seen.

Claiming he had missed the sailing, Mr. Boesky staged his arrival: A helicopter descended from the sky and landed on the ship. As its blades whirred, guests craned their necks to watch as Mr. Boesky emerged in a tuxedo and black tie, by all accounts looking like a latter-day James Bond and completely upstaging the host family.

The next day, Sept. 17, Mr. Boesky surrendered to the federal authorities and agreed to wear a wire in his conversations with Mr. Milken and others on Wall Street.

Ivan Frederick Boesky was born in Detroit on March 6, 1937, to Helen and William Boesky. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia. The family ran a string of restaurants under the name Brass Rail that became strip clubs as the city declined. The business eventually went bankrupt.

As a 13-year-old, and without a driver’s license, Ivan drove an ice cream truck for nickels and dimes. (In later years he named one of his investment vehicles, Farnsworth & Hastings, after the street corner location of his family’s business.)

For a year Ivan attended Cranbrook, a prestigious prep school outside Detroit, where he excelled at wrestling and in later years left many with the impression that he was an alumnus; he had actually left Cranbrook and graduated from Mumford High School, in middle-class Detroit.

He attended three colleges — Wayne State, the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan — and graduated from none of them. It took him five years, after dropping out twice, to get a degree in 1964 from the Detroit College of Law. He got a one-year clerkship with a federal judge through connections, was rejected by Detroit’s top law firms, and worked as an accountant at the local Touche Ross office.

Mr. Boesky’s marriage in 1962 to Seema Silberstein, a daughter of Ben Silberstein, a real estate developer who owned the Beverly Hills Hotel, catapulted him into a world of wealth and sophistication. He was unable to find his professional footing until, he was 27, when a former Cranbrook classmate who was working at Bear Stearns told him about arbitrage. Hooked on the idea, he moved to New York, where his father-in-law bought the young couple a Park Avenue apartment.

He cycled through jobs, working as a trainee at the investment banking firm L.F. Rothschild, an analyst at First Manhattan Company and an arbitrageur at Kalb, Voorhis, where his losing $20,000 got him fired. In 1971, Mr. Boesky went to the brokerage firm Edwards & Hanly, where he first displayed his aggressive style, betting millions into a single stock position and incurring a $10,000 fine for selling securities, which he didn’t have, short.

By 1975 the firm was bankrupt, and Mr. Boesky decided to strike out on his own. Backed by $700,000 from his wife’s family, he started Ivan F. Boesky & Company.

The arbitrage business was accustomed to small, cautious investments in publicly announced takeovers, with hopes that the stock price would rise. But Mr. Boesky bet big.

He put down multimillion-dollar wagers — $10 million, and even $100 million or more — on companies that he thought might be takeover targets, before any deals were announced. He relied heavily on borrowed money and kept the bulk of any gains for himself: His partners would get 40 percent, and he would take 60. His partners would absorb 90 percent of any losses, and he would take 10 percent.

On Wall Street, he was given two monikers: Piggy and Ivan the Terrible. He was known for going into fancy restaurants and ordering every dish on the menu, tasting them and then nibbling on one dish while ignoring the rest.

He once showed up to play tennis in a pink Rolls-Royce. And he loved to entertain at the Harvard Club in Manhattan, even though he had never attended Harvard. (He made a large donation to the university’s School of Public Health, which named him to its board of overseers, making him eligible for club membership.) He told investors that he was an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. The school said that was not true.

Mr. Boesky made an estimated $65 million when Chevron acquired Gulf, $50 million when Texaco bought Getty, and $50 million from Philip Morris’s acquisition of General Foods. Other multimillion-dollar home runs — some helped by information that the Securities and Exchange Commission said was obtained illegally — involved deals with Nabisco Brands, Union Carbide and Boise Cascade.

Mr. Boesky’s closest ally in the world of finance was Mr. Milken, head of Drexel Burnham’s fabled junk bond desk in Los Angeles. The two spoke daily, with Mr. Milken arranging for much of the capital behind Mr. Boesky’s trades and Mr. Boesky becoming a profit center for Mr. Milken. Their fingers were on nearly every takeover deal, their every move followed in the financial press.

After turning himself in to federal investigators, Mr. Boesky, in an appeal for leniency, agreed to become a government informant, wearing a wire when meeting with Mr. Milken — who was an even bigger target of federal prosecutors.

“Milken and Boesky were deeply intertwined in what was a sweeping criminal conspiracy,” James B. Stewart wrote in his book “Den of Thieves” (1991). “Taken together, the ventures were practically a catalogue of securities crimes, starting with insider trading, and including false public disclosures, tax fraud and market manipulation, as well as a slew of more technical crimes.”

In the end, Mr. Milken, too, would end up in prison and pay an even bigger fine, $600 million. In February 2020, he received a pardon from President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Boesky pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in November 1986 and agreed to pay $100 million — a $50 million fine and $50 million in repayment of illegal trading profits. (He was later able to deduct half of his $100 million penalty from his income taxes.)

In December 1987, Mr. Boesky was sentenced to a three-year prison term. He spent 18 months at the Lompoc federal prison camp, a minimum-security facility in Santa Barbara County, Calif., followed by four months at a Brooklyn halfway house. While in prison, he studied the Talmud and earned pocket change by working on a prison cleanup crew. He later admitted to violating prison rules by paying fellow inmates to do his laundry.

He emerged from prison in 1990. He was 53. In 1991, his wife of 30 years sued him for divorce. Pleading poverty, he asked for half of her $100 million fortune; he settled for $20 million, annual payments of $180,000 and a $2.5 million California home.

For many years, Mr. Boesky lived quietly in La Jolla, where he remarried and became a father again.

In addition to his daughter Marianne, he is survived by three sons from his first marriage, William, Theodore and Johnathan; his wife, Ana (Serrano) Boesky; their daughter, Blu Boesky; and four grandchildren.

In a 1985 interview with The Washington Post, Mr. Boesky gave a remarkably prescient view of his ultimate downfall. “I can’t predict my demise,” he said. “But I suspect it will occur abruptly.” It did; within a year he was arrested and charged with insider trading.

Alex Traub contributed reporting.

Source website: www.nytimes.com

ADNOC Drilling awarded AED6.24bn contract to unlock UAE’s unconventional energy resources

aedailynews
-
0
Abu Dhabi Media Office

ADNOC Drilling Company has been awarded a AED6.24 billion contract by ADNOC to provide drilling and associated services for the recovery of unconventional energy resources.

The contract will see the delivery of 144 unconventional oil and gas wells.

To service the contract and explore future opportunities in unconventional resources, ADNOC Drilling has incorporated a new company, Turnwell Industries.

The initial phase of unconventionals development is expected to employ up to nine land rigs, of which five are already included in ADNOC Drilling’s fleet as of December 31, 2023. The contract is expected to start contributing to ADNOC Drilling’s revenue towards the second half of this year. 

Unconventional energy refers to oil and gas resources trapped in subsurface reservoirs requiring additional technology and processes to unlock them.

Abu Dhabi today holds an estimated 220 billion barrels of unconventional oil and 460 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of unconventional gas in place. The opportunity in unconventional energy presents outstanding scale with the production potential comparable to some of the most plentiful unconventional energy resources in the US.

Source website: www.dubai92.com

McIndoe: It’s time for the NHL to stop interference and offside reviews

aedailynews
-
0

The symmetry was almost perfect.

In the history of the NHL’s foray into the world of replay review, there are two moments that stand out as crucial landmarks, the key signposts that pointed us toward where we wound up. The most recent came in 2013, when Colorado center Matt Duchene scored a goal despite being roughly a mile offside.

The play is, to this day, widely misunderstood. The linesman didn’t somehow miss the fact that Duchene was offside; rather, he thought that the Nashville Predators had directed the puck back into their own zone, which would negate an offside call. But the optics were terrible. Everything about the play looked wrong, up to and including Duchene’s muted celebration. He knew he’d gotten away with one, as did everyone watching. And, eventually, the confusion and frustration of such an obvious missed call coalesced around a seemingly easy solution: Why don’t we have replay review for these plays?

And now we do, and it’s awful, but hold that thought. Because for the other key moment, we have to go back even further. Now it’s the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, and we’re in triple overtime of Game 6. With the Buffalo Sabres fighting to extend the series, the Dallas Stars’ Brett Hull collects a rebound and scores the Cup winner.

Hull’s skate is clearly in the crease, and for just about all of the previous four years, that had meant an easy no-goal call, thanks to a cut-and-dried rule that we all hated. But this time, there’s no pause for a review, no announcement from the officials. Hull scores, the celebration is on, and next thing you know, Gary Bettman is out there with the Stanley Cup while fans around the world watched replays and tried to figure out how a goal we were sure had been waved off 100 times before was now allowed to count.

This play is misunderstood, too, although most of that falls on the NHL. There’s an interpretation of the 1990s crease rule that allows for players to be in the crease if they have possession of the puck, which Hull kind of, sort of does. There was reportedly a memo about exactly this sort of play that had gone out a few weeks before Hull’s goal, although nobody thought to mention it to the fans. But none of that really matters, because the apparent lack of any formal review would be the last straw for a rule that clearly wasn’t working. The NHL ditched the crease rule that summer, one of the very few examples from Bettman’s era of the league admitting a mistake and taking action to correct it.

The symmetry is almost perfect. A little too perfect, really. Because now, all these years later, we’ve got another replay debate involving the Dallas Stars. Once again, it’s about a player in the crease. Once again, it’s from Game 6, in overtime, of a series the Stars are trying to close out, just like that infamous 1999 goal.

And who’s in the middle of it all? Our old friend Matt Duchene.

Here’s the play in question, if you somehow missed it. It’s Friday night, or early Saturday morning depending on where you are. We’re midway through the first overtime, and Mason Marchment appears to score what would be the series winner. But the referee on the ice waves it off immediately and emphatically, and (to his credit) even explains why to the audience: Contact in the blue paint, no goal.

And then we all watched the replay and … oof.

That’s Duchene in front, number 95. He skates right up to the Colorado crease, but stops just short, or maybe not. He’s screening Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev and then there’s some contact with defenseman Cale Makar, pushing Duchene a little closer. At some point, there’s very light contact with Georgiev, who ends up out of position and unable to stop Marchment’s incoming shot.

Is that goalie interference? You know the drill by now — nobody knows, none of us understand the rule, they’re flipping coins, etc. You also know that it’s not true, and that the rulebook isn’t all that complicated, and that with just a few minutes of actually learning the rule, it’s possible to get about 90 percent of these, but at this point, people seem to love putting on a show of feigned ignorance.

In this case, it all comes down to whether Duchene is in the crease or not, and it’s close. Based on the replays we see, he doesn’t seem to be. Maybe he is once Makar arrives to make contact, but that would be a case of the defending team forcing the attacking team into the crease. To my eyes, this goal looks like it should count, although there’s a case for both sides. But the call on the ice is no goal, and the league has been deferring to that with what seems like increasing frequency this season, which is what the rulebook says we should do. So we’re in that dreaded 10 percent, where we’re not really sure. And there’s a series on the line.

Eventually, the word comes down. The call on the ice stands. No goal. And it’s fair to say that most fans watching didn’t seem to agree. One of the things that happens when you go around like some sort of self-anointed expert writing guides to controversial rules is that fans like to send you their thoughts when those calls happen. My unscientific survey says that you think the league got the call wrong, in very large (although certainly not unanimous) numbers. The vast majority of you thought the Stars got robbed.

The best thing you can say about that call is that it didn’t end up mattering, because Duchene himself scored in double overtime to end the series. Puck don’t lie, and all that. That was a tough result for the Avalanche, but probably a lucky one for the league, which ended up with a controversial no-goal, but not a no-goal that will live in infamy.

No harm done, right? Well … maybe.

In the big picture, the right team won and we can all move on. But we shouldn’t do that. Because this is pretty clearly the game giving us a message. Come on, it’s Matt Duchene, in Game 6 overtime of a Dallas Stars playoff clincher? The hockey gods couldn’t be any more obvious here. They’re practically putting a big flashing neon sign on the ice, and that sign says “Fix replay.”

So let’s do that. Let’s fix the replay system, in the best and simplest way that we could: By getting rid of it.

That’s it. That’s the answer, folks. Yes, there are other ways we could do this, ways that would be vast improvements on the current mess of a system. I’ve pitched a few of those ideas myself. But why settle for being a little bit better when we can fix this once and for all?

Dump it. Trash it. No more replay review, for interference or offside. It’s time to do what the league did in 1999, and read the writing on the wall. This time, we’ve even got a chance to do it before the inevitable disaster that will ruin a Stanley Cup Final.

The goaltender interference rule isn’t as complicated as you think, but it’s a terrible fit for replay review because almost all of the various contingencies are subjective. Was contact incidental? Did it prevent the goalie from playing his position? Did he have time to recover and reset? All of that falls into a gray area of an official’s opinion. Yet we still stop the game for extended reviews under the pretext of “getting it right,” searching and scanning for the one freeze frame that will get everyone to agree. We never, ever find it. Instead, we end up with a decision that nobody agrees on. One fan base thinks it’s obvious in their direction, the other thinks it’s obvious for them, and everyone else shrugs and isn’t completely sure, no matter how many angles we get.

If your system is in place because you have to get it right and nobody thinks you do, then your system is broken. Get rid of it.

Then there’s offside, a play that’s at least theoretically objective. You’re over the line, or you’re not, and unless it’s one of those outlier plays where we have to argue about possession, we should be able to find that one freeze frame that lets us all agree. And we do! Occasionally. But most times, we don’t. The angle isn’t quite right, or the footage isn’t quite clear enough, or it ends up being too close to call. And through it all, there’s a good chance that the entry we’re reviewing happened well before the goal, maybe with a few changes of possessions in between. What are we doing here?

We put the system in place to catch a repeat of that initial Duchene miss, and over a decade later, we haven’t had a single one. Instead, we’ve got video coaches watching every zone entry, looking for get-out-of-jail-free cards. We’ve got linesmen who are pretty clearly letting close plays go, because they know that replay is lurking. We’ve had guys changing lines, completely out of the play, getting caught on technicalities that decide a Game 7.

And through it all, a generation of fans have been taught not to get too excited about a goal, because you never know when that random replay is going to take it off the board. A league starved for offense has taught its audience that some goals have to be stricken from the record, just because. Every exciting moment is followed by a shot of a listless coach staring down at an iPad. Countless games ground to a halt. Excitement sapped out of buildings.

All in the name of just getting it right, which nobody thinks we’re actually doing.

Everybody’s mad all the time. Literally every fan base thinks the Toronto situation room is biased against them personally. Everyone pretends they don’t understand interference. Nobody can squint hard enough to know which blue-line pixel we’re supposed to be fixating on. We’re all yelling at each other, constantly. The league’s own broadcasters are accusing the refs of betting on games. It’s all become a contest to see who can be the angriest, all the time, at the loudest volume. It’s exhausting.

Nobody thinks this is working. But we’re convinced we have to keep doing it, because what if we go back and something gets missed?

Well, what if it did? You old-timer fans out there: How many missed offside calls do you remember being mad about, back in the day? Sure, Leon Stickle, which was in 1980. How many others? What about goalie interference? Was that a play you spent a lot of time thinking about back in the pre-replay days?

Not really. Instead, we all understood that sometimes there would be a close call, and sometimes it would go against your team, and that was life as a sports fan. That’s not to say we didn’t get mad, or complain, or spend roughly 30 years crying about it. But we understood that it was how sports worked, and we didn’t expect the entire game to grind to a halt a few times a night so that we could find one frame of footage to obsess over, all while getting most of the calls right but some of them wrong, because that’s sports.

I’m not saying we ditch replay entirely. There are elements of the game in which it works perfectly, exactly the way it’s intended. Keep it for figuring out if time had expired before a goal, absolutely. Use it for determining if a puck crossed the line, as long as you understand that sometimes you just won’t be sure. Keep using it for kicked-in goals, if you insist, although that won’t work all the time, either.

But offside reviews that come down to a millimeter? No. And goalie interference calls that are almost entirely subjective? Absolutely not. Because right now, we’re not getting it right, at least not the way we were promised. We’re arguing more, not less. And we’re not making anyone feel better about NHL officiating. We don’t need to do this anymore.

I know it. You know it. And the hockey gods know it, too, which is why they hit us between the eyes with a decidedly over-the-top message on Friday night. This time, they were even kind enough to do it in a way that didn’t cost a team a series or create a controversy that we’ll remember years from now. Next time, we might not be so lucky.

Duchene got us into this mess. Maybe he can be the one to save us, too. Scrap replay review, accept that there will be calls that don’t go your team’s way, and live with it. As we found out in 1999, that option isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than the inevitable alternative.

(Photo of referee Dan O’Rouke: Claus Andersen / Getty Images)

Source website: www.nytimes.com

Legalized Weed Is Landing More Seniors in the E.R.

aedailynews
-
0

The study looked at 2,322 emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning among people 65 and older in Ontario. The visits spanned 2015 through 2022, allowing researchers to see what happened before and after October 2018, when Canada legalized the sale of dried cannabis, and January 2020, when the sale of edibles was legalized.

In 2015, there were 55 emergency room visits caused by cannabis poisoning. That figure rose steadily to 462 by 2021, and then fell off slightly to 404 in 2022.

Dr. Stall said he was motivated to undertake the study after being called into the emergency room to consult on an octogenarian who was experiencing severe confusion. The patient was barely conscious and showed strokelike symptoms. Multiple tests revealed no clear cause, until Dr. Stall ordered a toxicology test and found cannabis in the patient’s urine.

When Dr. Stall disclosed the finding, he said, a family member of the patient who was present at the bedside “went beet red and realized that the older adult had got into their edible cannabis product and mistaken it for food.”

Dr. Stall said that the patient was hospitalized and given supportive care, and that there was not a specific treatment or antidote for such poisonings.

The study did not look at why seniors overdosed, but Dr. Stall said that he and other doctors were seeing poisonings caused by accidental ingestion as well as intentional use of edibles for recreation or medicinal reasons.

There are several reasons seniors might be prone to overdose, Dr. Stall said. Many cannabis strains are far more potent than in past decades, and seniors who used the drug earlier in life may underestimate the concentrations of THC they are inhaling or ingesting. Particularly with edibles, Dr. Stall said, the high can take about three hours to unfold, which might prompt users to ingest too much in the buildup.

Older adults also metabolize cannabis differently from younger people, Dr. Stall said, and their bodies eliminate the drug more slowly. Seniors also are more likely than younger people to take other medications, including psychoactive drugs for sleep, that can have problematic interactions with cannabis. And, Dr. Stall said, some seniors might already be prone to confusion or falling, which the use of cannabis could worsen.

“The question is What do we do about it?” Dr. Stall said.

Dr. Stall noted the importance of ensuring edibles were kept in locked locations and in clearly identified packaging, to prevent unintentional exposure.

Also, he said, policymakers should encourage senior-specific dosing information for cannabis, along with public-education campaigns about the kinds of conditions and circumstances that put older adults at risk when using the drug. He added that seniors who are experimenting with cannabis for the first time might want to draw from a mantra used in geriatric medicine: “Start low and go slow.”

“That would mean starting lower and going slower than a younger population who is trying cannabis for a first time,” Dr. Stall said.

Source website: www.nytimes.com

Top Washing machine with inbuilt heaters: Check out their benefits, features, and more

aedailynews
-
0

We all hate dirty piles of clothes, but then again, doing laundry is one of the tedious and time-consuming tasks, especially when we have to rush for the early morning meeting and have no time for laundry. This is where a washing machine becomes our superhero and eases our task of washing dirty clothes in no time. However, with new age technology, washing machines too have become advanced and one of such advanced features of these washers is the benefit of a heater in a washing machine.

Best washing machine with inbuilt heater(Unsplash)

Wait! Did we mention heaters? Yes, you heard that right. Apart from the usual features that a washing machine has, there are selective models of automatic and semi-automatic washing machines that do comes with inbuilt heaters.

Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now!

But before we jump to the best washing machines with inbuilt heaters, let’s understand the importance of washing clothes with warm water.

The question here is does warm water give us effective cleaning?

The answer is Yes. Many of us do not realize that the temperature of water plays a crucial role in washing and cleaning your clothes.

Let us look at the benefits of washing clothes with warm water:

Washing clothes in warm water offers plenty of perks. The very first and the most common is that washing clothes in warm water is that it easily removes tough and stubborn stains easily. This is because warm water breaks down the oil and other substances that make the stains stubborn.

Secondly, warm water can also kill the harmful bacteria and germs that might be lurking on your clothes. Apart from this, warm water is also essential for a certain type of fabric, such as cotton, that tends to wrinkle or shrink. Washing your cotton clothes with warm water, extend their shelf life, which otherwise reduces when washing in cold water.

Let’s look into the kind of fabrics that benefit from warm water:

Temperature Kind of clothes
Hot Linen and cotton clothes
Warm Nylon, Polyester, Spandex, Rayon, Denim jeans
Cold Bright and delicate clothes

Let us now look at the top 5 washing machines with inbuilt heater:

 

1. Whirlpool 6.5 Kg 4 Star StainWash Fully-Automatic Top Loading Washing Machine

The Whirlpool 6.5 Kg 4 Star StainWash Fully-Automatic Top Loading Washing Machine is designed to offer superior cleaning performance with convenience and efficiency. Equipped with 12 wash programs, this machine caters to various fabric types and laundry needs, ensuring optimal care for your clothes. The StainWash technology effectively removes tough stains, even in hard water conditions. The machine features a 6th Sense Smart Technology that intelligently senses and adjusts the wash cycle for better cleaning and water savings. With a 4-star energy rating, it guarantees efficient energy consumption, making it an eco-friendly choice. Its sleek and modern design, coupled with user-friendly controls, makes laundry day a breeze. The 6.5 kg capacity is ideal for small to medium-sized families, providing ample space for regular loads without compromising on performance.

Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid
Effective Stain Removal Limited Capacity for Large Families
12 Wash Programs  
Energy Efficient (4 Star Rating)  
User-Friendly Controls  

The IFB 6 Kg 5 Star AI Powered Fully Automatic Front Load Washing Machine combines cutting-edge technology with superior performance for your laundry needs. Its AI-powered system customizes wash programs based on load type and weight, ensuring efficient and gentle cleaning. The 5-star energy rating ensures minimal energy consumption, making it an environmentally friendly option. This machine features multiple wash programs, catering to different fabric types and laundry requirements. The built-in heater allows for thorough cleaning, even in cold weather. The 6 kg capacity is perfect for small families or individuals. Additionally, the Aqua Energie technology enhances detergent action, making it ideal for regions with hard water. The sleek front-load design is both stylish and practical, offering a modern touch to your laundry space.

Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid
AI-Powered Customization Requires More Maintenance
Energy Efficient (5 Star Rating) Longer Wash Cycles
Multiple Wash Programs  
Built-in Heater for Better Cleaning  
Aqua Energie Technology  

3. LG 6.5 Kg 5 Star Inverter Direct Drive Fully Automatic Front Load Washing Machine

The LG 6.5 Kg 5 Star Inverter Direct Drive Fully Automatic Front Load Washing Machine offers a seamless blend of efficiency, durability, and advanced features. Its Inverter Direct Drive motor ensures less noise and vibration, enhancing the machine’s longevity and performance. The 5-star energy rating highlights its energy-saving capabilities, making it a cost-effective and eco-friendly option. With multiple wash programs, including those for delicate fabrics and heavy loads, it provides versatile washing solutions. The 6.5 kg capacity is well-suited for small to medium-sized families. The built-in heater enhances the washing process, effectively removing allergens and tough stains. The sleek, modern design and easy-to-use controls make it a stylish and practical addition to any home.

Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid
Quiet and Efficient Inverter Motor Premium Price Point
Energy Efficient (5-Star Rating) Limited Capacity for Larger Families
Versatile Wash Programs Potentially Longer Wash Cycles
Built-in Heater  

Also Read: Washing Machine buying guide: All you need to know before buying one

4.

The Bosch 8 kg 5 Star Fully-Automatic Front Loading Washing Machine is designed to deliver top-notch performance and efficiency. With an 8 kg capacity, it is ideal for large families or households with significant laundry needs. The 5-star energy rating ensures it operates efficiently, saving on electricity bills. This machine boasts multiple wash programs tailored for various fabric types and soil levels, ensuring comprehensive care for your garments. The AntiVibration design reduces noise and movement, providing a quieter wash experience. The built-in heater allows for superior stain removal and hygiene, even in cold weather. Additionally, the EcoSilence Drive motor enhances durability and performance. Its user-friendly interface and sleek design make it a practical and stylish addition to any home.

Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid
Large Capacity (8 kg) Higher Initial Cost
Energy Efficient (5-Star Rating) Larger Footprint
Multiple Wash Programs Potentially Longer Wash Cycles
AntiVibration Design for Quiet Operation  

5. Samsung 7 kg, 5 star, Hygiene Steam with Inbuilt Heater

The Samsung 7 kg, 5 Star, Hygiene Steam with Inbuilt Heater washing machine offers a blend of advanced features and efficiency. Its 7 kg capacity is perfect for small to medium-sized families, providing ample space for varied laundry needs. The 5-star energy rating ensures it is energy efficient, helping to reduce electricity bills. The Hygiene Steam feature ensures deep and thorough cleaning, effectively removing bacteria and allergens from clothes. The built-in heater enhances washing performance, particularly in colder weather or with tough stains. This machine offers a variety of wash programs tailored to different fabrics and soil levels. Its sleek, modern design, combined with user-friendly controls, makes it a convenient and stylish addition to any household.

Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid
Effective Hygiene Steam Cleaning Limited Capacity for Larger Families
Energy Efficient (5 Star Rating) Higher Initial Cost
Multiple Wash Programs Longer Wash Cycles
Built-in Heater for Superior Stain Removal  

Also Read: Best Whirlpool front load washing machine: Explore the top 9 options for advanced cleaning performance

Check out some more washing machines with inbuilt heater:

Also Read: Best Havells washing machine: Discover the top 5 picks for superior laundry performance

How to find the best washing machine with inbuilt heater:

 

When searching for the best washing machine with an inbuilt heater, consider several key factors to ensure you select the most suitable model for your needs. First, evaluate the capacity and energy rating; a higher star rating indicates better energy efficiency, which can lead to significant savings on electricity bills. The capacity should align with your household size; typically, a 6-8 kg capacity is ideal for small to medium families. Second, look at the special features such as the presence of an inbuilt heater, which helps in removing tough stains and allergens by providing hot water. Additional features like inverter motors, AI-powered wash, and steam wash can enhance performance and convenience. Lastly, examine the wash programs and technology offered. A variety of wash programs cater to different types of fabrics and cleaning needs, while advanced technologies like direct drive motors, eco-friendly washing, and anti-vibration designs ensure efficient and quiet operation. Comparing these aspects across different models will help you find a washing machine that combines performance, efficiency, and innovative features to meet your laundry needs.

Also Read: Best 7kg washing machine top load: Top 9 fully automatic washers in 2024 for hassle-free laundry

FAQ on Best Washing Machine with Inbuilt Heater

 

Q1: What are the benefits of an inbuilt heater in a washing machine?

A1: An inbuilt heater allows the washing machine to heat water to higher temperatures, which can help in effectively removing tough stains and allergens, and ensuring a more hygienic wash.

 

Q2: How does energy rating affect my choice of washing machine?

A2: Energy ratings indicate the efficiency of the washing machine. Higher ratings (4 or 5 stars) mean lower electricity consumption, leading to cost savings and a reduced environmental impact.

 

Q3: Why is the capacity of the washing machine important?

A3: The capacity determines how much laundry you can wash in one cycle. Choosing the right capacity ensures you can wash enough clothes per load, avoiding multiple cycles and saving time and energy.

 

Q4: What special features should I look for in a washing machine with an inbuilt heater?

A4: Look for features like inverter motors for quiet and efficient operation, multiple wash programs for different fabric types, steam washing for deep cleaning, and technologies like AI-powered wash for optimized performance.

 

Q5: Are front-loading or top-loading washing machines better for inbuilt heaters?

A5: Both types have their advantages. Front-loading machines typically offer better wash quality and are more energy-efficient, while top-loading machines are generally easier to load and unload and may be more affordable.

At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, with respect to the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority.

Source website: www.hindustantimes.com

UAE ramps up EV fast-charging infrastructure

aedailynews
-
0
WAM

The UAE government has unveiled a new venture to provide fast and accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the country.

UAEV is a joint venture between the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) and Etihad Water and Electricity (Etihad WE), and the first EV charging network fully owned by the government.

It aims to put 1,000 chargers into service by 2030.

Globally, the transition to EV is gathering pace with electric car sales reaching 10 million units in 2022 — five times higher than sales in 2019.

The latest partnership between MOEI and Etihad WE will ensure the UAE can meet current demand for EV infrastructure and make it easier for UAE residents to go green.

«We hope that this partnership will further accelerate the transition to cleaner transportation and significantly reduce emissions from the transportation sector, thereby helping to bring our Net Zero 2050 Strategy within reach,» said Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.

«Together, MOEI and Etihad WE form a powerful force which can help future-proof the UAE and achieve the twin objectives of economic growth and climate action, which underpin UAEV,» added  Eng. Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary for Energy & Petroleum Affairs at MoEI and Chairman of UAEV.

Eng. Yousif Ahmed Al Ali, CEO of Etihad Water and Electricity and Board Member of UAEV said: «For our business this is a major milestone. It is part of a deliberate strategy to diversify our operations, using the knowledge and experience acquired from our role as long-standing pioneers in energy sector, to explore new products, services, projects, and investments which will benefit our customers and ensure the UAE capitalises on emerging opportunities.»

As the largest employer in the Northern Emirates, with a customer base of over 2 million households, Etihad WE acknowledge that UAE consumers are increasingly aware of the impact the decisions they make have on the environment.

The Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure and Etihad WE are expected to release further information about UAEV’s plans by the end of 2024.

 

Source website: www.dubai92.com

Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool, a Love Affair in Street Art and Silverware

aedailynews
-
0

Jürgen Klopp’s week had been full of goodbyes. Liverpool’s now former manager had bade farewell to the club’s staff at Anfield, the stadium that had sung his name and thrilled at his team for the last nine years, on Tuesday. A couple of days later, he and his players shared one last barbecue at Liverpool’s training facility.

In between, he had signed jerseys — “I don’t know how many, but everyone has one now,” he said — kept countless media commitments, shaken endless hands, received thousands of messages from well-wishers. He had found that particularly difficult, especially intense. “It’s been a lot,” he said.

Throughout it all, the prospect of his final appearance at Anfield had cast a pall. Klopp knew he would have to address the crowd. He would have to say goodbye to his people. He would have to make it real.

At times, during the game — a carefree, sun-drenched win against Wolves — he had dreaded what was to come. The crowd serenaded him ceaselessly. Fans brandished dozens of flags emblazoned with his name. Each of his players came to him for one of his signature hugs; all of them lingered. He started to worry, he admitted, that he would be “in pieces,” unable to speak.

He had no need. When the moment came, Klopp had Anfield in the palm of his hands, as he has for almost a decade: He had them at hello, and he had them at goodbye. He demanded the fans chant the name of his replacement. They complied. He told them to be “all in, for the first day.” They roared. He told them the future was bright, that what comes next will match what went before.

“Nobody tells you to stop believing,” he told the crowd. “I believe, because we have you: the superpower of world football.”

Klopp does not pretend to understand, not fully, why he has such connected so deeply with Liverpool’s fans — the club’s “people,” as he calls them. He suspects that his success has something to do with it: the fact that he has turned Liverpool into European, world and, for the first time in 30 years, English champions, restoring what had been a faded giant to the very front rank of European soccer’s great powers.

“I know that if you are Liverpool manager, people like you,” he said this week. “Until you disappoint them. And we never really disappointed them.”

Klopp’s impact, though, cannot be accurately weighed in silver and gold; he knows the bond is more profound than that. The trophies do not quite explain why the crowd, the club and the city have fallen so hard for him. There are bars and hotels named after him. And his face — the bright white grin, the beard now more salt than pepper — beams out from half a dozen murals around the city.

The first of them, in the Baltic Triangle, went up in 2018, painted by the French street artist Akse on the wall of a motorcycle garage. It was a surprisingly easy negotiation, given that John Jameson, the building’s owner, is a dyed-in-the-wool fan of Everton, Liverpool’s fierce city rival.

“He thought it would be good for business,” said his son, also John Jameson. The thinking, the son said, was that even Liverpool publicity “was good publicity.”

Other murals soon followed, some commissioned by the club itself, some by fan groups and some — more recently — as rather more blatant advertisements.

Liverpool can feel, at times, like a city of soccer-themed murals. Several more are dedicated to current or former players. “It’s starting to feel a bit like an insult if you don’t have one,” said Shaun O’Donnell, a co-founder of BOSS Nights, a live music brand geared toward Liverpool fans.

No subject is more popular, though, than Klopp. BOSS lent its name to another early mural of him, right around the corner from Anfield, as a play on the word’s dual meaning in Liverpool: both “person in charge” and “great.”

O’Donnell was conscious that he did not want to be seen to be “jumping on a bandwagon” by doing another mural. For Klopp, though, he was prepared to make an exception. “We owe him everything,” he said. “Everything we’ve been able to do, it’s all down to Jürgen.”

Initially, BOSS Nights were distinctly small-scale events: a few dozen friends, familiar from long road trips following Liverpool, gathering in bars around the Baltic Quarter to listen to live music. Klopp’s arrival, the jolt of electricity he sent running through the club, turned it into something else.

In 2019, the year that Klopp led Liverpool to the Champions League title, BOSS staged a show at a fan park in Madrid, where the final was held. It attracted tens of thousands of fans. Jamie Webster, who started out performing in O’Donnell’s shows, now has more than 50 million streams on Spotify. His rendition of “Allez Allez Allez,” the most enduring of the fan anthems from Klopp’s era, has been played 16.5 million times.

“This wouldn’t have happened for just any manager,” O’Donnell said. “Maybe it’s his charisma, but there’s something about him. The atmosphere at the ground has gone up a notch. He makes you want to contribute. There’s a feeling that they need us as much as we need them.”

O’Donnell frequently receives calls from pubs and bars around Anfield asking if he can recommend a singer or a guitarist for a show before games. “That didn’t used to happen,” he said. “Live music and football were never really a thing here. Getting someone to do Liverpool songs wouldn’t necessarily be cool. It’s become cool because of him.”

That is part of what Neil Atkinson, a co-founder of The Anfield Wrap, the most prominent outlet in Liverpool’s blossoming fan media scene, describes as a “new covenant of what we want supporting our team to be.”

Klopp has always demanded “unconditional support” of his team, Atkinson said. Early in his tenure, Klopp would regularly turn to the fans closest to him at Anfield and demand they make more noise. He has more than once railed against those who leave early to beat the traffic. “In exchange, he creates the mood for everyone to enjoy it the way they want to enjoy it,” Atkinson said.

That inclusivity has been an important strand in Klopp’s appeal. In an open letter to Klopp, Alison McGovern — a local Labour lawmaker and an Anfield season-ticket holder — thanked him not only for “showing publicly that women, gay women, all women, are a part of our club,” but for being able to place soccer into its correct context.

“When Covid struck, you shouted at the fans who lent over for a high five,” she wrote. “You told people what they needed to do: Get tested, get a vaccine.” His description of football as not a matter of life and death was important, she added. “It is there for enjoyment. It should be the fun in family life, never a force or a justification for abuse.”

She found even the manner of Klopp’s departure — he announced in January that he would leave at the end of the season, admitting he had “run out of energy” — welcome. “Making it clear that you see honesty and frankness as the right response to those feelings of tiredness and exhaustion helps everyone see that our heroes are all the better for being real humans,” she wrote.

That ability to keep soccer in perspective is perhaps the best explanation for Klopp’s enduring, soaring popularity. What matters, he said again this week, is the journey, not the destination. That sincere belief has helped him retain the faith of fans even during leaner spells.

“The most enjoyable year I’ve had supporting Liverpool was 2018,” Atkinson said. “Seeing the team work itself out. Seeing what it might become.

“We didn’t win anything, and it didn’t matter,” he said. “That’s Klopp’s biggest gift.”

Klopp was not looking forward to Sunday, and that final farewell. “Saying goodbye is never nice,” he said. “But if you said goodbye without feeling sad, or hurt, that would mean the time together had not been right.”

For the fans or for the city, if anything, it was going to be even more difficult. When the contract for the original mural of Klopp, outside the motorcycle garage, expired a few years ago, the proprietors asked Akse, the artist, if he might like to paint over it. He refused.

Instead, he has come down occasionally over the years to touch it up. “Sometimes Everton fans come and vandalize it,” the younger John Jameson said. “You see the graffiti when you come in on Monday morning.”

He does not think there is any reason to do anything but maintain it now. “We get a coach-load of tourists every day, at least,” he said. “It’s like it’s on the tour: first stop the Cavern Club, second stop the Klopp mural.” Nine years after Klopp arrived in Liverpool, his image has become an indelible part of the city’s iconography. “It looks like he’s staying,” Jameson said.

Source website: www.nytimes.com

Judge to rule next week on Baldwin’s bid to avoid ‘Rust’ trial

aedailynews
-
0
AFP

A New Mexico judge next week will make a decision on Alec Baldwin’s request to have charges dropped against him in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The actor is trying to avoid an unprecedented Hollywood manslaughter trial for an on-set death.

Baldwin’s lawyers had filed motions to dismiss his indictment, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, failure to show the actor committed a crime and destruction of evidence during testing of the gun Baldwin used in 2021 during a rehearsal on the New Mexico set of ‘Rust.’

«We need the court to move in and check this abuse of power,» Baldwin attorney Alex Spiro said during a virtual court hearing before Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday, who will preside over Baldwin’s case should it reach a trial scheduled to start July 10.

During the at-times contentious hearing, New Mexico state special prosecutor Kari Morrissey denied allegations from Baldwin’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, that she hid evidence from the grand jury that indicted Baldwin in January.

Morrissey also said grand jurors were presented with evidence Baldwin showed criminal negligence when he pointed the gun at Hutchins, in violation of industry-wide safety rules.

«The actor has responsibility for the firearms once it is in their hands,» Morrissey said.

CHANCE OF DISMISSAL?

Entertainment and business trial litigator Tre Lovell saw a slim chance of dismissal and said Marlowe’s delay in ruling was normal.

«If she is inclined to deny the motion and rule for the state, she doesn’t want to give the optics that she is favouring the prosecution,» said Lovell, adding that he did not expect the actor to be convicted at trial if his attorneys followed the legal pathway laid out in their motions.

Los Angeles criminal and state trial litigator Rachel Fiset said there was a «minuscule» chance of dismissal, and Sommer has to carefully review oral arguments as Baldwin would likely appeal any ruling against him.

«While Baldwin has some strong facts on his side, there is always a risk of conviction — just ask Hannah Gutierrez,» said Fiset.

Sommer sentenced «Rust» armourer Hannah Gutierrez to 18 months in prison in April after a Santa Fe jury found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter for loading the live round into the reproduction Colt Single Action Army revolver Baldwin was rehearsing with.

Hutchins was shot with the live round after Baldwin pointed his gun at her as she set up a camera shot. The «30 Rock» actor maintains he did not pull the trigger, an assertion that had become central to the case.

Hutchins died in the first on-set fatal shooting with a live round mistaken for a dummy or blank round since Hollywood’s silent era, according to historian Alan Rode.

Hollywood on-set shootings have in the past been settled through civil lawsuits, such as the last fatality in 1993 when Brandon Lee was killed when a blank round dislodged a bullet stuck in a revolver’s barrel during filming of «The Crow,» according to UCLA film historian Jonathan Kuntz.

Source website: www.dubai92.com

How Lowriders Put a Vivid Stamp on New York City’s Car Scene

aedailynews
-
0

Growing up in Mexico, Marco Flores fantasized about the lowrider cars he saw in magazines, studying their colorful bodies and gleaming engine compartments. He adored his father’s Chevrolet Chevelle, too. In a tribute, Mr. Flores eventually restored a Chevelle in electric blue — the same muscle car his father had owned — with the help of his children.

Now his custom-made creations, which he designs and fabricates after work in his garage in Port Chester, N.Y., are featured in those same lowrider magazines.

His blue Chevelle “represents my entire childhood and the passion I have for cars,” said Mr. Flores, 55, who works six days a week at a Mamaroneck auto body shop. “When I turn the ignition, I am overcome with the emotion of feeling my father knows I did this for him.”

Family is a pillar of lowrider culture, which flourished in car-crazy postwar Los Angeles among Mexican Americans who took used cars they could afford and transformed them into bouncing, rolling works of art. Just as Mr. Flores shared his skills with his children, many fans embrace the scene as a family-friendly way to honor traditions and celebrate accomplishments, adding hydraulics in the trunk, bright paint across the body and iconography like Our Lady of Guadalupe on the hood.

California recently repealed prohibitions on lowrider cruising and vehicle modifications that had been in place for decades. Those issues have not caused the same concern in New York City, so as the city’s Mexican population has grown, so, too, has the visibility of lowriders on roads and in car shows. Once dismissed as gang-related, lowriders now win prizes, too, and support local charity events.

Alfonso Gonzales Toribio, a Chicano professor in the ethnic studies department at the University of California, Riverside, who himself owns a lowrider, traced the trend to a midcentury boom in unionized industrial jobs. It spread to hobbyists who recalled custom cars back in Mexico.

“It was done with a Mexican twist, giving cultural expression to the cars, lowering them and using loud colors,” he said, adding, “We change everything we do.”

On a gravelly parking lot in Astoria, Queens, several dozen lowriders — from full-sized contraptions to radio-controlled scale models — were on display last August, facing the East River and Manhattan. Children walked with parents, marveling at the details, much of the work done by owners themselves to save money. Young men with silver- and gold-plated lowrider bicycles lounged in chinos and T-shirts, while other men traded stories about cars past. At one point, the crowd watched a Mexican folkloric dance troupe perform in animal costumes.

Nobody knew much about lowriders in the New York City area when Mr. Flores left hardship in Mexico to join his mother and sister in Port Chester in 1998. He scoffed at the cheap paint jobs he saw, knowing he could do better, and persuaded someone to let him paint a truck with bold colors. Soon, word of his custom paint jobs and glistening hydraulics got around, and he has not stopped since. Now his cars compete — and win — in regional car shows that once looked down on lowriders.

The skills he uses to craft lowriders have also gotten him noticed at his day job: Mr. Flores has gotten so good at fabricating pieces that he now makes his own replacement body panels for luxury imported cars.

“We gained respect bit by bit,” he said.

Bikes and fashion, part of the lowrider scene as well, drew in Fidencio Cortez, a musician who lives in Coney Island. He commissioned Mr. Flores to paint his lowrider bike, a squat, metal-plated BMX-style machine he rides with friends.

“You really didn’t see these bikes at first,” said Mr. Cortez, 33, referring to New York. “But we saw them in videos of parades and on YouTube.”

Thanks to online popularity, the culture has gone global, Mr. Gonzales Toribio said, pointing to lowrider clubs as far away as Japan. Rather than do the work themselves, like Mr. Flores, fans can order online all the parts one would need to soup up a car — if money is not an issue. Still, traditionalists have mixed feelings.

“The problem with commodification of the culture is we lose control over it,” Mr. Gonzales Toribio said, adding, “Will the market take over low riding?”

That’s why Mr. Flores raised his three children to care about the cars, holding flashlights and passing wrenches to their father. It reminded him of the days when he helped his father, a bus driver, clean his Chevelle before going on rides.

His passion has rubbed off. One son, Marco Jr., customizes Japanese compact cars, and his work has been showcased at the New York International Auto Show alongside million-dollar vehicles. Mr. Flores’s daughter, Sherry, will inherit his other car, a candy-apple-red Chevy Impala with filigreed gold trim and spotless hydraulic pumps in the trunk that make the car dance and bounce.

“She calls it her baby,” said Mr. Flores. “But when I die, I want my ashes put in the hydraulic tanks. That way, when she drives it, I’ll still be with her.”

Source website: www.nytimes.com

123...1 031Страница 1 из 1 031
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv