#Andrew Mellon Importance

[pittsburghbeautiful]

Andrew Mellon

Andrew Mellon: The Financier, Philanthropist, and Political Figure of the 20th Century Andrew Mellon was a distinguished financier, philanthropist, and political figure who played a crucial role in the shaping of American fiscal policy during the early 20th century. He was respected for his financial acumen, which helped him build an extensive business empire. His considerable influence extended…

[beguines]

The steel industry was distinguished from other industries by a number of factors. The first, of course, was the large size of its plants and the sizable amount of capital invested in each location, something by which virtually every commentator has been struck. As Horace Davis notes, "American steel makers have astonished the world not only by the size of their furnaces and mills but by the way they scrapped an old plant before it was worn out, in order to build a bigger one". In addition, the industry, especially compared with wood, coal, and textiles, was distinguished by the concentration of ownership, which can be seen from Table 4.3. The top ten producers accounted for 84% of the steel capacity in the United States. While U.S. Steel was clearly the dominant firm in the industry, its sway was most important in western Pennsylvania and the Midwest. On the East Coast, it was Bethlehem that had the largest share of production. This horizontal combination was not based exclusively on the technical requirements of the industry. As Davis notes, even relatively smaller producers were sufficiently large and well capitalized to be at the vanguard of technical innovation and productivity in their plants. Rather, it was the need to control the market, prices, and ultimately profits that led to the increased concentration of ownership. The push for this concentration came from the banks and financiers who quite literally controlled the industry. Because of the need for large amounts of investment capital, Morgan financial interests not only controlled U.S. Steel, but had important interests in Bethlehem and other companies. Mellon interests had a major influence on many independents, while Mark Hanna's banking empire had important control over Republic Steel; also in evidence were the fingerprints of financier Cyrus Eaton, who by 1927 had become the major shareholder in the newly reorganized Republic Steel.

There was also little worry that the federal government would find any of these relations a violation of federal anti-trust laws. Some have suggested that capitalist influence on governments in capitalist societies is indirect, a result of societal "logic," not direct or, as they would say pejoratively, "instrumental." Such criticisms are mostly unfounded when one looks at the influence of the steel bourgeoisie: much of the federal government does indeed appear to be, in Marx's words, their "executive committee." Davis examines these ties in detail and they are indeed rather lurid. Philander C. Knox, the U.S. attorney general when U.S. Steel was formed in 1901, was the former chief council for Carnegie Steel Corporation and an intimate of Henry Clay Frick, a prominent USS director. When Knox was replaced (to become secretary of state), it was by George W. Wickersham, previously USS's attorney. Another former attorney for USS, Elihu Root, had preceded Knox as secretary of state. Secretary of the Navy was a position also filled by several former USS officials. When U.S. Steel received a tax rebate of 96 million dollars, it was Pittsburgh steel financier Andrew Mellon who was secretary of the treasury, who okayed the deal, supposedly guarding Americans' taxpayer dollars. These connections are just a titillating sampler. Of course, it is perhaps arguable that these connections were really secondary, and the welfare of USS was just part of the accepted ethos of ruling class America. Such is a legitimate conclusion that one might have drawn when the Supreme Court, in what Davis calls a "coat of judicial whitewash," exonerated USS for anti-​trust violations, the imprimatur being given by the highly liberal judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose bleeding heart went out to USS.

The bigger employers controlled a large percentage of the raw material and related product industries. U.S. Steel, for example, dominated most of the Great Lakes ore in the 1930s and more than 10% of the coal resources in the entire country. Certain major companies had their own steel mills, including International Harvester, which owned Wisconsin Steel in Chicago, and Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, which even recycled old automobile parts as scrap in making steel. Thus, the fate of literally millions of workers was controlled by decisions made by banking officials and top managers in steel and steel-​related industries. These companies and officials had the ability to mobilize enormous resources against any challenges to the absolute control of their labor forces.

Michael Goldfield, The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s

[brooklynmuseum]

My Summer as a Conservation Intern

I’m Carolina Benitez, and this summer I was the conservation intern at the Brooklyn Museum. As a pre-program intern, getting experience in the field can be particularly difficult, and it’s hard to decide which specialty you’re most interested in without having the proper experience first. Working at one of the oldest conservation labs in the US was an incredible experience, and having an open lab meant that conservators working in different specialties work within the same space, making collaboration within the department more feasible. 

Through the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation Program, I was able to be placed to work at the Brooklyn Museum to properly develop my skills through a variety of projects under several supervisors.

Under the direction of our head of conservation Lisa Bruno, I worked in Objects Conservation with project conservator Celeste Mahoney in order to treat 18th century Rajasthani sandstone balcony pieces to ensure their preparation for our fall exhibition. Removing mortar and inpainting these pieces was incredibly fun, and gave me the opportunity to utilize and develop my skills in manual dexterity and color theory.

In Paintings Conservation, we worked with Mellon Fellow Isaac Messina to create a database of paint swatches from the lab’s pigment collection in order to create a record for further research through technical photography and multiband imaging. I learned how to make paint with deionized water and rabbit skin glue and got to help with photography to learn more about properties within certain pigments.

For my favorite project this summer, I got to examine and carry out treatment of a gelatin silver photograph; a portrait of sculptor William Edmonson by the photographer Consuelo Kanaga. With Associate Paper Conservator Elyse Driscoll, I was able to treat the photograph’s cracked surface with 1% photo grade gelatin. Afterwards, I conducted a dry cleaning of smudging on the surface of the mount with a kneaded eraser, a vinyl eraser, and vinyl eraser crumbs. Finally, I was able to work on the back of the mount in order to remove residual linen tape with 4% methyl cellulose as a poultice. 

The most rewarding part of these projects is getting to have a direct hand in preserving important pieces of art history. As an art historian and a museum lover, I feel that learning and seeing objects and artworks can be fulfilling in itself. The most rewarding aspect of this career is knowing that your preservation ensures the protection of history and knowledge for future generations. After my internship, I can say that my experience at the Brooklyn Museum exceeded my expectations, and I am more adequately prepared for my next chapter.

Posted by Carolina Benitez, Conservation Intern

[jaredsavage-nzheraldnews]

Comanchero gang raids: President's brother pleads guilty

Vetekina Naufahu joins two other senior members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang in admitting charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group following the covert police investigation Operation Nova.

Once nothing more than a mystery caller on the end of the phone line, the man who smuggled methamphetamine from Mexico into New Zealand for the Comancheros gang will now serve a long prison sent...

A senior Comanchero gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group, just weeks before his trial was due to start.

Vetekina Naufahu pleaded guilty to three charges at a High Court hearing this morning, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

The money laundering charge relates to his late-model Range Rover, worth around $150,000, while the organised crime charge carries the most significant penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Naufahu - whose brother Pasilika is the president of the New Zealand chapter of the Australian motorcycle gang - also pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA, or Ecstasy, which is a Class-B controlled drug.

Justice Sally Fitzgerald convicted Naufahu of the three offences and scheduled a sentencing date of October 23, 2020, alongside his fellow Comanchero Jarome Fonua.

Last week, the gang's treasurer Fonua also pleaded guilty to money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group.

The late admissions come shortly before the pair were due to stand trial at the High Court in September, along with other members of the gang and their associates on charges laid in April 2019 following Operation Nova.

Vetekina and Fonua now join Tyson Daniels, the gang's vice-president, and Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson in being convicted of laundering criminal profits.

Nearly $1.3 million in cash was deposited into the lawyer's trust account, which was then used to purchase expensive cars and property.

For Daniels alone, there were four Range Rovers - with price tags of $175,000, $255,000, $218,000 and $280,000 - a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini for $285,000, and two Rolls-Royces, which cost $364,000 and $595,000.

A charge of participating in an organised criminal group between May 2017 and April 2019 was also admitted by Daniels, who was living in the affluent Auckland suburb of Mellons Bay until his arrest in April last year.

In sentencing Daniels - who was wearing a Versace top in Comanchero colours of black and gold - to four years and eight months in prison, Justice Gerard van Bohemen said the senior gang member played a crucial role overseeing the gang's operations for significant personal gain.

The offending was sophisticated, said Justice van Bohemen, with encrypted devices used to avoid detection by police.

Money was deposited at banks in amounts less than $10,000, in a bid to avoid triggering the banks' reporting threshold, then funnelled through trust and company accounts to disguise their criminal origins.

"You clearly knew the money was derived from significant importation of drugs."

More than $1.2m in cash was deposited into Simpson's trust account at his law practice, which was also used to purchase some of the cars belonging to Daniels and allegedly others in the gang, as well as real estate such as a $1.3m home in Auckland.

Justice van Bohemen said Simpson was the facilitator of the money-laundering scheme, who used his specialist skills and knowledge as a lawyer.

"You made it work. You set up the trusts and lent respectability, as a lawyer, to a criminal organisation."

Simpson was reckless and brought the legal profession into disrepute, however, the judge was satisfied he was genuine in his remorse.

Despite this, Simpson was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.

"I deeply regret a father being separated from his family. However, that is a consequence of your decisions."

Neither man was charged with drug offences.

But the police allege the Comanchero, an Australian gang which set up shop in New Zealand after a number of senior members were deported here, are behind significant drug smuggling linked to a Mexican cartel.

In July, a 60-year-old man who travelled to Mexico was sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of importing a Class A drug after being identified in Operation Nova.

Tallat Rahman, from Suva, was arrested in February 2019 in the first phase of the inquiry, which discovered how parcels of methamphetamine weighing up to 5kg were hidden inside kitchen appliances shipped from the United States.

Once in New Zealand, the police allege the drugs were distributed by "frontmen" for the Comanchero, whose hierarchy allegedly reaped the rewards of the illicit trade.

Rahman was unknown to the team of detectives running Operation Nova until he was overheard talking to one of the "frontmen", who cannot be named for legal reasons, whose phone conversations were bugged by police.

He said: "You're going to start off with a nice number with two zeroes. I'm going to land it between you and me ... [I'll give you] all the f***en work you can handle. We're going to land it there [in New Zealand]."

The cheap wholesale price of $120,000 per kilogram was agreed to by both parties, in a deal the police believed would weigh at least 100kg ("a nice number with two zeros").

The call was made in Mexico and the caller was identified as Rahman; a Fijian-Indian who lived in Suva, who had dual Canadian citizenship and travelled regularly to Mexico and the United States.

Everything went quiet until Rahman flew into Auckland International Airport on December 18, 2018, and checked into a hotel on Queen St, the Four Points by Sheraton.

Three days later, Rahman's son checked into the same hotel and was seen meeting with another man, a 19-year-old Mexican national, who also cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Two days before Christmas, December 23, 2018, Rahman left New Zealand but not before receiving a backpack full of cash.

Around the same time, a consignment of a kitchen stovetops shipped from the United States had been seized by Customs and examined. There was nearly 5kg of methamphetamine inside.

Then in February 2019, two separate consignments from the United States - a "waffle maker" and "coffee brewer"- were stopped at the border by Customs, each containing 2.9kg of methamphetamine.

Rahman returned to New Zealand and was arrested by the National Organised Crime Group, along with the 19-year-old from Mexico and a 33-year-old Chinese man called Hui Wang. He was called the "Wire Guy" because he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in wire transfers overseas.

Search warrants were also executed at the home linked to Rahman in Suva where Fijian Police discovered 39kg of cocaine, presumably destined for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The haul was worth about $20m.

When brought in for questioning by police, Rahman claimed to be in New Zealand on holiday.

When detectives told him that an audio device had been covertly installed in his hotel room on Queen St, Rahman said: "Oh shit".

[cstnews]

Comanchero gang raids: Jarome Fonua pleads guilty to money laundering, participating in an organised criminal group

A senior Comancheros gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group - changing his plea just a few weeks ahead of his trial. Jarome Fonua entered guilty pleas to the offences this morning at a High Court hearing, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

Once nothing more than a mystery caller on the end of the phone line, the man who smuggled methamphetamine from Mexico into New Zealand for the Comancheros gang will now serve a long prison

Vetekina Naufahu joins two other senior members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang in admitting charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group following the covert police investigation Operation Nova. A senior Comanchero gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group, just weeks before his trial was due to start.

Vetekina Naufahu pleaded guilty to three charges at a High Court hearing this morning, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

The money laundering charge relates to his late-model Range Rover, worth around $150,000, while the organised crime charge carries the most significant penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Naufahu - whose brother Pasilika is the president of the New Zealand chapter of the Australian motorcycle gang - also pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA, or Ecstasy, which is a Class-B controlled drug.

Justice Sally Fitzgerald convicted Naufahu of the three offences and scheduled a sentencing date of October 23, 2020, alongside his fellow Comanchero Jarome Fonua.

Last week, the gang's treasurer Fonua also pleaded guilty to money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group. The late admissions come shortly before the pair were due to stand trial at the High Court in September, along with other members of the gang and their associates on charges laid in April 2019 following Operation Nova.

Vetekina and Fonua now join Tyson Daniels, the gang's vice-president, and Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson in being convicted of laundering criminal profits.

Nearly $1.3 million in cash was deposited into the lawyer's trust account, which was then used to purchase expensive cars and property.

For Daniels alone, there were four Range Rovers - with price tags of $175,000, $255,000, $218,000 and $280,000 - a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini for $285,000, and two Rolls-Royces, which cost $364,000 and $595,000.

A charge of participating in an organised criminal group between May 2017 and April 2019 was also admitted by Daniels, who was living in the affluent Auckland suburb of Mellons Bay until his arrest in April last year. In sentencing Daniels - who was wearing a Versace top in Comanchero colours of black and gold - to four years and eight months in prison, Justice Gerard van Bohemen said the senior gang member played a crucial role overseeing the gang's operations for significant personal gain.

The offending was sophisticated, said Justice van Bohemen, with encrypted devices used to avoid detection by police.

Money was deposited at banks in amounts less than $10,000, in a bid to avoid triggering the banks' reporting threshold, then funnelled through trust and company accounts to disguise their criminal origins.

"You clearly knew the money was derived from significant importation of drugs."

More than $1.2m in cash was deposited into Simpson's trust account at his law practice, which was also used to purchase some of the cars belonging to Daniels and allegedly others in the gang, as well as real estate such as a $1.3m home in Auckland.

Justice van Bohemen said Simpson was the facilitator of the money-laundering scheme, who used his specialist skills and knowledge as a lawyer.

"You made it work. You set up the trusts and lent respectability, as a lawyer, to a criminal organisation."

Simpson was reckless and brought the legal profession into disrepute, however, the judge was satisfied he was genuine in his remorse.

Despite this, Simpson was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.

"I deeply regret a father being separated from his family. However, that is a consequence of your decisions."

Neither man was charged with drug offences.

But the police allege the Comanchero, an Australian gang which set up shop in New Zealand after a number of senior members were deported here, are behind significant drug smuggling linked to a Mexican cartel. In July, a 60-year-old man who travelled to Mexico was sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of importing a Class A drug after being identified in Operation Nova.

Tallat Rahman, from Suva, was arrested in February 2019 in the first phase of the inquiry, which discovered how parcels of methamphetamine weighing up to 5kg were hidden inside kitchen appliances shipped from the United States.

Once in New Zealand, the police allege the drugs were distributed by "frontmen" for the Comanchero, whose hierarchy allegedly reaped the rewards of the illicit trade.

Rahman was unknown to the team of detectives running Operation Nova until he was overheard talking to one of the "frontmen", who cannot be named for legal reasons, whose phone conversations were bugged by police.

He said: "You're going to start off with a nice number with two zeroes. I'm going to land it between you and me … [I'll give you] all the f***en work you can handle. We're going to land it there [in New Zealand]." The cheap wholesale price of $120,000 per kilogram was agreed to by both parties, in a deal the police believed would weigh at least 100kg ("a nice number with two zeros").

The call was made in Mexico and the caller was identified as Rahman; a Fijian-Indian who lived in Suva, who had dual Canadian citizenship and travelled regularly to Mexico and the United States.

Everything went quiet until Rahman flew into Auckland International Airport on December 18, 2018, and checked into a hotel on Queen St, the Four Points by Sheraton.

Three days later, Rahman's son checked into the same hotel and was seen meeting with another man, a 19-year-old Mexican national, who also cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Two days before Christmas, December 23, 2018, Rahman left New Zealand but not before receiving a backpack full of cash.

Around the same time, a consignment of a kitchen stovetops shipped from the United States had been seized by Customs and examined. There was nearly 5kg of methamphetamine inside.

Then in February 2019, two separate consignments from the United States - a "waffle maker" and "coffee brewer"- were stopped at the border by Customs, each containing 2.9kg of methamphetamine.

Rahman returned to New Zealand and was arrested by the National Organised Crime Group, along with the 19-year-old from Mexico and a 33-year-old Chinese man called Hui Wang. He was called the "Wire Guy" because he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in wire transfers overseas. Search warrants were also executed at the home linked to Rahman in Suva where Fijian Police discovered 39kg of cocaine, presumably destined for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The haul was worth about $20m.

When brought in for questioning by police, Rahman claimed to be in New Zealand on holiday.

When detectives told him that an audio device had been covertly installed in his hotel room on Queen St, Rahman said: "Oh shit".

Roy Richey

[sdtnews]

Comanchero gang raids: Jarome Fonua pleads guilty to money laundering, participating in an organised criminal group

A senior Comancheros gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group - changing his plea just a few weeks ahead of his trial. Jarome Fonua entered guilty pleas to the offences this morning at a High Court hearing, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

Once nothing more than a mystery caller on the end of the phone line, the man who smuggled methamphetamine from Mexico into New Zealand for the Comancheros gang will now serve a long prison

Vetekina Naufahu joins two other senior members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang in admitting charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group following the covert police investigation Operation Nova. A senior Comanchero gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group, just weeks before his trial was due to start.

Vetekina Naufahu pleaded guilty to three charges at a High Court hearing this morning, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

The money laundering charge relates to his late-model Range Rover, worth around $150,000, while the organised crime charge carries the most significant penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Naufahu - whose brother Pasilika is the president of the New Zealand chapter of the Australian motorcycle gang - also pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA, or Ecstasy, which is a Class-B controlled drug.

Justice Sally Fitzgerald convicted Naufahu of the three offences and scheduled a sentencing date of October 23, 2020, alongside his fellow Comanchero Jarome Fonua.

Last week, the gang's treasurer Fonua also pleaded guilty to money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group. The late admissions come shortly before the pair were due to stand trial at the High Court in September, along with other members of the gang and their associates on charges laid in April 2019 following Operation Nova.

Vetekina and Fonua now join Tyson Daniels, the gang's vice-president, and Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson in being convicted of laundering criminal profits.

Nearly $1.3 million in cash was deposited into the lawyer's trust account, which was then used to purchase expensive cars and property.

For Daniels alone, there were four Range Rovers - with price tags of $175,000, $255,000, $218,000 and $280,000 - a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini for $285,000, and two Rolls-Royces, which cost $364,000 and $595,000.

A charge of participating in an organised criminal group between May 2017 and April 2019 was also admitted by Daniels, who was living in the affluent Auckland suburb of Mellons Bay until his arrest in April last year. In sentencing Daniels - who was wearing a Versace top in Comanchero colours of black and gold - to four years and eight months in prison, Justice Gerard van Bohemen said the senior gang member played a crucial role overseeing the gang's operations for significant personal gain.

The offending was sophisticated, said Justice van Bohemen, with encrypted devices used to avoid detection by police.

Money was deposited at banks in amounts less than $10,000, in a bid to avoid triggering the banks' reporting threshold, then funnelled through trust and company accounts to disguise their criminal origins.

"You clearly knew the money was derived from significant importation of drugs."

More than $1.2m in cash was deposited into Simpson's trust account at his law practice, which was also used to purchase some of the cars belonging to Daniels and allegedly others in the gang, as well as real estate such as a $1.3m home in Auckland.

Justice van Bohemen said Simpson was the facilitator of the money-laundering scheme, who used his specialist skills and knowledge as a lawyer.

"You made it work. You set up the trusts and lent respectability, as a lawyer, to a criminal organisation."

Simpson was reckless and brought the legal profession into disrepute, however, the judge was satisfied he was genuine in his remorse.

Despite this, Simpson was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.

"I deeply regret a father being separated from his family. However, that is a consequence of your decisions."

Neither man was charged with drug offences.

But the police allege the Comanchero, an Australian gang which set up shop in New Zealand after a number of senior members were deported here, are behind significant drug smuggling linked to a Mexican cartel. In July, a 60-year-old man who travelled to Mexico was sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of importing a Class A drug after being identified in Operation Nova.

Tallat Rahman, from Suva, was arrested in February 2019 in the first phase of the inquiry, which discovered how parcels of methamphetamine weighing up to 5kg were hidden inside kitchen appliances shipped from the United States.

Once in New Zealand, the police allege the drugs were distributed by "frontmen" for the Comanchero, whose hierarchy allegedly reaped the rewards of the illicit trade.

Rahman was unknown to the team of detectives running Operation Nova until he was overheard talking to one of the "frontmen", who cannot be named for legal reasons, whose phone conversations were bugged by police.

He said: "You're going to start off with a nice number with two zeroes. I'm going to land it between you and me … [I'll give you] all the f***en work you can handle. We're going to land it there [in New Zealand]." The cheap wholesale price of $120,000 per kilogram was agreed to by both parties, in a deal the police believed would weigh at least 100kg ("a nice number with two zeros").

The call was made in Mexico and the caller was identified as Rahman; a Fijian-Indian who lived in Suva, who had dual Canadian citizenship and travelled regularly to Mexico and the United States.

Everything went quiet until Rahman flew into Auckland International Airport on December 18, 2018, and checked into a hotel on Queen St, the Four Points by Sheraton.

Three days later, Rahman's son checked into the same hotel and was seen meeting with another man, a 19-year-old Mexican national, who also cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Two days before Christmas, December 23, 2018, Rahman left New Zealand but not before receiving a backpack full of cash.

Around the same time, a consignment of a kitchen stovetops shipped from the United States had been seized by Customs and examined. There was nearly 5kg of methamphetamine inside.

Then in February 2019, two separate consignments from the United States - a "waffle maker" and "coffee brewer"- were stopped at the border by Customs, each containing 2.9kg of methamphetamine.

Rahman returned to New Zealand and was arrested by the National Organised Crime Group, along with the 19-year-old from Mexico and a 33-year-old Chinese man called Hui Wang. He was called the "Wire Guy" because he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in wire transfers overseas. Search warrants were also executed at the home linked to Rahman in Suva where Fijian Police discovered 39kg of cocaine, presumably destined for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The haul was worth about $20m.

When brought in for questioning by police, Rahman claimed to be in New Zealand on holiday.

When detectives told him that an audio device had been covertly installed in his hotel room on Queen St, Rahman said: "Oh shit".

Darren Yaw

[tftnewws]

Comanchero gang raids: Jarome Fonua pleads guilty to money laundering, participating in an organised criminal group

A senior Comancheros gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group - changing his plea just a few weeks ahead of his trial. Jarome Fonua entered guilty pleas to the offences this morning at a High Court hearing, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

Once nothing more than a mystery caller on the end of the phone line, the man who smuggled methamphetamine from Mexico into New Zealand for the Comancheros gang will now serve a long prison 

Vetekina Naufahu joins two other senior members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang in admitting charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group following the covert police investigation Operation Nova. A senior Comanchero gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group, just weeks before his trial was due to start.

Vetekina Naufahu pleaded guilty to three charges at a High Court hearing this morning, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

The money laundering charge relates to his late-model Range Rover, worth around $150,000, while the organised crime charge carries the most significant penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Naufahu - whose brother Pasilika is the president of the New Zealand chapter of the Australian motorcycle gang - also pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA, or Ecstasy, which is a Class-B controlled drug.

Justice Sally Fitzgerald convicted Naufahu of the three offences and scheduled a sentencing date of October 23, 2020, alongside his fellow Comanchero Jarome Fonua.

Last week, the gang's treasurer Fonua also pleaded guilty to money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group. The late admissions come shortly before the pair were due to stand trial at the High Court in September, along with other members of the gang and their associates on charges laid in April 2019 following Operation Nova.

Vetekina and Fonua now join Tyson Daniels, the gang's vice-president, and Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson in being convicted of laundering criminal profits.

Nearly $1.3 million in cash was deposited into the lawyer's trust account, which was then used to purchase expensive cars and property.

For Daniels alone, there were four Range Rovers - with price tags of $175,000, $255,000, $218,000 and $280,000 - a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini for $285,000, and two Rolls-Royces, which cost $364,000 and $595,000.

A charge of participating in an organised criminal group between May 2017 and April 2019 was also admitted by Daniels, who was living in the affluent Auckland suburb of Mellons Bay until his arrest in April last year. In sentencing Daniels - who was wearing a Versace top in Comanchero colours of black and gold - to four years and eight months in prison, Justice Gerard van Bohemen said the senior gang member played a crucial role overseeing the gang's operations for significant personal gain.

The offending was sophisticated, said Justice van Bohemen, with encrypted devices used to avoid detection by police.

Money was deposited at banks in amounts less than $10,000, in a bid to avoid triggering the banks' reporting threshold, then funnelled through trust and company accounts to disguise their criminal origins.

"You clearly knew the money was derived from significant importation of drugs."

More than $1.2m in cash was deposited into Simpson's trust account at his law practice, which was also used to purchase some of the cars belonging to Daniels and allegedly others in the gang, as well as real estate such as a $1.3m home in Auckland.

Justice van Bohemen said Simpson was the facilitator of the money-laundering scheme, who used his specialist skills and knowledge as a lawyer.

"You made it work. You set up the trusts and lent respectability, as a lawyer, to a criminal organisation."

Simpson was reckless and brought the legal profession into disrepute, however, the judge was satisfied he was genuine in his remorse.

Despite this, Simpson was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.

"I deeply regret a father being separated from his family. However, that is a consequence of your decisions."

Neither man was charged with drug offences.

But the police allege the Comanchero, an Australian gang which set up shop in New Zealand after a number of senior members were deported here, are behind significant drug smuggling linked to a Mexican cartel. In July, a 60-year-old man who travelled to Mexico was sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of importing a Class A drug after being identified in Operation Nova.

Tallat Rahman, from Suva, was arrested in February 2019 in the first phase of the inquiry, which discovered how parcels of methamphetamine weighing up to 5kg were hidden inside kitchen appliances shipped from the United States.

Once in New Zealand, the police allege the drugs were distributed by "frontmen" for the Comanchero, whose hierarchy allegedly reaped the rewards of the illicit trade.

Rahman was unknown to the team of detectives running Operation Nova until he was overheard talking to one of the "frontmen", who cannot be named for legal reasons, whose phone conversations were bugged by police.

He said: "You're going to start off with a nice number with two zeroes. I'm going to land it between you and me … [I'll give you] all the f***en work you can handle. We're going to land it there [in New Zealand]." The cheap wholesale price of $120,000 per kilogram was agreed to by both parties, in a deal the police believed would weigh at least 100kg ("a nice number with two zeros").

The call was made in Mexico and the caller was identified as Rahman; a Fijian-Indian who lived in Suva, who had dual Canadian citizenship and travelled regularly to Mexico and the United States.

Everything went quiet until Rahman flew into Auckland International Airport on December 18, 2018, and checked into a hotel on Queen St, the Four Points by Sheraton.

Three days later, Rahman's son checked into the same hotel and was seen meeting with another man, a 19-year-old Mexican national, who also cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Two days before Christmas, December 23, 2018, Rahman left New Zealand but not before receiving a backpack full of cash.

Around the same time, a consignment of a kitchen stovetops shipped from the United States had been seized by Customs and examined. There was nearly 5kg of methamphetamine inside.

Then in February 2019, two separate consignments from the United States - a "waffle maker" and "coffee brewer"- were stopped at the border by Customs, each containing 2.9kg of methamphetamine.

Rahman returned to New Zealand and was arrested by the National Organised Crime Group, along with the 19-year-old from Mexico and a 33-year-old Chinese man called Hui Wang. He was called the "Wire Guy" because he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in wire transfers overseas. Search warrants were also executed at the home linked to Rahman in Suva where Fijian Police discovered 39kg of cocaine, presumably destined for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The haul was worth about $20m.

When brought in for questioning by police, Rahman claimed to be in New Zealand on holiday.

When detectives told him that an audio device had been covertly installed in his hotel room on Queen St, Rahman said: "Oh shit".

David Walters

[spacenutspod]

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, second from left, speaks during the third meeting of the National Space Council alongside Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Steve Welby, left, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget Nani Coloretti, center, Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, second from right, and Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, right, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. Chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, the council’s role is to advise the President regarding national space policy and strategy, and ensuring the United States capitalizes on the opportunities presented by the country’s space activities. NASA/Joel Kowsky Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the importance of international partnerships and the societal benefits of space exploration, including NASA’s Earth science missions and the agency’s efforts to build a responsible, sustainable human presence in space during the Biden-Harris Administration’s third National Space Council meeting Wednesday, held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.  “For generations, our nation has led the world in the exploration and use of space,” said Harris. “In the coming years, one of the primary ways we will continue to extend that leadership is by strengthening our international partnerships, combining our resources, scientific capacity, and technical skill with that of our allies and partners around the world, all in furtherance of our collective vision.”  During the meeting, NASA announced it will deepen its partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by advancing data collection for enhanced air quality monitoring in South America and Africa. Under this effort, NASA and the Italian Space Agency will partner to build and launch the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission, which is expected to launch in 2025 to enable improved measurements of airborne particulate matter in large metropolitan areas. The mission marks the first time NASA has partnered with epidemiologists and health organizations on a satellite mission to study human health and improve lives.  “NASA is excited to partner with the Italian Space Agency on the MAIA mission while simultaneously strengthening our support for USAID,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Airborne particles pollute some of the world’s most populous cities and have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as adverse reproductive and birth outcomes. Results from this mission will allow us to better understand the health impacts of pollution in geographically diverse global communities, including our Southern Hemisphere.”  The Vice President also underscored the importance of international partnerships enabling long-duration stays on the Moon and future human missions to Mars.  “In consultation with international and industry partners, NASA has built a cohesive and robust Moon to Mars strategy to enable a responsible, sustainable presence throughout the solar system. Our future depends on partnerships,” said Melroy. “Together, we will strategically advance science, boost our national posture, and inspire a new generation to want to explore the cosmos.”  NASA has welcomed significant development progress and investments by international partners for its Artemis program. The European Space Agency provides the European Service Module, the Orion spacecraft’s powerhouse. Additionally, Canada, Japan, and Europe are contributing to Gateway, a human-tended space station in lunar orbit. Europe and Japan are building the International Habitation Module, Europe is providing the European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) module, Japan will provide cargo resupply with an upgrade of its H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-X), and Canada is developing Canadarm3, a robotic arm to perform science utilization and maintenance. With these significant contributions, the United States intends to land an international astronaut on the lunar surface by the end of the decade.  In coordination with the U.S. Department of State, the agency has also welcomed 33 signatories to the Artemis Accords since it was established in 2020, ten in the past year alone. The Artemis Accords establish practical principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations, including those participating in NASA’s Artemis program. The Accords signatories are holding focused discussions on how best to implement the Artemis Accords principles, including transparency and deconfliction at the Moon.  NASA also highlighted the April 2023 release of the initial Moon to Mars architecture, comprised of the elements needed for long-term, human-led scientific discovery in deep space. NASA recently hosted its second Architecture Concept Review in November and anticipates releasing the outcomes of the annual cycle early in 2024. NASA noted that it is seeking international partnerships for an array of elements identified in the architecture and is in conversation with international space agencies to identify future partnership opportunities.  A full recording of the National Space Council meeting is available online at:  https://go.nasa.gov/3TtFxWM More information on the outcomes of the meeting is available at:  https://go.nasa.gov/3Rya4zV https://go.nasa.gov/482FJRp Faith McKie / Amber Jacobson Headquarters, Washington 202-262-8342 / 240-298-1832 faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov  Share Details Last Updated Dec 20, 2023 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsGeneralPamela A. Melroy

[michaelgabrill]

NASA Leadership Participates in Vice President-Chaired National Space Council Meeting

Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the importance of international partnerships and the societal benefits of space exploration, including NASA’s Earth science missions and the agency’s efforts to build a responsible, sustainable human presence in space during the Biden-Harris Administration’s third National Space Council meeting Wednesday, held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.  “For […] from NASA https://ift.tt/5zTmkhw

[truthblockchain]

The Benefits Of CBDC

It is important to separate speculative crypto trading and token prices from the underlying blockchain technology, Bank of America (BAC) said in a research report Thursday after a group of major banks and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York started testing the use of digital tokens representing dollars.

Citigroup (C), HSBC (HSBC), BNY Mellon (BK) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are among those taking part, as is payments giant Mastercard (MA), the New York Fed said on Tuesday.

Despite the backlash following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and its sister company Alameda Research, “the development of applications that leverage distributed ledger and blockchain technology continues to advance,” analysts Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss wrote.

The benefits of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) include faster settlement time, which could allow financial institutions to reallocate funds that had been otherwise held as collateral into yield-bearing investments, the bank said. Other positives include reduced costs, lower credit risk and increased transparency.

Bank of America says a wholesale CBDC may be issued before a retail CBDC “due to less complexity related to design, privacy and banking system disintermediation.”

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/18/bofa-dont-tarnish-blockchain-technology-with-speculative-crypto-trading/?outputType=amp

[goodblacknews]

Artist Derrick Adams Secures $1.25 Million from Mellon Foundation to Create Black Baltimore Digital Database

Artist Derrick Adams Secures $1.25 Million from Mellon Foundation to Create Black Baltimore Digital Database

[Photo: Derrick Adams; Photographer: Mark Poucher] According to news.artnet.com, Brooklyn-based, Baltimore-born artist Derrick Adams will receive $1.25 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build the Black Baltimore Digital Database, a new archive cataloguing important cultural contributions by Black Baltimoreans. The archive will catalogue local achievements in art, entrepreneurship,…

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Understanding Fossil Fuels through Carnegie Museums’ Exhibits

by Albert D. Kollar, Collection Manager, with assistance from Suzanne Mills, Collection Assistant, and Joann Wilson, Volunteer Section of Invertebrate Paleontology

The exhibits of Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Museum of Art are ideal for a multidisciplinary study of fossil fuels in Pennsylvania and beyond. Such a study must properly begin with some historical background about the landmark Oakland building that houses both museums, as well as some background information about fossil fuels.

When the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh opened in 1895, the architects, Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow incorporated roof skylights for maximum daytime lighting in the Italian Renaissance designed building¹. Nighttime activities were illuminated by interior gas lighting fixtures, possibly supplied by the Murrysville gas field, which began production in 1878. With the opening of the Carnegie Institute Extension in 1907, the Bellefield Boiler Plant was built in Junction Hollow to supply in-house steam heat and electricity from bituminous coal¹. From the 1970’s, coal and natural gas had been used to heat the boilers that supply heat to the Oakland Campus, Phipps, the University of Pittsburgh and the Oakland hospitals. In 2009 coal was eliminated as a fuel source. Electricity on the other hand, is supplied through Talen Energy from multiple sources (coal, gas, and renewable energy sources). For the future, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh plans to receive its electricity from renewable solar energy via Talen Energy².

What are Fossil Fuels?

Coal, oil, and natural gas (methane), known collectively as fossil fuels, are sources of energy derived from the remains of ancient life forms that usually are found preserved in coal rock, black shale, and sandstone.

Figure 1.

Coal is a rock. The coalification process starts from a thick accumulation of plant material in reducing environments where the organic matter does not decay completely. This deposit of plant residue that thrives in freshwater swamps at high latitudes forms peat, an early stage or rank in the development of coal. With the burial of peat over geologic time and a low temperature form of metamorphism produces a progression of the maturity or “rank” of the organic deposits that form the coal ranks of lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous, and anthracite³ (Fig. 1). The Pennsylvanian Period was named for the rocks and coals of southwestern Pennsylvania that formed more than 300 million years ago.

Oil and natural gas, collectively known as hydrocarbons, were forming in the Devonian rocks of Pennsylvania between 360 and 390 million years ago. These hydrocarbon deposits or kerogens are made of millions of generations of marine plankton and animal remains that accumulated in a restricted anoxia ocean basin that extended from southern New York, through western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia to eastern Kentucky⁴. The thick layers of sediment formed black shales or mud rocks such as the Marcellus Shale. Black shales are rich in oil and gas and are called source rocks. Sandstones such as the Oriskany Sandstone that is older than the Marcellus Shale is a reservoir rock. An amorphous mass of organic matter or kerogen undergo complex geochemical reshuffling of the hydrocarbon molecules first with burial then by thermal “cracking” as heat and pressure through the geologic process of metamorphism over millions of years transform kerogen into modern day fossil fuels⁴.

Fossil Fuels in Modern Society

As commodities converted to fuels for our modern world, these resources account for 80% of today’s energy consumption in the United States⁵. All three fossil fuels, in furnaces of vastly different design, have been used to directly heat homes, schools, workplaces, and other structures. In power plants, all three have been used for generating electricity for lighting, charging mobile phones, and powering computers, home appliances, and all manner of industrial machines. In the United States, coal became the country’s primary energy source in the late 1880s, displacing the forest-destroying practice of burning wood. It ceded the top spot to petroleum in 1950 but enjoyed a late-20th-century renaissance as the primary fuel for power plants⁵. Coal now generates approximately 11% of our country’s supply down from 48% just 20 years ago. Natural gas is currently used to generate approximately 35% of US electricity supplanting the use of coal⁶. While petroleum is less than1%⁶.

Transportation accounts for approximately 37% of total energy consumption. Coal played an historic role in powering railroads, and both compressed natural gas and batteries (charged with electricity generated from various sources) are of growing importance, however, refined oil products currently power 91% of the transportation sector⁶.

Figure 2.

In the early 20th century, scientists warned about how the burning of coal could create global warming in future centuries by raising the level of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse or heat-holding gas, in the atmosphere. (Fig. 2). It took less than a century for evidence to mount of climate change associated with the burning of fossil fuels, the clearing of forests associated with industrial scale livestock production, and from waste management and other routine processes of modern life. In recent decades headlines have routinely proclaimed the risks of a warming planet, including damage to terrestrial ecosystems, the oceans, and a rise in sea level⁷.

Fossil Fuels and Museum Geology Displays

When architects Frank E. Alden and Alfred B. Harlow designed the Carnegie Institute Extension (1907), they incorporated Andrew Carnegie’s vision to create an introduction hall to the museum named Physics, Geology and Mineralogy⁸. This hall (the forerunner to Benedum Hall of Geology) was intended to introduce Pittsburghers to the regional natural history subjects of geology, paleontology, and economic geology (fossil fuels)⁹.

Figure 3.

In the 1940s, the 300-million-year-old Pennsylvanian age coal forest diorama was installed in a corner space of what is now part of the Benedum Hall of Geology (Fig. 3). Because coal converted to coke is a vital ingredient in steel production, this three-dimensional depiction of the conditions under which Pittsburgh’s economically important coal deposits formed was (and remains) an important public asset.

Figure 4.

In 1965, as part of an overall plan to bring more of the natural history museum’s fossil collection to the public, Paleozoic Hall opened with funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation¹⁰. This exhibition featured nine dioramas that recreate the ancient environments through 290 million years of Earth history. Sadly, only one of the nine units remains on display, the diorama depicting the Pennsylvanian age marine seaway (Fig. 4), in the Benedum Hall of Geology.

Since the Benedum Hall of Geology opened to the public in 1988 the exhibition has featured an economic geology component with displays explaining differences between coal ranks Lignite coal to anthracite coal, and a variety of Pennsylvania’s crude oils and lubricants processed from the historic well Edwin Drake drilled in Titusville in 1859 (Fig. 1 )¹¹.

Figure 5.

Today, the Hall’s “strata wall,” a towering depiction of some of the rock layers found thousands of feet below western Pennsylvania, is in my opinion, an under-utilized display in terms of conveying information about fossil fuels. Although the wall is not currently documented with any geologic information, minor changes might allow visitors to use the lens of rock strata to better understand historical events such as the Drake Well, and economically important geologic reservoirs such as the Marcellus Shale (the second largest gas deposit in the United States), the natural gas storage reservoir of the Oriskany Sandstone, and the gas and liquid condensate (ethane) extracted from the Utica Formation (Ordovician Age) for making plastic products at the Shell Cracker Plant in Beaver County, PA (Fig. 5).

Figure 6.

Elsewhere in the museum, visitors can learn more about the topic of fossil fuels at several other locations. At the Holzmaden fossil exhibit in Dinosaurs in Their Time, there is a large fossil crinoid preserved in a dark gray limestone of Jurassic age, that represents a reservoir of crude oil in Germany (Fig. 6). At the mini diorama of the La Brea tar pits, oil seeps from natural fractures from an approximately six-million-year-old rock of Miocene age, to the unconsolidated surface sediment in what is now part of the City of Los Angeles (Fig. 7).

Figure 7.

Looking for Fossil Fuel Evidence in Art

In 2018, I reviewed 58 landscape paintings and the John White Alexander wall murals on the first and second floors of the Grand Staircase within Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) galleries to look for artistic documentation of what I interpreted to be causes for climate change based on the science. I found many examples based on the use of coal as a fossil fuel for power and coking in steel mills and the natural formation of bio-methane as portrayed in ecosystem landscapes of the industrial age of the middle 19th and early 20th century¹².

Figure 8.

Figure 9.

Searching for the CMOA landscapes paintings takes a little patience, but the visitor is rewarded by taking a new look at some of the art museum’s classic paintings (Fig. 8 and 9).

Figure 10.

Within day trip visiting distance of Carnegie Museums are historic plaques highlighting the discovery of coal on Mount Washington, natural gas in Murrysville, and oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. (Fig. 10). At all three stops you’ll have a better understanding of the significance if you begin your investigation of fossil fuels at Carnegie Museums.

Albert D. Kollar is the Collection Manager for the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology. Suzanne Mills is the Collection Assistant and Joann Wilson is a volunteer Section of Invertebrate Paleontology.

References

1. Kollar, A.D. 2020. CMP Travel Program and Section of Invertebrate Paleontology promotes the 125th Anniversary of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh with an outdoor walking tour. https://carnegiemnh.org/125th-anniversary-carnegie-library-of-pittsburgh-outdoor-walking-tour/

2. Personal communications Anthony J. Young, Vice President (FP&O) Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

3. Brezinski, D. K. and C K. Brezinski. 2014. Geology of Pennsylvania’s Coal. PAlS Publication Number 18.

4. Geology of the Marcellus Shale. 2011. Brezinski, D.K., D. A. Billman, J.A. Harper, and A.D. Kollar. PAlS Publication 11.

5. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-03/coal-consumption-in-the-u-s-declines-as-natural-gas-solar-wind-energy-rise

6. United States Energy Agency (EIA) 2019.

7. Bill Gates. 2021. How to Avoid A Climate Disaster.

8. Kollar et al. 2020. Carnegie Institute Extension Connemara Marble: Cross-Atlantic Connections Between Western Ireland and Gilded Age Architecture in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ACM, 86, 207-253.

9. Dawson, M. R. 1988. Benedum Hall of Geology. Carnegie Magazine, 12-18.

10. Eller, E. R. 1965. Paleozoic Hall. Carnegie Magazine, 255-338.

11. Harper and Dawson 1992. Benedum Hall-A Celebration of Geology. Pennsylvania Geology, 23, 12-15.

12. Kollar et al. 2018. Geology of the Landscape Paintings at the Carnegie Museum of Art, a Reflection of the “Anthropocene” 1860-2017. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 49, 243.

[brooklynmuseum]

Springtime in Brooklyn by Nancy Rosoff, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator, Arts of the Americas

As I look out my window at the falling rain, I know that these April showers will soon be followed by May’s flowers. The vibrant colors of budding trees and blossoming flowers give us hope that we will overcome the current crisis, and the world will be rejuvenated, stronger, and more unified. The following works from the Brooklyn Museum’s diverse collection celebrate the arrival of Spring and our hope for a healthy and more peaceful world.

Brightly colored plants and flowers made of faience once decorated the walls of the Great Palace of king Akhenaten at Amarna. Sun light and the disk of the sun itself became the focus of religious worship in the Amarna period (1353-13336 B.C.E.). The floral motifs of these tiles were meant to evoke rebirth of life brought about by the sun. See the artwork in our open collection.

While the Nile was revered as a life-giving place, the desert was also teeming with nature. Here one can see animals breeding in their desert environs. To the right, a feline is showing interest in another feline. At the lower left, a male antelope, mounting his mate, rears his head into the row above. At the lower right, the hindquarters of an antelope giving birth and the emerging head of her calf are partly preserved. The bovine calf at center left completes this depiction of the cycle of life. See the artwork in our open collection.

This detail from a Nasca mantle not only illustrates some of the plants and animals native to Peru’s South Coast, but it also conveys how the society’s spiritual beliefs are connected to agricultural seasons. The blossoming huarango tree seen here represents life and is shown growing out of a human trophy head on the back of a pampas cat. The trophy head symbolizes death but it is also a germinating seed from which life sprouts in a never-ending cycle of life, death, and rebirth. See the artwork in our open collection.

This late-seventeenth-century painting from viceregal Peru shows Saint Joseph standing hand-in-hand with the Christ Child in a field of blooming flora and enclosed within a border of bright carnations and lilies. Saint Joseph’s popularity flourished at this moment in the Spanish Americas as he embodied ideals of fatherhood, marriage, divinity, and masculinity. Here, he holds a stem of white lilies, which symbolize his holiness and purity. See the artwork in our open collection.

This sculpture would have served as a means for people to contact spiritual intermediaries for aid. Its raised arms are said to refer to prayers for rain, crucial to survive and thrive in arid the Mopti Region of Mali. See the artwork in our open collection.

The use of naturalistic floral motifs, such as carnations, tulips, and hyacinths, was a trademark of the design workshop of the Ottoman court in Istanbul in the mid-sixteenth century. This design principle was adopted in central and distant areas of the empire and applied to different media, such as manuscript illuminations made in Istanbul, textiles made in Bursa, and tiles made in Iznik and Damascus. This octagonal tile from Syria brings the beauty of spring indoors permanently. See the artwork in our open collection.

Vibrant greens and blues bring a spring woodland scene inside the Museum, creating an eternal verdant landscape. The effects of changing sunlight or a passing cloud can animate the glass used to depict the stream, tree trunks and leaves. Originally installed in the Universalist Church of Our Father at Classon and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, the windows were purchased by the All Souls Universalist Church on Ocean Avenue and installed in 1945, before coming to the Brooklyn Museum a few years ago. Tiffany Studio was extremely skilled at creating panoramas that open onto lush, brilliantly colored vistas. See the artwork in our open collection.

This elaborately decorated cabinet brought ever-blooming flowers into the owner’s bedroom. Inspired by Japanese precedents, New York’s most important late-19th-century furniture manufacturing firm Herter Brothers employed different colored woods to create the densely packed, abstracted flowers and leaves on this luxurious, yet functional chest-of-drawers. See the artwork in our open collection.

In the Japanese tradition, cherry blossom season is a time for celebration: the world wakes up after a long winter and people head outside to gather under the pink-and-white canopies created by trees that seemed barren only a week or two earlier. This year the picnics were cancelled, but in nature the show goes on whether there’s an audience or not. See the artwork in our open collection.

In this painting, Gustave Caillebotte offers a glimpse of his private garden in Petit Gennevilliers, a small village on the Seine opposite Argenteuil. The apple blossoms are rendered in thick touches of paint, which contrast with the sketchy treatment of the path that leads toward the denser foliage beyond the tree. See the artwork in our open collection.

Nothing celebrates Spring more than this dazzling child’s cap with its delicate beadwork on vibrant rose-colored velvet. It was lovingly made by the mother or female relative of a little girl who would have worn it with pride during special occasions. See the artwork in our open collection.

A table set with bread and coffee in a blooming garden along a sun-dappled path conjures the pleasures of the warmer months to come. Robert Delaunay would become known later in his career for more abstract work, but in this early painting the 19 year old artist was still working under the influence of Impressionism. See the artwork in our open collection.

Redolent with the sweet scent of peonies, American Impressionist Ernest Lawson paints his flowerbeds in a dazzling display of jewel like tones in the Cos Cob art-colony located along the Connecticut shore. See the artwork in our open collection.

This Balinese cover features bright brocade rosettes in purple, blue, red, yellow, and green. The gilded gold overpaint features patra cina designs borrowed from Chinese floral patterns. Together, they create a glittering textile that is awash with color and floral motifs. See the artwork in our open collection.

One of the Brooklyn Museum’s most important Japanese paintings is a folding screen showing a group of urbanites walking together, followed by a musician and a servant with a big box. The only clue that they are heading to a cherry-blossom-viewing picnic comes from a woman who extends a branch of flowering cherry back toward a group of men. Attached to the branch is a long strip of paper of the type used traditionally in Japan for writing poems. What does the poem strip say? We don’t know, but it seems fair to guess that it serves as an invitation to romance. The screen reminds us that the spring tradition of partying beneath the cherry trees wasn’t solely about communing with nature. See the artwork in our open collection.

Inspired by Japanese folding screens or byōbu, Elizabeth Boott Duveneck’s five panels bring the natural world into the interior of the house depicting all four seasons from Autumn Foliage to Apple blossoms throughout the year. See the artwork in our open collection.

Beginning in the early 1930s, Consuelo Kanaga became one of few white photographers to make artistic portraits of Black Americans. This closely cropped and sharply focused image of a girl’s face with a flower was likely included in Group f.64’s inaugural exhibition in 1932, which announced a new realist direction in photography. Considered radical in its time, Frances with a Flower explores powerful ideas about beauty, gender, and race. See the artwork in our open collection.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a renowned women’s rights activist who authored "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," (1792), a classic of rationalist feminism that is considered the earliest and most important treatise, advocating for equality and education for women. Akin to the nature of Spring, Wollstonecraft's life symbolized the fruition of a legacy—from which infinite linages of women continue to reap the fruits of her labor. See the artwork in our open collection.

With rose-patterned leggings and an elaborate floral armature/headdress, Nick Cave’s Soundsuit transforms the human body into a lush garden. Since the early 1990s, Cave has been fabricating inventive sculptures out of scavenged materials, which he often overlays with beadwork, stitching, and other embellishments. One of the first, crafted from twigs, was made to be worn and created a rustling sound, which led to the eventual name of such works: Soundsuits. Cave’s costumes draw from a variety of sources, including both African and Caribbean traditions of masquerade. See the artwork in our open collection.

Posted by Nancy Rosoff with contributions from the Curators and Curatorial Assistants of African, American, Ancient Egyptian, Arts of the Americas, Asian, Contemporary, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and Islamic Art 

Photos: Gary Alan Bukovnik (American, born 1947). Rhododendrum, 1980. Lithograph on paper. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the artist, 81.15.2. © Gary Alan Bukovnik(Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Tile with Floral Inlays, ca. 1352-1336 B.C.E. Faience. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 35.2001. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Relief with Desert Scene, ca. 2472-2455 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 64.147. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Nazca. Mantle ("The Paracas Textile"), 100-300 C.E. Cotton, camelid fiber. Brooklyn Museum, John Thomas Underwood Memorial Fund, 38.12; Cuzco School. Saint Joseph and the Christ Child, late 17th-18th century. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1941, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 41.1275.191 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Dogon. Nommo Figure with Raised Arms, 11th-15th century (possibly). Wood, organic sacrificial material. Brooklyn Museum, The Adolph and Esther D. Gottlieb Collection, 1989.51.39. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Octagonal Tile Depicting Peacock in Prunus Tree, 16th century. Ceramic; fritware, painted in black, cobalt blue, green, and manganese purple under a transparent glaze. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Jack A. Josephson, 1990.21. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum);  Tiffany Studios (1902-1932). Dawn in the Woods in Springtime, 1905. Stained glass window. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of All Souls Bethlehem Church, 2014.17.1. Creative Commons-BY; Herter Brothers (American, 1865-1905). Chest-of-Drawers, ca. 1880. Ebonized cherry, other woods, modern marble top, brass. Brooklyn Museum, Modernism Benefit Fund, 1989.69. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando) (Japanese, 1797-1858). Suijin Shrine and Massaki on the Sumida River (Sumidagawa Suijin no Mori Massaki), No. 35 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 8th month of 1856. Woodblock print. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.35 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848-1894). Apple Tree in Bloom (Pommier en fleurs), ca. 1885. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of William K. Jacobs, Jr., 1992.107.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Woodlands. Child's Cap, ca. 1890s. Velvet, cloth, beads. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Edward J. Guarino Collection in memory of Josephine M. Guarino, 2016.11.2. Creative Commons-BY; Robert Delaunay (French, 1885-1941). In the Garden (Dans le jardin), 1904. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, 86.28 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Ernest Lawson (American, 1873-1939). Garden Landscape, ca. 1915. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Laura L. Barnes, 67.24.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Cover, 19th or early 20th century. Silk, pigment. Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 45.183.110. Creative Commons-BY; Cherry Blossom Viewing Picnic, ca. 1624-1644. Ink, color and gold leaf on paper. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Frederic B. Pratt, 39.87. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Elizabeth Boott Duveneck (American, 1846-1888). Apple Blossoms, 1882. Oil on wood panel. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Joan Harmen Brown, Mr. and Mrs. William Slocum Davenport, Mrs. Lewis Francis, Samuel E. Haslett, William H. Herriman, Joseph Jefferson IV, Clifford L. Middleton, the New York City Police Department, Mrs. Charles D. Ruwe, Charles A. Schieren, the University Club, Mrs. Henry Wolf, Austin M. Wolf, and Hamilton A. Wolf, by exchange, Frank Sherman Benson Fund, Museum Collection Fund, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, Carll H. de Silver Fund, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, and Designated Purchase Fund , 2005.54.3 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Consuelo Kanaga (American, 1894-1978). Frances with a Flower, early 1930s. Gelatin silver photograph. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Wallace B. Putnam from the Estate of Consuelo Kanaga, 82.65.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum); Judy Chicago (American, b. 1939). The Dinner Party (Mary Wollstonecraft place setting), 1974–79. Mixed media: ceramic, porcelain, textile. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. Photograph by Jook Leung Photography; Nick Cave (American, born 1959). Soundsuit, 2008. Mixed media. Brooklyn Museum, Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 2009.44a-b. © Nick Cave (Photo: Image courtesy of Robilant Voena)

[nyupreservation]

Happy Preservation Week! (Part 1 :)

Happy Preservation Week, everyone!

I’m Cat Stephens, an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow studying Library & Archive Conservation at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. At the IFA, I’m earning an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology, and an MS in the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, specifically in the conservation of books, paper objects, and photographs.

Students in my graduate program have the option to spend their year-long graduate internships almost anywhere in the world, but I chose to stick around and intern at the NYU Libraries’ Barbara Goldsmith Preservation & Conservation Department... In addition to being awesome at their jobs, the conservators here are excellent teachers, and I’ve always been impressed by the range and volume of treatments that they perform every year! Additionally, NYU has done an impressive job of reducing the spread of Covid-19 on campus, and I feel very lucky that my internship was not severely impacted by the University’s precautionary measures. Since September 2020, the library’s preservation staff and I have had the option to work in the library for 2-4 days every week, and we catch up on paperwork during our teleworking days.

Over the last seven months I’ve worked on many treatments that have helped me understand the finer points of library preservation, and I’ll describe four of my favorite preservation/conservation treatments for you over the next four days. These treatments include a 19th century publisher’s binding, a 16th century book bound in recycled parchment, a wooden box full of unexposed Daguerreotype plates, and ... a skateboard??

But first, unless you’re a library or museum professional, you may be wondering what Preservation Week is, and how does “preservation” differ from “conservation?” For cultural heritage institutions, Preservation Week is a yearly opportunity to draw public attention to the importance of preserving cultural heritage materials of all kinds. These materials may include modern books, medieval manuscripts, audio/visual materials like VHS tapes and home movies, photographs, scrapbooks, textiles, digital data, paper documents, and metal, wood or glass objects, just to name a few. Many of these materials are held in libraries and museums for public enjoyment, but perhaps many more are sitting in our basements and attics! If you have special things at home that you want to preserve, there are many online resources available to you, and I’ve provided links to some of them at the end of this post.

For conservators and other preservation professionals, Preservation Week is a good time to consider the enormous range of objects that we’re tasked with caring for, and to think about new ways to preserve and conserve them for the next generations. In libraries and museums, “preservation” and “conservation” refer to slightly different activities, but they both contribute to the wellbeing of cultural heritage objects. “Conservation” refers to any physical interventions performed on an object, such as cleaning, making repairs, or compensating for parts that have been lost. A conservation treatment can reduce the stains in a flood-damaged drawing, or it can transform a pile of ceramic sherds back into an ancient vase. “Preservation” usually encompasses the activities performed around an object which will minimize the object’s chemical and physical deterioration over time. Preservation activities include the making of enclosures to protect objects from physical harm, dust, or light damage, the management of pests, and the careful control of temperature and humidity in storage facilities. Preservation and conservation are two sides of the same coin, and many argue that “preservation” is the broader term which includes conservation activities. This point of view is often held in libraries, where the objects (usually books) are not just static relics of the past, they are vehicles of information; to access this information, books must be handled, and they must be able perform a kinetic function. For this reason, any conservation treatment that restores functionality to a broken book can also be considered “preservation.” Of course, many old or rare books have been digitized and made available online, but even so, scholars often want to verify and augment their online research by perusing the original book… there’s no digital substitute for the real thing :)

Thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment of our Preservation Week 2021 blog series, where I’ll discuss the conservation of a novel published in 1891 (photos below!)

-Cat Stephens

Some At-Home* Preservation Resources:

American Institute for Conservation (AIC): “Caring for Your Treasures”

American Library Association: “Saving Your Stuff”

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency): “Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms” ... (Fact Sheets are available in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish):

Minnesota Historical Society: Preserving “Clothing and Textiles”

National Archives: “How to Preserve Family Archives (Papers and Photographs)”

*But sometimes a problem is so complex that it requires a conservator… AIC’s “Find a Conservator” tool can help! https://www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator

[scifigeneration]

3D printing the human heart

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has published a paper in Science that details a new technique allowing anyone to 3D bioprint tissue scaffolds out of collagen, the major structural protein in the human body. This first-of-its-kind method brings the field of tissue engineering one step closer to being able to 3D print a full-sized, adult human heart.

The technique, known as Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH), has allowed the researchers to overcome many challenges associated with existing 3D bioprinting methods, and to achieve unprecedented resolution and fidelity using soft and living materials.

Each of the organs in the human body, such as the heart, is built from specialized cells that are held together by a biological scaffold called the extracellular matrix (ECM). This network of ECM proteins provides the structure and biochemical signals that cells need to carry out their normal function. However, until now it has not been possible to rebuild this complex ECM architecture using traditional biofabrication methods.

"What we've shown is that we can print pieces of the heart out of cells and collagen into parts that truly function, like a heart valve or a small beating ventricle," says Adam Feinberg, a professor of biomedical engineering (BME) and materials science & engineering at Carnegie Mellon, whose lab performed this work. "By using MRI data of a human heart, we were able to accurately reproduce patient-specific anatomical structure and 3D bioprint collagen and human heart cells."

Over 4000 patients in the United States are waiting for a heart transplant, while millions of others worldwide need hearts but are ineligible for the waitlist. The need for replacement organs is immense, and new approaches are needed to engineer artificial organs that are capable of repairing, supplementing, or replacing long-term organ function. Feinberg, who is a member of Carnegie Mellon's Bioengineered Organs Initiative, is working to solve these challenges with a new generation of bioengineered organs that more closely replicate natural organ structures.

"Collagen is an extremely desirable biomaterial to 3D print with because it makes up literally every single tissue in your body," explains Andrew Hudson, a BME Ph.D. student in Feinberg's lab and co-first author on the paper. "What makes it so hard to 3D print, however, is that it starts out as a fluid -- so if you try to print this in air it just forms a puddle on your build platform. So we've developed a technique that prevents it from deforming."

The FRESH 3D bioprinting method developed in Feinberg's lab allows collagen to be deposited layer-by-layer within a support bath of gel, giving the collagen a chance to solidify in place before it is removed from the support bath. With FRESH, the support gel can be easily melted away by heating the gel from room temperature to body temperature after the print is complete. This way, the researchers can remove the support gel without damaging the printed structure made of collagen or cells.

This method is truly exciting for the field of 3D bioprinting because it allows collagen scaffolds to be printed at the large scale of human organs. And it is not limited to collagen, as a wide range of other soft gels including fibrin, alginate, and hyaluronic acid can be 3D bioprinted using the FRESH technique, providing a robust and adaptable tissue engineering platform. Importantly, the researchers also developed open-source designs so that nearly anyone, from medical labs to high school science classes, can build and have access to low-cost, high-performance 3D bioprinters.

Looking forward, FRESH has applications in many aspects of regenerative medicine, from wound repair to organ bioengineering, but it is just one piece of a growing biofabrication field. "Really what we're talking about is the convergence of technologies," says Feinberg. "Not just what my lab does in bioprinting, but also from other labs and small companies in the areas of stem cell science, machine learning, and computer simulation, as well as new 3D bioprinting hardware and software."

"It is important to understand that there are many years of research yet to be done," adds Feinberg, "but there should still be excitement that we're making real progress towards engineering functional human tissues and organs, and this paper is one step along that path."

Other collaborators on the paper include co-first author Andrew Lee, a BME Ph.D. student in Feinberg's lab; BME postdoctoral researcher Dan Shiwarski; BME Ph.D. students Joshua Tashman, TJ Hinton, Sai Yerneni, and Jacqueline Bliley; and BME Research Professor Phil Campbell.

[scotianostra]

On November 25th 1835 the steel magnate and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, was born in Dunfermline.

Nicknamed, "Andra" he spent much of his early years with his uncle George Lauder who often took his son, George Jr., and Andra on long walks to tell them stories of Scottish ancestry, recite lines from Robert Burns, and also, according to Andrew, to tell some pretty scary ghost stories.

In 1848, Andrew immigrated to Allegheny, Pennsylvania in the United States. He was thirteen years old. Since his family needed the money, he immediately went to work in a cotton factory as a bobbin boy. He made $1.20 for working a 70 hour week on his first job. Andrew wasn't able to attend school, but he was an intelligent and hard working boy. During his free time he read books loaned to him from one of the local citizen's private library. Andrew never forgot how important these books were to his education and would later donate significant funds to the building of public libraries. Andrew always worked hard and did a good job. He soon got a job as a telegraph messenger. This was a much better and more enjoyable job. Andrew got to run all around town delivering messages. He also studied Morse Code and practiced with the telegraph equipment whenever he got the chance. In 1851, he was promoted to telegraph operator.

In 1853, Carnegie went to work for the railroads. He worked his way up and eventually became superintendent. It was while working for the railroads that Carnegie learned about business and investing, this experience would pay off down the road.

As Carnegie made more money, he wanted to invest his money rather than spend it. He invested in various businesses like iron, bridges, and oil. Many of his investments were successful and he also made a lot of business connections with important and powerful men.

In 1865, Carnegie established his first company called the Keystone Bridge Company. He began to put most of his efforts into ironworks. Using his connections with the railroad companies, he was able to build bridges and sell railroad ties made by his company. He expanded his business over the next several years, building factories throughout the region.

Carnegie decided to invest in steel. He knew that steel was stronger than iron and would last longer. Steel would make more durable bridges, railroads, buildings, and ships. He also learned of a new steel making process called the Bessemer process that enabled steel to be made quicker and cheaper than before. He formed the Carnegie Steel Company. He built a number of large steel factories and soon had a large percentage of the world steel market. In 1901, Carnegie formed U.S. Steel with the banker J. P. Morgan. This became the largest corporation in the world. Carnegie had gone from a poor Scottish immigrant to one of the richest men in the world.

Carnegie believed in working hard and taking calculated risks. He also invested in vertical markets. This means that he didn't just buy the ingredients for steel and then make it in his factories. He also owned other aspects of the steel industry including coal mines to fuel the steel furnaces, trains and ships to transport his steel, and iron ore operations.

Carnegie felt that being rich was just the first part of his life. Now that he was rich, he decided that he should spend the rest of his life giving away his money to needy causes. One of his favourite causes was libraries. His funding contributed to over 1,600 libraries being built around the United States and the world. He also gave money to help with education and funded the building of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Other projects included purchasing thousands of church organs, building Carnegie Hall in New York City, and forming the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Carnegie died of pneumonia on August 11, 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts. He left the majority of what remained of his wealth to charity.

A few more facts about oor Andra,....

Carnegie was in charge of the Union army's railroads and telegraph lines.He once said that "You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself."

It is estimated that, accounting for inflation, Carnegie was the second richest person in the history of the world. The richest was John D. Rockefeller.

He felt so strongly about giving his money away that he wrote in his book The Gospel of Wealth that "The man who dies thus rich, dies disgraced.

He once offered to give the Philippines $20 million in order for the country to buy its independence.

There's a much more detailed account of his life here https://www.nps.gov/jofl/learn/historyculture/andrew-carnegie.htm